Pictures...

Christmas Day 2009

Christmas Eve

My Pretty Girl

Ashlyn with her Great PopPop

Big Brother Branden loves to play with my feet

Ups and Downs

Ashlyn has had her ups and downs these past weeks. She was sick in October after her G tube surgery, then had an ear infection and then had a reaction to the antibiotic for the ear infection. We finally got her appetite back the week of Thanksgiving. It's nice when she eats and drinks her yogurt from the sippy cup because then I don't have to give her a feeding. This week she came down with another sickness and was vomiting and not eating for two days. She finally seems to be feeling better today, but her appetite is not 100% yet. I've resigned to the fact that things will always be up and down with good days and bad with Ashlyn and her eating...and sleeping. Some nights she sleeps all the way through and some nights she wakes frequently. Her weight has just kind of been hovering around the 18 lb mark lately. At her visit to the cardiologist last week she was 18 lb 1 oz. She is more active though. She really wants to move around is just starting to figure out how to get from lying down to sitting. She gets occupational therapy once a week, but we are going to add physical therapy too to get her progressing little faster.

As for my mom...she is doing very well right now, and I want to thank everyone who has been faithfully praying for her.

Photo by Gilmore Photography

Feeling Thankful...

For every good and perfect gift from above

For the sparkle in my son's eyes

For every life-giving beat of my daughter's heart

For the circle of love that embraces us
Through each treasured moment with family and friends

For the strength to give thanks in every circumstance

For the hope that comes from knowing Him

Pray for Nonni

Please pray for my mom, who many of you know has been battling metastatic breast cancer. Our family has been through some tremendous trials in the past four years, and this year has brought the worst we've experienced. In July we discovered that the breast cancer diagnosed and treated four years ago made its way to the bone. It turned out to be an aggressive cancer that continues to spread and just last week the doctors gave my mom a very grim prognosis. We are not willing to give up on her though, and we know that God is much greater than any disease. He gives hope in even the most hopeless situations. I am asking for your prayers. God has already proven himself faithful even just through Ashlyn's life. He is able to do more than we can ask or imagine.

Lord, Our hearts are breaking. I feel such an oppression blanketing my heart like the gray clouds that keep hovering in the sky. You promise good things to those who hope in You. I can only hope for a miracle that you will heal my mom of the cancer that is aggressively taking over her body. I can't trust in doctors or medicine or alternative treatments or pink ribbons. The only thing worth trusting, worthy of hope is You. I'm so lost for answers but the one thing I do know is that Your faithfulness is great and Your compassion never fails. Show us new compassion in the morning or I will not be able to face the day.

At Home

Ashlyn was discharged yesterday and we are now settled at home. She is doing great with her new button, and we all love having her face back! She has her appetite back and is back on her normal feeding schedule and tolerating everything fairly well. The button still has a dressing around it, and I can take that off in a few days. It's still a little bit sore when I take the extension tubing on and off, so I'm trying not to do that too much. It should be mostly healed in two weeks, and we're hoping for no infections during the healing process.

Ashlyn hasn't been sleeping well the past two months, and I have been unable to figure out what is making her wake up. She is definitely not as congested at night like she was with the NG, and last night she only woke once. This morning I noticed a new tooth, so maybe it's related to teething. Now that we are home and settled, I have to take on the endless task of catching up on housework and laundry that's been left untouched the last few days, so if you happen to be at our house in the near future, you might not have a place to sit!