Liliana's Kindergarten Orientation

Yes, it's that time, can you believe it? Liliana will be 5 before school starts in the fall which means that she will be heading off to kindergarten! We've been debating for the last 6 months on whether to hold her back or not, but in that time she has matured a lot and we've started to recognize her learning style. Liliana does things when she feels like it. If I can twist an old saying- you can try to teach Liliana the alphabet but you can't make her learn it. She refused to learn anything for years- colors, letters, numbers- nothing. But in the last few months she has learned them all! And she enjoys in now too. With those things behind us, we've decided to move forward with school, with the plan to pull her out if she doesn't take to it, since she will be a very young kindergartener.

So, back to orientation. Liliana was excited as soon as I told her (the day before). She kept asking when we would be going (over and over and over). Finally we got to go- just the two of us- and she ran up the hill to school. She loved her name tag and pencil. She said hi to people and was outgoing. When they took the kids to the classroom, she left me with a quick "bye!" and hurried off with the others. I saw them taking their tour of the school, and she was the line leader- holding the teacher's hand. I'm not sure if that was because she wasn't listening, too excited, or just a coincidence. She looked soooo happy. She just loved being a big girl. When we joined back with the kids, we got to take them outside for their first school bus ride. Another huge thrill for Liliana. She had a huge grin and waved from her seat. I had been so afraid of school since she has such a hard time at church, but she proved me wrong. Of course I realize that after being at school for a whole day she might change her mind and we might go through some growing pains, but that's all part of growing up. The important thing is that she had a good experience :)

Happy Update

I guess if I'm updating on the scary times of mom's illness, I should update on the good things too! Mom was released from the hospital on Thursday (I think it was Thursday, anyway). She left with two extra appendages- a drain in her right lung and a port in her chest for her chemo, which starts this week. She was able to recover some from those procedures and nail down her treatment schedule before she left. Her chemo will be every three weeks and will be pretty aggressive, as long as her body can handle it (if not, they'll drop the second medication and keep going with the primary). We hope that by starting this aggressively that her tumors will dry up quickly and she'll get some more time with her grandchildren (and her kids too, I guess). Even though chemo is NOT what she wanted to do, she's in good spirits, and her faith in the Lord is stronger than ever.

Thank you for your love and support. It means the world to her and us (her kids).

:)

Mom Update 2

Mom had her right lung drained on Monday and everything went well. To our surprise it had three times as much fluid as the left. Historically the left side tumors have been more active, but I guess they have switched roles. We all wondered what that could mean, but none of us have the medical knowledge to make any good conclusions.

Today was her doctor's appointment with her oncologist. We were hoping that the doctor would prescribe another oral hormone treatment, but sadly, she is suggesting that Mom do chemotherapy. This was not what any of us wanted- we all remember how sick Mom was last time, plus it kills me that again I can't be there to help her, since I only have 10 weeks left until the baby arrives. I imagine that the doctor does not want to risk wasting time on a treatment that has already failed while Mom's lungs are already filling back up with fluid. She needs to do a PET scan to determine the state of the cancer and then the doctor will decided the duration and strength of the chemo. So again, we wait.

My mom, siblings, and I appreciate the outpouring of support, love, and prayers that have come our way. Thank you.

Update on Mom

We found out this week that my mom's cancer treatment has, for whatever reason, stopped working. Her lungs are filling with fluid again and her cancer-markers have gone up. As soon as she can get insurance approval she will get the fluid extracted from her lungs, one at a time, and then next Wednesday she will start a new (yet unknown) treatment. We're hoping that it will be an oral, hormone treatment again, since they don't kill your body like the IV chemos do.

Mom is doing ok- not breathing as well, obviously, but we're glad that we found the fluid before she was on her death bed like last time. Any prayers or good thoughts in her direction would be appreciated.

Chore?

When asked last night what kind of chore Liliana did to help out around the house, she had her answer ready:

Flushing the toilet.

Didn't know I was asking so much of my kids...

Baby Names

With older children we have been getting a lot of suggestions on what to name our new little girl. It's a good thing that we didn't give them to power to do the choosing...

Grace's choices: Feliz Navidad, Grace, Gretel (after her best friend), or Aurora
Liliana's choice: Wiggly Baby (after her beloved baby doll)
Moira's choice: who knows, but based on her favorite words it would probably be something like, No, or I'm Mad, or Mine

We (the actual parents) have a running list of names that we add and subtract from from time to time. Nikita (from Kaylon) and Meredith (from me) have already been vetoed. We don't plan on actually naming her until we meet her though, so don't be expecting anything concrete any time soon.

The Problem with Children Being Able to Talk...

My children will not stop fighting!

Everything turns into an argument. Who's going to be first? Who's going to get the purple cup? Who's going to be the princess? Who is going to be a particular character in the movie they're watching? Who's barbie gets to wear the popular dress for the moment? Who gets to sit on the left side of the bed?

ALL of the the above arguments happen REGULARLY in my home. I'm trying to cut the words "I'm first" out of their vocabulary and to encourage them to take turns, but I'm getting seriously frustrated with them all. Even Moira has joined in on some of these arguments (No! Por-pul cup!).

Why can't they all just get along?