A very nice Saturday....

My parents are in town...I am soooo happy! I love being around them. We took some good pics by the water on our walk today. We live by the marsh...it is a nice walk to see the water.

My parents and I talked about CF alot tonight. They have all but convinced me to write a book about CF, our story, but also the knowledge that we have learned on our own. I know that when Zoe was diagnosed, we were handed a 'book' about CF. Well, I have to tell you, most of the things that actually PERTAIN to Zoe's CF, we have learned by doing our own research. Not from those silly handouts they gave us at clinic. Soooo...we will see...who knows??

Enjoy the pics of our day! I really hope and pray that you all are having a BEAUTIFUL weekend like we are. We feel very blessed right now...NO COUGH...Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love Ya'll!!!

A Lovely Blog Award

I just realized last night that I needed to post my lovely blog award.....sometimes I'm just a little sloooowww on figuring these things out. Ugghh.

I feel so honored...I have received 2 of these from new blog friends! Wow! Thank you guys!

First one is from M...http://acure4lilchris.blogspot.com/.....the second one is from Jessie...http://www.breezysbravery.com/.

The award is for those that step out of their comfort zone and meet new blogging buddies. Everyone I have met through blogging already has one....so I'll just say....lovely meeting you all...you all have LOVELY blogs!!! :)

Have a Lovely day....

Jada

Playing with my blog!

In case you didn't notice....today I have been 'playing' with my blog. I want to be able to change out things on it....you know....like when you get the 'urge' to change the living room furniture around! :) At first I was looking into paying someone to make me a beautiful blog like so many I have seen....but money talks...and considering we are trying to conserve to pay things like....BILLS...I decided to do TONS of research on the internet to see if there was anything I could do myself. Soooooo I will keep playing with all this new info I keep finding until I get it right. Please bear with me.

Zoe is still 'cough', 'throat-clearing', 'runny-nose', FREE!! How awesome is that??? It has been a surreal few weeks. I did weigh her today. 40.5 lbs. Ugghhh. She weighed almost 43 lbs. 2 months ago. Being the first time since before diagnosis dealing with not gaining weight...it has me a little worried. I don't want this to be an issue. I don't want to even THINK about a g-tube. Yeah, I'm in denial, call it what it is. I want to 'fix' everything myself...but I can't FORCE her to eat/drink. How frustrating is it that a cf'er requires so much more calories/fat than normal kiddos.

My mom and dad get here the 27th. I can't wait! I love being with them. They are so encouraging to me. I need to be near them so much more as I get older. Hmmmm. Why does it work that way? When we are younger, have all that time with them, we don't want to have anything to do with parents, then when we get older, can't seem to get together very often, we CRAVE, NEED, CHERISH that time with them. Seems a bit backwards if you ask me!

Take care of YOU and YOURS......
Love,
Jada

Zoe's first dentist appt.

Today was the day! She had been in a dentist office a few times with her siblings, but just to watch. Because of her major oral adversions and being afraid of people doing anything to her that might hurt, we had decided to wait until she was older and could understand it a bit more.

The x-rays did not happen. She gagged when the nurse tried to put them in. Thank God we found a new dentist office that works with little kids in a very calm, patient manner. They were super! She just told Zoe, "It's ok, now you know what they look like, maybe we will try again next time.".

Then we went to her room, passed by Austin's room where he was at the moment being cleaned. I thought it would be a good idea to show him to her. Guess not, because to her it looked like some woman with a mask was leaning over her brother with a "Pokey, sharp" thing. Hence, her melting down into a teary eyed crying session when we walked into her room.

The lady was super nice though, managed to talk her through cleaning her teeth (with her own toothbrush-she wouldn't let her use the electric one). Then she brushed the flouride on her teeth. The dentist, also a wonderful sweet lady, came in to look at her teeth then. The little brown spots that I was concerned about, turned out to be plaque. I first noticed them after her first sinus surgery. I thought it was something they put in her mouth during the surgery that did it. Turns out, apparantly, when your teeth are exposed to air for longer periods of times, like when under sedation and intubated, the plaque can turn color. Nothing for us to get to worried over, just keep brushing like we do. And do an over the counter flouride rinse at night right before bed. She didn't have any cavities!

Oh also, something else I learned....we always brush her teeth right after nebs and /or meds. That is a no-no. Figures. She is supposed to rinse her mouth with water, then 30 minutes later do the brushing. When you brush the teeth immediately after meds, it just grinds the meds into the teeth. Lovely. So, something else to remember....30 minutes after meds/nebs. UGGGHHH!! I told Mel, I think I will set a timer...it will be dubbed the "TEETHBRUSHING" timer.

She did NOT want a picture taken of her time at the dentist, but I snuck one in anyways. You can tell how thrilled she was with the whole dentist thing.

Have a blessed day,

Jada

I'm sure I'll pay for this tomorrow!!

Igot the sudden urge today to go on a bike ride with my family. So I trucked to Wal-Mart, bought Zoe a seat to go on the back of my bike, and a helmet for her. Scott spent an hour installing it to make sure it was safe. Then we hit the road.

My butt hurt on the little 10-speed seat, so I switched to the bike with the Zoe seat. My butt was good on this one, but the seat pushed my body forward so I was having to hold my entire body weight up with my arms.

Soooo.....tomorrow I figure my butt, legs and arms will be killing me. It was fun though!

Here are some pics!

Zoe is doing well! No coughing, not much of a runny nose anymore either! She is eating Breyers Vanilla Icecream at this very moment....hopefully we will see her weight back up in Feb. at clinic.

Take care all,

Jada

Happy 2009!!!

Mixed emotions on a new year....I feel old. How can another year pass so quickly??? How can my Zoe almost be 5???? How can this happen so fast??????

We had a wonderful Christmas! We spent about 4 hours watching everyone open their presents one by one. It was terrific! New Years was quiet. Just Scott, me and the little girls. Everyone else was gone. We had a nice dinner, Scott gave me a great massage, then we went to sleep by 11.....hence missing the midnight phone call from Mel & Terri.

Zoe is doing awesome!!! She isn't coughing and her nose is drying out some. Today she had a ton of energy, we take that as a good sign that she is doing well. Now just to get her weight back up! She is looking thinner to me, not as full in her arms, legs and cheeks. Always something.

I liked how some people recapped 2008....I'm going to recap a few things...

My kids did awesome in swim team...2 of them earned the most points for their age group!!

I got to fly to NY, stay with Mel, meet in person: Terri, Jane, Joni, Graves, Jeanne, Amy and Peter. I had the best time, fell in love with Jazz and Mel.....

Zoe was hospitalized 4 times between December and November.

Team Zoe for Life raised almost $10,000.00!!!!!!!!

I got to meet and become friends with Tammy Cochran.

We lost our house due to finances...moved closer to Scott's work...now he drives 100miles one way everyday instead of 140 miles.

Graves visited us...ate dinner...spent the night...we had a great time!

I have some very wonderful people in my life that I could not do without.....

My dad and mom visited...I love them so very much and wish I could see them even more!

Life is terrific....I cherish every moment and am going to try really hard this year to look at things more positive.

I pray you all have a very blessed 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!