A Little bubbley...

Happy New Year!

Here's to less doctor's appointments in 2009.

(Clink glasses)

More holiday info to come.

Happy Anniversary

Love you.

Lucy and Jolly Ol' St. Nick

"...and a tricycle, and a doll that blinks her eyes, and a puppy, and..."

"and maybe one of those bracelets, Santa, that's nice..."

"Excuse me, I'm not finished yet."

Sometimes...

something so great happens that you just don't have the words to describe or enough thank you's to cover it.

Today was one of those times.

My dearest sister had a surprise party for me to celebrate the end of my radiation treatments. She told me I was just coming over for lunch and then when I walked in the door there were so many of my favorite people yelling, "Surprise!" I cried. I've had so much help and support from family and friends through the last year that I just felt a little overwhelmed. I thought about my sister who has been there through all of it, sleeping on hospital floors, doing my laundry, making meals, driving me to appointments, taking care of Lucy, checking in to see how I am, and THEN throwing a party to celebrate. She does the work of ten women and makes it looks easy. I just love her so much.

She even arranged for cameos from some of my favorite celebrities, Rainn Wilson, Jillian Michaels, Jennifer Garner, Katie Holmes, Matthew Macfadyen, even Oprah, and glad tidings (or good riddance) from UMHS and Dr. Sullivan. There were green-apple green ribbons (the color we've designated for Eppendymomas) for everyone to wear and yummy food.

Thank you for your love dear sister.

Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me through this year. I have a few follow-up appointments in January and then hopefully I'll be done for a while.

Maybe we could cast my tumor in a jell-o mold?

You will not be missed.

I will not miss getting up at 6:00am
I will not miss ill-fitting hospital gowns
I will not miss being adjusted
I will not miss the fatigue
I will not miss the nausea
I will not miss half my butt hanging out
I will not miss being weighed

but in the immortal words of Fall Out Boy...
"Thanks for the memories."

I'm done!

To my favorite Beatles fan.

Happy Birthday.
I love you.

Dear Apartment Complex Maintenance,

Image via WikipediaWhere are you?

The basement in our building is not water proof. We have all our storage items on pallets in order to stave off water damage. I went down to switch my clothes from the washer to the dryer and I noticed water on the floor...okay, nothing new...but it was coming from above...and leaking all over someone's storage cage.

Good Luck After-Hours Maintenance Guy.

Love, Anna

P.S. While you're here, do you mind looking at the door I called about a couple weeks ago?

Talk, talk, talk

Lately, one of Lucy's favorite activities is to talk on the phone. Every toy she has can become a phone at any given time. I think it's funny considering I loathe it and don't do it much...I'd think she'd do more text messaging. Last night, Lucy and Tony were having a little "conversation," she has learned to say, "hi," and has attempted to say "Hello," a couple times. Tonight at Emily's piano recital the phone rang and she put her hand up to her ear and said, "Hi!" in a cute sing-songy voice. By way of pretending, she also pretends to eat the food we cook in her little kitchen, sometimes she'll bring me a spoon and lick her lips which means I'm supposed to taste it. Why am I always surprised she's learning new things...I mean, somewhere in my brain I know she will only continue learning but it is amazing to watch.

Hair

Before

After

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Last night, for FHE, we went to the park downtown to see the Nativity and the decorated Christmas trees. It was a bit colder than I had anticipated so it was quick...but fun.