Dream Night at the Zoo

The hospital gave us an invitation this cool event at the Zoo. We went last night, and had just the most wonderful time. Gabey loved it, and walked the second half of our visit, even up a hill! He loved the Dinasaur exhibit, and made us take him there twice. He was so cute all night and had some great silly moments, we were just so happy.



The Ranger's dog was awesome, and gave Gabey a huge licking kiss! I missed getting picture of it.




i loved the salt all over his face, he just enjoyed the pretzel so much!


The Dinasaur exhibit was Gabey's favorite! This one spit at me, and I screamed. ROTFL.


we loved this tiny owl, he's 11 years old!


the T-Rex was his favorite!




We got to ride the train for free too!




fun hot dog dinner


some of our great doctors, and our social worker, Linda


i was so happy to see gabey walking so much. it's more excercise than he's had all month.


Gabey had me take pictures of him in front of every dinasaur, while he growled!






We just had the perfect night. I'm so thankful to have been able to go.

Presents and Pools

Gabey had only one med to take today. WOW. I can already tell he's getting back to normal after the steroid. He's asked for food, but not nearly so often. We've had a chance to play around together. I've been luring him into my room, because it's air conditioned, lol. We played with his board books, and one of them is a colorform one, with Thomas reusable stickers. We played quite a few games with that, and had so much fun.

Yesterday, after Gabey's appointment, we went to Target, and bought him presents for making it through his 29 days. We're so proud of him. We got him a cool "new Mater" that makes noises, and stuff, and we got him another train for his Thomas set.

We also got an inflatable pool. I'm so happy. It's so hot here right now, and only our one bedroom is air conditioned.

I'm going to try to get Gabey to go in the pool this afternoon. I want him to get used to it, so we can spend some comfortable time in there.

Last night, we went to meet Jeff's family for dinner. It's Michael's last weekend here in the states, so we wanted to see him before he left. He goes back to Iraq. We were so glad to see him here on break, safe and healthy. I think he may be back home again this October. I was so happy to hear that, because it means he'll be here in time for the new baby! :)

These Flowers Must be Made of Gold!

For the price I paid for these flowers, they had better be growing money somehow for me to harvest. ROTFL. I got some of the ones I really wanted though.
I'll show more pictures after I plant them.

A few flats of celosia, and dusty miller, plus some portulaca, and a little Lamb's Ear


Gerbera Daisies, my favorite! (I call them gerber babies)


Hanging Baskets

Rejoicing in HEAVEN

Tonight was my night to go to the church service, and I was able to be so much more relaxed because Gabey's counts have gone up so much. I was just so happy to be in the service, and one of my favorite evangelists preached.

It was such a blessed service. 2 men went forward to be saved!....
and one of them....was my friend's HUSBAND!! She's been praying for him for like 15 years! She's been faithful in church and in the ministry all this time, bringing her kids to church faithfully! Her husband never did want to come, and it turns out the Lord has been working on him the past few weeks, and tonight he walked up during invitation, and accepted Christ! Oh MAN, the entire church just gasped, and a ton of us started crying, and a few of us clapped (we don't really clap in the service, lol.) and everyone else started clapping. I mean, we're a congregation of what 800 on a Sunday night? and all of us were just WOOOOWWWW!
During his closing prayer, I could tell Pastor had tears in his voice. It was just such a happy night!

THEN when I walked out of the church (after hugging and talking with my friends- I joked that since Gabey's counts were up, I could give hugs, lol)

There was a HUGE rainbow all the way across the sky, and then I noticed that it was DOUBLE in one section! I called Jeffie and made him run outside to see it (he was at home with Gabey) He got to take this picture. I got to see the whole rainbow from end to end, and the double part up the left side. I just thought..."What a great gift!"


MAN, was there rejoicing in HEAVEN tonight!

Ordered Flowers

I ordered flowers from a cool company called, Burgess. I got some trees, and some perennials, plus some seed packets for sunflowers. They gave free gifts too.
Today, I'm hoping to go to Walmart to buy some annuals to put out front. 'Tis the season to think green.

Follow me to Cleveland Baptist Church!

The evening service is being livestreamed right now! 7pm.
www.clevelandbaptist.org

click on the "live video" button on the top right.

They livestream their services every Sunday morning at 11am
Sunday evening at 6pm, and Wednesday at 7pm.

Enjoy. I LOVE it!

AWESOME Craft Kit Club!

My good friend, and the coolest auntie signed us up for a Craft Kit Club!!
I'm so excited, we'll get a package every month! I bawled when I opened it!
We made a craft already from the kit.



I ran to the bathroom, and I came back to find that Gabey had already found some stickers and was having fun with them!


Our first craft


We also painted today, and yesterday we made a little telescope out of a paper towel roll. :)

19 Weeks

I went in for an appt with my OB, and it went just great. The baby's doing just fine. I saw the heartbeat, and her little head. She's a tiny bit breech, but it's so early, it will definitely change.
I'll go in for the real ultrasound soon, and find out if I'm just wishful thinking or if it really is a little girl. ROTFL.

Goofy Gabey Pictures

don't mind gabey's crying, we just woke him up. he fell asleep on his skittles!!

My Dad's Wonderful Donation

My dad has had a braid down his back for years, and yesterday, he pulled it into a braid, and had my stepmommy cut it all off, so he could donate it to Locks of Love!!!
I tear up just writing this! I'm so proud of him! He was praying so hard for Gabey, and told God that he would do this, and the next day was when we got the results that Gabey's leukemia cells were now less than 1%.
He believes with all his heart that it was God's way of telling him that He was pleased with Daddy's decision.


This is a collage he made up after he cut his hair.

Boredom Busters

We've been in the house a lot. We're bored. So, I've been working on getting crafty things that we can do easily. I've been downloading and cutting out a ton of paper crafts that just have to be glued on construction paper. Today, I went out and got a few cute craft supplies, some foamie and felt stick-ons, some foamie book marks, and some pom poms. We had a lot of fun putting these together.

Nice Drive

We had a really good day today. Gabey felt so much better, and was playing around. He and I did stamps, and stickers, and hung out in the back yard for a while.
When Jeff got home, we ate and then went for a really nice drive through the park. We stopped at one of the lakes, and walked around. It was so cool to see Gabey trotting around on the path enjoying himself so much. He's getting his energy back, I'm so thankful. His muscles seem a little weaker, and that's one of the side effects of the one med he's getting. Sometimes, when he's going up the stairs, or getting up from a crouching position, he just seems to lose his strength. I'm hoping that clears up soon.
On the way home we stopped to get the East Coast Custard, but the line stretched all the way to the street, so we decided to just pop in McD's for ice cream instead. We got through the window, and got ice cream, and Gabey who had dozed off, popped up, and said, "I want chicken nuggets and fry fries." So, we went around again, LOL.

Go See my other BLOG!

I posted amazing news this morning about Gabey's test results from Thursday!! Go check it out! (hee hee, i'm keeping you in suspence.)


This is Gabey eating Cheetos. He says "Wowweee" after just about every cheeto!



Here are some cute Gabey baby sweetie feet!!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all of my Moms,
and to all of my friends and family who are Moms (to children or pets).
I love you all, and wish you the best today, and every day.

Newest Thomas the Train

Thank you Auntie Shelly for this awesome Thomas the Train set!
The train goes by itself, and you can put water in it, and it will toot, and puff steam!

I will probably close this blog (from Frappie Bunny Blog)

Recently we had some bad news in regards to our 3 year old son.
He's been diagnosed with leukemia, and has been starting treatment for it.
We decided we needed to simplify the house, and also reduce the risk of germs to Gabey, so we gave away our houseplants, and our bunny. A great friend, Shell, is bunnysitting for us.
We're not sure if we'll be able to keep her, but for now, she's being very well taken care of.

A Wonderful Gift from the Lord

It's been a few years since God has given me any songs to write. I've never felt like it was me writing them, but just God guiding me along.

Praise Him! Sunday, I woke up, looked at the sunshine, and just got this huge gift from the Lord. I really felt like He was touching me, to tell me "it's ok, I'm here!" by giving me the inspiration for this song.


Praise His Name

It's a beautiful day,
Since the Lord is in charge;
A beautiful day,
Since I'm not on my own.

He's the King of my Soul...
Forever will be...
Praise His name!

He is guiding my way
Through the highs and the lows.
He's guiding my way
Wherever I go.

He's my Strength and my Shield...
Forever will be...
Praise His name!

He keeps me singing,
Even in my darkest days.
He gives me comfort
To face
Whatever it takes...
Whatever befalls...
Whateve my Lord wants
I'm giving it ALL.

It's a beautiful day
Even through all the trials.
The hopes and the blessings
Are worth every mile.

He's the Giver of Gifts...
The Maker of Dreams...
Praise His name!

With no questioning why
I will follow Him through.
The length of my days
I will always be true.

He's my Savior, my Life,...
My love and my Joy,...
Praise His name!

-shari dippong 5/6/07

We went for a drive

It was gorgeous out yesterday, so we hung around out back for a while, and then went for a long drive. Of course, we had to stop for chicken nuggets for the baby. He's been asking for chicken nuggets or bacon every day. ROTFL.

He's doing great. He's just happy to be off the "tubey". He keeps trotting up and down the hall, and at one point, he said...."I'm not plugged in!"

My tulips are beautiful, fully grown, and just lush. I'm thankful they waited for me to come home so I could enjoy them. :)

Link to Gabey's Blog page

I really want to keep this blog as my main blog about all the happy times we have as a family, so I decided to make another blog to keep everyone updated on Gabey's Leukemia.

http://gabey-leukemia.blogspot.com/

This blog will contain our medical updates on how Gabey's treatment is going, and also prayer requests, and needs that we have. Thanks so much everyone.

shock

i guess there's no way to go about this blog gently, and those of you reading the news for the first time will be as shocked as we were.

last week we went to the urgicare with gabey, thinking he might be dehydrated. we mentioned some pain he had in his leg, and they took some blood tests, just in case of infection. they found some abnormalities, and sent us over to cleveland clinic hospital.
after some more tests, we've learned that our sweetie has leukemia.

it's been a very long emotional week. we're just clinging to the Lord right now to get us through. He has shown us that He is near, and has answered many prayers as we've gone along.
we've been in the hospital since last monday, and were just released last night. it's good to be home. we're pretty drained.

i still want to keep this blog about the happy times we have as a family, so I'm going to make a new blog to keep you updated with prayer requests, and needs, and news as his treatment goes on. it's a 2 1/2 year treatment, and praise the Lord, the type of leukemia he has is the most common and best treatable. it has a 90% cure rate.

Our Fleeting Spring Moments

Spring has been pretty much a joke since the beginning. A long snowstorm flattened daffodils, and ruined forsythias. It's been either raining or snowing most of the spring season here. So sad.
But, there are bits of sunshine and warmth. My tulips, which I planted pretty deeply came up after the snow, and so they're proud and strong.



The heavy rains flattened my hyacinths, so I decided to just bring them in, so I could still enjoy them, instead of feeling sorry for them laying flat on the ground.

Here is a sweet little mood lighting my dad gave me. I might even paint it to match the kitchen when we do the painting this year. I liked the glow it gave the plants in that corner.

Here is a goofy Gabey flirty look (and yes, those are ice cream sprinkle remnants on his cheek, LOL we went to East Coast Custard...)

Blonde in an Airplane

I've always loved blonde jokes, even now that I'm not one, I still like them. LOL.

an airplane was flying to it's destination, when suddenly the pilot came on the speaker, and said...
"we're sorry, but we've lost one of our engines. now, there's no need to worry, we still have 3 engines left, but unfortunately, it's going to delay us an hour."

later, he came on again, and said..."we lost another engine, no worries, we have 2 left, but that's a 2 hour delay now."

and then again, he popped on, and said..."another engine has been lost. We do have one more engine left, but I'm so sorry, it's a 3 hour delay now."


a little blonde piped up to another passenger..."if we lose another engine, we'll be up here forever!"

New Twist on Candyland

I pulled out the Candyland for Gabey, and noticed that all of the little game pieces were gone.... so we used Little People. That was a fun game, but what happened after the game was even more fun.
We had little people represent each character on the board, and had a little girl go though and meet all the characters. Then the king announced that he was having a party, and then had everyone take a ride in a truck.



(I don't know if I'll ever get a picture of him without some type of messiness. LOL. I forgot to wipe his face after spaghetti.)

Finally, pictures of the set.

My little Actor

Gabey is reciting a line from "Curious George"

"Oh yeah, sure, but what kind of meatball would buy these??"
(it's from a scene where these brooklyn salesman are dealing with a huge shipment of yellow safari suits, ROTFL.)

Paying for it

A while ago, I thought I'd be sneaky, and I copied a CD-Rom from the library. (wrong!)
I'm not sure what made me think it was ok.

Well, now I'm paying for the CD-Rom anyway. The library insists that I lost the pamphlet that went with the CD, and so now, I'm paying for the entire CD....$22.00 worth.

Ahhh, well. I shouldn't have copied it anyway, so I'm paying for my "crime".

April Fools!

This weather has been one big April Fool's joke on us. I can't believe it. I haven't seen the sun for days. I'm folding up like a butterfly. It's been awful. I have no ambition to do anything. I'm just a lump. Not depressed or sad or anything, just lethargic, and apathetic. I know the lack of sun is the main factor for me. I notice the minute the sun comes out, I wake up thinking.... today is going to be a good day, let's do something. I notice I get more housework done too. I just feel more awake.

Update

I get in these moods, where I just look at the computer and just can't bring myself to get on it, do you ever get that way? It's been this way for a few weeks. I'm sorry. I'll be back, I promise, LOL.

The play set turned out just fine, and I got pictures. I'll post them soon. The night of the play was not so hot for me. Gabey started whining and crying right before we left, and then when we got there, he looked like he was about to puke on the pew. He was crying and wouldn't let us do anything. I was sure he was overtired, but I didn't want him to get sick either, so I took him out to the one hall. He wouldn't sit on my lap, and went over and laid down on the floor, and FELL ASLEEP. I was stuck in the hall the whole night. I got to look at the play on the monitor, but there was no sound. WAH. Plus, it turned out that they tried to give me a gift at the end, and I wasn't there to accept it. I was watching on the monitor, and just sighing. Not a good night for me. And I was a poop to everyone. I feel badly that I took my bad mood out on everyone, but my family is cool and understanding, and they all forgave me. Gabey wasn't sick at all, just overtired, and i think his tummy got squished from his pants and the buckle in the carseat, that was why he was holding his belly. He was just fine when we got home, figures, huh? LOL.

It's been snowing like crazy since last wednesday. We had a very white Easter. They couldn't run the buses, and I had to postpone my Saturday night family get together. We're going to have it this Saturday instead.

Caffeine Content of Popular Drinks

I've been wondering how much caffeine was in Dr. Pepper, and it's not that bad. They say that a pregnant person should stay below about 200mg a day. Dr. Pepper has only 41mg, so I don't have to worry about totally cutting it out. :):)
MANNN, coffee has a TON, no wonder I'm wired whenever I have any. I'm not a regular coffee drinker, except for specialty drinks when I'm out, I bet those have a LOAD of caffeine in them. LOL.

I'm noticing that some of the diet pops have more caffeine than the regular. I wonder why.

Caffeine Content Of Popular Drinks

Soft Drinks
12-ounce beverage milligrams

Red Bull (8.2 oz) 80.0
Jolt 71.2
Pepsi One 55.5
Mountain Dew 55.0
Mountain Dew Code Red 55.0
Diet Mountain Dew 55.0
Kick Citrus 54.0
Mellow Yellow 52.8
Surge 51.0
Tab 46.8
Diet Coke 45.6
Shasta Cola 44.4
Shasta Cherry Cola 44.4
Shasta Diet Cola 44.4
RC Cola 43.0
Diet RC 43.0
Dr. Pepper 41.0
Diet Dr. Pepper 41.0
Diet Sunkist Orange 41.0
Mr. Pibb 40.0
Sugar-Free Mr. Pibb 40.0
Red Flash 40.0
Sunkist Orange 40.0
Slim-Fast Cappuccino Delight Shake 40.0
Ruby Red 39.0
Storm 38.0
Big Red 38.0
Pepsi-Cola 37.5
Pepsi Twist 37.5
Diet Pepsi Jazz 37.5
Diet Pepsi 36.0
Wild Cherry Pepsi 38.0
Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi 36.0
Diet Pepsi Twist 36.0
Aspen 36.0
Coca-Cola Classic 34.0
Cherry Coke 34.0
Lemon Coke 34.0
Vanilla Coke 34.0
Diet Cherry Coke 34.0
Snapple Flavored Teas (Reg. or Diet) 31.5
Canada Dry Cola 30.0
A&W Creme Soda 29.0
Nestea Sweet Iced Tea 26.5
Nestea Unsweetened Iced Tea 26.0
Barq's Root Beer 23.0
A&W Diet Creme Soda 22.0
Slim-Fast Chocolate Flavors 20.0
Snapple Sweet Tea 12.0
Lipton Brisk, All Varieties 9
Canada Dry Diet Cola 1.2
Diet Rite Cola 0
Sprite 0
7-Up 0
Mug Root Beer 0
Diet Barq's Root Beer 0
Sundrop Orange 0
Minute Maid Orange 0
A&W Root Beer 0
Slice 0
Sierra Mist 0
Fresca 0




Other Beverages
8-ounce Beverage milligrams

Coffee, Drip 115-175
Coffee, Brewed 80-135
Coffee, Espresso (2 ounces) 100
Coffee, Instant 65-100
Tea, iced 47
Tea, brewed, imported brands (avg.) 60
Tea, brewed, U.S. brands (avg.) 40
Tea, instant 30
Tea, green 15
Hot cocoa 14
Coffee, Decaf, brewed 3-4
Coffee, Decaf, instant 2-3

they're still good!

Oh mannnn, having kids is so funny!
I was getting out the Easter decorations, and I put some on the bottom shelf...

I left the room and came back, and he was chipmunk boy, and he happily told me there was something in the eggs (jelly beans)! Yikes! How old is that stuff??
and he says....
"It's still good!"

oh yeah, and the dish people

lol, the dish people did come on Thursday, and it was a very smooth installation.
The DVR, and the channels work just fine. Let's see how it is when the next snow storm hits, LOL.

so nice out lately

All last week, and now the beginning of this week, have been so fantastic!
We've made it a point to go outside every day.
On Friday, my dad had his first picnic of the year in the park. We had a great time!
I'll have to put pictures up soon.

The play is this week. I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Well, gotta scoot, Gabey wants to go out again. LOL.

The dish on DISH

so monday was pretty poopy dealing with the DISH people.

they're a communications company (SBC) and they don't know what they're donig, lol. and they don't communicate with eachother.

i waited from 8am til 1pm, when my mom and i were supposed to leave for my DR.s appt. the very latest they were supposed to be there was 12. the one manager called at 1, and said they could come over then. i was like..."i'm leaving now." he said he could come over first thing on Tue. i told him i was disappointed in waiting so long.

thennnn, jeffie called me after my appt. (we were at the mall) and said he called and the guy told them he was just running really late, and could come over. helloooo, i'm not home. haha.

well, we got home, and were just hanging around on the porch because it's so nice out this week.
the guy actually comes, and gets out, takes a look at the house, and tells me he doesn't think he wants to try it today! ?????
then he asks if i'll reschedule. i tell him..."damion already said he'd be by tomorrow" and this guy says.."oh i don't think he meant that." WHAT?? he's a manager? he lied to me?
so this guy sat in my driveway for a few minutes, and came back to me and made me reschedule, and i did, for Thursday, even though i was free tues morning, wed all day.
and then he sat in my driveway for another 20 minutes! i'm like, wellll, you won't try working on my house, but you'll sit in my driveway!

so, i plan on emailing them, with my complaints. and if they mess up thursday, i'm going to have jeff just cancel and get another company.

the good thing is that we're not really paying installation. we paid 50.00, but will be getting that credited to our bill the first month.

i'm just really annoyed. i mean, it's not like they're doing us a favor, WE'RE paying for their salary!! LOL. he got paid to sit in my driveway. ROTFL.

Baby D's First Photo

Don't worry if you can't make anything out. I can't either, ROTFL.
But I did get to see her little heart beating. :) (I don't know if it's a girl or not, but I'm.... hoping. :)

cool Meez!

not pink eye- whew

Gabey's eye is fine today. It must have been just something irritating it.
I took him to church, and just stayed in the hall with him, instead of putting him in the children's program. He was feeling just great, so I thought there was no reason to keep him home. I just kept him away from the other kids just in case. :)

I love this movie!!

It's truly worthy of the G rating! So many movies are sneaking content in their movies that shouldn't be under a G rating.... my son's favorite movie CARS, for example, has a ton of little subtle jokes, that I WISH weren't in there.

This whole movie is so sweet and innocent, and FUN! I've watched it so much this weeek. I borrowed the DVD from my sister. I plan on buying a copy for myself soon.

might be pink eye

I'm not sure, but Gabey's right eye is pretty pink. I'm probably going to keep him home from church tonight, and keep an eye on it.

He's Asleep!

Poor baby.

Gabey's under the weather. I can't figure out what's wrong, so I've just been giving him some tylonol, for a little fever I noticed. He is acting fine, and goofy, and tells me nothing hurts, so I'm just watching him.

Yesterday, my mom came over and we sat and chatted for a long time. Well, I looked over at Gabey, and he was looking at his trains really close! Then I looked again, and realized that he had fallen asleep that way! It was time for his nap anyway, so I just laid him down, but had to take a picture first.