My special Play date.......

Today I had a very special play date with a very special three year old.

Remember my trip to the hospital and our plans for a play date?

Well, today was the day.

I picked her up at the Ronald McDonald house.

She kissed her Mommy good bye and we headed out for a fun morning.

We headed to the Zoo where we ......

met up with this wonderful three year old {and my mother in law}. 

These two hit it off right away!

It was such a fun morning.

It was a much needed break from the hospital for this special little girl.

I know first hand how hard it is to have one child in the hospital while worrying about the sibling.

I found that the most help people could be to me was helping out with Regan.

It is always a huge relief to know that she is taken care of and my full attention can go to Bubba.

This beautiful little girl's sweet little brother is having a very hard time.

{prayers are still needed}

I am looking forward to many more play dates with this very special little three year old!

Thank you for such a fun morning!!!

Photo Challenge- Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes!

This week over at

The theme is 

 Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes! 

So, while your photo entry does need a person in it, the focus should be on something other than the face. Toes, fingers, elbows, knees, hair, feet, hands or whatever. This is funny because in my photography class my assigment this week is portaits :) I picked this shot because I love how you can tell how much a sister loves her Bubba, even if you can't see their faces.

A much needed break for some special friends............

Thursday I took Bubba to the hospital. You see, ol’ buddy button was acting up. The valve in his feeding tube had stopped working. Luckily Bubba has a very high tolerance for pain. We were able to hold him down and do what we needed to do right there in the clinic. It was easy speasy pumpkin peasy! Wink! Since all went so well with Bubba we decided to go up to the PICU and see our buddy. Do you remember my sweet little FRIEND? Well, he is having a hard time. On Monday he went in for his third surgery on his shunt. We pulled the curtain back to see that little rock star in his Mommy’s arms doing great. Then I looked over to see his sweet little sister playing Barbie dolls on the ground. So, Bubba and I spent most of our visit focusing on little three year old sis. She agreed to let me pick her up and take her to the zoo next week, just the two of us! Then we discussed our favorite foods and decided that we would have cheese burgers for lunch after our zoo trip. I got to hold that sweet baby boy for a minute and then Mom told me that she had been given Aquarium tickets from the Ronald McDonald house and was wanting to go. I know how hard it is to leave your sweet babe in the hospital but she knew that she needed some special time with her little gal, being in the hospital is so hard on everyone. So, I told her that Jason was working and we were just looking for something fun to do. I told her that we could get her mom, whom I happen to VT, into the Aquarium for free so that she could join in on the fun as well. Today we met up with our friends…. Mom, Dad, Grandma, and lil sis at the Aquarium. It was so much fun! Lil sis took to Regan right away and they had a blast together. Regan is SOOO good with little kidos. I know it was hard for them to leave their little man for a couple of hours but I also know it was a much need break. Thank you for letting us play with you today!!! {Please keep little Cayden in your prayers he will be going back in for surgery this next week.}

Photographs and a Conversation

Let me start my post off tonight with a conversation between Regan and I. Last night she came to me and asked me "Mommy when did you know Bubba was a handicaper?" {She calls those with a disability handicapers because she thinks it sounds prettier.} I was surprised by her question and then explained "I found out that Bubba was a handicaper when he was a baby around 9 months old." Regan thought for a second and came back with "where you so sad when they told you?" "Well Regan... yes I was sad. I didn't know what Bubba's life was going to be like or how hard it would be." Regan then asked "Did you cry Mommy?" and I answered honestly by telling her that I did cry. "Mommy {pause} did they not tell you that he would be like a real person... you know that even though he was a handicaper he would still smile and laugh??" By this point I had tears in my eyes "No Regan they did not explain those things to Mommy they only told me scary things but Bubba proved them wrong." Regan laughed and said "Yea Mommy they didn't know that handicapers like Disneyland did they??"  Oh, I LOVE that girl!!!

On to the photographs..... sometimes when I need a little inspiration I like to go to a fun spot. It is like the perfect movie prop house. Today I went there and spent an hour taking in all of the beautiful things and snapping away. It was the perfect photo therapy that I needed. Tomorrow Bubba and I will be at the hospital....... this was a nice escape befor the stress.

Phone Photo Challenge

Over at

The Photo Challenge this week is pictures from your phone.

I wanted the photo to have some kind of meaning, even if it did come from my phone.

I had to pick this one.

 It is from Bubba's first two surgeries this past summer.

We went back to his room and all he wanted was his Mommy.

Jason snapped this picture of us.

"Dear God, give me the strength to endure my blessings"

making his dream come true

Today started out like any other day.

We woke up to a wonderful Monday off from school and then

we set out for our adventure.

We went to our local OC Zoo.

We said hi to our friends the Monkeys!! 

We went on the fun carousel. 

We had to go on the train. 

Then it was time to make this little boys dreams come true.

Remember how much Bubba loves the Bus??

Well, today we met up with grandma Jo to make this little boy happy.

We went on the city BUS!!!!

I would not have done it with out Great Grandma Jo.

She takes the bus all of the time and is a pro.

I was a little nervous about making it work......

I had to carry Bubba, my purse, and his folded up stroller onto

the bus by myself. 

We took the bus to the Mall and rode yet another train. 

Ah, I LOVE this picture!!!! 

Then it was time to take the bus back to Great Grandma Jo's home. 

He sat there with a HUGE smile just watching for the bus. 

Our fun adventure on the City Bus with Great Grandma

 Jo is one that Regan will never forget!

{She said that it was the BEST day ever and the bus was her favorite part!}

Bubba LOVED it!!!!

Today his dream came true.....

He got to ride the BIG Bus!!!!!

We LOVE fish

Yesterday {saturday} we headed out for an adventure.

We decided to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific.

We have not been in a while and we just new that our

 bird and fish friends were missing us.

Sure enough they all missed us dearly and came rushing over to say hi to us.

Bubba did well and it was good to get him out.

All of the birds wanted to come and say hi to us.

Bubba could not have been any happier with their sweet hello's {tweets} wink!

It was a fun morning with my favorite people in the whole wide world.

that darn line

It’s a fine line.

 A line that often times get’s blurred a line that at times we push. What line am I talking about? Well, that line would be the fine and oh, so thin line between fun and over doing it. At times the line is so thin I don’t even realize we have crossed it until it is too late. Then I am left asking myself “did I miss it??? .. were there signs??”  This is where I am conflicted. You see, when Bubba is down or we know it has been a hard week for him, there is usually one solution. That would be Disney, of course! So, I know that Disney would be a wonderful boost to his spirit but I also know that at times it can be brutal on his sweet little body. Now, do you see where my dilemma of a fine line comes in? Yesterday Hubs had that day off from work and he has been so busy that he hasn’t seen the kids much at all lately. You can sure tell that it has gotten Bubba down. He misses his Daddy when he is unable to be around all of the time.  So we decided to pull the kids out of school a little early and forgo Regan’s violin lesson for the day to PLAY.  Where else is there to go in this family but Disneyland?? I mean come on you knew it was coming. I was excited for many reasons. First off, we NEEDED some family time. Secondly I got a new toy I wanted to play with (Nikon D7000). Disney is the perfect place to test your skills because you are constantly needing to change your ISO, aperture, and F stop with each new ride, element, lighting change. We picked the kids up and we were off…..

We started the afternoon off with a favorite.... BUZZ :)

The wonderful thing aboug having Daddy is

that he will go on rides that Mommy will not.

Like the rockets....

It is seriously a two person job getting Bubba in and out of the rocket.

Then it was off to Small World, another fave.

Ok, so some of you might be grossed out by the drool

and that I don't edit it out BUT I say the longer the drool

the more fun we are having!!! wink! :)

I LOVE her hazel eyes... I think they look different 

 in almost every picture I take of her.

(depending on outfit and back ground)

Daddy and Bubba went on a rollercoaster!

Then it was time for the Jungle Cruise....

See that happy face... Well, it didn't take

long for that smile to turn into .....

a very tired little boy. :(

We just thought he was tired BUT

 that was not the case.

I walked away for a second to buy cotton candy. I walked back to find that Bubba had thrown up all over himself.Yes, seizures, right there in the middle of main street. We pulled off to the side and cleaned him up,

Daddy carried him to the tram. I sat in the back of the van holding his head up, cleaning up the vomit, and making sure he didn't choke. Regan cried as I used her shirt from school to catch the vomit. The line was crossed, we pushed it just a little to far. It is one of the hardest things as Bubba's Mommy that I am faced with, the fine balance of making him happy but not pushing it past the point of no return. We have always been told quality rather than quantity. How do I know how to balance the quality???  It is a hard one. Well, we made it home, I gave him an injection of valium, and he got LOTS of cuddles. Today he stayed home from school with Mommy to recover, we cuddled a TON. My heart breaks each time our fun family outings turn into pain filled nights.

BUT

at least we did get some fun moments together before the storm hit.