More pictures!

Big yawn after a long day at Sesame Place! Joli's on a park bench with her little buddy, Dylan!

Despite having packed tons of nutritious snacks like carrot sticks with hummus, sandwiches, water and juices -- everyone still wanted McDonalds....

"MOM! Look!! It's ELMO!!!"

Family picture with Cookie Monster! Oh great... where's Jada???

Toddler friendly water slides with Cousin Mia!

Yay! Junk food!!

Mia, Joli, Jada and Jorge hangin' with Ernie and Bert!

It takes a real man to ride the Elmo Flyin' Fish ride! Joli loved this ride....

Sesame Place -- woo hoo!!
Just arrived home from Sesame Place after a painful 7 hour car ride there, and an 8 hour car ride home! But, thankfully, the kids were amazing in the car! We had SO much fun this year -- we were joined by Mia, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Jon, Tita Ligaya, Mia H., Dylan and Melissa (oh, and JADA!). I just checked last year's blog, and Joli was only 34 inches... this year, she popped into Sesame Place at a whopping 39 inches ( 40" if you count her afro!):


Alright, it's going to be impossible to post all these pictures and tell all the stories, so here are my highlights of the busiest trip ever!:

First of all, you all probably realize that it's Joli's ONE YEAR anniversary of being cancer free (cancer diagnosed? I have no idea how to really phrase this.). We met up with our friends Matt, Melinda, Ellie and James -- a very dear family to us who happens to have had a similarly challenging year. Their little guy, James, was diagnosed with cancer around the same time as Joli. He had a few surgeries, did the whole chemo thing, had a port, etc. etc.. So, where are the pictures of James - aka, "sick cancer boy"?? Well, that little fella recovered so well, he ran circles around everyone!! He moved way too fast for me to even take a picture of him!!! Anyways, if you saw him, you wouldn't even realize he had the type of year he had. GO, JOLI AND JAMES!! James is coming up on his 1 year, too. The two of you are amazing!!

We basically hung out at the park for a day and a half. Jada rocked -- she was all about hanging out in her stroller and watching her friends and cousins run around the park and splash all the adults!

Jada loved the parade!

Joli hates taking a shower, yet she loved this "watering can" area!

* for some reason, blogger won't let me post more pictures... so you'll have to enjoy these for now!

HAS IT REALLY BEEN A YEAR????

Tomorrow marks the 1 year anniversary when Joli was diagnosed with cancer. And, while, of course, there is so much to be thankful for, it's hard not to feel a sense of sadness. So, we're outta here! We're going to go have some fun for a few days to take our minds off of it. It's just amazing to think about our journey this year -- it seems so long ago yet just seems like yesterday when we were at Mass Eye and Ear. Has she really been without an eye for a year now? It seems so far away, yet when I think about hearing the news from the doctor for the first time, all those raw emotions come flooding up from my gut to my throat to my watering eyes.

Now that we're facing a similar journey with Mari, I want to give a huge shout out to all the people we know -- and the many that we don't know -- who helped us this year with emotional, parental, spiritual, and financial support. I can't imagine having to go through this year without our family and friends and even strangers helping us. As a family, we always donated to "fundraisers" and such, and we even sponsor 2 young girls over in Africa, and I never really thought about how that help impacted those people. Well, it does.

Donating money to organizations means so much more to me now. And, when I don't have the money, I try to donate my time. From the receiving end, I know how much each dollar, each penny, helps a family in need. So, please, if you're faced with information that a family needs help, please help them. Please try to donate a dollar (ideally more!) or services or something! It makes a difference... it made a difference to us.

So, more pictures when we return! Thank you for all your love and support this year!

JOLI AT THE BEACH!

We miss Joli terribly, but she's having a grand old time Grammy, Pops, and Uncle Ped!
Enjoy, Joli! (thanks to Pops for sending us these pics so quickly!) We can't wait to hear all about your adventures!

Hangin' with Jada!

We're doing well here. I went back to work and felt very teary leaving my gals! Although, once I got to work, I realized how MUCH there was to do, and before I knew it, I had worked through lunch and it was 3:45pm!

Here are some great pics of Jada recently! Joli is loving hanging out with her cousins, but she needed some quality NY time, so she's getting spoiled over there. It's been so much fun with all the cousins and seeing how everyone is changing so much!

Please keep Mari in your prayers as she heads in to chemo... yet AGAIN.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARTY!
We've been having tons of fun these past few days celebrating birthdays! It started with lots of presents being delivered for Joli (and Jada!)

Then, Jada surprised us all by discovering that her hands were actually tools -- she started grabbing the toys on her swing! Now.. she's trying to grab her feet.


The cute thing is that now she actually sucks her thumb! How cute!


Joli picked out her special "party dress" which happened to be 3 sizes too big, but we let her wear it anyways:


The kids had lots of birthday cake (again)

And even Superman delivered the cake to the girls!! What a surprise!!

We had so much fun! Thanks for coming to the party, everyone!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOLI!

It's official -- she's 3 years old! Joli had a great birthday! She started out the day with a suprise of balloons and gifts at her bedroom door.

Then, Mia, Uncle Jon, Gavin and Tita Mari came over for lunch. By the time Uncle Paul arrived, Joli was exhausted; however, she didn't want to be away from him, so she decided drag her bean bag into the livingroom to be closer to him and take a nap!

We then went to Lola and Lolo's house where one of Joli's gifts was a "video karaoke". The kids went wild (and the adults did some cameos, too!).

Then, it was time for cupcakes.

The kids had a great time... especially Gavin.
Let's see... year in review? Since her last birthday, we moved to our new house, went on a great vacation to Sesame Place... oh, got diagnosed with cancer... had eye removed... began 6 month course of chemotherapy.... could pronounce words like "stethoscope", "Heparin", "chemo", "Boston", "traffic", "blood pressure", "flush my tubes", ... met baby Gavin and baby Lillian ... had lots of friends and family support us with a hugely successful fundraiser... had more MRIs/Bone Marrow Punctures/Exams Under Anesthesia than most people undergo in a lifetime... got a "special eye".... received even more love and support during Christmas from total strangers... learned how to write my name! ... learned how to use the POTTY... became a BIG SISTER!! ... went to a wedding... and TURNED 3 YEARS OLD!! Hurray!! yea, it's been a good year! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOLI!!!

I'M ALLLLMOST THREE YEARS OLD!

Just a few more hours until Joli turns 3 years old! She spent her last 2-year old hours on the couch, eating popcorn, and watching Calliou. It was the episode where the power went out, which was appropriate because our power had just gone out! Wow -- remember when Tigger was BIGGER than Joli????

Joli has been lovin' that her cousins are around. Here they are at the park --Uncle Jon and Dad are being super-manly and pushing all the kiddies on the swings while Mari, Jenny and I sat and drank slushies.

Here are the girls practicing for their "monthly" photo shoots:

Jada is so happy to be Joli's little sista (Jada.. by the way.. has officially outgrown all of her 0-3 month clothing ALREADY!)!:

Fun with the Cousins!
We're so excited to finally have the cousins around! check out some of these great pictures from their rather trouble making adventures!

Gavin LOVES to snuggle Jada and sneak kisses to her. We're teaching how to be g-e-n-t-l-e, though (he smacked her in the face the other day...!)

"Get me out of this playroom! I want to see the world!!"

Joli and Mia are doing a pretty good job figuring out how to be playmates. They've spent so long being the center of attention on the different coasts, so it's a learning process! They're doing well so far as they learn about what makes the other one annoyed, etc. They're pretty smart -- they figure out really quickly what gets attention from parents and everyone. It's definately nice to have the two of them together!

There are also some great pictures of the first time to the zoo as a traveling bunch!

GOOD EUA and my "MILLION DOLLAR JOLI"

Joli had her exam under anesthesia (EUA) today, and all is well. No tumors have developed. Dr. Mukai thinks we can do the next exam just in his office next time rather than under anesthesia (we'll see....it might be tough!). Jorge wasn't able to come with me, so thankfully, Grace joined me and got to see the "joy" of these visits (extreme sarcasm there, thank you). Joli absolutely did not let them put her eye drops in. She was screaming bloody murder -- which seemed to be her favorite thing today. I mean, this child was SHRIEKING! She was screaming like I've never heard before -- so much that I didn't even really recognize her voice when she was screaming in recovery. I kept asking Grace, "Is that Joli? Does that sound like Joli?? It can't be...." Oh, yeah. It was JOLI.

MILLION DOLLAR JOLI: While Joli was in recovery, she used all of her boxing skills that Jorge has been teaching her. Yup, I said it. Boxing... maybe more like kick-boxing. She kicked one of the nurses square in the stomach, and then she punched one of the other nurses. Yeah. No joke. She was flailing so bad that they had to pad her stretcher and restrain her. She wanted no part of this. She was s-c-r-e-eeeeming for a good 45 minutes. The tough part is that there are other kids trying to come out of anesthesia, too, and there is truly nothing you can do to ease the pain. Joli is also dilated, so she's basically "blind" and waking up in a horrible way. Definately can't blame her. I guess I also can't blame her for vomiting down my shirt during her fit of rage.

Finally, after a good 45 minutes, she "sort of" calmed down - enough for Grace and me to get her into the elevator without someone thinking they should call child protective services or something. She eventually fell sleep as I was carrying all 36 pounds of her down the streets of Boston to get to our car.

JoJo seems fine now. She's still a little unstable, but she's in a much better mood.

When she was getting gassed, the anesthesia team decided to sing "Happy Birthday" to her since her birthday is next week. As a child psych major, I'm guessing this was either a good thing to do (she seemed to calm down a little when we were singing to her) or the most rotten thing ever (will she associate "Happy Birthday" with a horrible memory??). We'll find out next week, I guess!

Jada news: Yup, her first fever. That poor little fella was hot as a potato last night, and she got her first dose of Tylenol ever.

Oh, Jada!

Jada officially weighs in at 13 1/2 lbs and is 24 inches long (which is just 1 foot shorter than Joli). She had 3 little shots today and didn't cry much. You go girl!

MAKING SCRAMBLED EGGS FOR THE FIRST TIME
Okay, so we're late with the "17th" pictures for June. Here is Joli with her famous Tigger. We figured we'd now just show her holding it since Tigger is about the size of her head now! (remember when Tigger was BIGGER than her entire body??).

Joli made eggs for the first time today! She cracked the eggs (with only a little bit of help), moved the butter around the pan with a spatula (and with very, very, very close supervision near the warm stove), poured the eggs, and moved the eggs slowly around the pan for the most perfect and delicious scrambled eggs ever! She was also great with directions like "don't touch the pan" and "not too close to the stove." Great listener! After all the cooking was done, Joli actually ate all of her eggs, too!

Way to go!

WE'RE BACK!
We had a great time at Aunt Kirsten and Uncle Paul's wedding. Kirsten was a beautiful bride, and Paulie was a handsome groom! The girls loved being "princesses" and did a great job walking down the aisle.

Jada took her first plane ride, and she didn't fuss or cry at all! Joli has been on a plane a few times, but this time she was old enough to really be fascinated with take off and landing. We did lots of swimming and playing. It was great meeting all of Kirsten's family!

We're now a complete family with all the cousins, brothers, sisters, and significant others here on the East Coast (JP counts as a commuting spouse, right??). The girls are getting used to having lots of playmates around, too. Poor Jada -- as the littlest one, she got picked on by the big cousins as the recipient of all of their fake lizards and frogs!!

Even Gavin got in on the action!

All in all, we had such a fun time on vacation! Jada has really started to "talk" these days, and she seems to recognize people. She LOVES Gavin! Whenever I say, "let's go see Gavie", Jada smiles! Joli is doing a fantastic job being a big cousin and big sister to all the little ones!

IT'S OFFICIAL -- UNCLE PEDRO GRADUATED!
Not only did Pedro graduate from high school, but he also earned his Associates Degree while in high school AND he was the Class Speaker! Woah! Jorge just got home (really late) but he managed to tell me that Pedro did an great job, that it was the best graduation he had ever been to, and that lots of girls (lots and lots and lots of girls) kept wanting to take their picture with Pedro....! Wait... is that a SMILE I see in this picture??? Has Pedro truly turned over a new leaf??

Congratulations, Pedro! The girls and I are all so proud of you! Sorry we missed it... but I'm sure your brother will tell us lots of (exaggerated) stories about your big day!

Great pic!
Hi, everyone! We're doing well. We're still waiting for the results from Joli's MRI, but we figure "no news is good news." Jada is doing awesome and sleeping through the night. Hurray!
Joli is really testing the boundaries these days. Funny story: the other day, she was playing with Tita Grace when she asked if she could have a "vanilla shake" (aka Pediasure). Grace said, "You have to ask your Mom." So, Joli ran up to me, asked me, and I said, "No, Joli." But, before I could get the "li" in "Joli", she turned around and yelled to Grace, "MOM SAID 'YES!!'"

Uh.... great.

Good times...
Joli is asleep right now recovering from her MRI. It was cool - this time, Jorge got to go into the room with her. Rather than put a gas mask on her, they gave her an IV sedative that went through her port. So, there were no tears and no fighting the mask (which she hates!). She just got her port accessed and "went for a nap." The doc said it'll take a few hours to wear off, so she's sleeping while Jada and I hang out in this 97 degree heat....

This past week has been fun as Joli and Jada have spent quality time with cousin Gavin. We all went to Boston to hang out in the commons while Mari still had energy to go out (and JP was here to see Boston in the sun rather than in 4 feet of snow!). We miss you, Uncle JP!

Here are Jada's (almost) 2 month photos! Joli's will be soon to follow!

SMILE!
Hi, everyone! Sorry it's been a while since we've posted pictures. The girls and I have been spending time at my parents' house helping out with Mari as she just had her first round of treatment. We do have great pictures of Gavie and the girls swimming, so I'll post those as soon as I get home.

Jada has found her smile! Hurray! She started flashing her toothless grin 2 days ago... on her 2 month birthday. She also has found her little hand and likes to chomp on it. So cute -- when she sleeps, she likes to grab her left ear. So strange, but it's absolutely adorable!

Joli is adjusting to having cousin Gavin in Lola's house. He likes to climb on her, and he cries whenever she leaves the room. Joli's a great babysitter for Gavie - and she also talks to Tita Mari about getting a 'little shot.' Joli has an MRI coming up, so please keep her in your prayers.

Stay cool!

DEDICATION IN NY
Hi, everyone! We're back from NY. Happy birthday to Jorge! :) Jada Grace was dedicated on Sunday and we were surrounded by lots of family. Jada enjoyed her first long car ride, and both girls did awesome! Jorge and I kept saying how fortunate we are to have good "car kids".

Thanks to everyone praying for my sister Mari and her family. Mari, JP and Gavin arrived yesterday. Please keep their family in your prayers.

SCOOPERBOWL!
ahh.. the joy of ice cream!
The Scooperbowl was a perfect day, and Joli, Grace, Jada and I had a blast (and a subsequent belly ache!). Jada is sleeping really well at night and only gets up around 1am and 4am (and then up for good around 7am). We call her "Miss Serious" as she has yet to really crack a smile!

just for fun!
Here's a sweet picture of Jorge and the gals after a long day! We all went to a birthday party and came home totally exhausted! Jada is growing bigger each day. She's about 10 pounds and a totally solid little girl. Joli is super helpful as a big sister. As you can see in the pics, Joli's hair is growing back so fast! We can wait to start putting her hair back in "puffs" again!