Greg's 25th Birthday

Last weekend, we celebrated my brother Greg's 25th birthday with a big dinner at my parents' house on Sunday night.  Katie Anne planned out a birthday theme for each person who has a birthday over the next few weeks, and for Greg, she picked Spongebob Squarepants! 

 

Greg got a movie and running wallet from us, money from Mamaw and Randy, and a cool automatic hammer from my parents. The birthday boy with some of his presents...

My dad lighting the candles

 

Happy Birthday to you!

My mom serving up dessert

 

Patrick - Get in my belly!

Silly party planner!

 

After our big dinner, we went into the living room for a lot of playing, chatting, and Wii.

Katie Anne and Mamaw on her new couch

 

Katie Anne playing Wii swordfighting - she is great at that game!

It was a fun Spongebob party, and we all had a great time!

Yard Working Saturday

This morning, we got outside and planted some bulbs that Saunders's mom had given us for Christmas.

I didn't get a picture of the package that Saunders planted - I think they were Allium bulbs.  He planted 9 of those along the bed at the end of the driveway.  Katie Anne and I planted 60 Muscari bulbs in the bed at the driveway's turn, and I planted 60 Crocus bulbs along the front of the house - I hope those get enough sun.  I've already got daffodils that bloom around the big tree in the front of the house - I planted those the winter I was pregnant with Katie Anne, and they bloom every spring.   Here's a picture of some of them blooming last February.

 

So, it does give my black-thumbed self at least a small amount of hope that I did correctly plant bulbs back in the winter of 2006, so I am optimistic that the bulbs we planted today will come up bright and sunny this spring, too!   Even if they don't, Katie Anne had a great time getting out in the chilly winter air and doing some yard work with us.  She really loved raking back the pinestraw and shoving the bulbs in the holes we'd dug.

Big grin beside our first dig site

Raking back the pinestraw

Busy little bee

All smiles while helping Mommy plant

 

Showing off her shovel

Running around, looking for a spot to plant the crocus bulbs

Driving around in her Gator

Helping Daddy wash off the shovels

Hopefully, I'll be able to post a before-and-after of this spot, filled with pretty flowers, in a few months!

Chuck E. Cheese's - Where a Kid Can Be a Kid!

Last weekend, after my biopsy on Friday, we spent several days cooped up in the house.  By Sunday morning, I was feeling a little better, and we were all suffering from a case of cabin fever.  So, we headed out for a little family outing.

It was a blustery, rainy, cold day - so all outdoor activities were out.  Saunders wanted us to go to a bouncy house downtown, but they didn't open until after lunch, so that was a no-go as well.  I had won a $50 gift card for Bugaboo Creek Steak House, so we decided to head down to Kennesaw and use it.  Since Bugaboo is right next to Chuck E. Cheese's , I suggested we let Katie Anne give Chuck E. Cheese's a whirl!  We have a few friends who've taken kids that are her same age there before, and they say their kids love it, so we thought we'd give it a try.

When we got there, it wasn't too crowded, so we bought a big cup of tokens and hit the toddler zone.  Katie Anne loved it!  She had a great time riding rides, playing games, and earning tickets.  It was definitely a fun family outing for relatively little cash - we bought $10 worth of tokens and still have lots left for another day of play.  It got a little more crowded after about 12:15, so we headed out to Bugaboo for a yummy lunch - Katie Anne loved the talking animals. 

Here are some pictures of the Chuck E. Cheese's fun!

Katie Anne's favorite thing to do - by far - was the horse race

Playing a frog game with Daddy

Having a ball!

Riding the carousel

More games and fun

 

 

Playing that Chuck E. Cheese classic - Whack a Mole!

Helping Daddy fly the jet fighter

Watching Chuck E. perform

Showing off her prizes - a light-up bracelet and Spongebob stickers!

Great Results!

I got great biopsy results back yesterday - my tumor is benign! Saunders and I were beyond relieved at yesterday's appointment. The tumor is a fibroadenoma with microcalcifications, and I may have to have it removed later, but it is not malignant - and that's what's important!  

Right now, the tumor is about the size of a golf ball, and it is pretty high on my left chest, so the doctor said it may continue to grow and become noticeable after a while.  So, I'd have to weigh the option of having a big growth poking out of my chest vs. the risks of surgery and a scar.  We'll think about that when the time comes, and for now we'll just continue to monitor everything with 3 month check-ups.  I go back again at the end of April for the next check.


Plus, in other good lump-related news, the mass on my collarbone has shrunk significantly.  It was the size of a large grape around Christmas, and now it has shrunk to the size of a green pea.  The oncologist was going to refer me to a neck specialist to get this mass cut out and biopsied, but as my breast specialist put it, "Bad tumors don't shrink."  So, since it has shrunk so significantly in the past few weeks, this lump is so close to my vein, and it would leave a noticeable scar in everyday clothes to remove it, I've just decided to leave it alone for now and see what it does.


So, I think I can put this medical drama behind and move on to more fun things!  Hooray!

Our Little Chef

Our little chef loves to cook in her kitchen! 
Here's what she loves to do...

First, she washes her hands - cleanliness first!

Then, she gets her oven mitt on - safety second!

Now, it's time to gather her supplies.

She gets some water in her measuring cup for a recipe.

Then, it's time to get her food out of the refrigerator.

She checks on her baking in the oven...

and grills up some sushi rolls.

A good chef respects the tools!  She loves her giant knife.

Now, the food's all done! Time to serve it to the hungry customers.

All done!  Time to clean up!

My Week in Doctor Visits

Well, for those of you who have kept up with my medical travails, I had a big week of doctor's appointments.  I haven't posted a lot about it on the blog, but I thought I'd put an update up for you all who are interested in how this week went.

On Wednesday, I went to the oncologist for the first time.  I was pretty nervous about going - an oncologist is a "scary" doctor to have to visit in my book.  However, Dr. Zemsky at Georgia Cancer Specialists was very nice, and the appointment went very well.  She took a look at my swollen lymph node on my collarbone, and she actually thinks it may not be a lymph node at all.  It is definitely a cyst, but she says she's 90% sure it isn't cancer.  She told me not to lose sleep over it, and she would send me to a neck specialist to hopefully have the cyst removed and biopsied afterwards.  However, Dr. Zemsky said that - even if we had to leave it because it is very close to my vein - we could just watch it over time, and I still shouldn't worry about it.  So, that was all very positive news! 

The only bad thing about that day was that I had 13 vials of blood drawn!  They said that was more than you give when you donate blood, so that was kind of a lot of blood to watch draining out of my arms ... in fact, the blood stopped coming out of my right arm after 10 vials, and they had to switch to the left elbow for the last 3.  Crazy!  I think that, if I got shot, it would just be a hole straight through me with no blood.  I think I'm empty.  :)

Then, on Friday, I went to the breast specialist for a biopsy on the mass in on my left side.  I actually underestimated the extent of this biopsy.  When I heard "needle core biopsy", I foolishly thought the biopsy pieces would be sucked out through a needle the same size as what you use to get a shot.  Nope - more like a pencil.  So, it was more involved - and more painful - than I'd anticipated.  I'm really sore, swollen, and the recovery will be just a bit more prolonged than I expected.  I'm resting on the couch, icing my chest, and just taking it easy.  I can't pick Katie Anne up - or anything else, for that matter - until tomorrow!  However, it was neat to see everything on the ultrasound and to see the 6 samples they took of the lump. 

I go back next Friday morning to have the dressings removed from the biopsy site and to get the results of my test.  So, I'm relaxing, healing, and keeping my fingers crossed for good news - and a negative result - on Friday morning.

Four Little Things to Remember

Just four little KA things that I want to remember ...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Katie Anne has a cold chill, she says,
"Whew!  I'm having a chill-cold!"

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One of my favorite Christmas songs is "We Three Kings".  So, I would sing:

"We three kings of Orient are

Bearing gifts we traverse afar

Field and fountain, moor and mountain,

Following yonder star..."

and Katie Anne would sing with me.

Well, she thought it said, "We three kings of Orientar."  So, she thinks Orientar is a town where kings come from, and anytime anyone's wearing a crown or anything remotely king-like, she says,
"That looks like a king from Orientar."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yesterday, Katie Anne told me,
"Mommy, you're my favorite kind of person."

:)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This morning, as Katie Anne was crying for me not to go to work and leave her (so sad), she was hugging me and said,
"Mommy, I guess I just love you too much." 
So sweet!

Nesting

Katie Anne must be sharing a New Year's Resolution with her Aunt Trisha...

 

 because she is all about some "nesting" right now.  However, I think they've got different ideas about the concept, because Katie Anne is literally into nesting - as in building nests.  She came up with this all on her own, and it is one of her favorite activities to do lately.  She builds nests in the big green chair in her room, in the throw pillows on the couch, and - as pictured here - behind the chair in our master bedroom, using all the big pillows off our bed.  She loves to build her nest and get in with a few stuffed animals to take care of them and play out pretend games.  I guess this is the girly version of the fort!  I tried to build a real fort using chairs and a sheet with her the other day, and she told me that birds don't live in forts - they live in nests.  So, nesting it is!

Wow - Pet Care Superstar!

I can't believe it - Katie Anne just completed a chore

completely,

utterly,

100%

by herself!

She loves to help out and do chores, but usually it takes a little (or sometimes a lot) of parental help to get the chore done.  Her chores are more of a learning process for her than actual help for us, although she certainly does a really good job for a two-year-old.  Katie Anne has been helping feed the dogs for months now, but she usually just dumps one cup of dog food (that I scoop for her) in each dog's bowl, closes the lid on the dog food container, and helps me push the big container back into the pantry.  I still appreciate the help and love that she's trying, but it has definitely been a parent-and-child project.  I wouldn't describe it as Katie Anne having a chore she can complete on her own.

Well, when we walked in this afternoon, she was desperate for apple juice ... and the dogs were desperate to be fed.  So, I told her I'd get her a drink if she could feed the dogs for me.  I honestly expected her to start the process, but I was really just expecting it to keep her busy long enough for me to make the apple juice.  Well, turns out we're out of big bottles of apple juice, so I had to cut open a juice box, squeeze it into a cup, add water ... it took longer than I thought.  Suddenly, I heard Katie Anne yell towards the door (the dogs were outside, barking and scratching to get back in), "Hey, don't bark at me!  I'm hurrying to feed you!"

I turned to look, and she was about halfway through the job!  She'd opened the pantry, turned on the light, dragged out the container of dog food, opened it, and was scooping Ginger 1/2 a cup!  As I grabbed the camera, she dumped Ginger's food into her bowl and headed back for Abby's!  She even remembered on her own, "Abby gets one big scoop."

Then, it was time to close up the container...

Open the pantry...

Push in the very heavy container - and she knows exactly how it should go so the door will close...

And shut the door!

I was so totally impressed!  She did the entire job all alone.  I gave her lots of praise, but she didn't seem to think it was a big deal at all - she said, "Mommy, I feed my dogs every day."  I guess she didn't see the difference between us doing it together and her doing it alone, but I noticed!  Now, I can completely turn over the afternoon feedings to her when we get home from school ... what a great feeling to have a kid who's old enough - and willing - to help with chores!

I'm loving it!