Little Ladies

Yesterday Leslie dropped Lauren off at our house so she could go shoot hoops with Blake on his final day of basketball camp.  Georgia was still sleeping when they arrived, Lauren and Leslie helped me wake her up - all smiles! 
The girls have so much fun playing together, there is always lots of giggling, squealing and running around.

Capturing two two year olds smiling at the same time while not moving too much is nearly impossible!

Seventeen Months Post Transplant

Today marks 17 months post transplant and boy does it feel good.  When I woke Georgia up this morning she asked, "poke?" nope, I said, lil' kickers!  This last month has been our busiest non-medical month for as long as I can remember.  The combination of cold/flu season being deemed officially over and the nicer weather has allowed us to get out and do more. 

Georgia, you continue to amaze me with all that you are taking in.  You are keenly aware of EVERYTHING that is being said and pick up on little details that I am completely oblivious to. 

Last week daddy pulled out the cookbook, you looked at him and asked, "recipe?"  

Yesterday we were driving and I heard you say something, I turned around and asked "what honey?" you said, "oh nofin', just talking self"... clearly you are taking after me! 

This is a "sentence" I hear often and has me laughing every time... "who dat? don't no, what heck, oh well!"

Who ever said two's were terrible must have been out of their mind, you are more fun than I could have ever imagined!  Happy 17 months post transplant my girl.

Happy Father's Day

Yesterday Brian made it home from a trip in time to have a late Father's Day celebration.  Georgia misses him when he goes on trips and squeals with excitement when he comes home.  Brian works so hard for our family and loves his girl so much.  Happy Father's Day to a wonderful dad.

The Show

The day of the fashion show was a long one for Georgia, we were in the second half of the runway show.  We watched the other models strut their stuff and listened to a really great speech given by the special guest and cancer survivor, Cynthia Nixon.   We waited and played back in the hair and makeup room until it was time to go.  Here we are in action, we walked up on stage, Georgia checked out the crowd then was ready to be picked up.  We were so thankful to have so many family and friends in the audience to cheer her on, as we got to the end of the runway I could make out Cynthia Nixon's face - she was cheering and clapping too, not to shabby.  After all of the models had walked we all went back up with our designers and did a final walk to I Will Survive... indeed we will.

Passing the time before the show...

Here we go!

Walking to I Will Survive!

 After the show with her designer Ann Marie Louie

 All smiles post show

Anna was amazing, walked the runway all by herself,..

she was so comfortable up there her mom had

to let her know it was time to leave the runway.

Thank you to my sister for getting a video as well as pictures -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBU8pEu9Dr0&feature=youtu.be

Before agreeing to be in the Gilda's Club fashion show I asked myself two questions, would it be safe for Georgia and would she have fun doing it.  I talked with the coordinators and designers about the need to only interact with healthy people and her doctors encouraged us to do the show.  As the process began it felt good to see Georgia enjoy needing to be somewhere other than a doctors appointment.  As Georgia warmed up to it all I found myself shying away.
I hemmed and hawed for days on whether or not to have her participate in the TV show and struggled to focus on writing her bio for the fashion show - I kept asking myself, what's your problem?  This fashion show was forcing me to look back and the pain that comes with that is almost unbearable.  I try so hard to focus on today and what we need to do to move forward.  It's convenient to think the rest would just fade away, what I realized over the last several weeks it that it's all there, tucked neatly, just under the surface.  I had to let go of the fact that the people seeing her on TV or today could never understand the scars that we will have forever.
Today, Georgia had a great time and so did I.  She smiled, hearing the cheers from the over 700 guests as we walked the runway, she waved and even blew a kiss to the crowd.  It's such a mix of emotions to want to celebrate in the midst of breaking down, my two and a half year old was cheered for today because she's darling and sweet and because she is surviving cancer.  Despite all of the emotions that have been stirred up I am really glad we did the show, Georgia had fun and that is certainly the direction I want to go.

Pictures to come . . . .

Lil' Kickers

Today was a bit of a monumental day - Georgia started Lil' Kickers... her first group activity since taking a swimming class when she was six months old.  Not only does she get to play, learn new things and have fun... she gets to do it all with her cousin!  Leslie and I agreed a few months ago that if Georgia was given the green light to participate we'd meet in the middle so the girls could do it together and as an added bonus I get to see my sister once a week! 
It was so fun to see Georgia participating like all of the other kids, she had a great time and we can't wait until next week.  At one point Leslie leaned over to me and said "she's doing it!"  It was all I could do to choke back tears... I know group activities aren't a big deal to most, but today felt huge.

 Gimme Five!

 Build it up and kick it down

 Georgia in action

The cutest Lil' Kickers around

Proud

This morning we showed up at the KING 5 studios and were shown back to a room where there was a lot of action - models, hair and makeup people and designers.  Georgia was a bit intimidated at first but warmed up once she was able to see Anna.  There was a run through of the show and Georgia did fine but seemed a little nervous.  The goal was to have Georgia and Anna go out together, okay, my goal was to not go out!  After wanting to be held once things got going I wasn't sure how things would go.  She put her dress and headband on and I asked if she wanted me to put some lipstick on her, huge smile, I literally touched the lipstick to her lips then put the cap on, (she doesn't need makeup) and she was thrilled, pushing out her lips saying "mama, whip-stick!"  As everyone lined up for the show she stood patiently with Anna.  When it was their turn she hesitated and just as I stepped forward to take her out she took Ann Marie's hand and went.  Backstage I was able to watch with tears in my eyes, I am so proud of my girl for so many reasons, today that list got longer.  Here are a few pictures and a link to the show.

 We didn't want "baby" to miss the action so she joined us.

 Georgia and Ann Marie Louie

 Practice run

 The girls waiting patiently in the Green Room.

Ready!

 Go time!

 During the taping

Models and Designers

Proud mamas and pretty models

Here is a link to the show!

http://www.king5.com/new-day-northwest/Surviving-with-Style----157823165.html

New Day Northwest

Tomorrow Georgia and a few other models will be strutting their stuff on the local news show New Day Northwest to promote the Gilda's Club fashion show. I told Georgia that her friend Anna would be there, she smiled, then I told her she would be on TV.... like Caillou, she beamed! For those of you who don't know Caillou, he is a four year old cartoon character, he's Georgia's absolute favorite and is the voice that gives me a headache! The show is live and will air at 11am tomorrow on KING 5 - wish us luck!

Here is a picture of Georgia from her final fitting.

Forward Motion

Our monthly doctor appointments always come with some anxiety, these people who deserve credit for saving my daughter's life are the same ones who hijacked mine so many months ago.  I always go in waiting to hear how our life is going, wanting confirmation that we are still on course. 
Yesterday we had labs, I woke Georgia up early, she opened her eyes, seeing that I was already dressed, the first words out of her mouth were "poke?"  She is a rock star when it comes to blood draws and yesterday was no exception, she took her coat off, pushed up her sleeve and stuck out her arm... all she wants when she's done is a sticker.  Today we went to the SCCA, her weight was up, she went from the 10th to the 25th percentile in just under two months, she has grown another inch and her labs look good.  Everyone was pleased and it was decided that we wouldn't be seen again until the end of July, this will be our longest stretch to date.
Last weekend a sorority sister and friend from college ran the San Diego Rock n' Roll honoring her battle with cancer and Georgia.  Becky said "I'm determined to finish the marathon that I started when I was diagnosed at age 12. I've had Hodgkin's Disease, Thyroid Cancer and now Breast Cancer. I'm ready to finish my cancer marathon and I'll do that on June 3rd. She shared pictures from the race of family in Team Georgia t-shirts but this is the one that brought me to tears... congratulations Becky, you are such an incredible person, thank you for cheering on our family as we continue on our marathon.