Making A Mark

Last year was our first experience with this fundraiser at Texas Children's Hospital. The cancer kids and their siblings are encouraged to make some form of art and submit it. Last year only Fiona did and Buttercup was disappointed that she didn't. The only reason that Fiona did was because she made her art while we were waiting for an appointment. This year, I set aside a time for the girls to both make their art before Fiona had her last appointment.

I got a call a few months later saying that Buttercup's art and poetry had been chosen as a blue ribbon. There were over two hundred entries and less than 15 blue ribbons.

Here is Buttercup with her blue ribbon entry:
I was really impressed with her poem and what came out. Before, Fiona told me that Buttercup told her not to talk about being sick so much. This sort of reminded me of when I had cancer and I thought my older brother hated all of the attention I got. I worried that Buttercup was feeling that. Later on, I asked her about it. She said that she doesn't like talking about it because it makes her so sad. My poor sweet little girl was so sad about her little sister. I wish she had told me sooner.

Fiona's entry:
We had a good time and really like supporting those foundations that support pediatric cancer. We are so proud of our girls!

Rough Several Weeks

I haven't been writing lately because I haven't really felt like it. We have been dealing with a few things.
The first and foremost, Fiona's new homeroom teacher has been making her anxious. This has been spilling over into other parts of her life. She's has a slight history of being anxious at school, for very real reasons, and now that's being held against her. I wish people would understand, my kindergartener got dressed everyday, put on a smile and went to school, despite her year long chemo during that time. If the effects of that made her anxious, I am willing to deal with her on it. The principal says she doesn't intend to move her, but I know it can be done. We are letting the principal work with the teacher for a while and seeing how it goes. But, this has meant that she came home early from a birthday party yesterday because her anxiety has been ramped up. You would think people would be bending over backwards to make things easier for her.
She started going to her nurse with a stomach ache, any time she gets anxious she says her stomach hurts. She was never a nervous child, but once she started having to take chemo, she freaked out at the thought of having to throw up. Weirdly enough, she never really did and the once or twice it happened, it wasn't as bad as she had made it in her mind. We have had some serious discussions about the difference between genuinely being ill and making herself feel ill with anxiety.
Then our dishwasher died and we had to wait for about a week to get a new one. A dirty kitchen with hand washed dishes makes me nuts! EW! I don't care how well they are cleaned, I like the sanitizing factor.
After the dishwasher died and we were getting the new one in, TD's air conditioner went out in his car. Seriously...come on! We just seem to be hemorrhaging money. I have my eyes on a few more things, hopefully they can continue working for a while. Luckily, we were introduced to a new mechanic that does great work through his own home and was much cheaper. I am so happy to have a new mechanic for TD's car. My car has a warranty for a few more years, but we needed someone for TD. The last place we took it to charged us $700 and basically did nothing with it.
So, that's why I haven't felt like writing too much. Hopefully things will even out and I can return to regular stuff!