IT’S BEGINNING…

…to look a lot like Christmas! We decorated our little apartment today and it definitely added some cheer to the place. It was a dreary, rainy, and cold day. With Caleb not feeling too well, we stayed in and had a lazy Saturday.

But first let me update everyone on how Chemo is going. Friday Caleb had a checkup in his clinic. They drew blood to check his levels and then we gave him his dose of Chemo. Again within about 15 minutes he was silly and drowsy, but calm and happy. Grandpa and Grebbie took care of Caleb for the day so I could run a few errands and keep organizing all the things in our apartment. They treated “King Caleb” to any snack he wanted while he binge watched Paw Patrol from their hotel bed. He is one lucky little guy. He definitely stayed comfortable all day. His Chemo still has not made him feel sick so far, but makes him very out of it. He moves slow and sometimes forgets where things are even if it’s right in front of him. This effect is just short term. We have definitely gotten a few good laughs out of him acting silly.

This morning (Saturday) we had to give Caleb another dose of chemo. We were worried about how he would be playing with Tyler since the Chemo makes him so drowsy. Tyler is very sweet with Caleb and knows that his medicine makes him feel a little weird. Still though, it was a trying day with all 4 of us in the small apartment and the two of them having their normal brotherly disagreements. Caleb still wasn’t physically sick but you could tell he didn’t feel 100% like himself. He moved a little slower and got a bit more agitated at everything. And by everything I mean basically anything Tyler did to him, me trying to sit and eat a meal, me trying to leave the room at all, or anyone looking at him the wrong way. I wish he could tell us how he really feels, but I think it’s just that he feels a little “icky” and out of it. He doesn’t know how to express that, so he is very sensitive to everything. Caleb is usually my happy go lucky child so this behavior definitely throws the balance of our family off a little.

But even with all of that going on we still decided to try to put up our Christmas tree and decorate. Caleb helped a little but quickly lost interest in exchange for his light up “Batman Belt” as he called it. It was really just a light up head band that he decided to put around his waist. It was pretty darn funny and he walked around with his “Batman Belt” on for quite a while.

Tyler, however, really got into the Christmas spirit. He hung almost every ornament and loved every second of it.

I tried to put him on my shoulders to put the star on top of the tree but he was scared being up so high so we captured this gem of a picture. HA HA!

After a little while both kids calmed down and we ended up having a good time decorating the tree. Caleb also decorated his little felt tree that we hung up in his room. Tyler was so busy with the big tree that he didn’t get to his yet, and we still have a small tree for their room that they need to decorate. I also put up just a few little Christmas decorations of my own. I LOVE Christmas so it’s really hard not to buy tons of stuff this year. But we just don’t have room so little bits here and there in the apartment will have to do.

At the end of the day we promised Tyler we would take him out to shop for a toy because he got all green smiley faces on his behavior chart at school this week. He was very excited that he was getting a special night out with just mom and dad. Grandpa and Grebbie watched Caleb since he really needed to rest and we could tell he wasn’t feeling well. It was hard to walk away from him because when he doesn’t feel well all he wants is mommy. He gets upset if I even leave the room and he wanted me to sit with him on the couch and not leave. But I had already promised Tyler some time, so I said bye to him and we left. Luckily Grandpa and Grebbie know how to distract him and within a couple minutes he was back to himself, relaxing and being treated like “King Caleb”.

I am thankful we were able to have a night with Tyler because he was just beaming and you could tell he felt so special. I think he sometimes gets confused or upset that he will get in trouble for something, but yet if Caleb does that same thing we let it slide. Even though we try to explain things I know he doesn’t completely understand why. So it was nice tonight to be able to reward Tyler for his good behavior. We went to Chili’s for dinner. We let him play the games on that kiosk at the table and even get Coke with his dinner. Then we went to Target and let him pick out a toy. Every time we let him pick out a toy he doesn’t take the decision lightly. He walks up and down every aisle of the toy section and evaluates each thing to decide what he wants until he finds just the perfect item. And just as he does every time, he spotted a toy that he thought Caleb would like and asked if we could get it for him. He loves his brother so much and it makes my heart melt that he thinks of making him happy even when Caleb is not around.

By the time we got home Caleb was asleep. We have to give another Chemo dose in the morning so tomorrow will probably call for another lazy day around the apartment. Hopefully it will stop raining so the kids can get a little outside play time though. It’s very hard for them to stay inside all day!

I knew it would be hard emotionally when Christmas came this year, but having the tree up is definitely making me a little more happy. The boys are excited and seeing their joy when talking about Santa or Christmas keeps me going. I can’t believe it’s only 10 days away!!!