Stay-at-home-mom Monday

I think that today was the perfect example of a stay-at-home Mom day. There were highs and lows, giggles and tears, messes and tantrums, it was exhausting and fulfilling. Don't get me wrong, I love that I'm able to be a stay-at-home mom, I know I'm very lucky! But if I were to say that I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world I would be lying. I wish I could find the perfect well-paying, part-time job with a fantastic group of people doing something that I believe in where I feel valued and respected....doesn't everyone want that? Maybe the perfect opportunity will come along someday but for now I'm happily content to be a stay-at-home mom.

In any case today was one of those days where we seemed to go through our routine, we didn't do anything exciting, it was a typical Monday. I got up early so that I could put our new elliptical machine to use, got the kids up, made beds, made breakfast, gave Olivia her meds, cleaned up, got through Olivia's visit with her occupational therapist, put Peter down for a nap, cuddled with Olivia during her breathing treatment, played with Peter when he got up from his nap, made lunch, clipped coupons, refereed fights, chased Peter up the stairs, soothed tantrums, cleaned up, played games and sang songs with the kids, took pictures, worked on potty training Olivia, made dinner, and the list could go on for paragraphs....

Olivia is feeling better but she's not eating much. I'll make her something and then she'll enthusiastically take two or three bites but that's it. She's doing ok on the potty training, she's consistently having just one or two wet accidents a day. She's getting stronger and more independent, she can go up the stairs all by herself. She had her 2nd visit with her home-based occupational therapist today. I love the occupational therapist. She's great at relating to Olivia, she knows just how hard to push Olivia without pushing her too hard. She's so understanding about Peter being in the mix during Olivia's therapy sessions. I think we will all enjoy having her in our home once a week.

I did take these pictures today. Olivia brought me her headband and said "pretty" so I put it on her and she was clearly very please with herself. So adorable. Peter noticed that Olivia was sad so he crawled over to comfort her.

Memories

Mike and I got started on one of our resolutions for 2010 over the weekend.....being able to actually park cars in our garage. Mike found some heavy duty shelves on sale at Sears and he put them together over the weekend. We took the time to go through some of the boxes labeled "Memories" over the weekend. We have boxes full of special baby clothes for both Olivia and Peter. It sweet to look back at each of their "home from the hospital" outfits, their Christening outfits, the dress Olivia wore the day Mike came home from Iraq in 2006. It's funny how many more of these cute outfits we have for Olivia than we do for Peter. Olivia's little dresses are just too precious to get rid of but we didn't seem to have any trouble getting rid of Peter's plain 'ol boy clothes. Both Mike and I each have our own "memory" boxes. Mine includes my high school Letter jacket (I lettered in Cheerleading) along with pom poms and old cheerleading uniforms. There are several pairs of pointe shoes. I was really into ballet until I started high school. There are old pointe shoes that with a "made in the USSR" stamp. I remember the ballet studio I attended would submit bulk orders of the specially made shoes and import them from the USSR. Obviously this occurred before 1991. Mike's box was just as amusing, it includes his high school class ring along with a list of the most important things in pop culture that year.......song: Crossroads, movie: The Bodyguard, World News: water on Mars.

It was also a weekend of memories in the kitchen, yummy! I made a big batch of tortellini soup a recipe from a work colleague in Colorado. I made a double batch of my friend Dan's famous chicken enchiladas (one pan went straight into the freezer), I also made two batches of lasagna (again one ban went straight into the freezer), it was the first thing I ever cooked for Mike. He came over to my college apartment for dinner.

Now our garage is organized and the freezer is stocked! What a way to star the new year!

2009, A Year in Review

I wasn't going to spend too much time reflecting on 2009, in so many ways I'd rather just be done with it. But I've enjoyed reading the "year in review" posts from so many of our friends and family that I decided to do one of our own.

January

*I discovered a clinical trial at Duke University where Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplants were being used to help slow the progression of SanFilippo syndrome*
*Mike spent a couple of weeks for military training and got to see Death Valley*

February

*I got lots of practice parenting 2 kids while Mike was away for more training in California*
*We received official word that Mike would be deploying to Afghanistan instead of Iraq*
*We had a phone conference with our pediatrician in Washington state and the doctor at Duke to learn more about the Umbilical Cord Blood Transplant and if it would be an option for Olivia*
*I resigned from my volunteer role with Gamma Phi Beta Sorority*
*My Mom flew up to Washington for a quick visit*


March

*We traveled to Duke so that we could learn more about Transplant and see if Olivia would be an ideal candidate*
*After prayerful consideration we decided that Olivia would ultimately benefit from transplant and began the process to obtain approval from our insurance company*


April

*Mike requested a compassionate reassignment to Ft. Bragg*
*We received our 1st and 2nd denial from the insurance company for Olivia's transplant*

May

*After a phone call with 2 of our Congressional representatives (Mike is a registered Colorado voter while I was a registered Washington voter) they petitioned our insurance company on our behalf*
*We received the news that the insurance company WOULD approve the transplant*
*Mike's reassignment was approved*
*We sold the Durango and traded in the Audi and bought a new car. I love the Acadia and I'm so glad we didn't have to drive both cars cross-country*

June

*We packed up to move and all of our belongings were put into storage*
*We said goodbye to our friends in Washington and started our drive from Washington to North Carolina*
*Olivia began her pre-transplant work-up*
*we soaked up every second of time we had together as a family*
*My parents flew to North Carolina for a quick visit and they took Peter to live with them while we prepared to move into the hospital with Olivia*

July

*We got to spend some time with Mike's brother and his family for the 4th of July weekend before he headed to Afghanistan*
*We celebrated Olivia's 3rd birthday with bowling*
*Olivia was admitted to the hospital, made it through chemotherapy, and had her transplant*
*Mike reported for duty at Ft. Bragg*
*We all missed Peter terribly*

August

*Olivia was in the hospital*
*Mike worked during the week and moved in with an old friend from Ft. Carson, CO*
*Mike came up to Durham on weekends*
*We all missed Peter terribly*

September

*Olivia was released from the hospital*
*My Mom and Peter came to Durham for a quick visit*
*My Mom loaned Mike her truck since we would now need two cars*
*My sister Amy, came to help for a month while we re-adjusted to live outside the hospital*
*We learned that our insurance wouldn't cover any of our living expenses post-transplant*
*We missed Peter terribly*

October

*My mom's truck was stolen from the driveway of the house where he was living in Fayettville*
*The truck was found with minimal damage*
*My parents came to Durham for a quick visit*
*We were reunited as a family, Peter came home*
*Mike began house hunting in Fayettville*
*Mike flew to New Orleans to drive with his mom back to North Carolina*
*Olivia and Peter were Thing 1 and Thing 2 and the Duke PBMT Halloween Party*

November

*We found a great, SAFE, place to live near Ft. Bragg*
*Mike's Mom arrived to help us make the transition to Ft. Bragg*
*Mike and his mom moved into our new house near Ft. Bragg*
*We moved to Ft. Bragg for almost a week but Olivia got sick and we returned to Durham*
*Mike's brother came down from Washington DC for a quick visit*
*Mike's parents gifted us with their Explorer so we became a 2 car family again*
*Mike's Mom returned to New Orleans*
*We celebrated my birthday and Thanksgiving*

December

*We learned that Olivia had norovirus and we'd be in Durham for a couple more weeks*
*Peter took his first steps*
*We moved out of the Durham apartment and into our new house near Ft. Bragg*
*We celebrated Christmas as a family*


Now that I've typed all of that I still think that 2009 was a depressing year! I'm glad it's over but I'm also glad that I went through this little experience to remind me of how far we've come in such a short time! Here's to 2010 being a better year!

Christmas 2009

After I accidentally deleted almost all of our pictures from Christmas morning I was too depressed to post much about Christmas. I've recovered from my minor depression and I still have a few more things things that I wanted to share about Christmas 2009. We all had an amazing Christmas this year. The kids were both overwhelmed with toys and Mike and I were once again overwhelmed by the generosity of our family and friends. The Duke PBMT program has a relationship with Hendrick Motor Sports. The Hendrick "Pit Crew" visits 5200 four times throughout the year and brings some much needed excitement to the unit. They bring toys for patients and their siblings. In addition to these visits they also adopt PBMT families for Christmas. Despite spending almost 3 months as an inpatient on 5200 we missed visits from the "pit crew" by about a week before Olivia was admitted and after she was discharged. When we learned that we had to go back to Durham after our first brief stay here in Fayettville back in November our social worker insisted that I provide her with Christmas lists for Olivia and Peter just in case we were in Durham for Christmas. I did give end up giving her a list and I'm so glad! The day of our list Wednesday visit in Durham I stopped by the PBMT offices to pick up the wrapped presents. I was expecting just a few toys but was completely overwhelmed when I found three giant bags full of wrapped toys. Christmas morning was so much more exciting for all of us because we had no idea what the bags included. The Pit Crew was incredibly generous and thoughtful! Olivia and Peter received clothes, puzzles, books, toys, everything they could have ever wished for. It was such a special experience to have a Christmas morning full of surprise and excitement.

Now for our favorites.....

My favorite gift this year was a Bump It from my sister-in-law. I love it! It made me laugh out loud and I couldn't wait to try it. I don't think I've quite mastered the technique but I'll keep working on it :)

Peter's loved everything! I'd have to say his favorite would be a tie between the Walker/Block Wagon from my sisters and the really cool musical instruments from my Aunt Diana and family.

Olivia's favorites are her Little People Farm and her books. She got several books for Christmas ("If You Give a Mouse a Cookie", "If You Give a Pig a Party", "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs", "Pickles to Pittsburgh", and a "Dora Musical Adventure Storybook") and she loves them all!

Mike's favorite gift (aside from his itouch that he got on black Friday) are the T-shirts I got him from DirtyCoast. I don't remember where I found this company but they have fantastic t-shirt designs specific to New Orleans and Louisiana. His favorite this year is his "Kenna Brah" t-shirt. After all where else can you find the airport, a casino, a Rivertown, a Laketown and the home of the drive thru daquiris? In Kenna of course (pronounced Kenner by those of us not from the New Orleans area).

Finally I am very pleased with how the Christmas gifts I made came out. Since I couldn't get out of the apartment to shop I decided to make gifts this year. It was quite economical and I loved the time I got to spend with Olivia and Peter making them, we all had fun. So much less stressful than shopping in the crowded stores. Since everyone has received their gift I can finally post a picture! We put together a White Chocolate Cherry Cookie mix in a jar. Then I used the free photo Christmas cards from seehere.com to create the recipe instructions. I think this may become a new family tradition!