2 Months Old

Bailey is 2 months old today! I don't feel like I can fully say time flies.... I guess in some aspects, I can't believe she is 2 months already, but in other ways, it feels like it's been a long 2 months! But she is fantastic and I'm so glad she is in our lives now.

We celebrated with free subs from Quiznos and we rented a movie we are about to watch.

We also have something else to celebrate today--- we just paid off our Jeep! It was actually a 5 year loan, so we paid it off in less than 3 years, go us! (Thanks to Dave Ramsey!) So now we have no vehicle payments which frees up a good amount of money for us - excellent! More evidence of God providing for us.

Off to watch our movie now! Yay for the weekend!

Colton

Here is the update from Malisa today on Colton. Please keep them in your prayers during this difficult time.

We had the meeting a day early with all of the Doctors. Colton has a genetic disorder called mosacism of Trisomy 8. The Doctors don't really know what that means becuase they haven't seen it much. Colton's MRI came back and the prognosis isn't good. When his brain started to form all of the nerve endings that disperse got jumbled up and none of them ended up where they are supposed to be. His brain also didn't form the ridges like a normal brain would, it is completely smooth. For Colton this means that he will never function at all. The hospital has told Derek and I that we can take our time to decide when to shut off his ventilator. We appreciate all of your love, support, and prayers through this difficult time. We would ask that no one visit the hospital and we will notify everyone of funeral arrangements as they are made. Again, we cannot tell you how loved and supported we have felt through this time and how much it is appreciated.

A Few Pics

I just love this one! Love her beautful blue eyes!

















Cousins! Zoe and Bailey
















Smile!
















Best friends and babies!

Zoe's Pledges

Zoe saying the pledge to the American flag, the pledge to the Bible, and singing 'The B-I-B-L-E'. I can't believe how grown-up she is! Sorry it's sideways, I don't know how to change it.

Sick

I am so tired of having sickness in our house! It has been almost 3 weeks running that we have had some type of sickness. Three weeks ago on Friday was when Bailey started her cold, and then Anthony and I got it, and that really was about a 2 week cold. I think I still have a bit of a runny nose from it. And then on Sunday, Anthony started feeling not so good, and I'm guessing it is the flu he has now. This is his 3rd day in a row he has stayed home from school. And he is one of those people who has to be really sick to stay home. It's the sickest I've ever seen him. Luckily, I am feeling fine and Bailey seems to be fine too, so I'm actually hoping it IS the flu, because I got the flu shot when I was pregnant so hopefully that is why we are not catching what he has. I really only got it since they highly recommend it when you are pregnant, but I think I'm a believer now, and I'll be getting it every year!

Colton's CaringBridge Website

Click here to see updates on Colton.

Malisa & Colton

I got an update on Malisa and Colton last night. They found out that Colton DOES NOT have either one of those genetic defects--- praise the Lord! He is still not out of the woods yet, as they are concerned with the possibility of some retardation and issues with his brain and kidneys I think. But they are going to let him rest for the weekend and do more testing next week to see if they can figure out what is going on.

Malisa was released from AMC yesterday so now she is able to be at UVA with Colton. Continue to pray for them and I will update when I find out more next week!

Colton James

Got an update on Malisa. The baby's name is Colton James and he weighs 2 1/2 pounds and is 15 inches long. They had thought that he may have Down's Syndrome, but ruled that out today, but they are thinking he may have one of two other genetic defects (not sure which) and if that is the case, he will not make it. Please pray that he does not have one of those defects. I am just having a hard time wrapping my mind around the situation but at the same time, I am SO thankful for my healthy little girl.

Malisa

Please pray for my friend from work Malisa. She had her baby boy yesterday but was not due till the beginning of May. I still know only a few of the details. She went into labor yesterday I guess, and they did an emergency c-section. He was breathing but they were having trouble stabilizing him so they transported him to UVA in the middle of the night. Malisa is still at AMC. They said the next few days are critical for this little baby, so please keep him, and the whole family in your prayers. I will update when I learn more. Thank you!

Crib

The crib went well last night! She did just about the same as she has done in the bassinet, so I was happy. Of course, I was scared to death when I put her in there, but I didn't have too hard of a time getting to sleep, and I only woke up when I heard her fussing, so it was a good night. Our next hurdle now is to get her to sleep longer at night. She is waking up about 3 times from 10:30/11 to 6:00 or so. I'm looking forward to when I can start giving her cereal to see if that will help her sleep longer at night.

I also had wanted to say that I love having a sister who works for a wasteful boss! She works in the golf shop at Wintergreen and works with their merchandise. Well if there is anything "wrong" with a product her boss tells her to get rid of it. They had a $130 robe that had something like lotion on it and he told her to throw it away. Well, that would be dumb, so she gave it to us!

Thanks Mom!

Today was such a good day! My mom and Zoe came over for the afternoon since she had the day off so I could go do my grocery shopping without a baby in tow. Well, Anthony ended up being able to leave school after 1:00 so he went to the store with me as well. And before we went to the store, Mom was folding laundry for me, and cleaning, and doing all kinds of helpful things. So we went to Walmart and got our groceries, and then we went to Target to look at their keyboards (the piano type, not the computer kind). Anthony is thinking about buying one with some Christmas money he got. Then we got gas and coffee drinks at Sheetz. When we came home Mom helped me with a few more things then we had some spaghetti for dinner.

I wish my mom could have one day off every week!

I think I am going to try to put Bailey in her crib to sleep tonight. I'm not looking forward to it, but it has to be done. Hopefully she does well with it and sleeps at least as much as she does now. I'll let everyone know how it goes!

First Cold

I don't have much time, but I just wanted to blog about a few things.

We went to VA Beach this past weekend and had a wonderful time with all of Anthony's family. It was kind of difficult to be out of our regular setting with a baby, and to add to that, she was getting a cold, so was not totally her normal self. But I'm so glad we got to visit and everyone finally got to meet Bailey.

It has been rough few days due to that cold. She had a terrible, heart-breaking cough. But I *think* she is starting to get better now. She actually slept more than 5 hours straight last night. I took day-quil cause I have the cold too, and Anthony thinks that has something to do with her sleeping that long, but I don't think it should have since there is nothing to make you sleepy in day-quil. But I guess we'll see tonight, if she does it again or not. The bad thing was, I was waking up all the time, expecting her to wake up, so I didn't sleep good during that time!

Well, I'm off to work on dinner... fish sticks and shells & cheese!

Baseball Game, Money, and Trip

Just had a few things on my mind I wanted to blog about....

We decided to go to a Red Sox/Orioles game in Baltimore on August 2nd! We are going to go to Baltimore on Saturday, stay the night, game on Sunday afternoon and we'll come home after the game. This is kind of Anthony's birthday present. Our tickets were only $23 a piece though, and we got a discount on the hotel from being Liberty Alumni! We are so excited to take Bailey to her first game. We have several Red Sox outfits for her so hopefully one of them will fit her when the time comes!

I have been feeling very thankful lately, that God is providing for us financially. It has been a worry, since we are losing probably 40% of our income with me staying home now. But we really had built up a "pad" in our checking account, since we did not need all the money we were bringing in, in the past. So we still have plenty of that "pad", so it makes me feel safe, so that even if our expenses do exceed our income for now (which I am not sure that they do, we are trying to make sure that doesn't happen!) we can be okay for a while. Also, right before and right after Bailey was born, we sold a bunch of our books we had listed on half.com and made probably close to $200. I just felt like that was God showing us that He could and would provide for our needs. Also, through a "extra" thing that Anthony does for the school, inputting test data, we had some extra money on this last paycheck, that almost made up for the extra money they had to take out for insurance. Just another way of God showing himself faithful and showing me that it was the right decision for me to be a stay-at-home mom. I am SO grateful that I am able to stay home with Bailey, and that I have a husband who sees that as a priority.

This weekend will be Bailey's first trip to Virginia Beach and she will finally get to meet the rest of her family! I'm really excited about it. Hopefully the trip goes well with her. And speaking of Bailey, she is up from her nap, so I have to go! :)