Stream of whaaaat?

Winter is clearly leaving like a lion—and I gotta say, I’m bummed by it. Last week, Mother Nature taunted us with the first harbringers of spring—warm sunshine, chirping birds, melting snow, the sound of the run-off trickling into gutters, brown tufts of grass peeking out from lawns. It was heavenly. Looked like and Wiarton Willie finally had it right. An early spring and not a moment too soon. And, then, last Friday, right after she had us shedding mittens and parkas for jackets and sunglasses, she went ahead and dumped another 10 cm of the white stuff on us, followed by a week of frigid temperatures. Gawd.

Flash forward to yesterday—yup. More snow. Another 10 cm of the crap. Looks like grey, dreary skies all weekend. Utterly depressing. Truly. Mother Nature is one fickle b!tch.

I guess you could say I have cabin fever and wrong you would not be. I’m a proud Canadian, and I hate the thought of a green Christmas, but man, oh man—I was never meant for winter weather. I get to about mid-January and I’m done with it. Suivant, next.

But, we’ll get to spring eventually, I suppose—I’ll give Willie another week or so before I file an official grievance. In the meantime, I’ve got plenty to keep me busy. (When do I not?) Lots of things to cross off the To-Do list at home, of course, but I’ve also joined the Make-a-Wish team in Rockland as a volunteer, so I hope to be involved with Brooke and company in some fun events there. Looking forward to taking some wish-granting training soon, too.

Of course, I want to get started on that wish trip scrapbook, too, especially now that my sister-in-law Brenna—the star of scrapbooking superwebsite, ScrapSmith—found me some adorable mermaid/princess/fairy/Disney papers to work with. Gorgtastic! So, that’s another project that will be ever in the wings.

Must get back to the DISBoards as the folks there have been very patient with me while I have gone on blogging and trip-reporting hiatus for the last couple of months.

And, in spite of all my complaining, spring is coming, so that means time to get party-planning! Not only is there the usual Easter shenanigans to prepare for, but I’ve got a bundle of birthdays I need to celebrate. We have a lot of April birthdays in the family—my granny’s, my mother-in-law, my hubby, my brother (who will be 30 this year!) and, of course, Miss Avie, who will be two in just a few weeks. Eeek! I can’t believe it—seems like it was a couple of months ago that I began this blog to chronicle her coming into the world.

Here she is in a terribly unsteady iPhone users' hand (mine), perusing the Sears catalogue. Caught her ogling Dora tricycles. Little sister has already started catalogue shopping. Highly amusing. But, helpful, too. (One guess as to what my little sweetie will be getting for her birthday?)

She's growing up so fast. (FYI, her feet are growing at an average pace and are, in fact, quite normal-sized. In this pic, she was wearing Brooke's shoes.)

And, you know what she said to me this morning when I opened up her bedroom door to her little chattering voice? Prepare to gush....

“Oh! It’s my mommy. Love you!”

Yup. Sweetest thing ever.

Kid plucked all my heartstrings and the sound resonated all the way to work. In spite of the grey skies and bleak March terrain—which is saying something, I think.

More about her party plans forthcoming—but let’s just say, I’m very partyblog-inspired lately and have been showing my love of these awesome sites through Pinterest. Okay—can I say how much I love that website? I have found about a bazillion awesome, time-wasting websites in the last few weeks—Mod Clothes, We Heart It, Zulily—to add to my collection ol’ Flickr, Etsy, Contestgirl and Facebook standbys. But, honestly, it’s a struggle every time I sit down at the laptop because as the urge to creep along the pin boards is almost more than I can bear.... I adore it. I feel that website was created specifically with me in mind.

Seriously—I’m one of those peeps who has about 300 favourite websites stored on my browser and then saves a gazillion photos from different websites showing cool crafting, arty, entertaining or clothing ideas onto her hard drive. I’m not joking—there might just be more ‘mermaid party decoration’ photos there than there are pics of the girls. Now I can finally clear out all of those images and keep the ideas in one tidy little account somewhere in the cloud, all neatly sorted and organized and shared among like-minded friends.

Pinterest—my hard drive thanks you.

So, what’s all the point of this rambling piece? None whatsoever. Just a little stream of consciousness blurb to let you know I’m back.

Catch ya’ later.

Smarchy smarch

So, it's March now and we just got slammed with another snowstorm--one on Monday and another good dumping last night. Great for our snowshoeing expedition coming up this Saturday, but not so great for those who are suffering from severe cabin fever (ie: me and the girls!) and were hoping the groundhog was right this year about the early spring. Sure, it's just March, but with that freakishly warm weather we had a couple of weeks ago, things looked promising.

We are all restless these days--B wandering from room to room, jumping on the sofa, clinging to my legs, begging me to come up with new games or craft. I know how she feels. I feel like I am just wasting away the days here in the house, scratching my itchy skin (I hate winter dryness!) and longing for sunshine and greenery. Don't get me wrong--there is plenty laundry and dishes and vacuuming to do, but man--I just want to open up all the windows and let in some fresh air!!

B needs to expend some serious energy this morning, so I am about five minutes away from calling to her to put on her boots and coat, so we can go out for a bit and play in the snow before Avie wakes up from her morning nap.

Just thought I would update anyone who is still tuning in about last week's first off-treatment appointment. All is well. The oncologist is quite happy with Brooke's recovery and progress. Since Brooke had no re-admissions, no blood transfusions and no fevers, she does not anticipate any additional problems and has even put an order in to schedule a day surgery to remove Brooke's port.

Typically, the oncologists leave the port in the body for six months post-treatment (in case of a relapse), but B's doctor thinks we can remove it now. I'm thrilled--as the whole treatment thing doesn't seem officially over until that surgery is completed and the weird central line and port pump are out of my kid. Here's hoping that the surgery takes place before I return to work!!!

Also, Brooke will be switching clinics, so now she will be in the 0-24 months clinic at CHEO, which just means she has a new case manager (the person who handles all of B's appointments). The 'road map' as the oncology nurses like to call it, is pretty much as we expected.

Basically, B will still continue to take the Septra antibiotic until June. At that time, Brooke will also receive some blood tests to determine if she is still immune to the vaccinations she has had to date. (We'll need to revaccinate her for chicken pox and measles and whatnot if the chemo has killed the immunities in her body.) She will also undergo MRIs and CT scans every three months for the next two years to keep on top of things. She will receive both tests every three months for the first year, then alternating MRI and CT for the second year. And, sprinkled througout those appointments will also be echograms and cardiograms. So, lots of visits to the hospital still in our future--even if she doesn't relapse (which, of course, we pray she does not!).

Once she has been off-treatment for two years, she'll still be monitored (although less often) for another three years until she has reached the five-year survivor point. If after five years, she has not relapsed, then she is considered 'cured.' Can we get to five years already?!?

Lastly, Avie was given a date for an ultrasound as well. The chance that Avie has familial Wilms' tumour is pretty minimal (I think the oncologist said it was about 2% of cases), but she offers an ultrasound for any additional children as a way of giving parents' piece of mind. I jumped on the chance to have Avie checked out, too. With our luck, Hubby and I's combined DNA create some sort of genetic mutation that is prone to tumours! Hope not.

Anyways, fresh air beckons, so off I go....

Spring has sprung a leak