Welcome!

SOFIA

If this is your first time to Sofia's blog, Welcome! To read from the beginning scroll down to the post titled "Sofia" then scroll up to read the previous postings.

Thank you to all who have stuck by us through it all and continue to follow us on our journey. I don't get the chance to update much, so to be notified when I do update please enter your email address to the right.

Please keep reading for updates about Sofia, The Parker Reese Foundation and other CDH babies. I thank you all for your continued prayers for Sofia and all CDH babies. God Bless

Sponsor a Night

Imagine caring for an entire family by simply buying and wearing a t-shirt. That’s what “Sponsor a Night” is all about. Purchase your $16 t-shirt today and wear it to show your support for the families staying at Parker’s House. Each $16 purchase shares one night with a family that calls the House, “home.”

Click here to see the t-shirts

If you are interested please email me at catherine@theparkerreesefoundation.com for more information and/or an order form.

You may pay through PayPal, check or cash.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Sofia!

These past three years have flown by so quickly...apart from the first 7 1/2 weeks! I still remember my pregnancy and Sofia's hospital stay like it was yesterday. That was the hardest time of my life, but also the happiest time of my life, especially her Birthday! She has changed so much and is so big! She is potty trained, in ballet school and is extremely excited about going to Disney World! For her birthday we are having a Neverland themed party at our house. It was supposed to be outside, but the wonderful Texas weather had other plans for us! So, since it is very muddy we have moved the party indoors, canceled the bouncy castle and figured out some games to keep the kids entertained inside. Sofia is just so excited that she gets to dress up in her Tinkerbell costume that she wore for Halloween again! We have asked the kids to come dressed in the Pixie and Pirate best, so I can't wait to see them all dressed up!

I need to figure out how to add videos cause I have some really funny ones of Sofie! She knows that she is a very special girl. She lifts her shirt or dress and rubs her scar and asks me what it is. I have always just told her that that is where she is special. So, the other day she asked me and I said that is where you had an ouchy...well she got so upset and told me no it wasn't an ouchy that that was her special! She also knows where her central line scar is and we talk about that one because her Grandfather has one and we didn't want her to be scared of it so she knows that her and Grandpa are special.

She is very loving and always tells me she loves me, but she doesn't say I love you, it's always, "I love you , too!" It's so funny cause she will just say it out of nowhere! The best thing she has ever said to me though was just a few weeks ago and she came home from the weekend with her dad and she gave me a hug and kiss and said, "Mommy, you're my happy." I just about cried!

I hope you enjoy the recent pics of Sofie, the soccer one is being published in something that is handed out at the games in Liverpool, England with a special Birthday wish for Sofie and the other is one of the ones that I took to put on her invitations. The last three are of Nana (my mom), Sofie and I last Saturday at Rainforest Cafe celebrating Nana's Birthday! We were in a silly mood!

I will update soon and post some pics from the party tomorrow. I hope everyone is well. God Bless

Happy Birthday my sweet Sofia! I love you baby girl.

Blogging Again!!!

I have decided that I really want to start blogging again. I have had several people tell me that they still check for updates and wonder why I stopped. So, we're back! I just bought a new computer, so I need to transfer all my pics over so that I can add some here. Sofia is so big now! I can't believe she will be 3 in a little over a month, OMG! I will have a full (but very long) update on here by Monday, so just give me the weekend to get it all typed! I love you all and I am still and always will be so very thankful for all of your support! God Bless

Love, Catherine & Sofia

Parker's Birthday

To Sweet Baby Girl, Parker, I wish you a very very Happy Birthday! I know that you are so proud of your Mommy for all that she is doing in your name. I am so honored to be a part of The Parker Reese Foundation. Many great things will be done in your name to honor and remember you and all other CDH kiddos.

Remember your Mommy today and be with her, I know how much she loves and misses you. I hear you are getting some great cupcakes! I wish I was there to try one! Mommy will just have to buy more in August when Lauren and I come to visit!

Jes and Ashley, the two of you are always in my prayers especially today and tomorrow. We love you guys!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Sweet Angel!

Love, Catherine, Yvonne & Sofia

Audrey's Birthday!

HAPPY 2nd Birthday, Miss Audrey!

I hope you have a wonderful day you little Super Star!

Canada Update:

Sorry it has taken me so long to update. I really had some issues with Sofia when I got back and have pretty much stayed away from the computer and everything else to devote all my time to her. She is doing much better now, though.

I had a blast in Canada with Jes and Lauren. Lauren was so totally surprised! I think it is so funny though cause other than the scary movie we rented the last night we were there and of course Grey's Anatomy all we ever watched was FRIENDS! As soon as we woke up it was on, and we went to bed with the TV timer on so that we could hear it as we fell asleep! The trip was too short though and we will definately make it longer next year! Yes, we are doing this annually! We have decided that we will get together at least 3 times a year, so that way we can all visit eachothers home. Lauren and I are planning our trip to North Carolina for August and I can't wait. Only difference is I can't do another trip without Sofia. Plus I am staying at least a week so we can go to the lake house and to the beach. I am so excited.

I know this wasn't much, but I am tired, so I will update more later with pics.

God Bless

Cat

We're in Canada, EH!

We are here! Jes and I flew into Canada yesterday to visit Lauren. She was expecting Jes, but I was a total surprise! It was the funniest thing, she had no idea! Today was Lauren's last day of school and she is officially a teacher! Yeah! Congratulations Lauren! We are on our way out to get pedicures, but we will all post pics soon I'm sure! It is beautiful here and the weather is wonderful. Hope you are all doing well. God Bless

Love, Cat

Welcome Baby Jadon!

Congratulations to my brother, Brian, and my sister-in-law, Kelly, on the birth of their baby boy Jadon! Jadon was born this evening and I rushed to go and get some food for my SIL who hasn't eaten all day adn by the time I got to the hospital they had taken Jadon to the nursery and wouldn't return him to their room for at least 3 hours. So, I did not get to hold him, but I did get to see him in the window. He is so cute and chubby! You can visit Jadon's Blog to see pictures and videos of him.

Sofia's birthday weekend was a lot of fun, ut I will have to tell you all about that later ccause it is late and I have an early flight to catch in the morning. I am pretty nervous cause this is going to be my first time away from Sofia that lasts more than 24 hours. I feel bad for her. I feel like she is going to be so confused, but again I will go into details about that later. She has just spent 4 of the last 7 nights with her dad for the first time. That was a big change for both of us. He will be moving here in August, so we have to prepare for this to happen every other weekend. My poor baby. I never thought that I would have children that would havet o go between their father and I. It really sucks!

At the same time though, I am really looking forward to my trip. I know that I am going to have a lot of fun and that everything here with Sofia will be fine. I will post again from my destination to tell you all where I am at and to post pictures! I can't wait! My plane actually leaves in 7 hours, so I am going to go cuddle my baby girl and get some sleep! I will post tomorrow night or Firday morning.

Love, Cat

Happy 2nd Birthday, Sofia!

My Sweet Sofia, I can't believe that two years have already flown by. My baby girl is 2! You are my wish come true. You are my everything, my inspiration. Without you in my life, God only knows where I would be. You have helped me in so many ways I hope you never have to understand. I have grown up so much over the past 2 years and 9 months and I have you to thank for it. You were a total surprise, but a very welcomed surprise. You came to me at a very hard time in my life, but you lifted me up. You gave me that little push I needed to get my life on track. We had a very rough start, but you taught me just how precious life really is. I have met some of my best friends because of you and I thank you. You have no idea the strength you have given me! There is something about you that is very special and when you enter a room everyone knows it. It is as though everyone knows how special you truely are. I am so honored to me your Mommy and so thankful God chose me to be your Mother! You are the greatest gift ever!

Happy Birthday, my beautiful baby girl! I wish for you all of life's happiness. You deserve it! I hope you have many, many more wonderful Birthdays! Never take life for granted. I Love You, Sofia!

Love Always and Forever,
Mommy

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Thank you to all of you who have followed our long journey. I still can't believe I have had this blog for over 2 years now! I had the most wondeful slideshow that I have been working on for today and now it won't download, so I had to settle with the one I got! I will keep working on it, so check back later today.

Again, thank you all for the years of prayers for Sofia and for all CDH babies, please keep them coming! God Bless

Love, Catherine

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANA!

I would like to wish my Mom, and Sofia's Nana a very Happy Birthday, today! We love you very much!

Thank you all for your prayers for Danny and his friends. Danny is alive and we of course are totally happy. He was actually moved to a rehab this morning. He was in ICU until last Friday and then was in a critical care room with a 24 hour sitter. He has suffered short term memory loss. We would be in there for an hour and he would ask us about 5 times where he was. Then when he was told he was in an accident he started to cry. Then he would forget. Last Friday he suddenly remembered he was in an accident told everyone where they were headed to and what the were going to buy. He then asked why his 2 friends were out of the hospital and he wasn't, then realized that only one of the friends involved in the accident was there visiting him. So, the doctors said it was time to tell him that his friend had died. The friend that was driving wanted to be the one to tell him, so he did. Danny cried, but was in shock and didn't believe anyone. His brother tried to take him proof the next day, but it was a bad day for Danny. He seems to also have multiple personalities right now. He can be totally fine and be the Danny we all know and then he turns into a very mean, angry and violent person. About an hour after he was extubated he kicked me in the chest and his brother, punched his mom and a nurse and also ripped a pocket off a nurese shirt. He was like that a lot. He was actually only awake and normal for about 5 to 10 minutes an hour, the rest he was angry or sleeping. I can't imagine what he is going through. He broke pretty much all the bones in the right side of his face and two bones in his neck. They docs are most concerned with the sinuses. So, they are going to give him some time to see how he heals before surgery. Please continue to pray for Danny and that he gets his full memory back.

I promise to have all the pics that I want to put up on here before Sofia's Birthday in a week! Can you believe it, she will be 2 in one week!

I hope you are all doing well. Please remember to keep all CDH babies and families in your prayers. God Bless

Love, Cat

Prayers Needed, Please!

Tomorrow, my mom, Sofia and I will be driving up to Kansas City to a cousin of mine who is in an ICU there. Danny is 17 and was in car accident today along with 2 of his friends. One of them was killed instantly and the other was also taken to the hospital. Danny had to be airlifted to a hospital in Kansas City where he is now in critical condition. The doctor said that he has a lot of facial fractures, especially around the sinus area and that there is a lot of irritation on the brain. The Nuerosurgeon said that there is a lot of blood around his brain. He is un-responsive when the docs ask him to do things, and is having a lot of seizures.

I have know idea how long we will be there, so I wanted to give you all a quick update.

Sofia is getting so big as I am sure you can tell from the photo with the Easter Bunny. She is very bossy, already, and knows how to ignore me! Her hair still isn't very long, but long enough that I am able to do different things to it. Right now she has a sinus infection and is on antibiotics, but that is all! Thankfully! I have so many pics I want and need to add and I promise I will get to them before her birthday. Wow, I can't believe she is going to be 2 already! It is happening way too fast!

I want to say Congratulations to our friends in Turkey who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on March 24! I bet Mert is a very proud big brother celebrating his new little sister in Heaven. Congratulations Akar Family!

Also, please keep Lauren, Avery's mommy, in your prayers. She had surgery yesterday and is now home recovering. Please pray that her test results from her surgery come back with good results. Visit Lauren's blog to find out more.

I also want to wish a very belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Drew, Jackson and Avery! I am so sorry that I have been so bad at blogging lately and that I missed your birthdays. I promise I didn't forget about them, I just didn't blog. You all are always on my mind. God bless you sweet Angels. And Jackson, we can't wait to see you again, you have gotten so big!

So, Monday March 31st is Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness Day and a couple of weeks ago I received a Proclamation from Texas Governor Rick Perry. It is beautiful! I was so afraid that we wouldn't receive one before March 31st. But, we did! YEAH! So, wear your turqoise on Monday in support of CDH Awareness! I will post pictures of the Proclamation and other pics, soon.

Okay, I am off to bed. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow. I am going to work since there isn't anyone to cover me and then we are leaving right after I get off. The trip should take us about 12 o 14 hours, I hope. Please keep Danny and his friends and their families in your prayers. God Bless

Love, Catherine

P.S. For those of you in the Kansas City Area who are available, Sofia and I would love to meet you as long as Danny is doing well. Call me at 210-364-3307.

HAPPY EASTER!

Just wanted to wish you all a very Happy Easter! I promise I will post an update this within the next couple of days. God Bless

Love, Catherine, Yvonne and Sofia

Merry Christmas!

I hope that each and every one of you are having a wonderful Holiday Season! I have had an extremely busy one. I haven't spent much time with Sofia since Thanksgiving since I have been working full time and going to school in the evening. It sucks! But, I know it will all pay off soon! I will be done with school this Spring so I am excited! Other than that we are doing wonderful! Sofia had another virus last week but it was just a high fever and loss of appetite. She is feeling much better though, still not eating too much. Her daddy is in town and is this is their first Christmas together. I am happy for Sofia. It really breaks my heart that she does not have her daddy here all the time. It is nice help for me, too!

I have added a slide show with pictures from last Christmas and as soon as I finish downloading all the photos from this year I will add another Slide for this year. I am so excited about CHristmas morning. I can't wait to see the look on her face when she sees all the gifts Santa brings! I took my Mom to see Trans Siberian Orchestra last night and that was absolutely amazing! It was such a beautiful show both to hear and to see their light show. I think we will start going every year. They are here every year on the same day. I just found out the night before that they were here and bought tickets at midnight. The show was where the Spurs play and we were in the very top row! It was kinda scarey, but once TSO started it was very relaxing. Until a drunk man showed up to sit in the seat next to me and cried about how he and his girlfriend got into a fight at the door and he wasn't sure where she was. She showed up a little later, but left soon after cause he wouldn't stop crying! Very strange! I think Sofia would really enjoy to see a mini TSO show. They played for us almost 3 hours. Great concert! They even have snow!

Well, I don't have any updates, but I will read up and then post again soon. I am sorry that I have left you all hanging once again. Life should be back to normal once I finish school. I have a lot to update on and will soon!

Have a very Merry Christmas! God Bless

Love, Catherine

Update on Baby Reese

Sorry it has taken me so long, but it has taken a while for me to actually get an update. Reese's surgery for 8am was rescheduled for Thursday and then the doctor said well, actually she has done real well, lets go ahead and do it today. So, Reese went in to surgery at 1pm. The doctors came out around 2:45 and said that surgery was just about over that they were just finishing up some stitches. Reese did very well and did not require a patch. They actually said the hole wasn't as large as they had suspected. That is all I have for now. Please keep up the prayers for Reese.

Catherine

Prayers for Baby Reese

Reese is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning at 8am. Please pray that her surgery goes well and she has a quick recovery. I will update as soon asI hear how surgery went.

Cat

Welcome Reese!

Baby Reese was born this morning at 4:49am and was 6lbs 10oz. She is stable and is doing well. I had the chance to go up to the hospital this afternoon and take some stuff for her Mommy to have while at the hospital. I saw pictures of Reese and she is absouletly beautiful! She has lots of hair, more than Sofie has now! Please continue to pray for Reese as her battle with CDH begins and please keep Phillip and Zach and all other CDH babies in your prayers. God Bless

Catherine

Welcome Baby Phillip Andrew!

After my last post I went to visit other blogs and saw that Baby Phillip had been born earlier today. There is a picture of him posted to their blog. Please pray for Baby Phillip and his family as the journey with CDH begins and also for a speedy recovery for his Mommy who had to have a c-section.

Prayers for Baby Reese & Zach Update

Baby Reese's Mommy, Lauren, was taken in to be induced earlier today after some contractions during a non-stress test that showed Reese's heart rate dropping. Reese was due November 14, then they scheduled induction for November 7, but now she will most likely be here tomorrow. Lauren is actually delivering here locally and me and 2 other CDH Mommies are going to visit her tomorrow. So, please say some prayers for Reese. I will update once she has arrived!

Baby Zach seems to still be recovering well from his surgery yesterday. He is a little swollen, but that is normal. His Mommy added a video of him to their Care Page, so please visit so you can see it, too! Please also keep on praying for Baby Zach, he still needs them!

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers for all CDH babies. God Bless

Catherine

This is Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I just wanted to take a few minutes and update on Zach's surgery. So, since I am in a hurry I am going to just copy his Mommy's email. Please keep praying for Baby Zach!

UPDATE!!!!!
Surgery is over! just as i finished the last post we got the call...he is out! they had no complications, he was given a bit of fluid to keep him hydrated. his blood pressure has remained stable, his heart looks good. the only suprise was that we thought from the last mri only a portion of the liver, a small portion, was up. it turns out he was missing his whole left diaphram and the liver was nearly completely inside the chest.they were able to use muscle from his stomach i believe to close the whole. the doctor said he is doing extremly well for this situation. the next few days will be rocky since the surgery was so envasive. please keep the prayers going!! thank you all so much.
God Bless:)


Hope you all have a SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN!!! I will update later with pictures of Sofia from tonight!

Love, Catherine

Prayers for Baby Zach

Baby Zach is doing well and is stable enough that they are planning his operation for tomorrow. Please say some prayers that the surgery goes well and that Zach has a speedy recovery. I have changed the link for Zach from his mommy's My Space account to his Care Page. You can get updates from there. I will post as soon as I hear how surgery went. Thank you all so much for all your prayers. God Bless

Catherine