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!