Adorable Auntie

I had to post these pictures!!! We went to my dad's last night for dinner and to hang out and Addison and Nicki are attached to the hip and I got a couple of cute pics of them together. Nicki is out of school for the summer and I am so excited to hang out and play all summer. Yay!!!! More pics from my dad's click here.

NICU Reunion Party 2008

Today we had our annual NICU reunion and it was sooooo much fun. There were a ton of families there and it was so good to see all the kids. It makes what I do all worth it in the end. To see the babies again gives me such an amazing, humbling, wonderful feeling! Yea, some of them are not exactly what most call perfect, but to their loving, amazing parents and us they are the most perfect things in the whole wide world. These parents have continued to do we we did for the babies back when they were with us everyday and they have done such great jobs. I got to see some of my favorite babies like RJ, he was born extremely early and was a mess. I remember he was the first baby I took care of all by myself when I got off orientation and when I came in and got report the night nurse flipped the light on and I about had a heart attack and thought to myself, "no way, I'm freakin outa here!!!". He had 4 chest tubes, was continually seizing from all the blood leaking in his brain, was on an oscillating ventilator which made his whole body "wigle" or "vibrate" and he had a tube coming from his broken off trachea that if even moved the tiniest of a milimeter would be death from the surgeons who put it there and on top of all of this the chaplin and mother were there reading his last rights and baptizing him because he wasn't going to last much longer. Not to mention that when the mother was admitted for preterm labor her mother flew in and when she got to the hospital had a heart attack and died!!! Oh my gosh it was crazy and I honestly thought that there was no way I could do this job and was already thinking about not coming back and switching to Peds or going back to school to be a teacher (this seriosuly crossed my mind)!!!!! But, I took the deepest breath I have ever taken in my life and I just had to jump in and go. Well, 6 months later RJ made it home safe and sound with his amazing mother and father and he now frequently comes back to see us and show off all that he can do. He is the most rambunctious 5 year old you will ever meet. Yesterday if he didn't even know it he thought the party was ALL for him. He is so cute and such an amazing little guy. He was running around EVERYWHERE, talking your ear off, giving everyone kisses, gave me a "red" kiss because the clown just kissed him and he had red lips!!!! He spends his days running around, keepin his mother on her toes at all times and loves playing with and helping to take care of his baby sister. He is sooo cute and such a testamnet to what we do, or more importanly what his mother did. She never gave up on him and was there EVERY single day making sure we were doing everything possible that we could do and that was his saving grace, the unfailing devotion of his mother! We love her (she is the president of our family advisory committee that help out new mothers of NICU babies) and him and always love to see them both!!!!Anyways, enough ranting, I love my job and this is why!!!!! There are more pictures from the party in our photo gallery or you can just click here to see more!!!!!

Grandaddy's Birthday Party

We spent the evening at Wes's parents house for a little birthday party for Grandaddy. We had a good time, we got to see a lot of his dad's side of the family, some of his brothers and sisters and mom were there. We had some barbacue and some cake and ice cream. It was nice and then when we got home we read some books in bed with Addison and then left her and she was out within seconds and hasn't even stirred yet and its almost 12:30!!!! There are more pictures from Grandaddy's birthday in our photo gallery or you can just click here.

Sneaky, Sneaky Mommy

I snuck in her room when she was napping to catch her sleeping and get it on video because taking a picture would have woken her up!!!!

Big Girl Bed Video

You must hit the pause button on the music player on the right side of the screen-it's about half way down the page and then you can hit play and hear the video--enjoy!

My Little Girl Is Growing Up!!!

So, we decided, or rather I decided, it was time for Addison to move into a bed. Luckily we have the bed that I slept in as a toddler that my grandfather built for me. It is so cute and I think it is so neat that she will be sleeping in the same bed that I slept in and the fact that her greatgrandfather built it. Wes had to make some alterations to it, had to drill new holes in it because the other ones were so old and hallowed out. We also had to buy some plywood and 2 x 4's to brace it. I also couldn't find a duvet I liked, because I had it in my mind that I wanted a simple white with pink polka dots and could not find one anywhere, so I decided to make one. I went to the fabric store and of course couldn't find the fabric I wanted. Me and my mom went out shopping for it and we came across some sheets at TJ Maxx that were white with pink polka dots so my mom said we could make the duvet out of two sheets, so we did and it looks so great and is exactly what I had in my mind. After assembling everything we brought it into Addison's room and were going to put her in it tonight to see how she did. Well, after Wes finished tying her dressers to the wall it was naptime and Wes thought we should go for it. We put her down, left the room and turned on the monitor to see what she would do. I started hearing things so I went in and peeked and she was in her bed curled up under the covers reading books, so I left and let her be. 2 minutes later and she was out. She looked sooooo cute, I went in with the video camera which I will try to post later. Almost 3 hours later, thanks to Griffy meowing really loud at her door, she woke up! Wow, I can't believe she did soooo good and slept soooo long. My what a BIG girl!!!! Click here to see more pictures (you know I had to take a million pics of this historic event!).

Happy Birthday Grandaddy!!!