High quality

Bianca is losing hair again.

Terence said this morning when he dropped Bianca off at school he noticed quite a bit of hair on her school shirt, and when he patted her head he had some hair stuck on his hand. I felt pretty disappointed this morning when Terence sent me a text to let me know. Not too long ago she also lost some hair and her hair ended up quite thin, you could actually see her scalp through her hair at the time, but lately it felt as if finally her hair was starting to grow a bit thicker so that finally she will be able to grow the ponytails she wants so much.

This afternoon after I got Bianca from school, we sat on the couch and at one point she lay with her head on my lap and when she sat up, I noticed some of her hair on my pants. I can't wait for the day we won't need Vincristine again. I'm confident that is the drug that is causing Bianca's hair loss. And it feels a bit disappointing because I know so many other children who are not as far along on their maintenance phase as Bianca, and their hair is so much longer and thicker.

But anyway, it is just part of our journey. And I guess it does bother us a bit more than it bothers Bianca so at least that is a comforting thought!

This afternoon Bianca asked me what "high quality" means and I told her it means something like "very good". She thought for a little bit and then said "Mommy, you are high quality". She then went on to ask me if one day she will be able to learn how to drive a car and I told her "yes, but it will take a very long time before you will start learning to drive" and she then said "you will have to make one of those signs with the "L" on it and put it in the window because I will be learning to drive".

Wiggly Good Time

On Sunday we had the chance to attend The Wiggles Show at the Vector Arena in Auckland thanks to the Child Cancer Foundation.

Bianca discovered The Wiggles a couple of years ago and she quite enjoys their shows, but has only ever seen them on DVD and to see them in real life - wow, that was pretty good. Bianca knew a number of their songs and she had the best time ever clapping and moving along to their songs.

Terence and I were both amazed how fit and flexible these guys are (and 3 of them must be in their mid- to late 40s).

The kids each had an ice cream as a special treat and Caitlyn especially enjoyed her ice cream (anybody for a kiss?).

At times Caitlyn was a bit interested, but did lose interest after a while and started acting up (being a typical 2 year old) and I guess sitting still and behaving well for an hour and a half must be quite tough for a 2 year old.

Afterwards Bianca told us that Dorothy the Dinosaur wasn't real "it was just somebody who painted their legs green" (I guess she noticed in the one act when the leg part of the costume lifted up a little bit and I guess it comes with the territory of being almost 6 years old...

Hot pools - just what we needed!

On Saturday we went to the Parakai Hot Pools. We got the chance to catch up with some of the Child Cancer Foundation people and other families and it was such a nice relaxing day for us - just what we needed. Bianca had the best time ever going down the water slides with Terence, Caitlyn loved walking around the shallow pool and kept wanting to walk to the deeper side insisting that she could "walk self" and then getting really cross with me for steering her back to the shallow side.

My favourite part was the hot indoor pool at 39 degrees (now that's my kind of pool!!!)

And finally when it was time to go home, both kids fell fast asleep in the car. We all had so much fun!!!

Aren't they just wonderful???

Not too long ago I wrote about two people at the company where I temped since beginning March who decided to shave off their hair for The Child Cancer Foundation. They didn't have to do it and it was really just something they felt totally passionate about. So John and Tania each raised around $1,000 and I think that is just amazing!!!

So here are some photos from Friday:

Never thought the Salesperson would have the last laugh

I wear glasses. I can't actually see without them. Or rather I can see, but without my glasses everything is a rather blurrish blob, so yeah - I pretty much rely on my glasses all the time. I didn't always wear glasses. It was only since around 1998 if I remember correctly. I remember my first eye appointment, I asked the optometrist if I could please get contact lenses and so he helped me fit them. Piece of cake I thought. Until I had to take them out that night, and I simply couldn't. No matter how hard I tried they just wouldn't budge. So in desperation I called Terence (who at the time was working his final week at his job 300km away from where I was) and in between his fits of laughter he tried to explain to me the process of removing contact lenses. I don't know how I managed, but somehow I did and refused to put them back in that week. Thankfully I wasn't driving and so it didn't matter too much.

At some point that year I got some glasses. And that set of glasses lasted me a good number of years when finally last year it was time for a new frame for my glasses. So off I went, got my eyes tested and then I chose a new frame. The Salesperson then told me about a special offer where you pay a bit more and then get two frames instead of just one. And I respectfully declined because after all the other frame lasted me a long long time and what would I do with another pair of glasses? "In case the one set breaks" the Salesperson told me. "No, I should be fine" and off I went feeling so proud of myself that I resisted the tactics of a salesperson to try and make extra money from me.

So last night as I was getting ready f0r bed, what happened?

That's right, my new frame broke. And the Salesperson's words echoed in my mind "in case the one set breaks". So who had the last laugh? It would be the Salesperson (that's if I was able to see clearly I guess...).

So this morning Terence attempted to fix my frame so I am able to at least wear my glasses until we can get to the optometrist to see if they can somehow help me with a new frame or possibly a set of contact lenses to see me through until they can fit my lenses into a new frame.

Urggh! You don't know how much you need something until it is broken!!!

So how did your weekend start?

Bianca's smile in the paper!!!

Remember when I recently wrote how Bianca had the chance to sign a car at Hyundai as part of the Child Cancer Foundation Annual Appeal? Well, today we saw that Bianca and some of the other kids made the newspaper! Please click here for the link to the article.

I just love the photo they took of Bianca and so we'll be keeping this newspaper article with all the others in Bianca's memory box.

This week is the Annual Appeal week. CCF desperately need all the funds they can get - they don't get any government funding and they don't share in the money raised with the other cancer societies. So please see if you are able to get involved. Not only are they looking for donations, but they are also looking for volunteers. You can read all about the Annual Appeal here.

It was great while it lasted...

I can't believe my month of temping is over in less than a week. Next week this time my life will go back to before. I did enjoy the time being back at work, but (and I never thought I would say this), I'm also looking forward being at home again. I've actually missed being there when Bianca gets out of school and spending some of the days with Caitlyn.

For now we'll still keep Caitlyn in daycare for 2 days a week because it is very important that she also has social interaction with other children. Caitlyn loves going to daycare and every afternoon I ask her how her day was and she will say "good" and then I will ask her who she played with and she will say "Tela" and "Cassie" and she will then tell me what she did and say "blocks", "outside", "play doh" and so on. So on Monday I will have my last day as a professional working mom for a while and go back to just being a mom who works at home (because let's face it house-work is also work).

After last week's steroid week I once again realised why going back to work on a full-time or even a permanent part-time basis won't be a very good idea. Steroids are just too unpredictable and I really need to be available and flexible just in case Bianca doesn't feel well enough and needs to come home early from school. So then it is better that Terence is able to work full time (as he doesn't get paid when he doesn't work).

But despite all the uncertainties that walk hand-in-hand with Bianca's treatment, it was a great chance to go to work for a bit again. It was a good opportunity to step out of my comfort zone a bit. And the people were all so nice. So down-to-earth-we-accept-you-for-who-you-are kind of people. So I had a great time. At times busy and a bit stressful, but quite enjoyable too. So I actually might miss it a bit (although I think Terence can't wait to go back to the office full-time again).

So far this week Bianca is doing great. No more major tummy aches, she is once again back to coping with school, loving her tennis (and has in fact asked her dad that she does tennis next term again and she asked if she could please get her own tennis racquet), and having 2 play dates this week! I'm glad we are back to normal. Or as normal as we can be.

And Bianca still loves getting all the emails - she is slowly but surely making her way through all the emails she needs to respond to.

Happiness is...

having a bath

until your mom decides to wash your hair...

And the way Caitlyn screamed, I thought for sure that the neighbours would come knocking on our door to see why we were torturing our child like this. Thankfully nobody came knocking and Caitlyn quickly smiled again. Of course only until the next time we have to wash hair (sigh!!!).

In our new house we have two bathrooms and an extra toilet. Both the bathrooms have a toilet as well as a shower. Bianca is quite happy showering, but Caitlyn not so much. Unfortunately we struggled to find a place that also had a bath and so we settled on this rental home. We decided that we would get a baby bath of some kind to use in the bathroom on the floor as a solution for our lack of a bath in this house. Unfortunately all the baby baths were way too small, and finally we managed to find this blue shell-shaped type of plastic pool / sand box for kids and thought it would be perfect. And it was, until I realised it won't actually fit in the bathroom. So now we bath Caitlyn in the kitchen. So far so good. It actually works quite well. And since Caitlyn is only 2, she really couldn't care less where she gets her bath.