IT'S TIME! PROJECT SUPER QUILT!

Design my Jena Marston

OKAY PEOPLE ITS TIME TO DELIVER THESE BLANKETS! If you have any blankets, supplies, quilts, etc that you would like to have donated to the hospital please let me know. My awesome friend Jena designed a TEAM SUPER QUILT tag that we are going to tie each of the fleece blankets with. I am hoping to get these delivered by our next clinic chemo on February 24th. I could definitely use some more supplies to donate, shampoos, conditioners, soaps, nice lotions, etc. I am so thrilled at the outrageous response I got from all of you wonderful people. I had blankets even shipped to me from both coasts! You are all so wonderful and are going to make these kids so happy! We, ourselves, have received so many blankets this past year that have provided love, comfort and companionship to Spence during some of his sickest and darkest times and I am so thankful that we are able to do this for the other children. Of course, if you are not able to get blankets or supplies to me before I deliver these you can give them to me whenever you can and we can do another blanket run! I am thankful for you guys! Email me with any questions goochymomma@gmail.com

A New Light and a Super Cute Guy

There is a different kind of happy light in Spencer's eyes. Since he has gone back to school, he has this unexplained aura of lightheartedness. It is amazing how refreshing normalcy can be. I find it funny that my whole teenagers years, and into my young adulthood I did everything I could to not be normal, to be different than everyone else, and now I long for normalcy, for tranquility, for a boring life. I was so happy to drop him off early today for his first day of choir. Something normal. Boring life. Happy life. It is my goal to get a new post blogged everyday. I have so much to catch up on and so much to report and so many fun pictures to put up. Today I will start with a bunch of random pictures. I am going to blog my Gavy Goos. I love this kid so much. I feel like I have lost out on his first parts of life while I have been focusing so much on getting Spence better and I just try to snuggle this guy every chance I get. He is just so funny. His favorite words are "stuck" "copa" (cup in spanish), "bakey" for binky, "blanket", "Belle" and "uh ah" for no. He sings "we will we will...rock you" all day long, and "ginkle ginkle star". He loves kisses and snuggles, and shoes. He loves his sister. She is his favorite person. He loves our friend Neil "Meemel" Saunie, and Parker. He is obsessed with cars, helicopters ("pocters'), and any kind of vehicle. He adores his Gramma Suzi and Grampa OK. He does not eat a lot but he loves cheese, peanut butter sandwiches, candy canes he calls them "ice", and bread. He is afraid of bubble baths, dogs (this is new, he used to love dogs), and just learned today he is afraid of snakes. Other than these few things he has no fear. He will climb up and jump off of almost anything. He loves "Go Utes" and "let's go Jazz". He loves to read books and play with his "broder and sissy" He is so handsome and so lovey and so Gavies.



He loves to play in boxes. Here he is reading in a box. Just the perfect Gavin sized box!
Nothing comes between a boy, his binky, blanket and pillow pet!
He love Grampa. He loves to read with him.
He is super silly and likes for Belle to spin him around on a chair at my dad's house. He enjoys being dizzy! Weirdo!

He loves popcorn and sometimes asks for it for breakfast. He is snuggling with dad here and enjoying "popcker".
He is so silly. He came up to me one afternoon with two binkies in his mouth and just laughed hysterically!
His favorite toy right now is "Bopit". He plays with it all day long and says "potty (for party), and "nonis" for novice. These are Bopit settings. It is so funny.


He enjoys a good soda like the rest of us. He will either call it "water" or "sooda". He does not get it very often but when he does he holds it for ransom.

happy HAPPY {heart} day!

Oh my heart. What a day it has been. Not only is is Valentine's Day, but today was Spencer's first day back to school for good (for now.) We had Dylan, our home health nurse come over early this morning to check Spencer's blood counts so that we could determine if he would be able to go to his Vday party at school. I was not quite sure that he would make the cut, especially since it took him a little longer to recover from the chemo before last. I prayed and hoped that they would be high enough. I was ecstatic when I called for them and they were so phenomenal. His ANC was 5.7 Platelets 173 his hematocrit was a little low at 27.something percent but everything else was great. Because he has recovered from the last chemo he is now able to go to school for good. The last four chemos do not effect his blood counts so he is hopefully going to get some normalcy back in this life. If I sit and think about it all I think that I would break down, but I am too busy for that now and am just so thankful to be here, right now.
I made the kids cranberry heart scones for breakfast and gave them each a little book for a gift.



Last year I was the room mom in Spencer's second grade class. Well I was supposed to be. Once Spence was diagnosed I had to ditch that. I was originally in charge of the class party and my wonderful friend (who was not quite my friend back then, but a friendship just beginning) Kristine, also Spencer's BFF, Braden's, mom, took over for me. I remember not really wanting him to go to the party because he was still recovering from his biopsy and would be starting chemo in 4 days from then. This picture here is a side by side comparison. This picture is exactly one year ago from today. Those pictures during Vday last year were the first where I noticed his face drooping. SIGH. What a year. Besides the ears he does not even look like the same kid.


MY CRAZY VALENTINES

My friend Kyrsten posted on her Facebook this super cute heart hairdo so we attempted it. It was super windy so it was already a little messed up by this point but she looked so cute.
Spence and his best buddy Braden were so happy to be back together! I love that Braden shaves his head still! Today Spence said "my hair is longer than his right now". Love it. These guys are so silly.
I was feeling lonely today without my Spence with me. It was kind of hard for me. But then I turned around and saw this cute little monkey and it made my day. I just love him. He is so freaking cute!
My friend Candace and I decided to make a fancy surprise dinner for our husbands. They are one of our best friends so it was fun to celebrate together. We made bacon wrapped filet Mignon, which was supposed to have a smoked paprika butter on it and I totally forgot to put it on! I even made it, it's in the freezer, dangit! Alaskan Crab legs, shrimp and bacon deviled eggs (so delish), homemade "Red Lobster" cheese biscuits and red velvet cake for dessert. It was a fun night with delicious food!
These are my loves, my happiness, my purpose of life. Happy Valentines Day!

Baby Cheeks

I think this might be my all time favorite picture of the two kids together. We were in Arizona for my brothers wedding several years ago. Look at Belle's baby cheeks, and Spence, he is such a babe! These kids have always been pretty good friends. They have their moments of sibling rivalry, but for the most part they are silly together. Today Spence let Belle play video games with him and she was ecstatic. They laughed and giggled and played and it made me long for normal days. I love these handsome kids. I love that they are mine and that I have my Gavs thrown into the mix. Being a mom is the most wonderful thing to be!

ANOTHER FAVOR PLEASE!

My friend Paige needs you to vote for her kids for Jen Fausets cutest kids contest! As you know Jen Fauset is our most amazing, most fantastic photographer ever. She has been documenting our journey gratis because she is so wonderful. Paige is the reason we know Jen. She and Jen were friends before and she got a hold of Jen for our fundraiser and the rest is history! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE for Paige to win a free photo session with Fauset Photography so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go to CUTEST BABY CONTEST HERE and vote for this cutey HERE and this cutey HERE! To vote you just need to "Like" the picture. You may need to go to JEN FAUSET PHOTOGRAPHY HERE first and Like her page then go to the other links! PLEASE HELP HER OUT!

Just a Little Shout Out

It is amazing how many wonderful people there are in this world. I think sometimes we forget that not everyone is bad and scary and selfish. One of the many lessons we have been taught throughout this year is that people are good. Someone who had gone through some similar circumstances told us not to expect much from people the further into our journey we go. We were told that there is this overwhelming sympathy and service given at first and then it dies down. I really do not feel this is so for us. There was definitely a huge surge of attention in the beginning, but even after a year into this someone does something fantastic. Some of these things are small and some are huge but nonetheless, they brighten my soul and give me happiness and hope. I am so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by good people, and fabulous friends.

Short and Sweet

Last night Spencer's ear really started hurting. He didn't eat dinner and was kind of lethargic. I just knew his temperature was going to rise. I checked it before I went to bed and it was low grade. Technically I am supposed to bring him in to the Emergency Department after hours, after an hour of a fever BUT with Nate being in Denver last night and his counts being normal, I decided I would wait until the morning. All night his temperature fluctuated between 100.5 and 101.2 and was the same this morning so I called the clinic and we are here now. Most likely he has an ear infection. Because of all of the buildup from his tumor it is hard to see into his ear so they were not able to tell that way. He is finishing up his dose of Rocephin and we will be able to go home. His counts have dropped a bunch just since yesterday afternoon but they are still normal enough for us to go home. It takes 24 hours to get blood cultures back, so if for some reason they come back positive we will be making a trip back here for a visit. Praying, praying, praying we do not have to come back. This visit was short and thankfully sweet.