My Little Boy

Five years ago today I was just getting to my hospital room wondering why it was taking so long to get Ian through the nursery and back to me.

Back then I didn't think this day would come so fast yet here we are. I have a big boy who walks, talks, dresses himself (sometimes), and sleeps in his bed all night long. It just doesn't seem possible that this teeny tiny little boy



could be this big (little) boy



Happy Birthday I-man I love you more than words can describe!

I have a new name....

... and it is Aunt Jessie! On Monday at 6:39pm Cayden Elizabeth Jurden was born. Cayden is the first born of my brother Nick and his wife Alicia. She is also the first baby to born that isn't one of mine.

I have wanted to be an Aunt since before Ian was born. At that time my sister and brothers were no where near the baby point in their lives. When Nick and Alicia got married I knew they weren't ready but I was even more ready. I had prepared myself to wait another five years because Nick was saying it would be 10 (I knew he wouldn't hold out that long). I was really surprised this past spring when Nick and Alicia sprung the news on me that they were going to have a baby, but I was so excited.

It's been a long nine months but I waited patiently for my niece to arrive and she finally did this week. I knew I already loved that little girl but I was not prepared for how strong that love would be the instant I saw her for the first time. Everyone talks about how you will have those instant feelings as a parent but no one mentioned them as an Aunt. I think Emma and Ian have those feelings to. They got to hold their cousin last night and each of them were beaming.

I'm so proud of my Nick and Alicia and I can't wait to watch Cayden grow up!

I can't help myself

I come from a long line of ABC soap watchers. I've been told that I was watching All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital since before my birth. I can't say I remember much of them before my middle school years but from middle school thru college I was a faithful watcher of All My Kids and GH. If I caught One Life fine but I didn't have to see that one.

After college I worked in retail for a while which limited how much of my shows I was able to watch but I made sure more days than not I saw GH one way or another. General Hospital has always been my favorite and for me the best days for it were when Brenda Barrett was around. I loved her with Sonny, then I loved her with Jax. Of course I loved Robin and Stone and then Robin and Jason. When Luke and Laura returned to the show with their very cute son Lucky I was in heaven. As with any Soap Opera the characters come and go or the actors playing them change. I was devastated when Brenda left Port Charles and I hated when Lucky changed but I remained faithful for years after.

By the time I started working for the Attorney Generals Office Dave and I had the soap network and they played the current days episode of General Hospital every evening so I never missed anything. Around the time Ian was turning 6 months things at home were crazy and busy and by some miracle I was able to ween myself from watching any of my shows.

Ian will be five in 21 days and for these past 4 1/2 years I have not stopped to watch a single episode. I knew if I ever did I would go right back into that craving to watch every day. You could probably say General Hospital is my crack.

Two weeks ago I called in sick to work on a Monday due to a very sore back. I was flipping through channels and our cable box locked up on ABC during General Hospital. It took only one second of me seeing that Brenda had returned to Port Charles and I was hooked. As soon as the cable box unfroze itself I set the DVR to record everyday. After a day of watching my recordings I find out that the original Lucky is back and that was like the nail in the coffin. I am without a doubt hooked again and I can't help myself.

My First Thanksgiving

This year I hosted my first Thanksgiving. I've done Christmas for the past 5 years, and I have more parties than I can count where I have prepared the food, some of which I have even made Turkey's. This time it was different though, this was for Dave's family who I've never cooked for before. To add to that nervousness I have never cooked so many different dishes for 19 people before.

Wednesday when I got home from work I did as much prep work as I possible could as well as some last minute cleaning. I tired to get to bed early but i just could fall asleep, my mind would not stop running. I finally fell asleep around 1am and my alarm went off about 5am.

I reluctantly got up and started the Turkey. Once I got in the over I was too awake to go back to sleep so I got myself ready for the day. Sometime around 8 Dave got up and it wasn't until 9 for the kids. I think it was around 10 when I started peeling the potatoes that I finally relaxed and realized everything was going to be great. I must say it really was, I made the best Turkey yet, the potatoes, stuffing, and my Swiss cheese green bean casserole were a huge hit.

Besides preparing the food I was nervous about how the 9 kids were going to be. We set a table up in our basement for them in case there were any spills. We figured a concrete floor would be easy to clean up. We also had a TV and DVD player down there for them. They played down there all day with only one fight when Ian hit one of his cousins because she wouldn't stop kissing him.

Dave says that his family all had a great time and enjoyed the food so I would say Our First Thanksgiving was perfect. How was yours?

It's Offical

Well this coming Monday my little girl will be a 2nd grader. The principal, Emma's current teacher, and the second grade teachers all agreed they think the best action is to move Emma to second grade.

Dave and I haven't met her new teacher yet but we are hoping to early in the week next week. She did send home the supply list and it looks like we will be doing some back to school shopping this weekend instead of Christmas shopping. I hope the office supplies will be on sale because we have allot to get. It's amazing how much more they need from first to second grade.

There will be allot of work to do in the next month or so but hopefully we can get Emma up to speed quickly and I wont feel as anxious about all of this. One great thing right now is seeing Emma excited about school again, I didn't realize how much I missed that in her.

Some Big Changes

A few weeks ago Dave and I had Emma's Parent Teacher Conference. The night before our meeting Emma's report card for the first nine weeks came home. Emma was acceding at ever level which was awesome, yet I was nervous for her conference.

Last year during Emma's first week of Kindergarten we set a rule with her. She has to tell us at least one thing new she has learned from that day. We don't care if it's a big or little thing just something. For the most part Emma was able to share something with us each day and she was always excited about telling us how her day was and what she learned.

This year has been completely different. I know as children get older they share less about there day with their parents but I'm pretty sure that shouldn't start at the age of 7. Most days when I ask Emma what she learned I get answers like "nothing" and "I don't know", or "we did the same things we did yesterday so I didn't learn anything new". Add to that a little girl who has been more moody and grumpy when first picked up from school and you get an uneasy feeling in your gut.

So going into Emma's Parent Teacher Conference I knew Emma wasn't being challenged enough at school and I was prepared to ask her teacher what she was going to do to improve that. Dave and I can't and shouldn't be the only ones to challenge Emma academically. I was surprised when Emma's teachers only topic to discuss was how to keep Emma interested.

It seems Emma is at the very top of her class in all levels and at the top when compared with the kids in the other First grade classes. Based on where Emma is she is showing at the same level as Second graders. This comment for me was like a dagger and I could have spit fire at that moment. If you remember we had Emma tested for early entrance to Kindergarten when she was four and we were told no because under state law she would have to test as gifted in all three areas (social, academic, and developmental). Emma tested as gifted in social and academics but was not able to dribble a basketball or tie shoes therefore she was not granted permission to start school two years ago. Now here we are being told that are daughter is at the same level as those kids and bored to tears in her own class.

After our conference the school had Emma take a series of Second grade standardized test. In the reading and writing Emma did exceptionally well, in math Emma did very good especially considering most of the concepts have not been taught at her level.

Last Thursday Dave and I met with Emma's teacher and the school principle to go over her test results and discuss our options. We are considering many currently but the one that stands out the most is to move her to Second grade. Dave and I have talked to Emma about the possibility of that and she wants to. She told us she wants to learn new things and make new friends. I shouldn't be surprised by this, yet I am. I'm not sure most kids would want to leave the Friends they have made and enter a new classroom where they don't know anyone, but Emma does and I am so glad she is so open to things like this. Even knowing Emma's feelings about this Dave and I are having a difficult time with this decision. We don't want to screw things up for Emma and this is so important. One minute I think leaving her where she is when she is so bored and already starting to hate school is the wrong thing and it would be best to move her up, not to hold her back. The next I think it will be to hard for Emma to play catch up and she wont make new friends so we should leave her and try and do more at home with her.

Of course we are still waiting to here from the school as to what they think is best and what is allowed to be done. We are expecting to here from the principle tomorrow, but no matter what there will have to be changes made in Emma's life.

Please wish us luck.

The First Tooth

Back in August shortly after school started the kids and I were eating dinner one evening when out of no where Emma starts crying. At first I couldn't figure out what was going on but finally Emma was able to tell me through her tears that her tooth hurt. After some investigating I figured out it was loose. As soon as I told Emma this the tears stopped and she was so excited. Last year Emma was the only kid in her class that didn't loose a tooth so this was a big deal.

A few weeks went by and Emma refused to wiggle her tooth or pull it out even though by then it was barley hanging on. The Sunday morning before Labor Day Emma was taking a shower. I told her to finish washing and get out. Within seconds of hearing the water turn off Emma came running into the living wrapped in a towel, soaking wet, and yelling it came out,it came out. It took me a few seconds to realize she was talking about her tooth. Emma spent the rest of the day carrying her tooth around in a baggie and asking how much we thought the Tooth Fairy would bring her.

That night was the easiest bed time with her I have ever had. I tucked Emma in and placed her tooth under her pillow. After I left her room I told Dave that he would need to take the tooth and put money under Emma's pillow since he stays up the latest. Around 2am I woke up and realized I had forgot to tell Dave to save the tooth for me so I got up and went in search of it. When I couldn't find it I had a thought that just possibly Dave forgot to play Tooth Fairy. Being the good mother and best Tooth Fairy I grabbed some money and tip toed up to Emma's room. I reached under her pillow and instead of feeling money I felt the baggie. I was so glad I had grabbed the money before I went up their and was able to place it under the pillow and make a quick escape. I can't imagine how heart broken Emma would have been if the she would have woken up to her tooth and no money. Instead I got a 7 am wake up call from a super excited Emma showing me the money the Tooth Fairy left for her.

So far this is the one and only tooth to come out or even be loose. I think I will be staying up late for the next one to insure the Tooth Fairy leaves a prize.

Birthday

Birthdays in my family have always been a big deal. Even as an adult my family treats your birthday like a second Christmas for you. I've always loved celebrating my birthday until this year.

Next Tuesday I will turn 29 and for the first time in my life I have been dreading this birthday. For the last few weeks I have had these uneasy feeling anytime someones mentions my birthday but I didn't know why. I did know it had nothing to do with the age like some people might think. Getting older isn't something that has every bothered me. In fact I like it because I know there are so many great things that come with getting older.

Last night Dave and I were watching Deadliest Catch which is one of a few shows we actually watch together. If any of you are fans of this show then you know the last few episodes have been documenting the last few days of Captain Phil Harris life. Captain Phil suffered a stroke while they were filming this season of the show. At the end of last nights episode Captain Phil passed away. Anytime there is a story about a father passing away I tend to get emotional because it always reminds me of my death. During one of the commercial breaks I was thinking about my dad and his age at the time of his death popped into my head. He was 29 years old at the time of his death and it was at that moment that I pieced everything together.

I'm not sure why but I am pretty sure that my uneasiness about my 29th birthday has something to do with the fact that my dad was 29 when he passed away. I don't know exactly why this is bothering me because I am healthy and he wasn't for years before he turned 29. I think it may just be fear and fear isn't always rational. I just know that I don't want to turn 29 and would prefer to go straight to 30.

So for my birthday this year I will keep myself as busy as possible. Dave and I are taking next week off and on Monday we are taking the kids to Kings Island. We decided to stay at a hotel that night and then go to the Newport Aquarium on Tuesday (my birthday). At some point either this weekend or one night later in the week I will have to have my family birthday dinner but I'm hoping not doing it on my birthday will make it all easier for me. I am also hoping that once my birthday is over this uneasy feeling I have will disappear. I guess only time will tell.

Cancer Survivor

Hallelujah, praise the Lord my sister is officially a Cancer Survivor!



On Tuesday afternoon Steph had her final scan to make sure the radiation treatment got rid of all the cancer cells and it came back clean. I am so thankful that Steph found the tumor early and that the surgery and radiation went smoothly but I'm even more thankful that my sister can go back to living her life.

Steph has always been that person that everyone wants to be around. She is the life of the party and every ones best friend. The moment she found out she had cancer life changed for her. Between the stress and depression that goes with learning you have Cancer and the fact that her doctors didn't want her doing much Steph ending spending large amounts of time at home. For her that was difficult and while it taught her that she can be alone and stay home it's not who she is. Of course she did take it easy for months and not do much because she new she needed all the energy possible to fight the Cancer but now she doesn't have to.

When I talked to Steph today I could her the difference of attitude in her voice. She seems to be more of the old happy, always upbeat, constantly going sister that I love. Until today I didn't realize how much I was missing the old Steph but hearing her voice just made me smile.

I couldn't be prouder of my sister for how strong she has been throughout all of this and while she feels funny calling herself a Cancer Survivor I don't because that is exactly what she is and that is an amazing accomplishment.

Huntington Park

Here in Columbus we have the farm team for the Cleveland Indians, the Columbus Clippers. Last year they were given a new stadium in the arena district downtown but we never made it to a game. This year we have made it to two games so far and I hope to go to more. The new park is beautiful and lots of fun.

The first game we went to was at the end of May for a goodbye party for my friend Shanna who has since moved to Texas. It was a very sunny, very hot Sunday afternoon but we still had a great time and I got these awesome pictures.







The second game was last night for Ian's baseball league. The players all got to walk out on the field while there teams were announced. On of the older kids was able to throw out the first pitch which had to of been a pretty cool feeling for him.



Ian is the tiny little guy with the number 10 shirt on. This time not only did we have Jenn, Tim, Andrew, and Tyler with us but my sister Steph flew in from San Diego yesterday and came to the game with her best friend and my sister-in-law. The weather was perfect last night for the game and the Clippers won.







There is nothing more American than a sunny day, cloudless night, hot dogs, beer, peanuts, cracker jacks, ice cream, and baseball so I think this was the perfect week to take it all in.

Landscaping

During this very busy spring and early summer of t-ball, t-ball, gymnastics, t-ball and more t-ball Dave and I were able to spend a little time re-doing the landscaping in our front yard.

When we moved in our front yard looked like this



It was all builder grade plants that had the same feel as an apartment complex. I am not a fan of anything in the pine or evergreen family. I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm allergic to them but beyond that I just don't like them. I was so happy the day I came home from work and Dave had them dug up.

That same evening we took a trip to Home Depo to check things out and finalize our plan. We picked out most of the plants we wanted to place in the front and we found some nice stone edging. After a little convincing I was able to talk Dave into the new shape of the flower bed.

Finally on Father's Day (Dave's idea not mine) we purchased all our supplies. The edging, a couple of boxwood's, a hydrangea bush, hostas, and a few annuals that I can't remember the name of. After 4 very long, very hot hours we finally finished everything. After adding some solar lights and a flag we have this.





I think Dave said it best "now it looks like a home and not an apartment complex!"

A Trip To That State Up North

This past Thursday Dave, the kids, and I made a trip to Michigan for Daves lifelong friend Joe's wedding. Christen (the bride) is from a very very small town in Southwestern Michigan so that's where the wedding was. This trip was the very first time either of my kids have ever been out of Ohio so it was fun for them.

We drove straight to our hotel room and had just enough time to check in before we headed out to the church for the rehearsal. Christen choose a very small historic church that her Grandma attends as the place to have her ceremony. After the rehearsal we headed down the road about a mile to Christen's family farm. This fruit farm has been in the Sprauge family for over 100 years and it is still a working farm. Emma and Ian got to play on the playground equipment and sandbox with Christens niece and nephew while the burgers and brats were being prepared.





Christen's dad Bill also started a very nice bonfire for all of us to enjoy and to roast a few marshmallows. After hours of playing we headed back to our hotel room.

Friday morning we got up and headed back out to the farm to pick Joe up. He was in desperate need of a haircut so we took him to a mall in Mishawaka Indiana. While we were there we got some lunch and relaxed a little while the kids played.





Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. Joe and Christen choose to have a small family wedding with just a few close friends. The ceremony was very sweet. After the ceremony we all headed to a local German club for the reception. The reception was a blast. Christen's brother was the DJ and he did a very good job. He kept us all dancing all night, even Dave danced and not just during the slow song.













Saturday morning we got up and Met Joe and Christen for breakfast at the hotel and then we headed back to Ohio. As much as I am not a fan of that state up north I still had a great time and I was honored to be part of Joe and Christen's special day.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Since coming back from San Diego Dave and I have been at one of the kids events after another. Between Emma's Gymnastics and Ian's t-ball we seem to always be somewhere other than home. If I am home all I want to do is lay on the couch and read a book to help destrss.

I love watching my kids participate in activities and I LOVE that they love it but it can be very tiring for Dave and I. Tuesdays and Thursdays Ian has t-ball at 6 so I have to rush from work to get both them picked up and home. Then I have to fix something very quick and easy for dinner which of course means it's probably not the most healthy meal we could be eating. Then I have to get Ian changed and make sure Emma has something to entertain her in about 30 minutes. Then we are off to the ball field for an hour. By the time we get home it's baths, Emma's homework, and then off to bed.

On Wednesdays it's very similar only I have about 40 minutes to get dinner and Emma changed. Her Gym has toys for kids to play with in the waiting area so I don't have to worry about Ian bringing something to play with. Once we get home it's the same routine as Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Of course once they are in bed my work is not done. I still have to pack Emma's and my lunches, Ian's bag for the next day, and lay Emma's clothes out. By the time all of this is done I crash on the couch and read which ever book I have for an hour or two and then I'm off to bed. It seems right now the only thing that is destressing me from all the madness at work, and there is alot of it, is reading. I am averaging a book every day and half.

So that is what I have been up to lately, how about you?

Sister Update

No no I have not fallen off the face of the earth I've just been a little out of sorts. There has been so much going on in the past 2 months most of which has been very stressful. I think I have moved past most of that now but I'm still dealing with some work crap.

Of course the biggest stress in my life has been my sister's Cancer. Last week my Aunt Pat and I flew to San Diego to be with her during her surgery. We were able to fly in the day before and we toured the city and did a ton of sightseeing.

Wend morning we took Steph to the hospital for her surgery. It was only supposed to last 3 hours tops so when we hit the 3 hour mark and had not heard anything we started to worry. At the 4 hour mark they finally came out and talked to us. Everything had gone fine, the cancer had not spread to the lyphmnodes but there was a nodule on the opposite side from the tumor. They took the whole thyroid just to be safe.

The next 8 hours for Steph were really hard. She had a reaction to the anesthesia which made her very sick to her stomach. I know what it feels like to get sick after having a c-section so I can only imagine how it would feel to vomit after having your neck sliced open. After 4 different medications they finally found one that stopped the vomiting and she was able to get some sleep. They were also able to get her calcium levels up so she only had to spend one night there.

The next few days we took Steph out on some short trips. My sister does not sit still for long periods of time and hates to be confined so this was necessary to keep her sane. My Aunt and I also spent and afternoon with Stephs car doing some shopping while Steph was at home with her boyfriend.

Our last day in San Diego Steph was feeling much better so we all went to the beach on Coronado Island for the afternoon and my feet got burnt.

We fly home on Sunday and my mom fly out Sunday to be with Steph this week. She has had her stitches removed and her post op appointment. It looks like she will have her radiation treatments in about 6 weeks. The type of Cancer she had will require a radiation that you can't be on medication for so this will take every ounce of energy away from Steph but other than that things are looking really good!

As soon as I can find the time I will post some pictures from my trip. San Diego is truly a beautiful city and you should go if you haven't been.

Easter 2010

This year we spent Easter the same way we have the past four years. We started on Saturday by going to my grandma's house. It was strange this year because my sister wasn't there but other than that it was a normal Easter for our family. We ate a great meal and then my Aunt Pat and I laid the trails to all the kids Easter baskets. In our family the grandma's get the kids baskets each year and the way they find their is by following the trail of Easter eggs with their initials on them. We figure since they are 7 and under hiding the eggs would still be too hard.







Once the kids were back inside playing with all their new stuff my Aunt and I sat down to book our plane tickets to San Diego. We leave in just two days and I can't wait to see my sister.

Sunday morning we woke up to Emma nearly in tears because she had come downstairs and there were no eggs or baskets anywhere. Her exact words to me were "but mommy Ian and I were so good I promise! Why didn't the Easter Bunny leave us a basket?" I had to tell her that I bet the bunny just hid them really well. Of course that is exactly what he did. See since it was so nice outside this year the bunny left there eggs and baskets outside. So once Dave and I got up we took them outside to look.





Then it was time to get ready to go up to Dave's mom house for more eggs and baskets.













Finally we were able to come home and relax for a while before bed time while the kids worked on the activity books that the Easter bunny got for them. It was a wonderful weekend spent with family.

The Big Three Zero

On the 23rd of March Dave turned 30. It may not seem like I did anything for him since I have said anything but I did. There was no way I was going to let it go buy without a party.

Dave and I invited all our friends and a large amount of our family to celebrate with us. I think Dave was a little worried about having the odd mix of people all together but it worked very well. It was so nice to have so many people share this big moment with us. I ordered the food from Hoggy's and it was a nice change to not have to run around the night before a make a ton of food for everyone.

We got lucky that the weather was nice that day so allot of people ended up hanging outside until it got dark. Most of our family headed out early which left the friends to hang out and drink and just have a good time. It was nice and something both Dave and I needed. All and all it was a great evening and I'm glad I had the party for Dave.

Of course I can't let you go without some pictures from the evening.

Shanna and Me

Joe, Dave, and Dave

The Cake

Emma and Ian

Me and Dave (ignore the finger please)

Noah and Tif (trying to get him to sleep)

I've Reverted

In life I thought you were suppose to grow and change as you got older but it seems that I must be done growing and changing for a while because I have reverted back to how I was between the ages of 10-21. Yes I know this is a long period of time but during that time period I broke a bunch of bones, had a ton of sprains, and just got hurt all the time.

Around the time I got pregnant with Emma my clumsiness seemed to go away. Not completely away but it didn't seem to present itself nearly as much. As time went on I had less and less accidents.

Then just a mere month ago it reared it's ugly head again. It all started with me trying to dig thru a stack of reports placed on the window vent at the office. I was in such a hurry and not paying attention when I slammed my head into the window. I hit it so hard that I instantly had a headache that last the rest of the day.

Just a few days after that I tripped over some reports on the floor in my cube and slammed my head into the window again. I swear I was not trying to jump out the window.

I believe it was a week after that when as I was getting out of my car to come into work I fell landing on my knee while my other leg went out to the sides like I was doing the splits. Somehow I managed not to tear a hole in my dress pants but my knee was not looking good for a few days.

I can't remember exactly when but sometime after the fall in the parking lot I had just crossed the street and was rounding a corner on my way into work when a guy on a bike flew by running over one of my feet. Luckily I had one my pointy toed boots that day so it didn't hurt to much. It scared me more than anything.

This brings us to yesterday morning. Ian eats breakfast at the babysitters so I don't get him up until it's time to leave. Usually he wont wake up so I will put his coat on him and carry him to the car. I made it all the way down the stairs and out to the garage and as I was walking around the car to put Ian in on his side my ankle gave out. I went crashing to the concrete twisting my ankle and knee before my hip it the floor. By the grace of god Ian did not fall and stayed sound asleep in my arms. This accident has resulted in a lovely sprained ankle which I just don't have time for.

Both my mom and sister asked me what is going on because this is just how I was as a kid. I really don't know but whatever is causing this I need it to go away.

Updates

I know I've been gone for what seems like forever but really only a few weeks. Since the news from my sister life just seems to have taken over and I haven't had much time for anything.

There hasn't been anything new with Steph I'm just waiting on a surgery date so that I can book my flight out there. Of course this waiting is killing all of us but Steph is doing really well and staying nice and positive.

We did get some more bad news last weekend though. Our dog Ginger died last weekend. It appears to have been cancer even though she was so young. The kids were at my MIL's when it happened which I was glad for but we had to tell them when they got home Sunday night. Emma seems to be taking it the hardest and I feel so bad for her. She has spent most of the week upset and sad that she doesn't have her Gingy Bell.

On a happy note Dave's 30th birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I couldn't let this one go by without celebrating so we are having a big party here at our house. I found a great website Zazzle and ordered his invitations which I sent out early this week. Since we are going to have what we hope is a large number of people here we finally bought some bar stools for the breakfast bar and I love them. Dave and I also found these really cool metal panel sconces that we have hung on each side of the fireplace that look awesome. Hopefully we will be able to finish a few other small projects before the party but if not the house is still looking good even though it's not where we want it.

Well that's the big stuff going on here hope all is well with the rest of you.

Cancer

Last month I wrote this and today I am able to explain it all.

That post was all about my sister. She moved to San Diego California at the end of October. At the end of November she found an OB and had her yearly exam. Thankfully the OB she found is one that believes in checking her patients overall health not just the female parts. Part of that check up was to examine Steph's thyroid where she found a lump. She strongly urged Steph to see her family doctor about that which Steph did.

Last week Steph had her biopsy and the results came back yesterday. I just had to pause after typing that last sentence because I'm struggling right now to type the next one. My sister has cancer.

Yes I said it, my sister has thyroid CANCER.

When I got the call last night from Steph I knew the second I heard her shaky voice say Jo (her nickname for me) that it was bad news. She didn't actually tell me because I instantly started crying but I told her it would be ok. Even though Steph knows the medical side of this it was still hard for her to hear it as a patient this time. She was in complete panic mode. Not because she thought this was going to kill her but more because she knows that while this cancer is the least deadly it's still not an easy process. Her doctor also warned her that there could be a chance she will have to go through chemo and to her that was devastating. Of course Steph wasn't in the mood to talk much so I didn't ask to much just that she call me today. I spent the rest of the evening and all night just thinking about everything.

For me the word chemo brings back very vivid memories of my dad during his chemo treatments and after and he didn't make it. I had to keep telling myself that what Dad had was much worse that what Steph has and treatments are so much better now than they were 22 years ago.

As promised Steph called me this afternoon and I have more details. The first step will be surgery. As long as the Cancer has not spread farther than her lymph nodes, which they are pretty sure it's gone that far already, then she will only have to go through iodine and radiation treatments. If the cancer has spread more than she would have no choice but to do chemo. So please pray, cross fingers, whatever you do that she doesn't need chemo.

Right now that's is all we know. We are hoping to have a surgery date sometime next week but it will all depend on how quickly she can get in to see the general surgeon. When I have more information to share I promise I will.

Freddie the Friendly Monster

In September when we found out we were getting the house I started looking for stuff for the kids bathroom. I wanted their bathroom to be fun for them, and I wanted something different then everyone else has but it also had to be something that would work for a girl or a boy.

Little did I know that finding something that worked for a girl and boy and wasn't fish, ducks, or safari animals would be so difficult. After a few months of searching Target came out with the Freddie the Friendly Monster set and it was perfect. Both the kids liked it and it had a good mix of boy and girls. On top of that it wasn't too expensive.

For Christmas Santa was oh so smart and got each of the kids a monster hooded towel and monster puppet wash clothes so that mom and dad wouldn't have to get those too. Originally Dave and I were going to get the rest of the stuff for the kids as a Christmas present but at the last minute we changed our minds and got them more toys.

A few weeks ago we finally took the kids to Target and picked out all the stuff. We got the Green monster tooth brush holder who has a hole in his back for the toothpaste.



The make your own monster soap dispenser.



Multi monster trash can with removable bucket which makes emptying the trash so much easier.



Monster head shower curtain hooks



The circle fabric shower curtain. I had my choice between this one and a vinyl one that looked just like the trash can.



Fun circle hand towels



Finally my favorite piece so far the giant monster feet bath mats.



The only thing that sucked was that the feet were the only bath mats that Target had. Luckily Kolhs has also come out with a Monster bath set and while I don't like it as much they do have this.



The plan was to get that today but it seems we are in the middle of yet another snow storm so I will have to wait. I also need to find some kind of decorative hooks for the kids towels and robes which is proving to be a bigger challenge than finding a bath set for them. Lastly I need to figure out what pictures I'm going to frame to hang above the towel rack.

So once I had all the items set up I had to figure out how to paint the room. I finally settled on doing the walls in Caribbean Blue and painting different sized circles in Fruit Juice Purple, Sexy Pink, Daffodil Yellow, and Lucky Shamrock Green. I started the painting Friday evening and finished at 12:30 am last night. There was a point where I thought I would never finish it but I'm so glad I spent the time to do it.

So what do you think?







Super Cute right!