…3-4 inches?

I’ve had one of those days….October 28th was a significant day for me in 2009. It was the day that I finally decided to end the anxiety of my hair falling out during chemotherapy.

October 28, 2009, I had just had treatment #5…

I had some MAJOR trouble even swallowing my pre-meds at this point, I was terrified to puck during treatment. So Mom and Dad were my “chemo-buddies” (aka driver/breakfast buddy) for the day, while Yosh stayed home w/ Owen.

Dad	and Mom!

 

My hair was thinning like crazy and I was shocked at how much anxiety just the thought of my hair actually being gone was causing me. Even with my 2 “transition” hair cuts (which the second cut is pictured above and I absolutely HATED it)…I was still scared to actually “LOOK” sick.  But when I got home from Kaiser that day had a nice nap, and decided it was THE day to do this…so Yosh and I had some fun with his clippers!

I visited “Cutz by Yoshi” LOL	I see Paul in myself in this picture! When he used to have the “step” hair cut in 8th grade!
	Hot…I know! haha
All that hair	The finished products…we kinda look like bald Owen then!

 

Talk about being a SUPER SUPPORTER…Yosh decided to let me shave his head after he was finished playing barber shop with mine. It was a pretty emotional time. Just brought me back to the night that I shaved my mothers head…5 years prior.

I couldn’t find a pic of me shaving Mom’s head…but this is my Mother Oct. 2004, 5 weeks into chemotherapy! This is one of my favorite pictures of my parents!

After looking in the mirror and thinking I could either be G.I. Jane or Uncle Fester from Adams Family for Halloween, I remember thinking…”this isn’t that bad”….that feeling didn’t last long.  Owen (was 6.5 months old at the time) was asleep in his crib while we were getting rid of my hair. He woke up and I ran up to get him and put him back to sleep. Then he saw me and started screaming…he had NO idea who I was. So, of course I started to cry, rock him and tell him that it was Mama and everything was ok. He eventually looked at me…touched my eyelash (yes they were barely hangin on at this point)…and he seemed ok. He never had an issue with his Mama being bald again.

And now…1 year later…I have about 3-4 inches of CURLY dark hair!! Appreciative for what I have BUT taking LOTS of time to get used to it.

Yay to having hair again!	Look…I can even tie my “”bangs” back! heehee

Another BSB Moment

Last Halloween, Erine from BSB (Mommy Group) rallied and got all us Mommies to go to a Children’s Halloween Parade in Claremont.  And last year we had so much fun, we decided as a group that we HAD to continue the Halloween parade tradition and participate EVERY year. So…today was the BSB 2nd annual Claremont Halloween Parade! And boy we had fun! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to all walk together…we all arrive at different times BUT we met in the park after for some cool photo-ops :)

	Owen the Very Busy Spider
	Gwen the astronaut!  Yes the Ames family went ALL OUT this year w/ Gwen’s space ship…pretty cool huh?!? Abby the pretty Little LadyBug!
	Sophia the witch. She was so adorable w/ a lil wig and holding the front of her dress while walking. RJ as…Woody/Cowboy! Edward the Vampire!!!

 

One of my favorite things to do is to look back at pictures from last year to see how much Owen and everyone has changed. This is our BSB 2009 Claremont Halloween Parade

Sophia, Gwen, Owen, Abby, RJ and Edward last year around 6 months old….

This is our Baby/Mommy pic from this year!  (We couldn’t strap them all down to stay together long enough for a pic of just the kids! haha)

This was the best one I could find out of the million Yosh took…

Yes its a BSB thang…but my best friend Cindy has also made it a tradition to come to this parade too…so she is also part of our “tradition”

Last year this was Owen w/ the Machuca Girls…

 

This year Owen wouldn’t pose for a picture with the girls (he was being a lil booger) but this was the Machuca Kids this year! …There was a new addition in that house, Baby Raymond was there but Daddy Raymond is away at Bootcamp!

 

Thanks for a wonderful day girls…I really love this tradition. Next year…meeting at the metro-parking lot 30 minutes prior to parade time! :) haha

Starting to feel like Halloween!

Owen inspecting the PumpkinLast year we didn’t get around to carving a pumpkin for Owen’s first Halloween (horrible parents, I know). I was just too sick and worried about my hair loss and the whole pumpkin thing just wasn’t on our priority list!

BUT this year Erine (a Mommy from my Mommy Group “BSB”) decided to have a lil pumpkin carving gathering  w/ the Munchkins.

 

Mommies carved and chatted while babies played (Gwen isn’t shown in pic).

It was fun…Owen wanted NOTHING to do w/ the guts/seeds of the pumpkin but found the “PUNPKEN” (as Owen called it) interesting. Either way it was another great evening w/ our BSB family!

                       Owen inspecting the Pumpkin

Here’s all the Mommies/Babies and their creations!

Erine and Gwen	RJ and Courtney
Kristen and Abbi	Maria and Sophia It was Maria’s 1st time EVER carving a pumpkin (they don’t do that in the Philippines where she is from!)
	Not too thrilled about holding it for a pic!

Another Item Off the Bucket List…

Have you ever seen the movie “Bucket List”…its about 2 old guys that made a list of things they want to do before dieing. Its pretty sad but puts life into perspective for some.  A few years ago the principal at our school had us make a bucket list at an all staff meeting. I don’t remember everything I put but a few were:

1. Becoming a Mother
2. Becoming a Grandmother
3. “Do” Europe
4. Run a marathon
5. Go to Bora Bora and stay in a water bunglo 
6. Compete in a triathlon…etc. etc. etc.

August 2009…when I found out that I had a tumor but wasn’t sure the severity of my condition I started to think about that Bucket List that I started a few years back. I started thinking about all the stuff I had to do before dieing…I just wasn’t ready to be done on this Earth yet. So during treatment, when I was sick I said “I have to compete in a damn triathlon before I die….so once this chemo-crap is  one I’m doing one before the year is over” (it was already 2010 at this time).  I was told of a tri in Hemet in December and set my eyes on that goal. Welllllll lovely friends of mine, Melissa Sullinger (aka Bender) and Shannon Nielsen got me signed up and training for the Trek Womens Tri in La Quinta. I was posting this on facebook and a friend of mine (Tina Rivera) decided she too needed to do this…she signed up and got motivated.  So I had been “training” (not very well BUT I was training kinda)..and 10-10-10 came!

Here are a few pictures from my AMAZING experience of my first triathlon…Thank you Bender and Shannon (and Tina too!) for sharing this day with me!!! You girls kicked butt and were still able to cheer my booty across the finish line…(Sorry Tina I needed shade and didn’t see ya finish!)

Me and the Girls getting ready for the swim!!!	My AWESOME supportive hubby (nice shirt cutie! ;) And the calm before the storm!!