The Penguin Toddle

(I apologize this video is a little long, but she was too stinkin' cute to edit any of it out!)
I am still amazed to see Sunshine WALK all over our house. It has been a long road and it's just miraculous to see all of the fruits of our labor finally culminate to the beauty of Sunshine's precious little penguin toddle. And as I re-watched this video, I couldn't help but be even more amazed at all of the other subtle changes ... the level of comfort she has in our family like she has always been here ... the effortless way she communicates through sign ... the beautiful relationship that has evolved between her and Lovebug (and our entire family) ... the way she moves around our house and interacts like it has always been so ... and then the obvious physical growth she has experienced as well. I mean, WOW! God is so good!

Morning beauty

Of all three of my kids, Sunshine can pull off "moody" the best ... she is stunningly gorgeous all the time, but seriously the first shot? Ohhh my, she is just delicious! And I am loving her messy bed head ... there was a time, not that long ago, when we didn't have to worry about that! It's amazing how fast hair grows.

Another little change DH and I have noticed is Sunshine's smile ... this may sound insignificant, but really it's not ... we can see Sunshine's top teeth when she smiles! That means her mouth is really starting to stretch back out again and she's not doing as much of the bottom-lip clefty smile thing. Yay for healing!

Oh and her cough is just about gone, Praise God! I think she is finally on the MEND! Another almost-month of sickness is behind us ... how long until summer again? We. are. so. ready.

And one last non-Sunshine related thing - I gave up Facebook for Lent. LOL. It's already been difficult and it's only been one day! Yikes! And it's not helping that I am still using my business page for work-related updates and such - it's how I stay in contact with all of my fans and I didn't want that page to be quiet for so long. I dare you to try using *just* your FB business page without clicking on one single thing! I can do it though, I know it!

Surgery update

Happy belated Valentine's Day! I love the love that these two share ... Lovebug is such a great big brother and Sunshine really adores him too :-)

We got the word on Monday from the surgeon that Sunshine's palate surgery is being postponed. Although her fever broke and she is definitely better, her cough is still quite productive and she's really junky. This really is the BEST decision ... she has been sick for weeks and I was concerned about putting her immune system through so much! So much sickness and then recovery from a major surgery ... it's much better to let her get fully healthy instead of just healthy enough. I am at complete peace with the postponement and truly am seeing it as a positive decision ... the best decision given the situation. Now we can focus on getting our girl healthy.

We currently have her palate surgery scheduled for July. I know it's much further off and will most likely only continue to delay her speech ... but there are several family events coming up and we definitely didn't want to schedule such major surgery around them. We are also hoping that the summer will mean no sicknesses! So for right now, we'll just focus on being a family and loving on each other! No surgeries or recoveries to worry about ... I'm excited to find out what that's like :-)

The view from up here and surgery update

Is pretty adorable, wouldn't you say? Even despite being sick, Sunshine still gives the best leg hugs :-) She usually scoots over and wraps her whole body around me ... now she is starting to "leg hug" while standing up, it's so awesome to see! She especially loves to hug while I am cooking or cleaning up, LOL.

In other news, it seems that her fever is finally gone as of yesterday, Praise God. The cough, however, is another story. She continually coughs until she gags and chokes ... her whole face gets blood red. Her eyes are just kind of constantly red. It's painful to watch. She sometimes throws up because of how hard she's coughing ... and it is sometimes while she's sleeping, in her bed ... like last night. Oy. She is so uncomfortable while she's trying to sleep, so I don't think her rest is very restful. That also made for a very miserable girl yesterday, all day. It was the kind of day where there's no patience left by the time you put the kids to bed. Glad that one is over. Phew.

She has been doing much better since she woke up this morning, although I just put her down for an early AM nap ... poor exhausted little thing. DH took the other kids to church while I stayed at home with Sunshine ... I am starting to get concerned about having her around any other kids for fear that she will catch something else before surgery. And of course I don't want to pass this onto anyone else either, whatever it is. DH and I both agree that Sunshine seems to get every sickness so, so much worse than everyone else ... lack of antibodies? Who knows. This hasn't been fun ... at all ... and I feel so bad that if she actually *does* get better, we are just going to put her through a painful surgery right after.

The pediatrician changed her antibiotics on Friday and was still somewhat optimistic that we'll have surgery as scheduled. I am supposed to call him on Monday to give him an update - if she still had a fever we were going to have to subject her to blood work ... SO GLAD that is not a concern right now. He said that ideally, she should be symptom-free for 5 days before surgery ... we'll be cutting it close for sure. I am not holding my breath ... and quite frankly at this point, in some ways it would be relieving to postpone surgery so that I know she is actually truly healthy. The palate surgery is a tough one, very painful and recovery is not fun either ... after having been down the recovery road twice already for easier surgeries ... let's just say I am not looking forward to this one.

Thank you so much for keeping Sunshine in your prayers. This has been a bumpy road for sure, although in the grand scheme of things, it could be so much worse. Overall, this is just a little hiccup and I am trying to keep that in perspective. It is just not easy to watch your baby girl be sick so much!

Sick ... again

Baby girl just *cannot* catch a break. Even on antibiotics, a new virus has developed. One with a terrible gagging, choking cough that causes her to throw up and creates a middle-of-the-night 104.8 temp. Sheesh. All that without the use of ibuprofen because we are less than 2 weeks out from surgery. I will admit it ... I am starting to feel defeated, like this surgery is not going to happen on time. OR ... that we will get her well again just in time to make her go through an intense recovery. I feel terrible for her and just want to cry every time I see a new high fever reading.

Aside from the beautiful month of January, Sunshine has been sick or recovering since about the end of October. Most of the time, it's just been yucky colds (with nose stents!) but she also had bronchitis right before Christmas. Thankfully the stomach bug passed over her but she has some kind of upper-respiratory cough or cold thing ... A LOT. I am so relieved that this is the last surgery for a long time ... and I am praying that Sunshine gets well soon enough so that she can actually have the surgery as scheduled and that her body is strong enough to handle recovery easily. Will you please say a prayer too?

Dirty socks

So what do dirty socks symbolize besides the obvious dirty floor?

(Sorry ... it's just the way it is with 3 kids and 2 dogs ... oh yeah and 2 parents)

Dirty socks symbolize *progress* ... this little girl is walking on her FEET so much now that her socks are actually dirty ... with fur and floor dirt and dried milk and other floor stuff. Her little tushie used to be the dirty part of her body. She scooted around so much that she actually wore a hole in a favorite pair of pants. We used to joke that we were going to attach a swifter to her pants so she could clean our floor whilst scooting about ... although still a creative idea, we eventually figured that would go against child labor laws though and decided not to :-) LOL.

I know I've said it before, but I am so very proud of this kid ... to watch all that she has accomplished physically and emotionally in just a short 8 months. It's been an uphill battle some days, but to finally see her toddle around the house ... um yeah wow ... pretty incredible. I know it seems like such a normal, simple milestone to be so thrilled about, but after all the work that went into it, I am reveling in this amazing accomplishment for several more weeks :-)

An antibiotic bubble

Sunshine had her pre-op visit with the pediatrician yesterday. I was a bit concerned he wouldn't clear her because she's sick ... again. She even had a 104.7 temp on Monday night. Sheesh, way to scare a mama. At least we went a whole month without someone being sick! Anywho, the doctor gave us the "go" and put Sunshine on a 20-ish day prescription of antibiotics (along with a short prescription of ear drops for an early infection), leading up to the surgery. He's hoping to flush out her system of all the yuckiness and keep her nice and healthy for surgery. So, the proverbial antibiotic bubble is on full defense alert until February 21st. Let's hope it works :-)

In other news, Sunshine is totally walking like a champ. I watched her back up to the cabinets and take off here, so I thought it would be a fun way to document her progress ... she still prefers to scoot and we have to remind her to walk. But I truly think it's because she is so used to scooting, not because she doesn't want to walk or can't walk. Well I take that back, sometimes she just flat-out does not want to walk (LOL), but for the most part, she's really great with it. She still reaches out for the walls, chairs, cabinets, etc. as security blankets, but she definitely doesn't need them. She's sporting a really cute stiff-legged penguin walk ... utterly adorable.

She's picking up speed with every passing day and just today, I marveled in watching her push the toy shopping cart all around the hardwoods. There was a time when I wondered if that would ever happen. Watching her do that just put a great big smile on my face. It's the little things, right? :-) She still isn't the steadiest, but her balance is tremendous and she catches herself from falling a lot. "Proud" is not a strong enough word for how I feel about this girl's accomplishments. Seriously, she is a miraculous, amazing little child.

Seeing her finally learning to walk has made me reflect back over the last (almost) 8 months quite a bit. Although I think that's better saved for a full post all it's own, I just cannot help but sit in awe and shock as I revel in all of the things she's had to endure and how much she's G.R.O.W.N. Both physically and mentally. Wow. We still have a ways to go, but wow, just wow.

And to think about God's hand in all of this ... well there just aren't words ...

Tender moments with Daddy

A little blurry, yes ... but totally priceless, absolutely yes. I love grabbing my camera for these moments. DH is such a good Daddy to our kiddos and they adore him. Sunshine took a little longer to come around but I can say now that she really, really loves him and looks forward to being with him.

And yes, for those of you wondering, I promise I DO have a 3rd child, my first born in fact. If you look closely in the first 2 shots, you can spy her hiding behind Daddy. She ran for cover as soon as the camera made it's appearance. LOL. Why has she become so difficult as soon as I pull the camera out?