Project 365: Week 26

Seiden Grace...You are SIX Months Old!!! (4-19-14)

My princess is officially half a year old!  Oh my goodness...I blinked and she has grown up so much right before my eyes!  This little angel is the MOST fun, loveable, kissable, funny, snuggly, talkative, smart, interactive, and playful baby in the entire world!  Wow...she is seriously just SO much fun!

I honestly can't even get over just how much fun Seiden is.  She is the most adaptable baby...happy anywhere and in any situation.  You can literally put her anywhere, take her anywhere, and do anything with her and she is happy and content to just go with the flow and be wherever you are.  She does like to be with and around people though.  The only time she ever really gets unhappy is if she's awake or wakes up and no one is around.  I'll lay her on her play mat or on our bed to run to the restroom and she starts getting a bit whiny.  Not fussy...just whiny.  I talk to her and she still just is not a fan of feeling like she is alone.  But, as soon as I round the corner and she sees me (or anyone that this is happening to), she turns that frown upside down and starts smiling and talking and forgets she was ever alone for .02 seconds!  I will say...she does really well on her play mat when she's by herself.  She kinda whines for a few seconds...but then when she realizes she's got lots of toys to play with...she forgets it all and starts talking to and playing with her toys and all the fun things hanging down from the play mat!  Plus...it's good for her to have independent play time...and it's good for mommy when she needs to make dinner or get other piddly little chores done!

Little miss also LOVES her jumperoo!!!  She loves the exersaucer too...but the jumperoo is her favorite!  I can put her in that any time and she just goes to town jumping up and down making the music go and all the toys around it clank together.  She plays in it so good and is just so happy.  Whenever she does something that really gets her excited she makes this super cute, high pitch squeal sound and then looks around to see who all was watching her.  She's quite the little ham!  And speaking of her being a little ham...she really is hilarious!  She just does the cutest things...her little personality is really shining and coming out.  She has found her tongue and sticks it out ALL the time!  It is so funny!  She also absolutely loves her puppies!  And...they LOVE her!  They are always giving her sugars and will follow us around when we are holding her and moving about the house.  When we are sitting down holding her, the girls will pile up in the couch next to us and Seiden will rest one hand on their backs and play with their hair.  She loves the way their fur feels!  They are so good with her.  They just let her play with them and are just so gentle when they are any where near her.  It's so precious!  And...like I said...she loves to be around people.  She gives the biggest smiles to Cody and me and gets so excited when she sees us.  She'll kick her legs and move her arms all around and start talking...it's so sweet!  And, when you pick her up...she just roots into your face, shoulder, neck...whatever she find and snuggle up to...she's rooting to get there!  She also gets a big kick out of her Uncle Stick's beard!  The look on her face is so funny when she's looking at him.  She reaches her hands out to him and grabs a hold of it!  And let me tell you...she has got a grip on her!  She also absolutely loves her Opa and Bella!  She goes over to my parents every morning and they take her to day care for us.  My dad is always ready when Cody brings her over at 6:45 and he sits and holds her and plays with all her toys with her and then snuggles her up close to his face when she starts to get sleepy.  He said whenever he snuggles her up close to his face, she rubs her sweet little hands on his face and will usually go to sleep with one hand resting on his cheek.  Sweet angel and precious Opa.  He loves that little girl with every fiber of his being!  When my mom is done getting ready, she plays with her for a second and then mom takes her to day care.  They sing and talk and tell stories on the way...Bella's little buddy!  Mom and I are also together a lot and we take Seiden with us when we go run errands.  So they have such a sweet bond and relationship.  They all just love her so much and it's so fun to watch all 3 of them with her.  Each of them have such a sweet relationship with her and it's precious to watch each of those relationships grow and develop.  And...it's so sweet to see her face light up and the love in her eyes when she sees and interacts with someone that she knows takes care of her and is there for her and just loves so much.

It's been a pretty low key month as far as doctor's appointments go too...which is such a relief!  She did have one double ear infection...that was pretty crummy.  I took her in first because I picked her up and she felt so hot.  I immediately took her temperature and it was 99.7...which seemed way to high to me.  I called and took her in right away.  We saw the nurse practitioner and she had an ear infection in her right ear.  That was a Monday.  We were prescribed antibiotics and they didn't set well on her tummy.  Like...she threw-up almost every time we gave them to her.  So, she probably didn't get any of the medicine in her system.  The following Sunday, I took her in on an on-call appointment because the cough she had had gotten so bad and sounded like it was in her chest.  Low and behold...it was.  And...she also had a double ear infection at that point.  Her doctor was the doctor on call...thank goodness.  He gave her some different antibiotics and also told me that we had to do breathing treatments.  Sad day for this mommy!  She didn't like these antibiotics any better...but she kept them down!  We did breathing treatments 3 times a day for a week and a half.  Then, cut it back to twice a day for 3 days.  Then, once a day for 3 days.  And then we stopped all together.  It's been almost a month since that all went down and she is showing no sings of being the slightest bit sick!  I haven't even had to suck out her nose with the Nose Frida in 2 weeks!!!  Woo hoo!!!  I hope I'm not jinxing myself...  We go to her 6 month check-up on the 25th...we'll see how much our little love has grown!

Gosh...I am just so in love with this little girl.  She is my precious angel and my sweet little princess.  Every fiber of my being is just enamored with her and I would absolutely do anything for her.  She has blessed our lives in so many ways.  Each and every day she brings more joy to our lives than we could have ever imagined.   I just seriously can't believe that I'm sitting here typing her 6 month blog post.  We are just having so much fun with her...I don't want her to grow up!  I heard the Taylor Swift song, "Never Grow Up," on the radio this morning as I was driving to work.  I bawled.  It's so true and no one can ever tell you that and it mean anything until you have a baby yourself.  Every day with her is such a blessing.  I don't ever want to take one second for granted or rush through it because I know I'll never get it back.  The days are already flying and I don't want to do anything more than I'm already doing to make them go faster.  I'm just so honored that God chose me to be her mommy.  I hope that I honor Him each and every day by loving her, taking care of her, being there for her, supporting her, encouraging her, and bringing her to know Him.  Cody and I are so blessed by her and I know that our families are too.  She is one special little girl and she has already touched the lives of many.  I can't wait to see what God has in store for her future.  Seiden Grace...you are a precious gift.  Mommy and daddy love you so, so much and you bless our lives so much and we are so grateful to call you ours.  Happy 6 Month Birthday Seiden Grace!!!

Project 365: Week 25

Project 365: Week 24

Project 365: Week 23

Seiden Grace...You are FIVE Months Old!!! (3-19-14)

FIVE months...I can't even believe it.  I have no idea where these past five months have gone.  But, I do know one thing.  And that is that these past five months have the been the best five months of my life!  This last month in particular has been simply amazing.  Seiden is SO much fun!  Not that she hasn't always been fun.  But man...I could seriously freeze time right now for many, many months and just keep her right here at this age.  I know I've said before that I wished time would freeze...but I've never meant it more than I do now.  She continues to grow and change so much, but in such fun and amazing ways.  I just want to keep her right where she is for awhile.

For starters...she has such a fun personality!  She is so funny and talkative and she laughs at us, the dogs, and herself.  And it cracks me up to watch her play by herself and just start cooing and laughing.  I guess she thinks she's pretty funny!  Well...she is!  For the past few days, when I'm driving home and I think about her playing on her play mat or playing with the dogs (with our supervision of course) and making her little squeal/laugh sounds...I just start laughing.  I'm sure that people think I'm coo-coo when they see me laughing in the car and I'm all by myself...but I just can't help it!  She brings so many smiles to my face and she makes me laugh so much that I just can't help but do it even when she's not around.  Gosh...I just love her so much.  All I want to do is love on her, kiss on her, and squeeze her!  And, she's such a good baby.  So loving, playful, happy, content, adaptable, and funny...have I mentioned that she's funny?!?!  :-)  She smiles when she sees us, talks to us, plays with toys we give...so much fun!

There are several things the little princess has started doing this past month too.  Like...she ROLLED over!  Now, we can't keep that girl on her back.  She loves to roll over...but then she hates being on her tummy.  So, now we have a new game.  Seiden rolls over, gets perturbed, mommy and/or daddy roll her back over to her back after a short period of time, then Seiden rolls back over onto her tummy...you see the pattern???  If she rolls over with her pacy in her mouth...she doesn't mind staying on her tummy for longer periods of time.  In fact, if she keeps her pacy in her mouth, she usually winds up falling asleep and getting in a good nap on her tummy.  Which is so cute because we are so used to watching her sleep laying on her back.  She just looks like a little angel...such a doll!  She also loves playing on her play mat.  She absolutely loves all the fun toys that hang down from the bars and she just bats at them, grabs on to them, and kicks them.  It really gets her going when they all start moving around and making noise.  This is when she starts laughing at herself and making her little squeal/laugh sound that she's started doing.  We all think she just really loves to hear her precious little voice.  Because she'll get on a roll doing that when you're holding her, talking to her, or she's just playing by herself.  So cute!  We have also noticed how much she joins in on our conversations.  After Cody gets home and takes her, we talk about our days, what's new, or any other important topic that might be going on in our lives.  When we are talking, Seiden just joins right in and talks right along with us.  We love it and her sweet stories!!!

Seiden has also really started grabbing for toys and other things that catch her eye.  She reaches out for most things that you hold in front of her...and especially for things that she really wants to hold.  I'm thinking she really likes mommy's hair...and that girl has a grip on her...ouch!  Oh well...I refuse to have a "mommy" haircut...so I'll just have my hair pulled on for now!  Plus...I have no idea how to style short hair...so long hair for me it is!  Other than all her fun toys, and my hair, she loves our hands.  She grabs onto our fingers and they immediately head straight for her mouth!  Well...everything heads straight for her mouth these days.  I really do think she's starting to teethe.  She really tries to "chew" on our fingers and she also does the same thing with her pacy.  We've felt around in her mouth and don't feel any nubs starting to form...but she's showing all the other signs of teething.  Guess we'll see if a tooth or two pops up in the next few days/weeks!  Anywho...she's quite the playful little girl and loves to shake around all her toys and make them make noise.  She's very observant and I can see her really thinking and trying to figure things out when we show her and push buttons for her on her toys.  She tries to mimic us...but she's just not quite strong enough yet to push those buttons on her own.  It won't be long though.  So...she loves her play mat, and all her toys...but she also loves her exersaucer!  The girl loves to be upright and looking around and her exersaucer is the perfect thing for that.  She can look all around and be upright and have tons of different toys to choose from that make all kinds of noise and do all different things...she has a blast!  And she is so, so strong.  There have been so many times when anyone of us is holding her, in an upright position so she can look around and see everything, and she will just pull herself up and sit up on her own.  She really prefers to be held in an upright position or in your lap or on your knees with her being held at her waist as the only support these days.  She is really not content if you try to hold her in a laying down position.  Unless she's tired.  Then...she just relaxes and falls right asleep in your arms...which I still absolutely love.  She's growing too fast I tell ya!

We also saw her surgeon on March 10th.  We were honestly a little nervous about what he was going to tell us because we had noticed some fullness in her right cheek.  Her right side was the side that was most affected by the cyst...so it made us nervous and a bit scared to see her cheek more full than we though it should be.  She's got those adorable chubby baby cheeks...but this was more than that.  She also had a little bruise around a spot that he told us to keep an eye on too.  So that made us even more anxious.  Originally, our surgeon told us to come back in April or May.  But, when the fullness in her cheek and this bruise came up...we decided to go ahead and go in in March.  Plus...I was on spring break when we went...so that was extra nice.  Her appointment was at 3:40 that afternoon.  So, we decided to head down to Ft. Worth early that morning to grab some yummy brunch at the 'Ol South Pancake House...we are addicted...it's SO good!  And I also wanted to do some shopping in Lululemon...#seriouslyaddicted #ihaveamajorluluproblem.  Cody had gotten me a very nice gift card from there for our anniversary...so I was ready to do some damage!  And...it was nice to take our minds off of the appointment that afternoon.  We also hadn't been back to the Ronald McDonald House since we were discharged from the NICU.  So...after brunch and shopping...we headed over there for a little bit before her appointment.  It was soo good to see all the sweet people that made our time there truly feel like home.  They are such God fearing women and men and they blessed our lives so much...so the visit was much needed!  When we left there, we had about an hour before her appointment.  So, we just decided to head around the corner, park and go in the Cooks food court for some snacks before checking in and heading up to see Dr. Thomas.  I got some FroYo and Starbucks and Cody got some trail mix and a drink from their amazing soda fountain.  Seriously...Cooks and Harris both have the most amazing food courts.  We have just stayed and eaten in both places instead of going to another restaurant after some of her appointments...it's that good!  After our snack stop, we headed up to the 3rd floor of the Dodson Specialty Clinic and waited for our name to be called.

They were running a bit late, but we still got back to see Dr. Thomas by about 4:20.  So, not a bad wait at all for a doctor's office!  Plus...it was good nap time for Seiden.  We had been blowing and going all day and she had been busy playing and being loved on and held, she hadn't really slept since the car ride up there.  So, she got a good nap in before her appointment.  It is always so good to see Dr. Thomas...even though we were a bit nervous about this appointment.  He is just such a wonderful, Godly man.  He truly uses the spiritual gifts that God has given him to bless and heal these precious babies and kiddos.  When he first walked in, he gave both of us big hugs and then scooped Seiden right up and just held her and told her how beautiful she was...so precious.  Do you see why we love him so?!?  After he loved on her a bit, he held her out in front of him and did a little inspection.  He noted that her right cheek had some fullness in it, but didn't seem too concerned.  He laid her down on the exam table and felt around on both her cheeks and her neck where that little bit of cyst still is that he left during surgery.  He had to leave that because it was too close to a major nerve and he didn't want to compromise the possibility of getting that last little bit of cyst for having nerve damage.  He said that he felt like that little bit of cyst had gotten a bit smaller...praise The Lord!  After that, he started talking about her cheek.  He asked us if she had been sick...we said yes because she had just been to the doctor for an ear infection.  After we told him that, he told us that anytime she has a fever, an infection, or other kind of sickness, that fluid will pool in her cheek.  It's the lymphatic fluid that builds up and pools to fight infection.  When most of us get sick, we can feel the lymph nodes on either side of our neck and they are a bit swollen.  It is no different for her.  But, because of the cyst and her surgery, it's going to pool in her right cheek.  So...that's all the fullness was from!  We also asked him about the bruise and the little knots underneath it.  He said the bruise was probably from normal baby stuff...bobbing her head while she was in the exersaucer into a toy, banging a toy on her face, etc.  So, that was a relief.  And, then he felt around on those little knots and said that all they were are where her blood vessels have wound together and formed little knots.  He said that while he was doing her surgery, there were several that had wound together like that because of all the fluid pushing on everything.  It's absolutely no big deal and he even said that if she's upset, hot, or sick, her cheeks will be more red and rosy from the blood vessels being wound together instead of more spread out.  He told us that eventually, they will probably spread out as she grows.  But, if they don't, it's nothing to be concerned about.  You would never even know they were like that unless you were pushing around on her cheeks...so you it's nothing that you can even tell she has.  Such a blessing!

So...here's the future plan for Seiden with her surgeon.  She doesn't have to go back until she is a year old.  He will check her over, see how she's growing, and then maybe come up with some future plans for aspirating the little bit of cyst (it's seriously the size of a dime...if that big) that's still in her neck or more surgeries.  He said that if we do have to do more surgeries, he feels like it will be basically cosmetic surgery to tighten up any remaining loose skin from when the cyst stretched it out.  But, he won't do any surgery for that until she grows more because if he were to do anything too soon, he could get the skin too tight and she wouldn't have the mobility she needs to have in her neck.  So basically...we are done with all doctor's appointments except for her regular check-ups (or possible visits if she gets sick) until she is a year old!  We aren't discharged from the surgeon...but we are clear from seeing him until October!  We are so excited and happy about it and so blessed to have received such good news.  Dr. Thomas said that she couldn't look any more beautiful, have healed any better, or be more perfect.  He was so pleased with every single thing and told us that all the things that we were worried and concerned with were absolutely nothing at all.  And now we know that her right cheek will be a little more full if she's coming down with something or is already sick.  When we were talking about the "non-plan plan" for the future (basically we'll just keep watching her and address any further surgeries as she's older or if that little bit of cyst that's left gets bigger...which it won't), he stopped in the middle of what he was saying and goes, "Man...God is just so good."  How awesome is that?!?!?  To know that this is the man that performed a major surgery on our daughter and who will keep track of her, watch out for her future, and do any other procedures is absolutely comforting.  God has just had His hands all over my pregnancy and Seiden's life ever since He spoke her into me.  He has given us doctors, nurses, family, friends, prayer warriors, places like the Harrison Hotel (Sandra and LaDell's house) and the Ronald McDonald House.  Each and every person He planned to be a part of Seiden's life and her testimony.  I know that she is going to do big things on the earth and even bigger things for God's Kingdom.  Praise The Lord for all this good news!!!  We continue to pray each and everyday for her healing.  We know that we have witnessed a true miraculous healing from God and a gift that only He could give us.  We are raising our very own miracle baby...a sweet angel from Heaven above.

Seiden Grace...I don't know how I could fall any more in love with you.  But each and every day you continue to capture my heart in new ways and my love for you just grows deeper and deeper.  I thank God for you each and every day and that He chose me to be your mommy.  You inspire me by your strength, your courage, your fight, and your will.  You have the most loving, sweet, funny personality and you make me smile, laugh, and cry tears of joy more than anybody in this world ever could.  You are the strongest, most precious little baby girl that I have ever known...and you are mine.  Mommy and Daddy love you more than words could ever express!  Happy 5 Months Seiden Grace Kelley!!!