Shots :(

Reagan went in for her year check up (I know...a few weeks late!). She looked adorable and they thought she was the cutest thing. Somebody said she looked like Cindy Lou Who with her hair in her bow. She weighed in at 22 lbs 8 oz and is 29 inches long. She's growing up! She was happy and content until the dreaded shots. She got 3 of them. One of them is the MMR which is the shot that many people think cause Autism. I've already had this talk with our doctor when Kaden got the shot. She is a firm believer, with years and years of research, that this shot does NOT cause Autism. It just so happens that when these kids get the shot, it is the same time that many children are developing many new skills (linguistically, socially, emotionally, etc.). So, many people mistake them not developing "normally" with the shot. I asked, "Shouldn't I be able to tell NOW if Reagan were to have Autism?" Her response was basically yes because she wouldn't be reaching for strangers like she did with the doctor and talking to them like she does. She did say that many people argue the vaccination has thimerosal (ethylmercury) and this is the link to autism. However, this has be removed from the vaccination. Now, I'm not writing this to start some debate. I trust my doctor and am confident that she would not lead me to something that would harm my babies. I am not the one to decide whether or not MMR causes pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), such as autism and Asperger syndrome. Like I said, I trust my doctor and even more, I trust the Lord and know it is all in His hands.

So, now, back to Reagan. She cried right away and by the 3rd shot, she was screaming. When I picked her up to comfort her, her thumb went straight to her mouth and her head was on my shoulder. Poor baby. I don't care how many times you go through this, it never gets easier. I hate seeing my babies hurt. After the shots, she did great. She had a wonderful day with mommy. It was just me and her. We even had a lovely experience in my car. When I was leaving the doctor, I put the car in reverse. Now my car is 10 years old. She has been wonderful to me. I am so thankful that my dad bought it for me and I've never made a payment on it. It's been nice! However, she's starting to struggle. Some days it takes a few times to get her started. I usually just have problems getting it started and that's it. Not today though. It died when I was backing up. My first reaction of course is to panic. I immediately have a million thoughts running through my head. Some of these thoughts were: Who am I going to call to come get us? I'm going to have to call Wade. It will take him forever to get to us. My car is stuck here in the aisle and I'm going to get ran over. I'll put this into neutral and "cruise" back to my spot (this requires pushing and there's no way!). It's so hot outside and I may possibly melt. How embarrassing is this? Seriously, I'm sure there were a million more things. This was within maybe 15 seconds. So I took a deep breath, put the car back into park and started her back up. We were then on our merry way. Wade always tells me I panic too soon. I guess this was the case!

Well, I meant for this to be a quick 5 minute blog and it has now turned into a ridiculous amount of babble. Oh well. So, my short story was "Reagan got her shots today". It just expanded a little much! :)

Big Girl Car Seat

Well, finally...our little girl rode in her big girl car seat for the first time today. Wade and I splurged and bought two car seats for both of our cars. She loved it!

Summer...What Summer?

You know, if I hear somebody say, "must be nice...teachers get off for 3 months", I just might punch them in the face. Seriously...first of all, my last day of work was June 4. I have a workshop tomorrow and Thursday and 3 days next week. I have to go at least 3 days in July and several days in August. Not to mention we go back the week before the kids come back. So, really, we have maybe a good 4 or 5 weeks solid with no interuption. That means not hearing anything at all about work. Even today I get a phone call from work about one of my students that I filled out summer school paperwork for. For some reason or another this girl went to summer school where they told her she could not go because she did not register and they had no paper work for her. All that work I did to get her paperwork in and then THEY LOSE it? Come on now. So I hope my principals were able to find it in my room. I know they were worrried about it.

So anyways, back to what I saying...we don't get much time off. Yes I know...having Christmas break off, Spring break off and the occasional random holiday off is nice. But let me tell you something. If teachers didn't get this break, our kids would be in big trouble. The monster would come out in all of us. I wish any normal person could come into the classroom for one solid week and teach my class. Just one week. I promise you that you will see that our breaks are well earned and well NEEDED!!!! You know the few weeks we get.

Cuddle Me!

Okay, so we've developed a new bad habit. We've been staying with Wade's parents since Wade started his second round of chemo. We'll probably be going home this week at some point. Anyway, the first night we stayed here, it took Kaden forever to go to sleep. It was so late when he'd finally go down. So one night I told him I'd lay down with him. Granted, I know this a bad habit but my gosh I love it. When I'm laying there he whispers, "Cuddle me momma". Now there's a certain way he has to be cuddled. My arm has to be in just the right spot. I know when he's about to fall asleep because he starts whispering more to me saying, "I cuddle you momma". He then starts to play with my hair and rub my arm and face. He's so cute. Every once in a while we hear the occasional "choo choo twain" and we get super excited.

Now I know this has to stop because it is such a bad habit. I only stay until he falls asleep, but still...bad habit! However, I've heard a million times lately, "Enjoy them when they're little. It goes by so fast and you'll want it back". So dang it...let me enjoy it while I can!

One more thing off topic...my baby brother Casey graduated Friday! It's so hard to believe. He's all grown up! Way to go Casey. We're so proud of you.

Oh and Wade..he's coming around. He got unhooked from his backpack on Wednesday. The next few days were pretty rough for him. He had a really good day today though and was spending some quality time with the kiddos. That's how I know he's starting to feel a little better. The only bad thing is that he's starting to get the bone pain. But, he's doing much, much better.

Last Day!

Well, my kids are officially gone! I don't look at this as a relief from them but more of a relief from everyday life. It's time for a little break. It is going to be much easier on me and anybody else who has to take off of work to take care of Wade. I'm so ready to be there with him every step of the way. I was before but having to go to work was keeping me from doing all that I wanted to do. So, after my last work day tomorrow, I am officially on summer break!

The people from my work gave me an "Always Smiling Award". It was extremely nice and emotional. They even collected money for our family. I haven't even opened the card because I promised Wade I would wait for him. Whatever it is, just the thought was more than I could have ever imagined. I work with such amazing people. They have been there for the many adventures of my life. I mean, really, I have yet to have a normal year at work. But come on, is there really such a thing as normal? My first year I graduated, got married, and became pregnant. My second year, I had Kaden. My third year, I was pregnant ALL year, had kidney stones horribly bad, found out Wade had cancer again, went through surgery to remove kidney stones and surgery for Wade but then welcomed our sweet baby girl the day after school was out. And well there's this year...we know how that one's gone. But now, I will fight for a more normal year next year.

I have to say, Wade and I have been through more in 3 1/2 years than most people ever even experience in a lifetime. And to us, it's been a rough ride but we appreciate each other so much. We don't take things for granted. The bond we have is super strong and though we have these bumps in the road, it has only made us stronger. Our life is incredible and I wouldn't change it for anything.

Okay, I'm rambling. I'm excited tomorrow is my last official day with adults only. Well, other than I decided to take my kiddos and show them off.

Wade's doing great, even if he denies it. He looks great and he sounds wonderful. Of course he's extremely tired and just give out, but he's so incredibly strong. He's awesome. Tomorrow he gets unhooked from his bag. Usually after that it's all uphill.

Pictures

Here are a few pictures from Reagan's First Birthday!

*Make sure you check out the beach pictures I added to the May 9th blog.

Yummy! Kaden couldn't resist.

That was hard work!!!

Funny Stuff

So, at this very moment I am sitting next to Wade in the hospital room where he does his chemo. They have increased the time that he is here. They now give him a few drugs before he starts the actual chemo that is supposed to help with the side affects of chemo (nausea, dizziness, etc.). Then his ifosphomide is increased to an extra hour. His treatments now last about 5 - 6 hours as opposed to the 2 - 3 hours.

Now, to the funny stuff. They have prescribed a drug to Wade that helps with his nausea. It's this little tiny round pill called marinol. What is that you ask? Well, it is basically marijuana in a pill. It is the legalized marijuana that you always hear so much about. Well, he's got it and when he takes it you never know what to expect. Now he usually just lays in bed and sleeps. So when he started talking out of nowhere it caught me a little off guard. He first asked me if I remember when my friend Robbie told Wade that he better marry me. I didn't remember it and I asked him for details and unfortunately all I got was, "I don't know. She told me a couple of times." Then I ask him what made him think of this and his response was, "You wouldn't believe the things that are going through my head. I feel like I've been laying here an hour and it's only been 5 minutes." This conversation was soon interrupted when he sees a commercial and yells, "I want some of that". It was a dog food commercial. Though to his defense, it was one of those commercials where they really make the food look good enough for us to eat. But, he kept going on and on about how good it looked and how it looked like soup. Now he is exclaiming he wants some of that soup!

Okay, so maybe you had to be there. Actually listening to him get excited about the dog food/soup was pretty amusing to me. If you saw him, you'd be laughing too.