Friday, June 26, 2009

Last month in a nutshell

I know it's been a while since I've posted and that's due to us getting back to "normal" life. I admit, it's been an adustment getting back to the swing of things...swimming lessons, grocery stores, preschool, etc. Trust me, I'm so grateful to be doing the crazy normal things, I'm just getting used to being the full time Mommy again!


It's been over a month since our last hospital stay. It's almost felt weird not going back...almost. But trust me, we have enjoyed it! It has felt so great to stay home and know that Bree's treatment is over. As for us, I wanted to post a few pictures of the last month.

First thing's first, Breezy is doing great. She's is crawling all over the place and enjoying her new freedom. She's started to get feisty and develop attitude. It's fun to see her personality develop. She's also started to become more girly at her 15 months of age. She will bring me her shoes and hold her feet in the air for me to put them on! I LOVE that she loves shoes! That's my girl! Also, she has been interested in wearing bracelets and sunglasses. Anytime I have a bracelet on, she has to wear one too. I'm amazed that she is already so interested in these things at such a young age! Last of all is her hair:
It's growing! I took this picture about 2 weeks ago. It's almost 1 inch long now. With her new found girlyness she's tolerated wearing her bows and hats, but now that her platinum blonde is coming out, I want to show it off!

This past Wednesday she had a check-up with her oncologists which entailed a physical exam and bloodwork and everything is looking good. She'll go in once a month for the next 2 years for the blood work and every 3 months she'll have the other tests done (MRI, bone marrow biopsy, etc) to look for any sign of the tumor...which they won't find because it's gone! Goodbye cancer, we won't miss you!

As for the boys, they've been doing great. Caleb had his last day of Kindgergarden on June 3rd. He had a program at school which he thoroughly enjoyed. He loves his friends from school. He's already missing school and his teachers.

Gunner had his last day of preschool on May 28th. Here's a picture of him with all his friends from his class. Thanks Rachael for letting me steal this off your blog. :) Gunner is on the right side.
Then (about 2 weeks ago) we were able to go on our first trip as a family in over 7 months! We went to the cabin and had such a great time. The Browns (Krista & Ryan) were there at the same time and we had so much fun with them! The boys were in heaven with all their cousins!
Gunner and his cousin Cameron have matching PJ's (thanks Krista!) and they were so excited to be twins up at the cabin. These two were inseparable. Everywhere they went they were together. Cute boys!

This trip Bree got to take her first ride on the quad with Daddy. I was a little nervous about how she'd do, but she was loving it and Justin was loving having his little girl ride with him all while enjoying the beautiful scenery all around them.

Last year Justin got me a new camera, which I love, but I didnt really know what I was doing with it because it had a bunch of fancy buttons and gadgets. Well, I've taken a few classes and tried to get aquainted with the camera so this cabin trip I tried a few of the techniques I've learned. I do not claim to be a photographer, but it's been fun experimenting!

Trying to capture "Sunflare"

I love my boys but for some reason whenever I want to take some cute pictures of them, their faces are always stained with whatever food they've been eating. What kind of Mom takes pictures with stained faces? Oh well, maybe I'll learn photoshop someday and remove the brownie stains!

This is my ultimate favorite shot of the day. The wild flowers are so beautiful at the cabin. Bree was being a really good sport and let me take some fun pictures of her. She is my little supermodel!



Friday, June 5, 2009

End of Treatment Ceremony

On May 28th, 2009, before Bree left the hospital for the final time, the staff on the pediatric oncology floor threw her a big party! Every time a child completes their chemotherapy treatment the nurses have a celebration for them and the latest 'to-do' is to ring the GONG! This gong was donated by a family that experienced & conquered cancer this past year. The gong symbolizes the end of treatment. It is something tangible for the kids to "hit!" In fact, Caleb and Gunner had the chance to hit the gong after Bree did and after Gunner took his turn he said, "I killed the cancer!"
 
The video below is Bree's last day in the hospital. Keep in mind, this was only 6 days after surgery and she was already standing up again! Children are so resiliant, it's amazing! 

She wasn't a fan of the loud noise the gong made but I love the symbolism in doing this. It's a new beginning, free from cancer. I'm excited to move on and watch Bree grow, free from this horrible disease. Down with Cancer!