Happy + Halloween

cookie had a BLAST! halloween was fantastic this year. Cookie was a witch, Christopher was Dadcula, and i was Hecate!

We started out the night at my moms for dinner with Shelby and Judy joining us. Had a lovely dinner and then hit the streets!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyuSOsvyUqo

by the end of the night she had so much candy she couldnt even drag her pumpkin bag. we got home a little after 7pm and got our house all lit up and ready for trick or treaters

i made these cute little ghost luminaries out of old baby food jars and white craft paint. hung them on little yard hooks with wire. they lit the path up to our door.

we didnt have many kids this year but we did hand out all the candy we had! It was a great year!

*witchy ways*

[ A dark cave. In the middle, a cauldron boiling. Thunder. ]

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;

Witches' mummy; maw and gulf.

I was planning on cookie being a bumble bee this year. i had most everything ready to go but of course i couldnt find a plain black shirt.. a mom friend [ http://pinkisfunbowtique.com/ ] of mine made this shirt for cookie and i loved it so much i just tailored a new costume around it. you cant see in the pic but it has the cutest stitched pumpkin on the front. so that is how cookie became a witch for halloween this year. im very pleased. her photos came out perfect and shse loves wearing the hat and tutu.

i cant wait to take her out trick or treating this year. She will have a blast!

the patch

so we went to the pumpkin patch on our 3 year wedding anniversary. we all had a blast! we took the wagon which was a big help for holding all our bounty. we spent a good 30 minutes lost in the corn maze and cookie had fun picking out her pumpkin.

end of summer

the end of summer is my favorite time of year. the time of year that gives us Halloween! halloween, my birthday, thanks giving and then of course winter time!! eeek! i love this time of year!

of course im starting early.. its no secret, im a halloween nut and cant really help myself :) so for sake of driving myself insane trying to wait until the PC time to set up decorations.. i am just setting them up as i make them. this year i made my first halloween tree. cost me about $8 [for moss and pot] had some black spray paint and the branches from my birch tree.

i cant wait until i can throw in some white pumpkins and spider webs. its going to be beautiful

getting some air

lets jump!

THE TRAMPOLINE IS UP!

its huge and takes up most of the yard LOL

but we love it! the whole family does! we are so blessed to have friends and family to help us win it for cookie. thank you again!

2 days time +

in just two days time we should have our brand new trampoline!

thanks to every single one of you that voted for us and helped cookie win. This is going to bring her years of fun and safe exercise! Anything we can do to add years to her life is the best gift.

We are putting together ideas for a backyard over haul for cookie and other future children. we have an all cement back yard and no place to play and have safe fun. So christopher and i ripped up the fountain this past weekend and made some mental plans on where to put some grass and get the place ready for some fun!

baby pools and slip n slides here we come!

so for now we got the fountain down and out and the trampoline will go on top of that spot.. and once we get that thrown out we can start to rip up all the cement and planters we are removing. add some grass (and my hopes of a water fall/pond) then we are done! wish us some major luck!

th VEST

Today cookie had her first treatment with the vest! She loved it! She did so well with it! singing and chatting away as the machine made her voice vibrate. She would giggle and laugh at how she sounded. We have it set to run for 20 minutes at a time at 2 times a day.

lil' swimmer

Today has been up & down. Driving to my aunts this morning (where im baby/house sitting until monday) almost every song that came on the radio made me cry as i sang it.. every song that made me think of connor and his parents.

it was a rough morning. I cant begin to imagine what the Jones' are going through.

Once we got to the house, unpacked, got lunch and a nap.. we went for a dip in the pool. Im having a hard time trying to figure out how to teach cookie to swim without using a public pool.. seeing as we dont have one of our own, im trying to teach her every chance i get. She has started trying to go underwater on her own now.. its a bit scary.

All i know is that i will be hugging cookie extra tight tonight. a cuddle & a kiss. well be praying for the jones'

+ Connor +

Late last night, a little boy named Connor Reed Jones, lost his battle to CF. 7 years old. I can tell you as a mother that... its not nearly long enough. How is it that a 7 year old is ready to pass on? We need to cure this disease and it needs to be done NOW.

Connor will live on through us and our memories. Love and prayers to his family.

Breathe easy Connor man, breathe easy

+ Play date day *

We had a play date/family meet up today! Memorial day in the back yard, the grill cooking burgers and hot dogs, drinks all around, babies playing on the groung.. it was a blissful day!

Laura and family came down from Colorado for a socal vacation! They stopped by for the day to spend some time with us. We got the BBQ fired up and played some ping pong in the front yard. Naturaly we both took a thousand pictures LOL. We are so happy the could stop by for some time with us! Thank you guys for the beautiful day!! xoxo

the way it is

Some times you feel down. Some times you look at your life and wonder.. where did you hit that fork in the road that changed everything? Some time you think that you have been let down.

Christopher is away in AZ on a business trip tonight.. im here, alone, awake, and exhausted, wondering why? why?? why do i have to deal with this? why does MY child have CF? why not my neighbor? why not my friend? well.... a little bit of knowledge was bestowed upon me tonight...

"she is here for u, not u for her"

Ive been doing everything, earthly possible, to help my daughter. to keep her going strong and living healthy. Eveerything in my power to keep her here a day longer with me. Then i read that.. BAM. it hits me. it hits me that its true. shes here for me. She is here to change me, to mold my life into something amazing, to make me who i am meant to be.

She is my love, my life, my everything. I wouldnt be with out her. shes my world. my baby girl.

CHLA update +

Today we had our CHLA visit. I must say, it was THE best visit we have ever had. Aside from the constant scream coming from cookie, today was a pleasant day. We went in expecting the typical: need to gain more weight, keep the meds up, add more calories to her meals, increase meal frequency, etc.. well she some how managed to reach her goal of 50% for weight! They gave us the go ahead to add some veggies and fruit to her diet and we can start to sigh a little bit of relief as far as her weight is concerned.

I couldnt be more pleased. My mom came with me today to give Christopher some work time. He ends up missing a full day of work for these visits. I think she loved having her grandma there today, i know i did. So all in all, everything is good. lungs clear, they did a throat swab, gave us some refills for creon 6k, they asked me to write down a few recipes that have helped cookie gain her weight so she can pass them on to other new CF parents, and her o2 sat is 100% like always!

the picture ...

... ive been trying over a year for :)

may sound silly to a few of you.. but with cookie being in the NICU for her first month of life i never got the newborn baby photo shoot that a lot of moms got.. i got in a couple cute ones when i waws first learning on my point and shoot camera but now that i got a nice one and quite a bit more skill behind me.. ive been trying for that shot i never got and as she got older it got farther and farther away..

I think its how shes curled up in a little bundle.. im not quite sure but i feel like shes a new born again in this photo. makes me feel warm and fuzzy :)

anyways.. that was cheesey.. boy oh boy.. i gotta go now *blush*

bows for a cure +

love bows? fancy the color purple? looking for a cure for CF?

we got everything you need right here!

starting soon the Pink is fun bowtique will be selling these fabulous bows to help raise money to find a cure for CF! If you love someone who has Cystic Fibrosis and you want to help raise money to find them a cure then all you need to do is stop on over to the Pink is fun Bowtique and pick up a few bows! There are lots to go around and many cute styles!

Please join us for the month of May [CF month] to help spread awareness of this life threatning disease and everyone buy a bow for a CURE!

packs a punch

So i just invented what i call "power pasta".. it packs a punch with calories! Its going to make a lot of CF babies very very chunky!

let me start you out..

2 Lbs dry pasta (i use penne noodles)
2 C veggy oil
water

[ using a large pot, add your 2 Lbs of dry pasta, 2 C of veggy oil, then add enough water to boil the noodles. boil until noodles break apart with a fork. strain and let cool]

1 can crisco
1 jar baby pureed beef [or whatever flavor your child prefers (fruits, veggy, whatever)]
1 Qrt heavy whipping cream

[ After the noodles have cooled you need to puree them... we use a food proccessor but you can use a blender just the same. Add in noodles, slowly start adding water, then blend, add more water until you get the consitancy you/your child prefers (cookie eats her pasta thick) once the pasta is blended up i use ice cube trays to fill and put in the freezer. each cube is about 1oz of food. once frozen pop the cubes out of the tray and into a freezer bag and store in the freezer]

now come the time to feed baby.. get out a bowl, fill with 5 frozen cubes of puree pasta, in our microwave i put it in for 33 seconds (yours may vary) once its done, using a spoon break up the cubes left solid, add a spoonful of puree beef (of whatever you choose for flavor) then, 1 Tbsp of crisco and 1 Tbsp of heavy whipping cream. put back in microwave for 12 seconds. stir and serve.

it packs quite the punch of calories!

Paddy's Day

happy St. Patrick's Day! Wear green and shamrocks and all that.. i took the above picture in my garden. Very fitting for the day i believe. As for the below picture.. this is a before and after. a picture spaced 365 days apart. This day last year cookie was recovering from surgery and had yet to come home since birth.. Her *Aunty* Jenn got her this onesie. As you can se its a bit big and only a 0-3 month size.. 1 year later Cookie is sporting the same onesie only much tighter. Look how much shes grown and changed.. she even poses for the camera now LOL

first steps

We have for you a video of our sweet baby cookie taking her first unasisted steps! Please take a minute to watch the whole thing. You will see how truely amazing she is :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd5vgXz3OFA

spring has sprung

Its a GORGEOUS day out.. today is one of the first days where its hot enough to have a naked baby! We went to target and picked up a $10 bubble blower. This thing is great! We had a lot of fun playing out back.

1 year

Cookie turned 1 year old today! She is an entire year old. 365. Ugh the time goes by way too fast....

We had plans to have everyone over at my moms house for a nice mid-day garden party on saturday [feb 27th] and the whole week before predicted rain just on that day.. i was hoping the storm... or the weatherman.. would be off by a day.. no such luck.

Rain hit saturday morning and people started saying they wouldnt be able to make it (road closures and hard rain) so we had a small party at our house. Joining us was, my mom & Don, grandma Shanks, Tim & his GF Gi, my BFF Jenn and of course the birthday girl.

Ordered up some pizzaa, got some cupcakes and had some gifts. We had a great time.

Now sunday rolls around and its perfectly gorgeous outside, bright sun and no clouds, 75 degrees. We get the day rolling and get the party set up for outdoors. Those joining us were: Great Grandma Zeller, Great uncle george & Pam, Grandma Hughes and & Don [of course it was their house] BFF Jenn, and her mom Lisa, Judy, and Chuck dropped by for a bit.. we had a lot of good friends and family.

Cookie had a fun time eating her smash cake, we had a lot of fun watching her :)

She also got a lot of wonderful gifts! a potty chair, a fairy statue, a talk and play game, a cabbage patch doll, a ballerina doll, a fabulous dress, book ends, lots of books, a ball pit and big purple flops bunny pillow.

All in all we had a wonderful birthday weekend! We couldnt be happier.
Happy 1st birthday my sweet baby girl!

will you be mine?

It had been raining off and on all week.. cookie and i went to the store and picked up a few craft items so we could make valentines together. I made a big one for daddy and she made a little one. Shes such a sweetheart. Had a lovely dinner and of course desert, drinks and a movie after baby went to bed.

bit of a hiatus

but im back now.. :) lets fill ya in on what youve missed!

lots of things have gone down since i updated last. i would like to touch on some of the more interesting and exciting points: first birthday, first steps, dr. apt's, and teeth.

maybe i should just do this thing up right and in orders. what do you think ?

walker, texas cookie

cookie is walking! with help :) She got up and started pushing her high chair around the living room today like shes been doing it for weeks! She growing up so quick



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR5dBGoYZQA

1 month away

well cookie is 11 months old today! . Time is going bye so fast. Im looking forward to her 1st birthday but at the same time i want to freeze her at this age forever. bitter-sweet.

We took a trip to the park today and she had her first ride on the swing (without a blanket for protection) it was a big step for me and my hatered for germs. we both had much fun. Once we were done at the park we sat in the shade of a tree and played together. Every day with her is a true blessing. To make it to one year is a big milestone for us!

the new year

Well its been a while since ive posted. Nothing really new to report. cookie is doing well. Had some bad coughing a couple weeks ago but has since gone away on its own. Might have been a cold she caught from daddy. She got her first tooth in on jan 2nd! the second one has since popped in too. We are thrilled to see them! Weve been waiting for months lol

Were still holding hope for our friends Lisa and Harrison.