Big Day

We all woke up from our afternoon nap and sweet Ellie has her first tooth poking through!! She's been quite the trooper especially considering some of the horror stories you here!

Steven has a nasty stomach bug so Ellie and I are camped out at my mom and dad's for the night.


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Happy Thanksgiving

We are so thankful for this little turkey!


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My Very First Blogger Award!!!

I got my very first blogger award from sweet Kindall at Some Kind of Wonderful!! Everyone should definitely go check out her adorable blog and follow her hilarious post!! I get sad when she doesn't post for a few days...step it up Kindall ;). I know Kindall in real life! She recently became a stay at home mommy to sweet Mason...he's adorable! Maybe Ellie and him could have a playdate soon....they share a pediatrician! Kindall used to work at the non-profit were Steven and I both volunteered for many years! Thanks Kindall for the sweet award!

Here are the rules:

1. Thank and link back to who gave you the award!

2. Share seven things about yourself!
3. Pass it along to seven blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy!

4. Let the recipients know you've left them an award!

My 7 facts:

1. On March 16, 2010 my entire world was rocked when I became a mom to a premature baby girl!! She is a blessing in every way imaginable and I wouldn't change one second of our story!

2. I must drive the same day to work EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don't go the quickest route but it's typically the least traffic route. Even days i'm running late there are two other routes that would be a little quicker but I can't do it's like my car is on auto pilot.

3. I take preventative migraine medicine in the morning and at night. I must take this little bitty pill with a glass of ice tea....a FULL glass of ice tea. It typically gets poured, pill taken, and then the rest of the glass WASTED sitting right next to the sink....terrible I know.

4. One time when we had open house at preschool I had to draw a picture of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Most children drew things like a fireman, postman, doctor, dentist, etc. I colored a picture with different colored hair.....I wanted to be Cyndi Lauper. I'm sure my parents were proud.

5. I graduated college in 3 1/2 years.

6. Upon college graduation I accepted a job in Colorado Springs. I knew absolutely no one. I moved a few weeks after graduation....I made some life long friends and don't regret my decision one bit even though I am back in Oklahoma now!

7. Steven and I dated for 6 years before we were married.

Now my award goes to.....

Behymer Business. I know Daysha in real life....her sweet Lyndon was a preemie. We are neighbors and she welcomed us home and into loving arms when sweet Ellie was a preemie! She is also expecting baby #2 and we are praying everyday for a healthy full term pregnancy!

The Steen Style. I worked with Laura's husband AND she went to high school with my husband....such a small world! They are currently remodeling their home and I LOVE following their adventures!

Live.Love.Laugh. I only know Heather through the blog world. She commented and offered support during our journey with Ellie. Shortly after she announced her pregnancy. In August her world was rocked as she delivered sweet Brayden 3 months early. He got to come home right before Thanksgiving and is doing wonderful!

The Adventures of Mc & Max. Casey is my very best friend and I love following the boys on her blog!! We don't get to see each other too often with her living in Tulsa and us both having full schedules....maybe this award will encourage her to post!

Life With the Earles. Bobbie is one of my sorority sisters and I LOVE reading her blogging adventures...I rarely comment and I love how she always talks about her two readers....make that three I read you just don't know it!!

Footholds of a First Year Teacher Lindsey is 'family'. She is braving her first year teaching and after a challenging start is doing fabulously well as everyone knew that she would! Lindsey you make us all proud!!!

The Strope Situation My sweet Becky! Becky is my 'big sis' from the sorority house. She has three BEAUTIFUL children! I love keeping up with them all!

Ellie's Story

In honor of Prematurity Awareness Day I will be sharing Ellie's journey. Some of it is posted in various post throughout the blog. I believe there is even a short birth story on here and one day I do hope to post a full birth story and how it came that we had a premature baby.

I will say this...there was no pre-e, no pre-term labor, nothing. Basically there was no warning....THANKFULLY there was a VERY vigilant doctor and nursing staff that insisted on non-stress test and bio-physical profiles even though the test had said I was NOT leaking amniotic fluid because the results of that bio-physical ultrasound showed MUCH different results in just 5 short days my fluid levels had went from a 12.34 (the high side of normal) to below a 2 (the very dangerous side of normal for baby and mom).

There were no decisions to be made I was delivering that day via c-section. Due to a condition Ellie had there wasn't even time to be monitored in the hospital for steroid shots to be administered to develop her lungs. We had been seeing a high risk doctor the entire pregnancy because Ellie had a 2 vessel umbilical cord they did not feel that this would present her with any problems but the doctor wanted to monitor her growth as it can cause intrauterine growth restriction during the third trimester. Ellie had no growth issues and there had been no fluid issues my entire pregnancy however due to this condition and the already fragile state of her umbilical cord the on call doctor (mine was out of town) felt it was best that we deliver immediately.

So March 16, 2010 at approximately 9:00 am I got the phone call that rocked my world. As she said we were having a birthday party and I was becoming a mom to a preemie. A preemie being born at 35 weeks that could be perfectly healthy and go home in 3 to 4 days or a preemie that could need a little help.

Ellie arrived at 5:13 pm. She weighed a healthy 5lbs 7oz and was 18inches long. She was crying and appeared VERY healthy. I spent a few minutes with her in the OR. Her proud daddy then took her to show her off and to the REGULAR nursery to get cleaned up! Ellie was doing great post delivery and right about bath time she started having breathing trouble. She was put on the CPAP carried down to my recovery room so I could see her precious face and then transported to the NICU were our roller coaster journey would begin.

Ellie did AMAZINGLY well her first night and was doing so great the next morning it looked like maybe that would be the end of our NICU journey but that wasn't to be. But by lunch time she was back on the CPAP. By late that evening the news begin to get pretty bad and she wasn't doing too well even with the CPAP. Come to find out her right lung had collapsed so it was time for a chest tube and to be intubated. Ellie spent one week on the vent which is a very short time compared to some but during that time it seemed like a lifetime and I was longing to hold that sweet little girl! Finally on the morning of March 23rd Ellie was off the vent and was time to get that little one in my arms for the VERY FIRST TIME!!!! She still spent another 2 weeks in the NICU.....learning to eat, talks of moves to bigger hospitals, getting brain scans to test for cerebral palsy, echos for murmurs, renal scans for kidney functions and countless other pokes, prodes and tests.

I know our NICU journey is one of many. I know it is short compared to lots. But, it's our story and on March 16 my world was forever changed. Not only was my precious baby girl brought into this world but she was brought into this world TOO soon. We experienced and saw too many scary things in that hospital! I don't want to change my journey but I don't want anyone else to have to experience it! I look forward to a day when all babies are born healthy.

Ellie Grace - 3 days old in her tanning bed

Stealing this quote below from Heather's blog everyone should go check out sweet Brayden and his story....the power of prayer is AMAZING!

"We can only appreciate the miracle of a sunrise if we have waited in the darkness"

Fight for Preemies

Prematurity Awareness Month

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. This cause is very near and dear to my heart since sweet Ellie joined our world. Awareness day is November 17 (the day after Ellie's 8 month birthday!). I have signed up on Bloggers Unite to blog about it that day and make people more aware this entire month.

These pictures are from some of Ellie's first few hours in the NICU when things were actually still looking up. The NICU is a roller coaster with MANY ups and downs. Throughout the month I will share some of our experiences and our story. While Ellie was only 5 weeks premature as the nurses would remind me when I would get frustrated towards the end when we were SO close to going home but not quite there yet Ellie started out her sweet little life VERY sick and she had a struggle!


While you are joining in this fight please feel free to join in prayer for some fellow friends some real life and some blogger friends...


Heather's son joined this world 12 weeks too soon! You can keep up with the latest on her blog. I don't want to jinx her but things are looking up!


Daysha's 1st born joined this world 7 weeks too soon and is now a healthy growing boy!!! But please keep her in your prayers as she embarks on the pregnancy journey for a 2nd time! We are praying for a healthy FULL term pregnancy!!!


And finally my sweet friend Casey's nephew recently joined this world 7 weeks too soon and he is tiny but doing well!

Trick or Treat

Ellie liked her trick or treat back from Pottery Barn Kids! We figured she could use it in the future :)
We hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! We sure did!

Berry Sweet

Ellie did surprisingly well in her Halloween costume she didn't mind it at all. She did get a little warm but other than that she was as happy as could be! Dad even stayed home from the game to go trick or treating with us!

Steven says this pictures mean....she really wasn't unhappy. I think it's hilarious!