Back to Blogging

I started reading other cancer-kid blogs eight months ago when Jacob was first diagnosed. In the beginning I didn’t read a lot about others experiences because it was so overwhelming. But weeks later I was ready to learn about what other people had been through and what I might except during Jacob’s three years of treatment.  At that point I read several blogs beginning to end—sometimes in one sitting.

I found in my reading that many mothers stopped updating their blogs at about the six month mark. Or at least the posts significantly decreased in frequency. I guess I knew that life got back to normal for these families but I still wondered, “what comes next?”

And now I find myself in the next phase or the “new normal” as many call it. And my blog posts have significantly decreased in frequency. We Woodwards are back to regular life in many ways and blogging has been on the back burner or, rather, completely removed from the heat and rapidly cooling for the last several weeks.

But regardless of the temperature of my blog enthusiasm, many friends have asked about Jacob and our family and how we are all doing, including sweet, seven-year-old Lizzie who told her mother while looking at my last, now stale post, “Mom, that’s old! We already read that.” Thanks Lizzie, for the motivation to get back to blogging!  

I am happy to report that we are all doing really well. Jacob feels great most of the time. He takes a low-dose chemo pill every night and has IV chemo once every four weeks. He also still takes a steroid (grrrr) once a month. I growl because it makes him a little cantankerous, hungry and a bit of an insomniac. But, overall, things are going well and Jacob feels good as you will see from the following photos.

So, for your update enjoyment, here’s a few snapshots of our life since last post:

Jacob went back to school on April 18th. His class made him a welcome back sign. He made it back just in time for all of the fun stuff like the field trip, water day and the end of year program.  Here he is with his teacher on the last day of kindergarten.

 

  

When we decided to keep Jacob home from school Isaac said he wanted to stay home too. So he missed most of his first year of preschool but made it to the graduation party on the last day! He’s quite proud of his one-day-attendance accomplishment.

Since school is over now, some of our summer pastimes have included swimming in the kiddie pool and teaching Grandma to play Chess…

As well as playing games and reading (OK, those are just sticker books…)

(you can see how much Jacob’s hair is growing back in that photo of him holding his Leapster).

Wrestling Daddy is always a favorite activity…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As well as any unsuspecting uncles that may let you hop on their backs…

But by far the best summer activity is playing at the park, especially on the swings. Jacob likes to push Ellie and Isaac loves to go “higher!”

We also took a little road trip to Colorado to visit Scott’s grandma and other seldom-seen relatives, including this handsome bunch of boys:

Scott and I also escaped to New York City for a few days to see his sister. It was a wonderful, much needed getaway for the two of us.

So there’s two months worth of highlights in one long, non-medical, back-to-normal sort of a post. I’m committing to posts with greater frequency and more brevity in the coming weeks.