The Pin Curl

Tonight, we are going to a party for my children's school. The theme is 1940's. So, I get this dress, I'm all set for tonight. One final touch, the hair.

Last night, Jon went out to a concert. I decided to invite my girlfriend over after we put our kids to bed to come, drink some wine and work on our hair.

We go online and all we see? Pin curls. Everywhere. Step by step pin curls. Oh, this is easy we say, as we drink more wine and roll our hair. According to the photos and instructions, when you take the pins out, with the twist of a wrist, you get this gorgeous wavy well constructed hair.

So, I went to bed with a head full of bobby pins and tied up in a do-rag. This morning, I woke up so excited! A twist of the wrist and this is what I had!

I giant afro!!!

Thank god I live in 2009!

The Ugh, and The Double Ugh.

The Ugh
Hi everyone! Well on Sunday, I had this great post written about the weekend and all the fun activites the kids had been doing. I was beat after the Super Bowl, so I thought I would just write it on Monday when I got home from work.

Well, the best laid plans as they say...

Was sitting at lunch for my boss' birthday on Monday. Suddenly, I felt freezing. I asked everyone at the table if they, too, were cold. They looked at me like I had four heads. Then, the achiness started. That's when I knew I was toast.

By 3:30, I had the chills and my legs suddenly weighed 500 lbs each.

For the next two days, my fever ranged anywhere from 100.8-102.4. I was freezing. I was sweating. I hurt everywhere.

I went to the doctor and found out that I did not have the flu but rather a bacterial infection. I begged him to make me better faster. So, rather than taking 10 days worth of antibiotics, he gave me a shot and a zpack.

Today, I am back to normal. Just in time for Eva's MRI tomorrow.

The Double Ugh
The doctor wanted to do an MRI on Eva six weeks post-chemo. That was actually last week but since we could not get an appointment, we got the "sweet" appointment of 7:ooam tomorrow.

The thing is when you have these MRI's, you get assigned an anesthesiologist and you don't find out who that person is until the night before.

So, tonight, guess who calls me? SENIOR MOMENT LADY! You all might remeber she's the one that one time delayed us three hours and Eva came out with emersion dementia. Then, we unluckily had her again and guess what? Five hour delay and 45 minutes of screaming Eva hell (aka emersion dementia part 2).

I just blew a gasket. I called and tried to find out if someone else could take her tomorrow and they cannot. So, we have to cancel and reschedule for next week.

I am so upset. I have been worried sick on the edge of my seat for weeks worried about Eva's tumor growth. Now, we have to wait until next week and just hope that we don't get assigned the same person! This is just miserable!

Anyway, we're all fine here beyond that. I'm just really bummed tonight so not such a happy bouncy post. I'll have more of those this weekend, I'm sure.

Quickie

Good morning!

Well, I had planned this big post since I had not written much in a week or so. HOWEVER, I completely passed out last night at 9:30. Just sitting in a chair. Out like a light.

So, here's my morning post!

Went to the doctor yesterday. Our course of treatment says that we do an MRI every three months. He did not want to wait that long, given this tumor that is sitting there that we can't remove. So, we're doing one next week.

I'll be on pins and needles, of course, until then but I just have to hope that all will be well.

The Inauguration

As I'm sitting in my writing chair in my den, I just can't sum up what today means for me and our country. I have just turned off the Inauguration that I watched for the second time today.

Let me begin by saying that this post is not about politics. The fact is that I don't talk much about politics here or in person as I believe, just as I believe about religion, that it is a personal choice.

This afternoon, my colleagues and I gathered in a conference room to watch the Inauguration. We were together, all from different backgrounds, races, religions, political beliefs, socio-economic status, but unified in our captivation of what we were witnessing today. What a great day for our country!

Seeing the passion in the eyes of those fortunate enough to witness it in person, feeling so much pride in my country, I was overwhelmed with emotion.

I was watching all the hoopla leading up to the swearing in. All the references to Lincoln, all the shots of the Lincoln Memorial and for a moment, my mind wandered a bit. It went back in time to 1989.

I was 19 years old and getting ready to move to Georgia from Virginia away from the only home I had ever known. My father had accepted a new job in Savannah and off we were all going. Away from my friends and extended family. On to a new life.

As a bit of a send-off, my two best friends and I went to Washington, DC for the day as we had done many times before. These two folks had become my sister and brother in the years we had known each other. We were an inseparable trio having met at work as teens and then gone to college together. Our other friends often referred to us as The Triad. These two people knew all my secrets.

That trip, we went to DC to shop at Tysons Corner, walk around The Mall and see the Smithsonian's. That evening, because we were too poor to get a hotel room (and had spent all our money on shopping and eating!), we had planned to head back to Norfolk when it got dark.

We went for a walk that night to the Lincoln Memorial and sat down to chat. We talked about life and where we thought it would take us. We laughed about the memories we had together and cried knowing that life would not be the same after I moved away.

We talked about how fortunate we were as friends to be living in that time and how thankful we were for those like Lincoln who went before us. As it was, even as recent as 20 years earlier, the time we were born, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for us to have been friends. We are a white woman, a black woman and an asian man. My sister and brother.

Hours and hours passed. We talked until the sun came up and we knew we had to return home. It was time for me to pack for my big move. Time for me to move on to my new life.

For the rest of my life, I will never forget that special night. I hold it as one of the most precious nights of my life. We were young, naive and full of hope. We had so many dreams and so many things we were going to accomplish. We did not know much about what our future held but we knew that whatever happened, we would be together.

Now, 20 years later, my "sister" and "brother" are still two of my best friends. We've changed, moved several times, fought, made up, hoped (and still hope) that our kids marry each other, been there for each other through illness, sadness and happiness. We've even added a fourth to our Triad over the years. One thing remains the same, we're still counting our blessings for each other and thanking those tireless people who made it possible for us to be friends.

God Bless you, Mr. President. I wish you well on your journey.

Ricardo Montalban

Here's something that might surprise you, if you don't know me personally.

I'm a Star Trek fan.

There, I said it.

I'm not the "convention/recite every episode" type but do admit that I get giddy at the thought of Star Trek. When we were in our 20's, Jana and I once went to the Air and Space museum in DC because they were having a Star Trek exhibit. One of my favorite pictures is the two of us getting "beamed" up. It was full-on geeky. It was awesome.

My all-time favorite Star Trek film is the Wrath of Khan. Khan was a bad dude. Ricardo Montalban played Khan with such perfection. I probably saw this movie eight times in the theatre. When I was in the hospital with leukemia, a friend brought me a tape of this movie. I watched it EVERY day for months. The nurses used to make fun of me because I just kept re-winding it over and over again. I mean, it's Khan! Khaaaaaaan! Khaaaaaaaaaaan!!!

Rest in peace, Ricardo.

Confession Tuesday

Hi Everyone and Happy Tuesday!
*******
NEWS ALERT! Talked to the surgeon yesterday. He visited with Dr. Goldman. From the results we received over Christmas, we believe that the tumor is a matured tumor or a benign tumor. If it never grows, it will not harm her in anyway and might go away on its own. The reason they would like to do surgery is to 1-remove the tumor and 2-biopsy it to be sure what it is made of.

Now, on to the conversation with the surgeon. Bottom line is that this tumor is in a terrible location for surgery. It's right on the spine and in order to remove it, they will have to move around Eva's diaphragm, adrenal glands, and kidneys during surgery. That sounds like a terrible thing to happen to a 2-year old.

What's the plan? They want to leave it in there and watch it for another month. Pediatric tumors grow very quickly so we should know something very soon if it is going to grow. So, we're in holding pattern #47 for a bit.
*******
Ok, let me just get this out of the way. I'M LEAVING FOR MEXICO IN TWO DAYS!!!!! WAHOO!!! It's my BFF, Shug's, 40th birthday and there are 6 of us heading down for some R&R. I'm working on my gin hand because my girlfriend has been talking trash for a couple of weeks and I need to take her DOWN! It's you and me, sista, on the thatched-roofed balcony over looking the ocean. You know the one!
*******
I'm 100% certain that my co-workers are THRILLED that this trip will finally be over. I've done nothing but jump up and down and talk about it for weeks. As it is getting closer, I jump higher and talk more frequently.
*******
I have canceled so many things for this trip to save money. I've had my eyes on the prize for six months.
*******
Ok, enough about that. Can I get a WAHOO for the return of the Bachelor??? I loves me some Jason. If you're a fan and watch the show, check out some recaps. This one has been a favorite of mine for several years. Chris Harrison also blogs on ew.com and is hilarious!
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Oh, those Golden Globes were great. I'm filing away my picks for the big Oscar tournament coming soon. Anyone have any early favorites to discuss?
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Took Jack to an open house today for a public Montessori school. First of all, we LOVE our school and plan to keep Jack there but to save $8,000 per year, it was worth a look, especially when everyone keeps telling us what a great school it is! There were hundreds of parents there for the open house. I could not believe it. I heard from one parent that some folks camp out the night before to make sure that they are among the first to get their child's application in. That is certainly not for me!
*******
Jack will NOT get into this school and not because I refuse to sleep in a sleeping bag in 30 degree weather. The very kind teacher leading the class told us some of the basic requirements for an upcoming KINDERGARTNER (a child aged 4, now). They include: being able to write your full name (first, middle and last), count to 100, reading, and "basic math" such as addition and subtraction of two digit numbers. She also said that some kids can write all their numbers from 1-100...at FOUR!

FOUR?

While I have always known that Jack was very advanced verbally, he's very behind in his writing skills. He can barely draw a straight line, much less write his full name. Alas, guess that's just not for us. Thank heavens because I would hate to feel guilty for not behaving like a crazy parent.
*******
I seem to recall that I learned to read in kindergarten. I also learned to count to 10 in french. Beyond that, I think it was mostly play. I mean, it's kindergarten, for goodness sakes! Why do they have to name the continents by four? (for the record, Jack can.) Maybe it is just me.
******
That's it for the week.

Heeeeey!

Well, it turns out that someone far more creative than I wrote this tribute to Goodnight Moon called Goodnight Mom. Hmm, maybe I need to copyright my name! Anyway, enjoy!!

Goodnight Mom
(with apologies to Margaret Wise Brown)
By Sarah Jio, Parenting

In the messy green family room

There was a telemarketer ringing the telephone

And a crying toddler

because his brother just popped his red balloon

And a picture of--
The cow jumping over the moon (which someone colored on with permanent marker)

And there was a missing teddy bear,

and a girl with gum in her hair

And one to be scolded

And laundry to be folded

And a very hungry spouse

And something stinky in the house (that no one else seemed to smell)
And a comb and a brush

and a colicky baby who just won't shush

And a frazzled mommy screaming #*%#@

Goodnight messy room

Goodnight scribbled-on moon

Goodnight cow getting out while she can

Goodnight telemarketers and the popped balloon

Goodnight long-gone teddy bear

Goodnight cereal bar smeared all over the dining room chair
Goodnight spitup

And goodnight leaky sippy cup

Goodnight much-too-little house

and goodnight grumpy spouse

Goodnight comb and goodnight brush

And goodnight to a certain 4-year-old who just needs to hush--right now I mean it
Goodnight Elmo

Goodnight toys we'll pick up tomorrow, or the next day

Hello chardonnay and TiVo--

"me" time, finally

Waste of Time

Well, today's appointment was a complete waste of time. Turns out that despite my asking yesterday if the surgeon had the MRI and was all set to meet with us, he didn't and wasn't.

When I walked in, he was his usual jovial self and said, "so, do you have the MRI for us to review?" I said, uh no. Your staff said you had it.

He had reviewed it back in December but did not have it now. He was pretty upset at his staff for dropping the ball. Ugh.

It was just a waste of my time at a time when I don't have any to waste.

He said that from what he could recall, it's a small piece in a pretty difficult area. Yes, already knew that. He made some quick suggestions of what to do based on what he could remember. No need to publish any of that.

So, bottom line is that he said he would call Dr. Goldman, get the MRI, review it this weekend and call us on Monday with a plan.

The only good news is that it is 80 degrees out and I got home at 4:30. So, Jon and the kids are outside playing football. I'm heading out to join them. I hope you all have a great weekend!

And then there were 13...

Tonight, James Nathan became my 7th nephew. Add him to my 6 nieces and that totals 13! Is that excessive to have 13 nieces and nephews? How lucky I am!!!

James arrived this evening in North Carolina. I'm told he looks just like my brother, who by the way, looks just like my son. Big ears, big eyes. Just my type. So, I'm sure I'll take a pretty good shine to him.

I can't believe my Nathaniel is a father. Nip (as we call him) is the 6th child of the 8. He was born just 15 months later than his older brother. Nip was scrawny and as I told him looked like a Mickey Mouse lollipop, just a stick with ears. Big ears, big eyes. Just my type.

As he grew, I always felt that it was my job to protect him from the outside world. I was the one to make sure his shoes were tied and shirt tucked in before he left the house. If someone messed with him, I was the one there to make sure that they did not do it again. True story but I once threatened to beat up some kids who were making fun of him at the park. They were 6. I was 20. You didn't mess with my Nip.

Now, at 6ft 5in and 200 some odd lbs, it's my little Nip's turn to take care of a little one. It's his job to beat up the kids.

Don't you worry little James. Your Daddy will take great care of you. If not, your Aunt is right there on the next swing. Don't you worry, I can take them.

Welcome James with your big ears and big eyes! A big kiss from your Aunt.

Surgeon Update

We meet with the surgeon on Friday afternoon to discuss options for Eva's remaining tumor.

We'll decide then, if surgery is possible or if it is in a location that is just too risky.

More to come.

Confession Tuesday

Ok, here's my first confession in a LONG while. Let's have at it, shall we?
*******
My house looks awful. It is currently in a state of disarray due to the fact that we moved the kids in together and reorganized the now guest/playroom. We still have lots of work to do but since I've been working on it non-stop since Friday afternoon, I just needed a mental break tonight. So, I cooked dinner, fed the kids, put them to bed and sat down to WATCH THE BACHELOR-- NEW THIS WEEK!!! GO JASON! GO JASON! GO, GO JASON!
*******
Jon says of all the stuff I make him watch, which is PLENTY, mind you, The Bachelor is by far the worst. Maybe so, but when you have the right group of folks on that show, it can be like the world's best chocolate cake you get to eat for 10 weeks.
*******
While staying with my sister over Christmas, I learned to love HGTV. Mostly, Designed to Sell. You always think your house looks ok and then you watch those HGTV shows and realize how your house looks like crap. The good news about that particular show is that they have some pretty simple, short projects that don't look that hard. They also make me want to organize, throw away, organize, replace, repaint, organize. Time to make Jon do some watching.
*******
I'm going to Mexico in less than two weeks. My dear friend, Shug, is turning 40 and we are hitting the beach for four days of R & R. I just had to mention that because it is on my mind given the fact that it was sleeting outside today. I'm sure I'll mention it, again.
*******
Speaking of things on my mind. I can't stop cracking myself up at the thought of my Ikea Depot. You'd walk into this bright blue building, have a handful of these parts and then ask the friendly Sweede, "Where can I find square plastic pegs?" "Oh, but of course, you may find zem near zee round plastic pegs on aisle 5 just past zee meatballs".

I don't know why my Sweede talks with a french accent but it's my fantasy, so deal with it.
*******
Speaking of our trip to Ikea on Saturday night, it was the night that my dearest son, Jack decided to try out his first swear word. He was tired and cranky and turned to me in the store and said, "Mom, let's just go get the damn bed." I think I almost paralyzed myself by snapping my head so fast around to look at him. Now, for the record, if he had said a word that rhymes with spit, I would have known it came from me as that seems to be the only remnant of my former "sailor" ways. HOWEVER, "damn" is all Jon. I blame football (English and American), really. Jon mostly only swears when football is on.

Anyway, I thought he might have learned his lesson on Saturday but guess what? He did not. Tonight, over dinner, Jack said, "Mom, what the hell is this?" (Ok, for the record, that MIGHT have come from me.)

I won't write the punishment I provided to my darling boy so that I don't have any parents writing me mean notes but I have to say, I do believe Jack's mouth might be a bit cleaner from now on. Literally.
*******
Ok, so I've mentioned that my kids are fond of naked. They have naked racing almost every night through the house. I've finally convinced them to at least put on underpants as they run through the house admiring their buttocks in mirrors. I mean, really, honestly. Anyway, Saturday, it was 78 degrees here and we had all the windows and doors open on the house. The kids had made mud pies outside and needed a bath. After the bath, Jack comes sprinting out of the bathroom, jumps on a bed and yells out the front window, "HELLO NEIGHBORS! IT'S PARTY TIME AND I'M NAKED!!!!!"
*******
Ok, off to bed. Happy Tuesday!!!

Random Thoughts at 6 AM

Good morning. I'm up at 6 to go to work but thought I would take a moment to write a post. I have not written a post since before New Year's so this is sort of a random assortment of the things I've been thinking about for the past couple of weeks. Sort of like an early confessional for the week, if you will.
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Happy New Year! Today is January 5. I hope that you and your families have had a wonderful one. For me, this is about the 7th posting I have started in the past 10 days. I just can't seem to write about the New Year because I just can't seem to want to face all the things that happened in the past year. So, without recapping all the drama of the past 12 mos, let's just say, I was pretty happy to see 2009!
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We had a great Christmas with the family this year. My sister was so awesome to host us for a full week. My parents were so great to keep the kids for most of the week. It was just so relaxing.
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That said, there was a little drama for us getting to NC and home from NC but we made it safely. Some highlights of the travel include, a night at the airport, literally running through the airport, missing a flight, me crying publicly (you all KNOW how much I LOVE that!), awesome people helping us by moving so we could sit together, luggage on the other side of the state from where we landed, 18 hours and two airports on the return trip, five hour flight delay, and a screaming two year old. Good times.
*******
Our New Year's Eve was the same as last years, spent at a dear friend's house. The kids were at their nanny's for the night and we had an adult overnight party that went WAY too late. The good news about that? No one was waking me up at 6am! WAHOO!
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On New Year's Day, we went to a friend's open house. The kids had a fantastic time because they had spent the past 24 hours at the Nanny's house, which is like summer camp for them and then went to our friend's house to play for several hours, also like camp. They and we were EXHAUSTED from all the running and playing.
*******
Jon and I went to Ikea on Saturday to get Jack a new bed. We've decided to move both kids in the same room. Our thought is that it might make them sleep better if someone was in the room and maybe we won't have as many midnight visitors. Here's to hoping that's true!
*******
We were up until midnight on Saturday night assembling that stuff AND spent all day on Sunday rearranging. Why does Ikea have so many strange looking parts? I mean, who thinks of these little tiny things with such odd shapes? No runs to the Depot to fix your stuff, that's for sure! Nope, they need an Ikea Depot. Can you imagine what that would be like? The aisles would have headers like, Triangle-Shaped Thingy's, Tiny Wrenches, Pegs, and Plastic Screws. I wonder if I worked there if I could get a discount.
*******
While we have been avoiding the hospital, Eva had been trying to get us to take here there. Today, she goes back to school for the first time since chemo started. She will go with a bruised head from where she ran into a wall, a purple finger from where she shut the car door on herself (for the record, we were going out and I had unlocked the car to put the kids in it. Eva just beat me to the car and managed to damage herself in seconds...ugh), a scabbed nose from where she flipped out of a swing not once but TWICE on New Year's Day, a black eye from where she did not listen and sit down but instead fell and hit her face on Jack's new bed, AND another purple finger from where she had a tape measure close on her hand. I'm not even mentioning the number of times I had to race across the yard of my friend's house on New Year's because Eva was trying to dive bomb down their slide head first. She has the perfect combination of fearlessness, hard-headedness, clumsiness and inability to learn from her mistakes that makes for quite a challenge, that's for sure. I just hope I don't get a friendly visit from CPS by the end of the day!
*******
Ok, off to work! Have a good one!

Good News!

Got a call today from the doctor. Eva's urine tests were NORMAL! That means that the little piece that is still left inside of her is probably NOT neuroblastoma!

This is terrific news!

So, next week, we call the surgeon to see if we can remove the tumor.

Taking things a day at a time but this was a step in the RIGHT direction!!!

Five Things I Love About Christmas

My pal Laura, tagged me with the easiest tag I have ever received. Name five things I love about Christmas. Christmas is my favorite time of year. I could go on and on about the things that I love about it. But, since I only can name five, here you go!

As I sit here at my sister's house with children screaming in my ear, I am reminded of #1.

1) Being around my family. I know that many of you have large crazy families. You have to understand how wonderful and stressful and terrific and comforting it is to be around them. My sister and I have children the same age so we have five children between the age of 2 and 8 running around the house nonstop for a week. Some might find this a bit of a beat down, it makes me so happy.

2) The smell of Christmas trees. Can't be beat. Seriously.

3) How happy everyone seems to be this time of year. It is as if people just inject themselves with happiness. I LOVE that!

4) Christmas songs sung by my family. Ok, if you guys had not figured it out yet, we are geeks to the core. I think that my family just wishes that life were a musical because we can be known to burst into song at any time. It only takes one person to sing one note and the whole family joins in. Here's a perfect example. Christmas this year happens to coincide with Hanukkah. So, Jon brought our menorah and we've been celebrating this week here. Well, last night, Jon very quietly lit his menorah. Not to let any tradition slip past us, we all burst into"'Tis the week of Hanukkah", all just for Jon. Yes, nothing makes my husband happier than a room full of Doziers singing songs to him. Bring on the music!

5) Watching the kids open presents on Christmas morning. Awesome.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!!!!

25,000!

Today, I hit 25,000 visits on my blog! Holy cow! That is amazing to me. It is so amazing that so many folks care about my family.

Now, I know that since Eva got sick, the number of folks reading this went up dramatically. I mean, it's not like 25,000 folks suddenly decided that there was this quirky Mom blathering on about her kids and thought they should read about it. I know the real reason.

I tell you, that little baby is so fortunate to have so many folks who care about her!

While we're on the topic of the site meter, I have to say that I quite regularly take a look at who is looking at my blog. I mean, since I write so much about my kids, I want to make sure that there aren't any crazies downloading pictures of my kids, you know?

I once read from a pal of mine how someone she knew was so excited that so many folks were looking at her blog. Her site meter was going through the roof and she was feeling so confident in her writing! Of course, when she dug deeper, she discovered that people were finding her because they had a thing for women who wore eyeglasses. EWWW!

The reason I mention this is that there are often funny ways people find my blog from Google.

In honor of the 25,000 folks who accidentally or purposefully found me, I thought I would write
the top five google searches to find my blog that I see.

1-The one I see the most is that they are often googling Bon Jovi lyrics (I mean, who wouldn't? he's AWESOME!)

2-I get found because of the 10,000 times I talk about the Imagination Movers.

3-Recently, people have been finding me because of my love letter to my Dyda. Seems like "Love Letter to Mom" is a popular search.

4-Of course, neuroblastoma comes up A LOT.

BUT, by far my favorite, in honor of my friend who shall remain nameless is #5

5-Someone found me recently by googling "Zac Efron fan club."

Gotta love that internet!

More Results

Met with the doctor this morning. Have a clearer picture of what we've got. Here's the deal. Eva still has a very very small tumor in her, right on her spine on the lower left side. It is slightly smaller than it was when we saw it after round 2.

What does that mean? Lots.

The first thing we have to do is determine if this is immature NB cells. The doctors do not suspect that they are. They suspect that it was a mix of immature (bad) and mature (not bad on the scale) cells. They think that the chemo that we had killed those immature cells and left the mature cells, thus the slightly smaller size.

So, we did the urine test to see if her catacholemines are elevated. They also did lots of blood work to verify this.

If it comes back abnormal, stop. Go to path A, we do more chemo.

If it comes back normal, we go to path B. Path B is we meet with the surgeon to discuss whether or not we remove the tumor. Why would we not? Well, it's in a pretty tricky location, just hugging the spine.

Path B1-Surgery (most likely scenario)--this way we can remove the tumor, look at it and make sure that it was all mature as they suspect.

Path B2-Watchful waiting (the do nothing plan, as we call it)--this will have us getting just an MRI every eight weeks for the next year.

So, we get the results of all the blood work on Monday the 29th.

There is still much to celebrate. They think it is highly unlikely that we will need more chemo so we'll celebrate that. If it changes and we do, we'll deal with that when we come to it.

This is a great Christmas gift, that is for sure.

Results

Tonight, I raced home from work today to get Jack ready for his big night at the Christmas pagent. I had both kids in the bath when the phone rang. It was Dr. Goldman. My heart stopped.
He thought he would just go ahead and call us about the news with Eva.

It is good.

Here's the deal. Eva's MRI was exactly the same as the last time. After two rounds of chemo. Nothing on the left but there is a one inch something on the left side. What does that mean? Well, it means that the cells that are there are either scar tissue or mature neuroblastoma cells.

So, what's next? Well, after the new year, we'll meet with the surgeon. We'll talk about whether or not to resect that little piece. What the dr. thinks is that we should leave it there and then look at it in eight weeks to see what it is doing. If it is growing, we'll resect it. If not, we'll just leave it.

Anyway, it is just great news and we'll take it. That is the best Christmas present I could ever get.

No more chemo.

Merry Christmas to you.

Tomorrow

Well, we've had quite a bit of slack time over here in Goodnight Mom Land. Back to reality tomorrow. Jon is taking Eva to have an MRI tomorrow. This will be the real test to see if the chemo worked.

From here, as I've said, we have many decisions to make once we get the results Friday morning.

I can't go because I have a meeting I can't get out of tomorrow. So, Jon is taking her. I'm sure she'll do fine.

More to come!

They're Coming to Dallas!!!

Well, it was a BANNER day today in the Goodnight Mom household! The Imagination Movers are coming to Dallas! Well, Fort Worth, anyway.

Here's the great news, they are playing on Jack's birthday weekend in March! We told him a couple of days ago that they were coming and that we would be celebrating his birthday with his favorite band!

If you live in this area and have preschool kids, I would highly recommend you pick up some tickets. I won't even go into how much Eva loves the Movers. I talk about it enough here.

This ain't your mama's Wiggles! (Although, truth be told, The Wiggles don't bother me that much.) This is a rockin' dance party for you and your kids.

I won't go into the details of how Jon injured himself at the last Movers concert we attended, BUT feel free to read about it here!

If you want to find out which show we're attending to join us in Jack's birthday celebration, feel free to shoot me an email.

My Secret Santa

This arrived at my house today. No card, nothing. I am assuming that the florist who sent it (not on the box) probably forgot to include the card. So, I am unable to thank my wonderful friend, whomever it is.

Anyone want to claim it?

THANK YOU! It looks gorgeous on my mantle!!!

AH-OOOOOH Werewolves in London! AH-OOOOO!

Tonight, my very funny child Jack thought that in honor of the full moon, he would make crazy faces at me. Here's the collection.

The Skirt

If there is ever a good story about the commercialism of Christmas, it is this one.

I left the office early today to take Eva to the doctor. Late this evening, I realized that I have my Board of Directors Christmas party tomorrow night. I had no idea what the dress code was as I have been at my job for less than a year.

So, I called one of my co-workers who told me that while it was not imperative, most of the women wore skirts. Skirts. Skirts?

It hit the closet immediately to take a look at what I had. Guess what? No skirts. Now, don't get me wrong, I wear summer skirts with flip flops all summer long. Once it becomes too cold to wear open-toed shoes, I run out of skirts. I'm all pants all the time.

Here's why the commercialism of Christmas is sometimes a good thing. I left the house at 10:00pm to hit two stores to find a skirt. Stores are still open on a Wednesday night! More than one store! Wahoo! I came home with a perfectly appropriate winter skirt. Oh, and an ice scraper for my car.

Here's a Quick Note on Eva

Went to the doctor this afternoon. Eva's counts are back to normal! WBC 9.6 ANC 3.24 Wahoo!!! I stopped the neupogen shots on Saturday so this is an ACTUAL not enhanced by the shots reading! YIPPEE!

So, that said, we have an appointment on Wednesday for an MRI.

As you know, when we started chemo, Eva had a tumor hugging her spine about four inches long and about an inch wide. After two rounds of chemo, we did an MRI and it showed that the tumor had shrunk to one by one inch!

So, it is our hope that after two more rounds, all is clear. That would be the best way to celebrate Christmas. If it is not clear, we look at more chemo, maybe surgery or what the doctors call "watchful waiting" and Jon and I call the "do nothing plan."

We get the results of the MRI on Friday (the 19th) morning. Then, we decide what the next steps will be.

Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree...

Today I came home from work sick. Sick. Sick. Sick. Both kids were up all night long last night and I got no sleep at all. I was exhausted and probably have a sinus infection. I immediately went to bed.

Of course, this is the night that we had already decided to put up the Christmas tree and the kids were NOT going to let me put it off another day. So, I dragged myself out of bed to help put up the tree. The kids were going crazy with excitement. I was running on fumes.

Then, the most amazing thing happened right here in Dallas. While we were putting up the tree, it started snowing outside for the first time this year. It never snows in Dallas and here it was, early December. Snowing outside.

I suddenly felt energized. My fever was gone. The chills were gone. It was Christmas!!!!

The kids and I all went outside danced around the front yard. I got to teach Eva how to catch snowflakes on her tongue. Jack tried to make a snowball off of the five snowflakes that landed on his head. We all laughed and laughed and laughed.

I could see my beautiful new tree glistening in the window.

Ahh, the medicine of Christmas.

The Kissing Place

Tonight Jon and I went into the attic to pull down all the Christmas gear. Keeping two very curious children out of the boxes proved to be quite a challenge.

What to do? Well, I put them to bed so I could quietly open each box.

I love many things about Christmas. It is, by far, my favorite time of year. One thing that I love more than anything is opening up those boxes and looking at all my family "treasures."

This is the Dozier Family Grand Prize when it comes to Christmas stuff. It is a plastic snowman that has a bit of mistletoe dangling down from it.

I believe that my grandmother, Bama, bought this thing in the 1960's. One thing I know for sure is that this alone brings more memories than anything else that I have in my home.

My grandmother would walk each of us under the mistletoe and kiss us every year on Christmas morning. She kissed my parents, my friends, anyone who happened by to drop off, say, a newspaper. This was the kissing place.

My first Christmas in Texas after I got married, I pulled out my Christmas boxes and hark and behold, here was the Dozier Family Grand Prize. I immediately called Dyda to tell him that I would be shipping it back to him immediately.

He said, "Dahlin', this is for your home now. Make sure you kiss your husband under it for many years."

This is my first Christmas without my Dyda, but I did just that tonight.