Benefit Party for Evan

One of Pat's co-workers has been nice enough to offer to host a benefit party for Evan at his house!! We are so excited! Also two other co-workers are working really hard to help plan this party. I am amazed at the love and support that Evan's condition has brought our way. The party is set for January 16th!! Just 2 1/2 weeks before we leave for Evan's first surgery. That's right... we only have about 6 weeks left before our baby goes in for his first surgery. I'm such a nervous wreck! I have so many questions... Can I wash his hair with the expanders in? I would think so considering they will be in for eight weeks:) Do I need to use a special kind of shampoo? I'm sure all of my questions will be answered in Chicago:) I'm also sure I will have a million more:) Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!! Next year brings a lot of challenges for our family, but I'm sure there will be lots of exciting things to come as well:) Happy Holidays!!

Just too cool:)

Evan just melts my heart!! He is such a happy little baby:)

Evan Met Santa:)

Surgery Dates

Well, it's confirmed. Evan's first surgery is scheduled for February 4, 2011 in Chicago. I thought I would be excited to have a date confirmed, but I'm actually more nervous and scared than anything. I pray that the surgeries go as planned and we do not have to deal with infections or any other problems. Mary, please hold Evan tightly in your arms during his surgery. Give him lots of hugs and kisses for me and tell him that mommy will be there when he wakes up.

Cookbooks are in!!!

We are very excited about Evan's cookbook! It turned out better than we expected:) There are 146 pages of recipes that were sent in by people from all over plus a section in the back that includes things such as: Pantry Basics, Herbs & Spices, Measurements & Substitutions, Quick Fixes, etc…  We hope you enjoy them and thanks again to all that have ordered one. It really means a lot to our family!!

Life is BUSY!

So I know its been awhile since I updated our blog, crazy how busy life can be. Evan is 5 months old now, and Zach will be 3 in February! The seasons have definetly changed, and winter is knocking on the door. We got our first snow yesterday so now we're counting the days until next spring...ha ha. We had an early 6 month check up for Evan at Childrens Hospital here in Denver and everything seems to be going as planned. We are headed to Chicago the first week of February for Evan's first surgery and should be up there for 10-14 days. Not really looking forward to Chicago in February! But it will be good to get this first surgery behind us.

The cookbooks are being shipped to us this weekend! Its pretty exciting to think that after all of the efforts from friends and family to get this thing together, its finally going to be here. The books will be over 150 pages with 400 recipes and have a hard cover with a cute picture of Evan in a pot on the cover surrounded by veggies and wearing a little chefs hat.  Can't wait to get the box here flip through one of them!

It's been a long time!

Sorry it's been so long since I've been on here. Life has been a little busy lately:) Since I was last on here, we have done so much!! We now have a confirmed surgery date for Evan. That's both exciting and scary all at the same time.

I submitted the cookbook today!!! YEAH!!!! That book was stressing me soooooo much. I'm so nervous about how it's going to turn out, but I'm super excited that it's done and both of my boys will always have a little something from mommy and daddy.

My sister and her husband came in for a short visit. I always love having her here. It's so nice to get to see them even if it's for a short time. My father-in-law will be here on Friday so we'll have another busy house this weekend:) I also get to go to a baby shower for a friend of mine:) I ordered her a cake last weekend and I think it's going to be so awesome!! That is if it looks like it did in the picture:)

Zach and Evan are doing great!! Evan is growing so fast! He is only 4 months old and wearing 9 month clothes!!! He's going to be as big as Zach in no time:) We did pictures for the cookbook last week and I wanted both Zach and Evan on the cover but Zach is currently refusing all photos. Go figure:) Oh well, we got some really cute shots of Evan. I'll try to get some of them up soon. Well, I have to go change a diaper:) I'll try to be better about keeping this blog updated. I hope everyone is doing great! I look forward to getting the cookbooks back and sending them out to everyone that has ordered one:)!!

A Good Day!

Today we went to a birthday party. It was nice to spend time with good friends. Zach got to play and Evan got to sleep:) Of course I had to hold him the whole time:) It was a good day:)

Evan's MRI

Just an update... Evan had an MRI done yesterday of his brain and spine. We got good news this morning:) His MRI came back normal! Now, we don't have to worry about seizures:) Thank God! We do still have to have it removed, but this was some welcomed good news for us:) Thank you to all who were thinking about our little Evan yesterday and praying for him!!

My Boys

The Beginning of Evan's Journey

Our son Evan was born May 21st of this year with a very rare skin condition on his scalp called a Congenital Melanocytic Nevus (CMN). This is a fancy name for a birthmark that has the chance of turning cancerous. So his CMN needs to be removed.


We have found a great surgeon who has a lot of experience removing CMN’s in small children. His name is Dr. Bauer and he’s located in Chicago, Illinois. Evan will need two surgeries. They will start in January and the whole process will last about 3-4 months.

We’re making a cookbook as a fundraising effort to help us pay for the travel, hotel, medical expenses, etc... But we need your help!! We really need recipes!! I’d potentially love to have around 400. We can use any type of recipe: appetizer, drink, main dish, side dish, vegetable, dessert…anything! You can contribute 1 or 10! They’ll all be used! Our goal is to have the cookbook submitted for publishing by the first of October so we can have it back by Christmas. Evan's cookbook is available for purchase immediately! Since Evan's surgeries start in January and the cookbooks will not be in until December, we will be taking orders and collecting money now and delivering the cookbook as soon as it comes in. This is a really big task for us but we know it can be done. If you would like to help, please email your recipes no later than September 20th to help4evan@gmail.com In the subject line please tell me what type of recipe(s) you are sending (main dish, dessert). This will help me organize them. Also, feel free to name each of your recipes. For example, Debra's Delicious Casserole:)

If you would like to enter your recipe directly into the cookbook, please go to the following website:

http://www2.typensave.com

Contributor Name – Please enter your name here so everyone will know this is your recipe
Group Login – help4evan
Password – help4evan

Once you login, on the left side of the page at the top, you will see a link that says “Add Recipe”. Click on this and add your recipe to Evan’s cookbook.

If you prefer to email your recipe to help4evan@gmail.com I will be more than happy to enter it for you

We are also in the process of creating a blog for you to go to and get updates on how Evan is doing. There will be a link to order the cookbook as well as a link to donate if you want. I will send out another email letting everyone know once that site is up and running. Your help will allow us to get our little Evan the best treatment we could find and ensure he has a happy and healthy life.

We need to raise around $7,000 so anything you can contribute (recipe and/or donation) would be greatly appreciated!!

If you have any questions about the cookbook or about CMN’s please don’t hesitate to ask. We’re more than happy to answer any questions you may have!

Thank you in advance for your support…and your recipes!