Life Is Good: June 2011

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Crazy Busy

It's been crazy busy around here lately. And really for no particular reason or event. This past week we've been doing the VBS thing at CrossPointe in Crescent. Ryan really enjoyed it. But other than that we haven't been doing anything outstanding to cause all our busy-ness and my lack of blogging. Both of my kiddos have very strong (negative) opinions of me being at the computer, so that accounts for some of the blogging deficits.

Sibling rivalry is already a commonplace in our house. Can you just feel the love?...

We have "beached whales" often, especially on hot days and we've been having plenty of those...

Oh wait! Occasionally we DO have some love between siblings...

...the furry ones!

Evan is a little climber now...

He's fearless too.

Along with climbing Evan has started walking! On Thursday of this past week he started taking several steps without holding on. Walking across the room from one person to another. Today he started letting go and walking from one thing to another. Short distances only though.

With the ~~warm~~ HOT weather we've been having we've been spending a great deal of time outside. It's been a little too hot for my liking this past week so we've had to cut our outside time to only the cooler parts of the day. The pool is the place to be on hot days...

Last weekend we went to White Water Bay for a day of playing in the pools and riding down the slides. We had an AWESOME time. It was great. I didn't take my camera because I figured water and camera don't mix, but next time I'll take it and keep it in a bag. I missed too many good pictures. We also got to meet up with some of the cousins on the Yocham side of the family...

My kids aren't the only ones who like mud. Guess who got a bath recently?....

Gardening. Yep we've been gardening. This siamese squash pair came from Papa Donnie's garden but we've been slowly pulling off a little produce from our own garden. Unfortunately the squash bugs have drastically reduced our squash harvest.

My mud lovers...

Can you see where this is going?...

My climbing daredevil...

My kitchen helper...

My window washer...

My mischievous one...

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

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Crazy Busy

Monday, June 6, 2011

Close Ups