In Spite of it all...

...she continues to smile. Ash woke up this morning wearing this smile and she has kept it on the entire day. In spite of feeling yucky from her nausea and vomiting she continues to share the joy the Father built into her spirit. I love this baby!

I really hoped she would avoid the nausea this last round. It usually begins late into Sunday evening or by Monday morning. It never showed up yesterday so I was secretly wishing it wouldn't. First thing this morning it began and has yet to stop. I called her therapist and gave her the option of coming over to play with this happy(yet messy) baby. Ms. Sue declined our invitation for today but re-scheduled for tomorrow. Ash generally goes for about 36 hours before the nausea passes. I think she will be fine by tomorrow afternoon. Our sweet Ashley has no idea what Ms. Sue has in store for her. She is bringing a pediatric stander over so we can strap my sweet Ashley into it and begin showing her what those little legs were made for. Poor Ash is going to think we are torturing her. Thankfully I will be the only one home. If her daddy or Blake or Allie were here they would be quick to rescue her from whatever was making her uncomfortable. Mommy is always the bad guy when it comes to therapy.

Ash will also receive her monthly cytogam infusion tomorrow. Only 3 more to go. I can't believe we are so close to winding up her first year post transplant. We are getting closer to having her central line removed. I won't know what to do without it. Ash has had a central line since she was 11 days old. She will actually be able to take a bath once it is gone. The down side of having it removed is that her weekly labs will have to be sticks and when she is hospitalized she will require an IV, but she will be at less risk for infection once it is gone. There are so many changes coming up for our sweet Ashley Kate and with each one she gets closer and closer to living a more "normal" life. I 'm not sure if we will ever have an Ashley without any bells and whistles, but I don't mind. We are just thankful to have her.

On a side not I will share with you that allowing Ash to play with the remote last night was not such a good idea. Her dad was right. This morning the first thing she grabbed was the remote. I had no idea she was going to begin vomiting first thing or I might have seen it coming. Since I didn't she covered the remote along with its "hundreds" of buttons with her first "offerings". I moved as quickly as I could trying to grab something to clean her up with,but by the time I had a towel ready she had "offered" 5 helpings onto and into the remote. Needless to say it is shot. When I tried to use it this evening the remote caused the TV to go berserk and I have no idea how to fix what we have broken. Babies, remotes, and vomit just don't mix. Lesson learned. Sorry Dave!

All in all it has been a good day. In spite of all the messes we have laughed and played all day long. She is starting to get a little fussy and looks as though she is ready to be rocked to sleep. I love this part of the day as she begins to wind down. What a blessing it is to be her mommy. Thank you for coming to her story today and for praying for our pickle. We are praying that this will be the last week she has to endure the side effects of chemotherapy. Hang on Ash, your almost there. Good night guys and God bless. Trish