We had a wonderful weekend with quality family time. It was hard to say goodbye and go separate ways, but at least we did so with Naomi in relatively good health and having great days.

My Grandmother, Nanny, flew in this weekend from Pennsylvania to stay here and help for the next few weeks. She hung out with Naomi for a few hours. It was so adorable that Naomi wanted her right beside the bed and they moved her chair to make that happen. Nanny and Lauryn stayed with Naomi, giving me time to be with Cait who is not allowed even near Naomi’s room. After a while, I joined Naomi and then Lauryn and Nanny went with Cait.

Naomi is still fantastic. Her appetite is not great but it was not prior to admission either. She grazes throughout the day and is keeping her team impressed enough that they have not put her on tpn yet. That could change in coming days since her protein needs are very high right now. Her doctor continues to be very happy with her condition.

Micayah, our hero, returned home this weekend and is seemingly back to himself. The hip pain was gone by Friday. His lingering issue was his sore windpipe from the intubation during his procedure. That was completely gone by Sunday and he was feeling just fine as he and his brother were wrestling like boys do.

Aaron and I have decided to register as blood donors and also with the bone marrow registry. If it were not for the generous gift of blood from strangers, Naomi would not be with us today. Also, seeing how selfless and dedicated Micayah was about being her donor, we want to be willing to help someone else, if we can.

Now that he is gone, I will miss the alone time I had with Micayah. This situation has given me a chance to spend some much-craved one-on-one time with some of my children. By the end of these months, I hope that each of them will get their own time with me.

Today, Day +4, Naomi ate 3 small meals, danced, played kickball with me, played computer games with Lauryn, played Risk with the boys, snuggled with Daddy, colored Valentine’s Day decorations for her bedroom windows, watched a movie and cuddled with Mommy, hung out with Nanny, got her yucky medicine changed to capsules (being cute definitely has its advantages!), and stayed up very late.

We feel very blessed to have things going as well as they are for her. I pray for speedy increase in blood counts and engraftment and for the next few weeks to go by quickly so that we can all be in the same room again. It was very difficult for both Niamh and Naomi to not be able to see each other this weekend. If Naomi’s counts start to improve before they come back next time, Naomi might be able to go out and see Niamh in the family room. We look forward to that day.