Mother's Day Gift!

Mother's Day gift idea

If you are looking for something special to give your mom for Mother's Day and you really don't want to do the same things that you have done in the past then here's an idea: give a meaningful gift AND help save the life of an orphan with Down syndrome :) There is no better way to honor your mom than to give the gift of a mother to a child who has never know a mother's love. This Mother's Day, I will be celebrating with my newest addition who has been blessed with an addition of an extra chromosome! Several of my online friends have been so fortunate to get their own little angel with DS through Reece's Rainbow. Hundreds of children are still waiting on the chance to be held in their mother's arms.
If you'd like to honor someone this Mother's Day, it really is a simple process. Go to the Reece's Rainbow website, choose a waiting child from the country of your choice and make a donation. I am personally completely smitten with Katerina in Eastern Europe and would love to go and scoop her up! When you click on the donate button, there is a comment section. You can write a short message that your gift is in honor of Mother's Day and give the name and address of the person you are honoring with your gift. A letter will be sent to your mom to let her that you made a donation in her honor this Mother's Day. You can also go here to read all the information and see a few of the most at risk children (hint hint KATERINA!) If you'd like to honor more than one mom, you can make one large donation and indicate multiple recipients for cards.

Another one, I'm having fun playing!

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Prayer so works!

Last night I was heading to church to pick the boys up from choir and Addy started puking everywhere! It was awful! I got her cleaned up as good as I could in her carseat and headed to church. Got the boys and Avery's all "EWW, Addy stinks!" Yep, diarrhea everywhere! Ugh, so we get home and all cleaned up and attempt to start a feeding and she threw it all up instantly. I hooked her up to her Pulse Ox and her heart rate was high and her O2 was a little low for her. So we went to the ER because of her wonderful history of dehydration. Got to the ER (40 minutes away) and she smiles at her daddy as her gets her out of the car! We get all checked in and there is no diarrhea, no vomiting, just a happy baby! I prayed the whole way to Springfield that God please make Addy okay so we don't end up in the hospital again and make her strong. Well you that God of ours is an awesome God because he did just that! We spent about 3 hours in the ER and didn't even need an IV or a test! What had happened was she ate some ice cream during speech therapy and dummy me was totally not thinking. She's lactose intolerant! I feel like mother of the year! I felt so bad! But fortunately, she is doing great this morning and we are heading to the ENT for a post op visit and the pediatrician for her 18 month check up. Wish us luck!

I did it!

I finally created a slideshow thingy! I'm so proud! Woo hoo! Now let's see if it works!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Birthday Avery!

Avery turned 7 years old yesterday. It was a beautiful day and he spent the majority of it outside with his new football. He also got a Nintendo DS that he's been wanting forever! Daddy got him so cool headphones for the car when we go to Florida next month. I'm not sure he's got the hang of them yet!

RELAY FOR LIFE

MY DAD
JOHN K. DAVIS
11/7/40-10/25/06

I know many of you are in the midst of adoptions and fundraisers etc. We are still in that process too, however, I am very involved in Relay for Life. I lost my dad to a four year battle with cancer. In September of 2002 he was diagnosed with colon cancer. In April of 2003 he was told he was cancer free. In May of 2003 he hurt his back while pulling on an empty wheelbarrow and broke a rib leaning over in the car against his seatbelt. We found out that he had three fractures in his spine and needed immediate major surgery. During the surgery the doctors were going to use some of his ribs to create new vertebrae for him. They picked up two ribs and they broke in their hands. Then while removing the broken vertebrae two more vertebrae just fell off of his spine. He ended up losing nine vertebrae in all. After spending a month in the hospital it was discovered that the breaking bones was due to Multiple Myeloma which is a cancer of the bone marrow. This cancer was completely unrelated to his colon cancer. He spent the next couple of years driving to Little Rock, Arkansas, five hours away, for treatments. At one point in time they had harvested his stem cells in hopes of a bone marrow transplant of his own cells that had been "cleaned". He was never healthy enough again for the transplant. In the beginning of his treatment for his Multiple Myeloma it was discovered that his colon cancer had metastasized to his liver. Over the next couple of years it also went into his lungs and spleen. My dad was the CEO of Sho-Me-Power in Marshfield,MO for over 30 years and he never quit working during all of his treatments, surgeries and four years of chemotherapy. He received an award two weeks before he passed away and these pictures are from that time. My dad is my hero and I miss him so very much. He fought so hard and his poor body could just not do it anymore. He is the reason I started getting involved in Relay for Life. My little town of just 6,000 people has raised as much as $75,000 for the American Cancer Society through our local Relay for Life. Last year was the hardest Relay for me because I knew that I was walking for a cure but unfortunately it was too late for my Daddy. I didn't know at the time but this year is going to be even harder. In October of 2007 just a couple of weeks before the anniversary of my dad's death, my mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. My brother and I were devastated. Fortunately her cancer was found early and she underwent a lumpectomy and radiation treatment and is currently cancer free.
My family: Mom/Nancy, brother Kent, Me, Dad/John

I am writing my story in my blog today because I am trying to reach my personal goal for my fundraising this year. I am a member of the Bunco Babes Relay for Life Team and our first year doing Relay we raised over $3,000. We are trying to raise $5,500 this year. My personal goal is to raise $500. If you would be willing to help me achieve this goal I would be so appreciative. The American Cancer Society is a tax deductible contribution and receipts will be sent to anyone who donates. If you only can send a $1, it's a dollar more than I have right now. If everyone that reads this sends a $1 I will be so close to my goal. If you would like to donate, please send a check made out to the American Cancer Society and send to
Cammie Heflin
102 Brook Hills Drive
Marshfield, MO 65706

I Relay in memory of my daddy, John K. Davis and in honor of my mom, Nancy Davis. I will be walking from 7pm to 7am on June 20th/21st. I appreciate everyone's contributions.

Thank you for your support.

Sitting UP!

Yes I got pix of Addy actually sitting totally by herself! Woo hoo!




I had to throw this one in cuz it's so cute of both my girls!

Praying for Emma

My fellow RR friend, Meredith, has a beautiful little girl with Down syndrome. Well actually she has two beautiful little girls with DS and a baby boy with DS and a typical little boy. Mike & Meredith adopted Emma and Micah from Ukraine just a short while ago. They spent an extended period of time there with unknown events and occurrences all of the time. They knew they were following God's path and his path led him to these precious babies. Emma Hope is five years old and is in Congestive Heart Failure. They need our prayers for their family and all of the people involved in Emma's prayer. I have a link to their blog on the right, go and visit their family and see what a wonderful gift they are to these beautiful children. Jeremiah 29:11 says "I know the plans I have for you", says the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you HOPE and a future."
Here's the button:



Addy is starting to feel better. She still has terrible tonsillectomy breath and will just start screaming for no reason. Hopefully every day will get better.



Jarika and I watched "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" today together. She came over to me and started crying because she did not want Addy at first. She was so teary through the whole movie wondering how this man could be so mean. I explained that things were different back then and she now loves her sister dearly and she shouldn't feel guilty. Like Dr. Henry in the movie, hers was the fear of the unknown. Now her fears are gone and she realizes that this precious little angel was meant to be ours and we are so blessed and lucky to be given this honor.

Hangin in there

Well we had a really rough night. Addy just screamed and screamed it was pitiful. So hopefully this is just day 3 post op issues and we'll be better soon. I reminded Avery that he needed to put away his clean clothes before going out to play. He thought he was pretty smart with this one I'm sure.There's nothing on my bed.....
Empty laundry basket and closed drawers......
This is what his closet looks like. It used to have a floor.

We're home!

Just chillin before they take her back!
Well we are now tonsil and adenoid free! Addy did great during her surgery with no complications. The bronchoscopy showed just slight tracheomalasia just above the lungs. So slight in fact the doctor really doesn't feel it's significant at all. Addy had a few bouts of screaming crying which was awful, this baby never cries! All of the nurses are like "That can't be Addy, she never cries!" It was nice to see all of those wonderful ladies that have taken such excellent care of our little girl these past few months. Her regular surgeon, Dr. Ford, who we absolutely love, even came by to say "Hi". He saw me in the hallway and he's all "What are you doing here?!?!? What's wrong and why didn't I know?!?" It was too funny, he is so wonderful. Addy's only issue was the IV of course. I have counted over 20 bruises/pokes from where they tried to get it going. Naturally it ended up in her head and she got to wear a fancy little headdress to keep it on. Needless to say that didn't last and she ended up pulling it out last night. Surprise surprise! Well we are home and settled and very glad to be here and on the mend. I thank all of you that have prayed for my family faithfully these past several months, it's so comforting to know that she is being lifted up to our Father all of the time from all over the country! Those of you who read my blog I also please ask that you pray for some of my RR friends that have different things occurring in their lives: Charissa, Shelley, Meredith, Shawnie and many others who I know need prayer too!
Yeah I'm all done! Now what is this business on my head!?!?

This pic didn't come out great, but I wanted to show how sensitive she is to tape. You can see exactly where the tape was to keep her eyes shut! :(

Now how am I going to get this off?
Hey Mommy let's go home! I actually got a pic of signing, yeah! I usually miss it!

Prayer request

I would just like to request prayer for sweet little Addysen. She will be having her tonsils and adenoids removed tomorrow as well as have her bronchoscopy. Shouldn't be a big deal, but this makes surgery number 10 for this little 17 month old angel! We saw the cardiologist and she is doing great with regards to her hole in her heart and pulmonary hypertension! That is such good news! So hopefully we will be weaning off of meds by the fall! So I won't have to explain to people anymore why my female baby takes VIAGARA! Too funny, anyway I'm sure I won't sleep tonight, I'm always afraid I'll be late for surgery and they won't do it! So wish us luck and I'll update when I can!

Family pic

Charissa mentioned to me that I never post a pic of myself. Well, I hate pix of myself but here is a pre-Addy family picture. We have a family one that we had done at church but it's not the greatest and I haven't scanned it but I will someday! So here you go everyone, this is what we all look like!

Surgery date

It's official, Addy is going to have her tonsils and adenoids removed on Tuesday the 8th. She will also be having the bronchoscopy done at the same time. We will be spending the night in the hospital since she is who she is and seems to have issues after the fact! But not this time, no! We are going to be positive and come through with flying colors and hopefully better breathing during sleep!

Woo hoo!

Well, I got word today from Addy's pulmonologist that we can now start weening Addy off of her O2 during the day! We will start at 1-2 hrs a few times a day then go up to two four hour stretches! Once she can do that consistently without falling her sats below 90 we can try to nap without it too! Yeah! I had it completely off of her face for awhile today and forgot to take pix! I'll get some in a couple of days after a bath so her face isn't so raw from the stickies! Also we go to the ENT tomorrow to schedule her T&A surgery and bronchoscopy. They are hoping this will help with O2 levels at night and determine whether or not she has Tracheomalacia. Not that I want her to have another surgery but if it will help her I'm ready now! I know the nurses at the hospital wouldn't mind a visit either!
Jarika made cheerleading again! She's so pumped! Congrats sis!