Kate Stowell

Amazingly Daniel slept until 7am this morning and Ethan slept until 7:30am. Unbelievable, although it does make me wonder if he is getting sick. When Todd was getting him dressed this morning he told him, “Daddy, I want to go out to eat!”. So of course we couldn’t disappoint him, and tonight Todd and I picked he and Daniel up and took them out to Oro Pomodoro at Rockville Town Square. Both boys were surprisingly good and we had a fun time watching the tree lighting ceremony tonight. They also had a Santa, Frosty, Rudolph, and Christmas tree walking around, horse and carriage rides, and free goodies like hot cider and donuts.

The last two days I have been taking Annie to the King Farm dog park. She’s a puppy and the new dog in town so she ends up on her back a lot to submit to the older bigger dogs. However she does have a great time and she plays very hard. When she comes home she’s exhausted and tends to be a much better dog. I also worked with her on training today and so far we have “sit”, “stay”, and “come”. “Down” and “no jump” are works in progress.

I’m working nights for a few weeks starting tomorrow. Not too excited about it, but it does have it’s advantages. It will make it a lot easier to share a car. However I will definitely miss my boys and be pretty tired!

Here is the group picture from our big family picture adventure at Sears.

I haven’t posted in awhile because it’s been quite busy with settling in our new dog Annie and the holiday season.

Annie is doing great! She had a few pee accidents in the first few days but I can now confidently say she is housebroken. She knows “sit” and “come” now and is working on “down” and “stay”. I’m able to walk her off leash now at the park near our house and she was spayed last week. In another week or two she should be healed enough to take to the dog park and go on play dates with my friends dogs.

My parents got here last Saturday and the boys had a great time with them. Ethan was very excited about it and Daniel was just his usual happy self.

Eric and Jillian got here on Wednesday. We had Thanksgiving here, and Friday we did group pictures at Sears with the two them, my mom and dad, Todd’s parents, Tom, Todd, the boys and I. I will post pictures once they are available. Some of them came out quite well! After the family photos my parents took the boys home and Eric, Jillian, Todd and I went shopping and out to McCormick and Schmick’s for lunch. After the shopping and before the lunch we stopped at the nail salon so I could get a pedicure and Jillian could get a manicure. Eric got in on the action too with a pedicure:

Everyone went home today which is sad. I have tomorrow off and then it is back to work on Monday. Have a great Holiday weekend!

The parents are safely here and Ethan is thrilled! We practiced saying “I love you Grandma, I love you Grandpa, I missed you!” in the car but he got a little shy once they actually got into the car. He was grinning ear to ear though :).

Annie is settling in well. She was spayed on Friday and did well in surgery.

Daniel is Daniel. A sweet happy baby.

Have a good rest of your weekend!

I’ll post more tomorrow but the trip to NCY was a total success, and we are indeed adopting the dog. Todd and Ethan went to Petco today and got all the things we need to get started. We could have picked her up today but since we didn’t get back from the trip until 1:30 and we had our home interview at 2 we  just weren’t ready.

Pictures to follow :)

No, I am not pregnant and neither is Jillian :). But we are considering adopting a dog….after going to the shelter weekly for a couple of months we met a really nice black lab. Her name is “Dog #210″. Great, right? She was a stray and was brought in on November 7th. Basically the process is for strays they place a six day hold to make sure no one claims her and then they begin to interview potential adopters. We are currently #1 on the list to be called. We should hear from them sometime this weekend to set up the interview.

Leslie was in town this week and we hung out on Monday. I keep trying to convince her she needs to move to Washington DC. Maybe someday she will ;).

Other than that I am working tomorrow and Thursday, Friday I’m teaching a STABLE class in the afternoon and then we are off to NYC! Todd’s company is putting us up in a family friendly hotel and we will drive. Could be quite the adventure with the two boys.

I’m off to the gym to lift weights for 1/2 an hour and then off to bed. Have a great night!

1) Eric is back in the US. Not just NOT in Afghanistan, but actually IN the United States! He and Jillian are together at Fort Riley and will be returning to Georgia at some undetermined point in the near future.

2) Tiffany’s cancer is responding to the treatment! He bone marrow is clear again :) This is such fantastic news. Please drop by and leave her positive comments if you get a chance!

I got a message this morning from Eric that he is leaving Kyrgyzstan this morning and headed to Shannon, Ireland. From there he will fly to Fort Riley, Kansas. Basically he should be back on US soil in less than 24 hours! We’re so happy he will be home safe. It’s been a long year and all of us have missed him. He will be coming back with a bronze star for valor.

Today Todd and I took some time to go out to breakfast at First Watch and read the paper. It was by far the most lesirurely breakfast either of us have had in quite awhile. We also checked out Home Depot to try and price out what it will cost to renovate our upstairs bathroom. Todd is going to do it himself when I take the boys out to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Things in our favor are Todd is very handy, the bathroom is very tiny, and we can reuse our tub and just have it reglazed. I will definitely post pictures when it is finished!

So speaking of the boys and our vacation we will be flying out to Seattle on January 5th and returning on January 12th. I’m going it alone and on Southwest. This could be quite an adventure…mommy might need a bottle of wine by the time we get there. Hopefully they’ll both be good!

I bought myself three beautiful “worry” stones from One World Goods years ago when I was still living in Rochester and undergoing treatment for lymphoma. All three are gray river rocks and one says peace, one says hope, and one says strength.

Right now they are sitting on my desk next to my computer. The “Strength” rock reminds me that I stronger than my cancer, the “Peace” rock reminds me to let all my small worries go, and the “Hope” rock that it is never too late to hope for a long and healthy life with my family.

I am so grateful for everything that I have.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. I know we did. Here’s a picture of our family right before Trick or Treating.

Daniel wasn’t fussy at all and Ethan did pretty well even though he was terminally shy. He would walk up to the doors with his Uncle and I, not say a word, but as soon as the door would shut then he would say “Happy Halloween, Trick or Treat, thank you!”.

Tomorrow starts my low iodine diet. I couldn’t be any less excited. Basically everything normal people like to eat is off limits for the next 2-3 weeks in the hope of getting my iodine level down. Ah well. If it means I can finally get my iodine treatment done I am all for it.

Have a great start to your November!

Ethan got one….hopefully tomorrow Todd can take Daniel to get his. And then Daniel has to go back for his second seasonal flu, and then BOTH kids have to go back to repeat the H1N1. And hopefully at some point Todd and I can get the H1N1 vaccine. That’s a lot of flu shots!

Anyone currently going through cancer treatments or has a friend who does…I just found out about this service from an organization called Cleaning For A Reason that provides free house cleanings to cancer patients. I haven’t used it, but I think it is worth checking out. Apparently the company that cleans our house participates. Here is the link if you are interested: Cleaning For A Reason . I just think it’s a great idea. When you are worn out from fighting a deadly disease the last thing you have energey for is scrubbing a toilet…besides, you should be spending time with your family!