Over a year...

I've been thinking back recently and it dawned on me it's been over a year since my 2nd Hodgkin's diagnosis. We got the awful CT scan results in late May '08, PET scan results in early June '08, and the biopsy was one year ago this past Saturday (June 27, '08). I'm seven months and eleven days post-transplant. I thought I'd give a few details about how I'm doing.

I can tell my voice is coming back. Actually, the way I can tell is kind of odd... I am able to sing on-key at quieter volumes. I was singing along with my iPod, which was in the other room, on-key and quietly the other day. I know, odd way to tell, but it was my clue that I was getting it back.

My hair is growing back! It's a good 2, 2 1/2 inches long now. And it's nice and thick. So that's a blessing. But there's a bonus! It's coming in with nice gold highlights to it. Double blessing!

I've dropped running. I may go back to it someday, but for now it's just too rough on my lungs and I was no longer enjoying it. I've been doing some biking. In fact I need to do it more. But the fact that I am able to exercise feels good and tells me I'm getting better!

Swimming

My parents and my in-laws both have pools and now that the kids are older and we don't have to worry about them wandering off the edge of the pool unexpectedly...we can spend more time swimming. We went to my parents' tonight.

I love watching the girls play and wander around and S and A can both take care of themselves (with adults nearby, don't worry), so Price Charming and I can relax most of the time. Before when they were ALL little, we had to watch them and hold them all the time and swimming was not very relaxing.

We had a Funniest Home Videos moment! I was helping C swim around with a noodle, and Prince Charming went to blow the water out of the noodle. Unfortunately, I straightened the noodle right toward my face at the same time and ALL the water in the noodle went in my face and up my nose! Haha! Too bad we didn't have a camera running, cause it was funny. Of course I had to dunk him after that!

Hopefully we will spend lots of time at the pools this year. It's nice that it's actually fun for everyone now.

Potty Training

I know, stay-at-home moms blog about such exciting things, huh??

But we're pretty excited. We were just starting to wonder how we were going to be able to keep affording C's diapers as hours got cut at my hubby's work and we had to tighten the belt. Well, with something like 8 diapers left in the box, that small problem was solved!

Nearly 2 weeks ago, C walked up to Daddy and said, "I have to go potty!" Well, since her diaper was dry, we figured, what the heck. He walked her to the bathroom and put her on the potty, and lo and behold, she went! And then, believe it or not, she only had one accident that day. And she stayed dry ALL NIGHT!! That was most amazing. She's actually only had 5 accidents in 12 days, and all of her accidents have happened when she was on her way to the bathroom, or already there. So we knew she knew what she was doing, she just needed to do it a little earlier!

Actually, she sets a record for our kids... she potty trained the earliest. Both her sisters trained the week they turned three. Thankfully, though, they've all trained just as easily as she did. Maybe there is something to waiting for them to come up with the idea on their own... I don't know. I certainly don't have anything to brag about, because I had virtually nothing to do with it.

But I certainly am happy! Between the diapers, wipes, and diaper genie refills, that saves us at least $40 a month. Nice. And, really, I think this was mostly God. That he was helping her figure it out so we could save some money in our budget. So I'm still thanking him for that. He does care about those details, after all.

Summer Vacation

Well, here we go. Today is the first day of summer break. 3 girls home all day, every day for 3 months. May I just say, I'm not a fan of summer break...

Hopefully I can make it good. I've got some plans! We're going to take our bikes (the younger 2 in the burley) to town every Monday, and go to the Library and to the park, weather permitting. The older two have VBS one morning every two weeks. I think that's a pretty brilliant idea by our church. Hopefully it'll keep them interested in it all summer. Then, on the opposite weeks of VBS, I'm taking them to my grandmother's house on Thursday mornings for a couple hours. This way I can get some grocery shopping done and they can get out of the house some more. S has a day camp the last week of July.

Since the older two are mostly self-sufficient in the pool now, I can probably take them to my folks' and my in-laws' pools by myself a few times. In fact, S would like to be able to swim across the pool so she can pass the swimming test at camp and use the whole pool. We'll be making that a priority.

There's always walks around the neighborhood, and the library will have things going on, I just don't know what they are yet... they haven't posted anything. And I'm the new organizer for our church's playgroup. I need to get my rear in gear for that and get a summer schedule out. Sigh. Maybe I have too much to do! Ha. Just kidding. We like to be busy with this fun stuff.

Prince Charming and I leave tomorrow night for a few days to spend some time alone. We're going somewhere with no responsibilities and no set schedule! We're looking forward to sleeping in and literally ONLY doing what we feel like doing. I can't wait. 3 nights and 3 days without having to get up at 6:30 with the kids! :D And they're looking forward to going to my folks' house. Grandma lets them stay up late! Hehe. It'll be nice for us all.