Princess Bella

My best friend has a daughter who is 15 months old and has just been diagnosed with MPS 1, also known as Hurlers disease. Here is a website with more info: http://tinyurl.com/5btesn

This disease is progressive, devastating and deadly. Children who have it rarely live 10 years, and are faced with many of the following symptoms:

Stiffened joints
Skeletal malformations
Heart disease
Recurrent upper airway infections
Lung disease
Corneal clouding, eventually leading to blindness
Frequent ear infections and hearing loss
Delayed mental development and progressively worsening mental retardation
Hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain)
and many more…..

Currently the only treatment for the disease that shows any promise is either a cord blood transplant or a bone marrow transplant. My friend is now in the process of having her daughter evaluated for a possible transplant candidate.

In honor of sweet Bella, I am asking anyone who reads this to go to this website: http://marrow.org/ , and register to be a marrow donor. If you cannot donate or do not wish to donate marrow, please consider a monetary donation to help offset the costs of tissue typing for others who donate. There is also information on this site about donating umbilical cord blood when your baby is born. These can be lifesaving gifts!

My Big Saturday

Hi everybody. This is J. I wanted to tell you about my big Saturday! I woke up this morning and Mommy kept telling me that we were going to go to something she called a parade. I didn't know what the heck she was talking about, but she seemed pretty excited. After a while we got in our car and went and picked up Gammo, and she was all excited too. I thought, whatever this parade thing is, it must be pretty neat!

Well, we drove over to the next town and there were cars and people everywhere I looked! I've never seen so many people in that town! Mommy said they were having some kind of festival. I don't know what that is either, but it must take lots of people. Mommy parked our car and then put me in my stroller. I don't really like my stroller, but I try to be a good boy in it as long as Mommy keeps it moving. Mommy and Gammo took turns and pushed me a looooong time. There were people everywhere I looked! Soon, we found this big tent area with lots of tables. My Grandpa and Grammy were there having breakfast. Grandpa shared his sausage with me and then he took me out of that yucky stroller. But he wouldn't let me run around, so I sat in his lap and he read me my favorite story. Then we went over and sat in the shade in the ditch by the street. I was starting to wonder what on earth Mommy and Gammo were so excited about, cuz it seemed awful boring to me just sitting there in the ditch. But Mommy fed me Cheerios, so I tried to be a good boy. Soon there was music, and everyone stood up and put thier hands on thier chests. I like music. When the music was done, I clapped with all the people. Then, do you know what happened after that? HORSES CAME WALKING DOWN THE STREET!!!!! I mean, horse after horse after horse! It was soooo cool!
I stood there with Mommy watching all those horses. There were big horses......
And little horses....and horses pulling carts.......
And horses with people on thier backs, and even horses with little children on thier backs. Some of them pooped right there on the street, and all the other little kids said "eeewwwww."
Then there were tractors. I love tractors! There were big tractors, little tractors, new tractors, old tractors, tractors pulling people.....and this tractor pulled something they called a "redneck hot tub." It was a lady sitting in an old bathtub with a fire built under it.

The last tractor pulled a trailer with a big box on it. The box said "Horse Apple Transformer. Patent Pending." Some men were scooping up all the horse poop and putting it in the transformer. As the went by, candy came out of the back of it! I wonder how that worked.....
Then came all kinds of cars. The one that Mommy liked was an old rusty pickup that had a sign that said "Redneck Deer Hunting." There was a big deer driving the truck with a hunter strapped down to the hood. I never knew there was so much redneck stuff around here.
Grandpa held me while we watched more cars and trucks go by. I even saw great big fire trucks! They were VERY RED, which is my favorite color.
My grandpa is a very comfy parade partner. Lots of the people in the parade threw candy for all the little kids. Most of it was stuff I couldn't eat, but my Grammy found me a sucker and Mommy said I could eat it since it was a special day.
I think I like this parade stuff. I wonder if there is one next Saturday.........

Then we left and went to the city and shopped at Wal Mart. I was really really tired from watching the parade during my usual nap time. But I tried really hard to be a good boy. Both Mommy and Gammo said they were very proud of me for being so good. I like making my Mommy proud of me. It makes me feel good. When we were all done and paid for our groceries, we went to this room with lots of noisy games and noisy kids.

Mommy put me on this train thing. I was wondering what was going on, but then she put money inside it, and told me to push a button. Next thing you know, it was MOVING! What a cool ride!
I rocked back and forth and back and forth on that train. When it was over, I wanted to keep rocking, so Mommy put more money in it, and I pushed that button again, and WEEEEE!!!
I rode three times. Then I gave Barney a kiss to thank him for such a fun ride. We went to the car, and I tried so hard to watch out the window at all the cars going by, but next thing I knew, we were home and Mommy was waking me up to take me out of the car. Boy, what a big Saturday I had!

And that wasn't all! We stayed at Gammo's house all evening, and my cousin E came over to play with me while Mommy and Gammo moved around a bunch of Gammos furniture and things. Then we had pizza for supper. Yeah! Soon it was bedtime, but instead of going home, me and Mommy just spent the whole night at Gammo's house!

I wish all my Saturdays were this fun. But Mommy said she couldn't take that!

Weekend Recap

I don’t know about you all, but we had a SUPER weekend! For starters, I got a call from my sweet hubby Friday afternoon wanting to know if I could go on a run with him on his truck that night. I checked with Mom, who agreed to keep J-man overnight for us. (I really had to twist her arm for this!) So when I got home from work, I woke up R and we went over to Mom’s house together to play with Boo (aka J-man). We spent a couple of hours there having fun and taking pictures. Boo got tired pretty early, so I was able to put him to bed, which is one of my all-time favorite moments of each day. Then R and I went home to grab a bite to eat and a nap. Well, we got to talking and never got that nap. R lay down and tried, but couldn’t sleep. So, about 10:30 we headed out. There is just something about being on the road together that always brings us together. We talk and we share, and there is no TV, no phone, no diaper changes, and no cigarette breaks to distract us. We had a very good and long talk about all kinds of things. Serious things, sad things, silly things, sentimental things, just things. I made it all the way to the first stop and we walked around the store together while they unloaded the trailer. Then I had to lay down for a nap while they loaded salvage back on. I intended to get back up in the passenger seat when we left, but I never woke up! We were at the second store and getting more salvage loaded on when I woke up and had to PEE! LOL I sat upfront for a while till we got to a rest stop where we stopped so R could get some sleep. We turned the AC on in the bunk and cuddled up. There is something about sleeping in a truck! I get such good sleep all snuggled up with my sweetie back there! But we woke up freezing! That AC really did it’s job! It was so cold I didn’t want to get out from under the covers to turn down the AC. LOL Finally we got up, and went into the McDonald’s for a bathroom break and some breakfast. I called Mom to check on Boo and we were on the road again. I stayed up for maybe another hour and realized that although I was loving the time with my hubby, when we got home I would have a very active toddler to chase, so I went and laid down for some more Z’s.

We arrived at Mom’s just in time for Boo to wake up from his morning nap. He was so glad to see us! It was really sweet. We visited for a bit, but I knew I needed to get my man home for a nap of his own. I spent the rest of the afternoon playing with J and doing some housework. Nothing major, just enjoying my home and my family. That evening we all had supper together. R and J had a bath together, which is a favorite thing for both of them. R ended up being home for the night, which was nice. I crashed in bed that night. It was so great having my hubby home with me. I sleep better and feel safer with him beside me.

Sunday we just had a lazy day together at home. I went down to the store for some milk and juice and peanut butter while J and his Daddy played at home. I stopped in for a quick visit with my Grandma. I have not chatted with her in quite a while, and really need to make this more of a priority. I really love my Grandma. A while after I got home, my dad came over and he and R went out for an afternoon of golf. We had such wonderful unseasonably cool weather all weekend, it would have been ashame to waste it. They lost a lot of balls and considered throwing their clubs in the lake, but had a good time inspite of all that. That evening we all had supper together again and J-man and Daddy had another bath. R had to go out at 3:00am, so he went to bed right after dinner. I was still trying to catch up from the night on the truck, so I was not far behind.

It was a super great weekend. I hardly even had any trouble going without my soda. That’s right folks, you read that correctly. I have decided the time has come to say goodbye to my dear friend Mt. Dew for good. I have now gone almost three full days without it. I have gotten past the headache, and now am just having a hard time with energy and alertness. The body gets accustomed to all that sugar and caffeine. I am sad to confess that I was drinking a minimum of 64 ounces of the stuff per day! That’s just insane. I came to the conclusion that I had to decide to say no more ever. I have tried the “cutting back” routine, and it just did not work for me. So wish me luck. This is my first goal on the “change something” method of healthier living for me! I am determined to loose some of this horrible excess weight and become a healthier and happier mother and wife for my family. I want to be here for them for a very long time!

The Two Sides of a Man...

There is the tender, gentle and loving side.....

And then there is the strong and protective side!

(This is what J does when we ask him if he is strong. He clenches his fists and makes "muscles" with his arms so much that he shakes! And with this fierce growl on his face. It is hilarious!)

My mom and I went out for supper Monday and J was the entertainment for the entire dining area, as usual. He was really hamming it up, but not eating much......till the pie came, anyway. We had a great time with him and laughed our heads off.

15 Months Old

Yesterday was J's 15 month appointment. It was the first time he WALKED into the doctor office. As we went in toward the exam rooms the nurse shocked me by asking me to have J STEP ON THE SCALE! Yeah, they used the standing scale instead of the baby one. Boooooo Hoooooo!!!!! I was so not ready for him to be such a big boy already. I almost cried! But he stepped right up there and stood still. Fortunately it was a digital one that reads real quickly, because he wouldn't have been still long enough for the kind where they move the little weights across the bar to get it level. Anyway, she cheerfully chirped "25.5 pounds" and went on about her business. I about fell over! That was a gain of two and a half pounds in three months. I knew the kiddo was getting a belly on him! Confirmed when we measured his length..... 32 and a quarter inches. Only a three quarter of an inch growth. Yeah, he's "husky." LOL

Everything was great. He's a happy healthy little boy. We had to get one immunization and then have bloodwork done. He was the big entertainment in the lobby outside the lab. Other moms and kids were cracking up watching me chase him up and down, up and down, up and down the hallway. He was just running us both ragged! And goofy me, didn't think to put shoes on him, as we rarely do, and by the time we left there his feet were BLACK!

After that it was off to Wal Mart. We met up with Gammo and PawPaw for a few minutes and then they left and we went on shopping. Soon J got real restless and we had to stop in the dairy section and let him eat his applesauce. (I always carry one of those individual ones in the diaper bag for just such an occasion) After that he was eating his little baby "cheetos" all through the rest of the store. As soon as he would get one chewed, he would start using his sign language for "more" and saying "maa maa." (his word for more) He did this all through the store! It was adorable, but sure slowed down the shopping! LOL Finally we got done, had one other stop to make at a pharmacy drive through, and headed home. He zonked out as soon as we were on open road. When we got home I got him out of his carseat, he barely acknowledged his Daddy, and put his head down on my shoulder. So I took him right to his bed. (he had skipped his afternoon nap because of the appointment) This was at around 7:30. I was just sure he was going to end up waking up hungry and wet about the time I go to bed. So I waited and waited to go to bed. Finally I couldn't keep my eyelids open, so I went on to bed, expecting to be called as soon as I got cozy. Nope. The poor baby slept till 5:30am! He was so soaking wet! All up his shirt! And by the time we got to grandma's house an hour and a half later, he was already tired again!

In Loving Memory of "Sissy."

Five years ago today,a beautiful and precious light that shone on us in this world
went on to shine brighter in the next.
Her laughter, her smile, her gentle and forgiving spirit
lit a spark in the lives of those who loved her
that will never dim.