Saturday, May 30, 2009

Friday, May 29, 2009


jjl



Thursday, May 28, 2009

An Ally Twofer. . .

Friday, May 22, 2009 5:52 PM, EDT

Yeah for 3 day weekends!

Ally has had a good week. Her counts were awesome today, so she will begin Chemo on Tuesday (with the holiday as a bonus day off).

Ally is enjoying the warm weather, she went for ice cream today and to the park, where the slides and swings were hot.

We have a nice weekend set up. Tomorrow we are going to visit friends, on Sunday we have lots of family coming to visit, and on Monday we have NO PLANS! A rare day to ourselves!

Have a great holiday weekend. We are hoping our camera shows up in the mail tomorrow!




Tuesday, May 26, 2009 4:34 PM, EDT

Ally had a great day at DHMC today. Things ran smoothly and there were no issues with the pharmacy this time! She is normally there on Mondays and that is only an adult clinic day (they make an exception for her). Today, being Tuesday, the normal pediatric staff was there. Ally got lots of visitors! She is normally very shy with lots of people, but today she was quite chatty. Everyone was very excited to see her.

Originally she was supposed to get scans after this 2 week round of chemo, but the word today was they may push it off until late June or early July. They think she is doing so well she doesn't need the scans until then. Yippee!

Today Ally weighed in at over 21 pounds! This is the most she has ever weighed!

This past weekend was super awesome. We spent some time at the park, and Ally was licked (much to her dismay) by a super cute little doggie. She spent a lot of time on the swing and even went down the slide a couple of times. She also enjoyed Mommy and Daddy's ice cream.

Ally will get chemo at home for the rest of this week and all of next week.

Our camera is scheduled to arrive on the 28th. As soon as we figure it out and take some pics I will post some more.

Have a great week!


jjl

Wednesday, May 27, 2009


jjl


jjl

funny pictures of cats with captions
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Monday, May 25, 2009


Rain rain go away by Vogelzang


At The Beach by SunsetFL

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Thursday, May 21, 2009


jjl

At the End


It all comes back to home

to what we first knew

of home, the sense of it.


I smelled spring tonight

after a hard winter

a bitter time of cold


and isolation, unrelieved

darkness, arguments

alcohol as solace.


But, it began with

the light in the morning

the moisture from thawing


the wind soft

over the lake

the ringlets of leaves


a freshness that

could only come

from the snowy north


and we awaken to it

a promise, an invitation

I wanted to run outside


bare feet on the wet

silk grass, leaves

everywhere, sweet air.



~~ Pat Maslowski

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 4:30 PM, EDT

Here are a bunch of random thoughts:

Just is case you were not aware: Ally is cute.

She is coming up with new words everyday. Today was hellooooooooo in a funny little voice.

She gets popsicles (usually only 2 mini ones a day...hey, it gets liquid into her...don't judge!) and lately she will give them a lick and say, "sour", more like: "saaaaaaaaaawa!"

Ally is doing well this week. She is getting her GCSF injections each morning. We are not noticing any side effects (it is supposed to cause bone and joint pain).

As an added note to the nap story from the weekend: Around 11:15 Sunday morning, as we were driving home from some errands I had to yell, "ALLY WAKE UP!" because she had fallen asleep in the back seat, in yet another 4 minute ride home. We sang the ABC song really loudly for the rest of the ride home. (She did take a nap for me around 12:30.)



Louisiana Morning II


an unlikely gathering place

all gone before, all yet to be

the essence of what we were -- a hyphen

between dates

the two names one stone

the tiny box

the love in sharing roses

on graduation day

with ancestors

as an image on a tile

distills courage

to a roosters crow of dawn



By Phil Specht on May 20, 2009 6:57 AM EDT


Sailing to Byzantium


THAT is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
-- Those dying generations -- at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.


~~William Butler Yeats

Tuesday, May 19, 2009


Shagbark Hickory


Louisiana morning


not the dark river styx

crossed

roses in hand to the rooster

but green spring grass

graduation day

the sun always calling forth a crowing welcome

to one side or the other of that dawn



Image and poem
by Phil Specht

Wednesday, May 13, 2009


RSW


Each green thing
in turn
leaving

The maple's small flags
the oak's mouse ears
the shagbark all white candled

Mayapple's sweet umbrellas
violet hearts
flag swords

each knowing shape and order
arrives as expected
time in time

And spring, once more,
green and green




jjl
13 May 2009

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Monday, May 11, 2009


Monday, May 11, 2009 5:10 PM, EDT

What a fun day!
Ally had lots of fun with Daddy at home today.
She did very well with her chemo.
And she came to visit Mommy at work!
All of my students were VERY excited to see her, and a little sad I had the "you are a yucky germ factory and you will not touch Ally" rule. All of the teachers were excited to see Ally as well. We got many comments that she is cuter in person than in her pictures.
She was very quiet, and prefered to whisper her words. She had LOTS of fun with the play kitchen in the Kindergarten room. The K teacher was even nice enough to let Ally bring a couple of kitchen toys home (so as to avoid a melt down).
Giant (the superintendent) even showed up and Ally gave him a great High 5 and a good-bye wave. We even managed to convince her to blow him a kiss. She knows who to suck up to!

She had a super fun time in the car on the way home (and I hear on the way to school as well). We are looking forward to another fun week with nothing too exciting happening. Daddy has Friday off, he has to work this weekend as well.
Have a great week!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Friday, May 08, 2009



Friday, May 8, 2009 4:17 PM, EDT

mmmmmmmm FRIDAY! There are only 28 days left of school....but who's counting?

Ally had another fantastic week. It is such a struggle in my head to see her doing so well, knowing that at pretty much any moment someone is going to tell us the chemo is no longer working and we have to move to the next step. It's hard to put my head around that fact. Anyway...

Ally has been working on telling stories. She is getting better at putting 2 words together, using lots of movement and getting us to understand. Sometimes we don't, and she gets frustrated. Some of her words sound funny when she says them. She still drinks a lot of pediasure ($10 a six pack...if any of you find coupons, send them our way) and pronounces it: Pee-Ya-da with sort of an italian accent. We make her say it, just so we can hear it.

Have a super weekend and Mother's Day!


photo by spiritflyer

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Wednesday, May 06, 2009


Dr Flowers


A fistful of forgetmenots

in the rain. A year gone,

and still



The heart as true

Early elder, late lilacs

a day with no sun



A hard winter and late spring

The phlox still hiding, abiding,

waiting their proper step in the succession



As measured as a minuet,

the great wheel of the year turns

and sweeps us along



with all our desires and longing

no hurrying

just peace



Soon. . . .

Please. . . .





jjl

6 May 2009


Moon through the trees by VikkiY

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Monday, May 04, 2009



Rain

Sunday, May 03, 2009


Sunday morning by relishthejourney

Friday, May 01, 2009

Friday, May 1, 2009 3:10 PM, EDT

Happy May Day!

It has been a great week. On Wednesday we went shopping with Auntie and bought tons and tons of new clothes! Ally is looking stylish! Yesterday we got to visit another "Baby" friend. Ally enjoyed bonking him on his nose and meticulously cleaning the already clean floor. She honestly doesn't mean anything by it, she just enjoys cleaning! I have my theories as to why.....

Today we made cookies and had blood drawn, not at the same time. We just got the call, her counts are great. She will begin chemo Monday morning at DHMC. She well get the rest of the chemo at home. Just as a reference to how this chemo is different to her chemo she got in Boston: Today Ally's ANC = 9,423. That is with 7 days of GCSF injections. When we were in Boston it took Ally 20+ days of GCSF to get her ANC to 500. This low dose of chemo is a lot milder. Ally has very little side effects and she still has all her hair! I haven't said anything, although you could probably tell from the pictures that she continues to have hair. We were certain she was going to loose it again. Yippie for small victories! Speaking of small victories Ally has been napping in her crib the past 4 days. This is the first time, in her whole life, she has been willing to do this. It seems strange to have an hour to myself in the middle of the day. The only way she would nap for Mommy and Daddy before was, in our bed, cuddled up with us. It was wonderfully sweet, but free time is nice as well.

Okay, this was a train of thought post, and the whole time Ally was calling for me to sit with her at the window and spy on our neighbor doing yard work....I am sorry if it doesn't make sense!

And a Happy May Day!!


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