Snow, Soccer, School, Super Bowl... and more doctors.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  Things have been going well.  You would think all the snow days at home would have led to more posts... well kind of.  I have several in the works.  God has really been doing a great thing with our Believing God Bible study.  So great in fact, I am often at a loss for words and overwhelmed by the power of God's truths and promises.  I have multiple posts in process and will hopefully have them up soon.

We enjoyed our snow days at home.

(Okay, that's definitely the edited version.  We have enjoyed 90% of it and the rest we've tried not to hurt each other.) Though our 8 inches is nothing compared to the 3 feet our friends in VA received! Grandpa is having lots of 'fun' with it in Quantico.  It seems everyone around here has had enough of the winter weather.  Even the kids say, "it's not going to snow again is it?" We're definitely ready for spring.  By early March we are usually breaking out the short sleeves, so the spring dreamin' has begun.  It hit me the other day when we drove by a park that we have not played on a playground since June because of Julia's treatments and counts.  This spring and summer will be very different and we cannot wait.  Just thinking about it is almost too good to be true :)

We registered for spring soccer this week and got Carter's new cleats.  He is SO ready for sports season again.  The winter lull is such a drag for him.  Julia had wanted to play, too but I think this season may be a little too soon.  We want her port out and bowel issues under control first.  Hopefully by fall she will be healed and ready to go.  I cannot believe the spring season starts in a month.  Bring on spring we are ready! 

So last week we tried to make the most of it.  Unfortunately the cold rain turned the beautiful, fun snow into a muddy slurpee- not cool.  We were able to finally make some snow cream.  The kids thought it was very cool.  They love eating snow as is, so this was even better.

We're trying to get back into a regular schedule with homeschooling.  Carter does so much better when we are doing it regularly.  The first day back after a lull is an adjustment.  Last week on day 2 he said, "Wow, when I don't complain I get that all done so much faster!" Revelation! Hello?! At least he noticed the difference.  I really can't complain.  He is a great student and I have enjoyed so much watching him grow over the past two years.

Recently he has made several huge leaps.  He learned to read at 3 1/2 and was excited about it for the first few months.  Then he started to get frustrated and annoyed.  We backed off on direct reading and focused on other subjects.  We started back a year later and he made good progress.  Just recently he has been reading everything everywhere.  All the pieces have just clicked in his brain.  The same thing happened with writing.  He has not been a big fan of handwriting.  At 3, he told me he didn't need to write his name because he could just type it.  Though the future is definitely in computers, he will learn to write.  We trudged on.  He learned to write all his letters, but his perfectionist tendencies frustrated him.  He preferred to write in capitals all the time.  I let it go, just happy he was writing.  Now at 6, with no instruction, he is writing properly and neatly (using lowercase).  Something just clicked.  Anyway, more on homeschooling later.  I've had several people ask recently what we are using and I have a post coming out soon.

I have not started working formally with Julia.  She has been through so much this past year that it really complicates the entire process.  Fortunately she is surrounded by books, games, arts, music, Carter's school, etc. and she has picked up so much on her own.  She learned to write her letters from a Leapfrog DVD and an iTouch app.  She is starting to sound out words, but we haven't taken it past that.  I don't want to frustrate her or draw her into situations where we will likely clash.  I also don't want to require more of her than she is able since she has kind of been frozen in time developmentally. 

Since she began healing from chemo we have noticed that as the side effects in her personality and mood have disappeared, they have been replaced with new ones.  Three's are an interesting age.  They are so passionate, emotional, dependent and independent at the same time, creative, innovative, and often whiny.  Julia pretty much missed her three's with surgery, radiation, and chemo.  So it feels like we are making some of that up now in a higher speed.  If it's possible, she is acting like a 3 yr old and 4 yr old at the same time.  She is starting to notice the differences in her life as she feels better.  Last week at Awana, she looked at me and said, "Mom, how come I'm the only one whose mom has to come with them?" She knows the reasons.  But she doesn't always like them.  As long as she has the port we are doing our best to protect her from germs and minimize her contact.  It is encouraging to know independence is something she is ready for now and is hopefully just around the corner.  For the past 11 months, she and I have been together almost 24/7.

We went to a Super Bowl Party on Saturday with some friends.  It was the first time Julia has been in a setting like that in many months.  It is still new to her.  She is used to playing with  2 or 3 other kids at the same time, but not navigating a large group.  For the first hour she wanted to be held.  She did finally get used to it and had a great time.  It is wonderful to hear happy squeals and see busy kids, something we cannot wait to be a part of again.  It's so nice to see her hangin' with her boys again :)

And now this is the week of doctors again, though not all for Julia.  Carter has his well-check and had to see our dermatologist to check an unusual mole on the bottom of his foot and one on the top.  Unfortunately Billy's family has a history of melanoma and he has had dozens of moles removed- several abnormal.  So in addition to liberal sunblock use, these checks will be a regular part of our kids' lives.  I am happy to report the two moles on his feet looked fine and he is good until next year.

Wednesday, Julia and I will be spending the day at Brenner's.  In the morning she will be seeing GI about her bowel issues.  Ms. Diane and Dr. McLean are at a loss to what is going on with her.  She is only functioning when on the miralax.  We have tried to get her off of it several times with no success.  Everything else in her diet, activity level, health looks great and we can't come up with any explanations.  Diane called GI to get an appointment with the doctor they like.  He couldn't see her until the end of March.  They said she can't wait that long.  So on to plan B.  They did get an appointment with the PA in GI that they are comfortable with.  So she will see her and after we talk and she checks her she will consult with the doctor (who is in clinic tomorrow), so we worked around it.

In the afternoon she goes back to see Dr. Pranikoff, the surgeon who removed her kidney, tumor and put in her port.  He will do her pre-op appointment for port removal.  I still can't believe we are at that point! It could come out as early as next week.  We have to make sure GI won't need it for anything they want to do.  Please pray for wisdom tomorrow in making all these decisions.  Once her port is out so many freedoms will return.  We won't have to be so careful about germs and fevers.  Getting sick will be normal and not a medical emergency. We are on the edge of another big step in this journey.  Tomorrow we should have more of a plan...