Mayo Appointment

On January 27th I had my routine 6 month Mayo appointment. My MRI looked good, but out of 1500 pictures taken, one showed something in my liver. Now, each slice measures 0.7 mm, so Dr. Grothey doesn't think that it is anything. With saying that, I am going to be going back to Mayo in 3 months just to make sure that nothing has changed with that spot. In my heart, I know that it is nothing! Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers. I can just feel the positive vibes that it brings my way! I will update with the new results as soon as I get them!

Caden Turns 4!!!

On January 31st our little man turned 4 years old! Man, where has the time gone??? This year we decided to have a party for him. In the past, his birthday and my Mayo trip have always been around the same time, so we decided to go ahead and plan something anyways. I was so excited because Grandpa Bill was here to celebrate Caden's birthday with us!

We invited all 10 kids from his class, 6 kids from the neighborhood and another kiddo! So, needless to say, we had a house full! Caden ended up having a ball themed party, but he wanted a snake cake, so that is what he got!

Since our basement isn't finished, we had his party down there. It turned out so great! We had a mini carnival downstairs with different stations for the kids to go to. At each station they got to play the game and win a prize. The kids had such a great time! We had bowling, basketball, pin the medal on the sports guy, hockey, fishing, and throw the balls in the bucket. After about 45 minutes of playing we had the kids come upstairs and break a pinata. Caden had picked out a baseball pinata and so we had each of the kids take a couple swings at the pinata and then one of the older Boys broke it! After that, the kids went back downstairs for cake and punch. The snake cake turned out awesome! It was so easy and best of all Caden loved it! Then after eating we headed back upstairs to open presents!

I can't believe how fast the party went by! It was over before I knew it. I did all this planning and then it was over so fast. Everyone seemed to have a great time and Caden really enjoyed himself!

It's been WAY to long!!!

Hello Everyone! I know, I know, it has been way to long since I have posted anything on here! So, I thought I would try to do some catching up! Let's see...the last time that I posted anything was in November...A LOT has happened since then! So, I will go ahead and try to blog some stuff to get you up to speed!

Getting my port out!

After three years of being CANCER FREE, I am FINALLY getting my port out! It feels so good to be able to say that I am over three years cancer free! At my last apt Dr. Grothey mentioned that he thought it was time to get it out. I am no longer using it and so it is time to get it out! I am getting it done at KU and am so excited to be getting it out! I no longer use it, and I have to get it flushed every 6 weeks. So there is much more risk for infection by keeping it and having to get it flushed rather than taking it out. Please say a prayer for me that everything goes smooth! I'm not anticipating any problems, but please keep me in your thoughts and prayers!

Halloween

For Halloween this year Caden was Spiderman! We had a great day on Halloween! First off, Matt, my brothers best friend, came home from the army FOR GOOD!!! So, we are so excited to have him home! Our day was pretty busy! In the morning we had some running around to do and then I made cookies for the Halloween party we were going to down the street. At 3:30, we took Caden up to the church to do Trunk-Or-Treat up there and he really enjoyed it. There weren't to many cars up there, but he did enjoy going up there. Any time we do anything at the church like that he gets so excited because we are doing things up at his school! After that we came home and I frosted the cookies that I made and then we headed down the street for our annual hot dog Halloween party! We met up with our neighbors and had dinner and dessert and then Mark and Caden went off to trick-or-treat while I passed out candy! Mark said he would RUN from house to house and not stop! He was so excited to show me what he got when he got home. After the boys got home, we got Caden all packed up to go spend the night at Nana and Papa's house so that Mark and I could go to a party down the street!

Spiderman

Getting his face painted at the gym
Caden and Baby Sam

Pajama Day

Look at my marshmallow

I don't need a cookie...I can eat the frosting right off the spoon!

Decorating his cookie

Finished product!

For Caden's Fall Party at school they had a Pajama Day. I signed up to help with this party, so I got to see all of the cute jammies that all the kids were wearing. Mom came with me to the party to just see Caden's school and his friends. It was nice having her there so that she could get a feel for what his school is like. Nana and Papa got Caden a new pair of dinosaur pajamas just for his party! He got to pick them out, and after going to two different stores, we finally found his size!!! They had a great day at school! The kids got to visit each of the 4 teachers classrooms and do different activities in each one. Before they went to the classrooms, they went to the music room to watch the Bubble Man make some big bubbles! Every kiddo in Caden's class had the opportunity to be put inside a bubble and they all loved it! Then after all of the kids got a turn to go, I got a turn! They all got a kick out of that! For their snack, I made sugar cookies and then the kids got to put the frosting on themselves and decorate it with skittles, marshmallows, and candy corn. It was such a fun party and they kids all seemed to really enjoy themselves!

Caden's class

Getting put in a bubble!

Momma in her bubble

Carving Pummpkins

Getting the insides out!

What a cutie!
Eeww!!!

Caden, Zoey, and daddy

Caden, Zoey, and mommy

Pumpkin Patch

Relaxing in the hay!

Playing in the tractor tire!
Head in the clouds!

Crawling the tire!

We had such a beautiful day and Caden and I wanted to be outside. So after calling a couple friends to come out and play and nobody could, I decided to take the little man to the pumpkin patch. Mark and I took him two years ago, but being so little he didn't remember it. We had a blast!!! We got to have a hay ride and Caden thought that was so cool! He kept saying, "Momma, look at that one...do you like that one?". After our hay ride was over we got a wagon and headed out into the field. Of course, as soon as we get a little ways away Caden has to go potty. When we get back out in the field from going potty, then he has to go poop. So, needless to say, we were out there a while! Caden and I would go out into the field and find some nice pumpkins, bring them back to the trail, line them up, and then pick out our favorite two. We ended up finding two very nice pumpkins to take home! After we picked our pumpkins, Caden wanted to play on the playground there. It had a maze out of hay, tractor tires to climb on, a huge sand box to play in and a huge pile of hay to climb and jump on! Our little man had so much fun! On the way home Caden wanted to stop by Nana and Papa's house to show them our pumpkins.

Taking a Hay Ride

Looking for pumpkins

Ride 'em cowboy!

Mom, this is a green one!

Look at the pumpkins we found!

First ER visit...

The same day that we got Zoey, Caden got a concussion. What a day...let me tell you! While caden, mom, and I went out to get Zoey, Mark and dad worked on the tree house. So, after we went to the pet store to get her things, we headed out to my parents house. Dad made his famous ribs for dinner and so we were all so excited about that! Caden decided that he wanted to go swimming even though the water was cold! He was just having a great time jumping off the side of the pool when all of a sudden he popped out of the water crying hysterically. When he jumped into the pool he hit his head on one of the steps of the pool. I knew it had to be bad because Caden NEVER cries like that, and when I couldn't get him to calm down it scared me. Finally he calmed down and we sat down to dinner. He started having short term memory loss and so we thought we would wait for a few minutes and see if things got better. He couldn't even remember getting Zoey. When he looked down and Zoey and said, "Momma, whose puppy is that?" I knew it was time to take him to the ER.

On the way to Children's Mercy I really started thinking about how lucky I am to have such a healthy boy. I have learned throughout my illness that every moment in life counts. When this happened, it just made that even stick out more in my head. When it is your baby, you just worry about the worst that could happen. I held his hand the entire way there and just wanted to hold him when I got there. I was totally numb with fear and had a hard time realizing what was going on.

The ER doc that we saw was actually one of my moms docs from her office. It was really reassuring knowing the doctor personally and knowing that Caden was getting the best care possible! Caden did fine on all of his neuro tests and Dr. Olson decided that he had a mild concussion. So, that night we had to wake him every two hours to do neuro tests on him, and check his eyes to make sure that everything looked ok. We had mom come over to spend the night with us since she is a nurse and has the knowledge of what to look for when we woke him up. What a night...a crying puppy in the kennel for three hours straight and waking the little man up every two hours! Needless to say...we were all took a great nap the next day! He woke up fine the next morning and has been doing great ever since. After knowing what the outcome could have been, I feel so blessed that I have a healthy boy!

Our new baby girl!

So, Mark and I have been talking about getting a puppy for a while now, and we finally did it! I have always wanted to get a Shih Tzu because that is what I grew up with and Mark didn't really have a preference. We looked at Morkies, Teddy Bears, and Yorkies, but we ended up getting a Shih Tzu! We got the name of a wonderful breeder about 30 minutes South of us whose love is Shih Tzu's and has been breeding them for 25 years. Mark and I had a date night and decided to drive out to meet the breeder and she the puppy she had left. We both fell in love with her, but didn't want to get her until Caden had seen her. So, the next day mom, Caden, and I drove back out to the breeder's house and took our baby girl home. We started off naming her Ebby (short for Ebony), but no one could remember that, so we decided to name her Zoey. She started off being black with a few gray patches, but now she is mostly grey with some black patches! She is adorable!!! Zoey has fit into our family so well and we love her so much! We are still working on the potty training, but I know that takes time, and so I have learned to have patience with her. She is totally a mommas girl though and I love that! Caden loves her loves to play with her. When Mark gets home, she gets so excited. Just like Caden, she runs to the door to greet him!

Right after we picked Zoey up!

Sleeping in bed with Caden
Riding in the car on the way to Aberdeen

Holding his new puppy!

One of my favorite pictures of Zoey!

Tadpoles

Nana and Caden love spending time together outside at their house. Mom was mowing one day and she saw some baby tadpoles. So, she asked me how I would feel if she let Caden catch some tadpoles and take them home as pets. I was totally up for it, and he was excited! So, mom and Caden took the afternoon and went to the pond in search for tadpoles. Of course they found some, and Caden was so excited! They took a big bucket and filled it with about 20 or so tadpoles and then put them into a smaller bucket for us to take home. I couldn't believe that the boy who didn't want to touch a worm was totally into touching the squirming tadpoles! He is growing so fast and now loves to be touching all kinds of creatures...kind of makes me nervous! The next day I took Caden to the pet store to buy some tadpole food and he fed them every night! He really enjoyed them until the water really started to smell. Then, not only was Caden done with them, but momma and daddy were too! So, a week later we let them go back into the pond! They all were still alive, so we did a great job taking care of them while we had them. Hopefully we will be able to see them next year all grown up!

Momma...look at what we have!

Moving the tadpoles!

Holding the tadpole!

His tadpoles!

Starting School

On August 20th Caden had his meet the teacher day at school. He got to take his backpack and all of his supplies and have a somewhat "normal" day. The parents got to stay since this was just a "practice" day more or less. He got to pick out the outfit that he wanted to wear and if I might say myself...he did a great job doing that! He is so handsome! I can't believe that he is old enough to be going to preschool!!! It blows my mind how fast time flies!!! He did a project where he traced Mark's hand and then put a heart in the middle of his hand. That way he always had a comfort object to go to if he was missing mommy and daddy! Then they added a family picture to it to make them feel even more comforted.

Looking mighty fine!

At the school getting ready to go inside!
coloring daddy's hand that he traced!

Circle Time!

Caden's first day of school was on August 25th! He was so excited about going to school! The night before we were laying in bed and he said, "mommy, my teacher is really pretty"! He loves both of his teachers and loves going to school! He gets to pick out his clothes the night before and enjoys getting to have a say in what he wears. He is really becoming independent and wanting to help with everything! When I took him on his first day he didn't even shed a tear! He was so excited and was all ready to join his friends as soon as he walked in the classroom! Mommy did great also...no tears on this end either!!! I think that since I had him in VBS it was a little easier for me to let him go for a couple hours! So far he really loves his teachers and classmates! He loves telling me what they had for snack, what they learned about, and what he played on at recess! Every morning when I go back to pick him up, he is all smiles and enjoying his time with the other kids! I love that he goes to school at our church also! That really makes it want him to be in church with his friends!

First day of school picture!

Starting to work on his Fruit Loop Necklace

Working well!Momma, I'm going to taste this! MMM!

Daddy's Softball Game!

Mark's firm has a softball team that plays once a week. I decided one night that I was going to take the little man out to watch his daddy play some ball. He really enjoyed it! I only took him to one game this year because Mark didn't play in a lot of the games, and the games that he did play in were mostly 8:00 pm games. Caden was really excited about being able to go and watch Mark play softball! He sat in the bleachers and kept yelling, "Go Daddy Go"! And every time that Mark got up to bat Caden would try to have a conversation with him. It was so cute! Caden was really excited because there was a ball that came back over the fence and he got to go under the bleachers and get it! He thought he was all that because he got to give the ball to the pretty girl on daddy's team! I have a feeling that we have an athlete on our hands because he LOVES sports...just like his daddy!

Watching daddy hit the ball!

Watching from the top of the bleachers!
Concentrating!

Just being a monkey on the bleachers!