When I first returned to work, a short time after Lily was born, I noticed that something was wrong. I had no energy. I couldn’t get my breath. I was always tired. Surely that could all be attributed to having a newborn, but I suspected that something else was up. After lots of testing, we figured out what was really going on.

November 21, 2005 was a fateful day. I found out that I had cancer that was caused by asbestos. The name of the condition was malignant pleural mesothelioma, and it occurred due to accidental asbestos exposure from my childhood. My tiredness and my breathlessness could be traced directly to that cause-I had been experiencing symptoms of mesothelioma.

At first, I couldn’t even think about myself. All I could see was my beloved husband and my new baby girl moving forward in their lives without me. If I did nothing, I would have 15 months to live. I thought about my family, and I was determined to beat this health problem. We opted for the most drastic treatment possible. My husband and I flew to Boston, where, on February 2nd, I underwent an extrapleural pneumonectomy. An entire lung was removed, and then, after 18 days in the hospital and 2 months of rest, I started up with chemotherapy and radiation.

My parents took Lily while we were in Boston, which was no small feat for two adults who were working full-time. Where they couldn’t watch Lily, their church group stepped in. Girls who I had babysat when I was a teen showed up at my parents’ door asking to look after Lily, and the whole time she was with them, my daughter was showered with love.

I always missed my baby girl, and in my darker moments, I thought about the parts of her life that I was missing. My parents emailed photos, and my husband printed them out so that I could see them. All my nurses wanted to see those adorable photos, and even if I got tearful from time to time, I appreciated the reminder of why I was fighting so hard.

No one said that it was going to be easy. Plenty of people marveled at my strength and how I fought every day to keep up my spirits. The truth of the matter is that no matter what is happening, life is so rich. I realized who my real village was that year, and since then, I call them my family.

Even when times were at their darkest, I knew that there was always something there to keep me moving forward.

To learn more about Mesothelioma, asbestos exposure and Heather Von St. James’ story, please visit Heather’s Blog.

Over the years, we have tried so many different things to help his symptoms which just pop up sporadically and inconsistently.  Here is what we have found to be some of the causes and also some of the solutions.

Causes of some of his skin irritations:

• Laying bare skin on rugs
• Certain laundry detergents
• Certain bath soaps
• Sitting in the bathtub water for too long
• Certain moisturizing lotions
• Most sunscreens
• Swimming, especially in chlorinated pools
• Winter coldness; lack of humidity in air
• Too much sun

Here are some of the solutions that we’ve found to work really well.  Keep in mind that these are things that we’ve come to find successful after years of trial and error with varying products and changes in our own treatment of the rash:

• We now only use Legacy of Clean SA8 Baby, which I can use in our high efficiency washer because it is low suds.  This has made a huge difference in his flare-ups.
• After swimming, we have him take a quick shower to rinse off chlorine & other skin irritants.
• Before he gets in the tub to take a bath we add Aveeno Active Naturals Soothing Bath Treatment which is an oatmeal based treatment.
• After trying dozens of bath soaps and body washes we now swear by Aveeno Active Naturals Fragrance Free Skin Relief Body Wash for his skin type.
• After every bath, before bed and also sometimes before school, we apply Aveeno Active Naturals Daily Moisturizing Lotion or Aveeno Eczema Therapy Moisturizing Cream.
• For sunscreen we have found the Trader Joe’s brands to be best:  Nourish Spray Sunscreen SPF50 and also Refresh SPF30 are the least irritating.

Again, we have tried most products that claim to be helpful for eczema and we really swear by Aveeno.  They have consistently done the BEST job at keeping his rashes away.

Coincidentally, an ad came on the TV just before the start of the school-year and my boys both called me into the family room to show me.  It was for the PackIt Freezable Lunch Bag.

I was skeptical.  It seemed impossible for a bag to be able to keep a lunch cold for “up to 10 hours”.  And by looking at the commercial it was tough to tell just how big the Packit really was.  So, I Tweeted about it.  A few Moms replied and said that they thought it was a really good size and kept things cold.

That night I ordered two.  My boys were very excited.  I was very curious.

My kids have been taking their Packit to school every single day now for 6 months.  I have to admit, I LOVE it.  Everything that I was worried about was squashed.

The Packit is able to hold all the food that I could normally not fit into a standard lunch box with plenty of room.  And yes, it actually stays cold all day long.  I typically pack their lunches around 8am and when they get home at 4:30pm whatever is left is still cold!  No more throwing away the things that they didn’t eat or drink.  I just put them back in the refrigerator for the next day…yogurts, milk, etc.

I clean them out with Lysol wipes, wipe the exterior down once in a while and the Packits have yet to show any signs of falling apart.

The only thing I’ve noticed wearing is the Velcro-type closing mechanism.  It still holds shut but not as strongly as six months ago.

I would highly recommend the PackItto any Mom.  I’ve been super happy with ours and would definitely buy them again if I ever even have to.

We made hotel reservations at the John Carver Inn right in downtown Plymouth.  We chose this hotel because it boasts

John Carver Inn

an indoor theme pool and 80-foot water slide which is right up my boys’ alley!  My boys are 7 & 8 years old, so this was the perfect entertainment for them.  They would have spent hours in this indoor pool area if we didn’t drag them away to eat and tour Plymouth further.

The John Carver Inn has a restaurant called the Hearth ‘n Kettle on location.  The food is ok but what we loved was that the John Carver Inn included vouchers in our vacation package that gave us $40 off of our dinner bill.  We also enjoyed the pool room (as in billiards), the arcade with many “The Claw” machines and an air hockey table that we played several times.  There is a small weight / exercise room near the swimming pool area, with just a few machines and weights.  The Inn had a gift shop and also a spa.  The one thing I was disappointed about was that they don’t have a laundry room.  Some rooms include internet and some do not.  We were also able to play video games in our room for $6.95/hour…which seems to be a typical price.

We started our tour with Plymouth Rock itself.  As you probably know, Plymouth Mass is quite historical.  There are several books out there relaying the history of Plymouth and Plymouth Rock such as Who’s That Stepping on Plymouth Rock? and also On Plymouth Rock which both tell the history behind the Pilgrims, Plymouth Rock and the first Thanksgiving.

Plymouth Rock

My boys were mildly disappointed that they couldn’t actually touch or climb on the famous rock as it is behind a fence and down lower than the ground level where you stand.

We then walked over to the Mayflower II which is a full-scale reproduction of the original

Mayflower II

Mayflower.  We visited on a very chilly and windy day, just a few weeks before the full tourist area was available to us.  The Mayflower II begins offering tours during mid-March where you can actually climb aboard and experience what the cramped quarters were like in that voyage of 1620.  You can also read more about this voyage in a wonderful and educational book titled Mayflower 1620: A New Look at a Pilgrim Voyage.

Our next visit was to the Pilgrim Hall Museum.  I have to admit, I was pulled into that time as we worked our way through the museum on a scavenger hunt for various artifacts with a difficulty level geared towards each of their school grades.  I was fascinated with what these people all went through, as were my children.  The facts of the voyage are incredible.  It took 66 days for the voyage in a ship that only traveled 2.1 miles per hour.  There was no privacy.  The food and beverages were scarce except for beer which even the children drank.  There were pregnant women aboard as well.  Just amazing.

We ended our museum tour in an area of the museum where they were doing crafts and various activities that my kids loved.  As one wrote with a quill pen the other was making an old fashioned story book.  They had dream catcher stations and an area to make Wampum beads which the Indians used as money.  The museum admission was inexpensive and the kids got to leave with a memento from that era.

All and all, I would do it again but in warmer months.  We all had a blast!

Have you been yet?

I truly enjoy researching all sorts of ideas for including my kids in all of my gardening…from veggies and fruit trees to flowers, trees and shrubs.  One particular site that I love to read articles from is OrganicGardening.com.  There is a great article about Gardening With Kids.  If you are looking for detailed tips on how to create a child-sized garden and what plants to choose for you child whether you prefer flowers or veggies, take a peak at Gardening With Kids.

It’s always exciting to see what your hard work turns into as spring turns into summer and things start to mature.  Adding other interesting things into the mix is always a great way to make it exciting for kids.  A garden for children can include all sorts of things that they can create.  Let them paint rocks to place in the gardens.  Or make some stepping stones with their names and dates in them. The ideas are endless.

Whatever you choose, make it fun. And please let me know what your gardening ideas are for your family.

For more information, check out  Gardening with Your Kids.

I also thought I would include some really cute and highly rated tools for gardening with your kids..

• Toysmith 2296 Kid’s 3-Piece Garden Tool Set

• KID’S GARDENING GLOVES (Small) by Toysmith

• Toysmith Garden Tote With Tools – Toysmith 2284

• Toysmith Kid’s Big Tool Set # 2299

We typically don’t travel during school vacation weeks because of the often extremely high cost.  However, this year we will be driving to Plymouth, MA for a couple of days to visit “the rock”.  We chose Plymouth mostly because we found a somewhat inexpensive hotel that has an indoor waterslide.  My boys are HUGE fans of anything water related and here in New England we are months away from being able to jump into any water outdoors.

I love to hear other great ideas, especially being on a budget.  Where are you going?

We started off attempting to not stereotype by just buying our boys all “boy’s” things as gifts.  They had a play kitchen, they had an Easy Bake Oven, they had a Beauty & the Beast DVD and things like that.  I have come to the realization that being a boy and being a girl is just inherent.

We were careful about TV programs and what they were exposed to, but this never stopped them from making a gun out of any object that they picked up.  It also never stopped them from wrestling either.  At this point I’m not even sure what I would do with a girl because it has been 8 years of BOY in our home.

I compiled a list of the things that make me think of my boys and often wonder if girls have some of the same qualities.  My boys…

1. Enjoy all noises that sound like gas, laughing hysterically until I threaten them
2. Enjoy inflicting pain to one another, but are then best friends 3 minutes later
3. Can create a gun out of any grouping of objects much like MacGyver
4. Inherently know how to perform a diving elbow drop off of the furniture without ever watching wresting on TV
5. Enjoy running around naked
6. Never come clean no matter how hard we try to bath the dirt off of them
7. Did I mention they like to wrestle until often times blood is drawn?

My husband and I are in the midst of a lengthy adoption process with no “prerequisites” so we may be adopting a girl or we may be adopting a boy….time will tell.   So, my question to you is….are girls just as gross and messy as boys?  I’d love to hear from you.

Also, for more stories of the life with boys, visit a Kidz Comfort favorite…

Life With 4 Boys Blog

As my own children are growing, we’ve been slowly adding little traditions into our lives as well.  We make a dinner of all of our favorite foods on Christmas Eve each year.  On New Year’s Eve we put a folding table in our family room and load it with all of our favorite snacks and we play Wii Sports and other games all night long until the ball drops.

Our traditions are not all centered around holidays though.  The kids have come up with a few traditions of their own.  They have named the first Saturday or October as “Role-Switching Day”.  The kids play the parents and the parents play the kids on this Saturday.  It has been pretty funny so far.

I’d love to hear your family traditions, not only around the holidays, but all year long.  Don’t be shy, let’s hear them all…..

My kids tend to like their veggies uncooked, so that is the way I serve them most of the time.  I also add a fruit to their lunch bags and to the dinner table.  I am lucky that my kids do like many fruits and veggies.  But, not every child is so accepting.

I recently came across this great article about hiding veggies in your kids’ meals.  I LOVE it.  I’ve done it a few times, but love the great ideas at ParentDish.com.  To think that adding just a few pureed veggies to your typical meal could lower their calorie intake and almost doubled their total vegetable intake!  That is fantastic!

I have added fruits to various things as well, such as mashed banana to boxed muffin mix.  Simple things like this can make your kids’ eating habits a little healthier.  What are some things that you do to add veggies and fruits to your child’s diet?  I’d love to hear your stories and perhaps other parents can get a great tip from you too.