Crowns of Life

(I finally posted about a month's worth of pictures and blogs. There are five new ones under this but I split them up so it wouldn't be so overwhelming!)

Libby started swimming lessons on Saturday mornings. She loves the pool (and has NO fear of it—yikes)! She is learning to kick, dig with her hands, blow bubbles and lie on her back and float. We’ve each taken her once and both agree she’ll need a pool pass next summer.

We've been able to see Libby and Will's cousins more in the last couple of weeks. It's been so fun for them to be together and play.

Libby has been asking for "Ya-Ya", "Ree", "Dack" and "Taya" and Will was able to meet his Uncle Hugh for the first time! We love living close to family for this reason and wish the newest cousin Dylan would move here too!This Saturday, I went with my mom to a function she helps organize called Crowns of Life. It is geared towards African-American women as a venue for cancer awareness. All the ladies wore their Sunday crowns and dressed to the nines. I loved being there and I found that wearing a crown makes one stand a little taller!

I met a lady named Etta who told me her amazing story of surviving being thrown out of the back window of a car. Three years ago, as she was flying through the air after her car was hit, she said she was talking to the Lord saying, “Lord, I know I am going Home today. But I can’t control that so I give it to you. Lord, I know when I hit the ground it’s going to hurt, but I can’t control that—it’s in your hands. And Lord, with my osteoporosis, I am going to break every bone in my body, but I that’s out of my hands, Lord.” She said (with great humor), “It was a very intimate conversation.”
It was a long road of recovery but there she was walking around a women’s function three years later at 75 years old. I said, “Thank you for sharing your story with me,” and she said, “Honey, I am obligated to tell of the good things the Lord has done for me.” No surprise, I cried. I did feel like it was a reminder to me that in the middle of trial, the Lord is still at work. So much is out of my hands but all of it IS in His.

On Sunday, we went to the Walk for Babies at the Akron Zoo which raises money for the NICU at Children’s Hospital. Libby loved the zoo, Andrew took lots of pictures, Will slept and I fought back tears the whole day. We saw so many of Will’s nurses and therapists, all who were so happy to see him. I did not prepare myself to be back in that “world” of the NICU and my emotions were those of gratitude that these women cared for my baby so well while he was with them. Ten weeks is a long time to be in the hospital!
We also met so many other families with similar stories. So many of the babies had G-tubes and big Coke-bottle glasses for their Retinopathy. So many of the babies were running around or talking about all of the animals. It was encouraging to be around people who were choosing to be filled with hope and gratitude.

Four Months

“I love you, O Lord, my strength.” Psalm 18:1

If I’ve learned nothing else in the four months since our sweet baby boy was born, I’ve learned that the Lord is my strength and apart from Him I can do nothing well. Whether it’s coping with the craziness of the NICU, dealing with surprising news, or being a loving wife and mom in the day-to-day of life, I need to be constantly reminded that the Lord is my strength.

Will had his four-month checkup last Friday. When I strapped him in to his carseat, he noticed the little toys hanging of the carseat handle. It was so cute because he seemed to be thinking, "I am not too sure about you!" He is 12 pounds, 5 ounces! Despite the thrush he’s been battling, he’s managed to gain weight faster in the last two weeks than he was before! He is really fussy from 7 pm until 10 pm almost every night so I am very thankful for Andrew’s presence now so we can trade off walking around and holding him. We also had Will’s first official home physical therapy last week. His therapist was very encouraging and positive about him. He does have head lag and is weak in his upper body when he’s on his back. During tummy time, he can lift his head and he’s even rolled over a few times—I think it’s because the Thomas/Lawrence family combo makes children with very large heads that tip them over! Oddly, no one has concerns about his legs right now. It’s very disarming but we are thankful for these days.
I can’t begin to say thank you enough, ever, to those people in our lives who have and still are lifting us up in prayer, encouraging us with cards and emails, and who continue to walk beside us through the highs and lows of this time. I am SO humbled by the flood of support we’ve received. Thank you so much!

Ruby Slippers and Mud Puddles

Grandma Lyn went with us to buy new shoes for Libby. She’s grown out of all of the shoes I bought for her the week before Will was born. I still feel like it’s the beginning of summer but it’s almost fall and time for a new shoe wardrobe!
We stopped at the playground while we were shopping and Libby played and played. The fact that she was wearing red sparkly shoes did not stop her from climbing all over, sliding and traipsing through the wood chips! Oh, to be so carefree!
Speaking of carefree, she also loves to play in puddle… especially if they are muddy it seems. She enjoyed herself immensely after a thunderstorm and thank goodness for Oxy Clean so she can wear this outfit again!

My parents cruised the Hawaiian Islands celebrating my uncles’ 60th birthday. We were so jealous but after the last three and half months, they deserve some rest and recuperation. We just asked for them to bring back some sand from our beach in Kailua and take a picture of our old house. We still miss it! They came by on Wednesday night before they left and so did Uncle James. Libby took a ride in her Moses basket and loved it. That’s the most time she’s ever spent in because she hated it as a baby! They came home with lots of goodies for the kids and leis, macadamia nuts and Kona coffee for us!
Andrew’s schedule has finally let up a little bit. He went from August 3 until September 14th with only two days off—that’s including weekends! We really missed him and he’s been so glad to spend time at home this last week eating dinner with us and putting Libby to bed.

We've been able to go to Grandpa and Grandma Thomas's house for some walks around their lake and play time in the rocks! We saw some "tows" in downtown Hudson and have gone to the park. It's been so nice to do family things. Will's been showing off his tummy time skills and we are very impressed!

Be Still My Heart

Will started smiling a couple of weeks ago. I finally snapped a picture on the third or fourth day of this milestone… I’d been crying too hard every other time to be able to get one! I was so proud of him!

Filled

Our life is so filled with friends. We are amazingly blessed with people who have invested in our lives— separately, as a couple and now as a family— and have been a source of strength and encouragement through this roller coaster ride. It’s humbling and very hard to know how we can ever be thankful enough! We celebrated the 80th birthday of our “Chicago Grandma”— Faith McInturff. She’s been to every special event in our lives since we were 8 or 9 and still threatens to jump in the car and drive to Ohio whenever we’re going to have a party! It was great to be able to celebrate with her. Not only did we see our Chicago Grandma, we also saw most of our adopted Chicago family. The three girl “cousins” have all had babies in the last year. The twin boys were also preemies who spent a lot of time in the NICU so having a friends like Kevin and Jill who have experienced some of the same things that we are currently has been more helpful than I can say. I kept thinking that God knew 20 years ago when our families became friends that Jill would have this opportunity to walk beside me through this time and she absolutely has—at least an email a week to encourage me or tell me that what’s happening is “normal”. Again, how am I so blessed? The kids and I spent three days at Lake Mohawk with Leigh (Wee-Wee) and her family. We absolutely needed to get away and spend some time with my sweet friend. Libby swam in the pool— one of her favorite words—and Leigh and Eric took Libby on their boat. Apparently she didn’t smile or talk the whole time but would say “more?” any time Eric slowed the boat down. A speed demon already! Will enjoyed lots of snuggles from them and had lots of naps in the sun! He was very fussy while we were there so Thursday I took him to the doctor. It turns out he has thrush! I had no idea what it looked like but now that I know, it was SO obvious and I feel bad that it took me four days to take him to the doctor. I hope his mouth is on the mend. The doctor did feel like he was a little hypotonic (floppy) in his upper body. He also doesn’t have great head control on his back. On his tummy, he lifts his head and moves it so I don’t know what do think. He’ll start PT, OT and Speech Therapy next week. It’s nice to have a plan but there’s always a reason to continue to pray for strength for THIS day and not the days that could be ahead. We’ve been able to see more friends, were blessed with meals until September 4th (almost four months of people caring for us in that way!), and have been able to get out of the house for walks around the neighborhood. I don’t know what we’ll do when the winter comes!