Make A Wish Ball

To celebrate our five year anniversary this year (time flies when you are having fun!) Ari and I decided to go to the Make A Wish Ball. Our friends Sarah and Brian made the trip up from Kentucky to join us. This charity is certainly near and dear to my heart because nearly all my patients are able to have a wish granted. This was just a small contribution towards endless trips to Disney World, hot tubs, and any other creative thing these wonderful kids can think of!

The night started out a little rough. We asked Sam, our babysitter, to come an hour before we planned to leave so that we could get dressed in our formal attire without having to entertain our little bear and to avoid a spill or sticky finger incident. Claire was not pleased with this plan. She sobbed and sobbed, I think because she could hear our voices. It was heartbreaking. We rushed and finally got out the door.

The ball, which was black tie optional, certainly attracted an eclectic group of people. I was most surprised by the lack of formal attire by the women. Most men wore either tuxes or dark suits and there were only a handful of women in long gowns. Maybe I am old fashioned, but I certainly equate formality with a long dress. Either way Sarah and I rocked our gowns! During the cocktail hour, a silent auction was held. We had our eye on a couple of things: rounds of golf and a gourmet dinner at a nearby country club was one of them. When they tried to usher everyone to dinner, we wrote one last bid and won!! Yeah golf and food!! During dinner, it was a pleasure to sit by the mom and grandfather of one of the patients I cared for last year. Then while we ate a family told their story about their daughter's journey with cancer and a bone marrow transplant, all while pictures of patients flashed up on the screen with their wish. It was very emotional for me because I knew nearly every smiling face and where their journey, either good or bad, was heading. Things then heated up with a live auction. I have never seen a live auction before but wow was it entertaining! The auctioneer was so dynamic, everyone was having a great time, and the foundation was making a ton of money. Soon the night was over and we headed home looking forward to our golf outing!

Tiara

So picking up where the last post left off, you will recall that Claire does not tolerate anything in her hair or even near her head. However, a couple of weeks ago she kept pointing to a tiara that Marine had left her (we miss you Marine!). We took it out and put it on Claire's head. We couldn't believe she tolerated it so we grabbed a camera and shot a few quick pics. You can probably tell by all the different faces that our Claire Bear certainly has quite a personality! Here's to you Princess of Adorableness!! (That's Grandpa Pope's nickname for her)

Claire's First Haircut

So the pony tails did not last long. Claire tolerated them for about a month and then would start pulling them out and I could hardly even get a brush through her hair. I told Ari that she would have to get a trim with some bangs so her hair would stop falling in her eyes. He was NOT happy. He certainly didn't want his little girl to get a hair cut but he understood my point. To make the issue even clearer, Claire got bilateral eye infections that would not go away because her hair was always in her eyes. So a few Saturdays ago we took Claire to Cookie Cutters. At first, she was okay sitting in the little car and watching a movie. As soon as a stranger walked near her and started touching her head, she was in tears. Ari and I tried to soothe her with some toys and partially succeeded, but I think Ari nearly cried during the process! Regardless, our daughter can see again and now looks even more like a toddler and less like a baby!