Avery

Baby Avery is not good. They are basically deciding whether to take her off ECMO. Her poor little body just couldn't handle the heart surgery. PLEASE pray for this family. Please pray that I will be able to minister to this family in some way.

http://keepingupwiththekeirseys.blogspot.com

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Michael. 11 Years and counting!

Chad's Photography

Chad really likes to take pictures. He thought he should take several of Kaylee's haircut. Here are two.





Photography in his future???

The Alphabet According to Kaylee

The Alphabet According to Kaylee

A B C
H I J
O-Bey


No lie :)

Baby Avery Update

This is the latest on Baby Avery. Amazing turn around in just a few hours. Thank you to all who are praying for this family. That is the awesome thing about the Body of Christ, you don't have to know a brother or sister in Christ to be praying for them.

Posted yesterday: Just to give all the waiting eyes an update, Avery continues to remain stable and quiet. The team taking care of her has had to actually increase her medication in order to keep her still and quiet. Apparently she really wants to get off her back and wiggle! The team is continuing to ween the ECMO circuit and turn up the ventilator. So far, Avery is tolerating this well. I spoke briefly with one of the surgeons who operated on Avery's hernia...he seemed very pleased with her progression and seemed optimistic about getting her off of ECMO. I hang on every word they say and today he said, "WHEN she gets off of ECMO" rather than "IF she gets off of ECMO". All in all, we are taking each day slowly and trying to let our little girl rest. It is so hard...all I want to do is kiss her and pick her up...hopefully soon.

Pray for Baby Avery

Surgery is scheduled for 3:30 for Baby Avery - Please pray for Avery, the surgeon, Mommy, and Daddy

Update: Avery came through surgery but the news wasn't as good as they hoped. Actually, they were told that Avery's chances of survival are very small. These next 24 hours are critical.

Please pray for this family.

Warm Enough

Last month we worked on getting the pool ready - emptied, cleaned, and refilled. Then we sat waiting for the sun to do its magic. The problem is that the sun has been failing on the job!

Michael said that he would get in once the temp got to 76. Today the water surface reached 80!! So, he got in - much to the excitement of his offspring - and stirred the water. Tomorrow, I will siphon out the leaves, bugs, and grass that has accumulated and hopefully by this weekend, we will be ready to begin the summer!!!

We are really excited to see how Cole takes to the pool. We think he will be a little fish as he loves the water and is afraid of nothing. Look for pictures soon!

The Many Faces of Kaylee

Chad Picts

Chad & Kaylee - Mother's Day

Cancer Free

Back in February I asked for prayers for my friends Windy and Brandon. Yesterday, they found out that Brandon is CANCER FREE!!! Praise the Lord.

Chad, Kaylee, Cole - Mother's Day

Thoughts...

You know when your heart just breaks because you understand. You understand what someone is going through and you so much just want to help. Your heart breaks because you remember. Kind of a deja vu of what you went through...

A friend through a friend just had a baby. They have known for several months that there are serious medical issues with this baby. Baby Avery is diagnosed with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) as well as a heart defect known as Double Outlet Right Ventricle.

Baby Avery was born yesterday. She is in the same CVICU that Chad was in, but on ECMO. Her condition is much worse than Chad's though. They have known for quite a while that there is a good chance that she will not make it.

I see the video and pictures of this baby and find tears running down my face. Then I see Chad running outside around the swingset and I praise God.

My prayer is for a miracle. I pray that God would hold this family close. I pray that God would heal this precious little girl. Most of all, I pray that God would use their story to bless others.

You can join us in praying for this baby. Follow Avery's journey.

Chad & Cole Mother's Day

More 11 Month Pictures

Notice the little curl above his right ear!!

Cole - 11 Months

Today Cole turned 11 Months! We celebrated Mother's Day with Michael's parents so I was able to take some pictures in their wonderful landscaping. Here are some of Cole's 11 Month pictures.

More pictures to come...

Test Scores!!!

A little over a week ago I blogged about asking Chad's OT to retest him since we have seen a lot of progress. She retested him on Wednesday and called me this morning to tell me the scores from the Beery test.

Visual Motor Integration - copy geometric figures
Sept 2008 Scores - Raw Score 11, Percentile 55%, Age Equivalent 4 yrs. 3 months
May 2009 Scores - Raw Score 14, Percentile 65%, Age Equivalent 5 yrs. 2 months
-----An 11 month gain!!!!!!

Visual Perception
Sept 2008 Scores - Raw Score 12, Percentile 32%, Age Equivalent 3 yrs. 8 months
May 2009 Scores - Raw Score 20, Percentile 97%, Age Equivalent 7 yrs
-------A 3 1/2 year gain!!!!!

Motor Coordination
Sept 2008 Scores - Raw Score 8, Percentile 3%, Age Equivalent 2 yrs. 11 months
May 2009 Scores - Raw Score 14, Percentile 42%, Age Equivalent 4 yrs. 6 months
-------A 1 year 7 month gain!!!!

Praise the Lord!!! As I listened to the OT tell me the scores, my eyes filled with tears. We are SO excited!!!!

Newsflash!!

Cole just took his first step!!!!

Reading

Michael gave me time this weekend to sit and read!!! I haven't read a just-for-fun-book in almost a year. The next book in Karen Kingsbury's Baxter Series has been sitting on my computer stand since Easter, just begging me to pick it up and start. The book knew if it could just get me started that I would be unable to put it down! Guilty!!!

If you are not familiar with Karen Kingsbury and her books, you truly are missing out! Although there are 4 series, it really is one big series. In each of her books, Kingsbury tackles real life issues of marriage, raising children, and growing in your faith of God.

Redemption Series - The first series where you meet the Baxter family.

Firstborn Series - Series #2

Sunrise Series - Series #3

Above the Line is the newest. Although Kingsbury has set the Baxter family aside, they are still a part of the series.

Take One - First book - This is the one that I just finished!!

Take Two - Pre-order now - Coming June 23rd, 2009!!!!

Kaylee

Kaylee is quite the 2 1/2 year old. Her favorite sentences right now are:
I not want to.
I not want you to.
Not now.
No.

This creates for some battles at home but that is okay. Hopefully the more battles that we conquer now mean the less we have to conquer when she is 15! Shoes continue to be a big battle. She is very opinionated on which shoes she will wear.

She really is a funny girl and is always making us laugh. Away in the Manger still is her favorite song and Ducky is tops! She is playing with her babies more and will explain to us that they are crying or napping. Sometimes she even has to feed them! Cole is a baby to her as well. Poor boy. She feeds him and gives him drinks and his paci. She is starting to like to read now which is fun. It use to be that Chad was the only one that wanted to be read to. Kaylee is enjoying talking on the phone now with Grams and Papa. But when she is finished talking, she just hands the phone to someone. This especially happens when she sees something that she wants to do. The phone becomes second place.