HALF OF A YEAR!

MY SWEET LITTLE BABY GIRL HAS BEEN HERE A HALF OF A YEAR!

Wow. I'm trying to balance celebrating her, and not getting too emotional about this being my last baby. I'm so happy she is thriving and growing, but I want to snuggle with a baby for a little bit longer! I'm glad she is a little bit behind so I can still have a little baby around =) She is currently 10 pounds and 5 ounces. She is 22 and 7/8 inches long, and I forget what her head is. I DO know that her head is on the growth chart!!!5th%! That is funny to me because Landon's head just recently got above the 5%. With her corrected age, she would be about 20% in weight & 50% in height--a place that Landon is still not at. This little girlie has some potential to pass him up. Everything is going great with her health and development, and we will be starting some cereal in about a month, shortly followed by baby food. She goes back for another hearing test in a few months, and she will continue those 1-2 times per year until she is 3 years old. She did have a little issue with some *skin* growing together--an issue that we hadn't dealt with from having a boy, and hadn't really ever heard of it. It is common though, and for now we will just put Vaseline on her once a day. If the adhesion doesn't clear up, then there is a hormone cream they can put on her. Gross. Look it up if you want to though,I guess we learn something new everyday. We will not have to go back to the Dr. for a well visit until she is 9 months old. I hope the next 3 months are VERY slow, and that we can take the time to enjoy both of these kids!



Don't you think these sweet little ears need to be pierced?



We never made birth announcements. I was really really bummed that we didn't get the 'normal' hospital pictures, I love all the ones at Baptist. I certainly was in no shape to be sending out pictures of my baby with cords and wires and tape and tubes. By the time she was discharged and almost 2 months old, I figured it was too late--everyone already knew.I have been trying to figure out what picture I can at least take up to the NICU, Dr. W, and Dr. M. So I had a coupon for some free cards that printed on my receipt at Target, and came up with this! I love it =)

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

I heart Lucy

Lucy had another 3 month follow-up appointment at the cardiologist Thursday. After about a 5 minute echo cardiogram Dr. M. said, " It looks perfect"!

Sweet Sweet Summertime

A life without love is like a year without summer. ~Swedish Proverb

So it's not officially summer yet, but school is out. That is close enough!

I decided to ride along with my sister & niece to Orlando last week. OK, so we took my Nitro, and I drove some (for like the FIRST time I drove), but I went with them so they didn't have to go alone. We weren't planning on leaving until Saturday, but headed out Friday evening around 6pm. We drove until we were sleepy, and stayed the night in Perry, G.A. Landon ran around the hotel like crazy until 2AM, and both the kids loved eating breakfast there. :) It is a much longer trip when you are nursing a baby, but it  gave the kids chances to get out and play. We only stayed until Thursday morning,pulling out and heading back home before 6A.M.

While we were there we got to relax with family,swim, & soak up some sun.



Our cousins are just about the same age as our kiddos.



My cousin Benjamin & Landon.

There is a random jellyfish invasion on the beaches on the east coast of Florida, so we only went once. I didn't even venture down to the wet sand to see because Lucy was a little on the fussy side that day. I stayed under the umbrella with her most of the time. BUT my sister, son, and niece decided to make the best of it. In turn, they made the local Fox station. The story then went to the National Fox News, and then Good Morning America ! If are my friend on Facebook, I'm sure you've seen it. If not, here are the links!

 http://video.foxnews.com/v/968602743001/jellyfish-spoil-beach-vacation

 http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/florida-coast-falls-victim-jellyfish-invasion-13731585

My niece caught these.

Landon on cloud 9 with his Great Uncle Tim & Aunt Becky

Lucy with her Great Aunt Becky

I hear my parents might be heading back down in July, maybe we can hitch a ride then too. ;)

If I die young....

A few weeks ago this song came on, so I decided to talk 'funerals'. I had never brought this subject up before. You always hear that story of the couple where one passes away, and they think it's so ironic that they had JUST been talking about death, family, & how they wanted their funeral. No, I don't believe in jinxing things or superstitions, but that's just not something I wanted to happen. After my parents drove as quickly as they could to Nashville anticipating their daughter being dead,  after Luke and Amanda witnessed the nurses/doctors asking each other if anyone had found a pulse on me yet, and after Luke had been pulled into the hallway by Dr. W. letting him know I'd most likely have brain damage the rest of my life, I figured maybe we should discuss funerals.

I asked Luke what clothes he'd dress me in, what songs he'd have sung/played, who he would have hold the service, where the funeral would be, and where I'd be buried. He had some thoughtful answers.


Music Playlist at MixPod.com

This isn't my typical running song, but I did add this to my play list when I ran in Louisville the other week. It got me over the first big hill in the park. Running gives you  plenty of time to think and clear your mind. It also gives you time to pray. I'm so thankful, especially with everything that happened, that I am still here and am able to enjoy my sweet babies. I probably won't forget any of the Dr.'s faces that I saw that day, even though I don't remember too much. I can't imagine my kiddos having to grow up without me. I know their Daddy could take care of them & love them, but I want to be able to love on them too as much as I can! The first time we took Lucy to the pediatrician after she was released, he was speechless. He told us he had read through my Dr. report again, and was just so happy things turned out the way he did. He stammered and stuttered a bit and finally got out how bad it could have gotten & we could have even lost Lucy too. I enjoy having Christian doctors. He came back to check on Lucy for the first few days, and even came in my room to see me. He came in right after all the 'excitement'. I always try to look decent when I do to Dr. appointments now, because I feel bad at what they had to look at those few days ;)

On another note, we took a family vacation to Orlando a few weeks ago. We spent Mother's day with some of  my mom's family. Here are a few pictures:

So HAPPY to be a MOMMY to these 2!

Family beach picture! (I'm still working on getting back into shape).

Running with purpose!

The Derby Festival Mini Marathon and full marathon were April 30th. I ran with the Run with Purpose relay team. It was a great day, and I had a wonderful time! the legs were split up into a 10k, 5k, 10k, 5k, and a little over 7 miles.



About 2 miles into my run, still smiling because I hadn't hit the 3 miles of hills yet ;)



I had a long blog posted about it, but am not quite sure where it went! I would love to do the relay again, and train a little more next time. My 10k time was not even close to 'good', but the experience was good, and it was all to raise money for Will and Audrey's mission work, and it was worth it all. I had a great time meeting some new people at my leg of the race, and also meeting some G.O. ministry people too.



Waiting after leg 5 to join the rest of the team across the finish line!

The team, minus Ashley, after the race.

After the race I went home and took a nice long nap. I didn't get much sleep the night before from driving in from Nashville & feeding Lucy throughout the night. After I woke up from my nap, my grandpa was out our house and we ate a good steak dinner! We hung out on the patio talking about everything with him from air conditioners ( ours had just gone out) to his training in Ireland. At that point it was getting late, and I hadn't had any caffeine yet in the day, so we took a short trip to Starbucks before hitting the hay! We went to church Sunday morning before meeting up with Audrey and Will for a few minutes,eating lunch, and heading back to Nashville before we left for Florida the next day. The marathon weekend was great!

And if you'd still like to donate money to G.O. ministries, let me know! I will let you know how to make that possible.

Happy Easter!



Lucy's Easter Basket

Yes, I realize Holy week was LAST week, but I need to put some pictures up of my 2 lovelies!

Landon, Lucy, & their cousin Elyssa on saturday before Easter.




Landon checking out his basket





Cell phone picture from during church. This is Lucy's smile she is starting to show us EVERY day! =)



My family came into town for Easter.



Moving on

We've started taking Lucy out more. She usually stays in her carrier away from people, we'll keep this up for just a little bit longer. She has been to church about 3 times now, and has been to Target a few times, but that is mainly all besides the Dr. We're still keeping her away from small spaces that have lots of kids--nurseries, play places, other people's houses etc. But when we are out the questions flow from strangers. It usually starts with ," How old is she?". Some people don't say anything. Either they've never been around babies, or really just don't think anything. The people who usually say " ooohh she is brand new, what is she 2 weeks old?" are the ones with the questions. How big was she? How long was she in the hospital? How big is 2 pounds? How did she fit into clothes? When did you bring her home? Everything is ok with her now though, right? I bet she is big to you now, right?

I've finally been out of the house to hang out with people about 3 times now without Luke. =) Big steps for me. The social aspect of all of this was much harder than I ever imagined. I'm now realizing that I got sick 4 times so far since she has been born ( throw up sick), and she has been here 4 months. Every month the stress and anxiety just built up to a point where I got sick. And I don't get sick. I can count on one hand the # of times ( before her) that I have thrown up. Looking at her pictures from the hospital even made me dizzy for a long time. Thinking back to holding a baby that has stopped breathing, monitors beeping, nurses suctioning out her mouth & stimulating her by talking and rubbing was just too much to think about at some times. Look at this picture, and see if you notice anything:

(Besides her nasal cannula all crazy). Hint: look at her chest. Yeah, some things weren't formed yet on her.And her eye. These things were hard to be ok with while she was in the hospital.

Having a baby that was only alive because she was hooked up to machines is not fun.I imagined that once she was home, it would be fine.Then when people would ask questions once she was home, and it would all come back. It was just easier to not go around people, then I wouldn't have to talk about anything! And if Luke was with me, he could do the talking and I could just walk away. But it is getting easier. So if you haven't see me in the last 4 months, it's either because we don't want to take Lucy to the place where you're at =) or because I'm still working on myself with some help & recommendations from the Dr. and Luke. One of the times I have been out was last week. My wonderful friends had a little shower for sweet Lucy. It was a book and gift card shower! We are so thankful for each of these girls!

A few things came up last minute for a few more friends, and they weren't able to come. Believe me, I understand =) The cake was fabulous also.

Thanks again SO much! And since you all said I am not to send Thank You cards, I hope this is OK ;) We've been keeping up and making sure we do TY cards since right when we had her. Cards, food, gift cards, money, diapers--we made lists and checked off as soon as people gave us things. We were so thankful for ALL of the help, and wanted to make sure you all knew! If we left you out, we are so sorry, but know we are thankful. I think I'm more worried about leaving someone out than the gift givers themselves are. I slipped a card in a purse at church a week ago, and they told me that it better not be a TY card because I'm a new Mom and don't need to worry about that. They are also a new mom, and said they hadn't done them. I was  in Target the other day, and 2 ladies were talking about these cute onesies. One of the onesies said something about 'my aunt'. One lady was joking that when the mom sends out TY cards, she'll thank her for it instead( they were both aunts, and the shirt was prob. about my aunt is cute). Then the other lady said, " I never got a wedding TY card, did you? I don't think she is doing them". So I'm guessing that thank you cards are on the way out. I never really understood them. You tell someone thank you face to face when you get a gift. And you know people ONLY do them because it's what you are supposed to do. BUT this time around we REALLY REALLY were so very thankful and happy for all of the gifts, so we wanted to make sure everyone knows! We've been so blessed with help, and hope that we can be the same to others when they are in need.