Day 2 of VBS / Recap of Day 1

After VBS yesterday at John's game:)

His pill box that he kept in his pocket yesterday and today:)

"Go Wild For God!!" Lil' Chris went over and put his head in all by himself:)

Day 2 of VBS...Jonathan, Lil' Chris, and Logan(I think;)

Today was Day 2 of VBS(Vacation Bible School) for Lil' Chris and the last day. He was so excited all day to go!! He had soooo much fun yesterday!! He did a GREAT job with his craft! Bonus was that it was a kazoo that they made into a Panda, and kazoo's are great for his lungs b/c he has to blow!!

So, I just dropped him off and guess what??? I left RIGHT away!!!!.... After taking a couple of pics of course;-) LOL! I was so proud of myself (so was my husband when I text him;)

After VBS yesterday, we asked him if he had fun and he said "YEAH!!" Then he said, "I missed Ayla;(" Then Ayla said, "I missed Ca's too;(" That's what she calls him now. It used to be Ca, but now she adds the "s" on it;) Too cute these kids!! He then said he missed all of us and wished we could've been there too. Love this kid!!

Then we asked him what his friends names were and he couldn't remember. I said is one of them Jonathan? He said "yeah" and then Ayla said "and Andrea??" LOL! She thought we were talking about John our neighbor, I guess:) Then we asked them if they wanted to go watch John play softball, and Lil' Chris goes in a deep loud voice, "OH YEAHHHHHH!!" over and over again;) I guess he really wanted to go!! :) LOL!!

Ayla has done really well not having her big brother around to play with!! I know it's only a couple of hours, but still. After we dropped him off yesterday, she said "Where's Ca's?" but then when we got home, she played so well all by herself...almost better than I've ever seen her play with her toys!! Amazing, isn't it? It's like she can finally enjoy all her toys without having to worry if Chris was going to try to take it from her;-) LOL!

I have to admit...it's kinda nice not having them fight over who's going to sit on my lap! With the 2 of them here, I can barely sit in the living room without them trying to race each other to sit on my lap first! Of course, then the other one starts crying...usually Ayla;) Without Lil' Chris here, I can sit down and Ayla just keeps on playing with all her toys! Kinda nice;)

Can't wait to hear his new stories tonight!!

M

PS. When he starts preschool, I just might have more time to blog again! YEA!! ;) lol

1st Time at VBS = 1st Time Away from Me;(

First time ever at VBS!! He is the lil' one in the red shirt in the middle trying to do the dances like everyone else;-)

Taking his pills before snack:)

VBS Friends :)



Well...we just dropped off Lil' Chris with complete strangers for the first time ever!! Ok, not complete strangers...our Awesome neighbor is one of his leaders, so that's cool:) THANK YOU CARRIE!!! He is doing VBS at the church right up the road tonight and tomorrow night. I have to admit, I was very nervous leaving him for the first time. If it was Ayla, I probably would've said "Here ya go, have fun!" and left, but with Lil' Chris...I don't know...things are just different for many reasons...

1. He has a fatal disease

2. He has to take pills every time he eats

3. He is allergic to soy protein

4. He has to be germ cautious (stay away from those that may be sick, which he doesn't understand yet)

5. I tried teaching him to cover his mouth with his arm instead of his hand when he coughs, so that he doesn't spread germs to others(not that they could catch CF, but he may cough more than others and some parents may get freaked out), and so that he isn't putting his dirty hands on his mouth either;)

6. It means he is growing up:'(



We stayed long enough to watch him take his pills at snack time all by himself with the watchful eye of his leader. HE DID A GREAT JOB!!! He knew where they were in his pocket, he knew how many to take, and he took them BEFORE he ate!!! I was SOOOO PROUD of him, that it brought a tear to my eye watching him from afar. He is getting so big!!

Sending him to VBS these couple of days is kinda practice for when I have to let him go this Fall for preschool. I thought this was hard...sheesh!!! LOL :) I think he'll be fine, it's me who will be a mess! LOL! He made friends real quick tonight! At snack time, the other kids were calling his name to go sit with them! So cute:)

After we left him there, it was like we were lost! We were like..."Ummmm, what should we do now?" LOL!!

I can't wait to hear all the stories when he gets home!!! :)
M
PS. Thank You Carrie for looking after him:)

8th Successful CF Fundraiser / Save the Date for my last 2 CF fundraisers!!

We had another GREAT CF fundraiser at CiCi's Pizza last night!!! The night seemed to fly by for me, b/c it was so much fun hanging out with my Kohl's girls and all my wonderful neighbors that came out to support Lil' Chris and CF!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! Our total raised was about $720!!!

Big THANKS to my AWESOME Kohl's associates who volunteered their time to help us raise $500 from Kohl's again, which brings our total so far to $4,500 just from Kohl's this year!!! THANK YOU KOHL'S!!...

Sharon(this was her 4th one in a row, I think!! You ROCK Sharon!!)

Rebecca(my recruiter:) Thanks Rebecca!;)

Esther(her 2nd one in a row, thanks Speedy;)

Patty(I think this was her 2nd one in a row too! Thanks old babysitter;-)

Special thanks to all my FANTASTIC neighbors for their support...

Carrie, John, & Gideon(hope your finger feels better Gideon;)

John's parents(sorry, I can't remember their names;)

Rachel, Seth, Brayden, & Jordan(your kids are too cute:)

John S. (thanks for the tips on hopefully getting the piece of land next to us;)

Jeff(thanks for sticking around afterwards and eating with me, it was nice chatting with you;)

You guys all ROCK!! I CAN'T THANK YOU ALL ENOUGH!!!

Congrats to Amanda for winning the raffle prizes!!! Thanks for your donation!!!

SAVE THE DATE: My next/LAST 2 CiCi's Pizza CF fundraisers for this year will be...

Tuesday 8/16 from 5-8pm. Raffle will be $25 gift card to El Campesino, 2 movie tickets, & Buy One Get One Indians ticket.

Wednesday 8/31 from 5-8pm. Raffle will be 1 hour massage at Tips, Toes, & Beyond, and Buy One Get One Indians ticket.

Hope to see you all there!!

M

PS. Thanks Oma for babysitting:)

Vest for $50 / 8th CF Fundraiser this Monday 5-8p

Join us this Monday, 7/18, between 5-8pm at CiCi's Pizza in Wooster for our 8th fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis this year!!! There will be face painting and a raffle!!

See you there:)

For an update on Lil' Chris...he is still doing VERY well!! PTL!! He also has been doing a GREAT JOB putting his Vest on all by himself and turning on the machine too!! I haven't put his Vest on him since I last posted about it! YEA!! This probably doesn't seem like such a big deal to most of you, but trust me...IT IS!!!! It used to be a hassle every time! He was really bad about it, but it was still a pain. I would have to count to 3 and he would run and lay on the couch and pretend to sleep, I would sometimes have to drag him over to it, or even end up spanking him b/c he wouldn't listen;-( I HATED having to spank him to do his Vest, but I'm a firm believer that if they don't listen by the time I count to 3, then they get a spanking(don't worry, not a hard one;) I can't treat him differently b/c of his CF, I won't allow myself to.

So now I tell him to go pick out a Wii game and put his Vest on. I put the game on while he puts his Vest on...and PRESTO...NO FIGHTING!! I LOVE IT!! It makes life sooooo much easier!!! I tried to sneak it so he doesn't have to play Wii every time too, and the first time he said about 10 minutes AFTER the Vest was done..."Hey, I didn't play Wii!!" I told him "that's ok, you don't have to play Wii every time." Surprisingly he was ok with that;-) I'm so tricky;-0 LOL Now he plays Wii about half of the time I would say and it doesn't seem to bother him...YEA!!!

One time I offered to help him put his Vest on b/c he was getting all tangled up in the hoses and he said "I'LL DO IT!!" I said "OK", I think he likes being a responsible "big" boy who can put his Vest on all by himself now;) I don't even have to be in the room to make sure he does it too! I've been upstairs a few times and have yelled down for him to put his Vest on and ....next thing I know...I hear the machine running!! I AM SOOOOOO PROUD OF HIM!!! He's such a good boy!

Get this...the other day I bought the same exact Vest machine with hoses and all for only $50!!!!!! Yes, $50!!! I couldn't believe it!! They cost about $18,000! It only has 109 hours of use on it too, so it's practically brand new!! Lil' Chris is up to over 900 hours! It came with an adult XL Vest, so my guess is that he or she might have passed away and the family sold it or gave it to this yard sale type place. We are going to clean it REALLY good b/c of the risk of cross-contamination, and then leave it at my in-laws house for when he is over there sometimes. Who knows, in the future if he has a bad cough, he will need to do his Vest 3-4 times a day. $50 was well worth it!! I know of a few people on fb that are giving them away for free, but you would have to pay shipping. The shipping would probably be over $50 since is weighs over 30 lbs.

They originally had it priced at $500 and it sat there for a really long time, we first noticed it about 6 months ago. Then my MIL asked about it the other day and they said they would take $100 for it. She told me, so I went to look at it and I tried it all out to make sure it worked ok...all the while making sure Lil' Chris did not touch it. I couldn't believe it had everything and worked great and it even had extra stuff that I don't even know what it is, maybe nebulizer stuff?? IDK. It's sitting on top of it in the pic above. If anybody knows what it is, please let me know;) It also came with some thin clear hoses too that I'm guessing attaches to that silver thing.

So anyway, since it was like a yard sale type place I figured why not try to get it cheaper;) LOL! I was going to try $75, but then I figured why not try $50? To my surprise he took one look at my son, and said, "Since it's for the well being of your son, sure" and then he took the $50!! WOW!! I am VERY thankful he did, but I would have paid the $100 b/c it was so well worth it;-) Hehe! Don't tell him I said that;-) LOL! ;)

M

Lil' Chris & Ayla's 1st Wedding!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

On 7/9/11, we went to our neighbors wedding and it was Lil' Chris and Ayla's first wedding that they have ever been too!! Kind of a big deal;) They were sooooo excited and couldn't wait to "dance the night away" :) They did just that...check out the video above...the last 3 minutes is of them dancing, break dancing, head banging, doing the worm, you name it, they did it!!! ;-) LOL

The ceremony was beautiful and Andrea was just glowing!! Andrea used to babysit for us, so I was expecting the kids to yell "Andrea!!" when she started walking down the aisle, but they did very good and sat very quiet and just gave lil' waves to John and Andrea;)

I wanted to put together a lil' video for them, but I forgot my real camera, so I had to use my cell phone;( I was so bummed, but the video didn't turn out too bad...just a lil' blurry;)

CONGRATS JOHN AND ANDREA!!!

Lil' Chris' 4 Year Pics / 600th Post!!

This is my 600th post!!! I thought it was fitting that it is my post of his 4 year pics:) He did such a great job and had a great smile for EVERY pic!! My handsome lil' man;-) Where did my lil' boy go?? ;'(

CF Update / Update on us all:)

I thought I would give you a quick update on the family and Lil' Chris' cough...

1. Lil' Chris' cough is all gone!!! YEA!!! Praise the Lord!! This is the 2nd time he has had a cough and didn't need an antibiotic to get rid of it!! I'm really glad he never caught our colds too:)



2. Alya's cold has been gone and her cough too. Her new thing now is turning lights on and off...she is so proud of herself that she can reach them now;-) LOL



3. My husbands cold has been gone too. He is doing well and started his new job last week.



4. As for me, my cold has been gone too...sorry it's been so long that I've updated;) LOL! My back is all better too(it has been better for a while now...again, sorry for the lack of updates on myself;-) LOL! I've still been running everyday and I am up to 243 days in a row(except vacation days:) Woohoo!! It feels GREAT!!!
   

Since Lil' Chris turned 4 and learned how to unclip his vest buckles from his cousin R, I thought it was about time to teach him to put his Vest on all by himself. So now I tell him, if he wants to play Wii, then he has to put his Vest on all by himself and turn it on all by himself. Guess what?? He's done it a few times now!!! YEA!!! Gotta love the Wii;) The pic above is of him playing Wii Bowling after he put his Vest on all by himself!! He's getting to be such a big boy!!

I recently ordered him a new Vest, b/c the velcro on his other one kept coming undone. He used to take if off by undoing the velcro and stepping out of it, but now he can do the buckles. So now this new one should last us a long time:) Of course when I ordered the Vest, the hoses were fine, but the next day one of the hoses started coming apart...figures!! So I just ordered 2 new hoses too:) I can't complain though, that last pair of hoses lasted a pretty long time!

Yesterday he got his haircut AGAIN!! This kids hair grows sooooo fast!! He amazes me every time as to how still he sits and how he does everything the girl asks him to do. They always give him a ton of compliments:) That's my boy;-)

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend and a safe 4th of July!!

M

PS. Coming soon...Disney pics!!....Hopefully edited...but maybe not;-) LOL!!!!