Good Evening,

 I just realized that the update I wrote last week didn’t get posted to the page.  It was a really neat one.  I am sure I told it to post because it isn’t even in my drafts any more (bummer).  I will check with Rick and see if he can find it before I try to recreate it.  It was about Sharmi telling us at dinner about her sitting on Jesus lap, up in heaven as if she really had done it.  It was a special post.  I have no doubt that the devil enjoyed messing that one up.  I’ll try to recreate it if Rick can’t help.

Well, the current update is that everyone is “healthy,”  as healthy as we get in this household.  It is the calm before the storm.  Sharmi goes in on Tuesday again for a doctors appointment and chemo, which includes sedation this time (I hate those days).  She also begins another week of steroids so we will start that misery all over again.  

Two weeks ago I took her for her first dentist appointment.  She did really well all-in-all.  However, the highlight of her trip was on the way down.  She diligently looked for red cars and shouted, “LOOK MOM, that car is the same color as your HAIR.”  Then she would laugh hysterically.  She unfortunately was correct.  I went to get a blond and red weive in my hair and five hours later it was red.  After my hair had peach stripes on top and was a sandy gray color on the bottom we decided to see what I would look like as a red head.  The first few days it was really bright.  It really did resemble a shiny new car.  When I came home after just getting it done Sharmi starting laughing immediately and said, “mommy, your hair is funny, your hair is funny.”  Fortunately it has mellowed out a little bit and it looks pretty nice now. 

Chantel seems to be doing better.  She is growing so fast.  She took her first steps last Sunday when my parents were here.  We were all hanging out in Sharmi’s room and she took two steps from my mom over to me all by herself.  I unfortunately have to take mom’s word for it, because I missed it.  :(  She got her forth tooth last Friday night, and she is also becoming quite the talker.  She surprises me with a 3 or 4 word sentence at least once a week.  This week she was dropping her stuffed animals from her crib after her nap.  Down went her little lamb and she said, “ah oh, wher i go?”  It was very impressive.  I think it was even clear enough that someone else could have heard it.  :)  Maybe. 

Well, Dean and I are going to do a rare thing for us.  We are actually going to watch a movie together. 

Good Night,

Cheris

Good Evening,

We had a very busy weekend here so I wasn’t able to get an update out as soon as I had hoped.  The girls are both doing well.  Sharmi had her first dentist appointment today (we had to reschedule the last one).  She did really well until the end when they were putting the fluoride on.  Then she decided to cry her protest.  The doctor had an interesting exam method.  She had Sharmi sit on my lap facing me with her legs around my waist and then Sharmi laid down with her head on the dentist’s lap for the exam.  It actually worked quite well.

After her dentist appointment we went in for labs to see the results on the chemo increase.  Her ANC was around 2050.  We didn’t see a doctor and so they are not going to adjust the chemo. However, if her numbers don’t drop a little bit I am sure they will increase the drugs again when we go back in two weeks.

Last week at the supper table we had the most interesting conversation with Sharmi.  Unfortunately I can’t remember how it started.  Beginning where I remember she said, “…when Jesus held me…(questions by parents) yeah, where all of the children were…(more questions)… the angels came and carried me to Jesus and there were lots of children there playing…the angles flew down and to took me to Jesus and he held me.”   I was amazed.  She told the story to us as if it really happened.  I can’t help but wonder if it really did somehow.  Maybe a dream, maybe…?  I wish I had the faith of a child again.

And then today when we were laying down for her nap she asked out of the blue, “Mommy when is Jesus going to come so we can go to heaven?”  I wished with my whole heart that I could tell her that he would be here tomorrow.  There is nothing like a sick child to make you long for heaven.

Goodnight, Sweet Dreams,

Cheris

Happy Sabbath,

It is Friday night and we finally have both tired girls in bed.  It has been a long week.  This week Chantel seems to be sick with some unidentifiable bug.  She had a fever on Tuesday afternoon of 102 degrees F.  I gave her Tylenol that evening and it broke, but when she woke up at 4:30 in the morning it was back again.  That fever was gone by mid morning and she hasn’t had one since but I can tell that she still isn’t feeling good.  Last night during supper she threw-up everything that was in her little tummy.  And this afternoon when we were shopping she sat in her car seat dazed and the sales clerk asked if she was always this mellow or if she wasn’t felling well.  On top of that she has a huge infected sore on her bottom and red bumps all over her body which I am hoping is just heat rash.  That was the healthy kid. 

Sharmi has had a high and low week.  The first day after her chemos her skin was very yellow and she had black circles around her eyes.  This evening she was holding her head and complaining of a headache, which is not a common complaint from her at all.  And several times this week she has asked to take a nap.  The poor girl.  When she feels awful her attitude is worse, (like everyone) and my biggest struggle is how to discipline bad behavior with such a sick girl.  She is learning that hard way that life is not fair!  But good news, “egg noddles always makes thing better.”  :)

Other than the sickness I am really enjoying the girls stages right now.  Chantel is cruising around furniture, holding onto walls, and she took her first step between things last night.  She went from holding onto the chair to letting go and stepping over to my knee.  Sharmi’s brillance of the week was this morning, we were doing a sound puzzle of the United States.  She is better than me at knowing where they go, but she only knows about 4 states.  She knows, we live in Washington, Guyah (her former nanny) lives in Michigan, the Bahamas is in the water below Florida, and she says, “California is my favorite.”  However what surprised me today is when we began putting the pieces in she said, “Alaka capital Juneau.”  I don’t even think she knows what a capital is, but she memorized, “Alaska capital Juneau.”  I told her that capitals are the cities in each state that make the rules, like mommy and daddy do.  I am trying to teach her that everyone has rules they have to obey.

Well, I should get to bed because I never know who is going to wake up, for what and for how long.

Goodnight,

Cheris

Good Morning,

The baby is up and so I am trying to get out a quick update before Sharmi wakes up.  Sharmi did not sleep very well because I told her last night that we were going to the hospital again today, and I also told her we were going to the dentist.  She seemed to have bad dreams all night.  I had also put her to bed in her own bed instead of her mickey mouse bed on the floor in our room.  Unfortunately at about 11:00 she fell all the way out of bed.  She fell off of her bed and off of the half pulled out trundle.  She wasn’t sound asleep again until 12:30 AM.

To update you on her limp.  It has gotten better and the lab results from last week did not show any signs of relapse.  I am trying to believe that she is OK,  and I am trying to ignore the urge to think, ” I have heard that before.”  We are grateful that she is feeling better. 

Today we start another series of steroids so it will be a rough week again.  She will also have her first dentist visit.  I personally hate going to the dentist so I was anxious all last night and didn’t fall asleep until 2:00 AM myself. 

Last week Sharmi spent some time at Grandma and Grandpa’s house all by herself.  This was her first night to sleep over at someone else’s house. 

A cute story about Sharmi was that last week I was making capellini pomodoro for dinner and she was helping me chop up the tomatoes with an little hand blender.  That night we were talking to grandma on the phone and she said, ” Grandma I made supper tonight, I made capalini mamadora.”  It was very sweet. 

Chantel is very busy now and she it starting to talk quite a bit.  At Grandma’s house I was trying to put her down for a nap and she kept pointing to a picture of a little girl saying prayer with her dog and kitten. She would point and say, “Kiti, kiti… doow doow.”  She is also showing some strong will, imagine that.  :)  I think she will be able to hold her again against her sister soon.

It is a sunny day in Seattle so we are going to have a great day. 

Love, Cheris and the girls