2 Years Down!

I am so happy to be able to share that we recently celebrated a great milestone around here...My 2 year cancer-free anniversary was August 27th! It's a huge day for me & we did the same thing as last year and wrote what we're thankful for on balloons and released them. It is a fun celebration of my life and hopefully Little One remembers these days when she gets older. My #2 balloon to mark the occasion!

My sweet, sweet girl! By the way, she has on pajamas because we were on our way to her school for Movie Night :-)

These 2 faces are my top 2 reasons that I'm thankful to be alive!

My "Thankful Balloon"

My angel wrote on a balloon "I love Mommy" (she sounded it out all by herself :)

On her first one she had the Hubby write "I'm thankful that my Mommy survived cancer"...Yep, then I cried.

This one LOVES a good balloon release, you can't tell can you?!

Thank you Lord that I'm still here!

More Lady Parts Missing...

I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to have a hysterectomy because of the type of breast cancer I have being fed by estrogen. I decided it would be worth it to me to have all estrogen producing parts (i.e. ovaries) out of my body. The doctor said if I was going to remove those, that I should just get rid of all my "lady parts" and have a total hysterectomy. At this point, I am so consumed with the fear that cancer will return in some obscure organ and I won't know for a very long time that I'm wishing they would just take all the organs I don't "need". I'm joking (kinda) but after much discussing with the Hubby and family we decided it was the right decision for us. So, now I don't have any lady parts. They already took my breasts, why not that stuff too?
Well, my surgery was July 13th, a little over a month ago, and I'm happy to report that I feel 100% back to normal! How cool is it that I've officially been operated on by a robot now, too? The doctor stands in this Wizard of Oz looking booth across the operating room from you and controls the robot while everyone else in the room does their thing and they all watch what the robot does on several big screen tv's all around the room. That is amazing to me! It's also amazing to other women who've had a traditional hysterectomy that I was able to go home the next day, walk around & get back to normal activity rather quickly. I am so thankful for this procedure, otherwise I probably couldn't have been away from work and family life for as long as it would've taken for me to recover. I was driving in 10 days and feeling good rather quickly!
I was told to give it 6 weeks and not return to full activity until that period was up but I'll tell you (ssshhhh don't tell my Doctor) that I'm pretty much doing what I normally would, just at a slightly slower pace.
Anyway, I say all that to tell you I'm doing very well and appreciate all the thoughts and prayers of those of you who knew about it and have been thinking of me through yet another surgery! The doctor told my family after surgery that he removed several cysts from both ovaries and sent them to pathology to be tested just in case. He also said I had some endometriosis that no one knew about and would've definitely caused me problems down the road so it was good to have these things removed. Who knew I was such a MESS inside?! The pathology came back fine, no cancer praise God!!!
Oh, and I have 5 pretty, new scars to add to my road map to no where of a body I've got now. Haha!!

Now, the hot flashes that Tamoxifen brought on were bad and I know I complained...I wish I could go back to those. The actual menopausal (yes, I'm menopausal at 31) hot flashes and night sweats are NO JOKE! I have a fan I pretty much carry around the house with me and point at my face at all times. I'm also about 3 night sweats away from buying a window unit a/c for our bedroom too. Oh yes, we have central a/c but if I could get my bedroom to a comfortable 65 degrees at night I would sleep great :)

She's a Big Kid Now!

We started back to school early around here & my baby girl is now a Kindergartener! I can't believe how quickly this day came, it seems like just the other day she was a toddler! She was so very excited about going to big school & looked the part on her first day!

My big girl on her first day of Kindergarten! She was so nervous and excited!

I was all excited for her...and then I walked her in and LEFT my baby in that big old school. I cried WAY more than I thought I would but thankfully after the first day I was as well adjusted as she was with the whole idea!

She looks so big and grown up in her classroom all ready to work :)

She is doing really well with everything school related, but says she doesn't like having to be quiet all the time! It seems there are too many rules for this princess :)

Orange Beach, how we've missed you!

At the very beginning of the summer we went on Vacation with my parents to Orange Beach, AL. It was a wonderful getaway and we had a great time. We all 3 love the beach so very much (as does my Mom. My Dad, well, he's just a good sport about going anyway!). We always long for more beach vacation days when we come back home! Speaking of, it's about time for another trip if you ask me ;-)
Here's an overview of our trip. I hope I can remember everything since it's been so very long since we were there!

Again...slacker!

This little chick loves the beach! She's not a fan of going into the water very much, but she likes to be there more than any other place!

Having a little fun while waiting to eat at the Oyster House!

She had to get a henna tattoo again this year. With no prompting from anyone she picked The "Roll Tide A" !! Her Daddy wasn't real thrilled but it was cute :)

She was a BIG fan of the Superman Icecream...can ya tell?!

Playing in the giant sand pit while waiting to eat at one of our favorite places, LuLu's

Yes, she did roll all the way down a sand hill before we ate dinner! Only at the beach is that acceptable! This place is right up her alley...Barefoot? No problem!

Of course we couldn't pass up an opportunity to do all the fun stuff at The Track! Kiddie Rides, Go Karts, Bumper Boats, Arcade...yes please!

Two days before we came home, (right after my parents left) Little One sliced her toe REALLY bad & the beach/pool was pretty much done. We still had fun, but it always revolved around this giant toe bandage!

Despite the boo boo debacle, went to one of her new favorite beachside restaurants, The Hangout. Love the restaurants with entertainment for kids while you wait/eat!

Of course she had to try the trampoline bungee. I was worried after standing in a 45 minute line that she wouldn't like it & freak out or that the giant bandage would fly off and hit someone in the face while she was jumping and we would be kicked out and deemed white trash...yes, this IS how my mind works!

I was very wrong! She is a big fan!! (And the bandage just barely made it, yay!)

So, that was our vacation in a long nutshell with lots of pictures attached to it~3 months later!

It happened again...

You've come to expect it from me haven't you? My lazy blogging habits and taking weeks (or in this case months) off at a time. I'm sorry. I really do love you!

I won't begin to try and catch you up on all the events since my last blog post over 3 months ago. I'll just hit the highlights of what I missed.

We went on vacation & it was fabulous! I'll do a post about that in a minute, lots of pics to share from that week!

Little One graduated from Pre-K! She was precious in her little cap and gown up on stage. They had a performance and got a bible with their name on it. It was a very sweet ceremony!





We did the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure for Breast Cancer in Atlanta and it was a wonderful day! My brother in law organized a team again this year and we had a wonderful day!!!





We also spent lots of time this summer at the pool and outside.
We visited friends and family and made lots of good memories!








Hope you've had a wonderful summer as well!