This just in from Andrew: Pinecones

Pinecones are squash that live on trees. Who knew??

We were walking home from preschool today and Andrew saw a pinecone and picked it up. It was soaking wet so he threw it right back down and asked, with a look of concern, what it was. I showed him some on the pine tree and explained that they are the seeds for the pine tree. He was quiet a minute and said that pinecones are squash that live on trees. Now it all makes perfect sense. At least it does to him.

Calling for Prayers

Mom sees the oncologist this morning to hear her CT results from the scan she had done 2 weeks ago. Her bloodwork yesterday still has the CA125 up around 70, so the cancer is definitely not into remission. The doctor will tell her if they found any more masses and how things look in general. This may be a very bad day for her. Sounds like another round of chemo is in order, possibly even starting today.

Your prayers are what she needs! Please post here to show her you are thinking about her!

~*~*~UPDATE!!~*~*~
Just heard from dad a bit ago... the news is better than expected! The CT did not detect anything new in her abdomen. So that's great! There is some fluid still around her lungs, which they will draw off next week and send it for testing/pathology. She's been going without the oxygen a good bit now and they did a O2 saturation test and it came up at 98%, which is basically normal. That's a blessing, not dragging that tank around!

So basically she's on hold. They will do some checking and testing, but right now NO CHEMO! Probably some in the future but not right now. That made her VERY happy! And makes me VERY HAPPY!

That's my peanut butter dammit!

OK, just to put your mind at ease, that's not normal language for our household, but that is exactly what came out of Andrew's mouth last night. "Dad, that's my peanut butter dammit."

Andrew was just playing with word sounds, as in sammich = dammit but it caught us by surprise as I'm sure you can imagine. Hearing him hoot in the kitchen from the top of his lungs, "peanut butter dammit" over and over. Don quizzed him on what it meant and he pointed to his sandwich. He asked if he'd heard that word before and he said no.

So he went about his merry way, calling out "that's my peanut butter dammit!" So as Don walked out of the kitchen he called back, "then eat your peanut butter, dammit!"

I had tears of laughter as I heard the exchange. Too funny.

One less iron in the fire

Things have been so busy for me lately. I felt stressed asking Don to watch the kids too often in the evenings and I don't' like to be away from the family more than once every week or so. So I made a change tonight and though I'm glad I did it, I feel a bit guilty about it. But I think I'll get over that part of it pretty quickly.

I resigned as the chairperson of our church's hospitality committee... actually resigned from the committee altogether. I guess I was just burned out with it... I've been doing it for 2 years and we always do the same events over and over each year. I had been getting slower and slower with getting meeting minutes done, and not making arrangements until the last minute. My heart just was not in it. I decided its not fair to the other members of the committee or to the church for me to be so blah about it. Plus I barely make Sunday morning services right now because Abi has a long morning nap and we stay home while Don and Andrew go to church. So I resigned.

So that's one thing I can mark off my list. But that one thing marks off about 3 days away from the house in the evening or weekend days per month. What a relief. I think this one simple change is going to de-stress me a great deal. It was just looming in the back of my mind all of the time and I felt frustrated by all the little details of it.

Sometimes its SO VERY HARD for me to make these decisions, but I already feel a HUGE weight lifted off of me. As my best friend E says, SIMPLIFY!

"Here's a boogey for you mom"

Great. Andrew has mastered the art of picking. Thankfully he does bring them to me for disposal instead of consuming them, right?

Reminder to self: Spring is coming.

Nascar Nextel Cup 2006

Zoom zoom! Tomorrow is the day we've been waiting on since Novemeber. Well some of us anyway. NASCAR gets underway for the 2006 season tomorrow in Daytona. Yeah Baby!


Catch it on NBC this Sunday, at 1:30 p.m.

Of course I'm rooting for Jeff and would love a repeat of his season opening win at Daytona in 2005. But I'm also a fan of Mikey and DJ. I am hoping for a fun and colorful season, but mostly for a safe one!

Who do these kids think I am?

Their mother?

Whew. Everybody has needs don't they? No matter what time of the day. Since going to bed last night, my children needed me at 1am, 5:15am, 5:50am, and finally at 6:08am, "my belly is hungry for some applesauce!"

We don't often have rough nights with our children. But sometimes these kids remind me they are just that. Kids. Chalk 1am and 5:50 am up to Abi. The 1am is rare for her... can't even remember the last time we were up other than an early morning bottle. 5:15am belongs to Andrew. He was calling out that his towel was messy. No clue.... guess he was dreaming. Somehow I managed to convince him it was not time to get up for the day, though I'm not sure if he ever went back to sleep between then and when he announced to the world at 6:08am that his belly was hungry for applesauce.

The kicker? I had just fed Abi a bottle and managed to sneak her back down from that 5:50am feeding and had crawled back in my toast bed at 6:06am thinking... "ahhh, we can all sleep in." Then I was ROBBED by applesauce boy. Robbed I tell ya!

But the real issue here? I could have easily gone to bed before midnight, when I did. But noooooo, I was all caught up in "me time" after the kiddos went down so great last night. So really its all my fault. That will teach me to have needs.

Now you'd think I sat down and whipped this post out in just a few minutes. But since I started typing I've made coffee, changed one diaper, poured a cup of milk, poured a cup of coffee, gotten socks on a boy's feet, found the Bob the Builder toys, put on a Bob the Builder video, made a slice of toast to chase that little boy's applesauce, nuked my cold cup of coffee, eaten a piece of peanutbutter toast, snapped Andrew into his new booster for the car to check for strap fit (on his insistence, not mine), removed him from the seat, changed a second diaper, refilled a cup of milk and went for my first potty break of the day. Oh and I poured my second cup of coffee, which I'm guzzling as I proof read. Now mind you, I'm not complaining... tis good to be employed. I am thankful that I have some little someones to get out of bed for each and every day. I wonder what my biggest girly needs from her mom today.

Needs. Everybody's got em'. My biggest need.... go to bed earlier!!!!

(On to cup number 3 by the time I sent this post.)

Sugar

"I love you, Abi, but you look like 10 pounds of sugar poured into a 5 pound bag." This from my friend, E, about my tubba Abi. Click to to enlarge the picture and see more!

Abi is doing super! So super in fact she's up to 21 pounds at 6 months! And 29.25" long! She's off the charts on both measurements. She was a the doctor's last week for her well baby and back today for her immunizations. We put those off a week since she'd had some fever from a cold earlier last week. She is sitting now on her own, for a little while. Busy busy!

She's doing great! Just getting too big, too fast! Slow down girly!

No comment!

OK, my apologies! How silly of me. Somehow I managed to turn on "moderate comments" and kept your lovely comments from showing over the last 20 or so posts. I turned it off and now you should be able to comment. I'm so glad a friend mentioned she was having troubles, or I'd probably never have knows. I thought I must not be very interesting lately!!

Snowy Landscape

So yesterday we were driving along out enjoying the snowy landscape after a big wallop of snow from a Noreaster and I glanced over as we are headed out of our little town at the farm down in the dip across from a lovely little covered bridge. I looked over because I know there is a lovely little stream there and standing by a tree, in all its snowy delight is a yak. Yeah. A yak! A yak in Mtown.

You know you just don't wake up in the morning and puzzle to yourself while brushing your teeth, "I wonder if I'll see a yak today?" or "When was the last time I saw a yak?" I think its pretty cool. I don't have a mental list of things I want to notice accidentally in my life, but IF I did... yak would definitely be on there. I'd be pulling out my list and marking a line through yak.

Yaks are known for their milk right? This family seems fairly crunchy, those natural, live off the land kind if I had to take a guess. They have a couple goats and cows too. But its not a big farm that is producing things in large quantities. They are on a hillside with their own garden and a barn lot big enough for just a few animals. Sounds like heaven to me. Except for the hill.

Anyway. A yak for crying out loud!

Happy Heiny

Some very good mommy friends of mine have talked about cloth diapering on and off over the last few years and I knew it would never be for me. Until I actually saw one. E and C recently made the move to cloth diapering their smallest babies. Each of them had done it in the past with their other children, but didn't start the little ones off in cloth this time. I was very doubtful about it. That was until I saw how far cloth diapering had come since the dark ages. And did some reading online and discovered that it could save us several thousand dollars.

E lent me a couple to try and Don and I fell in love with the idea right away. I have slowly built my stash of fun, new cloth diapers over the last month and we are now cloth diapering Abi exclusively. And LOVING it. We have not purchased a disposable diaper for her since before Christmas. What a blessing!!

Say Cheese!!

After being on single parent duty for 5 days straight, Don gave me the day off yesterday and I went over to a girlfriend's for a marathon scrapbooking session. I wanted to share this video he took while I was away. Click the link:Say Cheese!

Nana's Update

Mom is hanging in there these days. Her last chemo, her 6th and last in this (and hopefully only) series, really through her for a loop-de-loop. And dad too I think. It was a pretty hard week for them both, but mom especially as she was really sick for several days. Probably the worst she's felt since late summer at the onset of the ovarian cancer.

Thankfully, she is feeling better now that the drugs are leaving her body again. They have ventured out a bit lately, even going over to the church for a note writing session to church members who have not been to church in a while. I'm so glad that she feels up to these things. It puts a sunshine in her voice that I don't hear over the phone when she's feeling icky.

She had a CT on the 8th of February and is now waiting for results when she sees her pulmonologist next week. They are looking for masses or any sign that the cancer is still lingering. Her CA125 numbers are not as low as the doctors were shooting for so there is a fairly good possibility there is more chemotherapy on the horizon for her. Not what we want, but if that is what will keep the cancer reducing and send it to remission, Mom is ready for that.

I appreciate all of you who have kept up with her and who have kept those prayers going up daily. It means the world to us and make her day to day struggles a bit easier. You are a blessing!

How does it happen?

Baaaack!
Am I THAT busy that I can't post a few blog entries every few days? I can't believe its been since before Christmas that I last made an entry. I sit down and thing, yeah, I need to update, then a million other things happen with the children (bottles, diapers, giggles, rolls, playtime with Andrew, lunch... you know the drill) before I bounce through my online corner of the world and before I know it, the opportunity is gone again.

Well no more! I have lots to tell you about, so keep your eyes peeled over the next few days. Look for info about fluff and stash, chix with stix and an update on Nana.

We are all very well here. Don has just returned from his first ever business trip and was surprised at just how busy those trips can be... breakfast meetings, lunch meetings, dinner meetings and a million meetings in between meal meetings. He covered a large part of South Carolina and southern North Carolina in the last six days. The children we SO very glad to see daddy last night. He was the focus of their attention all evening. At one point he was walking around the house with Andrew on his right hip and Abi in his left arm. It really made me smile that our children love their daddy so. And that he takes the time to stop and smell their little heads. They will be young for such a minute time in our lives. We have to treasure each second.

A scrappy kind of day...
Today is an exciting day for me. After being "on duty" with the kids for 6 days round the clock, I'm going to scrapbook with a friend and her mom today all day long. A marathon crop of sorts. I can't wait! My friend, K, is teaching me SO much about scrapbooking. She has all the cool tool and goodies to work with and her mom is a scrapbooking genius! I can't wait to work with these two fine gals today!

Expecting a wallop.
Over the next 24-36 hours we are expecting a fair sized snow. We have had a strange winter. Lots of snow in December, warm and no snow in January. Now its February and finally winter again. My itchy skin tells me so. I'll be glad to see some flakes today. Its the best part of living in the north and enduring cold winters... the flakes!!

Shop Til They Drop

Sometimes, your mom just wears you right out.
Click to enlarge.

Mom's 4th chemo

Health Update...
Mom had her 4th chemotherapy this week on Thursday. Before treatment, she had an appointment with her oncologist. He gave her a good report that the CA125 is drastically down to just below 100. Quite a decrease since the onset of this cancer. He could feel no masses so all is looking really well!

She has been keeping herself pretty busy, working a bit around the house now. She's is just bored to tears, bless her heart. She's always been an on the go type (maybe that is where I get it from) so being down for 4 months now is really wearing on her. She's been getting ready for our visit, and doing little Christmas projects. Christmas will have a new and special significance this year. Blessings abound. I can't wait until we get there on Thursday night.

Big girly...
Mary Grace will arrive at Mom's a day ahead of us. She is out of school for the holiday break starting after a half day on Tuesday. On Wednesday her dad will drive her up and she'll get to spend the night and have some time with Nana and Papaw. I worry that mom's illness might hit her hard. She'll be 10 in just a few weeks so she's big enough to understand the pain mom is in and the long term possibilities. I've explained the oxygen tank and tubes, as well as about mom loosing her hair. But I'm sure seeing it in person will be startling.

The best part about it all is that we will be TOGETHER. My brother and his family will be there on Friday and we'll celebrate together. I can't wait to see his kiddos... its been waaaaay to long.

Christmas Fun

Our playgroup enjoyed our second annual Christmas party last night. We gathered at a local recreation center for a place large enough. Our group has really grown over the last 3 years. With more than 40 families, we are quite the motley crew. They are a wonderful and diverse group of people who I am blessed to know.

The children played games and ran around while they waited for a visit from Santa and as the moms assembled the covered dish dinner. We enjoyed a feast of ham, meatballs, casseroles, veggies, pastas, finger foods and desserts to boot! Once dinner was done, the children played more and each of them built a lovely gingerbread house of graham crackers, icing and candies. They were oh so lovely. You can see Andrew is showing off his house... click to enlarge and see more.

Breakfast and Shopping in Hershey

Today I met up in Hershey, PA with two of my girlfriends I met online while pregnant with Andrew. Sara is from Pittsburgh and I've had the joy of seeing her 4 times now. Twice for weekend gatherings in Philly and Minneapolis, once here in our home while they visited family close by and yesterday in Hershey. I met Melissa for the first time in person yesterday, but I've known her just as long as Sara. Melissa just moved, this past summer, from Colorado to the outskirts of Baltimore. I'm so thankful that she is closer so we can possibly have more meet ups!

This group of gals, about 17 of us, has grown close over the last 3 and a half years, since we all found out we were pregnant and due in October of 2002. They have been such a tremendous support to me in good times and trials. I am so blessed to know each and every one of them.

Sara, Melissa and I met up at Bob Evans for a yummy hot breakfast, then we headed to the Outlets and Hershey. We slowly walked the shops, checking out sales and Christmas goodies searching for ideas for gift giving. There is a wonderful scrapbooking store there called, Times To Remember. Amazing stuff! I scrapbook and have shopped for things before, but it was my first time to see a store just for scrapbooking. I was blown away! I'll definitely have to go back and spend some serious time checking it out once Abi is older and I can get back to scrapping.

It was a lovely day. The snow just glistened in the sun and we hardly noticed the winter weather with the warmth shared between the three of us.

A tub full of baby

Both Andrew and Abi had checkups this week with the doctor. Both are doing super, growing in to healthy and happy children. Abi is out pacing Andrew, however. At 4 months, she weighs 17 lbs, 5 oz. She received 3 shots unfortunately. But she handled them like a champ! The doctor said she is beautiful and perfect. He knows just what to tell a mama! Hehee! Click to enlarge and see more.

At 3 years, Andrew is 30 lbs. He is 28 inches tall. The doctor says he had the healthiest body type... long and lean. He's not worried about Andrew's picky eating habits. He says its normal and just fine. His eating will blossom when he's ready. Andrew was hysterical at the appointment. We'd gotten new sneakers the day before, Converse All-Stars. He made sure the nurse saw his "cool shoes." And when the doctor had been in the room chatting with us a bit, and not started the exam, he said, "hey, you have to check me!" He was ready long before Dr. Luken was. What a ham.

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Over the last week we've been putting up Christmas decorations in our home. Friday night after the kids were in bed, Don put the tree together but we didn't decorate it. We saved that for Saturday to do with the children. In the early morning, when Andrew came down the stairs and saw the tree waiting for him, he told us, "when we are finished decorating it, daddy will get a ladder and put a star on the top!" That is so precious... except WE DIDN'T HAVE A STAR!

Of course we had to have one. After lunch we all loaded up and headed to Target. With some searching, we found the perfect silver star for the top of our tree. Its not too "Las Vegas." No lights or blinkies. Just a simple silver star. When Don placed it on top of the tree, on the ladder of course, with Andrew in his arms they both had the biggest smiles. It was a wonderful moment we will all remember.

Andrew was a huge help with the lights, as you can see. He was excited about every ornament we pulled out of the boxes and announced to the household the name of each one. It was such an enjoyable family day. Click the picture to enlarge and see a few more.