2 OLYMPICS GOLD MEDALIST

Tonight at track practice there was a little surprise.. really a big one.. Jeremy Wariner. Jeremy Wariner was in the Olympics and won 4 Olympic medals... 3 gold and 1 silver. He is the third fastest competitor in the history of the 400 m. He is a Texan and from Arlington, I believe. He trains here in our town. I do not go to track practices because it is usually so hot. However, if I would have known he was going to be there.. I would have totally made an exception. But we had no idea, so here are the 4 pictures Ryan took with his phone. It's all I have. Ok, so I really didn't know of him before now.. but now that I do know of him and his accomplishments, I am amazed. And Bryson is in awe that he was able to meet him, therefore mommy is in awe and wants an overload of pictures. And he totally had a $120,000 in the parking lot. I would have also liked to get a picture of that. I know I know, I'm crazy. But it's not every day that you see a $120,000 car where we live. From what Ryan told me, he is very nice and talked to all the boys that will be running in the State track meet. He even let the boys ask questions... one of the boys asked when he started running.. and his answer was "16"! That was a shock considering he won his first Olympic medal at age 20. WOW!!!

above: Jeremy Wariner talking to the boys

above: Bryson on the far left in the bleachers, Reggie Witherspoon in the red shirt, and Jeremy Wariner in the white shirt. Now just a little info on Reggie Witherspoon (in the red shirt), he also ran and won a gold medal in the Olympics. He is actually one of Bryson's coaches. He has told Bryson time and time again that he is awesome and has lots of potential to run in college. Of course Bryson is giddy over that.

above: Bryson in the stands on the left, the 8-14 year olds that will be running in the state track meet, Reggie Witherspoon, and a few other coaches that run track in a big college in our town.

And here is everyone again. So they are not the best of pictures.. I would liked to have gotten one of Jeremy Wariner facing the camera (ha!) but this will have to do. Maybe he will be at the state track meet? Not sure, but I will sure have my camera ready and hopefully I can get a shot of Bryson with him. Needless to say, Bryson was thrilled. Since he is so into sports he is so into these men that are so big and so known in each and every sport.

As far as us girls.. we have been mellow lately. The heat is horrible so we stay cooped up inside all day. Bentley has been pretty fussy the past couple of days, I am hoping it gets better. It's so hard to see her not happy.

MIX UP

So there hasn't been much going on here.. we are having our same hot days so we are limited to staying inside, or swimming. Bentley is sweet as always... she has started taking her diaper off herself, so I have to make sure there is always something covering her. Luckily we have not ran into a big mess with this yet! Keyword: yet! She is clapping all the time, and saying YAY all the time. She is becoming more verbal sometimes saying "bye" and trying other words. Brenna is not up to much.. just swimming and enjoying summer. Bryson he has been swimming and going to track practices getting ready for the state track meet that is soon approaching. He has also practiced with a baseball team that has been put together for a benefit. There is a local mom that has been diagnosed with cancer. Our community has put together a baseball tournament to help raise money. We are not sure of the weekend this will take place but we are very happy to be apart of something so special. I will post more about this as I find more out.

In case you are wondering... I am still bike riding and eating well. I started Monday.. my younger sister and I are riding bikes together and doing 6.5 miles every day. It has been really nice but extremely hard at the same time. There is not anywhere good in my neighborhood to ride bikes because we live near a highway (small highway) and I rather not ride there. So I have been going to my parents everyday. They live further in the country where there is gravel and hills. Just a short portion is gravel but it is definitely one of the hardest parts. The rest is paved but has many many hills. These two things make it so hard, but when I finish I am thrilled and feel so good. Today we rode 7.5 miles. Have I ever mentioned how wonderful my husband is.. I take a water bottle that hangs on my bike, but it is gone about half way... so my husband is so kind to bring me another bottle of water when I'm out. ha! Sounds bad I know.. but when the temperature is 102 (in the evening) when you are riding it's extremely important to stay hydrated. He makes me smile!!! So things are good here, and hopefully I can stick with this. I really enjoyed hearing your experiences and workouts your prefer. One that I am interested in adding is Zumba, and one of you suggested it. Does anyone else do this? I think it looks fun!

I will update with pictures of the kids tomorrow. Also a few days ago we were informed about a benefit that our neighbors are putting on for Bentley. Her granddaughter sings and she will be having a concert and bake sale in our town. These are very sweet people and we are so blessed to have people like this not only in our lives, but that we can call our neighbors.

WORKOUT

We have had so much fun lately. Sunday we all played outside for hours as a family.. with the exception of taking turns inside with Bentley. It hasn't stopped ever since. Playing all day every day has really opened my eyes and has shown me just how out of shape I am. I have always been so athletic and I have always enjoyed working out and doing sporty things myself. BUT once you have kids, all the time for yourself seems to disappear. I cannot tell you how many times I have tried to "diet" or "work out" all to quit within days. Then it's always.. "I'll start tomorrow.." over and over and over. Then wow, you wake up and see who you have become. Again, I'm talking about me. Since this super fun active weekend.. I know now that I am more ready than ever to do this. Yesterday I started eating healthy and working out... my form of working out (this time) is bike riding. I love riding bikes.. great workout and my focus is not on working out it is on enjoying outside, nature, etc. so I really don't notice how hard and long I am working out for. I know it's only been 2 days, but so far so good. I of course have not seen change yet within me.. but I do on the scale. And that also helps encourage me to keep going. So right now, I am really excited!

Are you dieting? Working out? What are you doing or what have you done that works? I would love to hear your stories/experiences...

THREE THINGS ABOUT ME - BLOG HOP

Doing the blog hop!!

Three things you did not know about me:

1. 6 years ago I worked in cardiology at our local hospital.. never would I have imagined I would be blessed with a heart baby. That is also where I got Brenna's name from. We hardly ever worked with children because they are sent to children's hospitals.. but one little girl that came through had the name Brenna. I fell in love. So Brenna is named after another sweet heart child. Pretty ironic. In addition.. because there were hardly any children that came through, I was CLUELESS about babies and heart defect.. so when Bentley arrived and we were told about her heart, I knew nothing at all... it was very new to me and completely different than anything I had ever worked with.

2. Not that this is specifically about me, but I find it very neat. Bryson was born on the 19th of one month, Brenna was born on the 19th of another month, and Bentley.. I like to think she was suppose to have been a 3rd 19th day of the month baby. She was born on the 20th of another month.. but my water broke on the 19th and the hospital sent me home (the test came up negative so they did not think my water broke). I went in first thing in the morning they confirmed my water did break the night before and they should have kept me.. and if they did they would have pushed the labor because there were some small things going on with Bentley. So medically she should have been born on the 19th and I would have 3 19th babies. BUT God had other plans, and they couldn't have been more perfect. Miss Bentley was born on August 20th and will be having her 1st birthday very soon. tear!!!

3. Growing up I always wanted to move a way and work with dolphins. Ha! so typical right. Who would have ever thought this small town girl.. would marry her high school sweetheart and be blessed with 3 amazing children, and become a stay at home mom. I couldn't imagine it being any different right now! God is good and I am so in love with my life.

SO SERIOUS - BLOG HOP

I took this photo a few weeks back along with many others. But this is one of my favorites. Bentley is so serious and curious. She loves sitting in the grass.. defintely not crawling.. but loves sitting.. and playing with the grass and leaves. I also love the fact that I can see the top of her scar from surgery. I know as she gets older she will be trying to hide it and cover it up.. but right now it seems to peek through every outfit and it is such an amazing story and reminds me just how strong my baby girl is. I can't help but to smile. She's so amazing!

I have lots of pictures from this weekend and even a video of Bentley swimming for her first time. I will be posting about these this week.

SOMETHING NEW

Has anyone ever tried these? Bentley did for the first time a couple of days ago and she absolutely LOVES them! I do too! We have been buying the little Gerber puffs (look like real ceral) that melts in your mouth, and she does like those.. but these are new here so we just had to give them a try. They are a little bigger, they feel hard and chalky.. I was scared to give one too her at first, so Brenna tried one for me first so we could make sure they melt quick enough.. and she even liked the flavor. ha. Bentley likes these even more, they seem to have more flavor and they are less messier (is that a word? it doesn't sound right). The Gerber puffs can get really messy once mixed with drool. ha! And these don't. So I have a feeling we will be buying these regularly. Silly post I know, but I just had to mention these for you other moms with babies Bentley's age or who will be soon. Things like this are great and so helpful at home, or while on the go!

Off topic here... I have never mentioned my j-o-b before, partly because the last few months I have spent most time preparing for Bentley's surgery and did not want any distractions. I wanted to focus on everything we were going through so I took a few months off. Since Bentley is doing so well with recovery I have decided to go ahead a slowly start back. Some of you already know, but if you do not.. I am a web designer. I have my own website but I decided to start a blog as well.. that way I can post what's going on there.. there. You can find it by clicking the button below. Very soon I will be giving away a free blog design once a month, so you can read more about that by clicking my button below!

NOT ME MONDAY

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Remember how Brenna lost a tooth last week... we REALLY did not lose it. I mean we did not physically lose her tooth and could not find it. Once we pulled her tooth I did not just set it on the table to wait for bed.. Bentley was sleeping, Bryson and Daddy were at track practice, and Brenna was then playing.. perfect moment for me to do some speed cleaning. I did not just wipe down the table I previously placed her tooth on.... then I did not proceed to vacume.... the same room! At bed time, Brenna asked for her tooth so we could place it nicely under her pillow... my jaw dropped because I did not do any of the above. I did not ask Brenna to play a bit longer so I could find the tooth.. or not.. I first did not crawl on my knees all around the table looking.. no tooth.. I then debated to search the trash can or vacume? I went with the vacume, ha! And there was her pearly white tooth!!! YES!!! We then wrapped it up and placed it under her pillow where it was safe and sound. When show woke up, the tooth fairy brought her a very generous prize.

I'm guilty.. I totally did all of the above, and felt really bad.

ARE WOMEN BORN THIS WAY

Bentley's incision is looking wonderful! The infected area, is definitely clearing up quickly and nicely. Thank you so much for the prayers! I cannot believe how big she is getting.. I am serious.. she is getting THICK! I love it! I PROMISE I will post pictures later today!

A few days ago I came across this video while reading Drama Mama's blog. I thought it was hilarious. I cannot watch it without laughing uncontrollably. It is titled "Are Women Born This Way"... too funny! I just had to show Ryan because he is always giving me a hard to for talking so much. ha!!!



I'll post again later today... have a good day ya'll!!!

WHO WOULD HAVE EVER THOUGHT

This stuff look familiar? Too familiar to us! Who would have ever thought that after Bentley's heart surgery we would get to go back to Similac Advance. Ahhh, we are loving it!! For those of you that are familar with this knows just how expensive it is...

Bentley had excessive crying and spit up with ALL formula except for this one. With Similac Alimentum, she was a happy baby with a little spit up.. well after her heart surgery (a little over 3 weeks ago) we noticed that she never once spit up.. when she normally does just a little. So a few days ago we thought we would try Similac Advance again... and who would have ever thought that her heart would have been connected to this excessive crying/spitting up/formula issue. Bentley is now back on Similac Advance and doing perfectly!!! YAY!!!

Now for those of you that have to use this formula like we did.. know just how expensive this stuff cost. Bentley would only take the ready to feed which is even more. But I do want to let you know that some health insurances cover a portion of the cost. Ours refused, we even fought it because of Bentley's heart condition.. she did medically need this.. her pediatrician even fought the denial.. but they still refused. So we gave up. But if you have to use Alimentum, I would defintely give your health insurance a call, it would be worth a try!!

ABC's

I'm here!!! We have had one busy weekend. I usually post at night (thats when I have more time), but I have not even had a minute to look at blogs until today.. and only for a minute.. so maybe this will hold you over until tonight. A little about me I got from Stafford Stories. I have so much to blog about but not enough time right now to decide exactly what or upload pictures. But I can tell you there will be a give-a-way in tonights post and pictures!! Until then, hope you enjoy getting to know me a little better.

A - Age: My birthday is TODAY!
B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: Laundry.. thankfully Ryan DOES help with this one.
D - Dog's name: No dog here
E - Essential start your day item: Water
F - Favorite color: pink or black.. I know, I know.. not so original but it's my fav.
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5'4"
I - Instruments you play: I played the flute in junior high school
J - Job title: Web Designer & SAHM (stay at home mom)
K - Kid(s): 3 (so blessed)
L - Living arrangements: Our house in Texas.
M - Mom's name: Debbie
N - Nicknames: No nicknames, but Ryan's nickname for me is "beautiful". Too sweet!
O - Overnight hospital stay: When I gave birth to my 3 amazing children, and just a couple weeks ago when Bentley had her heart surgery.
P - Pet Peeve: Smacking, slurping, crunching, etc.. any noises while eatting. eekkk!
Q - Quote from a movie: Oh that is actually a hard one for me. I love movies, but I refuse to watch a movie twice. I just can't get into it again.. so those types of things really don't stick in my head.. I am sure there is one but not off the top of my head.
R - Right or left handed: Right
S - Siblings: 2 Sisters.. Michelle (older) & Nickey (younger)
T - Time you wake up: 6:30am.. okay so that is what my alarm is set on.. I do push snooze a couple of times.
U - Underwear: Yes I wear them!
V - Vegetable you dislike: Carrots
W - Ways/Reasons you run late: Kids
X - X-rays you've had: teeth & chest
Y - Yummy food you make: Peanut Butter Fudge
Z - Zoo animals you like: Monkey's

... I'm going to go enjoy my birthday with my family now!!! No big plans, just happy to be spending it at home with my family, not at the hospital like we thought it would be!!!

WHERE ARE YOU FROM

We are blown away by the kindness of all of you. There are so many of you that we do not know and are coming to us with open arms.. and so many of you that we do know and doing the same. We are so grateful for all of you. I mean really.. we are absolutely amazed! Words cannot even express how thankful we are for all your support and prayers!

We want to know where you are from. You don't have to go in detail.. state/country only would be great. I just want to know where all our bloggin' friends are from. If you have never commented here before, we want to hear from you too! Don't be shy! I am going to send one person that comments a couple of Bentley's Bracelets... color is your choice. I will use random.org for this and let you know in a couple of days who the selected one is. All you have to do is comment!

We are TEXANS! My husband is from Kansas but moved here when he was in high school.. we met in high school and have been together ever since! Our wedding anniversary is actually on May 25, we will be in the hospital with Bentley while she recovers.

Also, if you are located in the Central Texas area.. my best friend put together one awesome raffle for Bentley. There will be OVER 30 winners. You can go to her blog to check it out and contact her if you would like to buy raffle tickets.

Bentley's bows have been a HUGE success.. thank you Noelle with Glam R Baby!! I can't wait to take Bentley's pictures in the bows.. if you haven't seen them yet, go check them out. They are too cute for words!! Really, they are!! Brandi with B4 Photography, works closely with Noelle.. she took the fabulous pictures of Bentley's bows. She has decided to donate 10% of all of her session fees in the month of June to Bentley for her medical fund. Isn't that amazing! This is just one more person that has gone above and beyond for Bentley. And Bentley is wearing Faith Baby in the picture above. They were so kind to send her this sweet onesie!! We love it!! Thanks you guys!

Don't forget.. tell me where you live!!

TWITTER & BRACELETS

If you didn't catch it in my last post, I have finally decided to start a Twitter account for those of you that have been asking.. I agree with you, I think it will be much easier to update while in the hospital for Bentley's surgery. We are now 3 weeks away.. my plans for updating is to twitter updates throughout the day, then maybe one post on here at the end of the day. I can already tell you I am going to be a basketcase during all this.. so if I am unable to post and twitter I will have someone do it for me.. probably my best friend Brittany. But there will be updates on twitter and my blog.

You can find and follow me on Twitter here or http://twitter.com/Crystal525

All bracelets have been shipped and you should get yours in any day now (maybe a little longer for out of the US). We would love you to send us picture(s) of you and anyone else wearing Bentley's Bracelets! I am going to post them on here, and link them back to your blog.. so please if you email me a picture of you wearing your bracelets, also send your blog url so I can link them together. If you don't have a blog, that's okay too, we still would love to post your pictures!! Thanks again for all your support!! If you are interested in buying some of Bentley's bracelets, they are are in stock and ready to ship out today.. just go here to find out how!

Also, it is NIAW (National Infertility Awareness Week) go here to my dear friend Tiffany Pifer's blog to read more information. We went to school together and she has been trying to conceive for 3 years now. Please keep her in your prayers and head over to look at her blog when you get a chance.

JUST STUFF

• Sorry I have been MIA. We are now just 4 weeks away from Bentley's surgery and if we are not at practices or games, we have been trying to mark things off our to-do list for May 20, surgery.
• 1 Shipment of Bentley's Bracelets have arrived and on on their way to you. If your bracelets were not shipped with this shipment, our second shipment will be here by Friday and they are definitely with that one and will be shipped out as soon as they arrive. Sorry for the delay, the bracelet company ran into some problems.
• I will be taking Bentley to the Dr. later this week to check her weight and oxygen, updates on that soon. But she is doing wonderfully. Actually, so wonderful.. there was a "first" yesterday.. I'll post later with pictures.. it's hard to believe because she is so darn tiny but this girl has proven to be one of the strongest, inside and out. Such a miracle. Any guesses what the "first" might be?
• There is still something fun coming to announce.. remember the boutique that has contacted us in hopes to help Bentley? We should hear something soon and I will let you know. There have also been a couple of other boutiques that have contacted us so might be more news coming.. not sure yet. And last but not least, my best friend Brittany has been working on some things to help Bentley with, we will be announcing that soon as well.
• Twitter coming soon.
• Do any of you know where to buy some cute leg warmers for Bentley? I believe this will be about the only thing she will be able to wear in the hospital, for the first few days anyway. I have came across them before online but do not remember where.

I hope to post again later today with pictures of the kids and Bentley's new "first". If not today, tomorrow. And thank you for your emails, comments, and prayers, please keep them coming. These next few weeks are going to be some of the hardest.

NEW BUTTON, NEW NAME

Notice a new prayer button on your page? Nope, not new.. it's Bentley still, just a new look! I had to add her pretty little face to it. Also being a web designer I tend to get tired of my designs quicker than normal. I had to keep the brown zebra and pink though.. love it! So this is it for now... this one will probably be here for a while since we are getting a little closer to surgery. We are now less than 5 weeks away from Bentley's surgery.

You may also notice I have changed my blog title. It is now "You and Me Plus Three" The url changed too.. you can get here by going to http://www.youandmeplusthree.com/ so be sure to add the new url to your favorites! Or of course if you are following us then no need to update anything, blogger has changed it for you. About the name.. remember back when I was getting ideas for names.. well I loved many many of them but had to go with something shorter for Bentley's Bracelets. They only allowed so many letter spaces. But I did say I would send our little suprise coming to the one I went with.. since it didn't work out, I chose one that I LOVED to pieces. "He's got her whole heart in His hands" I love love love that.. so Misty I want to send you a couple of Bentley's bracelets. If you get a chance email me the colors and your shipping address.

I am thinking about twitter.. I think it might be nice while we are in the hospital. Do you have twitter? Do you like it?

PS.. no I did not login to your blogger and change your button.. anytime I change her button it will automatically change it on your side. Pretty nice, huh!

I HEART FACES

Here is one of my beautiful daughters.. Bentley! Happy Easter!

Be sure to head on over to i heart faces to check out all of the beautiful face entries this week!

NEW NAME... I NEED HELP

Ok, so I will be changing my blog name soon.. As you see it is not very original anyway.. When I made this blog my intentions were to keep family and friends updated on Bentley now and while we are in the hospital during her OHS (open heart surgery). When I started my blog I did not know anything about blogger and I definitely did not think I would meet so many new great and amazing people. I am so thankful and blessed that I have found you all.. and I hope I get to meet many more of you!

Now about the new name... I am needing a little help. I want it to be something cute and original. I don't think I want it to have our last name in it... and I am stuck.. I think it would be cute to have "heart" in it for the obvious reasons.. but if you are new here "heart=love" and "heart=Bentley's heart" but I can't think of anything.. For example.. "I heart my family".. "I heart my kids" ok so I am not so creative when coming up with things like this. ha. That is why I am asking for your help!! Do you have any ideas? I want to hear!!! Even if you don't add "heart" but think of something cute, share it with me.. even if you have never commented, share it with me, even if you are completely new to my blog, share it with me!! You are all so great!!!! THANK YOU!!!!

PS.. My sisters and Mom are working on a project for Bentley, I don't want to give details just yet.. BUT if I do decide to go with one of your ideas, I will send you (the person with the chosen name) a little somethin' when they are finished! It's not a big "thing" but the reason behind it is "HUGE" and am so "IN LOVE" with it..

NOT ME! MONDAY, STELLAN STYLE

Not Me! Monday, Stellan Style! Check other Not Me! Monday, Stellan Style here.

My heart broke when I first heard about Stellan. I am a heart mom myself so to see anyone else struggle with this it hurts, badly. So because of this..

♥ I did not break down and cry.. I mean bawl when I read that first post and EVERY post!

♥ I did not make Stellan a prayer button, so everyone could show their love and support.

♥ I did not get so excited I jumped up and down when I received personal emails from MckMama regarding the prayer button, she is amazing, and inspires me in so many ways.

♥ I did not love every single picture she posted of sweet Stellan nor those precious dimples!

♥ I do not refresh my computer a thousand times a day anxiously awaiting for a new update.

♥ I do not pray for this sweet sweet boy and his beautiful family EVERY day!!!

UPDATE: I just read on my seet friend Misty's blog Stellan is in Critical Condition. PLESE PRAY!

FIX-IT FRIDAY

So I have recently came across i ♥ faces and all I can say is.. WOW! Their blog is full of FUN! They are having a fix-it friday.. they give you the before photo and you edit it the best you can. Well here we go.. below you will see the before photo they provide you with and below that you will see the two photos I edited using PSP9.

(before) (after-1)
(after-2)

Do not forget about the give-a-way! Today is the last day. Anyone can enter, go there now before it's too late!

MOVIE NIGHT

... or week! So the weather has been a little icky around here and expected to be all weekend. It really is nice, we need all the rain we are getting and that also means NO PRACTICES! Yes, no practices all week, ahh a very much needed break! But, it is Spring Break so we are left with not much to do. We have been watching movies the past few days and looking for more! I need a little help from you.. what are you favorite movies?

We love movies that we can watch as a family, we also like to watch a movie once the kids are in bed. So let me know any and all of your favs!

A friend of mine, Angie.. posted about a movie called "FIREPROOF" a few weeks back. She had so many positive things to say about it. So I have been trying to rent this movie all week, but it hasn't been available!


So let me know, what are your favorites? What are you kids favorites?

FASSION FOR LESS - BENTLEY UPDATE

Kelly, started a post on fashion for less today. It's good one, tons of tips. With everything going on with the economy, kids, Bentley's medical bills, and regular daily life spending.. I find it very helpful! Now lets hope she does a "Kids Fashion for Less" soon! ha. That would be fun too!

There have been a lot of you emailing checking on Bentley since I have not posted about her in a few days. She is doing wonderful! It is such a miracle, I just pray that she can stay this well until surgery. And as far as the baby food.. it's still about the same.. she likes the fruits better, but still just not that interested. I guess we will just have to give it more time. Thanks to all of you that have been praying for Bentley, emailing or commenting with support. I cannot even begin to tell you how much it means to me. She is one special girl, that is soon going to go through the hardest time of her life, as are we.