Sunday, July 15, 2012

{Uncle Bill}

I gave birth to our sweet son two months early.

I was frantic and scared about all of the things that were not prepared.

I hated the feeling of being helpless and scared.

One day with my new mother hormones I broke down to Uncle Bill....

"We haven't even bought him a crib yet... {insert sob}"

Before I knew it Uncle Bill was insisting on taking my mother in law and I shopping for a crib.

I picked out a crib that did not cost much money and he quickly asked...

"Do you think that will be good enough??"

I reasured him that the crib would be perfect for our tiny little boy.

He SMILED and quickly bought Jason and I Bubba his crib.

Jason and I had picked out sports bedding and quickly got it set up and ready for Bubba to come home from the hospital.

One afternoon everyone came by to see our sweet little boy.

Uncle Bill saw his crib all set up and agreed.... "Yes, this crib was perfect wasn't it."

{This crib held both of my sweet babies.}

This week I shared this story with Uncle Bill's brother as we sat by his bedside.
When I told him that we did not have a crib for our son he quikcly cut me off and said...
"but MY BROTHER bought you one didn't he??"
With tears streaming down my face I forced the words out of my mouth "yes... yes, he did."

Sunday night Uncle Bill fell asleep and did not wake up. Jason and I were blessed to be by his side last week and say good bye to him. The spirit that filled the room was over whelming. My sweet Husband was able to help Uncle Bill's brother give him his last blessing here on earth. We cried, we hugged, and then it was time to say good bye.

I can not even begin to tell you in words how much I love this man.

When I married my sweet heart I was blessed with amazing in laws as well and as an inhereted "Uncle Bill". Uncle Bill welcomed me with open arms and would often tell me how much alike we were and that we both found our ways in to the loving hearts of Jason's parents. ;-) Uncle Bill was a forever bachelor {not for lack of trying... wink!... if you know him then you know the stories!} he was never married or had children. When Jason's parents walked into their ward as a new married couple he quickly took to them, and them to him. He has been part of the Presley family ever since.

I have only been blessed to have him in my life for 13 years but what an amazing 13 years it has been! :-) He is the definition of a gentlmen, always so kind and giving. I have NEVER met someone who doesn't have something sweet to say about him.

There have been several times that I have teared up discussing Bubba and his challenges. With each new challenge he would share a story of his sweet nephew that was born disabled. His parents were told he would not live long and he lived to be 21 years old. He would share with me how much he admired his brother and his sweet wife and how they fought for their son. He then would go on to tell me how much he LOVED that sweet boy. He shared with me that he saw the same fighting spirt in Bubba that he saw in his nephew. These sweet pep talks always made me feel better and ready for the next fight, he just had a way of doing that.

I am not the best with words....

you all know how much I LOVE my pictures ...

So, I thought I would share some more things that I LOVE about Uncle Bill.


 I LOVE his sweet smile!

 I LOVE that he is always the first to give a hug!

I LOVE Sunday dinners and that he always brought the olives! ;)

 I LOVE his sense of humor! :-)



I LOVE that I could always count on him to be there for every performance.

I LOVE that helped give this sweet little boy more blessings than I can count.

I LOVE the way his face would light up every time my In laws would sing.

I LOVE that when he LOVED you he loved you with his entire heart.
{this picture brings me to tears every time..... the way he is looking at my mother in law
... he adores her.}

I LOVE that he knew that you didn't have to be blood to be family. ;-)






I LOVE my dear, dear Uncle Bill.






Saturday, July 7, 2012

Bubba's birthday take 1

There are going to be a lot about Bubba's 12th birthday

 {sorry.... but there is just too much to put in one... two..... posts}

I want to start off Bubba's birthday posts with a HUGE THANK YOU to Icing Smiles!!

They are an AMAZING!!

 "Icing Smiles is a nonprofit organization that provides custom celebration cakes and other treats to families impacted by the critical illness of a child. We understand that the simple things, like a birthday cake, are luxuries to a family battling illness. Our goal is to create a custom cake for the ill child, or their sibling, that provides a temporary escape from worry and creates a positive memory during a difficult time"

We were blessed to be paired with Sandy a local baker.

She asked what Bubba would want and we told her that she could do what ever she wanted to do.

{Of course keeping with in the 4th of July theme.}

WOW... when we went to pick up the cake I could not believe my eyes!!!!

Sandy out did herself!!!

She bakes from her home with twin 3 month olds and a toddler!!!!

Serisously, if any of our local friends need a Cake or Treat PLEASE contact our new friend Sandy

sjcakesandtreats@gmail.com

Thank you so much Sandy!!!






Thank you so much from Team Bubba!!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBBA

Hi my name is Collin Bubba!

I was born on July 4th 2000 with Trichothiodystrophy.

My parents were told I would not live to my first birthday.

I have had endless surgeries, treatments, and medications BUT

I am alive, I am STILL FIGHTING!!

I AM AN AMERICAN SUPER HERO!




HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY to my Hero!!


Sunday, July 1, 2012

Hard week

Last week was CRAZY...

nothing super horrible but it was just one of those weeks.

{Hence the no blogging.}

Ok, so Monday was a good one.

We went to the Aquarium just the three of us and it was fun!



When we were leaving Regan said and I quote "Mom he's MY BUBBA.. I am going to push him ... OK Momma!"


Tuesday I had the pleasure of fighting.....


Wonderful LA traffic.

To get to this amazing location......

for a shoot.

Congrats to the beautiful couple!!!

As soon as I got back in my car and fought the traffic home I picked up Bubba and headed to....


The hospital with Bubba.

He was having some tummy issues {feeding the in the j and it was coming out of the g}.

Dr. made him go in for an x ray to make sure everything was ok.


We finally got home at 5 pm and had to wait for a call to find out if we would need to go back.

Bubba was in pain and hurting BUT we were happy when we got a call later that night to let us know it was a mobility problem and not a placment or clog in the line. {More meds}


Wed. and Thurs. Bubba, Stanley and I hung out while Regan played with her cousin Andrea and Nana.

Bubba had a rough couple of days and needed to take it easy.

Regan's sweet little cousin Andrea was leaving to move to Texas.

Regan was heart broke.

She had just gone from being the pesky cousin that followed her around every where to a real friend.

Regan insisted on buying her matching best friends neckalces with her own money to give her before she left. :(


On Jason's Day off we all went to get Mani Pedis!


Andrea came and played alot.... we wanted to soak up every last second we could with her before she left.


I got some stuff made for Bubba's birthday next week.

{but not as much as I would have liked.... cuddling
Bubba all day is wonderful but it puts me way behind.}


We started making our Team Bubba t shirts for family and friends that love our Bubba to wear!



More cousin time.

Friday Regan was very sad when we had to cancel a trip to the museum becuase Bubba was having seizures and vomiting..... BUT Nana came to save the day and then the girls came over after they played with Nana.


Great Grandma Jo comforted my sweet girl when she didn't want to say good bye. :-(

Last weel was a hard one....

Saying good bye and pain make for not so fun memories.

Luckily....

our luck started to change yesterday.
We went for a walk and ended up finding ourselves on a freeway overpass. ;)


I think it topped watching busses from the corner.



And today.....

We all made it to church as a family. :-)


This is going to be a CRAZY, wonderful week!

Bubba has 2 dr. apts plus infusion this week.

BUT most important.... We will be partying all week long to celebrate Bubba's 12th birthday!!!!!!

This birthday means even more to us since earlier this year we weren't sure if we would be celebrating it.

So, we are going to PARTY BABY!!!!!