Zachary's happenings

He likes to climb on the mountain of clothes mommy has in the living room

He loves looking out the front door, on this day with Josiah

He's showing us "sooooooo big"

He had his last bottle

Zachary is sitting up now, finished up with bottles, and is getting around on all 4's these days. He is coming right along.

A comment about the bottles, we have had bottles 40 out of the last 60 months of our lives. We are done!! When you have them out on the counter every day, preparing them, watching the clock, cleaning, drying, feeding.......it's a lot! Just a little happy dance to say we are now moving on past bottles.

Playing catch up

Sweet pic of Skip & his sweet daddy's girl

She just looked too grown up this day

This was the closest thing to a smile I could get

Who, me? No, I wasn't getting into things I shouldn't be touching, not at all!

Happy 5th birthday Emerald

Princess & ponies, Emerald's favorite things

We got Emers a bike for her bday. She had to ride it inside due to the rain.

My sweet little girl

The girl loves to play dress-up these days. This was just before her first movie, Princess & the Frog

My little girl is 5!!! How and when did that happen? Wasn't it just yesterday we drove to Gladney to pick up our precious little girl? She is growing up right before our eyes. Those legs are long and thin and have made her too tall. Those eyes are starting to worry her daddy & I for our future. She's starting to figure out the perfect way to work each of us to get her way. I remember watching her take her first steps, and now she is running as fast as I can. Her first word was "dahhhh" (aka dog), and the love of her puppy is still there, now she is spelling dog and sounding it out to read the word to us. Emerald has taken dance lessons again this year, loved it, swimming lessons again, loved it, and will start gymnastics for the first time next month. This beautiful girl is the best big sister ever--always taking time to think of her brothers first, putting up with hair pulling, screaming, sharing toys, etc. I feel so blessed to have this precious baby girl in our life. I think I've taken for granted having a girl, but as she gets older, the "girlieness" is really coming out. She has asked for special dates with her daddy (so sweet, how can you deny that), she's wanting to go shopping at times, not taking naps which allows for some special one-on-one time, and she shows us some awesome creativeness with jewelry & coloring these days. Princesses, dress-up, ponies, stuffed animals, these are the things that shows what Emerald's true loves involve, that and her monkey, Mango. Preschool has been such a wonderful blessing, continuing to push her academically and teaching her more and more each day. She loves her teacher, her classmates, homework, and learning in general. Emerald has been a picture perfect bill of health--another thing I know I've taken for granted over the years. She rarely gets a cold, takes shots w/o tears, and makes us thankful how healthy she remains. We did take our first trip to the ER with her for stitches this last year, in her head, but she handled that well, too. Emerald is a model child and I wish everyone could have a precious little girl just like her. We feel so blessed to have this angel in our lives.

While thanking God for her each night, I always included a special prayer for Josephine, her birthmother. This woman made a start for our Emers, she chose life, took care of herself & the baby inside her, felt this baby move, delivered that child, and make an ultimate sacrifice so that we could become a family. Without Josephine, our Emerald would not be our beautiful daughter, and might not be a child at all. Thank you God for the strong heart and courage of a woman we have never met, and thank you God for allowing this magnificent child enter into our lives. Emerald Rea, you are turning into a smart, sweet, caring, gentle, loving, beautiful little girl. We love you so very much. Happy birthday baby girl!!

More Emers baby pics

Oh those Texas Bluebonnets! How we miss those!

The beginning stages of dress-up, mommy's shoes & makeup.

Emerald was a golf ball on her first halloween. We even found pink golf shoes.

I promise I didn't pose her like this. All ready for Easter church.

Emers as a baby

On finalization day.


She had to pick up this stick to look just like us, during a hike in Alaska.

She looks so little here.

March of Dimes info on Folic Acid

Wants to thank all of the awesome people who have donated and are helping us try to reach our goal! You rock!

Today's sponsorship is dedicated to our scary trip to the Neurosurgeon. I had a dream the night before we went that they were going to give us devasting news. I was scared (and I mean the kind of scared that had me bawling, shaking, scared to enter the office) that his MRI would result in Spina Bifida or other spinal injuries which may cause him to never be able to walk. The MRI results, combined with his weakened neck muscles at that point (and a bad result from an ultrasound) caused a lot of worry and stress. Thankfully, the results were fine, and no permanent damage was done to our boy.

Thanks to March of Dimes research, increase in folic acid consumption has reduced the number of NTD (neural tube defects) of the brain and spine by 1/3! That means for every 3 babies born with an NTD, 1 of them no longer has to endure this life-changing possibility all b/c of something as incredibly simple as adding folic acid to our diets. That is 1,000's of healthy babies out there today. Is one of them yours? There is further evidence showing that consumption of the proper amount of folic acid prior to conception could reduce NTD's by 70%.

If you have delivered a healthy baby, won't you consider donating just $10 today to support this incredilbe research that may have changed your child's life? Think of what they could do to help influence the lives of our grandchildren, before they are even born. Won't you support us with this one, very stressful doctor visit, by donating just $10??? Thanks so much :)

My little Wildcats

My little Wildcat gang.

Reminds me of hear/speak/see no evil. Maybe I'll have to pose my little monkeys like that in the future.

I thought this was a good shot of his "bump" and how it was healing.

If we distract Zachary, he can sit up pretty well these days.

I haven't really updated our kiddos lately. Calvin has been healing quite well with his post-surgery. You can still kind of feel some lumpiness under the scar, but they said that should dissolve. He has been maturing a lot lately. Calvin filled up his potty chart, and we treated him to a special night at Chuck-E-Cheese. All the kids had a ball. Calvin has been working pretty hard at this new role, but we still have a long road ahead of us. Calvin has been a great big brother lately, trying so hard to include Zachary in things. He's been surprising me with some of his comments, too. The other day they got in trouble, and 20 minutes later he tells me "mommy, I'm sorry we were naughty and didn't listen to you." It was sweet. He also answers "yes ma'am" almost all the time these days. He's still a handful at times, but he's my sweet little guy!

Emerald is getting so tall. I can't believe she turns 5 in 10 days. She is reading words to us, and is showing a lot of excitement about going into Kindergarten next year. The sassy side of Emerald has been coming out lately, and we are having to stay on her pretty tight to keep her in check. She does so much to help us out, but sometimes I think she thinks that means she is in charge around here. I also think she learns a few things at school that might influence this. I do know that they've been stuck in this house a lot this winter, and that might be making them go a little stir crazy. She is still our sweet little girl, and still very much a daddy's girl!

Zachary is doing pretty well. He started sitting up this week. It isn't for very long, but we are encourage that he can now get himself into sitting position from crawling. Before he would sit, he started climbing. He climbed up on Calvin's toddler bed, then climbed some boxes in our living room. The boy is wicked strong in his upper body. He is really cruising quite well, slow, but doing a good job of moving around. The crawling has moved to a real crawl most of the time, instead of the army crawl. He can really get those little hands and feet moving fast. Zach likes to babble a lot, and will say mama and dada, but not specifically for us yet. As far as the eating goes, no real progress. He developed croup last week. It was a horrible week, where he went from Tuesday to Saturday struggling for every breath he took. It didn't sound like croup to me, no cough, but very asthmatic sound, with his chest caving in. It really scared me. The doctor even admitted that he thought, upon walking into the room and hearing Zach, that we would have to admit him for RSV or Pneumonia. I am thankful it wasn't that bad, and we can still say we haven't been back in the hospital overnight. I've decided I can deal with vomit, snot, etc., but I can NOT deal with breathing issues--it's scary! This sickness really set Zachary back in the eating dept for the week. He still gags and vomits on every little piece of food. Thankfully he will eat Gerber food, so at least we can keep that up. Zachary has also turned into quite the mama's boy, clinging to me when a stranger enters the room. He sometimes cries if I'm in the room and Skip is holding him. It's sweet and sad all at the same time.

Visitors

Calvin hits up every single person who walks thru the door to read to him. Today was Great-Grandma's turn.

Zachary thought that looked like fun and asked for a turn himself.

My Dad and Grandma came for a visit last week. It was a fairly short visit, but the kids had fun playing with Grandpa.

Ways to pass the winter blah's

Lots of car time--lining them up, parades, garages, ramps, sorting them, racing with them, you name it!

Fun foods--funny faces make for some happy kids (and I can even get Emerald to eat her fruit). In case you can't tell, the one on the right is a girl, b/c it has a bow, Em's idea.

Tea parties. Can you see the smile on Em's face? She loves to use her tea pot w/ REAL water. When I agree to it, she acts like I've allowed her to ride a unicorn into the clouds over a rainbow. It's water & pretzels, and it is such a thrill for my little girl.

And more tea parties!

This has been a LONG winter. We are doing everything we can to make it pass in a fun way. Puzzles, Wii, games, hide-and-seek, books, movies, dinosaurs, even playing "laundry" (sounds fun, huh? don't tell the kids, they think it is fun). Thank goodness it is supposed to warm up this week and the snow is finally melting. Yesterday the kids played outside for almost 2 hours!! At one point I caught them "painting" the deck with mud. I started to get on them, then I stopped, and told them to have fun. Mud washes, they've been stuck inside all winter--paint away! You can tell by the bickering and arguing that they've been stuck inside just a little too much. Bring on the warm weather!!!!!!!!!!!

Valentine smiles

Calvin has really been playing nicely with Zach lately.

Emerald took this photo. May be the only photo we have of the 2 of us in the last year (sad, I know).

Emerald hamming it up. When she flashes that smile, we sometimes fear for our future ;)

My adorable family. Love those smile.

Our March of Dimes Mission--help us help them

Click on this picture to pledge money to help stop premature birth.

I am passionate about 2 specific causes in my life right now... positive adoption exposure & The March of Dimes. The March of Dimes (MOD) helped us when we were confused after our sonogram, finding out that Zachary had a 2 vessel cord. MOD had a fabulous page full of factual information that helped me understand what this meant for myself and for our precious baby boy. MOD helped us again when Zachary was born early. They didn't wait until we had donated a given amount. They were ready for him because of funding made possible by people like you and I.

I have made a family commitment to MOD. I am not one to beg others for money for every little thing. But this organization has done so much for me, and I want to give back to them.

I have joined the March of Dimes, volunteering to help with the March for Babies walk here in Kansas City on May 1st. I love getting to know some of the other families that volunteer. I am amazed by the incredible stories I hear of early births, survival, happy endings, and complete families. I am saddened by the stories I hear of the unhappy endings, the babies who didn't have a chance, and the strong families who continue to help MOD because of their story. All-in-all, Zachary wasn't THAT early compared to some. He wasn't THAT small, compared to some. His post-NICU life hasn't been THAT complicated compared to some. However, we have been changed forever because of his early birth. He didn't get the chance to develop those core muscles, which have seriously impacted our lives on a daily basis. He has a weakened immune system, which has impacted us. While we are continually thankful for all of the numerous positives in regard to his health, we are still affected by his early arrival.

Our goal this year is $650. This number was chosen because we have been seen by a medical professional 65 times in his first year of life outside the NICU (you know, besides the first 42 days of living at the hospital full-time). Most infants will go 7 times in their first year for well-child checks. They may go a few times for specific illnesses. So, the average number of trips is, say 10-15 maybe (or is that high)?? We have been seen 65 times!!!

I am pledging my money to helping at least one other mother to not have to go through this. I'm hoping that one other mother doesn't have to hear "weak" when talking about her baby, "delayed", "adaptive equipment", or "possible neurological problems." I don't want another mother to go through this!

I'd like to help you understand why I have chosen this goal for our family. This high number of doctor appointments has been difficult for me. Let's walk thru this, for fun sake.

• Making a call to be seen takes time (and peace and quiet, something that is rare around here).
• For MANY of those visits I needed to have Zach alone, in other words, no extra siblings. Begging people to help me, paying babysitters, making arrangements for family or daddy to watch the other kids (which means weekend work hours, late nights for him, etc).
• One appointment located downtown=2 hours drive time, round trip.
• Children's Mercy South (the closer location)=90 minutes drive time, round trip. If only I could add all the hours I've spent in the car on the way to and from doc appts.
• Waiting room time, oh the fun times with all 3 kids in a waiting room. One trip specifically took 1.5 hours in the waiting room.
• 2 ER trips, which was tough to decide to go, or not to go, was it worth it taking all 3 kids there and exposing them to a lot of extra germs?
• Double-checking with insurance to make sure that these 65 trips were covered.
• Co-pays, which I really won't complain about AT ALL, because I LOVE our insurance, but I can at least mention co-pays in here, right?
• Waking up EARLY, so that we can get all 3 kids ready, and drive. An 8:00 appt time doesn't sound too early, until you start figuring it all out.
• Messing up nap schedules to accommodate doc visits.
• The impact of having doctors tell you certain things about your child.
• The stress of knowing there is an upcoming doc visit where you may receive news you don't want to hear.
• Trying to make 2 other kids feel loved b/c they aren't getting this much of mommy's attention.
• Not being able to help others in ways you want b/c your life revolves around doctors appointments.
• Weather. Yes, it sounds silly, but you try getting 3 kids in and out of the doc offices/hospitals in sub-zero temps w/ ice & snow on the ground--not fun!
• Knowing you shouldn't complain at all, b/c you have insurance, you have doctors available, you have access to a Children's hospital, you have a relatively HEALTHY child after all.

These are just a few of the reasons why this impacts me so much. For anyone who has ever gone to the doctor, you understand. It is stressful. Now, multiply that by 65 (no not all of these were actually in an office, thankfully some were in my house). Now multiply that by 3 extra kids, all under age 5. Fun, yes, I know!

I will write more later. I will describe more of what MOD does to help you, and me. I will go into details of our doctor appointments. I want you to feel impacted, as we have been, and "make" you want to do something to help.

We are walking on May 1st. I will earn my money--I am determined. Will you help? Will you walk with us? Will you pledge money to helping MOD help families like ours? Even $5 will help.