Life Is Good: Fun Mini-Vacation

Monday, October 20, 2008

Fun Mini-Vacation

We went on a very fun mini-vacation this weekend. We went to Texas and spent the weekend with Ryan's Gammaw and Pawpaw. It had been a while since we last visited...March to be exact. It was a great get-away for us and a blast spending time with family.

We arrived late Friday evening. Ryan was asleep when we arrived however when he woke up enough to realize we were in some place unfamiliar he came all the way awake. He was a "bear" to get to go back to sleep. Sometime between 10:30 and 11:30 I think he actually closed his eyes. I guess he was afraid he was going to miss something.

Saturday morning we woke up and went and got breakfast in a quaint little "mom and pop" restaurant. The food was great. The service was awesome. I love little restaurants like these. We went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few of those forgotten items. hmmmm....ooops. Ryan fell asleep before we got back to the house. We decided to let him sleep for as long as he liked.

Saturday afternoon we went to the Dallas Zoo. It is a very beautiful zoo, and we didn't even see the whole thing. Now I want to go back! I didn't think about this until much later (after we left the zoo), but I believe our OKC elephants are currently at the Dallas Zoo for some...uhhh...let's see..."friendship". OKC Zoo is hoping to increase the elephant population through this "play date" in Dallas. Saturday evening we spent time visiting and relaxing.

The hit of the day...The Children's Zoo. It was fantastic. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the entire thing to show what it was like, but here are a few things Ryan got to do in this part of the zoo...

Ryan petting a rabbit...

...and a lamb...

...and a pig!

Ryan hugging a big tortoise. (it's not real)

Ryan wishing I'd let him go swimming.

"Which Way Did He Go?"

Hanging out with Mom

"It was then that the family revealed that Ryan was actually hatched..."

Family Photos

Sunday morning we got up and went to church. It was great. It has been a long, long time since Wade and I have gone to church together and came home feeling renewed and revived and excited about what God is doing/will do in and through us. Gammaw and Pawpaw's church is so much more than a group of people who meet once or twice a week. They are one big family. We went out to eat with a big group from the church after services.

Here is a great story about the perception of kids. Ryan is going through and has been in a stage of separation anxiety in which if I, mommy, am not visible things are horrible. He had a "bad" experience in a nursery at church a few months ago. Nothing major, just traumatic in his little mind. Ever since then he has been terribly fearful of church nurseries. This with the separation anxiety thing has made it nearly impossible for Ryan to stay in the nursery at any church. I refuse to let him scream for very long in a nursery especially considering he won't be spending much more time in situations warranting a nursery do to the approaching flu/RSV season. Anyway...I decided to give it a try, dropping him off at the nursery before Sunday school. He did fine until he couldn't see me anymore. I let him cry for a few minutes, but returned to retrieve him fairly promptly. When church services were about to start Miss Val entered our lives! She came over and asked to hold Ryan. I passed him over. She asked me if she could take him out during services. I said, "sure, we can try...". When services started and Ryan was introduced (many of these fine people prayed for him continuously during his NICU stay) Miss Val came and took him away. Do you know, I never heard a peep out of him. He loved Miss Val! In fact, when I went to get him after services he didn't want me...he wanted Miss Val. How cool is that?! This just shows me that there are "nursery workers" and then there are "those who love kids with all their heart". Ryan knew the difference!

1 comment:

Kristi said...: Hi Julie,

Just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy reading your blog. I love keeping up with Ryan and watching him grow. It is so fun to hear about all the cute things he does.
You have inspired me to start my own blog. It is so much fun. If you ever want to check it out it is Linnfamilystory.blogspot.com.
I also now keep track of Nate and Tricia. There life is so inspiring too and right now pretty heartbreaking. But I can't wait to see the miracle that God will do for them and I know He will really use it for His glory.
Be blessed,
Kristi Linn; October 22, 2008 at 11:32 PM

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Brandy Danielle

Brandy is our firstborn, our precious angel baby girl. Her entry into this world wasn't without excitement. At 26 weeks I started preterm labor with contractions 5 minutes apart. With 10 weeks of strict bedrest, most of which were in the hospital, she made it to 36 weeks.
Brandy was diagnosed with "possible/probable" heart defect around 28-30 weeks gestation. After her birth she was whisked away to the NICU for monitoring and after a few days her defect was formally diagnosed and labeled...atrial septal defect and a cleft mitral valve.
Brandy, upon indications of failure to thrive and pulmonary hypertension, underwent her first of 2 open-heart surgeries at 4 months of age. A week after her surgery on the day of her anticipated discharge home Brandy coded for 13 minutes...a stoke.
From that point on Brandy's life was full of doctor's visits, endless crying, pain and suffering. She underwent another heart surgery, fundoplication and g-tube surgery, treatment for infantile spasms, and a mountain of tests and procedures. Her brain damage was extensive.
Upon counseling of our wonderful, most amazing heart surgeon, Dr. Christopher Knott-Craig, and many hours of prayer, we finally called in hospice and called off all of the extensive medical interventions and surgery needs that would prolong her suffering while possibly prolonging her life. Brandy, our precious baby girl...our angel...passed out of our arms and into the arms of her Saviour, Jesus at the tender age of 17 months.

Ryan Andrew

Ryan, our micro-preemie miracle, is a ball of life. After nearly a year of trying to conceive imagine our delight when we finally knew he was on the way. My pregnancy with Ryan was uneventful at first. It seemed perfect and with all of the precautions for preterm labor being taken and monitored we entered this pregnancy with cautious anticipation covered over by a whole love of naive excitement.
At 20 weeks we discovered our "Baby Peanut" was going to be a little boy. We began to make plans and began dreaming about the day we would meet our son.
Almost 2 weeks later everything changed in our lives. It wa a whirlwind of fear and emtions as I began to bleed, was sent for monitoring in L&D and eventually had an appointment with my OB only to find out that it was serious. I had incompetent cervix with hourglassing membranes. The doctor admitted me to the hospital immediately and an emergency cerclage was placed. The statistics were grim, but the hope was to keep our son inside for at least 10 more weeks. We only made it 10 more days.
Early in the evening of February 11, 2007 our son, Ryan, came into this world in emergency fashion at only 23 weeks 5 days gestation. He weighed 1 pound 8 ounces and was 12 ½ inches long. He was so tiny. All I could think of was “oh my goodness is he really that tiny? And is there any way he could actually make it?” I tried to hold on to hope, but in all honesty I had never met anyone with a baby born that early and that small that ever made it.
Ryan did make it! It was a long, hard road, but in the end he spent 90 days in the NICU. He was on a ventilator for 2 months. Finally on one fine glorious day in May we bundled up our 4 pound 4 ounce baby boy and went home...May 11, 2007.
Ryan is now a spunky, lively, strong-willed little boy. His laughter is contagious and his spirit is compelling. He is our miracle. There are no words strong enough to share our delight and joy that God has blessed us with this little boy.

Evan Alexander