Happy Day!

Amanda just turned nine! Wow. She made it! When she was originally diagnosed with Leukemia and hospitalized one of the first things she demanded was no hospitals and no blood draws on her birthday. Mission accomplished! At one moment on her birthday I looked at her smiling and realized how many times she's been sad this past year. It was so rewarding to see her enjoy something she has looked forward to so much.

A fun birthday play-date with cousins

Perhaps mom is more happy than Amanda to celebrate such an important milestone.

Yes, she was spoiled. She deserved to be.


As our family gradually enters back in to society among an exceptionally bad cold/flu year, we have been dealing with our fair share of bugs. Amanda is doing an exceptional job with her new sanitation skills. She reminds us to Clorox items and knows when and where to avoid germs. I am so proud of her and what she has adapted to. She no longer complains about wearing masks like she used to. Unfortunately she has not gone unscathed. I can tell when she's fighting something. She gets really pale, lethargic, and her head aches. She's doing a wonderful job at communicating to me her physical limitations and fortunately she's avoided any real nasty bugs for several weeks now. Her weekend chemo dosing still remains tough on her little body and school usually wipes her out. But she is happier. Her birthday greatly added to her health and happiness. Happy age nine Amanda!!!!