A Proud Sister

My younger brother Frank was on a show last week, X-Play on G4. His company created a game, The Maw, that was chosen for an independent game competition. Here is the interview and an article about it.

What is the best part about making brownies?

By 10 a.m., Dawson had brownie batter, paint, glue and glitter somewhere on his clothing and body. This is a day that 2-year olds dream of.

Back to school cake

A kind woman from our church wanted to do something special for David on his first day of school and brought us this cake. She said it was a tradition in their house until the last one went off to college. Our boys are very excited to dig in.

He's Off!

Yes, I was the mom crying at the bus stop today. A lot of the other moms' kids started school yesterday so they already went through this. On top of the trauma of my firstborn leaving, they changed his bus number and we only found out about 30 seconds before it showed up. So, I have his bus number on his tag and burned in his brain and they changed it!

Dawson is making sure my mind stays off of David today and is being especially peachy (not).

It's hard to get used to this part.

David came to the breakfast table and announced, "Mom, there is hair all over the bathroom." My hair started falling out over the weekend. Today was the worst. I have been told it will only thin, probably not to the point it fell out last year. It still is unnerving to see so much come out of my head. I can't keep up with cleaning it up. It seems like I have it all and more surfaces. Having hair seems to be my way of not being a chemo mom - it doesn't announce to the world how I spend my Thursday mornings.

"Mild pain" is a nice way of putting it

So, I encouraged my husband to go fishing today to celebrate the end of his class and a way for him to relax. I thought, up until now, the weekend post chemo hasn't been too bad. No problem. He left last night for the friend's house so he could spend the night to arise early this morning. Just about the time I would have headed off to bed, my body started feeling the effects of the Neulasta shot. I have pain meds for it but my stomach hasn't been well the last few days so I was afraid to disturb it more. Sleep was not cooperating, even after I took the medicine. But, I am very thankful for Saturday morning cartoons which allowed me to take my time waking up today.

Our big plans for today were grocery shopping and going to a local circus later this afternoon. Since David begins school next week (still hard for me to say), we needed to get things for lunches, etc. Why don't they have benches inside grocery stores? My kids have a place to sit, but not me. I debated on leaving a full cart there to get home, but I had invested so much of my time already. I explained to my boys we were in, "Get the stuff and get out of here" mode. They did great!

Next problem, getting all of that stuff in the house. We have a split level and I have joked about moments when the stairs seem to multiply, like today. 2 of my wonderful neighbors and my boys helped me carry the things upstairs and helped me put the things away. Thank you so much, guys!

David already made me cry today when we were talking about him returning to school. I told him I was sad that he was going back but he has told me how excited he is. He told me that kids have to go back to school so they can learn, but I told him how much I will miss him. Who is the parent here?? Well, Dawson had his moment today too. He saw me with my head down and crying. He asked, in his way, "Sad cause cansird came back?" (Translation: "Are you sad because your cancer came back?" ) After I got over the shock of his words, I told him I wasn't sad, my body just hurt.

We still have plans for the circus later this afternoon. It should be easy because my job is to sit and enjoy the time with the boys.

Next week, I have off from chemo. I am so looking forward to the break. But, I think we will need to plan Dave's fishing trips on a different chemo week.

The cancer center can be fun??

I decided to take the boys with me today to get my Neulasta shot. They aren't allowed past a certain point in the chemo room and I wasn't sure how that was going to go with Dawson. Fortunately, there is a large window with a view of the pond and fountain. The chemo nurses don't see little guys much and were more than happy to entertain them while I was occupied. I think both boys really liked it there. It could be because there is a little stand at the entrance with treats and a cool magnet table in the lobby. I always looked at the cancer center as somewhere I dread most days. I pull up to the parking lot and hate that I am there. But, today was different. I saw it through their eyes and their innocence as a beautiful building and grounds, that just happens to sell chocolate.