Katie's Keepsakes

Growing up= new experiences

2012-01-21T22:19:00.000-05:00

Our girls are growing so quickly! Little Lily just turned 4 months old! She is holding her head up so well, beginning to roll over, and smiling at us all the time. She's holding toys and even beginning to eat some cereal.

She is a wonderful sleeper, a super eater, and just an all-around happy baby. She went for her four month check up last week and she weighed in at 13 lbs, 9 oz. The doctor said if she had a "perfect" sticker, they would put it on her. We couldn't agree more!

And Elyse, our big girl, has begun gymnastics! This was a Christmas gift from her Mimi and she absolutely loves it. After the first class she questioned why she couldn't just "play" like she does at open gym when she goes with Nana. We had to have the discussion about this being a "class", where she will learn. :) Her favorite thing seems to be the balance beam. We are excited to see all the things our big (yet very teeny tiny) girl will learn in gymnastics!

Goodbye 2011!

2011-12-27T21:33:00.000-05:00

Merry First Christmas to Lily! What a blessed year it has been. A year of good health for all of us and an amazing addition to our family.

Here I go again...

2011-12-27T21:26:00.000-05:00

... letting months go by without blogging. New Year's Resolution... blog at least once a month. Once a week would be even better but I KNOW that won't happen.

Our little Lily Grace is 3 months old and she is such a blessing in our family. She is such an incredibly good baby. She has been a wonderful sleeper since she came home from the hospital, for which I am incredibly thankful. This was so foreign to me that I was quite sure there was something wrong with her when she would sleep 5 hours straight through the night the first few nights home. Thankfully, nothing was wrong, she is just a sleeper! She is also quite the eater! At 3 months old she weighs 13 lbs. She smiles at us ALL the time and loves watching her big sister more than anything. Elyse continues to be just a wonderful big sis. I couldn't say enough about how well she has done with having a new sister. 4 is definitely a good age to have a sibling!
She is just so sweet to her.

Photo Card

2011-10-18T14:46:00.001-04:00

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Welcome Lily Adams!

2011-10-05T12:56:00.000-04:00

Lillian Grace Adams (aka Lily) arrived safely on September 16! This was 3 days before my scheduled c-section. My water broke in the middle of the night, just like it did with Elyse. Thank goodness for my good friend Emmi, who lives down the street. She came over at 2 a.m. to stay with Elyse. My mom met her at our house and helped get Elyse up and down to Emmis house to sleep the rest of the night. So thankful for my dear friend Emmi! My favorite words... when Mom went to wake Elyse in the middle of the night she said, "Mommy and Daddy have gone to the hospital to get Lily out." Elyse said "Oh goodie, I'm getting a sister today!"

So off we went at 2 a.m. to St. Joe where they confirmed that my water had broken and then scheduled my c-section for 6:30 a.m. Dr. Campbell, my OB whom I just adore, was scheduled to go out of town the following day so I was extremely thankful that he was there that Friday morning to deliver.

Lily was born at 6:52 a.m., weighing 7 lbs and measuring 19 1/2 inches long. We are so thankful that everything went smooth and she was able to come to our room after getting cleaned up. :-) Mom picked up Elyse and brought her to meet her new "sissy," as Elyse likes to call her, around noon that day. I'm not sure if I've ever experienced a sweeter moment than when Elyse first met Lily and I know I won't ever forget it. She walked into the hospital room and came straight to me saying "Mommy!" I said, "turn around, there's your baby sister." She turned and with the sweetest look on her face said, "Oh it's my baby sister!" She immediately bent down and kissed her face and of course, wanted to hold her. I couldn't hold back my tears. I felt so thankful at that time that God had blessed us with these two little girls and blessed each of them with the gift of a sister. Growing up with Amanda, I know that having a sister is one of the best gifts God can give. I can't wait to see these girls grow up together!

Happy Birthday Elysia Hope!

2011-08-27T22:13:00.000-04:00

Our baby girl turned 4 years old! Where does time go? She has grown from a pre-mature, colicky baby into the most fun-loving preschooler. I was trying to think of one word to describe Elyse at age 4 and I think it would have to be "imaginative." As I posted before, her imagination never stops. I want so bad not to squash this but to encourage it for years to come. I love that she can have fun playing with something as simple as a doll because the doll is "sick and needs to go to the doctor." Even without a doll, "pretend" is her favorite word.
One of my favorites is... "Mommy, you be the little girl at Disney World and tell your mommy you hope to meet a princess." In this case, I of course say "Mommy, I sure hope to meet a princess here at Disney World." And at that point, Elyse comes prancing gracefully around the corner dressed in one of her many costumes and proceeds to "meet" me in her best princess voice and impersonation. This one probably happens on a daily basis.

Another favorite is Elyse dressing up as Rapunzel, having Daddy pretend to be Flynn Rider, and me be the mean mother. (This is not my favorite, but I can't go against her fun imagination!) And so we enter her imaginative world and play out many scenes from Tangled!

This is definitely a fun age that I want to treasure! Of course there are times when the 4 year old talks back or pulls out the "I'm the boss" or "you guys woke me up too early and now I'm mad!" But I guess this comes with her increasing vocabulary and increased understanding of her world around her.

Now we have to wonder how much our world will change in a couple of weeks when Miss Lily makes her arrival. I'm 36 weeks and wishing I would pop any day! Elyse is excited (or at least she thinks she is) and talks to Lily everyday telling her things like "I won't let you ever get hurt" or "I'm your big sister and I will show you how to do everything."

Life is about to get even more interesting... :)

Back to school...

2011-08-10T21:28:00.000-04:00

What a fantastic summer it has been... I'm just not sure where it has gone. 6 more weeks until our baby Lily gets here and my big girl Elyse is getting ready to turn 4 this weekend!! Really, 4 years old! Where has time gone?! It seems like just yesterday I was pregnant with her and started this blog so everyone could keep up with how her little heart was doing. And now 4!!!

Today was our first day back to school, although Elyse will not start preschool until after Labor Day. We are still trying to enjoy nights at the pool as well as weekend since swimming is her absolute most favorite thing in the world to do. She is quite the fish! And her imagination is just running wild these days! I will be honest, some days I think it would be nice for her to sit down and watch a cartoon so I could watch dishes. :) But instead, she is constantly putting on a Disney parade (costumes and all) or doing a "Disney on Ice" show, skating around the living room. She just has the biggest imagination and everything is always a "show,"... she sure makes life fun!

As for Lily, all is well with her heart to this point, praise God! Cannot wait to hold that sweet baby girl!!

Lillian Grace Adams...

2011-07-12T21:39:00.004-04:00

... will be here before we know it! I am almost 30 weeks along and things couldn't be going any better. We thank God everyday for this "boring" pregnancy, which Dr. Campbell likes to call it. Lily is growing quickly, weighing in at over 3 lbs and her heart continues to look as normal as can be. My c-section has been scheduled for September 19, but I'm thinking, or feeling that I won't last that long. We will see. :) Here is a sweet little picture of Lily from my last appointment...

And here is the sweetest big sister ever... sound asleep pretending to be "mommy" with a baby in her tummy.

Summer vacation!

2011-07-12T21:21:00.003-04:00

We have just returned from another wonderful summer vacation at Litchfield Beach, SC. It is such an awesome place to go... close to Myrtle Beach but quaint and quiet. The car rides were a little tougher than last year, as Elyse didn't want to have anything to do with watching tv. I thought bringing a case of DVDs would do the trick, but she wanted to "play" the whole way instead, making it a little more of a challenge.
On an exciting note, Elyse totally took off in her swimming while we were there! She swam by herself, not wanting any help and totally scaring me!!! She is such a big girl. :-)The excitement of learning to swim kinda took away from the beach experience as she wanted to spend most of her time at the pool. Her favorite thing to do was to "take a bedtime swim" and swim with the lights on in the pool at night.

She loved having Blake and Alex there to play with all day, every day and Nana and Pops were a big help, as always! She played her first game of miniature golf and got a hole in one on her first hole! Daddy was very proud. :)

It was a perfect vacation and I survived the heat and long car rides!

Back to blogging...

2011-06-23T22:05:00.002-04:00

It has been 10 months since I have blogged! Life got so crazy that I finally "gave up" and decided I didn't have time to do it. Now that it is summer and I have more time, I am determined to start again and keep it up! I love the books I can make from blogs so that is a big motivation for me!

I couldn't possibly try to include everything that has gone on inthe last 10 months so I will just list highlights...
August 2010- Elyse turned 3!! Where has time gone?? Our little baby is SUCH a big girl now! She had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese!

We bought a new house and not only love it but the neighborhood too!

Elyse began preschool 2 mornings a week at Lexington avenue Baptist Church. She loved it because he got to go with cousin Blake and then stay with Nana those afternoons!

In October, we visited Disney World and the highlight this time was seeing all of the princesses. Elyse LOVES the Disney princesses more than anything!

In January Elyse began dance class. She loved it because she got to do it with her good friend Madeline. She is quite the dancer and enjoyed performing for us at home all the time!!

In February, we got exciting news... That we are expecting...

In April, we found out that Elyse will have a little sister in September! She was thrilled- wouldn't give a baby brother a thought do it's a good thing it's a girl! As Blake said "we already have a brother (referring to Alex) Elyse, so we need a sister." ... Too cute!

We have just finished school recently and we have begun a daily routine of going to the pool. It is so b
Nice to have Ryan home too so we can all spend time together. Elyse I so into swimming and is taking lessons from a lifeguard at out pool. She is putting her face down and kicking so well! Her favorite thing to do is jump off the diving board- which only happens when daddy can be there to catch her! I am 27 weeks pregnant now and we thank God everyday that his baby is healthy and free of heart complications. God has been so good...

That is the last 10 months in a nutshell and now I vow to do better at blogging. :-)

In

Family pictures

2010-08-03T17:06:00.002-04:00

Just a few of our professional pictures taken at the beach...

Litchfield Beach

2010-07-21T15:48:00.002-04:00

We had a fabulous vacation at Litchfield Beach, which is about 30 minutes from Myrtle Beach. It was beautiful and quiet, and had a gorgeous beach. The place where we stayed also had a little pool, big pool, and lazy river (which Elyse and Blake LOVED). Elyse did SO well on the car ride. She didn't sleep much but really enjoyed watching movies. She loved making friends on the beach, asking every child in sight what their name was, if they wanted to play with her and build a sandcastle.... amazing social skills, I know. :)

It was a wonderful vacation... we look forward to going back here next year!

Summer fun!

2010-06-23T16:57:00.002-04:00

Summer is going by so quickly but we are enjoying every minute! We are spending most days at the pool, which is the best place to be in this heat. I am working a lot this summer with our new school opening, which gives Daddy and Elyse lots of quality time together. They are loving it! I've included just a few pictures below to give a glimpse of our summer. Ryan took Elyse one day to the Danville basketball camp where she got to meet Coach Cal. As you can see from the look on her face, she loved meeting him. We had a wonderful dinner at our friends Jeff and Emmi's house last night and Elyse loved playing with Kylie, as usual. :-) Another picture included is Elyse being silly by wearing her swimmies on her legs. She is LOVING the water now, going under and saying "don't hold me Mommy." We can't wait for a beach vacation in July with the family! Oh and how could I forget to mention, after one week of being home with Elyse this summer, she is completely potty trained! It is amazing how she caught on and even gets up by herself in the night when she has to go. What a big girl!!

Swim lessons!

2010-05-18T21:15:00.002-04:00

Elyse just finished her six weeks of swim lessons at LAC. She did so great! She absolutely loved it and has no fear of the water now. She kicks her legs and tries to do "scoops" with her arms. She loves to put her head down and blow bubbles on the surface of the water. And her favorite thing is jumping in the water. I feel much better going into the summer having these lessons under our belt.

Other things going on with our little Lysee... we have enrolled her for preschool, two mornings a week next year at a church in Danville. She LOVES talking to people and playing with children and we really feel we should build on this now. Mom will be able to take her these two mornings and keep her on those afternoons. We are still trying to figure out what we want for the other three days a week.

Pacemaker checks are going so well. It only takes about 5 minutes every 6 weeks or so. Elyse still loves to show everyone her pacemaker (even though you can hardly see it). Potty training is going great although some days are better than others. :)

We are very much looking forward to going to the beach in July with our family! Bring on summer!

Easter!

2010-04-11T20:37:00.003-04:00

Happy Easter everyone! I chose 4 out of about 30 pictures... the kids had a blast hunting for eggs on such a beautiful Easter Sunday. Spring is officially here and I absolutely love it!

Disney Princess on Ice!

2010-04-01T20:49:00.002-04:00

Our little princess had a ball at Disney Princess on Ice last weekend. She was so excited about going and couldn't believe when the day actually came. She watched so intently and enjoyed every story told about each princess. Now since returning, she has entered a huge world of imagination constantly pretending to be one of the princesses. :) Her favorite is pretending to be Cinderella and saying that the mean girls are tearing her dress apart and she won't have anything to wear at the ball. She is also enjoying pretending to be Snow White and making me be the witch feeding her a bad apple. :) We are definitely amazed at the level of imagination this girl has... and it seems to grow everyday. I absolutely love it! Enjoy the pictures of our Princess!

A glimpse of Spring

2010-03-01T20:43:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday, we had a BEAUTIFUL day and it got us all so ready for spring! We are so done with all of the winter weather and just want the 60's to be here soon! Lysee and Blake enjoyed an afternoon of play at nana and pops' house. It is going to be a fun spring and summer!!

Winter fun

2010-02-07T14:00:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, we got our second big snowfall of the winter and had a ball playing in it with cousin Blake, Amanda, and Brad. The kids loved going on the sled, although Blake was a bit concerned every time someone fell off. Elyse loved watching her Daddy fall in the snow and needless to say, they definitely didn't want to go inside.

On a different note, we did Elyse's first pacemaker check over the phone last weekend, using a transmitter. She did great and we got a great report over the phone! Technology is amazing.

Snow day fun!

2010-01-13T20:51:00.002-05:00

We LOVED our snow days! We were so happy that Ryan was out of school last Thursday and Friday too. That makes it even better. We only played outside for about 15 minutes b/c it was so cold. Ryan took his girls for a sleigh ride and we brought snow back inside to play with... which was a huge highlight of the day! Elyse immediately began building small snowmen in the snow (in a pan) and dressed them with some Minnie mouse clothes. We stayed inside for the whole weekend practically and the only downfall... it was very hard for all of us to go back to school on Monday. Getting back into a routine is hard!

Christmas break fun

2010-01-07T20:30:00.002-05:00

Christmas break could not have been better! We have had so much fun spending time with family and friends. Elyse got to play with her cousin Hayden, whom she adores! If only Hayden lived closer... :-(

Elyse also got to play with her beloved Maher friends, Emery, Marley, Tarenne, and Darrah. They are so sweet and genuinely love Elyse so much. They just smother her with attention and love, and she can't get enough of it! This was a very fun play date for us!

Elyse also go to spend time playing with her friend Kylie! They are so sweet when they play together and Elyse actually shared her toys with her... I think because Kylie is smaller than her, she doesn't feel threatened. :-)

What a wonderful break filled with blessings!

Elyse's 3rd Christmas!

2009-12-27T22:28:00.004-05:00

We can't believe it was Elyse's 3rd Christmas this year. Time has flown by and it just gets more fun each year! We began a new tradition this year in an effort to really teach Elyse about the true meaning of Christmas. We began the morning with a birthday party for Jesus! It was complete with plates, balloons, candles, singing Happy Birthday, etc. She was so interested in the nativity set up in our living room this season and I think that really helped in her understanding of Jesus' birth. I am excited to continue this tradition for years to come!

And of course, there were the presents! She loved her 4-in-1 nursery for her babies, her McDonalds drive-thru, disney play figures, ...! And the new Disney monorail at Pops and Nana's house was a big hit with she and Blake. What she didn't like were clothes! She would throw them behind her, digging deeper into the box to find something more, then move on quickly when she realized it was only clothes. This attitude drove me crazy but my family kept reassuring me this was natural for a 2 year old. I can only pray that we will raise her to be grateful for everything she receives. She may get spoiled but I refuse to let her get rotten! :-)

Christmas cookie making!!

2009-12-23T20:09:00.001-05:00

First things first, Elyse checked out perfectly at the surgeon on Monday. They did an EKG, x-rays, checked her incision, and all was great! The pacemaker technician came and checked hers and it's working great too. Our surgeon Dr. Kozick (who we think is fabulous) said they won't see her again until it is time for battery replacement surgery. She said, "She'll almost be a teenager by then!" These words brought tears to my eyes. I can't believe this is all over and behind us and that everything went so beautifully. We feel so incredibly blessed and thankful for all of the prayer for Elyse during this time. Elyse is recovering so nicely. She really does seem back to her normal self, besides the occasional "I'm hurting Mommy. I need tylenol." :-) She was telling her cousin Blake about the surgery a few nights ago and said, "They put a pacemaker in my tummy and it makes me feel better and tylenol." :-)
Blake, who cried for Lysee when Amanda told him she had surgery just kept reassuring himself, "Lysee's ok now. Her tummy doesn't hurt anymore." Oh.... the words of two year olds are SO cute!

We did our annual cookie decorating at nana and pops' house on Tuesday. Elyse and Blake were much more into it this year and Alex even got to sit on his bumbo and watch all the action. It was a lot of fun!

To God be the Glory, great things He has done!

2009-12-17T22:21:00.009-05:00

I can't believe I am just now posting about surgery. :( I didn't take a computer to the hospital so all I had was Ryan's iphone and it drives me crazy to type a lot on there. But I'm HOME now so I can type. :-)

Elyse's surgery went beautifully on Tuesday morning. The plan was to cut her breastbone in half and put the pacemaker in the upper abdomen and put the leads (wires) up to the heart. When they got in there, they saw that the heart was in a "perfect place" and they didn't even have to cut the breastbone. They simply had to separate the bottom part to put the leads on the heart. This was wonderful news to us because this cut her recovery time from 6-8 weeks to 2-3 weeks. After surgery, Elyse went to ICU and we got to go be with her. She was in a lot of pain for the first 24 hours after surgery. She had a tube draining excess blood out of her abdomen, had oxygen hooked up to her and IV's for her meds. She was a pitiful sight BUT... after 24 hours, she had all of that taken out and she was a brand new person... kinda literally! Her heart rate went from 50 (before surgery) to around 110, now. An average heart rate for a normal 2 year old is 90-130 so you can imagine how amazed we are to see this heart rate for our girl. Her pacemaker was checked by technicians and it is working perfectly. (That is one amazing piece of technology!)
We moved out of ICU to the floor Wednesday afternoon and at that time, she was wanting Daddy to "go for a little walk" with her around the hospital and she was eating food eating normal food! And Wednesday night, she was sitting up in bed for two hours in the middle of the night wanting to play with mommy. Fun! ;)
To say the least, her recovery has been just miraculous. We were discharged this morning and can't believe that we are home two days after the surgery. If all of this isn't an answer to prayer, I'm not sure what is. :-) God is so amazing and the strength He gives our little girl is absolutely amazing too!

Check out the changes in these pictures below...

Quick Disney Trip

2009-12-13T22:24:00.003-05:00

We took a weekend trip to Disney World and had a ball! Mom and dad had this trip planned and Amanda and I decided to take Elyse and Blake down to join them for a few days. We had so much fun. I grew up thinking Disney was a magical place and now, after seeing my two year old experience it, I know I still believe that! Elyse loved Dumbo, The country bear jamboree, It's a small world,... but not Peter Pan. She said "Peter Pan is too scary." They also enjoyed a day at Animal Kingdom, where we had breakfast with the characters!

It was a perfect way to spend time before surgery, ... which is the day after tomorrow! I will post updates on here in the days after surgery. Please keep praying for our sweet girl and her doctors!

Decorating for Christmas

2009-12-02T20:37:00.002-05:00

We have had SO much fun decorating for Christmas. Elyse turns on the Christmas tree every morning when she gets up and loves to walk around it and look at all of the ornaments. She started out calling them "instruments" but finally caught on when she heard us call them ornaments. Her favorite thing though about decorating for Christmas is the nativity, or as she calls it, her "new dollhouse." She loves playing with the people and talking about baby Jesus. It is the most precious thing ever! These Christmas decorations may have to stay up for a while. :-)

As for surgery, the day is quickly approaching! We feel so peaceful and "ready" to do this so we are really praying that Elyse stays well so she can have this. She is on an antibiotic for strep right now so as awful as that is, we are hoping it will protect her from catching anything else in the next couple of weeks. Please keep praying for our girl.

December 15...

2009-11-05T21:49:00.003-05:00

... is surgery day! Elyse will have her pacemaker put in that morning at UK Children's Hospital. We chose this date because we will only have to take a week off of school and then be off for two weeks for Christmas break. The plan is to cut her breastbone and bury the pacemaker in her upper abdomen. The surgery will take about an hour and then she will be in ICU for 24 hours, then admitted to a room where she will stay for 3-5 days. The first couple of weeks after surgery, we are asked to keep her away from kids as much as we can because her breastbone will be so tender. We don't want to risk kids running into her. The breastbone will take about 6-8 weeks to heal completely. During this time, we will just have to be extra careful with her.

While the thought of the surgery is very scary, we feel peaceful, knowing that she will be taken care of and wonderful results will come from this surgery. We can definitely feel the prayers because of this peace among us. Thank you for prayers and we ask that you keep them coming as this day approaches! We would like to ask for specific prayer that Elyse will stay well during the time before and after her surgery. They said even if she has a cold, they will have to cancel the surgery. It will be hard for all of us to stay well during December and we need prayer for that. Infection before or after surgery is not good at all! Thank you!

Our trip to Boyd's

2009-10-25T22:04:00.003-04:00

We had a blast at Boyd's Orchard today! Elyse had heard me talk about taking my students to the pumpkin patch last Wednesday and since then, she has been asking me when she could go. So, thankfully it was beautiful weather and everyone was "well" today and it made for a great day!

Is it time...?

2009-10-22T20:43:00.002-04:00

Dr. Cottrill called me on Tuesday afternoon and said she had reviewed Elyse's echo pictures. She is concerned about the leak in her valve. She is not sure why this has happened with Elyse's heart. She is taking her pictures from the echo to her weekly meeting with other cardiologists on Monday, to present Elyse's case. She said she suspects that it may be time for the pacemaker. Her hope is that the pacemaker would speed up the heart rate and possibly "reverse the leak." So... we will know something on Monday. Please pray for our sweet girl's heart, guidance in our doctor's decisions, and strength for all of us. We knew the time would come for a pacemaker, we just didn't know when. Now that it could be near, it is scary, but we are reassured that God's hand is in all of this.

Fall break fun

2009-10-18T21:13:00.006-04:00

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We totally enjoyed a week of being lazy! I love fall break but it always leaves me wanting more time with my girl. We had a trip to the cardiologist on Wednesday, which went well. She had an EKG and an echocardiogram done. This was her first echo she had in two years. We didn't actually get to see Dr. Cottrill because she was out of town but the PA said the echo looked good. It looked like it did almost two years ago, which is great. She noticed a few things she wanted Dr. Cottrill to look at and said they would get in touch with me if they wanted to do anything about them. I didn't hear from her so I guess that is good news. :-) Those things were that it appeared that the left side of her heart is slightly bigger than the right and that there may be a small amount of leakage from one of her valves, but not enough to impact anything. So, we are praising God for a good appointment! Elyse was SO good during the entire visit. She is so amazing!

Here are some pictures of her enjoying making cookies and playing with friends, Ella and Kylie, over the break!a

Elyse's first UK football game!

2009-10-09T20:36:00.002-04:00

We took Elyse to her first UK football game last weekend! Well, she actually just came for the tailgating, but that's ok. Her pop pop came and got her before the game started and took her to one of her favorite places, the mall. She enjoyed the tailgating and I'm sure enjoyed the mall even more. Her new thing to say when we are shopping is "that's cute!" You can easily tell her mommy and daddy are shoppers!
Ryan had fall break this week and got to spend every day with his little Lysee. I get to spend every day next week with her... yay! We have an appointment with Dr. Cottrill on Wednesday, whom we haven't seen in 6 months! I can't believe that. Other than that, we plan to play with friends and family all week! Bring on fall break!... BUT this little girl will probably be rotten by the time Mommy goes back to school. :-/

A night with friends

2009-09-20T14:13:00.003-04:00

We recently enjoyed a night with friends, the Browns and the Marcums. It is so fun to get together with these families! Ella spent the evening dancing, Elyse spent the evening playing with ALL of Ella's toys, and little Kylie spent the evening "wowing" all of us with her walking. Oh, and the grown up boys, spent their time having a hot pepper eating contest. :-) Great times with friends!

Our little model :-)

2009-08-26T21:03:00.000-04:00

Ryan just happened to capture this snapshot and we love it!

Happy 2nd Birthday Elysia Hope!

2009-08-15T20:34:00.003-04:00

Our little angel turned two on Thursday. What a wonderful two years it has been! I couldn't begin to express how much this little girl means to us and how blessed we are by having her in our lives. All I can say is "Praise God" for this precious gift of Elyse! I watched her run laps and laps around the couch tonight with cousin Blake and found myself absolutely amazed and thankful that she was so healthy and energetic, given that her heart rate stays in the 50's. God is so good... and she IS amazing!! Happy birthday to our little miracle!

Happy Birthday Blake

2009-08-02T21:56:00.002-04:00

I'm a little late on posting this but we had such a nice time celebrating Blake's birthday. He actually turned two on July 13 but due to Alex's early arrival, we had to do a late celebration. His big gifts were a table and chairs, a new tricycle and a train table. He was so nice and shared his new toys with Elyse as he opened them. (That is usually a problem for both of them :-))
I can't believe he is 2 and that our little girl will be in just two weeks. Happy Birthday to my sweet nephew, Blake! And look for a precious picture of my other sweet nephew Alex in the slideshow! I just love these boys!!!!

Elyse's first trip to the zoo!

2009-07-21T22:44:00.002-04:00

We took Elyse on her first visit to the zoo on Monday. Our friends, Jeff and Emmi are members of the Cincinnati Zoo so we got to go with people who knew the place. It was a wonderful day! Elyse and Kylie both slept on the way there, which put them in good moods. They loved seeing all the animals! We saw the elephant first and Elyse's first comment was "It not fit in Lysee's stroller, it too big!" She especially loved looking at the monkeys too. Kylie loved seeing the animals too and could've watched each one for hours, I believe. They lasted about 3-4 hours there and were very ready to go when the time came. The weather was perfect and it made a perfect day for the zoo. Thank you to Emmi, Jeff, and Kylie for the fun trip!

My new nephew!

2009-07-15T21:01:00.003-04:00

Welcome Alex Bradford Godbey! Amanda had her baby July 4 and he is precious! Blake is adjusting well to his baby brother and Elyse adores him. Praise God for his safe arrival! I know these are not the best pictures of him but they will do for now. :-)

Fun with friends

2009-07-15T20:39:00.003-04:00

We have had so much fun playing with friends this summer! The first few pictures are of a playdate at Waveland, which was a blast! Hunter, Ty, Madeline, and Kylie came! They will all be at Ms. Sherry's next year and they are the cutest bunch of kids!
The last few pictures are of a fun night we had with our friends, Jenny, Stevie, and Ella. We had planned to have dinner at their house but instead decided to dress up as cows for "cow appreciation day" at Chick-fil-A. We had so much fun making costumes and got free Chick-fil-A meals for dressing up that day!
We are so blessed that Elyse has such good friends!

Elyse's first trip to the beach!

2009-06-20T22:16:00.002-04:00

We just retuned from a wonderful vacation! We went with Ryan's family to Daytona Beach and it was fabulous. Elyse loved the beach, which was surprising to me because she hates to be dirty. Whenever she gets something on her hands, she says "mommy clean please." She said this for the first little bit and wanted me to clean her beach shoes. Finally, she realized the sand was ok and even sat down to play in it. The resort we stayed in was Daytona Beach Shores and Spa Resort. It was SO nice and I would recommend it to anyone taking a beach trip! We spent our mornings at the beach/ pool, afternoons napping, and evenings shopping and eating out! Elyse's highlight of the trip, I believe, was riding on the airplane. Of course she couldn't remember doing this twice last year so I'm sure she thought this was her first time. She is still saying, "I ride on the airplane! I'll be back!" She is really loving the pool now so I'm sure we will have to frequent that a lot this summer.

Overall, this was a perfect vacation. Praise God for safe travels and great family time relaxing!

Fun in the sun at Nana and Pops

2009-05-25T18:08:00.003-04:00

We enjoyed a full day at Nana and Pops house. They bought a great new playground and a swimming pool, which Blake and Elyse loved! This is the first of many fun days here for the summer!

Our trip to Pigeon Forge

2009-05-09T14:58:00.003-04:00

We had a wonderful getaway last weekend! We went with mom and dad, Amanda, Brad, and Blake to Gatlinburg and it was a blast! Mom and Dad were so sweet to take Elyse and Blake down during their nap time last Friday so they could sleep most of the way. The rest of us joined them in Pigeon Forge that Friday night. It was a short visit but we managed to squeeze in shopping, a trip to the Gatlinburg Aquarium, and good family time. :-) Elyse and Blake had so much fun playing together. I never thought I could have had twins when Elyse was a baby... but at this age, it would be great!

She's not a baby anymore!

2009-04-29T20:35:00.005-04:00

Look at these pictures! If they don't scream "little girl," I don't know what does. I mean, her hair goes up in pigtails!! And she is talking like crazy and actually having conversations with us! She amazes us more and more everyday and does something at least twice a day that makes Ryan and I look at each other and say "she is so awesome!" What a fun age and what a miracle God has given us!!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-10T18:56:00.006-04:00

We started a new tradition tonight! We took Elyse to Nana and Pops and Blake came over too. Nana hard boiled some eggs and then we dyed them! We were a bit worried first when they wanted to throw them but they quickly learned they had to be gentle and they did awesome! It was so much fun and we were so impressed with how focused our toddlers were on this activity!

On a different note, we are reminded of how blessed we are after having a great doctor appointment with Dr. Cottrill, our cardiologist this week. She did chest x-rays and said she was "quite pleased" with the size of Elyse's heart and how it looked. She doesn't want to see her back for 6 months!! Praise God for this healthy girl! Is He awesome or what??!! What better time than Easter to remember how truly awesome He is in EVERY way!

We love spring break!

2009-04-04T12:37:00.006-04:00

What a wonderful break it was! I am more ready for summer now than I have ever been. After a quick 2 night getaway with my best friends from college, I was able to enjoy days doing nothing but relaxing with my girl. If only Daddy was off last week with us, it would have been perfect. Instead, he gets to enjoy this week off. I guess that's what we get for working in two separate school districts. Oh well.

Last night we enjoyed a night of fun with our friends Jeff, Emmi, and their baby Kylie, along with Jenny, Stevie, and their daughter Ella. Both of these couples have amazing pregnancy journeys as we do also and we sat in awe of the girls as they played. We have all prayed for each of these girls before they were born and we were so humbled to remember how awesome our God is for blessing us with these children. It was a perfect end to my spring break!

The funny part of this was Elyse stayed up playing with Ella until 9 p.m. (an hour past bedtime). I thought for sure we would get to sleep in. Wrong!! Elyse was up an hour earlier than usual. So much for that thought...

Elyse used the potty!

2009-03-27T21:01:00.002-04:00

We got a potty chair a few weeks ago just to have so Elyse could explore with it before we are actually ready to potty train. She has figured out exactly what it was for and used it for the first time this week. I told her it was time to take a bath and we went into the bathroom and she said "potty!" So I sat her on it and then started running her bathwater. The next thing I knew I turned back around and she was standing up looking in saying "Lysee go pee pee" and dipping her hand in it! We were so excited and so proud of our big girl! Does this mean she's ready to potty train?? I don't think she is near ready to tell us when she needs to go but it's a good start!

On a different note, I am so excited about it being spring break and spending time with my sweet girl. If only daddy shared the same break... :-(

Sick little Lysee

2009-03-08T14:12:00.004-04:00

Trying to sit up and feel better

Ryan's dad, "Pop Pop" taking care of her.

Poor little girl

Elyse got strep throat for the first time last week. After a week of antibiotics, it still wouldn't go away. I'm sure that there is nothing in the world as bad as having a sick child. :-( To see her feeling so bad and having very little control over it was terrible. She ran a fever of 102.5 and was just miserable. She is now on another antibiotic and seems to be back to herself. Now the trick is keeping it away! Did you know that strep germs can live on a surface for a month??!! Yuck! We have cleaned all of her toys and all of our house in hopes that will take care of it. I think what she needs is for this warm weather to stick around!
On a brighter note, we have hit the 19 month mark and she is amazing us more and more everyday with what she is doing and what she knows. Her language has skyrocketed and she said her first 4 word sentence the other day. She is definitely a little girl and no longer a baby. Our next step is to get rid of the "bobby," which she named her pacifier. :-) Our goal is by age 2 it will be gone! Think we can do it??!!

Happy Valentine's Day...

2009-02-14T13:34:00.003-05:00

to everyone! We celebrated Valentine's Day last night while Mom and Dad kept Elyse. We had a wonderful dinner and even got to go to a movie! We love that. Ryan was a wonderful husband and went with me to my sweetheart Jazzercize class this morning, which was so much fun! Today we will spend our day with our other little Valentine. :-)

Here are some pictures of Elyse we took a few days ago. I am also posting pictures of Elyse and Blake during the winter storm. Amanda and Brad lost power for almost a week. It was awful for them not to have power but we absolutely loved having them stay with us. The kids loved each other's company. I'm sure Elyse would've been terribly bored being in the house for so long just with us so it was great to have Blake there. And the adults enjoyed game nights and watching movies after they went to bed. We made the most of the bad situation and we were so happy and thankful we had power all week!

Elyse makes pizza!

2009-01-27T12:50:00.006-05:00

It has been so relaxing staying inside these last couple of days. We decided to do something different and make pizzas today for lunch. Elyse and I wore our matching aprons that Aunt Amanda got us for Christmas. Daddy was the photographer and we had a ball watching her put the sauce on (with an occasional lick of the spoon) and sprinkle cheese on (with an occassional bite of that too). We definitely need to do this more often. It was adorable and she even enjoyed eating them after they cooked!

Fun in the snow

2009-01-19T20:39:00.004-05:00

We bundled Elyse up today and took her out to play in the snow. She was completely intrigued by it! She was walking around in circles just kicking it with her feet. She would fall every now and then and then enjoy playing with the snow in her hands. She really didn't know what to think when Ryan pulled us in the sled. It was too cute. She didn't really want to come in and wanted to eat the snow off her shoe once she got inside! It was so much fun. It topped off a wonderful four day weekend!

First Gymboree class

2009-01-13T20:33:00.002-05:00

Gymboree has come to Danville! There is one in Lexington so this isn't necessarily closer for us in location but it is closer to Amanda and Blake. So we tried it out Saturday and Elyse and Blake loved it! They played instruments, chased bubbles, and sang and danced. They were absolutely adorable. It's a little hard to think about paying for a class for our 1 1/2 year olds, but Amanda and I thought we could at least justify doing it during some winter months. And our husbands have said they are actually going to take them to a class every now and then. Now that will be the class where we will want pictures!

Christmas Fun!

2008-12-31T13:23:00.002-05:00

Once again, I deleted the pictures on my camera after I printed them... before loading them on my computer. I've put together some that my Dad had on his computer. It starts with a day of fun making Christmas cookies. We all went to Nana and Pop's house to start this tradition. Elyse is wearing my Christmas apron that I used to wear when I was her age. :-) They were so cute making the cookies.
Our Christmas was fabulous! We had so much fun with all of our family. Elyse is at such a fun age and she really enjoyed being around all the people, looking at all of the Christmas trees and opening presents! And we have thoroughly enjoyed being off with her these last couple of weeks! It was a very blessed Christmas break!!

Elyse's first UK basketball game...

2008-12-22T21:21:00.003-05:00

... was probably our best UK basketball experience! Elyse's Mimi was scheduled to come stay with her tonight so Ryan and I could go to the game. This afternoon, we decided that we really wanted to take her, knowing it was not a big game and we could leave early if we needed to do that. So, we took her and we had a ball! Aside from being a bit scared of the starting line-up fireworks and loud noises that came with it, she loved every minute of the experience! She even got on the big screen, the "fam cam" during a time-out!! She was standing on my lap dancing to the band's music and then, there she was on the big screen in Rupp Arena!
At the end of the first half, UK was up by almost 30 and it was almost Elyse's bedtime. So we left, Elyse was disappointed, and Ryan and I were exhausted. But we are definitely up for this again and look forward to many more of these in years to come!!

Elysia Hope and Kylie Hope

2008-12-16T21:09:00.002-05:00

We got to spend a few hours with my friend, Emmi and her two month old Kylie today. Emmi and I have decided that Elyse and Kylie are kindred spirits. I have never seen another baby so much like Elyse. I love being around Kylie because she reminds me SO much of my girl. Everything from the fussiness in the evening to spending thirty minutes taking her 2 oz. bottle, she and Elyse are two of a kind. We had a blast and Elyse loved playing with Kylie's toys and the dog. She did not enjoy me feeding Kylie her bottle, as she was overcome with jealousy. She was jealous when Ryan was giving Kylie one-on-one attention too. It is obvious that she is used to getting all of our attention. Don't worry Elyse, siblings are not near in the future!

Elyse and Blake's first visit to Chuck E. Cheese!

2008-12-03T21:04:00.002-05:00

Ryan has got to be the best daddy in the world! I asked him where he wanted to eat for HIS birthday and his response was "Chuck E. Cheese because Lysee would love it!" So we went and of course Blake came too for the first visit and it was awesome! They had a blast, as you can see in the pictures. I'm pretty sure this will be the first of many visits there!

We are thankful for...

2008-12-03T13:23:00.002-05:00

A good report from the cardiologist! It is SO easy to forget about Elyse's rare heart condition because she is so unbelievable "normal." I am reminded every time we see Dr. Cottrill how truly blessed we are. She still has no concerns about our girl and will continue to see her every three months for the time being. We know that the day will come when Dr. Cottrill says "it's time for the pacemaker." At that time, we know this will be the next step in God's plan for her. Until then, we praise Him because he takes such good care of her heart.

What a nice time of year to be reminded how truly thankful we are be for our little miracle!

Elyse's visit with Aunt Heather and cousin Hayden

2008-11-27T20:43:00.002-05:00

These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago when Aunt Heather and Hayden came to visit. It was one of the last warm days and Elyse had her first real interaction with bugs! Aunt Heather initiated this, of course, not mommy. :-) It was quite adorable but may not happen again until Aunt Heather and Hayden come back!

We want the warm weather back!

2008-11-22T13:03:00.002-05:00

Elyse LOVES to play outside! If we accidentally say the word, she is headed to the door, waiting for us to open it. If we walk outside to get in the car, she is trying her best to get down so she can take off. Now that it's cold, we're trying to tell her that it is "too cold" to play outside. These are some pictures taken on one of the first cold days. You can tell she is cold and not finding much to play with but can't fight the desire to want to be out there. Luckily, after about two minutes, she did turn back to the door to head inside. The poor little thing has no idea she won't get to play outside for months. :-(

Fall Picture at Ms. Sherry's house

2008-11-06T21:19:00.004-05:00

Thank you to Ms. Sherry for taking such a precious picture of our little girl! Our babysitter, Ms. Sherry, is such a blessing. She loves Elyse so much (even when she doesn't nap for her) and thinks she is a little princess. :-) She does art projects with her using her little fingerprints, takes pictures of her and sends them to us. We feel so good about leaving her there while we work and know she has so much fun with her friends Madelyn, Nate, and Hunter. Enjoy!

Elyse's 2nd Halloween!

2008-11-01T15:43:00.002-04:00

I'm so sad because I accidentally deleted my Halloween pictures from my camera after I printed them. I forgot I hadn't loaded them on my computer. :-( Luckily I had some of her in her costume from a few days ago so I can share those. We had the best time trick of treating last night in downtown Wilmore. We went with friends, Ella and Madison and their mommies and daddies.We went trick or treating with them last year when Ella was 1 year old and Madison was 4 months and Elyse was 3 months. We loved reminiscing about how much they had all changed since we were at Jenny's house last year taking pictures of them. Needless to say, they were adorable in their costumes again this year. :-)

Our slideshow of the pumpkin patch visit!

2008-10-28T13:47:00.003-04:00

Here are just a few of our pictures from the pumpkin patch. We had a blast! Elyse and Blake are at such a fun age, ... Enjoy!

Elyse's first trip to the pumpkin patch

2008-10-27T15:38:00.002-04:00

We went to the Bi-Water farm pumpkin patch yesterday in Georgetown and had the best time! I can't get my pictures to download for some reason so here is just a short preview picture of what's to come. Blake and Elyse had a ball walking and exploring everything. The only problem was when it was time to get back in the wagon. Once they're free, they want to be free. i will try to download more pics later.

The mommy-daddy cruise

2008-10-16T13:24:00.002-04:00

We have just returned from a wonderful get-away cruise! Ryan and I went along with my sister Amanda and Brad and friends, Nathan and Shana. We all have a child under 15 months and it was our first trip for all of us away from our babies! We missed them terribly but managed to have great "couple time!" Getting away really does make us appreciate our time with Elyse even more than we already do. By the end of our three night cruise, we were SO very ready to come home and get back to being "mommy and daddy!"

Fun times with Lysee

2008-09-17T08:37:00.002-04:00

School started and that again means that I become a bad blogger. Thank you friends for reminding me that I need to post! I am home sick today with pink eye so I actually have time for blogging!
What can I say other than our little Lysee keeps getting bigger and bigger and stronger and stronger. She has taken her first steps and thinks she is the biggest girl when she does it. She also thinks it is hilarious and ends up falling after a few steps because she is giggling so much! It's funny how they know, even though they are so small, when they are doing something BIG! It's also amazing to see how much they "know" at this age. We never thought we would have to spell words so early to keep from getting a reaction from our 13 month old.

I am posting our most recent pictures that include fun snapshots from around the house, a playdate with Ella (who is enjoying giving Elyse a bottle), and Lysee standing in her daddy's shoes, of course. :-) Enjoy!

On a different note, praise God that Lysee's one year appt with Dr. Cottrill went well. She did an EKG, listened to her heart and then said she didn't think they needed to do an echocardiogram because she looked and sounded "wonderful." We go back in three months and then six months after that! This child is absolutely a miracle, to say the least!

More birthday pics...

2008-08-17T13:48:00.001-04:00

I had to add a few more...

Elysia Hope is 1 year old!!

2008-08-17T13:30:00.004-04:00

We can't believe it! Our little Lysee has turned one year old. As you can see, she had a blast at her family party! In fact, she ate so much cake that she was a bit sick the next day. We're determinded that she is very spoiled because our living room looked like Christmas morning when all the family left. :-)

We think back about Lysee's first year of life and we realize so much how truly blessed we have been. God has blessed her with great health this year and we stand so very thankful for that. I'm thinking back to the words we heard when I was 5 months pregnant, those being, "she will definitely need a pacemaker at birth" and "she will probably tire out much more quickly than other babies." Elyse is the exact opposite of "tires out easily." So often we look and her and say, "how can you not be tired enough to take a nap??!!" Anyone who is around her a while will tell you that she is quite the energizer bunny. And as for the pacemaker, we were so blessed by Elyse's good health as the pregnancy progressed, the doctors knew well before delivery that this baby was not going to need that pacemaker at birth after all. We know that the time will come when she will probably need one. That may be next month, next year or ten years from now. We stand thankful for the time she's been given without needing that and incredibly thankful that there will be that surgery available to her when she does need it.

So here we are, one year after our little miractle arrived and we want to thank all of you once again, who prayed for our little girl and who continue to pray for her. We always said prayer is powerful and Elysia Hope is definitely proof of that!!

Back to work...

2008-08-09T21:25:00.003-04:00

I guess all good things must come to an end. What a great summer it has been for Ryan and I to be at home with our precious Lysee. Although she is a bit spoiled because of this, her first few days at the new babysitter's house went extremely well. I picked her up the first day and Ms. Sherry said, "Katie, she is such a good and easy baby!" Of course we couldn't agree more but who would've thought our little colicky baby would one day be called a "good and easy baby??" What a difference a year makes.

I worked most of last week getting my classroom ready but had my mind made up to take Friday off and stay with Lysee. We enjoyed our last official day off by spending time with good friends, Emmi, Jenny, and Jenny's daughter Ella. We also got a quick visit in with our beloved babysitter from last year, Nicole, and her girls, who as always, gave Lysee all the love and attention in the world. And to top our day, I actually napped while Lysee took her afternoon nap, which I never do and it was great!

And now I start to focus on next week, which holds BIG plans. Can you believe that in less than a week, our precious Elysia Hope will be 1 year old??!!

Our Disney trip!

2008-07-26T21:52:00.002-04:00

We just returned from a great trip to Disney World! The kids were so good and I think it made for a wonderful retirement vacation for Mom. We ended up going to the parks for two out of the five days we were there. It made for a fantastic end to our summer.

Play date with Madeline

2008-07-16T15:13:00.003-04:00

We had a play date today at my friend Sarah's house and with her 15 month old, Madeline. She is going to be at Ms. Sherry's house next year with Elyse so we wanted them to play together some before they start there. We are quite sure Ms. Sherry will have her hands full with our little blonde girls. They were too cute in their pink outfits and had a big time playing in Madeline's fun playroom!

About the slideshow...

2008-07-08T10:21:00.002-04:00

that was the first one I've made and I didn't know how to write along with it so....

The first few pictures are of Elyse on the fourth of July. We went to a cookout in Winchester with some of Ryan's family. Elyse stayed up late for the fireworks and liked them as long as they were very far from her.

We spent the next day with our friends Jen and Nate, and their daughter Madison who is almost 2 months older than Elyse. Madison and Elyse are both pacifier girls and they were hilarious switching pacifiers with one another. They would try each one out and then switch and they never once cried for their own, but just went with whichever one was left. We were laughing hysterically. It really is so funny to get babies together and see what they do. We also tried the girls out with our new "walking wings," which are supposed to help babies learn to walk in a more natural way instead of the adult holding their fingers. This was also hilarious. Madison's daddy, Nate is reading them a book in one of the pictures. We had to take a picture of this because Elyse never sits still long enough to hear an entire book so the second she wanted to look at the book with Madison and Nate, we snapped a picture. Of course after the picture was taken, she was done and back to "exploring," as usual. She is the most active baby ever... :-)

Elyse's first Fourth of July

2008-07-07T21:51:00.001-04:00

Pool play date

2008-07-02T21:51:00.005-04:00

We had a fun play date at the pool today. We met our friend Jenny, who has 20 month old Ella, Jen, who has 12 month old Madison, and Emmi, pregnant with baby girl not yet named. :-) The water was freezing today and yet our little Lysee was fearless! She terrified me by crawling deeper and deeper in the water. She kept me running after her constantly! And I'm pretty sure I have the best husband ever because he took Lysee home for her afternoon nap and he told me to stay and lay out with my friends! Ahhh... I love the summertime!

We saw Dr. Cottrill yesterday...

2008-06-26T17:39:00.004-04:00

And praise the Lord again for wonderful news. Dr. Cottrill said that Elyse "looked great!" She did not do an echocardiogram but she listened to her lungs and her pulses and said they were wonderful. She said Elyse is still on "her own growth chart" and that is fine. She is small but she is growing at a steady pace so that is good news. She is just over a big whopping 15 lbs! :-) And she is so strong. My family is always talking about how amazing it is that you would never know how slow her little heart beats. She is just amazing. She truly is a miracle!

We were privileged enough yesterday to meet another amazing miracle in the waiting room at Dr. Cottrill's office. It was an 18 month old little boy who was born with a rare heart defect and has undergone 3 surgeries since birth. His mom and I talked and watched him play with Elyse for quite a while. He was a ray of sunshine and truly a reflection of the Lord's goodness. You never would've known the trials this child has encountered by watching him smile and play. As the day went on, I found myself unable to get this child off my mind. It amazes me that this young and vibrant boy has gone through more in his short lifetime than most of us have in our entire life. I was so blessed by meeting him and talking with his mother about his life. Ryan and I just keep feeling more and more blessed that our little Lysee continues to thrive SO much, despite her slow heart rate. Even right now as I watch her destroy the kitchen :-), I stand so incredibly thankful that she is ABLE to do this.

"Yes, I am standing by myself!!"

Our day with Cousin Hayden!

2008-06-24T21:59:00.007-04:00

We got to spend the whole day today with our cousin Hayden in Winchester! We had so much fun and we're quite sure that this fun 10 year old will be Lysee's favorite babysitter in a few years. We got to watch Hayden follow in her Aunt Katie and Uncle Ryan's footsteps and do tennis lessons today. Then we got to swim in her pool all afternoon. It was a great day of summer fun that we can't wait to do again!

Cousin Hayden and Lysee

Lysee is very into waving these days... so cute!

Look at the matching eye color.

We set the timer for this picture... and it actually worked!

Fun times at the Brass Band Festival

2008-06-24T21:49:00.004-04:00

This is one of my favorite summer traditions. Danville hosts the Brass Band Festival each summer and people from all over the world come to Centre College's campus to listen to bands play all weekend long. This year, we participated in the red wagon contest. Blake and Elyse were adorable in their wagon and after two hours of waiting to get judged, they finally got to parade in their wagon and then... fall asleep. Great times!

Check out the double stroller that Nicole gave us!

We are waiting for the parade to start!!

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Enough of that parade stuff... it's nap time!

Our wonderful friends, the Mahers, joined us at the Festival!

One more cute picture :-)

2008-06-11T21:26:00.003-04:00

Lysee LOVES playing in the cabinets!

Summer Fun!

2008-06-11T21:08:00.005-04:00

Blake and Lysee in Mom's Radio Flyer wagon

YAY! Summer is here and it's time for big fun! We are enjoying our days playing in the pool and spending time with cousin Blake. Lysee is getting used to the water in the pool but doesn't like for it to be too cold. She and Blake have a ball together and they are so cute to watch. We are looking forward to our fun summer. Next month is Disney World! Yes, that will be Lysee's second trip there. Can you tell my family loves Disney??!! This will be my mom's big retirement vacation so it will be a special trip. Other than that, we plan to relax and enjoy our girl all summer. No new doctor updates... we go see Dr. Cottrill at the end of the month. I thank God everyday for the good health he has given to Elyse. We are so blessed by her! She has finally reached 15 lbs but still refuses baby food. She wants to feed herself so she has moved on to table food. Her favorites are green beans and mac and cheese. She loves to walk holding our fingers but still lacks the balance to do it herself. And that is ok, because we struggle enough keeping up with her now. She is everywhere! :=)

Blake and Lysee in matching overalls

Getting cuter by the day

2008-05-14T20:10:00.003-04:00

I know I'm biased, but isn't she a doll baby? Our little Lysee is growing (slowly but surely) and is developing in so many wonderful ways every day. She turned 9 months old yesterday and wants to walk in the worst way and does a great job when holding our fingers. She is SO active, we're convinced that's why she can't gain weight easily. She has been stuck on 14 lbs. for a couple of months. It doesn't help that she just really isn't a good eater.

We are ready for summer and I'm so thankful Ryan is a teacher too and we all get to have time off together. And it's the first summer in years that neither Ryan or I will be taking graduate classes. Hooray for being done with our Masters! 9 more school days for Ryan and 14 for me!

Good doctor visit!

2008-04-21T21:29:00.002-04:00

Another huge praise... Elyse's cardiologist appointment went well. I was really worried that Dr. Cottrill would be concerned that she had not gained much weight, but she wasn't! She said that Elyse had doubled her birth weight by six months and on her way to tripling her birth weight by one year so she wasn't concerned. She and the nurse agreed they didn't think Elyse's low weight was due to her heart, rather to small parents. :-) She is stuck on about 14 lbs right now but has just now started eating the baby food well so we're hoping that weight will start increasing. She is a baby on the move, definitely crawling around the house and trying to pull up on everything in sight. We need to babyproof the house quick! We're just sure that she'll be walking in under 2 months, she wants to so bad. It's amazing! Dr. Cottrill was so impressed with where she is developmentally. It's so amazing that you would never know there is something wrong with her heart. She is so incredibly strong. God is taking such good care of her and blessing us all unbelievably!

Fun times in Disney World!

2008-04-07T22:06:00.006-04:00

The spring break trip was a success! Let me first say that I would have never have done it without my parents' help. My sister and Blake (who is one month older than Elyse) decided at the last minute to go with us. We had a blast! They were good on the plane and loved playing together the whole trip. We managed to go to the theme parks one day, which was plenty. The other days were spent at the pool, shopping, and eating out!

Our little girl is a week shy of 8 months old and has made big developmental jumps in the past two weeks. She is pretty much crawling, it's just a little sloppy right now. :-) She is trying to talk and said "da da" yesterday. She is finally opening her mouth to eat her baby food! Yay... bring on the calories! And she is super close to sleeping through the night, thanks to her daddy who has been doing sleep training with her the past few nights. She is only really waking up once during the night and Ryan is able to "pat" her a few times and she goes back to sleep on her own. We are so excited to be close to getting a good night's sleep consistently.

She really just gets more precious everyday, doesn't she? :-) We will go see Dr. Cottrill in a couple of weeks and I will update the blog and let everyone know how that goes. Please keep praying for her heart to stay as strong as it has. We are so blessed by her good health.

Our first sickness :-(

2008-03-26T12:49:00.002-04:00

We survived it! It started with a fever of 102 and with Elyse not eating hardly at all. Then she started sleeping bad. Yes, it was an ear infection. I guess I have to be happy though that she lasted almost 8 months without one. We got our amoxicillin quickly and it is mostly gone a week later.

Now the scary part, we are off on a plane ride to Florida soon... Wish us luck! Anyone had success with an 8 month old going on vacation?? :-) Thank goodness for grandparents who are going with us to help!

Good doctor report!

2008-02-22T10:04:00.002-05:00

We saw Dr. Cottrill on Monday. She said everything looked good with Elyse's heart, but that she wanted to see her gain more weight. Right now she is 6 mths old and weighs 12 lbs. So we have started really pushing the baby foods and the cereal and she is doing much better with that. Dr. Cottrill suggested we let her play with a spoon as a toy to help with the eating. When she is not gagging herself, she loves this new "toy." We are enjoying our snow day together today, although I can't stand the thought of going to school until June 5. Oh well... at least I get to spend the day with my Lysee!

i am a bad blogger

2008-02-08T16:31:00.000-05:00

ok, for some reason, mycomputer is not letting me use caps or my shift key... hmmm
anyway, i am feeling so bad because i have not posted sooner. life gets crazy with a little one. but i love it. things are going fabulous with us. lysee is getting so big.she is six months old now and trying her best to crawl. she's got the back part down but has no clue what to do with her front part. she is finally eating cereal well so we're hoping to start real baby foods soon. she is even sleeping in her own room finally. this is was very hard for me to do but she is sleeping ten thousand times better in there, so it's definitely a good thing. she had a very big girl moment at her babysitter's house today. aunt cole was letting lysee chew with a particular toy and when her daughter took it away from lysee, she screamed and cried. nicole thought her daughter had hurt lysee because she would not stop crying for about 3 minutes. finally, she tried giving lysee her toy back and she stopped crying instantly, smiled, and started chewing on it again. she is so rotten and it's... well... very precious.

i will try to make time to post more often. as for health issues, we have not seen dr. cottrill, our cardiologist since december. at that time, she said she absolutely did not need to see lysee until feb, which was hard for me. but praise god, we haven't needed to see her and all is wonderful. we go see her on president's day. thanks for remembering to keep her in your prayers, always. as i always say, she is such a normal baby, it is so easy to forget the true miracle she is. god has blessed us beyone belief.

OK, a few more pics

2007-12-29T18:58:00.001-05:00

"I don't want this cereal!"

My very own rocking horse!

Christmas nap!

Elyse's first Christmas

2007-12-29T18:35:00.000-05:00

Our Christmas break is almost over. :-( It has been wonderful for the three of us to be home together but it was bound to en sometime. Lysee had a great first Christmas! One of her gifts Christmas morning was rice cereal. :-) She did not like it and we're still having trouble getting going with that. Other than being a bit overstimulated by all the traveling and all the people, everything else was great. I do think she is one of those kids who likes routine, though. A bit fussier than usual, I think the change in routine was hard. Yes Nicole, she needs to get back to you!:-) I've read that colicky babies are in need of routine, so I guess it's good that we will be back to that soon.

We went to see Dr. Cottrill a couple of weeks ago for our scheduled visit. She said all was good (praise God!), and she didn't want to see Elyse for two months! :-( I guess that's a good thing, just scary for mommy.

OK, here's the fun part, pictures! I don't know how to choose from them all!

What a precious face!

Lysee and Daddy

Cousin Blake and Lysee

Lysee update

2007-12-13T22:02:00.000-05:00

I got in trouble at work today for not blogging m ore often. I will try to do better! Lysee went to the doctor today for her 4 month check-up. She had four shots. :-( She weighs 10 lbs, 8 oz!! This is up a pound since last week when she went in because of her cough. What a growing girl she is!! I promise to post new pictures soon. She is growing so much and is so precious!! We are really looking forward to our two weeks off work so we can be with our baby girl more! What a fun time of year!

Keep praying for Elyse!

2007-11-21T11:44:00.000-05:00

Just a quick request for all of you to keep praying for Elyse. It is so easy to take her good health for granted. She seems so much like a "normal baby" that we forget about her heart block and how blessed we are that she is doing so well.

We went to the pediatrician yesterday and she was a bit concerned that Elyse was not gaining more weight that she had been gaining. She checked her heart rate and it was 52, which is a bit lower than what it had been. After having a minor breakdown, I am much better now. We went to see Dr. Cottrill, the cardiologist this morning, who assured me that she was not concerned about anything. She did the EKG and echocardiogram and saw nothing unusual. The fact about her heart rate being 52 is that, like all of our heart rates, it fluctuates. When she is calm, it is lower. When she is worked up, it is higher. She was extremely calm yesterday and eating, when they measured it at 52. Dr. Cottrill said she was not concerned about Elyse's weight being 9 lbs. because she was only 5 lbs, 1 oz when she was born. She said she is well on her way to doubling her birth weight by 6 months, which is what they want. She did put us on a "high calorie" diet to "fatten her up a little" and make our pediatrician happy :-), which means we give her just a 1/2 tsp more formula in each bottle.

I feel much better after our appointment today. Dr. Cottrill IS what Dr. Lear called, "the God of cardiology" and if she's not worried, then I won't be. She said she would see Elyse back in 2 months and my response was, "we already have an appt. set up for next month, can we just keep that?" :-) She laughed and agreed to it if would make me feel better.

Again, please keep praying for our little "Lysee", which her daddy nicknamed her. :-) The Lord has taken such good care of her and I know He will continue to do so. Thank you for always praying for our little miracle girl!

Elyse's first Halloween!

2007-11-06T10:31:00.000-05:00

Elyse was the most precious Tinkerbell we've ever seen!

Approaching three months!

2007-10-30T15:51:00.000-04:00

Sorry I have not posted pictures sooner! Elyse is growing so much, I don't really think these pictures even do her justice. She is probably about 9 lbs now and doing great! We survived her two month shots :-(. And she is quickly approaching the three month mark. I think that's the time when most babies' colic passes... we're keeping our fingers crossed! Her heart is doing great, the doctors are still not concerned and we don't see Dr. Cottrill again until December. I asked her last time we were there, if there was anything I needed to tell people who kept her to be aware of... her answer was, "just to treat her like any other normal baby." We are so blessed!

It's good to be back at work... but I miss her like crazy and am so ready to get her in my arms by the time 3:30 rolls around. I will post pictures of her first Halloween after tomorrow. She's going to be the cutest Tinkerbell ever!!

Back to work

2007-10-15T15:48:00.001-04:00

They seem like three dreaded words, don't they? I actually never thought I would say it, but I think I am ready to go back to work. I really do miss teaching and am looking forward to starting back next week. Of course I will probably not feel like this next Monday (my first day back) but for right now, I feel ok about it. Of course it helps knowing Elyse will be in great hands! (Thanks Nicole!) The 9 weeks of maternity leave have seemed slow on some days (the colicky days :-)), but fast on other days. Altogether, time has flown by! Elyse has grown so much... She now weights 7 lbs, 11 oz and she goes for her 2 month shots this week!She has the cutest smile and we just can't get enough of it. Now if only the colic would pass... We're really holding out for the three month mark to be the end... cross your fingers!

Has it been 2 months??

2007-10-03T21:49:00.000-04:00

We cannot believe that it's already been two months (almost) since Elyse arrived! How time flies! She has been the biggest blessing ever. Of course we have tough times (did I share that she is colicky??), but we wouldn't trade her for anything, of course. She is doing great! The doctors are still not concerned about her heart. When we went to see Dr. Campbell for my last appointment he said, "Katie, you are very lucky, ya know. Most babies with heart block do not turn out this well." Again, how blessed we are! I told him she was (and still is) completely covered with prayer and THAT is why she has done so much better than other babies with heart block. I try so hard not to take this for granted... God has been SOOOOO good to us. What an amazing story He has given us to share forever about our little girl! She truly is a miracle!

I will post new pictures soon!!

Katie or Elyse?

2007-09-21T08:42:00.000-04:00

Yes, one is Elyse and one is me when I was a baby. Elyse is in the pink... but don't you think we could pass for twins?? We can't really tell who she looks like as we are now, but there's no question about who she looks like as a baby!

Elyse is a big girl!!

2007-09-20T02:43:00.000-04:00

Yes... our little five pounder is gaining great weight! Last week when we were at Dr. Cottrill's, she weighed 6 lbs, 6 oz, up from 5 lb, 1 oz when she was born. Then yesterday we went to the pediatrician and she weighed 7 lbs, 4 oz! Yep, she gained almost a pound in one week!! Dr. Lear assured me that a baby like Elyse couldn't gain "too much weight too quick" and this was great. :-) I think we must have a very good eater!
I took Elyse to the doctor because she was having a lot of nasal congestion. Well, I say "a lot," probaby just "a lot" to a new mommy. :-) Dr. Lear said this was very common around 6 weeks, when they stop sneezing so much. Anyone else find this is true?? She said just to give her saline drops and use the aspirator before meals and bedtime. I make Ryan use the aspirator (Elyse screams!!). ;-/ Any other suggestions for nasal congestion? We tried the vaporizer, not sure if it's working or not.
Today I go back to Dr. Campbell for my six week check-up and for the last time. :-( I never thought I'd be so sad to stop seeing a doctor. He has been SO good to us.. if you ever know anyone who will see him for their pregnancy... pass along how wonderful he his! Anyone would be so lucky to be under his care.

Good doctor visit!

2007-09-12T17:52:00.000-04:00

Today, we took Elyse to see Dr. Cottrill for her one month appointment. I can't believe she is one month old! The visit was very good and we praise the Lord for this! Dr. Cottrill was actually in a meeting so the doctor we saw was the chairman of the pediatric department at UK Childrens Hospital. He was very pleased with Elyse's heart rate, which was 63 when we were there. They did an EKG and said everything looked good. Elyse does NOT like the EKG as they put stickers all over her chest and then we have to pull them off. :-( She also doesn't like the blood pressure cuff getting tight around her ankle... poor little thing. She screams and cries during those parts. :-( The doctor was very positive. He reassured us how "normal" Elyse's heart structure was and said that was a very good thing. He also talked to us about the possibility of a pacemaker down the road when Elyse wants to play sports. Pretty much, we heard the same thing that Dr. Cottrill has been telling us, which is good. He said she wouldn't need to come back for another check up for two more months but I talked him into letting us come back next month. :-) Yes, I'm already an overprotective mommy.

So after a traumatic day at the doctor, our little girl is napping on the couch with her daddy. How precious! Thank you all for your continued prayers for Elyse and our family!

Date Night!

2007-09-03T20:08:00.000-04:00

Mommy and Daddy have date night! We got to go eat at P.F. Chang's for dinner one night! We're realizing how important it is that we still have "us" time during this big change in our lives. Thankfully, we have my parents and my inlaws who are both so wonderful and super eager to babysit to give us this time. The quote of the night... when I walked out of the bedroom after getting ready, Ryan said, "wow, I haven't seen you like that in forever!" How should I take that?? :-)

This is our favorite picture of Elyse!

New baby = Rough nights

2007-08-29T10:17:00.001-04:00

Yes, our nights have gotten a little rough. We are really hoping it is not colic. Elyse will take her night feeding and then act like her tummy really hurts for A WHILE. This is when she will scream and cry. It is so hard to listen to because its obvious she is in pain and yet she is inconsolable and nothing seems to help. We've had one REALLY bad night, with the pain and crying lasting a couple of hours and then several very fussy nights, starting at about 10 p.m. I've heard the fussy nights are
Other than this, Elyse is doing wonderful! She is so sweet and she makes the funniest faces! I'm determined to try to catch a picture of all her funny faces so i can share them. She is growing everyday, but still in preemie clothes. :-)
We don't go back to the cardiologist until September 12, so no new doctor news. It's amazing how the Lord has taken the burden of worrying about her heart away from me. I hardly even think about it and we are not obsessing with using the stethoscope! My sister said, "I can't believe you don't use that everyday to check it." Praise God for this peace He has given ME... the biggest worrier of all.
Again, any advice on night time fussiness, send my way!

What's wrong with this picture?

2007-08-29T10:14:00.000-04:00

Lol... does anyone know?

Elysia's first trips to the doctor

2007-08-22T12:52:00.000-04:00

Well Elysia had her first doctor appointments this week and she did so well! First we went to see Dr. Cottrill on Monday. She had an EKG and echocardiogram done of her heart. Everything looked great, huge blessing! She did not like the EKG at all but was such a big girl when she had her echocardiogram done. It was so neat because they had her lay down on the same big bed where I used to lay to have her echo done. They had me lay next to her to soothe her and she just did beautifully! Dr. Cottrill was very pleased with how everything looked and Elyse's heart rate was 62 while we were there.
Next, we went to see Dr. Lear, our pediatrician on Tuesday. We loved her and everything went great. Again, Elyse did so well. Her umbilical cord even fell off while we were there so we get to have a real bath now!
We are so blessed with how well Elyse is doing. She is eating so good and is already over her birth weight, weighing 5 lbs, 3 oz. Now if only we could get the sleep schedule down. :-)
We continue to thank you for your prayers. We know how well she is doing is all a blessing from God and we're overcome with joy and thankfulness.

Ok, just one more pic :-)

2007-08-17T12:25:00.000-04:00

TOO CUTE!!!!

The first days of being a mommy

2007-08-17T11:40:00.000-04:00

I'm so sorry I haven't sent out an update sooner. As you can see, we have been so busy. :-) Our little Elysia is... well... quite perfect, I'm sure of it! We got to come home yesterday, after I practically begged all of our doctors to keep us til Friday. They all were so assured that she was ready, so we got home yesterday afternoon.
Health things first... Elysia's heart rate is staying steady in the mid-upper 50's. This is lower than it was in utero but of course, she is not getting my medicine anymore so this is understandable. Dr. Cottrill is not concerned about this. She said that they could always give Elyse medicine to raise her heart rate but she didn't think it was necessary. She said that Elyse will give us signs if something is wrong, like her heart rate drops a lot. We would see blue around her lips and she would get really pale. She would also have a big lack of urination and she wouldn't be interested in eating. So... we feel better that we know what to look for. They said they did not need to send us home with a heart monitor. They said we could buy a pediatric stethescope to have to listen and count her heart rate IF we get worried. My mom has warned me not to get obsessed with the stethescope if I get it and let it worry me all the time... good advice for someone like me. Other than Elyse's heart rate, her health is wonderful. Praise the Lord! We have so much to be thankful for.

And as for my first days of being a mommy, all I can say is, "does it get any better than this?" I always heard about a mother's love but had no idea it would be like this. The love a mommy has for her baby truly IS unlike anything in the world.Of course my hormones are raging, but I can hardly look at Elyse without breaking down into tears or at least tearing up, amazed at what a miracle she is and how good God is to bless us with her.

Thank you all for the many prayers you sent our way the day Elysia was born and the days after that. God heard them and we have been so very blessed. Again, my hormones are raging and I am tearing up writing this because I am so thankful for friends that care so much to pray for us. We couldn't ask for anything more!

Elysia is here!

2007-08-13T19:20:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! Yes, Elysia Hope has arrived and she is absolutely perfect! She is 5 lbs, 1 oz, 18 in. long and has a head full of dark hair!
The irony of her arrival is crazy though. It was 1:00 in the morning last night and I woke up with contractions. Thinking I only had about 4 more hours of sleep anyway, I tried to go back to sleep when... my water broke! How ironic is that?! I guess Elysia had her mind made up that either way, she was coming this morning, and wanted to throw us for a loop.So we headed to the hospital at 2 in the morning, where I was given medicine to stop my contractions. Dr. Campbell was to be there by six to "start" getting me ready so to make a long story short, we had to wait until our scheduled c-section time. Everything went great and Elysia is doing very well, praise God!!
She is in the NICU so they can monitor her heart rate, her blood pressure, and how much uring she produces. Her heart rate is staying in the 60's, which Dr. Cottrill is very pleased about. Her blood pressure is good and they put a catheter (sp?) in to keep track of her urine output, because this is connected to the heart somehow. Her lungs are great! But she really isn't crying that much. (Knock on wood), All the nurses say she seems to be a very content baby. I haven't gotten to "hold" her yet other than really quick when she first came out. But I get to touch her and feel her soft skin, which I love! She is eating VERY well, although I am not able to breastfeed right now because of all her cords and monitors. So I am pumping and they are giving her that and supplementing with a bit of formula. They are hoping I can breastfeed tomorrow.
So praise the Lord for all this wonderful news! I appreciate so much all the phone calls, emails, thoughts, and most of all, all of the prayer. It continues to be so amazing to watch the Lord answer prayers. We feel so blessed by this day and I thank each of you for your prayers. As I always say, PLEASE keep praying for her.

Monday's the day!

2007-08-10T13:08:00.000-04:00

Well here's the rundown on how our day went with the amnio. It gave us a few surprises. Dr. Campbell did the amnio but was not able to get a good sample of fluid to measure the development of the lungs. He said she was positioned too "lateral" and she started to move toward the needle when it was in. So... he had to stop. He said that the reasons TO go ahead and deliver on Monday outweigh the risk that the lungs may not be fully mature.
Then they wanted to monitor me after the amnio because that can apparently trigger labor. So they put me on a monitor for an hour and found that I was having contractions every five minutes. I wasn't feeling this at all so this was a huge surprise to me. The nurse thought Dr. Campbell may put me in the hospital over the weekend by he said as long as they weren't painful to me, I was fine to go on home. I am supposed to "take it easy" and go to the hospital if they get painful or if I start to lose fluid. Oh, and she weighed in today at 4 lbs, 14 oz, so she may get to 5 lbs by Monday.... maybe not. :-)
So... after an eventful morning, we are scheduled for a c-section at 7:30 Monday morning at St. Joe East, where Elysia will make her arrival! This will be a day full of uncertainties, so please pray for us. We want to pray that Elysia will have a smooth delivery so she won't be in distress and that her little heart and body will be ready to function well on its own when she comes out.
Thank you in advance for your prayer for all of us on this big day. It's been a long time coming. Psalm 139:13-14 has been a verse that I've thought a lot about throughout this pregnancy. It says "You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
We know this has been and continues to all be part of the Lord's plan for Elysia Hope. :-)
Ryan or I will update the blog just as soon as we can after the weekend!!