The Story of Us....

Every little girl dreams of growing up and marrying her Prince Charming. 5 years ago today, my dream came true. I'd always imagined finding this tall, dark, and handsome guy (original, I know) and I remember standing there that day thinking, "Wow....I really found him." (Well, the dark and handsome part anyway....you win some and lose some, I guess. Tee hee.)

We started dating in November of 2002, just two months after my dad passed away. I have always known that was no coincidence. My dad knew exactly what he was doing when he sent you my way. It may have taken you 4 years and 1 baby later to figure it out, but I've always known. You were the one. You've ALWAYS been the one.

The night we got engaged will always be the most magical memory of my life....

....I don't know that any proposal could top ours. Even though I still believe you used every ounce of romance you had in you on one evening :) but, it was SO worth it. We were sitting with friends around a fire on a private white sand beach under a full moon in Costa Rica....on Valentine's Day. (Really?! Does it get any better than that?) You'd have thought by the end of the night I'd have caught on that something was up....but, I was too concerned with the thousands of hermit crabs I could hear scurrying around us in the dark. When you pulled out the ring, I remember thinking how nervous you seemed (which I'm sure was more due to the fact you were scared one of us would drop the ring in the sand because my hand shaking so bad). Then I think your nerves turned to fear when you witnessed your 1st 'ugly tear session'. I remember bawling the words YES, YES, YEESSSSS!!!!! I can only imagine what was going through your head at that moment. Thankfully, you've never told me :)

We were married on a Saturday in the late afternoon. Thankfully, you didn't view the Cornhusker loss that day as a bad omen and you decided to marry me anyway. It was a beautiful day and with all of our family and friends surrounding us, we recited our own vows. Even though I know you wrote yours only hours before the ceremony, I can never thank you enough for writing them. For me, that was the most special part of the day.

I take you, Barry, to be my husband. I promise to love & cherish you, to be supportive during Nebraska games, compliment the size of fish you caught, no matter how small it really is, & to never get mad when you choose to spend our anniversary with Nate in North Dakota, since I have been reminded over & over again how this is one of THE BEST hunting weekends of the year. I promise to love you in good times, & in bad, when life seems easy & when it seems hard, when our love is simple & when it is an effort. I will always be honest with you, kind, patient, & forgiving, but most of all I promise to be a true & loyal friend to you. I promise to always make our home a place of laughter, which may include inventing my own words to songs & singing them at the top of my lungs just to make the two of you smile. I feel so blessed that you have chosen to share your life with me, & that I get to grow old next to you. Above all, I promise to never stop laughing, & to never stop falling in love with you. I give you this ring as a symbol of my promise.....
I take you, Teresa, to be my wife. Each of us has had quite a journey in our lives so far & I feel so blessed to have found you as my partner. I promise to love & cherish you from this day forward, to be a comfort & safe haven in our families lives, to hold you close, to listen deeply when you speak (even when I have no idea what you are talking about). I promise to nourish you, to uphold you with my strength, to weigh the effects of the words that I speak & the things I do (and even the things I don't do). I promise to never take you for granted & to always give thanks for your presence in my life. I give you this ring as a symbol of my promise....

You are my best friend and I could never imagine my life with out you. You have blessed me with so many wonderful memories and given me 2.5 of the most beautiful children a mother could ask for. I love you so much, B.....cheers to 50+ more years!

Tiny Dancer....

Not sure which is money better spent in this family.....dance classes or preschool. Daddy and I have been hoping our kids have better rhythm than us (which truth be told, any rhythm is better than our rhythm), so dance classes are a necessity. But, we've also been hoping this kid is learning something in preschool....


....and apparently, basics like right and left isn't one of them :)



Ry is such a little lover, she had to give her teacher a quick squeeze before she exhibited her amazing 'bear crawl' skills.


At least she's learning (however slowly) to follow directions....she nearly toppled over trying to stay on her red X (per the teacher's instruction). Geez, I love that little squirrel.


And, of course, "Little Foot" had a front row seat to the festivities. She positioned him perfectly so he could watch her every move. I'm convinced this little guy is going to accompany her on her 1st day of high school.


She even decided to share her sticker from class with her baby sister :) We'll see how long this 'sharing' thing lasts.

CF Update.....

Last Thursday, Rylan had her big annual CF appointment. They are the ones I dread....even more than the normal 3 month ones. In addition to visits from every doctor/dietician/social worker on the team, we also get to throw blood draws and x-rays in there. Blood draws and 3 year old little girls just don't go hand in hand. BUT.....this little peanut never ceases to amaze me. She did FABULOUS. We talked about the blood draw during the car ride to the hospital, in the hopes it would 'prepare' her for what was to come. You can imagine how well THAT went over. When a child hears "They are just going to poke you really fast, so they can test some things in your blood. And you'll get STICKERS! Lots and LOTS of stickers!!"....all they hear is "Blah blah blah, POKE, blah blah blah, BLOOD". There are few things worse than hearing that sweet little voice plead with me, "Please, Mommy. I don't waaaant to."

Trust me, baby, Mommy doesn't want it either. Not any of it.

7 viles of blood, 10 seconds of tears, and 17 princess stickers later....we were at the elevators heading up to x-rays. Only 10 seconds of tears! I couldn't believe it. My advice to anyone else out there with little ones and needles.....prepare them. Don't overdo it, but tell them what's going to happen before they're sitting in the chair with a stranger and a needle in front of them (I learned my lesson last year). Have them watch. Rylan didn't start crying until that initial poke and only cried long enough to decide it wasn't so bad...which literally was moments later. I was shocked to say the least. After we got our stickers and were standing at the elevators, she looked up at me (VERY proud of herself) and said, "Mommy! They didn't even get any BLOOD on me!" My little diva princess, more concerned about getting anything yucky on her outfit than having a needle in her arm :)

We got the results from everything today.....and her throat culture showed NO PSEUDOMONAS!! It showed only a slight growth of Staph (which is normal for her) and since she's not showing any symptoms, we made the decision not to treat it. (You can see a detailed reason of why we hate pseudomonas here) Her BMI is holding steady at the 30% range, so our dietician was pleased. We would all love to see that reach 50% or higher, but as long as we're over 25%, we're on target. I've explained in previous posts that she is pancreatic sufficient, so although increased weight would be a good thing....we're not alarmed with where she is.

On to the chest x-rays...they said they want to schedule a CT within the next couple of months to get a better look at things. Apparently, the lower left lobe was not completed inflated. They went on to say that at the time of the x-ray her tummy was full of air, so this could possibly be the reason....but regardless, they want to do the CT just for good measure. They also noted there was some airway dialation in the upper right lobe, but this is common in CF'ers....so not a cause for concern. At least that's what the doctor notated. Unfortunately to me, any report other than 'Your daughter's lungs look PERFECT' is a cause for concern. Maybe not a huge concern, but until we get the CT done and have some definite answers, I'll be sending up a few extra prayers. Ok, maybe a thousand extra prayers. I'm happy that the doctors aren't concerned (hence the waiting a couple of months to retest), but this mama can't wait that long. The nurse is calling me back to set up the appointment :)

Everything I know, I learned in Kindergarten....

Last night, Kohen....age 6, mind you....and I had a rather interesting conversation. He was sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework (you know, the really hard kindergarten kind of homework), when he looked up and said, "Mom, I know what CHX spells."

I, of course, thought he was just trying to make up some random word to stir up a conversation with me to get him out of doing his homework (you know, because Mom is like the meanest thing on the planet when she tells you to do your homework right when you get off the bus, because that would like free up the entire rest of the evening to climb trees with your buddy across the street). I responded with a "Sorry, buddy. CHX doesn't spell anything."

"Oh YES it does, Mom."

"Okay, buddy. What does CHX spell."

"I don't think you want me to say it, Mom."

"Kohen, I give you permission to say whatever it is....just this one time." (Still thinking this is a ploy, which is obviously working because now the sight word list he was reading out loud is conveniently being shoved back into the folder in his backpack.)

(Lowering his voice) " Mom, it spells SEX!"

(Ok, kid. You now have my complete attention.)

"Sex?! Who taught you that word, Kohen? Where did you hear that?"

"At school."

(Trying to decide whether to laugh or cry and thinking to myself, he's in kindergarten. Do they have recess with the eighth graders??) "Ok, buddy. Do you know what that word means?"

"No.....what?"

(Phew. Dodged THAT bullet) "Oh, it's really nothing. Nothing you need to know about now anyway. Someday we can talk about it, but now probably isn't the time." (Oh, thank you Lord. The next time THIS conversation happens, Daddy better be home.)

Kohen starts laughing. A very mischievious laugh. A laugh where I'm thinking to myself, this kid is about to learn what the words "Oh shit" mean here in a minute.

"Mom. I really know what the word sex means."

(Oh shit.)

"Kohen, what does it mean?" (OH SHIT, OH SHIT, OH SHIT)

"It means someone is HOT, HOT, HOT!"

I think at this point I was sweating so profusely it wouldn't have mattered what his answer was. All I could do was smile and turn my back to him (so he couldn't see me look up to the heavens and thank God one more time).

"Yep, buddy. CHX means hot. Hot, hot, hot."

"Oh, and Mom.....I know the tooth fairy is really you and Dad."

SERIOUSLY?!!

Glitter, Sparkles, and Dinos...OH MY!

Every night when we're tucking her in to bed Rylan now asks, "Can I have another birthday tomorrow?" After a full week of birthday celebrations, I think a little certain someone has discovered she REALLY likes being in the spotlight. Given the fact that my husband can't get ready for work in the morning without being covered in glitter by the time he walks out the door....and mommy has to assist with 15 costume changes every day....I think we all could use a break from the sparkly tutu's and presents.

The dinosaur theme ended up being much more fun than I had originally thought....only because wonderfully talented people in the world have allowed their ideas to go public (aka Pinterest), so cyber stalkers such as myself can appear mildly creative :)

Dino prints leading to the door of the cabin...

I knew those countless hours spent on locker signs waaaayyyy back in the high school cheerleading days would someday pay off...

What is it with my kids and frogs???!

3 dinosaur eggs for the birthday girl's dino egg hunt...

Score!

Post hunt....checking to see what kind of critters were inside the eggs. They were hoping for baby velociraptors....unfortunately, they got watermelons :)

**Special thanks to Alison and Krystal , who's blogs gave me some amazing ideas!!!**