Getting Out...

Laundry Lily...Lily had a fun ride in the laundry basket and enjoyed watching me fold clothes...I will be glad when she is big enough to help!

One eye, smiling Lily...

This weekend we took Lily to the park for the first time. She enjoyed the stroller ride and listening to Thomas zoom by on his plasma car. It was great to get out with both of my children and enjoy the nice weather.

Look out Lightning McQueen...Here comes Thomas!

Wow, we have had a busy week so far. Lily went to the pediatrician and nephrologist on Monday. We were very excited to get a good report from both. Nothing major to report which is always good. She was pleased with her growth, etc. She was still weighing right around 8lbs. and 53cm long! Her blood pressure was also good. She is going to remain on medicine for blood pressure and acid reflux. We got the OK to get out of the house a little so Lily and I enjoyed our first grocery trip together yesterday. She was great, sleeping the whole time! It is really nice to get out of the house!! Looking forward to more outings soon!

As you can see in the pictures, Lily is growing and smiling more and more. It is so fun to watch and see her respond to us with a smile. I love it!

Thomas is doing well, testing my patience more and more, while making me laugh just as much. He repeats everything he hears which is really funny to hear his take on things. He has heard me call Lily, Lily Cate often, so now when she is crying etc., he calls her Wily Cake! So funny to hear. My other favorite is now when you ask him what he did at school he says, "nothing." I will have to remember some more to share with you soon.

Rock-a-bye baby...

I don't know about you, but he looks like he's up to something...

All ready to take big brother to school...

I walked up behind Thomas and he was singing rock-a-bye baby to Lily really softly. I tried to get it on camera, but wasn't quite quick enough. Listen carefully and you can hear him sing a little. Of course now I feel bad for assuming he was up to something bad...such a sweet big brother!

Big Girl...And wild man

The magic position...after struggling to get Lily to sleep, I finally put her on her tummy, and instantly she was happy. Don't worry I only let her stay there for a nap, not overnight.

Big yawn...any teeth in there?

Big girl...She looks so big in this picture...I had her on the changing table and she rolled over to her tummy!

Loves sucking on her fingers...yes I do feed her!

This is the same look Thomas has when he is watching anything on TV...He just goes into his own world.

Daddy and Thomas after flying his kite nana and pop gave him.

Attempting to fly his kite..."need a little wind here"

The next American Idol

We hope you all had a great Valentine's Day weekend. My sweet husband surprised me yesterday with a babysitter so that we could go out for a little while by ourselves. Lily's wonderful Level 3 primary nurse came over to play. It was so nice to get out just the two of us. The weather was wonderful and we were able to enjoy a nice relaxing lunch outdoors and do a little outdoor shopping. Thanks Stephanie for coming!! Thank you to my wonderful husband for realizing how badly I needed to get out of the house! I love you!

Lily is now 8lbs!!! Yes, you read correctly. At least that is what the Wii says. She goes back to the doctor next Monday for a followup visit. She is doing good except her reflux is acting up again. We finally realized that her Prevacid needed to be weight adjusted to be the most effective so hopefully tomorrow we will get the new dosage. As of right now, we aren't sleeping very well and eating only a little bit every 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. Pretty tiring. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

quiet Lily

Pictures

Sweet Lily 2-10-09

Lily in her cute monogrammed gown from the Bennett family

Pop and Lily

Pop, Lily, and Thomas...Thanks Pop for coming to stay with us while Daddy was out of town...Thanks for cooking for us too! It was all very yummy!!

I got to take Thomas to playgroup for the first time since having Lily. We went to the park with all the other mommy's and kids and exchanged Valentine's Cards...Too cute, but I think the mom's did more of it than the kids!

Check out his cool hairdo...

Too silly!

My silly monkey...

Lily playing on the floor today!

Weekly update...

Samford and her new baby sister...ever since Lily has come home Samford's motherly instincts have been in full force trying to protect Lily. Too sweet but also quite annoying when she barks or growls at every little noise!

Lily was having one of those days where she didn't want to be anywhere but in our arms. So she went to work with Daddy for a little while so I could get out of the house for a moment. Thanks Daddy!!!

So sweet...She loves laying on her arm...It's like she is posing all the time!

Sweet gown Nana brought her...

Stretch...

Lily had an eye appointment last Thursday so we went to visit her nurses in the hospital afterwards. This is Chelsea who was Lily's primary nurse on Level 2. So cute!

Lily and Stephanie...one of Lily's Level 3 primary nurses. It is always great to see these girls who are so special to us and who worked so hard to provide the best outcome for our precious little girl!

Dr. Wong and Lily...Lily's pediatrician on level 2 while she was in the hospital. She took extra special care of Lily. Thanks Dr. Wong...I'm getting sooo big!

This is my new answering service!! Thomas loves to get to the phone first and has learned what button to push to answer...actually kindof helpful at times!

Thomas in Daddy's shoes...

Sorry it has been a week since my last update. I promise to try and be better. Some days it is 3pm and I haven't even had a shower yet! Where does the time go? We are working on trying to get on some type of schedule. So last week was a busy week for Lily. ECI (Early childhood intervention) came to the house to do an evaluation on Lily to see if she qualifies for there program. An occupational therapist will be coming to work with Lily on any delays she may have or any potential problems. She did really well and was caught up as far as her corrected age goes. She also went back to the eye doctor. Her ROP is improving and shouldn't require any intervention or cause any problems. Yea! She was a little more farsighted than normal but hopefully this will correct itself with age as well. No major problems to worry about and she doesn't go back until she is a year old!! Praise God!

Thomas is doing well, getting funnier every day. His new thing is following Greg everywhere and constantly asking "what doing daddy, what's that, what daddy..." Really cute but tiresome when you repeat herself 50 times in a minute!! He is still doing good with "Wily" but he appears to be getting a little jealous that she gets to sleep in our room and he doesn't. So now he is not wanting to go to bed in his room until we just have to threaten him to stay in bed and he is waking up super early and crawling in our bed in the wee hours of the morning. It is kind of frightening when you wake up and there is a toddler staring you in the face! So we will have to work on that or none of us will be getting any sleep.

Thanks so much to all of you have called over the past week. It has been so good to talk to some very good friends that I haven't talked to in a long time. I appreciate you taking the time to call. It helps me so much since I am not able to get out much yet.

Please be praying for my friend's baby that I have mentioned several times who remains in the NICU. He has been off of the ventilator for almost a month now and today they are having to put him back on. This is so hard to understand as a mother and so frustrating to have to take a step back like this, so please pray for the parents strength and peace and to know that God is still with them and in control. Thanks.

weekly update

Thomas finally got a new helmet to fit his huge noggin!! At only 2 1/2 he is wearing an age 5 helmet. Poor kid...such a big head. He hated being all geared up to ride his scooter. We told him he has to wear his helmet to ride, so now he just ops out and rides his plasma car. Too smart...

Saturday, I woke up in a Betty crocker mood and actually used the oven, griddle, and stove. Crazy... I know. I don't really cook, but since having Lily I really haven't. I know Greg was in shock for hours!! Thomas and I made sugar cookies. When I wasn't looking he pulled down the flour bag and it of course went everywhere including all over himself. His new favorite hobby seems to be pulling anything and everything off the counter tops that he can reach. Yea!

This picture cracks me up...Thomas has been waking up way too early since Lily has come home. So by the time he was ready for church and doing his breathing treatment, he was so tired he fell asleep! He later told me he was so tired because I got him up too early. I quickly corrected him and told him he was free to sleep as late as he wanted to in the morning!!!

Lily loves tummy time. This was how she stayed in the hospital for so long and now that she is home they tell you not to let her sleep on her tummy so whenever she gets the chance to enjoy her favorite position, she loves it!

First time in the baby bjorn! She actually really liked it as long as I was moving!

Lily's first time outside and in the baby bjorn! It was a warm 75 in Houston on Sunday so we enjoyed being outside as a family for the first time!!!

Thomas riding his scooter!

We are all adjusting well to having Lily home. Thank you to everyone who has called, emailed, sent texts to check on us. Feel free to call anytime. I know many people have told me they don't want to call in fear of waking us up etc... FYI I am not a napper. I never have been and probably never will be. I try to rest some, but I hate that drugged feeling you have when you wake up in the middle of the day and have to get yourself going again, ugh... So I am always at home and usually can talk, so call away! Would love to chat, especially since I am not getting out much!

Lily is doing better sleeping during the night. I finally learned the trick to getting her to sleep longer is to let her nurse and then give her a bottle right before bedtime. The last couple of nights she has gone 4-5 hours before waking. Those of you who know us, know that this is huge because Thomas was a terrible sleeper for over a year. I have been praying since getting pregnant that Lily would be much better!!! She sleeps in a cradle right by our bed. She sleeps so hard sometimes that I often get right in her face to see if she is still breathing. Hopefully I will get more comfortable as she gets bigger. We go to the opthamalogist this week for a follow up appt. Hopefully everything will be fine. Please pray for her eyes to be developing normally.

Thomas is doing really well with her. He likes to talk to her and hold her hand. He helps me sometimes by getting things I need. When she is crying he will say "I'm coming Willy" yes he often calls her Willy! Too funny. He will tell me what he thinks she needs or wants too. Very sweet.