I finally have dates for fall sessions in UTAH!  Yay!  I will be there September 4th through the 8th.  Please let me know if you would like a time slot.  My email is hjamieson@mac.com.

Six years ago today, on a different Saturday, this kid was laying in a hospital bed and we heard the news that would change our lives forever. Cancer. It has taken us down a road we never could have imagined, but ironically we would change none of it. Today, it almost feels like a bad dream but it is also ingrained into every part of us. Six years. And today look at him. We are celebrating by doing one of his most favorite things. We are so proud of who he is becoming. We are so grateful to have him here with us. Every. Single. Day.

Yes.  I am still doing a picture every day.  For the most part.  I have missed a few days, but I am pretty happy with how many days I have gotten in, all things considered.  I may not post every day considering I have a kazillion pictures to go through, but thought I would share some of the ones I have gone through.

He is six.  I can't believe it.  I am still in denial because in my mind, he is still my baby.



He loves his birthday.  More than Christmas.  More than Halloween.  More than anything really.  He has been anticipating it since before Christmas.  And it was a good day.  He got to go to the dentist.  Which he loves for some odd reason.  And then school.  Of course Krispy Kreme doughnuts with chocolate and sprinkles were a must. We opened presents and had a chocolate cake and crepes for dinner.  He got some dinosaur puzzles.  Crocodile and dinosaur legos, a cool engineer system thing, superhero peg buddies.  Cole was having an "I love my brother day" and wrapped him up a box full of things he knew Crew would like.  There was a big rock, a pine wood derby car and some silly band bracelets.  He was spoiled rotten and was king for the day.



This boy is my little buddy.  Everyone who comes in contact with him falls in love.  He still can't say a lot of his letters.  I will be sad the day he is able to.  He still wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up but has added "lego maker" into what he wants to do.  He loves cookies and chocolate and all things sweet.  If I buy cookies, we usually have to hide them from him because they will be gone within seconds with this kid around.  He loves his friends.  He loves every sport, but most especially soccer and basketball.  He is always happy but has a very tender heart and gets his feelings hurt if you get mad at him for any reason.  We can usually get him out of his crying mood by making him show us his happy face and count to ten slowly.  By the end, he is giggling and has no idea what he was so sad about.  He and his dad have an awesome "five" that Crew made up.  He hates salad and loves nutella sandwiches.  He loves to read and color.  He has started his own paleontologist field journal this year and is dead set on digging for real dinosaur bones one day.  He is getting way to tall and way to old and it makes me way to sad.  He is my baby and always will be.  He makes me smile just to look at him.  We love him to the moon and back.  Happy birthday Crewsers!

(Of course he had to sing to himself during the happy birthday song...)

I am going to be in Salt Lake March 28th to April 1st for photo sessions.  If you would like to schedule one, let me know!  It is a great time to get those Easter pictures done!  You can email me at hjamieson@mac.com.

Yes.  Yes I am way behind.  Life seems to get the better of me these days.  And I am pretty sure I am suffering from memory loss considering I forget everything.  Maybe (hopefully) it is just motherhood.  This four kid thing is an adjustment.  Anyways.  I will try to catch up.  It has been a fun and busy month.

February 10th, day 41:

Oh my heavens, I love this child.  She is an angel.  So good.  So happy all of the time.  We are all insanely in love with her.


february 11th, day 42:

Surgery day.  Which you can read all about in my last post.  It was an amazing experience.

february 12th, day 43:

Yup.  Pretty much love on her all day long.  She has everyone wrapped around her finger in this household.


february 13th, day 44:

Another day full of doctor appointments for this kid down.  Everything looks good.  We met with his endocrinologist.  His growth is on an upward trend which is awesome.  They worry that with all of the full body radiation he received, it could stunt his growth.  But.  So far so good.  We also met with his oncologist.  His blood work looks great.  He does have a small cataract on his eye due to the radiation which we are watching.  And still watching those darn lumps.  They make me crazy.  They haven't changed in size, so it is still a waiting game on that one.  We also were referred over to a dermatologist and cardiologist.  He needs to have an echo done due to some of the chemo he received which can cause heart problems.  The dermatologist because of some moles on his hands and feet.  It is a never ending process sometimes.  I feel like we have been to doctor after doctor this month and it is exhausting.  And then I remind myself how good we have it.  This is nothing and I can't complain.  Not even for one second.  He is doing so so well.  Every month I hold my breath.  And each month we breathe a little easier.


february 14th, day 45:

Happy Valentines Day!  We could not be more in love with the four of them.

(and yes.  yes she really is that happy.  all.  the.  time.

february 15th, day 46:



february 16th, day 47:



february 17th, day 48:

We were able to run in a 5K for a sweet teenage girl that passed away last year.  There was an incredible turnout and it was so neat to see how many people she had touched in such a short time.

At the end, they held a mile race for the kids.  I was standing on the sidelines with Remi watching them, when all of a sudden Cole comes around the corner full speed neck and neck with a girl.  They were sprinting as fast as they could to beat the other one.  There was no way he was letting a girl beat him!


february 18th, day 49:



february 19th, day 50:

Little miss has turning into a thumb sucker.  Jeff hates it, but I love it!  It is so nice that she can put herself back to sleep...

I have replayed over and over in my mind how I want this post to be written.  It is probably one of the most important and emotional posts I will ever write, and that is saying a lot because of what we have been through with Jake.  I want to reiterate how important it is to become a bone marrow donor through Be the Match.  Please be in the registry.  Please.

When Remi was two weeks old, I received a phone call.  And an email.  Jeff got a phone call.  My mom got a phone call and my friend Angie got a phone call.  Every phone call was from the same person at Be The Match trying to locate me.  It was urgent I get in touch with them as soon as possible.  I had been potentially matched with a new baby who needed a life saving transplant.  I was shaking as I called the lady back.  I tried not to think too much about it as I knew there was a high likelihood that they were testing others for this baby as well.   I was asked if I was still willing to donate and if they could do further testing to see if I would be a good match for this baby.  The only answer was yes.  After a long phone call about my health history and a consent form signed, I was sent to a lab for further testing.  At that point, I was told it could be up to two months, but no longer, for them to call me back and let me know the results.

The day after Christmas, I received another phone call.  I was a perfect match to this baby.  There are no words to describe how I felt.  Humbled.  In awe.  Heartbroken for this family.  I could not and still cannot believe that I am on this side of things.  Almost exactly two years ago, we were preparing our own child for a bone marrow transplant.  I know firsthand what goes on as a parent.  I know what the child goes through.  We were beyond lucky that Cole was a perfect match for Jake.  But what if he wasn't?  There is only a 25 percent chance for a sibling match anyway.  Would his 'perfect match' have been in that computer system?  Would his transplant have worked as well as it has?  We will never know.  I never want to know.  But, the more people that are swabbed, the better the chances are of someone else surviving these awful diseases.  Babies.  Children.  Moms and Dads.  A new baby whose life is on the line.  I look at my baby girl and cannot imagine having to go through a transplant with her.  And I have been there, watching my own little boy, I still cannot imagine.  Listening to someone tell me I was a match to this child was not something I ever expected to hear.  The odds of it ever happening are so slim.  I feel so much gratitude and in debt to so many people that helped us while going through this process, maybe I can give back in some small way to this family.

After that phone call, things became a whirlwind.  Time is not on someone's side who needs a transplant and things proceeded very quickly.  I signed many more consent forms.  I had another long phone call going over the process and the risks and what would take place. The next week, I was scheduled for an EKG and a chest x-ray along with numerous labs.  Two days later, I met with an oncologist for an exam.  They did another CBC that day.  Unfortunately, I was starting to get a cold.  My blood counts were off.  I had a low WBC and I was anemic.  I was put on iron pills and told to come back in ten days to see if my blood work had improved.  I was not thrilled.  I knew we were on a time crunch and I was so frustrated worrying about this sweet baby.  But, ten days later and another CBC, we were given the green light and a date to go ahead and proceed with the transplant.

The day of the transplant we were told to be in the hospital at 6:00 in the morning.  As my husband and I drove to the hospital, we could not help talking and thinking about the family that was going to be receiving the bone marrow.  Both parties are given very little information about each other.  We know the diagnoses, age, and if he is a boy or girl.  Nothing else.  You cannot help but sit and wonder things about this sweet babies family.  And his sweet parents.  What they are going through.  Putting their babies life in the hands of someone else.  I pray every second that this transplant works for him.  It is so hard not to know.

We arrived at the hospital and checked into registration.  We had an entourage of people to take us up to the surgical unit.  I changed and was hooked up to fluids and had about twelve more vials of blood drawn.  The last thing I remember is being told my vision was going to go a little blurry.  Jeff told me the surgery lasted about an hour and 45 minutes.  They take the marrow out of your hip bones in your back.  Only a teaspoon of marrow can be drawn at a time because you start to get blood return.  I was poked fifty times on each side.  I was a little nervous because we had been told by pretty much everyone that a bone marrow harvest is much harder on adults than it is children.  Cole was one tough little cookie.  He was jumping on the trampoline an hour after we got home from the hospital.  And in all honesty, the recovery, for me, was not nearly as hard as we had anticipated it being on.  The worst part was the nausea and the headache I got, which was most likely caused from the anestecia.  I threw up all afternoon and had a horrible migraine.  It was awful.  Next time I will know to get zofran before I leave!!  My back really was fine.  It felt just a little bruised when I would bend down or pick up something heavy.  My left side is still a little sore, but not as painful as we were told it would be.

I cannot describe to you how amazing this experience has been.  We feel so blessed that we have been able to have the opportunity to do this for someone's child.  We have loved seeing this side of it.  Please pray for this baby.  The more prayers, the better.

Which brings me to my point and the reason I am sharing this story.  There are not nearly enough people in the registry. I have heard of patients that do not have one match.  Not one.  And what if there are no other options for them?  What if YOU are the person that could save them?  Please.  Please sign up.  It is a cheek swab.  It costs you nothing.  They mail you the kit.  You mail it back.  It will not even cost you a stamp.  It is a prepaid envelope.  Please let others know how important it is to get on the registry.  There is a lack of awareness.  We had no idea the importance of it until we were thrown into the middle of the cancer world.  I know most people do not have any idea how important, or easy, it is either.  Share this page.  The blessings that have come from this have been overwhelming.  We are so beyond grateful for the chance to do this.

Please visit bethematch.org to sign up to be a donor.

First time in the hot tub.  She was in heaven.  This girl loves her baths.

He has informed us that he will wear these glasses everywhere he goes.  Except for when he sleeps.

I know it is crazy, but when I see this kid doing 'normal' kid stuff, I get overly emotional.  He has come such a long way in the last couple of years.  And even when I think about where we were at this time last year, it is amazing.  He was not even back in school yet.  I love that we are at this point with him.  I love that he is able to be a normal kid.  There are still some things we are trying to catch up in physically and things that we are working on school-wise, but he has come such a long way.  He has worked so hard.  We could not be more proud of him.

Celebrating the 100th day of school!  Crew's class got to dress up like they were 100 years old.

He was quite excited to lose his first tooth.  And to find out that his new tooth was already halfway grown in.  We are going to have some teeth problems with this kid I think...

This is the cute face that I get to wake up to every morning.  Lucky.

The pinewood derby was successful!  We were not last place... somewhere in the middle.  10th place.  Good job Cole-train!!

Basketball season is in full swing again.  This kid is in heaven.

A preview of what is to come in the next five years...

(This is quickly turning into 365 days of Remi... oh well!)

We are having sleep issues with little miss.  She refuses to sleep on her back.  We have spent days trying to train her with no luck.  The girl loves her stomach which leaves me a paranoid mess.  If I am in the room I will let her sleep like this... if not, then we have a rough day and don't even get me started on night time sleeping habits.  We need some help around here.  I have never had a baby that was such a naughty sleeper.

Happy birthday to this guy.  He is one of the best people I know.  And I am not even biased at all.  The best part of the day was Crew's present to him.  He had told me earlier in the day that he "knows exactly what he wants to get his dad."  When he informed me he wanted to buy him a 'girl' it took me a few minutes to figure out he meant a 'grill'.  He didn't quite have enough money to purchase the 'girl', so he wrapped up a $1 bill and told him it is to go toward him buying that 'girl'.  

The smile.  The tongue.  The hair.  The eyes.  Those cheeks.  I just cannot stand it.  Cutest. Baby.  Ever.

Cole had Remi's name for Christmas this year and picked out this doll for her.  All three boys are adamant she has a doll wherever she goes already.

Just a little before school boxing lesson to start the day off right:

This kid comes home with a good one to two hours of homework every night.  It was a fight to get him to do it in the beginning, but he has gotten so much better at just sitting down and finishing the second he walks in from school.

There are some days that I am so beyond grateful for bedtime it is not even funny.  Today was one of those days.

This little lady was blessed in church today by her daddy.  She wore the dress I wore when I was blessed.  It was a special, sweet day.  And she looked oh so beautiful.

January 4th is spent at the park.  In shorts and a tshirt.  In 65 degree weather.  It doesn't get much better than that.

For the past few months, I have toyed around with the idea of doing another picture a day for the year 2014.  I went back and forth and in the end decided to do it.  I had been working on our 2012 blog book and came across this post: