Day of Rest!

You have no idea what it's been like having a weekend free of most of the physical reminders of Sylvie's cancer.  And getting to sleep in the same bed as Michael.  And seeing Sylvie eat most of an omelette. 

Fortunately the weather was on our side.  We were determined to have a little normalcy with the exception of counting protein grams + calories, wearing purple chemo gloves when changing Sylvie's diapers and continuing to pry open Sylvie's mouth to brush her teeth.

Saturday morning was baby Bella's baptism (Michael's her godfather) so Grannie Annie babysat so we could attend our first baptism ceremony with the Karas family.  I was excited to see that little Ellie was also being baptized!  I felt like the staff photographer! Afterwards, we had to run to Town & Country compounding pharmacy, for a change, and get Sylvie's $50.00 'medical grade' Metagenics Ultrameal protein powder.

Meanwhile at home, Sylvie was draining chocolate peanut butter shakes so we had to cut the festivities short in order to whip up another batch.  

We took Sylvie to the Duck Pond for the first time since last fall.  I was hoping Sylvie might be inspired to walk after seeing the other kids running around.  She was more into the ice cream truck.  Just like old times, we got a Dora pop and sat on a picnic table.  Shortly thereafter, we moved over to the purple swings that resemble car seats.  I strapped Sylvie in securely and she was seriously ecstatic.  

Sylvie yelled at the top of her lungs, "I'LL BE THREE!"  "ON MAY 12!"  "NO MEDICINE!"  "NO TUBEEES!"  It was at that point which I looked at Sylvie and asked myself, "Self, if this was not your child, would you think that she was sick?"  The answer being yes, of course.  The mom next to me laughed probably because I was just so overjoyed by Sylvie's enthusiasm.  I needed Sylvie's exuberance on the swings just as much as Sylvie did.  From there, we attempted an ice cream sandwich but I drew the line and refused to buy a Tweety ice pop claiming to have no money.  We ran into Sylvie's classmate Viraj and his family, too.  I ran home in time to pop over to our friends who just had a baby on Thursday.

Prior to Sylvie's getting sick, I have to admit that I made a laborious effort to prepare a variety of foods for her only to be thwarted 75% of the time.  So it was no great surprise that this morning, I made Sylvie a waffle, an omelette, more lentil soup and a chocolate peanut butter shake (note:  do not use coconut oil as a calorie additive-- it's solid at room temperature!).  Sylvie wouldn't eat the waffle but was pretty pleased with herself while eating little pieces of the eggs.  And the soup ("soup makes my mouth feel better!").  Whenever Sylvie said, "No Tubeee!" Michael explained to her that as long as she eats, there will be no tube.  

Sylvie spent the better part of the morning asking to go to a Laurie Berkner or Audra Rox concert.  I love it when we try to sneak Ryan Adams on the car stereo and Sylvie says, "That's not my music!" and forces us to put on Laurie Berkner, Audra Rox and Suzi Shelton.  No disrespect to any of them but sometimes, I just wanna hear adult music too!

Late this afternoon, we took a chance and went to Ramapo Reservation.  I told Sylvie we'd go looking for 'things' on our hike and proceeded to stuff leftover plastic eggs with stickers.  Sylvie was psyched to be the toddler backpack strapped to Michael's torso and we went out for an hour and a half.  Once again, she yelled, "NO MEDICINE!"  "NO TUBEEES!"  And then she sang out loud The Ting Tings.  We were psyched, too and you could hear me singing "That's Not My Name" on the other side of the lake.

Today is both Sylvie's grandpa and pop-pop's birthday.  Sylvie picked out a pink birthday cake for my dad and fortunately we had enough birthday candles to light and relight them multiple times. 

Her temperature today stayed at 99 which is a little alarming since it usually only goes up from there.  

Tomorrow, we have to pack up Sylvie's stuff for our return trip to the hospital on Tuesday.  She reminded me today that I forgot her 'baby' the last time.  I won't make that mistake again!