September 19, 2006

The Dancing Girlies


Here are the two princesses in their new dancing outfits. They have lessons again tomorrow night and cannot wait.

We have had a busy weekend--Saturday was a golf outing in Dike at Fox Ridge in memory of Brady Dove who fought childhood cancer and passed away in 2004 and in honor of Cecelia Lopez who had a neuroblastoma and is in remission. Chris had signed up to play in the event and then was asked if Leah wanted to release a dove at the opening ceremony. Brady's mom, Laura, has talked with me and emailed me different times and was very helpful in getting me names of people who would help with blood draws at Covenant. Chris was very impressed with the whole event and plans to participate next year as well. I came with the girls for the opening ceremony so Leah could do her duty and release a dove and then we left to come home for nap time. The lady who talked at the opening ceremony asked if Leah could wave to everyone and say "hi"--and much to my surprise, Leah did a great job and did just what was asked. I remember a time not very long ago when she would have crawled behind me and hid. I found the event to be very impressive, but also very difficult emotionally as well. We certainly wish that our daughter didn't have to know about cancer or chemotherapy, but we continue to be thankful to the families that have gone through this who continue to reach out to us and truly know the emotions that we feel.

Friday night (sorry-I am backtracking) I took the girls to the Denver football game. We were all ready to walk out the door when Chris got a call for work. So, I just decided that we would be fine up there and talked to the girls on the way up to the game about needing to cooperate. They had supper at the game and then we ended up staying until halftime. The big thrill was the marching band. Chris asked me when we got home who Denver was playing and what the score was. I did know that no one had scored, but I was not very sure who they were playing --or even what colors their uniforms were. Guess I was too busy socializing.

Reeve's two week check-up was good. She weighed 7lbs., 1 oz, so she is bigger than her birthweight. When comparing the girls' birth announcement pictures to her, they all look very much alike. Leah also did a great job with her port being flushed. She does not like it and I hate the look of pain and sadness in her eyes when it happens. Georgie tries to make if fast, though, and get it over with, and we ended up going early and avoiding taping her port site at all because we put the Emla on at Covenant and just placed gauze over the top.

So, it is 10 days until our Iowa City trip. This is for blood work (AFP reading) and a CT scan. We are going to try the scan without sedation. Now that I am not pregnant I will stay in the room with her during the scan. It is probably less painful/invasive than the echo, but the machine might look scarier to her. She does have to drink an awful tasting barium drink before this which is another problem we have had in the past. So, please, please pray for all the tests to go quickly and for very low AFP numbers and a clean CT scan.

The Iowa City trip is looming at the front of our minds, but at the back of our minds is the Make a Wish Trip we will be going on. Leah's wish is for at trip to Disney World, so October 1-7 we will be heading to Florida. My sister, Suzanne, will be staying with Reeve, and Chris, Leah, Chloe and I will be enjoying some warm Florida weather, Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, and having a great time. We are excited about this -especially Leah and Chloe (I am finding it hard to get excited yet until after the I. C. trip). Leah knows how to type the websites for all the locations in on the computer and has done a bit of research herself. We received our initial packet that tells us that we will have a two bedroom, two bathroom villa -- this is a much better vacation than we would have ever gone for ourselves!

My days of maternity leave are passing quickly. I have a list that is getting longer of things I need to get done while at home--including planning a baptism, getting Chloe's birthday party figured out, and scrapbooking, cleaning, and even thinking about Christmas. We continue to thank God each day for having some "normal" things to think about and being able to spend time together as a family. We ask that you keep Leah in your prayers--for her complete healing here on earth and for an uneventful check-up in Iowa City.