Doodlebugzmom and Her Little Doodlebugz

Life Happens

2010-02-23T15:10:00.000-08:00

It's certainly been a while since I've made a blog post.

Life Happened.

Children grow.

Babies are born.

The part that the priest says during your marriage vows,

"Through sickness and health" comes to pass in my marriage.

All the things that generally happen during everyone's life seem to have happened to me during the last few months.

We welcomed a beautiful new granddaughter, Abigail Louise, on January 27th.

She is a 4th generation Louise.

So dear to my heart.

Named after my mother, me, and her sweet mother Miranda.

Her big sister Anna Grace turned 3 this month.

Her picture is at the top of the page in the center.

My sweet Lily turned 6. That's her at the top of the page.

She loves life and brings me joy every single day.

Jordan turned 17 in January.

He's 6' 3" and loves football like no other.

How did that happen?

Why do they grow so fast?

It doesn't seem fair sometimes.

My sweet gift of a husband, James, is sick with cancer.

The dreaded "C" word.

The world stopped turning for me last August.

This isn't real.

This happens to other people right?

Not us.

We're too young.

Wrong.

It happened.

It's real.

Two surgeries in November.

Radiation started in January.

On my mother's birthday no less.

The day after his father's birthday.

At least there were angels looking after him on the day he had to lay on a cold metal table and be bolted down.

His face and neck irradiated.

Today was the last treatment.

He is burned and exhausted.

His skin will heal.

His face and neck will be fine.

He might even be able to say Dr. Pepper again.

He can blink his eye.

He can wink, wrinkle his nose, and even pucker up pretty well thanks to a blessed Dr. who took the time to regraft his facial nerve.

Life will always be different though.

We will always wonder if they got all the cancer in the facial nerve.

Will the tumor come back?

Did the cancer spread to the incision?

Will the radiation treatment that killed the cancer cause more cancer in the long run?

God, I know you gave him to me.

His is a gift for everything I ever had to deal with as a child.

It took forever to completely trust someone else...to know that he wouldn't hurt me as I was hurt before.

He has made me happier than I could ever imagine.

He gave me the most beautiful children.

A happy life and more joy than words can say.

Please watch over him and keep him healthy for another 40 years.

Thank you for all the gifts and lessons of life that we have had together.

Please watch over each of my children.

Love them as I love them.

Bless my two sweet granddaughters and their father.

Keep them all safe and healthy but show them the blessings and gifts of life.

Let them smell the sweet scent of the air after a rain, the smell of freshly cut grass and wisteria in the spring and not worry that something bad will happen to them.

I'm having a hard time seeing the screen to type through my tears.

But these are good tears.

Finally, I can cry.

I had to be strong for the last few months.

I couldn't let it out.

I had to make sure everything was taken care of, hubby, kids, the house, the bills, even the dog.

But now I get to cry.

These are good tears.

Healing tears.

And life will keep happening.

That's what it does.

And I'm so thankful it does.

Can you help save a life?

2008-11-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

I am reposting this from my friend Lisa's blog. Her daughter is very ill and needs a kidney transplant desperately.

Things continue to be difficult. But where there is life, there is hope.
I’m forcing myself to blog so I can update all my dear friends and family about what is going on with my sweet Sunshine Girl, Marielle, as her kidneys fail. It looks like we are on the way to the local emergency room again tonight–she’s in terrible pain and a bit lethargic.
After continued difficultly getting calls returned and kidney donor evaluation packages send to those who have come forward to donate their kidneys, we’ve given up on the Philadelphia hospital of ever finding a living kidney donor. They’ve recently told us they will only test family members and the closest of friends. They’ve taken it upon themselves to decide who our friends are. Philadelphia has only tested 3 donors in 4 months. To say I am furious is an understatement.

But there is hope. We are in the process of transferring Marielle’s care to NY Presbyterian-Columbia University Hospital (NYP) in hopes their additional living-donor kidney programs will save her life. Not only will NYP consider family members as donors, but are willing to evaluate EVERYONE (friends, associates and kind strangers) who wants to donate a kidney. That’s right…EVERYONE regardless of blood type, antibody mismatch, age, etc. They offer several kidney donor options for us:
Compatible Living Donor
Incompatible Donor Program

Paired Donor Exchange Program
Deceased Donor Program

Marielle will only match 1 in 50 people in the general population (average person matches 1 in 2). I am asking EVERYONE who has ever loved a child as deeply as I do my daughter to please consider being a living-kidney donor to her. You might be the one who can save my daughter’s life.

If you would like to receive a donor consent form to see if you could be a potential donor, please print out this form:
kidneydonorquestionnaire
Then send it to Joan Kelly either by email at kellyja@nyp.org or fax (212) 305-9642. Be sure to put MARIELLE CARROCCIO as the Potential Recipient’s Name.
Please pass this information along to anyone and everyone.
I continue to be comforted by the tremendous amount of love and support from all of you. Thank you seems to fall short.

2008-11-23T15:58:00.000-08:00

My sweet friend, Clara of MimiKattini bestowed this sweet little honor on me... the Smile award! THANK YOU Clara! You have such a sweet spirit and always cheer me up. You inspire me to be a better person through the Boutique Angels by being such a cheerful and motivating leader.

Okay, so here are the CHARACTERISTICS for the SMILE award;

1. Must display a cheerful attitude.

2. Must love one another.

3. Must make mistakes.

4. Must learn from others.

5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world.

6. Must love life.

7. Must love kids.

And, well every thing has rules...so these are the RULES for the SMILE award:

1. The recipient must link back to the award’s creator.

2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.

3. You must choose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself.

4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award.

5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.

6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.

7. You must thank your giver.

AND, now the award goes to:

Amy of Tote and Tee - she is the only other person in the world besides me who loves Mondays. She inspires me to always be productive even if she doesn't realize she does. She is just a motivated person and it really shows.

Toni of Toni Hamel Designs - a fellow Louisiana girl who has such talent. Great designs, wonderful photography skills - I wanna be like her when I grow up.

Karen of The Sweetest Thing Photography - This has got to be one of the sweetest ladies on the Earth. Her kids are just gorgeous - her photography is amazing - and she just always has something nice to say to everyone. She works with so many different designers but always shows our creations off wonderfully.

Jenny of Fabric Bliss - this woman loves fabric even more than me and that is saying something. I absolutely laugh out loud with every newsletter I receive from her. She speaks to me and really has my same sense of humor. I wish I could write like her - honestly - it just comes across as if she is standing right there with you having a conversation. If you aren't on her newsletter list then you should be.

Susan of My Sweet Imaginations - she is an amazingly talented children's artist, but more importantly she has given of herself and her talent to help the Boutique Angels. Her art always graces each of our auctions when we are having a launch. I haven't seen her around the Boutique Community much lately but she always brings a smile to my face with her grace and generosity.

Lovin' Shabby Princess

2008-10-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

I must say I am now officially addicted to these adorable scrapbook desktop pages from Shabby Princess. She has a new one on her blog every month and the best thing of all......they are FREE to download. If you have Paint Shop Pro like me they are super easy to work with. I am a scrapbooker at heart but never seem to have the time. She makes me look good! It looks like I spent a lot of time on this but actually it probably took me 10 minutes to make and save to my desktop.

2008-09-22T10:59:00.001-07:00

It's time to be retired.

I hate to see the end of this dress.

I think it was my all time favorite.
It looked wonderful on Lily and I made her 3 of them.
Even Miss Lucy (a favorite customer) had more than 1.

I have about 2/3 a yard of this fabric left and need to decide what to do with it.

Do I make a tiny dress (under a 2T)
or should I make something patchwork out of it?

Help me decided by leaving a comment.

2008-09-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

Your little darling won't feel Grinchy wearing this cute and comfy holiday shirt!
Custom made for your little Who in sizes 12 month, 24m/2T, 3T, or 4T.
Click on the photo to find it - on Etsy right now!

I love Halloween!

2008-09-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

I just love autumn.
Cooler days, leaves changing, Halloween decorations.
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to decorate for....nothing gets spared, I even put the dog in a costume!

But a kiddo in cute Halloween clothing is even better.

Check out this fun little Tshirt dress that I have listed on eBay.

Halloween Dress