A little scare

I took Preston in for his 4 year old well visit. The doctor informs me that Preston needed a booster shot. I say ok. They give me the handout to read about the shot and any side effects that I should watch out for.

Preston gets his shot and we are on our way. Well later that evening when we are home I started reading the literature they gave me about the Pneumococcal vaccine. So I get to the last page and it says something like "please notify your child's doctor if anyone in the household is undergoing chemotherapy, radiation and or taking steroids. Well hello, this is me. The Doctor knows I have breast cancer. My short hair cut and lack of eye brows is a physical reminder to anyone that I am going through this.

At this point it is after hours. I don't want to bother my oncologists after hours because I read a warning about a vaccine my 4 year old got. So I call tell-a-nurse. She tells me to contact my oncologist the next day. And if Preston should develop a fever I should keep my distance . Well thanks lady that was a lot of help. I am quite nervous about this. I call my mother. We discuss the different situations that could happen.

I send an email to my doctor's office. The next day I was in for chemo and one of the nurses told me as long as the vaccine was dead, and most of them are I was fine. It is the ones containing live viruses that I would need to stay away from for 2 weeks. Ok good to know.

I was relieved to know it wasn't anything to worry about.

Birthday Cake

About 2 years ago I took the Wilton Cake decorating class. The whole reason in taking this class was so that I could decorate birthday cakes. Cake decorating does not come easy for me. It is a slow and messy process. I was always the last one done at class too.


This last birthday experience I did 2 cakes. My Mom's birthday is a few days before Preston's. We were celebrating Preston's birthday at my mom's house. I decided to do a cake for my mom. She does so much for me.

I had the request from Preston a blue lightening mcqueen cake. My Mom wanted chocolate cake. That was her only request. I got to choose the decorating scheme.


Here comes confession time. Parker actually told my Lightening McQueen cake wasn't that good. I think baking 2 flavors of homemade cake and doing enough frosting for 2 cakes and all those colors was more than I was up to at the moment (you know considering I was going through chemo, get tired easily, my arm isn't what it used to be since they took out my lymph nodes). I wasn't pleased with my work. I got tired while doing it. And then to have my son critique my work, well it kind of got me down. At that point I thought to myself, I have just decorated my last cake. I now know why people pay money to have cakes decorated. And I have considered paying for my next cake.

This was 2 months ago. I have some time to think about that. At this point I am on the fence if I will decorate again.

Since Preston was turning 4 he was fine having his celebration at Grandma's house. He wanted Aunt Lisa to come, she was his first choice. Aunt Lisa lives in North Carolina and it is about a 9 hour drive 1 way. We had both sets of grandparents, great grandma Belva and great Aunt Diana in attendance. I asked him what he wanted to eat and he chose the menu for the day. We feasted on fish for our main course and several yummy side dishes (I don't remember everything we had that day), followed by cake and ice cream.

Preston is a laid back guy. He likes to sit on Mommy's lap. His favorite food is Campbell's tomato soup. Preston has a hearty appetite and will often be the last one eating and chomping down on his meal. His favorite show is Diego. He likes to wear his shoes on the wrong feet (sandles) and the straps one in an "X" and one straight. He also loves playing with his big brother Parker.

Sporting Events

Living in a college town gives you lot of opportunities to go to different sporting events. Many of these events are family friendly. We have tried taking our crew to enjoy a baseball game or a basketball game, but they just don't seem to want to sit and watch unless they are eating. And the food at these events is expensive. So I think we are taking a brake from taking them. Our money is better spent on a babysitter and then Jim and I can enjoy it.