Valentine's Day Mommy Style

                          Oh Valentines Day  I hate you! Let me count the ways!

1. tearing the kids cards apart
2. the little stickers/tattoos yeah they suck too
3. the treat bags
4. the annoying room mom & her damn notes
5. The annoying room mom with her super cute & crafty snacks
6. Oh did I mention the ANNOYING ROOM MOM..
7. Having to send overpriced balloons to your 7 yr old because all the other mom's are
8. The agony fun of watching your kid filing out all 23 cards  
9. Your choice
10. The stress of Valentines with a 5 & 7 year old who for some reason think that a fairy-cupid is going to bring us treat, hang hearts on our house and presents too.

Let me tell you they were let down. Yes we bought them both a balloon, a small toy and 2 new outfits, yes our kiddos are spoiled. My little princess even got a single red rose from daddy. But you know what I may bitch & complain about it but the excitement that comes of my babies on a holiday make all the crazy before hand so worth it.

For me the yearly dozen roses, box of cookies and dinner out at our favorite Mexican place. My hubby got an amazing home made pie. We have somehow let the holiday of lovers turn into another kid day..

Back to School or Normal?

 My baby boy starts 1st grade soon, we went today to find out who his teacher is & to get his hair cut. I just can not get my head around how quickly time has went by. Seems like just yesterday I was taking 3 pregnancy test to believe the news after more than 3 years trying we did it!! 
  Now he is a pizza eating game playing basketball loving 6 year old who quit giving me kisses on the lips months ago! 
 Not to mention the fact that when our daughter was diagnosed with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis at 13 months that sorta turned the next 3 years into a big blur.. We look at her like what the hell happened to our baby girl? Oh chemo that's it. O missed out on a lot too but that comes with being a SuperSib. I just say thank you every day that it is behind us now! 

 Can you say baby fever is kicking in at our house!

  Yesterday was a very big day for us! Our daughter had her 3 month check up & CT-Scan to monitor her remission from Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis. We got up bright and early to head off to Indianapolis Riley Hospital for Children. 

We made the very familiar 2 1/2 hour drive there and back not knowing what the results of the scans would be.
 Sissy who used to sit very still and stay super quiet for her port access for chemo and blood draws was a screaming monster during her IV to get labs and for the contrast dye for the CT.. It took me and 3 nurses to hold her down for the poke she was as quiet as could be from then on. She put up a little fuss getting the contrast injection but she showed me she is still super girl (our name for her at home) by being still for her pictures of inside her ear scan to make sure the tumor on her skull had not returned. We went back up to Hem/Onc clinic to see some old friends who could not believe how much K has grown. She was a baby when we first met the doctors & nurses and now well she is a little princess spoiled rotten drama queen who loves everything pink and is super friendly even after all she has been through. Seen her doctor who she still hugs every time we see him cutie pied him for a few minutes as always he told me how amazing she looks and just smiles!! 
   We made our trip down to McDonald's after her appointment's to grab some lunch then hit the road home to wait some more for the news! Don't these doctors know that We-speaking for all chemo parents- would wait as long as it takes to get the news right there. I don't know about other parents but I stress out almost from the time of the last scan until the new one on if we are having a relapse. Geez.. Give us the news why we are there.. 
So after being home several hours her doctor called and gave me the news-wait for it- ALL CLEAR!! Such a big sigh of relief. We also got the clear for her to start immunizations which is great news, just another step towards us finding our normal.

The next few weeks look to be super busy back to school for O this week, summer dance class ending and new classes starting. Karate for O. Two back to school nights. Then sissy starts school. 

Oh and September is Childhood Cancer Awarness Month!! Kids Get Cancer Too!! And Histiocytosis Awareness Month! 


Learn more about Histiocytosis please visit the Histiocytosis Association of America

Monday's

Today started like any other Monday. I woke up to my 4 yr old in bed with me I fell asleep watching That 70's show on Nick at Night  I totally brought this on to my self so I was up 30 minutes early. Coffee in hand I sat down trying to wake up after being stalked  followed into the living room with demands for food I quickly lost my extra 30 minutes. Time to get the boy up to my surprise he jumped up on my first attempt whew! No breakfast issues it was ready he liked the school lunch choice & even accepted the clothes choices I had laid out. We were moving along time to load into the van to drive him to school amazingly the drop off line was empty I quickly thought WTH is there school today? No just luck for us!!
I also started out day 2 of my Spring cleaning and got a lot accomplished.. All the wood floors are steamed & swept walls wiped down toys cleaned out. Way more than I thought possible with sissy home she was easily babysat distracted by all the cartoons that she never seen because she'd been at school. Tomorrow I will tackle the clothes issue I could easily clothe 2-3 more kids and at least 2 other women with the amount of excess we have right now. My poor husband well he only has 2 drawers and 2 shelves he's not the problem on this so I am left alone of the clothes clean out.

One big thing happened today I noticed for the second time that sissy had a red bump on her skull with a weird rash/scratchy area on it. With her history of Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis it set off flags for me that this could be signaling a flare up. So tomorrow I make the dreaded call to oncology to give them a heads up & see what her main doctor thinks if I should see her pediatrician or wait until our scheduled clinic appt. this Thursday. This is also her big hearing test day to see how much damage the tumor & chemo did to her.