Rare Response & Symptoms

As per my normal self, this palliative care patient (me) just isn't following the rules. I am not responding normally to chemo (my response has been much better than anticipated) and while I do have my moments, I certainly do not look like I'm dying. As I was sharing with my oncologist, one of my rare symptoms of this disease is having the urge to host parties with large groups of people and celebrate.

This past Saturday, we had almost thirty people over to our house to celebrate our boy turning two. Nearly every person invited had babysat M at one point or another through these last eighteen months. They had loved on him, taught him things and blessed us incredibly in the process. For each of you, we are very grateful!

And so we celebrated with "Tt is for two" and a flashcard theme since our little guy is very much into learning right now. The house was decorated with "Tt is for..." flash cards with pictures of Our boy doing/involved with/playing with/etc.:

- truck

- tires

- tumbling (why doesn't everyone want to stand on their head on the couch?)

- tug of war (another M was trying to take his blanket and he was not impressed)

- tantrum 

- trouble (there were several of these: M climbing shelves, in the dishwasher, writing on himself with a pen
- tasting (the sand in Maui)
- twosome (JR & M in JR's kennel)

And because of who I am, the food had to start with the letter "t" as well. We had truck sandwiches, tacos, trifle, etc. Occasionally we had to make an exception with stuffed Tomatoes or sTrawberries on a skewer. We had fun!

Two is still the age that the parties are for the big people. And I certainly had fun... so job well done me! The highlight of the evening for me was singing happy birthday. M was happily clapping, singing and shouting as we sang to him. When it came time to blow out the candles, he was able to do it with ease just like we had practised. He especially enjoyed repeatedly sticking his fingers into the sponginess of the fondant.

After all was said and done and the last dishes were washed (thank you friends), we could relax and celebrate more of my family's birthdays and an anniversary with just the ten of us. 

One of my requests for my family this summer was to have family pictures taken. I wanted to have some visual reminders of our family as a whole. I've had to rely on my family a lot this year and I am so very thankful for each of them.

It's been a good week.

The Ten of Us

(courtesy of my friend Wendy of Ciao Bella Photography)