Happy Fall, Y'all!

What's that you say?  Babies in the apple orchard were not cute enough?  Fear not.  I present to you: Babies with Pumpkins.  While we were in the mountains this weekend we headed to Fred's General Store where they had this super cute fall display and I got a little shutter-happy.  I know, go figure.  But it's October and it's just too hard to resist babies + pumpkins + scarecrows.  Voila!

Clara wishes everyone a happy fall!

I continue my attempts to get cute cousin pairs, but I say again, two children under two smiling at the same time is near to impossible.  Here are our girls though...

A few with Sweet Mama and Big Daddy..

And Wendi and Chloe came along for some spontaneous mountain fun, too.  So here we are with our precious littles, fall mountain style:

Chrissy, Clara, Wendi and Chloe

Wendi and Chloe:

Sweet baby girl friends...

And to top it off (pun intended), I leave you with babies in hats, sitting around pumpkins.  Fall, indeed.

I. Love. This.

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Apple Orchard

Nothing says Fall quite like the sweet smell of apples growing on the side of a mountain.  We were in the mountains this weekend and took some time on Sunday to visit a nearby orchard.  Clara is not quite old enough yet to appreciate the fun of tromping through an orchard, but her big cousin Caroline sure had fun.  And we enjoyed being all together outside on the most perfect of fall days.  As each day on the calendar ticks off, I dread the winter ahead more and more.  On my days stuck inside, I hope I'll be able to remember back to the sweetness of moments like this and know that they will come again in spring.

First, let's set the scene:

rows of trees with apples aplenty littering the ground beneath

gorgeous fall colors on the mountains in the background

baskets of apples all about

and sweet, ripe delicious fruit hanging from the branches

The perfect place for a toddler to roam...

 

And not too bad for a baby and her daddy either:

Did I mention we brought Rufus along?

Sniffin' out the apple carnage

A backdrop like this is just too good to resist a few posed photos:

Cousins!

A big box of pumpkins is just crying out for babies to be put inside:

And nothing is much cuter than the apple of our eye surrounded by apples:

'Til next year, Johnson's Apple Orchard.  We'll enjoy every last bite of these sweet delicious orbs of fruit.

Prayers for Baby Levi

CDH has changed me.  I may look on the outside like I'm carrying on with life, totally normal, but on the inside I am constantly carrying a burden for sick and dying babies that I never would have imagined would be on my heart.  I hurt so deeply for other families who are facing the fear and uncertainty of this diagnosis, and many many others.  My eyes have been opened to the pain of sickness, especially for children.  And so I spend a lot of time every day praying for babies and their families.  I've found that when I'm feeding and rocking Clara is some of my most quiet and still time each day and while I rock, I pray.  I pray for the mothers who inexplicably had to say goodbye to their babies.  I pray for babies who are fighting for their lives.  Not just diaphragmatic hernia babies, but babies born with all kinds of obstacles and challenges every minute of every day.  I pray for families who are expecting sick babies and don't even know what a ride they're about to be on.  I pray for them because you prayed for us and I believe it matters.  There's a lot I don't understand.  But I pray.

The CDH community is pretty tight and with the advent of THE INTERNET we are able to follow each others' stories all across the country.  Every day I hear about a baby who is fighting or who has gone to heaven.  I pray for all of them, but sometimes there's one in particular who really gets in my heart and who I really really root for in a different way.  There was Samuel, the first CDH baby whose story I followed, shortly after we had gotten Clara's diagnosis.  He went to heaven on Christmas Eve.  There was Grace, who I was certain would live, it was just a matter of time.  She didn't.  Her mother is on my heart every single day.   Now, there's another baby who has really captured me.  His name is Levi and he lives in Alabama.  He's been on ECMO for 43 days.  That's insane.  Clara was on for 22 days and that was a long run.  He's already been through two circuit changes (the one circuit change Clara had is what just about did her in) and this circuit is running out of time.  Therefore, so is Levi.  The doctors were prepared to give his parents "the talk" this weekend, but miraculously, Levi has inched back off that cliff.  His parents are faithfully giving God the glory every step of the way and trusting Him and believing in the miracle they're pleading for.  I want Levi to make it.  He's all I can think about today.

This blog is not for me to post about every sick child I come across.  I am striving every day to find some kind of new balance in my life where I can embrace these families and support, encourage, and pray for them while still trying to live life with the miracle God graced us with.  I haven't figured it out yet.  What can I say?  I'm just a changed person.  However, tonight I am asking all of you who were enamored with Clara and who prayed her through those dark dark days to petition God on Levi's behalf.  They're trying to "cap off" ECMO and see if his lungs can do the work they need to in order to support his little body.  He hasn't had his repair surgery yet.  He has heart complications as well.  He's a really sick boy.  But we've seen what God can do with really sick babies.  I hope He'll do it this time.  I really do.

Levi

Follow Levi on his mother's blog: http://werebringingupboys.blogspot.com/ if you're interested.

Praise Be To God.

Smörgåsbord

Mom's been a little busy lately, so I'll just give you a quick glimpse through my eyes of some of what we've been up to the past few weeks.  A veritable smörgåsbord of images awaits you....

I've had some visitors, like my friend Allie here (and her mom and sister came too):

It was soooooo fun to pull on her hair!  Mama says Allie is special because she was one of her kindergarten students and she was the flower girl in Mama and Daddy's wedding!  But that was several years ago and now she's a big fifth grader and growing up.  See the difference?

I also had a special visit from my "Uncle" Roshan.  He had to come all the way from California to meet me!  Roshan was one of Mama's dearest friends in high school and now he works for Google.  It was so fun to meet him.  He loves babies and we had lots of fun playing together.

Daddy Bob even came for a visit last weekend (without Mama K!  I think he wanted all the snuggles to himself).

My most recent visitor was my cousin Caroline.  She's so big and smart.  I think she'll be teaching me about a lot of things.  

Like how to swing...

 And I will teach her how to wear pretty pink hairbows (Sorry, Aunt Jennifer!!)

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you!  For my 1/2 year birthday, Mama bought me this fantastic outside swing!  (She's really into birthdays and presents and since I had a rough start to life, she thought that six months warranted a present of its own!  I didn't complain.)  Daddy hung it up on our playset outside and it's been such beautiful fall weather, we've been playing outside a lot.  I probably won't be going to many parks the next few months since Mama says they're full of germs.  Good thing I've got a little mini-park right in my backyard for pretty warm days!

We've been taking lots of stroller walks in the pretty weather, too.  But sometimes I get a little sleepy.  On this walk, Mama and Aunt Wendi caught me and Chloe both fast asleep, in the exact same position....

Other than that, around here things have been just about the same.  Mama is always worried about eating and sleeping. She's been making lots of homemade baby food for me and so far I've tried sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, green beans, banana squash, prunes, pumpkin, bananas, avacados and just this afternoon Mama made some pears (I haven't tried them yet though).  Honestly, I'm really not that into all this spoon feeding nonsense.  Mom has to sing and make ridiculous sounds and silly faces just to get through meal time.  She keeps saying I have to learn though, so we practice twice every day.   Here I am eating some sweet potatoes:

Gotta make sure you get every last drop!

I'm getting a little big for my swaddle, so I've been trying to tell Mama that I'm ready to move on to sleep sacks.  The problem is, I've gotten really used to my swaddles, so I have a hard time falling asleep without it!  We're working on it though.  Here I am taking my first nap without a swaddle, in a sleep sack instead.  I may look peaceful here, but I woke up after just thirty minutes.  Mama wants me to make sure you're not fooled.

That's about it from around here!  Thanks for coming to check on me!

Love,
Clara

Babies Don't Keep

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
and out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
but I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

- Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, Ladies Home Journal (1958)

(I need this tonight.)