Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Happy Birthday Lydia Ruth!

After a terrible night and next morning, we decided to do a c-section. Lydia was born at 1:48pm on June 22, 2010.



The sound of her first cry was beautiful. Andy was weeping. I shed tears (although not as many as I would have, had I not been so, so drugged up.) I got to kiss my sweet baby and calm her crying before being taken into recovery. I was then unable to see Lydia until early Wednesday evening. That was incredibly hard. Andy, did however, get to spend a lot of time with her that first 24 hours (which I am very thankful for). When I was finally able to sit up and get into a wheel chair, I was taken down to hold my little girl for the very first time. It was beautiful.

It is unbelievable how fast babies grow in the first year. Lydia is now so full of personality and spunk. She makes us laugh everyday. She is such a joy I cannot fully express what it means to be her mother; I am so blessed and honored to have her in my life. So today I wish my sweet girl a very happy birthday and look forward to all the years we have together! Happy Birthday Lydia Ruth!




Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Longest Day of Last Year

My sweet baby turns 1 year old tomorrow! I cannot even believe it! Wow, that just may be the fastest year of my life so far. Thinking about Lydia turning one, can only remind me of the events leading up to her birth... the longest day of last year. Here is just a little recap of the turn of events for all or any that care to read on.

I had my standard weekly appointment on Friday. The doc was a little concerned about some of the protein counts and had me go to the hospital for more blood tests. I also had to take a 24-hour urine sample (gross right?!). So I did the sample on Saturday, the lab was closed Sunday, and I took it in Monday morning before work.
That day at work, I felt just terrible. I don't remember a lot, except that I did go home early and take a really long nap. Shortly after waking up, we got a call asking us to "come in for more tests." "Don't pack a bag," she said. I did anyway.
We got to the hospital and the nurses were like, "We have been waiting for you." We were whisked off to "my room," and I was told to put my clothes in a bag, get on a gown, and lie in bed. By the time we realized what was happening, well, we realized what was happening.
I won't go into all the yucky details of what followed during the next 12-16 hours. It included lots of feeling terrible and lots of wanting the child to be out of me as soon as possible. This was all without even having any contractions, labor pains, etc. It had turned out that my protein counts were in the 6000's. They said they get worried when they are in the 300's. Needless to say, there was no option to waiting a few more weeks. Lydia was coming 4 1/2 weeks early.

To be continued...

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Creeping Charlie

So I was thinking the other day about weeds. Yep, weeds.

Lydia and I go for a walk, nay, multiple walks everyday. I usually find myself getting lost in nature; looking at the various trees, flowers, and even the weeds. Now some of those weeds actually look like flowers. Creeping charlie, for example- those little purple flower are actually quite attractive. Maybe they are the charlie part, and the creeping part is the part that takes over your yard and kills all your grass, and your neighbor's grass, and their neighbor's grass.
Anyway, I was thinking about how pretty some of the flowered weeds are. I mean, from the time we are young most of us are attracted to weeds. How many of us gave our moms bouquets of dandelions on numerous occasions? And then when they turned, you can bet your bottom dollar all the kids were out blowing the little fuzzies off those things. Little did we know we were just spreading more weeds.
So yeah weeds. Their a lot like sin. Sometimes its really attractive and we get tied up in the beauty of it all. Before we know it, the sin is spreading like those little fuzzies; all-over-the place. Still there are those pretty flowers; and sometimes I wonder if those flowers are less like sin and more like redemption. That even in the weeds God is showing us a small taste of who He is. Even in the weeds He shows up, places a little purple flower, and says, "See even in this, I am redeeming. Even in this."

Friday, June 10, 2011

So Good

Beautiful Things
Gungor

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make me new, You are making me new

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Jesus Made Mud

The gospel reading for this week is John 9:1-41. After reading it multiple times this week, I am incredibly struck by the reality of this story. Jesus tells a man, born blind, to go wash in the pool and be healed. Picking it up in verse 10,

But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?"

9:11 He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' Then I went and washed and received my sight."

Just like that. The man washed and received his sight. Can you imagine what it would be like to see life for the first time? Your own hands; the water washing over them. Suddenly you are open to the entire world. Experiencing everything new.

No one believed that he had actually been blind from birth. They called his parents in and they acknowledged the man was their son and that he had been born blind. The Jews were still in disbelief. They continued to ask the man what had happened.

9:24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, "Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner."

9:25 He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."

The only thing the formally blind man knows for sure is that he was once blind, and now he sees. After the unbelievers are driven out, Jesus approaches the man again.

9:35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

9:36 He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him."

9:37 Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he."

9:38 He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him.

I wonder what it was like to see Jesus for the very first time; having never seen anything at all. I wonder how I would have reacted had I been one of the Jews seeing this miracle take place.

As we see Jesus in our everyday lives, I hope we would be reminded of our past blindness and the blindness that may still exist. Lord, I pray you open my eyes. For I know that once I was blind, and now I see.

Friday, March 25, 2011

A little doting...

It's been quite the last couple of months. We started off the year with Lydia's first ear infection. Andy went on to get a cold, another cold, and then pneumonia. Then, last week, I went in for an appendectomy! Needless to say we are glad that we have good health insurance.
Amongst the craziness of being sick and getting healthy again, I have really treasured my sweet little girl. Truly, I didn't realize how much I missed the little things until I had to spend an overnight in the hospital and then not lift her for a whole week. Lydia has such a great personality. She is happy almost all the time, grinning from ear to ear, and laughing at the antics of her mama and daddy. We will do almost ANYTHING to make her laugh.
It is so fun to watch her explore her world. She is so observant; takes everything and everyone in. You can just see the wheels spinning in her head, trying to figure things out. When she plays with toys she usually picks one up, looks at it, turns it around a couple times, and then it goes straight into the mouth for a little tasteful exploration.
I also love meal and snack time. Lydia has now mastered the pincer grip and actually prefers it to me putting finger foods in her mouth for her. And she loves her sippy cup. I love watching her drink from a sippy cup; so grown-up. :)
I could go on and on, but this will suffice for now. My sweet Lydia is growing and learning so quickly. I am so in love with her and can't get enough!