A New Room to bring in the New Year!

Lil' Chris is spending his first night in his new room!!! He's going to wake up to the New Year in his new bigger room!! YEA!! He had so much fun playing in his new big room, that he didn't even want to go to bed! I think he is going to have a great new year in his new room!

I'm so thankful that we were blessed with such a great year in 2008! We couldn't have asked for a better year with Lil' Chris' health. He only got 1 or 2 colds, and a few coughs. I just pray that 2009 is even better than the last.

I hope everyone has a great new year! I pray that it is the healthiest year for all CFers!

I want to say THANK YOU to all my blogger friends that I was fortunate enough to meet this past year. You all have helped me SO much! I can't thank you enough for all the great advice and for all the support that you have shown me. I can't imagine going through this journey without you all. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

The one thing I pray for the most, is that 2009 will go down in history as being the year they make CF stand for Cure Found!

HAVE A SAFE, HEALTHY, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
M
PS. Lil' Chris' cough is much better than it was. The Augmentin seems to be working. YEA!

PSS. I'll try to post pics of Lil' Chris' new room soon. Ayla's room is still a work in progress, but when it is done I will post pics of her room too:)

Ayla Update

I've changed my baby countdown, check out the right side of the page. This one breaks down everything! I can't believe there are only 4 weeks left!!

I finally have my hospital bag packed, and Ayla's bag packed. We still have to move Lil' Chris' car seat and put Ayla's car seat in though. I did get some more of her clothes washed and ready! But we still have to break out the bassinet, and we still have to get her room ready. First we have to move Lil' Chris into the bigger room, and then put Ayla's furniture in Lil' Chris' old room. Hopefully he adjusts well to the new room.

I guess I forgot to tell you...we finally bought her furniture! It's beautiful! Not sure how we are going to pay for it, but at least it will last her forever. It changes into a toddler bed, and then a full size bed later on. It's here, just partially still in boxes until we move Lil' Chris into his new room. It's hard to find time to do everything since my husband and I work opposite shifts from each other. But I am using up my last few vacation days in January, so maybe then we'll get some stuff done and ready for the bring home of our baby girl, Ayla :) Can you tell I love saying and typing her name??? LOL

I also forgot to tell you that my last OB appointment went well! She said everything looks and sounds great! My next OB appointment is on Jan 8th. After that one I will be going EVERY week! Which is hopefully only 3 more weeks. I really hope that I don't go past my due date.

I have my Level 2 ultrasound on Wed Jan 7th at 9:30am at the same hospital that we take Lil' Chris to for his CF clinic appointments. He was supposed to have a clinic appointment the following Wed on the 14th, but I called today and switched it to the 7th since we will be up there already and it is like a 45 minute drive. His appointment is at 2:00pm. It's going to be a busy day!! Wish us luck:)
M

Second Surprise!!

(Click here for surprise #1.)

Are you ready for surprise #2???

Ok, well here it is...we have finally agreed on a name for our baby girl due on January 29th 2009. Many people have been waiting a LONG time to hear her name.

We have decided on the name...

Ayla Christi

If you're wondering where we got these names from, I'll be glad to tell you.

"Ayla" I got from a girl at work. She was telling me how she really wanted to name her daughter Ayla a couple of years ago was she was born, but her husband wouldn't let her. I thought..."Ayla"...I like that name! It is pronounced like the song "Layla" by Eric Clapton, but without the "L". My husband wasn't thrilled with it at first, but he got used to it once I kept calling her Ayla instead of baby girl. We both got so used to it so much, that it was hard to even consider another name. I guess it was just meant to be:)

"Christi" is after my BEST friend that I have known since I was 3 years old. We went to preschool together, and then elementary through high school together. Our moms, and sometimes teachers, used to say that we were joined at the hip. What can I say, we were always more like sisters. Plus, you can't go wrong with a name that has "Chris" in it:)

Well, there you have it. My 2 big surprises...Pics with myself in them(some of you will be very surprised that I did that) and our baby girl's name. Hope you enjoyed them:) I'll be taking off my pics soon, I can't stand looking at pictures with me in them. All I see are the flaws, like the lil' piece of hair that was out of place. How can a picture place not have a MIRROR??? Honestly!!! I'll never understand it.

Anyways, HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Enjoy this time with your family and friends, it only comes around once a year;)

M

First Christmas Surprises!!

Did you see the first surprise??? I changed the header picture. Lil' Chris is 1 1/2 years old this Christmas and I am 8 months pregnant in this picture, but am not 8 1/2 months pregnant.

I usually NEVER EVER post any pics of myself, b/c I hate my pic being taken, and for other reasons too:) But I had to post it, b/c it was too cute how Lil' Chris just happened to turn and touch his baby sister(my belly:) I thought it was very thoughtful of him to include his baby sister in the family picture;) See...he is already looking out for his baby sis. What a good BIG brother he is already!!

I can't believe how big he has gotten since last Christmas!! I didn't really realize it until we compared them both. Here are last years Christmas pic...







MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!! Hope you all have a safe and healthy holiday:)

Oh yeah, did you want to know the second surprise? OK, the second and BIGGEST surprise is........coming at midnight;) LOL!! Sorry, I couldn't resist:) Check back at midnight or check it out tomorrow:)
M
PS. Take a good look at the pics with me in them, since they won't stay up too long:)

"Hi" and Surprise on Christmas Day

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

He just LOVES his cell phones!! He's just like his Daddy:) My husband had the movie "A Christmas Story" playing on his phone and he let Lil' Chris hold it to watch it, but all he wanted to do was put it up to his ear like he was talking on the phone:)

I missed him saying "Cheeeeese"!!! He says that when he sees the phone, b/c we take pictures of him with the phones all the time. He said it right as I started taping, and right when I stopped taping...of course! I'll get him saying it one of these days. You can hear him say "Hi" a couple of times in the video though!! It's so cute!

His cough does seem to be getting much better...praise God!!! We are still doing the Vest 2-3 times a day. His nose isn't running much, but still gets crusty in the morning...gross!!

Don't forget to check my blog on Christmas Day if you get a second. I have a couple of surprises!! I'm not going to keep it posted for too long. So far only one person has made a guess as to what the surprises might be. Any other guesses?? I'll try to post it at midnight Christmas Eve.
M

Pics, Update, and Fundraiser

My BIG boy sitting in a chair at our dining room table all by himself! Not even a booster seat!

Thanks Aunt D for sending Lil' Chris the Winnie the Poo chair. He loves it during Vest time!

Another shot of my BIG boy at the table!

This is usually what we see every morning and after naps. Either one or two or the top 3 drawers open. Sometimes he puts his binky in there and closes it and watches us search for it all over the room. He just laughs at us until we find it in the drawer =)

Good news...no coughing today, except for after his Vest!!! YEA!!! So I guess the Augmentin is working! I'm glad he will be well for Christmas.

I'm doing great with the pregnancy. It's getting a lil' bit harder to do things now that I'm getting so big though. My husband has to help me off the couch after a long day of work. Turning in bed isn't so much fun either. But it'll all be worth it in about 5 weeks!!

I just found out today that my BEST friend in the whole wide world is doing a fundraiser for Lil' Chris' medical trust fund!!! I couldn't believe it! She is so awesome and has a HUGE heart for Lil' Chris. I wish she lived closer so I could thank her in person. THANK YOU CHRISTI!!!!

She emailed me a lil' while back about trying to do a Jeans for Genes day at her work(she's a teacher). Well, the school wouldn't let her since it's not directly for a student or employee. So, she decided to do a fundraiser on her own! She has been making clay jewelry(necklaces, bracelets, and earrings) and selling them to raise money for Lil' Chris! She raised $85 in one day!! She is very talented, I'm sure they are all very beautiful. Once I get more info, maybe I will post it on the blog to see if anyone wants to buy any. She said that she has been taking lots of orders! Isn't she the BEST friend someone could ask for? THANKS AGAIN CHRISTI, WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

M

PS. I know you all will be very busy on Christmas day, but be sure to check my blog that day if you get a chance. A have a couple of surprises;)

Can anyone guess what they might be?????

Update

He is still coughing. He coughs the most when he wakes up in the morning or after a nap. He must be getting some drainage. Poor kid. His nose wasn't as runny today though, so that's good news!

We got our Christmas pics the other day! YEA!! They are so cute! We haven't had time to scan them into the computer, but when we do, I'll make it the new header=)

This Tuesday we were supposed to go get the Level 2 ultrasound, but it got change til the beginning of Jan. So instead, I have an OB appointment on Tues. I'll let you know how it goes.

I added a new widget to the right side of the page. Let me know what you think. I like the second one better b/c you can click on the buttons underneath the pic to tickle the baby, hear the heartbeat, turn a light on(???), and zoom in. I like the top one though, b/c you can see the wording better. I get asked every day it seems like..."How many days do you have left?" Now I know=)
M

Started Augmentin

His cough didn't go away, so I called the CF Clinic on Tues about 11am and didn't hear back from the CF nurse until 5:30pm. Of course the doc was gone, so there was no way she could call in a prescription that day. I was kinda mad. Then she went on to tell me that she was going to talk to the doc to see if he could start a nebulizor. She said that he should be on Albuteral(or something like that). She is the one nurse I can't stand! It seems like every time he gets sick and I have to call in, she is always the one that calls back. She always tries to put her 2 cents in when she is not the doc. Why does she have to upset me like that?

Anyway, then she finally called me back on Wed at 2pm to tell me that our doc said to do Augmentin for 21 days and no neb. YEA! We were glad, b/c he likes Augmentin. Last time he had Ceftin and it was such a pain getting it down him. My husband picked it up last night, so he got one dose in. Today was his first full dose. He has to take 1/2 of teaspoon 2 times a day. He really likes the taste, b/c they sweetened it up for him. Thank God!!

His cough is still kinda bad. It is a wet one, not a weird one though:) His nose is still runny too! Hopefully it all goes away soon:)
M

God's Pregnancy Plan for Us

Well, as you may already know, I have one CF child(Lil' Chris) and am due to have another child next month. If you read the beginning of my blog(click here for that post), you'll see that I kinda went through the same stage that a lot of CF moms go through after diagnosis or after finding out that both parents are CF carriers. I always wanted 2 or 3 kids. I was upset that I couldn't have more children. I thought there is no way I can possibly bring another CFer into this world and have it suffer it's whole life. But...then God intervened and presto...we were pregnant 10 months later. We felt like Mary and Joseph, not knowing how it happened(well, we know how...well, you catch my drift;)

I was upset at first not knowing our babies fate, but soon realized that this is what God had in store for us. He always has a plan for everybody. And some days it's hard for me to think about my baby girl being born with CF too. But I know that the Lord is right by our side and will guide us through any situation that comes our way. He won't give us anything He knows we can't handle. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. We just have to trust and have faith in God and ourselves to have the strength to get through anything, even 2 CF children =)

How will I handle it if she does have CF? I will accept it and take it one day at a time. I will put one foot forward and not look back. I will love her with all my heart. I will give her the best life I possibly can...she deserves that much.
M

Scary Cough

Lil' Chris gave us a lil' scare this morning. He woke up at 3:00am coughing. But it wasn't his usual cough. It was a very strange sounding cough. It sounded like it hurt his throat. I hate to say this, but it sounded like a dog trying to cough up a bone or something. Seriously! It was a raspy sound of cough. We first thought he was going to throw up from all the coughing, but he never did. My husband gave him some water to try to help, but he still kept coughing. We felts so bad for him b/c it sounded like it hurt just to cough.

The good thing was that he was in good spirits. He wanted to get down and play instead of being rocked. We tried CPT with the rubber thing like we did when he was a baby. Not really sure if it helped at all, b/c he kept coughing. Plus, he wanted to play with it and do it to himself...so cute!

Then as I went to bed, my husband took him downstairs and did a Vest treatment to see if that would help. Well, it apparently did, b/c the coughing stopped! Thank God for the Vest!!! He had fun playing with his toys while he did his Vest, then it was off to bed. My husband put a fluffy pillow in his crib to prop him up a little and then he went down no problem and no weird coughing! Thankfully he slept peacefully the rest of the night, actually until 11:00 this morning!! This made Mommy very happy=)

He did cough a little when he woke up, but it wasn't as bad sounding as it was earlier. Since then, he has coughed a few times, but still it doesn't sound as weird as it did before. It is more of a wet cough now, with just a hint of the weird cough in it. Sorry, it is really hard to explain what we heard this morning. I just pray that we never hear it again.

Please pray that he has a better night tonight,
M

Zoe Update

Here is and update on how Zoe is doing. I'm so glad her stats didn't fall this time! But weight problems with CFers can be difficult. So please continue to keep their family in your prayers.

Zoe's mom actually wrote this update in a comment on my last post, but since I know not everyone reads the comments, I copied and pasted it here....


I have to tell you all...tonight is the first time I have ever had the time to actually "blog-follow". I guess what I mean is I started looking at my brother's blog tonight...to see that they follow this blog...that I saw had a post "pray for Zoe". So I clicked on it to see that it was indeed about my Zoe! :) Wow. I am humbled...I never knew there were people out there following us and praying for Zoe. Thank you.Your sites are all wonderful. It is good to read about other cf families, it always helps to have people to relate with. Zoe did great with her 2nd surgery, came home that night! :) Now we are facing a weight loss issue...uggghh. Always something with CF. I will add you all to my blog and pray for your children faithfully.Love,Jada

Pray for Zoe

I found a new CF mom blog the other day, but didn't have time to post about it. She has a cute lil' girl named Zoe who I think is 4 years old. She was diagnosed with CF right before her first birthday. She could really use some prayer. She just had her second sinus surgery a couple of days ago. After her first sinus surgery, her stats dropped, so hopefully that didn't happen this time. There has been no update yet on their blog, but I will let you know when I see one. My guess is they are still in the hospital.

Click here to read her blog.

Why is it that sinus surgery goes hand in hand with CFers? At least that's what it seems like. Here is another site that I check out about a lil' CF boy who has also had sinus surgery. Click here to check it out. Then click Journal at the top to read more posts and then next at the bottom to read about his sinus surgery. I'm trying to figure out a way to put their Caringbridge site on my side bar just like I do with my blog list. I'll figure it out sooner or later.

BTW, if you are interested in checking out the other CF blogs that I look at, just check "My Blog List" on the right hand side(you may have to scroll down a little to see them all). Every time someone posts a new post, their blog name will go to the top of the list. It's really nice having that feature, it saves me a lot of time. I think I am a follower on all of their blogs. If you want to follow my blog, just click on "Follow this Blog" on the right hand side. This is how I sometimes meet new CF moms or CFers! I love this feature too!! Gotta love blogging=)
M

Omega-3 and Asthma and CF

YEA!! I've been tagged by Cindy for the Honest Scrap Award, which means I have to write 10 honest truths about myself or my life! I don't have time right now to do it, since I have been on the computer this whole time Lil' Chris was taking a nap and now he is awake. But I did find some new blogger friends!! I'd like to share Christy's blog with you. I added her to my blog list under Color Me Healthy. She had a great post about Asthma. It's really interesting! Check it out, click here!

Her post reminded me of a topic that I have been meaning to blog about for a while now.
A few months ago, my Dad told me about a vitamin I could take during my pregnancy to help reduce the chances of my baby having asthma problems. It won't cure CF if she has it, but it can't hurt. It also makes babies smarter too! That's a plus. It's called Omega-3. It has a full spectrum of 7 Omega-3s, DHA, EPA, and more(yes, that was straight from the bottle:). These Omega-3 fish oil capsules have lots of fatty acids, which are good for CFers. Back in the old days, Omega-3 used to be in a lot of the food we eat, but today it has been replaced by Omega-6 which is no good. Omega-3 can be found in fish, flax seed, and a few other things if you don't want to take the pill. The only fish I eat is fish sticks and that doesn't really help, so I take 3 Omega-3s a day.

He also told me that it is good for Lil' Chris too b/c of his CF. So, I have been breaking one of the capsules and have been pouring it on a spoonful of food for him once a day. I pour it on kinda like I do with his enzymes, but it is a liquid type. He doesn't seem to mind it. I was shocked, b/c it smells like fish when it is broken open. I know...gross right? Anything to keep my kids as healthy as possible though.

Anyway, my Dad has read that it may have beneficial anti inflammatory effects for people with chronic diseases such as CF. There was a study done in Italy that showed a drop in need of antibiotic medication. There was another study showing that it helps or prevents ADD or ADHD too.

When Lil' Chris was first diagnosed, my husband was researching on the Internet and found studies that Omega-3 was good for CFers. So the next time we went to our CF Clinic, he asked our CF doctor about it and the doctor said "There has been no studies on it or any proof." We were confused, b/c there have been studies on it, but I guess we just kind of dismissed it since he didn't think that it would do anything. Now, we are thinking "but what if it is good for him?" It can't hurt to give it to him just in case it does do some good and maybe it will improve his future! Has anyone else ever done any studies on Omega-3?

Here is one study:
Cystic fibrosis and fish oils
GENT, BELGIUM. There is evidence that cystic fibrosis patients with high plasma phospholipid levels of omega-3 fatty acids have better lung function than patients with lower levels. Cystic fibrosis (CF) is, unfortunately, often accompanied by fat malabsorption so it is not clear whether oral fat supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids would benefit CF patients.

Researchers at the State University of Gent set up an experiment to see if CF patients are able to absorb omega-3s effectively by mouth. The trial involved 9 CF patients (4 females and 5 males) ranging in age from 7 to 20 years. All had been diagnosed with pancreatic insufficiency and had poor fat absorption despite supplementing with pancreatic enzyme preparations. The patients were assigned to receive either 6 fish oil capsules per day for a month followed by 6 placebo capsules for a month or 6 placebo capsules daily for a month followed by 6 fish oil capsules daily for a month. Each fish oil capsule contained 335 mg of salmon oil and 165 mg of commercial soy lecithin and provided 152 mg of omega-3 fatty acids. The placebo capsules contained 500 mg of pharmaceutical-grade liquid paraffin.

The researchers found that the CF patients who took fish oil showed a marked increase in their phospholipid levels of eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA] (increase of 327%) and docosahexaenoic acid [DHA] (increase of 215%). The levels of EPA and DHA returned to baseline 2 weeks after discontinuing supplementation. The researchers also noted that patients with low initial levels of EPA showed the greatest increase in EPA levels after supplementation. They conclude that oral supplementation with fish oil and lecithin is effective in increasing the levels of omega-3 fatty acids especially EPA and DHA in cystic fibrosis patients.
Christophe, Armand, et al. Increase of long chain omega-3 fatty acids in the major serum lipid classes of patients with cystic fibrosis. Ann Nutr Metab, Vol. 36, 1992, pp. 304-12

Here is another study relating it to helping with Asthma:
Asthma
Diet rich in fish may help prevent childhood asthma
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA. Childhood asthma is now a major health problem in Australia with 31% of West Australian children having been diagnosed with the condition. Chronic inflammation of the airways is also a major problem with 12% of the population reporting wheeze severe enough to disturb sleep. Studies involving Australian school children have shown that those who consume oily fish more than once a week have a significantly reduced risk of asthma.

Australian researchers now suggest that the epidemic of childhood asthma is associated with a change in the omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio in the Australian diet. It used to be around 5:1, but is now 15:1 or higher. They recently concluded a study of 355 school children of which 166 had been diagnosed with asthma at 6 years of age and the remaining 169 acted as asthma-free controls. A comparison of the two groups showed that the significant risk factors for asthma were:

Gestational age less than 37 months (OR=2.93)
Maternal asthma (OR=6.13)
Breastfeeding for less than 6 months (OR=2.25)
A high omega-6/omega-3 ratio in the diet (OR=1.93)
After adjustment for other known risk factors the risk of asthma was 2.89 times higher among children with an average dietary omega-6/omega-3 ratio of 18 than among children with a ratio of 8. The researchers believe that the benefits of a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids are due to the inclusion of more EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), the two main components of fish oil.
Oddy, W.H., et al. Ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids and childhood asthma. Journal of Asthma, Vol. 41, No. 3, 2005, pp. 319-26

If you'd like more info about it, or have any question, just let me know. Here is a good link to check out about the studies they have done on this...http://www.oilofpisces.com/children.html#fibrosis. I hope this info is useful to you,
M

PS. I've added a picture to the top of this post. They are pudding like packets of Omega-3 that is easier to give to a child. We are going to get them soon and try them on Lil' Chris. I'll let you know how it goes.

Climbing the Couch and OB Appointment

Guess what Lil' Chris learned to do?




That lil' stinker can climb up on the couch now! He'll do anything to get that remote! My husband was in the other room and heard him change the channel. He knew he put the remote on top of the couch so he couldn't reach it. So he peeked in and saw Lil' Chris sitting on the couch with the remote in hand and a BIG smile on his face=) He's just too smart:)

In the first video, he was crying a little b/c he was having trouble getting up. Now...he's a pro!! Notice how he gets up there, but only looks at the remote. He knew he was being watched, otherwise he would have snatched it as soon as he got up there=)

Now I'm kinda scared about leaving him in the room by himself. What if he climbs up there and then falls off? What's a parent to do? I can't be by his side 24/7! Then nothing would ever get done around here! What did you do when your child first starting climbing up on things?

I had my OB appointment today. She said everything looks and sounds great! I am 33 weeks and in my 8th month, I can't believe it!! My due date is still Jan 29th. I guess we better get that baby furniture soon! I feel so behind with this pregnancy. With Lil' Chris, at this time I had my bags packed, his bag packed, the car seat in the car, toys washed, bottles washed, his clothes washed, crib set washed and made up for him. With this pregnancy, I have some clothes washed....THAT'S IT!!! Hopefully after the holidays, I'll get all caught up. And hopefully she won't come before then=) LOL
M
PS. His nose is still runny, and he coughs every now and then. Hopefully it goes away soon:(

PPS. Still looking for some great girl names. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Blog Award!!

This is the blog award that Alicia from ExperiencingEachMoment.blogspot.com gave me! Alicia's has an almost 3 year old daughter with CF, named Samantha. She is cute as a button!!
I'm not sure how we came to find each other in this blog world, but I'm sure glad we did. She always has great posts on her blog and gives great advice when I need it:) Thanks Alicia!!

Here are the rules....

1. Post the award on your blog

2. Link me for giving it to you

3. Link the originating post nominating you here

4. Pass the award on to 5 more deserving people

5. Post these rules for your recipients

I thought I would pass this award on to 5 families who have a lil' someone special in their lives that are effected by CF too. It's great getting to know you guys!

1.curecf4reilly.blogspot.com

2.libertoblog.blogspot.com

3.ethanamurray.blogspot.com

4.breezysbravery.blogspot.com

5.entrikincrew.blogspot.com

Thanks for the award Alicia, and I sure hope you all pass on the love!

Santa Picture As New Header

Today Lil' Chris got his picture taken with Santa. He had just woke up from his nap, so he wasn't very happy. We then got our 2nd annual family Christmas pictures taken. They turned out really cute. There is one picture with Lil' Chris' hand on my belly and he has a BIG smile on his face...too cute! Unfortunately we won't get those pictures until the 19th. I'll put one as the header as soon as we get them. For now, I'll make it his Santa picture:)

Guess what? Alicia nominated me for a blog award, click here to see!!! YEA, my first one!! Once I figure out how to get that award picture on my blog, I'll post more about it and nominate 5 other blogs myself. I'm new to this blog award stuff, but hopefully I'll figure it out soon;)


I have a favor to ask...2 of our blogger friends could use some prayers. Please check out Ashley's blog by clicking here, and Phoenix's blog by clicking here. They could both really use your prayers.


Lil' Chris still has a little runny nose, but is doing much better. Thanks for all the prayers,
M

Cold Update

Guess what? Lil' Chris is 18 months old now!! I can't believe my baby is 1 1/2 years old!! Where does the time go? I'll try to post some pics soon.

We got his throat culture back a few days ago and it was normal...YEA!!!

As for his cold, his nose hasn't been runny the last couple of days, but it is very crusty when he wakes up in the morning. It's a pain to clean, b/c he hates it when we touch his nose. We still aren't sure if it was a cold or just him teething. He is getting 2 molars on top, 2 molars on the bottom, and one tooth next to his bottom front tooth. WOW! I KNOW! Poor kid. See, this is where it is hard being a first time mom...I was always told that their nose would run clear if it was teething. He only had one day or two days of it running not clear(to put it nicely:), and he was sneezing a lot for a couple of days. Do they sneeze a lot when they are teething???

Anyway, whether it was a cold or teething, he seems to be more himself lately and is sleeping through the night again. Thank God, b/c this full time, hard working, 8 months pregnant, anemic body needs it's rest!!! LOL
M

Great Strides Meeting

Our CF Mom meeting/Great Strides meeting went great!

I had everyone meet at Cici's Pizza at 6:30 and it ended around 8:30. I chose Cici's Pizza, not only b/c it is my favorite pizza place, but b/c I wanted the manager to explain a fundraiser that they do there. I had talked to him last summer when I was going around to different places handing out flyers and asking for donations. I wasn't really prepared to do it back then, but now with Daniel's mom, Alma, and Erica(Great Strides coordinator), I think we are ready to do it and have it be a success!

The manager of Cici's talked to us for a good 20 minutes going over a lot of good info as to how to make it successful. They call the fundraiser a "Dough Raiser". We pick a night(except a Fri or Sat) and come in and raise money between 4pm and 9pm for our Great Strides Walk for a CURE. The manager will put a canister on the counter, and whoever puts their receipt in the canister, we will get 10% of that receipt. Also, we will have a tip jar to raise money that way. We can bus table for tips, have a raffle, put flyers on every table, or even have a bake sale. Even if we don't raise a whole lot of money, it will at least get awareness out there about CF.

After talking to the manager, we then started discussing a date, place, and goal for our walk. We didn't come up with anything definite yet, but we think we are either going to have it at a beautiful place where you can walk around beautiful flowers, or at the soccer fields where there is a nice path to walk around and a pavilion to meet at. We discussed making our goal $10,000. But we all think we can do better than that, so we are going to shoot for $15,000. As for a date, we are thinking late May or early June.

Overall, we had a great time and can't wait to do our "Dough Raiser" and other fundraisers to get to our goal. I'll let you know when things are more definite,
M
PS. Special thanks to Erica for driving 1 1/2 hours to come to our meeting=)

Appointment

We found out that our appointment for our Level 2 ultrasound (to try to detect if the baby has CF or not) is scheduled for Tues Dec. 23rd at 10:00. Hopefully everything will be fine.

It's too soon for me to give an update on Lil' Chris' cold. I worked all last night and all day today, and now I have to leave for our CF Mom meeting. My husband says he is doing much better though.

I'll fill you in later.
M

2nd Cold and CF Mom Meeting Tomorrow

Well, it looks like Lil' Chris has his 2nd cold. He was up a lot in the middle of the night, and then when he woke up this morning, his nose was all runny and he kept sneezing. He is very cranky and just wants to be held a lot. He never wants to be held, so you know he's not feeling well. It's like he doesn't know what to do, this is only the 2nd time he has been sick. Even I'm not sure what to do. He has only coughed a few times. His nose just keeps running and he hates getting it wiped. What kid does like their nose getting wiped, esp when it is most likely sore?

Thank you all so much for all your prayers the last couple of days. Hopefully he will get over this cold soon, and hopefully it won't turn into a cough.

I know I'm probably going to catch the cold too, but I'm hoping it won't hit me until Thursday. Tomorrow night we have a CF Mom meeting and I would hate to miss it since I set it up. I have a Great Strides coordinator coming to the meeting so we can get things rolling for starting a new walk here in our town. So far it's going to be me, the Great Strides coordinator, Alma, and Daniel's mom. I haven't heard back from the other 2 CF Moms that I know. I can't wait to set a date and place for our walk.

So far I have raised $285.00 and we have another Jeans for Genes Day tomorrow! I try to do it once a week.

I'll let you know how our meeting goes and keep you updated on Lil' Chris.
Thanks again for all the prayers,
M
PS. Please click here and check out this blog and keep this family in your prayers also, as they have lost a loved one because of this horrible disease. All the more reason for us to get our walk started so we can get out there and raise as much money as possible so that we can find a CURE!

Not Feeling Well

Please pray for Lil' Chris. He was throwing up last night and felt warm, but no fever. Although he slept through the whole night, he still felt warm and just wasn't himself all day. I just hope he isn't coming down with anything. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day(although I don't mind all the snuggle time I am getting:)

I'll keep you posted.
M

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

Wishing everyone a safe and healthy holiday=)
M

Remote Stealer/4-Wheel Rider

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Lil' Chris has gotten so tall that he can now reach the remote from the back of the seat cushion! At first we thought maybe we just forgot to put it back there before we left the room, but then I caught him stealing it one day. He was too fast to catch the steal on camera, but in these pics you can see him handing it to me. Whenever he has something that he knows he's not supposed to have, he runs it over to us and hands it to us as soon as we come in the room. It's too cute... you can't get mad at him when he has such a big smile on his face and is being good by giving it to you:)

I had to slip in a pic of him all dressed up to go out into the cold. He does such a good job wearing his hat and gloves. He doesn't try to take them off at all, except when his hat slips down over his eyes:)

The last part of the montage is him riding his 4-wheeler. His Daddy taught him to move his hands on the handlebars like when you ride a real 4-wheeler or motorcycle. It was so cute, I had to get video of it. He loves to dance to the music when he pushes the buttons on it too. At the end, he even pops-a-wheely! Looks like I'm going to have my hands full when he gets older=)

Hope you enjoyed the pics,
M

Lil' Chris' 3D Ultrasound (18 months ago)

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To answer my sister's question... Yes, we did do a 3D ultrasound with Lil' Chris too. If you compare the pics above to the pics of his sister in the last post, you'll see what I was talking about when I said they look a lot alike:)

We weren't going to do the 3D ultrasound at first, b/c it was expensive. But then we decided to go ahead and do it anyways, b/c you never know. Meaning...we knew about the possibility of CF, what we didn't know was what could possibly happen if he was born with it. We wanted to see his face and have as many memories as possible. I guess that is why we had a 3D ultrasound for our baby girl too...the unknown of what is to come.

Since we waited so long to decide to have one with Lil' Chris, I was about 35 weeks pregnant when we finally did it. The best time to have one is around 30 weeks. He was so big at 35 weeks, that you couldn't see much other than his face, which kept getting buried in the placenta. He was not very cooperative either. He kept putting his hands in front of his face, maybe b/c there was not much room to do much else:) So, we actually had to go back for a second try(free of charge, thank God) to see him more clearly and hope that he would cooperate that time. He still kept hiding behind his hands, but it was still so beautiful seeing him. I can still remember seeing him do sucking motions with his mouth. They said he would probably be a thumb sucker. Thankfully he isn't, but he is a binky lover:)

I definitely recommend having a 3D ultrasound to anyone, CF possibility or not. It was well worth the money. We actually got a great discount for our second baby, b/c we went back to the same place!

Here are some tips if you are considering doing a 3D ultrasound:
1. Make sure you call early in your pregnancy to get an appointment at the right time.
2. Ask about the different packages they offer. Ours was a CD, a DVD, one sheet print out with 8 pics on it, and a keepsake page for their baby books. Back when we did Lil' Chris', we actually got a VHS tape too:)
3. Ask if there is anything you should do before the visit. They told me to make sure I drink lots of water to see the baby better, and to have a sugar drink 1/2 hour before the visit to wake the baby up.
4. Ask what happens if the baby doesn't cooperate. Do they do refunds, or come back and try again later, is it free to come back later, etc.
5. Call around to different places to see who gives the better deals.
6. Whatever you do, don't ask if they can detect any bowl obstruction. I already tried that one;)

Hope this helps somebody out there someday:)
Enjoy the slideshow and don't forget to compare them with his sisters in the last post:)
Do you think they look alike? Could you see him in every pic? Yeah, me neither. He was really squished in there:) But in some of them, you can see him so clear. It's amazing how they do it!
M

3D Ultrasound of our Lil' Baby Girl!!

We just got back from doing a 3D ultrasound for our lil' baby girl. Yup, that's right! They confirmed it, IT'S A GIRL! YEA!!

It's sad that before I could even get onto the bed, I was asking if they would be able to see any bowl obstruction. They said that they are not allowed to do anything like that, b/c they are not doctors and they could get sued. I guess we'll just have to wait until we get our Level 2 ultrasound around 35 weeks.

We had so much fun seeing our baby girl wiggle around and kick and smile! She actually looks a lot like her brother! Lil' Chris enjoyed it at first, he kept saying "Baby!" But then he started to get fussy. Daddy had to take him for a walk a couple of times. The ladies there were so nice! I told them about the CF possibility and how Lil' Chris has it, and they both said that they would pray for both of them. The one lady actually washed a lil' toy so Lil' Chris could play with it, b/c he was being fussy! I couldn't believe it! She washed it first!! That was so nice of her. She seemed to really know a lot about CF. She was trying to comfort us by saying "these days, they live much longer"(she was kinda an older lady).

The other lady said something that kinda stuck with me. She said that she would pray that Lil' Chris won't have any symptoms of CF and will stump all the doctors and will be a miracle baby! I thought to myself, "Why didn't I ever think of that?" It could happen, you hear of things like that all the time! One can only pray.

BTW, right before we left for our appointment, I got a call from my OB saying that my glucose test came back ok. Then she proceeded to say "But you are anemic." My reaction was "REALLY?" She asked if I felt tired a lot or out of breath sometimes. I thought I was tired just from not being able to sleep comfortably with this big basketball stomach and being tired from working a full time job on my feet all day! I'm sure that all has something to do with it too, but I guess there was more to it. She wants me to take an iron supplement twice a day to help and also drink lots of water. I'm trying not to worry about, I got enough to worry about. Can anybody give me any tips?

Here are some pics of my 3D ultrasound at 30 weeks pregnant with my baby girl=)

Hope you enjoyed them,
M

100 HOURS on the Vest!!

Well, we made it!! 100 HOURS on the Vest!! I can't believe it! Poor kid... he doesn't realize that this is just the beginning of many hundreds of hours to come:(

The amazing thing is that he doesn't seem to mind it at all!! Nobody ever believes me when I tell them that he just sits there the whole 20 minutes, 2 times a day! Here is a video to prove what a good boy he is. He just sits there and watches his Yo Gabba Gabba show the whole time. Once the Vest turns off, then he wants to get up and play with his toys. But the whole time the Vest is going, he sits there like a good lil' boy. Sometimes he likes to sway to the music, it's so cute:) He doesn't even mind when we change it from 14Hz to 12Hz after the first 10 minutes. I couldn't be more proud of him=)

Now if we sit next to him while he is doing the Vest, or if there are other people in the room, that's a different story. So, we just usually either sit on the couch behind him, or leave the room and just come back in after 10 minutes to change the frequency and then leave again until it is done. That way we don't distract him.

Check out the video, sorry it's a lil' dark. The lighting in my living room is awful.
M

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Appointments Update

Our appointments went great! Our baby girl is doing fine, her heart rate sounds great! I drank my orange drink and got my blood work done(I have a lil' bruise to prove it:) My next appointment is in 2 weeks! Yup, this is the beginning of going every 2 weeks now. I asked my OB about the Level 2 ultrasound, and she said that she is going to put in a referral for me to have it done at the same hospital we take Lil' Chris for his CF Clinic Visits, b/c they don't do Level 2 ultrasounds at the hospital around here. I asked her when would be a good time to go, she said more towards the end of the pregnancy. So, we are probably going to go around 34 or 35 weeks. When my OB got done explaining this to us and walked out of the room, I said to my husband..."If she knew about this Level 2 ultrasound already, than why didn't she suggest it to us when we were pregnant with Lil' Chris, or even with this baby?" It made me kinda mad, but thanks to Daniel's mom I know about it now. Hopefully it won't show any bowl obstruction which is a sign of CF. I also asked her if insurance would cover it and she said that they most likely will, b/c our other child has CF.

Next, we went to Lil' Chris' appointment and everything there went great too! Well, it went great up until he had to get his 3 shots:( Sorry baby:,( It's a few days later now, and one of the shots has a big red mark around it. It also seems to hurt him when we touch it. Should I be worried? Or is this normal? This never happened with any of his other shots. He had no other problems with the shots, no fever or anything like that. I hope the red circle goes away soon.

Oops, I almost forgot...He got to stand on the big scale to be weighed for the first time!! He looked like such a big boy!! Why do they have to grow up so quick?

I almost forgot this big news too...The doctor noticed that he is starting to get his molars...YEA!! Finally some more teeth!! I was looking for the teeth next to his 6 that he already has to come in, not thinking that the back ones would come in first. I'm so glad, b/c that means he'll be able to eat more foods and get more calories! YEA!!
M

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Happy Shopping:)

M

Doctor Appointments Thursday and Hand Sanitizer Video

I can't believe how fast this month is going by!! We have our OB appointment tomorrow where I have to remember to drink my orange glucose drink a 1/2 hour before I go to my appointment at 11:15am. I think I may have to get a shot and some blood work done too:(

Then at 1:30, Lil' Chris has his appointment with the Pediatrician. It's just a check up, but he does have to get some shots unfortunately. I hate seeing his face when he gets shots. It sometimes scares me, b/c it's like he doesn't breath for a few minutes...but I'm sure it's only like a few seconds. But then he finally lets out a loud cry, which just breaks your heart:(

Please keep him in your prayers tomorrow between 1:30 and 3pm that everything goes well, that the shots don't give him too much trouble, and that he doesn't pick up any germs from the doctors office. We have been so lucky so far. He has only had one cold in 17 months. I guess not letting him play with the toys in the doctors office helps, and I'm sure all the hand sanitizing that we do to him must help too. We sanitize his hands any time he touches anything in public or if someone touches him, we sanitize that area whether it is his hand or cheek or whatever(once they walk away that is:). And we always make sure we sanitize before we touch him, and we make sure family, friends, and the sitters sanitize before touching him also. We should buy stock in Purell:) LOL.

Here is a quick video of the best thing we ever got! It is a hand sanitizer that is a pump instead of a flip cap, and it is on a zip cord that can be attached to just about anything. I love it! It comes with a cap, but I never use the cap, b/c it never spills. I have one on everything...the diaper bag, the bottle bag, the stroller, and especially my purse. They are refillable and I love it the most b/c it is quick easy access to a hand sanitizer that keeps my son and us healthy and away from those pesty germs:) It's not the best video, but you can tell I use it a lot b/c it is almost time for me to refill it:) You can order them on-line only I believe. We have never seen them in any store.

I'll let you know how things go.
Thanks,
M

Jeans for Genes Days

We had a great couple of Jeans for Genes Days last week. We actually made $63.00 on Thursday 11/6 and made $59.00 on Friday 11/7!!! So far all together, we have raised $186.82 towards our goal of $2,000!!! YEA!! We are doing another Jeans for Genes Day this Wednesday.

We were going to try to have a CF mom meeting this week to try to set up our Great Strides Walk, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen now. Maybe next week.

HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY!!
m

CF Clinic Visit 11/5/08 and 2nd Sweat Test

Our adventurous day started off with breakfast at Mcd's. Did you ever find yourself moving away from people who cough? When you are walking around in a store, it's easy to move away, but when in a restaurant...it's a lot harder without being too obvious. Well, at Mcd's, we were just about to put Lil' Chris in his highchair when the guy in the next table starting coughing. I quickly said to my husband, "Hey, look! There is a table that the highchair will fit perfectly under and not be in the way!" My husband new what I was getting at, so we moved to the other table with no one around it. It's not to say that the guy was contagious, but we just don't want to take the chance. While we were waiting for my husband to get the food, I got some video of Lil' Chris being nosey peeking his head up to see other people, and I got him saying "more" in sign language. Well, it's his way of saying "more" in sign language. He kinda does it knuckle to knuckle with his thumbs up, instead of finger tips to finger tips. LOL:)

At 10:00 Lil' Chris had his 2nd sweat test at the CF Clinic. I tried asking the lady questions and video tape at the same time without her noticing, hoping that she would explain what she was doing for the video, but I think she caught on that I was video taping, so she didn't say much...sorry, I tried:( As you can see in the pics and video, the sweat test is probably nothing what you imagined it would be. It is only done on the arms. First they put these 2 lil' circle things that come out of the fridge I believe, and they have medicine in them to try to activate the sweat in those spots on your arm. That stays on for 5 minutes. Then those come off and they put this lil' circle thing on your arm to try to collect the sweat. This stays on for 30 minutes. When it is taken off, the more blue you see, the better. That means that it collected some sweat. Then this is repeated with the other arm(they can be done at the same time). The first time Lil' Chris had his sweat test, there was hardly any blue. Same this time with his left arm, but luckily his right arm did sweat more. She said she thinks they got enough sweat this time. Thank God!!! I'll let you know when we get the results. Some tips and tricks for the sweat test...you can see in the pics that my husband was trying to hold Lil' Chris tight and try to put some body heat onto the spots where the sweat test was. It didn't last very long, b/c well...he is 17 months and doesn't sit still for too long;)

Next, was our visit with the CF doctor. As I was checking him in, I saw the box of kid masks sitting there and thought..."I wonder if he is old enough to wear one now?" So, I grabbed one and put it on him. I couldn't believe it! He actually wore it until we got into the room!! I was so proud of him:) They suggest that CF patients wear masks in the hallways after age 2 or 3, I can't remember, or maybe as soon as they leave them on. Hopefully Lil' Chris will wear them from now on.

The CF doctor said that he is doing great, his lungs are clear, and not to change anything! YEA!! He did do a throat culture though. I'll let you know the results when we get them. They said his weight is 24 lbs and 10 oz. and that he gained weight, but I checked my records from our last clinic visit post and it said he weighed 24 lbs and 13 oz on Sept 3rd. So, I either got one of them wrong or I'm just confused as to how he gained weight according to them???????? His height is 32.17 inches about 2 feet 7 inches. They said he grew a lot this time. I told him I've noticed, b/c now he can reach the remote from the back of the couch:)His weight went from 45 percentile to the 50th percentile! His height is in the 70th percentile! His BMI is 60. Overall, he is doing GREAT and he is on the right track!! We didn't even have to see the dietitian this time! It was so nice having a short visit, esp now that he doesn't like to sit still anymore. I have to say, my husband did a great job keeping him distracted so he wasn't touching everything. He was making him laugh and I think he even got him to tap dance a little:) You can see it in the video, it's so cute:)

The questions I had for the CF doctor were...
1. Should Lil' Chris get the RSV shots? He said that it is not necessary at his age now. He said that it is more important the first year of their life. If he were to get RSV now, he would react to it just like he would a cold. So he didn't really need it. It's probably a good thing, b/c he said they are about $400 for each of the 6 shots that he would have to get. He said insurance doesn't like to pay for it and it wouldn't be worth it for us to pay for it out of our pocket.
2. Thanks to Daniel's mom who emailed me some great info, I then asked the CF doctor about getting a Level 2 ultrasound to detect any bowel obstruction(a sign of CF). He looked into it and came back and said that their hospital does do that! He said to ask my OB about it. I have an appointment this Thurs, so I am definitely going to ask her if I can get one. I just hope insurance pays for it.

After our clinic visit, we went baby furniture shopping again since we were in the area. I can't wait til we find something and buy it so we can set her room up finally!! Lil' Chris liked trying on my sunglasses while we shopped in the store:)

To celebrate a great sweat test and clinic visit, we ate at Friendly's!! Since I had my camera with me all day, I couldn't resist taking some video of Lil' Chris doing this new thing with his tongue. I don't know where he saw it or why he was doing it, but he starting biting his tongue to the music. You can see it in the video, also you can see my husband feeding him his enzymes before we eat. He LOVES his enzymes, but he usually doesn't like restaurant applesauce. It's chunkier than what he is used to, but he got used to it and ended up eating the whole bowl! We ordered a mini burger and gave it to him for the first time to feed himself. It was so cute! He acted like he had been eating burgers like that for years! Only problem was, he just kept taking more and more bites without chewing and swallowing the first bite. So, then we had to take it away until he chewed it up and swallowed.

Overall, he did a GREAT JOB the whole day!! I was so proud of what a good boy he was everywhere we went=) We are so lucky to have him in our lives:)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Hope you enjoyed the video and pics. Was it helpful to those who never did a sweat test before? Let me know if you have any questions,
M

Quick Update

Our CF Clinic visit went very well. I took lots of pics and video of our day together, but they are still downloading:( I even got video of them doing the sweat test, if anyone is curious as to how it is done. I thought maybe it would put some new CF moms mind at ease for when they have to get it done. Lil' Chris didn't mind it one bit:)

Hopefully I'll be able to post everything later today before I go to work,
M

CF Update

Lil' Chris has been doing GREAT!! Thanks for all the prayers for him to stay healthy. We have our CF Clinic visit this Wednesday. They want him to take another sweat test, b/c he didn't sweat the last time they tried it. I doubt he will sweat this time either, but I guess we'll do what the Dr.'s say. My husband and I think it is pointless since we already know he definitely has CF, but I guess they need it on record that he was tested positive by blood work and the sweat test. Weird!

Today I scheduled a Dr.'s appointment with the pediatrician to get Lil' Chris' flu shot. He also has to get his 15 months shots too. I know, I know, he's 16 months. Somehow we didn't schedule our next appt. the last time we were there, so I forgot about it. We actually thought they said he didn't have to go back until he was 18 months to get more shots. When I called today, I thought I was a couple of months ahead of schedule, but I guess not. Sorry Lil' Chris:( They said it's no big deal, but we want to get those shots soon. So we have our appt. for next Thursday at 1:30. It's going to be a busy day, b/c I have my 7 months OB appt. that morning. Yea! I get to drink the orange stuff!!

Wish us luck,
M

Great Strides for 2009

We haven't set a date yet for our Great Strides Walk for 2009, but we did start raising money for it. The other day, we had a Jeans for Genes day at work. If you don't know what Jeans for Genes day is...It's when you set a date and post a sign so that the people you work with can come in on that day and pay $5(or whatever amount you want to set it at) and they get to wear jeans for that day and the money goes towards your Walk. I made stickers(see pic above) for them to wear so that they can show their support for my son and so we know that they paid:) It's because of those stickers that I met Catherine, she is now one of the CF Moms in our CF Mom group. It is called Jeans for Genes day, since it is a genetic disease, get it?

We did it last year and it was a huge success. You can read about it if you click on the Great Strides label on the right side of the page under "Labels." I encourage everyone to get with their boss and see if they can do it even just once a month or better yet once a week. We raised $47.00 in just one day!!!!!! We are going to do it again this Wednesday. People love wearing jeans and they love to help out a good cause too, especially when it is one of their boss' kids:)

I guess I should set up another CF Mom meeting so that we can start planning our Great Strides Walk for 2009. We should probably pick a date and find a location soon. If we want to raise a lot of money for a cure, we have to get started as soon as possible. And I know we all want to FIND A CURE FOR CF!!!!!

Kanagroo Chris Going Trick or Treating=)

Lil' Chris had a BLAST going trick or treating this year! I think he may have liked pushing the stroller more though;)On Thursday 10/30, we took him to the Outlets up the road and did some trick or treating at all the different stores. They have a train there now that goes around all the stores, so he of course loves to watch it go by. We rode it last time we were there. It was free this time b/c it was Halloween, but we didn't go on it. It was getting late and we still had to get him home to do his Vest, plus it looked very crowded on the lil' carts. It wasn't worth him getting any germs, since we went on it last time.

On Friday 10/31, he had fun helping Daddy pass out some candy to the neighborhood kids. Then we tried to teach him what he is supposed to do when we go trick or treating, but that didn't work so well. Then we took him out to go trick or treating in our development. It was such a beautiful night, actually quit warm surprisingly, since we had snow 3 days before. He had so much fun getting his candy. He would just go up to the doors and just stand there. We tried to get him to knock, say "Trick or Treat", and say "Thank you", but it didn't work. He was too busy holding his Elmo basket and pulling out the candy. He had to hold one in his hand the whole time. We talked with the neighbors for a lil' bit, and he just kept running around their yard with a piece of candy they had given him and kept giggling the whole time. It was so cute!!

Once we got home, he dumped his Elmo basket out so he could play with his candy. He even tried to share a lollipop with me. We can't wait til next year. Hopefully neither him nor I will have a baby in our bellies next Halloween;) Yup, great job to those who guessed it!! He was a Kangaroo so that we both had lil' babies in our bellies:)

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Another Halloween Header Picture

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

What do you think of this new Halloween header picture?? Which one do you like better, this one or the first one with the black background?

Can you guess why we chose a Kangaroo costume for this year??
M
PS. More Halloween pics to come=)

SNOW!!!!

I can't believe we had our first snowfall today!! It was so pretty looking out the window and seeing these huge flakes falling down from the heavens! WE LOVE SNOW...except when we going sledding down the big hill in our backyard and pop out our shoulder...right honey??? Hopefully that won't ever happen again!!

Here are some pics I took this morning...it was fun while it lasted, but it was pretty much all gone by noon:( But it sure was beautiful while it lasted!!







Here is a video of the beautiful snowfall. We hope it brings a little light to your day like it did to ours=)

Cousin's Are Funny: )

While on vacation, we picked up my niece's from school and they were so excited to see us! They were making Lil' Chris laugh almost the whole way home. Here are some video's of him laughing hysterically at his cousin doing something weird that she just made up. He thought is was so funny, that he had to give it a try. Now, whenever we are out and he sees another kid, he has to do it. My husband and I just crack up, b/c it is so cute. It's like he thinks he's doing something cool with the big kids:)





We were at a restaurant the other night and there were some kids sitting behind us, so he thought he would show them how cool he is:) I think the whole restaurant was laughing. (sorry the video is bad and makes a weird noise, it was from my cell phone, you may be able to see it, but not hear it...sorry)

Halloween Pic as New Header

We went and got Lil' Chris' Halloween pics done the other day. He is the cutest Kangaroo ever! I thought it was fitting to make it the new header for a lil' while, at least for another couple of weeks.

Our lil' Vacation

Finally, I got all my thousands of pics from vacation all downloaded! We had a great time seeing my sister D's new house...it's BEAUTIFUL!! I'm so glad my Dad went too, he never gets to see Lil' Chris. We had so much fun watching Lil' Chris play with his cousins. He usually is never around other kids, b/c everybody lives so far away:( He had a BLAST this weekend though! So did his cousins:)

We did all kinds of stuff...we went to a lil' festival thing that their town was having, we went for a walk around their development and thru a path in the woods, we saw a cute lil' turtle, we celebrated a couple of birthdays, and oh yeah...we celebrated Christmas. I know what you are thinking..."Christmas in October???" Well, we kinda had to since they live so far away and since I will be 8 months pregnant at Christmas time. There is no way I'm traveling then! So, we just celebrated a lil' bit early this year...the kids didn't mind, I'm sure:) It was a lot of fun! We can't wait to go back again!

Here is a slide show of some of the things we did. Of course, we can't go anywhere without doing his vest. He didn't seem to mind it one bit! He was distracted by all the new toys he got to play with=)

Here is a video of Lil' Chris doing his Vest when we finally got there at around 10:30pm. The video is a lil' dark, sorry:(


Here is a video of lil' Chris following his cousin around to play with the Christmas present we got him, a lawn mower. Lil' Chris is 16 months and his cousin is almost 2. I guess we'll have to buy Lil' Chris one for Christmas too:)


This video is of Lil' Chris doing his Vest with his cousins help:)


The kids liked racing the boys around on the nice hardwood floors=)


Hope you enjoyed them! Later I'll post the video of Lil' Chris laughing hysterically in the car, b/c of something his cousin was doing.
M

Please Pray for Tricia and Richard

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. We went on a lil' vacation to see my sister D's new house. Since we have been back, I've been busy catching up on everybody else's blogs and doing laundry. We had a great time on vacation though, I'll post some pics later.

For this post, I think it is more important that we all pray for some of our fellow CFer's right now. Tricia just got some bad news from the doctor. I pray that they get some good news soon, they could really use it. Click here to read more about it.

Richard's wife just posted the saddest post ever! (Click here to read it). He is a 46 year old CFer who was doing chemo treatments for colon cancer, but he has now decided he can't take it anymore. So sad, I was really praying that he could make it past this:( If you would like to leave a lil' encouraging comment on his blog, click here.

Please take some time and pray for them all. They really need some miracles right now.

Thanks,
M

CF Mom Meeting

I don't have too much time to write, but I'm so excited for our next CF Mom Meeting. We are going to try to get together once a month and hopefully start planning our Great Strides Walk that we are going to start here in town. For our next meeting, we are going to try to get one of the Great Strides organizers to come to give us some ideas and help us get started.

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to Daniel's mom and Alma and her mom for coming to the CF mom meeting. I had a great time and learned a lot. I can't wait for the next CF mom meeting:)
M

Our CF Mom Meeting Went Great!

Our CF Mom Meeting went GREAT!! We ended up talking for 2 1/2 hours. It was me, Daniel's mom, Alma and her mom. Oh yeah, and my husband and Lil' Chris. They were hungry, so they came to eat, and then they left and us girls kept chatting. Julie wasn't able to make it, b/c her twins were sick and she was starting to get sick too. Catherine couldn't make it either. Maybe one of these times we will all be able to get together:)

We talked about a lot of different things. Alma's son Jack who will be 3 soon, had 2 hospital stays this year. So, I was asking her lots of questions as to what it is like being in the hospital for days and days. Hopefully we never have to go thru that, but just in case, I wanted to know what it was like. She said that they bring their own Vest instead of using the one that gets passed around the hospital. That's good to know. She also said there is a pull out bed in the room which can fit 2 people, but if you want to be comfortable, only 1 person would be best. I always wondered about that. Also, the hospital food is expensive and adds up very quickly.

Well, Lil' Chris is crying for some reason...probably a bad dream. I will update you more later.
M

Daniel Update

For those of you who have been with us for awhile, you have probably been wondering how Daniel is. For those of you who don't know who Daniel is...Daniel is 3 and is the first CF child we have met other than our Lil' Chris.

Daniel's mom is the first CF mom I ever talked to. Our clinic gave us each others phone numbers, b/c we live in the same town. I think Lil' Chris was about 2 months old when we had our first lil' CF mom meeting at my house. We just found talking to each other so easy, b/c others just don't understand sometimes. I thank God that we met, b/c without her, I would probably be a mess and not have confidence in how to raise Lil' Chris. But thanks to her and the stories she has told me, I don't feel alone in how I protect my son so much. You see, at first, I thought everyone would think that I'm just too overprotective of him. But she has made me realize that you have to be for his sake! She taught me not to worry about what others think. I remember her telling me stories like...when someone or her other kids friends comes to her house to play, she asks if they are sick. If they are, she tells them that she is sorry, but they can't be around her son and they can't bring the germs into her house. I love that! In the beginning, I would have been like..."Oh you're sick, well just try not to get Lil' Chris sick." But now, I have the confidence to say "I'm sorry, but we can't afford the germs in our house. A cold to you could be pneumonia to Lil' Chris and all kinds of hospital stays." So I just wanted to say THANK YOU DANIEL'S MOM, FOR BEING A GREAT EXAMPLE OF A GREAT CF MOM, AND FOR TEACHING ME ALL THAT I KNOW, AND FOR ALWAYS BEING THERE FOR ME WHEN I NEED A FRIEND!! YOU'RE THE BEST!!

Here is an update that she left as a comment on one of my last posts. I cut and pasted it, b/c I know not everyone reads the comments. Please pray for Daniel to get over this heavy breathing and cough really soon.

Hi M,I have my ability to comment again. I ended up setting a new password. Daniel is fine. Daniel had a first at clinic last week. He actually wore his mask from the car until we were in the exam room, and put it back on to go back to the car! His appointment went fine. They said his lungs sounded clear. I was surprised because he was breathing heavy and had such a cough. They put him on an antibiotic, increased his albuterol to 4 times a day, and we will find out if he cultured anything on Monday. The cough is getting much better, but he still sounds like he is running around when he is sitting still. I was thinking this morning that one thing I hate about CF is how it has eroded my confidence as a Mom. I always wonder if I am being vigilant enough, or am I worrying too much when he is fine. With my other kids, I feel confident, with Daniel I am constantly second guessing myself. How is Lil Chris? Any great plans for the weekend? Not much here. I am really looking forward to Tuesday! Daniel’s Mom

You're doing a great job with Daniel! Keep up the good work! That's great that he wore the mask the whole time!

I know what you mean about losing confidence when Daniel gets sick. I do the same thing with Lil' Chris, but at least we are here for each other and now we know more CF moms to help give us great advice.
M

CF Mom Meeting Tomorrow!

Yea! Tomorrow is our CF mom meeting! I can't wait to meet the others CF moms and hear all there stories! I've talked to them on the phone, but it just not the same as meeting them in person. Hopefully they all bring pics of their kids:)

I'll let you know how it goes and what I learned,
M

"Our Fav CF Blogs"

If you haven't noticed, I have added some more CF blogs on the right side of the page under the title "Our Fav CF Blogs". I came across them from Nate's CF blog roll call that he did. Every now and then, I look at the list of all the people that responded to his roll call post. I still haven't made it through the entire list yet, but every time I look at it, I end up finding another Christian CF mom just like myself! So, I try to get in touch with them and tell them about this blog, so that we can help each other out or just be there for each other and to keep in touch to see how each others kids are doing. Now I check their blogs everyday.

I encourage you to check out their blogs too! They really are nice families that always help me out with all the questions I email them=) One of the families is having their Great Strides Walk tomorrow! I hope everything goes well and it doesn't rain. I'm sure they will have fun even if it does rain:) I pray that Ashley (3 years old)has fun and doesn't catch any germs or bacterias. Have fun tomorrow Ashley! =)

Another CF family just had a scare. Their almost 3 year old daughter, Samantha, almost had to go into the hospital for the first time. I know that would scare me too. But thankfully, her test came back and it was much better than before!

Melissa is almost the same age as Lil' Chris. I was really excited to find her blog, b/c all the other CF mom blogs that I know all have older CF children(2-28 years old). Melissa's mom and I scratch our heads to the fact that Melissa doesn't do the Vest, but she does the nebulizor....and Lil' Chris does the Vest, but has never done the nebulizor. I don't know. We just say the doctors know what they are doing.

These are just the blogs of those with lil' CF children. I also look at some blogs of CF adults. Like Tricia and Nate's blog of course! The ones who got me started on blogging. Thanks Nate and Tricia!

Also, here is a blog of a 46 year old CFer , Richard, with colon cancer as well. I encourage you to check his blog out and leave an encouraging comment. He could really use it, as he is going through a rough time right now. He only posts a couple times a month.

Here is one that you can really learn a lot from. Lauren (late twenties)has a couple different CF blogs. She talks a lot about CF and has many useful tips.

If I find anymore CF blogs, I'll let you know and I will add them to the list so that whenever you check my blog, you can click on their name on the right side of the page to see how they are doing. If you know of any good ones, let me know:)
M