Friday Firsts: Maternity Photo

Shot by our good friend Karen at Elan Photographie

Thankful Thursday - Sleep & Outrun CF

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:

I'm thankful for generous and talented friends. As I mentioned in my Mandi Monday, we did maternity photos on Sunday. Thankfully, we have very talented friends, so I had a friend do my hair and another friend of ours took the pictures. Let me tell you, these ladies are VERY good at what they do, and they were sweet enough to "donate" their time for us and peanut!! I couldn't be more thankful for these ladies. They do great work, and our maternity photos will be awesome thanks to them.

I'm thankful for sleep. Lately I have been more sleepy. I generally fall asleep around 9:30 on the couch, get up to get into bed, and want to die when my alarm goes off at 6:30. Nothing feels as good as curling up in bed when you're super sleepy, so I am VERY thankful for sleep. Many people said that I'd have trouble sleeping towards the end, and besides the 3-4 bathroom trips during the night, I sleep like a rock...and for that I am THANKFUL!

I'm thankful for my hubby. My back has been a little sore the last week or so. It's not sore all the time, and not sore, sore, just more "tired feeling" if that makes any sense - it probably doesn't help that we've started lifted again since Ronnie's been out, and we lifted on back...buuut oh well :) Anyways, I'm thankful for my hubby who rubbed my back for a good 30 minutes the other night. He spoils me rotten!

Ronnie's List:

I'm so thankful for the response to the Fall edition of the Outrun CF Virtual Race. It's so awesome to see the community come together for a simple fundraising and awareness event such as this. Every time someone posts a picture of themselves in the new Outrun CF t-shirt, it puts a smile on my face. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, or are interested in hearing more and possibly registering, click here.

I'm thankful that I was able to get back to the gym this week. I'm even more thankful that I've been able to return at pretty close to the strength that I left. I think a lot of it has to do with just feeling better and having better oxygen saturation, but it always nice to not have a huge drop-off. Consistent hospital stays can start to get discouraging if it feels like it's two steps forward and three steps back in terms of exercise every time I go into the Hole. That definitely wasn't the case this time and I'm looking forward to seeing the progress until next stay.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to shoot maternity pics this last weekend. It makes it feel like Peanut is that much closer to coming and the thought of having her here gets me really excited. The photos were done by a good friend of ours, and judging by the previews she has given us, they are going to be fantastic. We'll be sure to post a couple here for all of you who are following this stage in our lives.

So, what are you thankful for today?

First Time Smoking Cayston

Just ran across this video as I was cleaning up my computer files and I thought I'd share. I find it funny how excited I was to try this med. I guess I'm just a CF med nerd. I still will say. that thing is shockingly quite!

Top Ten Tuesday: Home over the Hole

It is great to be back in the saddle again! My first weekend back was awesome and I got to do some of my favorite things - family over for dinner, lounged on the couch to watch a movie, college football Saturday, church and exercising. It couldn't have been a better "welcome home" weekend.

I thought I would just list the top ten reasons why I love being at home as opposed to the Hole. I'm going to do the first ten that come to mind, so I'm sure there will be some I miss.

Coffee from my own coffee maker - We lucked out and got a pretty spiffy coffee maker from a yard sale that had never been used. It's the kind that has the water tank on it plus grinds the beans right before the coffee is brewed. The coffee tastes super good and if I'm feeling frisky, I can even make myself a latte.

Walking around in my underwear - Ahhh, the simple joys in life. Maybe because it's hot or maybe because I'm just weird, but I love hanging out in my boxer briefs. I mean, isn't that a reason us guys buy our own place? No? I guess it's just me. Anyway, ask my wife, pants are optional in this household.

No late night vitals - It's never awesome to be woken up at 3 in the morning to get your blood pressure checked and your temperature taken. No such madness around here!

A comfortable bed - The bed at the hospital isn't terrible, but it's also not my own bed. On my own bed I have about 67 pillows and a pillow top - basically the closest I could come to recreating a cloud. The mattresses in the Hole are closer laying on the ground than they are laying on a cloud.

A shower bigger than a linen closet - I like big showers and I cannot lie, you other brothers can't deny. Can anyone guess what song that almost is? Anyway, my shower is big and powerful and I love it. Plus, I can always count on hot water and high water pressure.

My yard - While I get outside when I'm in the Hole, I still don't see much of nature. The hospital campus is made up of a bunch of buildings surrounded by a bunch of cement. Grass and trees aren't plentiful and there isn't a fruit tree in sight. What I love about being home, is finding all of that just a few feet out my back door.

My couch experience - There is no kicking back on a sectional with my feet propped up watching a big screen in the Hole. Instead, it's literally impossible to tell what the score is to any football game because the picture is no bad.

The gym - I do what I can in the Hole in terms of exercise, but it doesn't come close to what I can do at the gym. I got back to Spin class yesterday and loved every minute of it. I actually "took it slow" my first day back and still was sweating like crazy. Love it!

Cooking my own meals - There is only so much on the hospital menu. Plus, I really like to cook and the closest thing I do in the Hole to cooking is reheating left-overs. We've already made a couple of meals since I've been back and every bite seems to be better than the last.

Having my Jezzabel around - JBell really is man's best friend. She is so loyal and loving that it's crazy. When I'm in the Hole, I miss walking in the door and having my four-legged friend SUPER excited that I'm back. Plus, she goes on a hunger strike while I'm gone, so I'm always wanting to get back to her quickly :)

Well there you have it! So what about you? What are those things you love about being home that you simply can't get in the Hole?

A Weekend Out of the Hole

As you maybe saw (see last post) Ronnie busted out of the joint on Friday. We got home int the late afternoon and preceded to do nothing...it was glorious! We lounged around on our couch and watched TV, made smoothies for dinner (which I had been dreaming about for a week), and just enjoyed being back home together. We then, of course, enjoyed a good night's sleep in our own bed - such an awesome feeling. I'm sure anyone can related. You go on vacation, you sleep at a friend's house, you visit your in-laws, regardless of where you're sleeping, there is nothing like coming home and sleeping in your own bed. Well after 3 weeks in a cot and hospital bed, we were excited to be back in our own bed.

Saturday was an errand running day. We made a grocery store run. Obviously 3 weeks not home leaves you with a very empty fridge. Then we ran to some clothing stores to find me an outfit for me to wear in our maternity photos (more on that in a second). As a result of this chore, I have now realized when you don't shop for clothes - when you're 8 months preggo and nothing fits. Needless to say, I bought only what was necessary and felt wayyyy better about the world when trying on shoes. Ever notice how that works? If you're not feeling sexy, you just buy shoes...you're feet can still look good, right?! Unfortunately not totally true during pregnancy, as my feet often look more like paws than feet, but anything was better than trying to figure out what size and style shirt would fit my belly tight enough to see a bump, but loose enough to not look awkward. Anywhoo, I found a couple shirts that worked, so I was happy in the end. Ronnie even found some steals on sale that I convinced him to buy. So it was a success. Errands were followed by a relaxed night with Josh and Chrissy. We watched a movie and vegged out. It was fun getting to hang out again (it had been too long, since we were in Tucson).

So that brings me to Sunday...maternity photo day. I decided to treat myself to a little pampering for the photos. So I had a friend of mine (who also did my hair for our wedding) do my hair. Nothing crazy, she just blow dried it and added some casual curls. AND I had my makeup done (figured I can go all out since this may be the only time I do maternity photos). The photo session was a blast, as it was a friend of ours that took the photos, so it was casual and fun. She took photos of me, my belly, and of us together. I'm excited to see how they turn out...and we'll share some of them here when we have them.

So that's it..that was our first weekend out of the hole. And a crazy side note, we're 35 weeks, tomorrow, so it may be one of six weekends we have left (give or take depending on when Peanut decides she's done cooking). CRAZY!!!!