Callie Co.

Graphic designer. Sepsis survivor. Amputee. Wife. Mommy of one on earth, one in Heaven.

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Recipes

Valentine cookies – puppy edition

Hey there! So - I love to bake. I used to pamper my little puppy Khloe (she's a long haired mini-doxie) A LOT more than she's currently being pampered. Don't get me wrong - she still lives a pretty sweet life. But ever since Kenzi was born she's been... not AS spoiled. Well... it was time for that to change! So I decided to make her some homemade cookies - just in time for Valentine's day. Ingredients 1/2 cup canned pumpkin1/2 cup creamy natural peanut ... View the Post

01.31.19

Health

Lemon + Water

I don't drink coffee, soda, or really anything other than water and the occasional juice. Before you start singing my praises - I don't drink pop because I can't handle the carbonation. I don't drink coffee because I can't stand the taste. So... I sort of make healthy drinking choices by default. But I'll take it! One of the drinks I LOVE to drink first thing in the morning on an empty stomach is hot lemon water with a bit of honey. I have this amazing little portable lemon squeezer / cup ... View the Post

01.29.19

Amputee· Faith· Health· Honesty

A proper ‘thank you’

When I look back over the past two years of my life I am completely overwhelmed by the amazing community of people - both near and far - that supported me and my family through prayer, acts of kindness, money, watching and protecting Kenzi, the giving of time and so much more! The cards you see above are all of the cards that were given to me and my family during some of our darkest days. I've said thank you to everyone already, but it just doesn't seem like enough - so I needed to ... View the Post

01.24.19

Recipes

Yummy Boba Tea Recipe

Boba tea is one of my favorite drinks. While I love drinking bubble tea, I don’t exactly like the ones sold in bubble tea shops because they contain a lot of sugar and additives. So - I make it at home. All you need is tapioca pearls, milk, a sweetener of your choice and of course tea! I typically use jasmine tea to start with - you want it to be a really strong tasting tea. Pick your favorite! For the pearls I use these from Amazon. They cook really quick - the texture isn't as amazing ... View the Post

01.17.19

Beauty· Health

Face mask time!

Do you love face masks as much as me? The first time I actually used a face mask was in the hospital. My hair was just starting to grow out, and all my girlfriends drove in to come see me and pamper me. I was on a lot of pain meds at that time - so my memory is a little blurry. The one thing I do remember is this amazing gold mask they brought. After they took my mask off I was literally glowing! I was hooked. I'm currently looking at some clean beauty masks - but in the meantime I found ... View the Post

01.15.19

Beauty

My go-to eye makeup routine

I need to confess something to y'all. I'm not a makeup artist! Phew! There. I said it - it's off my chest! Haha! But in all seriousness - I have about as much skill with applying makeup as a middle schooler does. It's never been my forte - but surprisingly I've had many of y'all reach out asking me the products I use, and how I apply it. So - here goes nothing! For my eyeshadow I use the Naked 2 eye shadow palette. I love this palette so much because it has so many different shades ... View the Post

01.10.19

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My name is Callie Colwick. I am a Jesus lover, graphic designer, sepsis survivor, amputee, wife and mother of one on earth and one in heaven.

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Recent Posts

  • Seven things I’ve learned from my social media fast (so far)
  • 2021 Galentine Gift Guide
  • Valentine cookies – puppy edition
  • Lemon + Water
  • A proper ‘thank you’

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When life feels heavy, where do you turn to? Do yo When life feels heavy, where do you turn to? Do you turn inward - silently struggling to solve problems you feel you can’t share for fear of burdening others?
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Maybe you keep things hidden away and bottled up so tightly that you hide your pain even from yourself? Emotions locked down so tight you feel as if the slightest disturbance in your life could cause a cataclysmic explosion of heartache and pain.
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I find myself flipping to Psalm 42:11 during the times when life feels heavy and despair creeps in. 
“Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him,
my Savior and my God.”
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You’re not alone in your heartache.
Reminding myself of that truth as well. (Thank you to @ivethlunamusic for this beautiful derivative).
Slow progress is still progress. Sometimes it feel Slow progress is still progress. Sometimes it feels like for every step forward I’ve taken… I’ve fallen ten steps behind. 
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I’ve realized that it doesn’t matter how slow I go. As long as I don’t stop. Never quit.
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Living in this new body amazes me. And frustrates me. And exhausts me. And pushes me to become more.
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More creative. More thoughtful. More kind… to myself and the world around me. I’ve been forced to slow down and learn. To listen to my body and stretch its boundaries. To rest. But to never give up.
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This year has been a year of forced rest, but also so much beauty. Looking forward to what’s to come. 💕✨🌸
I’ve been in a funk this entire summer. A beauti I’ve been in a funk this entire summer. A beautiful funk, but a funk nonetheless. I think not being able to drive after all these years, my reoccurring abdominal infection and just pure exhaustion has finally caught up to me.
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I’m also in this place of growth internally and externally and simply feeling all the feels that generates. The stretching. The growing pains. I want to be able to drive to the store and shop for school supplies with Kenzi, or take her to play dates or hop in the car to drive and see family that lives hours away. And a HUGE one: I’d love to drive to @adaptivetrainingfoundation to see my ATF family and workout.
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Bless him… Kevin’s overwhelmed and too busy. He can’t spare the hours to drive me to places, not with him running his two businesses - time is money. I get it, I really do. So I sit in this ‘in between’ place. Stretching and trying to figure out a path forward.
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Adaptive driving feels like an impossible task. Daunting, expensive… I honestly don’t even know where to begin. But I’m hopeful. And I want to drive so badly! This summer has been a great time to disconnect and rediscover old passions. Cooking - that’s been a big one. I can use my kitchen now! It’s not perfect - but I’ve figured out ways to work with what I have. I’m messy, and it’s a bit chaotic. 😜 But it’s been fun to watch my family eat dinner every evening this summer knowing I made the food they’re eating with my own hands.
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Anywho - just a mini update on me, my family and life currently. How have y’all been? 💕
Around a year ago my lower left abdomen started hu Around a year ago my lower left abdomen started hurting… bad… really bad. I don’t know how else to explain it - but it felt like there was something inside of me clawing it’s way out of my abdomen. Over the course of a week I went from walking and working out to feverish and barely able to move. The skin on my lower left abdomen (around one of my drainage tube scars) began to swell and turn red… it wasn’t looking good.
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Now… I know what you *might* be thinking: GO TO THE HOSPITAL! But… with my medical history hospitalization is not an easy thing to navigate. I’m not a normal patient - and because of that I often have well intentioned doctors wanting to jump to the absolute extreme form of treatment. (I once had a doctor that wanted to sedate and intubate me when I had walked in complaining of chest pain… which turned out to just be a not fun form of gas.)🫢
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So… I’ve waited it out. Every few weeks I’ve had the same thing happen like clockwork: Sharp lower abdomen pain, followed by redness around my scar, followed by blisters, followed by swelling, followed by a hard marble to golf ball sized lump forming deep in my abdomen, followed by nausea and fever, followed by extreme fatigue and pain, followed by blisters around my scar… which eventually leads to… well. Let’s just say it finally resolves itself. Eventually the wound closes. I’m given about a week or two to recover and then this cycle starts all over again.
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At this point I’m just tired. My body is exhausted from fighting off a major abdominal infection twice monthly. We’ve been searching for answers and after some tests we finally have them.
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Deep in my colon (past my colostomy bag) I have a fistula. I’ve probably had this injury since my ICU days. (Honestly it’s a miracle I have a colon at all because of the damage it sustained during sepsis). But somehow part of my colon was damaged and when it repaired itself a loop formed. The loop is a small channel that diverts outside of my colon into my abdomen then circles back into my colon lower down. (Continues in comments)👇🏻👇🏻
I let some internet bullies steal a bit of my ✨s I let some internet bullies steal a bit of my ✨sparkle✨ this past month. There. I said it. 💔😔
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With the influx of new faces here on social media came another wave of something I hadn’t anticipated: bullying.
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I’m an adult… I can handle some mean words, right? But the place I was not anticipating them to attack is right where they hit hard: motherhood. Never have I EVER been attacked so vehemently in DMs and on my page by keyboard warriors like this before.
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Apparently they felt justified in questioning if I’m fit to even be a mom and/or if I should be able to adopt… simply because I’m differently abled.
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Here’s the conclusion I’ve come to: if after watching all of my content and reading the words I type you still have doubts about my ability to be a mom…. then that’s a you problem. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I’d suggest some education around this topic - and perhaps some heart searching. But I’m speechless in the weirdest possible way.
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I mean… truly speechless. There’s not a single thing I can think of that my daughter misses out on because I am in a wheelchair. My disability doesn’t make me a burden to my daughter or less of a mother… it just means I get to be more creative.
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I solve a million tiny problems every day in unique ways. We laugh when I fall out of my chair, or my leg falls off. When I trip or fail Kenzi gets a front row seat - able to witness my perseverance through trials both big and small.
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Yes, motherhood looks different than it once did when I was able bodied - but I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined… and we’re just getting started. 🌸💕✨
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