Happy Father's Day!!!

I am a terribly disorganized person. I may have a clean house (most of the time anyway)....but you better steer clear of opening any drawers or closets. To me it's out of sight, out of mind. Unfortunately, this trait also leads to countless pictures just sitting on my computer waiting to be printed and put into albums. I have countless empty albums laying around in storage. I have countless scrapbooks started and stopped after page 2. I am SO not one of those 'good' moms that have wonderfully organized books of each of their kids, from ultrasound picture to yearbook photos. I've tried, and I've failed too many times to count. So....I started a blog :) This is the place where I hope to put all the 'important' memories. All the things I want to remember, and want my kids and husband to look back on and smile (or cry out of embarassment).

So, this is a video I made for Barry last year for Father's Day and I wanted to make sure it found it's way here. It was a few days late of course....and this year's gift will be too. Being unorganized also means I'm pretty much late for everything :) But, the 1st step is always admitting you have a problem....right??

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Tomboy.....

So......I love my CF mama friends. LOVE them. I had to swing by the pharmacy today (which I should just have auto drive button on my car for) to pick up some meds and decided to treat myself to a cafe mocha at my favorite local coffee shop. I must 'treat' myself more often than I care to admit, because when I merely pull up to the microphone in the drive through, the barista justs says "Go ahead and pull up, Teresa". Oops. It's just so close to the pharmacy. And I'm always at the pharmacy. And I deserve it, right???

So, as I pull up to the window, Luke (my barista buddy), hands me both my coffee and a tupperware container. He informs me that my friend dropped the package yesterday to give to me the next time I'm in (am I really there that often?!). This is what I find inside....



I had told her recently how different Rylan's birthday party this year will be compared to last year's. Ry is so past being a girly girl (for now anyway) and is really into dinosaurs. She still loves the color pink, but INSISTS that it's blue :) My sorta-kinda-for-the-brief-moment tomboy. Gotta love her. And gotta love my girlfriends. Blessed. Blessed. Blessed.

Thankful Thursday.....

Today, I'm just thankful. Plain and simple. I woke up this morning, poured myself a cup of coffee.....sat down to open up the computer and this is the 1st thing I saw. We are on our way. I am no longer 'cautiously optimistic', I am just optimistic. I am hopeful. And I am thankful.

I am thankful for birthdays.

I am thankful for weeklong birthday celebrations.

I am thankful for gap toothed grins.

I am thankful for my outdoorsy husband.

I am thankful for helping hands.

I am thankful to have friends and family who love my daughter so much, they selflessly give of themselves to fight for her cure.

And, I am thankful and proud to have a pistol totin' princess. She may wear cystic fibrosis well, but I promise.....she's going to kick it's ass.

Dear Kohen....

Happy 6th birthday!! I doubt you'd be surprised if I told you that I've shed a few tears today. Of course, none that you saw....I couldn't possibly embarass you like that. Wink, wink. I just can't believe it's been 6 years. 6 years ago I laid eyes on you for the 1st time. Somehow that seems like a lifetime ago and only yesterday, all at the same time. It's honestly hard for me to remember my life before you, and really I'd rather not remember it. You have made my life so unbelievably perfect. You. Perfectly you. You are such an amazing young boy. I am so proud of everything you are....even though I have been debating recently on whether or not to have your hearing checked :) You have officially entered that stage. But, I love you all the same. Even with your male selective hearing.


I remember that morning you were born, opening my eyes after hearing your 1st screams to see 14 doctors and nurses in our room....ready to whisk you away to the NICU. You were born 8 weeks early and weighed 4.1 lbs and 18.5 inches long. You were so tiny. So tiny and SO beautiful. I couldn't sleep that night knowing you were only a floor away, so I snuck through the quiet hallways to your room. I remember all of the machines beeping and buzzing, and all of the wires and IV's laying around you that only made you seem even smaller. I stood there with tears streaming down my cheeks, unable to tear my eyes off of you. I was totally unable to comprehend how I could already love someone SO much that I would literally, wholeheartedly, die for them. On Day #2, a doctor (who would later become one of my favorite people on this planet) came to tell us you needed an emergency 'exploratory' surgery. There was excess air in your abdomen and they didn't know where it was coming from. I remember immediately looking at this surgeon's hands. His gianormous hands. You were a day and a half old and weighed barely 4 lbs and we were about to put your sweet little life into this 6'5'' doctor's gianormous hands. I would have given anything to trade places with you. Anything.


A few hours later, that surgeon reentered our room and the 1st words out of his mouth were, "The surgery went better than expected, your son is doing great." The 1st words out of my mouth were, "I love you!" as I lept out of bed to give him a hug (I think I surprised your daddy a little bit with that one). It ended up that you had an ileal atresia, or in mommy's terms, a hole in your small intestines. That big scar across your tummy is a constant reminder to me that life is so fragile and precious. It reminds me of being a brand new mommy and how scary those 1st few months were. But, it also reminds me of your strength. You've been a fighter and one of the biggest blessings in my life since Day #1. So, even though YOUR version of the story consists of a grizzly bear attack in Wyoming.....MY story is slightly more truthful, but filled with just as much pride. You are everything a mommy could ask for.....and then some.

So, I will leave you with this. Thank you. Thank you for making me a mommy and for making me laugh every single day since. You mean more to me that you will ever know. You are an incredible son and I cannot wait to see what your future has in store. Even if it is a 'professional Lego builder'. XOXO ~ Mommy

Mommy's Promise at OneTrueMedia.com

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Weekend fun....

Yesterday, we took full advantage of the dreary, cold, windy crapola weather and went bowling. B and I have been together for over 8 years and this is the 1st time we'd ever gone bowling together. SO. MUCH. FUN. We had a dear friend of ours with us (who thankfully remembered her camera), whom the kids affectionately refer to as 'Tornado Jessica'. Little minds NEVER forget....she and her boyfriend were at our house long ago when we unexpectedly got some nasty weather and the tornado sirens went off. So, we set up camp in our basement and had a tornado party....Rule of Life #783, any word seems a LOT less scary when you add party to the end of it! Thanks, Tornado Jess, for documenting a fun day!!

Rocking the bowling kicks....

Someone was really excited....she even had to wear her 'lucky tights'. And, yes, she really does call them her lucky tights. Big brother was pretty excited to be the helper.

OH, the anticipation!! And the ball took a really, really loooonnnnnngg time to make it to the pins. All twenty rolls.

Proud big brother and really proud sister. This is her best version of Dora's 'We did it' dance.

You can definitely tell that we had a female friend with us....mommy is actually included in a picture! I swear, if you look back through our family photos it's like I never even existed....

I truly hope no one ever spoils the secret and tells him it's not really the lowest scorer in bowling that is the winner :)

CF update : Rylan had clinic a week and a half ago, and other than she is still a little skinny minnie, she got a clean bill of health. We got 'the dreaded call' this past week with her culture results, however this time I think the nurse had to put the phone down for a minute as I screamed loudly in her ear after she said NO PSEUDOMONAS! Thank you, GOD. The dietician wants to see us back in 6 weeks to track her weight. Since January, she's grown an inch and a half and put on less than a pound in weight....bringing her BMI back down to 22%. I struggle with this...since she is pancreatic sufficient I have a hard time loading her up with calories and fat...but on the flipside, studies show CF'ers (regardless of pancreas function) that weigh more have bigger lungs and bigger lungs function better. So, I am putting my mommy issues aside and trusting our dietician. Got to go serve up some guacamole :)

T Time.....

It's funny. When I look back through my blog posts, they rotate almost every other time between being positive and being negative. My hubby would probably say, that's not funny honey....that's what they call bi-polar. Whatever. I say it's called motherhood.

So, keeping up with that theme....here comes a happy post :) I wanted to share some details on an upcoming Rylan's Renegades fundraiser! On the 29th of this month, we are hosting a Rally for Rylan Pub Crawl. SO SUPER EXCITED. Our bus capacity is supposed to be 80....we are at 95. Oops :) We are beyond thrilled with the response we've gotten and are looking forward to making it even bigger and better next year!

Unfortunately, we can't take any more people along for the ride...but if you want to purchase a Rylan's Renegades t-shirt, send me a message and let me know! The cost is $20 and all proceeds will benefit our Great Strides team. Love, love, LOVE how they turned out! Rylan's Renegades....Outlaws fighting to cure cystic fibrosis!!!