Familia Cedeño

I stumbled upon this photo on my mother's phone yesterday. I didn't know she had taken pics of my hospital stay back when I had my Addisonian crisis. This photo awoke emotion in me and I had to make sure that I had it, since I didn't have any other photos of this memory. While I was in the hospital, my mom took care of Samuel. It was the first time we had been apart from each other for that long. As grateful as I was that I had my mother to watch over him, it was painful to not be able to care for him at that time and be the mom. I remember how I felt when this photo was taken. As I held Samuel in my arms at that moment, I was extremely grateful to have him in my life. It reminds me how important it is to have a grateful heart every day.

Life is good. It is very good.  It can be so easy to compare ourselves to others and to focus on the things that are lacking or that we feel should be different in our lives. Right now I want to focus on the good, on the positive, on all the many rich blessings that my Father in Heaven has given me, because there is A LOT to be grateful for. We live in my parents basement apartment and that allows us to save money so we can get a home in the future. Having my family close is another blessing because I can spend more time with them and we can help one another more. I have an incredible husband who loves me and works so hard to provide for our family. He truly is my best friend, he makes me laugh and cares for me. Our son Samuel is a happy and healthy boy who brings us so much joy. I have my health and am able to serve my family and enjoy the time I have with them. The list could go on and on, etc. This past weekend my younger brother Danny was sealed in the temple to his ...

We have moved! I had forgotten how much effort is involved with moving! Thankfully we had plenty of help and I am married to a man who is SUPER organized. He makes packing and unpacking go SO smoothly, it really is such a help. This past week was super eventful! So much happened I couldn't keep up. It all started the day before the move. We had gotten home from eating out and all of a sudden, Samuel falls over himself, and lands on his arm, bruising it really badly. This has been the second time that he hurts his arm like that. Poor baby had such a hard time sleeping that night. Then the next day, we load the truck, move and unload. Then, I went back the next day to clean. I was so caught up in everything that when the day was over, I was EXHAUSTED and I realized, I had forgotten to take my meds that morning! OOPS! Not good. I was okay though, just super sore and tired. In the morning, I had a MAJOR migraine. I made sure to take my meds with breakfast and then laid down for...

Currently I am a stay at home mom of a three year old boy. It's amazing how drastically my life has changed now that my son is SO much more independent. Not that it isn't as hard, it's just different. Instead of being sleep deprived or constantly thinking about if he's eating enough, I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out how to entertain him or if he's learning what he should know. A couple months back, I thought I preferred the first year phase of raising a child compared to raising a toddler or preschool age child, but now I realize it was just being baby hungry, because every phase has its pros and cons. For instance right now, most days, Samuel wakes up after I do, and even when he does wake up before me, he is old enough to go grab a drinkable yogurt from the fridge or go to the bathroom on his own, etc. I can stay in bed longer if I need to. The other day he just kept asking me every ten minutes if it was time for me to get up until I finally ...

Hello again! I wanted to sum up what else happened the rest of last year. The holidays were good. Thanksgiving and Christmas was spent here with both families. Samuel turned 3! We celebrated with a low key family party. I also had a play date the day of (which was a Tuesday) at our apartment and invited a few friends that he knows really well. They had such a good time and all I did was bake cookies! I think I've decided to keep birthdays simple. Once he's old enough to tell me what he specifically wants to do, then I'll do my best to grant his wishes. Speaking of Samuel, he is such a sweet heart. I love him to pieces. He loves to sing and dance, like me. So he'll do duets with me if he's in the mood. It's awesome. He talks so much more now, it's like he's a real person. He is obsessed with Lightning McQueen and plays with his cars while saying the lines from the movie Cars. Ha Ha. I love the fact that he can tell me so much now, it's less of a m...

I came home on Halloween. At this time I had a general idea of my condition and what it entailed. Whatever I didn't quite understand was answered by my Mother or Roberto, both who had done their research and knew more than I did. I announced to my extended family and friends via social network about my diagnosis and I felt content. We took Samuel to Roberto's work trick or treat activity and had a great time. I even got to see some good friends later that night at a get together. Overall it was a good day. Then the next day came and with it a TON of unwanted stress. I suddenly became overwhelmed. I started thinking of every single person I knew. I wanted them to know what had happened. I wanted to talk to them so they could understand. So that's what I tried to do. I called some friends. What I didn't know was that I wasn't ready. Emotionally I couldn't handle talking about it, when I hadn't fully internalized it myself. Since then things have gotten M...

So began my stay at the hospital. First, sodium right into my veins. Then started the blood work.  LOTS of blood work. Other than that it was me, the TV and the nurse coming in here and then. It was comforting to have my family close by to visit me everyday. I think it was the second day that the doctor came in and spoke to me of adrenal insufficiency. Funny thing is, I had heard of what he was talking about. I had seen a video online of a woman of my faith who wanted to be a dancer but was diagnosed with Addison's and started her own clothing line. Not only that, but my own sister had mentioned to me that she thought I might be suffering from that same illness.WOW. So once the doctor told me that he was going to test me for it, I couldn't believe that he was talking about me. All this time I kept thinking it was a virus, something, anything that would just go away. How could it have been something this serious? The next day, the doctor comes in and tells me that I have A...