Stolen Moments

The day that Geli was scheduled to start this current phase of treatment, the oncology clinic was slammed with too any cases and to try to squeeze Geli in would have caused some issues and so they bumped her treatment for one day.

Jon called me that morning to let me know that they were kicking Geli out on a day pass. In about 5 minutes, we had decided to yank the kids from school and come in for the day.

The kids were SO excited to be going in to see Geli and Jon. Because the kids had been sick with coughs and colds, we’d not seen Jon or Geli in almost 2 weeks and it was tough on all of us.

We made it in to the hospital just after noon and Geli had until 4pm before she needed to be back at the hospital for her next dose of antibiotics. We went to Red Robin’s for lunch and after we headed down to Granville Island.

We went to the Kidzone area in Granville Island and the kids had a blast.

They LOVE the skeeball game……and Geli had fun showing/helping Siah to play.

I walked around holding the baby and snapping pictures and just enjoying my family enjoying each other.

There were lots of laughs and lots of smiles and the kids seemed genuinely happy to see each other. They all played SO well together.

Jon got the opportunity for some extra snuggles. It’s been extra hard with everything that’s going on because Jon has missed out on so much of Judah’s early days…..

The kids played and played and played some more….

And then counted up their tickets that they won. They pooled all the tickets together. Geli and Xandra let Jeremy get something with all their tickets. This was very generous of them.

Josiah found the dancing game and he didn’t even need the game turned on to bust a few moves…

He hasn’t quite grasped the concept of “playing” an actual game…he “thinks” he is playing the game, even with no tokens…

My Sweet Boy…..with the Frankenstein stitches in his head….AWESOME!

We made it back to the hospital in time and Geli got her drugs hooked up. After her drugs ran, she was headed out again to the Teen Group. The oncology department has a monthly teen event for the kids to be able to connect with other kids who are going through what they are going through and it’s been a good thing for Geli. She was unsure if she really wanted to go and was feeling a bit insecure, but she did go and had a GREAT TIME! (They went “glow-in-the-dark bowling and it was so cool!)

The kids and I stayed to hang out with Jon for an extra 2 hours…

We stopped at Safeway to pick up some food for dinner and headed to a nearby park. Judah screamed the whole way there. Just keeping it real for his dad….he HATES his car seat and does this just about every time he’s put in it.

The kids swung on tire swings….

….played on the toys….

……slept……

and Josiah climbed so high on the climbing toys and freaked us right out. That little boy is part Mountain Goat. He managed to scale the toys up and down multiple times without any issue and he was definitely higher than either Jon or I were comfortable with…and then……….. then he tripped over a piece of wood that was laying on the ground….how does that work out???

It started to get colder as the sun went down and I wrapped Judah up like a burrito….only it required two blankets as he’s so big….so I guess it was a REALLY BIG Burrito?!?

Pretty soon it was time to go home and the sadness set in along with the reality that we were going home and Daddy had to stay with Geli.

There were tears and hugs…..

and even kisses….

And we headed home. Our hearts a little fuller from a day spent together. A day that we did not expect to get and yet a day that was a gift. Those stolen moments are so precious and are the things that fuel you and help you to carry on when things seems so difficult and “off”.

You can see all the pics, if you want, here…..