A Month Full Of Thankfulness & Gratefulness - March Style

Every month, I will be challenging myself to create a post of what I am thankful and grateful for in life. This will allow me to reflect on all the POSITIVE that is happening in my life. As we all know you get nowhere when you focus on the negatives in life.  So here is what I am thankful for this month! HAPPY EASTER!

• Alayna celebrated her 5 month birthday this month.  She is continuing to grow and change in front of our eyes.  She actually cut her first two teeth this month and WE learned about having a fussy baby for the first time.  Poor girl has been in a little pain cutting those two big teeth on the bottom.  Here is Alayna's 5 month post.

• Maria had a few medical tests this month and I am so THANKFUL that the results were normal.  As many of my readers know, Maria really hasn't felt like herself ever since the birth of Alayna.  I am hoping we are now going down the path to better health for her.  There is nothing fun about seeing the woman you love not feeling good!

• I celebrated my 28th birthday on March 23!!! Woo hoo! Birthday's are very special in this community as I believe it shows we are staying compliant on treatments and taking care of our health! This year my cake said "Happy Birthday DADDY!!" That was a special feeling seeing DADDY on the cake and not John. 

• I am so THANKFUL that Maria continues to breast feed Alayna.  I know weird right?  But I have to say Maria is one tough cookie and never gave up breast feeding as she had mastitis (basically a large lump in the breast).  I got the opportunity to experience bottle feeding Alayna as Maria had these medical tests performed.  I can tell you it was a nightmare.  Alayna loves being so close to her mommy and no bottle will get between that.  So for anyone who is thinking about breastfeeding their little baby Maria and I BOTH highly suggest it!!! Breast is best because there is no cleanup whereas bottle feeding is way more time consuming :)

• Winter is almost over and I am so thankful spring is on it's way.  WE both are so tired of this cold weather here.  WE are looking forward to being outside a lot more with Alayna.  Soon she will be walking around I can tell.  But first she still has to crawl :)

• This past month I continued to spread some awareness and shed some light on this disease to newly diagnosed parents.  There is nothing like lending a nice comment and story about this disease!  It is my goal this year to be more active in this community and I have been doing it every week.  It is almost an addiction when you help just one person you want to help another.  I LOVE IT!  These parents have been showering me with comments and appreciation that I do not deserve though.  I am just doing what I have always wanted and being me!!

• Sometimes life is weird........The other day we were at the grocery store with Alayna and this woman stopped us and asked to see our baby.  She loved Alayna!  Then she started talking about her own family and how she had twins and anoher child.  Immediately, Maria and I both thought she did some kind of fertility treatement.  WE could tell just becaue how she was talking about her own children and how much she loved Alayna.  She then started talking about her fertility process and how bad she wanted her own child.  So where am I going with this.....I am thankful that there are people out there who understand the troubles and frustration of fertility.  There is no one on this planet who will understand fertility problems unless you go through them.  It was really nice to see Maria and this lady connect on many levels with fertility and life experiences!! For any of you out there who are struggling with fertility WE pray and wish for you the opportunity that we were granted.  NEVER GIVE UP!!

• I am thankful that some exciting things are happening in our CF community.  Here are a few of the great things that are happening medical research with Vertex, some of my cysters and fibros having babies or will be having babies, possible adoptions about to take place, the list goes on and on.  It really is a great time in this community as many of us are defying the odds everyday.  I want to personally congratulate a cyster of mine Cindy Baldwin and her husband on the birth of their baby Kate!!! She is beyond adorable. I am looking forward to more photos of her!!!!

• We celebrated a wonderul Easter with both sides of the family. Alayna had no idea what was going on but it was great to see everyone :) She was not fussy at all and loved to be around everyone. We are so thankful for a happy baby and we couldn't ask for anything more!!

• March has been another month of 100% compliance for me, Woo hoo!!! Since starting this monthly thankfulness back in February I have not missed a single airway treatment.  I have had 2 full months of tracked airway clearance and I have been 100% compliant! I just looked at my Vest and it says 222 hours.  When I ended the month of February I was checking in at 200 hours.  I guess that puts me close to almost an hour a day being hooked up to this Vest! Take that CF and here is to looking to another month of 100% airway compliance :)

Just like last month, this list is really long and could continue but I will end it here.  So with all that said........What are you thankful for today?  We all have so much in our life to appreciate and be thankful for.  HAPPY EASTER!!!

Alayna and her bottle! She would rather have the real thing :)

Alayna loves those butterflies!!

Alayna and her blue jeans!

Look who is the Easter bunny :)

Hey where is the candy???







 

Time to dye eggs!!

 

 

Mommy and Alayna Egg dye time!

 

 

Happy Family :)