Praise God!

He does listen to and answer prayer! My body scan went really well today and there is just residual radiation left in my neck. Doctors can't say for sure if all the cancer or thyroid tissue is gone until the radiation completely fades so it will be another six months until my next scan, but it looks very promising and is much smaller and lighter than my scan six months ago. So, I'm going to go with the assumption that I'm cancer-free for the moment 'cause I'm a glass half full kind of gal (mostly)! And it definetely hasn't grown at all or spread anywhere else... So, a weight is lifted off my shoulders and now I can get back to taking it off the rest of my body with the help of some thyroid hormones again... Will also be seeing an ENT to check out my voice issues.

Now I have to get LG into the doctor. She hasn't been acting herself the last few days and I thought it was just because she's had to go to daycare so much this last week, but she had a fever when I picked her up today and is starting to cough and runny nose again. Seems to be the way it works around here. One person gets healthy just in time for the next one to fall ill...

Anyway, thanks again, everyone for your thoughts and prayers and generosity throughout this last year. I appreciate and thank God for every one of you!

The last couple of days

have been a blessing and a challenge for us! I was truly blessed by attending the OSC Women's Conference on Friday and Saturday! It was a great time with a fun bunch of ladies. My friend at Where are They Now also had great things to say and actually got some pictures on her blog. I'm not feeling that ambitious, but I did enjoy the classes I took, like: Meditation, Decorative painting, Nutrition, Pottery for the Soul, How to Make a T-shirt Bag(very cool), and self defense. It was a great learning experience and I can't wait until next year's conference! I'm especially excited to learn about a sculpture class this summer with the pottery instructor using locally 'harvested' 1000 Islands, New York clay! It's our goal to collect a piece of artwork in each place we live (I have to go back for a couple of them), and I think it would be great to have a piece I made myself from local materiels. Not that I'm a great sculptor or anything, but it is nice to pound on a piece of clay!

Anyway, the challenging part was leaving the kids in hourly care for three days in a row and then dealing with tired, whiney kids afterwards! And me feeling like I'm moving through maple syrup all day. So, we didn't make it to church again today and it was raining and I didn't feel up to hauling them out and about to the Maple Weekend festivities at many of the local maple farms. So we stayed home and I did laundry ALL day long and there's still more... I also had to come up with a few creative ideas for getting their daily chores done because I was tired of just telling them 16 times what to do. So, we made a little game and that helped for the main chores and 15 minutes in their rooms this afternoon. Then a trip to WalMart to get boards for the Science Fair projects due on Thursday. Luckily I was one kid shy of my usual load (BG was with a friend) or we wouldn't have made it out of there with anything. The littles were SO NAUGHTY and BB was not much help at all! I'm having problems with transporting through stores right now. I can't push the stroller and cart at the same time and they can get out of any cart seat made and then LG wants to walk and starts to get out and LB won't stay seated and they're both grabbing things off the shelves and the checkout is the worst of course! AAAGH! Of course the answer is to just not bring them, but sometimes I don't have another option, at least not for another 45 days or so! Yay!

So, the littles are going to have another couple of long days at the daycare while I get my radiation pills tomorrow and body scan on Tuesday down in Syracuse. I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing, but will be happy to have it done and know one way or the other if the cancer is gone or if I need another radiation treatment. And I'll be very happy to get back on the Synthroid and get a bit of energy back. Either way, it will be done and I can stop thinking about it for a while. I'm sure everyone's getting as tired of hearing about my health as I am thinking and talking about it. I'll have to come up with some other scintillating topics to talk about! Won't that be refreshing!?

As I'm another year older

I've decided to be done with beating myself up over stuff I can't control... One of those lately has been my weight. It's so frustrating for me to do the right things with diet and exercise and trying to be healthy and still gain five pounds as soon as I'm off Synthroid for a few weeks. I know it will be under control at some point and I just need to have patience with the whole process and stop worrying about it. The other area since this whole cancer thing started has been how much energy I have and how I choose to expend it. I'm not the greatest housekeeper at the best of times, so during the downtimes, my house has really suffered. Now, before you panic, husband, I'm not giving up on it all, I'm just going to be more accepting of what I can and can't do and quit feeling like I'm less because I didn't do more. And I just got a card for a new cleaning lady today. Happy Birthday to me!

I take it back

the thawing is delayed by a light blanket of snow... And our day yesterday was maybe a little too relaxing, because nobody wanted to go to sleep last night! LB fell asleep the earliest and woke up vomiting in my bed for some reason before anyone else was asleep. He seems fine this morning, so not sure if he just ate something that didn't agree or what. LG was wound up all evening and finally settled down in my lap around 11:30! And I couldn't sleep until almost two... So, no church this morning since we got up at 9:00 which is when we have to be there! I'll have to find something to burn some energy today!

Thawing out

We're starting to thaw out here a bit although it's been chilly again the last couple of days, we did have some nice weather this last week to get out and play. I started using my camera I got for an early birthday present and still don't have all the settings figured out. It's a little more complicated than my old one with a few more manual settings, but the auto feature works fine and the sports setting is great. No more pictures of a LB blur running by...

Other than that we've had a relaxing Saturday at home with the exception of the lack of birthday party etiquette in the neighborhood. I despise having to explain to my child why he can't go to a birthday party that all of his friends are going to when the birthday child said he could come at the last minute while they were all playing outside together. As a parent, I understand you can't always invite everyone and that's completely OK, and I don't expect kids to keep their birthday party a secret, but don't send your kids out to flaunt a party when you know there are kids out there that aren't invited. And of course he doesn't understand the difference between being 'invited' 5 minutes before a party by the six-year old and being invited in advance by a parent. Just makes me be the mean mommy by saying 'no, you can't go, you weren't really invited.' So after some tears and playing Wii, all is better and he's out playing with his friends again, post party. Just one of those hard things about living on post in a neighborhood full of kids. Someone's always having a birthday and you just can't have everyone come even if you want to, but teach your kids to be sensitive to others and how they would feel if they were the one kid not invited. And just a side note, I wouldn't have expected BB to be invited to this party, as it was for a younger child and if the kid hadn't said anything, there would have been no issues. Anyway, hope I don't sound like the disgruntled mom of an outcast child, just don't like having to hurt my kid when it wasn't necessary, although a good teaching point for us as his birthday will be coming up before we know it!

Anyway, back to our relaxing Saturday although I did manage to get a few things done, like mop the floors and vacuum and clean the bunny cage and never ending laundry... Here's a few pics from my new camera of the last couple of weeks:

On the lighter side

my kids are full of mischief as always, but at least we can laugh about it (mostly). I thought it was LB who figured out the 'fridge lock but it was LG! I caught her in the act with a chair next to it a little bit ago. LB usually gets blamed for everything! So... it was she who pulled the bag of shredded cheese out yesterday morning while I was trying to get ready for the gym and then they both decided to eat it all up and down the hallway and in the living room. Nothing like finely shredded cheese in the carpet. I let it dry a little before vacuuming and it came right up, but still! And speaking of food out. I left the syrup on the counter after pancakes on Saturday and while I was clearing the table I happened to glance in the kitchen and LB had unscrewed the cap and was downing the syrup straight from the bottle! yuck! I caught him at the first drink and before he decided to dump it elsewhere... In between the mess making they are playing very nice together and seperately. LB loves Legos and will make guns and airplanes and boats for hours. They tried to take them from him at daycare the other day, as they are supposed to be for the 4 and up kids, and he threw such a fit they let him play with them anyway. LG will sit and read books or play dollhouse quietly for a long time. Of course, this is all to give me a chance to clean up before the next mess...
BB is happy the sun was shining this week and has been running around without a jacket the last few days and heading to the woods. He can't wait until daddy is home to go out with him. New rule for his outside play is he HAS to take a walky-talky with him, as I cannot yell for him to come in anymore and the walking around the neighborhood clapping my hands gets a bit old!
Things with our BG have been a bit more challenging lately with finding a way to motivate her to help out and discipline when she won't, which is often... I don't really like to use food as incentives, BUT, the going to bed without dessert while her brother ate his seemed to make an impact after two nights in a row of not doing her 10 minutes of cleanup in her room. Third night, she got it done! Our challange with her is finding something she actually cares about enough to take away, and sweets it is... I would probably get a lot more done if someone threatened my sweets too! She is doing wonderfully at school though, so can't complain too much... I'll post pictures as soon as I get my new camera figured out!

Housing and other stuff

Well, it looks like we are going to be moving to a different house on post sometime this spring/summer! The housing area we are living in is being re-designated for Jr Enlisted soldiers and we've been on the housing list since we got here, for one of the large, new houses they are building. After another winter cooped up in this little one I'm ready to spread out a bit! Anyway, housing had an open house for all the Field Grade Officers on the housing list to update us on the construction plan and on our place on the wait list. Turns out, they are building a few 5 bedroom houses and with our 4 children, we qualify for one of those and only 2 people ahead of us on that list, so sometime between May and September we should be moving across post. The only downside is that the kids will have to change schools... I don't think they'll mind though as they'll be going with a lot of kids they already know and switching during the summer isn't as big an issue as in the middle of the year like the last 3 moves!

We had a challenging weekend with me not having a lot of energy and kids being disobedient. Nothing major, just lots of little things they had to be told more than 5 times... After leaving the Wii remotes on the floor for the third time yesterday, they lost all their Wii, TV and computer game privileges. It was actually kind of a nice afternoon not hearing any electronic stuff playing and they know they were wrong and have accepted the consequences fairly gracefully so far. I've also been feeling guilty lately for leaning on these devices a bit too much to keep them occupied and I won't even go into bedtime bad habits of the last few weeks... So, natural consequences a good thing right now. Of course, I may be tearing my hair out later in the week!

I was happy to talk to a couple of my siblings today and catch up a little. I've been feeling a bit isolated from the rest of my family lately living way out here and it was good to reconnect for a little while. I think this is the longest I haven't been 'home' in a while also, so I'm missing everyone and everything more! It's March already and no blossoms to be seen here...

Two of my least favorite activities

have been on my agenda the last week or so... First, the window on my van fell into the door because I tried opening it, not realizing it was frozen shut! Then I had to go to the dentist last week to have a bunch of fillings replaced.

So, Saturday we drove in the 10 degree weather with the window down and the heat going full blast. I think I was the only one who was cold and had to wear my ski gloves and a big scarf and hat! Anyway, I was driving through the gate and the guard asked if I knew my NYS Inspection was expiring on Sunday? No! I guess I just assumed it was good as long as the registration was which is two years... Anyway, I brought the van to Midas on Monday because they were the ones with the earliest appointment and the check engine light was on so it automatically failed the inspection! And they didn't have the part for the window or the EGR valve that it needed so I would have to go a dealer anyway. They at least got the window back up for me so I didn't have to drive in the cold. But, the dealer in town is having some problems and can't order parts right now so I ended up driving down to Adams, about 30 minutes away, and sat there from 10:30 until 3:30 yesterday while they tried to fix everything and of course found one of the tie rods was bad too. $600 and five hours later and it still didn't pass the inspection because now it needs to be driven for a while so all the monitors come back on line... What a pain!

Another pain in my mouth since the fillings I had done last week weren't filed down quite right, so I had to go back in today after a weekend of pain and sensitivity on my whole left side. Luckily, it was a quick fix and it feels better already! Not looking forward to the next visit in a couple of weeks for the right side...

Other than those issues, things haven't been too bad this past week without Synthroid or coffee. My energy level has actually been pretty good and I've even been able to get to the gym a few times a week. I am pretty wiped out in the evenings though and what bedtime routine we did have has gone out the window. I am starting to get dinner done earlier because if it's not done by 5:30-6:00ish, we're eating cereal... Which would be just fine with BG!

The teacher gets schooled

I love it when my kids teach me back something they've learned from me... We were in McDonalds after church yesterday and ordered 3 cheeseburgers and various other items. Well, they put two extra cheeseburgers on our tray and we didn't notice until one of them had been eaten. Now I know that if I bring it back up they will just throw it away and paying for it will be a hassle because they've already closed out the order, but BB quickly reminded me that it was dishonest not to pay for them! So, I went and paid for them and confused the counter guy to no end, but it made me so happy that BB actually understands something we've taught him by our words and actions and that he's not afraid to speak up when he sees something wrong (at least not with me). Also a big reminder for me that they are always watching and learning whether it be a good or bad action.