When I was first diagnosed, Dallas and I decided we wanted to keep our family life as normal as possible. We've had to do some shuffling to make things work when I'm not feeling well, but things are going really well. I was inspired by this post from a friend's blog about what was helpful to them when their little girl passed away. Although our situation isn't nearly as heartbreaking or hard as theirs, we have needed and received some heaven sent support. I wanted to share some of the thoughtful things people have done for our family while we've been struggling that will hopefully inspire those of you who see a family in need and wish you knew what you could do to help. I've heard before that Heavenly Father often answers our prayers through other people, and I have definitely seen that in my own life. "Sometimes the Lord answers our prayers through other people. A good friend, a husband or wife, a parent or other family member, a Church leader, a missionary—any of these individuals may be inspired to perform acts that will answer our prayers. " (lds.org) Thank you to the many, many people that have allowed yourselves to be tools in God's hands to bless my family.
One of my biggest priorities during this whole process is to feel like I am being a good mom and wife, even on the days that I have felt really sick. It's wonderful to have people help you, but it's even better when people help you help yourself. Dallas got me an upright freezer as a late Valentine's Day gift and it has been AMAZING. You know you are a mom when you lose sleep the night before your freezer is delivered because you're so excited.
Dallas' mom helped me make homemade jam, and on the days I've felt up to cooking, I've made double so I could freeze some familiar recipes for days when I didn't feel up to it.
I'm not saying this to solicit freezer meals, because my freezer is chuck full, but freezer meals are a very thoughtful way to help a family in need. There is a group of (wonderful) ladies in my ward who do a freezer meal swap. They each made an extra meal this month for our family; I am amazed by how thoughtful some people are. It's nice to have meals available for days that you don't feel well, as well as the days that doctor appointments run long, or even days that you are feeling well and you want to spend time doing something fun instead of cooking. Pinterest is a great place to find freezer meal recipes. Here's a few.
Another thing I decided to do is streamline my chores so that it is easier for me to keep my house clean and have others help when I need it. I based my chart off of one I saw on Pinterest. Seriously, I don't know why everyone talks about Pinterest being such a time waster because it has saved me SO much time.
I streamlined my menu ideas. (P) means the recipe can be found on Pinterst, (A) means Allrecipes.com
I found this ready-made grocery list at Walmart. You just check the items that you need and take it to the store when you're ready to go (or if you need to send your husband).
I also have a babysitter list on my fridge. My oncologist is here in town and my radiologist is about 30 minutes away. We decided that when we have appointments in town we will try and keep the girls in town and when we go to appointments elsewhere, we'll leave them with the tons of family members that live along the way. I have two lists of babysitters and their phone numbers; those who live in our town or are willing to come to our house, and those who live out of town. That way if something comes up on short notice, we have names and numbers available for anyone who needs to use them. I also have a big family calendar with everything on it for referencing.
One of the best gifts I've been given is a kit of fun things for our girls to do when I am not feeling well. It's important for kids to get up and play, go outside, run around, and make messes. But if it's the difference between watching movies all day or doing learning activities and cognitive development games, I'll take the second option.
I'm going to walk you through all the items in my "Sick Kit". Most of the items were given to me, a few of them I added myself. Keep in mind that this is made for my two toddler girls (18 months and 2 1/2) but it could easily be adapted for other ages and for little boys.
A Sick Kit is a great gift for families in need or to compile for yourself. A few ideas of situations where this could come in handy:
- A pregnant mommy on bedrest.
- When a little one is sick, has surgery, or breaks a bone.
- A mom who is having a rough pregnancy, just had a baby, or to use while breastfeeding.
- For those super fun weeks when the whole family has the flu.
- Quiet time activities for little kids who have outgrown the afternoon nap.
- Portions of it can be taken with you for plane rides, waiting rooms, etc.
If you think of anymore situations where this might come in handy, leave me a comment and let me know.
Baby Sister is so proud she did this file folder all by herself! She only had one of them in the wrong spot!
Big Sister being shy. (I only let my kids wear those dorky dresses at home--I promise!)
Big Sister was given this puzzle for her birthday by her Grandma. Lucky for me it's the perfect quiet activity! There are pictures you can swap out and you plug the colored puzzle pieces into the holes. You can find it here.
Dollar store puzzles. Eventually I'm going to put magnets on the back of the puzzle pieces so they can be done on cookie sheets, making it easier to keep track of the pieces.
Got the idea here.
This is one of the few items I added to the kit. Pipe cleaners and colorful beads make the perfect busy activity for toddlers. Each baggy has a pipe cleaner of each color and a handful of beads. We take these to church every week and it keeps our kids entertained for a long time. Our two year old likes to make pretend bracelets and necklaces, but it's also easy enough for our 18 month old. There's tons of other activities you can do to use the 100 pipe cleaners you paid $2 for at Walmart, like having kids wrap them around pencils, through colanders like a puzzle, helping them make animal shapes, words, glasses, etc. Once again, Pinterest is a great place for more ideas. I just typed "pipe cleaner" into the search box and tons of ideas popped up.
Dry erase letters. My sister found the link to the printable handwriting sheets on Pinterest :) and laminated them. The two laminate books were found at the dollar store.
Printable worksheets here.
Printable handwriting sheets (like the one above) here.
Coloring books and crayons.
Sorry, the picture is sideways. I grabbed some of our more "involved" books that have activities and puzzle pieces inside them--those books that need to be overseen by a parent anyway. Now we only read them during special times.
A floor puzzle
These wooden puzzles all fit in the wooden box you can see in the main picture.
Sister's completed fish project.
Isn't this seriously the coolest idea? All you need are two identical paint sample chips. Glue a strip of each onto clothes pins and you have a color matching puzzle. Best of all, you don't have to worry about laminating because the paint chips are on sturdy card stock.
Similar ideas for busy bags here.
Flash cards
Here's some printable flash cards. Or you can just pay $3 at Walgreen's like I did.
These are flash card puzzle pieces. A good intro to puzzles for young toddlers.
I forgot to include my eye spy kit in the pictures, but we have one of those too!
File Folder Games! File folder games are easy to find online and on Pinterest. (How many times have I said Pinterest in this post?) My mom and sisters (the lovely ladies that put all this fun stuff together) decided to skip a step and printed everything off on a colored printer so they didn't have to color. They put all of them in a pink accordion file folder (you can see it in the main picture). If you are thinking about making file folder games, make some for the age your child is now and for when they get older. They're going to outgrow the folders eventually and if you're like me, making file folders is a once a decade activity.
What sick kit is complete without a doctor's kit to help mommy feel better? I found this on Black Friday for $8
(The links go to their respective Pinterest pages on kid's activities that have even more great ideas)
And for good measure, here's my Pinterest page.
I hope no one I know ever has to hear their daughter say in their nighttime prayers, "Please bless Mommy's cancer get better," but I hope one day I'll be able to pass this on to help someone else as much as it has helped us.
Here's an article on 40 ways to entertain kids while lying down and how to entertain kids when you are too tired to play.
Cancer Update: If you read this whole post just because you wanted an update, I'm really sorry because I have no new news. I had my second biopsy on Thursday and now I'm just waiting for that to come back so I can start my chemotherapy and radiation. I don't think there's been anyone who's ever been as excited to start cancer treatment :)
Wow you are incredible Carissa! Those were some awesome ideas. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou have been on my mind lately which means you have been in m prayers. I'm amazed at your strength and I know you will be blessed because of it. You are one of those people that will only become more incredible as you go through such a hard trial.