We're (Post) #201!

Meaning, we've talked at you people more than 200 times - wow! Okay, moving on ...

Georgia once again donned her Awesome Spokeskid for Childhood Cancer Research cap last night and helped out on a documentary project to raise awareness about corporate giving. She had a great time with the crew - all crammed into her room with their super cool equipment - and did an excellent job of telling her story. She especially liked the part where we were eating pizza and trying to pretend that there wasn't a camera capturing our every bite!

We really appreciate being asked to participate, so thanks, guys, and good luck with the piece!

We're looking forward to a nice family weekend, full of holiday fun: Christmas movies, a dance recital, baking cookies, finalizing Christmas lists and getting them in the mail to Santa, and maybe some more decorating, because one can never have too much of that. Even though we've already spent 20 hours on the tree alone. 'Tis the season - have a great weekend, y'all!

Christmas 2004 - our first family Christmas picture.

New Life

Last December, we posted several holiday gift ideas that, in one way or another, benefited childhood cancer research, patient services, or survivorship. The most important post, Give Life, is one that we are reminded of nearly every day as we continue to learn of someone else in need of blood, bone marrow, or an organ. We have seen the miracles these gifts provide, so we again encourage everyone to please, please donate blood and register to be a bone marrow and organ donor. These truly are the gifts of life!

And now back to Christmas 2003: The Year We Had Our Elvis Baby.

On October 1st, Ivy Francis Moore came barreling into this world with a jet black mohawk, smooth olive skin, and dark chocolate eyes. Upon meeting her moments after birth (as I was nursing her for the first time), three-year-old Georgia Lee turned to her daddy and said, "Is she a mammal?" And so was born the greatest Sister Power team of all time.

Christmas 2002

The inspiration for the Twelve Years of Christmas series. Please observe the ringlets.

Christmas 2001

I wish I could say that this is one of those awkward poses that "trained" photographers always try to get you in - turn your head this way, turn your neck that way, hold your breath, count to a thousand, now SMILE! But actually, this was an Original Georgia pose, after she'd had enough of those awkward ones. The photographer wasn't even paying attention until I yelled, "Take it! Now!" And we ended up with one of my favorite pictures of all time - I think it's just hysterical. And you can see those little curls starting to sprout ...

Hairstory

Nearly every day, someone asks Georgia - or me - about her hair, now that it's all grown back. Was it this curly before? Did the chemo make it curly? Was it always this color? Even people that know her well seem to have forgotten that once our girl finally got some hair the first time around (at about 2), she was a regular Shirley Temple. Ringlets, y'all. Then, in the two or three years before she was diagnosed, her hair was longer and thicker, and the curl had relaxed some, but it still had a lot of body. When it started to come out at the beginning of treatment, we wondered aloud what it would look like when it came back, and the answer is -  Shirley Temple 2.0. In fact, when I picked her up today for her clinic appointment (Counts are up - back on meds, back on track - yay!), she was fresh out of PE, still sweating from a good hour of basketball drills (Yes!), with springy curls bursting all over her head. It reminded me of a Christmas card picture from when she was about three, and thus, a blog post series idea was born: The Twelve Years of Christmas.

Throughout this month, along with the regular news and holiday specials, I'm going to post our Christmas card pictures from Georgia's first Christmas to now. You can then observe the evolution of her hair, her smile, and the undeniable light that shines from within her. Sounds fun, right? I mean, kind of random, but fun, too, right? Yes. So we begin at the beginning.

Christmas 2000