Courtney's Journal

Sunday…September 17, 2006*

I love you, you love me….

Yep you guessed it, Kendall had her Barney themed 2^nd birthday party on Sunday, Sept.17^th. With the rain on and off again we were pretty wore out by the time the party time arrived what with setting up and taking in side everything.

Several of the guests were not able to make it; my good friend Geneil and her little girl Ily had colds and didn’t want to take a chance at giving it to Courtney so they didn’t come. The Manning family with their two children, baby Mandy and Austin (SMA-1) were unable to make it because Austin had just gotten out of the hospital on Saturday.

Kendall did love the carousal that we rented for her; it was just like the ones at the grocery stores that you put a quarter in to ride with the three different colored horses. She enjoyed playing with little Mikey and Mia for the most part. Let’s put it like this; Kendall is not big on SHARING yet. She jumped in the jumpy thing also. We forgot to put out all the bubble machines but I don’t think anyone missed them. It was really hot and humid outside. Princess Courtney did not get to stay outside long because of the heat. She loved watching the just released new Barney DVD introducing the new dinosaur Riff. There were so many people there that I let Candace (Mommy to Kendall and Courtney) and everyone have most of the outdoor activities and I stayed with Courtney and her favorite nurse (only nurse) Jennifer inside where it was nice and cool.

The Barney cake was delicious as they always are from our Kroger near our house. The ever helpful, Aunt Shirley made her wonderful Princess Pasta Salad. By the way this recipe of Shirley’s will be coming out in a SMA recipe book in honor of our precious Princess Courtney. Shirley also made chocolate cupcakes and her yummy cheese queso chip dip. As usual we ordered way too many pizzas but Sarah like’s left over pizza since she can eat pizza any time of day. I think the party turned out well and fun was had by all.

It still seems like yesterday that I cut the umbilical cord when Kendall was born, two years ago. Time sure does fly….ahh but the memories are priceless indeed. Grandma

*Saturday…September 16, 2006*

Going to the chapel of love….

Well, I guess you are wondering about this one. We went to the wedding reception for Timothy Sandoval and his new wife Christina. We didn’t make it to the church service but had a great time at the reception. It was at a hall near to our house. We go way back with the Sandoval family. They are actually like relatives to us. I really feel old because Candace and Tim were in the first grade together and it seems like it was yesterday. Tim and Christina are high school sweet hearts and they just graduated from high school this past year. Christina was a beautiful bride, she was actually glowing. Courtney looked at Christina like she thought she was a Disney Princess. The newlyweds are expecting a baby in February. This will be the first grandchild for Tim’s parents, Noel and Annie. There was plenty of BBQ and delicious cake for everyone. The place was decorated so pretty and I bet Annie (Tim’s mom) probably did it all. Sarah caught the bridal bouquet, she was so excited. Candace (Courtney and Kendall’s mommy) danced with Kendall; they did the Cha Cha Slide. Even Courtney’s favorite nurse (only nurse) Jennifer seemed to have fun; she was doing the Boot Scootin Boggie. Courtney went up for the dollar dance with Tim; she loved watching the disco ball twirling around with the different colors. Kendall had her dance with Tim as well; I thought she might cry as he held her because she is sometimes a little shy but she seemed to enjoy the dance. Sarah had to have two dances with Tim! She came home all giggling and happy. Well, that’s it for this time, tomorrow is Kendall’s 2^nd birthday party. We are all excited, I will update all about it soon. Grandma

Monday…September 11, 2006*

Princess Courtney Update

Greeting to you all and hope everyone had a fun and safe Labor Day. All is well at the castle these days. As usual we have our daily battle with trying to schedule appointments, find out test results, ordering supplies, prescriptions, following equipment needs, endless mail and paperwork plus trying to keep up with Princess Courtney’s scheduled home visits and sneaking in a little sleep, shower or food now and then.

The big girl has a home school teacher now, or should I say several. Courtney has a teacher but we have not met her yet because the lady has had to have some kind of surgery and had to be out for six weeks. Courtney gets two – one hour visits a week. Our first teacher Mrs. Preston was so wonderful with Courtney. She only got to come out three times and two of those were interrupted by catnaps since the Princess has gotten off schedule again since she hasn’t been feeling too well. Mrs. Preston and Courtney made a Princess tiara together, added a whole page of butterfly stickers to Courtney’s sticker book and she left the makings for a photo frame for Courtney to create. She is such a kind person; she even gave Courtney a cassette of Sunday school songs. Mrs. Preston was only filling in until…………..now we have Ms. Debbie, and she is filling in as well. She has given us a few ideas about adapting things for Courtney, such as a clothes pin for a handle on her toy car so she can grasp it better. She is going to be a great addition to the Princess Courtney Kingdom with all her knowledge about special needs children. Our Princess chose to have Mrs. Debbie read to her and Courtney hung on to every word since Mrs. Debbie reads with such enthusiasm. Guess what? Courtney has HOMEWORK! It is a little booklet that Mrs. Debbie got from a class at the school that she works at. It is about BLUE things. We love our PISD teachers!

Little sissy will be turning 2 on September 25 but we will be celebrating on another day not decided on yet. As far as potty training is going, well it is gone out of sight almost. Kendall wants to go sometimes but most times NOT. She is back in diapers but we make it to potty a couple of times a day. Even I am disenchanted with the whole idea since she had the BIG poopy accident. I will not gross everyone out with the gory details but just use your imagination.

The fundraising and donation news is about at a stand still. No news from Courtney’s friend Eddie from PISD about the BBQ fundraiser. Hope to hear some news soon about a possible fund raiser from Donna, Courtney’s bestest speech therapist ever. We have had a few donations that we are so very thankful for. We won’t mention any names but PISD employees LOVE their Princess! Especially the A.C. department, Maintenance department and one of the Princess’s favorite friends who happens to be a PISD coach. We would love to have suggestions for a fundraising event. I have been thinking about a fun run but don’t have a clue as to how to organize one. Maybe God will bless us with someone to help out it this area. He certainly has never let us down before. Courtney is a real miracle and each day she is with us she is a proclamation to all to see God’s wonderful grace!

Well I will cut it SHORT this time and please don’t get mad at the Royal Journalist, ( Royal Grandma, Royal Laundry Lady, Royal….etc.) she wants to do a better job of keeping the Kingdom informed but she is a wee bit old and tired of late. Keep those good thoughts and prayers coming our way.

Always and Forever,

Courtney’s Grandma

*Tuesday…August 22, 2006*

Hi everyone, I can hardly believe it that September is almost here. Little Kendall will be 2 years old on September 25th! I hope we have her potty trained by then. She will go when you take her for the tee tee but not pooh pooh yet. Kendall is actually doing pretty good as long as we clap our hands and praise her. Grandpa isn't wanting to help much though, we need to train him as well. Maybe we should clap our hands for him too. I am sending a collage of pics that Candace made up of little Ily Aguilar's birthday party. That's her mom Geneil's little sister holding her in the picture. Geneil was blessed to have her entire family down from Colorado to celebrate Ily's birthday with them. We really enjoyed going out to their brand new home out in Pearland. Joe and Geneil are such good parents, Ily is so well behaved. Geneil has been such a blessing to me; she is always there for me and thats what real friendship is about. Joe is always ready to help me with my fundraising for Courtney, he is such a good guy.I hope you all have a great week! Linda

*Saturday…August 19, 2006*

Greetings to all! We went to the Manning family home for the National SMA Candle Lighting Event on Saturday evening. The family lit a candle in memory of their little daughter Marissa (SMA 1) and held their son Austin's hand while he held his own candle. Courtney's nurse Jennifer helped Courtney hold her own candle while Courtney's mom took pictures. We all said prayers for all the SMA children and their families as well. It was so nice to be with another family who knows what we go through dealing with so many different things every day since they also have a child with SMA type1. Their son Austin is so handsome, I believe he is going to be turning seven soon. Austin(SMA 1) is trach and vented like our Princess Courtney is. Courtney made her little cooing sounds (singing/talking) the whole time we were there. I think she enjoyed seeing Austin since she has never met another child with SMA before. More than likely though she was just flirting with him, we all know how she has an eye for the guys! The family has a new addition to their family, little Mandy, she is so adorable. She reminds me of the Gerber baby on the baby food products. She has chubby rosy red cheeks and huge blue eyes. We hope to have the Manning family out to visit us soon. I will send the Wiggles pics next and news about today since it was Courtney's first day of school! (Home School) Oh yes we started potty training little sis Kendall today.(Oh what fun, puddles everywhere!)

As always Blessing to all! Linda

*The Wiggles meet Princess Courtney! *

Thursday August 3, 2006 will go down in Wiggles history as a great day indeed. The Wiggles not only got to meet Houston’s very own Princess Courtney Rosas backstage but they were given the pleasure of performing for her Royal Highness live on stage. From the moment the Princess arrived on the Toyota Center premises in her private red carriage, everyone there knew they were in the presence of Royalty. She was accompanied by the Royal family. The Royal Mum and Grand mum were brought to tears by the kindness of the Wiggles especially Murray since he is the Wiggle that came down off the stage to greet the Princess at last years performance. The Princess was asked to go to the stage to give Dorothy the Dinosaur the single rose that she held in her tiny hand. Dorothy was honored to receive the rose from the Princess and blew her a kiss. All during the performance the Wiggles kept mentioning “our friend Courtney” and told the audience how she had been present at last years show. Before, during and after the show people would stop to admire the beauty of the little Princess, even some of the Toyota Center Staff remembered her from last year. The Princess and her family love the Toyota Center; they always give them the Royal treatment. The Princess will be waiting back at the Castle for the next Wiggles Concert. Her Royal Highness and her family extend their heart felt gratitude to The Wiggles. The afternoon will always be one of the families’ grandest memories!

*Sunday…June 25,2006*

*Courtney is having trouble with her vent setting right now. We believe this could become a real problem so we will have to follow up with the doctor this coming week. We have had some real blessings come into our lives recently. During Courtney's three week hospital stay March-April, she had to celebrate her third ( another miracle year!) birthday as well as Easter there. We were blessed with several complete strangers. With just two days notice a wonderful lady who makes beautiful artistic cakes volunteered to make Courtney her castle birthday cake for no fee and also brought her family to the hospital to deliver the cake herself. Then with the same short notice a beautiful lady named Connie and her equally beautiful daughter Amy rushed and searched the internet as well as a city search for a Fairy Costume for Amy to wear. These two purchased the costume themselves and they both came to the hospital as well. Amy was Courtneys very own fairy! How many of you know a princess with her very own fairy on her birthday? The hospital allowed us to roll Courtneys bed into the video room and we had her little party there.Courtney was so beautiful in her pretty fairy dress that her Aunt Shirley had bought for her and even made a flower head band.

*Monday…May 29, 2006*

*Courtney is doing very well right now, I believe after she finishes this round of Tobra she will be back to normal. The collapsed lung is still down but if she doesn't start desating again we will not have to go back for x-rays.

My mom (Courtney’s Great-grandma) came to visit us this week-end. We were so proud that they finally got to meet each other especially since my mom is where Courtney gets her red hair. We had a great time, the days passed by way too fast though. We hope to be able to see the Wiggles in August, maybe even get to take Courtney back stage! She really loved seeing Barney and going back stage to meet him. She had the biggest smile on her little angelic face!

Our last fund raiser for Courtney's van payments and insurance was not very profitable at all. I will not sell candles again, the timing was bad. We are hopeful that a BBQ cook-off team is going to donate their time and resources for a day of BBQ sales to help us. I hope everyone has a fun and safe summer! Linda Rosas (Courtney’s Grandma)

*Thursday…January 19, 2006*

*Sorry I haven’t written in Courtney’s journal in so long, I’ve just been really busy with Courtney and very tired. Well, Courtney has been going places quite frequently now. Today she went to the zoo!! Very exciting. She saw the fish in the aquarium and loved it! She saw a little Nemo fish and a Dorie fish. She even saw some sharks with the name ‘Nurse Shark’. I thought that was funny. She saw a camel up close and personal. It was eating and she was just amazed at it. She also got to see her little sissy play and pet the goats. She also saw a giraffe; I don’t think she quite understood what it was though because it’s so BIG. She also got to ride the carousel. It’s handicapped accessible. She absolutely loved it! She got to ride 2 times. Melvin, the man controlling the carousel, was soooo nice to Courtney, he even announced her name on the innercome about 4 times and she just smiled. That was her first time to be on a carousel. We also went to the gift shop and spent A LOT of money. We bought Courtney 2 wind chimes, a cute sparkly, plush, jelly fish, and an adorable t-shirt for Courtney. Kendall and I got a t-shirt. Courtney went to sleep a little bit after we got home, which was around 4:00 p.m. So now her sleeping schedule is all screwed up. But that’s ok though. I’ll post pictures up when I get some time. The next place we want to take her is Chuck-E-Cheese. Also on February 10^th, Courtney is going to see Sesame Street Live in concert at the Reliant Arena!! I’m so excited. Also, on the 29^th of January, it will be 3 months since she’s been out of the hospital. So, I appreciate everyone’s prayers. Well, I’ll try to update more often.

*Saturday...December 24, 2005*

*Courtney is doing well. Today her Godmother came over with one of her friends and sang in the living room to Courtney. They sang Christmas carols to her. Courtney loved it! Her Godmother sings very beautiful. Also, Courtney's Aunt's best friend brought over a 3 week old Chihuahua and she loved touching it. She held it for a whole hour! I'm surprised she didn't roll her eyes like she usually does. Tonight at 12am Courtney and her sissy, Aunts, Uncles, Mommy, Grandma, and Grandpa are going to open presents in the living room. I can't wait for Courtney to open her presents. She got a lot of DVD's, so she won't talk to us for about 2 days. She gets so involved in her movies. She gets a blank stare like if she's in the movie or something. She also got a lot a books that I'm going to read to her. We're going to take pictures of her so I'll put them up on the website. Well, I'll update everyone again after she opens everything. Merry Christmas!!

*Friday...December 16, 2005*

*Courtney had a good day today. She just had her treatment and she got her splints taken off. Right now she is chewing on some apples in a cheese cloth like thing. She loves it!! She is watching Sesame Street. Well, I don't have much else to say. Grandma started to wrap Courtney's and Kendall's presents today. I can't wait for Courtney to open her presents. This will be her 3rd Christmas....yay!...Well I'll try to update again sometime.

*Thursday...December 15, 2005*

*Today Courtney had her raffle. She drew (with the help of her mommy) out of a Santa hat. First she drew the 3rd prize ticket out, then she drew the 2nd prize ticket , then the final which is the 1st prize ticket. Check out her photos and click page 2 and you can find out who the winners are. She really didn't like putting her hand in the Santa hat because she is so girly and doesn't like anything in her hands. She is doing really well considering Grandma is sick and I (mom) have a sore throat. Just pray that she doesn't get it because a cold to us is like a big virus for her. Well, I'll try to update this page more often when I can get the chance to. :)