Life as we know it

This is a bit late, but I think everyone knows how summertime can be with a two-year-old, busy! We had our Great Strides walk for Cystic Fibrosis on June 8th and it was an incredible turnout!  Last year we had 22 walkers, this year we had about 55!  Last year we raised 1,400 dollars, this year we raised over 4,000!  So awesome to see how much we were all able to give to a great cause that will go towards the research of CF so there can be a cure one day.  Our Wonderful team this year in our "For the Love of Zoie" shirts   Enjoy these pictures from the walk that day   I ran into Pam Eaton the other day, my second grade teacher, and told her about Zoie's CF.  She told me she had a student who had it, who is now 30 some, just got a double lung transplant and is doing incredible.  It's so neat to hear stories like that, and it makes fighting CF that much easier when you hear of good outcom...

Derik and I get a lot of reality checks. Some are very eye opening, others you can brush off. Usually when it comes to Zoie all, they are very eye opening . Its as if God is saying, "hey don't get too comfortable over there." I wish he would let us stay comfortable . Now when I write these posts, im writing to share. Some may call it being vulnerable .... I call it opening up, putting my thoughts on paper, asking for prayer, and hopefully in the meantime helping people who may eventually be put in a similar situation wondering what to do. We had been on a four month waiting list with the feeding/speech/other clinic at children's. If you didn't already know they are all intertwined :-) I was nervous for today, it's always tough meeting with a new clinc seeing as we hadalready see three others. If you want to be intimidated, go see the feeding clinic. Six different specialists watching how you feed your daughter, drilling you with questions, and expressing co...

Derik and I can officially say we now have a two year old!  It's bittersweet, when your kids grow and have birthdays.  It's neat seing how much they have changed in a year, but I can't help to be a little sad that she is growing up.  Zoie' s birthday fell on Memorial Day this year, but we celebrated with family on Sunday with a lady bug theme. We had crackers with ladybugs (Cream cheese, Olives, tomatoes) And some fruit lady bugs (Strawberries, chocolate chips, blueberries) We drank "Bug Juice" out of our cute mason jars But my favorite was the cupcakes that my mom and I got to make.  By the end of making all 24 of them, our hands were green and red.  It looked like Christmas at our house. Zoie did SO well opening her gifts this year.  She is way more into "stuff" than she was last year.  She got lots of books, toys, and clothes. She also got a really neat portable high chair that we can pack up easily into the car ...

The first time I held Zoie in my arms I wasn't quite sure what to think. It's that, "okay, I love this sweet little girl, look at how beautiful she is, wow! We did this?" kinda reaction.....But if we are all honest, I think it takes a while to fully understand what being a mother means. It also takes time to develop that relationship and bond a mother has with her kids. My mom has always told me how much she loves me.  I never understood why she would say or do some of the stuff she did, or still does, until I became a mom myself. When Derik and I got married, I remember his asking me the question, "what do you want out of life?"  My first response was always to fall in love and become a mom.  I have always wanted tons of kids, and I always felt like I was put on this Earth to be a mom.  I wouldn't ever feel like it was okay for me to go to Heaven until I had the chance to fulfill my dream of mommyhood. I just had this feeling, that I wanted...

Happy May Day to everyone! It's not just May 1st though, it's also the first day, of 31, to raise awareness and spread the word of Cystic Fibrosis. Two years ago, I had no idea what CF was; in fact, Derik and I first thought it was like Multiple Sclurosis, and thought it had to do with the muscles and walking. Shows how little we knew right? To raise awareness I thought I would re-tell our families CF story from the beginning, just so everyone knows how close to our heart it is and why we push so hard to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Zoie got the regular new born screen just like every other baby. A little prick in her heel at the doctors office and we were on our way home. Two weeks later as I was sitting on my computer, Zoie napping, Derik at work, I recieved a phone call that will forever remain in my head. It was her pediatrician on the other line telling me that her new born screen test came back abnormal, and she may have Cystic Fibrosis. How kin...

Derik starts his new job on Tuesday, which means we won't get an actual "weekend" with him for a few weeks. His weekends will now be Wednesdays and Thursdays. This was our last actual weekend with him for a while and it was a good one :) If you know about Cystic Firbrosis, your lungs collect and hang on to mucus. For the past two years we have been doing CPT treatments on Zoie, patting on her lungs for 20 minutes a day. She is now, well, sorta big enough, but old enough for a vest! What a vest does is goes on her exactly like a life jacket, inflates with a pump, then vibrates for 15 minutes at a time to loosen up her secretions. I was so excited for this because I truly think it will help her stay out of the hospital and she shouldn't get sick quite so easy. Well, we recieved her vest Saturday, bright pink :) and the lady came on Sunday to set up the machine for us and show us how to use it. Needless to say, it will take some getting used to for Zoie, and when...

Today we had a bike ride planned. Waking up to not so good weather for that, I looked at Derik and said, "Hey. Lets be spontaneous and go to Ikea!!" If anyone knows me I am not spontaneous...I like plans :-) At 11 and with no money to spend we hopped in the back of the huge pickup truck Derik brought home from work and headed WAY South. It only took an hour to get there and Zoie always does so well in back if im able to sit there and play with her. If you have been to the Centennial Ikea, you park in a parking garage then take stairs or elevators up to the showroom. This was our first go around too :-) We parker, I loaded Zoie in our Boba carrier and headed to the elevators. These next events are key so read closely :-) As we waited for the elevator a mom walked up with three daughters; two were walking, one, the littlest one was in a stroller/wheel chair. We all hopped on the ele vator and unlike me at all I butted intotheir business and told her that I noticed her daught...