Mummy & Son Masquerade

I had a blast with my little guy at Yukon's Mummy & Son Masquerade last night!  These little date nights don't happen near as often as I'd like, but I eat them up when they do!  Parker is such a fantastic kid.  He is so much fun to be around and always keeps me laughing!  He is so patient and so kind (not always, but he is!)  I love it that he acts like date-night-with-Mommy is a pretty big deal...he doesn't take a single minute of it for granted.      

He was his little Super Hero-Pirate-Ninja self and I was his Tae Kwon Do side-kick!

(mind you, that is a legit purple belt ~ earned my Senior year of high school ;) 

He wanted me to take a picture of his purple-icious lips after his ghost cookie 

We ran into some sweet friends while we were there!

 And these two pirates won 3rd place in the couples costume contest!

 best superhero stances...perhaps ;)

 see what I mean....Keeps. Me. Laughing. !!!

I love, so much, how patient Parker is with me.  He sees me so much with my working-hat or business-hat on...and in his own little way, knows it's hard for me to have fun sometimes.  At the same time, this little guy shares some of my same characteristics and insecurities...we really do 'get' each other.  I love being able to encourage him through the things he finds intimidating..and I love how he helps me live, laugh and love!  In helping him be more confident in who he is and who God made him to be...I end up feeling the Lord nudging me to be more confident in who I am and who He created me to be.

~Whitney

Fall Festival & Creativity!

Well, a little creativity went a long way!  Our little Garden Gnome was quite a hit at the Fall Festival at our church Saturday afternoon.  I had seen a few pictures on Facebook of some super creative parents making adorable costumes around their children and their wheelchairs.  We've been so busy, this wasn't a huge priority, but I did keep it in the back of my mind.  Then my sister sent me a picture of my niece's costume from last year to see if maybe I wanted it for Tessa this year.  Since I didn't have anything else planned, that was perfect!  It wasn't until a few days later, I called my sister and asked her what the costume was exactly...a munchkin? and elf?....AH!...a gnome!

Ironically enough, while the costume was in the mail on its way to us, we were cleaning up a few things in the garage....and I came across the huge box of all our greenery from the old house.  

Suddenly...the creative wheels started to turn ;)

I can't take all of the credit though...cause just as I was planning to make a last minute trip to find some fake flowers to add to the garden...Darin says "you know, Tessa's got plenty of flower bows you could add to all that".  

And so here you have it, a little gnome in her wheelchair garden covered in greenery and hair bows!  And let's not forget Parker...this year he was a Super Hero-Pirate-Ninja ~ thought of by Parker, made possible by Daddy!

 Prettiest little garden gnome I've ever seen!

 I'd trust this adorable Super Hero-Pirate-Ninja to have my back any day!

 I think all of the attention plum wore her out ;)

It all just screams "Happy, Happy, Happy"...couldn't have been more perfect for her ;)

~Whitney

Recent Favorites...

What a difference 2 years makes!

Wagon fun 2010

Wagon fun 2012 

He insisted on holding his sister ;)

he's just chillin

and she's just chillin ;)

Taking her breathing treatments like a champ

~Whitney

A Process....Sanctification

"Here's the bottom line: If God opens the door for you to do something you know is good or necessary, be thankful for the opportunity.  But other than that, don't assume that the relative ease or difficulty of a new situation is God's way of telling you to do one thing or the other.  Remember, God's will for your life is your sanctification, and God tends to use discomfort and trials more than comfort and ease to make us holy."

From a book called "Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will" by Kevin DeYoung

My husband shared this with me this morning, and it was exactly what I needed.

Things in life are hard...and it's just too easy for me sometimes to throw in the towel and consider calling it quits.  My prayer today is that the Lord will help me consider that a nudge or an experience is part of the process of sanctification in my life.  Instead of thinking, He needs to fix this and this before I can continue on with what I feel like He's calling me to do...maybe I should consider that the 'fixing' needs to take place in me and that it's possible that this could be the very reason for the experience.

~Whitney

TLC

I love fall and winter and I always look forward to the colder weather!  But what I don't love, are the sicknesses this time of year.  A simple little cold can end up being quite the ordeal for our Little Miss.  She doesn't have a compromised immune system, it's just that she doesn't have the physical strength or mobility that helps the average person fight off little things like this.  This weekend was rough.  We are back in full force with Albuterol breathing treatments every 4 hours and Pulmicort maintenance treatments twice a day.  Tessa does not do well with the extra mucus that comes along with a cold; it tends to upset her stomach and she can also get choked pretty easy once she starts coughing.  The throwing up usually leads to dehydration and the dehydration and loss of appetite can result in a loss of weight.  Load after load of laundry and sleepless nights are stressful and exhausting, but seeing Tessa sick, truly makes my heart ache.  

I would do anything just to take it all away!

Operation Tender Loving Care!   

when we got home from work, Tessa decided  it was time for nap #3 in Daddy's arms.

 and then it was my turn

this is the melt-in-your-arms kind of sweetness

cheesin for the camera after a nice long bath :)

and even had enough energy to wrestle with her brother ;)

It's times like these that I am reminded of how fragile Tessa can be.  She is usually so strong, so vibrant, so determined and so engaged in life that I forget how quickly things can turn.  I am so thankful for her overall health and I just don't ever want to take it for granted!

~Whitney

Tessa's Own Little Party

We have a joke around our house about Tessa having her 'own little parties'...and I finally caught it on video!  Well, there is nothing to see...but lots to hear.  I listed out the video details, for one reason only: the time!  This was literally going on at 3:09 a.m. and it is simply hilarious.

Night Video 1 Details:
Title: VID_20121012_030940
Time: Oct 12, 2012 3:09:40 AM
Duration: 00:23
File size: 7.56MB

Overall, we had a really rough night with Tessa last night.  Darin was up with her from about 1:00 to 2:30 a.m. and then I was up with her from about 3:00 to 4:30 a.m.  Darin definitely got the raw end of the deal, because for that first hour and a half, she was screaming.  Tessa waking up in the middle of the night crying, is not unusual.  We don't really know why it happens, but we can usually go in her room and hang out with her for a little bit, hold her hand, turn on her light-up sea horse, and she'll settle down and go back to sleep.  On occasion, like last night, we completely run out of solutions.  Darin ended up moving Tessa from her crib in her room to her nap nanny in the living room.  From time to time, we attempt to turn on a favorite show, either on the TV or the iPad, and camp out on the couch until she goes back to sleep.  Last night, Darin went ahead and made Tessa a bottle and I think after that, she finally started to calm down.  

Then around 3:00 a.m., it was my turn.  Darin was so exhausted from the endless screaming and crying, he was pushing through it a little harder, to stay asleep during the 'party'...I, on the other hand, went and sat on the floor by our bedroom door so I could peek around the corner into the living room and witness this mysterious event.  It is such a mystery to me.  Her laughing & talking parties are just as much of a mystery as her screaming & crying episodes.

Tessa doesn't sleep with her ears on.  From the very beginning of having hearing aids, we've always wanted to her feel comfortable taking them off and settling down in the evenings for bedtime, without them.  The same is true with her cochlears.  We want her to be able to get ready for bed and have a peaceful night's sleep without her ears on.  The evenings are actually lots of fun; once we take her ears off and get a bath, we usually spend lots of that time signing to her together as a family.  She stays highly entertained and it's fun to have her just all-natur-al!

Just as much as I wish I knew what plagues her during her screams and tears, I so wonder what it is that brings her so much joy and laughter during the middle of the night.  While I'm recording, she is simply laying in her nap nanny on the living room floor.  The tiny microwave light is on low in the kitchen, but other than that, it's pretty darn dark (obviously, because I was pointing my phone at her during the video...and we see nothing).

When Tessa's ears aren't on, she is obviously very visually driven.  That's why signing to her, when her ears are off, is so much fun.  She loves to watch us.  We have always left the bathroom light on between Tessa's and Parker's rooms.  At the old house, their rooms were right there together with just the bathroom in between them.  The same is true at our rent house now.  Since Tessa was a tiny baby, I've always had to be very very careful with my shadow!  I have so many funny memories of tending to Tessa in the middle of the night in her crib and then dropping flat on the floor and army-crawling out of her room.  If she ever detected even the slightest shift in my shadow, it was instant tears.  She couldn't ever hear me leave...but seeing me leave, was incredibly tragic.  It was much easier to sneak out of Tessa's room back in the day when her crib was raised up high.  Sometimes I could get away with just slightly ducking down and running fast out of her room.  Well, now her crib is on the very lowest setting, and it's just amazing to me how fragile our shadows are!

I have been thinking about a lot of different things after being up most of the night last night.  None of which I can really figure out how to express, so for now, I'm just leaving you with a few more sounds of this priceless mystery!  (hold out for 20 seconds...it's a hoot!)

Night Video 2 Details:
Title: VID_20121012_031011
Time: Oct 12, 2012 3:10:11 AM
Duration: 00:33
File size: 11.15MB

~Whitney

Sharing a Mother's Gratitude

I read a very touching post, on another blog that I follow, about children with disabilities and the men and women that serve our country.

Again...worth sharing!

http://baseballsbutterfliesblessings.blogspot.com/2012/10/wounded-warriors-will.html


~Whitney