HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Maggie and Anthony had a Valentine's photo session.

Anthony's story was featured on The Brave Warrior blog HERE.

Photo credit: Where Bluebirds Fly Photography & Erica Moshe Photography

Can you believe we'll be doing senior pics for Maggie this summer?!?

Years-Long Overdue Update on Anthony!

Photo Credit:  Where Bluebirds Fly Photography 

I wrote this for a friend who has a non-profit organization to benefit families with warriors.

Anthony is our ray of sunshine!  He is 9 years old, and has been healthy for 2 ½ years.  We fought to keep him alive for the first 7 ½ years!

Anthony was born with Trisomy 21, also known as Down syndrome.  Children with Ds tend to have low tone muscles.  They are “floppier” than typical children.  When we “got” Anthony at 2 weeks old, Andy and I had to stay overnight at the hospital to learn how to feed Anthony properly, so he wouldn’t aspirate on his formula.  

We learned to mix a formula high in calories as Anthony was born with a heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallot.  This allowed non-oxygenated blood to mix with oxygenated blood in his heart.  When a body deals with this, it burns so many calories and it is very difficult to get a baby to grow big enough to have the best chance with surgery.  Anthony needed open-heart surgery to fix this at just 3 months old.  

One thing I remember about this time was getting pictures done of Anthony the day before, so we’d have some classic baby pictures of him, before he had any scars.  Surgery was the day before Thanksgiving that year.  Everything went well, and the surgery was actually pretty routine.  To us, it was anything but routine!  

Anthony continued to heal, we learned to pick him up in a scooping motion, supporting his back, and everything healed as expected.  We went for regular post-op checks, and everything was wonderful!  At the 6 or 9 month post-op check, the cardiologist said we didn’t need to come back anymore, except for yearly.  He said we could treat Anthony like any other child and not make everyone be germ-free if they were around Anthony.  

Well, I still worried, and for good reason.  A couple months later, something wasn’t right.  We went to the doctor and emergency room several times over 2 weeks, and finally were admitted to the hospital when Anthony’s oxygen level was at 60%.  The nurses scrambled at this point.  Anthony’s lungs had pneumonia on the x-rays, and so bloodwork was taken to determine what kind.  The next day, the pneumonia had disappeared, but that bloodwork showed that Anthony had leukemia.  

Anthony and I had 15 minutes to be packed and in the ambulance to Seattle.  My middle 3 children were at Seattle with Anthony and me for 14 months, while our oldest 2 children stayed at home with Andy.  Our family was physically split for most of that time.  Our greatest gift during the 14 months came from my friend, Jenny.  She arranged for a hotel suite for our whole family at Christmas time, so we could all sleep under the same roof.  Ronald McDonald House can only have 6 people in a room overnight and we have 6 children.

We finally got to come home in February 2011.  We had left for Seattle on Dec. 3, 2009.  You don’t forget a date that turns your life so completely upside down!  On a more positive note, Anthony’s adoption was final in Nov. 2010!

For another 2 ½ years, we regularly commuted to Seattle for appointments and chemo.  A few times, Anthony developed pneumonia and required a long stay at Children’s.

After chemo was complete, Anthony started getting sicker, especially when we’d travel at higher altitudes.  Going to Children’s was dicey because his oxygen would plummet when we’d get to the top of the pass!  We had a real scare when our family went on a cross-country road trip and were stuck in Colorado a couple days in really high altitude.

That fall, we used oxygen all the time to help Anthony.  If he had a runny nose, his lungs couldn’t keep up and he’d need oxygen.  Same with a sniffle or any tiny symptom.  Finally, our pulmonary specialist (who travels to Wenatchee for Children’s regularly now!!), discovered that Anthony’s left lung was squished.  The lung wasn’t moving at all.  There was no way to know if it was paralyzed or if it just didn’t have room to work.

Testing was inconclusive.  The only other option was surgery, and that was just a possible solution, not definite. Anthony had surgery, where a diaphragmatic hernia was discovered and repaired, a kidney was put back where it belongs, and his intestines were put back where they belong.  The kidney and intestines had moved because of the hernia.  The surgeons never expected Anthony to have such an amazing outcome to this surgery, and joked at the post-op check a year later that we come basically just to tell them hi, because he is doing so well!

Anthony finally stopped being so sick around 7 ½ years old.  His time before that was basically just a whirlwind of just trying to keep him alive and trying to stay one step ahead of any more diagnoses.  We never really had a chance to think about Anthony’s future, and especially education.  We never knew if he’d live long enough to get to go to school.

Now, I still worry about medical stuff and am always on the lookout for odd symptoms.  I don’t even know what’s normal to send a child to school with anymore.  Runny noses?  Small cough?  These were things he couldn’t be around for so long.  

But, more than medical stuff, I worry about Anthony’s chance at indepence someday.  I worry about him receiving the best education possible.  He has a wonderful teacher now, and he loves school.  He loves to learn, play, and interact with EVERYONE at school, home, church, and around the community.  

We continue to utilize therapies aimed at maintaining and improving abilities for Anthony.  He has had physical therapy of some form since he was 2 weeks old.  Speech therapy, same.  Occupational therapy is the same, although Anthony is graduated from Ohana Occupational Therapy the day I am writing this.  Because Anthony has weekly swim therapy, his lungs actually did much better before the last big surgery than they would have.  Anthony participates in Cub Scouts, and loved being in hip hop dance a couple years ago.  We are looking to continue that again.  And now, Anthony is starting to participate in Special Olympics!

It seems like there’s a different cause or some awareness campaign every month.  They more often than not seem to apply in some way to Anthony.  He’s a success story for foster care, adoption, congenital heart defect, childhood cancer, diaphragmatic hernia, and of course, Down syndrome!

I am so grateful that when we were missing someone in our family, that Anthony was the someone who filled the void we had no clue was there!

Vocal Point!!

We had a couple things happen in the last few months.

We went from having 4 children at home still (from the original 6), to only having 2 at home.

Josh is serving a 2-year mission, currently in Salt Lake City, currently serving a congregation of refugees from Africa and speaking Swahili!

Lilly couldn't wait to turn 18 so she could move out.

So that's what she did the night before her birthday.

Due to an unexpected source of cash, we were able to pay off ALL our credit card debt.

Don't knock it till you've had a big family, medically fragile kid, and had to live in two different places for over a year so he could have chemo...

Anyways, with these changes, we were able to mentally be ready for a small road trip adventure!!

Vocal Point is an a Capella group from Brigham Young University.

We love good music, and they do good music.

They had a concert in Spokane, WA, so ready for adventure, I bought tickets!!!!!

We didn't even know if Andy would have the day off to go with us or not, but I was ready for an adventure with or without him.

Thankfully, he was actually able to take the week off and use some of his vacation time.  :)

 We take Anthony to events and places all the time, so I figured he'd be ok at the concert.

And, he can sit through 3 various hours of church each week.

We brought his head phones and I had purposefully purchased tickets by the aisle for a quick exit with him if he had a hard time.

Well, they started the concert out with the STAR WARS theme, so he was happy pretty much the whole time. lol

Before Vocal Point performed, their opening act was by The Big Bing Theory, an a Capella group from Gonzaga University.  

They did great, but it was kinda funny that they performed a mashup of "Stacy's Mom" and "Jesse's Girl," both kind of risque songs when you're singing for a lot of Mormons.  HAHAHAHA!

But, it was good.

Pouting for some reason.

Anthony was proud to stand with this sculpture...

Vocal Point boys in their blue jackets.

Ok, I was most excited this trip about the hotel we stayed at.

We stayed at Oxford Suites in Spokane.

You can go to their website HERE.

They were friendly on the phone when I made the reservations, and so helpful with all my questions.

They had the best price of any hotel I could find online, that had an indoor pool (a must, to get Anthony's travel energy out).

They literally were within "walking distance" of about 10 minutes to the performing arts center we went to.

And, that's without walking fast or hurting my hip!!!
Plus, every employee we came in contact with was willing and anxious to drive us with their shuttle if we needed it at all.

They had great breakfast, and offered free soda or beer/wine in the evening (one drink per person).

We didn't use the drinks option, but of course the breakfast.

They also had a Soup available for guests in the early evening!!

I didn't know that before, but in the future, we will definitely take advantage of that.

One more thing I was impressed with was the cleanliness and nice quality of furniture, rooms, hallways, etc.  They were in the middle of construction of remodeling some rooms, and it did not mess with the aesthetics of the rest of the hotel.

If you're looking for a nice hotel with an indoor pool in Spokane, I really recommend Oxford Suites.

I really love being free to plan and go on small trips like this now, with NO MORE DEBT!!!!  It is doable, and totally a blast!

Scrappy Scrumptious!

I've had the top of this quilt ready for a few months now, and I love it!  

I think this is my favorite quilt I've made...

It is a big twin quilt, so I had to go visit our church building, lay out the backing, batting, and top on 2 big tables, so I could pin it together for the finishing quilting lines without killing my back or my hips!

This quilt was pretty simple to make, but took a long time.  

There were MANY leftover blocks from a few other baby and lap quilts I'd made in the last couple years.

I made a few more, so it wouldn't need much in the way of borders, and I love it!

The colors are far brighter than what my phone camera showed on these pictures.

I think this is the first quilt I've finished with the intent to use it in the house, but not for anyone in particular.

This is going to go on an extra bed upstairs, after Andy gets tired of it being small on top of our queen quilt.

In my mind, I pictured smaller intersections of lines...I didn't think ahead of time that I should have stitched on the actual seams, rather than diagonal to them.

But, it works.

My favorite quilting mantra is--

FINISHED IS BETTER THAN PERFECT.

Andy is tall and has long arms.  He's my official quilt holder when one is finished.

I'm trying not to go buy new fabric anytime soon, since my fabric stash is so full.

These fabrics were in the craft room.  Neither was quite big enough on their own, so I pieced them.

Baby Boy Blues

 Andy's manager and his wife had a baby boy just before Christmas.

I was talking about how we should make some goody plates for his co-workers and managers, especially since we haven't had a chance to the last few years.

Andy was most wanting to have a baby quilt made for his manager.

So, that's what happened.  ;)

I gathered and cut a whole bunch of blue and white  2.5" blocks, put them in a big baggie, and just sewed together whatever came out together!

The front was basically sewn in rows of 4-patch blocks, and then I thought, "Oh!  Star blocks would look fabulous if I replaced a 4-patch here and there!"

I did the math and made some star blocks....

...but, they were about an inch too big.  Sigh

I placed a few on a kind of bouquet and could have appliqued them on, but that just looked too busy and too country feminine or something.

So, I have several stars for a future project.  

Simple but stunning

 Flannel back

Christmas Quilting

My friend commissioned 4 quilts by me this year.  She asked me the day after Christmas last year.

We finally decided on a pattern in November, and it was a mad scramble to get them done before Christmas!

This was her favorite pattern for the project.

It could be made with the same fabrics, but in different order.

This way, the quilts would coordinate, but be unique.

The first task was trying to find the pattern!  It was so hard!

I found a store that sells kits for it, but they were out of the book that the pattern was in.

Finally, after a LOT of searching online, I found the booklet on Amazon.

It was about $18 total for the booklet.  There were several reviews where the people didn't think the booklet was worth that much.

But, I found the pattern I needed, the directions were easy to follow, there were several more patterns in the book, and I like it!

Book is "Holly Jolly - This & That," by Sherri K. Falls.

Pattern book fabric design

I was so excited about this awesome Santa fabric, on left!!!

It would be perfect for some of the quilt backs, so I bought almost 10 yards of it.

Luckily, I pre-wash every time there's new fabric.  

At the same time I bought this, I also bought a fabulous, off-brand dark red.  It bled, and the Santas all looked like they belonged in Florida. :(

I re-washed the fabric many, many times with color catchers, and they did lighten up.

But, with someone paying for this project, I didn't want a fabric that had flaws.

It finally felt a little like the Christmas season when I started on the first sample quilt.

I made 6 quilts total, with 2 being extras.

This way, I could figure out how to be accurate with the measurements, and the rows would hopefully line up correctly.

 Starting to chain piece with my 1955 Singer.

Before the project was through, my trusty Singer had motor issues, my back up machine kept breaking needles in the seams, and I had to go buy a new, inexpensive machine at Costco.

(which, by the way, sews like a DREAM!!!)

 I used so many baggies!

I pre-cut for all the quilts at once.

Each baggie was organized by color.

Each baggie with white background fabrics were organized by block type.

Gallon baggies held the contents of one whole quilt each.

 First top laid out!

 First quilt top ready to head to the long-arm quilter!

 This was the first quilt to be quilted by the long-arm.

I had her do the "jingle bells" design in red.

After this one, we changed the rest to be done with white thread, and in a more swirled design.

The white swirled design looks like swirling snow to me.

This quilt got to go to my mother-in-law and her sister!

 I had LOTS of Christmas fabric, but no pieces really big enough to match seams and sew together for a back.

So, I cut strips of a bunch, sewed them together, and added a solid Christmas print on the other side.

Each quilt had a different order and size of the strips, and a different solid print on the side.

The Official 4 Commissioned Quilts

The 6th quilt was not put together (sandwiched, which means having the batting and backing stitched to the top), since I didn't need to have it done right away.

We are going to keep the 6th one, and I will either machine quilt it simply sometime soon, or have it embellished by the long-armer.

While making these, I swore up and down that I wouldn't do another quilt for hire again.

But, it's so satisfying to create something that someone else really loves, and will treasure for a long time!

Also, it's very satisfying to finish something successfully, that has so many details.

So, I think I would do quilts for hire in the future, but I would have some requirements that would have to be met first. 

Main requirements would be agreeing on pattern and fabric 6 months in advance, and nothing that needs to be finished in November or December.  

Thanks Jenny!  This was a fun project!!