Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year!! It was a lot of fun because of the fact that Bryson seemed to understand the excitement of Santa Clause coming this year. On Sunday last weekend we went down to San Antonio to spend time with my dad's side of the family at my aunt and uncle's house. They have 2 little ones, and so it was fun for Bryson and Finley to have playmates that day. Finley enjoyed climbing up the stairs over and over again, and looking through the doggy door, and we hardly even saw Bryson, he was so busy playing.









On Christmas Eve we went down to San Antonio again to spend time with Mike's family at his parent's house. Bryson had fun decorating cookies that Mimi baked, with Aunt Kerrie. Finley roamed the house, and loved to give herself kisses in the mirror that is in their hallway. Bryson loved to tear through the presents. His big dump truck was so cool!









We drove home later in the afternoon so the kids would take their nap during the car ride home. When we got home we made cookies for Santa, and placed them by the fireplace before Bryson headed to bed.



After the kids were in bed, the Santas got to work wrapping presents and putting together the kitchen that Santa was to drop off completely put together (until 1 a.m.) and then we finally hit the sack, only to wake up early enough to wait for Bryson to walk out and see things, so we could get a picture of his face.



On Christmas morning, when Bryson came out to the living room, he was excited to see the kitchen! We went in to go wake Finley up so that they could start opening presents.







And, open presents they did....









Later in the day we went over to my sister's house, and spent time with my side of the family. It was there that Finley started walking, on Christmas day! :) She has previously taken about 1 or 2 steps without holding onto something for both Mike and me, but we had her walking between us across the living room over and over again. She was so proud of herself, and it was so much fun to see her taking steps! We had a good time, and it was a nice finish to a great Christmas season for 2008!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

We get a real tree every Christmas, and I always look forward to it, because it smells soooo good in the house! We have always wanted to go the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm, but have never been able to work that out, so this year we made a point to get there! We went a couple of weekends ago on Sunday 12/7, and it was such a fun experience! They took us out on a hayride to the trees, dropped us off with saws, and we went in search of our own tree to cut down. We found one that suited us, and took lots of pictures along the way :) We went with my sister, Courtney, her husband Nicholas, and their daughter Eisley, and after we all got our trees home, we agreed they were HUGE! They seemed so much smaller out in the field. We knew what to look for with the height as Mike could put his hand up and we could gauge it by that, but the width of the thing was more than we expected, and I think the same for Courtney and Nick too! It was fun, but we might go back to our usual spot at Home Depot next year. That's where we've always gotten ours in the past, and always find a great tree!

Thinking of Kayleigh

I recently searched for blogs of families with preemies out there to follow other journeys as Finley's NICU experience really sunk in with me emotionally after her recent first birthday. We are so thankful that she is healthy and didn't have to go through much, but just being there and going through that experience made me see things a little differently. I found this blog in the past week that has completely consumed me, and I started reading from the beginning of their journey, which started back in April, and read through to what is happening with them today. This isn't usually my way of doing things, but I just couldn't get them out of my thoughts, and right now they need prayers more than ever. The parents (Adam and Aimee Freeman) started the blog because when they had an ultrasound done during pregnancy, the baby was measuring a few weeks behind, and so they started doing a bunch of tests to try and figure out what was wrong with little Kayleigh. At one point she was even growing 4 weeks behind. According to the doctors that they were seeing, she had to get to a certain weight to be viable, but Adam and Aimee were told to basically expect the worse, that Kayleigh probably wouldn't make it. At one point Aimee was put on bedrest and 48 hours before she was born, by chance, one of Aimee's doctors gave her the steroid shots to help improve Kayleigh's lungs. Kayleigh was born on June 23, 2008 at a tiny 1 pound 1 ounce. She has been in the NICU ever since, and I cannot even begin to go into all that she and her parents have been through. The things this family has been through is more than anyone should have to go through in their lives. I write right now asking that you keep them in your thoughts, prayers, whatever you may believe in doing, as they need them more than ever. Kayleigh had been diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension a while back, and she is battling that right now. Kayleigh has beaten all the odds with the things she has been dealt in life thus far, and the doctors are trying one last medication that they are saying might be the last 'tool in their toolbox' to use on this little girl. She is precious, and it breaks my heart to read the struggles they have been through. Please pray for Kayleigh that she may grow in weight (she needs to get bigger to compensate for the pressure in her lungs and heart), and that the medicine the doctors are going to try on her will help her. She is 5 months 3 weeks right now, and currently weighing in around 5 pounds. She needs this, her family need this.

Their blog is www.kayleighannefreeman.blogspot.com

The picture on the top of their blog is from when Kayleigh was first born, and that is Adam's wedding band around her arm. It is incredible! Thanks for listening to me. :)

One Year Ago - Finley Comes Home

(December 14, 2008)
One year ago today we brought Finley home with us, and we started our life as a family of 4 under the same roof. Mike left the hospital to go home and pick Bryson up as we were anxious for him to meet her for the first time. They don't allow germ-filled toddlers in the NICU. So, Mike and Bryson got back to the hospital and waited in the hallway that leads to the NICU as I was able to bring Finley out. Bryson didn't know what to think at first, but he quickly took a liking to her. They are still loving towards each other these days, and I'm sure they are going to be even better friends over the next few years as Finley starts to walk and talk a lot. We were wheeled out of the hospital to the car, and took off with our newest addition to the family. She did really well on the car ride home, and we even stopped off at the pediatrician's office to get Bryson a flu shot on the way home. Our life has never been the same since we brought Miss. Finley home, and we all just love her to pieces!! She has a great little personality that is starting to shine through more and more. We are so glad that she pulled through for us so easily, and has done so well over this past year. I can't wait to see what is in store for us over this next year as she starts to communicate with us more and start to walk on her own. Life is good! :)

One Year Ago - Rooming In

(December 13, 2008)
One year ago yesterday was the day we were told that we'd be taking Finley home the following day, and they asked if we'd like to room in with her for the night at the hospital. They have some rooms in the NICU to allow parents to stay the night before going home with the babies, and be able to keep them in that room with them as it's still part of the NICU. We gladly agreed, and were so excited that we'd be able to stay with her all night long! It was so nice to have her with us and to be able to hold her all night if we wanted. She had to have a bili blanket wrapped on her back because her bilirubin levels had started to creep back up and jaundice set in again. No biggie though, and we were still taking her home the next day, so it didn't bother us much!

One Year Check Up

Yesterday I took Finley in for her 1 year check up. She had 2 shots, and did pretty well with them. Not as fun for Mommy to hold her down though!

Finley's weight is at 20 lbs. 10 oz., which puts her in the 40th percentile for weight. Her height was 27 1/4 inches, which puts her in the 10th percentile for height (short like mama!).

She just had her first molar tooth break through in the last 2 days sometime, and has another one that is about to poke through in the next few days, which will put her at 10 teeth, with only 10 more teeth to go if you include the 2 year molars. It will be nice to be done with teething in this house for good, although Finley is much better with the teething than Bryson was. We hardly notice when she gets a new tooth, and have to fish around in her mouth to check it out every now and then to see if anything else is coming through!

Her current vocabulary consists of: Dada, dog, yay, dance, touchdown, cheese, and night night.

She can clap, dance, blow kisses (sometimes), wave bye bye, says cheese while smiling for the camera, and she gives kisses to her baby dolls. She cruises everywhere, and prefers that over crawling a lot. She'll hold onto just about anything to try and get around.

One Year Ago - Leaving Her Behind

(December 8, 2008)
One year ago today we left Finley behind in the NICU as we were discharged home from the hospital. Leaving her there was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Going home with no baby in your arms is no fun. It was nice to get home to Bryson and prepare things a little more for Finley to join us at home soon though. She was getting stronger and gaining weight in the hospital, and well taken care of! She had gotten down to 4 lbs. 4 oz. as babies lose some weight after being born before gaining again. This was the day that the weight started to add on little by little. Finley has been such a chunky baby as she's grown, you wouldn't even be able to tell she had been a preemie. We are so thankful for that, and I love her little thighs! Over the next few days, she continued to improve and we visited and transported milk over and over again. We were getting so anxious to get her home with us, especially before Christmas. We were told she could possibly be there until her due date, which was January 17th, and we just didn't want it to take that long! Luckily it didn't :)

One Year Ago - Holding Finley for the first time

December 7, 2008)
One year ago today I held Finley for the first time. It was a killer to have to wait a few days to be able to hold her, but it was well worth the wait. I remember Mike and I walking up to the NICU and walking into her little room and a nurse was in there doing some checks on Finley, and she asked me if I'd like to hold Finley. I started crying as I was scared and so excited all at the same time. I was scared, because she was so tiny! I can't even imagine having a 2-pounder. We were used to having Bryson who had been born at 7 lbs. 13 oz. and Finley just seemed so fragile. I was also scared because of all of the tubes attached to her, and didn't want to mess anything up. They had me do kangaroo therapy, and Finley and I rocked for a while. We had to leave because of the shift change (they have meetings to update the new shift, and because of patient confidentiality we had to leave during shift changes). We went back later in the day for Mike to get a chance to hold her, and we both just loved this day one year ago!!

Birthday Party Fun!

Today we celebrated Finley's first birthday with our family at home. Finley didn't really open any presents, so Bryson and I did most of it, and then she had her cupcake. She dug right into it, and did not have one problem with that challenge! We had a great time :)