Hard Days

God does some really cool stuff. Sunrises, mountain ranges, water so clear you can't tell where it ends and the sky begins. He created beauty in the white sandy beaches of Florida and in the snow capped mountains of Colorado. He even showed His greatness in the dusty ground of the great state of Texas. God has done a million awesome things for us and I have one more to add to the list.

When babies are born they don't do much. They can't cook their own dinner, clean their rooms or even wipe their cute little noses. But the one really cool thing they can do is grip. It doesn't sound that awesome but when you are holding a tiny baby and she wraps her tiny fingers around yours, it's impossible for your heart not to melt. I think God did that on purpose. I think He knew that some days would be hard...really hard. Some days you would question everything. Some days her tears would bring you to tears. But He, in all His wisdom, made sure babies were born with the ability to grip so on the hard days when she holds your finger, it would remind you that she needs you. Her everything depends on you. And it would remind us that there is always a hand we can wrap ours around too. It's always stretched out for us...especially on the hard days. 

Foot In Mouth

"What an adorable little boy you have!"

"Really, he's just so handsome!"

"He sure looks like his daddy!"

Uh thanks? We are overwhelmed by your compliments. Now back away...before I punch you. 

Does God Still Do Miracles?

You know those moments when you just know there is a God and He is real and He totally has your back? Like when you hit a deer and find yourself in a car spinning around while other cars are whizzing passed at 70 miles an hour and somehow none of those cars hit you. Or when you turn in your two weeks notice at your job and the very next day, you get a call with a job offer for something that fits you like a glove. Or even the small moments like when you forget to fill up with gas and somehow make it to the station after driving on empty for 30 miles. Today we had one of those moments.

We went to the hip doc for our weekly check and I left in tears...but it's not what you might think. They were tears of joy, tears of amazement at the awesomeness of God, tears that flow when you know, without a doubt, you just witnessed a miracle. The hip has shown significant improvement in the last week! I could tell you about the socket and the joint and all that jazz but I don't totally understand it. I just know last week the hip wasn't stable and this week it is. THIS WEEK IT IS!! That's right. All caps. It's that big of a deal. I cried and I told the doc it was because we had been praying. She said we still have a long road which I know is true. But before it felt like we were just standing in the road with no improvement. And now we're moving...flying actually!

We are so excited and so thankful. SO thankful. We would still like prayers. We go back in one month for another check (the hip looked so good that our appointments have been moved from every week to a month. Major!!) Does God still do cool stuff like heal people? Yep. He sure does. 

Meet the Grands

This girl has it made! Surrounded by people who love and adore her? She doesn't know it yet but life is very good. Life is pretty good for us too. When our arms or ears are tired, a visit from the grandparents is like a mini vacation. Here are a couple reasons why grandparents are the best.

1) They always love to snuggle.
 

2) They don't mind making silly faces and noises.

3) They don't freak out if you are smelly.
 

4) They think about you all the time and love you...even if you cry super loud in their ears.
 

Grandparents are the best!!

Let's Be Real

Let's be real guys. This is what you see...

A sleeping angel baby that kinda looks fake. Peaceful, serene. Wow could life get any better?

And this is what you get...

A screaming baby that, for reasons completely unknown, will go from sleeping to ball of anger in three seconds. Not an exaggeration. One...two...three...and now the neighbors are awake too. No intermediate wimper cry. Just anger. I prayed for a chill baby but I guess I said my prayer on opposite day. Either that or God thought I meant a baby with a cooler body temperature. Next time I will be more specific. 

Let's be real. Picture number one is great and wonderful and about 30% of my day. Picture number two is somewhere around 50% of the day. The other 20% is not pictured. It would be me sitting in a corner trying to decide if I should cry, shower or take a nap. Ain't nobody wanna see a picture of that.
 

People normally only present their best. It's the way we work. After all, who wants to show and for that matter who wants to see the part of life that isn't perfect? Well, apparently I want to show it and you just saw it whether you wanted to or not. It's silly to pretend life is always great and babies never cry and cars never break down. Babies cry...a lot. And cars break down...especially when you have somewhere really important to be. That's life guys. We can't really change it but we can, at the very least, be real. 

It's Called Optimism

"It's called optimism. You should try it." That's what I wanted to say to the doc on Tuesday. The latest hip ultrasound showed a little improvement. When the doc told me the results she made sure to stress a little. I'll take that as a win...an answer to prayer...a reason to celebrate with cheesecake and onion rings! After a couple weeks of no improvement, any at all is music to my ears!

Upon my celebration, she made sure to tell me that we still have a long way to go. I don't think she was trying to rain on my parade. I think she just wanted me to have realistic expectations. But honestly I don't. Every time we go for a check I expect the doc to be astounded by the improvement. I expect her to rave about how amazing the change is and how she's never seen something like this before. You're right. That's not realistic. But there are lots of things in life that aren't realistic like mercy and grace. Besides, her middle name is Faith. I didn't realize we were making a proclamation when we wrote that on the birth certificate but it seems we kinda did. In retrospect maybe we should have chosen something different like Burrito. Lily Burrito...that does have a nice ring to it. 

 

Daddy Daughter Time

This last month has been great...in spite of the lack of sleep and the huge learning curve a new baby brings. It's been great because Husband has been home and we've been able to split some responsibilities. I feed her while he sleeps. He puts her to sleep while I snooze. It's been great.

And now, welcome to the real world. Husband is going back to work and he won't even let me hire a nanny which means I need to find a way to get two extra hands and double the amount of patience. I welcome suggestions. 

Being at home the first month of Baby Girl's life has been really special. He has gotten to know her and she has learned his voice too. Not many people have this opportunity. We know how blessed we have been. This week is going to be hard for all of us. We are still working on winning the lottery but if that falls through, we are taking cash donations. 

A Piece of Peace

Baby Girl is a few days from being one month old. On one hand, the carefree days before parenthood feel like they were ages ago. But at the same confusing time, it seems like just yesterday I was laying in the hospital holding this fresh, squishy baby. A lot has happened in this one month. A lot has changed. Or maybe I have changed a lot. 

Little Muffin has been to the doc more during the last 30 days than I have been in my life. Yesterday was another visit to add to her list. We went to the hip doc for a check on her harness. Our last visit wasn't my favorite. The doc said if there wasn't improvement by today, she would replace the soft harness with something more rigid. And...that is precisely what happened. The doc didn't see the improvement she wanted so she moved Little Girl into a brace made of hard plastic and foam. 

For the last week we have been shamelessly recruiting prayers from friends, acquaintances and even a couple strangers. I didn't want her to be in something more uncomfortable. "Welcome to the world. You've spent 9 months in a tiny space and now you are out here where you still aren't allowed to stretch." But once again, the one struggling with this isn't the resilient little poop machine...it's me. The new brace isn't nearly as bad as the Internet said it would be. And we have high hopes that this will do the trick. 

Our prayer wasn't exactly answered the way I hoped it would be. I envisioned walking into the office and hearing the doctor say, "Hip dysplasia? What hip dysplasia?" That wasn't exactly how things went. I will say, however, we experienced a miracle. After the last visit I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. The doc was talking about casts and surgeries and it was all I could do to hold my composure until we got to the car where I proceeded to slip into a tear-filled funk. Today, though, eventhough things didn't go the way we had hoped and eventhough the doc talked more about scary sad stuff like casts and surgeries, we left feeling peace. Not a dump truck full of peace but a piece of peace and that, my friends, is a miracle. 

Thanks for the prayers and keep 'em coming. We go back on Tuesday for another check and are praying for an awesome result. 

Almost Friends

Hey everybody...meet Jake. And watch as Jake meets Lily.

Jake has been top dog around this casa for ten years and we weren't sure how he would react to sharing the attention. He started out with no interest at all in the tiny screaming ball of blankets. It's taken a couple weeks but his curiosity has started to build. 

The same can't exactly be said for Lily. She can only see about 8 inches in front of her face and if it doesn't involve eating, sleeping or pooping, she's normally not super interested. Give it time though. I have a feeling this is the start of a beautiful friendship.