Happy First Birthday

There is so much to write about when my neck and shoulder heal. But first things first.

This happy redheaded darling turns one today. She is our little peanut. What she lacks in size, she makes up for in personality!  Her big sister cried when Mommy gave her birthday cake. Pretty sure this one will shove it in with both little fists. Happy birthday, Alyssa Jane! Aunt Sarah loves you so much. Hugs and kisses from "far, far away". 

What it's all about

One of our traditions in the M family is that my Dad would read the Christmas story from Luke's gospel on Christmas morning before we would open our presents. I just came from the first Christmas Eve service I can remember where my Dad wasn't there, because he was in too much pain to sit that long. (He had spinal fusion surgery in April.)

It's been a hard year. But praise God, He cares about Dad, about you, about me. The first glimpses of that in human form came in the form of a helpless baby. Here it is, what this season is all about...

1 At that time Emperor Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 When this first census took place, Quirinius was the governor of Syria. 3 Everyone, then, went to register himself, each to his own hometown.4 Joseph went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to the town of Bethlehem in Judea, the birthplace of King David. Joseph went there because he was a descendant of David. 5 He went to register with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him. She was pregnant, 6 and while they were in Bethlehem, the time came for her to have her baby. 7 She gave birth to her first son, wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger—there was no room for them to stay in the inn.The Shepherds and the Angels8 There were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking care of their flocks. 9  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were terribly afraid, 10 but the angel said to them, “Don't be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. 11 This very day in David's town your Savior was born—Christ the Lord! 12 And this is what will prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”13 Suddenly a great army of heaven's angels appeared with the angel, singing praises to God:14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased!”15 When the angels went away from them back into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and saw the baby lying in the manger. 17 When the shepherds saw him, they told them what the angel had said about the child. 18 All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said. 19 Mary remembered all these things and thought deeply about them. 20 The shepherds went back, singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen; it had been just as the angel had told them.--Luke 2:1-20 | GNT

Merry CHRISTmas!

Happy 3rd Birthday, K!

So this goofy Cinderella Ballerina, with this face, has gotten me through the past few hard weeks:

 

Whenever she is asked to hold her sister's hand, she actually holds her tiny arm, right above the hand, like this (notice the same face; no idea where this came from - haven't seen it before or since - but it's made my day many times!)

 

Then, this past weekend, she had her THIRD birthday party. Her day is actually the 28th, but that's a holiday weekend, so I think they went with something easier to get the friends and family out to.  Here is the guest of honor posing for Mommy:

 

 

Then here she is, walking down the sidewalk to her party.  I just love the look of wonder and joy on her face:

 

 

 

 

Happy 3rd birthday, sweet goofy K.  You have weathered this past year and all the big, big changes, very well and Aunt Sarah is so proud of you.  You are a very good big sister and are such a big girl - no more be-be (pacifier) and no more diapers! You are in a big girl bed and are in the big girl classroom at school. 

 

Time goes by so quickly.  It seems like just the other day you were as little as "baby 'Lyssa" (as you call her).  I hope you always approach life as you do now - 100% full speed ahead, ready for any and all adventures! I love you so much!  You were my very first favorite redhead! (shhh!  Don't tell Mommy!)  :)

Love,
Aunt Sarah :)

My trip to see the redheads...part 3

At 2.5 yrs old, Kaelynn has several games that we "played", but never by THE rules, always by hers.  For example, here is a Hello Kitty game much like Candy Land.  Here are Aunt Sarah's cards...

And here are Kaelynn's cards!

 

We actually never got past that point in the game; I can't remember what interrupted us.  :)

Another thing she likes to do is stickers:

And while you can't tell from this page, most of the time, she likes to pile them all on top of each other instead of spread them out...I don't understand that.  She called her puffy ones "bouncy".  The mind of a two year old.

By far, my favorite game was the instructions for Hungry Hippo.  It was a loud game so we had to go upstairs so as not to disturb the baby.

I got this many marbles...

 

And this is what K had...

"Reading" the instructions...but she already knew them because before this picture, I said (so I would know her rules) "Kaelynn, how do you play this game?"

 

Her precious face got very serious and she said "No eat balls.  Get stuck in froat.  Make tummy sick.  Don't eat!"  I assured her I would not.  It was all I could do to keep a straight face, but I was glad she understood swallowing them was dangerous.

 

However, about an hour after this, she had a coin in her mouth...so, Mommy had a "that's not ok" talk about those.

My trip to see the redheads...part 2

So, Miss Kaelynn, age 2.5, has already very established opinions about what she will wear: tutus or dresses with leggings.  And not all dresses mommy buys, you understand.  Only certain dresses!

One morning while she was at school, my SIL, baby Alyssa and I went shopping for some more 3M sleeveless outfits for the baby.

One we found was this.  Ironically (or maybe not) enough, this is what Big Sister wore to school that day:

When we picked up K from school, this is what I saw:

Literally 5 seconds before this, the little boy in the far left corner had the Storm Trooper mask on and K was fake screaming and beating him on the head with a spatula!  Then Miss Priss I-only-wear-tutus-and-dresses took the Storm Trooper mask and put it on.  This is a great summation of her personality right now.  I am a girly girl, but you better not mess with me, 'cause I can be tough!!!  :)  I just thought it was funny!

Well, we got home and Kaelynn looked at the baby's outfit (she is nothing if not fashion-conscious), and seeing the maybe 8 inches of tulle declared, "A tutu!  Soooo cute!"  :)

Baby Alyssa loves to be on the big soft rug and stretch out and I thought this pic of the sisters looking each other was precious.  2 seconds later, big sister was smothering baby sister in a hug & kiss (they're still working on gentle kisses)...  :)

 

 

K loves to dance.  She is in a dance class and had her first recital in June.  She loves to watch the video and dance to it as evidenced above and below.  Notice the silver tutu above - it was something we found that day shopping.  We found some cute and inexpensive things at Osh Gosh B'Gosh (owned by Carter's) - among other things,  "My sister is my BFF" shirts for both girls, and for winter a sweatsuit for K - hoodie and pants.  It had glitter on it but when Mommy showed it to her, K saw the pants and said "I no want that"!!  :)

 



Best of all, for me, is when she dances with Daddy.  There is nothing that makes my heart melt more than watching my brother be a Daddy to his baby girls.  :)

 

 

My trip to see the redheads...part 1

Originally, I was to go out to San Jose to see my youngest brother Stephen, his wife Marni, their newborn daughter Alyssa Jane and big sister Kaelynn when the baby was about a month old, August 9.  Well, things at work were crazy and I was going to have to work the whole time.  In addition, I was still have fairly frequent migraines and didn't want to spend my time with them feeling miserable.  So I did what I've never done before and paid the change fee to push the trip back.  It was so worth it.

 

It was a vacation in the truest sense of the word.  I didn't work and I didn't study.  I just enjoyed the family.  Kaelynn, 2.5 yrs old, is so funny.  She is adjusting to being a big sister very well and says the funniest things!!!

 

She likes to push Baby Alyssa in the swing (though she needs to be reminded not to swing her too hard...) 

 

 

She loves to get down on the floor with the baby and touch her - usually before anyone is looking.  She's getting better about not touching the baby in the face.  Usually she wants to tickle the baby!  :)

She looks concerned here, but she's just thinking about her lunch order...we were in Monterrey on the bay and it was a seafood place so it said "chicken and chips" on the kids' menu.  She loves potato chips, and that's what she thought she was getting.  We had to explain in this instance, chips meant french fries!!  She loves to wear jewelry, but she doesn't like to stop lond enough for Mommy to turn the necklace around so the heart will face out. :)

This was the beginning of the day, before hair was combed and socks were on.  She has had an iPad almost a year.  They try to encourage that more than the "big black box" as my brother calls it, since the iPad is much more interactive and they are all learning games she had on there.

 

 

And here is ever-alert (when she's awake) baby sister.  She loves to be out and about and most days the week I was there, took her morning nap in the carrier while we were out.  She likes the car, as long as it is moving!  No red lights for her!  She is very much like her sister in that.

 

 

Doing water colors with Daddy.  Notice the liberal use of blue (her current favorite color).

 

 

First batch of funny Kaelynn-isms:
1) When the baby would cry, she would say - "hold on, baby Alyssa, I'm coming!" (as if she could do something about it!)  :)
2) Baby Alyssa gets hiccups a lot and at one point I said "poor thing".  K can't say "th" yet, so her echo came out "poor ting"  :)
3) When she was finished with a page, painting, stickers, coloring, whatever we were doing, she would say "dare, perfect!" (first word rhymes with and is substitute for "there")  :)
4) We listened to the "Frozen" soundtrack back and forth to Monterrey (about an hour and a half).  K knows the movie so well that she knows the part in the music where Elsa hits her sister Anna with an ice ray and hurts her.  K stopped singing every time at that spot and got serious and said, "that not ok, right, Daddy?" (instead of "no", at school they say "that's not ok") - and Daddy would say (every time) - "that's right, big girl.  It's not OK to hurt your sister.  Elsa did a bad thing."  Then K would go back to singing.

Stay tuned for more bald and red-headed cuteness!  :)

Visit to see the Redheads!

So firstly, the reason why I don't post more often is that I can't post pics from my iPad and I don't have much to say if there isn't a picture to go with it. (my life isn't all that interesting!)

However, last week was.  It was a glorious 8 day vacation with 0 work and 0 studying in CA when I went to see the redheads and their guy, my youngest brother.

This 7 week old went to daycare this week for the first time and did wonderfully, which was a relief seeing as of Friday night (8/29) she still wouldn't take a bottle!

Yes, it's a stretch now to call Baby Alyssa a redhead.  She's lost most of her reddish fuzz and it's coming in blondish, but don't tell her parents. :)

And then there's this little nut.  She is hysterical.  Wait till I tell you some of the stuff she said last week.  She had me laughing.  She is sweet to the baby and is totally potty trained during the day so she got to go to the 3 yr old room at school a couple months early!  She will currently only wear tutus and certain dresses - has a fashion opinion at a very young age (2.5 yrs old). She is pretty well behaved and is learning how to be quiet when the baby is sleeping, but that is something that is hard to remember. :)

 

 

More to come this weekend!  :)

2 Weeks from now...

...I will be with "the redheads", as we're fond of calling them, with this tiny one being the newest:

She's two weeks old in that picture.  First smiles.  I love that and that her little cheeks are starting to get chubby.  Apparently her big sister is giving her Daddy a run for his money:

So, Aunt Sarah is on her way...just not today as I had originally planned.  My migraines have been out of control and I have missed a lot of work, so I have been behind.  So, after praying about it and flexibility on the part of the chief redhead (that would be Mommy) and the non-redhead (that would be Daddy), I'm going to go two weeks from now.  Lord-willing all the work will be done (or enough of it anyway!) and the migraines will be more under control.

Because the thought of NOT seeing my redheads is just not one I could swallow.  I need some special big sister time with K and I need to hold baby A before she's no longer a newborn!

Announcing the arrival of...

...Alyssa Jane Moseley

Born 7/13/14 at 9:52 a.m.

7 lbs., 15 oz., 20 in. long

little bit of red hair

We praise God for a healthy baby girl.  There were some scary moments as at one point, the cord was wrapped around Alyssa's neck.  My niece and I share the same middle name, which is very special.  Jane was my maternal great-great grandmother, so that is three greats for baby Alyssa.

Welcoming Alyssa home was big sister (2.5 yrs old) Kaelynn - who was upset that her baby was crying, and that Mommy couldn't hold HER.  She's got lots of big sister books, though, and will soon understand that Baby Alyssa's only way to tell us something right now is to cry. (Here is K trying to hold sister's hand, and Daddy trying to soothe A by having the baby suck on his finger!!) Granny is going out tomorrow to lend a hand and I know that K will enjoy a little extra attention.  It's one thing to say "there's a baby in Mommy's tummy" and a whole other thing when the baby comes out and she does nothing but cry!!! :)

Update on Dad

Dad had his 6 week post op appt. today, and it was mostly good news. He still has quite a bit of pain, which the doctor said is "typical", but the surgeon does want Dad's pain doctor to do cortisone injections in the Sacroiliac joints on either side of the fusion incision. These joints are often inflamed after fusion surgery. He is to wear his brace another 6 wks and have more PT, this time at a facility and not at the house. There have been lots of problems with the insurance paying for the medicine the doctors are prescribing. Dad is also experiencing significant pain in his foot due to the neuroma that was not surgically removed. We would appreciate your continued prayers for healing, patience, wisdom, and encouragement. Thanks.

Cutest little Bluebird Ever!!!

So, yesterday was a rough day for a variety of reasons, and I was working at home in the evening, after a 10 hour day in the office, when I got this picture via text:

They are doing Snow White and K is a Bluebird!!!  Love...and it made my day so much better. :)

Update on Dad

Hi. Just wanted to give a quick update on Dad. He had his 25 metal staples removed from the 6 inch incision last week, which had to help that area be less uncomfortable, but overall, he is still in a lot of pain, especially in the afternoons. The physical therapist says he is doing well, and that this is just a long recovery. My Dad is not accustomed to resting, and neither parent is used to being house bound, so this is hard. Please pray for wisdom not to overdo, for better pain management, and encouragement. Thanks!

Update on Dad

A week ago today was Dad's surgery. Today the physical "terrorist" (therapist) that comes to the house said he is doing very well. He walks several times a day around the house inside, and now he has some exercises to do.

Monday there was an unexpected trip to the doctor's office to check the 6" incision because he was concerned it was infected (it's OK). Unfortunately the car ride was very painful for him.

Today he was able to go outside and check on his roses and I know that made him happy. He is still in quite a bit of pain, but overall doing great for just being one week out.

The recovery for this surgery is long and slow, so please keep the prayers coming. Thanks!

Dad is home!

I am so thankful to report we are home! It's a great 45th wedding anniversary for my parents today.

Yes, I drove down to be here to help any way I could, a decision I made yesterday morning before the possibility of Dad being discharged to home health care was even an option. I'm so thankful for my friend Mary who helped me follow my gut and decide this (not in Dallas studying) is where I need to be. I am called to honor my parents, and this is a time for that.

Dad is doing remarkably well getting around in the walker, considering he has a 6" incision in his low back, and it's not hardly four full days after surgery. There are a lot of throw rugs in this house that are making mom and I nervous, but he is insistent that they stay where they are.

The home health care agency is supposed to call Monday.

 I went to pick up his Rx at Walmart only to find it closed at 7:00pm. What in the world? They live in a nice area. This is not like the CVS near my house that has legit reasons for closing early. We are hoping Dad will be ok without this med tonight. He hasn't had it the past three nights, but we wanted him to have it as an option just in case.

Please continue to pray for pain management, for good rest, and for grace when crankiness sets in. :)

Thank you so much for your prayers! To God be the glory!

Dad: post-op day 3

Dad had a good day. More visits from his friends the physical "terrorists", the drain from the incision removed and a shower. There is a slight possibility that he may be released to home health care tomorrow! Of course he might also fall into the weekend holding pattern. And he might end up at rehab, but we would love the home health option. We are so thankful that he continues to head in the right direction. Please continue to pray for pain management, good rest, and wisdom about next steps. Thanks for your prayers. To God be the glory!

Dad: post-op day 2

Dad did pretty well yesterday. He had two sessions with the people he now refers to as the physical "terrorists" (therapists). He is slowly (much slower than he would like) making progress. This was a major surgery and the recovery is far from easy for anyone, let alone a 74 yr old with other health issues. No timeline has been set for his release; the word "rehab" was used as in he may go there before going home. It all depends on how he progresses. Please pray for endurance and grace and wisdom for the medical staff, and that they would be willing to see outside their protocol that Dad does not fit into! He has been able to sleep fairly well so far, as has Mom. We have much to be thankful for. Thanks for praying with us!

Dad update: post-op day 1

Thank you for your prayers. After an "ok" night, Dad was moved to a step-down unit today and the focus and challenge has been pain management. While Dad is still in pain, he has been comfortable enough to sleep most of the afternoon, for which we are thankful. 

The PT folks came and got Dad up and walking. The lactic acid in the muscles adds to the pain factor. He is back on a little oxygen after his little walk, but the medical staff says that he is doing well and everything like the incision and the drain there looks good. 

Mom has often said the second day (24-48 hours) after surgery is the hardest, and at least for us, that has usually been the case. Lord-willing, Dad will be able to sleep through more of this difficult period. We are very thankful that he is heading in the right direction, and appreciate everyone's prayers. Please continue to pray for good pain management, and rest for both Mom and Dad.

Thanks!

Dad's Surgery

Dad is now getting settled in his ICU room. The surgeon said the surgery went well. Apparently there was a lot of instability in Dad's back before the fusion, and Dr. S was able to fix that with the rods. Currently, Dad is in considerable pain, but the medical staff is working on that. Please pray for a measure of pain relief for Dad and rest for both he and Mom tonight. We are thankful the surgery went well and that Dad came out of anesthesia OK. Thanks!

Please pray for Dad and his surgery

Hi. Sorry I've been absent so long from here. Studying/working 50-65 hours/week for three months straight has occupied all my time.

First, let me back up and share a huge answer to prayer. The low back surgery my Dad really needs to try to get some relief from the constant pain he lives with was denied coverage by insurance when they ran the pre-approval. Then it was also denied when the first round of appeal went through. We had lots of people praying that The Lord would lead and provide wisdom (even if that meant not having surgery and exploring other long term pain management options). This past Tuesday, only a couple weeks after the initial claim was filed, the insurance approved the surgery! We are so thankful and are taking this reversal and quick processing as an indication that The Lord would have Dad continue forward with surgery.

So this Tuesday, the 8th, he will have two discs fused, the two lowest ones in the back. After surgery he will not be able to sit for more than 20 minutes at a time, and other various restrictions, but that is the biggest one. Please pray that The Lord would guide the surgeon, Dr. S's hands, that Dad would come thru the surgery with no unintended side effects and, if the Lord wills, that this would provide Dad some pain relief. Low back surgeries are somewhat controversial in the medical field due to their mediocre success rate, but Dad's surgeon (who did Dads neck fusion last year) thinks he can give Dad relief.

Thanks for praying with us!

Sisterly Love

My SIL posted this to Facebook and it is so precious that I just had to share.  She said "K thought her baby sister needed a sticker this morning.  I haven't had the heart yet to take it off".

Isn't that just the best?  I love that she is sharing, that she is thinking outside of 2 yr old self (if even for a moment).  Next up: being OK with Mommy holding another baby (currently really NOT OK with that!!)  :)