It's back baby!!!!

Just as we lose sight of the sun during a storm, so we lose sight of our strength during life’s storms. But strength, like the sun, is only made visible once the thunder of doubt has quieted, the gales of chaos have calmed, and the torrent of tears have dried. ~ Our inner strength: Just because we can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. ~ by Sandra Kring

My sweet little Bubba was going CRAZY locked up in our home. 

He kept bringing me his shoes.... he was begging to get out of here. :-(

I was missing that sweet smile of his. 

A kiss from his sweet Sissy almost got that smile back

but it still had not come back all the way. 

This afternoon I was determined to get that smile to come back out and play! 

So, I went out to the garage and got out an old friend.

(When Bubba gets tired of a toy we put it in the garage so that we can bring it back later and he gets excited to see it all over again. Seriously, I could just do his Christmas shopping with old toys in the garage and he would be happy as can be. )

So, I grabbed an oldy but goody..... a DOOR!!! wink!

We all know Bubba's love of a good door. :) 

and then it happened..... that BIG ol' Smile came back home baby!!!!I missed that smile of his so much this week.  I am always amazed by Bubba's strength and attitude as he goes through his trials. He was such a trooper!!! I want to share this again.....

Just as we lose sight of the sun during a storm, so we lose sight of our strength during life’s storms. But strength, like the sun, is only made visible once the thunder of doubt has quieted, the gales of chaos have calmed, and the torrent of tears have dried. ~ Our inner strength: Just because we can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. ~ by Sandra Kring

To me one of Bubba's biggest strengths is that sweet smile. It might have gone away for a week but now that the storm and tears from this week have gone away that sweet smile has returned and for that I am grateful!!!!!!!!!

Fun in Texas {part 1}

Oh the fun of traveling with a sick child. First off we had to bring an extra large bag just to hold all of Bubba's medications, equipment, diapers, machines... etc. It is always fun trying to figure out going through security. Who will take Bubba? Who will stay behind with Regan and all of the liquids? For some reason they decided that Bubba looked like a terrorist threat that morning. I always fully expect Bubba to be taken to the side for a good ol' pat down since he can not go through the metal detector but man these guys went WAY over board. When they saw all of his liquid medications that pulled the two of us aside. Even though I had already gone through the metal detector they made me get an additional pat down since I was with him. They took all of my bags (with no liquids) and went through them. They checked every single one of his medications (expected) then when Jason came over and tried to help they told him to stand back. They would not let him take his sweatshirt because it was with my stuff. At this point I just kept looking at Jason saying "this is crazy!!!!" They gave Bubba a pat down and Bubba yelled at him the entire time (way to go Bubba :) I had to lift his shirt and show them the wonderful stuff sticking out of my child's body to help him. At this point you would think that they got that they were dealing with a sick child and let us go.... nope, they had to finish their VERY thorough search of us. So, you will all feel safe to know that Bubba is not a terrorist threat! wink!

Bubba did pretty good on the plane.

He did vomit but seriously is there  ever a

 day we don't deal with vomit!?!? wink!

We had to take a bus to our rental car and Bubba loved that!

Regan did amazing and was such a big help!!!

I love this picture, it pretty much somes

 up Jason and I the entire weekend..... tired!

All of the fun from traveling was worth it

once we got to Poppie and Coach's home!!!

It was Coach's birthday the day we arrived so the

 kids wanted to throw him a surprise birthday party. 

Everyone hid....

(I think all of the kids squeezed in the pantry)

and we called Coach down. 

and yelled SURPRISE!!!!!! 

No cake for Coach... apple pie, his favorite. 

Kai, Regan, and the dogs helped coach blow out his candles!!

This was the perfect way to kick off our fun family weekend together!!!!

(I have SOOOOOOOOOOO many pictures I am going to have a hard time picking.)

The power of prayer

Tonight I am so grateful for the amazing power of prayer and for all of you that have offered up prayers on our Bubba's behalf. Today we went back to the doctors office and guess what... the elevator worked!!! wahoo for that! wink! The doctor checked out Bubba and he said that he is no longer worried about him, he is only concerned now. :) Hey, I will take that! So, we were able to stay out of the hospital!!! Wahoo for no hospital stays!!! I feel so blessed to be living in a day and time when we have all of the machines we need to take care of Bubba in the comfort of our own home. WAHOO for that! Bubba is still on house arrest. {I did break him out for a moment to pick Regan up from school today.} Once he is finished with his oral steriod I will be starting him on an inhaled steriod and then we get to go back and see the dr. on Monday. I can't even begin to tell you how blessed we feel that we have been able to keep Bubba home. We have so many little friends that are in the hospital right now and it is not a fun place to be. Now, I have to tell you how blessed I feel to have the most amazing friends and yes Mother in law in the world. I have been overwhelmed with phone calls, texts, and unexpected visits to check on us. My sweet mother in law picked up Regan from school on Monday and when she dropped her off she saw my HUGE pile of laundry from the trip and Bubba's vomiting. She grabbed it all and brought it back clean and folded. Tuesday night a sweet friend brought over dinner for our family and would not take no for answer! The next day this same friend along with another friend showed up on my door step... one tackled my kitchen and the other took Bubba from my arms so that I could get a shower and a little break. I had a wonderful friend take Regan to school for me and another one taking her tomorrow. I was blessed with a surprise dinner drop off tonight by another sweet friend. Seriously, I can't even begin to tell you how loved and blessed we feel. Jason just keeps telling me "you have the most amazing friends!!!" I am brought to tears every time I think about it. Thank you all for your prayers, thank you to all of you that checked in on Bubba, and thank you to all of my sweet friends that have done so much for our family!!!!!! My cup runneth over tonight! :)

We don't have a full smile yet but we are getting a little closer every day. :)

we are back {and I need your help}

We made it home safe and sound from Texas last night. I Love Texas BUT California is home and it is good to be home. :) I had so much fun with my family and friends that came to see us!!! Bubba has not been to Texas in six years becuase it is so hard on him to travel. THANK YOU to everyone that came to spend time with us and truly enjoyed their time with my sweet babies. Those sweet moments made the hard parts worth it. Bubba had a hard time most of the trip and was not his super happy self but every now and then his sweet smile came out and we all loved it!! I will share LOTS of pictures and more about our trip later BUT for now I am busy taking care of my baby boy. Last night I could tell that Bubba was in a lot of pain and his cough was getting much worse. So, first thing this morning I got him into the dr. Oh, and guess what... when we got to the building we found out that the elevator was broken. At that point I just burst into laughter.... it was all that I could do to keep from crying. Quick note on the goodness of strangers.... while a woman and I were carrying bubba and his wheel chair up 3 flights of stairs a man saw us and ran to grab the chair and help us. Same thing happened on the way down, a BIG scary looking dude saw us and ran down the stairs and carried his chair like is was a feather. WAHOO for kind strangers. :) Well,the climb was worth it..... I found out Bubba is sick, like super sick. The dr. put him on atiboitics, steroids, round the clock breathing treatments, and put him on strict house arrest. If he is not looking better by Wed. then he will most likely end up in the hospital. We don't want that!!!.... with Bubba's weak immune system and SOOO many bad things going around this time of year the dr. wants to do everything we can at home first. So, here is where I need your help my friends..... send those prayers our way. Please add Bubba to your prayer list. Thank you so much !!! I will keep you posted and until then me and my little man will be doing this.........

please excuse any typos.... typing one handed{while holding Bubba} on no sleep is not a good combo. wink!

Halloween part 3 {the final one}

What is Halloween with out good

 ol' trick or treating fun ?!?

I have the BEST friends! Seriously, the BEST!.... One sweet friend called me Halloween morning to see if Hubs had to work. She was worried that if Hubs was working Regan would miss out on trick or treating because Bubba has a hard time staying up late. Did I tell you what happened at the ward Halloween party? No, well we got to the party at 6pm {Bubba's usual medication time} by 6:30pm he was vomiting all over himself in the middle of the party. I guess it kind of fit in with the whole Halloween theme... a little like a scene out of The Exorcist. Yup, my 11 year old son can't be out past 6:30 at night..... yeah it's a little hard. We took him home, while Nana and Pa Pa stayed with Regan at the party, and got him cleaned up, medicated and ready for bed. I had a bit of cry on the way back to the party alone, some times it these simple little things that are hard. Now that you have all of this wonderful back story from Saturday you might understand a little better why this wonderful friend called wanting to see if I needed her help. Luckily, Hubs did not have to work late and was able to join in the fun. So, we decided to all meet at our home and go trick or treating together! The best part...... Bubba managed to hang in there for the enitre night!!! He was up till 7:45!!!!!!! This was HUGE!!!!! We were all very excited and grateful for this little HUGE blessing.

Our FUN group of kids!!

This cute little leapord met up with us a block in. :) 

Avery was so cute, EVERY time after she got a piece of candy she would shout...

"JU JU... JU JU.... MORE!!!" she had to show me EVERY piece! It was so sweet! 

One of the younger girls had to take a potty break at a friend's home and the girls decided it was the perfect time to check out the good. Yes, right in the middle of the side walk. :) 

I am posting this picture AGAIN becuase it was my favorite from the night.

This shot was taken at the VERY end of our night, we were

celebrating Bubba making it to the end!!!!



Halloween part 2

Yesterday was a marathon! Bubba and I started the morning off with a date with the hospital. I had to take him into clinic to get him checked out for a few different things. What I thought would take us an hour ended up taking three!!! :-/  Bubba was such a trooper!!!! It was our first time with this clinic and Bubba made SEVEN new friends! Yes, those ladies fell hard for him. wink! He had one holding and hugging him by the end of it. We walked away from our fun morning with new hand splints, a new medication to add to the list, and an apt. to come back for him to get botox. We are hoping that all of this will help his quality of life and help with that darn PAIN. I feel truly blessed that Bubba has such an amazing team of doctors here in California and his awesome team back east. I think Bubba is one of the few kids out there that starts to clap when he realizes that we are pulling into the hospital parking lot. :) Bubba was tuckered out after our morning! He came with me to go to Regan's school for her costum parade. Can I just tell you how wonderful it is to have Nana and Pa Pa right across the street from her school..... well, it is pretty AWESOME!! Nana and Pa Pa watched Bubba for me while I went to the school to get the kids in their costumes then Nana walked over with him to join in on the fun.

Regan has so many friends now and LOVES her school!!!

Just a few of our friends as they walked by....

Bubba was excited to see HIS Ms. Sherill!!

(orange and red crayons)

Our beautiful, brave pink crayon breast cancer warrior!

Regan and her WONDERFUL teacher!!

Bubba was not into the costume parade at all. After we saw

Regan come by us he was ready to go and say hi to another friend that he misses!!

He was all smiles when he saw his friend........

Who was this friend you ask????.......

Well, it was his friend the bus of course!!!!

{more halloween fun to come!}

Bubba might not eat candy............

BUT he still got

 a treat last night!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween from Mary Poppins, Bert, and Mr. and Mrs. Banks!!!!

{We won best family costume!}