Christmas in Indiana

This was our year to spend Christmas in Indiana. We spent 6 fun filled days there and packed as much into them as we could without over doing it. The kids enjoyed seeing family, the few snow flurries we got to see, and of course...the gifts. Mommy and daddy most enjoyed a couple of dates without having to pay a sitter (we NEVER get that at home and took full advantage of turning things over to Gran and Pop). We are now back home, unpacked, new toys crammed in various places, and now ready to begin the undecorating process. We are so thankful for such wonderful families. Here are just a few of our picture highlights!


Hugs in our new matching Christmas jammies!


The Garolas before church on Christmas eve (yes mama is as big as a house and still growing daily)


Fun with the Walters boys.


One of the few pictures I got of Cade actually standing on his skates. (each time I went to click the picture, he fell.)


Cora looking good in her skates. Too bad she spent maybe 8 seconds on the ice before totally freaking out. She did want to keep the skates on though!

cora says...

Cora is notorious for 1000 tuck ins. She always invents reasons she needs us to come back, but last night was the funniest. I put a very very very tired Cora in bed very late and just as I walked away I heard,

"Mama,come back." (i go back) "I fink I hab a wedgie."

low and behold, we corrected the situation and she went straight to sleep.

drama

So we visited clinic again today for our December chemo, and as usually mama comes home with a worry. I'm trying so hard to focus on how well she is doing and not the minor side effects and set backs of chemo, but it's so hard for me to not worry. Her counts were great her anc in the 3000s and Dr. G thinks going back to school after Christmas would be fabulous, she actually suggested and encouraged it. Also Cora feels great! Lately I am really starting to notice that (with the exception of her 5 days a month on steroids) she really is less fussy and tantrumish and much more predictable. So what's the worry you're thinking... Her blood pressure. It seemed to be a bit elevated today. It never has been ever before today, but I had the nurse check it four times just to be sure. We're not exactly sure why it's elevated, but Dr. G has a few theories and wants to keep a close eye on it. One possibility is the simple fact that usually I don't give her the first dose of her monthly steroid until after her clinic visit and today I gave it to her early this morning. That by itself could be enough to elevate blood pressure. But of course there all kinds of other side effects of treatment that can do it as well that can be a bit more serious. So for right now we've been encouraged to keep a food and drink journal of everything she eats and pretty much eliminate sodium and sugar. Dr. G is a big fan of a "natural" diet which is really better for all of us anyway. We've tried to minimize her sodium and preservatives until now, but we're gonna try to really be vigilant about it now. We do pretty well for breakfast and dinner, but I'm gonna have to rethink lunches. I am not sure turkey and cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, grilled cheese, and pb&j are great choices. Basically it's just gonna take some creativity (and more work) on my part. We're gonna get a juicer and make our own juice because juice Dr. G made a pretty big deal about how high in sugar and sodium store juices really are, but I am not sure Cora can live without juice. There's a pediatric endocrinologist that comes in town and sees Backus patients once a month so Dr. G is going to consult with him as well. Hopefully, this too will turn out to be nothing serious and we'll all be healthier and better off for our diet changes anyway. If any of you ultra healthy pure eaters have any food suggestions for us, PLEASE share!

Move over, Bing Crosby!

There's a new Christmas song soloist in town! The kids have been anxiously awaiting the Backus Children's Hospital Hematology/Oncology Christmas Party. Backus does a great job and the kids had such a ball last year (well, Cade had a ball. Cora was a grump and felt awful, but luckily she's remembering it through cade's memory!) Cade has NO stage fright. We have no clue where he gets this from because you'd never catch daddy, Cora, or I singing on stage, but he loves it! You may remember that he sang the same song last year and the band guys totally remembered Cade and invited him up for an encore! Definitely mama's highlight of the night!!! (don't forget to hit pause on the playlist so you can hear!)

Christmasy Stuff Part II

This year I am feeling really really lucky to have so much time at home with my kids. Even though we've been running to this party and that errand, we've had a lot of time to enjoy the season and make Christmas memories! I wish I could freeze them at these ages forever! They love Christmas!


Cora and her cute friends at our Christmas Tea Party


Cora all ready to play hostess at her tea party. Get this...that skirt plays Jingle Bell Rock (a great find, Gran!)


Cade trying on Dr. Whittle's "Max" hat at the Backus Children's Hospital Hem/Oc Christmas Party


Cora eating her heavily sprinkled cookie at the Backus Party


Cora helping mommy with at little holiday baking prior to her tea party!


Our 2nd visit with Santa at the Backus Party went even smoother than the first. Santa didn't even give Cora a choice, just hiked her right up on his knee! He even surprised both the kids with an early gift Cora with a plastic Snow White characters set and Cade with a pirate LEGO set. How well does Santa know my kids????

Christmasy Stuff

Here's what we've been up to this week.
Cade's cute class did a very cute Christmas singing program. His class voted on their favorite 3 Christmas songs, made their very own hats for each song (no patterns used at all), and even made up the motions all by themselves. It was their program and she let the kids have total ownership of it! Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cade's teacher? I seriously wish she could just teach him straight through med school! (I know, I'm a dreamer)

Then mommy was determined to not pay $30 to get a picture taken with Santa, so after searching high and low we discovered that Bass Pro Shop had an entire Santa Wonderland set up and would totally let you take your own Santa picture (they even took one for us for free) but being the picky mama that I am, I needed my own to ensure that it went the same way as the Santa pictures from the last 6 years. We display them all each year.

Cora was a trip on this Santa visit. She has two items that she decided in early October she'd ask for from Santa and I gotta give her credit for being consistent. They haven't changed. But for the last 2 years our Santa pictures have included 4 people: Santa, Cade, Cora, and mommy doing her best to avoid being in the picture, but forcing a very screaming and crying Cora to remain IN the picture. not pretty. So we had this long talk before hand about how Santa is our friend and how he's so nice and in order for him to bring us presents, we need to tell him what to bring. So Cora totally psyched herself up for it. She said, "I'm a big girl now. I won't cry!" As we got closer to the front of the line her grip on my hand got tighter and tighter, but no tears. So then when it came our turn Cade ran right up and told Santa that he wanted a LEGO castle set and the newest Harry Potter Movie out on DVD (that was the first time I'd heard him utter a word about either of those...yikes) and then I sorta pulled Cora toward Santa and I said, "Santa, Cora has two really special things that she'd like to tell you about that she'd like for Christmas this year." I thought maybe this would get her to warm up a little before the picture. So Cora stands about one car's length from Santa and shouts to him, "I WANT A SNOW WHITE BARBIE AND A BELLE BALL GOWN." Well, Santa seemed like he was getting quite up there in age and didn't hear a word the she said, so he said, "Come closer so I can hear you better." (smart move, Santa) So Cora inches 3 centimeters closer, cups her hands about her mouth and SCREAMS, "A SNOW WHITE BARBIE AND A BELLE BALL GOWN!" Cade was cracking up and I nearly wet my pants. Then we told her to move closer to Santa for a picture and this is all we got. Take 1 (you could fit a mack truck between Cora and Santa)


Take 2 (after we said, "move closer, move closer, Cora" like 100 times)


Not perfect, but they'll work and they were free! The things we put our kids through to get a good picture!

Oh ya, on the way to the car Cade says, "I think Santa's response was pretty good about both of those things. He seemed like he could work both those out even though it is last minute." Guess I only thought I was done shopping.

mary???

So we've slowly been Christmas decorating around here and it's brought on a whole new fascination for Cora. MARY! The other day I went outside when she and Cade were playing to find her dressed like this in our shed in front of a baby doll laying on a pile of pine straw. Who knew the Lord's mother wore red velvet and fur?

Camping Out

Last weekend Cade begged Rob to take him camping, but it was cold, so they compromised and camped in the backyard. Cora and I even joined them for the pre-sleeping activities. Daddy just removed one of the big square stones from the patio off the back door and poof....instant fire pit! Daddies are good for quite a few things!

Today, I am thankful for the dog!

Now if I could just teach her to do bathrooms!

WE ARE THANKFUL!

We have SOOOOO much to be thankful for this year! I can't even begin the list! It would take a year! But here are the kid's lists for this year.

Cade's List of Things he's thankful for:
1.Jesus
2. God
3. Mommy, Daddy, and Cora
4. my neighborhod friends
5. my regular friends
6. Leia, Rosie, and our baby
7. Gran, Pop, Abuela, and Abuelo and my WHOLE family

Cora's List of Things she's thankful for:
1. my sparkly golden shoes
2. my magic wand
3. my dorothy dress
4. my cinderella ball gown
5. Monkey Joe's (an indoor inflatible playground)
and THAT'S ALL!!!

So that right there sums up the difference in my two kids!!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

Clinic Visit Recap

We went to clinic yesterday. She did great! She was sweet, polite, and no tears! Yay, Cora! It was actually a BIG visit. Once every four months she has an injection of methotrexate (a chemo drug) into her spine. She has to have NO food or drink before this visit and gets put to sleep. She woke up, ate a snack, and was back to her normal self in minutes. We even walked out to the lobby with our friend, Morgan (who painted the mural featuring the kids) and took Cora's picture with the Cora on the wall. Morgan couldn't get over how quickly she bounces right back.

As always we have a few thigs to watch and worry about as usual, but I'm slowly trying to settle into daddy's calm attitude of one day at a time. Let's just worry about today. Dr. G looked at her rash on her face that we've seen multiple dermatologists for and she is convinced that it is medication related and will probably get better on it's own eventually. In the meantime, she says we need to keep it looking as good as we can with soap and creams and be sure Cora's hands are continually clean (which they are!) to prevent infection. The other new concern is Cora's lack of bladder control. A few weeks ago we thought she had a UTI but she didn't. She's having multiple accidents daily (something she never did before) and seriously goes potty so many times a day the number's in the double digits. She and her very pregnant momma are a pretty good team cause we both need lots of potty breaks! Dr. G checked her blood sugar levels to be sure that long term steroid use hasn't done any damage, and they were normal (praise God!). So we are unsure what's causing it, but hoping this too shall pass and that it's nothing serious. She started steroids yesterday, so she's puny and pale (which is also weird) but we can deal with Crabby Cora for 5 short days until she's back to her sassy self. That's probably way more than anyone cares to know, but all tests point to normal!!!

Who's Who?

I had to post this because I think the resembelance is uncanny! One of these pics is Cora at 2, the other is my friend, Stacey (with www.babyandmedesigns.com)'s little girl Ava who is now 2. How precious are they both and how much can 2 unrelated kids look alike!

Da Da dut duh, da da duh (hum the indiana jones theme song)

Here it is, the big 6 year old shin dig. It was wild and crazy, but they all had fun!

First we decorated

Then set up a huge Indiana Jones obstacle course that included
a snake pit with a rope swing over it, a balance beam leading to a zipline over a "river"


a trip into the castle's dungeon to retrieve the crystal skull aka a grey squishy halloween skull from the dollar store


all the while avoiding giant flying boulders like this one


a trip through a dark cave complete with rats and spiders


crawling under a giant spider web


walking across stepping stones in a river filled with alligators


climbing up the tree fort of doom to retrieve the holy grail aka a plastic goblet painted golden


Then we used Q tips, straws, and paint to blow darts at a poster of the bad guys


And last but not least, the snake cake!

Noteworthy

Saturday morning I left to run some errands (alone!). When daddy's in charge anything goes as far as clothes are concerned, which is fine. When I got home I found Cora playing in the yard wearing this self selected outfit which I thought at least deserved honorable mention. (I swear my kids do have cute clothes.)

Looking Back

Halloween 08
Look at her skin color and swollen belly and sad face. If we had read the symptoms of leukemia prior to diagnosis, hers were text book.


Halloween 09
Look at her rosy cheeks and big smile! That's our miracle!

November 13th.
I remember November 13th of 2008 with perfect clarity.
I remember it more clearly than I remember my wedding day or the births of either of my children.
I remember it for an entirely different reason.
I remember waking up and getting dressed in black pants, a turquoise shirt, and black flats.
I remember dressing my kids and taking them to SCPS just as we'd done every morning since August.
I remember what they were both wearing.
I remeber peeking in on my 2 year old who was "recovering from an ear infection" at lunch time to find her sleeping.
I remeber picking her up and chatting with her teacher about her "continued fussiness and crying."
I remember feeling guilty about the number of school days I had already missed this year.
I remember thinking that I may need to go ahead and get lesson plans ready for the next day.
I remember Cora's melt down on the way to the car about how the way I was carrying her was "hurting her hiney."
I remember having this wave of realization rush over me thinking, "All this child's needs are being met, why is she so fussy?"
I remember canceling my dinner plans with friends and calling Rob.
I remember crying on the phone as I explained to him that I felt like I needed to take her back to the doctor because she was still not right.
I remember making the call to the nurse and nearly breaking down on the phone with her as I told her that I wanted to bring Cora in for the 4th time that month and I wanted tubes in her ears if they were still infected after the 2nd round of antibiotics.
I. thought. she. needed. tubes. in. her. ears!
I remember meeting Rob at the peditrician's office for the last appointment of the day.
I remember our visit with the doctor and his comment on her pale coloring and swollen belly.
I remember him saying, "Her spleen is enlarged. I hope it's mono. I've seen some of that lately."
I remember when he left the room with a sample of her blood.
I remember discussing dinner plans with Rob and Cade.
I remember Cade voting to order sushi.
I remember the nurse coming back in to get "just a little more blood to run one more test."
I remember the doctor's face when he came back into the room.
I remember the tears in his eyes as he told us "you have a very sick little girl."
I remember him telling us "It may be leukemia."
From there I don't remember anything else he said.
I only remember me.
I only remember screaming and feeling like I was dreaming.
I remember that I wasn't crying.
I felt like I should cry, but I wasn't.
I was frantic.
I was screaming and pacing and hugging my crying baby thinking that this could not possibly be happening.
I remember the nurse hugging me and taking Cora from me.
I remember Rob and Dr. Stone talking, but I couldn't hear what they were saying.
I remember trying to make a few frantic phone calls to iron out plans for Cade.
I remember that the people I was calling couldn't really understand me on the phone.
I remember Cade jumping up and down that he got to spend the night with a friend on a school night and then crying as he drove away with his Aunt Lauren from the Peditrician's parking lot.
I remember getting in the car with Rob and Cora.
I remember following our sweet peditrician to the hospital.
That's where it stops.
I remember nothing from there.
I don't remember going into the hospital, being admitted, meeting the oncologist on duty, being taken to a room, nothing.
I think my brain has forgotten to spare me the pain.
It was an AWFUL day.
The worst day of my life.
The pain is something I never want to experience again.
I remember deciding the next morning that I couldn't handle this on my own and begging God to save my baby.

But when I look back at the last year, I remember bringing Cora home after that initial hospital stay.
I remember being so relieved to find out she had ALL the good kind of leukemia.
I remember being even more relieved to find out that she had LOW RISK ALL with a bit of an easier treatment regimen.
I remember crying tears of joy when on day 14 of treatment the doctor called very surprised with news of early remission.
He called her a "rapid early responder!"
I remember being so surrounded by family and friends and food and phone calls that I barely had time to cry until I got into bed at night.
I remember feeling like God truly was showering us with little blessings throughout every step of our nightmare.
It's been such a hard year.
The first few months I nearly drove myself crazy with questions of how and why.
It's so hard to see your baby suffer through painful things even if they are to make her better.
It's lonely and you feel completely out of control of the situation.
I'd go back and change her diagnosis in a heartbeat if I could.
But I can't.

If it weren't for November 13, 2008 I wouldn't have the appreciation for my precious kids and family that I do.
I wouldn't have gotten to meet the fabulous nurses and doctors that spend their lives working to improve treatment for kids like Cora.
I wouldn't have seen love in action the way I did from my dear sweet friends. I've never seen people care so much and act so selflessly.
I wouldn't have ever gotten involved with CURE, LLS, Make A Wish, or Give Kids The World.
I wouldn't realize how important it is to continue to strive for a cure.
I wouldn't have gotten to follow along with the stories of all our other cancer friends we've made along the way.
I feel like we love more deeply, cherish the small moments more, trust more completely, and count our blessings daily.
I am thankful for November 13, 2008, but I am even more thankful for the difference a year can make.

We're not out of the woods yet.
We've got 14 more months of chemo, but we'll get there one day at a time.
Please keep Cora in your prayers.
Thank you for checking on us and praying for us throughout this year.
We love you!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Cade!

C- Cuddly and Caring


A- All Action



D- Devoted



E- Easily Excited

What a sweet boy!
He always has a smile on his face.
I couldn't have invented a better son in my head if I had tried!
He is such a blessing daily.
I can't believe he's 6!
Time really does fly.
Happy Birthday, Cade! We love you!

Just Wastin' Time

Well this week we've, wasted time.
Seriously.
In the last 2 days we've spent S-E-V-E-N hours in doctors offices!
But don't worry, no one's really sick, YET.
Yesterday we spent 3.5 hours at the dermatologists office trying once again to clear Cora's rash that's returned with full force.
Cora came home with a sucker and two new creams to try.
Mommy came home with a headache.
Then yesterday afternoon Cade visited the pediatrician for a "cough" that's been lingering for the past several days with no other symptoms.
This wait was better- 30 minutes in and out! LOVE our pediatrician!
Cade came out with a diagnosis of strep throat! WHAT?????
The kid sure didn't act sick.
He even did an "i don't have to go to school tomorrow break dance" for the doctor.
Mommy came out with an even bigger headache.
Today since no one was really sick, but everyone was home we ventured to the Health Department to get our H1N1 latent vaccines.
They only have them at 1 place in the city and it was strongly recommended for Cade, Cora, and I to all get them.
We got there at 1:00 and left at 4. That's 3 more hours.
Plus I wouldn't let the kids wait inside because there were like 1 million people crammed into this space for tons of reasons some of which I'm sure WERE probably H1N1, so I entertained two very energetic children on 8 feet of sidewalk for 3 hours!
Cade came out with m&ms, a fun band aid, a sore arm, and hopefully some new immunities.
Cora came out with m&ms, a ring pop (she cried harder), a fun band aid, tears in her eyes, a sore leg, and hopefully some new immunities.
And mommy came out with a sore toe (a casualty from the "tag" portion of the entertainment, a sore arm, a fun band aid, a headache, and a new appreciation for wine (which I can't have!).

Halloween In Review

the selection process



the pumpkins

Pre trick or treating dinner- Jack-o-lantern pizzas (thanks, abuela!)

THE COSTUMES!

Indy

and Dorothy

Trick or treating in action- We LOVE trick or treating the bluff. Everyone there gets so into it!

The most popular treat of the night-- frankencookies!



HAPPY HALLOWEEN!