Best Birthday Ever!

I had a wonderful 29th birthday on Jan. 14th! We went down to my parents house & had a fantastic dinner as well as birthday cake made by the world's best chef - my mom! Thank you so much Randy, Lucia, Mark, Mom & Dad for making this such a special day! I received a fun little gadget from Mark & Dad, it's one of the bendy little tripods for my smaller camera - such a fun & thoughtful gift! I suppose that means better pictures are to come... =)

Lucy 20 weeks & CF Update

This picture was on the morning of my birthday! I couldn't think of a better gift than Miss Lucia!

Well, I'm catching up the blog this evening as Lucy is having an extra sleepy day. Things have been going well here at the Webster Home - she's growing by leaps & bounds, tipping the scale today at 18lbs. 3oz! At last check her length was 27.5 inches, she's in the 99th percentile for length & the 98th for weight - and in the closely followed (by the CF clinic) weight to length ratio she is in the 62nd (goal on that one is >50%). Lucia is still visiting the Mary Bridge CF Clinic monthly & has been seeing Dr. Bisher Abdullah at those visits in addition to either Dr. Larry Larsen or Dr. David Ricker. We are beyond pleased with each of these physicians & feel so appreciative for the nurses, respiratory therapist, nutritionist & social worker that we see at the visits as well. Lucia continues to be asymptomatic but on her medications including pancreatic enzymes, vitamins, salt & Zantac. Occasionally when she is resting quietly I have heard a very slight wheeze as she exhales & I mentioned this to Dr. Larsen at her recent appointment. He felt it's from a bit of mucous being in her airway & she probably is easily able to clear it when awake with a cough or cry. Because of this, he felt it was a good time to begin the latest preventative treatment - 7% Saline through a nebulizer. We trialed it in the office & she did surprisingly well with it - it's just saline so there are no real side effects, but I wasn't sure how she'd do with the wet air blowing in her face - we don't have to strap a mask on, just hold it near her & she tolerates it for 5 min or so pretty well. However, after 4-5 days of this treatment, she developed a wet deep cough that I'd hear every hour or two... The CF Clinic is so on top of things, I called to let them know & they had an answer from Dr. Ricker back to me in no time. We ended up stopping the treatment for now & will probably restart it at a later age. I suppose it was a good little teaching lesson for Randy & myself in preparation for the lifetime of treatments that Lucy will have. I'd be lying to say it wasn't a bit emotional when they brought in the nebulizer stuff at the appointment, I felt like the CF diagnosis was a bit more real... But, I just reminded myself that we're doing these things not because she is sick, but because we don't want her to get sick. Optimism always helps give me strength, courage & hope. Needless to say, other than a funky little sore on her noggin that's got her on a dose of antibiotics, she's doing fabulously!

Randy's 31st Birthday

Happy Birthday Dad!
Lucy was all dolled up for Randy's birthday, it was quite adorable!

Just about to head out the door to Grandma & Grandpa Webster's house for dinner... not sure what she thinks about the dress, tights, shoes, coat... this is a stretch for our little miss!

On Jan. 3rd, Randy turned 31 years old. It's hard to believe how time flies... When I met Randy during my Freshman & his Sophomore year at PLU, he had just turned 21... Hard to believe 10 years have flown by! I knew from the day I met Randy that we were for eachother. There was just something about him & his energetic young spirit that I knew we clicked. He is an incredibly dedicated person to whatever he does & has become such a wonderful husband, father & businessman. It's kind of funny that I'm writing this today & thinking about the day we met... My roommate Kari asked if I wanted to go waterskiing with she & her boyfriend, Gary, at the time - I of course agreed, always wanting any chance to be on the water. These two brought me to the Webster's home (Randy & Gary were roommates) & we had an awesome spring afternoon on the water. I can't believe we actually skied during early April in WA - it's awfully cold! That day we definitely both noticed eachother - at one point we were both behind the boat - me on a tube & Randy on a wakeboard. Now... fast forward 10 years & we're just in the process of buying a ski boat - Randy picks it up tomorrow! We're so excited & I'm so happy that it's something we both enjoy so much & can introduce lil' miss Lucy to as well! Randy, I love you so very much! Here's to many days together as a family on the water for years to come!

Sweet Baby Lucy

Oh how she melts my heart! I love this sweet little baby so very much! This was on New Year's Day just before heading up to Tacoma. Randy & Lucy stayed with Grandma Susan Webster while I spent a couple hours shopping at Nordstrom - it was wonderful! After many years of being a self described "mall rat" for the first few years after college, it's an odd feeling to think that in 4 months, I've only been to Nordstrom twice! I must say though, my time with Lucia Grace is much more rewarding & much less expensive!

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful New Year's celebration! Lucy spent a couple hours with Grandma Susan Webster while Randy & I attended Ryan Spriesterbach's party in North Tacoma. It was our first real outing to a fun event & we had a great time seeing a few old friends! We picked Lucy up from Grandma Susan around 9:30 or 10 & made it home in time to have our own little celebration. We rung in the new year together & I couldn't help but think how blessed we are! Last year I had only known for 3 days that I was pregnant! Things change so quickly, it's amazing what can happen in a year!

Lucia Grace meets Kathleen!

We had quite a treat last week! My cousin Kathleen made a quick trip home from Chicago & was able to meet Lucia! Kathleen is the daughter of my mom's brother Bob & his wife, Margie. It was Margie, Kathleen & my other cousin Andrew who all came to visit! Andrew's in his third year at Duke, we had fun talking with him about his future plans - trying to pester out of him what he'd like to do! Kathleen has an interesting job right now working as an analyst for Morgan Stanley... they've had so many stressful changes related to the current economy - I think it's good for her to have some relaxing down time! Lucia loves you all & we hope to see you again on your next visit home!

Christmas Morning - Part II

Julia showing Unc (Randy) how to use the Purell - they had a little lesson on how to use it & how not to lick your fingers afterwards. :o) Sweet Miss Julia is doing great around Lucia. It is a lot for a 2 1/2 year old to remember not to touch a baby with unclean hands, not to kiss her & not to play with her toys... but our little niece is quite a smart little lady! Randy was great with Julia turning the hand sanitizer into quite a little teaching lesson & he made it really fun for her - now she's teaching the rest of the family what to do!

Miss Julia opening a present that was as big as she is! Christmas is so much more alive & incredible with little kids! This monstrous present was a shopping cart! Julia loved it! The big gift next to it was a whole set of pretend food items - she's all set to grocery shop!

Grandma Susan with Lucia & Great Grandma Alice

On Christmas morning, we drove from Centralia to Lakewood & enjoyed an incredible breakfast made by Christy & Alex (Randy's sister & her husband) at Grandma Susan's house. It was a very special day although a bit different than usual because we aren't taking Lucy around big groups of people. Typically we'd attend 2 big family gatherings over the holidays, but we skipped them both & opted for smaller gatherings of immediate family to keep the chances of Lucy catching a cold lower. We greatly missed our extended family!! But, we're thankful that Lucy's staying very healthy (& so are we!). After breakfast & gifts, Randy drove over to the family get together at his aunts house for a short time while I stayed with Lucy & Susan. It was a wonderful day, relaxing & not rushed whatsoever. Thank you Webster's & Legler's for helping to make our Christmas so very special!