HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY MILLIE!

I can not believe another year has pasted and that my baby girl is 6! I am so proud of the person Amelia is. She is the most amazing, little thing. Amelia is being spotlighted at school this week because of her great behavior and I thought it would be fun to post her answers to her questionnaire here:

1. My favorite food... Macaroni

2. My favorite book... The Fire Cat

3. Something special about me... I'm Silly!

4. My favorite thing to do... Go Swimming

5. My favorite game... Connect 4

6. My favorite toy... Barbies

I am so glad I have been taking pictures of Millie every time she has a clinic appointment. I can not believe how much she has changed over this past year.

My little 5 year old is now 6!

Sadly, I don't have a picture for July. I forgot to take one :(

Fun In The Sun

As summer has officially come to an end and the leaves are changing I wanted to post a couple pictures from the summer. I didn't do a lot of blogging because we were too busy playing hard or working hard, but it has been fabulous. Fall is my favorite season but I have to admit that I am sad to say goodbye to the warm nights.

(click to enlarge)

Here's just a couple highlights of the summer...

Watching Austin help Grandpa Jager build our fence was my favorite part of the whole summer

Longboarding down the driveway over and over again

Millie learned to ride her bike

Dance Performances

A lot of dress up

Fashion shows

Millie's giggle

Snuggling

Painting

Frogurt

Hiking

Movies

Austin

Love

Fun

It was a perfect.

Love Them

Millie September 2011 Update

What can I say about Amelia and her clinic... Everything went the same as usual. Check-in, get a hospital band, wait, crafts, height, weight, blood pressure, get assigned a room, wait, wait, wait, see a nurse, wait, get prepped for PORT access, jab needle in chest, draw blood, wait, wait, wait, wait, talk to doctor, back to infusion area, wait, wait, wait, flu shot, wait, wait, wait, finally chemotherapy push, de-access, clean up, schedule for blood labs in 2 weeks, schedule for clinic in 4, go home.

I am so sick of this routine that has become normal. I'm starting to feel like it's all too easy. I guess that's a good thing, but at the same time I know that none of this is easy. Even as I say it I find it a little insulting to Amelia and somewhat disrespectful to take away what she is going through. They upped her steroid dose because she had gained a little weight and I wanted to scream NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO from the top of my lungs. As her mother I know that she feels horrible on steroids. She is so depressed. Nothing makes her happy for longer then a few minutes. Today Brady heard her say, "This is the worst day of my life," so for me to feel like this is routine isn't fair to her. None of this should seem "normal," none of it should be blown over, or a second thought. I don't know if that even makes sense, but it makes sense to me.

Sadly I was reminded this week of how cancer once again can effect anyone at anytime as our neighbor and friend was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma. Tyler is 16 years old and faces a year of intense chemotherapy mixed in with radiation, and possible surgery. When I hear news like this it makes me sick to my stomach. My heart aches for this family because I know what this means. Cancer is a horrible disease and kids of all ages deserve a CURE.

I'm rambling at this point, but I have a lot on my mind as I sit here listening to my daughter whimper in her bed. September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and I know I have just posted about it, but I want you all to know. Please start asking companies if they support childhood cancer. Ask them if they sell products with a GOLD ribbon. Let's help these kids! PLEASE! In October everything is covered with PINK for Breast Cancer and I am happy for all these woman that get to feel someone more recognized and support, and my dream is for everything to be covered with GOLD in September. Spread Awareness. They deserve it.

Okay back on track, MILLIE. Millie is my HERO. Have I said that lately? I should.

Clinic Stats:

Height: 110 cm

Weight: 19.2 (42 lbs)

ANC: 5.1

( Her ANC was way to high for a child on chemo, we had to up all of her different chemo doses.)

CANCER SUCKS!

September is Childhood Cancer awareness month!

My brave, little Amelia was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) on December 17, 2009.

LET THE AWARENESS BEGIN!

Miss Millie is still fighting her cancer today 1.5 years later. The average treatment for a little girl with her type of cancer is 2.5 years, and 3.5 for boys.

Many of you know that PINK is the color for breast cancer, but you may not know that GOLD is the color of Childhood Cancer. Please wear it proudly this month and help get the word out. Changing your facebook profile picture is a good start. It does my mama heart good to see GOLD everywhere.

Every year childhood cancer kills more children than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies, AND pediatric AIDS...COMBINED!! On average, 7 children die from cancer each day. That means that this month alone 210 U.S. children will die from cancer.

We learned the hard way that this can happen to ANY child at ANY time, lets do all we can to help find the cause and cure for all the kids that are fighting for their life and for those that have lost their battle.

You can visit these sites for info or to donate towards childhood cancer research:

http://www.curesearch.org/
http://www.alexslemonade.org/
http://www.curechildhoodcancer.ning.com/

This video is of Millie and some of her Cancer Fighting Buddies. One of our friends made it for the CureSearch walk this year. Every child in it is from right here in Utah. Yes it's sad, but it is also beautiful, and full of HOPE. PLEASE WATCH IT! You can spot Miss Millie in there a few times.

To see the full screen click on "CureSearch", it will be on the top, left side of the clip when it starts playing.