This is Going to be a long one

Family Photo
Originally uploaded by Jenmomma.

Yes, I still exist. I've had a whirlwind of the last 6 weeks. I've got lot's to catch up on, so I even brought my calendar down to help me remember what's going on. Feel free to take a break and read when you get a chance. So where to start?

School
I spent most of November studying. Taking two classes at once was the hardest thing I've done (stress wise) in a long time. It was extremely difficult to stay focused an study every evening. It worked out ok, though. I completed the quarter December 4th and got A's in both classes. I think I worry about it, because I really want to make it through all these classes with a 4.0 GPA. I'm sort of afraid that I won't get in to med school with a B, especially if I'm only taking one class at a time. Next quarter, starting January 2nd, I'm going to be taking the first in the Organic Chemistry series.

Work
Work has been very crazy. Forty percent of my clients have January 1st renewals, so I've been scrambling trying to get the programs together and meetings, etc. They also laid off one of my good friends, so that leaves more work for the rest of us. I actually sent resumes out over Thanksgiving, but now I'm not so sure I'm in a huge hurry to leave. If all goes well, I'll be done in about 3 years. Also, I'm still hoping for a promotion this Spring. I also heard that the bonus pool for my department is decent this year (bonuses are given March 1). I also will be finishing my CPCU in Feb or March and will get a $3,000 bonus once I complete. Then there's the trip to Hawaii for Eric and I to get the CPCU designation this September. Suddenly the hours of work and being unappreciated seem tolerable. It's easier to look at it that way when I know long-term I'll be doing something I love and am meant for.

Thanksgiving
This year for Thanksgiving we continued our new tradition (3 years and running). We all headed to Will and Samara's in the morning and Samara and I cooked, the kids played, and the guys watched TV. Grace and Ava adore each other and it was so fun to see them play and picture the next years watching them grow up together. Eric went home in the evening, but Grace and I spent the night. Samara and I got up early and went shopping on Friday and Will watched the girls. Eric had to work. After a full day of shopping I picked up Grace and we came home and crashed. Unfortunately I didn't get all my shopping done, so I had to go out again (I didn't have many weekends available for that!)

Grace - Cleft Palate Clinic Annual Evaluation
December 5th was Grace's 2 year evaluation at the Cleft Palate Clinic. Again she saw the Plastic Surgeon, Dentist, ENT, and Speech Pathologist. The surgeon said everything looked good in her mouth and no problems. The Dentist also said no problems and that she had "beautiful dentiture." The ENT said her tubes were still in place, but were working themselves out.

I was most interested in talking to the Speech Pathologist. I told her I wasn't sure if Grace's speech issues are just her age and the stage she's in or cleft related. Grace has trouble with the "hard" consonants "d", "b", "p" sounds. She pronounces her d's like n's and her b's like m's. For example Daddy is Na-ee, her friend Danny is NeeNee, Bye-Bye is my-my, book is mook, etc. They asked about her vocabulary if she had 50 or 100 words and I was pleased to say she easily has over 100 words. She'll repeat almost anything you say. Even complicated words like "Alligator." She also puts words together. Go Bye-bye, more milk, no night-night. She even has some simple sentences. "I want to do it." "Can you help me." "Mommy, come here." Anyway, they want us to do a Speech and Language Evaluation to see if we need to help her out. That is scheduled for January.

Final Herceptin Appointment
That's right. On December 6th I had my final dose of Herceptin. I took a great nap in the chair and joked with the nurses that I'd miss my excuse to get out of the office and take a nap every couple of weeks. It's refreshing to know I'm done with the cancer treatment (ignoring the Tamoxifen pill for now). Dr. Y is going to have me do an "end of treatment" CT and Muga scan in February and at that time, I'm going to discuss when I can get my port out. The nurse said they usually recommend that they leave it in for a while. I asked what a while meant and she said a year. I asked why and while she was waffling had to fill in the blank, "just in case." I don't want to leave it in just in case. I have faith that I'm done with treatment. No more cancer. And, if I'm wrong, if it does come back...I've already decided I'll have a double mastectomy, so they can just put it back while they are in there. We'll see if Dr. Y agrees.

Grace Stitches
After my last Herceptin appointment, I picked Grace up from daycare and while at home she wanted to watch a movie. She went into the front room and tried to get into the entertainment center and pulled on the stockings I have hanging. The ceramic snowman stocking holder fell off the entertainment center and onto her head. Obviously she cried. When I looked at it, I could tell there was a bump and it broke the skin, but it hardly bled at all. When Eric got home he wanted to rush her to the hospital. I'm not quite as nervous as he is. I agreed to call my Mom for her opinion. She asked about Tetnus shots and I had no idea if Grace had ever had one. (FYI...Tetnus is the "T" in the DTAP shot, so yes, she was up to date.) So, after stopping at the McDonald's drive through we headed to Children's Hospital ER. Long story short, Grace got 2 stitches in her head. They were disolvable, so no need to get them removed. She didn't lose consciousness and was perfectly normal all evening, so no head scans needed. We were there from 7:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Not fun at all.

Grace's 2nd Birthday Party
The weekend of 12/8 we had Grace's birthday party. I was a little nervous because we had tons of family coming in, but it went really well. Thursday night, my parents flew in. They were supposed to get in at 5:30 p.m, but their flight from Cinci to Columbus got cancelled. The airline put them in a cab, but there was a fatal accident on the interstate, so they didn't get in until 10:30 p.m. Friday, Eric and I both went to work (I had one of those meeting I mentioned), Grace stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa. Saturday morning we went to see Santa at the mall. Grace said she wanted to see Santa, but not sit on his lap. That's what happened. We did get a picture, but Grace is sitting on my lap and pouting next to Santa. My Grandparents (Grace's Great-Grandparents) came over for the first time. Eric's Mom and boyfriend came and Eric's brother and family came too. Saturday night we ordered in and visited. Sunday morning my Mom and Grandparents went to church with us. Grace came home and napped and then we had the party at Chuck E Cheese. It was so nice not to have to decorate or worry about entertaining. I think we had 5 kids and about 15 adults there. (Pictures in Flickr). After the party, Eric's family went home and my parents and Grandparents visited for a while before leaving Monday.

Colonoscopy
Last time I met with Dr. Y I mentioned to him that I'd had some bleeding and with my history and my friend Kim's recent Colon Cancer diagnosis, I wanted to be sure I mentioned it to a doctor. He recommended I get a colonoscopy. So I did. I left work Monday 12/11 at noon to come home and start the prep. I got the stuff to drink. It was so gross. I only got about 1/2 of it down and drank much slower than I was supposed to, but it still worked. Tuesday, 12/12 my appointment was at 9:30 a.m. We got in early and didn't have to wait long. They gave me the anesthesia, but I wasn't completely out of it. I remember watching the TV screen with the scope. Results were good. No problems found, not even a hemorrhoid. I was just advised to eat more fiber. Check that one off the list of things to worry about.

Grace's 2 Year Check Up
Wednesday, 12/13 we had Grace's 2 year check-up with her pediatrician. Her height was 33 3/4 inches and her weight was 34 pounds. She's about 50% for height and 95% for weight. We discussed that we're completely switching to 2% from whole milk. I also need to have her drink less milk (she drinks 4 to 5 sippy cups of milk a day). We should pay attention to what and how much she eats, but not necessarily put her on a diet. She's only 2 after all. I told Dr. H about the Speech appointment and she was fine with us going, but said if Grace didn't have any other health issues she wouldn't have referred us to a speech therapist at this point. Grace had a finger prick and we were done. She got a bandaid on her finger and the whole way to the car, she kept saying "moo-moo inger." Translation Boo-Boo on her Finger. It was so cute.

Holiday Program
Thursday night 12/14, Grace had her daycare Christmas program. Pictures aren't great, but they are in Flickr. Grace's class did Jingle Bells. They walked up on stage and Grace saw Eric and started pointing at him and saying Daddy. Then they handled out bells and started the music. Grace was fine for a minute and then realized all the people in the crowd were watching her. Her little lip started quivering, she kept saying "No" over and over and shaking her head. She even handed the bells back to her teacher. She then started crying and when the song was over, she got to come back and sit with us. I felt bad for her, but it was so cute. I even had several parents say later that she stole the show. Seriously, I think everyone thinks she's adorable. Although I may be slightly biased.

Sick Baby
Thursday night after the program, Grace woke up around 11:00 p.m. I checked on her and she felt really hot, so I took her temperature. It was 103 degrees. I gave her some Tylenol, but she was restless the rest of the night. I even let her sleep in bed with me from 4:30 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. I checked her temp again at 6:30 a.m. and it was still 103 degrees. Eric had an appointment, so I went into the office and got some work to bring home and then spent the day at home with Grace. I checked e-mails all day, participated in a conference call, spoke to a client on my cell phone, and revised a proposal, so it was a fairly productive sick/vacation day. After alternating Motrin and Tylenol all day, her fever finally broke around bedtime Friday night. I did call the doctor and they said it was probably viral. Saturday she was fine.


So that brings us up to the present. Here's what I have coming up
Upcoming Events
Christmas - We're traveling back to Indiana on Friday to do Christmas with Eric's family. We'll be back on Christmas Eve night to wake up at home on Christmas morning. We may go visit Will, Samara and Ava that afternoon to exchange gifts and have a nice Christmas dinner.

New Years - We'll again be traveling to Indiana. Saturday we'll stay with Danialle and Chadd and then Sunday (New Year's Eve) we'll all go up to Lafayette to celebrate with Eric and Erica.

January 2 - Classes begin again.

Iowa - January 12th through 16th we'll be flying to Iowa to see my parents and do a late Christmas with them.

I will do a Christmas update post. I also plan to do a New Year's recap of my goals from last year and then new one's for this year. I may have to make a resolution to update my blog more often!

Ok, I think I'm ready for bed. I'll try not to let this long pass again. I really feel like I missed a lot of my feelings in the post. I need to capture that as it happens.