Christmas fun

This has been a fun Christmas season! Kelsie understands a lot more this year than last, of course, and she is just at a fun age full of joy and excitement! We have decorated the tree, baked Christmas cookies, built a gingerbread house, had a visit with Santa, had fun at "Little Elves Workshop" Sweetarts class, watched the new Disney movie Frozen, went Christmas shopping, wrapped presents, played with our Nativity scene, and most importantly talked about Jesus's birth and the reason we celebrate Christmas. 

Some of Kelsie's favorite things so far have been carrying around the "widdle tiny baby Jee-us".
She wants to wrap presents all the time. She will get the wrapping paper and put several random toys on it, and then ask me to help her wrap it. Then she will give it to Nathan or I and say "Merry Christmas!" (or Happy Birthday)! She is definitely in the giving spirit. She is always trying to give us something and loves our excited reaction as we receive it.

Christmas morning is going to be so much fun!

Singing, dancing, and doing crafts at my SweetArts class in the "Little Elves Workshop" and Kelsie absolutely loved it. She kept looking at me saying, "dis so exciting!' and the entire week after she would talk about it and ask "we come back?" which means "can we go back?"

Tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle

CF checkup

Kelsie had her routine CF checkup today and as expected, everything is great! They were so very pleased with how well she is doing. Her nutritional status was "outstanding" and she continues to remain 50-75th percentile for weight and BMI and close to the 80th percentile for height. She weighed 33.3lbs! She has gained 7lbs since this time last year. And most importantly, she hasn't needed antibiotics in over a year!!! I can't even express how thankful I am for her health. When she was diagnosed, I expected a much different outcome with multiple respiratory infections but that hasn't been the case at all. She has had probably 3 little colds this year but only had a little runny nose or nasal congestion. No cough at all in over a year. I just remember this time last year we were going in for her bronchoscopy anticipating a likely admission but everything turned out fine and she hasn't even really gotten sick since. So thankful to God! I know He is taking care of her and protecting her each and every day. 

Here are some pictures from our visit today. Her doctor just moved so we got to meet her new doctor, Dr. Dellon and we just loved her! Kelsie was not shy either. She was talking up a storm and sharing all kinds of random memories with her!! "Member(remember), I jup(just)...." and on and on she would go with any random story on her mind. I just love how talkative she is! So much fun! 

Checking her ears...(she LOVES getting check ups, and giving them too!)

And her nose...

A puzzle and a snack while we wait...

Reading a book to daddy while wait..

And posing in front of the pretty Christmas tree in the lobby...

Memorable quotes by Kelsie

Kelsie is at the age where she says the funniest things and on many occasions, I have thought, "I need to write that down!" Well, this is going to be my "writing it down". Since I am terrible about keeping things organized, making lists, or utilizing pen and paper anymore,  I think the blog (AKA - Kelsie's baby book) may be the best place to put it. I will also have access to it on my phone no matter where we are so I can just keep a log. Enjoy!

11/4/13 (age 2y 8m)-  As we are sitting in the dentist, Kelsie was sitting on my lap and was about to get her teeth cleaned. I don't know exactly what I was doing but I think I was moving her hair around and kissed her or something and she said "top it, youre getting on my nerves". I was so shocked and have never heard her say that before. Not something she needs to say very often but its also a good thing that she is learning to express her feelings!

As I was reading her a bedtime story tonight she looked up at me and said with the sweetest face, "Mommy, I seepy...(and with a little pause and hesitation and a smirk) I need coffee."  I couldn't help but roar in laughter. I don't even say that very often but its definitely a reminder that they hear EVERYTHING you say and are always trying to be more like you! Such a funny moment. I was laughing so much and she joined in. Very cute. And then she prayed. For all members of her family, as well as her baby dolls, Maggie (my parents' dog), and mommy's earrings. :)

11/3/13- Kelsie had been in bed for about 30 minutes. I thought she was asleep. Then I heard her yelling over and over "yook mommy, I doing exercise!!" Looked at the monitor and saw this. This girl keeps me laughing!

Kelsie had been in bed for about 30 minutes. I thought she was asleep. Then I heard her yelling over and over "yook mommy, I doing exercise!!" Looked at the monitor and saw this. This girl keeps me laughing!

Halloween 2013

My favorite quote from last night: "Are you Tinkerbell?", Kelsie's reply, "No, I Kelsie. This jup (just) my costume!" In case anyone was wondering! ;)

We didn't do anything extravagant for Halloween, just went trick or treating around the neighborhood which was lots of fun. It was such a beautiful evening too! Near 70s so warm enough to not have to bundle up a small costume.

Several of our neighbors went a little far out decorating for Halloween (smoke, people dressed up with masks giving out candy from a "fortune teller" set, graves dug out in their yard with skeletons inside, eyeballs that lit up and flashing in the bushes, motion detector corpses that scared you when you walked by). It was pretty intense, and at times scary for the kids. I was afraid we might have to deal with nightmare awakenings last night but she didn't wake up thankfully.

She was a pretty little Tinkerbell though and enjoyed getting all the candy.

Bowl Away CF

Once again, we had a wonderful time at the CFF Fundraiser: Bowl Away CF. Our team raised over the $3,500 and the event as a whole raised over $21,000! We are thrilled to have been a part of the fundraising for this great cause and pray that God will bless the efforts of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, specifically that a cure will be found!


Here are some pictures from the event.

Kelsie loved the bowling and was so excited to have all of her favorite people together in one place. She kept saying we were going to her birthday party! :) I guess it was kind of like that in some ways...everyone on our team was there to support and celebrate her!

 

 

My little nurse. Like mother, like daughter!

Kelsie is such a nurse and little momma. At the doctor today...and she was so excited to come! She said in the way over here: "going doctor, so excited, it so much fun, getting shot, it going hurt but only a widdle". 

Getting creative

Kelsie is starting to resist chest PT and runs and hides when she sees the vest come out. She says, "no, I don't want to do vest!" So I'm getting a little creative...

First trip to Tweetsie

We have talked about taking a family trip to the mountais to go to Tweetsie Railroad for quite some time now. We finally went a couple of weeks ago and had a wonderful time! The road trip up there was quite a different story, however. We woke Kelsie up at 6am, changed her clothes while she was still half asleep, and loaded her into the car. We then stopped at Biscuitville for breakfast along the way and I handed her bites of an egg and cheese biscuit from the front seat. She ate really well, and I even thought at one point...this is probably enough, I don't want her to get sick! Well, seems I had a premonition!

 

We were moving along as expected with hopes to get to Tweetsie around 9am when they opened. But about an hour outside of Boone, I heard Kelsie making a strange noise and turned to find her vomiting all over herself and her car seat. Nathan pulled over on the side of the road and we began cleaning up the biggest mess I have ever seen. My poor child was covered in vomit and there were piles of it in her carseat. I was reminded at this moment that I need to keep an emergency kit in the car for times like this. All I had were a few paper towels, some baby wipes, a few Lysol wipes and a cup of water. I had a pair of pajamas to change Kelsie into but no other clothes for a day at Tweetsie. Well actually, I had a couple more pairs of pants but knowingly forgot to throw in another shirt. Nathan asked the question, "What do we do now? Go home or still try to make it to Tweetsie?" We both knew how well Kelsie remembers things and how disappointed she would be if we drove back up at our house. It would be a huge disappointment. So as we stood on the side of the road for 20 minutes cleaning up this horrific mess, we discussed what to do next.

 

So what did we do? I cleaned up Kelsie and got her changed into her PJs. Nathan cleaned out the car seat as best as he could. I found a plastic grocery bag, closed up all vomit covered items and tossed it in trunk. We got Kelsie back in her seat but she had to ride the rest of the way in just the shell of with no liner. We drove to his family's lake house in Taylorsville which was an hour away and got everything washed up. We left 2 hours later and finally made it to Tweetsie around 1pm.

 

We had a wonderful time and it was definitely a day we will never forget. Kelsie got to ride a real train, go on the ferris wheel, ride the chair lift and the carousel, feed the animals, and eat lots of cotton candy! :) We also dressed up in costumes for an old western photo and she thought was really funny too. When I put the little saloon girl dress on her, she posed in front of the mirror and said "my wedding dress"!

 

Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus Loves Me

I have been singing "Jesus Loves Me" to Kelsie ever since she was a baby and tonight, I asked if she wanted to sing with me...to my surprise, she sang the entire song and knew all the words!! I had no idea she could do that! It was one of the sweetest things I have ever heard and one of the most precious moments I have had as her mom. :) Next, I'll have to capture it on video!

Eskimo kisses

As I was putting Kelsie to bed tonight, we were exchanging lots of Eskimo kisses and Kelsie was laughing and repeating the "word", "ah may go" and then it morphed into "uh muh guh"! I didn't know what she was saying at first, then I realized...Eskimo! Of course!! Such a cute and sweet moment!!

CF Fundraiser

Wow, its been quite a while since I have posted anything on the blog. Life has been a little chaotic lately as we have been doing work inside our house and had to move out for a week. And with all the work on the front and back side of that, we have just been pulled in few different directions. But we are now settling back in and getting back to our routine. Which is nice.

I did want to post today to share about the fundraiser I am participating in on October 19th to help raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We did this last year and I wanted to do it again to continue to raise awareness and support for the research behind Cystic Fibrosis. One of the things we hold on to as parents of a child with CF is the statement "But they are making such great advancements in the treatment of this disease" and "think how far they have come in the past 20 years and imagine where they will be with treatment 10-20 years in the future".  We know that to be true and we are so thankful for the CFF for putting forth the effort to make that happen. But they need continued financial support to keep up this research. The discoveries they uncover and therapies they develop will be life-changing for those affected by CF. And we know their ultimate mission is to find a cure which would be the greatest news of my life! So I am asking for your support to help raise funds for this wonderful foundation. They are behind all the new treatments available to improve Kelsie's health and well-being and prevent her from the damaging effects of this disease as long as possible.

Here is the link to my page. I would appreciate anything you are able to give to support Team Kelsie in this fund raising effort. Please feel free to share this link with your friends, families, churches, and businesses as well.

http://www.cff.org/LWC/KimberlyHouston

Thanks so much!