Mommy's little athlete

Brian played for the Aldersgate United Methodist Screwballs in the spring, and Westley absolutely loved hanging out at the ball field. He'd carry around his red plastic bat, play in the dirt and (kind of) watch Daddy.

We survived the Fight for Air Climb!

We did it! We climbed 828 stairs and ran 1.14 flat miles for the American Lung Association's Fight for Air Climb race at Intrust Bank Arena on Saturday! We did it to honor Mom. At the race, there was a dedication wall of sorts where you could write why you were climbing. My answer?

Because my mom has COPD and continues to fight for a life that continues to take her breath away.

In the kitchen at Mom and Dad's, there's a plaque hanging in the kitchen that says life isn't about how many breaths you take, but about the moments that take your breath away. I'd like to think that lung disease has made that a very good lesson and reminder for all of us.

I transformed my race T on Friday night, turning it into a boatneck tank and adding a red heart on which I wrote, "I climb for my Mom."

Sincere thanks to all of you who have donated or pledged to our fundraising efforts. Our total pledges and donations add up to $485!

My mother-in-law Janice joined us Saturday so she could watch Westley and cheer for us while we ran.

Another fun element was that my friend Lindsey ran the race, too. Here we are yesterday ...


... and here we last April, both about eight months pregnant. We had babies five days apart in May 2010.


Click to see a couple of additional photos from the event.

Fight for Air Climb in honor of Mom

Above is a photo of my beautiful mother Ann, who has been diagnosed with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Mom is among more than 35 million Americans who suffer from chronic lung diseases.

In May 2008, Mom suffered respiratory failure and was raced to the emergency room. She spent 26 days in the hospital, much of the time in critical condition. During the scariest days, she was in a coma and on a ventilator. She underwent a successful tracheotomy, recovered and was released. You can read more about her ordeal and recovery.

That was a frightening time. Prayer, Mom's strength and faith and the love of family and friends saw us through it.

Since then, Mom has welcomed a son-in-law and two new grandsons (including my precious little Westley) into the family. She is the glue that holds us together, the one who reminds us to keep the faith and to relish the beautiful moments that take our breath away.

In the past three years, Mom has attended physical therapy weekly to maintain her lung capacity and her strength.

I am running the Fight for Air Climb in her honor, to raise awareness and funds and to support the woman who has done so much for me in my life.

To train, I've climbed 836 floors so far this month at the YMCA and have avoided elevators on *most* occasions.

I am asking you, my family and friends, to help me meet my goal to raise money for the American Lung Association to prevent lung disease. Even better, please join me in the race that day!

Please also consider donating to Brian Buselt, my loving husband whose dedication to me and my family has led him to join me in the race.

During the race April 9 at Intrust Bank Arena, I will run a 5K that includes climbing 34 floors. I will remember the same advice Mom gave me in a handwritten letter she mailed to me when I was an overwhelmed journalism student at KU: "Take deep breaths!" It's a wonderful way to approach life, and something I want to help others have the chance to do.

Thank you,

Lori

Third time's a charm

This weekend was a biggie for a couple of our favorite sports teams, so we arranged our schedules so we could be home to watch the games.

On Saturday, the Saints were in a playoff game. They lost.

Brian & West in their matching Drew Brees jerseys. I was wearing mine, too. Yep. We were THAT matching family at our first baby sign language class Saturday morning.

On Sunday, the Chiefs were in a playoff game. They lost.

Then the Jayhawks played basketball. The game went into overtime, and they ended up winning. Third time's a charm.

Westley is the cutest Baby Jay, thanks to Kim Mann (who made the adorable hat), my parents (who gave him the sweatshirt for Christmas) and Brian's parents (who bought the T-shirt for him in Lawrence when we were expecting).

Best photos of 2010

The year 2010 has been my most blessed yet. It's the year I became a mother, met my sweet Westley James and fell in love even more with my darling husband.

Here, for the fourth consecutive year on Life is Golden, I give you my 12 best photos of the year. May God bless us all in 2011.

Lilly the chilly dog during a January snowstorm.

A stunning Wichita sky about two weeks before Westley James was born.

Westley's great-grandmother admiring his tiny pink foot days after his birth.

Brian and Westley on an Assaria, Kan., farm in July, our first day trip as a threesome.

Lilly soaking up a summer day during an August neighborhood block party.

Brian, Westley and Eric during an August Royals baseball game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. It was West's first trip out of state.

Westley's first picnic in the park on a beautiful September day.

Westley, fast asleep in his nursery on a September afternoon.

Admiring a fabulous October rainbow from our backyard.

A Wichita church steeple, which I photographed in late November with a very thankful heart.

The Christmas tree at Bradley Fair, which I photographed when Brian joined me for a work-related charitable event that we attended together as an early holiday date.

Squeaky clean and happy during a December bath.

Here are my best-photos-of-the-year posts from previous years:

• Photos of 2009

• Photos of 2008

• Photos of 2007
  

Westley's first college hoops

Westley attended his first college basketball game Tuesday night when he saw Wichita State defeat Tulsa at Intrust Bank Arena. (You can see Shocker head coach Gregg Marshall standing on the floor in this picture.)

It was a tight game, and we had fantastic seats: center court, about 15 rows from the floor.

Santa was at Intrust, so we seized the photo opportunity. West might not be so tolerant of Jolly St. Nick next year!

First down!

Thanks to the nasty stomach flu, our fourth annual KU/Chiefs football weekend took a beating this year and caused us to miss the Lawrence portion of our trip. (It wound up being the better of the two games to miss as the Jayhawks took a beating themselves, losing 14-48 to Oklahoma State University. Ouch.)

Fortunately, Brian and I made a swift recovery and felt up for the drive to Arrowhead on Nov. 21. We got to see the Chiefs win 31-13 against the Arizona Cardinals. The weather was lovely (especially for late November!), and we were able to celebrate the day with friends Ann and Jeremey, my brother-in-law Eric and his sweet girlfriend Valisha and my parents-in-law.

The day marked Westley's second trip to Missouri and his first NFL game. We ended our quick trip to Kansas City with dinner at Gates.


Westley with Mommy and Annie (who helped us score some great baby things during a fabulous April shower earlier this year)

Westley & Jeremey

Westley meets the KC Wolf, the Chiefs' goofy mascot. ("Look, Westley, big doggy!")

Family photo

Click to see additional photos from the day.

My milestone man

As Westley's six-month mark approaches next week, my little boy is amassing a bunch of baby book entries:

Nov. 7: First tooth (front bottom) pops through (Thank God for Baby Orajel!) His second tooth came in this morning.

Nov. 9: Sat in his new highchair for the first time (I hope it really proves to be as versatile as it promises.)


Nov. 12*: Sat up completely on his own

I may be the most excited about that last one. I love to watch him roll, turn and scoot around on the floor. Brian and I cheer when he pulls himself up and sits and looks around, seemingly unaware of his momentous accomplishment. My baby-on-the-move has been getting on all fours and rocking, too. Up next: crawling?

* This also was the day Westley watched his first KU men's regular season basketball game on TV. Kansas defeated Longwood 113-75 in Allen Fieldhouse. We celebrated by watching the game with my parents.

Trunk-or-treat!

On Sunday, Aldersgate hosted its annual "trunk-or-treat" event, where families were invited to trick-or-treat from decorated car to car. The youth group competed against each other with themed booths (Mario Cart, concession stand, tailgate and "Back to the Future").

Westley's costume, which I ordered nearly two weeks ago online, hasn't arrived yet. (Fingers crossed that it makes it here on time.) So Plan B for Sunday's event was a snuggly fuzzy bear winter suit with a hood and bear ears. But it was 77 degrees when we left for the party, so that went out the door, too. Plan C worked out pretty well, though: I dressed him in a matching spider long-sleeved onesie, pants, socks and bib that I scored at my favorite local consignment store (Hannah Banana) for only $7.

The candy-givers were very kind and offered Westley sweets. We declined and said they should keep it for someone with teeth. A friend who is a professional lactation consultant must have been on to something when she handed me a snack-sized treat and asked Westley if he was going to have chocolate milk that night. Ha!

In the newest installment of photos of Westley and his girlfriends, I bring you this:

(You know what they say happens if you kiss enough frogs ... )

Brian and I decided not to dress in full costume, but our Chiefs and Saints clothing made us fit in really well by the tailgate area:


Interesting side note: The Chiefs, who typically stink, have the same season record right now as the Saints, the 2010 Super Bowl Champs. On Sunday afternoon, KC won and the Saints lost. It is a very unexpected football season, but a fun one nonetheless.

Football!

Brian and I are planning to take Westley to his first KU and Chiefs games later this fall. In the meantime, we've been rooting for our favorite teams at home.

Here are my boys during the first Saints game of the season. See their matching Drew Brees jerseys? We've been waiting months and months for this opportunity.


A tiny Drew Brees fan in his Exersaucer, one of his favorite places to hang out.

Speaking of Drew Brees, I surprised Brian with the book "Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Adversity" last month when the Saints played Monday night football.

Brian says it's a good book (with a surprising number of grammatical errors) that talks about Brees' background, faith and inside sports experiences.

In other football news, we've been trying to explain to Westley that the Chiefs' 3-0 season is nothing to snooze about, but he hasn't been able to stay awake through a game yet this season:


I can't blame him. He comes by it naturally.

Westley's first trip to Kansas City

Last weekend, Brian and I packed up Westley and an SUV full of baby gear and road tripped to Kansas City to celebrate my brother-in-law Eric's birthday. We met up with my parents-in-law, Eric and Eric's wonderful girlfriend Valisha. We cheered after we crossed the Kansas/Missouri border: It was Westley's first time outside of Kansas! It's fun to think of all the other states we'll visit together in the coming years.

We stayed at the Holtze, our favorite K.C.-area hotel and went to a Royals game at the impressively renovated Kauffman Stadium (Holy cow: We even got to see a home team win!).

Some pics from the game:






We also visited a couple of our favorite food spots in the area: Cheesecake Factory and Free State Brewery in Lawrence.

We learned again that it's an awful lot of work to travel with an infant. Good thing we got home in time Sunday to rest, relax and reflect on our fun whirlwind road trip.

Water baby

Swimming is an important activity for Brian and me. He grew up in a pool, competing in swim club, lifeguarding and teaching lessons. The money he made cleaning a local private pool in the mornings helped him buy my engagement ring. I took swimming lessons as a child but came to love it in recent years when I rediscovered it as an incredibly effective and relaxing form of exercise. Without knowing how to swim and feeling comfortable in the water, we wouldn't have been able to bodyboard in Padre, enjoy the Ozarks or explore one of our favorite pieces of the great outdoors.

We plan to enroll Westley in his first swimming class this fall. To acclimate him to the water -- and to make the most of this horribly hot summer -- we've taken him swimming about a half dozen times already. He was clearly out of his element the first couple of times. He's bothered less now, though, when his face gets wet. He's so brave, and I'm amazed at how inspired I can be by an 11-week old baby.

Here are some pictures from a recent afternoon at the pool:






Click to see additional photos.