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From MEXICO!

This past Christmas, my mother in law, Beth, gave each of her children and children in law, along with her grandkids (with the exception of Ollie and Drew- both under 1 year) a cruise.
You heard right, a cruise for Christmas!

We all boarded the Carnival Fantasy this past Thursday and went for a little ride to Cozumel, Mexico. We had a blast with the whole family (all 16 of us)!

The boat was super nice and had lots to offer.

We enjoyed drinks, discos, karaoke, spacious decks, pools, all the food you can eat including sushi, slots and my new favorite, (much to John's dismay) roulette.....I only lost $100....in 4 days....playing alot!

On Saturday we enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL day on shore with plenty of sunshine.

Me, John, Jep and Val rode a large cataraman out to a reef and snorkeled.

Jumping in the water. (Thanks Val!)

Once we had chilled on the beach long enough to get sunburned shoulders,

and the boys had defeated the "iceburg"

we headed into town to check out the shops and lunch at Carlos and Charlies. 

A word of advise: skip the shops. They all offer the same thing and it is all CRAP!  The Drug stores are pretty amusing. They offer several prescription drugs...WITHOUT PRESCRIPTIONS! Crazy Mexicans! Who knows what those drugs actaully are!

Carlos and Charlies was so much fun! A little loud, but fun! Drinks are sold by the yard and bills are written in pesos. Ours was over $3400 pesos! We tried to wash dishes but they didn't need the help. Besides, we would have had to wash for a week to make up for our bill. For those who are wondering what that converts to, around $263.00 (don't get ahead of yourself, there were 5 of us).

All in all, our vacation was amazing! Thank you so much Beth! We loved it!

(Kylie and Beth)

(Kristian, Amy & Kaitlyn)

Maybe next time we'll swap and buy our own cruise and you could just pick up the Onboard Expense Account....WOW! We could have bought 6 more cruises for what we spent on the boat.

(Diet cokes are expensive! ;)

A little camera happy!

Dinner. BethAnn, Heather, Jayce, John and Me.

(Jayce and Jerry)

(Amy & Kyle)

Posing with Fredrick on our last night at dinner....missing half our our crew due to a "bug".

This one is for giggles! Oh yeah we did!

Although we had a wonderful time, the best part of all was getting home to this little angel.

We missed our Boogie more than words can express!

On A Roll

No Pseudomonas! Whooo Hooo!

Ollie's culture came back negative for any bad bacteria in her lungs.

Thats 3 months in a row.

Praise the Lord!

Thank you all for continued prayers and support.

We are very blessed with a beautiful, smart and healthy little girl!

Enough said.

Live, Love, Breath!

Love is in the Chair

This Valentine's Day is super special! My heart has definately increased in size due to the love of my daughter Ollie. It is truly amazing how much one can love a child. John and I both have been hit by cupid and are totally in love with O.

We decided to go low key on ourselves this Valentine's and splurge on our sweet little Boogie. We got her a pink "big girl" chair with her name on it. She adores it! She sits up in it and claps with joy. She also stands beside it and pushes it all around the living room. She looks so grown up sitting in her chair. Too cute!

So, as you can see; Our love is in the chair!

And, as a SuPeR Valentine's Day surprise, my parents gave me and John a Keurig coffee maker. We LOVE coffee and are so excited about this gift. We got mom one this past Christmas and I would look forward to spending the night with her and dad so I could make coffee in her Keurig. Now I can have a cup anytime! Thank you mom and dad for the wonderful surprise! We love it and we love you!!!

XOXO

Live, Love, Breathe!

No Family Like Snow Family

This morning we awoke to snow. Loads and loads of snow. It snowed for hours. I have never in my life seen so much "real" snow. It was a beautiful white world outside my windows. Ollie didn't really care, nor did she understand what all the fuss was about so once she was down for a nap, Lesley and I went outside to play. Leanne came over too! We had a blast! The boys sat on the porch watching us make snowmen (and snow-women and snow-babies).

The neighbor's dog, Buddy, even came over to play (he showed us why we should avoid yellow snow).

Although this was our first big snow adventure, me and sister can make some pretty dog-gone good snowpeople. We started with just 1 snowman and then went on to sculpt 2 more to complete the DuBose family. 

What a great and beautiful day!

If only snow would just stay snow and never turn to slush.

Don't Kiss Your Honey....

When your nose is runny, cause you may think it's funny but it's snot!

On Thursday Ollie had an appointment in Birmingham for a monthly checkup and a pulmonary function test.  She has been battling a head cold with terrible congestion and a runny nose...like constantly licking her upper lip runny. A pulmanary function test is done to see how well the lungs function. With this test, doctors are able to see if there is an area of the lungs that needs attention and can treat it before it becomes a problem. It can also tell us if we are on the right track and doing all we can to keep Ollie healthy.

The appointment was for 8:30 AM so we headed up Wednesday night and spent a little time with John's brother Jep and sis in law, Valerie. Of coarse our visit mainly consisted of sitting around Ollie, facinated by her reactions to Dred (their almost 100 lb pitt bull). We had a good time hanging out and O loved scooting around their house, chasing after the dog and exploring new things.

The next morning prior to our checkup was a little hectic. Ollie couldn't eat within 4 hours of the pulmanary test. We decided to wake and feed her at 4:30, which went better than expected. She drank an entire bottle and went right back to sleep. Once we arrived at the clinic, we were taken right in to begin the process of the test. Good thing too cause lil O was starting to get hungry.

In order to get accurate readings, Ollie needed to be asleep. She was given a siringe of some nasty stuff to drink. It took a little coaxing to get her to drink it all...YUCK! She was OUT in less than 5 minutes. When I say out, I mean like, head wobbling backwards and all. She was taken back to the exam room to begin the test and we were sent to the lobby to wait. The good part was that we met with her nutritionist during this time (something we do at every checkup). After a about and hour and a half, we were called back to talk with the doctor and to see Ollie. As it turns out, the test could not be done due to hiccups. The runny nose made her snore a bit as well.

The funny part was that she was so doped up from the magic sleeping drink. She would spill milk all down her chin and laugh about it. She was really funny!

Although her test could not be done, her checkup went very well. Her weight gain is good and her lungs sound good. We should get the results from her culture sometime next week. Pseudomonas has stayed away for over 2 months now and we hope that this culture will be negative and O continues to live bacteria free.

What Will You Do Today?

I've had a great day! I've had a wonderful day! (besides the fact that my sewing machine is acting up) It's been a really good day. If you only read this blog for Ollie updates, then go ahead and skip this post. This is merely a random post of my thoughts....and thats kinda scary....

I made new friends today. As Ollie and I were leaving wal-mart I was listening to the news.  It was mentioned that some girls were set up outside WAAO selling raffle tickets and that the proceeds from these raffle tickets were to be given to the CF Foundation. What? I had to go and see what was going on. As I walked up and introduced myself I noticed that one of these girls looked very familiar. Well, turns out I had seen and talked to her before, on several different occations actually. Her name is Megan and her son has Cystic Fibrosis. Megan and I met the day our babies were being tested for CF. This was the day we sat in denial for 3 hours waiting for the result of the sweat tests (the test that confirms CF). We spoke breifly that day but our minds were elsewhere. As time went on, Megan and I saw each other occationally at checkups. We spoke but never exchanged names or details.  As it turns out Megan is from Montgomery and has family  here. Her family wanted to raise money for the CF foundation. WOW!

I made 3 new friends today. Friends that are fighting the same war. What a wonderful feeling! Now, not to pat ourselves on the back, but, turns out Ollie's Army is well-known round these parts. Our little "gang" has made quite an impact. Megan confessed that everywhere they went to raise money and awareness, they were asked if they were with Ollie's Army (she had no idea what Ollie's Army was). Funny huh? Guess we got the CF thing pretty covered around here.

Another reason today has been so good is because of people who care. People who go that extra mile just because. I learned today that someone special cleaned the nursery of the church we have been attending. I am talking scrubbed every surface and cleaned every corner. They also bought new sheets for the crib. This was all done to prevent illness. This was done to protect Ollie. I am truly moved. We are not even members of this particular church but already feel like family.

To wrap up this random post of random feelings I will say this; It is so easy to make a difference, big or small.

 What will you do today?

Think about it.

God Bless.

Live, Love, Breathe!

Raffle tickets are still for sale. Tickets are $5.00 and all proceeds go to the CF Foundation. 3 winners will be drawn Friday morning "live" on WAAO. Prizes include Valentine Baskets with gifts ranging from t-shirts, food, gift cards, manicures, candy and much, much more. If you would like to purchase tickets please let me know.

Get Back!

Because Ollie has been taking her medications mixed with food since she was 5 weeks old, she is a pretty experienced eater. She loves food and lately we have been letting her try new things. Some of her favorite foods include, sweet corn casserole, sweet potatoes, English peas, chicken and stars, turkey and rice, macaroni and beef and cereal puffs. Although she loves table food, it's not a whole lot of fun having her hang on our legs at the dinner table whining for food...it's kinda like having a little puppy. Ollie also enjoys feeding herself and does quite well picking things up. The other day at wal-mart we were exploring our options when we came across these:

I figured, whats the harm?

As you can see, O loves them and is not willing to share. Remember how I said "like a puppy"? Well, let's change that to a bulldog! She's a sweetheart but when it comes to food- Get back!

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