Katherine's wish...

The time has come when we can travel and fulfill Katherine's wish. It has been quite a couple of years for us, and she is more than deserving of all the magic in the world. So, we are in Disney for the week.

DAY 1: Wednesday morning we had an early departure. We headed to the airport to catch our 8:30am plane, but not before stopping at the hospital to meet our newest little friend James Allen :). We made good time, and actually had to wait to board the aircraft. Joshua and Katherine were so excited to see airplanes, and even more so to ride in one. Our flight from Tulsa to St. Louis was uneventful, the kids did great, and the time flew. When we arrived in St. Louis, grandma Hambone was waiting at the terminal for us--I don't know how she managed that one, but we were able to spend a few mins with her before boarding our flight into Orlando. After 2.5 hrs on the plane, the kids were ready to be at our destination. No naps, and no meltdowns quite yet, not until we were at the car rental place, and trying to get carseats installed. They were able to nap from the airport to the village. We are staying at the Give the Kids the World Village Wow, what an amazing place, and a resort in itself. We are looking forward to exploring every bit of this cool place, and venturing out to many of the parks in Disney. The last three days have been so much fun--exnhausting, but lots of fun. The kids have really had their share of sun, heat, and sweat amidst laughs, huge smiles, and excitement.

DAY 2: Thursday morning we headed to the Magic Kingdom, and spent the day at the park. We walked, and walked, and walked. We ate ice cream, rode some of the rides that are most appropriate for little ones, and just enjoyed being out. Fun in the sun does not equate to happy kids all the time, though. We had our meltdowns, did we ever! No naps for us, means crabby kids, and we had them after 3pm. But we managed to last til about 5:30 when we headed back home. We have many many photos, but I'll have to upload those later as I have not downloaded a single photo off the camera. I do have to add that our best behaved little monkey thus far, is little Oliver. We borrowed a baby bjorn before we left Tulsa, and it has been a life saver. I really don't know what we would be doing if we didn't have that little pouch. Poor baby is going to think he's a little joey when we get through with the trip. He absolutely loves being in it, facing out. He loves to people watch, and is so calm. He has not minded the heat, or the sun and is content as can be. When he gets exhausted, he simply falls asleep without much fuss!

DAY 3: Friday morning, after having a healthy breakfast, we headed to Sea World where we enjoyed most of the shows, got to feed dolphins, and stingrays, and we also saw sharks. We started our day with the Shamu Believe show, and ended with the dolphins. The kids asked lots of questions, and were intrigued by all that they saw. The clouds started rolling in late afternoon, and we decided to call it a day just in time for the storm. We barely made it home before it started downpouring. The kids were exhausted. They fell asleep on the ride home, and transferred well to their beds. They were asleep for the night at 5:00pm, and didn't get up until about 6am this morning....

DAY 4: We decided that after a couple of busy and exhausting days, today should be a day of relaxation and staying in. So, we've had a slow day. Saturday mornings are quiet here, and on our stroll to get breakfast this morning we found the ponies. So, the kids enjoyed a pony ride before breakfast, which they both seemed to enjoy. After breakfast, Dan and the older two kiddos headed out to do an air boat ride. When they got back from their outing, I was informed that Joshua enjoyed the outing a LOT, and he apparently did not want to get off the boat after the ride. Katherine had a different opinion though, she simply said "no, I didn't like it..." but what was most funny was the response she had given Dan right after ride. You have to know, that we had to convince her to go this morning. She was wanting to stay with Oliver and I, and not have anything to do with a boat ride. But we said it would be fun, and she reluctantly agreed to go with the boys. When they were done, Dan asked her if she had had fun...her response, "no, I didn't, but you did daddy!"....smart girl or what?? :) That made me laugh! We had lunch, ate ice cream, rode the mechanical car endless times, drove remote control boats on the water, played with the train station buttons a lot, and are now on our way to visit our friends, and see the beach. It's kinda stormy here, which is nice in that the day has cooled off, but that may mean we only SEE the beach and not actually get to play...we'll see.


We only have a few more days here, and lots we want to do like...plane rides, visiting the animal kingdom, playing at the Sea World water park, riding the rides we forgot to do the first day at the Magic Kingdom, play in the pool, and play with our friends some more.


Photos to come later.

 Katherine is doing remarkably well. She continues on treatment, and will do so until the very last day of treatment per the protocol.  The countdown has started though.  Last day of chemo for her will be April 30, 2010.  On that day she will have completed two years, two months and eleven days of chemo treatment since the initial dose administered.  Thinking about it makes me excited, and at the same time a bit nostalgic over all that my poor little girl has endured over said time.  But I will reminisce on that in a later post, I'm sure as the day draws near I will be more and more sensitive to the subject.  She has definitely grown up so much since the day of diagnosis.  I have to dig up photos of her from 2 years ago, but for now here is my little princess now.  She's 4 1/2 years old, and she is the brightest, most beautiful little girl in my life.  She is curious, she is a thinker--a forward thinker at that--, she is a problem solver, she is a little mommy to her baby brother, she is my sunshine, she is...exactly the person made her to be.  And we know that God makes NO mistakes!! We look forward to being rid of all the chemo meds, and getting back to life without the daily worry of "did you have your meds today"?  Please rejoice with us, as we await the last day of her treatment, and look forward to the days, and years ahead. 

Our princess

Birthday Fun!!

It's another year...another birthday!! Today we celebrated Katherine's 4th birthday, and gave thanks and praise to our Lord and Savior for the blessing that she is in our lives. She's a wonderful little girl. So full of energy, giggles, laughs, sayings and just perkiness. There are those moments when she doesn't have a smile on her face, but even those moments somehow make me smile looking back! We have had such a wonderful year. She was a great 3 year old, so smart and despite all the meds and chemo, she's been really in good health. We look forward to seeing her develop and grow as the beautiful little 4 year old we put to bed tonight. I have to tell you that she was a bit disappointed this morning when she woke up and realized she could NOT touch the ceiling. She told me she was sad, because she wasn't BIG. She really thought she would wake up on her birthday morning and have grown super tall--her imagination is beyond me. She LOVED, absolutely LOVED that today was ALL about her and celebrating HER birthday! She LOVED every single birthday wish call that she received, and every single birthday wish that was communicated to her via FB or email. Thank you all for your kindness and thoughtfulness to call her and make her day even more special.

So, we started our day mighty early. The kids had slept pretty well during our drive back from Houston yesterday and through the night, that they were early birds this morning. Both kids were up at 6am!! So much for US waking the birthday girl up singing Happy Birthday. Anyway, both Dan and I were TOO exhausted to get up at 6, so the kids went and watched TV for an hour or so. About 7am we finally came in with the traditional chocolate cupcake in hand, and four lit candles atop the muffin! She was ecstatic, and with a huge grin on her face waited patiently to blow out the candles! Joshua on the other hand, was ansy to help blow out the candles, but we managed to get him to sing with us before he help his big sister with the task.

I spent the morning birthday shopping for my princess, while a dear friend watched the kids. Upon my return home, I asked Katherine what she wanted for her birthday lunch. She promptly said, "mommy I want ham and cheese, soup and a bagel from Panera"...so...off we went. We had lunch at Panera, followed by an hour or so at the park, and then it was time for a birthday cookie from Merritz (for those that are not in tulsa, Merritz is a bakery where they have some really yummy treats). Then it was back home for some late naps. The kids were beat, and slept about 2 1/2 hours each before daddy came home from work. We finished our day with dinner at Chick fil A, another choice made by the birthday girl, and the unveiling of her gifts. It was so much fun to watch her little face light up and ask "mommy, can I open this one now?" I have TONS of photos, but I'll have to post some tomorrow. I'm beat and need to get some rest tonight.

Thanks again for remembering our little girl's bday and calling her today!! You truly made her day! At one point she even said "Everyone is calling to sing Happy Birthday at me!! :)"

Home Already

What a relief. Out of the hospital and able to enjoy a bit of the sunshine this afternoon. Katherine seems to be feeling well, and we're happy to be home. Marleny had a photo shoot this afternoon- so she was relieved that we were going to be let out so quickly.

The weather is so amazing here, I was able to get out for a quick run while the sitter was still here with Joshua. Katherine enjoyed getting to play with Kinsey- one of her sitters from church.

Thanks for all of your prayers. Hoping you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

The Marshes.

Hospital Update

We just spoke with the Oncologist on call, and Kateli's counts are good and the Flu-test was negative. Her fever is gone, so it looks like we may be able to actually get out of here TODAY. That would be the fastest hospital trip yet!

Katherine and Joshua are currenty enjoying grape popsicles and living it up on this beautiful Sunday morning.

Please continue to pray that the remainder of the tests return negative, and that we actually get out of here today.

Thanks!

Busy weekend, and now we're in the hospital

Yep, we had quite the weekend...all fun, but we've picked up a bug and that's put Katherine back in the hospital this morning.

Friday evening we attended Katherine's second dance recital to date, and by far the best experience for her and for us. Despite the fact that I wasn't on top of my game and didn't realize they were doing a tap number to Frosty the Snowman, our little princess performed with her heart into the dance. It was amazing to watch her. She didn't mind at all that she, and 2 others, were wearing ballet shoes, rather than tap shoes, she tapped her little heart out and enjoyed every minute of it. I decided not to take my still camera, but rather my video camera because I had a feeling that would capture better...and I was right, except it's really hard to upload the video clip onto here. So, just close your eyes and imagine her dancing, tapping, to Frosty with a HUGE grin on her face, and following very closely the teacher's cues!! She got off the stage and the first thing she said to me was "when do we go again, mommy?" After the recital we headed to dinner with a few of our friends, and after dinner we had to stick around to watch the end of the recital performances, at Katherine's request. Joshua was NOT far behind in enjoying the recital, and the music mostly. As we sat there watching the last few groups dance their piece, our little guy was grooving and dancing along to the beat of the music. He'd stand next to us and boogey, then move up one row and dance next to an older lady, whom he didn't mind kept turning towards him and smiling! It was fun! The kids were exhausted and slept like babies!

However, the next morning, yesterday, Katherine woke up complaining of a very sore throat!! OH OH!! Yep, then she started with a runny nose, but seemed in good spirits. In fact, she and I went window shopping at antique stores, while daddy and Joshua worked on a house project upstairs. By naptime, she was asking for a nap (a rare occurrence), and unsuccessfully attempted to sleep for about an hour and a half. She was so stuffy, that breathing while laying down was nearly impossible. As naptime progressed, she got warmer and warmer and when I took her temp she was about 101.5. We reluctantly...yes, RELUCTANTLY, called the doctor, fearing that we would immediately be sent to the hospital, but were pleasantly surprised that we were not. Instead given the symptoms, the dr calmly instructed us to push fluids on her, give her one dose of tylenol, and wait and see if the fever subsided. However, if the fever didn't subside, spiked back up later in the night, or she started to vomit and not keep any food down, then we had to immediately call back. So we did just that...and prayed, of course we prayed. She got her tylenol, her fever subsided, her spirits and energy were back up until 3 hours after falling asleep. She and Joshua both woke up screaming about 1am. Turns out Katherine had woken up with another very sore throat, was screaming and startled Joshua awake--he was crying because he didn't know what was going on, and was a bit scared. So, we both spent about 1.5 hours upstairs, calmed the kids down and Joshua fell back asleep. Katherine was also running a temp, she was at 102 so we had to call the dr. She and Dan went into the hospital about 2:30am this morning. The dr said she was pretty sure it was viral, but we needed to take her in to do the normal routine of covering her with antibiotics, run cultures, and tests to make sure there was no bacterial infection and the like. I'm not sure if they were going to test for the flu, but both kids have been vaccinated for the seasonal and H1N1 luckily.

My prayer requests:
1.Please pray that it's just a mild cold, and doesn't progress to anything more serious.
2 Pray for her body to be strong, and her marrow to kick out those infection fighting cells, so that she can recover fast.
3. Pray for a fast return home from the hospital for full recovery.
4. Pray that despite being in the hospital we can celebrated Daddy's 37th birthday just the four of us. Today is daddy's birthday, and we're getting him a cake and gifts and moving our family party to the hospital.
5. Last year we were in the hospital for Thanksgiving; please pray that we are not there this year for the holiday.

Thank you again for keeping up with us!

Longer locks

Sorry for the lack of updates!! Kateli is doing great, she is growing and looking more beautiful each day. I wanted to share that her hair is growing so nicely, and the envy of lots that meet her. In fact I was in dance class with her the other day, and after Katherine walked into her class, the dad said to me, "her hair is so cute, I love it!" She has got the most fun hair. It's dirty blond, and has a bit of curl to it. It's easy to style, just wet it a little bit and set it in place. However, it's also easy to look like she just got out of bed :). She has been so excited the last two days, because Tuesday was the first day that I was able to pull her hair back into a ponytail!! She's been wanting one for the longest time, but her hair was just not long enough. It still needs go grow out a little, but we pulled it back, and used little clips all around (I think six total) to hold back the baby hairs that kept pulling out!! She looks absolutely adorable and so grown up. Her little face is so angelic, and her smile lights up an entire room--okay not literally, but does light those huge smiles of her light up my world!! I have a pic of her somewhere, I'll post it later, so you can see just how big our little girl is getting. She's gonna be 4 at the end of the month, and boy is she excited that we are in "nomember" As soon as we hit this month, she started asking "Is my birthday today?" so, what did we do?? We made a chain link to count down. We cut a link each day--of course we made one for daddy too, so that Joshua could cut links each day as well. Praise the Lord for being so faithful, and wonderful. He's given us trials for sure, but he's given us a huge blessing with such a wonderful, strong, and determined little girl who we are watching grow up before our eyes. We continue to pray that both she, Joshua and this baby will grow up to be the people of God that HE has made them to be.

Napping in our own beds...

WOOOHOOO!!! What a praise!! We are back home and Kateli is elated to be in her own bed napping this afternoon. While in the hospital she refused to sit on the bed, saying that "she didn't like that bed" so you can imagine how happy she is to be home. Of course we are happy to be home too!! She's fever free, but she still has a horrible cough--I'm sure it sounds worse than it is. Her runny nose is better than it was yesterday so we are praying she is on the mend. Please don't stop praying though, especially for wisdom for Dan and I, that we would ask the right questions and seek the right advise.

Your prayers requested...

We are well into the year, it's hard to believe that we're already in September. As the fall season sneaks up on us this year, I wanted to request your prayers for our family. Please pray that we all stay healthy through the season with nothing more than maybe runny noses, but nothing major. As it is, Kateli is in the hospital tonight because she's caught some bug, and has had a runny nose, a phlegmy cough and fevers above 101.5. The fevers started yesterday afternoon, and Dan and she headed out to their little resort stay about 3am. I was with her all day today, and she was fever free, so she maybe home again tomorrow. The good thing about being in the hospital, if there could be a good thing, is that they keep her well hydrated, and they have tested her to see if she's got the flu virus, or RSV. The test came back negative, so that's good, but she's fighting a bug. However, her lungs sound clear, so the doc says it's upper respiratory. Nonetheless, her numbers are super high with is a praise!! So, please pray for her more immediate healing of this bug, and for any subsequent illnesses we maybe exposed to this season. Both kids have had their flu shots, and we are waiting for the H1N1 shot which is more specific for the swine flu. Dan and I are pending getting our flu shots this season but it's on our list to do. Sorry if this post was more rambling than anything else....I'm really tired, and almost 5 months pregnant! :)

Thanks again for keeping up with our family and especially our little princess. We really appreciate your prayers and your coming back often to check our blog.