Princess Ballet Camp

This past week Cora and a few little buddies attended "Princess Ballet Camp." And just for the record, no this camp was not created specifically for Cora, but truly the only way it could have been more perfect was if it were called "Princess Ballet Gymnast Cheerleader 'pretend you're a teenager' Camp." They had 2 sweet teenage teachers, met a different Disney princess each day, did ballet, did gymnastics, got manicures and facials (Cade asked if they put pickels on her eyes!) and most importantly ANY DRESS UP CLOTHES were proper attire. The wardrobe choices went something like this....


Day 1
Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

And yes, we still could've worn a different ball gown each day if camp had lasted a month!

i'm speechless...

Behavior Managment Plan

As summer nears its close, boredom has set in with my kiddos. They have been toted from one fun place to the next all summer long and that has slowed down, but we've still got a couple of weeks before school starts. They are tired of their zillions of toys, it's too hot for outside, and I am D-O-N-E letting them watch tv all afternoon! They fight nonstop and we've had enough "family time" for 2 years. So I've shifted gears. I felt like all I was doing was nagging and giving orders and they weren't responding, so I'm revising our "behavior management plan." (you can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can't take the classroom out of the teacher.) I'm rereading a book I read a few years ago, How To Discipline your kids without losing their love and respect and trying to reward the good behaviors more than I punish the bad! And just between you and me, some days it's pretty tough to find things to reward Cora for! I just needed a good reward for her, I don't like rewarding her with food or toys, she doesn't really get the whole money thing yet, and there's not a privledge you can offer that will get that girl to clean her room, but I found it the one thing she'll do anything for....(paper crowns)
(yes, that says, "the trying really hard to follow directions award." She'll do almost anything for one of these crowns. If only I would have figured this out years ago!




look who else earned a crown!

Clara's Half Birthday Update

Today is my half birthday! Yep, that's right I'm already 6 months old!!! And boy am I an exciting little girl! I can do all kinds of new things and I've grown a ton! I don't have my six month check up for a couple of weeks, so we're not sure about how much I've grown, but I am growing out of my 3-6 month clothes right on time!!! Here's what's been going on with me this month!

- I sleep much better at night! I go to sleep around 8 and mama wakes me up and gives me a bottle around 11. (i don't think she really liked me waking at 2:30 and demanding one then!) After eating at 11 I'll sleep all the way until around 7 am. Mama will take that!

- I eat breakfast and dinner. I'm eating all sorts of organic baby foods. I don't really like peaches (which is strange for a georgia girl!) or squash, but everything else is great! I get really messy when I eat. Mama says feeding me is like feeding one of those clown punching bags. I move all around and lean over and grab things, and put my head on my tray and I am a wiggle worm! Take a look at what I look like when I finish a meal....

Then when I'm finished, Leia cleans me first, and the bath tub cleans me second. Leia loves when I eat....
(I know, gross, huh? Can you believe my mom and dad let that go on???)

- I am a very silly girl these days. I LOVE Cade and Cora. They are very funny and they make me laugh and laugh and I love it! I even like a little rough play with them! I can handle it! I smile and laugh at everyone who talks to me! The only thing you have to do is say, "hi!" and I'm your friend! Oh, and Leia, I LOVE THAT DOG! I cannot get enough of her. Her ears are SO pointy and fun to pull and luckily she's a great sport about it. She's sweet to me.

- I am a wiggler. I love to jump in my doorway jumper. Boy can I make that thing go! And I love to lay on the floor. No more laying still for me. Once I'm down I'm rolling and scooting all over the place. Sometimes I even get stuck places like this...

I can even almost get on all 4s and rock back and forth. Mom better buckle up, cause once I'm mobile things are gonna change around here!

So that's 6 months progress in a nutshell! Stay tuned to see what I get into next!!!

just a normal day at the garola house!

Chemo Update

Today was a clinic day. A big clinic day! She had a scheduled lumbar puncture, chemo injection in the spine, and chemo thru her port. She for the first time ever REALLY, REALLY, threw a fit about going. She knew she couldn't eat prior to her visit and that always makes her mad, and rightly so. Today she refused to get dressed, said I was, "SO SO MEAN FOR MAKING HER GO TO CLINIC" and cried. I felt bad for her. It truly stinks and the older she is the more she "gets that!" We got there and she didn't want to talk to anyone. She just sat on my lap and fell asleep, which is strange because she does love seeing and chatting with her nurses. She had her LP and chemo, followed by a donut and juice. We chatted with the doctor and waited for her counts. Her counts were surprisingly low. Her ANC was 550 (normal on chemo is 1500) and her white count was 1.5 (normally on chemo it's 3.5 or 4). Dr. G took her off 2 of her nightly chemo pills for 2 weeks and wants to recheck her then. Too bad she couldn't have taken her off her NASTY grumpy steroid instead. Dr. G said that often after almost 2 years of chemotherapy the bone marrow just gets totally worn out and tired of fighting against these strong killer drugs and can sometimes slow down. We're trusting that a 2 week break from oral chemo will kick the bone marrow back in gear and get her counts back up.
The other thing that is EXTREMELY frustrating to me and certainly Cora is the side effects of this chemotherapy. Cora looks and acts like a normal little girl and sometimes I even forget what her little body has been through. With many types of cancer you go through chemo for 6-8 weeks or until the cancer appears to be gone and that's it. Most the time long term chemo effects are minimal. But ALL in children is treated with a standard protocol of 2 years and 2 months of chemo in little girls with B cell ALL. The GREAT news is that she only has 5 more treatments over 5 more months and that her prognosis after that is VERY promising. And I thank God every day for that!!! The BAD news is that she's experiencing some neuropathy (swelling of the nerves) which seems to be getting worse as a result of the drug Vincristine that she gets through her port once a month. Vincristine is a derivative of the poisonous Vinca plant that many of us have in our window boxes. Essentially we are allowing our daughter to have small doses of poison leaked into her blood and hoping and praying that it is doing it's job and killing the cancer cells. The problem is that the vincristine kills and affects other parts of the body. In Cora's case the vincristine is affecting the nerves in her legs. She's experiencing lots of tingling and leg pain not only right after chemo, but all the time. Her legs hurt, she stumbles more than the average 4 year old, and she can't climb and run as well as her peers. The other day she told me, "mommy it feels like someone is putting hot glue all over my foot, but they aren't." When I was explaining the leg pain to Dr. G she said it was common, but needed to be closely monitored. She said some kids describe it as a dragon breathing fire onto their legs and it is very painful. Dr. G said that normally when treatment ends this gradually goes away, but it can be long term or last for several years. She is going to conference with the other 2 oncologists about actually reducing Cora's dosage of vincristine for the next five months to try to prevent long term nerve damage. Cora has also complained of eye pain every once in awhile which can also be due to nerves. Please pray that her vision stays good and we can keep the neuropathy to a minimum. When I think about this lil girl being affected long term from this chemo it breaks my heart! I JUST WANT IT ALL TO GO AWAY AND BE OVER! She's done so well to this point, but it's so evident that her body is DONE with the drugs! Many doctors even think that the standard protocol for this type of ALL is an overkill. Sorry this is a gripey post, but I just hate that this is the only form of treatment that's successful! I'm convinced there's a better way out there and we will continue to do our part to help find it!!!

Cora and Marshall Sittin in A Tree

Cora has a boyfriend. He's been her boyfriend practically since birth. He's about 9 months older than her and his name is Marshall. Ever since Cora and Marshall can remember Marshall's older brother who is now 11 has taken great pleasure in telling Cora and Marshall they are boyfriend and girlfriend.

Cade and his best bud (marshall's middle brother) now add fuel to the boyfriend/girlfriend flame any chance they get! At this point, Marshall, who is really into playing with the big boys thinks he's pretty much destined for life to be "Cora's boyfriend." I'm not really sure he knows he actually has a choice in the matter. Cora on the other hand LOVES Marshall and often tells strangers on the street that she is "Marshall's girlfriend!"

But they are seriously cute. Marshall really does take care of Cora. He hides her eyes on the scary parts of Disney movies, and last week at Bible school he picked the green gummy bears out of the bag and said as he handed them to her, "here, Cowa, I got you all the green ones because they taste the best!"


So Today Cade was very irritated with Cora because he was about to go to swim practice and couldn't find his goggles. He was very sweet and let Cora borrow his "good goggles" the other day when she asked. No one's seen them since. Cade in a very irritated voice said, "CORA!!! WHERE ARE MY GOGGLES???"
Cora in an equally irritated voice replied, "I DON'T REMEMBER WHERE I PUT THEM!!!"
Cade said, "Geez Cora! You don't remember anything! Probably when you're married you won't even remember your husband's name!!!!"
Cora yells back," YES! I WILL CADE! HIS NAME IS MARSHALL!!!"

If only all of life's big decisions were that easy!!!