A day of Disney at The Magic Kingdom!

On Thursday, we were able to go to The Magic Kingdom, thanks to our neighbor's ex-hubby who lives here and works for Disney.  How amazing to have such wonderful people in our lives offering to share their resources to enable us to enjoy the Disney experience!!  Thank you SO much, T and G!!!  T met us at the gate and got me, Tom, Sasha and Nathan in for free!  How wonderful!  I gave him a HUGE hug and thanked him over and over again.  Then he took me to the stroller rental and got us a double-wide stroller to rent for the day.  We rented Tom a wheelchair, which Sasha pushed around in the morning.  We had to leave around 12:45pm to get the boys home for naps.  When we returned to the park around 3:30pm, we upgraded Tom to a motorized scooter.

On the Monorail headed into Magic Kingdom

It was a long day, but full of fun and adventure!  Thank goodness my sister Sasha was able to be here with us, she was a HUGE help to me with Nathan and Tom.  Nate loves his Auntie and it's so cute how he says (sometimes yells-for) "Sasha!"  We stayed late at the park to watch the Electrical Parade.  It got chilly once the sun set, down to about 54 degrees.  Earlier in the day, Nate, me and Sasha got new Disney zip-up sweatshirts (Tom had his Badgers sweatshirt on), and Tom got new Mickey Mouse pj pants to go under his shorts to cover his legs.  Who can't use more pj pants, though!

A few minutes after we arrived, a parade was just beginning, and WOW what a great way to start the day of fun and adventure!  Nathan LOVED the parade, got to meet and dance with Jessie and Woody from Toy Story (Jessie is his secret girlfriend), and he even got a big awesome balloon!

dancing in the parade fun!  (Nathan kept saying "find Jess, find Jess")

WOODY!

JESSIE!

holding tight onto his balloon

We then headed right for Toon Town where Nathan got to see Minnie's house and Mickey's house.  He thought it was neat to see Mickey's bed where he goes nite-nite.

I tried to stand in line with Nathan to meet Mickey Mouse after touring his house, but Nathan got antsy and tried to line-hop, so I had to just exit.  Mickey would be there till 7:30pm, and I knew we'd be back. Sadly, when we did come back in the afternoon, we didn't get over hear Mickey's house again :(

Just outside Mickey's house was a little playground.  Nathan thoroughly enjoyed running around playing, going up and down the slide.  He would slide down, and say to me "Go again!" and he climbed right back up the stairs to slide down again.

Such a ham!  He had so much fun, he didn't want to leave the playground.  Literally, threw a fit, but the train was leaving, Daddy was hurting, and we needed to get back for naps, so off we went....


In the afternoon, we checked out all the cool stuff in Tomorrow Land.

attempt at a self portrait of us, but I kept cutting my head off.  oh well, Nate's the cute one! :)

Nathan and I rode on Buzz Lightyears ride.  We had to shoot at the "Z's" to fight off Evil Emperor Zurg.

Nathan sat mesmerized the whole time.  He LOVED it!

After the ride, we went outside and met Buzz Lightyear!

I realized Nathan had a shoe missing, but we found it!  Someone had turned it in at the end of the ride, and the ride operator had it in drawer.  I was so relieved to have gotten his Mickey Mouse Croc back!  The shoes won't fit him next summer, but they still fit now, and he's worn them all about the resort.  So glad to NOT have lost ANYTHING at the park! 

This was the end of the morning when Nathan was so tired and we headed back to the resort for naps.  I carried him in my Beco carrier on the front and draped the Mickey Mouse blanket I had made him a long time ago over his to keep the cool air off his legs, and cover his head from the sun. He was cozy and safe! :)  Tom had picked out a neat vintage Mickey Mouse hat to wear.  It is pretty awesome and Nathan loves that Mickey is on Daddy's hat.

Schwandt Family 1-27-2011

The Electrical Parade

As I mentioned earlier, we stayed till the evening to watch the Electrical Parade, and it was awesome!  It did get quite chilly out, for Florida weather, but Tom felt the cold the most.  I think because he's lost so much weight and muscle, his body temperature has a more difficult time adjusting and keeping him warm.  We snuggled him up the best we could, and he trooped through (anxiously) to the end of the parade.  I had wanted to stay for the fireworks, but they wouldn't start for another 30mins after the parade, Nathan was tired, Tom was freezing, so we just headed out of the park.  We did see some of the fireworks as we drove through the resort back to our condo though.

I had to get Nathan a big huge sucker!

Rox-N-Tom

Tom and Sasha 

(sorry for bad pic quality, I forgot I had my camera set up for the night shots with lights of the parade)

Nathan's favorite - he called is a "saur" (aka dinosaur)

All in all, we had a really fun Disney experience!  Even though we only made it through one-third of the whole park, it was well worth the time, energy and trip.  We are SO very grateful to T for meeting us there to get us in the gates completely free of charge!  It allowed us to spend Christmas money gifts on special souvenirs of our trip.

Much Love,

Roxanne:)

Fun in the Sun, part 1

On Wednesday afternoon we rented a Cabana over at River Island (part of the resort we are staying at).  The pool area is a gigantic lazy river with larger outlets of 'pool' area.  Nathan didn't mind getting in the water with me until we went under one of the walk-way bridges and there was no 'safe' place to pass under  to miss the water falling from the spouts.  He didn't like that very much, but I told him we had to catch up to Daddy (who had started out ahead of us), so he kept saying "find dada, find dada" in a desperate tone of whining :)   About 3 or 4 bridges of falling water later, we caught up to Daddy.  It was fun and refreshing to get in the water, but we didn't go for another lazy river ride.  Tom and Sasha hangout in the hot tub for a bit while Nathan napped on me in a lounge chair.  After a short nap, we got dressed, hung out by the cabana, had snacks and Nathan had fun finding little nuts on the ground.  Here are some beautiful pictures to enjoy!

 Picking up nuts

 Checking out the nuts

 Look! nuts!

Love,
Roxanne:)

Hello from FLORIDA!

We made it! We're here!  There's NO snow, NO salt, NO dirty cars, NO cold, NO jackets, NO long pants....Just sunny, breezy, the smell of fresh cut grass, drive with the windows rolled down, feel the breeze coming in the patio screen door, and lots of relaxing!

It was a long trip here, though.  Nathan's first pane ride, and Tom's neck still being quite sore and painful for him made for a long plane ride from Detroit to Orlando.  Nathan did get his first set of wings though! I had to ask a pilot, but whatever...I wanted to make sure he had that for his memory book.

I'm laughing right now cuz Nathan is having fun walking behind the sheer patio curtain and walking out from it with the curtain sweeping over his head.

Anyways, I couldn't get to my camera because I had packed it days before and it ended up in the bottom of my diaper bag (backpack).  I did manage to get a pic of Nathan in Detroit checking out the airplanes.  He was saying "Oh! Plane!" with excitement.  So cute!  He did do very well with take off and landing, no crying or screaming due to the pressure or any sounds or turbulence in air or anything.  Of course he did have some miss-directed behavior in flight because he was so tired, we hadn't gotten to really eat much for lunch between landing and taking off in Detroit, so all that added up to a little 2 yr old who had never taken such a long trip and had pent up energy to expel.... 'nuf said, right mums and pops?.

We were able to get Tom a wheelchair at Orlando.  It was quite the distance to get from our gate, to baggage claim (we ended up checking our two carry-on roller luggage because it proved to be just TOO much to deal with having a toddler and Tom's condition).  So anyways, the boy who pushed Tom was a great help, and so nice!  Plus, he knew exactly where to go so we didn't have to figure out how to navigate an unfamiliar airport full of wall-to-wall travelers.

It seemed like forever to get the rental car and everything situated.  Then when we finally found our way to the resort, it took forever to check in.  We were all just tired and wanted to get settled already!  So once we did get into our villa, Nathan immediately found it fun to open all the kitchen cupboards and found himself a little hiding spot.

Again, sorry for the poor picture quality, all I had was my phone at the time.

Today after breakfast, we hit up Super Target for groceries, planned our week of meals, Nate took a good long nap, had lunch, then we went and checked out the resort.  Nathan automatically loved the arcade (such a boy), which led us out to the walk-in pool area.  Beautiful!  There are cabana's you can rent for the day with comfy furniture, a mini fridge, cabinet/counter top area and even a television.  Who would have thought!  We will be renting a cabana over at another pool over by the lazy river (hopefully) tomorrow.  We drove around the entire resort which is 4.5 square miles.  HUGE!  This is, by far, the largest resort I have ever been too.  As a child, my sisters and I grew up going to many different resorts thanks to my parent's time shares that they own.

Well, dinner is in the oven, Nathan and Auntie Sasha are playing "cool" (Tom's iPod).  Really, Nathan is showing Sasha how to work it showing off his skills playing a monkey game for 3 year olds.  ha!  Tom's relaxing in a comfy chair, which he wishes was a rocking chair, of course! ;)

I will take pictures on my real camera tomorrow to share with you all.

Warmly,
Roxanne:)

Getting Ready for WARM!!!

Less than 2 days away and we will be heading to sunny warm Florida!  We are so excited for this family vacation!  Packing has already begun and will continue after the Packers beat the Bears on Sunday.

It's been so cold here these last few days and more snow has fallen adding to the frigid temps.  It's comforting to just think about somewhere warm!

Another thing that is so comforting is the angel I met, sent from God.  The evening of the last big snow fall we had last week, there was a knock-knock on our door.  I opened the door to find a young boy, about 11 or 12 with a shovel asking if we needed our driveway shoveled.  I declined telling him my father-in-law was coming in the morning.  The boy looked at me, and turned away, seemingly disappointed.  I said out to him, "I'm so sorry, I just don't have any money to pay you. I have nothing...."  He turned back around and said "I'll do it for free" as a question invitation to have something to do.  How could I say no?  "Of course, thank you SO much," I replied to him and he went right to work.  Shoveled the whole driveway all by himself.  I searched my cupboards for hot cocoa to make him to keep him warm, but could not find anything.  I was so grateful, and wanted to show my appreciation, but literally had no penny in my pocket or cocoa in my cupboard.  He conclude and knocked on the door to let me know.  I thanked him with a huge heart, said I couldn't find any cocoa to show my gratitude, and explained that my husband is very sick with cancer and cannot do this kind of work, and I really appreciated his help to clear the snow from our driveway, and gave him a huge hug.  What an angel!

Now this morning (Saturday), as I was preparing to make some breakfast for Nathan, there's a knock-knock on my door.  I wasn't expecting anyone and if it's Papa (Tom's dad), he just comes in.  It was this little angel boy's little brother, holding a shovel, asked if we needed the snow shoveled off our driveway.  I hadn't even noticed it snowed last night.  I told him thank you, but no, we don't this time.  A few minutes later, another knock on the door.  It was angel boy.  I thanked him for stopping by, but he didn't need to shovel.  He said he wanted to know how my husband was doing.  He put in a prayer request at his church.  I remember him asking "Is he better?"  I said, "Oh, thank you SO much for the prayers" and explained how serious Tom's cancer is, as Nathan came to stand next to me, and I said, "and he is our little miracle."   The angel boy asked for my husband's name so he can put in more prayers.  What a sweetheart!!  It's not everyday a young child comes to do you a favor, and then on top of that thinks of you to ask for prayers for a complete stranger, and comes back another day to see how you are doing!  I truly feel touched by an angel sent by God!  How amazing!

I know, I need to get angel boy's name if he stops over again.  But if we get snow while we are gone in Florida, we won't be home to answer the door.  Speaking of Florida, my feet are cold.  Hmmm they won't be cold like this next week, I don't think.  Ok, warm again.

I need to get to bed, but keep posted next week here on the blog because I will post updates on our trip and upload pictures as well.

Thank you everyone, for all of your love, support and continued prayers.  Tom has been quite under the weather the last few days, more than before, but I was able to pick up his meds from the pharmacy today, so hopefully the pain will be managed better tonight for him to get some sleep.

Love,
Roxanne

What's new?

Not much is new here.  Still same ol' same ol'.  Well, other than Nathan really learning new words and phrases.  Some of his favorites are "Nope" with an emphasis on the "p".  He thinks it's funny when I ask him random things and he just keeps saying "Nope".  It's sure to bring on that laughter that we love so much!  He also is learning to say his own name.  I ask him, "Nathan, what's your name?"  He'll look at me, and I help him to say it (sometimes).  He just says the "than" part, which sounds like "thin".  Oh yes, he knows "me" and "mine" and uses it regularly.  At 25 months now, he sure is quite the character!

Yes, he thinks he can put his feet up on the table when he's done eating.  Yes, I explain every time that we do not put our feet on the table.  Yes, he giggles and puts them further up on the table.  Little stinker!

Tom is still struggling with pain, on a daily basis.  Since I fell carrying laundry downstairs on Saturday, we've both been to the chiro 3x this week and both of us are feeling much better!  Although, keep in mind Tom's continuing pain is also due to the enlarged lymph nodes in his body.  Tom's been sleeping better at night as a result of the chiro adjustments, so that is a relief.  He's had quite a few visitors coming over to watch football games, and visit and just hang out.  His friend Jeremy picked Tom up the other night after work, and they played a few games of pool on Jeremy's new pool table.  Tom was tuckered when he got home, but he had a fun time, and I'm so glad he got to go do something fun.  J came over and watched football last weekend, too.  It means so much just to have someone for Tom to visit with, other than Nathan and myself.  I think he's going to his friend Greg's for the Packer game this weekend.

Have you seen the tie shirt I made for Nathan with this cool Alexander Henry skull print?

Well, Tom thought it was so cool, he requested one.  Since Tom's been loosing so much weight, I wasn't sure if he wanted a L or XL shirt, so I came home from the store with both just to make sure.  How perfect, because Tom took the L and I made a matching one in XL for Papa!  How flipping adorable are these Schwandt boys?!

So I had to post both pictures because it's just too funny how Nathan 'smiles'.  He sure takes after his Auntie Suzie with goofy smiling faces when he is in front of the camera!  Nathan really thought it was pretty cool Daddy and Papa had shirts just like his.  He loved every minute of it!

Florida, here we come!
We are getting really excited about our upcoming trip to Florida!  I reserved the rental car online.  I found I had 20,000+ miles left on my old NWA worldperks account, so I was able to redeem some of those points for National car rental gift certificates, and just for fun I redeemed more points for a Sephora gift card for me to indulge in something fun.  I haven't yet redeemed Sephora yet, but I will sometime.

I'll post more about our preparations getting ready for Florida in another post before we leave.

Thank you, again, everyone for your support, your kind words, your prayers, everything.  We really appreciate all your love SO much!  It's not easy, but we are finding something fun about every day we have together.  It's all about making memories.

Luv & Hugs,
Roxanne

Truths

Truth is....

This is tough.
This sucks.
I hate this.


Truth is...

I wish I could take it all away.
I wish he didn't have to take so many meds just to get through the day.
I wish there was a cure.
I wish Nathan knew.
I wish.


Truth is...
I am human.
I can be jealous.
I can be short-mannered.
I can be stressed.
I can be upset.
I can be sad.
I can.


Truth is...

Tonight a friend sent me a message.
A message sent from God to remind me...

To remind me to be humble.
To remind me others are in pain, too.
To remind me I'm not alone.
To remind me it's ok.
To remind me people care.
To remind me a friend can be someone you've never even met.


Thank you, God.
Thank you, Tom.
Thank you, Nathan.
Thank you, friend.

A moment in time

The past week has been difficult.  Tom started the Temodar chemo pills last week.  The 3rd day in he got sick, then the next 2 days no vomiting, just the dry heaves, which I think is even worse.  Today he is 3 days out from the last dose and starting to do a little better.  The vivid dreams keep him awake at night so much so that he doesn't feel like he got any sleep, so he naps periodically throughout the day, then again at night, he can't sleep.  He moves from his bed, to the couch, to his recliner trying to get comfortable.  I hate it for him.  He and his dad talked about going to walk the mall or wal-mart just for something to do.  I need to get them to actually go do this now.  Tom is so bored, and I think that is why he cat naps all day long, there's nothing else to do.  The only time the x-box has ever been on is for Nathan's requests to watch Toy Story 3 or Elmo.

It seems as time stands still sometimes, but at the same time passes by at lightening speed.  Will we ever find a happy medium?

Nathan has been having a lot of fun playing with all his new birthday and Christmas toys.  We go from building wooden blocks, to building mega blocks, the geo-track train, eat a snack, run errands, take a nap, do laundry, play drums, lunch, play more blocks, throw Woody and Buzz around, get a time out, take another nap (perhaps), wrestle, play hide-n-seek, play blocks, take a bath, read books and go to bed.    Then! Finally! Mommy gets to work on Snuggli Bebe / rDesignStudio / My Pure Body Naturals, Facebook, blogging, flip laundry, empty the dishwasher, take out the trash, make sure Tom took his pills (happens throughout the day as well), listen to shows I DVR'd as I work on the computer, talk to friends on Facebook, and then get to bed by 1am.

I did manage to get in some sewing therapy today!  I found this awesome tutorial on how to make a padded zippered laptop sleeve.  I've been wanting one of these and what better way than to make it!

I also made us each a travel pillow to bring on our Florida trip.  Tom's is WI Badgers with soft black minky on the back.  Nathan's is Groovy Guitars with soft aqua minky on the back, and mine is an Alexander Henry print I can't remember the name of, but I love the big huge modern flowers (and it matches my laptop sleeve).  I added soft black minky to the back of my pillow.  The ribbon loops on Nathan's are for fun and function, like the two on each of Tom's and my pillow.  I put them there so we can hook the pillows to our luggage to carry through the airport, so we don't have to hold them and drop them, etc...  I know, so thoughtful of me:)

I really enjoyed sewing something super fun and something for ME/US today instead of orders.  I did design a new cloth diaper for Snuggli Bebe called "The Daddy Dipe" cuz it's so easy, even Daddy can do it!  :)  I listed them for sale and marketed them last night, and both sold immediately, with two pre-orders!  That made my night last night!

{THANK YOU ALL}
I just want to take this moment to THANK everyone for your outpouring of love, support, prayers, generosity, and for all of the encouragement.  It really means SO much, I cannot even put into words.  We love you all, and Thank You All!

Warmly,
Roxanne