One Year

A year ago today, I wrote this blog post. The previous week we had our first appointment at Vanderbilt to determine what was going on with our babies. What a difference a year makes.
One year ago today....
*Our hearts were devastated with the news that two of our babies would not survive.
*Our hearts were overjoyed that one of our babies was healthy and beautiful.
*Our hearts were encouraged by our brothers and sisters in Christ who loved us, prayed for us, helped us, and sent cards, text messages, emails, and Facebook messages to us.
*Our hearts were filled with peace with the knowledge that God's plan is perfect and He will never forsake us.
*Our hearts had no idea what we would experience over the next year. We had an idea of how things might go, but really.....NO idea..... When I re-read the blog post and read, "We will be returning to see her every three weeks through sometime around week 28 for monitoring (after that, we will go every two weeks, then every week," I just laughed. Little did we know!

In the past year, our faith has been strengthened and our prayers have been answered. We have experienced fear, excitement, joy, sorrow, and more joy. We have been blessed beyond all we could have ever imagined.

Thank you to our brothers and sisters in Christ who loved us, prayed for us, and encouraged us over the last year. We love you, appreciate you, and can never truly express this....but THANK YOU!

I cannot end this post without also thanking all of our Vanderbilt medical team. WOW. We have had several people make comments to us about how difficult they thought our visits and NICU stay must have been. Honestly, Wesley and I don't think of it like that. From our very first doctor's visit until the day we left the NICU, we met amazing doctors and nurses who were so compassionate and knowledgeable and eager to help in any way possible. We are thankful for each one of them. God blessed us in so many ways, and the whole experience at Vanderbilt is just one example.

October 21, 2010: Hannah Kate
October 21, 2011: Hannah Kate:

Philippians 4:5-7 ^"6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. ⁷And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Tonight

Pretend pumpkin patch photo opp-check. Family picture just one more time-check. Hk's first/second hayride-check. Hk's first nap on a hayride-check. Hotdogs & s'mores & friends-check. Now HK is sleeping on me & waiting on Wesley to come inside--this night was great!!!


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Middle Tennessee Trip

Last weekend, we went to my parents' to celebrate my dad's birthday. Michael was there also and he loved having some Hannah Kate time! Saturday, we went to Kentucky for Hannah Kate's first cattle buying experience. She was very patient and did great!
Dad with his card from Hannah Kate (thank you, Pinterest!).
And he had to have his picture made with his card from Michael too!

Papa's Overalls

I've been trying to upload these pictures for a week!
Hannah Kate got to have a little fashion show with some overalls that belonged to her Papa when he was a baby! Maggie wore these for a fashion show when she was about 4 months old.
Maggie (below) Hannah Kate was about 8 months old in these pictures! Fun times!




Afterwards, Maggie had Hannah Kate cracking up with her kitty cat noises.
First time to eat green beans! Not a fan!

Fun Visitors!

Ma Coley, Carol and Sarah came to visit us one Sunday afternoon. We had so much fun hanging out with them!

October Fun

Two weekends ago was the family retreat for our congregation. We were not brave enough to camp out with Hannah Kate this year, so we went for the day on Saturday. We left early, so we got HK out of bed and put her in her carseat in her pjs. It was so cold when we arrived, that she stayed in her pjs and we added a hat! :) We had a lot of fun, enjoyed the fellowship, and studied God's Word.


Hannah Kate LOVES Mrs. Ali! :)
I saw a onesie on Pinterest that had a campfire and a stick with a marshmallow on the end and had to make these for the babies! :) They were they cutest (and only) babies there!
Here's a close up view-can you see Hannah Kate's excitement?

Mrs. Kellee can always make Hannah Kate laugh!

This month, Hannah Kate started oatmeal.........she's not impressed! This was her first time to get oatmeal. Later, I made it again and it was more like gross glue, but she slurped it off the spoon! Apparently that's the trick!

Dear Daddy, Mommy made my oatmeal like soup. I used 2 bibs & still made a mess. Mommy gave up & gave me a mum mum & then a sink bath! I was a mess!


I liked this sink bath much better than the last one. Now I'm fresh & clean. I love you.
Hannah Kate


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Papa's Birthday

Laundry Day

One Wednesday while I was folding laundry, I decided to stop and smell the roses....or take pictures of a cute baby! I am finding myself only getting "the big camera" out for her monthly pictures and relying on my iPhone or my smaller camera for everything else. I am so glad I stopped on laundry day to capture her long eyelashes, ability to sit up while propped, and fascination with her feet!. So, excuse the laundry and no sheets on the bed and enjoy! These were on September 28th.

Pumpkin Craft

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8 Months!

(asleep on Daddy last week-he looked at me and sadly said,
"Her arms can reach the bed now!")

How has our once tiny, tiny baby turned into a big ol' 8 month old?! We were looking at NICU pictures the other night and Wesley said, "Can you even remember her that tiny?" I distinctly remember when she was finally big enough that we could feel her breathe, and I was SO happy that I could watch her and not be so worried about watching the monitors! She has definitely come a long way!Diaper Size: 3
Weight: Still heavy (I still don't know :( )
Clothing Size: 3-6 months
Food Fun: She never liked rice cereal, so we moved on! She has eaten sweet potatoes, butternut squash, a Mum Mum (kind of like a rice wafer thing), and baby oatmeal. She does not care for the oatmeal, but when she is eating fruits, I will try mixing some in with the oatmeal and seeing how she does. She LOVES squash and slurps it off the spoon. She also is much less messier with squash.
Newest Tricks:
~Sitting up-she can't sit up by herself, but if we sit her up, she can stabilize herself, catch herself if she falls, and sit for quite awhile. Mrs. Diana from Early Intervention said today that she thinks she will be sitting up by herself by the end of the month.
~Her "talking" disappeared for a couple of weeks while she concentrated on sitting and it returned Saturday. I am so glad! I love to hear her talk! I have heard some consonant sounds (I think /b/ and definitely /m/) and lots of cooing!
~She can blow bubbles with her mouth.
~She's still a rolling machine!
~Anti-nap time......hopefully this is just because of some teeth and she will be over that soon!
~scooting....she can wiggle all over the place-on her back or belly-she has scooted on the back about a foot down her activity mat while I typed this!
~reaching for things-she has a lot more control of her hands and can manipulate things a lot better these days
~newest trick as of yesterday-she can put her toes in her mouth! She's been trying for quite awhile and has been doing a great job of stretching her socks completely out to have them in her mouth (and then her socks would be soaked!).

Things Hannah Kate Does Not Love:
~the sun (you've heard this before, huh?)
~rice cereal....oatmeal
~naps

Things Hannah Kate LOVES:
~Jumperoo
~Her sign language DVD-she has started crying when they start the last sign (She knows it's about to end)
~Reaching and grabbing things-the other night, I was holding her while I set the dinner table. She had to have her hand on every single thing I carried. I made a big deal about what a good helper she was (we've gotta start early, right?!)!
~Putting things in her mouth-anything at all. Everything belongs in her mouth, or so she thinks!
~Bible class
~Grabbing her feet and chewing on her socks!
~Daddy and Mommy (OF COURSE!)

We LOVE our girl! Enjoy the pictures!

with Daddy's wedding ring below