Eight Years!!!

Eight years ago our first child was born. What a wonderful, indescribale moment. There is no way to describe the immediate and complete, unconditional love that comes over you. It is so fun to see her grow and become a little lady.

Kiley is definitely a unique girl.....Girly in everyway possible. She is kind and gentle. It's humorous to think Craig and I picked out her name because we thought it went well for a tall, athletic girl playing beach volleyball...HA, HA!! God sure does have a sense of humor and can change us in the most amazing ways. As an athlete, I would poke fun at the "non-athletic" girls....and now I have one and couldn't imagine it any other way. "PINK" is now in my vocabulary, put there by Kiley at the first opportunity when she was one year old. We still don't know where she learned "that" word!!! It didn't come from us and it has taken over her wardrobe!

In honor of her birthday, I'm going to tell the story of her birth. I often (not often enough), tell the girls stories of when I was a girl....called THE ADVENTURES OF DANA, here is one of those adventures:

Once upon a time, there was a young lady named Dana. She was married to a wonderful man and they were very happy. They lived in a small apartment and were starting their life in a new city. It was spring, and she wasn't feeling well. She had no appetite and just didn't want to be bothered by food. She thought she had the flu, but it was lingering on for days and days.

After taking a few sick days, she went back to work but still wasn't quite herself. A co-worker joked that perhaps she were pregnant. She chuckled at the thought, because the doctors had thought she would have a hard time conceiving a child. Later that night, she began thinking....humm, I wonder.....could it be??? She decided to find out...the test revealed that she was expecting a child!!! WOW!

Within a couple days she was so sick! She wasn't able to eat anything or even get the food to her mouth, and even drinking was a chore. She was told they call it "morning sickness", but the morning had little to do with it! All day long she was sick. Eventually they sent nurses to her house to start her on IV fluids and medications to help her feel better. After a week or so, she was feeling well enough that she was able to start working again. She was still ill, but was able to work. At lunch she would take a nap, and in the evening she would go to bed as soon as she got home. She was so tired all the time. Everything that had been normal for her, was not normal anymore. Her tastes had totally changed...she ate brocolli and banana popcicles and couldn't stand the thought of melted cheese or beef and she now LOVED french fries. She thought how amazing that a little life inside her could change her so much!

After a few months, she was now able to eat normally and even began to feel really good....even better than normal. She had so much energy and was so eager to meet this new little baby. Well, the young couple were preparing for her birth and were so excited. They moved to a larger apartment and began to get the baby's room ready.

From the ultrasound that had been done, the doctor seemed to think it was a boy, although he did say he wasn't able to see the picture very well. Dana was convinced he was wrong! You see, her whole life she had wanted to have boys. Three little boys to be exact. In fact, she told her husband they were going to keep having kids until they had at least one boy!! Well, when she found out that a baby was on the way, all she could think about was having a little girl. She knew it must be true! How kind of God to change her heart to desire what he had planned for her!

It came time for the baby to come. The day had come and gone, and yet no baby was here. The young couple was so anxious to have this baby. In fact, they went for a walk one night....a night that there just happened to have snow and ice on the ground. They wondered if a little fall might jolt the baby and convince the little one to come out. Of course, they wouldn't do anything to put the baby in danger, but they were so excited they wanted to see their new child.

One day after her due date, Dana was feeling a little different. About 8 o'clock in the evening she called her husband to tell her she thought she was having contractions. She was in no pain, but felt her tummy tighten every 10 minutes or so. It just felt like a belt was being tightened around her waist. She began to get very excited.

Her husband arrived home from work at about midnight and thought perhaps they should go to the hospital. However, the contractions were not yet close enough together. All through the night the contractions continued and began to cause quite a bit of pain. By 7 am they decided since they were much closer together, to head to the hospital.

The baby must have known about needles before birth, because as soon as they stepped inside the hospital, the contractions stopped. Once they were shown to their room, a young, quick-mannered nurse came in to inform them that since they were new parents, and new parents often come to the hospital too early, that they would check to see if the baby was ready, and send them home. Since Dana was no longer having contractions, the nurse assumed the baby was not on the way. Dana began to cry...she was so ready to meet her baby for the first time and felt the nurse was not very compassionate or encouraging.

The nurse checked to see if the baby was close to coming and was shocked to see that she was more than half-way there! Dana immediately asked for an epidural, to help with pain, but they were pretty slow in getting it to her. Escpecially since she was no longer in pain, since the contractions had stopped. They gave her a medicine to help her contractions begin again and by 1pm she was given an epidural. She was able to sleep until nearly 4:30. Then the nurses woke her and told her it was time to push the baby out. By 4:50, Dana began pushing. On the third push, at 5:02 pm the baby was there. IT WAS A GIRL!!! it's always a good sign that the baby cry, but the baby wasn't crying.... No, no...she was SCREAMING!!! The young couple burst into tears and couldn't believe the gift they had been given!

They named the baby girl, Kiley. Kiley continued screaming for 4 months (actually she only screamed after 3 pm), until she decided she was too big to go back into her mother's belly. Then she became a peaceful, cheerful, wonderful girl her parents enjoy to this very day.

And this is one episode of...The Adventures of Dana....

Happy Birthday Little Lady!

Little Artists

My nephew, Seth, spent the day with us when he was out of school. Here are some of their creations.

Fun Family Night Activity

I bet you thought something had happened to us. It's been a couple weeks since my last post. We are still here! Thanks Anna for checking in on us! We've just been so busy with doing all we can to keep this MRSA thing under control. Craig's palsy is doing great. (Believe it or not, in the last photo where he is sanding the dresser, he was smiling!) He has been seeing an accupuncturist and his headache is now gone and he has regained nearly all of his facial movements!!! WOW...originally we thought it would be months to years! We are so grateful! Still dealing with MRSA issues though, both girls have been through antibiotics in the last month, again. Keep praying!!

I don't have any pictures to post, but a fun family activity. For family night about a month ago we sat down at different seats than usual. We started a fun game totally by accident. I sat in Ashlyn's chair, so I was Ashlyn. Kiley was Dad, Dad was Kiley and Ashlyn was Mom. It was HILARIOUS!!!! I (playing Ashlyn) wouldn't eat my dinner and Dad (playing Kiley) talked all the time, and Kiley (playing dad) was asking who left on the lights upstairs, and Ashlyn (playing me), sent me (playing Ashlyn) to be disciplined in the bathroom for complaining about dinner! It was soo much fun, we all were laughing very hard. We did this again last night for family night and had the best time. The girls ask to do this everynight (although we keep it to special occassions to keep it fun). Try it out!

Snow Day!

I'm a little late, but we did have a snow day about 2 weeks ago. But, by the time we were up, it was raining pretty hard, so we were just able to look at it! We still enjoyed some hot cocoa. The girls were having a "best friends" day....

PUTTING ON PLAYS...

I don't remember ever putting on plays when I was a kid, but the girls do this ALL THE TIME!!!! Here is a picture with the Morales girls, they were putting on a Fairy Play...

Our New Year!

We are finally all well in our house (except for the left side of Craig's face). This Christmas Season we endured skin infections, croup, bronchitis, Bell's Palsy and an ear infection! Thank you Lord for bringing us through it and in advance for bringing us through Craig's Bell's Palsy!

Our New Year's Eve and New Year was spent in a different way than most. Since Kiley was still getting over her ear infection, we canceled our plans to go to a friends house and instead we refinished much needed furniture given to us by the Warrens. THANKS WARRENS! After picking it up, we decided to paint it to match the girls room. They are very sturdy pieces made of solid wood and I think they turned out great. Plus, the girls no longer have to squeeze their clothes into the one they were sharing. This more than tripled our drawer space. What a blessing! Happy New Year! Oh, BTW, Craig is smiling in the picture...just his face is paralyzed, so it looks like he's giving me a dirty look!

HAPPY NEW YEAR (a little early)!

In case any of you (like me) want to know what this traditional new years song is about....follow the link:

I'm trying to figure out this link thing, so it's not here yet. But you can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Syne
in the meantime.....

Craig.....strange happenings here!

Well, once the girls were feeling better, Craig started noticing his tongue was numb. It was either Christmas Eve or Christmas, I can't remember which. It was really strange, but he had just had an MRI in August because of some strange vision things going on. The MRI was clear and that was attributed to migraines, so we thought maybe it was bleach? He had cleaned the bathroom with bleach earlier and it was really strong. Or maybe an allergy?

Then on Wednesday, he was driving home from Lowe's and the entire left side of his face went completely numb. It has progressively gotten worse and he now has almost no control of the left side of his face. I remember hearing of this as a teenager and looked it up online. It's called Bells Palsy. We went to the doctor to confirm, and it was confirmed!

WOW....for some reason, we are a magnet for strange illnesses! We are so grateful though that it is reversible (and not something more serious) and pray his recovery will be quick! There is a large range of recovery times for Bells Palsy. Right now he is in quite a bit of pain. He's had a constant headache since it started and pains that shoot through his head on occassion. I would think since it's paralyzed he wouldn't be able to feel, but I guess the nerves are still connecting? The other major issue is his eye. His eye doesn't blink as well or stay closed at night and dries out easily. We have to tape it shut at night and put drops in to keep it from being too irritated. Add to that, the fact that he looks at a computer screen all day, and this can cause problems!

His friends at work have been great! I'm so grateful that he works with people that really care for him and take care of him when I'm not there. Charlie and Becky gave him a sweet card and baked him brownies, and Kathleen printed out information from the web on Bell's Palsy and accupuncture and gave him a referral and vouchers to get started there. The've all shown him care and I am grateful for that (Thank you guys, if you're reading!)

All this is a reminder that our life here is short and we don't know what our future holds. Only God holds our lives in His hands, and can use all situations to bring us closer to him.

"And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Romans 5:3-5

Craig is doing well and looking at this as an opportunity to grow in character. It will be challenging, but I know God will bring us through this stronger and full of faith. He has so far!

We covet your prayers! Specifically for quick healing, wise doctors and what paths to follow.

Christmas Day

We spent a quiet, lazy day at home on Christmas. Everyone was finally feeling better (except a strange symptom with Craig, more later).

Kiley is now officially in another stage. She didn't get a single "toy" for Christmas! Most of her presents were knitting, sewing, craftly things, which she LOVES!!! Mamaw is very happy that someone in the family loves to sew!

Ashlyn was soo happy with her dress up clothes and doll bed and everything else! She is definitely a differnt girl than Kiley. Kiley would open clothes and be so excited. Ashlyn opened clothes and put them down immediately to go to the next gift, looking for a toy of some sort.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

The Whirlwind of Christmas.....

It seems like the season just started, but it's over already! We've had a busy two weeks. All the antibiotics the girls have been on since April have taken their toll. Since antibiotics kill good and bad bacteria, their bodies are suseptable to getting sick easier. And, they did! Ashlyn had a cold / virus that turned into the croup the week before Christmas and Kiley had a cold / virus thing that turned into Bronchitis at the end of last week. We thought she was better before heading out of town, but I think it was the excitement that helped to feel better for a couple days. Now at least three family memebers have come down with it. Sorry guys!

Here's a few pictures from our travels. First we went to my parents in VA then my aunt and uncles in WVA. Then we came home early to help Kiley get better.