Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Top Ten Signs That Your Husband's Leukemia Didn't Scare You Enough


So, as I mentioned, I've been kind of crabby the last few days, and it had me thinking....





10. Instead of being concerned about his massive weightloss, you're jealous.

9. You gained 10 pounds while he stayed at the Cancer Lodge because you ate all of his leftover "yay-my-tastebuds-are-back-for-a-while" chocolates instead of saving them for his return.

8. You can't wait for him to be well enough so he can help you put up some wall paper.

7. More darned laundry!

6. You're jealous of his smooth, hairless legs.

5. Instead of being concerned and sympathetic about his hair loss, instead you can't help but impatiently wonder when his sexy eyebrows are going to return already!

4. Instead of being happy that he's here on Earth to go to the Christmas tree farm with you, you instead bite his head off for finally getting dressed 5 minutes after the time you were supposed to leave.

3. On his first day home from the Cancer Lodge, you leave him with the kids for 2 hours so you can get some darned Christmas shopping done!

2. You're so happy he's home to make dinners.

1. Finally! I don't have to do the grocery shopping anymore!

So, Now He Decides to Talk....

For almost this entire post, you will need to turn your head to see what's going on. Sorry. I'm a lazy blogger.


Where have I been? What have I been doing? Why has it taken me so long to post? Have I been busy? Well, yah, but I just haven't been in a blogging mood to tell you the truth. I uploaded most of these pics a couple weeks ago and had lots of stories to tell you.

Now, I've forgotten them all.

In no particular order, here's what's been going on:
*Santa visit and pictures.
*Work.
*Christmas tree decorating.
*Decorating for Christmas.
*Richard coming home!
*Putting up Christmas lights.
*Erica's Christmas Party.
*Going with Jen and her kids to cut down a Christmas tree.
*My monthly breakfast with my sorority sisters.
*Sensible Christmas shopping.
*Christmas Craft night at Jen's friend Elaine's house where I made my mom and Norma's Christmas gifts!
*Helping a girl with her flat tire.
*The annual Christmas musical at Northview Church.
*A visit with my friends Aili and Dan with their new baby boy, Aidan!
*The downtown Abbotsford Christmas Tree Lighting!
*A workshop for work.

Richard

He's home! I'm slowly getting used to having him back at the house...lol. It's so nice to have him back. I posted on Facebook, but not on here that Richard is finished! It was a bit of a shock. If you read his blog, you'll see that he likens it to being kicked out of his apartment and losing his job on the same day. He was hoping that his numbers were going to be up and that his appointments would go down to being every second day or maybe even once a week! Instead, after packing his bags and 'moving out' of the Cancer Lodge, he was informed by his nurses that yes, his numbers were up, he'd be getting his Hickman Line taken out, and that he would never (hopefully) be returning for anymore appointments at the LBMT. Sure, he still had an eye appointment to check the status of the bleeding eye situation/gray spot in his vision, a CT Scan, and an ultrasound, but otherwise, he's done the 'Leukemia stuff'. It was a bit of a bummer that none of his regular nurses were there to whomhe could say good-bye.

And then home. He missed the boys dearly. Me too, I think. However, I'm in my 'moody week' if you know what I mean. He's dealing well with me. Poor guy. Don't worry, there's lots of love and cuddles too. He's just laying low while I make mountains out of molehills right now and end each night with saying sorry for being a total bag without actually saying sorry. Last night I sang my apology on a lovely dollar store guitar. I think he enjoyed that apology.

So, you'd like to know how he's doing and feeling? Read his blog to hear it straight from the horses mouth, but otherwise, I'll tell you what I think:
*His hair is taking it's time coming back. I can see some eyebrows, but not 'enough' yet, for those who know how important eyebrows are to me.
*His skin is baby beautifully soft. Chemo does wonders for one's complexion. He had great skin already, but wow.
*He's missing some muscle mass, still gets tired quickly, and still wants some naps. But that didn't stop him from helping Jen cut down her tree and helping her carry it! Go Richard!
*He really looks great. He's really slimmed down, although, he doesn't think he'll stay like that for long, especially with Christmas coming!
*He's back to making the dinners! That's really nice! He's even been frying me an egg in the morning for breakfast!
*He's almost back in the groove of things at home, and is trying to get caught up on things that have gone wrong with our server while he's been away.
*He's wonderful, as usual. I'll appreciate that in a week or so.

The Boys

This is just a taste of the 30 or so pictures of the boys visiting Santa. Oh dear! And it really doesn't get much better than this. I'm just not feeling like resizing and uploading all the pics right now, but in a nutshell, the pics are of me trying to wipe AJ sneer/pout off his face, trying to convince Dexter that Santa won't try to kill him, and basically just both boys not wanting ANYTHING to do with poor Santa at all. He was a great Santa too! He was trying his darndest to make AJ come around!



These pics are Dexter's haircut a couple weeks ago. I figured with the Christmas shopping, I was going to have to cut corners elsewhere. So, I was going to have to bite the bullet, and fight with Dexter to have his hair cut instead of taking him to the barber.

He was mad!


Really mad!


He got a sucker, but that wasn't good enough!



This was me and the boys enroute to the annual Christmas Tree Lighting in downtown Abbotsford. I can't remember if I've written about it, but I know I've told enough people now that I don't feel like telling it all again. For the sake of the Baby Book, that is the purpose of this blog, I will explain in point form only.

*nice night, so I didn't pack raincoats
*getting there a bit late, but that's okay
*get the boys into the stroller and it starts to rain and get REALLY windy
*decided to pack the raincover with us in the stroller
*rain starts to come down like a torrential downpour
*put on the raincover, Dexter's screaming, AJ's trying to hold on the raincover from blowing away while I try to attach it with freezing cold fingers
*I'm getting a little emotional because Richard's not there with me
*ask AJ "It's raining. Do you want to still do this?" He says, "Let's do this!"
*put on the umbrella holder
*Ikea umbrella gets blown so hard it lifts the back of the stroller off the ground and consequently blows inside out!
*grab the other umbrella, mittens back on, tearing up a little
*head into the downtown tree area
*Parents of small children are literally 'running away' back to their cars, but for some reason, I'm heading against the flow
*get there, soaking wet, and they decide to light it early due to the conditions, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, YAY! I start to cry a little remembering the first lighting that Richard and I took AJ to.
*Walk back to the car. Pack soaking wet boys into car. Didn't take any pics for fear the camera would be destroyed.
*about to drive in driveway and AJ convinces me that we need Starbucks hot cocoas. For $1 per cup, it's hard to say no.




The boys just being fun.


AJ took this one.





The boys enjoying Daddy home for a sleepover the weekend before he came home.







My little rockband in the making.
Sassy Dexter is actually telling me to go away here. "You! Go! Bad!"




Dexter

Seriously, the day after I took Dexter for the speech appointment/assessment, he started saying a bunch of words almost clear as day, and copying words properly too!
*He's started saying 'peez' for please instead of 'brrruh'.
*"skay" for scary
*'hug'
*'hero'
*'juice' perfectly
*'pizza'
*'tea'
*'cut'
*'okay'
*'glass'
*'santa'
*'cold'

Here are some pics of Dexter wearing underwear. He later peed on my bed.
He's seriously woken dry like about 10 mornings in a row, but when I ask him if he'd like to go pee on the potty, he yells, "No!" And rudely points in my face.

Speaking of rude. That's Dex. He's so happy, but.... he has a real temper. I have no idea where he gets it from ("hum dee dum", I say as I whistle and I twiddle my thumbs and wander around looking away)

He's also taken to liking peas again. And he uncharacteristically enjoyed some caesar salad and baked fish the other night courtesy of Daddy.

AJ

Well, as I've mentioned before, there is a downside to potty training early, and that is it taking forever to potty train the night time. I will say that I haven't pushed it, but I have tried to 'motivate' the idea. For a while now, like about three months, I've told AJ that if he has 7 dry nights IN A ROW, then he can choose any toy he wants at the store, not wear pull-ups to bed anymore, and he can have the special feather pillow he's been wanting for so long. He'll usually have 3 or 4 dry nights, then one night, he'll pee. But not in the night..... in the morning, when he wakes up and is too lazy to get out of bed.

Well, he finally did it, this week. 7 in a row. I guess 9 now. I took him to the store. He picked Sentinel Prime the Transformer. He got the special pillow. He's been wearing underwear to bed again now. He's quite proud. I am too.

AJ's going to take a little break from gymnastics for the winter and start up swimming lessons again. I'm probably going to put he and Dexter in soccer for an 8 week session and when AJ turns 4, probably put him into karate which is what he's been asking for.

Some cute thoughts that have come from him recently, or 'revelations'...

"A house is a home."
"I'm the best boy on Earth." (when I was telling him how well he was behaving)
"Seriously. You've got to be kidding me." (when the xbox is taking a while to load)

He's been doing some more great art work. And he's been into wanting to spell words on his own again. The other day, when I came in his room, he had written 'socks' and 'bucket' on his notepad. He spelled them as 'soks' and 'bukit'.

I've also given in and allowed AJ to bring a figurine into bed with him. It's been a really nice 'quiet activity' for him as he drifts off to sleep. I can hear him playing out a whole little 'saving' scenario, and then I hear nothing.



Some Overdue Thanks!

Mom and Ken
-For watching the boys while I went to the craft night and for watching the boys the night of the Christmas musical, for which I technically, evidently, 'forgot' to actually ask you to do.

Mom
-For playing with Dex at Erica's party, allowing Richard and I to get in some good visiting.

My friend Lena
-For some skookum and much appreciated gift cards at just the right time!

My friend Jill
-For yet another Starbucks gift card! You are too sweet!

Friends and Family
-For all the heartwarming Christmas cards that keep arriving. I'm hoping I get mine out on time!

My Birthclub Friends
-Who continue to love me despite my absence from our forum as of late.

Erica
-For a great Christmas party!

Elaine
-For letting me crash the Christmas Craft night!

Jen
-For keeping AJ most of the day yesterday, allowing me some nice time with Dexter.