Donations and Happenings

Lots has happened since my last post! Thus why I haven't had time to write one. Overall we're doing pretty well. Gabriel has been teething molars and has been a bit miserable and waking up in the middle of the night with a low fever and mouth pain. Hopefully they will be through soon! He has 2 almost through and he has 2 molars and 4 other teeth that are working on coming in as well. Gabriel also split his frenulum this evening. It's that piece of skin connecting your upper lip and your gums. It's a common injury around a year old. My other boys did that around this time as well. It really bleeds a lot. Dawson was taking a bath and Gabriel walked into the bathroom. The floor was wet and he fell, right on his face. He got a bloody nose with it too. Dawson just said "oh mommy, Gabriel is bleeding". He wasn't worried, just pointing out the obvious. Tyler often bled out the mouth, so it was no new sight for Dawson. Sad what kids get used to. Blood should not be considered a common sight!

Dawson has been doing amazing. Between the Autism Center therapists and the suppliments, he has really opened up. The words are coming so fast, his sentences are even fuller. He came up to me this evening and said ROAR! I reacted and then he got all serious and said "oh sorry mommy, did I scare you?" and he gave me a hug. Today he also stopped at the kitchen where I was making supper and said "mom, I'm gonna go potty, then go watch movie and eat strawberries. Ok? Ok mommy?" he waited for my response before smiling and happily running off to the bathroom, pleased that I was ok with his plan. Before he didn't care what I thought, he just did his own thing. He still does sometimes, but he has been asking for more things lately.

Dawson has also been more social. He gives everyone hugs and kisses. We were at Pizza Ranch the other day and he went over to the booth behind us and said "hi! how are you doing?" and was standing nearly leaning on the lady. Thankfully she was very nice and got a kick out of him. I told him he needs to come sit down and he looked at me funny and said "mom, they friends!" (like, duh mom!) He proceeded to point and span his arm to the whole restaurant and said "allll friends!". They call it socially inappropriate, but maybe the world needs to see things that way sometimes. Viewing the world in a positive light, where everyone is viewed as a friend. :)

Those toys we gathered in honor of Tyler's birthday were finally donated. It kept getting put off because of illness and busy schedules. I also contacted HopeKids, an organization that provides free activities for children with cancer and other long term illnesses and their families. They now visit the hospital twice a month to bring gifts to their kids, so I asked if I could donate toys. They haven't gotten any toy donations before, so they were very excited to get some help with the project. In all there were 63 toys. I gave 41 to Children's and 22 to Hopekids. I also unpacked my stash of cancer books, I have no use for them and thought they would make a good addition to the parent lounge for resources. So they have 16 new books as well. I also contacted Blair's Tree of Hope and donated a large bag of blankets that we never used, so they will go back to the Oncology floor. Feels so good to give back to the kids after recieving those services and toys for the last couple years!

On Sat, May 19th I'm walking a 5k for Blair's Tree of Hope. They give grants, gift cards, blankets and other things to Childhood Cancer families. She lost her daughter to cancer at 16 and she has been so supportive to us. She even sat with me during that last week and it was nice to have some understanding company to pass the time with. If you are interested in walking with us, we'd love to have your company and support! It's $30, we're walking as Team Tyler. The event info is here http://www.active.com/5k-race/rockford-mn/blairs-tree-of-hope-5k-run-walk-2012

Gabriel has been really walking all over the place! He's getting fast too. I put him on the couch after he was trying to "help" unload the dishwasher. I walked back and about 5 seconds later he had already caught up! Yikes.

 Dawson has been liking this monkey lately. I think it's a comforting/security thing. He doesn't like it used as a harness, but just likes having the buddy on him.

 My sister and I, we dyed our hair at mom's house. It was fun! It's nice covering up all those grays.

 Gabriel sleeping. I love sleepy babies, they look so sweet and cuddly.

 My newest shirt. Unfortunately I ordered a large and it's more like the size of a medium. :(  Hopefully I'll shrink into it some day!

 My sweet boys

 My friend Heather came over on Sunday. Was so excited to see her and the kids again. I met her in the cities and she helped me by bringing Dawson home from the Autism Center each day. Her little guy is Gabriel's age and her daughter is Tyler's age.

 It was fun seeing how big her little boy got, but everytime I see a child Tyler's age I just have to wonder how big he would be now. She's so adorable though!

 Dawson was taking pics

 He even got a pic of Heather and I

 The boys look very lost in conversation! They really enjoyed eachother's company. :)

They are so adorable!!

The rest of this week will be fun. Tomorrow morning is our last MOPS, then a friend is coming over. We don't see eachother as much as we need to! Saturday is an event for cancer parents, past and present. It's a lunch and spa day. Very much looking forward to relaxing with those ladies again! We just had a supper gathering last week. I really miss seeing them all! I feel so disconnected sometimes, inbetween the cancer world and the regular world. We don't quite fit in with either, but both are very comforting to have and we are working on settling in and figuring things out. My mind is very forgetful these days. It's very frustrating. I thought "pregnancy brain" was bad, but grieving mommy brain" is much worse! The routine stuff I'm usually ok with, but the odd stuff I often forget. Like I accidentally double-booked my friends on sunday! I felt so bad. I had to cancel one at the last minute. Hopefully I won't be so scatterbrained for long, but the moms who have been grieving for much longer than I say that it doesn't really go away. I guess it's just another thing I get to learn to deal with.