A Baby Shower

My son and his wife, Shannon, are expecting their first baby in October. On Saturday my daughter, Emily, and I gave her a baby shower. We did a pink and blue theme as we do not know if the baby is a boy or girl -- they wanted to be surprised. So the basic theme was "is it a girl?" or " is it a boy?". We had pink Jordan Almonds and blue Jordan Almonds and pink mints and blue mints -- even pink and blue lemonade. I think it turned out quite well and she had family and friends that traveled all the way from Pennsylvania to be here for her -- about a 5 hour drive, I think. It was only nine months ago we had a shower for my daughter Meredith, and now, less than a year later, we will have another little grandchild. 

We made lemonade and used food coloring to try to make it blue -- it looks more green blue to me but my daughter insists that it is blue. It was the best we seemed to be able to do, anyway. The pink was easy.

Reagan definitely liked the decorations and she also liked the food -- the little that her mom let her taste. 

I saw this idea and thought it was cute  -- make a calendar and have everyone write their name in the box with the date that they think the baby will arrive. Then the mom-to-be takes it home to keep. 

 A friend's daughter checking to see if her guess on how big around Shannon's tummy is could be the closest guess. We joked and told her she could NOT measure herself to get an idea of the correct measurement. 

Summer's End

I have really enjoyed this summer -- the one we decided to do almost nothing. We have spent a lot of time at home -- kids playing outside and reading. We have gone to the pool and our local amusement park several times, out for ice cream and had a family video night -- one where I actually talked my older kids into coming over and watching our old family videos. I feel like I have been able to spend more time reading to the kids and just talking to them, without having to rush around. I am not sure if my daughter that suggested we do nothing this summer will feel the same way next summer, but I for one have really enjoyed the slower pace. I am rather sad for summer to end -- even though I do love fall. 

In three weeks we will start back to school. Sarah and Caroline are very excited about school as they have new backpacks. We do home school so they don't really wear the backpacks out anywhere but  keep all of their school books in them so they will stay together. I am finishing up plans and getting last minute books so we will have everything we need to start -- I feel like I need more time. 

I bought a set of tiny fairies for Bethany and she has played and played with them outside under the trees. 

My granddaughter, Reagan, came to visit weekly this summer. Last week when she came she sat in the high chair and watched Sarah and Jordan make brownies.

Bella and Sophia enjoy their pool -- well, Bella does when Sophia is not pulling her hair. 

                                                                       Lazy Summer!

CF Day Again

Since Bethany's pulmonary function was down for the past two visits to the CF clinic, we had to go back today to do another PFT (pulmonary function test). Her doctor wants to make sure she is not on a downward spiral. We have really been working on getting her numbers up since her last visit, but unfortunately, they pretty much stayed the same  -- up by one number, only. So, her doctor discussed what we should do. He said that there was the possibility that she is growing pseudomonas in her lungs and her cultures are just not showing it. He said we could do a bronchoscopy to check for pseudomonas in her lungs or we could add an antibiotic to her treatments without really knowing what or if she is growing anything -- since her last cultures were pretty much ok. After much discussion, he decided to add an extra albuterol treatment daily -- which makes three a day now. He also added one more medication in the hopes that we will be able to get her numbers back up or at least keep them the same. He did another culture and we will have the results of it next week. 

We also have Bethany running most days now -- about a half mile a day. Her doctor thought it might help her lung function. I think it will take a little time to see any results from this. 

I bought this little book for Bethany this week and she loved it. I read it to her and she has read it to herself over and over -- one of her favorites to read while getting her treatments. 

Zola spends a lot of her time in the kitchen baking -- I do enjoy watching her and seeing how much she loves to cook. She has actually become quite good. 

Bella just hangs around reading, playing and looking for me to hold her as much as possible. She is such an easy child.