Day 35 - Delayed Intensification and Christmas Eve

Sanna was very kind and offered to get up for Caitlyn in the morning so we could sleep in. Thank you so much Sanna.

Sanna asked Bianca if she would like to call Father Christmas and so they dialed 0800 222 222 (thanks Jason for sharing the number). He was on voicemail as he was looking for one of his reindeer that went missing. Bianca was quite shocked and didn't say anything except "his reindeer is missing!". Then they dialed again and then Bianca said "hello... bring lots of presents please".

We decided to do a Christmas meal and open presents on Christmas Eve. It did require a bit of creativity around Caitlyn's routines and Bianca's medicine schedules. But I think overall it was quite successful.

We decided to stop Bianca eating and drinking at 2pm. Then at 4pm we gave Bianca her Thioguanine and then by 5pm she was allowed to eat again. Usually we would give this medicine just before bedtime after supper, but we decided to do things a bit differently. Then we decided to let Caitlyn open her presents first by around 4pm, then supper by 5pm, then bath and then bed. And then that way we tried to prevent her getting too hyped up. Bianca "helped" Caitlyn open all hers. After all that is what big sisters do...

After Caitlyn has gone to bed we had our Christmas dinner. Nothing major. A small lamb roast, some Swedish meatballs, potatoes, rice and vegetables. We each had a glass of wine and Bianca had some chocolate milk in a wine glass just to be a bit different.

Not sure if it was the chocolate milk, the wine glass or just because of all the excitement, but Bianca said some really funny things. Sanna was explaining that her brother and sister are both vegetarians and we asked her why she was not a vegetarian too. She then explained that as a child she was quite small and then said "and so my mom..." and Bianca jumped in with "put you into time out". We just could not help laughing.

Then as the meal progressed Bianca then said at one point "I conclude with this mess". Once again, could not help laughing.

Then it was time for us to open our presents and Bianca couldn't wait to get her hands on her mountain of gifts. Thank you so much for all the presents that we received. We really appreciate it. I tried my best to make a list so will hopefully be able to sit down soon and write thank you notes.

Bianca helped handing out presents.

Bianca couldn't wait to open her presents.

And then of course I had to do a really dumb thing before the year is finished.

I bought a new dress for Caitlyn and for Bianca. When I put Caitlyn's dress on I struggled a little bit with the one sleeve, but I figured that since it is a dress with no buttons and pulls over the head, that would be the reason, it wasn't anything major so I wasn't worried. Then of course when bed time came it was time to take the dress off. I tried pulling it off like a shirt, no go. I tried pushing her arms through, no go. The dress was just not budging. So finally we had no choice but to cut it open at the top and then slip it off the bottom. It was then that I noticed it said 3 - 6 months on the tag (and Caitlyn is 10 months already). I am pretty sure it said "size 1" in the shop, but I guess in my hurry, I took the wrong size. Terence is not going to let me forget about this one... :-). So this was the day I had to cut my baby from her clothes.

Medicines today:

• Omeprazole - 1 capsule a day
• Fluconozole - 10 ml at night
• Thioguanine - 1.5 tablet at night [chemo]