STROLLER STRIDES- Oklahoma City

I have started my own business! I bought an Stroller Strides Franchise and will start classes in August 10th! Looking forward to my own business and bringing this great company to Oklahoma City!

Brandon 2 years and 3 months old!

Here is our son Brandon Anthony Chandler

2 years and 3 months old

Our New House in Oklahoma City

We are officially moved in our house in Oklahoma City, OK we love our new home and neighbors. Looking forward to our new adventure in Oklahoma!

Maui 2010

As a family we all went to Maui, Hawaii for a week vacation!!! It was awesome and beautiful! It was our family first real vacation in forever and Aaron's and I since we got married. We went to Maui to spread some of my mom's ashes in the Pacific Ocean as she requested and the rest of the vacation was fun! We also got to meet Willie Nelson at the airport when we were on our way home back to the states. I would love to go back! Maui Wowi!

Aaron's Pilot Winging 2.27.10

Aaron graduated from flight school with his pilot wings on Febuary 27, 2010 at NAS Corpus Christi, TX. We had a family affair with Nicole's family Dad, Natalie, Nancy and John! It was a lot of fun! I am sooo proud of my husband!

Brandon's 2nd Birthday Party

I can't believe my baby boy is 2 years old! We had a wonderful time with our friends from Corpus Christi celebrating Brandon's birthday, we will miss them when we move this month. I was also happy my family came down for it and they helped a lot with getting the party together! What a great time!

Another digital slideshow by Smilebox

Aaron's Pilot Winging 2.26.10

Aaron got his pilot wings!! I have never seen Aaron smile so much that day than the day we got married and the day he met Brandon for the first time! I am soo proud of him!!

We got our new orders and we will be moving to Oklahoma City at the end of March and starting our new adventure as a Navy family in April in OKC. We are looking forward to it! Aaron is really excited about starting his new job. Thank you everyone for their love and support during this time.

scrapbook customized with Smilebox

Happy Valentine's Day

Here is a smilebox I made for my family!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our new Puppies Moe and Charlie

Click here to view these pictures larger

Brandon and our dogs Moe and Charlie

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Barbara Wilma Barba (July 31, 1949-January 6, 2010)

On January 6, 2010 my mom Barbara Barba went to heaven after her year and half battle with breast cancer. She was amazing woman,wife,mother and grandmother. She will be missed from all of her family and friends. We have had a lot of love and support from everyone! She was a very loved woman!! 

Barbara Wilma Barba
Born July 31, 1949 Celle, Germany
Died January 6, 2010 Sugar Land, Texas

Barbara was born in Germany in 1949 to Fred and Theresa Boese.  Her family emigrated  to Canada when she was four and they eventually moved to California in 1964.  She graduated from Monterey High School in 1969 and attended Monterey Penisnsula College.  Following that she took a job with Pacific Bell in Monterey, moving to San Diego in 1976 where she met her husband Bob in 1978.  They were married in Carmel on December 17, 1978 and honeymooned in Lake Tahoe.  The newlyweds then went on to Gainesville, Florida with Bob to his new duty station as a Navy ROTC professor there and she accepted a position with Southern Bell Telephone.  Their first daughter Nicole was born there in 1980.  Following Gainesville they moved to Midland, Texas where Bob promised her a life of prosperity and riches in the oil and gas business.  She believed him and agreed to go along, leaving their life of security in the Navy and academia. They did find riches there when their daughters Nancy and Natalie arrived in 1983 and 1985.  From there they moved to Dallas in 1988 and then to Austin in 1997.  They moved to Houston in 2005 where they resided at the time of her passing.  

Barbara loved to spend time with her family, travel with her husband, work in the garden, walk with her friend Jeri, and work out at water aerobics.   She was very active until her diagnosis with metastatic breast cancer in June of 2008.  She will always be remembered for her love of life, her warm heart, and a smile that could light up a room.  Before she passed she said several times that she was very proud to have raised three strong girls into women and grateful to have spent 31 good years with her husband by her side. Barbara leaves behind her husband Bob, her daughters Nicole, Nancy, and Natalie, a grandson Brandon Chandler, and her sister Renate Boese.

There will be an opportunity for friends to pay their private respects at the Settegast-Kopf funeral home in Sugar Land from 6 to 8 pm on Friday the 8th of January.  The funeral home is located at 15015 Southwest Freeway on the northeast corner of Highway 59 and Williams Trace.  A memorial service and communion to celebrate Barbara's life will be held at St Catherine's Episcopal Church in Sienna Plantation at 11 am Saturday the 9th.  There will be a reception following the service at the family home in Sienna Plantation.

Happy Thanksgiving/ Mom in Hospital

Happy Thanksgiving a month late! Sorry for the late post just been crazy since Thanksgiving. Well we got some bad news a week before Thankgiving. We had to go up to Houston a few days early because my Mom was in the ICU at MD Anderson.

On Friday Nov 20th my Mom had trouble breathing late in the afternoon and my Dad took her to the ER at MD Anderson here in Houston. That evening around midnight she stopped breathing and they had to intubate her with a respirator. She was breathing on her own by the morning and was on 30% support for the next few days. Later that week they weaned her off sedation and started testing her without the ventilator support. We had her off the ventilator completely and she looked fine. After being off for a couple of days she started drinking a lot of water in the early morning one morning and inadvertently aspirated a slug of water down her windpipe and we had to put her on a mask with the ventilator. Her CO2 levels had risen so high at that point that they had to put her back on the tube. We repeated the process again, weaning her off the tube in 2 days this time and by Sunday the 6th she was off and even out of bed sitting in a chair all afternoon. Monday morning she looked a little weak, though, and her CO2 levels had gone up a little. Before too long she had to get the mask back on. She seemed to stabilize after that and had the mask off most of the day. Around midnight her CO2 had gone up again with the mask and she had to get the tube back in for the third time. That is where we are now, with the plan to get her on a better system through a trach tube that will allow her to eat, drink, and talk normally. That procedure is set up for Monday the 14th as her blood was too thin from all the anti-coagulants she has been taking to do it yesterday as was initially planned.

From a breathing standpoint she should be fine with the trach tube. At that point the challenge will be getting her strength back to get her lungs back in shape. They think that part of the problem was some fluid accumulation due to an infection and also from a sac of fluid that we saw around her heart at her regular checkup the day before she was admitted. They drained a full liter out of her pericardial sac and her lungs appeared to clear up a little with antibiotics. They could never identify the source of the infection, though, reportedly because they started her on antibiotics immediately when she was admitted and the meds kept any cultures from growing. As time progressed in here none of the theories made sense, though, because if the meds were working to knock out the infection why was she continuing to have breathing problems? In addition, we drained the fluid out of her pericardial sac 3 weeks ago and it has remained dry. The constant musical chair system they had for doctors didn't help as they were constantly rotating doctors in and out. We finally got in one of their top pulmonary specialists in yesterday and he claimed that the damage to the lungs was from cancer in her lymph system and in her lungs as well. He claimed to be able to tell from the CT scans, and when we asked about a biopsy he claimed it would do more harm than good. We had been told repeatedly for the last year and a half by her primary oncology team that the cancer was not iin any of her organs,, it had spread only to her bones, and that it was under control. Even as recently as last week her primary oncologist told us there was no sign of cancer in any fluids coming out of her lungs where the cancer supposedly now was. We had been draining cancerous fluid daily from her left pleural cavity with a Denver catheter for several months now and we assumed that was from the proximity to a bone or rib where we knew the cancer was. Her main problem was with the right lung anyway so we assumed the cancer was still where everyone had told us where it was. When our primary oncologist got the fluid culture results a few days after we were admitted she was more enthusiastic than we had ever seen her in a long time because she initially thought we were here because the cancer had spread and she was confident then that it hadn't. Why it took a pulmonary specialist (not trained as an oncologist) to diagnose a problem the oncologists repeatedly missed is beyond me. All of the doctors have fallen in step behind the pulmonary doctors diagnosis, though, even our primary team oncologist who just the week before confidently told us the lung problems were not cancer related.

That is the status of now and she is heading to an rehabilitation center in Sugarland, TX to help for the next couple of weeks with her breathing and therapy with her trac tube. Hopefully she will be home in 2-3 weeks!

Brandon and I were up in Houston for 2 weeks visiting and helping out. Aaron was out with us the first week for Thanksgiving break and he needed to go back to work. We will be heading back out there for Christmas for a week on the 23rd. We believe strongly in the power of prayer has gotten us through the tough times. This is when I am blessed to have a strong willed Dad and my sisters around to support during this difficult time with my Mom's breast cancer. Also having an supportive husband! Can't believe next week is Christmas! Thank you everyone for their love and support!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! We had a fun week leading up to Halloween we went to Chat n' Play, Pumpkin Carving party and Trick or Treating on Halloween. Holidays are a lot of fun when you have kids. Brandon was our little dinosaur!

The pumpkin (right) Aaron carved taking him 5 hours!

Brandon Trick or Treating with his Dad

Our lil' Dinosaur

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Today after Stroller Strides we all headed over to the Pumpkin Patch. We had a great time and went over to McDonalds afterwards to have some lunch! It was a fun morning!!

Brandon's friend John Gilbert Minners

John & Nancy Stroder Wedding 10.3.09

My sister Nancy got married to John Stroder on October 3, 2009 in Austin, TX. Brandon was an ring bearer in the wedding and I was Matron of Honor.

Aaron and Brandon

Father of the Bride and Nancy walking down the aisle

Congratulations Nancy and John Stroder!

Things Brandon Loves to Do in the Summer

He loves watering the grass and walking his dog Maddy!

New Adventures for the Chandler Family

Well Aaron selected on Thursday and he got his first choice of E6's that are stationed at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City. We will be moving there after Aaron gets his wings in 7-8 months here in Corpus Christi. We will be in the OKC area for a good 4 Years that is the longest we have ever lived since getting married. We are looking forward to the new adventure!

Brandon's First Baseball Game June 13, 2009

Aaron and Brandon infront of the Wataburger Field home of the CC Hooks

Brandon checking out the view of the field

Brandon on his way to his first baseball game!

Brandon's First Haircut June 6, 2009

Brandon getting his first haircut at Sportsclips in Corpus Christi, TX on June 6, 2009

Brandon's Baptism May 31, 2009

Brandon was baptized at St. Catherine's Episcopal Church in Missouri City, Texas around family and friends.

Pam Chandler, Natalie, Matt, John, Nancy, Aaron, Nicole, Barbara and Bob Barba

Nancy and John are Brandon Godparents

Brandon being baptized by Mother Stacey

Aaron and Brandon

Our Family :)