a Visit back to the NICU

Today, Kendall & I met Ashley for lunch at the place where our family of 3 this started 1 year ago (tomorrow) ... the Baylor Regional Medical Center of Grapevine ... in the NICU!

For the past year, I'd always planned on going back to the NICU for a visit on Kendall's 1st birthday ... I remember, as I watched our sweet baby girl lying in her isolate, I would dream and think about a lot of things ... happy things ... about us one day being able to bring her home with us ... or what she'd be like and doing when she was 6 months old ... or what we'd be doing for her 1st birthday party ... lots of happy and hopeful thoughts and plans, really ... and coming back to the NICU to visit all the wonderful doctors and nurses that took great care of our sweet Kendall when we could do nothing for her ourselves, was one of my daydreams ... and we got to do that today! (Her birthday is on a Saturday this year and we will be in Abilene to celebrate it with my family ... more about that on a future post! ... so we picked today, instead.)

We'd seen lots of the NICU nurses and doctors at the 1st annual Baylor Grapevine NICU Reunion in October, but that had been several months ago, so we were really looking forward to seeing them again! Everyone was so happy & complimentary to us ... it was so nice to see them again ... and thank them for all their love & care that they gave Kendall and us as her parents. When you are in the NICU for 8 weeks ... and you're in a difficult & stressful situation ... you really get to know each other pretty well ... so just one day not seeing them every day, multiple times a day, is a bit weird to get used to (not that we wanted to stay in the NICU any longer than we did) ... so it was great to come visit!

We got to visit with several of Kendall's nurses and her Doctor, but only got a picture of a few of them ...

Nurse Erin ... she is such a sweetie and loves to love on Kendall!

Nurse Sarah ... she & her family go to our church and we've seen them a few times lately, which has been really fun ... she had her 2nd boy late December.

Dr. Kapplar ... Kendall's Neonatal Specialist ... We. LOVE. Dr. Kapplar! She came to visit me while I was in anti-pardom (laying in my hospital bed trying not to have to deliver) ... she was so helpful in answering my many questions and giving me the reality & hope of the situation we were in ... she was so sweet, compassionate, very genuine and informal and that really allowed me to build trust in her ... I really appreciate her! Then, once we had Kendall in the NICU she was her doctor, so she was instrumental in her growth & development ... we thank God for Dr. Kapplar! She is very personable, easy to talk to, easy to understand (which can be wonderful with all the crazy medical speak that goes on!), is quick on her feet and so caring. She was so excited to see Kendall again today and spent quite a bit of time holding her, loving on her & gave us a very positive assessment of her (it's always great to get positive feedback from a medical professional!). You can tell she really loves her patients!

Leah is the NICU receptionist & is so sweet and helpful to all the families who have a baby in the NICU!

After visiting the NICU, we went to the hospital's cafeteria (which, as crazy as this probably sounds, we've craved from time to time over these past 10 months!) We ate in the cafeteria many, many times during our 2 months in the NICU and hadn't been back since so we thought it was appropriate for us to eat there today! I'm glad that we did ... Ashley had to go back to the office after he got his food, but Kendall & I stayed and ate there (I love that she can eat little finger foods now ... it makes things soooo much easier when we are out & about!) and we saw several people that we knew. It was nice catching up with Meagan, the education coordinator, who came by my room in anti-pardom several times to talk & see how I was doing, and visited us & Kendall once we'd given birth. We also got to talk with the NICU's social worker, Jabina, who had just started that job a week or 2 after we arrived in the NICU.

After lunch, Kendall & I ran errands, came home for her next feeding & a nap ... and sometime in between all of that, we took more pictures ... the day before our sweet baby girl turns 1!

(Just a side note here, but the baby doll that Kendall is holding/playing with in some of these pictures is the baby doll we gave her at Christmas ... she wasn't interested in it in December (as I figured, but I wanted to get her a little baby anyway) ... I was trying to find a baby that was about the size she was when she was born ... which I've found to be pretty much an impossible task, but this one is pretty close. I pulled it out of her closet this week and showed it to her and her face lit up ... and she immediately picked it up and put it in her lap ... I like to think that she was holding her & taking care of her like a mommy would ... maybe a little motherly-instinct there? I thought it was really cute that she did this all on her own. She's also been seen pulling the doll by her arm over to her as she is crawling around, leaning over the doll & kissing (okay, really, it's biting/teething her face, but I think she's kissing her, not trying to bite off) her face, & clapping with the doll. This baby doll is wearing one of Kendall's very first NICU preemie outfits that she wore when she was finally allowed to start wearing clothing. I've added a picture of Kendall in the NICU wearing this same pink dress ... or as Ashley liked to refer to it "her Jedi robe" ... ha!)

In pictures it's really hard to tell her true size, but seeing her in this outfit and then seeing the outfit on the baby doll in the pictures below kind of helps ... Kendall was 3 weeks old in this NICU picture.

Sweet, Sweet Kendall Grace ... You have changed our lives forever!

Puffs, Yogurt Melts & Pool Safety

This may be a bit random here, but both things happened on the same day, so I'm putting them together in this post ...

On Monday, Kendall began successfully feeding herself Puffs and Yogurt Melts ... Way to Go, Kendall! She'd been approved to start eating these on Friday at her Therapists' evaluation ... she'd tried them at the appointment, that night, and once on Sunday afternoon ... although she immediately had success picking them up on Friday at the appointment, she had not been successful by herself in getting them into her mouth to eat ... until Monday! And now she's pretty good at it.

So, here is the Step-By-Step How-To Guide: Successfully Feeding Yourself Puffs and Yogurt Melts by Kendall Grace ...
(Please pardon the crazy hair ... it was brushed earlier, but after a morning nap, it got a little crazy again and Mommy didn't want to miss the first opportunity of capturing the first successful feeding, so we just went with it ... ha!)

Step 1 - Have your Mommy (or Daddy) put you in your highchair while they are preparing your meal. Give a little verbal cue (possibly a grunt, a little babbling, something so they know you want something) and when she (or he) reaches for the Puffs or Yogurt Melts, be sure to smile, act happy & bang your highchair tray in excitement (whatever you do to show your enthusiasm) ... they'll put some Puffs (or Yogurt Melts) on your tray while you wait for your real meal. Next, Pick up the Puff with one hand.

Step 2 - Pick up a second Puff with your other hand. You must have one in each hand, to stay balanced, of course.

Step 3 - Bring one Puff up to your mouth and taste it.

Step 4 - Now you know the Puff is good and you can put it in your mouth ... however you can actually get it in there is good ... they are small, so sometimes it can be a little tricky getting the whole moving-the-Puff-from-your-hand-into-your-mouth thing down ... but if you don't get it the first time, try it again ... or if it falls, remember you can try it again with the other Puff that is in your other hand.

Step 5 - Once it's in your mouth, use your 2 adorable bottom teeth and your gums to mash up the Puff ... and then swallow. (You may pick up your next Puff now that one hand is empty.)

Step 6 - Rejoice! Smile! and Cheer! Repeat Steps 1-6 until your meal is ready. (You'll be cheering and so will your Mommy and/or Daddy ... at least that's what happens at my house!) You can be so proud of yourself and your Mommy & Daddy will be very proud of you, too! Congratulations on feeding yourself your 1st food!

When we bought this house nearly 3 years ago, we LOVED our backyard ... it was a big reason we bought this house. We still LOVE our backyard, but we always knew that when we had a baby, we'd have to do something about keeping the pool safe. And now with Kendall crawling, it was definitely time. We decided to get a removable pool fence ... and so far so good. It's easy to take down when we're entertaining and easy to put back up or leave up so Kendall doesn't get in on her own. (And, I know Kendall's Huni will LOVE the fence, too, because it can keep Cassie out of the pool when she's in there!)

Here's our backyard without the fence ...

And, here's it with the fence (being installed and then all finished) ...

Our backyard is mostly landscaping & pool (and the other area will be turned into a kids' play area later on), so we decided to have the fence installed from our brick on the house across the yard to our back fence (instead of going all the way around the pool ... there is not anything on the other side of the pool that we need to get to, if we aren't in the pool anyway). The fence is actually really see-through and it's 4 feet high and it's removable! It's a necessity, at this point in our lives ... keepin' Kendall safe!

Playtime at the Park

Sunday evening, our Care Group went to the Bear Creek Park in Keller ... we got to the park, but never found our group, so we just spent the time together (which was a very nice fun family break from all our hard work in the yard all weekend) ... this was our first park outing as a family of 3 ... and Kendall certainly enjoyed herself, as did as her Mommy & Daddy! The weather was beautiful ... perfect temperature with a little wind ... thank you, God, for all this wonderful weather you've given us all weekend!

We picnicked first ... Kendall tried out her new bigger spoons for the first time ... although, we definitely got more messy than usual, she was still a very happy girl with her prune oatmeal!

And, then we played ...

her first Test Drive ... and she liked it!

Ride Kendall Ride!

LOVE. these. 2 ... can we just freeze these priceless moments?

Kendall saw her first (real) ducks just as we were walking back to the car ... she so desperately wanted to touch them & chase after them, as she tried to leap out of Ashley's arms ...

lots of WORK and some FUN

We spent nearly the entire weekend outdoors ... the weather was beautiful all weekend long and we took full advantage of it as we did some major yard work ... getting us all ready for the summer! (Saturday morning we took Kendall to the Post Office to apply for her first US Passport ... all 3 of us had to appear in person ... and now we wait for it to arrive in 4-6 weeks ... Canada, we are on our way! It rained in the middle of the night on Friday and soaked the soccer fields, so our Saturday soccer game was, for the 2nd weekend in a row, canceled again!)

After 1 trip to Lowes, 2 trips to Sam's, and 3 trips to Home Depot throughout the weekend, we raked up more leaves, pulled weeds, bought flowers, soil, ferns & mulch, trimmed the trees and bushes, planted flowers and laid down 39 bags of mulch ... here is our house, so far ...

Our front yard was in decent shape before this weekend (thanks to Ash who had spent a lot of time working on it during previous weekends) ... so we spent a lot of our time working in the back yard ...

Kendall was so good for us while we worked ... she went shopping with us, took great naps, played in her exersaucer & pack-n-play (in the shade & under the front porch), and swung in her swing ... we just kept moving her with us ... we are so blessed to have a pretty content baby!

Of course, Cassie came outside to help as well ... and she really thinks she is a great helper, being right in the middle of anything you are trying to do! She also found a little down time over the weekend ... and helped herself to some diving (yes, she really does jump off the diving board!), some swimming and some sunnin' ... (as much as Kendall's Huni will HATE this, I have to add ...) Kendall LOVED watching Cassie jumping into the pool, fetching her frisbee and swimming ... apparently, the water is just perfect for swimming because she would not stay out of the pool! This girl LOVES this dog!

We are happy to have gotten a lot completed outdoors this weekend and look forward to starting our busy May ... first up: a weekend in Abilene for Kendall's 1st birthday (next Saturday ... wowza!)!