Because I am sentimental

Monday and yesterday I did a job that really hurt. I put away all of Baby Pear's 3-6 month clothing. She had only been in them for about 2 weeks (longer for the sleepers). For a lot of reasons Baby will be the last pear added to our household, so it is time to pass things on. Some of the clothing was new to baby and only worn once or twice, a couple outfits not at all. It was hard to pack it up knowing that when she finally gets out of her harness she may even be out of the 6-9 month clothing.

We have friends due any day, and I am boxing stuff up to ship to them. If they do not have a girl I will pull out all the girl stuff for a neighbor due in February. (We did not know that Miss Pear was a girl until she was born, so we have lots of generic stuff - plus I love baby blue on girls).

But even knowing that these clothes were going to a good home it was hard.

So I am saving all my favorites, all the special ones. The outfits that:

• Miss Pear wore when we filed the final application for my green card
• Baby wore to ER and then home from the hospital
  
• both girls wore and wore and wore
• were special gifts

My plan is to make a blanket for each girl out of them. It is all knit cotton that I am saving so it will just be squares sewn together and then quilted (probably knot quilts). For the back I am going to use their receiving blankets and flannel crib sheets. At the rate I cannot part with stuff they may both end up with queen sized quilts!

I am also saving their dresses for a second quilt for each.

It is definitely making boxing stuff up and passing it on easier.

Day 2 - Moving right along

Things are going better than expected. We did have a long night last night with Baby up every 2 hours (she did not even do that as a newborn!) and when she is awake she just wants to be held, but who can blame her.

We are getting better at the diaper changes - the tabs have to be slid under 2 harness straps on each side.

We are figuring out the clothing challenges, and except for a couple convertible gowns we should have all we need, we just need to figure it out.

We have figured out sleep stuff, and my MIL is making 4 new swaddling blankets that are larger and warmer. And 2 new flannel crib sheets arrived in the mail from her today too - perfect timing!

If you are wondering what the harness looks like (a very common question we are getting), the baby in this picture is wearing the same harness as Baby, except Baby's is a very stylish pink, and is all soft straps and velcro.

Basically we are figuring it out. It may not be the easiest thing in the world to get our brains around, but it is certainly not the worst situation. And God is being so gracious to us and taking such care of us I cannot even begin to explain it.

The good news for today is that all the clothing up to 12 months has been washed (not folded, but washed), so I can now start trying stuff. (Although I will try it as I need to change Baby, not a fashion show. Changing her is hard for all of us, but especially her).

The other good news is that her napping seems to be settling back down again into her usual awake for an hour or so asleep for 45-75 minutes. I am hopeful that means she is settling back down and is not just exhausted.

Day 1 - hopefully over

So our first day of Baby in the harness is hopefully over (please Lord, let her be down for the night!) Baby seems to be starting to adapt but is not happy to have her kicking and stretching ranges limited..

The big thing today was trying to figure out how to still swaddle her so she does not bat her head and wake herself up without pressing on her legs or harness straps. We were victorious on this one.

The next big thing is trying to figure out how to dress her! She is immediately out of size 6 clothes. We think size 9 month might work, if not 12 month - I washed everything that did not need stain treatment today, that will be washed tomorrow. As far as I can tell pants appear to be completely out, and sleepers are still a question mark. It looks like long sleeved T-shirts and onesies, dresses, and those longer sleeping gowns (and those convertible gowns that can be snapped as either a pant suit or a gown) will be the order of the day, but we will keep trying to figure that out too. (By the way, do you know who is carrying the gowns and convertible gowns right now?)

I have realized that it is all a learning curve. By God's grace we are going to figure all this out, and by His strength we are going to keep moving forward.

While this is certainly not what I would have chosen, I am trusting God through this, He is always faithful, always good, and always loving.

I don't know how much I will be here this week, but I did want to pop in tonight and let you know that we are doing better than expected.

Baby Pear has a new outfit

We saw the specialist this morning, and the end result is that Baby is in a harness for a while, likely three months.

The appointment went well, we like the doctor and he talks in a way we can understand, so that helps. He said that her hip was "completely unstable" but that the harness should work. (roughly 80% of cases like this it is successful). So we have three weekly appointments scheduled, and after that we should know if the harness is working or if we need to switch to a cast.

While the harness is indeed no picnic and must not be removed (it is straps and velcro that go from the tops of her shoulders to the bottoms of her feet), it is better than a cast.

God was so good to us through this - besides the doctors. There was a mom with her 9 month old there for a check up who had gone through this, and she was able to encourage us so much through understanding our feelings and the enormity of it all and being able to speak from a compassionate "been there done that" perspective to the practical of how to cloth Baby now.

Basically Baby just got launched right out of 6 month clothing to likely 9 month, we are trying to figure it out.

So even though a lot of stuff is going to be hard - no more swaddling, no more holding her in her favorite across our body position, both of which were her favorite way to fall asleep - God is in this with us, and it is by His strength and wisdom alone that we are going to get through this.

So now I have to get back to sorting clothing to wash in larger sizes while Miss Pear is sleeping and Baby might be sleeping.

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments and emails of encouragement and prayer. Even though I was not able to respond to all of them please know that they were of enormous comfort! Prayer is the very best gift, and truly our biggest need right now.

More Baby Pear stuff and other stuff too

So at 8AM Friday morning I was on the phone to make an appointment with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. I only have two things to say about that: first, how sad that there actually is such a thing; and second, how wonderful that they were able to get us in Monday at 9:45.

The rest of the day seem to be monopolized between brain freeze (are you kidding? do we really need to see one of those?) and trying to get all the stuff together that we need, such as a hard copy of the test results, a referral and a hard copy of the ultrasound. While the last one was the hardest to track down because I got caught in the hospital's telephone answering loop, our daughter's pediatrician was excellent in walking us through what we needed to do. In fact, her final words to me Thursday evening were to call her if we could not get in by Monday, if we had any trouble getting the paperwork, if we had any questions, and to just call and let her know when the appointment was so that she had peace of mind....and that she would be praying for us. We LOVE our pediatrician.

So we are now all set for Monday's appointment - at least paperworkwise. Our brains are catching up.

But how sad is it that Miss Pear can say both cardiologist and orthopedic specialist.

Today we are spending the day putting up the tree with a brief interlude to run to Joanne's and CVS for baskets on sale and diapers on sale. And then I am thinking buttermilk waffles for supper because maybe that will tempt Miss Pear's appetite (she has had a cold all week and is just off her game still).

Baby's Results

We got the results from Baby's hip ultrasound on Monday, and as suspected, she has hip dysplasia, and we are being referred to a specialist ASAP in the hopes that treatment can begin before everyone takes off for Christmas and the other holidays.

Christmas Shopping...

...is officially done!

Remember when I shared this list:

1. Get special cards and mail them ASAP - Ordered and mailed
   
2. Order stamps - Oops, still need to do this
   
3. Order picture Christmas cards, the picture was taken this morning (I have a 20% off coupon code for Kodak!) Ordered and awaiting arrival
   
4. Pick up a Christmas decoration for each of the girls' stockings (this is tradition, it is how our kids will have decorations for their own tree one year, each with a special story. The grandparents also send them, so each girl will get 3 a year). (Baby's special one with her name on it should be here any day now, but that one goes under the tree, she still gets a second one in her stocking) -Complete
   
5. Order one thing online for Mr. Pear - Complete
   
6. Mail some stuff. One more trip but the presents are wrapped, I just need to seal the boxes.
   

For me it is always easier when the shopping is all done, and everything that needs to be mailed is out the door.

Then I can focus on decorating, reading Christmas stories, baking, and wrapping presents for our girls! (Even though we don't go overboard at Christmas, wrapping still takes a while because I LOVE it! Why yes, I do make my own bows, why do you ask?)

Before the picture cards are delivered I do have to still write the Christmas letter. I have to confess that I have not started. I cannot figure out how much of the medical yuck to share with our family and friends. I don't want to dump on them, but also want to share what is going on in our lives. I guess I will figure it out. Any ideas for me?

Most years I buy special Christmas paper for the letter. This year I am planning on just stamping the letters with a nativity set I have. Nice and simple, but meaningful - plus I already have everything here!

No News Today

I had been holding out hope that we would hear Baby's results today, but when I called to follow up I found out that our doctor was out today (she takes Wednesdays in lieu of the time she works in Urgent Care if she is working there that week), but it would not have mattered if she was in because the results have not been sent over yet. Sigh.

The lady who I talked to was so sweet, she followed up by checking the latest faxes just to be sure, and said that if she did not have it by 4:30 she would call the hospital to send it over (again).

So hopefully it will be on our doctor's office first thing in the morning tomorrow.

The push for us is to get things rolling so that if we have to see a specialist that we can get the treatment started before the Christmas and other holidays start closing offices.

If we have to have treatments we would just as soon get them going ASAP so that we can be finished that much sooner!

Mental hiccup

It was a long morning, even breaking out the Christmas books did not help for some reason - probably because Miss Pear is exhausted and Baby is a bit out of sorts from yesterday.

So now with them both down I started reading stuff in the news and bloglines as a mental break, and wanted to share the good stuff with you. Keeping in mind the long morning I had, just humor me if it is not really that good or funny.

Did you ever wonder how much the 12 days of Christmas would cost? Apparently we all should have invested in that, it's value is up 10.9% year over year!

Life as Mom is contemplating a simpler Christmas.

Blogger is being mean and randomly posting this without me hitting post.

Donetta has a wonderful post for the Precious Promise this week, and another excellent one about prayer that I intend to go back and read again.

Jen wrote about Intentional Christmas Traditions, and while the accidental ones are fun, we long for the meaningful ones!

The DHM at the Common Room had an excellent post about the out of control materialism of Christmas. We will just ignore the fact that I had to go to Target to buy Miss Pear a Cabbage Patch Doll because they were on sale for $19, are the 25th anniversary edition, and that I was given one the very first year they were available.

This all distracted me from waiting for the phone to ring with Baby's results, for which I am thankful. I will distract myself further with cookies.....

Bloggy Goodness

There were a few great things I came across that I wanted to share - and this time I am determined to remember to tell you!

Advent coloring page! (HT to Alexandra)

I am ready to start my freezer cooking again, and came across this at the Common Room. An excellent read! And a tale of caution that has no need in my family I am thankful to say!

I loved this post about looking for Jesus at Christmas as hard as we look for a lost ring.

There are many more, but I hear a little one starting to wake up, and I figure actually posting 3 is better than none at all! (Little goals, more checked off the list!)

Baby's Ultrasound...

...went okay. She did great.

We will know more probably Wednesday or Thursday, and will let you know what we can.

Until then I will be praying like crazy. And while we do pray about this with Miss Pear at her level, in front of her (and Baby too) it will be a kind of stiff upper lip or laugh so you don't cry thing until we know more.

Kind of the mommy version of "la-la-la I can't hear you!"

Or to roughly quote Therese of Avila "I see you fear, but my eyes are on God."

Baby Pear's Ultrasound

If you think of it today, could you please pray for Baby Pear? She has her hip ultrasound to check for hip dysplaysia today at 3 PM California time. And it is pretty obvious there is something there all of a sudden. We are praying that ideally it would be something that could be stretched and exercised out, but most importantly for complete healing and correct treatment right away.

I realize that in the scheme of things this is not the biggest of deals, but at 11.5 weeks she has been through so much that the thought of this is heart breaking.

And if you could please pray that the Lord would give us wisdom and strength, that would help so much.

Thank you for the encouraging notes and for all the prayer, they mean very much to us, and we can say with all honesty that it is the Lord alone who is helping us right now because it has just been a bit too much.

Happy Thanksgiving

Yeah, I know it's not Thursday, but somehow I did not get near my computer on Thursday to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

Even though we are Canadian, we do celebrate both Thanksgivings. The Canadian Thanksgiving is to give thanks at the close of the harvest and God's provision - I like that. And to be honest, we celebrate American Thanksgiving with the same attitude.

We celebrated again this year with our neighbors. I made yam and carrot casserole (substituting a sweet potato for the russet), rolls (my favorite stand-by special recipe), Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake pie, and a pumpkin roll (HT to InAShoe).

It was a wonderful day. I had made the pie and the cake minus the filling on Tuesday, so that gave me some room to be relaxed and lazy on Thursday morning. Our neighbor made a delicious meal and we were all stuffed. Fortunately she made way too much food and we have to go over tonight to help eat the leftovers. Sometimes it is tough to be a good neighbor! :-)

We skipped Black Friday entirely except to run a bank errand and pick up something we already needed at CVS but while I got what I needed, all the great deals were already scooped up.

So with Thanksgiving weekend arriving, our Christmas shopping season comes to an end. To be honest, all I have left to do is:

1. Get special cards and mail them ASAP
2. Order stamps
3. Order picture Christmas cards, the picture was taken this morning (I have a 20% off coupon code for Kodak!)
4. Pick up a Christmas decoration for each of the girls' stockings (this is tradition, it is how our kids will have decorations for their own tree one year, each with a special story. The grandparents also send them, so each girl will get 3 a year). (Baby's special one with her name on it should be here any day now, but that one goes under the tree, she still gets a second one in her stocking)
   
5. Order one thing online for Mr. Pear
6. Mail some stuff.

In our house Canadian Thanksgiving officially launches Christmas shopping and prep season, American Thanksgiving ends it, and I love that, it makes our December so much more restful and focused on quietly preparing both our hearts and our home. It also helps that we have to get stuff in the mail early too! :-)

How was your Thanksgiving?

Baby Pear is keeping us busy...

Baby Pear is 11 weeks today. Baby’s 2 month check up was yesterday, which we are 2 weeks late for due to her being so sick, too sick to vaccinate at the actual 2 month mark.

The great news is that she has made a full recovery from the meningitis, can do all the developmental things and is growing wonderfully with her height being in the 95 percentile and her weight in the 90th, which is stunning considering how sick she was just a couple short weeks ago.

The bad news is that there is a clunk in the hip test, so we are scheduled for a hip ultrasound to check for hip displaysia Monday at 3, back at the hospital. Apparently it can show up later and not just at birth, which is why they keep testing for it.

It just feels like way too much. She is 11 weeks old and has had to have a heart echogram in the hospital when she was born, was very sick with a cold, was hospitalized with meningitis, and now this. With Miss Pear’s heart thing thrown in for good measure. It is just way too much.

I don’t know how parents can turn their backs on modern medicine for their kids. Everything we are facing can be fixed with modern medicine to give our girls a healthy life. I read about parents who have lost their children by refusing modern medicine and I just don’t understand, I know it is an issue of faith, but I just don't understand. We pray for our girls and their healing, but also use the resources He has given us in tandem with prayer. They are not in competition with each other.

And I most certainly don’t know how people face life without God. Without Him I think I would have curled up into a little ball long ago. Even though this is all very hard on a mommy's heart, I am confident in God.

And on this Thanksgiving Eve I am so thankful for our little family, that we belong to the Lord and that He will never lose us, misplace us, or forget about us, we are His. He is very faithful and will see us through.

$4 Games

The front of the Target flier in the weekend's papers advertised $4 games for the preschool age set. As I have one of those I figured it would be worth checking out, and was it ever a gold mine! They had the classics like Memory (assorted varieties) and Chutes and Ladders on, but also the newer ones like the Lady Bug game and the Cranium ones.

So if you have little guys on your shopping list, it is actually worth checking out, and it is not a Black Friday thing, so you could still go today or tomorrow!

Oh, and shhh, don't tell Miss Pear what she is getting for Christmas.....