Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Hooray!!

I am just so excited that I had to tell all that I get to go home! Unfortunatly it is just for the week-end, but I will take what I can get. I miss my house, my sisters, their kids and my life so I can't wait to get a taste of all that even if it is just for the week-end!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Hair Cut


Here is Tay's new hair cut. Taylee wasn't cooperating very well and I am still trying to figure out how to do short hair and how to pull out the least amount of her precious hair, but you get the idea right?


I do think it fits her personality and now that I look back at previous pictures I realize I should have cut it a long time ago.


Thanks Aunt Makay for making me so cute!

Come and Gone

Why is it when you need or want your camera most, the battery dies. I guess those of you who are more organized and responsible probably don't have that happen too often, but these are my three pictures from Christmas, just three.

Even though Christmas came and went so fast this year we were able to get in some of the best parts of the season like hanging out with family, reading the Nativity story and eating really good food. Having to miss out on other things that I love made me appreciate Christmas even more and I look forward to next year when we can say that this is all behind us.

Taylee and Jacey made a bed on the stairs. It is so nice to have cousins around to play with.


Ryker and Jacey were the stars of our Nativity this year. We tried to get Aaron to be the donkey but he wouldn't go for it. These two looked great and did an awesome job.


Taylee had a really good time on Christmas Eve. After the kids acted out the Nativity, Grandpa got out his guitar and played Christmas songs for the kids to sing and dance to. They all had a really good time and we all laughed a lot. Family is the best.

We also went to Aaron's family's house on Christmas day, but my camera didn't last that long. We had lots of fun with family there too!

Before and After

We have had a lot of people ask if there is a significant difference in the way her belly looks now that her tumor is out. Well, as you can see the answer is yes.


This is Tay's belly days before surgery. It was bloated looking, but tight and hard. Her belly button really popped out and you can definatly see the bulge on her left side.


This is obviously her beautiful belly after surgery, I mean right after surgery. You can already tell that her stomach is softer and the bulge is gone and her belly button isn't popping out quite so far.


It was a little difficult to see my baby girl hooked up to so much stuff. When she came out of surgery she had an IV in her foot and in her hand. She was hooked up to moniters for her heart rate, breathing and oxygen levels. She had a folly in and an epiderhal, plus a tube in her nose. She was quite a sight to see and we celebrated every time we got to take something off of her.

Her belly is looking even better now. All her bandages are off and it looks like a really healthy scar. If you can imagine, she is even skinnier then before (obviously with a huge tumor out of the way) but she is feeling great and looking great. Aaron and I agree that we will probably not have to fight with Taylee about wearing a bikini :)

Our Time at the Hospital

Even though staying at the hospital wasn't exactly what we wanted to be doing, we were able to spend some real quality time together as a family. This kind of experience helps you remember how much your family means to you and man do I love my husband and my little girl!


We did a lot of waiting around. This was on day 1 at the hospital and I think we spent about 3 hours in this waiting room just waiting around for a room.


This was surgery day (so ignore the great hair I have), but Tay was done and was doing well. That explains my big smile.

After surgery, Taylee was hooked up to so many tubes which made it hard to move her, but her daddy just needed to hold her for a while.

Thank You Just Isn't Enough

Grama Sillito and Gram Alldredge

I don't know how to thank either of Taylee's wonderful gramas enough for everything they did for us while we were in the hospital. One or both of them were there every single day, driving through the snow and giving up all other plans and obligations to be there for me and for Taylee. Aaron was gone for a good couple days and I don't know how I would have handled things if I didn't have one of them there to keep me company and keep me sane. They helped me understand and work through things that were hard, helped think of the right questions to ask, help calm me down when I got stressed out, helped distract Taylee when she had to go through something hard and helped keep her busy while I dealt with other things. We moved hospital rooms three times and they made sure it was decked out for Christmas and the cupboards had food. They brought in so much stuff, it took Aaron 3 trips to the car (with the wagon overflowing) to get it all packed up. They made sure I had everything thing I needed and thought of everything! I don't know if either of them know how much I needed them and how grateful I am to them for everything they did. If I haven't told you enough, THANK YOU!

I think you should both know too, if it isn't obvious, how much Taylee adores you both. You both have invested so much time and effort into developing a relationship with her and that means so much to me to know she has two wonderful role models who love her and would do anything for her. Thank you for being such amazing gramas! We couldn't ask for any better!

Thank Goodness for so Many Visitors!

As most of you already know, we spent about a week and a half living at Seattle Children's Hospital. The hospital is amazing and has lots of things for kids to do like a fun play room with lots of toys, paints, movies, play-doh and more. They had little play stations in every waiting area and it is decorated and set up to be attractive and fun for kids. As helpful as all that stuff is, nothing compares to having friends and family come to visit!


Taylee and Broden fighting over Jacey's lap.


Either my mom or Aaron's mom were there every single day that we were. Taylee really loved having her Gram around!


Tay and Addi riding around the halls of the hospital, probably off to see Mickey or the fishees.


There were so many aquariums all over the hospital with a "Nemo" in every one. This one in the cafeteria was by far the best.


This giant Mickey Mouse is Tays favorite. We walk by him still on our way to chemo and she either has to honk his nose or give him a high five. Last week she put stickers on his buttons.


Even Ammon came to hang out with his two bossy girl cousins!

Thank you to eveyone who took the time and effort to come and see us. It truly helped the time pass by. The weather was awful and some drove far and some drove often to show their support and I hope everyone knows how much we love and appreciate you!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Such a cutie!!


I know I just posted about Brynlee, but I just got these new pictures of her with her big brown eys wide open and I couln't resist showing off how beautiful this girl is! It's so not fair that I haven't got to hold her yet! I can't tell if she looks more like Lacey or Brad, but either way, she is ADORABLE!

Baby Brynlee is here!!

Isn't she just a doll! Sorry Lacey, I am a picture steeler, but I am not there to get my own to share so I have to share yours. I think she is the most adorable little thing! She was born on January 13th and is doing well. I can't believe Lacey got such a dark haired baby, I was so jealous, but it turns out there is dark hair that runs in Brad's family so I guess she can keep it! We miss all the Nielson's so much and can't wait to see all of them when little Brynlee is blessed. Don't let her grow too much!

All good news :)

Hi to everyone! I just thought I should tell everyone that Taylee is still doing so well. We just recently got another test result back that was to determine wether or not her cancer was any relation to DNA, meaning it was hereditary or in her genes, but it came back showing she was normal and will be able to keep doing the mild chemo she is on as planned. I am totally amazed at how well she is handleing everything. I mean she doesn't like to go to the hospital to get her chemo but she is over it quick and acts healthy and full of energy all week long. We continue to pray that her body will hold up so well as she gets further and further into this. We have all the bandages off her incision and she has healed from that very well. She has finally started acknowledging that there are some weird things going on on her body. She calls her incision "my scratch", there is a big bump on her chest up by her shoulder where her port is and she asked me what that was. I told her it was called her port and that is where her "tubee" goes. (The tube they put into it for chemo) so she calls that bump "my tubee" Every once in a while she will stick some random obect up your sleeve and when you ask what she is doing she says she is putting in your tubee! Many times while at the hospital the doctors would rub her neck under her chin (checking for swollen lymph nodes) and so Taylee will say "hold very still" and then she gently rubs my neck just like the doctors did. She has a good memory about things so it is interesting to see what she acts out and what she asks about. She is in no pain, in fact I tell people if you didn't know she was doing chemo, you wouldn't know.

I wish I had pictures to post. I brought my camera home, but it died shortly after we got here and I forgot the cord that allows me to get them on the computer anyway. Luckily Tay and I get to go home (just for the week-end) so I will have to grab the rest of my camera stuff then. She did get a really cute haircut thanks to Aunt Makay and we do have some pictures of her tummy from before and after the surgery so hopefully we will have more to share soon! Keep your eyes out for any place that sells cute hats, we haven't had any hair loss yet, but it is still early. Keep a look out, but your fingers crossed that we won't need any! Will post again soon.