3 Pieces of Advice

What are the three best pieces of advice you would give to a parent of a child with CF?

Only 3 huh? my 1st piece of advice would be to make every decision based on what's best for your child, not what's best for your CF child. Often times, I see parents parent their CF child differently than they do their non-CF children. Very rarely should the parenting be any different for a child with CF as compared to a child without CF. I also think it's important to model the behavior you want to see from your child. If you don't want them to be a victim of this CF life then don't be a victim yourself. If you want them to live a healthy lifestyle then maybe you should think about getting into exercise and showing them how important it is to be the healthiest version of yourself each and every day. And finally, don't ever let your child interchange the phrases “I'm not able to” and “I'm not willing to”. We're able to do almost anything that we make a priority, just often times were not willing to make the “not fun” stuff a priority in our lives.

Thankful Thursday: Nose Spray & Hubby

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 my hubby. He is just so good to me. I was gone for the day in Tucson for work, and when I got home he had done all the laundry (washed and folded), emptied the dish washer, sorted the mail, and picked up. On top of that, he has been full of endless compliments telling me how beautiful I look. Nothing like being built up AND taken care of. Man I love him!

I'm thankful for good family and friends. Are you maybe saw via pictures, we had our baby shower on Sunday. It was a great celebration made special by GREAT family and friends. They showered us with love and Peanut with gifts. I can't wait to get Peanut home to have her enjoy all the goodies.

I'm thankful for my little nugget. She is my favorite little wiggle worm that keeps me company day and night. I will miss her kicks, punches, squirms, and wiggles when she's finally here, but I cannot wait to see her face. I am so thankful that God has blessed us with this baby and I am so thankful that we are so close to meeting her.

Ronnie's List:

I'm thankful for a great weekend with friends and family. I can't say enough what an awesome job my mom, aunts and cousins did in putting together our baby shower. It was monkey/jungle themed and they found so many awesome toys, clothes, books, etc with monkeys and other animals on them. The totally cool part is that we of course got to keep all of the decorations! We ended up with about 7 stuffed animals, 6 outfits and 10 books. Thanks again guys, it was awesome. (If you're interested in seeing pics from the baby shower, click here)

I'm so thankful for winter grass. I'm not sure how it works in other parts of the country, but here in the desert, we have to plant different grass for the cold months. We laid down the winter rye about 2 weeks ago and it's really starting to grow and green up. We have a couple problem areas like last winter, but as soon as we patch those up, we're going to have some pretty turf. Never been a huge grass guy, but when it's my yard, I kind of have to be!

I'm thankful for my nose spray. This last hospital stay I started doing a nose spray (Fluticasone) each morning and night. Now, I'm told that my sinuses are chalk full and that at some point they'll need to bring in the roto-rooter, but as of right now, they don't think it's causing too many problems. I have the occasional sinus headache, but my biggest problem is my sniffing. I get in these crazy cycles to where I just can't stop. It's part habit and part making my nose feel better. Anyway, since starting the nose spray, my sniffing has gone down and overall my sinuses feel clearer. I'm certainly thankful for that...as I'm sure Mandi is as well :)

So, what are you thankful for today?

Question from Reader: Family Support

What did your family or friends do to help you through your most difficult times with CF?

I think the most important thing my family and friends did to help me through my most difficult times of CF was to not only show me empathy (not sympathy), but more important than that, was to hold me accountable. We all know that we can do everything right and still become sick from CF. We also know that there are some of us who don't do everything right and become sick from CF. There were times in my life that I was that guy. What I loved about my friends and family is they would always remind me that I was not taking enough responsibility for my own health. They would always encourage me to do my treatments and to exercise so I could be the best possible version of myself.

Did your family ever stop you from participating in anything because of your CF? In what ways did they push you to do things to help you?

After that frank talk with my doctor when I was about 5 years old my family never stopped me from participating in anything. In fact, they did just the opposite. I played sports pretty much year-round from the age of about 6 years old and on. My mom and stepdad supported this by taking me to each and every practice and encouraging me to be my best. They were also very good at reminding me in a loving way that the only way to be the best possible version of myself on the playing field was to be the best possible version of myself in regards to my CF life.

Pictures from Baby Shower

We had a great time this weekend with friends and family celebrating the fast approaching arrival of Peanut. My sis-in-law Chrissy was on picture duty and did a great job capturing some special moments. If you have any questions about a particular picture, let me know :)