I turned 30!

What a lucky girl I am! I have the best mom & the best girlfriends ever! On January 14th, I celebrated my 30th birthday & a few days later over the weekend, my mom had a big party at her house filled with special girls in my life! Randy took care of Lucy, there were no babies there, just a bunch of close friends & family sharing the day together. It was a great day!

Big thank yous to my dear sweet Mom for setting it all up & making the most delicious food! And to my good friend Ali who helped my mom with a tasty fruit salad - it was even tastier because it took a spill in the back of her SUV on the way there! So sorry, I really hope your car doesn't smell too fruity! Ali also was the one who encouraged people to share stories about me (aka a roast)... She had me wear a tiara & sit in the middle of the room while I listened to everything from my first kiss to photos of Tana & I with the cops in Vegas... It was fun reliving memory lane, I think it's probably a good thing my 92 year old Grandma Ruby is hard of hearing so she didn't completely change her view of me! =) My cousin Allyson was also my saving grace that day by picking me up with her sweet Mom, fixing my hair, helping me get ready & giving me a beautiful bouquet of yellow tulips that she insisted I walk in the front door of the party with! I loved seeing old friends, especially Karmen, tears came to my eyes when I saw her because I realized how much I miss her! Thank you everyone for making this birthday so special & memorable! And to my birthday twin, my best friend Rashmi who lives in DC, I missed you (you already know that though...)!


My newly engaged cousin, Allyson! The city mouse is going to be such a beautiful bride! Her groom to be is a childhood friend of mine, Mr. Kyle Barker! Randy & I are both so happy for them & Lucy is happy that she can officially call Kyle "Uncle Kyle" now! Love you Allyson! I'm so excited for everything to come!!

Rashmi's little sisters - Nisha & Meera - these guys are my extended family (well, maybe not blood relatives, but just as close)! I loved having them there, I think in this photo Nisha was telling about how Rash & I treated her as a kid... Luckily she survived! (Quite nicely might I add =) Nisha is a middle school teacher & Meera is a student at UW.

Being roasted...

I love this girl. My good friend Ali, I will devote an entire post to her very soon explaining how she is truly changing our lives with her generousity, creativity & kindness. Ali is one in a million & I'm so lucky to have her in my life!

Allyson's mom, Aunt Carol!

Two of my aunt's, Margie & Jill. They spoiled me that day with little charms for my new Pandora bracelet! Thank you sweet ladies, I love you too!

My mom, isn't she beautiful?? Inside & out, she's incredible!

Rashmi's mom! (my other mom =)

My birthday cake!

So happy to see Miss Karmen, love you!

Visiting with TL, Jolynne & Carissa - these ladies, especially TL, had a big part in shaping me into the girl I am today. If I can be just half the mom that they are and my mom is, Lucy will be a lucky girl!

My mom even had the table decorated with great old photos of me with friends & family!

A Lucy Update

Our happy little almost 17 month old has quite an appetite now!

Miss Lucy makinig elephant sounds in the bathtub! This was prior to eliminating all bath toys... I'll explain below...

Our growing little girls is growing lots of hair! I hear it from people almost every day that she looks so much older! I think it's her height & hair that make her look like a big kid!

Cheese! Surprise, surprise... after 17 months, she's learned how to pose for the camera! ;-)

So, here's the latest with Lucia Grace...

We had an appointment last week at the CF clinic & she had a great exam. Lungs sounding great, height & weight both stellar, digesting well, continuing on 2 enzymes with meals & 1-2 with snacks... I went in with a few key questions to discuss with Dr. Larson & we had a lengthy discussion about everything under the sun. It is great going there because although the appointments take half the day, you leave feeling well informed. We left the clinic with a bit of a change in our routine; we're back on a prophylactic nebulizer treatment every morning of hypertonic saline (7%), she was on it at 6 months but didn't tolerate it well, luckily now she's doing great with it. They did her quarterly throat culture & we were devestated to find out this week that it came back positive for a small amount of pseudomonas... This is one of the bacteria that we have been trying to prevent her from catching, but no such luck. We are however, optimistic that with early, aggressive treatment, we can kick it into "remission" aka get rid of it for good. They are starting her on 2 weeks of oral Cipro and 28 days of inhaled Tobramycin (TOBI). I had no idea TOBI was as expensive as it is... it's a relatively new inhaled antibiotic and it will cost $4,700 for one month's worth of treatments... thankfully we have 80% coverage until we meet our out of pocket max of $2,000 and then it'll be covered in full. But, the $860 copay isn't exactly a fun bill... Bum deal. However, always the optimist, we are so thankful this treatment exists and that hopefully this was all caught early enough that treatment will be very effective. We have eliminated all bath toys, continued to sanitize the bathtub before every bath, and are in the process of figuring out how to best keep Lucy protected yet still enjoy everything there is to enjoy in life. The fact is, you could catch pseudomonas nearly anywhere -- a blade of wet grass, a straw, a hottub (lifelong "no-no" for Lucy)... the list goes on & on. We'll take this in stride, learn from it & hopefully come away from this with better tools for keeping her healthy in the coming years. I have spent about 4 hours on the phone with the CF clinic, CF pharmacy, CF patient assistance program, insurance company & other non profit copay assistance programs looking into what options are out there that we can tap into, but unsurprisingly we fall into that inbetween category where we aren't wealthy enough for huge bills to go through our bank accounts unnoticed, but we make too much to qualify for the programs that would pay for this med. It's yet another example of how our country's healthcare and overall economy is so out of wack. It's sad to realize that if we made a bit less, we'd more easily receive the best care at a cheaper price. Well, enough rambling on for one day! Not to worry, even with all of this going on, Miss Lucy is doing fantastic, she doesn't seem sick in the slightest, she's happy, energetic & has a big appetite. Thank you all for your love & support in every way.

Randy's Birthday, Sledding at Rainier!

The Girls sledding together on the toddler hill

Birthday boy turned into full on workhorse! It took a lot of people to make this happen - me with the camera, Alex with the video camera, Randy carting them up the hill & Auntie Christy catching them at the bottom! Good thing Grandma & Grandpa were cozy inside the lodge with Baby Boen!

Our handsome little nephew, Boen Alexander Legler!

I think he was just about 2 months in this photo & oh so cute!

Me & my sister in law, the original Christy Webster =)

Randy's sister's family, the Legler's

Christy, Alex, Julia & Baby Boen

Little Miss Julia

We had such a great time with Julia! She rode up with us & was an absolute delight in the car, she was great at keeping Lucy entertained, the two girls had fun watching movies & eating snacks together in the car! Our little niece is growing up so fast!

Dennis & Susan, don't they look great? About to celebrate their 65th birthdays!

Me & my little chubby cheeked munchkin!

Family photo time!
Randy, Lucia, Christy, Julia, Susan, Dennis, Baby Boen, Christy & Alex

On Randy's 32nd birthday, we all loaded up in the cars & headed for the mountain. Dennis made the group a delicious breakfast before we left town, so we started with full bellies. =) We needed that energy, it proved to be a fun but exhausting adventure! This was our first outing with three little kiddos (our Lucy & our niece & nephew), and it took a lot of organization to have them all bundled, fed, changed, warm & happy! We had a fun drive, it was our first time turning Lucy's carseat forward facing & she was able to watch movies with Cousin Julia on the way there. They were so cute nibbling on animal cookies all the way! We arrived at Paradise Lodge & after taking a few family photos, headed straight up to the sledding runs. We managed to hit the big hill once & the toddler hill a few times before Lucy was a bit chilled, hungry & tired. We headed into the newly remodeled lodge to warm up & enjoy some yummy snacks courtesy of Auntie Christy Legler. After exploring the lodge a bit (especially loving the elevators - one of Lucy's favorite things), we loaded up again & drove down to the Longmire Lodge where we enjoyed a tasty dinner with the worst service I've ever had! Seriously, best atmosphere & worst attitude ever! Our waitress didn't crack a smile at all (mind you, there were three kids, who doesn't smile at kids??) until she brought us the bill - I know the only reason for the smile was her realization that she better do something for a tip! Anyway, the best part of the whole day for me was the delicious Blackberry Cobbler with ice cream on top! It was no little serving either, a big huge one that left us completely satisfied & ready to brave the roads for the 90 minute drive home. All in all, it was a great day with family!