A Cozy Coupe & Ketchup

We assembled the Cozy Coupe Elise got for Christmas from G&G Goote.  She is loving it.  She was very helpful putting it together.  She also sticks her tongue out just like her Daddy when she is concentrating extra hard.

My mom brought us Burger King for lunch today.   Elise loved dipping a french fry in ketchup and licking it.  Eventually she gave up on the french fry and just started using her finger. 

Christmas 2011

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  We sure did.  We are incredibly blessed and incredibly FULL.  I'm on a diet now.  I swear.  Here's a few of the pictures I took celebrating Christmas with my family.  Elise would get SO excited by these toys.   She loves it.   As soon as it was open she plopped herself in Nick's lap until it was assembled.  So cute.

The girl loves to accessorize.   Seriously.

Check out the purse and glitter shoes.   She actually flipped out when we tried to take them off once.   I may have created a monster. 

She also decided she wanted to eat a red pepper.  Raw.   Like an apple.  You could hear her crunching and taking huge bites out of it. 

This week I've had another PET/CT scan and a pulmonary function test.  We'll get the results next week Tuesday when we meet with the doctor before my next chemo treatment.  After that we'll only have three more! 

A Very Goote Christmas

We spent Friday night with the Gootes and Great Grandma & Grandpa for Christmas.  We are all very spoiled and very lucky!  I wore The Wig.  Until I got hot.  Which is pretty much all the time.   Elise helped us open all the presents for the most part - she gets a little distracted sometimes. 

She loves this bear!!!

Can you tell we love this child?  Notice the kiss marks on her cheek.

Elise in a mountain of toys and wrapping paper.   Lucky girl!

You can sorta see my baldy head on the side here - but seriously that wig is HOT.   Good thing it's winter because I don't think I could handle it in the summertime.   Elise was having the BEST time. 

Thank you everyone for such a wonderful Christmas!  Love you!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Here's our Christmas card this year.  Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday!

Elegant Script Wishes Christmas Card

This season, send Christmas cards personalized with family photos.

View the entire collection of cards.

Chemo #8. 4 more to go.

Quick update.  Because I am so tired I'm typing this from my bed at 8pm and plan on cashing out for at least 12 hours as soon as I'm done.

Chemo #8 went pretty well.  All the usual stuff.  I forgot to put the numbing cream on my port beforehand (too busy watching Elmo) so that wasn't too fun.  I hate when they access my port.  Aubrey came with me, my dad brought us lunch, and my friend Juli stopped by.  Thanks for keeping me company guys.   And thanks to my mom for spending the day with Elise.  She loves you (and so do I).  Bonus from chemo:  Somebody donated a coffee cart to the lobby that day.  Free lattes and smoothies!  Score.

My blood work wasn't great.  My white blood cell count was really low so I had to go back this afternoon for another Neulasta shot.  The high school string quartet in the lobby was attempting to bring tidings of great joy to the cancer patients but they were not doing that great of a job.  I sorta felt bad for the receptionists.   It's weird when all the receptionists and phlebotomists at the cancer office know your name.  A little depressing.  I think it's because people like saying Goote.  It's like booty.  But with a G.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas.  That came fast.  Christmas with cancer.  Never saw that coming 6 months ago.  Won't it be nice next year when we can say "Remember last Christmas when I had cancer?  Remember how we kicked it in the booty and it's gone forever and ever?"  Yeah, that will be nice.   I'm sure next Christmas Elise will be saying more words than "uh-oh", "hi", "dada", and "na-na" (na-night).  No more cancer.  I'm sure I'll have more hair than I have now.  Hopefully I'll be thinner.  Ha.  A lot to look forward to.  

But, we have a lot to be thankful for this year too.  A beautiful brand new house I can't believe I get to live in.  The sweetest girl in the whole world.  Amazing family and friends to help us whenever we need it.   Really good doctors that are helping us get rid of cancer forever.   Aaaand now I'm tearing up.  Time for bed. 

So excited though - my cousin-who's-like-a-sister Emily is in town for a few days.  All the way from Budapest.  She brought Elise the cutest little toy and me a new hat.  Love her.

No pictures today - mostly because I'm too exhausted to go downstairs and get my camera so I can upload them.  Tomorrow's another day. 

And the Christmas parties begin!

Elise had a great time at the Christmas Party for Nick's side of the family tonight.  She would run and run in the gym at West Side - she almost got bonked a few times by all the older kids.   SO fun for her!

She played a little jump rope with Grandpa.

She even liked to sit with all the big kids.

Here's Elise and her cousin Beckham.  He's only a month older than her and so much bigger!  Elise looks like quite the peanut next to him.  He is so.stinking.cute.  Here they are last year.

And here's Elise's first (and surely not last) gift of 2011!  A cute little singing picnic basket. 

if you're happy and you know it...

clap your hands!

When this kid is healthy - she is the happiest kid on earth.  

We spent yesterday running a few errands and then Elise decided that she would take the longest nap of her life.  2 1/2 hours people.  this.is.a.miracle.  Remember this?  After two hours I was just hoping she wasn't dead.  Kidding...she was making a few peeps now and then so I wasn't too worried.

Then just today we almost skipped nap all together.  We drove home from the mall trying to keep her awake.  This involves me singing along to Veggie Tales songs at the top of my lungs.  ["I need to tell you somethin'...I don't got a belly button!!!!!!!"]  She wasn't too amused but didn't fall asleep.   I just put her down when I heard it - the beep of a smoke alarm with a dead battery.  I could not find it.  I've only lived here two weeks!  So - after standing in every room upstairs waiting for the beep, I found it.  And when I took the battery out it went off.  Loud.  I thought I was doomed.  Elise wasn't asleep and was crying pretty hard at this point.  Luckily, a few snuggles and a little milk calmed her down and she eventually fell asleep again.  Phew.  I love naps.  

And I'm so excited - I won a blog giveaway!  This never happens.  I won the cutest hat for Elise from my bloggy friend Janae.  Woohoo thanks!!

Christmas at FMG

Sunday we headed to Frederick Meijer Gardens to check out their Christmas displays. They were having a big open house with tram rides and everything. Lots and lots of Christmas Trees and lights. It was a bit challenging navigating the crowds with a one-year-old who only wants to do this:

And.  I wore my wig.  You might say I was getting wiggy with it. 

Na na na na na na na.

Bonus points for you if you know what that's from.

Bonus points for me if it's stuck in your head all day.  Sorry 'bout that.

Anyways.  I need to get the front trimmed because it was in my eyes all night and I was so annoyed I almost threw it off the Christmas tram.  I actually did rip it off the minute I was in the car because it was sorta itchy and really hot.   Wig + toddler = sweaty mommy.   

Let's just say if God can count the hairs on your head, he doesn't have to count very high for me.  Nick said last night that Elise officially has more hair than I do.  I'm a Baldy McBaldypants.  Not so cute.  

The wig sorta makes me feel weird.  Like everyone can tell it's a wig, but my family swears that no one would be able to tell.  I hope they're not just saying that to be nice.  It's actually pretty cute and the color is just right.

It was a pretty fun night.  Very Christmas-y.  

sweet elise

She has not been feeling too perky lately.  Neither has Mommy actually, and we are SO glad Auntie Lauren is here and staying with us at our new house to help out.   I think Elise had a reaction to her shots last week and has had a little fever.  She needs to be held all.the.time. and is just not her sweet self.  Today has been better, so after our new washing machine and dryer were delivered this morning we headed over to Grandma's for a change of scenery.

Here's a rare moment of happiness last night with some straws:

We let Auntie Lauren pick out her outfits while she's here.   This one's courtesy of Grandma Goote from our trip to Ludington this summer.  It finally fits!  And it is so so so cute we laugh just looking at that cute ruffled butt. 

Her newest obsession:  fruit snacks.  She scarfs them.

Poor sweet girl.  I hate it when she doesn't feel good.

I've been doing pretty well too - Lauren let me take a nice long nap yesterday while she took care of the crabbiest baby in the universe.   It was so nice.   I seem to just move a little slower and go to bed a little (or a lot) earlier for a few days after chemo.  On the plus side, my blood counts were still good so I did not need the neulasta shot again.  That's really good news since that shot is apparently pretty toxic to your lungs, so the less you need it the better.   I also have another PET scan scheduled for after my next treatment.   We are 7 down, 5 to go at this point.  I remember when even this felt so far off, so we are glad things are moving along and we are over halfway done. 

a girl in a monkey hat

Blogging from chemo today.   We don't have internet at our house yet so y'all get two posts in one day.  You're welcome.

These pictures are from Thanksgiving weekend in Peoria.  We went to this super busy store (because they were giving out free samples of vodka) and it wasn't working too well with a stroller and a 1-year-old who wants to run.  So we headed to hang out in the parking lot.  It was a gorgeous day. 

Grandma Goote got this hat for Elise at this cutest little boutique in Holland.   And my mom bought her the little leopard coat.  Thanks guys!   Elise is very well dressed mostly because of you!

"Elise how big are you??"

I lived in a pottery barn catalog

No joke.  It really looks like Pottery Barn in there.  

I say "lived" because I don't live here anymore.  This is my Mom's house - a.k.a. our home for the last three months.   It's beautiful and perfectly decorated for Christmas.  Since before Thanksgiving. 

My Mom made all this stuff.  Even the fancy wreath on the door.  We thought we would put it on Etsy and see if anyone would buy it.  Someone did and then we made another one for the front door.   We then realized it would cost $78 to ship it.  The buyer didn't want it anymore.   So now we have two.  

This woman doesn't just clean out her window boxes in the fall.   She fills them with balls.  Some of them light up.

Apparently I was a bit difficult as a child.    This isn't just up at Christmas. 

Mmmmm cozy.  This is where we do Christmas fondue.  Except the light is then covered up with a garbage bag.

What can I say - the woman likes balls.

Seriously.  This place is beautiful.  Just don't touch anything.

This is what Elise did while I took these pictures.

We sure loved living at this house for a little while.  We will miss you Grandpa & Grandma!  And even though Elise makes it messy in here, I know Grandma will miss us because she started crying when she left us at our house on Sunday.  Like ugly crying.  We live 30 minutes away.  

There you go!  A little Christmas tour of the lake house.

a check-up & a check-in

Elise had her 15 month check-up today.  Technically she's 16 months but I had to reschedule because I had chemo.  And they had to reschedule me a month later - even when I told them I had chemo.  Cancer card failed.  

Not surprisingly - Elise is doing super!  She's in perfect health.   Poor thing had to have four shots today though.  She was a trooper - she took a long nap and was back to her sweet self by the afternoon.  She's doing lots of fun things these days - she can point to her tummy, toes, ears, eyes, nose, hair...and we're working on the rest.  She is twirling, jumping (sort of), and lots and lots of running.  She says dada...and that's about it.  She yells a lot but doesn't make out too many words.  She says "hi" but will only whisper it.  She waves back to the people in crowd when we watch the Today show in the morning, and will randomly come up and hug your leg and go back to playing.  She is the sweetest girl ever.  

Her stats: 

Weight:  21.5 lbs (19%)

Height:  30.5 inches  (40%)

Here's Elise doing a few of her new tricks:

This is as naughty as she gets.   Normally I would stop her but it was too funny...

I'm doing really well too.  I can tell it takes a little longer to feel "normal" after treatment, the more treatments I have.  I felt pretty good over Thanksgiving and was able to enjoy the delicious turkey Lauren made!  The biggest thing is that I get so tired.  I need naps and I go to bed early.   I still have some hair, and lots of cute hats.  

And - we are offically moved in to our new house!  We will move the crib this weekend and be there for good.  We.can't.wait. 

Thanksgiving in Peoria

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  We are having a great time at Auntie Lauren's house in Peoria.   She even made Elise a turkey shirt!

Here's Nick and little Nick.

The girls took Elise to the park so Mommy could take a little nap.   Thanks guys!

Elise gets lots of love and kisses.

Pacey came too.   Elise loves to let him kiss her fingers.