Robin's Reports

Onward

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:42:00 -0500

As you can see from the photos below, we had some real highs this weekend. It started on Saturday morning with a trip over to Carthage, one of Cincinnati’s 52 neighborhoods. They were decorating the big public tree and the fire department came with their ladder truck to help place the ornaments up high as well as the star on top. It was really fun to watch the firefighters climb the ladder over and over again. In addition, Santa was there and Robin and Henry reluctantly had their pictures taken with him. There was hot chocolate, donuts, cookies, cider, and coffee. It was a low-key, perfect neighborhood event. I worked in Carthage for many years so it was fun for me to see some old familiar faces.

Later that day we hit Eden Park for the annual Balluminaria event at Mirror Lake. It was a beautiful night and we enjoyed watching the sun set and the balloons light up. Robin was thrilled to spend time with her two good friends, Dianna and Hannah, and Henry was happy racing around the grass, exclaiming, “Ready, Set, Go!”

Before we head out on our journey, my dear friends Lee and Doug and their children Fiona and Ciarra are coming for a short visit. They are traveling to Indiana from Saratoga Springs, NY. We last saw them 2 1/2 years ago on the way to Alex and Jill’s wedding in Vermont. Lee and I met in 1993 when we were both assigned to teach in L.A. with Teach For America. We became good friends and have stayed in touch despite the miles between us. I am so excited to see her, her wonderful husband Doug and their beautiful girls. Old friendships are hard to beat, aren’t they?

Tomorrow we’ll head out for Athens, OH where we’ll reunite with Jon’s family. Aunts, uncles, and cousins are coming from TX, ME, CO, and NC. It should be a wonderful gathering. And then we’ll drive over to D.C. to see my family, returning home on Sunday. It promises to be a very full and happy week.

Last year at this time, Robin was bald and undergoing the most aggressive phase of her treatment. We stayed home for Thanksgiving and had a lovely dinner with just the 4 of us. I will always remember that day. It was so peaceful and we had so much to be thankful for. It is hard to believe an entire year has passed. Robin has a full head of hair (okay, it is thin and thinning right now for some reason), she goes to school four days a week, she takes ballet lessons, she has play dates, and in many, many ways, she has a very normal life. Gosh, I could cry, I am so thankful for all of that. She is doing great.

I’ve been meaning to write about her heavy interest in reading, writing and spelling. It seems like her favorite pastime is writing. She can always be found with a notebook and pen, writing the words she knows or copying words from a book. She sees a word, spells it, and asks us what it says. We play hangman all the time. She knows the sounds of all of her letters and is learning to put them together and read. She has mastered many 3-letter words thanks to her work at MOH and knows how to spell everyone’s name at school and in our extended family. It is very cool.

We’re also reading her first full length book, L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz,” the real thing, all 300 pages. This is my first time reading the whole thing too. It is really a lot of fun. There is so much missing from the movie. Robin’s recall from chapter to chapter is astounding. She asks good questions and is learning some sophisticated vocabulary. Many, many thanks to Jayne for this wonderful gift.

Well, I better head off to pack some more. I don’t know if I’ll be writing on the road, so I will wish everyone a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving. Many you all find many things to be thankful for this year.

Sara

Good times this weekend!

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:11:36 -0500

Firefighters decorate the tree

Dianna, Robin, and Hannah

Balluminaria in Eden Park

Good times this weekend!

Photo

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:08:03 -0500

The Birthday Boy!

Jon shows off his cake

Father daughter love

After dinner dancing

Four generations—Margaret, Poppa Jim, me, Robin and...

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:04:50 -0500

Four generations—Margaret, Poppa Jim, me, Robin and Henry—a great visit!

Good Times

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:52:30 -0500

We had a great time with Poppa Jim last week. He even got a chance to babysit while Jon and I went to work meetings! He also recreated all of the meals he had prepared in Florida and stuffed our refrigerator full of Poppa Jim’s original creations.

On Saturday, we met him at the Highfield Discovery Gardens, a Hamilton County Park, where the kids climbed through a tree house, operated an outdoor train set, watched frogs and fish, attended a lesson on weather, and played in the outdoor play house. Later that night, the 4 of us went up to Lebanon to visit Poppa Jim and Ma one more time before he had to go back to Florida. The kids had a good time running around my grandma’s condo and generally creating mayhem. We said our goodbyes, knowing that we would see Poppa Jim again soon.

Next week, we’ll head out to Athens, OH where we’ll see Jon’s family converge from all over the U.S.—NC, TX, CO, and ME. She’ll get to play with cousins Maddie and Cole and see Poppa Reid, plus Uncles Rich, Alan, and Ryan, and Aunts Liz, Heather, Amy, and Hilarie. Then we’ll head over to D.C. where we’ll see Poppa Jim, Gayle, Alex, Jill, and new cousin Thomas James. Good times ahead!

But first—Jon’s birthday is Thursday!!

Sara

SURPRISE!!!! Poppa Jim came up from Florida and surprised Robin...

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:09:15 -0500

SURPRISE!!!! Poppa Jim came up from Florida and surprised Robin at school today. Here they are waiting for their pizza lunch. Since we couldn’t make it to Florida, Florida came to us!

Big Excitement!

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:04:19 -0500

Robin attended her first book signing tonight! She is a HUGE fan of the Berenstain Bears series about a family of bears that live in a treehouse in Bear Country. This series was created in the 1960s and most of you reading this probably know all about them. I read them, my brother read them, and now my kids are reading them. Well, tonight, Mike Berenstain, the son of the creators, Stan and Jan, was in Cincinnati signing the newest books!

Robin was thrilled when she heard about this opportunity but even more excited when she heard that Mama Bear and PaPa Bear would be there too! The excitement continued when she saw her good friend Elliott in the crowd. They quickly found seats together and settled in to hear Mike read the new Thanksgiving book. After the reading, he showed the kids how he draws each character. It was really special to see him draw huge caricatures of each bear.

And finally, Robin stood in line to have her new book signed. She told Mike that her favorite Berenstain bear book is the “New Baby” book and I told him that every night before bed she asks for a story about “the Berenstain Bears and Caillou, about the swimming pool, long and scary.” I’m sure he thought we were just a little strange, but that’s okay. It was a real treat to be a part of this event! Robin was on top of the world!

Sara

Robin’s first book signing!

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:56:01 -0500

Robin & Elliott await Mike Berenstain.

Mike shows how he draws Sister Bear.

Robin is excited and scared!

Robin’s first book signing!

Day at the Columbus Zoo

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:50:50 -0500

4-month-old baby elephant

Day at the Columbus Zoo

A New Day

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:19:06 -0500

Everyone woke up healthy and relatively happy this morning so we decided to take a day trip up to the Columbus Zoo (www.columbuszoo.org). We packed a picnic lunch and were on the road by 8:30 a.m. At 10:30, we pulled in the gates and began our adventure.

We saw a rhino, several elephants, manatees, sharks, monkeys, lions, and so much more. We were there for 3 1/2 hours but only saw a fraction of the zoo. It is much more spread out than the Cincinnati Zoo, so there was a lot of walking involved. The kids ran almost nonstop. We took a ride on the Grand Carousel, originally built in 1912, featuring handmade wood horses. Beautiful.

One of the highlights for me was seeing the gorilla exhibit. They have 15 gorillas! They even have “Colo,” the first gorilla born in captivity in 1956 and currently, the oldest gorilla living in a zoo in the world! What an amazing story. A docent told me about a baby gorilla rescued from a place in Colorado Springs, where for some reason, its mom was not bonding with her baby. So the Columbus Zoo brought the baby here to their surrogate program and one of the gorillas “adopted” this baby gorilla. The docent said you would never know the baby is not her biological baby. Incredible.

Overall, I was very impressed with the Columbus Zoo. They have some animals that we don’t have so it was nice to see some new and interesting creatures. Their grounds don’t compare at all to ours, but it was still a lovely place to walk around.

Robin, being 4 years old, was fascinated by the rhino and elephant poop! She has talked about it nonstop. The poop and the carousel were her favorite parts of the zoo!

We asked her if she would like to go to the Indianapolis or Louisville Zoo tomorrow or to school, and she chose school! She said tonight that she only wants to miss school if she is sick. We are glad that she likes school so much.

With our vacation plans derailed, we’re trying to figure out how to best use this week. Be productive? Play? Both? We want to make the week somewhat relaxing and fun. I am sure that every day we’ll try to come up with something to make it feel vacationy.

Sara

Bummed Out

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:10:02 -0500

Well, we are not in Florida. We were all set to leave for the airport yesterday when Jon decided to take Henry’s temperature, kind of on a whim. Henry was not acting himself and was a little hot to the touch. 100.9. Henry had a fever. Our flight was out of Cleveland, so we had a 4-hour drive ahead of us, plus a 2.5 hour flight at bedtime and it just didn’t make sense. So many families we know have had the H1N1 and not knowing what Henry had, we just couldn’t justify traveling (not to mention the misery he would likely be in). Plus, if Robin gets whatever Henry has, it’s an immediate entry into the hospital, and of course, we don’t want to be away from home if that were to happen.

Of course, we are devastated beyond belief. It has been 2 years since we were last in Florida with my dad and Gayle. We were all so looking forward to the break, the sunshine, being with family. Robin is crushed and all night kept asking if we can go. I know she’ll ask this morning too.

I don’t know what we’ll do this week, but hopefully we can find some fun things to do here or within a short drive to help us cheer up.

Sara

November 3

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:30:53 -0500

Robin woke up this morning and one of the first things she said to Jon was, “Do you know what today is?” In my typical morning stupor, I had no idea what she was about to say. The time change has been rough around here and she has been waking up hungry at 5:30 a.m. Anyway, she proceeded to tell Jon, “It’s my Grandma Robin’s birthday!” I couldn’t believe she remembered a conversation we had yesterday about my mom’s birthday. And that this would be one of the first things on her mind in the morning.

In addition to being tired today, I was in a general funk over my mom’s birthday. I miss her so much. I couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to have her here in Cincinnati, deeply involved in Robin and Henry’s lives. I know it would be so wonderful. I can imagine her stopping by our house after work on her way home. I can imagine her taking the kids to the Zoo and to story time at the library. She would babysit often and would be an integral part of their lives. Oh, how I miss her. I miss the comfort that she would bring me in my darkest hours, the positive spin she could put on any situation.

In her honor today, I made my annual contribution to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition and then Robin and I decided to do something fun. We were already planning a pre-Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey (Jon’s doing), mashed potatoes, cranberries, and asparagus. Well, Robin and I decided that we should have a birthday party. So while Jon carved the turkey, we ran over to Graeter’s in Mariemont and bought a birthday cake and some mint chocolate chip ice cream. I laughed when the lady asked me what the occasion was. I asked Robin and she said, “to have after dinner,” and then I told the lady it was a cake for my deceased mom! I asked if she had ever gotten that response and she said, “No!” :) Ha!

In typical Robin style, she got dressed up in a red gown and black patent leather shoes. We lit the candles, had a relaxing and delicious meal, and then had cake and ice cream for dessert. We even sang “Happy Birthday dear Grandma” and everyone smiled and rejoiced as I told stories about my mom. She loved birthdays, she loved celebrations, and I knew she was right there with us tonight.

Sara

Damn Cancer

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:43:00 -0500

That damn cancer was on its way to ruining our Halloween. With 30 minutes to go before trick-or-treat time began, Robin was falling apart. She took her last dose of steroids that morning and had a two-hour nap, yet in her Tinkerbell costume she crashed more than once crying, “I’m so tired,” and “I always don’t feel good on Halloween,” and “I want to go to sleep.” I was so pissed. Damn cancer. Don’t you dare ruin this day for our girl. All I could do was hold her as she cried, wishing I could take all the fatigue and aches away from her little body and put it in mine inside. I tried to stay upbeat and told her that it’s fun just to give out candy. Jon made her laugh by stuffing hay in his clothes, completing his scarecrow costume.

She cried when I surprised her with Tinkerbell stick on earrings because they hurt her ears but smiled with the purple and pink body glitter we both used. At 6:00, she decided to try trick-or-treating on our street. She was obviously tired, shy, and not really in the mood. I felt terrible for her. But after a block or so, we came back to our house and she gave Daddy a loud, “Trick or treat,” and from then on she was ready. She tackled another block, approaching each house with more and more vigor. She enjoyed seeing her friends Amira and Tori dressed as “Polka Dot Ballerina Girl” and Winnie-the-Pooh, and got a kick out of the bigger kids’ scary costumes. Henry, although he refused to wear a costume, got the hang of saying “trick or treat,” and putting a candy into his bag!

By 7:15, she was cold and tired again, so we came home to spend the rest of the night passing out candy. All in all, she said she had fun. And so did we. I look forward to having a NORMAL Halloween next year off of meds for good. She has already decided that she will be Dorothy next year.

Sara

Halloween 2009, a great improvement over last year.

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:54:19 -0500

Robin=Tinkerbell and Daddy=scarecrow

Henry refused to dress up!

Calling it a night.

Halloween 2009, a great improvement over last year.

Light the Night Walk Do-Over

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:26:08 -0500

Light the Night Walk Do-Over

Recent Fall photos—October 2009

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:19:44 -0500

Peeling and coring apples for applesauce

Ready to cook!

Celebrating our 7th anniversary!

Robin got fancy too!

Late fall cookout in the backyard

Visit to a pumpkin patch

Recent Fall photos—October 2009

Crazy

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:16:59 -0400

We have had a crazy busy week. Monday, of course, we were at the clinic all day. Everything went very well. Robin got vincristine through her port and methotrexate through her spine. I don’t think I will ever get used to that feeling of putting her to sleep. I held her on the table in the operating room and felt her body go limp. Laying her gently on the white table, kissing her, and walking away is very, very hard. It brings me to tears every time and I hate it. I sit nervously in the exam room and wait for someone to tell me she is okay. The waiting is torture. But on Monday, like every time before, she was okay.

She woke up as soon as I arrived in the recovery area. Our neighbor, Rosanna, is one of the nurses in the clinic and she was overseeing Robin’s care that day. It is so nice to have an even more familiar face there. It is comforting to me and to Robin. As soon as Robin woke up, she asked for a drink. She settled in with apple juice, and the packed lunch we had brought from home.

All of Robin’s medications were increased because she has grown so much! Between August 30 and Monday, she grew 3 cm! She is 34.8 lbs and 39.8 inches. It seems like it took her forever to crack 30 lbs, but she keeps growing. This is a very good thing!

She started her steroid pulse on Monday night. As expected, she is very tired and is napping every day. She is also very hungry so we work hard to meet her needs, attempting to make sure she eats nutritionally, but even that is a challenge sometimes.

On Wednesday, the 4 of us stood in line for 3.5 hours to get the H1N1 vaccine. Can you believe it? Children’s Hospital, which is one of the hospitals that TESTED the vaccine earlier this year, still doesn’t have it. The City health clinics had a small amount of it so we decided to try our luck. I am really glad we got it, especially as we anticipate 2 upcoming trips (FL and DC in November).

I am so behind on everything I want to say and all of the pictures I want to post. There is just so little time in the day to get it all done. So I will end this even before I am ready to, but work responsibilities call. Maybe one day I will finally feel caught up, but probably not.

Sara

Sunday

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:46:21 -0400

I haven’t had much time to write lately but I wish I did. I have so much to say, so much I want to get down in words. In brief, things are going pretty well. We’ve had our ups and downs as usual, but all in all, we continue to be grateful that Robin is doing so well.

We had a nice weekend. Saturday was cold and breezy. Robin’s soccer game was moved indoors. There were only 3 players so they all had to play the entire game, and they did! It was a lot of fun. I couldn’t believe that Robin essentially ran for an hour straight. I was sure she would fall apart later, but she didn’t. Today was jam-packed with a family run around the neighborhood, a visit to a pumpkin patch, a hay ride, a trip to the park, and dinner in a casual restaurant. And home care! Robin got her port accessed and promptly fell asleep on the living room sofa. It was a beautiful fall day in Cincinnati. The leaves are at their peak and the color is magnificent.

We go to the clinic tomorrow morning for Robin’s monthly appointment. It will be a long day. She gets put to sleep, the methotrexate in her spine, plus vincristine through her port. And then steroid week begins. I am hoping that the hospital has the H1N1 vaccination. We know SO MANY people who have been sick. It seems to rip through families, and of course, we want to avoid ANY sickness. A fever is an automatic entry into the hospital for Robin. It has actually been quite nerve wracking knowing how many people have already been affected by the flu this year.

In other news, Robin is looking forward to dressing up like Tinkerbell this year for Halloween. Henry, on the other hand, cannot be convinced to get into a costume yet. We still have time, right?

Sara

A picture of health—Robin, October 2009

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:39:31 -0400

A picture of health—Robin, October 2009

Saturday was a good day for Robin, the soccer game was a success and she had a lot of fun. On...

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:35:55 -0400

Saturday was a good day for Robin, the soccer game was a success and she had a lot of fun. On Sunday, we went to a festival and Robin played at the park, in a bouncy house, and got her face painted. Unfortunately, she fell off a swing and landed flat on her back. It was horrible and she cried a lot. And later that day, she took her first spill on her bike. It was a bad fall; she landed on her right cheek, got scraped up, cut her lip, and even broke her helmet. Jon was with her and described it as an awful site. It took a long time for her to settle down, but thankfully, a few hours later, she was feeling a lot better. Poor girl. It was a rough day. I was skeptical about whether or not she would go to school today, but she woke up feeling good, so off she went!

After school, lunch, and quiet time, Robin, Henry and I went to the park and played for awhile. Then we came home to make a fancy dinner. Today Jon and I are celebrating our 7th anniversary! Robin and Henry both helped to prepare poached salmon, roasted potatoes, butternut squash puree, steamed broccoli, and individual chocolate molten cakes for dessert. Robin always likes fancy dinners, so we lit the candles and got dressed up. I surprised Robin by putting on my wedding dress! She always asks me to put it on, but I never do because it is an ordeal and I never thought in a million years that it would fit. But it does! Seven years, two babies, and 40 months of nursing and it still fits! After dinner we had a dance party and everyone got in the spirit. It was a wonderful at-home celebration! Pictures to follow….Happy Anniversary Jon!

And if anyone wants to see a sneak preview of our family pictures, check out the photographer’s website: www.greenleafphotostudio.com and go to “family lifestyle” under the portfolio section. We’re the first photo.

Sara