Can you guess where we were?

CHUCK E. CHEESE!!

Julia Kate has been so excited since they opened the new Chuck E. Cheese in Monroe. When Kelsey was in the hospital and she and Jason would travel west on the weekends we would take her to the Chuck E. Cheese in Bossier City. We haven't been brave enough to go to the Monroe location until this weekend. One of her sweet friends, Milo, had a little get together for his friends there! So, our family of four traveled to Monroe for a FUN afternoon with the Mouse!

Now don't get me wrong I am all about having a good time and the girls laughing and running around with 200 of their closest friends, some wearing shoes, some not, and having the biggest time. BUT, our Sunday visit will do us in for a while! Julia Kate and Jason played games and won 40 tickets! YAY for Julia Kate....her prize was a little bitty box of NERDS!

Kelsey had a good time too, she was the only one brave enough for a picture with Mr. Cheese himself. They also had a carosel that was just her size, she loved to ride and fussed when I would take her off!

We definitely made memories this Sunday afternoon. We all four did enjoy it when it was all over, after an hour and a half, we were done. One trip to Orange Leaf to finish the afternoon and we were headed home......with Julia Kate planning our next trip!

Six months....where did you go?

A few days ago, after a sweet friend told me she looked at our blog, did I realize it has been 6 months since I posted? What? Wait a minute, where is the new and enthused Nora from New Year's? You know the one that was going to post at least weekly? I think she is somewhere between piles of laundry (both clean and dirty), changing diapers and making doctor's appointments, and working...you know "real work" (the kind that brings a tangible paycheck) :) I had/have the best of intentions and I know that my poor girls are going to wonder what happened in this last six month span if I ever am able to use this blog as a journal. So I am going to attempt to catch us up to present day and then attempt the whole blog updating again!

First of all, our sweet Julia Kate is starting 3 year old preschool at Temple in Winnsboro on Monday! We are all still stunned that she will be four in October! I can still remember exactly where we were when Jason looked at me and said "Aren't you scared?"...after all the talk on us becoming parents for the first time. She is the absolute joy of my heart and the best big sister a little sister could have!

We were blessed enough by Dad (our pool boy) to have a blue, blow up swimming pool in our backyard this year. She has loved swimming "in the pool", hopefully next year she will take swimming lessons. JK and Dad planted, tended and reaped the benefits of a garden this year. We enjoyed tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers and a few squash. The squash didn't last long with our HOT days this summer, JK wasn't really a fan anyway...maybe next year!

Julia Kate attended Camp Darby for the first time this year, well it was the inaugural year! Camp Darby was held at Uncle Dennis and Aunt Darby's house on Lake St. John. Julia Kate joined her cousin Paige and a few "cousin-in-laws" for three days of fun with Aunt Darby, Uncle Dennis and her MK. This was her first camp experience, swimming in the lake and making macaroni crafts! She had a blast!

JK has made every doctor appointment with us for Kelsey. She absolutely loves to stay in a hotel and eat at Chili's. When I asked her where she wanted to go on vacation she said "Let's just go to Shreveport and stay in a hotel"....she is such a trooper. She loves to ask for me to "bring Kelsey in my room, we gonna play restaurant" or babies, or kitchen, or anything that will keep Kelsey's attention and JK will be in charge.

Now she is off to "school". She told me last week that she wasn't going to school, she was going to Temple! We have been back-to-school clothes shopping and she is set! I will keep you posted on how the transition goes, today was her last day at MeMe's house. She has been there since she was 8 weeks old, a lot of transitioning for us all.

Kelsey is 22 months old and weighs close to 20lbs (rounded up) :)

She is doing wonderfully, physical therapy four times each week, occupational therapy once and speech therapy once. We are blessed with so many precious therapists that love Kelsey just like she was their own. I have come to realize that it has to be a calling, like becoming a NICU nurse, it is a ministry and you have to be a very special person. Kelsey will sit independently for maybe 30 seconds, sometimes longer depending on what she is focusing on and how well it is working. She does crawl/scoot on her belly if you hold her trunk, she isn't bearing weight yet on her arms and legs fully.

When meeting with her CP doctor and therapists we have always discussed communicating. That is on the top of my list for "wants" with Kelsey. Now, to say that I don't want to belittle walking or sitting or standing, because I absolutely want her to do all of those things. BUT, I want her to be able to communicate with us, whether verbally or otherwise. I have spoken with mothers whose children couldn't communicate and that was one of the hardest issues to work through. If she is in a wheelchair for the rest of her life, that really isn't that big of a deal, but if she can't speak to us or communicate with us, that is an entire different story. She is learning to say so many different words and I know that her big sister is aiding in that every day, good or bad :) Kelsey can say Mama, Dada, baby, bye, MeMe, bath, no and thank you. She is doing great!

Kelsey had eye surgery at the end of June to try and correct her crossing. Dr. H, her eye doctor, in Shreveport, cut the inner muscles of her eyes to try and help them straighten. Well, we went for a 6 week checkup yesterday and we are back in glasses and dilating one of her eyes everyday. Hopefully when we go back in 8 weeks he will see much improvement.

In these last six months I have read a wonderful book by Ann Voskamp on being thankful, on FOCUSING on being thankful and seeing God in the small things too. Sometimes, a lot of times, I am running all day long and missing what He has for me to see. A few of the things I am thankful for are: sweet sisters laughing in the car on the drive home, wrinkled itsy bitsy toes after bubble baths, warm breezes, brownies baking, sore cheeks from laughing.......I am learning to stop and just stand still, sing another verse or read another story and cherish. I am learning to cherish.

Here are my reasons:

Is it Spring time yet?

I thought I would catch y'all up on our last two weeks all at once! This is the face I came home to this past Saturday after working. Jason had fixed Kelsey's swing so that she could sit in it comfortably and she was having a great time! She would just sit and watch Julia Kate play and she loved to swing! She really is such a happy baby!
Now, this is little Miss Growny, Jason said he couldn't find one single short sleeve shirt for her to wear so he gave up....she started out in a turtleneck and when he made her take that off she ended up in her Saints shirt (from last year's playoff games) and her leggings with pink boots! In this picture she is trying to blow up one of the 500 water balloons she has, thankfully she can't quite grasp how to fill them up and tie them so she just acts like she is going to blow them up! She is facing Kelsey, you can see K's bouncy seat in the background. I do believe she was rotated from seat to swing watching her sister all afternoon!

The Sunday before Valentine's we had a birthday party in Monroe and on the way we had to stop at Lowe's for a few items. I let Julia Kate choose a Valentine's treat and she choose an herb garden! You know, the kind with little pots and even smaller seeds and then you close it up and put it in the windowsill to watch grow! Well, last Monday night she and her Daddy started the process. This is Julia Kate with the finished product, she is so excited about her parsley and basil. (As of one week the basil is the only one that has sprouted...but we are hopeful) Jess, when you are home maybe y'all can swap herb growing tips :)

This is Daddy getting all organized, he poured the seeds out on the counter and counted them out to make sure there were an even number of seeds in each pot....JK concentrated too!

Tiny seeds = too tempting not to touch, I laughed as Jason said "Don't mix the seeds!" So we may end up with basley or parsil.....I'll keep you posted!

The birthday party we attended was at the Children's Museum in Monroe. It really is a fun place for little ones to play and run off energy! This is Jason and Julia Kate in the canoe, she thought it was hilarious!

This is what they saw looking forward....at one point our MeMe (babysitter) and most of her kids were in the canoe together! Great fun!

Her is Kelsey playing in her rigged playset! This is her longsitter which helps stretch out her legs, Jason figured out how to get her toys to stay close enough for her to reach. Notice her open right hand...yay!

More serious Kelsey......

Finally, our new outifts from MK! And the best picture I could get...we have to work on that!

Thanks for checking in with us and for praying for our little family!

Nora

2011

I don't know why I can't get my writing to be at the top, but in case there is anybody reading this just scroll down to read our update and please leave a comment to I know there is someone out there listening!!

Warmer weather last Saturday had JK outside swinging.....we can't wait for spring!!
One of their "play therapy" sessions!

Kelsey sporting her eye patch!

Kelsey with her glasses...notice both hands are occupied. As long as she has something in her hands she is ok for maybe 30 seconds. Jason told her the other night if she grabbed them with her right hand he would let her take them off (her right hand is her weaker hand).....it took her maybe one minute and she reached up and grabbed them!! All he could say was good job Kelsey!

Ok, so it's February 6 and this is the first post of 2011. Actually it's the first post in a few months! I have been meaning to sit down and post since I love to read other blogs and I CAN see how this blog would be a wonderful "memory book" of our lives! The truth is our life is wild and crazy and some nights making time for supper, baths and just living together has us all at our wits end....but I do enjoy looking back and seeing where we were last year or two years ago, etc!! So, for my one faithful blog reader, maybe two ;) here is an update!

The week of Thanksgiving we were discussing Kelsey with one of her therapist and she said, "y'all do understand this is neurological, right?" Well, Jason and I have always known that there was a chance Kelsey would have cerebral palsy but now we finally have a specific diagnosis. To some people this may be scary, and I am definitely not saying we aren't scared, but for us it was such a relief in a way. Now we have a game plan and we know that we are doing exactly what Kelsey needs to help her live her life! We have a neurologist in Baton Rouge, a CP expert at Oschner's and a wonderful system of therapists at MMPT in West Monroe!! We are so blessed to have this team of great people loving on our baby girl. She is doing great with her therapy, she is now wearing AFO braces that help her ankles, it positions her foot in a 90 degree angle instead of her constantly pointing her toes. She is supposed to be wearing glasses, we just got those this week, but as of yet she isn't a fan!

Julia Kate is wonderful and she loves "her little baby sister"....which is what she has recently started calling Kelsey. Sometimes I will hear her start to say Kels...my little baby sister. They have "play therapy" and she is the first to congratulate Kelsey on any accomplishment! Julia Kate is three going on thirty! We laugh constantly at her conversations, we never know what to expect! We got her hair cut last week, 3 inches! This was her first real hair cut and she was so excited.

These are a few pictures over the last few months. I do hope you enjoy and I promise to at least have one post each month.....maybe an extra here and there :)

Josie Claire....

We have had so much fun celebrating Kelsey's first birthday. I have also been thinking alot about Josie Claire this week, as I do everyweek. Kelsey is beginning to jibber jabber some and I wonder if she and Josie would have "talked" back and forth to each other? Julia Kate absolutely adores her baby sister, she wouldn't have known what to do with two! This is a song by the group Selah, it is titled "I will Carry You, Audrey's song" and it was written for Todd and Angie Smith's daughter, Audrey, who passed away a few hours after birth. It is such a wonderful song for all of us, too! (for some reason it wanted to double space between lines so I just separated the verses with commas)

There were photographs I wanted to take,
Things I wanted to show you,
Sing sweet lullabys,
Wipe your teary eyes,
Who could love you like this?


People say that I am brave but I'm not,
Truth is I'm barely hangin' on, There's a greater story, Written long before me, Because He loves you like this.

I will carry you, While your heart beats here, Long beyond the empty cradle, Through the coming years, I will carry you, All my life,I will praise the One, Who's chosen me,To carry you.

Such a short time, Such a long road, All this madness, But I know, That the silence, has brought me to His voice, And He said,

"I've shown her photographs of time beginning, Walked her through the parted sea, Angel lullabys, No more teary eyes, Who could love her like this?"

What an amazing thought! One of the highlights of my life was carrying that sweet baby girl. But I can't even imagine what she is seeing now! One of my daughters, walking through the parted sea? Or seeing Mary? Or Jesus? What a blessing it is to know that although she isn't hear laughing with her sisters, she is there learning to smile just the same!! I am so thankful that He loves us all more than we can imagine and provides for us more than we can comprehend!

Lazy Weekend

Our weekend was wonderful, we had no plans which meant Saturday we never left our house! The month of September has our weekends full which we are excited about but we sure enjoyed lounging around this weekend! Saturday morning: Julia Kate came to tell me that Kelsey was talking in her bed and woke JK up! So I turned them on a movie to watch and they were good to go!

I wonder what this conversation was about?

Two cousins who have the best time together!

Kelsey has two bottom teeth and it is extremely difficult to get a picture of her without her hand in her mouth....but her hand is better than her wadded up dress!

These are a few pictures of the girls in their dresses yesterday before church. My camera lens fogged up walking from inside to outside so they are a bit blurry. Julia Kate had a new MK original and Kelsey is wearing JK's Easter dress from 2008 (when JK was 6 months old). Enjoy!

Kelsey at 10 months

Kelsey is now 10 months old! She is growing so much! Her favorite foods are sweet peas and applesauce. She can sit up assisted and is becoming more vocal. Julia Kate loves to talk to her and Kelsey has started talking back, which thrills JK! Kelsey now smiles at us when we talk to her and laughs when tickled. Her favorite is when Dad tickles her belly, she laughs and laughs, which makes us laugh! Her hair is a blondish-red color and she is getting more and more everyday. We are so blessed and thankful for this precious baby girl and these first 10 months we have had together!!