I so felt like I was at camp!

This past Saturday, Seth and Ashleigh had a get together at Rutland Ranch, his parents' place in Stockdale. We got there around 3:30 or so and hung out for a while. We played horseshoes, washers, the ladder game and walked down to the creek and around the pasture a little bit. Then we ate dinner; fajitas...YUMMY;p Later we sat around a fire eating smores and just visited; as the son descended and the night rose around us, we sang songs, listened to a scripture reading (Psalm 121 i think) and had a couple of prayers. Being out there in the cool night air, sitting around a fire and praising the Lord with friends as well as strangers was so awesome! It so much felt like camp!!! But I got to share it with people that I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO CAMP WITH (including my husband and my daughter) It was just so amazing and I am so thankful we got to be there!

blue skies and...

MY SUNSHINE!!!


that's what we had today:) The weather has been cool and cloudy and kinda damp. Yesterday was pretty good and we were outside for a little bit but today was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!! and we were at the doctor's office all afternoon:( maybe God will give us another chance tomorrow to enjoy a nice sunshiny day!

grandparents

Grandpa (daddy's step"dad")
Grandma (daddy's mom)
G~ma & Papa (mommy's mom and daddy-don) we need a new picture with them:)
Grandpaw & Mamaw (mommy's dad and stepmom)
Grandpa and Grandma (daddy's dad & stepmom)
Paw-paw

Well, Miss Mikenna has A LOT of grandparents and as of this past weekend, All of them have been able to meet her. Some of the pictures are from the hospital, they have been by to visit us since we've been home we just haven't taken pictures. :)
Paw Paw is my grandpaw, Mikenna has another great grandpaw, Grandpa Catcus, he lives in George West and she hasn't met him yet, I will post pictures when we see him!

Due to seasonal illnesses, distance and busy families non of our siblings have been able to see our sweetheart yet:( Updates will be posted with pictures when we get to see all her precious aunts and uncles!

at last

I can remember being a young girl in church and thinking about my future. I would be sitting with my family or even my friends and watching families around me and want what I saw. Being as young as jr. high or even younger I remember dreaming of a time when I could sit in church next to my husband, with my child in my lap. And then later (college years) praying for the time when I would find the man God created for me so we could be in worship as a family.

Today I remembered those time, those dreams and that prayer; as I sat in church next to my husband with my baby in my arms! I thanked God for answering those prayers ~ a christian man, a baby ~ with tears of joy and gratitude streamed down my face.

God is SO GOOD! It is unbelievable how He answers our prayers and takes care of us in His perfect time and His perfect ways.

what a week!

I can't believe its already been a week and at the same time its hard to believe its only been ONE week.
Well, we finally got to a room saturday night, as a family and oh how amazingly wonderful it was to have her ALL to ourselves. It was just our little family,on our own! We spent the night, just us, no wires, no nurses, no beeping and no one else but us! The nurse left for the first time and I held her in my arms and the tears just flowed! The Lord is so GOOD and we are so very blessed!
we had a good night and then waited for our release on Sunday!

We were discharged, loaded the car and headed home! There were bows on the mailbox and the door, waiting for us and announcing the arrival of our bundle of joy! It was SO SO SO good to be home! We had a good steady stream of visitors, it was nice to see people that were not in scrubs:) Dad and Janina came to stay with us for a few days (they were so helpful) and we enjoyed being around them. The first night home was good, she woke up every 31/2 hours to eat and went back to sleep and I did too.

Monday started off slowly and then we had a few visitors at lunch and then we had our 1st bath at home. We dressed up pretty and went to daddy's work. We had some in the evening. We even had the "church police" over that evening:) it was visitation and Andy and Robert came to see us...well, came to see Mikenna:)
We had a good day and kinda established our routine. Night 2 was as good as the first!

Tuesday was busy ALL DAY LONG! Mike went to work, it was hard to see him leave, I was getting use to him being around:) but I think it was more difficult on him to leave than it was on me. Mikenna had a doctor's appointment, so we all loaded up and headed to San Antonio. Then we stopped by Toys R Us and came home. The visits started we got back and lasted until Bible Study. Then we got to relax and headed to bed. Janina offered to get uo to feed in the night, since it was our last night to have them here to help out. It was nice to sllep through.

Mike went to work this morning, after he brought my little girl to me and we stayed in bed for a while. Dad and Janina left and 'kenna and I laid around all day! It was just us until lunch; my mom came and then "daddy" came home. We took a long nap!!! and then hung out in the afternoon! so nice. We went outside and got to meet some neighbors! Another good day. A very nice end to the 1st week! Now we need to get dressed, we're going to church.

I'll try to be better about blogging, we'll see!

one more night

our little munchkin is doing well today and is so better! She is still not eating quite as much as she should be. We will stay one more night. BUT tonight we get to stay with her! She is still in ICU but they have family rooms that have all the hook=ups for monitoring and also oxygen just in case! AND it has a full size bed...so not only will i have my baby with me tonight I get to lay next to her daddy!!! that will be nice, I have missed him, even though he
s been right there! Today has definitely been a good day! and I think tomorrow will be so much better!!!!

and it keeps getting better!

Mikenna ate better today! if she keeps it up through the night and in the morning, the dr may release her tomorrow or Sunday. I will be released to morrow, but my dr. will keep me if Mikenna's dr keeps her, he said that insurance will let me stay 4 nights, so he will let that happen (he's great!) :) but hopefully we will all be able to go home tomorrow! She is a little jaundice but the nurse isn't concerned about that yet, they'll watch it over night too. She has had great nurses and that has been really reassuring to me. i'm glad we're in such a good place!!!!
so blessed to have friends and family that love and care for us so much! We couldn't do it without all the prayers, messages, calls and visits!

she's good at keeping us waiting!

...and not to mention cute and cuddly and full of so much sweetness!!
Mikenna has had her xray this morning, everything looks fantastic! She is not eating though as they would like for her to, so they are talking of keeping her there until she starts getting more at each feeding. I am so beyond ready to have her with us! We get to visit her in the NICU when we want (except between 6:15 and 8:00 each half day). I know she will be fine when I am able to feed her (milk's not in yet) but she needs to eat so she can join us! Thank you so your prayers and thoughts, please keep them up for her and for us as well!

this is my favorite from yesterday. we'll get family pix when she can come up here!

a better day

Mikenna is still in ICU tonight :( but we were able to visit her so much today! I have been there at almost every feeding time to feed her. My milk has not come in yet so I only give her a little taste of what's to come...which does not make her happy, she likes it and wants more. She was not a very good eater last night and showed most of the day to keep that up. She did, however eat a REALLY good amount at 6!!! We were very proud. I will go in at midnight to feed her and then go back in the morning.
The x-ray today showed that there was still a tiny tear in the lung so she remained there to be monitored. The doctor thinks that the x-ray she will take in the morning will show that it has healed up and our baby girl will be able to join us!! Thank you for all the prayers that have gone up on our behalf, please continue them.
Love you bunches!

just a little stressfull...

we went into the hospital yesterday, about 3:30 to get set up and be given a topical cream to help speed the process of inducin on Thursday. When we got all situated in the room Mikenna's heart rate began to drop a little and continued to fluctuate. The Dr. decided not to do the cream, see how she does over night and then induce in the morning with a possibility of a c-section if the heart rate continues to drop. The on-call dr. came in around 7 and decided to go ahead with the surgery to stop more trauma that coul come with trying to deliver. It was not an emergency but they didn't want that to happen. Little Miss Mikenna was born at 8:55pm last night (2/4) She weighs 7lbs, 4.5oz and is 19 3/4 inches long. Just Beautiful! She had swallowed some maconium so she went to the transition nursery to be monitored and assisted with clearing her lungs. We went to see her about 1am when they moved me to my room. her lungs were clear but there was a little hole allowing air to escape (this happens in about 8% of infants but is not noticed b/c they are not checked for it- and turn out fine) as precaution they moved her to NICU to be monitored more closely, they think she will be able to jion us sometime this morning. While we were there, we both got to hold her for the first time, WOW!!!
Mike and I are both fine, just wating for more time with her!!!