Happy Halloween!

Of course, we had a great fun time! The girls had THREE trick-or-treating events: 1) at Tufts on Saturday, 2) at Stonehill on Tuesday, and 3) in our neighborhood on Wednesday! Jada was a dragon, Joli was Tinkerbell, and Mia was Snow White.

Even Tita Elma dressed up! She was Nanny McPhee!
These are kids of coworkers! The girls loved hanging out with their new friends on the college campus!
Getting ready to go around the neighborhood!

From the day they were each born, I've been taking a picture of the girls every single month with the same Tigger and Grover dolls. I haven't posted them in a while, so here are the latest. Joli is 51 months and Jada is 18 months! Enjoy!

Joli at 18 months (Jada's current age), January 2005
Jada at 6 months (taken 1 year ago today) ... gosh, that baby was white!


Joli at 51 months, taken October 2007Jada at 18 months, October 2007
Joli (51 months) and Jada (18 months) with matching PJ's

Jada is home from her exam under anesthesia (EUA)

Jada did awesome at her exam today. We woke up at 5:00am and were at the hospital by 6:45am. Unfortunately we weren't seen until almost 9:30am (imagine, a waiting room packed with kids who are starving and parents who haven't had coffee yet.... not a pretty sight). Even more unfortunate, I think that the doctor was running late because the family before us got some bad news. Usually, if the exam takes long, it's not a good thing. And, it turned out to be just that. So, our thoughts and prayers go out to that family.

We also met another Rb family who lives in Ecuador. They come to Boston to get treatment. Yes, Ecuador. The little boy was diagnosed in Ecuador, flies here almost every 3 months for treatment by Dr. Mukai. The family barely speaks English and they are staying at a charity house (see, your donation dollars DO really help!). They have no family here, and they had to leave 2 of their other children behind. Their appointment was after ours, so I hope they are receiving some good news.

We are reminded how Blessed we are to live in this area and to have support from family, friends, and the best medical community. It's always a very humbling experience when we go to the hospital. Sometimes we are the "worst" story in the room - most times we are not.

Jada did really well, despite not having eaten in over 17 hours. She came out of anesthesia like a pro! Basically sat up, drank some apple juice, and got into her stroller while waving to the nursing staff. So, we're home and she's sleeping off the remainder of the anesthesia.

Just before she fell asleep, she talked to Tita Mari and Gavin. Here is a cute video of Jada talking to Tita Mari.

We are back from CA! Joli is awesome!
I hear that Jada and Jorge had a great time this weekend at home! But, Joli and I had the camera, so here are our nice pictures from California at Nicole and Joe's wedding. It was so fun going with Joli at this age because she is really independent.... no strollers, no gigantic bags of diapers and snacks, etc. Although we missed Jada and Jorge terribly, it was nice to have some girl time! Enjoy!

Miss Joli in her fancy dress (that she picked out herself!)

Getting her nails done with Tita Mari

Miss Joli getting her first pedicure


Joli with her champagne glass of apple cider with a raspberry

Tearing up the dance floor with Lolo Sonny and Lola.... Joli danced all afternoon!
Not only were there TWO types of wedding cakes, but there was also a chocolate dipped strawberry station!! Oh, and Joli made that necklace for the wedding...!
Miss Fancy girl picked out her outfit (thanks to Target) of this adorable black dress and super sparkly silver shoes.


This is Joli's version of "The Robot" - she rocked it!!


A little hard to see, but this is Joli and Gavin dancing at the wedding

Joli got her FIRST MANICURE AND PEDICURE....

For the record, my first manicure/pedicure was when I was getting married at age 25.....

Joli enjoyed a luxurious manicure and pedicure, complete with the fancy flowers NOT just on her toes but also on her thumbs.

Liza's Test Have Been Fine
Thanks to everyone who has been supportive with all the tests I have to go through. So far so good - no cancer cells anywhere. So, it's been good to start building my chart and meeting the doctors.
We still have 2 Jada appointments next week and then 2 Joli appointments the following weeks.

Pictures from California to follow!

Just some weekend fun!


Uncle Lons and Tita Grace brought Joli and Gavie to this animal sanctuary. I'm told that Joli LOVED this cat.

Typical morning at Lola's House -- Jada, Jo and Gavie watching some Sesame Street! (Mia is M.I.A. in this picture ... oh, so clever!)

A year ago this month....

Joli had her port-a-cath removed. It seemed like forever ago when she had that port. Even in this picture, she look so small! We waited a full 8 months until after she finished chemotherapy to have her button removed in the event that she needed any additional treatment. I think, at last count, Joli's port had been accessed over 150 times over 14 months -- between chemotherapy, flushing the tubes, blood draws, anesthesia, etc. We went through boxes of band-aids, tubes of .. gosh... I think I actually forgot the name of the "numbing cream." It's amazing how easily I used to be able to rattle off the names of each and every single medication and now, I can barely remember the name of a cream we used over a hundred times.... oh, gosh, seriously, I actually can't remember the name.... weird.

Finish 1 appointment ... get 2 more

So, I promised I would write about this flurry of appointments that I now have as a pre-cancer patient. The MRI experience was fine, thanks to my sister Mari who refused to just let me sulk. She took the ride into Boston with me, hung out and made me laugh in the waiting room, ate some awesome Vietnamese food, and then we went to see Grace read at Grub Street. The only thing that was hard was the actual dye they injected into me that made me want to barf.

Soon after the MRI, I had to then see another doctor in Boston. Because I was there a little early, I decided to stop down to see Joli's oncologist and ask if she needed any follow up appointments. "Yes, in fact, she's scheduled for an MRI on a Wednesday and then needs to come back to the oncologist the following Tuesday! I was going to call you today! " Great. I scribbled those into my appointment book.

I then went to my appointment with the gynecological oncologist. I have to admit, in all these doctors appointments, I actually didn't even know what kind of doctor I was going to until I got there. So, after an insanely long wait, a physically uncomfortable exam, more vials of blood drawn, I went to the counter to check out. And, yes, I was scheduled for 2 more appointments and scribbled those into my appointment book.

I left the parking garage crying and thinking, "These doctor's appointments are like a full time job!" Driving out of the garage also brought up feelings of having to bring Joli there so often - and then knowing I have to bring Jada there in 2 weeks for an EUA, and then bring Joli there TWICE in 1 week in November.

For me, I know this whole flurry of appointments means that a) I may never have to have chemotherapy if we catch the cancer early, and b) that it will only happen every 6 months like this. The good news is that the doctor seems to think my risk of ovarian cancer is not 30% as a BRCA1 person, but more like 15% because of a few key factors: 1) I had children before 35, 2) I breastfed both kids, 3) I only ovulate a few times a year. My risk of breast cancer is still at about 80%.

The other good news is that I'm reading an awesome book called "Free Food for Millionaires" which has kept me very occupied in those waiting rooms. I highly recommend it!

So, more blogging after my next appointments. Like Mari says "It's better than chemo."Oh, and I'll post pics of the kids with Gavie soon, too.

Joli News:
Joli started her new school this week and LOVES it! I can't get her to leave in the afternoon because she just loves her new friends, her new fun, and her new teachers! (and so do I!). I'll take some pictures later of her at her new school!

LOTS OF FUN WITH COUSINS
We're having so much fun with Cousin Gavin visiting us on the east coast! We went to the Harvest Fair, rode ponies, danced, and played outside.

Stay tuned for more adventures!

My MRI is today
Inspired by Grace, I'm also posting on Breast Cancer Awareness month. Not sure if I posted (to those reading the non-Joli-and-Jada posts), I was tested for BRCA1 (breast cancer gene) in August and was positive. That means, I have an 80% chance of developing breast cancer. And, since many of my female cousins, aunts, and even my sisters were either cancer or pre-cancer survivors, I'm no fool to my odds.

Today starts the massive amounts of tests. I'll pretty much be in Boston every single week for the next month or so, between my own tests, Jada's EUA's, etc. Fantastic....

I'm not nervous about being BRCA1 positive. I figure, you deal with the cards you have - and our family has been good about that (by no choice of our own, of course). So, now begins my journey of building a chart with the Boston hospitals and, hopefully, catching any cancer cells before they truly turn into something bad. As a BRCA1 positive person, I also have a much higher risk for Ovarian cancer, too. So, I'll be monitored for that as well.

I guess I'm a little nervous today because this test is what found Grace's pre-cancer cells (I know there is a more scientific name for this, but "pre-cancer" works for me). Grace emerged from the next 2 tests with massive bruising and a lot of pain - two things I am NOT a fan of in my life. So, not nervous about the tests, but nervous about what they could find. Grace has decided to have a double mastectomy in a few weeks. I'm not quite there yet. But, who knows what the tests will determine for me.

Now that I'm "out", I'm sure I'll be writing more about this... in between stories of the girls pooping the tub -- which happened yesterday (thanks, Jada!) -- and going to school!!

Peace.

Jada Speaks

Kind of out of nowhere, Jada just started speaking in sentences. It's kind of weird. Here are the sentences she says:
"Mommy, I want some milk."
"Where is my Lolo?"
"Elmo go car seat, Mommy."
"That is Vega."
"There is Joli/Mommy/Daddy/Elma/Gordon/ Lolo/ Lola/car/Elmo."
"Gordon, down!"
"Mommy, night night."
"I want apple, please."
"Bye, Jo. Bye, Jo."
"Where's Daddy? Daddy at work."
"Jo is there."
"Jada, sit down."
"Gordon, no no."
"I want that."

Hmmm... I think there are more. It's so odd... just all of a sudden speaking in sentences! Yay, Jada!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOLO!

Happy birthday, from your favorite granddaughters! We love you, Lolo!