Break please?

Brielle has been crawling further and further day by day! Its so great! The baby proofing, not so much! Everytime I think everythings up and out of reach, she finds one more thing she isnt suppose to have! Like a bird seed!?! Where does she find this stuff!!! She says mama, MA, Mom, all the time. Josh is getting jealous and now tells her to say da da. I woke up this morning to her playin in her crib and saying "mom" on the baby moniotor. How freakin great is that?????? The weather here has been unbearable! Humid and stick and just plain hot! With Brielles chronic lung disease its hard to take her out for any period of time. She gets very wheezy and then we have to give her a breathing treatment of Albuterol. Brielle has started to shake her head (and whole body for that matter) "yes." Now Im not sure if she just likes to do it, or if shes actually trying to say yes, but its quite funny. I then shake my head no and she thinks its a hoot and giggles. O man, I could hear those giggles all day!!

Brielle was re-evaluated with Occupational, Physical, Speech, and early intervention last week. Basically they come in and set "goals" for her to reach over 6 months. They usually dont renew this early, but she reached all her previous goals before the 6 months :) Thats my girl! Early intervention actually will not see her anymore since she is doing so well! The other 3, I have requested to continue. I am SO afraid that I will miss something as time goes! Technically she is approved til she is 3, but we can decide to discontine earlied, increase or decrease how much they each come etc. She has proved everyone wrong since the gecko, but I still want the eyes to watch her. They also give me a lot of good tips and pointers and games to do with her that really get her going. I always say, "DOH mama! Why didnt I think of that!"

Tomorrow, if it doesnt rain! UGH! Brielle is in a childrens parade! We decorate her stroller and march downtown to a park where they have cake and activities for the kids to celebrate the 10th birthday of Childrens Hospital who played such a big part in our lives this past year!! I am pretty fricken excited!! I am dressing her up as my buttefly. Same as her birthday party, she was a little fragile caterpillar that emerged into a beautiful butterfly! I got a headband and made her little antennas, she has wings, I have flowers to go all over her stroller! Im pumped!! Please rain, GO AWAY!!

Break please for the Driessen Family (My maiden name). 1st, My cousin Amandas baby, Jenna, is 9 months old and ended up in the hospital mid June. Determined that she has a genetic heart condition and needs a heart transplant. She has endured more than any baby should ever have to go thru! Amanda is facing decisions no mom should have to face on her own! We are all hoping and praying that this sweet little girl gets put on the transplant list this week!!!

Next, my cousin Heidi is pregnant with twin girls. 26 weeks along and developed twin to twin tranfusion syndrome. One baby is taking all the nutrients from the other baby and if it continues the other baby will eventually die. She was scheduled to go to Ohio today to do the procedure, but she ended up going into labor yesterday morning. So she is in the hospital until she delivers. And boy do I know what that is like. No fun! The waiting game sucks! The unknown sucks! They took 4 liters of fluid off her stomach thru a amnio reduction and stopped the contractions!! Hoping she can keep those babies in much longer!!

My other cousin, Nicole, her boyfriend was involved in a head on crash Sunday night. He has 2 collapsed lungs and a head injury! Hes 21. Praying for a fast and easy recovery!

And finally, Brielle has had a temp as high as 102.9 since Saturday night. I took her to the Dr yesterday and she has inflammed tonsils. Strep came back negative. If she doesnt improve by Thursday or develops new symptoms back we go.

So yes, as the title of this blog says, we need a BREAK PLEASE in our family!!! Everything will turn out good because our family has such a great support team and we believe!! My family was such a HUGE part in my life when I was going thru my journey 15 months ago! Without their faith, love, compassion, support, and confindence, I dont know where we would be. Everyone was so great it was amazing. Prayers go along way! Our family will make it thru all of this!

CrAwLiNg!

Brielle is CRAWLING!! I got a call at work :( about 10am saying she crawled for the very first time!!! Boy o boy! Where has these last 13 months gone???? I feel like just yesterday she was hooked up to cords and wires and oxygen and monitors and I was trying so hard to vision life without all the "equipment." And now Im trying to figure out where that all went! Shes getting so big! Its wonderful considering her birth weight, but Im starting to miss my cuddly immobile baby!!

On another note, my neice, Johanna, that is 7 weeks ADJUSTED younger than Brielle started crawling today as well!! How cool is that??

Just an Update

Brielle is trying O so hard to crawl!! I thought she wouldnt, but all of the sudden she got this urge to try it out. She goes from sitting to the crawling position but then shes not too sure. But she is getting it! She rocks on her hands and knees. So we will see. And the most exciting (for me anyways) She started to say....MA Not a full mama but its a step in the right direction Right???

She has just started the 3rd stage foods. She just had lasagna. She loved it!! She still gets full really fast and eats more meals a day. Shes still a peanut with a small belly but thats okay! To date she is 18 pounds. She is a happy, opinionated, joyful little girl. Her laughter and smile brings such joy to my face everyday! There isnt a day that goes by that I dont say to myself "This is truly my little miracle! 2 days past the "viable" gestational age that the Drs would save her." TWO DAYS! 2. And doing incredibly well!!!

We went to fireworks last night. Before we went, I was feeding Brielle supper and I happened to tell her that we were going to go see fireworks tonight that went "BOOM" real loud. She giggled so loudly it was hilarious! I got it on video! I wish I could share videos on here. Im going to figure it out :)