December Milestones

Is there a job out there where I could digital scrapbook and get paid for it? I think I'd work 100 hours a week and not even realize it because it's just so much fun!! Then I could bring Lily to work with me too!!















Lily is crawling all over the place and if we put her in another room, she'll crawl straight to the toy box and find her next toy.(cute picture to follow) It's so funny to see her so mobile and thinking about what she wants her next adventure to be!

Lots of fun pictures on the camera still and our Flip Video is coming this week(waiting by the mailbox) so more to come!

Life is Good!

Frayed Nerves

Here's a picture of what it would've looked like if they did an MRI on my heart and stomach today.


Wow, what a day! I feel like I ran 5 marathons!! Then another 2 more! With no food or water or training! Just thrown into the marathons and finished them all!

It was a tough day for everyone, but it's over and behind us.

Thank God!!

Literally.

I've never said so many prayers and felt so helpless in my life. She was such a trooper the whole time and looking at us like we were crazy for not feeding her!! She got up around 8:30 and wasn't sedated until 11:30!!! Um, I don't know if you're any good at math, but that is THREE HOURS awake with no food! Not any breasmilk. Not any water. Not any juice. Not a cracker. Not a cheerio. Not a rice puff. Nothing! Then she became tired too and wanted to sleep, but was too hungry to sleep. The nurse said we should try to keep her up because the medicine would sedate her quicker.

Um, so that's THREE HOURS with no food and no nap!! Yipes!! The. poor. thing. D and I were like a comedy routine trying to distract her and keep her happy. She was such a trooper! We were like the 2 stooges trying to distract her grumbling tummy and tired eyes. The nurses thought we were nuts. I can't imagine what we must've looked like. Some things worked. Some things didn't so we went back to what worked 2 minutes previously and then that didn't work so we tried something else. We were hopping and changing gears every 2-3 minutes. Sometimes 2-3 seconds. I think we were giving her ADD in the process.

We never left her side which was good for her to have comfort in our faces, but SO HARD for us to see her so upset as they put in her IV as she flailed and cried. The nurses had to hold her down so she'd be still. Talk about helpless.

Then they gave her medicine to make her sleepy and she went completely limp so quickly. I wasn't expecting her to be so limp. She was like a newborn with a floppy head, no control over her limbs and went from fussy to completely sedated in my arms.

I insisted on holding her as long as possible so they let me hold her as we walked what seemed like miles of mazes alongside the nurse pushing the empty gurney through hallway after hallway, up and down elevators, even going outside, then inside passing hospital room after hospital room seeing patient after patient, visitor after visitor, elderly volunteers, doctors, nurses, all the while holding our entire life in my arms as I prayed, kissed, hugged, prayed, worried, hoped, loved and snuggled her little helpless body praying it was healthy, intact, and just as normal on the inside as it appeared on the outside.

Then they had to put her little innocent motionless body on a GIANT gurney and send her into this enormous tube which looked like a spaceship where she stayed for over an hour, as they snapped image after image reaching a whopping 200 images of her entire inner workings. All of her organs, her spine, her brain, and even every chamber of her pretty little heart. Everything that makes lily our Lily! They burned those 200 images to a cd and gave to us as a keepsake. Now when I say she's beautiful on the inside and the outside, I have proof!! :)

After she woke up around 1:30ish, she was like a drunken sailor looking dazed, loopy and confused. They gave her 8oz of pedia-lite which she guzzled down faster than I've ever seen her drink, then drank 6oz of breastmilk, then another 6oz of apple juice. She couldn't drink it fast enough. We couldn't keep up with her. It was such a relief to finally be able to feed her and satisfy her needs.

Now for the good news. Doctor just called with the results and said the sacral dimple is NOT ATTACHED to anything internally and poses no risk to her EVER in her lifetime!! Nor will it ever be attached. I repeat, NOT ATTACHED!! They were worried it was attached to her spine and would do funky things when she was older (Dr. Google can really freak out parents who research the "what ifs" which I don't recommend, but still did it). I feel like I just lost 200lbs after that phone call. They also scanned her internal hemangioma and it looks normal and harmless as well. There goes another 100lbs. Here are a few pictures I took with my cell phone.

Here's Lily just after the MRI. Poor thing had to have an IV which we weren't expecting. Either was she. They had to give her oxygen too after she was sedated which we weren't expecting either. She is so out of it here...




Lily has always been a little shy being naked around people so she might be embarrassed by this shot, but I think she'll forgive me. Here's what I mean by her being beautiful on the inside. Yes, this is her and we have 199 other images like this. She looks like a bodybuilder.





Here she is home in snuggly clothes still feeling a little loopy and trying to force her famous smile to daddy who is probably standing on his head at this point. I swear we could go on the road with our routine!


Once again, the power of prayer prevailed and it's because of you we have a healthy, intact, amazing little miracle who is currently passed out in her crib in the star formation with her arms and legs spread out like she's Stretch Armstrong. My little heart is so full of gratitude, relief and enormous love not only for our little Lily Grace, but to all of you who love her so much and helped to carry this weight with us through texts, emails, calls, cards, visits, home cooked meals, powerful prayers, and buckets and buckets of love that we pour all over our perfect little LilyGrace. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! We are humbled by it all and know that it got us all through today!!

Life is Good!! (flailing onto bed, passing out in star formation)

Power Prayers

Power pumping always works for me so I figured power prayers would work too! Lily has her procedure tomorrow at 10am. We have to be there at 9:45 and she'll be sedated around 11ish, but not sure how the timing will go so please set your alarms, cell phones, email yourself, put a ribbon around your finger to say a prayer (or 50) OUT LOUD around this time.

She can't eat anything after 4am so we're going to try to keep her up a little later tonight and hopefully she'll sleep in until we have to leave.(she loves to sleep late like a college student home for summer) We'll probably dream feed her around 3:30am so she has something in her tummy. We're just hoping she doesn't wake up fully at this feeding and goes back to sleep peacefully until it's time to go. We've never done this so we're not sure how she'll react, but hopefully it'll work out.

Everyone says it'll be harder on us than her and that may be true so you can throw a shout out to mom and dad too, but not in replacement of the ones for Lily. tee hee. Sedating a 9 month old just seems so unnatural and scary. She is just so little.

Ok, maybe not that little.

See for yourself.

Check out her adorable face when she finally reaches the table. She is so proud of herself!


click one of these links if box isn't working
http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j206/kelster5/?action=view&current=Jan202009-VID00003.flv
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http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j206/kelster5/?action=view¤t=Jan202009-VID00003.flv
Many more videos to come as we're getting a flip mino this weekend. I borrowed one from a friend and am totally addicted!!

Thanks in advance for your prayers! I'll try to post to the blog from my phone afterwards. I love you all!!

This video/song inspires me every. single. time.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OdD7HecMa4

Dinner, Dates, and More...

Lily had a little extra lovin' last week when Carin and her 3 adorable girls helped Kelle watch Lily. They are such naturals with babies! They scooped her up and loved on her so much! Whenever she'd start crying, they'd go running to her to talk sing-songy, give her a toy, or distract her. It was adorable! Sydney went down in history as being the first person to make Lily wave. I couldn't believe my eyeballs!!


She loves to crawl to a table and stand...it is so cute to watch the fireworks go off in her mind as you can see what she wants to do and the effort it takes to execute. She's so proud once she reaches her goal.




She loves to watch us while we're tinkering in the kitchen and loves her new chair Kelle let us borrow.




Kelle's mom made her this hat and I have a hard time taking it off of her. Would it be bad if she took a bath in it? lol So much love in knitted in this hat! I think she knows it too.


We went to a tropical surprise party for one of David's friends. There was a matching dress that went with his shirt, but more on that in a second.



Ok, so Heidi was nice enough to let us borrow her super cute, sentimental, matching shirt and dress for the party, but let's just say it didn't quite fit me. This picture makes me laugh

every.

single.

time!!

but it did fit my adorable 10 year old niece Katie!! l.o.freakin.l


We had a great time at the party and were lucky enough to have co-babysitters to love Lily! They are like Supernanny the way they show up at a moments notice and take over seamlessly like a well orchestrated team spreading the love. Thank you for loving her like your own! Understatement of the year!




I bought these letters at WalMart on a whim remembering them many Lainey bathtub pictures. It was her first night seeing them and Jen said they were a total hit. She was engrossed and wanted to take a nibble on each one!



Peek a boo is always a winner in the bathtub, but not with these letters to investigate. So Katie got creative and played a game of eat the letters which she thought was hilarious. Katie would put the letters in her mouth and Lily would let it sit there laughing hysterical like she knew she looked funny.


Then story time came and more history was made. Katie was reading her all time favorite story. (thanks Gma and Gpa H)


and her voice must've been like a sound machine because this happened next.


Lily fell asleep during storytime! Her VERY favorite story that even has bells and music on every page! This has never happened in the history of Lily. And she was OUT so Jen carried her upstairs like a heavy sack of potatoes!! So glad Jen took pictures or I wouldnt've believed it myself!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for loving her so much!! Yum, yum, yum!



Taking Lily to the park is so much fun; especially with this weather lately!! Picnics are even better. And there just happened to be a jazz concert at the same time. Lucky us.


She crawls all over us like we're a jungle gym.

she loves to play, play, play...


And she would swing all day if she could...



love how they're both making the same expression here...oh my freaky genetics


Life is Good! Another understatement!!

xoxo

New Year Gift

On New Year's Day, she did this...
(click link if video embed doesn't work)
http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j206/kelster5/?action=view&current=precrawling.flv


A few days later she did this...
(click link if embed doesn't work)
http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j206/kelster5/?action=view&current=crawling0112091638a.flv




Now she just wants to move everywhere. We just sit in amazement, mouths gaping, smiling from ear to ear and cheering like we're at the dog track. Completely and utterly fascinating!

On another note, (heavy sigh) when Lily was born, she had a dimple on her lower back that doctors were concerned was connected to her interally. They did an ultrasound on it when she was born and after many prayers, it was discovered it WASN'T attached, was NOT a concern and just a unique part of Lily. We celebrated like it was our birthday! But, the dimple seems to be growing as she grows and they want to make triple sure that it hasn't attached or if it was missed in the ultrasound when she was a day old.

An ultrasound gives a good picture, but they want to get a better look.

The only way to get a better look at it is with an MRI.

The only way to give a baby an MRI is to sedate her.

As in sedation.

They are going to sedate our little Lily Pie! (welling tears)

UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH!

We have to have the MRI done sooner than later to rule out any potential problems and if, God forbid, it is attached, it is all fixable, but I'm not fast forwarding to all the what ifs. The whole ordeal makes me sick to my stomach and heart sick. I'm not super worried about the outcome of the MRI, but more about her being "put under". She's having this done next Friday, 1/23 at 10:00. She'll be under for about 45 minutes. To say we're sad for her and worried is an understatement. But glad to have it done and rule out any problems. The MRI results will take a 4-5 days (oh dear!) after the radiologist reads them. She can't eat anything after 4:30am the morning of the test. So, once again, we're asking for big prayers that everything goes as planned and the outcome is positive. We've leaned on you so much in our journey to have Lily that we know this blog is connected to the big guy and need your help to make sure he's still reading!! :)

Thanks for your prayers and we'll keep you posted! Literally.

9 months

Nine months doesn't sound like very long, but I can't remember life without Lily; seems like another lifetime. She closer to a year than she is to 1/2 year and that is crazy to think about! The whole process of growing up is so gradual, natural and beautiful all at the same time. She had her 9 month checkup and she is growing like she should be.

It's so funny that she only makes this face when she's listening to Dr. Wilson. It's the "I-think-you're-kinda-important" face...She makes it the whole time and doesn't take her eyes off of him for a second.








For her 9 month shot, she is going after the paper of course. She'd eat the ENTIRE sheet of paper if we let her. I have to hide my shopping list at the grocery store because she'll want that and only that if she spots it. Visualize me crossing things off my list down by my knee so her eagle eye doesn't pick it up on her radar. I'm packing paper in her lunchbox when she grows up.

oh, how I love this dress on her...I'd let her wear it everyday if that was sanitary; oh and if it wasn't 80 degrees!


See, it's hot down here! Don't you northerners feel bad for us;) Lily is saying hi to your northerners... (notice my "Life is Good" hat from Santa)


Oh, how she loves her Lainey Love...her eyes light up, huge smile appears, & legs start kicking when she sees her. It's magical how she knows that's someone her age and someone she should look up to. Lucky us!



She loves her wagon rides too...thank you Santa!
ok, so it gets cold at night...



We've been using this mesh pacifier food thingy that Aunt Molly gave us eons ago and we love it. Actually, Lily loves it. We put food in the mesh bag and she goes to town on it. Here she is eating a strawberry, but she missed her mouth a few times...


I was making her food while she was gnawing on it and came back to this face...what? me? I didn't do it. She actually looks like Groucho Marx!


see the resemblance?

ok, that's better...

She loves to play "Where's Lily" when david flies her around on his head asking where she is over and over; she squeals with laughter in delight. Not quite sure who likes this game more ;)

There is NOTHING I like more than our mornings together. Where we're not doing anything special, but we all know how special that is.


She loves to stand more than anything... here is she is hard at work...(she has cloth diapers on so it looks like she has more junk in the trunk-haha)


Say hi to your peeps




Life is good! xoxo

Park

Ever since Lily sat up, it's like a different baby where she can do so much wherever we go. She's usually all smiles too. I don't know how she doesn't catch flies all day!

I'm not a big fan of shirts that have words that label the baby (ie "Troublemaker", "Spoiled",etc) but I made an exception with this gift we received at her shower. We tend to agree.

I think they're contemplating life. Or contemplating when the next nap will be...for both of them. :)

She's meditating...

We were on the phone with David's parents when all of a sudden the doorbell rang and we were greeted by Christmas carolers belting out their favorite tunes. Little did they know they were singing to us as well as the herd in SC.

Lily makes everything all that sweeter!

Life is good! xoxo