mama is happy!

Happy and joy and relief were all the emotions I felt today as I walked into Rosemary's hospital room first thing this morning and peered into her crib and saw her "peering" right back at me. Not having seen her blue eyes since the day of her surgery, I was instantly talking and kissing and laughing with my little girl. She still has a ways to go, but with it now being 6 days post op, it was time to get back to some familiar normal with her. I think relief is such an amazing emotion, one that I look for often in our situation. There is always a search for hope, and relief that things aren't or may not be as bad as I think they are, sometimes they are worse, but I'll take all the relief I can get knowing and remembering that she is exactly as she has always meant to be and as my midwife said at her birth and even days later during visits and phonecalls, "Leslie, she is perfect." I hold on to her words especially during times as these.

update on Rosemary

There's been a lot of:

sitting

knitting

swollen eyes

trach training

suctioning

walking

sleeping

holding

healing

loving

hoping

meeting lots of beautiful people

We are now 5 days post op. Her eyes are still swollen shut, hoping each day the swelling goes down enough for her to open her sweet little eyes. Today she sat up a lot in her crib, sat there with her eyes shut, I felt so bad for her. How confused she must feel, but doing whatever we can to help her have familiar things around her, sounds, mom and dad touches, textures. She had her first trach change today, her stoma sight needs to heal more than it has. We're hoping she is discharged by Thursday or Friday. Hoping, loving, holding, healing . . .

Yesterday and Today

There is so much that goes into Rosemary's surgeries, especially the day before. Yesterday was that day for us. Appointments from 8:30 to 5:30 all day, but they are so enjoyable! The day never goes without meeting so many incredible families who are just like us, lucky enough to have born one of these incredible babies. The immediate bond I feel with these moms is undescribeable. The strangers we meet out around town that just stop us to say how beautiful or precious our child is helps me get through the tough days when I don't understand why this has happened. I especially love this appointment from the pictures above, its with an Anthropologist that takes a lot of measurements of her head. How confident I feel when such care is taken before she enters into surgery to move bone!

This morning we were up at 4am to get ready to have her at the hospital by 6am for registration. She was taken back to the OR around 7:30am and we got to see her around 2:0opm this afternoon.

Let me just say that when I first saw Rosemary in her PICU room, I was amazed at her brow. I don't know if you can really tell with these pictures, but Dr. Fearon really was able to bring out her forehead quite a bit which will make her look so different, give her brain more room to grow, and help protect those precious blue eyes. When we left the hospital tonight, she had still not opened her eyes, they have her pretty sedated so she doesn't try to pull our her trach. She may even be sedated most of tomorrow as well. I know getting the trach was one of the best things we did today given that her obstructive apnea has gotten really bad. I'm excited to once again get a little more sleep!

It's time . . . again.

Our sweet little Rosemary has reached a point where she needs to have surgery. Two in fact. The first will be a frontal advancement which will advance her forehead and give her frontal lobe more room to grow, build orbits at her brow, and build a nasal bridge. We always knew this surgery was one of the ones she would have one day. Six months ago, her team didn't see the need, but at our last craniofacial clinic appointment it was starting to show that some of the bones in her face and forehead weren't growing as fast. After the clinic appointment, an overnight sleep study was ordered and she's been recommended to have a trach placed with this frontal advancement surgery because she has severe obstructive sleep apnea. It's not what we have wished for our little girl, but this little girl needs all the oxygen she can get. We leave tomorrow for Dallas and Wednesday will be the big surgery day. Thank you all for your love and support as we are still headed down a road we can't always predict with our little girl.

Summer is :: 4

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Summer is :: growing food

Last night we had our first harvest from our garden to our table. It was momentus and delicious. I've always heard that food takes better when its local, and even better when local means your backyard. We had swiss chard, cilantro, basil, romaine salad last night for dinner. We loved every bite!

Summer is :: 3

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Summer is :: Starting a second round of vegetables for the garden

Tomatoes in this case - such fun names - Big Rainbow and Mortgage Lifter!

Summer is :: 2

Summer is :: writing about summer eats

this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from my week. I want to pause and savor this moment.

Summer is :: 1

We have been busy!

For us, summer has already started. School is out, new activities have begun, our schedules have all been shuffled a bit and we are already feeling the intense heat of summer, even in the last weeks of Spring. I am starting a series for the upcoming weeks on what summer means for our family, the series is entitled “Summer is::”. Please join along and share your summer with us!

Summer is :: New outdoor toys and bike accessories

this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from my week. I want to pause and savor this moment.

:: Works in Progress ::

Today, I thought I would share my works in progress.

First up, a set of booties for a friend who just had a baby boy.

Next, a very long time favored knitting pattern from Knitting with Peace and yarn from Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton that I finally got on the needles at the beginning of May. It will be a 2^nd year birthday present for Rosemary.

and lastly, a quilt I’ve had in mind for a while now using some leftover Heather Ross' Lightning Bugs and other Mysteries collection. I think it will be the perfect way to use up the small bits and pieces that are leftover from past projects.

So there you have it. I’d love to see what you all are working on, please share!