Happy

We counted down those final hours with a tradition started the year Channing was born-lobster dinner.  I'll happily cook it, but I won't eat it.  I leave that to WM and to whomever we convince to join us.  Usually, that doesn't take much.  Mention lobster and guests are practically beating down our door.

We were joined by Walt, Kath, Kris & Jan this year.  We had lobster and pad thai and fancied up jell-o.  The jell-o was a big hit.  Anything tastes better in a cute little jelly jar, right?

The food coma hit us all hard.  By 11 our company was gone, Channing was snuggled into bed, Max was asleep in his swing and I snuggled up next to WM on the couch.  I was perfectly content.  I looked at the clock.  11:49.  When I looked again, it was 1:22.  Oops. 

Since I missed it last night, perhaps you'll help me count it down.

Happy New Year!

Red Umbrella-I'm Done!!

Technically, this post is a week past due.  A week and two days past due to be precise.  On Friday, July 13, I sat in the chemo chair for the last time (pre-baby for sure, but hopefully for good!!).  See these faces?  Yep, that's pretty much how they looked thru the entire three-hour process.  We're ecstatic!  

I wasn't home post-chemo for more than 10 minutes when a knock at the door revealed this:

I know.  Beautiful, aren't they!!??!!  WM surprised me with a dozen sunflowers (my absolute favorite) for each round of chemo.  Six dozen sunflowers!!!  That man spoils me rotten.  Rotten!!  My two helpers were quick to get the stems cut and the blooms into vases.  They were strewn about the house all week.  Never before have I had flowers in practically every room in the house.  Even Channing selected a blossom to put on the dresser in his room.  

So, what now?  Well, I do have an appointment at the end of August to talk to my surgeon, Dr. O'Leary with regard to my double mastectomy.  When, with a newborn and a preschooler, is that going to be 'convenient'?  [Ahem.]  After the little guy's arrival, I will finally have the MRI that most cancer patients would have started their course of care with.  That is, at this point, all I know.  


Can I be honest?  I think I'm going to miss being bald.  Really.  I liked it.  My hair never did totally fall out.  It was just impossibly thin & gross.  I shaved my head every few days with an electric razor.  I burst into fits of uncontrollable giggles the night before my last chemo, having one of those 'never in my lifetime...' moments.  I was shaving my head in preparation to go out for dinner with WM & his family.  Shaving.  My.  Head.  for a date of sorts.  You know, like putting on make-up and jewelry.  I found it hysterical.  


A special thanks to my sister, Sarah, & her husband, Jesse, who let us crash their dinner the other night so that post-meal, Sarah could take a couple of pictures for me.  I needed a red umbrella shot for this post.  She captured it just perfectly-a little umbrella, a lotta belly.

As 'my' song goes, I'm gonna be OK so let it rain!!

Artful Announcement

The paint hasn't dried, yet the photos have been uploaded to iPhoto and a blog post is swimming in my head.  What started as Channing begging to 'do a project' after dinner turned into family art night.


He grabbed construction paper, paint brushes & paints, while I cleaned up dinner dishes and WM prepped the dining room table with a drop cloth.  I thought for sure there would be peels of laughter, worming & squirming as WM began to apply paint to Channing's toes.  Nope.  He was captivated by the process.

Paint applied in just the right pattern, a footprint was pressed to paper.  Then another.  And yet another.  The result?  This:

Channing then asked with a shy smile, 'Can I paint on your bald head?'  Though the paint claimed to be washable, I hesitated & in that brief moment came a solution.  My belly.  Yes, I let Channing paint my belly.  It would be covered up if the paint at all stained my skin.  


He took great care in applying the paint just so, connecting the paint lines 'so no one can get in' whatever that means to a three-year-old mind.  I like to think it's his protective side once again shining through.

It seemed appropriate in that moment to finally share what many of you already know.  Through Channing's artistry and WM's steady finger on the camera's shutter button, we'd like you to know we're having a

Yep.  There you have it.  Another boy.  We couldn't be more excited.  Just 10 weeks to go!

Rite of Passage

It started earlier this week.  My hair was falling out-slowly in the beginning and then turning into cascades.  Showering lost it's appeal.  The hair would run down my body with the water.  It felt like spiders.  Not my favorite of bugs, that's for sure.  I stopped drying myself with a towel on Wednesday.  All it did was make more hair fall out and the stick it elsewhere on my body.  By this morning, you could see clouds of hair flying off my hair from the force of wind the hair dryer produced.  

The hair, it was everywhere.  I was ready.  More than ready. 


Kathy's stylist was kind enough to come to the house to lend a hand with the cutting.  Kendra and Libby made the trek across town to photograph the event.


We'd been talking to Channing about my hair falling out for a while now.  At night, when tucking him into bed, he'd reach up to push my hair back from my forehead to try to see what I was going to look like.  Sometime's he'd predict beautiful.  Other times, he'd choose a word a little less flattering.  


This evening, he was allowed to help.  Laura first trimmed my hair down with her clipper and then helped Channing with one she'd brought along for him to use.  He was careful.  He was thorough.  In the end, he was quite pleased with his work.  

WM, with his kind, kind heart, shaved his head in solidarity.  Channing said he wanted to too.  Unsure if he really understood what those words meant, he was given a trim instead.  

Here we are.  One more bald than not, happy family.  

And one last thought to share tonight.  It seemed appropriate for today, this piece I came across while perusing Pinterest a day or two ago.  

Hello, Sunshine.

And hello again to all of you.  We've come and gone since last I posted.  The sunshine state with its promise of warm sand, crashing waves, golf, a bit of relaxation and a marathon sprint through the Magic Kingdom called to us.  That call was heeded.


This guy with his robot backpack and Mr. Bunny caused a bit of a stir going through both the Minneapolis and Tampa airports.  Few people neglected to comment on how gosh darn cute he was in his excitement.  He traveled like a pro right up to the point where we checked into the hotel that first night.  He HAD to wheel WM's carry-on all the way to the room all by his big, giant guy self.  

Hilarity ensued immediately.  Our room reservation was not quite right.  The first night, we had one king sized bed (and eventually a roll away) for the three of us.  Channing took one look at it and asked, 'Mom!  Where's Dad going to sleep?!?'  Yes, I about peed my pants laughing.  WM was not as amused.  


We set up beach camp on Day 1 and Day 2 and Day 4 and...  It looked something like this:

And was home base for activities like this:

As was the case with our St. George Island trip two years ago, we frequently made way from the beach right to the pool.  Channing was every bit the confident swimmer, jumping into the water unassisted, popping right to the surface and asking to do it over and over and over again.  Give that kid a noodle and he's gone.  Deep end.  Shallow end.  Fearless.  He probably swam twelve miles, and he now, without a doubt, has gills.  

Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom was indeed magic to travelers young and younger.  (Angie, I apologize to you especially for the lack of WDW photos.  Paring down the day pack, I took only one lens for the camera and proceeded to drop it somewhat early in the day.  The UV filter shattered and got stuck leaving me to lug around an un-usable camera.  [sigh.] ) 

WM & Channing were featured as another two-headed monster at the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor.  

Grandma Kathy & Grandpa Walt held down the fort one evening, allowing the rest of us to enjoy a dinner at Blu Que on Siesta Key.  I took a break from my sugar fast for the first time in over three months to indulge in a Key Lime Cloud.  Seriously.  Heaven in your mouth.  Not kidding.  Key lime pie filling, coconut macaroons & home made whipped cream.  YUM!  Kelly's brownie sundae wasn't too shabby either.  

After a trip to the Mote Aquarium, we stopped for ice cream at Abel's in Sarasota.  It was Anderson's first time eating his own cone.  Channing and Anderson's personalities are definitely reflected in their cone consumption styles.  They're as different as night and day.  

We've been home now for just less than 24 hours.  We've unpacked.  The laundry is done, and the very last load is waiting to be put away.  WM's hard at work cleaning the garage.  WC is catching up on his sleep, taking a much needed and very long nap.  Me, I'm just drinking it all in.  As good as it was to be on vacation, it's equally as good to be home.