Our girl's progress

I went to the doctor, or actually I went to 2 doctors yesterday to get an update/progress report on our littlest one. Since I've had a stillbirth, I'm considered "high risk" and while I haven't been seeing the maternal-fetal specialists thus far, my regular doctor felt like this was a good time to start checking in with those doctors to get their expertise. The up side to that is that they do an ultrasound every time you see them. So yesterday, I had my first experience with that and all looks good. They do a little more "detailed" or "high-tech" ultrasound and both the ultrasound tech and the doctor told me that she looks great and she moves around a lot, good signs! She now weighs approximately 1 lb. 7oz. At my regular doctor, he echoed their thoughts and said we are still looking "normal" and like things are progressing as they should. All in all, it was good news all around and I am relieved and thankful for it all.

So, I thought I'd share an updated pictures of our baby girl (sorry Allison, I haven't come up with a new nickname yet, we're working on it :-)). It's a profile shot, her arms are up by her face as usual (and Caroline's hands were always like that too when I was pregnant with her).

Please pray for this family

Update:  The Peabodys lost Joseph the same day I wrote this post.  I know they must be in an unspeakable pain and I continue to lift them up in prayer.  

Click on this link: Pray for Joseph.
I don't know this family personally, but I feel like I do now. I was asked by a friend to pray for their family months ago and I've been keeping up with their story via their blog since. If you have the time, scan back through some old posts to see all they've been through. They have been through quite a year and things are not looking good for them now. As I celebrate the third birthday of my precious girl, I am very mindful of and thankful for the blessing that each day brings. Please keep them in your prayers.

Pictures

Finally!! I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get these pictures on here. The first set is from Caroline's birthday party:


 

Jeff made this shirt for Caroline for the big "3"!

Technical difficulties are preventing me from uploading a video, but I'll try again.

Here are some pics of our early morning test-drive in the Power Wheels:

Ariel's along for the ride.

And here's a video of the drive (yes, I love my child very much to put this video with me in scrub pants, a t-shirt, and flip-flops at 6:45 on a Sunday morning):

Again, technical difficulties! I'll try again tonight.

Here are the pictures from one of our outings to the balloon championships:

This is Caroline and Jeff watching the skydivers fly down.

. . . waiting for the skydivers.

It was quite a birthday weekend . . .

Belief

I always enjoy reading Rocks in My Dryer, a blog by a mom in Oklahoma. She can be funny, touching, and inspiring all in one post. I try to catch up on what she writes a couple of times a week and when I checked her blog this morning, this post was up from yesterday and I thought it was so well-said. She has a few really great posts from the past week or so, so if you have time look back.

Birthday Bonanza

We spent the weekend celebrating Caroline's birthday and we all had a great time.  There was a hot air balloon championship in Baton Rouge this weekend, so we spent Friday evening out there watching the balloons take off and fly and then at nightfall, they did the "balloon glow", which was a little scary for Caroline at first, but she ended up really enjoying it.  You don't realize how huge those balloons are until you are up close and I'm sure for her they were a little imposing, not to mention the loud noises they make and the heat they put off when they fire up the burners. Caroline also enjoyed about four or five bites of a snow cone before she decided it was too cold and too messy to deal with.  We ran into some friends a visited a while before heading home to get Caroline a late bath and put her to bed.  

Saturday was Caroline's party and she had a great time.  It was at the Little Gym and that was the perfect place for a group of energy-filled two, three, and four year olds.  Her cake was hilarious; it was a Disney Princess cake and the first word that popped into my mind when I saw it was "tacky", but in a good three year old little girl sort of way.  

Finally on Sunday, her actual birthday, she woke up and we gave her the present we got her: her pink Barbie Powerwheels Jeep.  She loved it and we gave her a little driving lessons around the block on the spot - all of us in our pajamas (so if any of you drove down our street at 6:45 or 7:00 on Sunday morning, that explains the family out for their morning walk in their PJ's).  I think she's finally getting the concept of steering the Jeep; it wasn't quite clicking at first that she actually had control over the direction the Jeep went.  After church, my Mom came by to give her a present, she got a really nice doll that I know Caroline will love for a long time.  This doll must be special because it is the first doll that Caroline has actually bestowed with a "real name":  "Annie".  No, the doll does not have red hair and freckles, but Caroline named her Annie anyway.  All of her other dolls are named "baby", so this little doll has a special place in Caroline's heart.  As if that wasn't enough, my Dad and his wife came over to give Caroline a doll house, and this doll house is actually the doll house my dad made for me when I was about 5 or so, although they spent plenty of time updating and improving it.  It looks great and Caroline has already made some make-shift furniture for it.  

Sunday night we decided to head back out to see the balloons one last time and we were treated to seeing some tactical skydivers before the balloons blew up and took off for their final send-off.  The skydivers were really neat, we got to see them actually take off in their helicopter and fly up to about 7,000 feet before we saw little specks come out of the helicopter and slowly emerge as people as they got closer.  These men were Army skydivers and while it was entertaining to watch them, it was also interesting to think that they use these skills in wars and battles around the world.  

We really had a good weekend; Caroline was blessed with lots of love and plenty of gifts and I know it was a treat for her to spend so much time with family and friends that we don't get to see often enough.  She was a little spoiled by it all and didn't want to go back to school Monday morning, but her teachers gave her a little extra love and patience and they said after about ten minutes, she was back to her old self.  

I haven't loaded all of the pictures from the weekend yet, but I'll post those soon.   

August 10, 2008

Our baby turned three today. I can hardly believe it - she is growing and learning every day and I'm not sure where these past 36 months have gone. She brings me more smiles and laughs than I ever imagined possible and shown me how much you can truly love a person. She challenges me in new ways every day too. I am learning patience and thankfulness and humility each day I'm with her. She challenges my mind and my heart as well. Her little three year old way of asking "why" makes me look deeper than my 30 year old mind often would. I have new eyes and a keen awareness of how much I need God to parent this little girl into the kind of young woman I hope she becomes, and more importantly, that God desires she become. I always "knew" that I would love my children, but I had no idea what that would look like or feel like and I don't think anyone can prepare you for how hard you fall for them, for how much you would do for them, and for all that they bring to your life.

Caroline, thank you for 36 of the most blessed months of my life. We love you our little 3 year old!

August 10, 2005

health care for the future

One of the issues that truly does concern me is that of health care and insurance in the years to come. Socialized medicine scares me (see here for one of many reasons), but obvioulsy given the rising costs of insurance and health care today and the number of employers who are opting out of offering insurance, something has to change about how we handle these isues. I read this article this morning on the subject and it gives me something to think about. (via Instapundit).