Back Among the Living

So I have been on a three month hiatus from blogland, but I am back among the living again, and thought I would catch up on posting some pictures from our life over the last 6 months. First, let me give you a little update on Isabelle. She is doing great right now. We have finally begun the maintenance phase of chemo, which means we only have to go to the clinic once a month!! It has been a MUCH needed change of pace and it feels like life is sort of getting back to "normal" now, if there is such a thing. Her personality has definitely come back strong (sometimes stronger than we would like! Ha!) and she is enjoying having a more normal routine and bossing her little brother around. She does have to take an oral chemo at home everyday now, but we have figured out that we can hide in a peanut butter sandwich and she doesn't know the difference. So glad we finally figured that out because it was quite a battle getting her to take medicine everyday. Anyway, on to the pictures. These are all pictures from winter that I haven't posted yet. Next post I will work on Spring.

First time for her to go out to eat after diagnosis. Ben's mom was keeping Jeb overnight for us the night before treatment, so we decided to take Isabelle out for a treat. I was a little OCD about wiping things with sanitizer and not letting her touch anything, but it was great to be out of the house.

Enjoying some chocolate cake for dessert.




She LOVES playing dress up now. This day she had put on a pair of my heels and I had to get a picture. She also loves this dollhouse. This was her "big sister" present that we got for her right before Jeb was born, and then for Christmas, Mimi bought her a bunch of furniture to fill it up.

Eating a giant apple that Mimi gave her.

One night, we decided to go "camping" in the house. We made a tent in our bedroom out of a sheet, and got out the flashlight. We had fun, but it only lasted about 10 minutes.

Bathtime for my two babies:

Another thing Isabelle has really been into lately is blocks. This was taken during a phase when she was obsessed with these blocks.

She was also obsessed with her Little Einsteins. We couldn't go anywhere without them.

Playing in the snow.

This one was back when Jeb first started sitting in the excersaucer. Notice the blanket stuffed around him.

After enjoying some yummy spaghetti. (one of her favorites)

Ben's birthday: Izzy helped me make him a chocolate cake from scratch.

Smiley Baby

Here are a few pics of her playing at the clinic.

This is Miss Jill, the child life specialist. We love her. She is the one that tries to make things fun for the kids and explain things to them on their level, helps distract them during treatment, etc. She also plans fun activities like the Christmas party and the pool party they had recently.

Hanging out at Bubblecake after treatment.

Playing dress up again: One day around the time we were having all that snow, Izzy was playing dress up and decided she needed some fairy wings. Well, I know that you can get them at the Dollar Tree, but I was not about to drag my two kids out in the snow just for a pair of fairy wings, so we attempted to make some.

I took two coat hangers and bent them to make the shape of a wing, then taped them together in the middle. I took two old knee-high stockings and stretched them around the hangers, then used some ribbon I had laying around to make the straps. Isabelle colored the wings with markers. They didn't hold up very long, but she enjoyed them while they lasted, and they were free.

This last one is a picture of "Isabelle's Dreamsicle", the cupcake that Bubblecake Bake Shop named after Isabelle and sent us $1 for every cupcake sold. Isn't that so cool? How many people can say they've had a cupcake named after them?

More to come later this week. Hopefully my blogging hiatus has ended. :)