Hi Everyone! We hope that you had a great week and enjoy this weekend!

I will start off with Paul's doctor's appointment this past Tuesday. He gained a couple more pounds and is pretty much at a healthy weight for him. He had to give a ton of blood since he is near his one year anniversary - I think he said something like 27 vials! He is participating in a study so I think a fair amount went to them. He was also supposed to get some vaccines and a 1 year bone marrow biopsy - but since he was waiting for a few hours they spared him. He will have to make another trip down in a week or so to get those done. This past week he has been working outside quite a bit. The weather has been perfect for that!

Vinnie is still hanging in there the best he can. He has been starting to experience nausea throughout each day. He can't even get the anti-nausea pill down. We need to go to the pharmacy today to try another prescription but in liquid form. The only step after that is a suppository but he has been staunchly refusing it! :P His jaundice had slowly been going away but seems to be returning. He was seriously as yellow as Homer Simpson! No joke. Hopefully it doesn't get that bad again because then he starts itching.

Alayna is loving school and all her little friends she has made. I think all they do is art projects there! Each day she comes home with several new masterpieces showcasing the letter of the day or whatnot. I have been debating moving her up to 3 days a week. I am sure she would love it.

Last night all us girls went uptown to Mont Vernon's Barn Dance. It is held in a barn (duh) on a farm that is owned by the town. I had never been before but my friend dragged me out so the kids could kick up their heels. Therefore I dragged my sister with me. :D Alayna learned the chicken dance and had fun people watching.

My parents will be arriving this Monday. We are all looking forward to seeing them again. It has only been a couple of months since we saw them last, but it sure feels longer than that. My mom is packing a cooler of frozen green chile and tamales! I really hope that airline doesn't lose that bag! Having my mom here will be a big help getting Alayna's birthday organized. With Vinnie being sick I have flip flopped back and forth on doing a party or not. So I have left myself little time but we are going to try and pull one together. The invitations will be going out next week! So mark your calendars for October 10th!

Talk soon!

I will never forget...

It doesn't really seem like it was 8 years ago that that terrible day happened. My memory isn't very good these days - but I certainly remember everything about that one. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been affected.

I would also like to wish my wonderful parents a Happy Anniversary! 44 years ago two crazy kids got married. I am so thankful they still are - and happily too!

This last week went by pretty quickly. Alayna has been doing well at preschool and we have the start of a major art collection. I think we have a miniature Van Gogh on our hands! And as you can tell from her chipper smile - she is pretty excited to head out in the mornings to see her friends and Mrs. Maureen.

Paul has an appointment coming up on Tuesday down in Boston. He will probably be getting more vaccines during this visit. Coming very soon will be September 27th - one year since Paul's transplant! That is an exciting milestone for sure!

Vinnie is still hanging in there - although he is getting awfully confused about things. He won't remember his diagnosis or tests he has had. He is forgetting peoples names and if someone was visiting him in the morning - by the afternoon he will forget that it happened. He is rapidly losing weight. At the most he might be getting in 300-400 calories per day. He gets nauseous sometimes , but mostly he just can't get it doen he says. He sticks with applesauce, ice cream, and jello. I have tried getting him to drink protein/calorie shakes but he just won't. I know this is part of his disease and the path he will follow - but it is still hard to see him so emaciated. Thankfully he still isn't experiencing much pain.

Alayna's best friend Annelina is having her 3rd birthday party next weekend and it is going to be a princess party. So I decided to try my hand at making a tutu for the occasion! I have been whipping up several of them with the tulle I had on hand. I am anxiously waiting my order of more tulle!

This week we have also seen a nice drop in the temperature. We are all loving the change of season's. Hope you all have a fantastic week!

And so it begins...

Like so many others before - our little girl had her first day of preschool on Tuesday morning. Alayna woke up bright and early in a very good mood. Her daddy made her a delicious pancake breakfast, and off she went. She is in the morning class with her BFF Annelina.

Paul and I went to pick her up and were so delighted to hear she had a great day and even painted a beautiful picture.

She is only gone two days a week for a total of six hours - we love having this newfound free time - but also miss her like crazy. The old adage is so true, they grow up way too fast!

Vinnie is still doing about the same. He tries to eat a couple of meals a day but he mostly sleeps. He seems to be in good spirits and has his dry sense of humor in tact. In addition to a hospice nurse visiting twice a week he also has a nurse aid that visits on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She washes his dishes, makes his bed, and was even able to get him in the shower on her last visit! Mostly she helps wherever she can to give us a little break. I am not sure what she gets paid, but it can't be enough! :P

Have a great rest of the week!

On this day...

As of August 25th it has been 3 mths since my last post. And in exactly one month from now - Paul will be celebrating one year since his transplant! So much was the same for so very long. Paul is continually doing great! Alayna is still getting bigger and smarter. And I always have my plate full of things going on.

Currently, it is overloaded with Vinnie. For those of you that know and those that don't know - Paul's dad was admitted into the hospital late last week with many severe symptoms. He underwent bloodtests, MRI's, CT scans, ultrasounds, and an endoscope down his throat and into his pancreas - bile duct area. The final tests will come back tomorrow (Tuesday) but the GI doctors and the Oncologist have told us at the very least Vinnie has Pancreatic Cancer. But it may also extend further into his gallbladder. He is currently at home having made the decision to not undergo any kind of treatment. We do have one more scheduled visit with the Oncologist this week to give him time to think about his decision. He is already very weak and unable to move around on his own. He has hospice care scheduled, but I will be his primary caregiver.

Please keep us in your prayers as I know that the road ahead is going to be long and arduous

The BIG unveiling!

First off I would like to send our love and a big congratulations to our friends Scott and Michelle down in Virginia. Early this morning they welcomed their baby girl, Crystal, into this world! Yay! :)

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Ok! Now on to my shop! Paul finally finished the tank enclosure on the coop and got it all painted so it matches. You can see it on the far right of the first picture.







Next is one of the only before shots I remembered to take.




And now!

Anita's workspace and display area is on the far wall. We have a middle table to share and then mine is closest. Paul built these tables for us! Thanks babe!

And my display area is on the right as you first walk in.

My current jewelry selection is pretty sparse. I better get making some more soon!

And finally all the wondeful windows where we get tons of light.

Just need to fill the propane tanks and we are ready to go!

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Tomorrow we head down to Boston for a checkup. Hopefully he has maintained or even gained more weight. I have been feeding him some delicious white chocolate covered strawberries. Yum!

wow!

Time flies! Apparently it has been about 6 weeks since my last update. Sorry!

Paul is fantastic. At his last visit he gained 5 pounds. He is the main chef around here now. He got an early Father's Day present and is using it to cook most of our dinners. He aspires to be a barbeque chef like Bobby Flay. :P As I speak he is outside working on more projects - currently a small enclosure attached to my glass studio to house the oxygen and propane tanks. But in the last week alone he has cut down a pretty big tree in the backyard, mowed the lawn twice, made several trips to Lowe's, and many other various things. And the last we heard... Staring in June we will only have to go to Boston once a month for Paul's checkups!

Alayna is starting to talk so much more. Her vocabulary seems like it is doubling all the time. Her favorite activites are digging in the dirt outside, coloring with sidewalk chalk, and going over to her cousin Eden's house to play. Very soon she will have 2 more cousins to play with. My parents will be here in about 3 weeks and will be bringing Thomas and Alissa along for the visit. We are all looking forward to that.





And I am finally getting the chance to just relax. I had been going like crazy preparing for my show in the Mont Vernon Spring Gala. The Mont Vernon Artisans hold a sale during that day every year and I was glad to be a part of it. Luckily, I was the top seller that day! I sold several of my wristlet keychains and 8 dolls! Yay! Here is a picture of my setup.

Alayna is down for her nap and when she wakes we plan on going to the Amherst Farmer's Market to score some produce for our dinner tonight! It is a beautiful, balmy 90 degrees here! Love it. Take care everyone!

Where to start...

Apparently it has been quite awhile since I have checked in on our blog and let you all know how we are doing.
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Paul is doing so great. His energy is returning more and more each day and there have been almost no issues to speak of. His appetite is really good too. At his last visit he was told he would be getting his central line (Hickman) removed during his next visit. He will have some anesthesia as his line is grafted in his body now. Just one more step on the road to recovery!

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Alayna is doing good and keeping busy with her activites. She loves the warm days that we have occasionally seen this Spring. It has been really rainy and windy the last week though.
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And I have been making a ton of dolls and jewelry.

I have finally perfected all the small details of my dolls so now I can just match up gorgeous fabrics and sew! I have been making necklaces, bracelets, and earrings with all the beads I have made during class. I even have Paul doing the wire wrapping for me on the hanging earrings. :P Here is my jewelry tree with some of my creations.

This pair of earrings is an example of Paul's handiwork. With the hoops I just place whatever I want on them and that's it. With the ear hooks, they come seperate from the actualy dangly part. I thread on the pieces onto a thin wire (headpin) and then Paul actually connects the two pieces together. He does a great job!!

The stone on this bracelet is one of my favorites. I call it my jolly rancher shape.

So if you have made it to the bottom of this post after all my pictures - thank you! I am sure I bored you, but I am so proud that I actually made this stuff. :)

great news!

Paul gained 4 pounds! It is weird because it didn't seem like he ate much, especially compared to the previous 2 week period when he gained nothing. He is also going to stop taking one of his medications that is supressing his immune system. This could be a critical time while we see if there are any reactions to his new marrow. With his immune system suppressed it couldn't fight the transplant even if it wanted to. So we will keep our fingers crossed that nothing happens.

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I made a new blonde doll and I experimented with some new design changes. I used appliques for the eyes and mouth instead of all handstitched and then machine sewed around them. I can get more consistent results this way. I also tried an arch stitch from my machine for the eyebrows - but the jury is still out on that. :P

I also made a cute tutu for one of the other dolls.

Bound to happen...

So after last weekend when I was all gung ho on the chicken coop/glass studio and all of the work I did on it that I wouldn't typically do... of course I didn't leave unscathed. The entire week I was fine until Friday. I was out running a couple of errands and all of a sudden it felt like something was in my eye and it was watering like crazy. About 20 mintues later I drove half way across town to my eye doctor and my eye was still watering and was hurting really bad. A couple of doctor visits later, with numbing drops, dilating my eye, flushing it, having to wear a protective eye bandage and 2 days of not being able to open my right eye - only to find out there were some very tiny insulation fibers stuck in my upper eye lid. My cornea was getting scratched and that is why it hurt so bad. Luckily it is about 90% percent better now. Still a little soreness and blurred vision - but it will heal. :P So no new pictures of that because I haven't been out there. Paul however, has wired the outdoor fixture, the junction box, and 4 outlets. Thanks babe! :)

I have a project coming up for the Mont Vernon Artisans that I will be incorporating a handmade doll. I had been wanting to try and make one for quite awhile so this gave me the little push that I needed. So far I have made 3 of them. The first one I won't even show you a picture of - that bad! But I was able to see where I needed improvements and changes. So these 2 little girls are the latest ones.

During my last glass class I started working with borosilicate glass. That is a much harder and slightly more difficult rod to work with as opposed to the soft glass I had done previously. But all the effort is so worth it! The colors turn out amazing. There are different reactions depending on how hot you fire it and where you place it in the flame. Here are just a couple...

I also made a set of earrings that turned out really nice. I will have to share those later. So if you couldn't tell - I've been busy! Tomorrow is hospital day. Have a great week everyone!

Moving forward...

So Paul took a big step yesterday and ventured out into the world! He was given the ok to go into one of his favorite stores - Lowe's. We needed to pick up some things for my glass studio and Paul couldn't wait to go there. Sorry the picture isn't the clearest, but it was taken with my phone.

And I also have a sort of before picture of the studio. In it's former life it was a chicken coop. A nice chicken coop! I didn't get a picture of it full of stuff but this is while Anita and I were working on it. We did a majority of the insulating with a little help from Paul and Anita's husband Dave.

At the end of the day we got a majority of the wood paneling up too. I even used the circular saw myself to cut several pieces! Look out Bob Vila! :P Next up will be finishing paneling and then painting!

I should be in bed...

But I can't sleep. So I will give you all the latest and greatest around our house.

Paul had his appointment in Boston this past week. His numbers are rising and he is doing well, although he didn't gain any weight. I thought for sure he would have been up a couple more pounds! He has been doing some physical activity so he might be burning off more too. With the weather warming up he is itching to be outside getting things done. And he is - just more slowly and with more breaks. :)

Alayna has been a busy little beaver. Every Thursday we have our kids Jamboree class at the Y. It is a child/parent class that we joined with Anita and Lina. She has been twice so far and is getting the hang of it. After our last class we also had an appointment to tour a local preschool, Little Einsteins. It seems early to be thinking about this but there are only 2 spots I would want her to be, Montessori or Little Einsteins. And of course they are coveted schools with limited openings and waiting lists. I put down a deposit to hold her place for Fall until I can tour the Montessori. Our little girl is growing up so fast! Makes me sad.

And I have been making beads like crazy! I don't have any pictures to post of them, unfortunately - my sister has been snatching them up as quick as I can make them. :P My instructor sent me a message saying she had seen my latest batch and they turned out awesome. I am really excited to see them this Tuesday. My class will be ending at the beginning of April so I am probably going to set up my own little studio here at the house. I will take pictures of that soon too.

We hope that you are all doing well and enjoy your (hopefully sunny) Sunday!

You're how old?!

Today is my babycakes birthday!

We woke up this morning to several inches of snow! After the gorgeous weekend we had and the majority of our snow melting, I was hoping it would all be over. No such luck. But I made waffles this morning for the birthday boy. And hopefully I can head out later to get him a calorie laden cake!

Full bellies...

Tonight for dinner I made a really delicious pasta bolognese and was so excited when Paul finished his whole plate! He also ate 2 breadsticks. This is the biggest meal he had had in months! And then for dessert he even had a little slice of strawberry cheesecake. :)
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Last night I was able to go to open studio at the arts center and make some more beads. I will get those when I go to class tomorrow night. But while I was there... I got most of my beads from last week! Have a looksy!




The bead above is the best one I did. You can't tell from this picture but it looks kind of like a marble. I used 3 glass rods - aqua, brown, and clear. It also turned out well in that it is symetrical - which is quite tricky for a beginner like me!


If the bead isn't turning out quite right you just get the smashers and make it flat! :P

These beads are ok - but I don't care for the coloring. I like it better mixed with clear which I figured out towards the end of the class. And the single black bead is too small to be a focal bead but would go good mixed on a bracelet.

This flat bead also looks better in person.

Wishful thinking...

Well, we are once again buried under snow and the temperatures have dropped. In hopes of Spring soon arriving I changed the wallpaper of our blog. Think warm!

Lots of firsts...

Yesterday was a really busy day for us.

We had a couple early morning appointments at our house for different things and then at 11:30 was Alayna's first class at My Gym. It is similar to a Gymboree class. It is a classroom enviroment but an active one. The first 5 minutes were free time and the kids got to run around and check everything out. Then it was circle time and that is where things got rough. It was already Alayna's nap time so when I tried taking her away from the equipment and with everyone else - she wasn't having it. She had a mini meltdown so we stepped outside for a bit. Then we tried going in again and I knew it wasn't going to work. So next week we are going to try an early morning class and see if that works better for us.

I am also looking into Pre School's for her in the Fall. Since she stays home with me I am trying to get her socialized and introduce her to different situations. She is very outgoing and plays great with other kids - she just doesn't listen to the teachers in the ballet class we went to or during circle time. I am sure some of it is her age but also that she hasn't done anything like that before.

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And last night was my first class of bead making with my friend Anita! I was really excited to go! Anita had already taken the classes at this arts center last year and she does great work - she even sells her beautiful beads! I don't consider myself very artsy - but I sure had fun! These are all the rods of soft class that we worked with.

There are 8 people in the class of all levels. You work in front of a propane torch and heat up your mandrel and glass rod until it melts. Then you twirl the glass on the mandrel and *try* to make a bead. You can make all sorts of shapes and use tools to help manipulate the glass. It definately takes practice.

And here is the lovely bracelet I made last night.

Just kidding. All of those beads were made by the instructor, Marta. :P but I can't wait to see how mine turned out next week. They get dried in the kiln overnight and when I go back I get to see them! Stay tuned...