Thursday, May 24, 2012

Milestone for Bea

I just put Bea on the bus for her last day of kindergarden. This is a huge day for every child - both the first and last day of their first year at official gradeschool. But, for Bea, this is especially significant that she has survived and is healthy through her last day of school.

To her it's a special day of popcorn and movies and a water balloon fight is waiting for her at the bus stop when she gets home. For me, it's one stop in a monumental journey that shows me just how strong a little person she is.

Keep going, Bea. You're living an amazing life.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Bea the Designer!

Beatrice has taken a liking to design lately. Funny how a parent's work can have such an influence. Even as a 6-year-old she understands the difference between design and art. She knows what an icon is and how it's different from a drawing. Every day she amazes me with just how darn smart she is.

So, just like I did back in January with selling Bea's art I thought about how to can Bea do design for sale? I'd heard about a site called Zazzle, checked it out and decided that it provided exactly what we needed. An easy way to design product with Bea's artwork (and mine, too!)

So, Beatrice and I have worked on some lovely product designs to sell on http://www.zazzle.com/craftygraphics. The sale of each will garner us a royalty. Clicking on any of the ad banners in this blog (to the right) can also garner a 15% royalty for us if a sale results. The goal of any profits we make is to help pay for amazing activities for Bea and the family this summer and fall. These activities include local trips to Savannah, St. Simon and Chattanooga.

We are also planning to use sales from this Zazzle shop to help pay for a new back garden. We have some money saved but it's not quite enough to make it happen. Our yard is a wreck and the hope is to give Bea as much outdoor time as possible to keep her strong and healthy. And, Bea would like her own garden to plan flowers and vegetables, too.


See other gifts available on Zazzle.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Third Time Around

Bea had her third treatment as Pittsburgh last Monday. Her tolerance for the vaccine was great on the day and she's had no noticable bruising at the injection site. Considering how deep this injection is the fact that she doesn't get a big bruise is pretty amazing. But, this time around Bea has complained about bad headaches. She was fine the day after but she has had a headache every day since. She hasn't had a headache in weeks and weeks. Tylenol gets rid of it quickly but I still don't like that she's getting them.

There are all kinds of reasons outside of the vaccine for her headaches right now. Bea has a cold and heavy cough and the cough bothers her head. It's getting hot in Georgia and she forgets to drink, especially at school. She had a class trip at a local nature center and then a field day last week. Not on the same day but back to back. I know she didn't drink as much as she should have because she never does. But, the headaches are a still cause for concern. I can't talk myself out of knowing that it could be the vaccine. That wouldn't be responsible.

The headaches can be a sign that the vaccine is causing swelling in her brain. There can are additional symptoms similar to what happened to her in December. I haven't seen them but am keeping watch for them. That has made life a bit more stressful over the past week but these are the ups and downs I'd been warned about. Day in and day out, week in and week out and month in and month out I'm riding them as best I can. My goal is to hit that ride into year in and year out.