Spring Break Fun

Growing up we never took vacations over spring break, it probably wasn't until I met Brian that we started taking a trip while I was off work for the week.  I guess since I haven't been working it has occurred to us to take a trip the past few years.

Liam is off school this week and with lack of plans and my new babysitting gig we also have J's sister here with us.  She is the same age as Liam so he was excited to play with her this week.

A necessity of surviving the day with multiple children is to have a plan.  My children will beg for television if they get bored, and with spotty weather forecasted for the week I made a list of things we could do.  But turns out it wasn't necessary because the rain has held out until night time.

Big Brother Duties

If there is one thing I know, its Aubrey LOVES attention!  When be drop Liam off at preschool she know just who to walk up to, arms out to be picked up.  If someone else decides to love on her along the way, she wont argue.  So when we went to see Santa this week, I knew we were going to have a successful trip.

 

Brian decided I was going to take the kids during the week instead of fighting the weekend crowds.  The mall parking lot did not look promising when we drove up, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the line to see Santa was super short.  We waited maybe 10 minutes, the whole time in line, Liam was peeking around the set, Aubrey was chanting "Sen-ta"... we were ready!

When our turn came, Liam walked right up and climbed onto Santa's lap.  Aubrey turned around and ran out.  As I carried Aubrey over to Santa, she help on so tight (girl can pinch with her grip!). 

Liam was so ready to help his sister out, taking those big brother responsibilities seriously.  He patted a spot on Santa's lap where Aubrey was to sit.  He continued to have a great time with Santa, laughing, smiling and giving high fives.  Liam was encouraging Aubrey to give Santa high fives and loving the squeak Santa had in his glove.

Aubrey still was not eager or willing to sit on Santa's lap, but I left her there and hoped for the best. 

Thank you Santa Max, this is the best picture we could have asked for!

Being Thankful During Difficult Times

Our journey with this blog began over Thanksgiving 4 years ago, so I thought this week would be a great time to try again.

Every November people begin making lists of everything they are thankful for.  It occupies your Facebook newsfeed, it inspires self-awareness and discovery. 

I have had some many great, life-changing events happen in the month of November. 
November 13, 2004- Met Brian
November 26, 2004- First Date with Brian
November 24, 2005- Met Brian's family during Thanksgiving dinner
November 20, 2007- Closed on our first house
November 22, 2012- Found out we were being blessed with an Aubrey (Thanksgiving Day)

Even with all the great things that have happened to us in November, it is still a month I struggle through.  The one date that takes the most significance in my life is November 19, 2010; the day we heard "your child has cancer".  The year Liam spent his first Thanksgiving in the hospital. 

So through all this I work to tell myself- I am thankful for my home.  I am thankful for my family.  I am thankful for all the experiences this life has offered me.

WE'RE BACK!

So after a much needed break from the pressures of keeping up with this blog WE'RE BACK!
I can't say it was an easy decision either.  I went back and forth "Would anybody still be reading it?" I decided I didn't care!

Then when I heard 5 on Friday was coming back from break and I love writing in lists, I had my own deadline to get back online.  So here is my 5 on Friday to introduce (or reintroduce) us.

1.  The New Blog

Sorry family and friends, you will have to save a new blog address.  A virus or something took ahold of a post.  A very personal and life changing post.  The post I shared Liam's diagnosis, the post that started this whole blog.  And in an irrational, unexplainable way I was hurt.  But by changing the address, the spam comments have stopped!

So take note.  The design is still a work in progress, please bear with me.

And onto the family introductions

2.  Brian



Brian is the sane one in this family.  Just keep him away from golf carts.  Brian is a runner, training for his 5th marathon.  He loves all sports, there is not a season where sports don't grace our television.  A Super-Dad, always up for a game of crush with Liam. 

3. Dawn

I am the voice here.  I chase Liam and Aubrey around everyday, counting down the minutes til Daddy gets home.  During naptimes I keep myself busy creating, crafting and sewing at my home business LCF Threadz.  I have a love/hate relationship with running.  Training for my 4th marathon and hating every minute of it, I just can't quit this addiction!   

4. Liam

Liam is our superhero.  inquisitive.  entertaining.  Loves monster trucks, garbage trucks and rock n roll..  Liam is a big ham, with plenty of experience having his picture taken.  And he loves a good selfie. 

 

An excellent big brother

5. Aubrey

Aubrey is Aubrey :)  I call her difficult from conception.  She loves food, climbing and shoes.  Until recently she was our toothless wonder, only sporting 4 teeth currently (1 on top, 3 on bottom)

Welcome to our wild crazy family. 

 



Liam's Hearing

Liam has now had hearing aids for almost a year. Although I am not certain on the length of time he has been able to wear them, as it seems we are continuous sending them in for repairs.

Speech was never an issue, strangers could understand him before the hearing aids. But I have seen an improvement in his speech since receiving the aids. Looking at his audiogram, Liam cannot hear anything above the markings without amplification.

 The blue line being normal hear, the red line represents Liam's hearing

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He is missing about 9sounds, we chose to get him hearing aids because as a teacher I know the sounds he is missing will be the hardest for him when he starts reading.
We are now facing a new challenge with Liam's hearing . Insurance. We have just learned that insurance will no longer cover his hearing aids. So every time they break and the audiologist has to look at them I can expect a large bill. Not to mention he is growing and constantly needs new ear molds, also not covered.

I am really left debating if the benefit is worth the price. Which really isn't going to be a question in the end, but I may have to sell Liam to pay for his medical bills.

Southern Sledding

Souther sledding at its finest!













Take 2

Date Night

Brian and I don't go out that often and most of the time I am okay with that.  We really do enjoy and take advantage of the times we do get to go out.  The other weekend our friends had their annual Christmas party.  Really genius if you ask me, having a party after the holidays means they don't have to compete with any other parties.

This gave me a great excuse to get out of my sweat pants for the night.  Brian wasn't too thrilled about taking pictures of us, but it is a goal of mine to get more pictures of myself with my children.

 

Now that Aubrey is crawling, most of the time if we are just hanging out around the house, she is jut in onesies.  We have wood floors and it is still too difficult for her to crawl without slipping on the floors with pants on.  And when her little gets get cold, we just slip a pair of Liam Legs on her.

Liam, however, gets to choose his own clothes and in the process is a lot like me choosing comfort over fashion and often ends up in sweats.

Celebrate Date Night with us.  Get $1 off your Liam Legs in the month of February by using coupon code datenight

How Do You Tell Your Child He Has Cancer

A question I get asked a lot is if Liam knows what he went through.

It was his little body that went through the treatment and fought with such strength, but it's Brian and I that livesd the nightmare. Liam's scar is so faint he doesn't even know it's there.

Recently Brian asked when I thought we should have that conversation with Liam, when will he be vale to understand? As the cliche says; we weren't given an instruction manual for this.

With an appointment happening last week I started sharing some things with Liam. Currently he has an abdominal ultrasound every 4 months, we had been telling him we were going to get pictures taken of his belly but never said why before. Last week I decided to ask him if he knew why he has to get pictures taken of his belly. If course he didn't. Since he had recently had a stomach bug he has a recent experience with being sick. I explained to Liam when he was Aubrey's age he had something growing in his belly and it was making him really sick. He doctors had to take it out and why he has a scar on his belly. We want to make sure nothing starts growing again so we take pictures of his belly to keep him healthy.

I know he can understand more than that, but cancer is such an abstract concept.  What we tell Liam will continue to change each time until he fully understands.  We just want him to know about his history before cancer is associated negatively in his mind. 

Liam, You are a survivor.  You are my hero!

2014: New Year New You

As a public school teacher I have often encountered parents dressed inappropriately for bringing their children to school.  I always told myself, because conversations with yourself are the best, I would not take my children to school in my pajamas. 

This was very difficult with Liam starting school right after I had just had a baby.  Although I have never went in my pajamas, I am not sure my yoga pants and sweats are that much better. 

It might seem small, but one of my goals for this year is to get dressed.  Staying at home, it has been far too easy to spend the day in workout clothes or sweats.  But there is something about putting on clothes, maybe a little bit of makeup, that makes one feel human.

 

And, really, it doesn't take that much effort.  Most days my children are better dressed than I am, which probably won't change, but at least I can look like I belong with them!

 

Thank you Katie at For Lauren and Lauren for motivating me to get dressed.

 

Monster Jam

Hi Liam here.  Remember me?  I used to get this blogs undivided attention.  Then my sister came along.  I am taking over today!

Lucky for me I have one awesome Tia who gives me the attention I deserve.  I got to go stay with her last weekend.  She took me to the monster truck show.  Monster trucks and race cars are my jam!  Its super great that Tia and I have that in common because there is no way my mom will help me be the next Ricky Bobby.

 

Grave Digger and Son of Grave Digger are my favorites.  Do you like monster trucks too?

Five on Friday {v.4}

I still have more 2014 goals to share next week, but today I am excited for my first Five on Friday post of 2014.

My best friend from high school is having a baby and soon.  I am so excited for her.  She asked me a while back to share with her some things I found necessary.  I am going to share some things I like having, not that they are necessary, and each baby is different.

This week I thought I would start with things for sleep {not that I know what that is anymore}

First the obvious, a place to sleep.  Beside the crib in the nursery, both Liam and Aubrey started off in a pack n play in our room.  I have also heard a lot of great things about this Rock n Play.  And I really wanted one, but that would have been another piece of gear around our house and I just couldn't justify it {although I might have gotten more rest between then and now if I did}.

 



Sleep Sacks.  I have found my babies sleep much better when they are wrapped up.  Woman thinks I am torturing my children, but it is comforting to them.  Infants are used to being in a cramped place and by wrapping them tight they cannot wake themselves up as easily with their startle reflex.

We got this noise machine with Liam, but all babies are different.  We use this SO MUCH MORE with Aubrey.  I don't lay here down without turning it on.

Okay so the night light is more for you.  A baby is not going to be scared of the dark.  I like a dim night light for myself when I am up feeding Aubrey at night.  I don't like it too bright to wake her up, but I do like to see what I am doing.

Finally a monitor.  I love our Motorola video monitor.  It has a 2 way radio in it so I can talk to Aubrey when she wakes up, not that it calms her down...  No a video monitor isn't necessary, we didn't have one with Liam, but it has made me more comfortable being able to see Aubrey.

2013: A Year End Review

Its been real 2013 but its time for you to go!  My word for 2013 was purpose.  I set out to find some purpose in my life.  I am still working on that.  I love my family, I am getting my health and body back after having a baby.  I still have more purpose to work on in the New Year.

We started January off with the big announcement we were adding to our family.  I wasn't exactly enjoying pregnancy at this point (did I enjoy it at all this time?) definitely wasn't fun feeling hungover when I couldn't even taste the delicious beverages!  It had been a journey for us to get to this point, we were beyond excited.

But what goes up must come down and January had the worst ending when we had to say goodbye to my dad.  He may have been my step-dad who I tried to get rid of at everyturn when he first came into the picture, but the man kinda grew on you.  He was so great to our family and we miss him everyday.  It gives me so much joy to hear Liam talk about him, but I know those memories will fad for him and Aubrey will never know him.

 

February was spent daydreaming about our new baby.  Will Liam have a brother or a sister?  How can we decorate the nursery?  We took Liam to the doctor with us when we had the ultrasound.  I was a bit nervous, he really wanted a sister, how would he handle the news if he learns Baby Fudge is a boy?  Luckily we didn't need to find out, Liam was ecstatic to be getting a baby sister!

We also had a fun snow day. It doesn't happen often around these parts, but it was an experience for Liam.

 

I love March.  Liam's birthday, warmer weather.

 

This year we planned Liam's birthday party at the park.  We had a pirate party... unfortunately it snowed.  We still went but it was cold and Liam was not interested in playing.  But I think his friends had fun... like I said snow is unusual here, I can't believe it happened twice in one year, so its an experience.

 

Of course the next week it was 79 degrees outside.

 

Baby Fudge got a name.  I continued to grow, as did she.  

We celebrated Easter.

And Liam got his hearing aides.  Oy! Those things are EXPENSIVE!  Not just for the devices but his ears grow so quickly we are continuously in getting new ear molds made.  And the darn devices have "broke" several times, luckily it hasn't been our fault so we haven't paid to have them fixed.

I was apparently really busy growing a baby in April, because I didn't write much.  Sorry!

 

May was spent at doctors appointments and celebrating Liam being 2 years cancer free!  His doctor called this year one of the biggest milestones for him, 2 years cancer free!  Its amazing how much he has been through in his short life.

 

We continued to celebrate Liam being cancer free with Cancer Survivor Day.  Just look at how much he has grown! 

 

Brian was also celebrated for Father's Day.  I cannot put into words what a great father he really is.  Liam has so much fun with him.  They are constantly wrestling and running circles in the house.  Each morning when Liam wakes up he is disappointed to hear Daddy went to work.

Liam started swim lessons this month.  It was a rough start, but he has came SO FAR!

And I got some sewing done.  I LOVE making these carseat covers, they are so convenient, I never take Aubrey's off her seat.



Difficult from the day she was conceived, Aubrey made her appearance 3 weeks early and light on the pounds. 

But as we were busy celebrating, our dear friends were receiving life changing news.  Keep fighting John Ryan!

 





 

As we adjusted to life as a family of 4 I found myself very reflecting and emotional.  Crying over Liam's hair. but in my defense it is unruly!  and it was so adorable before we cut it!  I have been refusing to cut it again in an effort for the length to weigh it down... Lets just say Brian hasn't enjoyed this idea.

 

I also started "running" in August.  I did not start off with anything impressive to me and had to keep telling myself 'you just had a baby', but it was time for me to get out of the house and work on ME.  This was not easy to do with 2 children, still isn't!

I spent September spreading Awareness.  Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. 

Liam

John Ryan

Drew

Nolan

 

And I had some fun sewing for the upcoming holidays.

 



 In October we did a lot of traveling (a lot for having a 3 month old).  First we went to MI, Brian and I went to a football game and the kids got in a lot of family time!  Then we were off to Atlanta for Brian's sister's engagement party.

 

The best season of all made its appearance in November.  And Liam got to spend plenty of time outside with his father.  They just love doing lawn work together :)



 Then the end of the year finally arrived.  We spent so much time getting ready for the holidays.

  Liam learned the true meaning of Christmas in preschool.  It was so cute listening to him tell the story of Mary and Joseph.  Unfortunately a stomach bug also passed through our house.  And ended with an eventful trip to Michigan for ICEmas.

c a
The icestorm caused a lot of problems for people, leaving some without power for 7 days!  Luckily we were only without power at woman's house for about 2.5 days.