Holidays and Soccer

I had a wonderful Christmas! I began to understand the concept of Santa Claus this year and asked him for Tom Set (Thomas the Train Set). Every time I see a train I call it a Tom. I also think Sir Topham Hat lives in this silly looking building by the tracks, down the block from my house. I enjoyed opening my gifts Christmas morning. Every time I ripped open a package I exclaimed, "Wow, Cool!"

Here are the pictures of Santa and Me:

Here is one of Mom's favorite Christmas morning pictures. Santa brought me this cool shirt!

My throat culture results from my December 15th, 2010 appointment came back negative for any bad bacteria. PA has stayed away and I hope it continues to! This nice long time away from the inhaled TOBI has been nice! I am kicking CF's butt and it feels good!

I got to start off my New Year's by going to the Michigan State Basketball game. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I got to see Sparty and was a bit scared of him at first, but got over that fear very quick. I clapped and cheered with the best of them. That night after the game I enjoyed some fondue with Mom, Dad and Aunt Lo before I went to bed. I was being a bit crazy so I didn't get to stay up until midnight.

2010 was a fabulous year! I am ready to make 2011 a wonderful one as well. Cheers to another healthy year!

Here is a little video clip of me, on my first day of soccer camp. I am the one in the light blue shirt who gets a goal at the end of the video. I started on January 4th.

A Little Bit Of This And That

I am happy to report that this year has been grand! I am the healthiest I have ever been since I graced this world. I have spent 310 hours hooked up to my percussion vest since about this time last year. That's almost 6 hours a week for one entire year. All this restraint to get the mucus shaken around in my lungs in order to keep the yucky bacterias from settling in there. And don't forget the multitude of breathing treatments, enzymes and vitamins to boot. All of these preventative measures seem to be doing the job and keeping me in tip top shape. I have my last pulmonologist and short gut doctor visits for this year on December 15th. I will report back on how those two appointments turn out. Please cross your fingers that the pseudomonas aeruginosa has stayed away and I don't need to return to my TOBI breathing treatments. I have thoroughly enjoyed the break from those. It has given me more time to be the crazy, silly, 2 year old I love to be.

This fall/winter I have been enjoying the holiday festivities and parties. Here is a photo summary of the last month and half.

Here I am as a tiger on Halloween.

Painting my turkey plate at ceramics class.

Already trying to kiss the girls (my friend Brooke):

Mom took me to Chicago to visit one of her BFF, my aunt Lo. I loved riding the "L".

The Chicago Diner. A vegan friendly diner which was great for my dairy allergy. I had this awesome vegan carrot cake! Yum!

Aunt Lo and I walking out of the aquarium

The Counter restaurant eating some delicious, high calorie, deep fried onion strings and sweet potato fries.

I really loved Chicago!

Cutting down my Christmas Tree with Mom and Dad!

Next post I will share my pictures I had taken with Santa Claus and my doctor appointment details. Until next time...

Peace and Love,

Ben

Fall Fun

It has been a while since my last post. I have been living life to the fullest that I have put the blog aside for a little while. Parties, bike rides, painting, and the zoo are just a few of the activities that I have been enjoying. I got an early Christmas present from Grandma Carol and Papa Phil. A Strider Glide Bike. It is blue and I love it. It is supposed to help me transition to a 2 wheel bike much easier than using training wheels. I use my feet to push myself.

I went to the zoo last Thursday and watched the animals play with pumpkins. It was neat. I met my friend Nick and his little brother Mike at the zoo. We spent almost 4 hours there!

Here are a few pictures from the lovely fall day at the zoo:

Friday I went to Nick's for a Pumpkin Painting Halloween Party. All the kids painted their pumpkins, but I just wanted to play with Nick's wooden train set. I didn't want to leave when it was time to go so that is when I asked to paint a pumpkin. Mom and Dad said we had to leave because it was way past my bedtime.

Saturday I had my Cousin Emma's Birthday Party. I had a blast there as well. All the kids dressed up, but I did not want to wear my costume. Maybe I will want to wear it on Halloween, but we will see.

I finalized my weekend with Sam's 1st Birthday Party. He had a train that drove us through the neighborhood. I wasn't too sure about it at first, but I finally went on with Mom and I even wore my conductor's hat!

Mom and Me on the train at Sam's Party:

My favorite college football team the MSU Spartans is 8-0. Anytime I see anything Green and White I shout go Sparty and Go Green, Go White, Yea! Hopefully Mom and dad will take me to whatever bowl game the Spartans may be attending!

It has been nice not having to do TOBI breathing treatments. It saves me about 25 minutes in the morning and at night. I had three clean throat cultures which has allowed me to take a break from the inhaled antibiotic. Hence my late nights partying it up!

I have to go next week and have blood work done. They need to check all of my vitamin levels. I had elevated levels of zinc so we want to make sure that is not going up. I need all my fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, K and we have not been able to find any vitamin supplements with all of those and no zinc. I have been taking only one Source CF soft-gel instead of two. Hopefully my other levels have not gone below the normal range. I do take extra vitamin D drops because my vitamin D used to be way below normal. I have been able to keep it up with plenty of sun and about 18,000 IU's of vitamin D a day. Sounds like a ton, but I probably dump more than half of it in my stool.

I am the healthiest I have been since birth! Life is good and I am thoroughly enjoying every minute of it!

Happy Halloween!

Ben

My 1st trip to the Ocean!

I spent a week with my parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle and cousins in Nags Head, NC. We had a house rental on the beach which was amazing! I loved every minute of the vacation. I had a great time playing with my cousins, Josh and Maddie, and I loved playing on the beach and in

the ocean. We picked and ocean vacation because the salt water air is good for CF lungs. One of my medications is 4% solution of Hypertonic Saline. It is a sterile saltwater solution that I inhale twice daily via nebulizer.

Our Beach House...20 feet from the ocean!

I visited Kitty Hawk and saw the place where the Wright Brothers first started there attempts and flying. I got to fly a kite and it was a beautiful, windy day to do so. I was kind of crabby at that visit. I had to excuse myself from the history portion of the tour.

I ate some great fresh local seafood. I love a variety of foods just like Mom and Dad. This is me enjoying some delicious fried Mahi Mahi with a spicy aioli sauce. I really liked. Don't forget the hand cut fries on my plate as well. I am supposed to get 1,900 calories in a day hence the fried options and dips.

I slept on a blow up mattress in my parents room and I loved that bed. i jumped from my parents bed onto the blow up mattress constantly. The last day when Mom and Dad packed up my bed I went into the room and threw up my hands and said, "Oh no my bed"! LOL I did not want to go home. I also said, "No home" the day we were packing up. I wanted to stay at the beach house and live.

This has been the best summer thus far! I was so busy and had so much fun! Cheers to summer 2010!

Sunny Skies,

Ben

Hair Cut and Big Boy Bed

It has been a while since I last posted about my life as a little dude, but I have been enjoying it so much I haven't had time. Dad and Mom cut my hair and all of my curls are gone. I look so grown up.

I went to Wolf Lake to spend the weekend with my cousin Emma and I decided to climb out of the pack-n-play so when we got home we tried the big boy bed in the guest room and I did well. The next day Mom took me to Target to get me a big boy bedding set. I scored some cool car and truck bedding. Mom and Dad took down my crib and put in the full size bed. I am so grown up!

I have been loving our community pool and I did a week of swim lessons. I even got to go off the diving board. I love to jump and go under the water.

Last night I helped Mom make Sloppy Joe's. I decided they needed salt all on my own. I slide the stool over to the salt grabbed it and pushed the stool back over to the pan to add the salt to the pan. I am a little man who likes to take initiative.

Summer Lovin

I am having a blast this summer! I first had to fight off a fever that turned into an ear infection in the beginning of June. I just finished my antibiotics and I am doing well. I have been swimming at the community pool a lot. I have went to quite a few parties already this summer. I also went to the Bay-rama Fish Fly Festival. I love to announce to the world when I am heading to a party. I love hanging out with my friends and family. I always have a great time. So far this has been the best summer yet!

Playing in my bubble filled pool in the backyard

Lounging out in the hammock at home

Dumping water on my head at the pool

Playing T-ball

At the Bay-Rama Fish Fly Festival:

On the train ride...I cried the first time around

Petting the goats. I love the farm animals!

Petting what I like to call "Bun"

On the swing ride

Papa Phil and Me on the Carousel

Cotton Candy

Family and Friends=Love and Support

I had my throat culture results today and I have cultured nothing for the second time! If I have no PA in the next culture (in September) I will be able to go off of inhaled TOBI until I were to culture it again. That is lovely news my parents and I were happy to hear!

Another lovely bit of news I wanted to share was the four Great Strides walks that my family and friends participated in throughout the country!

My Great Uncle Norm, Jerry, Jennifer, Delaney, and Logan all walked to fight CF in Atlanta!

My Great Uncle Gord, Great Aunt Claire and Cousin Reagan walked in the Great Strides in Charleston, South Carolina! This walk took place on the beach!

Buffy, Scott, Peyton, Ben, and their neighbors walked in Tampa, Florida for a cure! Their Great Strides walk was at the Zoo!

My Uncle Adam walked in Hawaii with a group of friends to fight for a cure!

My heart smiles each and every time I look at these pictures! I can feel the love and support from afar and it puts a huge grin on my face! What lovely people I have been graced to have in my life! It is with all of this support that we are closer to a cure! I love you all and thank you so much for everything you have done to show your love and support to my parents and me! I am one lucky little dude!

Peace and Love,

Ben