Vote for US!

No, I'm not running for office. But my mom and I made* some great grab bags for a contest. The more votes we get, the better our chances for some fantastic prizes! So vote early, vote often.

Pictures are below. Vote here.

Thanks!


*I may have helped my mom a little. Not that she isn't capable of doing something so wonderfully fantastic, I was just trying to be a good daughter since she has other things going on in her life. I love you mom!

Too many doctors!

It's Thursday at the time of this posting and Samuel is scheduled for his 2nd attempt for a pulmonary function test tomorrow. If you are a faithful follower, you may remember we attempted this back in the spring with no luck. Samuel wouldn't fall into a deep enough sleep for us to begin the test. We have a few tricks up our sleeve for tomorrow, such as awake at 5:30 and no naps. BUT for a fun-loving boy who doesn't like naps anyway, this could perhaps be the best day of his life. This test is to provide us with a starting point. It will give us some baseline results for comparison in a few months and years.

We know Samuel likes paper at the doctors office. Well, he likes just about any paper. This is just a cute video taken at the pediatrician's office...before the 2 pokes.




I got an e-mail yesterday. The subject was "culture results". It might as well have said "We need to talk". You know the feeling. You know you are supposed to read it and eventually face the music but are a little scared of what it might say. Well, after reading a few other e-mails, I worked up the nerve to open and read this:

Hi Erica and Kevin,

Just wanted to let you know that Samuel’s culture just grew a “scant” amount of Staph aureus. It is the normal staph that is on our skin, etc. Not the resistant kind. He has grown this in the past. No change in treatment.

That wasn't so bad. I was relieved to say the least. One more culture that we don't have to worry about! Thank you Jesus!

Now on to the fun stuff. Look what Samuel can do now! Just who is teaching him all these moves? Once he is standing up, and while Lucy is barking you can hear Samuel purr. He rolls his tongue all the time. Even when screaming, he rolls his tongue. I'm glad I got it on camera.

I've also been asked to give more more more pictures. So here we go:

Samuel, nosy Samuel, as his fate walks through the door: the girls who gives the "pokes".


Posing, I promise. Big muscles!

Update on Samuel

We took Samuel to PCH today for a follow up visit. He is 28.25 inches long and weighs in at 19 pounds, 9 ounces, just at the 50th percentile. This is a slight problem as the CF team would like to keep his weight up around the 75th percentile. To help pack the pounds back on, we are going to increase his calorie intake by making his milk more concentrate. It's usually 20 calories per ounce; we will make it 24 calories per ounce. Part of the issue is Samuel is sometimes too busy playing to eat so I am going to try to feed him more frequently throughout the day.

Samuel has also been having a problem sitting still long enough for a breathing treatment. It wasn't a problem when he slept most of the time because we could hold a mask to his face for 10 minutes with no problem. Those days are no longer. We are going to use a MDI, or inhaler, along with a spacer to give him the inhaled medicines. This will take much less time than before. He just needs to have the mask to his face for about 1 minute total and should be much more "doable" than before.

Like the last visit, he enjoyed playing with the paper on the table, but was really interested in the cords on the wall. He was too little to understand he was sitting on the back of a hippo but we all agreed one day he will think that is so cool.

The hypertonic saline study has been put on the back burner again for reasons I am not sure of. We were going to wait until Samuel began participating in the study to try to complete his pulmonary function test (PFT a.k.a. IPL) again. However, since we don't know when that will be, we need to do the PFT soon. We will attempt to do this again in about a month, I would guess. We have to go visit everyone in Maryland and Virginia first!

Samuel will go back to PCH in 2 months, which I am sure will feel like 2 weeks. Just think, in 2 months, we will be preparing for his 1 year birthday! But before birthdays and PCH, we go visit his pediatrition on Monday for a well-baby check. Well-baby = shots. Throat cultures at one place, shots at the other...poor little guy. :(

Thanks for checking in. Stay tuned for more updates later.

It's been 2 months

Already! It seems like we were just at PCH yesterday. But we are going again tomorrow, Thursday. Samuel is doing OK and this is just a follow up visit as we have to check in every 2 months. I'm not anticipating any problems except for his throat culture. I'm sure he's going to have some bugs in there. We'll see what he grows this time.

I will post again tomorrow with a summary of the visit. And hopefully something newsworthy will happen between now and then.

Have a wonderful day!

9 months

Samuel is 9 months old today! So what are we doing to celebrate? Well, we went to Stroller Strides for the first time this morning. It was fun and Samuel enjoyed it. I have a week of free classes to decide what I'd like to do and I'm going to take advantage of it! The class starts at 8:45 which is just about the time Samuel is starting his morning nap. He wasn't too upset by that this morning. He just slept longer when we got home.

Samuel has been up to lots, lately. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before, but he says da-da, ma-ma, he frequently sucks his thumb when there isn't a binky around. He can pull himself up with minimal help, he can feed himself small pieces of food like fruit, cereal pieces, Baby Mum-mums (yummy!). When in his bed, he enjoys playing peek-a-boo with the bumper pad. His latest act:



Yesterday we went to SanTan Village with the hope that Samuel could play in the water area they have for kids. It was a good idea but too many other people had the same one. It wasn't a problem that there were lots of kids there but the breakdown started when the kids that were there could walk, talk, scream, shove, push and generally be bratty, selfish kids...not very good share-ers. I am taking him back tomorrow when I have a little bit more people power. We are planning a play date for our kids.

It may surprise you to know I enjoy a good story about poo just about any time. Now, I have pictures to share, so be warned. Just poo, no booties. :) Samuel loves the jumparoo. It's nice to put him in there while I'm in the shower because I can see him enjoying it while I'm in the shower. This is usually how it works in our house, if I don't shower while he's sleeping. So when I got out of the shower the other day, I had to get the camera, for this is what I saw:

Yes, it ran down the back of his leg and dropped on the floor where he stepped in it while jumping, pushing it down into the carpet. When I wanted to share with Kevin he said only me and Kate (Kate Gosselin, of Jon & Kate plus 8, who takes pictures of her children with their first poo-poo in the potty) enjoyed poo so much.

In the crafting world, I have finished the bag and need to get the pictures taken and loaded so voting can begin. And now I am working on "the book". It is an activity book for kids with several pages for them to learn things like zipping a zipper, tying a shoelace, jingling bells, fastening buttons, you get the idea. I figured a book like this at the store would probably cost about $15 or so. At last check I have spent way more than $15 on supplies for this book. I had better get busy working on it or I'll be in big trouble!

I had better get back to life. I need to shower while Samuel is sleeping for fear I'll have another incident as described above.

I was just thinking

The other evening I was on my way to church. I was driving and Samuel was with me. We were late, as we most always are. For some reason, when exiting the freeway here, a driver isn't supposed to turn right on red at the end of the ramp. (I must admit, I didn't notice the sign until we had lived here for a few months...oops!) But as I was waiting at this silly light for cars to come by that weren't even there, I was forced to just stop for a minute and notice the world around me. This particular evening there was the most beautiful sunset and it was just begging my attention as we waited at this red light. It was like I was smacked in the face with the idea that God created such a beautiful place for us to live. I quickly tried to remember the last time I had noticed such a sunset and am disappointed to admit, I couldn't. Can you remember the last time you enjoyed one of God's beautiful creations with your loved ones? I hope you relive that experience soon and not have to be jolted into the realization like I was. Paper and work will always be there but the moment to share God's blessings pass all too quickly.

Crafty Saturdays

Happy Monday morning!

As I'm sitting here, Samuel is in the floor playing with some Nerf darts and wanting Lucy to join him. A minute ago she was sitting in front of him and with the dart, he reached out and whacked her on the head. The next few minutes Samuel waved the dart around and Lucy tried to catch it. It was very cute.

We have also been working with Samuel on sign language. We've been introducing him to ASL with signs for milk, eat/food, more, mommy, and, daddy. This has been going on for a few months with no indication he gets it. Until this morning. We walked into the master bedroom to check on Kevin and Samuel smiled and signed daddy. Go Samuel! Needless to say, we were very excited!

Samuel has been busy this weekend. He is just about to crawl and will scoot around the floor using whatever means he can, rolling over, scooting on his bottom, or laying on his belly and rocking back and forth, hoping the momentum will carry him. As we were relaxing around the house this weekend, Samuel would use me or Kevin as his personal jungle-gym and pull himself up using our legs. We are bracing ourselves for when he becomes comfortable with getting around. Lucy better find a good spot now!

On Saturday I was using my "me" time to search out some quilting information and came across this:

Now, I have to tell you about it because it may help ME win it. But if YOU enter and win, then I except you to remember where you got your info!

When I wasn't drooling over my new quilt, I was working on another contest. I am making a grab bag with felted flowers on the front. It has been fun getting to merge 2 crafting/sewing techniques together in 1 project. When the bag is finished, I will take pictures and post them here.

And because it wouldn't be fair for me to keep all the cute pictures to myself:


Have a blessed day!