Life Is Good: Weekend Away

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Weekend Away

This past weekend Ryan, Evan, and I went with Nana to Aunt Lizzy's house. We spent Saturday, Saturday night and Sunday enjoying our mini-vacation with my wonderful sister and her husband.

Evan did a whole lot of this...

...awww the life. Reclining by the pool.

Since Lizzy and Bradford still live in an apartment complex they get the luxury of a pool. Since we were their guests...so did we!

Ryan swimming with Aunt Lizzy...

Oh! And Evan did a little stretching from time to time...

It was hot! I took Evan in the pool for a few minutes (I'm waiting on Lizzy to e-mail the pictures). He didn't like it as much as his big brother.

This guy...

...is like a fish! Once he figured out the benefits of those arm floaties he was up and down and in and out of the water. He gained so much confidence just in the few short hours we were in the pool. By the time we were through swimming he was jumping off the side, going under the water without fear and swimming independently. It was pretty awesome to watch him. I can't wait to take him swimming again.

We went swimming 2 different times on Saturday (afternoon and evening), but I think Ryan could have stayed in the pool the entire time we were at Aunt Lizzy's. Too bad us adults didn't have his kind of energy!

Sunday morning we went to the park. It was already hot, hot, hot by the time we got there, so we didn't stay long. We should have just jumped in the pool one last time. :)

We ended our weekend with an outing to the local mall. Ryan played in the play area while we visited. We couldn't end our stay, however, without a quick ride on the helicopter...

We had a great time.

1 comment:

mimi and Grampy said...: This looks like a
FUN MEMORY MAKING WEEK-END!!; August 25, 2010 at 9:31 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