Yesterday was a full day of Battle4ACure. Emma's Nana and Graddad picked her up for their weekly Saturday morning breakfast date and took her to choir rehearsal for the Redeemer Children's Christmas program. Shortly after 8AM Daddy, Cody and I were in the car headed to Leander for our Christmas Hope Box Wrapping party.
The Battle4ACure crew along with volunteers gathered at the Leander VFW. Amanda made a few announcements and we prayed over the toys. A lot of love went into those boxes! Everyone chose a paper with the name and information of the child/children they would be choosing gifts for. Amanda had the toys/gifts organized into piles according to age, gender etc. It was challenging at first trying to juggle keeping up with Cody, but he was well behaved and it was smooth sailing once he fell asleep in his stroller. There's no telling how many presents we wrapped. David and I shared a table and mainly chose families with multiple siblings. I follow most of these "fighters" on their caringbridge websites so it was very special to be able to choose toys to send to them and their siblings. It was a very long day, but worth every minute. In the end, all the toys were wrapped and are in boxes ready to ship. Thankfully, Amanda's Mom is giving them all a "once over" checking addresses, etc. for us and taking them to the post office on Monday! We can't wait to see pictures of the children receiving their gifts.
Huge thanks to everyone who helped make this possible. Especially one of my girlfriends from High School, Lindsey Redden Cram who not only donated two huge bags full of gifts, but also brought her family to help us wrap yesterday! It means a lot to have support of my friends.
We scheduled the wrapping party from 10AM-Noon, but we didn't leave until 2:30PM. After a quick bite to eat, diaper bag re-stock, we picked Emma up and took the children to my parents house. David and I headed to Abiding Love Lutheran Church in S. Austin. Amanda, her Mom, David and I volunteered at a parent's night out hosted by another local pediatric cancer non-profit, Garrett'sKidStrong. I believe this was their 5th annual party where children w/cancer, and those who have kicked cancer's butt and their siblings come to play, eat pizza, make crafts, and receive gifts from Santa while their parents enjoy a date night, get Christmas shopping done etc.
A few weeks ago David and I were in the car and he mentioned dressing up like Santa to deliver gifts to kids w/cancer. I thought that was incredibly sweet of him and mentioned it to Amanda. As it turns out she had just been in touch w/Colleen the founder of Garrett'sKidStrong and their Santa from previous years had just retired. :) It was a wonderful evening and it was so inspiring to meet so many children who fought cancer and won! As you can imagine, we came home and crashed (after picking up our own children.)
This morning during Sunday School Emma had rehearsal again for the Christmas program. We enjoyed a particularly wonderful worship service at Redeemer. The Kylan Kaye band led the service along with our HS youth director Matt. The band was amazing and it was so much fun to experience some of that ENERGY I remember from HS Youth. During the service, those who wanted to went forward and wrote on posters covering the altar w/prayers. I prayed for all those enduring cancer, guidance for Battle4ACure and the amazing teachers and ministry team at Redeemer.
This afternoon we're relaxing at home. After church and lunch we watched a "Flintstone Christmas" while I folded laundry and Cody napped in David's arms. Tonight we're going to Bee Cave to deliver a huge box of gifts to one of David's co-worker's whose son was recently diagnosed w/Leukemia. Then we're going to look at Christmas lights on the drive home.
PS- I wore snip toe boots and pearls to church today, hence the blog title.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Cody: 9-10months
"What's he doing?" Most common phrase in our household. If it's quiet, he's "into" something. If he's squealing w/glee, he's into something. Cody is the fastest crawler we've ever seen! Before he does something he knows he's not supposed to, he looks around to see if anyone is watching. Cody is strong, smart and stubborn; a dangerous combination. But nothing David and I can't handle...right?
Cody is now up to taking 5 steps at a time. If he's headed on a mission though, he crawls to get there faster. He loves to play w/his Sissy. He reaches for her, walks to her and laughs hysterically just by looking at her. They are wonderful playmates and I'm so thankful for this. The only positive that comes from Daddy being away at work is the precious time the children and I have together.
We've been desperately trying to use up the baby food in the pantry and we have just about achieved this. Cody has 8 teeth, four on top and four on the bottom and he wants to eat what we are eating. At Thanksgiving Cody ate sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, broccoli rice casserole, fruit salad and rolls. At home he has had a tiny piece of hamburger meat and Sissy shared a piece of pizza crust. Cody loves macaroni and cheese, pancakes, eggs, any and all fruit and his favorite veggie is peas. But he will eat anything!
Cody has energy like none-other, I've just never experienced this level of go-go-go before. It's a blast but very tiring. Cody was sick for 4-5 days around Thanksgiving with a no-fun virus. Fevers, rash and little to no sleep was a rough combination for Mom with Dad working a lot. But we made it through and now have our happy little firecracker back. This week Cody started a new daycare. Deb's Daycare was in business for 21 years and recently closed their doors to the economy and skyrocketing overhead costs. So Deb is keeping 4 children out of her home and has retained the help of one of her employees. The set up in her home is excellent and we can tell Cody is having a great time and being well-cared for. We are so thankful we found Deb and truly feel like Cody is safe and happy. I knew it would all work out but needless to say two weeks notice to find new childcare at the holidays was more stress than we could deal with!
Cody is wearing 18 months, size 3 diapers and drinks 4-5 6oz. bottles a day. He LOVES his sippy cup and drinks water, apple juice, white grape juice, pear juice etc. Daddy sneaks him some tea through a straw sometimes. Cody is CHEWING like crazy and now I understand the term "ankle biter." He is our pride and joy and I cannot believe it has already been 10 months.
Cody is now up to taking 5 steps at a time. If he's headed on a mission though, he crawls to get there faster. He loves to play w/his Sissy. He reaches for her, walks to her and laughs hysterically just by looking at her. They are wonderful playmates and I'm so thankful for this. The only positive that comes from Daddy being away at work is the precious time the children and I have together.
We've been desperately trying to use up the baby food in the pantry and we have just about achieved this. Cody has 8 teeth, four on top and four on the bottom and he wants to eat what we are eating. At Thanksgiving Cody ate sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, broccoli rice casserole, fruit salad and rolls. At home he has had a tiny piece of hamburger meat and Sissy shared a piece of pizza crust. Cody loves macaroni and cheese, pancakes, eggs, any and all fruit and his favorite veggie is peas. But he will eat anything!
Cody has energy like none-other, I've just never experienced this level of go-go-go before. It's a blast but very tiring. Cody was sick for 4-5 days around Thanksgiving with a no-fun virus. Fevers, rash and little to no sleep was a rough combination for Mom with Dad working a lot. But we made it through and now have our happy little firecracker back. This week Cody started a new daycare. Deb's Daycare was in business for 21 years and recently closed their doors to the economy and skyrocketing overhead costs. So Deb is keeping 4 children out of her home and has retained the help of one of her employees. The set up in her home is excellent and we can tell Cody is having a great time and being well-cared for. We are so thankful we found Deb and truly feel like Cody is safe and happy. I knew it would all work out but needless to say two weeks notice to find new childcare at the holidays was more stress than we could deal with!
Cody is wearing 18 months, size 3 diapers and drinks 4-5 6oz. bottles a day. He LOVES his sippy cup and drinks water, apple juice, white grape juice, pear juice etc. Daddy sneaks him some tea through a straw sometimes. Cody is CHEWING like crazy and now I understand the term "ankle biter." He is our pride and joy and I cannot believe it has already been 10 months.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
random acts
This morning I sat down at my computer feeling like super-mom because I got the children where they needed to be on time with smiles on their faces and even had time to grab breakfast for myself! I opened my email to find one with "Confidential: Bahavior Notice for Emma Morrow" in the subject line from the principal at Redeemer. Honestly my reaction was "oh, s$*#". But he was writing to inform me that Emma held the door open for a class headed out to the playground without asking. He said "I gave her a high-five, make sure you give her an extra hug." Proud Mama. Emma dug through her piggy bank the other night and took out over $5 to donate to ther Kindergarten Christmas service project. The three Kinder classes are in competition with each other to raise the most money for Partnerships for Children- a local non-profit that provides critical resources to abused or neglected children in our community who are in the care of Child Protective Services. State funding does not provide a budget which includes essential items such a toiletries, clothes and school supplies, let alone toys.
I e-mailed Emma's teacher and thanked her for what they are doing. I LOVE that Emma is in an environment that is promoting GIVING, SHARING and LOVE. And I'm so proud of Emma and her sweet soul. She is always coloring pictures or picking out toys for "the cancer kids." :)
Everything else is going really well. Daddy remains on the night shift which is of course very hard on all of us but we continue to make the most of our time together. I have been busy with work and overwhelmed with ideas and planning for Battle4ACure. This Saturday is our big wrapping party and then Amanda and I will get all of the boxes shipped to our fighters so they can get on with Christmas! Lots of sad news for lots of our cancer families; it's heartbreaking and it's difficult to deal with the fact that not everyone cares about it or what we're...I'm...trying to do. Max lost his battle on Thanksgiving, Steven is terminal and Caden's parent's lost their baby. Such terrible, terrible news. We have to hand it over to God, His plan is all that matters.
I'm thankful for a wonderful Thanksgiving, thankful that David was off. I went Black Friday shopping with Amanda, Mariesha and MamaDena for our cancer kids but also got a lot checked off of my shopping list. Whoo hoo for progress! I'm done with Emma but usually that doesn't stop me. The tree is up. Daddy and I put it up, Emma put on the ornaments, and I rearranged them when she went to bed :) Cody is in awe of the lights and pretty sparkly things. After Christmas last year Emma requested a larger tree and informed me that she would prefer pink, not purple. Daddy picked her up a big, pink tree this week and I bought some new ornaments for her. Pretty awesome nightlight if you ask me!
I e-mailed Emma's teacher and thanked her for what they are doing. I LOVE that Emma is in an environment that is promoting GIVING, SHARING and LOVE. And I'm so proud of Emma and her sweet soul. She is always coloring pictures or picking out toys for "the cancer kids." :)
Everything else is going really well. Daddy remains on the night shift which is of course very hard on all of us but we continue to make the most of our time together. I have been busy with work and overwhelmed with ideas and planning for Battle4ACure. This Saturday is our big wrapping party and then Amanda and I will get all of the boxes shipped to our fighters so they can get on with Christmas! Lots of sad news for lots of our cancer families; it's heartbreaking and it's difficult to deal with the fact that not everyone cares about it or what we're...I'm...trying to do. Max lost his battle on Thanksgiving, Steven is terminal and Caden's parent's lost their baby. Such terrible, terrible news. We have to hand it over to God, His plan is all that matters.
I'm thankful for a wonderful Thanksgiving, thankful that David was off. I went Black Friday shopping with Amanda, Mariesha and MamaDena for our cancer kids but also got a lot checked off of my shopping list. Whoo hoo for progress! I'm done with Emma but usually that doesn't stop me. The tree is up. Daddy and I put it up, Emma put on the ornaments, and I rearranged them when she went to bed :) Cody is in awe of the lights and pretty sparkly things. After Christmas last year Emma requested a larger tree and informed me that she would prefer pink, not purple. Daddy picked her up a big, pink tree this week and I bought some new ornaments for her. Pretty awesome nightlight if you ask me!
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