Home Again, Home Again

So I should probably start by apologizing for the super late post today. I was out of town all weekend for the CFRI Conference in San Francisco, and today has been a little a-typical.

But I'm back in business and thought I'd fill you in on the weekend. The CFRI Conference is always a great time to meet other CF patients and families face-to-face, as well as learn a whole bunch of new information about what's going on in the world of CF. I will say, I am normally a put-my-feet-up-and-relax kind of gal on the weekend, so going non-stop gets to be a little much for me, but the weekend is always so worth it I keep coming back for more (this is my second year going). I really enjoyed meeting some folks face-to-face that I've "known" online for some time, and it was awesome getting to catch up with some people I met there last year. The lectures were all interesting, but Tiffany Christensen's talk was by far my favorite - that cyster is a rockstar and if you ever have a chance to go hear her speak, GO!

While this cat was away, my mouse certainly did not just play. Ronnie spent all weekend doing projects around the house. We're talking a solid 30 hours of work around our house. The really exciting part was that I didn't know what he was doing. So when I got home, we walked through the whole house I had to try to guess what he had done. It was a really fun game and the house looked beautiful - man my hubby is the best!

Just a quick peanut update. Peanut's doing great (as far as we know), I feel like my belly got WAY bigger this weekend, but maybe some of it is just bloating from sodium-filled conference food. We are 27 weeks pregnant tomorrow, and I cannot wait for next week, so we can be into our third trimester...YIPPEE! One fun effect of this pregnancy that I experience in full-force this weekend was serious swelling in my calves and feet. I guess I'm not used to sitting in a chair all day, and so I quickly realized what happens when I do...my legs turn into tree stumps! We're talking so much bigger that my ankles looked a little white-ish...HOT! Oh well, they would go down over night and re-swell by the end of the next day. I'm not complaining though, at least I know what my legs and feet would look like as a 400 lb woman....OR by the end of this pregnancy!

All in all it was a great weekend, but it's even better to be home with my hubby!

All By Myself...

...I don't want to be, all by myself, anymore [of course sung in a perfect pitch without missing a note...in my head at least].

This morning my lovely wife took off for the CFRI conference in San Francisco (say hi to her if you're there) and left me at home to fend for myself. I'm not able to go to the conference myself because of the lovely bugs that I culture so she's going to be representing CysticLife without me.

It's so strange being here alone in the house as it's a very rare occurrence around here. We both work out of the home and almost all of our free time is spent together because we enjoy many of the same things. There are 168 hours in a week, and I would say it's safe to say that we spend at least 160 of those hours together (I know, poor girl). It will be nice however being on my own this weekend because this will give me the opportunity to surprise her with some work I'll be doing around the house. I of course can't say what it is, since she will probably read this, but let's just say some renovation will be involved.

My neighbor is a do-it-all kind of a guy and we've made plans to work on each other's projects this weekend. It's nice because I'm able to learn how to do some stuff around the house and he gets an extra pair of hands on his job. We've done this kind of "home makeover" exchange before and it turned out very well! I'm really looking forward to the changes we make this weekend.

Anywho, if you're going to the CFRI conference please say hi to my wife and tell her that I miss her already. That is all. Thank you :)

Slacker Monday

I know I know, I'm horrible because it's 11 am AZ time (meaning for many of you folks it's 2 pm) and I'm JUST getting a blog up.

As many of you know, I have been in San Fran all weekend for the CFRI conference. It was a BLAST. It was great getting to put faces to so many names and voices and to meet many people I didn't know before. I will admit, I have SEVERE small talk anxiety, so the thought of making small talk all weekend made my heart race and my palms sweaty. But as soon as the weekend was kicked off, I was chatting away sans racing heart and sweaty palms...everyone was so nice and comfortable that it made small talk bearable - even enjoyable!!

Some personal highlights - in pictures:

I finally met Lisa Greene, a CF mom and parenting guru in person after MONTHS of talking on the phone and working together!

I got to spend time with some great people in the CF world, some faces of Genentech, Novartis and Blooming Rose Foundation (BRF)

Some GREAT women - CF moms rock my socks.

A pair of FUN CF parents that I finally got to meet in person!

Grandma Bev has been around the CF community forever and runs CF Pharmacy in FL - she's a real spark plug and who I want to be when I'm grown up.

Kat from BRF again - on the right, Rose, a freakin' awesome cyster and it was soooo awesome meeting her in person after watching her over and over again on the Breathe video (in the middle is her BF)

This smiley lady is my hero - CF mom and incredible person. I'm lucky enough to see her quite often, but having her at the conference made it that much more enjoyable. She's a riot. (Can you spot Jerry Cahill?)

Finally after talking much on the phone and respecting all that she does, I got to meet Carroll Jenkins, CFRI executive director, in person.

More CF moms - These ladies are the best!