End of the school year? ALREADY?

Yes, It's almost done! Cole only has school for four more days, two are early dismissals and one he's missing (today). It seems stomach bugs aren't concerned about whether it's the end of the school year or not. Three kids in Cole's class are sick - including him. Hopefully he'll be able to eat today and tomorrow go back to school. Poor Guy! He hasn't felt too miserable, but has layed around a lot wanting to snuggle with me. He said yesterday that our couch was rather cozy!! :)

We've been dealing with house stuff - lots of house stuff. The weekend was filled with packing things and fixing things. My parents hauled a load back home for us and filled a mini storage building (10 x 30)!!! My dad worked on every little thing that had to be done - he's a man of many talents; fixed a leaking sink, replaced a faucet, replaced trim around the windows, replaced a toilet, and did some duct work in the attic. That was a huge help. We had our appraisal yesterday and hopefully we will hear something today about that. As soon as that report is in, and it matches our selling price (which is had better do), we'll be able to pick a closing date, which will hopefully be this weekend.

We are heading to Birmingham this weekend to apartment hunt and visit with family. Then on Memorial day, we'll be headed into Memphis. Cole has a check up at St. Jude. This is our last 3 month check up. Our next appointment will be 6 months away. That means we've passed the most critical time - the time when this tumor is most likely going to return - if it does. So this is wonderful, of course, it'll be even more wonderful a week from now when we hear those magical words "all clear". This check up is a little different though because Cole is going through Growth Hormone testing. The Endocrine clinic will actually have to put his body in a stress mode of sorts and see if the growth hormone kicks in. This is something that usually kicks in at night I believe or under stress. So this is how they test. It's a three hour test and requires two IV's. Say a prayer about these IV's. He hates being stuck and it's so hard to do too. I don't know what I would do if I were a single mom, or if Jason wasn't able to go with us for every check up. There's no way I'm strong enough to hold Cole still while they stick him. Just couldn't do it. Anyway, by Thursday we'll know the results of that testing and we'll have a better picture of our future path. The most likely path will include injections of growth hormones 6 out of 7 nights a week for the next 10 or so years. The good thing is if he starts these hormones at this young age, we'll have more time for him to reach his potential height than if we waited four or so years. He hasn't really grown at all in the last two years. The measurements aren't very accurate so if he's grown at all, it's been about a centimeter or two. But we're not positive at all about that. He's in the same shoe size also - over two years after diagnosis - his feet haven't grown. Speaking of feet, he also has slightly fallen arches. We have orthodics waiting for him at the drs office, but had to miss our appointment yesterday since he was sick. We're going Thursday though and will get the insoles put into new shoes and hopefully they won't bother him very much and he'll wear them with no problems. We can deal with anything there is a solution for!! We'd much rather not have any side effects, but as long as there is something we can do - we're ok!

I really can't wait for the day that St. Jude tells us that they're done with us - and I mean done in the way of he's doing so good, the cancer is never coming back - congratulations!! We've seen too many families that were told St. Jude was done with them because there was nothing else they could do to help their child. I'm so thankful that wasn't us. I'm thankful every day for that. And I really can't wait for the day to come that Cole realizes all he's been through and will go back to the Jude and have a different outlook - instead of being excited to go because he may see friends, or go to the zoo, or just get to play - an outlook that lets him see all he fought for and how hard it was and what a strong little boy he was. He's already forgotten so much of what happened - the bad stuff - he doesn't even recognize pictures of him during that time. We have to say, No, that's YOU! I did find his 'buddies' (his central line) while I was packing some things. He called them Bert and Ernie. He hugged the bag they were in and said something like "Oh Bert and Ernie I'm so glad to see you" and thanked me for finding them. Then promptly handed them back to me and continued to play. He amazes me.

So since I started out talking about the end of the school year - here's what I'm making for Cole's class party tomorrow. I have a slight obsession with playing cards. I have so many decks that are shaped - monkeys, stars, hearts, trucks. Then I have a lot of regular cards - giant sized, retro moms, pink, blue. So I thought about goodie bags for the kids, but they get several and it's just candy and little things they like, but more for mom and dad to pick up!! So I was trying to think of something different. I thought I'd just do a little playing card with Cole's info on the back - his website (most of the parents in his class don't know anything about Cole and his journey) so the parents could show the kids pictures and keep up with Cole's journey if they were interested, then an email address for me so they could keep in touch that way too. Well, I posted my idea on the Scrap Etc. message board and asked for suggestions. Mary H. said I could make something with cardstock that would hold a sucker. This was a great idea, but I really wanted to use those little monkey cards. So I combined the ideas and put the sucker in the monkey's mouth! And all the info is on the back. I added some ribbon and a button on the back of the card, along with Cole's info. I hope some of the parents will keep in touch this way. I know Cole doesn't understand the whole we're moving and you'll be at a different school next school year. I don't want to even mention that yet - he's excited about getting a new home sweet home, so why spoil it? Anyway, hopefully some parents will keep in touch. I'm pretty sure his teacher will. She is so great. I know I can always turn to her if I have crazy teacher questions too! Things that a first year teacher gets and is like ????? what do I do? Anyway - those are the treats. I spray painted the back of the cards white - which covers much better than using regular craft paint. It only took two coats, maybe three - and you can barely see the numbers on the backs. Then crop-a-diled to get the holes where I needed them. Stuck the label, added the ribbon and sucker and tada - all done!

Well, I have scrapping to do, a kid to cuddle and dishes to wash, oh and beds to make, floors to vacuum, laundry to wash.................geez I'm out of here!

lisa