Seven is a LUCKY number!!

Seven is a LUCKY number!!!

A look at Larkin's 7th Birthday!

Newborn Larkin....love!

Jan 11th.....Mommy, Larkin and Tatum

Every year January 11th comes around we feel more than blessed knowing that our little sweet pea has turned another year older.  Larkin is 7!!!  I can not tell you how amazing this is considering we didn't think she would see 2 let alone 7 years old!  Again I couldn't throw just any party for Larkin...I actually started planning the party theme last January right after her "Sunshine" party.   I decided birds would be fun and birds remind me of her so it was a perfect theme.

Daddy, Lark and Mommy

I really didn't even spend much money this year which is even better. I found the birdhouses for a dollar a piece at the fabric store and painted them myself with twenty nine cent paint!  I did add a coat of Mod Podge Sparkle on top of the paint for a fun look.  I also had tons of felt so I  made all the little birdies that I glued onto the birdhouses and the birdie banner.

I have to tell you that I was freaking out a little about what kind of cake I was going to get for her. I had resigned myself to the fact that this year I couldn't afford to get her the cake that I had really wanted for her so I was going to try and bake and decorate it myself.  I was throwing around ideas and then out of the blue I was contacted by the sweet lady that made her Icing Smiles cake for her 5th birthday party.  (Rebecca Sutterby from Sugar Creations)  She said that she was doing laundry one day and had this feeling come over her that she needed to do another cake for Larkin's birthday.  Keep in mind that she donated one of her wonderful cakes for Larkin's 5th birthay through an organization called Icing Smiles. They make sure kiddo's with medical needs get a cake for their birthday.  This is a one time deal and it is so very wonderful.  Rebecca took this one step further and wanted to do yet another cake for Lark.  She asked me what my theme was for this year and after I told her she said she'd get me a sketch and it was a done deal.  I LOVE this lady so much....what a kind heart to offer her incredible cakes again to our family.  She totally rocked the bird theme and made a gorgeous cake....almost 3 feet of cake to be exact and it weighed a ton!  I'm so thankful for Rebecca and I can't thank her enough for making this another beautiful birthday.

this is the sketch Rebecca sent me and here is the cake!

It was a perfect day to celebrate......here are the many pictures from her party and a few pictures of her on her actual birthday.... enjoy.

 my pretty bow my mommy made me

opening my presents

sister in law Mandy and my brother Skylar

my brothers Stratton and Colton

my Buddy (grandpa) We share a birthday!!! yea!

Buddy and Grammy

Grandpa and Grandma Bish

my friend Summer and my Mommy

my friend Lisa

my nurse Leanne and her new baby Kenzley

my mommy lets me taste (lick) my cake every year

my sissy Tatum!

cake table...Koozies for the lemonade

my cute leggings

 Early bird gets the worm...party favors...

 mommy made my bird banner

All I CAN SAY IS JUST WATCH....

As I was making this video to support SMA Awareness  it brought back a ton of memories....lots of good ones and a few scary/bad ones.  I've been wanting to make a video about Larkin and Spinal Muscular Atrophy for a year now.  In fact when I started working on it today the date on the previously started video was May 2011.  Maybe I think about SMA more during May because it was the month that Larkin actually came home from the NICU for good. Or maybe it's just coincidence but for whatever reason today was the day that I finished Larkin's video to share with my peeps!

Please enjoy the video....it took ALL DAY!  After the video I have some exciting news to share....

I am excited to share with my family and friends the information about the promising research being done in Dr Kaspars lab.  Every night we say prayers with Larkin and in my prayer I always say, "please help the researchers find a cure for SMA...give them the willpower, strength and wisdom to find a cure".   I think with the MANY prayers from all our SMA family/community God is answering them.  I'm so hopeful, excited and most of all THANKFUL!  Here is the article from the Sophia's Cure Foundation's Facebook page.

*BREAKING NEWS*

The final FDA guided studies have begun. The first cohort of mice have been injected with scAAV9. The injections were a success. We are extremely excited to be in the final stages moving this program towards a human clinica...l trial application for Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

The Kaspar Laboratory at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio recently initiated a formal FDA (Food and Drug Administration)sanctioned toxicology and biodistribution studies at BioReliance, a Contract Research Laboratory in the Washington D.C. area for a systemic gene delivery of AAV9-SMN for the treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The purpose of these studies are to establish the safety and distribution profiles required to advance to human clinical studies, known as a Investigational New Drug application. These studies were outlined to the FDA in a pre-Investigational New Drug Application and designed to meet all of the requirements to enter human clinical studies for treating SMA patients. The studies involve a 6 month evaluation of the gene delivery in mice. Dr. Kaspar stated, "This marks an important milestone in our program to advance a systemic gene therapy for SMA to the clinic, Our team has advanced this program at a remarkable pace and we are very pleased with our studies that show we can target motor neurons efficiently as well as a very clean safety profile to date." Drs. Foust and Kaspar initiated these pivotal studies at BioReliance by injecting the animals for these safety studies through funding by Sophia's Cure Foundation. Kaspar notes, "We are truly thankful for the support of the SMA community and the committment from Sophia's Cure Foundation to see this gene delivery program to this stage. My team and I are committed to advancing this highly promising therapeutic to the clinic." Over the course of the 6-month study, there are many processes to advance, including making the clinical grade gene therapy and compliling the complex data package to submit to the FDA. "We're excited and working non-stop with an amazing group of highly committed and talented researchers and clinicians to see this to clinical reality. We're thankful for everyone's committment to helping us. including our researchers and the SMA community at large", Kaspar noted.

So my friends, if you would like to donate please go to SophiasCureFoundation.org and click on the donate tab.  All donations are being matched dollar for dollar by an anonymous donor at this time. That in itself is a HUGE blessing!

THIS SIGN SAYS IT ALL

When I saw this saying on Pinterest I knew that I had to have  SugarBritches Designs make a custom sign for Larkin's room.  What can I say except that Summer from SugarBritches did an amazing job and made it exactly how I wanted it.  I wanted it to compliment the owl hanging that was already on the wall next to Lark's bed.  LOOK!  So awesome! THANK YOU SUMMER!!

Let me just say that Larkin is one smart cookie.....She does NOT talk...She can't do alot of things but one thing she is not, is dumb.  She is not a vegetable like one nurse long ago stated to me (she lasted one day at our house after that statement) She is an exceptionally "with it" little lady.  She understands a lot of things and if she could talk I would probably be washing her mouth out with soap for telling my secrets.  LOL  just kidding:)

I am having another sign made for Larkin's best friend Leah so they can have matching sayings in their rooms.

LOVE THESE TWO LITTLE GIRLS