Making Time Stand Still

Well I definitely was not in my happy place with my last post.  I needed a couple of days, a week even to get out of my slump.... 
Thankfully for all, the slump is gone and this post will have a much happier tone.

Alexa has a couple more days as a 6 year old.  Her 7th birthday is this Saturday.  And we have quite a busy couple of days ahead of us.  As of today, regular dance classes have ended for the year! (Hooray! Oops--did I say that out loud?)  All that is left is one rehearsal and then this weekend she will be performing in 3 shows!!  Somehow, we will fit in some birthday celebrations in there. 

It is crazy to think that in a couple of days I will be the mother of a 7 year old.  Where did the time go?  How did it go by so fast?  In the blink of an eye, my baby is not a baby, she is not a toddler, and she is not a preschooler, she is a beautiful little girl!  And growing into such a wonderfully loving child!

Just in case I needed reminding of how big my girl is getting, today we received our dance pictures that we took a couple weeks ago...

I wish I could have time stay still... just a bit. 

Time is flying by and I need to take a minute to stop and soak up all these moments--all the snuggles that I know are nearing an end, all the hugs and kisses that will soon be less and less.  How do I keep all these moments--the moments of laughter, the moments of learning something new, the moments of bonding, the moments of appreciation, the moments that fill my heart with joy--how do I keep them all in the very tip of my memory?

I guess this post was more bittersweet than it was happy.... 

Road Trip & Hallowe'en Fun

There are a couple of reasons I wanted to go on a road trip with Alexa:

With me going back to work very soon--YEP, you read that right.  As of Monday morning, I will once again be a working girl.  I could get into that more, but this is a happy post, so I am moving on! Since I am going back to work, I wanted to take our last couple of days together and spend as much quality time together as possible.
I think we accomplished that--two 9 hour drives in 4 days with a inquisitive 5 year old is more quality than anyone can ask for!

                   

                   


Alexa is done from all infusions!  YAY!!! We are no longer tied to the home with a nurse coming to visit us every day.  We no longer have to go to Sick Kids for 4 hour infusions of cytogam.  So this was our way of freeing ourselves.  Alexa did not have the greatest of summer.  Don't take me wrong, I know she recuperated much better and faster than any of us dreamed of. But to me, the summer is my favourite season.  I love going swimming, going to the beach, amusement parks, etc.  All of which, Alexa could not enjoy for obvious transplant related issues.  So this was my way of making it up to her. My  way of giving her a bit of her childhood summer back.

And finally, we took this opportunity to further celebrate hitting 3 months post transplant.  I am a big believer of celebrating everything. All the little things, all the big things. Some thing that others may take for granted--We celebrate.  See, we were never given any guarantees, so we celebrate all the moments that we are given!
I bought us a cake, decorated it and surprised Alexa with it when she came home from school.  We then went out on a mommy/daughter transplantiversary date.

                   

Wait until you see what we have got planned for one year!

So back to our road trip.  We decided that we would go to Pennsylvania for the weekend.  We left early Friday morning and got to our hotel at about 3pm.  Got some late lunch and then hit up the Hershey World of Chocolate:

          

 

          

 

                                   

We took a ride into the making of chocolate and did some trick-or treating.

                 

Made some smores.

                 

 

                      

 

Went on a trolley around Hershey Town.

And got lots of goodies.

The next day we went to the the Hershey Museum and Hershey Park, where we went on loads of rides.
                                     

                                  

               

                          
           
 

On Sunday, we drove 2 hours east to Langhorne, where we went to Sesame Place.  We went on even more rides.  Alexa went on her first big girl rollercoaster.  We saw two live Elmo and friends shows and did even more trick-or-treating if you can believe it. 

                            

 

           

 

                          

                         

 

One road trip! Hundreds of memories! We are already in planning mode for our next one!

And who could forget Hallowe'en!

Not even the poorest of weather could stop this little princess from getting her fair share of treats. 

            

 


                                        Hoping your Hallowe'en was as great as ours!