Polar Express in Pictures!!

Thankful Thursday: White Noise & "Dates"

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 learning. Mckenna seems to be learning and growing every day and it's sooo incredible and fun to watch. She's now so smiley, chatty, and playful and I love it. I can't wait to watch how much she changes over the next few months.

I'm thankful for white noise. Mckenna loves white noise when she seems to sleep a lot better when it's on. We downloaded white noise tracks from iTunes and play them at night time and bed time...I don't see us getting rid of that method of sleep induction any time soon!

I'm thankful for the holiday season. My parents get back into town on Saturday for Christmas and new years and I cannot wait to see them again!! It's only been a month but that's felt far too long.

Ronnie's List:

I'm so thankful for a wife that pushes us to do things out of the ordinary. A couple of days ago we traveled up north to ride on the Polar Express (pictures will be posted tomorrow). Now, that's typically not something that I would choose to do, but I had a great time and look forward to going back for years to come!

...and on that note I'm thankful that Mandi encourages me to be social. Truth be told, I could stay at home and hang out with my family all day everyday, but Mandi takes it upon herself to set up "dates" with friends. I appreciate her taking the lead on it as it's generally something that I don't press, and I always have a good time with whatever she has set up!

I'm thankful that Mckenna is a fan of my Vest. It's pretty much a guarantee that as soon as my vest starts and Mckenna is in her swing, she'll be out for the count. You of course never quite know how babies will react, and I'm just thankful that she's not scared of it....yet :)

 

So, what are you thankful for today?

Sign Me Up!!!

Where do I sign-up? I think I'd be pretty good at THIS kind of hand-to-hand combat!!

Top Ten Tuesday: Why I Don't Like the Rain.

I think I finally discovered my kryptonite - Rain. Don't get me wrong, once in a while it's an okay thing, but generally speaking, I could do without it. Here the top 10 things that I don't like about the rain:

10.  Watering schedule. Whenever it rains like it did today I have to worry about the setting or altering the current watering schedule for my yard. Big deal? No, but it's still a nuisance.

9. Shoes. I guess I have to wear shoes when it rains but I'd much rather have dry feet than wet. The only problem with this is that I would much rather rock my sandals.

8. Blue skies. One of the reasons I love living in Arizona is that I can count on blue skies almost every single day of the year. When it rains, I'm stuck staring at a gray sky all day.

7. Sleep. I've never been one to take a nap, but when it's raining all day I suddenly have the urge to. It's tough to get going and get things done when you're yawning and feeling like you need to lay down for a while.

6. Lethargic. Not only do I feel like I need to take a nap, but every action I take feels 10 times lower than the same action that I took the day before. It's almost like I'm covered of molasses... including my brain.

5. Gym. Because of the previous 2 reasons I just stated, you could see how the rain messes with my gym time. Without Mandi calling me out yesterday, I'm not so sure I would've made it. I'm of course glad that I went, but it was tough.

4. Joints. As I'm sure is the case with many of you, my joints start to really ache when it rains. I'd say it's the worst in my ankles and knees, but the pin in my wrist doesn't feel that great either.

3. Jezzabel. Whenever it rains my sweet little dog turns into a scared little puppy. She's attached on our hip, which I really don't mind all that much, until she has to go to the bathroom.

2. Messy. Everything just seems to get a little more dirty or messy when it rains. Whether it's our clothes or the floors to our house, everything just seems to get a little dirtier.

1.  Circadian rhythms. I'm a big believer in circadian rhythms and there's no doubt that the rain throws mine for a loop. I've touched on some of the ways that rain affects me, but I just the best way to sum it up would be to say that it just makes me feel “off”.

Now I'm guessing that most of you out there probably like the rain. For the sake of this blog I of course lived it up a little in terms of stating all of the reasons I don't like the rain, and although I can name plenty of reasons that I like the rain, I still think this list would outnumber it.

So my question for you is: Do you like when it rains? Why or why not?

Learning through a Butt Dimple?

As you may or may not know, I'm a worrier. I'm pretty sure I've expressed that before, but if I haven't or you haven't read it, there you have it. I've outted myself :) Ronnie is the complete opposite when it comes to worry. I'll worry about just about anything. He could have his arm cut off and his worry would be about a 1 on a 1 to 10 scale. Whenever we have a potential issue, problem, dilemma, my mind wanders and I begin to worry about the what-ifs. I come up with all the possible what-ifs, and then begin to think of solutions and next steps for each of those possibilities. Ronnie finds this absolutely ridiculous. He is constantly telling me, "let's start to worry when we actually know what's going on." or "let's wait until we have an answer and then we can discuss all the options." And I always know he's right, but that doesn't stop a worrier from getting stuck in the worry-cycle when something arises.

However, this last month, I managed to break out of my typical pattern - and even while in new mom mode. Shortly after Mckenna was born, we noticed a little "dimple" on her bum - at the top of her crack. Many babies are born with a dimple (1 in 50), but hers was on the "bigger side of normal". And while they told us it was probably nothing and just a slightly bigger than normal dimple, each nurse took an extra peak at it while we were in the hospital...which can send a worrier like me into a tail-spin. At her first appointment with the pediatrician we asked about it. She told us that she too thought it was likely nothing, but that they would order an ultrasound to look and make sure all was ok with her spine/spinal cord. We were told that it would be correctable if it was something, but that it would be something on the spina bifida spectrum.

Typically something like this would make me a worried mess. But for some reason I felt ok about it. Maybe because if it was "something" it could be corrected with surgery, or maybe because I (gasp) am actually learning something from my steady-eddy husband. Regardless, I wasn't too worried.

Well wouldn't you know, Ronnie was right and not worrying until we had more info paid off and saved me a lot of mental anguish. We had her little dimple looked at last Friday, and all checked out fine - the dimple was nothing to worry about!

It's funny how God can grow you and teach you through experiences like this. Somehow He kept me at peace about the situation, and wouldn't you know, it was nothing. I learned that if I wait to worry, I can free up a lot of mental space!

Pics from Mckenna's Photo Shoot!!

You guys have a favorite??

Thankful Thursday: SwaddleMe & Yard

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 brother. This sounds like a no-brainer, I'm sure. But it's worth mentioning! He called on his way home from work yesterday to chat and we talked about his day, work, etc. Man do I feel so blessed that I have such a great brother and that we have such a great relationship. I mean, we're practically neighbors (they live in our neighborhood) yet we still chat on the phone. He's one of the best guys I know, and I feel blessed to call him my big brother!!

I'm thankful for SwaddleMe swaddling blankets. They make it so easy to swaddle Mckenna. You just flip over the sides and it velcros on one side so it stays all nicely help together.

I'm thankful for a great hubby! Ronnie's been Mr. ChoreMaster the last several weeks. He's been taking care of all of the stuff around the house AND doing chores like planting bushes, decorating for xmas, etc....on top of being really helpful and doing 50% of the work with Mckenna! He's so amazing!!!!

Ronnie's List:

I'm so thankful for our yard. Even though I get super frustrated by some of the work required of it, not that I don't enjoy it, I'm just not good at it yet, I still love looking out to a green, lush yard. When looking for a house, having grass was really important to Mandi and not so important to me. I'm sure glad she stuck to her guns.

I'm so thankful for the children of our friends'. We had some friends over and they brought their little baby girl who is a few months older the Mckenna. It's nice to know people who have kids in the same age range as our little girl. Speaking of that, our neighbor had a baby about two weeks ago. Bonus!!!

I'm thankful for the area that we live in. It's so nice to have access to just about any type of store that you can think of within 2 miles of us. It was one of the main draws for this area, and now that we're living it, I see why. Need to make a quick grocery run? No problem, be back in a jiff! What's that, irrigation parts? They're on the way! Jezzabel needs a cut and color? You get the point :)

So, what are you thankful for today?

Genotype and Severity

This comment was actually left on a blog titled Question From Reader: More Severe Genes? from back in June, but I wanted to be sure to share it as a blog so that everyone can get a little more insight into this issue. The comment was left by Jessica, a cyster in the community that is about 150 times smarter than your average bear. In fact, I generally don't understand what in the heck she's talking about (I know, big shock). If you would like to see the original blog, be sure to click the link above. 


.........................................


There are actually six classes of mutations, and they don't directly range from 1-6 in "severity". Also, they don't indicate severity so much as the manner in which the CFTR protein and/or transport is faulty - a cellular issue that has not been proven to be affected by patient behaviors. There's a lot of great information with more detail and specifics in this article on the CFF website: 
http://www.cff.org/aboutCFFoundation/Publications... 

Taking care of yourself - treatments, exercise, nutrition, etc, are all still extremely important to put yourself in the best position for optimum health, but none currently available have any direct impact on the cellular-level mutation problem itself - that's exactly where these new treatments come in and why they're so exciting! 

Lastly, a quick but important distinction: DeltaF508 is the most commonly identified mutation, but *double* DeltaF508 is a genotype, *not* a mutation. Everyone has two mutations, which are often not the same; the genotype identifies the pair, and their interaction with one another (which is arguably equally if not more important than the mutations individually). DF508 is the most *commonly identified*mutation, but DDF508 is not necessarily the most common *genotype*, and if it is, it's by a slim margin - it's not like there is a vast majority of double deltas and other genotypes are sort of "odd type out" in CF statistics. 

Also, while that DF508 is the most commonly *identified* mutation , many scientists argue that may just as well be because it was the *first* identified mutation, and as more mutations are identified AND more individuals learn their genotype, that will likely change, as it doesn't make sense that DF508 would be the most common from an evolutionary biology standpoint. 

The most important reason to know your (or your child's) genotype is because the new wave of treatments are all going to be rather class specific, if not mutation specific - knowing BOTH of your mutations lets you know whether new trials apply to you (so you can participate and get them to market quicker!) and if they don't, whether the science might be in the same wheelhouse and therefore might eventually - or at least more quickly than a treatment targeting a mutation in a completely different class. 

Mckenna is a smiley baby...

...if we are willing to make absurd noises.

Reruns and a Lazy Mom

So not much is new. It seems like when you have a new baby I feel like every day is a rerun of the day before, plus or minus 5 percent. We got up, feed, change, play, sleep; feed, change, play, sleepy...and repeat over and over until bath and bedtime. Mckenna has fallen into a pretty good natural routine. Although she's still up 2-3 times in the night (8pm-7am ish) to eat (about every 3 hours). She teased me a bit with going a 6 hour stretch one night and a 7 hour stretch another night two nights in a row...but that didn't last. But boy did I get my hopes up. I've tried to recreate those days in the hopes of getting those nights, but no can do. That's ok though, she's a growing girl...momma can get up and feed her!

I've handled the no sleep aspect of mommy-hood just as I thought I would; not great. I love my sleep and need a lot of it. So being limited makes me pretty lazy. I don't feel that tired during the days, but I do feel lazy. It takes everything in me to do stuff around the house or make dinner (SORRY RONNIE...I get an F in housewife these days)! Hopefully I'll get more accustomed to the lack of sleep, or she'll start sleeping longer stretches...either way it would be awesome to be a little more productive and not a couch potato during the days.

Speaking of lazy, we bought plants at a nursery yesterday that we are going to plan in the yard, and I'm working to peel myself off the couch in order to participate in the planting! Ronnie has been awesome about getting projects around the house done. So today I'm going to try to join in on his awesomeness! We'll post pictures!

Anywhoo that's about it. Time for Bessy the Cow to go be milked ;-)

Wedding Through The Eyes of Dad & Denise

While my Dad and Denise were here, we downloaded some of the pictures they took from our May 2010 wedding. Man does time fly!! I thought it would be kinda cool to post how our wedding looked through their eyes...

Rehearsal

Rehearsal Dinner

Morning of wedding:

Wedding:

Reception:

Brunch the day after:

Thankful Thursday: Play Dates & Goofy Face

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 that Peanut is starting to sleep well at night! We get one 5-6.5 hour stretch and a couple 2-3 hour stretches. That makes for one happy momma in the morning!

I'm thankful for a good 6 week postpartum check up and being 100% cleared to workout. I was able to get into the gym today and lift for the first time in 6 weeks and it felt awesome. And on Monday I did a 5 mile run.

I'm thankful for "play dates". I've been meeting weekly for coffee with a friend with a 3 month old, and we're going to start meeting weekly to walk the zoo (fun sights for the kids, exercise for mom). Also, we have a next door neighbor that just had a baby Sunday night and we're already planning all the fun walks and pop-bys we can have. Gotta love mommy and baby time with friends. It'll be great as the kids get older and can actually play together!

Ronnie's List:

I'm so thankful that my Dad and Denise were able to come out for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was nice to have them stay at our house as it gave us the opportunity to spend a ton of quality time together and actually use parts of our house that rarely get stepped in to! Denise was a cleaning rock star and my Dad and I were able to knock out some projects around the house (more on that to come).

I'm so thankful for my goofy looking face. For the past week or so, I've been able to get Mckenna to smile or laugh at me on command. She has one of those wide mouthed smiles that is absolutely adorable, so I'm trying to elicit one from her every chance that I get! 

I'm thankful for beautiful weather. For the past couple of weeks, we've had highs in the low to mid-70's and not a cloud in the sky. I love being able to open up all of the doors and windows in the house and just enjoy the "freshness" breezing in. Of course today, as I write this, it's raining :)

So, what are you thankful for today?

Workout Wednesday: The Update

I wanted to give ya'll an update on that exciting new workout I talked about a couple of weeks ago (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, click here). The "spartan" workout has been going really well and it's provide a nice break from the routine that I was stuck in for many many months. It got to the point where I was bored while doing certain lifts and found myself starting to just go through the motions instead of really focusing on what I had to do. It's so important to exercise with purpose. Going through the motions simply won't get it done. Sure, it's better than nothing, but since I'm at the gym anyway, I might as well give it my best effort.

Anyway, the first couple times doing this workout was quite an eye-opener as it is one intense booty kicker. I knew going into it that it wasn't going to be easy, but I never thought that it would make me sweat nor breath as hard as it has done. I figured that the required 3 times a week of doing this workout was going to be a piece of cake, but I now see that they purposely give you some rest days cause they're absolutely needed! I mean, I couldn't walk straight for about the first 10 days of the regiment. But as a lot of you know, getting that sore can only mean one thing - I hadn't worked out those muscles like that for a long time. And now, it's up to me to keep those seldom used muscles in shape!

The other thing that I've added to intensify this new workout is to run to the gym on my workout days. This really gets my heart rate going and I feel warmed-up before I start "pumping the iron". Now, it also make my workout more challenging as some of the lifts require me to use leg strength and stamina, and after a mile run, my legs feel a little bit like jell-o. I like it though because I'm already sweating when I enter the gym and I continue to sweat the entire way through. There's nothing like sweating your butt off at the gym, or as I like to call it - the liquid representation of all your hard work :)

Like I said before, if you're looking for a new challenge, look no further! This is a great workout and will get your lungs as pumped as your muscles. If you have any questions, please don't be afraid to ask.

Happy lifting!!

Top Ten Tuesday: Thanksgiving Day

Haven't done a Top Ten Tuesday in a while and I thought this would be a good time to write one out. With Thanksgiving here and now gone (too quickly might I add), I wanted to take the time to reflect on what I enjoyed most about this particular Turkey Day. These are in no particular order :)

Carving Knife - I have never seen, nor held for that matter, a carving knife in action. Not only did I get to see my Dad work the carving knife while slicing up the turkey, but I actually own one now since he and Denise bought us one for the house!

Stuffing - Denise, my step-mom, made her world-famous stuffing (at least in my world now). I still don't know everything that was in it, but I do know this - it contained bread and sausage. Winning.

Hosting - This was the first Thanksgiving that Mandi and I hosted at our home. We usually head down to Tucson, but with my Dad and Denise in town, we thought it would be a perfect time to have Thanksgiving at our house. It was awesome to be able to use our kitchen to it's full capacity and put our dining room table to good use :)

Family - Like I said before in previous posts, my Dad and step-mom Denise are in from San Antonio to visit with us...and Mckenna :) I love spending time with family, and I love spending time with family even more around the holidays.

Apple Pie - We made an apple pie from scratch (as long as you don't include the crust) and as long as you don't judge a book by it's cover, it turned out really well! It was very very tasty and to be honest, I'm looking forward for another holiday so we have an excuse to make it again.

Gravy - This one really doesn't need an explanation. Gravy. That's it...Gravy.

Relaxing - Don't know if it's the turkey, the company or my comfy couch, but whatever it was, I had a very relaxing Thanksgiving. It was so nice to be able to relax and hang out with family after a fantastic meal.

Football - Thanksgiving and football really go hand-in-hand don't they? I wasn't able to throw the pigskin around like I usually do, but being able to watch it on TV was almost just as nice...and less tiring.

Fire - It was a bit chilly out, so just as we always do, we found our excuse to make a fire. Granted, we didn't sit next to the fire as we had an alternate heating source (more on that in a bit), but it was sure nice to look at.

Heater - Mandi's parents bought us a heater for our back porch and it really came in handy on Thanksgiving night. We sat on our outdoor furniture with coffee in hand, pie on lap and heater turned on. It was glorious.

So what would be on your Top Ten Thanksgiving list?

Momma's a Slacker

Ok, so you don't need me to tell you, but I'm a total slacker!! Truth be told, since I'm not working, I only know it's Sunday because we go to church, but all the other days run together. And even when I know it's Sunday, Mandi Monday still slips my mind until my loving husband wakes up Monday morning and jokingly says, "what did you do Mandi Monday about," knowing full well I spaced it. Anyway...enough with the excuses...here I am.

Things are going well. I had my 6 week postpartum check up today (can you believe it's been 6 weeks already? Where does the time go?) I got a gold star (not actually, although that would be kind of fun and motivating for a type A like myself). I got the go ahead to resume activities as normal...but as I've mentioned, I gave myself the go ahead weeks ago. I'm back running again. I took it a little easy, wanting to wait into I got the official clearance before going full throttle. So I was only running 2 times a week and walking the other days. I did manage to get my mileage up to 3.5 miles though....so hopefully I can just build on that quickly. All in all I feel great. I could go for slightly more sleep, but truthfully I get a lot, just not all in a row. And mornings are always fun because Mckenna is adorable in the morning, grunting, groaning, stretching, etc. So it makes a bad night's sleep feel so worth it.

Mckenna is doing great. Growing like a beast. She's up around 9.5 lbs these days and adding more and more rolls to her collection. I love them!! Why can't rolls be so desirable on EVERYONE? Mckenna's big update this week is that she's officially smiling, a lot and on purpose!! She started occasionally doing it about 10 days ago, but now she definitely smiles intentionally. It melts my heart! We sit for what feels like hours with HUGE smiles on our faces because we can't get enough (and you still have to work at it a bit). By the time you get a smile you feel a bit like a clown who's face is going to fall off...but it's sooo worth it. You can see her gummy grin in the picture above. We're still working to get a good photo...but this is the best one yet.

That's all I have for now. Off to Carters to buy a few pairs of pants for her. No, I'm not joking...it's a sick addiction ;-) I kid. We haven't bought THAT many clothes, she just "needs" some pants.