catching-up

Long time no post! Well, there's been a lot of sickness, craziness, happiness, etc. I'll try to fill you in :-)

A couple of weekends ago, we decided to go ahead and experiment with bolus feeding for Jenna. For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about, bolus feeding is manual feeding through a syringe. We usually have Jenna on a feeding-tube with a continuous feed. We (Nick, me and the doctors) decided we should try to take Jenna off the continuous feeding to see if her glucose levels would handle bolus feeds every 2 hours. Well, much to our dismay, her glucose decreased with each hour :-( So, we put her back on continuous feeds for now. She's still young and just needs more time. She has a lot going on inside that little body and time is something we have. We plan on trying again after she's had her palate surgery. Which brings me to our next subject...

We met with Jenna's Maxillofacial/Oral surgeon today to schedule her palate surgery. Mark your calendars for May 6th and remember to pray for little Jenna. Thankfully, the surgery isn't super evasive and will last about as long as her lip correction (about an hour or so). We're going to have her birthday party on the 2nd so that she can enjoy all of her family and friends :-) It's going to be a big blow-out (or so I'm anticipating).

Nick's working on our extra room (formerly the garage). It will be our main area of family time. The television, games, computer, work-out room will hopefully be done by her palate surgery. My parents will be coming to stay with us and this will be their room :-) It's going to be great! Also, we're going to be doing our kitchen!! Woohoo!! Yes, no more tacky, hunter green linoleum, doorless cabinets, and cramped spacing. I'll post pictures gradually :-)

My SIL had her sweet baby this past Monday (on her due date). All of the kiddos (6) have been born on their due date, minus one. She's so beautiful. Go to her blog and read about the birth story and see the pictures!!

Well, that's it for now. I have a futon full of laundry to do...thanks Nick!!

Tagged

I was tagged by Kimberly @ Empty me of me so I can be filled with YOU to do the following:



THE RULES.



1. go to your documents/pictures

2. go to your 6th file.

3. go to your 6th picture.

4. blog about it.

5. tag 6 people to do the same.

6. smile

This is a picture of my precious Jenna before she had her lip repair. To this day, it remains one of my favorites of her. Even though she's not smiling, her eyes tell her story of struggle and triumph. Such a small baby, but she has gone through more than many adults will in their entire lifetime. I'm so thankful for the support our family has had and continues to have through our incredible support system of church, family, and friends.

I am tagging the following:

My SIL

Karen

Jen

Donna

Tammy

Jenna Update

Jenna had an appointment today with her GI doctor, Dr. Sferra. Some good news, and some bad news...

Good news:

We get to take her off of the feeding bag for 8 hours day! How? Well, instead of a constant drip, Jenna's going to get fed every 2 hours (over a period of 10-15 minutes) through a syringe (still directly into her tummy). I'm excited and scared at the same time. This is progress though. For the first day or so, I will have to check her glucose 1 hour and 2 hours after feeding to make sure her sugar isn't getting low. If she has good number continually, we then get to only check her sugar 1 hour after feeding and as needed. This is going to be so awesome! I can hardly wait to take her somewhere without her tubing attached. I should probably go to a friend's house the first time so I don't make a scene by bawling tears of joy *hehe*

Bad news:

Jenna's liver enzymes came back low on her last lab work-up. We drew more today; we should have the results within a couple of weeks (hopefully). Her enzymes have been low from the very beginning, but the doctors have been hopeful they would gradually improve. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. I chose not to really dig for answers on what would happen if the enzymes come back low again. I'd rather wait and pray until the results come. No sense in stressing and being anxious until then.

Thanks everyone for your continued prayers. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such incredible friends and family :-)

Blog Award

My SIL gave me this award. I'm very touched that she feels I'm deserving of it :-) Thanks sis! I love you!

This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.

The rules are:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to other 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I would like to award the following:

Kimberly @ Empty me of me so I can be filled with YOU - you challenge me to be a better servant

Julie @ Contentment Corner - you are such an encouragement

Crissy @ On our way to Liberia - you know my heart

Jen @ Jen's Blog - you're a great mom

Donna @ The Monters - we've been through a lot together

Tammy @ Mrs. Gregory - you challenge me to be a better scholar of the Word

I would've awarded my SIL and Mrs. Troop, but they've both already received the award :-)

Joshua cuteness

Joshua never fails to keep me laughing! He has started coming into whatever room I'm in and saying (rather loudly), "Hi honey!" Nick and I call each other "honey," so I know this is where he learned it. Something else that is funny...he's been calling me "Daddy" lately and forgotten about the word, "Mama." So, I decided I would help him. I sat him down and pointed to myself and said, "Mama." So what does Joshua do? He copies me by pointing to himself and saying, "Mama!" Haha!! I try to help by taking his hand and pointing to me and saying it, so he copies again by taking my hand and pointing to him saying it. I've decided to just remind him who I am when he calls me "Daddy." He's been catching himself from time to time. He never fails to say it correctly when he trips or gets a boo-boo, so at least I know he knows my name when it's urgent :-)

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve was fun and easy this year. We went next door to my brother's house to spend time with family. We munched on snacks and enjoyed each other's company. The kids started turning into pumpkins shortly after 8, so we went home, put Jenna to bed and let Joshua stay-up to watch a movie with us. He lasted through the previews :-) Nick and I crashed after the movie (10:45). Talk about party poopers! I don't know how we use to do it. Oh yeah...we were younger, thinner, and didn't have kids *haha*

cake and ice cream

my sweet nieces with our cousin

the girls

the boys...being boys

(l to r: cousin, brother, husband)

my SIL is about ready to pop!

Joshua with our cousin