Violet Brielle Spataro

On December 6th, 2011, our sweet Violet Brielle turned one year old! This little girl has been through so much in the last few months, so we were extremely excited to have a day of celebration and fun with our family here in Washington (and 2 very special family members even flew in from CA to be here!). We had Violet's first birthday party on Sunday, December 4th at our apartment building in the 6th floor lounge. It was a great day and Violet had so much fun! Here are a few photos of the special day ... Pretty fresh flowers surrounded by sprinkles of paper violets  Handmade decorations for our owl theme (Look Whoooo's Turning One!) Birthday cupcakes Violet's first birthday cake Happy Daddy & Violet The party room Happy Grandma & Violet Playing with her butterfly shoes ... Violet loves butterflies! Mommy & Nana Opening presents! Sweet birthday girl Ready for some yummies! Having fun! Playing her new piano (just like Mommy!) H

Last week on Wednesday Violet had her EUA (exam under anesthesia) to see how the remaining tumor in her left eye looked and to determine from that if Violet would need additional rounds of chemotherapy. Just 3 days before this, we had Violet's 1st birthday party. It was a great day and I will make sure to tell you all about it in a separate post. When the night was winding down Josh and I began to scan through the photos on our camera and we noticed that not only was the white "glow" coming from Violet's left eye (where we know tumor is remaining) but it was also showing up in her right eye. It hit us right in the stomach because we know this is an indication of a tumor. At the time, we had family over and so we tried to not let it ruin our night but it was very hard. Josh and I prayed so much that night. Having another tumor come back that quickly and while going through chemotherapy would be very disheartening. Even though we know that with Bilateral Retinoblast