Happy 3rd Birthday, Lucy!

Wow!  How did Lucy get to be 3 years old?  We are thrilled with her progress over the past year...she got her feeding tube out, her eating is getting so much better, she's growing like a weed and she is a little chatterbox who loves playdoh and the playground!

New Trike!

New Garbage Truck...love the early morning hair, right??

Since it was also Father's Day AND my sister and brother-in-law's wedding anniversary, we had an all-day party complete with BBQ, ice cream cake AND cupcakes and a St. Paul Saints game with family and friends.  The weather was gorgeous...the upside of having a summer birthday in Minnesota (when the weather cooperates!)

Thank You for your continued support of us and of Lucy...it's easy to forget that Lucy has "special" needs most of the time...but when something comes up we appreciate knowing that we've got prayer warriors behind us who love and support Lucy (and us)!

 

Yum...Ice Cream cake!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD!!

Dad - Mom let me type this blog today so I just wanted to tell you how much I love you and what a great dad you are.  Thanks for being so patient with me as I learn to ride my new trike and my desire to do everything BY MYSELF grows! :)

I hope you had fun at the Saints Game on Father's Day...it was very special to share my birthday with Father's Day this year!!

Love you, dad!

Love,
 Lucy

Esophagus Dilatation #22

Melts my heart when she wants to hold my hand when she's "feeling kinda yucky"

Lucy's latest dilatation this week went pretty well.  The doc said that he could still get his scope through (a size "10"), but it was tight.  He dilated her back to a 15 and spent some extra time keeping the inflated balloon in her esophagus to get some extra tissue breakdown.  He's comfortable waiting 5 or 6 months until the next one (and so are we) in the hopes that eventually we can stretch it out enough not to require so much maintenance.

Her recovery was rough - it look her a few hours once we got home to stop throwing up but once she got the medicine out of her system, around dinnertime, she perked up.  She even felt good enough to see Great Grandma DeVries on Tuesday, who was visiting from Wisconsin this week!  She was very brave at the doctor and continued to show us what a strong, special girl she is!!

Four generations!

Meanwhile...we are preparing for Lucys' 3rd birthday next weekend...how did this sweet, sweet girl get to be so big????

Road Trip to Oklahoma!

Road Trip!!

After a fun weekend in Colorado, we took a road trip to Oklahoma for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Honors Weekend.  We got to take two of Lucy's cousins with too - Ashley and Preston.  What a fun trip!!

After kicking off the summer right with some road trips and lots of sun and swimming, tomorrow (Monday) is back to reality with Lucy's next endoscopy and dilatation (#22, I think).  We are very anxious to see how her last dilatation has held up, after almost 5 months without a procedure - prayers are appreciated!

Here are some of our favorite pictures from last week:

Swimming!! Lucy loves the freedom of swimming "by herself" with her floaty!

Exploring Stillwater, Oklahoma's Children's Museum - the Wondertorium.

Loves her cousins!!

Visiting the National Wrestling Hall of Fame!

Touchdown!! Touring the Oklahoma State football field.

NICU Reunion and visiting Colorado

Took a little hike - do you see Pike's Peak in the background?

Last weekend, we traveled to Colorado for a NICU reunion.  What a fun trip!  This was our first time back in Colorado since we moved in November of 2012.  For me personally, it was good to be back to the places that I remembered so well as part of our life when Lucy was in the hospital.  But this time, we got to bring Lucy with us as a happy, healthy, almost-3 year old.

Cannot wait to go swimming at the hotel!

We visited the hospital where she was born and stopped in to see the new NICU - it was being built when we were in the hospital, but not open yet.  We saw two of Lucy's favorite nurses and they got to see what a big girl she is getting to be!  We also visited with the doctor who originally diagnosed Lucy's TEF and the doctor who finally discharged us from the NICU after 4 months.  We also had breakfast with one of the ladies I was on bed rest with - her little boy was born a week or two after Lucy - very early, but he is doing great!  Again, what a wonderful reminder of God's providence in our lives and Lucy's life.

Meeting Aaron - another NICU baby!

We also spent some time down in Colorado Springs, showing Lucy all the sights and places that mommy and daddy hung out at when we lived there.

Meeting some of the wrestlers at the Olympic Training Center!!

This Colorado trip was a reminder of the joyful times we are experiencing..."Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer (Romans 12:12)"

First weekend of Summer!

Banging on the drum at music class

Here in Minnesota, Memorial Day weekend definitely kicks off the summer season...school is almost done for the year, cabins are open and people are out on the lake as much as possible.

Lucy's ECFE music class that we've been in all year finished last week - it's amazing how much the kids grew from September to May! We've been spending weeknights outside as much as possible and we spent most of the weekend of north, at my parents' house on the lake.  Lucy got a fishing pole from grandma and grandpa for an early birthday present and caught her first fish!!  She also invited her first friend to the park - our 4 year old neighbor boy - so sweet! :)

Racing up the slides!!

Swinging on the big girl swing!!  

On Friday, we are going to Colorado to see some friends and go to a NICU reunion!! I can't wait to see some of the kiddos and moms that we were in the hospital with and be able to take Lucy to some of our favorite Colorado spots!!  She has made such incredible progress in the past 2 1/2 years since we took her home from the hospital.  What an amazing little girl! Lucy is mainly excited for the hotel pool and the airplane ride! :)

Her next dilatation is scheduled for early June, almost 5 months after her last one!!  It will be very interesting to see how open her esophagus as stayed.  Her eating is going well.  I feel like just this past week I've noticed a few more "stuckies" than normal - but it's possible she's just been eating fast...lots of outside play time tends to increase the appetite, right?

Driving grandpa's boat!

Patiently waiting for a fish...

Got one!!

Happy Mother's Day...and School Evaluation

Selfie with Mama!

First off...Happy Mother's Day!  What a fun job it is to be a mom to Lucy!  I love it!  My two requests for today were for Lucy to make me something and to have French Toast for brunch.  Thanks to a wonderful hubby, I got both my wishes!

What a good artist!

Lucy had a pretty exciting week.  Jason and I wen to Charleston (South Carolina) and Savannah (Georgia) to celebrate 5 years of marriage together.  So, my mom and dad came to our house and spent 4 nights watching Lucy for us.  It was wonderful to get away with just the two of us...5 years of marriage isn't really that long but we've been through a lot in the past 5 years so it was nice to slow down, relax and reflect on how blessed we are to have each other and to have Lucy.  HUGE thank you to my parent's for helping us feel so comfortable leaving her for such a long time.  We knew she was in great hands and she clearly had a blast while we were gone!!

On Friday, Jason and I met with Lucy's special education team that has been coming to our house over the past 2 years to evaluate Lucy through the 0 - 2 school district programming.  They had been out a few extra times over the past few months to evaluate her cognitive ability, language and motor skills according to standardized tests.  It's pretty tough to have a 2 year old take a standardized test, right?  So much of the results are about mood at this age.  Can Lucy stand on one leg?  Yes.  Does she want to do it with 3 adults staring at her? No...that means she gets a zero for that test.  However, she did GREAT and her results were all normal or above for cognitive and language, but slightly behind for motor.  We knew this...she wasn't an early walker or crawler and she can't button things by herself yet.  Nothing of any major concern and we feel really great with the progress she's made.  To think that she spent 4 months in a hospital when she was first born, and then had to be hospitalized TWO times this fall to get that feeding tube out...she is doing AH-MAZE-ING!

Enjoying the sun!

Because of her shunt and her eating issues, she will have a medical care plan on file with the school district to ensure the school nurse and teachers, etc. are aware of her diagnosis.  She will also continue to have access to school district therapists from the ages of 3 - 6 and then will be re-evaluated in about 3 years to see if any of these three areas are of concern again.  We feel reassured about our decision to find a home in this school district that has such great Early Childhood programs!  In addition, Lucy will officially start preschool in the fall!  I can't believe it...she is way to little!  She'll just go for 2 1/2 hours, 2 mornings a week..how fun!  She's been home with us, my mom or a nanny her whole life so the social aspect of preschool will be so good for her!

So...from our house to yours...hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day, celebrating your moms or being a mom!