Blaiden is 4!

My Appearance: I am now 42 inches tall and weigh 36 pounds.  I am very tall for my age and when people ask how old I am they say I look so much bigger.  I agree and say "I know I'm so big."  I am in size 5T clothes and size 10 shoes.  My eyes are bright blue and I get a lot of complements on them.  My hair always looks messy because I wear my Spiderman mask all the time and it makes the back stand up.  I have a little round belly but other then that I am just tall and thin.  There are always several bruises on my body at any time.

Milestones: This year I got to go to school!  I love it!!!  I only go 2 mornings a week but wish I could go more.  I am learning so much, I know how to spell my name and I am working on writing it.  I know all my letters and can even spell small words like "mom" or "dad."  My favorite part of school is going outside and playing.  Mom got her first call from the school about 2 months into the school year because I fell and hit my head.  It gave me a huge bump on my eye and I had a black eye for about 2 weeks. I also had to go to the dentist and get 9 cavities fixed!  Mom and Dad were a little surprised I had that many, but they are fixed now and I am trying to not get any more. 

Daily Routine: I usually get up around 7 in the mornings.  I love to bring my football blanket out to the couch and snuggle up with my milk and watch a tv show like PJ Masks or Mickey Mouse.  Once the show is over I am ready to eat some breakfast and start playing.  I usually eat a smoothie for breakfast and I always make sure Mom puts in an avocado in it because that makes them so good.  Depending on the day I either get ready and go to school or just stay home and play.  I love to be wild and hit things. I am always pretending that I am a superhero trying to defeate a bad guy.  After Adilene goes to bed I get to bring out my big boy toys and like to put puzzles together, build legos, or play with play doh. 

Adilene Phase 2

Adilene has started phase 2 of her treatment.  This phase will last about 8-10 weeks.  Right now we go into the hospital 1 day a week and she receives several medications then a nurse comes out the house and gives her an injection 3 days a week.  She also takes medications morning and night.  The hard part Fred and I are finding is that her schedule has to be exact and it took a few days to figure that out. 

We got results back from her last bone marrow biopsy and it showed 0 cancer cells!!!  This was kind of expected considering how well she responded to the treatment but it was also very exciting to hear that 0. 

Last Wednesday was our first day in this phase and we ended up bring at the hospital for 8 hours!  I was not expecting this and so I was very unprepared with no lunch, running our of diapers, and needing a change of clothes for Adilene because she peed all over her pants.  Now I know what our days will be like and hopefully will be more prepared in the coming weeks.

Adilene lost a lot of strength while she was intubated.  When we left the hospital she couldn't even sit up on her own. Now she can sit, pull to standing, stand while holding on to something, and take a couple of steps while holding your hands.  She has started signing again and is even using 2 signs together to make a sentence.  She is getting stronger everyday and with that she is getting happier everyday.

Moble Snapshots #1

2016 Goals

I am having a very hard time coming up with a list of goals this year.  With everything that is happening with Adilene the only thing I want to do is get/keep her as healthy as can be.  Keeping that in mind makes other personal goal seem inconsequential.  Here are just a few things I have thought about while we were staying in the hospital. It seems this year I will be focusing on giving to others.

1.  I want to donate my hair for a wig.  It is an emotional thing when your child loses their hair during chemo.  I know it's just hair but with an adorable bald headed babe looking at you, you always see a sign of sickness.  I looked into using my hair to make a wig for Adilene but soon realized that she would not wear a wig so I decided I wanted to give it to someone who would.  I will be donating it to Wigs for Kids.   I am extremely nervous about cutting all my hair off but knowing that it could help a little girl feel better is all the reason I need to get over it and cut it.

2.  I want to work on my sewing skills.  I want to learn how to make hats and bags and give then to the families that are staying in the hospital.  I would say blankets but considering that Adilene received 4 and I even got one I think most people make blankets. 

3.  I also want to do something for the nurses and doctors.  We received such great care during our 31 day stay and continue to get the best care that I want to let those who were/are involved know that we appreciate them and how amazing they are at their jobs.  I am not sure what I will do yet but I am working on it.

4.  I want to have a yard sale.  This goal doesn't go along with the others but it has been a plan for about a year now and I have an entire corner of the attic dedicated to the "yard sale pile" and I want to clear it out.  One of my neighbors and I are trying to coordinate a neighborhood sale in late spring so hopefully this will be an easy goal to accomplish. 

Well there is my list,  I hope I accomplish all of these goals.  I would like to say it will be easy because I truly want to do each of these but that is true every year and I don't usually accomplish 100% each year. 

Christmas

Christmas this year happened on January 9th.  We had tried to keep the excitement up with Blaiden and talked about Santa a lot, read Christmas stories every night, and put new gifts under the tree every day so that he would keep his excitement up.  It is a good thing he is only 3 and didn't notice that we had Christmas a few weeks late.

The kids got to open new Christmas eve pajamas and it took some convincing but Blaiden finally decided to wear them even though they were not Spiderman pajamas.  Christmas morning was so much fun.  Adilene was feeling pretty good but she was not really into opening things.  Good thing she has a wonderful brother who didn't mind helping her at all!  Blaiden loved everything he got, well except the clothes probably.  Adilene got some great toys and some much needed clothes, I think she has grown a size just from her birthday.  We ate a good breakfast and played with all our new things, then ate a wonderful Christmas dinner.    

It was a pretty nice day so Fred actually took down all but one strand of lights outside (it needs to dry out a little before he can climb on the roof).  The next day I took down the tree and all the decorations inside and just like that Christmas is over.  I am so happy we waited until we got home to celebrate.  Now it's time to start working on Blaiden's birthday!

Sorta Christmas

This year we decided we didn't want to spend Christmas in the hospital and there is no way I could get everything together so we are postponing it until we get home.  We did end up celebrating a little bit on the actual holiday.

Christmas eve was the day that Santa came to the hospital.  Blaiden and my parents had only gotten here late the night before but they all woke up early to come and watch Santa land in the helicopter right outside the hospital.  Then they came back to Adilene's room and waited for him to come around and visit.  When Santa and Mrs. Clause got to Adilene's room they brought in 2 huge bags, one for each of the kids.  Fred, Blaiden, and I took a picture with Santa and Mrs. Clause, Adilene was hooked up to her IV and was in no mood to get up.  When Santa left Blaiden was so excited he just dove in his bag and started opening things.  That night Fred, Blaiden, and my dad went back to the house and my mom stayed with me at the hospital. 

Christmas morning When everyone was here we decided to let the kids open the gifts that we had at the hospital.  Adilene was given a 3 foot tree so underneath we had donations from the hospital and gifts from a few friends. They had a great time opening presents.  Adilene was feeling a little better and participated a little.  Once that was done we just hung out for a while then I took Blaiden and my parents home so everyone could get a nap.  We went back up to the hospital that night and just spent time together as a family.  It was actually a very enjoyable Christmas spent with the people we love the most.