We are at UCLA

Fernando has amazingly kept himself and Elle cold free. So, we left last night and made it to UCLA. The airport was very quiet (thank you recession) and the journey quite uneventful. We compare everything now to our experience last year. The admission office couldn't figure out what to do with us at midnight, so I told them that I should just go up to the 3rd floor which is the pediatric ward. The woman looked at me with those "I don't know about that" look, and I told her that I did this last year with my daughter. She said OK, and we made a run for it. We didn't look security in the eye and made it to check Elle in.
1 AM - get the room - it's a double, would we have to share?
1:30 AM - finish getting checked in by the nursing staff
2:00 AM - Night attending doctors check Elle out
3:00 AM - Nurse comes in for blood draw/IV
5:30 AM - Fernando feeds Elle
6:00 AM - Elle gets her vitals checked
6:30 AM - Get moved to new room which is a single! Smaller than the one we had for Maddie but works just fine.
8:30 AM - BMT docs check Elle out
9:00 AM - Dr. Kohn (PI in the gene therapy trial) checks Elle out; sign a bunch of docs
10:00 AM - Breakfast
10:30 AM - Elle goes under to get her PICC line
During this time, I think Fernando got 15 minutes of sleep and I managed about 3 hours. How's that for uneventful.

Leaving Maddie was harder than I expected; however, she is probably being taken care of even better by Fernando's mom, Avo. So, we did what other bad parents like us do - we loaded up on toys that will be evenly distributed to her for the week we are away. Moments like these really cut through your heart and redefine what it means to have a child.

Maddie and Elle both get cuter and cuter every day. Maddie's sassy personality is really starting to show, and Elle is getting very chatty with her more distinct coos. As for Fernando and I, we just keep ageing and wonder how this all started and we dream of the days when we can all just exist as a family free of some of the anxiety. A nice beach, lapping waves and giggling children would be nice too.