Busy Week

Sorry we have been slacking on the blog posts. This week has been a great week! ViviAnne and Cooper both went to the YMCA with me 3 times this week. This is the first week in 7 months that this has happened! Both of the kids LOVE it there so it was a great step back into a normal life for us and both of the kids loved having it return to us as well. With ViviAnne's low immune system and intense chemo the past 6 months things such as the YMCA were off limits to her and so we made them off limits to Cooper as well, to lessen her chances of getting sick. And it worked but it was very hard.

The past month I have been trying to let her lead a normal life but that has not been easy. Every day I think, "well, let's just wait one more day." I am mixed with fear and excitement at a semi normal life. But this week I took the plunge. I enrolled her in preschool for the fall, took her to the YMCA AND on Thursday both kids went to a Mothers' Day Out program at church from 9-12. They are seperated by age so the two of them were not in the same room, like they are in the YMCA. This was a HUGE step for all of us. (Well, maybe more me than them but whatever.) 3 whole hours with NO kids. I didn't know how to act! I suppose I'll get the hang of it though. :)

Cooper walks into the room like he owns it and ViviAnne was so excited to go to "school" and meet new friends. She did ask if they had ports and if they knew she wouldn't have hair but she did okay with the fact that they do not have ports and that they all have hair and not her. When I picked her up her teacher said, "she is so sweet. And she played so well with all the little girls. She would just lead them all into playing with all sorts of things!" Big shock, ViviAnne is sweet and is quiet the little leader. Which works well if other children will follow, if not then she will try to MAKE them follow. It can be trying at times with her to realize she is NOT the boss. Cooper's report is always the same. Sweet, funny and very verbal. Which he is all of these things!

Thursday night Brent and I took ViviAnne to a YMCA dinner to help with their Spirit Campaign. It is a wonderful program that helps people who can not afford camps and memeberships to still get to attend with the Spirit Program. We have been extended a memebership at our local YMCA through this program and we are SOOOO THANKFUL for that. If it weren't for the Spirit Campaign and the people who donate to it our family would not be able to afford a YMCA membership and our family would not be complete. So we of course said yes we would be willing to share our story to the crowd of 250+ of what the YMCA and the Spirit Campaign means to us. It was great. Brent and I both teared up on stage as we shared our story of ViviAnne's diganosis,how we had been YMCA members for a year prior but had to terminate our membership b/c of cancer and how giving us a membership through the Spirit Program gave us back something that cancer had taken from us. ViviAnne did wonderfully and was such a little lady all night. She was polite and sat with her fancy dress and napkin in her lap being so great. She did hit the wall around 8, when it ended and all the people coming up to talk to us just overwhelmed her so we said our good byes and left. It truly was a great night and a WONDERFUL program. We are so thankful!

THEN on Friday morning ViviAnne went to Kosair's to talk on the radio. She was on 102.3 and she told them (with absolutely NO coaching) that the reason she comes to the hospital is because she has cancer. I nearly dropped to floor to hear her say this. All I had told her was we were going to the hospital to talk on a microphone to people. That was it, the rest was all her. She said things like, Cooper is 2 and doesn't go to the clinic, and I have cancer and I am 3 and my name is ViviAnne! It was amazing to watch. Then on 99.7 she wasn't much into talking so I did all the talking. It was really a great way to help raise awareness for the hospital and help such an amazing place raise money as well. They said they'd probably contact us again in 2 weeks or so for her to help with another fund raiser and I said that was fine. So, we'll see.

All in all it has been a busy week and NO chemo. This is a new kind of busy for me. One I am a bit anxious about but I think I will grow to enjoy. Thank you all for your support and prayers the past 7 months. We still have 2 years to go, as most of you know, and we will continue to pray for you all as well.