Images of Our Little Peanut

We went in for a 3d/4d ultrasound yesterday. Here's some stills that we received. You can see her yawning, crying, pointing and even in the last pic, praying!!

We get to "see" Peanut today!!

Just random little tidbits about my Peanut...

Today we are heading back to the 3d/4d ultrasound place to get another scan done. We really enjoyed the first one, and although it's not covered by insurance, we think it is worth every penny. They're all about getting good shots of your baby and providing as many pictures as possible. We also opted to get a DVD of the entire ultrasound and I'm sure that we will be doing that again. Be sure to tune into the blog this weekend or Monday as I'm sure we will be posting some pics!!

Another thing I thought I would mention (only because it's so crazy to me), is that now Peanut is getting to the point that we can feel individual body parts. There are times that I could swear me and Peanut are shaking hands! Just before I started writing this blog, I'm pretty sure that I was able to identify almost every one of her body parts. I also got as close to holding her as one could possibly get at this point as I had her head in my right hand and her butt in my left. It's so freaking cool!!

We've also started to read to Peanut per the suggestion of a librarian here in Chandler. Granted, she was talking about after they are born, but we figured it's never too soon. Peanut usually becomes very active when we read to her and I'm of course "sure" that she is reacting to my voice. Probably not, but it sure makes me feel special :)

I can tell you this, I'm absolutely screwed.

Thankful Thursday - Pregnant Neighbors & Master's

It's thankful Thursday time! We all have so much to be thankful for and we love to take this opportunity just to write down each and everything that comes to mind. Please take this time to share with us what you're thankful for as well. If you have a blog expressing your thankfulness, please share the link! Without further ado, here's what we're thankful for:

Mandi's List:

Mandi zonked out a little early tonight and I didn't have the heart to wake her up. She's growing a baby and finds herself a lot more tired lately!

Ronnie's List:

I'm thankful for the completion of our birthing class. We just completed a birthing class that went over pregnancy from womb to tomb. We certainly learned a lot over these past four weeks and now it's just going to come down to our ability to recall what we've learned. I can tell you this - I can't wait to use all of the comforting techniques on Mandi when the time calls for it.

I'm thankful for our pregnant neighbor. We have neighbors who are about 5 weeks behind us in their pregnancy. They also have the cutest little 2 year old girl ever! Kelly (our neighbor) was overjoyed when hearing that we were pregnant with a little girl as she is going to have another little princess. I'm pretty sure there are already plenty of fantasies about future play dates being had by all parties involved.

I'm thankful for continued education. My brother recently moved up to Phoenix in order to pursue a master's degree in Family and Marriage Therapy. I think that it's so cool that he decided to pursue a masters degree and the family couldn't be more proud. He will be the first in the immediate family to obtain a master's degree and to be honest, I'm already pushing him to get his doctorate :)

So, what are you thankful for today?

Germs at Work & The Best Compressor in the World!!

Had another great question thrown my way yesterday that I thought I would share as I'm sure that many of you have had similar thoughts or been in the same predicament.

I have a question for you...I totally respect your opinion and would love it if i could ask for it I have a little girl with CF I am looking at accepting a position in the ER...I will be going into rooms and registering them into the system. Do you think this would be putting her health at risk? I have posed this question to everyone at the hospital and they are of the opinion if I am taking the necessary precautions, I should be ok. The reason I am looking into this is because the hours work so that I can still stay home with her during the day. AAAAHHH....help???

I know CFers that work in the healthcare field and they've all been told the same thing as well - Do your best to protect yourself and use common sense. I wouldn't be too worried about it momma. Sounds like a great opportunity.

This was recently said on CL and it relates to your question...

"I work on a trauma floor and we have tons of sick people there. to avoid me bringing it home to my little cyster and fibro i avoid all contact with them right when i walk through the door and my shoes never see the inside of my house."

Could always do that if you'd like to be extra cautious.

Also, I worked for a couple of years in a homeless shelter and there was more sickness in that place than you could shake a stick at. My doctors gave me the same advice that I started with - Do your best to protect yourself and use common sense.

Hope that helps!!

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Also had another question from a momma concerning a compressor and my thoughts on the Mobilaire that I use. This is one of the most common questions I get, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to post this as well.

I saw on an old thread on CL that you use the Mobilaire 50 psi compressor. A few other friends either have it or are using it. So I am also polling them. What are your favs and not so favs about it? We will also have the VIOS or even the old Pro Neb Ultra for travel, but day to day is the Mobilaire worth the investment? Our clinic is supportive in writing the script since we have gone through so many PARI machines...

As far as a compressor...after I blew through 3 PARIs in 18 months, I decided that enough was enough. I went ahead and splurged on the Mobilaire and I haven't looked back since. It makes a WORLD of difference. The biggest thing the treatments take away from us is time. This compressor gives some of that time back. It literally cut my treatment time in half.

I travel with mine as well since I travel so often and it really affords me the opportunity to fill my travel days with stuff that I need to get done because I don't have to be at the hotel for hours on end doing treatments. It is a bit heavy to lug around, but for me it's worth it.

If you're looking for a compressor for day-to-day home use, honestly, this purchase is a no-brainer!! I couldn't encourage you enough to get the Mobilaire.

Favs - It's fast, effective and durable
Not favs - Wish it were lighter and less bulky for travel, but that would probably cut down on the power it has.

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Wedding and Power of Two Movie

What a great weekend (as you can tell by Mandi Monday being posted on Tuesday)!

As Ronnie posted, we were in California for a good friend’s wedding. The wedding was in one of my favorite places in the country, Newport Beach. I absolutely love everything about that place; the weather, the quant strip of shops and restaurants, the houses, the beach…I could go on forever. I could live anywhere in the country and bring our families with us, I would move us all to Newport Beach. The only catch is that we’d all need to be multi-millionaires to buy homes there!

It was awesome visiting my favorite town, and for such a great event. Kirra and Tyler’s wedding weekend was fantastic. The rehearsal dinner was great, the wedding was wonderful, and the brunch on Sunday was amazing. It was great to get to spend time with them and share such a joyous event in their lives.

One last minute addition to our trip was yesterday (we extended our trip by a day). Last week we received an email from the folks behind The Power of Two movie about premiers being held in LA this weekend. Because CysticLife is a Community Partner of The Power of Two and because Ronnie and I are HUGE fans of all that Ana and Isa do for the CF community, we decided that we had to go to one of the premier showings of the documentary.

Holy smokes - it was amazing. Ana and Isa are such huge inspirations to Ronnie and me (and the whole CF community). I was so excited to watch a film about their great accomplishments and life stories. I was not disappointed. I recommend this film to everyone in the CF community, transplant community, and really, anyone who likes an inspiring story about two great people. I’m eagerly awaiting its release onto DVD so I can purchase a copy to watch anytime! I can’t rave enough about these two women and I can’t say enough about what they have created with this documentary. There are additional showings, and I highly recommend going if you can. If you can’t, wait eagerly for a chance to purchase a DVD!!

Another awesome coincidence is that because we were headed to the premier, we were able meet with a dear friend and business colleague who lives in Santa Monica. She has been out on maternity leave and we’ve missed her in all of our work dealings. So getting a chance to meet up with her for a couple of hours and see her handsome little boy (I can only hope Peanut will be ½ as cute) was incredible.

All in all it was an awesome vacation, mixed with a little business!