First 2009 Update

Everything is going well so far in 2009 with the Bell family. Madelyn is continuing to develop well. There are no apparent medical concerns right now. No colds, flu, etc. and the dreaded C word is not rearing it's ugly head right now. Our 6 month scans are a little delayed. They were supposed to be next week, but due to forces outside of our control, we're getting pushed back to 2/16. A word to everyone who has to deal extensively with health organizations. You must manage your own care!!! They are generally unreliable when it comes to organizational skills and requier constant oversight. Sheila asked for Maddy's MRI to be scheduled in November and was not done. Six phone calls and repeated assurances from the staff at the hospital still didn't get it done. We've let that go and will wait another 2 weeks or so to hopefully get some good news.

Sheila is extremely busy as the housing market, while in news reports is still gloomy, seems to be picking up. Contracts and closings are again hitting the schedule and we're quietly optimistic that 2009 will be better than 2008.

Work at the Cross continues to be challenging in every way, the technology challenges as well as the politics. 2009 has been fun so far and it's hard to believe that January is almost over.

We know not as many of you still visit this site, but we appreciate those of you who still stop by every now and then to check on us...or honestly, check on Maddy.

Sheila and I seem to be spending more time on Facebook than this blog, and if you're on please look us up. We're trying to get FB and this blog linked so we can have one stop shopping for our friends.

Thanks to all of you and we love you all for thinking of us.
Rick, Sheila, Kaitlyn, and Madelyn

Hope you enjoy our Christmas card to you all!

Just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas. Per the last ckup, Madelyn is doing great. Our Oncologist had best physical exam she has ever had. VMA/HVA came back normal and we are scheduled for her 6 month MRI the end of this month, the 27th. We are staying in SC for the holidays. We had originally planned to go to NY this year, but my mom started a new job and couldn't get the time off, so my brother and Liz are coming here. We are all doing ok through this difficult time of year. Madelyn had her clinic Christmas party at the zoo a couple weeks ago and we also had dinner with the Carolina Gamecock's last week. We met the team and Steve Spurrier and had pictures taken.

Kaitlyn is here through the week and we are having a blast. Feels cold enough for snow tonight, but we just got through 75 degree weather all week. Supposed to go back up to 70's for Christmas eve and Christmas day. Maybe we'll go to the park or something, just feels plain weird!:o) Going to Christmas Eve service at church and then Liz is making us an Italian Christmas dinner. I'm really excited and then we are having dinner at Rick's mom's house Christmas day. Maddy has seen Santa a couple of times and got pictures. She asked for a "Thomas the Choo Choo" for Christmas. We'll have to see if she gets it. She say's "Santa brings me toys if I am a good girl", it's really cute!

Merry Christmas, God Bless and remember the true meaning of the season!
With love,
The Bell's

Merry Christmas to all!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Sorry it's been so long...

Well, we made our 12 day trip to NY for my best friend Corrie's wedding and my other best friend Erin's grandmothers funeral. Madelyn and I were both in the wedding and it was awesome. Madelyn did really well, at the end of the evening she got fussy, but it had been a long day for all of us. Other than that, she got to see the blizzard of snow as we left NY on our long 14 hour drive back to SC. We followed snow plows out...how appropriate! As you can see she was a little pirate princess for Halloween. She went trick-or-treating for the first time and loved it. She is growing so fast. Everything is normal...going through the "terrible, terrible two's" as I like to call them. She has her own attitude, way of doing things and agenda and if it doesn't go along w/what she wants...WATCH OUT!! We are working on this. She loves school, she is still only going 3 days a week, but she loves it and asks to go on the days she isn't there. She is taking ballet and Rick asked her the other day, "Do you like ballet?" and she answered "I LOVE ballet Daddy". She knows so much I can't even begin to type it all, well I'll type a little: Counts to 50, counts to 15 in Spanish, knows all of her months, all of the days of the week, of course her alphabet and can spell her first, middle and last name. She can write an M, A and a D. She likes to write 9 too.

Well our next ckup with the clinic is Nov. 25 so we will update when we hear that everything is still good! Thanks for cking in and please keep praying for all those families in the midst, those who have not begun and for those who have lost their battles to this awful disease.

Happy Birthday Little Miss Madelyn!

First I want to say, each and every minute that we have with Madelyn Grace truly is a blessing. Watching this little miracle turn 2 this weekend was amazing, we are so thankful for her and every blessing in our life.

So, Madelyn is now in Preschool and absolutely loves it! She can name each and every one of her friends at school and both of her teachers. She talks about them every day and can't wait to get there. She still gets a little upset when we drop her off, but she is getting used to it. I think I am getting used to it too, b/c I don't cry that much anymore either!:o)

Madelyn's birthday weekend started on Tuesday. My friend Cathy and her 4yr old son, Parker, Madelyn and I all went to Charleston to see The Backyardigan's Live Show. She of course loved it and couldn't get enough. She danced and sang and when Pablo would go off the stage in his dancing red shoes, she would scream, "Paaaaaaaaabbbbllloooooooo, where are you?!" She was so cute and got a t-shirt, Tasha barrettes and a glowing Backyardigans wand. (She's not spoiled)

We then had a fun little Blue's Clue's birthday party at Madelyn's school on Friday. My brother and Liz flew in for her parties and brought a surprise for us. Our great friends from NY's son, Mitchell who is 10 and is like a brother/son to us came with them. He had so much fun chasing and catching lizards. And Madelyn LOVES him. They chased each other around the house and she got so upset when they left today.

We had an Elmo Birthday party at the Bounce Around on Saturday and had so many of Madelyn's friends there. She had so much fun and is growing so much, in every aspect. Her emotions are at an all time high. She gets so happy, excited, sad, mad and ANGRY!! Phew, the tantrums that she can throw now vs. 6 months ago, don't even compare. She is learning so much from school. She had a couple different songs that she sings on a regular basis, she can count to 10 in Spanish and knows all of the days of the week. She got her first homework assignment on Friday. They are learning the classroom rules, so we have get to review them.

I have added some new pictures to the slide show. Enjoy and adore them, I do every single day!

Thank you for checking in and we love you all! Remember that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, pray for all those children who battle this horrible disease everyday.

With love,
The Bell Family

Meeting with Neurosurgeon done!

First of all, I would like to say that today, September 5 is exactly one year to the day that we got the news that Madelyn was NED!!! Praise God!!!!

Well, we met with Dr. Smith the Neurosurgeon on Wednesday. Everything went well and we really liked him. He was straight to the point and Madelyn really took to him after warming up to him. He really liked her too, but what's not to like. Dr. Smith agrees with Rick and I. He said the tumor by Madelyn's spine IS NOT CANCER! He said if it is not causing her pain or interfering with anything neurological, then we are not going to mess with it. We can monitor it with the regular MRI's that we are doing every 6 months and if we see any change from the MRI's or if it starts causing her pain then we will obviously reconvene and re-evaluate, other than that we are not going to mess with it!

Ms. Madelyn has started preschool. She's been there 2 weeks now and she LOVES it. At first she kept saying that she wanted to go to church, because the nursery at church is the only nursery she has ever been too. But now she says everynight when I say goodnight to her, "go to school tomorrow". She is only going 3 full days a week this year, we'll put her in 5 days next year. We have already seen a change in her, she sings different songs, talks about the kids at school and just seems more independent. We went to an open house last night and it really is amazing the things that they start teaching at such a young age. The teachers kept commenting on how smart Madelyn is and how she loves to go up to the wall that all the letters are hung on and tell them what each of them are. Ok, so I am going to brag for a minute, this is some of the new things Madelyn has been doing:

Knows every letter of the alphabet to say and while looking at the letter
Knows 1-11 numbers while looking at it
Counts to 20
Counts to 5 in Spanish
Can spell her first, middle and last name
Can write an "M" "A" and kind of write a "D"
Starting to know her left from her right, we have been working on this this week.

She truly is an amazing little girl who will be 2 on the 20th of this month by the way!!! We are going to have a birthday party at school for her on the 19th and then we are having another birthday party for her at the Bounce Around on Saturday. My brother and fiance, Liz, are coming down for it, we are so excited.

Her next checkup at the clinic is on 9/30. The will test her VMA/HVA and hopefully everything will be just fine for another 2 months. We'll update when we know the results.

Just wanted to update you all and thank you so much for keeping up on Madelyn's progress. She continues to amaze me everyday and I am so in awe of her.

Also remember September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month and more specifically Sept. 13 is National Pediatric Cancer Awareness Day. Let's remember all of those who are battling, or have battled this terrible, terrible beast! Please click on this link to sign a petition to draw more of the National Cancer Research funds for Pediatric Cancer Research. Amazingly enough only 3% of the research money goes towards researching cures for children's cancer...what a shame. But please sign the petition and do your part in helping to change this.

Lots of love,
The Bell's

60 Minutes Australia Clip on Neuroblastoma

Please click this link to see one of our friends Dylan Hartung's family and Olivia Lambert's family interviewing w/60 Minutes Australia (where they are from) about Neuroblastoma. It just gives a tidbit of what families who have children with cancer go through. Please pray for Dylan and Olivia and all families fighting this fight!