Messy Morning...

I hate it when the day starts off with a mess...



Lila thinks she is a big girl these days and wants cereal like her Daddy for breakfast. I have obliged as long as I feed it to her. This is what happened when I stepped away to get some juice!

My surgery is scheduled for Wednesday morning at 8:30am. So when you wake up Wednesday please say a quick prayer for me and the doctors that all will go well.

Busy! Busy!

I haven't posted in a while... we've been pretty busy around here! We celebrated Wayne's birthday last week...


And took Emily to church for the first time! Here's our family photo all dressed up!


We went to the developmental pedi last week to learn about Emily's developmental delays and then I was up to my ears in paperwork and phone calls trying to get Emily's evaluation with ECI and her therapies all lined up... they start this week. Hopefully they will go well and I won't have to line up private therapy... that's a whole new headache!
I also spent time trying to line up appointments with surgeons for my dreaded thyroid surgery. Don't laugh... but I start "interviewing" them this week. I REALLY don't want this surgery but since I have no other option, I at least want to be very comfortable with the surgeon. Hopefully I will like the first guy and can have my surgery at Centennial, close to home and close to the girls!

Today my sweet, sweet baby is four months old! I'll post about that later when Wayne's home and there are more hands on deck... right now Lila wants to dance herself silly to Barney songs and Emily just woke up so gotta run....

Happy Four Months Emily!

Emily is four months old today! All babies are miracles but as I look back at pictures of her first few weeks and months I am amazed at what a true miracle she is! I can't believe how far she has come and how big she is now! My little three pounder is almost unrecognizable to me in all those old photos. We praise God for our little blessing and thank him wholeheartedly for the miracle of Emily! Take a quick trip down memory lane and check out her progress!

Then....







And now...







Her check up isn't until next week so you'll have to check back for her stats, but my baby scale here at home says she is a whopping eight pounds... pretty good! I'm still trying to get a good picture of the two girls together. Every time Lila holds Emily it seems to turn into a hug which then turns into a choke hold, poke to the eye or a finger up the nose.. lovely, I know! I guess I shouldn't have worked so hard on teaching body parts... Anyway this last time I got a few sweet ones out of like fifty...




You can't tell but Emily is screaming in this picture!

The Zoo....

Wayne's sister and her family are in town for the week and I had this great idea to make our first trip to the zoo. It was a nice day, the sun was finally out, no rain in sight and not too hot either. I thought it would be the perfect outing until five minutes into the zoo when we reached the Children's Zoo Area. I started seeing all these hand washing stations and purell dispensers everywhere. Then there were signs cautioning you to wash your hands to keep from getting sick after touching the animals. Needless to say I was freaking out and ready to go. What was I thinking taking Emily to the zoo??? She is just now getting out of the house more and her first big adventure is to the ZOO? What a lapse in judgement on my part! Since we were with family, and my nieces were having a good time I took a deep breath, covered Emily up even more than she already was... poor baby must have been hot... and tried to hurry us along to areas where the animals are actually in pens and cages, behind glass and fences keeping us away from nasty, dirty animal germs. Once we left the petting zoo the fun started and we really had a good time. Lila loved the zoo and took a real interest in the animals. It was fun watching her see all the animals from books and movies up close and personal... well again, in pens, cages, behind glass and fences! Will I always be so neurotic about germs? I was never really this way before Emily. Now we are making people wash their hands before holding her, keeping Lila away from kids we don't know and now will not return to the zoo until my kids are teenagers with strong, healthy immune systems! Ha!Ha! Here's some pictures of our day... I took one of Emily just to prove she was there... we kept her in her car seat/stroller all covered up and she slept the whole time!

Chubby Cheeks

I think the most significant jump for Emily so far has been going from 6 to 7lbs. Can you believe it?!?!? 7lbs. 5 oz. to be exact with the cutest little chubby cheeks! I love it!

I Just Want One!

I just want ONE good picture of the girls together....







If only I could be so lucky....


*** Disclaimer ***
These pictures were taken several days ago. Obviously they are not in close proximity now with Lila sick. I just have time now while both girls are sleeping to post so I am using it!

Seriously!

Okay so I had to post some pictures of Lila while in the hospital. Wayne gave me a bit of a hard time for taking pictures of our baby when she was obviously not herself but she was just so cute, still and did I mention still?? (she is usually bouncing off the walls!) So here are some pictures from our little hospital stay.









Poor Lila is still not well but is home from the hospital. All the lab work ruled out a long list of scary things that it could have been so it seems she has a nasty stomach bug. It needs to run its course (don't you love hearing that?) so we decided we could hydrate her more comfortably at home. She is on medication that is supposed to keep her from 'being sick' so hopefully she will be back to her old self soon enough. In the meantime whatever nasty bug she has was passed on to Wayne on Saturday, and my Dad and I on Sunday. Say your prayers, cross your fingers, and hold your breath... Mom and Emily still haven't come down with it as of yet! Boy were we sick! It's been a good long while since I have been THAT sick! Luckily it only lasted a day with us. I just wish I could help Lila fight it off faster!

Anyway I guess when it rains, it pours and keeps on pouring! It hasn't seemed to let up on us for the past four months! Not that I'm complaining.... things could always be a whole lot worse!

By the way... for those more experienced bloggers.... why is the posting time so messed up on my blog??? My last few posts say I posted at 12:00am, 2:00am, now this one 5:00am.... I am sleep deprived enough as it is... I'm not up blogging at all hours of the night! Any ideas on how to fix it? Not that it really matters, it's just bugging me!

Enough Already!

Here is a quick update on Lila... Many of you already know that Lila was admitted to the hospital yesterday. As I was typing my last entry she woke up crying. Initially I thought she had had a bad dream but soon discovered I was very wrong when I got her out of her crib and the throwing up started. She proceeded to be sick every twenty to thirty minutes for the next six hours. When she refused to take fluids my pediatrician recommended a trip to the ER to help with the dehydration. I knew what this trip would have in store for Lila and tried to spare her by giving her pedialyte through a medicine dropper. When she couldn't keep that down I gave in and Dad drove us to the hospital around ten o'clock. After several rounds of IV fluids, multiple x-rays, and a catheter later they were still unsure as to why she still couldn't keep anything down so they admitted her for an overnight observation. Wayne stayed the night with her so I could come relieve mom and dad from Emily duty.

Once again I am sooo thankful for mom. I'd be lost without her! She's extraordinary and has perfect timing with her visits! I shudder to think what yesterday would have been like on our own!

When I left Wayne and Lila last night she was able to keep down a pedialyte popsicle and even ate half of her applesauce. Good Sign! She is on an IV pump to keep her hydrated and hopefully put an end to the vomitting. Our ped. still had not been by on his rounds so we are expecting him first thing this morning. Hopefully they will have some answers and more tests will not be necessary. Our brave little girl has been about as brave as she is going to be. She is a little uncomfortable having to keep her arm straight for the IV but was in good spirits yesterday afternoon after mommy brought her Elmo balloons from the gift shop. I'm sure we'll be home later today, I'll keep you updated! Now I'm off to start another long and tiring day....

Big Scare!

So things were going pretty good around our house. Emily seemed to be recuperated from her stomach virus and trip to the ER last week. We were slowly but surely starting to introduce her to the world around her trying to get out of the house a bit more... we even made it to our first life group get together on Sunday night. But as luck/fate would have it things turned around quickly and we were reminded again how unpredictable and down right scary life with a preemie can be.

Emily has had some issues lately with spitting up pretty bad and Monday morning started as just that. I had my appointment with the endocrinologist for my thyroid biopsies and Wayne watched the kids, Emily slept the whole time but started getting sick again later that night. Around midnight she choked on her vomit and had an apnec spell... really scary! In a matter of seconds she wasn't breathing and started turning purple. I was hysterical and worthless as all the CPR training went out the window. Luckily Wayne was there to save the day. He scooped Emily up and headed for the fire station down the street, pinching her foot every few seconds to get her to cry and breathe. An ambulance ride, chest x-rays, and several hour observation later we were back home exhausted but thankful things turned out like they did and not sooo much worse. Wayne saved the day again this time with his quick thinking!

In all the hysteria I managed to call my parents, I guess you never outgrow the need for your mama's love in a scary situation, and my parents are now here for a little visit... probably just so they could see with their own eyes that little Emily is indeed alright. Our follow up with Dr. Nail has Emily on medication for GERD (apparently another common thing for preemies with long NICU stays). Hopefully we can get the reflux under control so this choking followed with apnea never happens again!

By the way... my biopsy results should be in later this week or early next. The doc doesn't think things are looking very good so pray, pray, pray that the results come back negative for cancer!

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Father's Day to all my favorite fathers! Wayne, Dad, Papa, and Grandaddy your wisdom, guidance, strength and courage have helped to mold me into the person that I am today. It is because of you that I walk in God's truth and faithfulness. You are amazing men and I am such a better person for knowing you. Thank you for teaching me right from wrong, modeling God's great love and mercy, showing true compassion, for being my greatest source of support and encouragement and for always being there to catch me when I fall. I truly could not have made it through life's troubles without each of you in my corner. My girls are tremendously blessed to have each of you in their lives. Thank you for loving me and for ALWAYS being there for me! You have my love and deepest appreciation. Thank you for setting a great example and for modeling Christ's love. You are the greatest men I know and I am so grateful to have you in my life!

What a Difference a Day Makes!

Emily caught a stomach bug and so I spent Wednesday night/Thursday morning in the emergency room with her. Poor baby had to have three rounds of IV fluid through an IV in her head/scalp. They had to use her head as the IV site because her veins are so tiny and difficult to work with that they used all they could find in her hands and feet to get bloodwork for the labs. She is battered and bruised but seems to be doing better today. It's a good thing since we had our follow up with the pediatric opthamologist this morning. Wayne went with us to the appointment and I made him escort her back for the exam because it is not a friendly exam and she doesn't so much like it. Hearing her scream in the ER was enough to last me a good long while! The doc told Wayne the ROP disease that is common in preemies seems to be clearing up and she has the eyes of a healthy two week old (she is two weeks old adjusted age). We couldn't be happier and spent the rest of our day celebrating (it also happens to be our anniversary).

Emily joined us for our anniversary lunch and made her first public debut at Luby's (my favorite). We really wanted her first outting, other than doc. appointments, to be church but Luby's will go down in the books as her first official appearance out in the real world. She also had another 'first' today... we walked down to the neighborhood pool to get Lila out of the house for a bit. She stayed in the shade with her daddy while Lila and I swam but I know she enjoyed getting out as well. We really are looking forward to having free reign to go anywhere we want in a few weeks! I have a feeling we will be going, going, gone a lot when we finally can!

Lila enjoyed her time at the pool... mostly having me chase her around! Enjoy the pics!