Around the house moments

This is where you'll find Milo most hours of the day!











Where does Daddy FIND these cool places???















The boys














I'm beginning to see Milo's resemblance to me!!!

The Gomez Family

Imagine being told that your 6 year old has a brain tumor. Imagine the questions that would come, and the flood of emotions. Imagine spending 9 months of your life separated from normalcy. Imagine living out of town away from your family so that you could be by your child’s side as they endure CAT scans, surgery, ECHO’s, EKG’s, transfusions, CHEMO, sedations and more. What parent doesn’t hold their breath when they have a child undergoing sedation? It seems so simple, yet so threatening.

And then to survive it all, and see a new life in front of you! Imagine the appreciation for life you would have, and the new found joy.


But, how? How do we enjoy this new perspective on life and move forward? Imagine the medical bills. $40000 for one of four chemo treatments. How much more for countless injections, stem cell harvesting, lumbar punctures. And all this on top of mom stopping her day care business so she could be with her boy, and dad losing time at work from his own surgeries.

The Gomez family is blessed in so many ways. I’m sure they don’t feel this financial strain will slow their beautiful family from embracing life for what it is. They have already mentioned multiple times how great this community has been. We can still do more.


There was a fundraiser organized in the fall that paid for most of the bills that arrived through to the first of the year. But now the rest are coming in. They have insurance, but it, of course, does not cover everything, nor does it cover full portions of the bills. So now it’s time for another fundraiser.


We are organizing sales of Home Interior Candles. Please contact me if you are interested in helping. Elias will get 50% of all sales. That’s exceptional for a fundraiser like this. My daughter had to sale these candles for dance once, and it paid for a full year of classes, recital fees, and costumes. These candles really do sale themselves. That and the profit return is why I chose them. Sales have already started, and orders are due back on the 14th of July, so please get back with me quickly.


Dana Hudson, 979.690.2432, dhudson96@hotmail.com

Celebrating life

What a weekend we had! Saturday we attended a party to celebrate the sweetest 6 year old boy we know, Elias Gomez' victory over cancer. It was organized by good friends at our church for the Gomez family, who have struggled through so much this past year, and have been so inspiring to us without even knowing it. Seeing Elias smile was just medicine for my heart, and so many others I know! The kids all had so much fun - there were carnival games, a clown, and lots of yummy homemade food. Dominic loaded a goody bag so full of treats that I'm thinking of opening up a candy store in the front yard. ;) It's well-hidden now, and thankfully, Dominic is very "out of sight, out of mind."

I'm including a message from my good friend Dana (who is organizing fund raising and donations for the Gomez family to help them tackle their endless medical bills) here on my blog, and if you are interesting in helping this remarkable family, please please let me know!





We came home for a short nap (well, Dominic napped, the rest of us weren't so lucky) and we dashed off to our little bud Dean's 3rd birthday party, which had a green frog theme! Dean's mama and papa did a great job hosting and provided all sorts of cool green frog games for the kids, and the parents got to talk and eat yummy yummy food. Dominic has known Dean since he was 9mths old and this family is LEAVING us this summer!!! We will miss them inconsolably!!!

We got home just in time to greet our friends Bonnie and Scott who were visiting from Austin/Lubbock and we spent the evening catching up. We love our community in town here, we are so blessed to be so surrounded by such great people. But it was nice to finally go to bed last night! ;)

Better safe than sorry - upping the privacy settings

After receiving some strange comments from blog visitors that I really do not know, I became uncomfortable in realizing that I have readers that are total strangers. Ordinarily this would be no problem, as I'm all about making new friends - but because I write about our lives, and post pictures of our family and friends, I feel obligated to respect the privacy of my family and friends. I do love that people can float about from blog to blog on blogger.com, it's a neat feature, and I totally don't mind that part at all. But long story short, I'm limited to invite 100 people to access Beata Vita, and if you haven't already been sent an invite and you would like one, please let me know!!!! I don't want to discourage my regulars from coming, even if you're just a friend of a friend of a friend :) Thanks for bearing with the update for little ole me!

Summertime

Stuck on these

Sticker books! They have provided hours of joy for us. Most learning has to be interactive for Dominic at this point, and these have really been fantastic for that. I just noticed they have an Old Testament and New Testament version! You can see the whole "line" of them on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Big-Bible-Sticker-Book-Testament/dp/1400308267/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214420669&sr=8-5

Patents pending...

Lately my mind has been on all things baby & child related, as you can see, and I'm wondering if you are like us in thinking up inventions. You know, every parent is a cook, a coach, a teacher, a nurse, a chauffer, a maid... and an inventor. Bronius and I are constantly tossing ideas out to each other that would make our lives easier as parents (which I'm glad other people are not privy to these ideas, because they'd probably roll out of their chairs laughing at half of them). But there have been some good ones! Like today, I'd really like a portable pacifier sanitizer, because I am CONSTANTLY dropping Milo's pacis and I'd rather not use those paci clips since they just get gunky and gross, and they're kind of a hazard in the first place. I have no idea how the sanitizer device would work...but don't steal my idea because I'm going to start working on it now! So spill the beans - what inventions have you "dreamed" up??? :)

Milo wiggles

An offer I couldn't refuse

After stories and prayers, I tucked Dominic in and he said...
D: "Mommy, can you lay with me down in my robot bed?"
M: "Just for a minute, then Mommy has to go to her own bed."
D: "No Mommy, your bed is too hard for you. You can sleep in my robot bed with me."
We've been reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears too much!!! :)

They grow up so fast....

Here is Milo tasting the air at the hospital 7 whole weeks ago. It was very exciting at the time. ;) Now he is more into bouncing and kicking, and "rapping" as Bronius calls it (his wild arm movements that resemble hip hop expressions). I'll have all that and more here for you but in the meantime I am trying to catch up on our video footage, so I'll be pulling out some odds and ends around here :)

Lookalikes or not?

Milo - first three pictures



















































Dominic - last three pictures

Just hanging out

The coolest fruit pops

Another product plug! Man, I'm on a roll this month! Note to self...inquire with amazon.com about commission opportunities....

This was a gift sent to us last summer by Bronius' sister Milda (who always finds the most unique gifts) and we opened them up tonight and made strawberry vanilla fruit pops, just 2 cups vanilla yogurt and about 2 cups strawberries blended together. I added a dash of milk and vanilla extract too. Frozen, healthy deliciousness in under two hours, that can coax any 3 year old out of a bath without a tantrum. And you can not beat the cool shapes of these molds!

Kel, thanks for the link tutorial, woo hoo - it worked! I had tried for months in some roundabout way that wasn't working and just gave up until you saved me!

http://www.amazon.com/Tovolo-Blue-Rocket-Pop-Molds/dp/B000G34F1Q/ref=pd_bxgy_k_img_b

A toast to the Papas

Here's a toast to all the Dads dear to us, wishing you good health, happiness and love always. We say a special prayer of remembrance for Ramunas Motekaitis, Bronius' Dad, today...and we also celebrate my wonderful, one of a kind Dad, Stephen. And of course - the world's very BEST Dad - Bronius! May God continue to shower you with all the beautiful graces that inspire you to be such a devoted father and husband, my love! Thank you for taking this journey with me by your side!!! :)

Fun and games

I found this cool brand of games by a company named Eboo. I bought Dominic a classic matching game (which occupied him for a good half hour while we cooked a fairly involved indian recipe tonight) and the animal bingo game, which we haven't played yet. The matching game is a hit so far! They have a nice selection of other creative games, and they are priced reasonably, I thought! This is a great way to beat the summer heat!

Here's the link to the games on amazon (which you have to plug into the browser since I am incompetent at including live links) http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=eboo&x=0&y=0

Worth every penny (AND calorie)

I love this company: http://www.applegatefarms.com/ (again, I am still in the dark about why links do not work on this blog!) They make all sorts of meats and cheeses which are all natural, organic and antibiotic free, and you can order their stuff online (because I have a hard time finding it in stock here in town!) I have loved their hot dogs for ages, and I tried their frozen chicken pot pie the other day - it was melt in your mouth delicious, and tasted completely fresh and homemade. This company makes eating quickly and healthily very easy! Two thumbs up from me ;)

Milo moment- 5.5 weeks old

It's tough to catch this cat awake....except at night of course!!! :)

"Cowboy Camp"

My lone ranger





























Dominic had his first day of Montessori school today! We've been calling it "cowboy camp" since the theme for the program has been early Texas history, and they are doing neat activities that center around that theme. We've been psyching him up for school since January, and he has been raring to go since then. The "mommy departure" was shockingly easy for both of us...he absconded to a corner and coyly hid from me as I tried to hug and kiss him goodbye. I snapped a few pictures for posterity on my way out, reminded him I was in fact on my way out (even though I *was* the last parent out...I'm just like my Dad!) and he just kept playing with a conch shell while the other kids got into the circle.

I came home and was not surprised by how quickly 3 hrs fly when you have a baby to nurse and a zillion house chores to catch up on. It felt incredible though to have three hours sans a busy toddler on my heels in the house, I got some things done guilt-free, while he was having fun. It's a win-win situation for us all!

I came back to school to find a rosy cheeked Dominic playing in a sandbox with another schoolmate. He was happy to see me but reluctant to come home, which made me really glad! :) On the way home, he told me they had cookies for a snack, and that his favorite job was pouring rocks in a cup, and that he was afraid of the big slide. I'm glad the first day was a smashing success! :)

All's well that ends well...

And I think we have a happy ending to a very trying month! Last weekend our little Milo spiked a fever of 101.5, and I took he and Dominic to the doctor first thing in the morning last Friday. The doctor told me to sit down, and my eyes started glazing over...I knew he was about to tell us that we needed to go to the hospital. Even though I had a hunch that this was a mere nuisance virus which Dominic had passed on to him, I felt that we needed to take the responsible course of action with Milo being so young - 4 weeks old at the time. So the medical staff proceeded with the dreaded spinal tap, and I started to feel that horrible, nauseating feeling of a parent who has completely lost control of a situation. I called Bronius to come awya from work immediately, and soon after we called Bronius' Mom who graciously came to care for Dominic and spent the rest of the weekend with him.

After a 1 hr wait to be admitted to the hospital (paperwork mix ups - very professional!) we were put on the pediatric ward in the care of a wonderful nurse who spent the 48 hrs following with us. She helped ease the blow of all that was to come....a catheter procedure, 8 painful i.v. attempts in my poor little baby's arms and legs, and then 10 antibiotic shots that had to be administered when the i.v. failed. Nightmare. I began to get mastitis in the hospital (from sleeping in a super akward position to nightnurse Milo in the hospital bed) and I had a fever, aches and chills the whole day following.

Sunday was much better...the doctor informed us that all of his lab work came up clear (which we knew it would) and that we could go home at noon. This was joyful news! Two days later however, Milo started showing the fever again. I took him in, and thankfully we did not need to be re-admitted...I took him for more bloodwork and a chest x-ray and they determined he was fine and that the evil virus just needed to run its nasty course until its demise.

The moral of the story...while we can not protect our newborns from everything, especially when we have other children at home, you can never, ever be too careful. I wouldn't wish this upon any parent or child. We will be hibernating as best we can until Milo is out of the "needs to be hospitalized if he gets a high fever" period. Nothing is worth the grief we all suffered!

So, we're very thankful that everything seems to be returning to normal around here...being at home and healthy is all I could ask for :) To frame the situation better, both Bronius and I spent considerable time thinking about children who struggle with chronic and life-threatening diseases, and practically live in hospitals. We offer our small trial up to God as an offering for all of those who suffer greatly, and for their families and communities which love and support them. Thanks be to God for good health, may we always remember to use it to carry out God's will to serve one another and to thank Him.