OMG -my baby turns 3

Today is Reese's birthday. She has been telling people that she turns 3 in June but had no idea when June was. She only learned that today was her birthday yesterday. After much deliberation she choose mini golf as her birthday activity (despite Nate's lobbying for bowling).

So off we went to the putt putt course. It was a full day with a lunch stop at McD's. Then after golf we took her to Target and let her pick out her own present. For a moment we thought we might be bringing home a motorized barbie jeep but Reese selected a new baby doll. Michael and I were surprised but she was thrilled by her new baby (she is pretty cool and makes drinking and baby noises).

Here are some pictures of our day:

1 week post surgery

It has been a week since I went in for surgery. I have been pleasantly surprised by the overall recovery. My boob and portocath removal spots feel find and are a nice yellow brown bruise color. What has hurt more than expected is my underarm. I guess that makes sense since your boob is just fat and the underarm is more muscle layers. It is uncomfortable to sleep and I have to be careful not to lift heavy things or reach into the back seat of the car while driving (sorry Reese you'll have to wait for your sippy cup). But for the most part I am feeling great. I have a follow up check up with my doctor this Wednesday. Then we'll learn the results of the full pathology report and get the recap from the surgery (which I don't recall from the drunken fog of drugs).

Plus great news- I have stubble. I've never been so pleased to shave my armpits. I'm sure it could have gone for a couple more weeks but I was excited to see hair. My head is much fuzzier and the color looks darker this week. It will be interesting to see what the color and texture come back as. My eyelashes are about 1/2 normal size which creates the look of eyeliner. Thanks Ali for the mascara - I look forward to using it soon :).

Reese and I went to the zoo this week. Picture is below. I saw my twin there.....

There was a woman wearing a scarf (with obviously no hair under), little facial hair and a young girl about Reese's age. Reese said" mommy that lady looks just like you". It was a bit freaky. I really don't look in the mirror that often so the kids and Michael see cancer mimi more than I do. To me I feel like me again so it is odd when I look in the mirror and see this bald no facial hair cancer woman. At least the hair is growing back.

surgery update

Sorry for the delay in recent postings. I realize that I have a lot of photos to update. But in the meantime I wanted to put out a quick message on how I'm doing. My sister has been here all week visiting - it has been great! Mixed news- we got home from vacation last week and our au pair announced she was leaving at the end of the week. Horrible and thoughtless timing so we told to just leave within 2 days (especially since Jody was here). So we need to find someone new to help. She was helpful around the house but not great with the kids so her departure is probably a good thing.
I had my surgery on Friday. They inserted a wire in the morning (yes a thin wire was poking out of my boob). Then on to the surgery. The wire was inserted (while looking under ultrasound then confirmed with mammograph so the surgery knew just where to cut. While I was under for having the lump removed they did a lymph node biospy- where they inject you with blue ink and they find the key nodes. Great news was that that biospy was negative- i.e. no cancer cells were found. That means that the cancer didn't spread. We will get the final confirmation results back next week but the initial test is 80% accurate. Plus while I was under they removed the portcath since I am done with chemo (that feels great to say). I got to go home the same day as the surgery and am already feeling ok. I was a bit groggy the first day. Just a bit still now. Not on any pain meds so that is a good sign. Another good sign- hair is starting to grow- more on my legs than head but still a good sign.
pictures soon to come (all but the blue inked boob ;)
Mimi

almost 3

Reese is going to turn 3 next month- can you believe it. Of course she still gets mistaken for being 2 - poor little shrimp.

more pirates

here are some more photos - playing pirate lego & pirate dress up

Pirate Cake

Thanks to Jen for mailing us two boxes of goodies from the US- sorry that she had to cancel her visit to Sydney. Hopefully it is just a postponed visit.

One of the favorites (besides the wonderful book that Jon co-authored) was a fun cake mold- of a pirate ship. Fitting for our currently love of pirates. Of course I had to make a pirate cake the very first night ;) I made a peanutbutter cake with chocolate gananche frosting.

RRRRRRRRRRRRR it was tasty

tale of two weekends

Oh what a difference two weekends can be. Two weeks ago we went to Port Stephen's.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Port+Stephens,+New+South+Wales,+Australia&sll=21.654282,-158.060646&sspn=0.009254,0.013711&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FVrtDf4dPWARCQ&split=0&hq=&hnear=Port+Stephens,+New+South+Wales,+Australia&z=11

It was about 2.5 hours outside of Sydney- not a bad drive (very peaceful since everyone but me napped). A pretty coastal area filled with many inlets and scenic beaches. It had been a while since we explored a new part of Australia so I was excited to check it out. All in all we had a great overnight there. We stayed at a Holiday Park- think RV park plus cabins. That was one of the only open places left to stay -guess that is what you get for booking it the day before you leave. Good thing there aren't tornados in this area (or at least I think not). Fine for a night and the kids loved the bunk beds. We tried to do some touristy things without much success (go-kart track was closed down; ATVs had a minimum age of 10 and Nate can't pass for 10; and everyone feel asleep in the car on the way to sandboard -huge sand dunes there that you sled down).....but we enjoyed the views. (pictures below)

On the other hand last weekend was a completely other story. Nate and Reese caught a cold and Reese spent most of Saturday and Sunday puking- including twice on the couch. I spent most of the time doing seven loads of laundry (I think I washed every towel we own). Better than Michael who got puked on not once but twice. I am very happy to report that it was a violent but fast case and other than a stuff nose we are all much healthier now. (no puke pictures ;)