Friday, January 19, 2018

Sesame Street Live!

I recently took G and one of his friends to Sesame Street Live! He was sooooo excited to go see Cookie Monster! As you can see from the picture below he was so excited he couldn't sit still for a picture! 



The show was about an hour and a half. He sat there the entire time! 
A couple times he did get up to dance to some of the songs. 




Ok Mom I will smile for one picture since you gave me a sucker!


Cookie Monster is G fav Sesame Street character! I didn't even realize this until the show.
We love going to these shows! He had to tell his grandparents all about going to see Cookie Monster and Melmo! 


Thursday, January 18, 2018

5 Years!!!!

It is really hard to believe that it has been 5 years since surgery and this whole cancer thing started! I feel so good about hitting the 5 year mark! No, I am not in remission. No, I am not cancer free. My cancer numbers are higher than they were after surgery. My tumors legions haven't really grown much in 5 years. They are still there! They haven't gone away. 

I have tried I feel almost everything I can to make those legions go away, but nothing seems to make them want to leave. However! I am thankful they have stayed stable! When you have cancer stable is always a refreshing thing to hear. I am very faithful about getting my blood work done every 3 months. I have done this for 5 years now. It's just part of my new normal. One of my doctors suggested we could move to getting blood work every 6 months. Nope! I like to see the trends. It might not mean much now, but down the road this information could be very helpful. She is a fabulous doctor and listens to me. 

In 5 years I have learned so much! I have learned so much about thyroid cancers and thyroid issues. Recently my mom had to go to the doctors about thyroid issues. I was able to go in there understand what the doctors were talking about and ask a lot of questions for all of us to understand exactly what was going on. Five years ago all of that would have gone over my head. 

I have always felt that my cancer diagnosis helped bring me G. We struggled for so long to have a baby. It was about a year after surgery that I was able to get pregnant with him. It also wasn't at my healthiest time either. I took the chance of getting pregnant with him. Some of my doctors at the time didn't agree with it. I am thankful I didn't listen to them. If I had I might not have him. It seems that MTC affects women and infertility really bad. My numbers were very low a year after surgery. I am thankful I took that chance and that I get to celebrate with him every year. We will eat paleo cookies today in honor of 5 years of life after cancer. 

I take G to the majority of my doctor appointments. At times I wonder if this is good or not. I want him to realize this is normal for our family. One day he will hear that one of his friends parents has cancer and he might think well doesn't everyone have a parent with cancer? He also isn't afraid of going to the doctor. He is brave when he has to get blood drawn. He comes with me most of the time to get mine done every 3 months. He isn't a fan of shots! He doesn't see me get shots lol.  He sees me get ultrasounds, checked by the doctors, trying to be as healthy as I possibly can be and this is his normal. G had to get an ultrasound of his heart recently. He has born with 2 super small holes in his heart. Something that the doctors or us haven't been concerned about, but it's monitored every 3-5 years. He didn't flinch when he had to get checked or the ultrasound. I told the doctor he sees me go through a lot, so he thinks this is normal. 

You may not agree with how I parent my child when it comes to cancer. For us this works. For me it's important he is comfortable with all this. I don't want him to worry about things that none of us have control over. 

In 5 years I have seen some friends with MTC go quickly. It's always heartbreaking when you lose someone. There is something that hits you in your core. Then you have to remind yourself your MTC journey is different than theirs. MTC affects every single person differently. 

Five years out I am probably at my healthiest I have been in my adult life even with 2 major illnesses. I work really hard to eat healthy and do the best self care I possibly can do! My pray since G was born is that God would give me 30 years with him. I will happily take way more than 30 years. 

Today we celebrate life! 

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Bentology Bento Box Review

George is really into having a lunch box and he wants to start eating at school with the other kids. He goes to preschool 2 half days a week. I pick him up before lunch, so he usually eats lunch in the car. The kid is starving when I pick him up. I learned very quickly he needs a full lunch to eat on the way home. Otherwise he was asking for 100 snacks. A pouch just wasn't cutting it. I think he burns a lot of energy at school and even though he has a snack there is isn't enough. 

When Bentology gave us the opportunity to review one of their bento boxes I jumped at the chance! George likes to have different things for lunch, so little containers are perfect! Also when he starts going to a full day of preschool this will be a great way to pack his lunch for him.



The bento box comes in a cloth container with emoji's. 
There are different designs you can pick from here


I like the plastic containers. These can easily be put in the dishwasher or you can wash them out quickly. The box holds 4 containers. It comes with 5 containers. One of the containers is very small, so it's great for putting a gummy snack or dip for veggies. On the side you can put some silverware, yogurt packet, or a string cheese. 


Here is what I was able to all fit in the box. 

1 mini cucumber - I could have easily added another one or added some baby carrots.
1/2 cup of yogurt 
1 cup of pasta - he only ate about half of this with all the other food.
1 cutie
small amount of homemade gummy snacks! We recently made these with kombucha and vital proteins. I don't care if G eats a ton of these because there is no artificial anything or sugar in them. 


He LOVED this set up! He had me show him a couple times how to open the box. It can be a little tricky for a 3 year old to open, but he got it after I showed him about 3 times. 




I really like that there are separate containers. I was able to put the lid back on the pasta and put it in the fridge for later. The other stuff he ate all of it right away. I easily washed the containers when I washed my pots & pans after making dinner. 

If you would like to win your very own Bentology Bento Box I am giving one away on my Instagram account! Go check out the giveaway for your change to win! 


If you would like to order your’s you can do so here: bentology.com and use code: ihelp25 for a 25% off discount between 1/15/18-1/22/18





*I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion.