Look-a-like

Bo's teacher requested a baby picture for an activity the class is doing next week.
This was the print I sent:



Bo saw it and asked why I put a picture of Mae in his folder. I let him study it for a bit and then told him it was a picture of him!
When the teacher walked him to the car today, she too commented on how much the picture reminded her of Mae.

What do you think??

open mouth + raised eyebrows = classic Mae face awesomeness

aaaaaand...drumroll please...

Quite possibly my all time favorite shot of Mae to date!

When things are really real

It's one thing to be pretty sure that my baby will have to have surgery, but it's altogether another thing to have actual confirmation from the surgeon. We were finally able to connect with the pediatric surgeon yesterday and Sadie's surgery is now upcoming.

It looks like they will have to remove somewhere between one third and one half of her lung. The surgeon was unclear about whether or not they will operate through the front of her chest or the side, but either way it's a big deal. We're anticipating a five day hospital stay. The surgery will tentatively be Friday, March 30 so we have the week of Bo's spring break to recuperate, although we are waiting on a final confirmation from the surgery office.

I was at my parents house yesterday when J called to let me know everything, and I just kept having to remind myself to breathe while I was talking to him. I hate that sick all over short of breath feeling. Hate it. I hung up the phone and pretty much dissolved into tears as I explained everything to my mom and sisters. It just really sucks to think about my precious little babe. Totally sucks. This one keeps me leaning on Jesus for sure and consistently reminds me that the kingdom on control I am always looking to sustain can topple oh, so quickly.

We would covet your prayers that this little one [and the rest of our brood] will stay healthy until then. An upper respiratory infection could easily cause another round of pneumonia, which would be problematic for Sadie and the surgery on many levels.

Oh, and J had a little giggle with me the other night as he looked over my previous post. The artery near the cyst is actually coming off of her aorta, not her heart. My response to him: Aren't they kind of the same thing?

He just shook his head.

Thanks for walking this road with us!

Another birdie in her nest...

When Sarah had her precious Truett Stephen a few weeks ago, I was dying that I'm not close enough to hop in the car and love on that newborn goodness. Seriously dying! At the time, I had no idea she was planning to come here!! Yay!

So, Sarah's hubby works for a pretty cool company if I do say so. Turns out he had a big trade show deal in town and had to be here for a long weekend of work. Sarah decided that instead of being at home, alone, with three kids under three, she would tag along and hang here where there were a few extra arms to help with the babes. When Maggie joined us last night we had a sobering moment where we realized that the number of kids at my parents outnumbered the adults. Crazy!

I'm going to make a point here. Promise.

Sarah threw out the idea of trying to get a few people together to visit and see the baby. I asked if I could put together a little something at my house. So fun! J was working a later night so I got the kids in bed early and we had a little open house of sorts to visit and snuggle with some baby goodness. It was so fun.

There were nests and birdies and pictures of Sarah and her crew...

...and some supper yummy goodies!

Poor Truett was exhausted from a long day of sleeping, eating, snuggling, and pooping

He perked up quickly though, and totally stole the show.

Love this boy!

I missed out on the group picture because Sarah has that one on her camera, but I did get some pictures of the baby so that's all that matters, right?

Come back again soon, Bruntertown; we miss you already!

Finally...

We're laying pretty low today just enjoying a day off from work and school. When I really think about it, it's funny that laying low includes 8 loads of laundry, 7 people bathed, 6 minutes of dance party fun, 5 haircuts, 4 nursings, 3 meals prepared/served/cleaned up after, 2 books read for Bo's homework, and one set of blinds replaced...still a very full day.

Here are a few of my favorite moments from the past few weeks...

My precious little girls and their dad on Christmas Eve...they wore the Christmas dresses my mom handmade the Christmas I was two and Sarah was almost one. It was awesome that they were just the right size for my girls this Christmas! They sure did love snuggling with Dad during Christmas Eve church.



Christmas morning smiles from Mae.




We have a renewed interest in playing dress up thanks to Bo's Thanksgiving party costume and some new duds that were a gift from Grandaddy and Marmee (J's parents) for Christmas...

Love these pictures from the trampoline when we visited with J's family for a late Christmas celebration.

Mae was too little for the trampoline, but she didn't seem too disappointed!

We also had a fun visit with my brother Andy and his family after Christmas. I totally fell apart in the picture taking department and only have 4 pictures of Sadie from an afternoon we spent at the park. What happened??? They are awesome and we had such a great time visiting!

Mae is seriously the easiest baby we've had yet (and we've had really easy babies, I think)!! She is so happy and gurgly right now. She makes the greatest little baby sounds and when you catch her eyes, she totally comes alive. She's so close to laughing. She's also sleeping 12-14 hours a night! She was sleeping 8 hours right about the time she hit 6 weeks and it's slowly been getting longer and long. Crazy! I think it helps that she's discovered her knuckle and loves to suck on it while she sleeps.

I felt like I really dumped in that last post about Sadie's CT and then I've provided no follow up. The truth is we still have not heard back from the pediatric surgeon or gotten a final read from the pediatric radiologist. J did take a look at the CT (one of the perks of being married to a radiologist) and he was not super encouraged by what he saw. It looks like the bottom third of her lung is affected by the cyst and it seems to be a larger area/mass than we originally thought. Additionally, there's a large artery coming off of her heart that's "feeding" the cyst. Not great news. We're anxious to talk to the surgeon and figure out his recommendation for when the surgery will be and what her recovery will look like. We would appreciate your continued prayers. The potential silver lining is that it's possible her heart is directing so much energy towards the cyst that this could be the factor limiting her growth. We're about to start another round of endocrine testing and potentially genetic testing to rule out other factors, but it would be amazing if the surgery resolved her growth issues.

I got to meet/hold/adore my two new nephews over these past two weeks and they are absolutely awesome. There is something so heavenly about a baby...the newer the better!!!

One of my favorite things about Bo's school is that the parents teach on Fridays and I was there this past Friday for one of my teaching days. We had a blast. It reminded me how much I really love teaching and made me excited for when I get to do it again!

Off to nurse a babe and put the finishing touches on dinner for the fam...

Waiting...

I'm wandering around here tonight...aimlessly...restlessly. The thoughts and feelings and activities of the past weeks are like a tidal wave that's been building and chasing after me, and now I find myself trying to just be still and let them wash over me.

There's something about the holidays that feels so wonderful. The laughter, the sparkle, the twinkle of candles. I love so much about the celebrations. They feed a deep part of me as I breathe in the smells of my own baby and think about that perfect baby born so long ago. What a gift! We celebrated Jesus, time with family, the birth of a new little nephew, the impeding birth of another little nephew, and the end of an eventful year!

In a strange and exciting way, January beckons me too with it's call to act and renew. There are more birthdays and milestones coming, including my sister who turns 31 TODAY and rocks!!

I've attempted to write on this blog more than once in the past weeks, and always I find that I just don't have the right words. I type and delete and select pictures and delete them. The words just don't seem to be able to capture the moments. My cup is overflowing with thankfulness and good gifts!

Even as I fight to sit and rest, I am confronted with reality. Tomorrow is a big day for Miss Sadie. We have a CT scan at 9 AM tomorrow to assess the situation with the cyst on her lung. There are things about the CT itself that I can't seem to escape: the sedation, the radiation, an early morning with no food or drink. But it's what the CT will reveal that is hardest to digest. What kind of surgery are we looking at for our little one? And how soon? The past few days I've found myself simply keeping busy. The urge to clean out closets and cabinets is so intense that J asked if I was pregnant and nesting...I'm not :)

The truth is that amidst the red and green and gold of December, January felt so far away. Now it's here! With it comes another reminder that there is oh, so much I am not in charge of. Just when I think I have gone and layed it all at the foot of the cross, I find something else I am clinging to, something else that I want to control. Oh, how patient HE is with me!!

If you can think to pray in the morning, we would certainly appreciate it! Lots to come in 2012. I pray that I am able to rest in what God has for our family this year!