Harder Than I Thought It Would Be…

Blogging that is. The time I do have to blog is when I typically sleep. I love having Anna home. She's growing so much and getting bigger everyday. She is such a joy, Nate and Abbie love having her home. Abbie has named her baby dolls 'Anna'. Nate even went to bed with one of the Anna's tonight. It was real sweet. He had been carrying her around and even asked me to get her blanket earlier because she was cold. He is very loving and nurturing. Abbie is loving, but only when she wants to be. She isn't ever mean though, just indifferent. Tonight we were in the car and Anna started coughing and in a very urgent voice asked, "Anna, you ok? You ok Anna?". She sounded very concerned. Nate holds Anna's hand whenever we are in the car and if we forget to uncover her when we get into the car, he does it. He wants to see her face to make sure she's fine. It's really sweet the way they love on her. This morning I was going to put Anna in her swing and Abbie climbed into it, that did not make Nate happy. He stood up for his baby sister and told Abbie, "get up! That Anna swing! GET UP ABBIE! THAT ANNA'S!" He was sincerely upset that Abbie had taken something from her. He then brought me her bouncy seat and said, "here Anna, you sit here. I play music." (it has a music maker on it). This is only a taste of our everyday life.
As far as Anna's health, well... She's doing really well, but isn't gaining weight as fast as the doctor would like. Abbie had a hard time gaining weight as well and with that we will be having weekly weight checks with Dr. Mag. She had her eyes checked by a specialist at Centennial hospital last week and he said that her retinas looked good and that he would send over his report to Dr. Mag and she would watch for common problems amongst preemies such as crosseyes and then refer me to someone if need be. So it's all in Dr. Mag's hands now. She doesn't sleep through the night, but what newborn does? She does sleep a great deal though. We have to wake her up to feed her, but in the middle of the night is when she wants to be awake and squirm. I find myself laying her down on my chest after I have fed and changed her during the night in order to get some kind of rest. Otherwise, she's grunting and "talking" and getting herself tangled up in blankets which makes her cry. 
In family news... We are moving to Woodbury. Middle of nowhere town, but where my best friend and biggest supporter lives, Emily. We are also closer to family now as well. Moving is a hassle and we don’t anticipate moving for an extremely long time if ever again. Sissy and GaGa (Sissy’s mom) are going to keep the kids for us while we move which is a huge help. We’ve gotten a lot of help which I am thankful for and hopefully we can get all of our furniture and stuff moved in one trip. My mom is coming over on Saturday to help me decorate which excites me. She is the best decorator I know. She should do it professionally to be honest. She has an eye for it so I’m grateful to have her help. Abbie and Anna’s room is extremely girly. I have bought all fairytale pieces. I bought hangings for above their beds. One says ‘the princess sleeps here’ and the other says ‘little princess’. Poor Anna doesn’t get a choice of which one she likes, she gets the one Abbie didn’t like as much. Abbie also picked out her bedding and it is too sweet. It has a castle on it and fits in perfectly with the theme.
Nate is just glad to have his own room. He’s not really into the decorating, he just wants his ‘video games’. So his room is all boy. Going to get wall decals with cars and trucks to make it more his own. Abbie and Nate have shared a room since Abbie’s been born and we decorated neutral with Sesame Street theme, but this time they are able to pick out the décor for their rooms. Abbie got into it wanting everything pink and purple with princesses, castles, flowers, and butterflies. Nate, as I said, was ‘eh. whatever.’ They love the house and are ready to move their toys over. I’m ready to move furniture in just to absorb the noise. Everything echoes and I talk loud anyway and you add tv and kids to that and you have a hot mess.
I want to thank everyone who continues to pray for Anna. Physically, she is doing very well. It’s too early to tell how she is doing developmentally so please continue to pray for her and us as well. We know God has a special plan for this little girl or she wouldn’t be with us today. Bless You All.

Anna Jane Update 82 Days Old

SHE IS HOME!! We got the phone call yesterday actually. The doctor told us we could come get her whenever we were ready and we were definitely ready. I was so excited when I got off the phone with him that I could hardly contain myself only to get another phone call 5 minutes later saying that we were going to have to wait one more day because she hadn’t had her eye exam. I was so disappointed. We managed to keep ourselves busy to make the time go by fast, but this morning was the worst. I woke up at 6am, I was up before Nate and Abbie which NEVER HAPPENS. So I decided to go ahead and get myself dressed. Abbie woke up and I fixed her breakfast. Then Nate. Then Tim. We decided to go to HR Block and file our taxes (Hallelujah!!). I took Abbie to the grocery store and then we waited anxiously for the doctor to call and say “come get your baby”, we waited for about 2 hours when the he finally called and off we went to get her.

The drive to the hospital wasn’t that bad. Going over her discharge paperwork was awful and the drive home was horrible. People in Tennessee forget how to drive when it snows and it was snowing something fierce when we left. What should’ve been a 30 minute drive turned into an hour. But Anna saw everyone we wanted her to. She met her Nana and Papa (Tim’s parents). She saw Aunt Emmie and Unkie Nick. And saw her Grann and Pops. But the best was Nate and Abbie. Abbie said, “that my Baby Anna”. And I was putting a bottle away that I had fed Anna when Nate said, “Anna bottle. Anna, you want bottle o’juice?” it was soooo cute. He would kiss her head and was really sweet with her. I’m glad they love their baby sister and I hope their bond becomes strong and loving.

Update on Anna 2 months old

I know I haven't updated on Anna in a while, but we were at a stand still there for a while and I haven't felt well. I'm better now and hopefully my health will improve and Anna is doing amazingly well. She is no longer on oxygen and weighs 4lbs 13oz. She is taking most of her feedings by bottle and is holding her body temperature well. She has been moved from an incubator to an open crib. All of her nurses are amazed at how well she is doing and I, of course, am extremely proud of my little girl for fighting so hard. We got the news yesterday that she should be ready to go home within the week. It was so sweet to hear. You wait so long to hear that your baby can go home and when those words came out of her mouth, I was speechless. Now all I can do is think about everything we need to get and prepare before she gets home. I'm so thankful that God has answered our prayers and shown us his miracles through Anna. He continues to bless us everyday with her life. 

And while my baby girl is an angel on earth, there is another family with an angel in heaven who I'm asking prayers for. I didn't know Korley Davis in any way, shape, or form except for reading articles about her in the local paper and seeing green and yellow ribbons hanging on businesses in Shelbyville, reading signs that said "Pray for Korley". Korley was an exceptional young lady who was waiting for a double lung transplant when she became sick. You can read her story here. Korley passed away Wednesday morning and has left everyone in the community devastated. I have never seen such a small person make such a big impact like she did in Shelbyville. I pray for comfort and understanding for her family and friends and I ask that you pray for her family as well.