Monday 25 April 2011

Easter

I love everything about Easter and I always have. Since I was little it has been my favorite holiday. It is a beautiful way to celebrate the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ.




This year we headed to warm St. George for the weekend. It was gorgeous! We couldn't have asked for a better weekend.



I tried to take some picture of the kids in their Easter clothes, but Austin was having NONE of it. This picture about summed it up.




A few more of my attempt to get a decent shot...


When we got back to SLC we visited Brady's fam and Millie got to play with the bunnies (her fav), then we went to my parent's house. It was a good thing we did too. My mom like always had created a feast! There was food galore and we were happy to help them gobble it up. :)



I love this picture of Austin and Brady. He adores his daddy and I think it's so sweet they were holding hands.


Miss Millie Austin also turned 20 months on the 28th of April so I thought I would post some pictures of him with all his silly faces from the weekend.




He is such a funny little guy.


I love my little man

Wednesday 20 April 2011

Come join us for an evening of Hope!

Brady and I have worked extremely hard on this event and we hope you can join us. Please send on the info to anyone you think may be interested in attending. HopeKids has made the daily struggle of living with cancer bearable for Amelia and we will always be grateful to them. If you have any question please email me.

You are invited to

Faces of Hope


Dinner and Auction
to benefit the Utah Chapter of



HopeKids




Saturday, April 30, 2011, 6:00 PM
Pierpont Place, 163 Pierpont Avenue, Salt Lake City

6 PM: Cocktails and Silent Auction
7 PM: Dinner, Raffle Drawings, and Program
8 PM: Entertainment by Peter Breinholt

M.C.: Marti Skold, ABC4

Tickets available online at
http://facesofhope.hopekids.org

Many, Many Thanks to our Sponsors
eyeQ by Infinite Mind
Candlelight Homes
ZAGG
Utah Food Services
Pierpont Place
The Crawford Family Foundation
Layton Construction
Neutron Interactive

Sunday 17 April 2011

Cancer Fighting Cuties

We had a play date with the other cancer kiddos at wheeler farm on Friday. It's so nice for these little ones to get together and be with other kids that know exactly what they're going through. There were eight cancer kids there total, and that's only a tiny portion of our Cancer Fighting Cuties group. I love all of this little people so much and admire them for their strength. I wish I'd gotten more pictures, there were two other little cuties, Nathaniel, and Jenna with us and I didn't get a shot of them :( . Thankfully there was an amazing photographer there with us taking pictures of all our cuties! Jen is awesome and she volunteered her time and talents to come take some shots for us. I have already seen a few and they are stunning, I can't wait to see the rest!


Thank you Jen so much for your kindness. These pictures will be priceless to all of us moms.


Millie, Izzy, Carson, Cami, Brinley, Elli, Koda

Sunday 3 April 2011

Clinic March 2011 (part 2)

Millie goes to clinic every 28 days for her regular check up and for her Vincristine. I say "regular" because we have been at the hospital way more then that this past month. Anyway, she ended up having 2 March appointments so that's why the "part 2".

Things seem to be looking up. Her liver enzymes are so close to being back to normal. Dr. Barnette would have started back on her oral chemo but her dang ANC dropped again so she will be off it for another 2 weeks. It's now down to 200. We haven't seen her get this low in a long time and once again we have no idea what's going on. We were given a couple different reasons but all of that seemed to be an educated guess. It's frustrating to not know why things are happening. Amelia did seem to be feeling better. I say DID because her appointment was on Thursday and now she's been on steroids for 4 days and she's a disaster. The poor girl breaks my heart when she's on her steroids. She is so emotional and as a 5 year old she doesn't know how to handle it. Hell, I wouldn't know how to handle it. Being at a 200 ANC means that we have to be incredibly careful with her. If she were to get a fever at all she would be admitted immediately. NO THANK YOU! They steroids will help her ANC come up so they are good for something ;)


I'm jumping around a little bit, but I'm so tired and when I'm tired my brain doesn't work properly. All in all clinic went well. Millie did fabulous as always. Brady was even able to join us which was excellent. Dr. Barnette seems to think the liver problem was a virus (even though they couldn't find anything) and hopefully they will be able to put her back on her oral chemo in 2 weeks when she gets retested once again. They did give her Vincristine through her port because she's on a schedule and the rest of her counts were looking better.

Before I get into the pictures I just want to say THANK YOU to all of you out there praying for us and thinking of us. I have had so much support this past month and I can honestly say I have needed it. My Relief Society in my church has been amazing. They have brought meals, covered my lesson, stopped by to bring treats, and dropped off little notes. A friend from high school that I haven't seen in years sent flowers, other cancer moms that are going through a difficult time as well have brought me dinner, neighbors have come by to see what I need and brought flowers, and gifts for Millie. My mother in law has made me meals, my fam has babysat Austin, the list goes on and on. I am overwhelmed with the love we receive.

Brady and I have also been very involved with trying to help get donations for the HopeKids charity dinner and I have had people coming out of nowhere and putting together amazing packages for them to auction off. I am truly stunned and eternally grateful. I have had so many people ask what they can do to help and I don't know what to say, well I do know what to say, but it's not the easy answer. I need help with HopeKids and I am so grateful for those of you out there working on projects for all these kids or gathering donations. HopeKids is AMAZING! If you ask Millie about her Leukemia she will tell you she likes it. Of course she doesn't like her Leukemia, she doesn't really understand what that means. What she does understand is that she has been able to do some amazing things and meet amazing people because of her cancer. She has made friends that she wouldn't otherwise know. She can see the blessings that have come from her cancer. She is beyond her years in wisdom. For her, HopeKids makes her life normal. She is not alone. She can play. She can have fun. She can have HOPE.

Not sure where all that came from, but there ya go. I HEART HopeKids.

Now for the pictures!

Millie getting her port accessed. She does extremely well. She doesn't flinch or ever make a peep. You can see the pain in her face as the nurse is pushing the needle in, but she is one brave cookie.

Mill didn't want me to take a picture getting her chemo so she kept putting her hand up. I couldn't resist posting it. I love the marker all over her cute little hand. (ps, she wasn't sad about getting her chemo. she was teasing me. that's what she does, teases).



I got one anyway...



Millie's Hair Update:

I snapped this one of her going back in the house and I love how much you can see all her curls and natural highlights.


Clinic Stats:

Height: 106.5 cm

(yes, it's less then before, I guess I better make sure they are more accurate)

Weight: 16.6 kg (HOORAY! It's going back up)ANC: 200 (NOT GOOD)

Liver Enzymes:

AST: 48

ALT: 98 (still a little high)