You know when- part 2

Todays theme- toys

You know you have a child with cancer when...

Your child uses Legos to build MRI machines.
Your child's bedroom looks like a Toys 'R' Us store.
You ask your CPA if bribe toys are tax deductible.
The pharmacy sends your family Christmas presents.
Your toddler refuses to sit on Santa's lap because he is too germy from all the other kids.
Your daughter has more beanie babies in her room than the specialty store at the mall.

Food Friday {week 4}

This week I tried a recipe from Cousin Lisa (doI sound too hilbillyish to call her that?). She has recommended a cookbook from a holistic pedicatrician office, whom she has tested recipes for.

I choose one of thier vegetarian recipes; summer squash bake. I don't normally like to cook things before I see the final project, but I tried this recipe without pictures.

And let me tell you it was delicious!

This recipe included cheese, which you could a) omit if your a vegan or b) add if you are like me and cheese is the ONLY reseason I could never be a vegetarian.

Please send more vegetable recipes! I cannot wait to feature the one that Brian did not know was a vegan recipe!

Happy Aniversary

Today is our anniversary. 4 years. It has been amazing. I married my best friend. We have so much fun together!

To celebrate we went to dinner last weekend at The Capital Grill. FANCY! It was restaurant week here in the QC. Restaurant week is fabulous, 3 course meal for $30/person. We always choose restaurants we could never afford to go to any other time.
The Capital Grill really works hard to make it a diining experience. We received a free champagne toast and dessert for it being our anniversary. I think we may be repeat customers!

Rubber Ducky your the one!

Food Friday

...a day late. Sorry, more technical difficulties at the Fudge house.

This week I promised a recipe for the adults. It's no secret I love my wine. When Brian and I first decided to have a baby he asked me if I was sure I could give up wine. Of course I did and it wasn't hard at all, but I am happily enjoying it again!

A fun wine cocktail I enjoy in the summer is sangria. I picture glass pitchers, fresh fruit, cool breeze, obviously I am not picturing the hot sweaty south.

Fruity Sangria

2 fresh, peeled and sliced peaches
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 orange thinly sliced
1 lemon or lime sliced
1 liter carbonated water
2 cups white wine
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup of cranberry juice

Place fruits in a container and pour liquids over.

Now I usually don't go for white sangria, but YUM!

8 months

8 months ago today, we had a healthy child who has problems eating.
8 months ago today I sat in the doctor's office nursing Liam, wondering why he was still losing weight.
8 months ago today, I called Brian and told him to get ready, we were taking Liam to the hospital.
8 months ago today Libby was our nurse and Stephanie was our tech.
8 months ago today was pizza night on the pediatric floor.
8 months ago today we held Liam down while the ultrasound tech imaged Liam's abdomen.
8 months ago today I tried not to notice when the CT techs talked in code because they saw something.
8 months ago today I held back my tears as the doctor told us Liam had a tumor.
8 months ago our lives changed forever.

8 months ago seems so long ago, but I remember every minute of that night. And even though we are beyond the cancer, it doesn't get any easier. I still cry, a lot. I am sad for all that Liam missed out on. All that Brian and I missed out on.

As sad as it is, I am so happy for all the people we have met. The doctors and nurses, childlife- they are all so wonderful. If funny; I could really see us being friends with most of these people outside the clinic and hospital walls; but because of this situation we met, that probably won't happen.

But today, with doctors, nurses, childlife and office staff at Blume, we celebrated. We celebrated Liam and other patients being cancer free. There was no sadness about this celebration.

You know when....

I have found a list online of You know you have a child with cancer when....

Obviously nothing about having a child with cancer is funny and being able to relate to these things are horrific. Read at once this list is overwhelming. I'd like to share a few with you at a time; I am hoping everyone gets a chuckle out of some of these.

You know you have a child with cancer when...

You don't notice the sharps container on he kitchen table 'til halfway through dinner.
You hear a truck backing up and you think it's the IV beeping
The nurses stop responding to the IV alarm knowing you'll fix it anyway
You can reset the IV machines overnight, in your sleep, every 30 minutes without waking up once and still call it a good nights sleep

And I'll leave you with just one more

You know you have a child with cancer when you really think this list is funny when most normal people would cry or just not get it.

Walk this way Part 2

Okay well I still can't get the other video to upload.

But I recorded this on the camera today. Obviously not high quality, but it works.

You can see Liam can walk, here is is chasing me as I am using his push walker. He can walk, just isn't happy about it yet :)

Food Friday

Okay as promised I am going to being sharing recipes on Fridays. Don't forget to email me a family favorite or 2 that I am share here!

This week I want to share one of the recipes we have for Liam. We met with a nutrionist this week to help with feeding Liam. It was very informative! I will share more about what I learned soon. Right now the nutrionist is most concerned with Liam not eating any vegetables, so are we!

We were given a few different ideas to "sneak" vegetables into his diet. One is in muffins.

Here's the recipe yielding 5 muffins

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/16 teaspoon salt
1/16 cup butter, softened
1/8 cup brown sugar, or other sweetener
1/4 egg
5/8 cup of veggies pureed
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Okay so I KNOW the measurements seem odd. I was on food.com searched for kid friendly recipes. On this site you can change the serving size and it'll adjust the measurements for you. I am obviously not going to make 24 muffins for Liam, it would be a waste of food.
I think the adjustment feature on this website is FABULOUS! So many recipes are wrote to serve 6-8 people, and I'm the only one in this house willing to eat leftovers.

Remember email me at liamfudgeATyahooDOTcom to share your favorite recipes. Next week will be one for adults!

Walk this way!

While we were in Michigan we began sending Liam back and forth walking between Brian and I. He was doing so well practicing walking. He is so proud of himself and insists that everyone cheers for him.

I really wish I could show you, but I have been trying to upload a video for 2 days, blogger is not cooperating with me!

Liam didn't walk much after we got back home. I figured it was because my mom had new cushy carpet in her house and we have hard wood floors. Well if you are lucky enough to be friends with me on facebook you already know LIAM SHOWED ME!

Brian and I were sending him back and forth again to practice walking. Well apparently Liam was done with that and walked right past me into his playroom!

We now know it isn't a can or can't do situations, its a won't do.
I hope to post some videos soon showing Liam's walking moves... we'll just have to wait and see.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Okay. I apologize for the delay in this post. I was so busy finishing LCF Threadz order then preparing to visit family that I forgot about this. A while back I posted a contest to create a saying for Liam's end of chemo party.

Well we do have a winner. I also apologize the banner was not what I or you had imagined, but the saying remained...

GRR Cancer Take That!

Cheryl, please email me at liamfudgeATyahooDOTcom with your order for your precious grandbabies.

Food Friday

So here is something new I'd like to do.
Since staying home with Liam, Brian has expected me to cook dinner (as if I was sitting around bored all day). Well my complaint about cooking is coming up with what to cook.
So I'd like to begin sharing recipes on here on Fridays. If you have a recipe you would like to share, email me. liamfudgeATyahooDOTcom

100 Miles

So as I was blog stalking, as Brian calls it, I found a post with a goal of running 100 miles in the month of July.

So I did the math, I've only missed 4 days of July, so I would have to run roughly 3.7 miles a day for the next 27 days. Although it is not likely that I will run EVERY day, I am signed up to run the Blue Ridge Relay and trainings include 2 runs/day sometimes. And one long run/week.

I can do this! right?

Today I took Jack out for a run 4 miles. Believe it or not the Lab with never ending energy slowed me down. And yes I brought water for the both of us, running in 90degree heat is no joke.

While I was out running today I thought to myself I would love to race high school me. I would kick her butt! I mean seriously, I sucked! I don't think its cause I am better now than I could have been then, I think I am just more focused and determined now.

So knowing that I was that bad, how did I get into running now? Well I always ran a bit, but my dedication to running began about 4 years ago when my doctor told me to start exercising more. I had been really struggling with depression.

I have never been too open about this, not because I am ashamed or anything, but I just wanted to be the happy, bubbly girl so I tried to pretend I was. So anyway, I went to the doctor and she told me to exercise more. So I did the only logical thing and signed up to run a marathon. Logical, right?

I ran my first marathon with Team In Training. It was a great experience. I met so many wonderful people. I went on to coach after participating until I had Liam. It is actually with the TNT coaches that we are running the Blue Ridge Relay. GO TEAM!Lauren and I tri marked our arm for the marathon, we're cool like that.

Then I ran Chicago marathon with some girls I met through TNT.

Us the morning of CHICAGO!

Words

We took Liam to the pediatrician Friday for the first time since he got sick. He weights 19 lbs 6 oz. He is still about 6 pounds under weight but is climbing back onto the growth scale.

The doctor says he is behind in his gross motor skills because he is not walking yet. He also finds him to be slightly behind in verbal skills. But not as far behind as he would have expected with all Liam has gone through. There are no concerns he won't catch up.

I always thought walking by 18 months was the milestone...

Also apparently our pediatrician doesn't consider all over his signs as language. Liam only speaks a few words; Mama, Dada, bye, shoe, car, ball and Jack.

But he signs close to 20 words; more, please, eat, milk, water, all done, clean, ball, car, dog, outside, book, shoe, hat, sleep...

He even combines signs. Today he signed book + car when he wanted me to read him his truck book.

But one of his funnest language moments was when we were out to eat at Mongolian BBQ, Dad got up to get more food and Liam waved saying "Bye Dada".

Liam with the guys at Mongolian BBQ

iPad users anyone?

Honestly I typically surf the Internet on my iPad. It's convenient. I have recently learned how to save pictures to my iPad, but I can not figure out how to post said pictures to the blog.
If anyone can offer help I would appreciate it, as would our readers!