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

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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:)

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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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