Kurtz Family

Hello everyone!

Well it is about that time again. As usual, it has been far too long between updates!

First things first, in case you don't have the stamina to read this entire message, we didn't want you
to miss this. The plans are really coming together for the first Histio Heroes 5K in Batavia. Please
spread the word to all of your family and friends! We have the website up (www.histioheroes.com)
and online registration is now open! The big day is September 16th, 2007, which is only 3 months
away. So we hope your calendars are marked and your running (or walking) shoes are ready. There
will be a silent auction with some cool stuff, including some memorabilia from some of your favorite
Cubs! Plus, we are hoping this will be a good fundraising event for the Histiocytosis Association, so
everyone who registers for the race can also set up a fundraising page through active.com.
Everyone who raises more than $50 will be entered in a raffle, and there will be prizes for the top
three adult and child fundraisers. Please let us know if you need any help getting your online
fundraising page working. If you can't really imagine walking or running 3.1 miles, we still need many
more race day volunteers, so please let us know if you would like to help out.

Now, onto what has been happening with us. Things have been thankfully very quite on the medical
front, but we have reached a very amazing milestone. We just had what will likely be our last
appointment with the Stem Cell unit and we may be seeing much less of the hospital. The plan is that
we will soon be transitioning to long term care, which means Melanie will only need to be seen once
a year. Our last appointment with the Stem Cell unit was very surreal as we reflected on the past few
years. These days we have to keep an eye on Melanie's skin and give her Penicillin twice a day, but
that is all. Since Melanie has had some issues with GVHD, she will most likely be on Penicillin the
rest of her life, but we can happily live with that! Who knows, hopefully she will grow out of her skin
issues too:)

In other news, the past few months have been pretty busy. I took a business trip to India, Pam took a
business trip to Las Vegas. I think Pam got the better deal there:) Plus, we have put our house on the
market and are hoping to make the move to the suburbs. We are not exactly sure where we will end
up, but figured we will need some extra room as we are expecting an addition to the family in
November:)

Melanie is very excited at the prospects of being a big sister. She has already started practicing by
putting her babies to bed and telling us to be quiet so they can sleep. She's also been giving them
time outs when they misbehave. I have no idea what Bear and her triplet baby dolls did the other day,
but it must have been serious. Melanie had them lined up against a wall and was walking around
saying "I am not happy…" Melanie was also recently trained by her aunt and cousins to say: "I want
to live in Wheaton!!!"

Melanie started pre-school back in February. The stuff she picks up at school is a constant source of
entertainment. They are teaching her all kinds of new songs and skills. Recently, they were working
on teaching her how to put on her shoes and she is quite proud of this newfound independence. The
other day after putting on shoes all by herself she exclaimed: "Look mommy, I did it myself. Just like
a big boy! Like JP, Sam and Jack Goldstein!" For some reason, she always refers to this little Jack
as "Jack Goldstein."

I guess parents everywhere already know this, but it is really neat to watch Melanie change and grow
right before our eyes. For example, while Melanie still likes her broccoli, her tastes have expanded
and adjusted slightly. Now, she does not really like any and all broccoli equally. She only likes the
stumps. It is kind of funny to hear her request "more broccoli stumps pease…" Also, it seems like
Melanie does not really enjoy her vegetables or dinner in general as much anymore. It has become
more of means to an end, a necessary chore to achieve her ultimate goal of getting a piece of
candy. She has taken to trying quite a few different strategies to circumvent dinner all together to get
right to the candy phase. Sometimes she tries the direct route and simply stops eating and demands
"I all done, I have candy now…" This is typically met with the standard parental shrug and response
of "finish your dinner first." Normally, she takes a few more bites and then demands the candy,
eliciting the standard parental response again and this goes on for a while. The other day she
decided to try something new and, after having daddy explain that she needed to eat her dinner first,
she flatly stated "that not the deal Daddy!" I think she has started to learn that a direct frontal assault
on the bastions of parental authority is not really the way to go. Now she tries to be much more
subtle. She will be eating slowly, almost only nibbling really. Then she will kind of bat her eyes a little
bit, look away, then look down, then kind of quietly, in the cutest voice she can muster, slowly say "I
eat a good yunch I have candy now, pease..", while smiling and almost blushing.

Melanie's musical tastes are also expanding quite a bit. Melanie is now a huge They Might Be
Giants fan. As a result, Pam and I are no longer They Might Be Giants fans. For those of you
unfamiliar with TMBG, they are little obscure, but sing songs named things like "Birdhouse in your
soul" and "Instanbul (Not Constantinople)". It was really cute at first to hear Melanie singing along to
the birdhouse song. And to hear her belt out words like "Instanbul!!!!" but now every time we get in
the car we hear "my want the birdhouse song!" We have managed to expand her repertoire, so now
she really like the "ball and chain" song, or "bag of groceries", but still it is TMBG all day, every day.
And let me tell you, I can't put too fine a point on it, and I'm the only bee in your bonnet, so you better
make a little birdhouse in your soul… We have definitely lost a few of our marbles and are looking
forward to losing many more:)

As always, we hope this update finds everyone well, and once again would like to thank everyone
thinking of Melanie. :)

With love,
Joe, Pam and Melanie:)