finally update from us.

;)
We are doing good. We have been home from China for a week now and loving it. Weather is just perfect. OC rules ;)

Regina did awsome during her 30 day stay in China. I have never seen her so healthy for a such a long period of time. No cough, no allergies. She ate chinese food and loved it. ( well of course she only ate foods that looked appealing to her - smart girl.) She had fun playing with her cousins and MOSt fun she had was when Nick took her to her company so kids could play with computer. So , one of the reasons Regina LOVES china is, that Daddys work has computers. lol

i did not do as well as Regina did. I had 2 blood poisonings, ( after mosquitos bite me) , 2 food poisonings- I am still recovering from last food poisoning. Not fun. I loved all the awsome tourist attractions- Great wall, Summer palace, Forbidden city, West lake in Hangzhou, Many different temples, Black dragon Waterfalls, Yangtze river sightseeing spots, Three Gorges Dam, SHANGHAI- My favorite city in whole world, and many more interesting places. Nick hates china , he hates chinese food, and weather and tourist spots. lol Great.....

Now- Our St jude trip is coming up soon. We will be there from 6th-12th. All our days are full of apointments and screenings.-2 mri's, spinal tap, psych. testing, audiologi, endorcine clinic- growht hormone testing , speech, function studies, couple of labs, echo/EKG.

Hopefully everything will go smoothly and we get nothing but good news :):):)

Updates...

I will try to email few emails to my friend while we are in china and she will update for me. :)
I created other blog for our china trip.
http://www.tanfamilytravels.blogspot.com

See you there :)

I just have to post this. :)

I took this pic last time we were in Memphis. Regian and Keilen ( sp? sorry Felicia, I have no Idea how to spell your DD name. ) met up in 2004, when we were in Ronald Mc Donald house. Keilen is ALL patient and doing awsome. I am not sure when her treatments will end, but she is doing good and is cancer free now. :) Anyway, I was not expecting to see them there, but while standing on line and trying to sigh in, I heard someone calling our name. :) Keilen is sweetest girl ever. She has lots of energy and really funny sence of humor. lol She craked us up all the time. :) Behind Regina is. K sister Kennedy. :):):) I do miss chit chatting with Keilens mom Felicity. There is never dull moment when she is around ;) 

:)

Our Trip to china starts in few days. Our suitcases are packed , I cleaned up my refrigirator and I have never seen it so empty. lol

But, last night Regina started coughing. So instead of me taking her to see her doctor I took her to Health store that EVERYBODY here recommend. So I went there had a talk with person who works there ( he knows EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING, and I was surprised how much he knew about childhood cancer and types etc.) I left store with 2 probiotics. SAMBUCOL, black eldeberry for kids and Primadophilus powder for kids. He told me that Regina has to take at least 3 bottles( Once a day, for 36 days) of Sambucol before her immune system starts building up and she starts fighting off infections better.
I heard a lot of good things about probiotics, but I never did anything about it. But Regina is constantly sick and I am sick of antibiotics and I just want her to feel better . She has been coughing on and off since january and doctros have found no problems with her.... I hope it works. I know one boy in Reginas class is taking them and his mom said that he has not been sick for 2 years. Keep your fingers crossed. :):):)

D

And I am glad that today is over. :)

Gabriel had his friends over today to celebrate his 5th Birthday. :) Gabreil was born on June 22nd Littlebit after midnight. On june 21st, 2001 I went to walm mart to buy some last minute things. Before I went to walmart I had my ob/gyn appointment. She told me that I was ready to give birth. So as I was walking around in Wal mart I started having contractions. But since I had Braxton hicks contractions all through the pregnancy I really did not pay much attention to my pain. I got my stuff and drowe home. Hour later contractions got bigger and more uncomfortable. But no real pain, just lot and lot of pressure. So I told nick that Ok, lets go outside and take a walk, because I was just feeling kind of weird and wanted to walk it out. After 15 minutes of walking REAL painful contracton hit me and then I knew for sure that I was in labor. :lol. I ran inside, called my doctor, they got hospital room ready and OFF we went to Mission Viejo hospital. I I started having REALLY REALLY bad contractions on our way to the hospital. Every 5 minutes or so. Hospital is 2,9 mile from us and ride there was fast but since there is about 20 traffic lights and I was having contractions, it seemed like we took 100 mile ride.

We got there around 9.45. Nurse there told me that I am probably not even dialated and they will most likely send me back home. BUT after they checked me and I WAS dialated 6 cm , everybody got really busy, really suddenly. THEY called my doctor and asked her to HURRY over. :lol.. I made one really bad mistake. I asked for epidural, BUT it did not kick in. Getting epidural was THE MOST painful experience ever. They could not get the needle in and when they did they got it wrong. and they had to redue it again. AND during that time I was having REALLY big contractions and my water finally broke. I managed to fall asleep and next thing I knew is that I felt horrible pressure and pain and I called nurse and -- gues what... Gabriel was in a hurry to get out. :lol I HAVE never ever seen nurses and doctors run so fast to get everything ready.

Gabriel was born 12.07 AM. 7lb,6oz. 19,5 inches. :) Perfect boy. :):):)
( arts and crafts table- I bought Floam, paint, wooden shapes ( cars, trucks, flowers). Kids had lots of fun doing it. It was messy,but kids love messy stufffff)

Today we had a party for him and he had lots of fun. :) I had bounce house for him, I baked him a cake and made snacks for moms and one dad. I did take few pictures, but I had a bad picture day today. None of my pics turned out really good. I usually get few really good prints, but today was one of those - What the heck was I thinking by taking that pic- kind of day. :)


Gabriel thanks all of his friends for giving him the best presents ever..

MS carol. :) You are awsome:) You should have seen Gabriels face when I YELLED- GABRIEL, YOU GOT MAIL. He dropped his video game, ran downstairs and ripped open his envelope- MOM , HOW DID SHE KNOW THAT I WANTED IT cars sticker book)??? ;lo He is funny. :)

Tomorrow I will take my kids to see Cars Movie. I have red them lots of cars books , He got few CARS presents and now it is time to see the MOVIE :):):)

My Gabriel...

He is not feeling well today. It was his last day in Tutor Time and when I picked him up his teacher told me that Gabriel has been feeling down and not eating and wanting to sleep. So I gathered all his things, and was about to take him home, when he started throwing up. Poor him. He got a low fever also. I took him to his doctor and I was told that there is virus going around. He should feel better soon. On sunday we will have little party for Gabriel.. I hope he feels better then.:)

Hei... Remember me???

Nothing much has been going on around here. I take kids to school every morning and pick them up when school is over. Same old, same old. This week Is Gabriels last week in Tutor time. I feel little sad. :( It has been his second home for since he was 1,5 years old. And now it is time to say goood bye to tutor time and WELCOME to extra 800 dollars in my bank acount. lol ( thats how much I payed monthly for him). Tutor time has gone HIGH TECH... They set up fingerprint sensors , so prettu soon you can only enter tutor time if your fingrprint opens the DOOOOOOR... ;) That's hot...

Today I took kids to My Gym kind of place. It is very close to our home walking distance. You should have seen the smiles both Regina and Gabriel had on theyr faces when they walked into that simple kid gym. GABRIEL was smiles ALL the time. He wanted to do everything first, He raised his hand all the time . I teared up . He was sooo cute. :) Regina also loved it, but she was more careful about trying things, but she did try everything and did awsome :) SO I signed them up and take them there whenever I get a chance or when classes are available :)

Gabriels Bday is aproaching and I got him couple of awsome presents. :) HE really wanted to have car/truck bedding, so I got him This
AND I got him Nintendo Game Cube... He deserves it ::))) He is great kid :):)):)

Blah...

You know what- I was about to kick my dermatologist today ... I guess he was not having very good day, but is it my problem??? Anyway, my skin is getting worse. I get really bad brake outs everywhere and nothing seems to be working. So , I asked him what next, Can he run some tests or look deeper into it before prescribing me new meds.. But oh no, he wants me on steroids... He told me that every time I get one of those bad brake out days , I should take steroids for 4 days and then stop. Side effects- weight gain, moodiness, and water retention( spelling?) .
First image that comes to my head with word STEROIDS are kids I met in st Jude who were on Steroids( swollen red faces, rash...etc). I have this mental image in my head that after I take one of those pills , my face/head swells up like an balloon and then explodes...
I am just so tired of dealing with bad body acne and worse of all, most of people do not belive me that it can be frustrating. If you never had acne problems , then you do not know ....
I can not wear short sleave shirts when I have brake outs because my arms/ neck/ body looks horrible. I can not suntan because if I do ,I get brake outs, I can drink wine, but I get white fluid filled clusters all over my body... I am just so tired of all this. I do not want to spend a penny for some prescripiton meds that do not work... What is my organism lacking? Or what am I having to much? ALl my blood tests came back within normal limits. I take my vitamins, eat salads, fruits, chicken fish???
I am 28, and all I am dealing with is something I should not be dealing at this age...
Sorry, another self pity blog..... I want to go to movies and see Nacho Libre ....

Now I tell you about my latest Netflixers..

Memoirs of a Geisha ---- I loved it. I loved the ending. I usually do not like romantic movies but this one was just something I needed to see... Beautiful.

Shopgirl- it was interesting. Again , one of those NOT MY TYPE kind of movies, but I liked it.

Must love dogs- I hated it. Waste of time.

The Aviator - Not my style at all.


And that is it for today. I am trying to loose some weight before my China trip, but it is not happening. My dear neighbors always have something going on .. and you know my relationship with food....

...

May 28th, 2004

May 28th, 2004 - Brain surgery
June 4th 2004- Diagnosis PNET
December 23. 2004 END OF TREATMENT



AND NOW, 2 years later, after her first upcloseandpersonal experience with pediatric cancer REGINA IS HAPPY AND HEALTHY AND CANCER FREEEEEEEEE!!!!! Do I need to say more.. Go St JUDE!!!!!!

LETS CELEBRATE:)

My sweet Gabriel. lol Last night I went to check on kids( around 11 pm) and this is how I found Gabriel. lol I just had to take picture of him. Covered with pillow. He has 4-5 blankets he can choose from every night, but he chose pillow instead.lol He is very silly, ( notice his Barbie Anika( I think from princess and pauper.)

Fun saturday...

Saturday was one very very busy day. Well, May has been very busy birthday month. Seems like EVERYBODY has birthday in may. lol Our morning started 9 am. We went to our community park because our neighbors invited us over for a playdate. We stayed there until 12 .

Then 3 pm we went to Princess Birthday party. It was such a cute party. Princess did awsome job singing songs, dancing, telling a story and drinking "tea" with kids. Very well organized party. Regina had fun but Gabriel kept a distance from girls.... lol

We had to leave early because I did not want to make my 8 months pregnant friend mad. Her daughter turned 2 and they had Barney Birthday.lol Yes, around here parents compete who has best birthday, best characters, best goodies...lol

At least it was not one of those Georges Jungle or Jump and jammin gyms( with bouncehouses).
And "renting a character for an hour is around 170 to whatever amount of dollars - it depends what you want, how long you want, etc.

Barney party was ok. ( sorry miss S.) All that mattered was that her Daughter was in Heaven because BARNEY was there. She kept blowing kisses to barney, showed him( well, it was her inside) house and did not leave his sight not even for a second. Mission completed. :) We got home around 7 pm. I had to cook kids dinner because they never find anything to eat at partys. lol. All they wanted was plain macaroni and butter.

Today I am going to make my kids sad and pack away all the " baby books and toys". ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. NO MORE TOYS. I am done with them. My house is so cluttered because of toys. OK. Off I go to clean my own mess.....

Gabriels Birthday is on June 22. Since we will be china I am planning to have his party on June 11th. (from 4PM till 6 or 7 PM). Since he wans his Bday to have CAR theme I came up with this idea for his Invitations. :) I also got car plates, and napkins and hats and all the other stuff needed for succesful boy birthay. Now I am looking for activities for boys to do. I think I will be getting some plain wooden cars, buy some markers and let boys decorate their own cars. I also have to bake him CAR cake ( last year It was train cake). OH. I will not have BIG birthay. Probably around 6 or 7 kids total. If you have nothing else to do on 11th, please race on over. :) OH, Gabriel will be 5 years old. :)

Happy Mothers Day from happiest place on earth :) Our firends invited us to join them in Disneyland( Ca one). We had fun filled 7 hours . We took rides, met princesses, ate lunch, watched couple of 3D shows and spent money in gift shop. It was fun Mothers Day. :)

:)

Sorry for not letting you guys know whats up with Regina. :) She is doing really good now. She has another 5 days left on her antibiotics. She is feeling and doing awsome. :) Gabriel was doing really bad for 4 days. I thought I will have to take him to his doctor, but I decided to wait and just give him over the counter meds. So now he Is doing better also.

Every year since 2001 Regina gets sick in end of April/ beginning of may. I was watching View yesterday and they were talking that allergies are worst during those 2 months.. and if people get sick every year same time It might be because of allergies. So I guess all those blossoming trees and flowers and dust pay big role making her sick. :(

Now for fun part. We had fun filled weekend. On friday night Nick and I went clubbing. We left our kids with babysitter. I had so much fun just hanging out in VIP lounge and stuffing my purse with guys phonenumbers. ( seriosly;) ). On saturday we went to to spend a night in W hotel. We took kids with us. It is beautiful hotel and I like the area. Very nice and clean and quiet. Since we had kids with us and hotel was NOT kids friendly ( it is PET friendly, there was menu for pets), we had to go out to have dinner. After dinner we just crashed on sofa and wathced Law and Order because I still had hangover from Friday night. And that was it. 400 dollars per night- OVERPRICED.

Sunday was cool. We went to Anahaim Hills and celebrated our friends christening in Anahaim hills Country club. We had huuuuge brunch( crab legs, shrimp, salmon, cheeses, lots of desserts, sparkling wine, salads, pastas.... you name it, WE ATE IT. lol I forgot how much I hated buffets....;)

On monday we had friends over because it was My Birthay ( 28th). Nothing major. Nick cooked dinner , I made salad and cheeses, brought triple chocolate mousse cake, and made food for 6 kids. After dinner we watched that dumb dude trying to kill himself under water... Nothing magic about that.

Tuesday we went out to see Mission impossible 3-- I LOVED IT. To much TOM, but it was good. And then we went to eat Persian food. And now I am home, nick is back in china and I am trying to get started with my diet again. WEEK full of food, not good for anyone. :)

Ugh. Update...

Monday--
Nick took Regina to see doc again because last night was just horrible. She was caughing all night long without getting any sleep. :( Well, now she has full blown sinus infection. We got her antibiotics changed and she has to take them for 2 weeks. I just knew that I was right about her condition. I know her really well, I know what meds work and what dont, and it drives me grazy when doctors tell me that THEY know better. ( sometimes they do, but.... )

She took her first dose 2 hours ago and she allready feels better. :) The other meds made her really sleepy, cranky, tired emotional.

Today we went to Long Beach Aquarium.
Regina is not feeling well. Her strep throat is fine, but you should hear her cough. Constant cough and rash on her face is still there. It is not going anywhere. I omited milk from her diet, so it could not be because of dairy products. Gabriel is also getting sick. Same thing. They both are coughing.
My dh is home and kids are sick. I have 3 kids and no help.

Last year on april 30th both of my kids were sick as well.

Poor Regina.

She is not feelin very good today. She is doing ok, but she is not herself. :( To make things worse, today started with cough and rash covering her body. I called her doc, but her doctor was out of office today ,so I took her to my doctor. I thought that she may have allergies to penicillin,but doc sayd that penicillin allergry does not look like this, she thinks that her strep throat invited friend over so now they are having a party. She has no idea at this point what kind of rash it is. :( Bummer. :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(
Today her and I stayed home- well, almost home. I took her to mall and strolled around there for few hours. She was happy about it. She had very little to eat for lunch since her throat hurts. She told me that she is still hungry, but she can not eat because it hurts a lot .:( She even did not drink her favorite Jamba juice Mango-A-Go-go. She ALWAYS has it with her lunch in mall. :(
Maybe tomorrow is better day.:)

:(- update...

Update6.30pm.
Regina has strep throat. Doctor is not sure why Reginas back hurts. And rash on her face is ezcema. SHe has not had eczema outbrake for 3 years and now it is back. Could be that she has developed some new food allergies and we have to look out what she is eating now and what makes her eczema worse. :( Poor her. I hope that her milk allergies are not back. :( Now let just hope that antibiotics take care of her ST. :)


Couple of days ago regina got a fewer blister on her lip. I just knew then that In couple of days she will get sick. I was right about it. Last night she was caughing a lot and this morning she woke up crying. When I asked what is wrong , she told me that her back hurts a lot. When I tryed to touch her back , she told me that it hurts to much and I should stop touching it.:(:( . She also has swollen face and she has hard time swollowing food or drink. :( Poor her, I can see that she feels very uncomfortable. :(

:D

Nothing much is going on around here. Kids are doing pretty good. Regina is getting smarter day by day and Gabriel just tests my nerves every single day. lol One thing that I do not like about Regina is how she throws her Temper tantrums. Those are the worst. She can scream and cry hours without any reason( or for little reason). For instance. Gabriel runs downstairs first and screams I AM FIRST. Regina starts screming, jumping up and down , runs to her room, goes under covers and SCREAMS. I HATE YOU GABRIEL. And this happened more than once or twice. SHe can scream , and tantrums she throws are the worst. It is like One moment she is all happy and playing and then suddenly her mood changes and she is all whiny, screaming and yelling :(:(:(:(

And now about something more exiting. :) We all got our Chinese Visas!!! Wohooo to us!! lol. I am not going to mention dates right now but we will spend about 3,1/2 weeks discovering China. :):):) Good for us :) Kids are somewhat exited. Gabriel wants to go, but Regina is against it. She tells us over and over again that CHina is boring, and she has never ever been in china. She wants to go to Estonia and eat Dragon candy ( kind of like saltwater taffy - strawberry flawor, but only better ;) )


Then my moms Birhthday is coming up . April 22nd. She was born on 1954 so do the math. She also mentioned that she has thyroid surgery coming up ( finally). Righ now she is really, really sick. There are days that she can not walk, she can hardly lift a spoon or fork, she can not feel her legs and is very , very cold. ANd doctors still do not have any straight anwers to her. or maybe they do, but I never get to know the whole truth.

So that is what is going on with us. :)

Happy Easter.

On saturday our friends invited us to Bunny Blast. Crafts, pony rides, rain , cold same old, same od ;). Pony ride was fun . Public places , me alone and 2 kids just do not splend well. One kids wants one thing other kids something else. 99 % at a time one ends up crying. Regina also complained music was hurting her ears and was upset that her friends told her that they do not like to play with Barbies anymore. :( . Then we had nice lunch and chit chatted for couple of hours and after that we went home. :0)

Today , after kids ate their breakfast and while brushed their teeth , Easter chicken came and layed eggs all over the house After they got all the eggs they had so much fun opening it up. All the candy went to trash because they really do not care much for candy or chocolate. 2 bites and they are done. They were exited for money, tiny toys, ( nailpolishes, airplanes, stickers etc) . I wish I could throw candy away like that. You should have seen them to run to trash and just WOOOOOSSSHHH all the candy there.

Then we went to see The Wild. Both kids loved it. I think it was because of all the stupid kid humor. I even laughed out loud, which does not happen often in kids movies. :)
Tomorrow - KIDS BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!