Our family's journey through life

Ryann Smith was born December 27 and she is currently on ECMO. Please keep her and her family in your prayers during this very difficult time.Read more about Ryann's battle with CDH here.

Were praying for you Ryann!!

Owain does!Today we took Owain to his pediatrician because he has a rash all over his body and has been really congested with in the last few days. With the rash I thought maybe he was having a reaction to our new laundry soap. Come to find out he just has a little viral infection. Now we just need to let it run it's course (7-10 days).

It doesn't seem to be slowing him down. He is still a very busy little guy. My only concern is he hasn't been eating as much.Due to not being able to breathe through his nose. Once this Viral Infection is done running it's course hopefully Owain will feel up to eating more.

Guess who weighs 16lbs.?

Yup Owain has finally hit the 16lb mark. Woohoo!!
Even with being sick he still has managed to put on a few ounces.

Go Owain! Go Owain! Go Owain!

Owain asked for his two front teeth for Christmas well he didn't get those but he did get a toothbrush in his stocking form Santa Clause. So today we practiced.
I think he is ready for some teeth. What do you think? Maybe for his first birthday?

Boy does time fly when your having fun visiting with family,wrapping presents,opening presents,baking cookies,decorating cookies,eating cookies,watching Christmas movies,taking lots of pictures,Trying to capture every moment on video ,watching the snow fall and trying not to be to exhausted from all excitement that Christmas brings.

Oh and I can't forget the most important thing I have been doing all week is praying for all of our CDH warriors Alina,Carter and Olivia. Some other little warriors (not related to CDH ) that I have been saying a little prayer for is of course Stellan (Mcmuffin) and baby Kayliegh.

I am so relieved to hear the news that baby Stellan isn't having heart problems. That his episode is related to a cold,possible RSV. Which in his case is the best case scenario. Praise God!

Now here goes all of the things that I did not!do this past week

While snowed in I did not decide to bake sugar cookies to hand out to all my neighbors who were also snowed in. I did not burn them and just tossed them in the garbage. nope not me! and because I had all of this frosting left over with no cookies to frost I did not dip my finger in the bowl and then licked it. I did not repeat this several times!

Another thing I did not do while snowed in was rearrange my living room and bedroom instead of working on my Daily December Album.

I did not ask for a pair of Uggs for Christmas. I did not get a pair of Uggs because I am not one of those girls I see wearing their Uggs around town with their pants tucked into their boots. That is just not me! They don't feel absolutely amazing! when I slip my bare feet in them. I wouldn't know because I don't own a pair of Uggs!

On Christmas day I didn't skip my shower and I most certainly did not stay in my pjs all day with out even brushing my hair. Nope Not Me!

I am not once again typing up my Not Me! Mondays the night before. So I will be ready when Mckmama posts her Not Me! So maybe just maybe I can be number ten instead of one hundred and fifty! I am not going to continue to check her blog every thirty minutes so I can try and be one of her top ten! that would be crazy and little obsessive. So it is a good thing that I am not doing that!

Head on over to Mckmama's to read more Not Me! Mondays!

Please keep baby Stellan in your prayers! Mckmama rushed him to the hospital. If you would like to read more about baby Stellan check out his mommy's blog at My Charming Kids. Stellan has already proven to be one of God's miracle (he is not a CDH baby). Read his story and you will see for yourself.

Were praying for you Stellan and all the Mckfamily!

Today our good friends Ben and Kelcy came over for brunch. I made one of my favorite dishes my mom use to make when I was a young girl. German apple pancakes. They were a hit!We had such a nice visit and Owain really loves his new book! Thanks Aunt Kelcy and Uncle Ben!

How to make your own German Apple Pancakes!

Baby Alina was born December 2o she has already had her repair surgery and just graduated to CPAP. Way to go Alina! Please continue to keep Alina and her parents Alex and Ingrid in your prayers as Alina continues to in battle against CDH.

As of today baby Olivia is one month and six days old and she is having a difficult time. Her CDH roller coaster ride continues to be a bumpy one. Please keep her,twin brother Mason and her parents Jacy and Doug in your prayers. She is in the best care with Dr.Kays as her Doctor.He is well known for treating babies born with CDH.Some of his other patients that I know of through the blogging world) are Ella and Par Please pray that Olivia has some really good and stable days. Especially since Dr.Kays will be on vacation for ten days. Lets just all pray that the next few days are really boring. Parents with babies in the NICU love all the boring days we can get!

I have been following baby Carter's journey well since he was in his mommy's womb. He is well over two months old and is making great progress. Right now he is just working on drinking from a bottle then he will get to go home with his mommy (kelly) and daddy (Brad)! This is very exciting for the Myers. Make sure you check out their blog they just posted a cute video of baby Carter playing a new game with his mommy. It so so cute!!!It literally brought tears to my eyes. What a priceless moment I am sure Brad and Kelly will treasure!

We had a fabulous first Christmas with our little warrior. Owain was so excited when he saw his rocking duck under the Christmas tree. He waved his arm and said "duck,duck,duck!" This is the very first time we heard him say duck and it was priceless. It was one of those moments I really wish we had the video camera on.

We spent the whole day in our pj's,ate yummy food,watched Christmas movies and just hanged out with family.I would have to say this was the best Christmas ever! I feel incredible blessed to be Owain's mother and have such a wonderful husband and amazing family and friends.

Daddy made a cute little snow family. Can you see the resemblance?

This time last year I was very very very pregnant. My due date was February 3 little did I know exactly one month after Christmas my little warrior would arrive.I remember feeling terrified of the unknown for my unborn son. I knew that he would have to fight for his life the second he was born. Last year for Christmas I made two wishes. I wished for a white Christmas and sure enough it snowed Christmas day! Nothing like this year though! My other wish was for my son to be a survivor. I didn't know that my second wish would come true until weeks after my sons birth when he was finally out of the woods and on the right road to recovery.My son is a miracle and I thank god everyday for this precious gift of life!



Thank you God!
Thank you God!

Merry Christmas!!

I have been tagged by 4 little men and 2 girly twins

The Rules:
*Link to the person who tagged you.
*Share 7 random/weird facts about you.
*Tag 7 people at the end of the post, and include links to their blogs.

1.I am addicted to buying scrap booking supplies...Now only if I can find the time to finish all of my unfinished projects!

2.My two weaknesses(besides my two men in my life(hubby and baby)) are chocolate and Pepsi!

3.I have a unique scar on my brain. Well I call it unique because not very people can say they have a scar on their brain.

4.)I am not only addicted to Pepsi and chocolate but I am addicted to blogging!!

5.)I am not a morning person!!!

6.) I have pajama day at least three times a week. What can I say I work from home?

7.)I am like a little kid when ever I see anything Hello Kitty or the Wizard of Oz. I almost bought my son a Hello Kitty tricycle!Hey boys can ride around on a pink bike?

I tag the first seven people that read this. Tag...your it!!!

Don't be shy jump right in and have some fun...Tag...your it!!!

This picture kinda gives you an idea of how much snow we have! For Oregon this is way more than we are use too! I guess the last time it snowed this much was in 1968!! Looks like we will be having a white Christmas! :-)

Over the past couple weeks Owain and I have been working really hard with being crafty and making Christmas presents this year.


I have learned that Owain really loves to finger paint! What ten month old doesn't ?What's this it feels funny on my finger tips? and it's mommy's favorite color!
Hey this is pretty fun!
Now that I am done with my master piece lets just take a little taste. I don't think momma will mind if I just link my fingers clean. Hey I think she might find it helpful. Less for her to clean up!

Yup it's that time again. Head on over to Mckmama's to check how some more Not Me! Mondays.I am sure that you will find a good laugh and heck you might even be able to relate to others Not Me's!

This is not my child sitting on top of MT.Clean Laundry! Defiantly not my pile of clean laundry! You would never find a pile like this in my house! Nope not me!

Oh and this laundry explosion all over my living room is not me trying to fold and put away all of our laundry. Nope not in my house! You see in my house I have a magic fairy that cleans,wash,folds and put away all of the laundry. I bet you wish you had a magic cleaning fairy?


Now if this was my living room with all of our laundry I would never walk away from this mess to put my sleepy child to bed and if I did I would never find my cat making her self comfy on our clean,partially folded clothes! Never !!!!
And last but not least I am not at all embarrassed that I just posted pictures of my laundry mess because those are not my pictures,not my laundry,not my cat,not my child.

Ok maybe that is my child and cat but I have know idea how they got in those pictures. You remember I have a magic laundry fairy to do all of my dirty work!

Boy do we have a lot of snow for Oregon! We don't usually get this much snow especially this early in the season. We have been having one heck of a snow storm! Here is a picture of Owain I took a couple of days ago. I wanted to make sure and get some more snow picture before it all melted away. Little did I know we were about to get a lot more snow!
This is a picture of our front porch this morning. Our porch is covered so all this snow was blown on to our porch. Last night we had some crazy wind 40-50 mile !!
Here is a picture I took or our apartment parking lot just a few minutes ago.Owian in his new big boy coat yesterday. He is not a big fan of his snow suit or big boy coat. Everytime I put it on him he clinches his fist and grunts. HE lets out a few angry cries too.

Dear Santa,Alls I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!
Love,
Owain

The other day I gave Owain some tissue paper to play with. I will let you be the judge if he had a good time playing with the tissue paper or not.....If you look closely his bottom says "Naughty"


What do you think does it look like our little man is having a good time?
I think maybe a package of tissue paper will make his day on Christmas morning?
What do you think?

Tomorrow is a big day for baby Olivia. She is scheduled to have her repair surgery tomorrow. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. If you would like to read more about Olivia and her twin brother Mason click here.

Today Owian's grandpa "Bob" stopped by for a short visit. He was only in town for the day on business. It was great seeing him today. We love you Grandpa "Bob" (my dad)

It's that time again to fess up everything you did not do this pass week. Go to My Charming Kids to read more Not Me! Mondays.


I would never let my almost eleven month old crawl around on the floor of Nordstrom's shoe departmnet and climb on top of a shoe box.I would never even dream of it with all the germs floating around! It's a good thing I didn't let him loose in the department store!

While my husband went on a little adventure with our son to Grandpa's house. I did not take a nap instead of being productive around the house. Not me!

I am a super organized wife and mother. I am so organized that I would never ever in a million years do ten loads of laundry and just throw it all in one big pile unfolded. Nope Not ME!

I did not eat Mcdonalds at least three times this past week. That would be gross so it's a good thing I don't eat their!

I didn't skip last Not Me Monday! I would never miss a week. I am always on top of my blogging! Oh and I am not addicted to reading other people's blogs. It is not the first thing I do when my son is napping. Nope Not Me!

I am not stressed out that Christmas is just around the corner! Why would I be stressed out it's not like I still have tons of shopping to do! Remember I am super organized and always on top of everything!

I would never give my son one of his Christmas presents three weeks early and I did not go to two different Kmarts to find the same start to walk shopping cart. The same one his best buddy Cian has. Every time Cian takes it home with him he gets sad. I would never spoil my only child! Not Me!

I am not considering going into my kitchen after I finish this post and making a batch of chocolate chip cookies just so I could eat some yummy cookie dough! I would never do such a thing! Not Me!

Once again my pictures are out of order

December 12,2008

We went to the Children's Museum. They have a babies garden. A room just for the little ones. Owain had a blast! He was so tuckered out he slept the whole way home. Here are a couple pictures from our day
December 11,2008
We went out to eat with Cian and his mommy. Here is Owain trying to grab the fondue plate!
Both boy's fast a sleep in the car!

I bet you all are surpized that I am back so soon? Well I need to get caught up with my daily December album.So here it goes....
Whoops I just realized that my picture are out of order! Sorry but I am to lazy and tired to re arrange them in the correct order so here it goes starting from today going all the way back to this past Monday....

December 10 Off to Grandma's house we go!

This afternoon Owain and I went over to grandma P's house to finish decorating the tree. Daddy missed out because he had to go to work.Sorry you had to work daddy you missed out on all the fun! Here is Owain trying to be real helpful and pick out which ornaments to put on our Douglas Fir Helping mommy hang the very first ornament.
December 9
This morning I woke up (daddy let me sleep in a little bit,he is such a great daddy!) and this is what I found when I entered the living. My two men taking a little snooze on the couch. Seriously this moment melted my heart and I had to capture it on film or should I say digital :-)
December 8
Was a good day to just hang out at home and play. I captured this moment while Owain was playing in his jumper and I love the picture!

I will be back tomorrow with some more Daily December Pictures!!!

Today Owain had his follow up appointment with his surgeon Dr.Zigman. It has been two weeks since Owain had his second and third surgery. Since we brought him home from the hospital he still had a bandage over his newest warrior scar. I was looking forward to it coming off today! No more sponge baths! Woohoo! Dr.Zigman said it looked great. Our little warrior is healing nicely. In all reality his last surgeries hasn't really slowed him down. Dr.Zigman left his butterfly bandages on they will come off on their own. Hopefully in the bath! Can you tell that I am excited that I no longer need to give Owain a sponge bath?

Starting today we no longer need to give Owain his medication for acid reflex. He has been on it since he was three weeks old. So we will see how he does without it. It would be wonderful if we could eliminate another medication. He will still need to take penicillin until he is three to five years old because of not having a spleen.

We don't need to have another follow up and x ray for another five months. Oh and Owain was weighed today. I am a little discouraged with his weight. Since October he has only gained 2oz.! Our little man only weighs 15lbs 9oz! Dr.Zigman isn't to concerned after all he did just have two major surgeries. Hopefully we can fatten our boy up!

here is a picture of Owain with just his butterfly bandages. What a little warrior!
Now for my daily December picture ....
Today I cared for Owian's best buddy Cian and here is a really cute shot I captured of them giving them nose kisses!
How cute is that?

Who says boys can't wear their mamma's head bands?