Friday Things #470

Happy Friday, friends! I hope you are well and excited for a new Friday Things!

1. Dominic had a very busy couple of weeks! Two weeks ago, he had his “wish” granted through Make-a-Wish. His wish was to meet Sidney Crosby… he (and three other boys) was signed to a one-day contract with the Penguins, had breakfast in the team lounge with the team, watched practice, and then was able to take the ice with the team and spent a lot of time playing, passing, and shooting with the players. He was given his own locker stall, a custom jersey, and then a chance to sit and chat with Sidney Crosby.

He was on cloud nine for daysssssss. The following evening, the Penguins hosted our family and the other three families at the game and it was such a fun time!

I truly cannot say enough wonderful things about everyone that we met from Make-a-Wish, the Penguins, the Penguins Foundation… every single person, player, coach, manager, literally everyone was so incredibly nice, so kind to Dominic, so gracious, just a really, really wonderful experience for our entire family. You can see more photos and a video on my Instagram post 😊

2. Then last week, Dominic spent the week inpatient completing his fourth cycle of immunotherapy and low-dose chemo. Again, a lot of nausea was the biggest obstacle; by the end of the week the doctors found the combination of meds that finally worked. Unfortunately, the anti-nausea meds cause drowsiness and he needed so many that he slept a big chunk of each day. He was so happy to get home on Saturday! A couple of fevers Friday and Saturday, then he started his way back up. He was back to school on Tuesday, skating Tuesday night, and his counts looked great when he got labs done yesterday. We will head to NY for a short trip in a couple of weeks for a new set of scans; hopefully, things are continuing to move in the right direction 🙏🏻 Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the day they found Dominic’s tumor and all of the diseased lymph nodes and told us they suspected he had neuroblastoma, but would need a biopsy the following week to confirm. A full year… it feels so surreal.

3. Everyone has hockey fever at our house… this little lady begged to get signed back up for skating lessons (well, they all did!):

4. And Joseph couldn’t WAIT for the spring season of dek hockey to get started!

5. Let’s talk books! Last we chatted, I had just started The Great Alone… I finished it last week and oh my goodness, I LOVED it! Easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. Last year, I read The Four Winds and The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, and The Great Alone was easily my favorite of the three, though I loved them all. Highly recommend!

I’m just starting Daisy Jones and the Six, excited to finish, and then watch the Amazon Prime series!

6. Today is National Cheesesteak Day and I’ve been making these cheesy cheesesteaks since before Joseph was born; it’s an all-time favorite!!

7. Yesterday before school, the kids were doing a last-minute fill-up of their water bottles and Isabelle asked me something about when I was a kid and brought my water bottle to school. I chuckled and said no one brought water bottles to school when I was a kid. Jaws hit the floor… shock and awe. She said, “BUT WHAT DID YOU DO IF YOU GOT THIRSTY??!” I said, “You got a sip from the water fountain when you got a bathroom break”. I told them NO ONE had water bottles when we were kids; they were just stunned and I felt old lol.

8. Speaking of feeling old… last week at the hospital, I was talking to a nurse, and she said she knew someone with our last name in high school, but he was a few years younger, and then I learned she was from near where my husband grew up. I told her my brother-in-law was a couple of years younger than me, and I asked her when she graduated high school…. she said, “2011”. I almost died of a heart attack. That would be a full THIRTEEN YEARS after I graduated. I realized then that I am much older in real life than I am in my head 😆

9. How is everyone handling daylight savings time? For the first time ever, all of the kids have seemed pretty unaffected by both recent time changes. I still am in the standard time forever camp!

10. TGIF! I hope you have a weekend as relaxing as these two had last week ❤️