Good News & Bad News...

Well the good news is that we have sold 500 cookbooks!!! The bad news...is that we're sold out of cookbooks. :(  Thankfully though I'd already placed another order of 500 more books at the beginning of the month. They originally said 6 weeks but then said that the day may get moved up as we get closer to it. I'm going to call soon & see if there's anyway to expedite it. I have people that have already ordered books & businesses here in Lewistown that are out of them...so Im going to do everything in my power to get them here ASAP!!

So keep those orders coming & I'll send it to you as soon as they come in! (And YES, they will be in in plenty of time for Christmas!!)

Thanks to you all for the support! :o)

Awesome Support

WOW what a fast weekend this was! I'd been planning a benefit dinner in honor of Brooklyn for a couple months now. Originally I was just going to have the dinner but a friend stepped up & volunteered to be in charge of the auctions, if we decided to do that. What an amazing team we made! She (Jamie) did the auction part of it while I focused on the dinner part. Both were HUGE undertakings but we worked quite well together & we got it done.

The dinner was Sat night 11/13 at 5pm at our church here in Lewistown, MT. Originally I was going to get enough food to feed 250 because I wanted to have more than enough. Well once we had all the flyers out, a newspaper article, & radio ad's on we knew it'd probably be a bit bigger than that. I ended up ordering enough food for 300-350 people and believe it or not we served 350 people! (We had a clicker counter thing so we're fairly accurate with that number.) I'm still in awe at how many people came to show us their support!

We had probably 30'ish silent auction items and probably about 40 live auction items. (I could be off a little, but I'm probably kinda close.) Unfortunately at the last minute we were auctioneer'less so Jamie's dad stepped up & helped us out. It was a fun night of auctioning I think! We had some great items that individuals and businesses donated to us out of the kindness of their hearts. I even had total strangers call me up at home asking if they could donate stuff! Amazing how people want to help.

We were exhausted by the end of the night but we were SO happy with how things turned out. We filled the place twice, fed 350 people, sold everything in both auctions, & ate great food! We had family come from out of town as well, which was such a treat. I'll post pictures as soon as I get them!!

I have already thanked people, but I can't do it enough so here goes again: HUGE thanks to Jamie for co-planning the dinner; to Steve for the clicker-counter thing; Dan Gill for auctioneering; Harry's Place for offering to get the food for us; Dave Murray at the News Argus for writing a great article & helping out at the auction; Terri Hall at the radio station for doing interviews; Ian, Tracy, Kimo, & Dona for cooking food; all the volunteers for helping serve food, get drinks, & do dishes; the MANY individuals & businesses for donating items for both the live & silent auctions; & of course all the people that I'm forgetting. I know there's probably people out there that I'm forgetting & I apologize! I really do thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

We ended up making enough to cover 2-3 of our 5 trips to Chicago. It's a HUGE start & we are so thankful! I still have 2 1/2 boxes of cookbooks left & I have another 20 boxes coming in a few weeks! We won't stop selling cookbooks until the last surgery is over so if you know of anyone that doesn't have a cookbook yet please let them know! :o)

Thanks again to everyone who made the dinner possible. We're so thankful to have you ALL in our lives!

It's Normal!!!

Wow we've had a crazy past couple of weeks!! Here's a small update...

First, we had Brooklyn's MRI 10/19/10. As I wrote before, they said it was normal, which was great news. However, the MRI needs to be ran & read a very specific way to be able to see what we were looking for so I was a little skeptical that it wasn't done right. Nevus Outreach does tons of research so I sent our MRI to them. They have the top doctor, who specializes in this, read the MRI free of charge for us. They said it takes about a month or longer to hear back from him, but we heard back today!!! There was nothing but "Normal" all over the whole paper! Talk about having a perma-grin & letting out a HUGE sigh of relief!!!!! No NCM to worry about. I'm so thankful. :o)

Also, we've been planning this benefit dinner like crazy! It's this coming Saturday 11/13/10 at our church starting at 5pm. We're having a create-your-own pasta buffet and several desserts featured in our cookbook. I'm so looking forward to the dinner, but it's been SUCH hard work that I'm also looking forward to it being over. One person in particular, Jamie, has been more than just "help" to me. She's been amazing in planning this & we definitely owe her!!!!!

We have had SO many amazing people come forward to help us out. It's been in the forms of monetary donations, cookbook sales, auction item donations, volunteering, & prayers. I can't express my gratitude for all the thoughtfulness that everyone's showing us.

On a less positive note...we've had our share of people question what we're doing & why we're doing it. It's frusturating because these people are some of the people closest to us in our lives. Those should be the MOST supportive, not the least supportive. It's just sad when people close to you question what you believe is right. Oh well though...we know we're doing the right thing. And we know that we have to raise money. So that's all that matters.

Cookbook sales are amazing!!! I ordered 500 books but was sent 567; they came in 19 boxes. Amazingly...I only have approx 4-5 boxes left!!! We're selling them at the dinner so I'm almost positive they'll sell out! :o)  Rest assured though...another order has already been placed & it should be here within the next month.

We've had our share of mishaps too. Dustin's been not feeling well for the past day or so...has a really bad stomach ache. Then to top it off it snowed almost all day today...not fun for mail carriers. Cali has had a cough for almost a month...so she's going to the doctor tomorrow. I've been having "girl problems" and school problems too...which isn't fun. And Brooklyn is just a happy little camper!!! :o)  Nothing wrong with that girl, thank goodness. I've been busy researching & planning our first Chicago trip.

We have a jam-packed-full week ahead of us. Here's to hoping things go smooth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COOKBOOKS ARE IN!!!!!!

We're so proud to announce that our cookbooks are finally in! (I say "finally", but they actually got here before the original shipping date!) They came in 23 packages that weighed almost 1000 lbs...poor UPS guy!

So now what?! We're busy getting all the inserts ready & putting the tabs in, but they're ready for purchase. You can contact me or Dustin...or anyone in our family for the books, or you can click on the ADD TO CART button to the left.

If you need to place a big order, need clarification, or just have a general question please don't hesitate to ask! Our contact info is on the left under "Contact Us".

Thanks in advance for the help with our cookbook fundraiser!  Oh...and yes, they will be available to purchase at our benefit dinner on 11/13/10 as well! :o)

MRI & results

Well I decided we needed to go ahead & do the MRI earlier than January. There is a condition that people with nevi's can have. It's called NCM (neurocutaneous melanocytosis) & it can cause hydrocephalus, seizures, &/or developmental delays. Essentially NCM is a satellite nevus that's on the brain. For more info see the FAQ section to the left.

So we had an appt for 4pm Tues 10/19/10. We got there at 2:30pm, filled out paperwork, & then a nurse came & put some numbing cream on each of her feet & each of her hands...this was for the IV, so it wouldn't hurt when they poked her. At about 3:40pm they came out & said they were ready for her. The anesthesiologist showed us to her bed & he let me hold her the entire time. He took the cream off both of her hands & started her IV pretty quickly. She fell asleep within about 4 seconds while I was holding her. I layed her down & they put oxygen on her & then we had to leave because they were taking her back to the MRI machine. They said it'd be about 45 mins.

With the numbing cream on her hands before the MRI.



Waiting for her MRI.

Of course I couldn't do anything but watch the clock. 65 minutes later (at 4:45pm) they came out & got us so we could go back to see her. She was laying there so peacefully with the oxygen still on. They said that it took a little longer than expected because she was coughing so they had to stop & suction her out a few times.

At 5:15pm, 30 mins later, she started stirring & waking up. The nurse took her IV out pretty quickly & then I got to pick her up while she was waking up fully. She was such a cute little baby! She couldn't open her eyes fully & she just looked groggy. She was looking around like "what the heck is going on?!" My mom sat with her in the chair & fed her some apple juice, which she just loved!



Still groggy - drinking her apple juice.


About 1/2 hr later she was ok to leave. She sounded good to us, didn't cough at all, & was fully awake, so we left! About an hour or so later she was back to her normal self!



Later that night, right before bed.


They said the MRI would be read either that night or the next day. I waited & waited to hear the results but no word came. The next day (Thursday the 21st) I called the MRI place & they said they'd already faxed the results to my doctor's office. I verified the fax number but it was wrong!!!!! So I spent most of the day on the phone between the MRI place & my doctor's office trying to figure out where these results were. (I had to find out Thursday cause my doctor is closed Fridays...so I'd have had to wait until Monday...& I just couldn't do that!) Finally at about 4:45pm I got the results. She's free & clear of any spots on her brain! Everything looked healthy & normal!!! Now I just need to send the MRI to the specialist that reads it one more time just to make sure...and then we'll be good to go! :o)  Yay!

TUPPERWARE!!!!!!

A friend of mine is graciously hosting a Tupperware party for Brooklyn's surgery fund! The party ends on 10/29/10. If you'd like any Tupperware the info is below:

You can either see a catalog from me if you're close to Lewistown. Or you can go online. The fundraiser link is: http://order.tupperware.com/pls/htprod_www/!twx$eparty_ctl.p_guest_welcome?pv_eparty=d71b71de65396d44257ed59292770379  and we get 50% of the profit from that. The catalog link is: www.mytupperware.com/brandymalcher & we get 25% from that. :o)

Contact me if you have any questions! :o)  And thank you, in advance, for your support!

Not even a FLINCH!!!!

Brooklyn needs to have her vaccines completed at least 2 weeks before each surgery, and then can't have any vaccines while her expanders are in, and then at least 2 weeks after each surgery. Because of this, we got her first flu shot today. Babies who haven't ever had a flu shot before (and who are young enough) get 2 shots. Today was her first one & I tell you what....she didn't even flinch! No crying, no tears, no whimpers, no NOTHING! I watched her get the shot so I know she did get it!!!! LOL  I can't believe it.

I'm amazed. ;o)   Her 2nd one will be the first week of November. Then we'll be vaccine-free until after her expanders are out at the end of March. So that's our story!!!

We leave for Chicago just 3 months from today...already. I can't believe time has gone by this quick. It'll be here before we know it. I'm busy getting together packing lists so we don't forget odd's & end's. Even still though I'm sure we'll be forgetting something.

Our cookbook proof will get to the company today. I'm crossing my fingers that the books will be shipped in a couple weeks now!!!

Short, Sweet, & to the Point...Our Quick Trip to Denver

WOW what a crazy past few days! Just 1 week ago today (almost to the minute) I was on the phone with Denver Children's Hospital making an appt with a pediatric dermatologist. We packed up & left on Sunday at 9:00am. After getting gas we were on the road at 9:30am. Long story short...we only had to stop about 5 times on the way down. We got there 11 hrs 15 mins later...at 8:15pm. Not bad for our first road trip together!

Sunday night we did nothing...which was nice cause we were both tired. Monday we got up & sat around for a little while. Then we went to the mall for lunch, walked around, & then went to Target. Then went back to Jenn's & ordered dinner & went to bed. Jenn showed me my new favorite place...a frozen yogurt shop where you serve yourself. There were like 10 different kinds & you could mix & match as much as you wanted. Then there were tons of different types of toppings, too!!! Ahhhh I was in heaven. For those of you who don't know...I don't like ice cream so frozen yogurt is my fav-or-ite!!!!!!!!! So I had to partake in some yogurt...almost $8 worth of it, too!

Monday we got up & went to the mall in search of the Disney store....LOL it'd been out of business at that mall for 3 years! But I did get something I'd been looking for for a while now though. I was SOOOO excited. I'd been looking for some type of head covering for Brooklyn when she has her expanders in her head. Something that was more fitting around the forehead but huge around the rest of her head. I thought maybe a scarf would work but I wasn't quite sure how I'd tie it. Anyways, we were walking by Aldo Accessories & Jenn saw it! I loved it so much & was so confident that it was the PERFECT hat that I bought 3! Here it is:

Tuesday afternoon was her dermatologist appt. It was at the new Children's Hospital....talk about huge & super nice!!! I actually found the place quite easily & then found the office pretty quick, too. I'm glad I took Brooklyn in her stroller though cause it would have been a lot for me to carry everything. We checked in & they took her weight & stuff. Then we went to the room where the nurse asked us a bunch of questions. When she was done a resident came in & I answered pretty much the same questions for her. Then the doctor came in. Her name is Dr. Joanna Burch & she came in with a slew of residents & fellows!

I'd told them that we're seeing Dr. Bauer in Chicago starting in January so Dr. Burch asked outright..."Why are you here & not in Chicago?" She was very straight forward, but was very nice about it too. I told her why...cause it's much easier for us to get to Denver than it is to get to Chicago. She completely understood; but then said that if we have to follow up with the surgeon in Chicago every year or so then she'll give me the name of a pediatric dermatologist in Chicago that we can see in stead of us going both to Chicago & Denver. Totally makes perfect sense to me, but I'm sure that we don't follow up with Dr. Bauer. She said that she's perfectly fine seeing Brooklyn if we don't follow up with anyone else after the surgery; but we don't need to follow up every year. Every other year would be just fine with her.

She felt her nevus, looked at it, checked her skin for satellites - and then said that she looks great! She said that Dr. Bauer is an excellent doctor who will do a fantastic job. She said that our plan is right on track & is happy with our choices. She did, however, make sure that we're having an MRI to check for NCM. I assured her that we're having it the 4th of Jan. She was very concerned about NCM & wanted to make sure that Brooklyn was developing properly & that things were going ok for her, which I assured her they were.

And that was it! She said Brooke looks great & she doesn't need to see her before the surgery unless she develops any nodules, black bumps/spots, or get's irritable & is showing signs of developmental delays. Other than that we can probably make an appt to see her again about a year after the surgeries are over.

Later that night we went to the Outback for dinner, then went back, packed up our stuff, & went to bed. Wednesday AM we got up & were on the road at 9am. I honestly could NOT have asked for a better child that day. She was absolutely perfect! She slept for 3 1/2 hrs so I was able to drive from Denver & not stop until we got to Casper, WY! There we got out, stretched, got gas, changed a diaper, got something to drink, & got back on the road. We stopped again once & then stopped in Billings, where we went to WalMart for a bit. I got her out of her seat so she could stretch & move around. We'd have made it home in 10 hrs but we had to stop at WalMart so we made it home in 11hrs! I'm still quite impresed! :o)

I came home to find my cookbook proof waiting for me! It turned out absolutely amazing. I'm VERY happy with it. I'm now proofing it one last time before I send it in to the company to be printed. They should be shipped by 10/26/10, which just so happens to be our anniversary! :)

Let's Pack Up & Go...Like NOW!!!

Well where to start.... 
A week ago today I decided that Brooklyn's hair needed to be cut...bad! I'd already buzz-cut it before so I wasn't nervous at all. I got out the buzz-cutters & started cutting. I was thinking back to when I'd cut it before & I could have sworn that I'd used the shortest setting. Well after doing one run through with the cutters, I quickly realized......I was wrong! Oh my gosh!!! I couldn't go back so I just had to continue with what I was doing. I kept apologizing to her cause in the end her hair was SO short. It was so short she looked like a boy & I just cried & kept telling her how sorry I was! Well what's done is done, I thought. To make matters worse though, we had an appointment to get the girls pictures taken at Sears on Tuesday (just 3 days later).

So Tuesday came & I just ended up putting a bow on her head...so you can't really tell all that much in the pictures that her hair is that short. The pictures turned out absolutely amazing, by the way. (See below.)

In the time after I'd accidentally cut her hair so short I just started looking at her nevus. I noticed that it's changing a lot. Some hair grows up, other hair grows down, or to the right & left. There's dark spots & light spots. The weirdest thing though is this very dark patch on her head. You can actually see it in the pictures. It's SO dark, but the weird thing is that the skin is actually very light! It's the hair that's super dark. But the hair on the rest of the nevus is lighter & then the nevus itself is darker.

Now, it's 100% normal for a nevus to change like that, but after looking at it for a few days I realized that I'd really like a pediatric dermatologist to look at it. I'm the only one that hasn't taken my nevus-owning child to see a dermatologist. It's a pretty important thing to do. They look at it, see how it's changing, & then follow up about once a year after it's removed to make sure that it's not turning malignant. (By removing the nevus it drastically reduces the risk of developing melanoma; however, it's 100% impossible to get every single cell during the removal process, so even though the risk is incredibly low, there's still a very small chance that it can turn malignant after the removal process is over.) So I thought "We need to see a dermatologist."

My big problem now though is who do we see? One of the best in the country is located in NYC. He actually spoke at the Nevus Outreach conference so he was on the top of my list. But how difficult to go to NYC now...and then every single year!! My next option was to go to someone in Chicago. If we have to go there for the surgeries anyways then why not see the derm there? But again, after the whole surgery process is over it'll be pretty hard to get to Chicago once a year. So the next best option is to go to Denver Children's Hospital. It's within driving distance...where I can drive there in 1 day and it can actually be a quick trip. So I asked around to some nevus outreach friends & then searched the Denver Children's website. I sent in an inquiry on Wednesday & was supposed to hear back from them on Thurs. I never heard anything so I said that I'll call them on Friday if I still haven't heard back. I got home about 1:15pm and there was a message on the machine...it was from the dermatology dept giving me the name of the best person for us to see. I called them RIGHT back & they took down all of our information & then said that she could see us on the 21st. I saw that it was a Tuesday & said that I'd take it. I needed to see if someone could work for me that day, but figured it'd be ok. So I put the appt in my phone & when I was looking at the calendar I realized that oh my gosh that's THIS COMING Tuesday!!! LOL!! I guess I didn't realize we were this far into September already!

So I hung up with them, called the lady that works for us and thank goodness she could!!! Then I called my co-worker to tell her what was going on, then called my friend to see if we could stay with her, then called & told Dustin, then my mom! Whew!! I was on the phone pretty much for a solid 2 hrs getting everything in order. I think it's meant to be b/c everything just fell into place. So then I started doing laundry & getting things together for our drive. I figured we'd leave Sunday, have Monday to hang out with Jennifer, then the appt Tuesday, and drive back Wed. I'm not nervous at all...except that I think it'll take a lot longer than 10 hrs to get there. :o(  I have a feeling I'll be stopping a lot to comfort/feed/hold Brooklyn. My mom can't go with b/c it's such short notice so it'll just be the 2 of us. We'll get it done...and we'll be fine...but I'm a little concerned that I'll have to stop a lot...which will make both Sunday & Wednesday LOOOOONG days!

I'll write again after we see the derm & let you know how it went! :o)  Keep us in your thoughts & prayers ESPECIALLY Sunday & Wednesday!!! Here's some pics from Sears that we got taken on Tuesday. They were Cali's 2 year pics & Brooklyn's 6 month pics!

Cali - 2 years

Cali Berlin

Brooklyn - 6 months

Brooklyn Marie

Cali & Brooklyn in their matching ducky outfits - thanks to Auntie Valerie!

Cali (2) & Brooklyn (6 mos) in their matching dresses from Gramma Vance

Cali & Brookie

Brooklyn & Cali

Jewelry Anyone????

We have a family friend who is doing something wonderful for us. She's a consultant with CookieLee jewelry & has generously offered to have a catalog party for us. ALL the proceeds go to Brooklyn's fund for all of our Chicago trips! How nice & thoughtful...I'm so blessed to know such great people.
Anyways, the info is below. My grandma is actually the "hostess" of the party so this letter is what she sent out to her friends & our family. Please let me know if you have any questions! Thanks for the consideration!!!


Dear Friends and Family,


Hi! This note is to let you know that I am hosting a COOKIE LEE JEWELRY CATALOG PARTY to benefit BROOKLY MARIE, daughter of Dustin and Merilee Vance. They are raising money for numerous trips they will be making to Chicago for a medical condition that Brooklyn has. The money will be used for travel expenses, insurance deductibles, hotel expenses, and anything else that their insurance won't cover.

For more information regarding Brooklyn's condition and what will be needed go to: www.wonderfulworldofvance.com. If you would like to contact them please write to merilee@wonderfulworldofvance.com.

Our Cookie Lee consultant, Deneva Henry, has graciously offered to sponsor this fund-raiser for Brooklyn. All of the profits from the Catalog Party will go to the fund to help with the extra expenses.

GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No matter where you live you can be part of this party! Deneva has a website where you can see the jewelry. Go to www.cookielee.biz/denevahenry to see the jewelry and to place an order. After ordering, it is important to e-mail her to let her know that you placed an order for Brooklyn's Fundraiser and give her your name so she will credit Brooklyn's account. denevahenry@aol.com .

This party will go until September 12, 2010 so please place your order before then. For any questions please let me know.

Thank you for your time and help with this fundraiser...and May God bless you.

Lois Osburn, Brooklyn's great-grandmother