While I Breathe, I Hope

Told you!

2010-09-14T12:48:00.001-07:00

Couldn't keep up with the 30 day blog challenge, so shocking. I'm completely exhausted as I knew I would be and am 7 days away from RAI and isolation.

Maybe in a few weeks I'll post again with some news...

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 5

2010-09-06T00:37:00.000-07:00

Day 5 - Your favourite quote

At the moment I've been cherishing the quote "dum vita est spes est" or "while there is life there is hope".

After my radiation back in February, we had hopes that my journey was soon coming to a welcomed end. Unfortunately it didn't happen that way so in May I got that quote tatttooed on my right wrist.

On the days when we start feeling defeated we take comfort in knowing that quote is 100% true. As long as I'm here, we're going to do everything we can to tell this cancer where to shove it.

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 4

2010-09-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

Day 4 - Your favourite book

My favourite book was always "The Firm" by John Grisham UNTIL Craig Ferguson came out with "Between the Bridge and the River". Now it's a toss up. Depends what mood I'm in I guess. I can never turn up a good crime/suspense novel or a good laugh :).

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 3

2010-09-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

Day 3 - Your favourite television program

Finally, a question I can narrow down a little.

I watch very, very little TV but will NOT miss Dexter or House. Love taking the time to watch those 2 shows and spend time with my Nicky!

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 2

2010-09-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

Day 2 - Your favourite movie

Whaaaaa? Yet again, this is just WAY too hard to pick. So, I will did as I did yesterday, link to a piece of one of my fave movies, ~~unpredictable I know~~.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FqrewAHKBE&feature=related

Ps- This is a clip from Serendipity. Other fave movies of mine include Full Metal Jacket, My Best Friend's Girl, Pulp Fiction and P.S.- I Love You.

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 1

2010-09-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Day 1 - Your favourite song

Wow, day 1 and I am stumped already. Seriously, there is no way that I could EVER pick a favourite song. I love way too many types of music to pick a favourite song.

I will however, link to one of my favourite songs at the moment. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f-DzVEO7fU

30 Day Blog Challenge

2010-08-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

30-day Blog Challenge

All the cool kids are doing it, why don't you do it too?

Here’s the rundown:
Day 1 - your favorite song
Day 2 - your favorite movie
Day 3 - your favorite television program
Day 4 - your favorite book
Day 5 - your favorite quote
Day 6 - 20 of my favorite things
Day 7 - a photo that makes you happy
Day 8 - a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 - a photo you took
Day 10 - a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 - a photo of you recently
Day 12 - something you are OCD about
Day 13 - a fictional book
Day 14 - a non-fictional book
Day 15 - your dream house
Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 - my wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 - a talent of yours
Day 20 - a hobby of yours
Day 21 - a recipe
Day 22 - a website
Day 23 - a youtube video
Day 24 - where I live
Day 25 - your day, in great detail
Day 26 - your week, in great detail
Day 27 - my worst habit
Day 28 - what's in my handbag/purse
Day 29 - hopes,dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - a dream for the future

Along with fellow blogger MBushey, http://www.thebusheylife.com/, I will be starting tomorrow (September 1st).

I will miss a couple days as I'll be in the hospital but I'll try my hardest to make up for them :).

Busy, Busy... More busy.

2010-07-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

Apparently my Project 365 blog has been neglected. I DO take at least one picture everyday but I do not have the time to blog it. Maybe I should have decided to make it a Facebook Project 365, I always seem to have time for Facebook!

ANYWAYS.

Things around here have been crazy.

My surgery (complete central neck dissection) has been delayed because my radiation oncologist and surgeon both think taking my case to the tumor discussion conference in Vancouver on July 9th is a good idea. So now we wait impatiently to hear what all these fancy shmancy doctors have to say about my "complicated and advanced" case.

Meanwhile we are keeping busy of course, with four cheeky little monkeys how could we not?

Recently, Canada Day and a trip to Harrison have both been super fun day trips.

Canada Day was a blast because some genius decided that making a big area with piles of dirt would be fun for kids. Obviously! The boys has a BLAST. Seriously, when they saw this dirt their mouths dropped open. Totally messy dirty heaven for boys. Some of Nick's family ended up showing up so we hung out with them. Nick went home a little early because both of the babies needed to go for naps and I stayed with Aydan and Trentyn, Nick's Mom, Brandi, Peyton and Jade (our nieces). They spent a good hour going down these huge waterslides set up on the side of the hill. They had such a good time and I know my boys didn't want to leave. Later that night I took Aydan and Trentyn back for the fireworks and they were actually impressive. Canada Day was definitely a success.

We went to Harrison on Saturday (3rd). We had planned on going on Canada Day but the weather just wasn't nice enough. There was a bit of wind which made it cold when you came out of the water but it was still a great time full of sand (lots of sand), food (lots of food) and fun (lots of fun).

So, basically that's what's been going on over here. Now, lets hope we actually get some summer because summer ends!

January 14th

2010-01-14T21:09:00.000-08:00

"SHOES"

I can't believe it. We took a trip to Walmart tonight and Cohen WORE SHOES! Up until today if you put a slipper on him he would crawl and if you put a shoe on him he would break down crying. Guess that's over with because he walked around and wore his shoes in the house and at Walmart the whole time and didn't try to take them off once!! Wooohoooo!!

xoxo

January 13th

2010-01-14T14:22:00.000-08:00

BLOOD TESTS"

So, this isn't a great picture. I was at the cancer clinic getting more blood work done and I wondered why I stopped taking pictures of my journey. I like looking back at pictures from my surgeries, for example, and seeing how far my treatment has progressed.

Anyways, there were all sort of people hanging around and I didn't want to look like a total crazy so I took this quick shot of their mission, visions, values plaque.

xoxo

January 12th

2010-01-14T14:19:00.000-08:00

"HOW DO THEY DO THIS?"

To a normal person this would hurt like heck in the morning, but to our sweet little babies it seems to be no big deal.

xoxo

January 11th

2010-01-11T21:18:00.000-08:00

"CAUGHT :)"

After almost a year of sitting in it's box in the garage, I finally decided to put together Teague's dresser yesterday. Today at quiet time this is what I found when I went into his room to check on him. Notice how he's using the sheet from his bed, his pillow (no clue of where he put the pillow case), his bean bag chair, Nick's fuzzy tiger blanket and his Cat In The Hat sleeper so make himself comfy. This is my life.

xoxo

January 10th

2010-01-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

"GUESS WHO"

Can you guess which one of my handsome little scamps this sweet smile belongs to?

xoxo

January 9th

2010-01-09T19:58:00.000-08:00

"PARADON ME?!"

Switchin' it up again! Anyone of you who know Teague well know that he has his own language. It's ridiculous! Check this out.

xoxo

http://s911.photobucket.com/albums/ac313/Mamatimesfour/?action=view&current=SDV_0050.flv

January 8th

2010-01-09T19:51:00.000-08:00

"WHO NEEDS NAPTIME?"

Not Teague!

xoxo

January 7th

2010-01-09T19:32:00.000-08:00

"BOOTY SHAKIN'"

There are no words necessary.

xoxo

http://s911.photobucket.com/albums/ac313/Mamatimesfour/?action=view&current=SDV_0049.flv

January 6th

2010-01-07T08:33:00.001-08:00

"BROTHERLY LOVE"

I was doing some tidying up at quiet time and when I came back into the family room this is what I found, Trentyn snuggling Aydan watching his mad DS skills. Super cute!

xoxo

January 5th

2010-01-05T20:47:00.000-08:00

"WELCOME SWEET BABY"

She's finally here! Baby Olivia Lynn Annette Kallusky (what a mouthful!) was born this morning via planned c-section! She arrived at 8:23am weighing 7 lbs 12.6 oz. She is absolutely beautiful and just happens to be our Goddaughter! We are so thrilled!

Congrats to Mommy Daniella, Daddy Shane, Big Sister Kassidy and Big Brother Caleb, our whole family can't wait to meet her!!

xoxo

January 4th

2010-01-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

"I'M SICK"

I didn't take any pictures today (yesterday) because I was in bed sick literally all day. I would have taken a picture but I didn't, basically to save myself the embarrassment!

xoxo

January 3rd

2010-01-03T18:28:00.000-08:00

"DRIVING AWAY"

Ever since Rob passed away (October 7th, 2009) Brenda (Nick's Mom), Jamie (Nick's Brother), Brittany (Nick's little Sister) and Jordan (Brittany's Boyfriend) have been living with us. Today was moving day.

It's been challenging at times, yet fun and comforting and probably ever other emotion in between. They moved out tonight and I think now we can all start to move on with our lives; maybe gain back some sort of normalcy. OH! And I can finally give my house a goooooood cleaning. You have NO idea of how hard is it to clean with 10 people occupying almost every room at any given time (haha).

xoxo

January 2nd

2010-01-02T13:43:00.000-08:00

"LIFE IS ROUGH"

Being a toddler is hardwork. Eating, playing, pooping, eating... serious business.

My Chubby Bubby fell asleep during lunch. First time ever.

xoxo

January 1st

2010-01-02T13:34:00.000-08:00

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

New Year's tradition is to go for a complete feast at my Dad's house. And I literally mean feast. This man goes all out buying an obnoxious amount of food, cooking it and then badgering us to eat it all (love you Dad!). This year was definitely no different. We left home at 2:45pm, arrived at 4:30pm to the aforementioned obnoxious amount of food and had tons of fun. (He lives in Richmond which means we should have been there sooner but Teague gets motion sickness so we stopped about 4 times to make sure he wasn't going to throw up).

At the end of the night everyone was pooped from dancing to "Surfin' Bird" (HAHA) so Aydan and Trentyn decided to show Papa their DS skills. I love moments like these, they make me remember how incredible my Grandpa was.

xoxo

PS- If you don't know, the bird is the word.

Just another cute photo.

2010, the year of optimism?

2010-01-02T12:20:00.001-08:00

I just can't believe that 2010 is finally here!

Although last year saw some amazing moments in my family (Aydan's first day of Kindergarten, Cohen walking for the first time, our 3 year anniversary trip to Jamaica etc.) it was also riddled with anguish (surgeries, a cancer diagnosis and the death of one of the most important men in my life).

I've never believed in making New Year's Resolutions or even that the new year meant a fresh start but I realize now that maybe that's because things have always been uncomplicated and amazing.

Family: CHECK! Health: CHECK! Roof over our head and food on the table: CHECK! Fun: CHECK!

Now that our whole world has been turned upside down, I need something. Something to look forward to. Something to do in my spare time that will make me feel like I have accomplished something for myself.

While this year brings a whole wackload of changes, what I'm blogging about right now is what many people already know about and/or already doing. Project 365. The idea behind this is to take one picture everyday. Something fun you did, something new you ate, someone you met, anything. Here comes the tricky part. You have to DO SOMETHING with this picture! Any of you who know me well know that I always have my camera on me and I am always taking pictures. Problem with that is that other than showing people and bragging about, say, my four handsome little men, I don't really do anything with them.

This year, I will. Every day I will take my picture and I will blog about it. Right here.

I hope this blog sees me being cancer free. I hope this blog travels to lots of places I've never seen before. But most of all, I hope this blog sees growth and change in my family throughout the next 365 days.

Jessica
xoxo