It’s been a while since I posted about Sasha. If you read David‘s blog, you’ve read some updates lately, but if not, I’ll give you the condensed version. Over the past few months, we’ve basically been removing tumors as we find them. She’s had melanomas on her tongue and osteosarcomas under her skin removed. There was no sign of spread to her lymph nodes, lungs, or anywhere else, so we just kept removing tumors. It had been pretty much one at a time, but a couple of weeks ago she suddenly had an eruption of 7 all at once. Yesterday the vet removed 2 more, and one of them was deep and she thinks it may have gotten into her lymph system. We won’t know until we get the lab report back in a few more days. We of course have lots of questions about what exactly this means, but we’re waiting to ask them until we know for sure.

Sometimes I think, “I can’t stand this; I just wish I knew how long this was going to go on.” But really, when I think about it, I’m probably glad I don’t know. If our time with her is limited, would I really want to know a date and have it looming in the future and casting a dark shadow on our days with her? Absolutely not! I’m a planner, but this time, I need to take it one day at a time and cherish our Sasha and the blessing she is to our family.

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It’s time for me to take a few baby steps of my own. A while back I posted about becoming “greener” one step at a time so it’s not overwhelming, and how I was going to start using reusable shopping bags. I’ve been doing that for a while and I love it! The bags are SO much easier to handle than those plastic things. (And if you’re interested, read here about how to get a free reusable tote. They’re gone for this week, but you can try next Monday.) I almost always remember them at Wal-Mart and Kroger, occasionally remember them at Target and other stores, and have decided not to use them for now at Walgreens because I need every ounce of my concentration at the checkout in order get my free stuff or I’ll botch it up (but that’s another story.)

So what’s next? Two things. First, I need to reduce our paper towel usage. I’m used to using them to clean the bathroom mirrors and counters, but instead I need to build up a supply of rags and use those. (I cut up some of David’s old t-shirts for rags, but they do leave some lint on the mirror. Anyone know what works best?) I’ll still keep paper towels in the kitchen—sometimes you just need them, as when you need to soak up excess grease from meat or water from produce. But I think I can pretty much get rid of them in the bathrooms.

Second, I think we’ll try to go paperless with financial bills and statements. We already pay all our bills and make donations online or use automatic draft, so we’re not writing and mailing checks. But we still request paper statements, and when I do Quicken, I sit down with our stack of paper receipts and statements to enter and reconcile. It’s convenient. I’ve got my little method that works for me that I’ve been doing for 12 years. But I can sacrifice a little convenience and tweak my method a bit in order to save some trees (not to mention postage and gas).

So there you have it. What about you? What baby step are you going to take next to be a responsible steward of God’s earth?

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Anna isn’t quite walking, but she’s close! The past couple of days, she has dared to stand unassisted for several seconds, and this morning she actually took two or three quick steps before tumbling over. The look on her face is priceless—she’s so proud of herself! Isn’t it funny how babies just know when they’ve done something great?

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Well, I changed plans Sunday and made chicken rice casserole instead of chicken tacos, so we have leftovers from that for a couple of days. Here’s what’s cookin’ at the Felio house this week:

Monday: Chicken rice casserole, green beans, French bread

Tuesday: same

Wednesday: Sausage/potatoes/green beans skillet dish, salad, bread

Thursday: same

Friday: Pot roast w/ carrots and potatoes, homemade biscuits

Saturday: same

Sunday: same

Visit Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday to see what other folks are having this week!

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This is just too cute! Anna loves her bongo drums on loan from cousin Addie! (You may have to turn your volume up a little bit to hear it.)

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Due to Anna’s birthday party on Saturday, having houseguests for the weekend, Anna’s actual birthday yesterday, and knowing we have plenty of leftovers to get us through several days, I’m just now thinking about food for the week. The chicken, soup, and ham are already in the fridge so I don’t really have to cook until Friday!

Monday: Leftover fried chicken and biscuits, green beans

Tuesday: Vegetable beef soup, salad, cornbread

Wednesday: Grilled ham & cheese on sourdough, sweet potato wedges

Thursday: Vegetable beef soup, baked potatoes, French bread

Friday: Parmesan crusted chicken, green beans, salad

Saturday: Burgers (already made and frozen), potato wedges

Sunday: Chicken tacos, fruit, chips & homemade salsa

Visit Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday for more ideas.

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Well, this is it… the last in the series of month-birthday photo shoots and blog posts. Anna is 1 whole year old today! What a year it’s been. Yes, it has gone by just as fast as everybody said it would. From the moment we brought her home, I had this sense that “the clock is ticking” and her little baby stage was disappearing before my eyes. But even though the time has flown by, I can honestly say I have no regrets. I am incredibly blessed to be able to stay home with her and have spent most of my time with her. I’ve taken lots of pictures and have recorded her milestones and notable moments on my blog. We’ve gone on outings, read books, sung songs, played games, snuggled sweetly… and you know what? It still went by fast! There’s nothing you can do to stop the clock, so you just have to soak up as much as you can.

I think one of the most enjoyable things about Anna has been her wonderful smile. She smiled early, and from the time she was just a few weeks old, everyone said she was the smiliest (is that a word?) baby they’d ever seen. She would flash smiles at friends and strangers alike—anyone who would make eye contact with her. She’s such a joy!

Here are a few pictures from today. The first few are from the library, where we went this morning for story time and play time.

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My baby girl is turning 1! We had her birthday party yesterday out at my parents’ house. My parents, David’s parents, my brother and his family, and Anna’s godparents and god-grandmother were all there. Anna was in a great mood and had plenty of those wonderful Anna-smiles to go around.

And thank you, Jenny, for letting us borrow your DSLR camera for the day!

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Monday: Baked ziti, green beans, French bread

Tuesday: same

Wednesday: Beef tacos, fresh fruit, chips & homemade salsa (see recipe below)

Thursday: same

Friday: Larry’s Pizza! Yea!!!

Saturday: Vegetable beef soup, baked potatoes, cornbread

Sunday: Chicken rice casserole, salad, green beans

Menu Plan Monday has a a guest host this week, so be sure to check it out.

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Recipe: Salsa (more…)

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Ahh, the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. When we went last year, I was one week away from giving birth to our sweet Anna, and I found myself looking ahead to this year as we would enjoy the festivities with our little girl. I envisioned a warm, sunny day; maybe little Anna could wear the green-and-white striped sundress and matching hat I had recently bought her; perhaps she would even be walking, toddling around in little sandals, the sunshine illuminating her golden curls…

… instead she looked like this:

Yep, it was a cold gray day, so we were all bundled up in layers. Weather issues aside, she’s not walking yet, that particular dress is still way too big, and she still doesn’t have much hair. But that’s ok. We had a great time and our little girl was absolutely wonderful. We manipulated her schedule a bit so she would take a nap before we went, and it worked—she was in a great mood the whole time! She seemed to enjoy watching everything and everybody and being with mommy and daddy.

Our friends the Allisons went with us. Here’s Emily with the youngest of their three daughters:

The Lyon College Pipe band:

Our friend and fellow musician Joe with his Irish Wolfhound:

Dancers from the O’Donovan School of Irish Dance:

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