Blush by Jen...

Okay Folks,

One more plug for the evening.  One of our old neighbors has recently hung out her shingle as a professional make-up artist.  She is a talented interior decorator who has decided to use her keen eye for colors elsewhere. 

She did all of Kari's make-up for both of our photo shoots with Susan Wolfe and she looked great. 

You can check out her website at www.blushbyjen.com or call her at (773) 456-4964.

Susan Wolfe Photography...

Hello All,

We wanted to put a plug out there for Susan Wolfe.  She is an Oak Park based photographer who shot two different sessions with our family.  This was important to Kari because she wanted to get a set of family pictures before she started her treatment. 

She did a tremendous job on pictures for the family.  She spent an afternoon in her backyard with Kari and the kids then did another session in the gardens at the Cheney Mansion with all of us.  The pictures from both sessions turned out great.  She has a keen eye and a great sense of lighting.  We'll get some of these pictures up on the blog to show off her work. 

You can reach her at (708) 763-9030 or (773) 320-8009. 

Jay

Pulling a plane...

Kari's brother Rob invited us to the 2010 Plane Pull at O'Hare on Saturday.  This is a charity event for Special Olympics.  Essentially, you line up a team of 20 people tug-of-war style.  Instead of pulling against another team of 20 people, you are testing the fundamental laws of physics with about 100 tons of Airbus. 

It was a lot of fun.  James & Katie got to hang out with Uncle Rob & Aunt Audrey plus see cousins Caroline and Olivia.  We also got a behind the scenes tour of the O'Hare airfield.  I was supposed to help pull for Rob's company team but we had to leave before they were up because James had a soccer game.  Team HNTB did just fine without my added mass. 

Here is the formidable plane. 

...Caroline, Olivia and Katie checking out the plane...

...James posing with the plane...

They had a bunch of equipment available to explore, including some crash trucks and some snow plows.  Here is James in the cabin of a massive snow plow. 

...and Katie at the wheel...

Rob & the girls at the helm of the snow plow...

Enjoy!

Jay

Number 11 Down...

So excited to say that number 11 is over and I have 4 more treatments until a break and switch in chemo drugs.  I just hope I can do this 4 more times.  The nausea is getting much worse and I am just so tired all the time.  I am struggling to spend time with the kids and get the smallest things done.  I am grateful for all the help that I am getting from my mom, husband and dinner from friends and family.  I really appreciate it all.  I have kept all the cards and emails that I have recieved since beginning this journey and I may need to reread them this week to keep myself going strong.  Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers!

Sleeping...

Sometimes, Kari anguishes over the kids' sleeping arrangements.  Until we got married, she never really had a "roommate".  I however, bunked with someone until I moved out of my parents' house in my early 20's.  The way that our townhouse is laid out, there is really no easy way to give the kids their own rooms so they have been together since Katie learned to climb out of her crib. 

Yes, it is a challenge sometimes to put them to bed.  If they are both awake in their room, they will play until midnight.  Our usual routine is to get both of them cleaned up and dressed for bed.  We put Katie in her toddler bed and she falls asleep.  James and I spend some time together and he goes in his bed after Katie is sleeping.  For the most part, this works. 

James was exhausted so I put him in bed early, before Katie tonight.  She and I read books until James was asleep.  She spent about 20 minutes talking to her Pink Girl and then went quiet.  When I checked on them around 9:00, they were both asleep in their own beds.

Kari and I have come to the consensus that it is good for James and Katie to be sharing a room.  They love each other very much and genuinely watch out for each other.  Kari checked on the kids a little before 10:00 tonight, about an hour after I did, and this is what she found.

Treatment 10 Down...

Well, I am at double digit treatments now.  YEAH!  I feel like there is a light at the end of tunnel number 1.  5 more weeks of Thursday chemo, daily chemo meds, and daily shots.  Then I get a two week break.  Jay will be gone one of those weeks to Vegas for SEMA (we decided I should stay home and rest and catch up on things I haven't been able to do like see my grandma and have some adventures with the kids). I am also hoping Jay and I could get away for the other weekend that he will be home.  We'll see. 

This week I never got achy, but felt much more nausious.  Again, I have to just remember I am almost there.  2/3rd of the way complete.  The second phase is 12 weeks of a different chemo med and that should take me through the end of January/beginning of February.  I am not sure how much of a break there is between chemo and radiation.  The third phase is daily radiation for 5 weeks.  The fourth phase is 2 surgeries.  Still hoping to be done by June next year.  Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.  This is a long road but I intend to finish a stronger, better person. 

Oaktober Fest and the Zucchini Race...

I took James and Katie to Oak Park's Oaktober Fest yesterday afternoon.  This is our annual pre-fall street fest with live music, food and Zucchini races.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Essentially, the kids get a vegetable, 4 wheels and all of the crafty stuff that they could need to decorate their own race Zucchinis. 

James spent a good 45 minutes getting his just right while I watched Katie dance in the street.  Here is the action of the race.  Evidently, pipe cleaners decrease the coefficient of drag. 

James' First Day of Kindergarten!

James was super excited for his first day of Kindergarten and I was glad that Jay and I were able to take him!  He is attending kindergarten at Concordia University and he is loving every minute of his full day!  Here are pictures...

The mailbox shot!

Outside the front door...

At the classroom door...

Walking in! 

Inside the classroom...

Have a great year James!!!! 

#9 Down

I had another chest xray on Thursday, as well as saw the doctor before my chemo treatment.  I still have a cold and they wanted to check me out.  Haven't heard anything so the xray must not have shown anything, but will call today to make sure. I had my 9th treatment this past Thursday.  Each time I go it seems different. This time I felt sick right away, where usually I am just tired on Thursday.  Kind of messed up my plans as I had another CAbi show on Friday that I had to miss.  Thank goodness my mom was here as usual to help with the kids because I really was not feeling well on Thursday and Friday.  I didn't feel well on Saturday either, so I had to miss James' first soccer game.  Hopefully I can go next weekend.  Sunday I was ok enough to take James to his first Sunday School class and go to church while he was there, then my friend Alex was in town so she came over with her boys to play and then after the kids ate dinner we took a walk to a neighboring park.  I am looking forward to the next 6 weeks going fast and my two week break going slow.  I am also hoping that the next round of medication is not as taxing on my body as this round is.  Here's to hoping!

Goooooooaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!

Well... James has started to play soccer.  His first official practice was last Tuesday afternoon. 

He told me that he wanted to be a good soccer player so he and I spent a few hours last week after practice running the ball around the field. 

I won't profess to be any soccer player of consequence nor will I admit that I know all of the rules.  However, James did great in is first game.  His team, the Longfellow Leopards tied the Longfellow Liberty 2-2 after an intense match.  The two and only goals scored by the Leopards were scored by James.  Here's the action...

Pictures of the kids...

There is a park a few blocks from our house called Mills Park.  James used to call it the "park with the green grass" when he was younger.  On nice nights, I walk there with the kids and let them run around.  I have a lot of great pictures of them that I took there.  Here are a few of the latest that I took a few weeks ago. 

Labor Day Weekend: Zoos... old-school creepy and Lincoln Park

Well Labor Day weekend has come and gone.  Kari had her usual treatment on the Thursday before the weekend so she wasn't feeling well enough on Saturday to travel anywhere.  James, Katie and I had our rocket launching adventure that morning then packed up the car to go out to Tricia & Marc's place in Michigan with my parents.  We had a nice but brisk ride on their pontoon boat that afternoon then got the kids settled into bed that evening. 

Sunday, we took a trip to go to Deer Forest in Coloma, MI.  It is an interesting throw-back to the 1950's, wholesome but creepy in a haunted-abandoned-amusement-park sort of way.  They have a large petting zoo, a nice play ground and a handful of kids rides.  The kids had a blast. 

Here are the highlights...

Katie and Beckett were inseparable.  They had a lot of fun together. 

...following our space theme for the weekend...

...Katie didn't meet the minimum height requirement...

Here's an example of one of the Deer Forest rides. 

The Kids and I came home Sunday night.  As if we didn't have enough animal interaction, Kari, the kids and I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo on Labor Day.  Kari felt well enough to get out of the house and enjoy a late summer day on the lake front. 

James really wanted to ride the train at the Zoo.  Katie reluctantly came along.  She started out fine but...

You can hear her crying from the floor of the train car in this video...

Mission Control...

Okay... we finally launched James' rockets.  He was very excited about this and it all went well.  All of the rockets launched flawlessly and safely.  We only had one hiccup with a shock cord that broke on one and narrowly missing a barbed wire fence at the end of the field with another.  Here are the picture and video highlights. 

Jay

Katie is showing off her bi-lingual skills in the background in this one. 



I like Katie's editorials on this one. 

Katie's First Day at Concordia

Katie was so excited for her first day of school!  I don't know what was more exciting, getting to stay and play with all the toys or the fact she got to wear her backpack.  I signed Katie up for Tuesday and Thursday school.  She goes from 7am to 6pm (although I don't forsee keeping her there for 11 hours it's nice to know we have the flexability for Jay to take her early if I have an early treatment). Here are some pictures from her first day.

Here's a picture of Katie with her backpack in front of the mailbox.  This is now a joke in our family as on the first day of school my mom always took our picture in front of the mailbox so now I do the same.  Not quite the kind of mailbox I had growing up, but it will do!

Washing hands at her new school! Just like brother would do when he got to school. 

Enjoying all the new toys in my classroom.  Brother had to check out the toys too.  I'm sure he was just looking out for Katie and really didn't want to play with "baby toys."

Number 8 Down...

I had my 8th treatment this past Thursday, and it was about the same as last week's treatment.  This time I took Katie to school first (which she loves and I have to post pictures of her first day still) and then my mom and James dropped me off at the hospital.  I got my blood drawn first and then I headed to the plastic surgeon's office for a quick appointment with him.  Then I grabbed a sandwich and headed off to chemo.  Watched All My Children again and had a very nice nurse push my meds slowly again.  She was concerned as I was coughing a lot and listened to my lungs.  A little decreased breath sounds on the lower right side so she called the doctor to see if I needed another chest xray (that would be my third in eight weeks).  Luckily he decided to wait and see how I am doing this weekend before he ordered the chest xray.  I am coughing and think it is more of a cold than pnemonia again.  One of the side effects of a medication I am taking is pnemonia and so far I've had it twice in 8 weeks and treated with two zpacks which I also like to avoid taking.  After chemo on Thursday my mom and James picked me up and then we went to get James' soccer tshirt and info packet and then we all picked up Katie from school.  On Friday I felt well enough to take James to Target to buy some shoes and shin guards for soccer and he got a new soccer ball from Mama Diane and Papa Bede.  This weekend is Labor Day and while my chemo effects still don't seem to be so bad this weekend, my cold is pretty bad so I will be staying home.  Plus I never know what my "bad days" are going to be over the weekend.  I could feel terrible tomorrow and be stuck somewhere other than home feeling sick.  So, Jay is taking the kids up to Michigan on his own this weekend.  This time they are going to stay with his sister and brother in law at thier lakehouse.  James and Katie will enjoy playing with their cousins and seeing Mama Lynn and Papa Ned.  If my parents end up going to Mi to thier house then maybe Jay and the kids will go see them too as their house is about 45 minutes from where Jay's sister's place is.  I am sad to be missing out on the last long weekend of the summer, but know that I need to take care of myself now so that next year I can enjoy Labor Day weekend fully.  I just have to keep reminding myself that this time next year this journey will be over and I will be recovering and healing and enjoying my life fully again.  Easier said than done but I can do it! Just take it one day at a time I keep telling myself.