Life according to my iPhone

Saturday morning playtime

Preparing for my wall decorating. Can you tell who won the wall?

Nom.nom.nom - daddies fingers

Go Vikes!

God's wonderful masterpiece

My motivational Pumpkin Spice Latte "Ali can".
Interesting way to spell Allison.

Breakfast with elephant and teddy.

Jess's baby shower. She won the diapering competition.

Handsome.

Sunday morning with Gavin

Laundry basket photo. Everyone needs one right?

Watching papa & daddy prepping our back yard for grass! Thanks Papa!

Lazy days with Fritz

Life isn't too crazy right now. I'm taking time to enjoy it!

Pneumonia

Gavin is a magnet for sickness. I think he is more susceptible because of his prematurity, but babies in general get sick a TON! Case in point - his first bout with pneumonia and hopefully his last!

Relaxing head massage from daddy

Neb treatments. He actually did GREAT with them.

Pneumonia? Still happy? Yep. GO figure!

He's a sippy cup boy now!

Hoping he can stay healthy for a little while now.

The ones I love

I am finally getting around to adding my trip from Nebraska so just hang with me.

Labor Day weekend we decided to FINALLY make a trip to introduce Gavin to my sweet family. Oh how I wish we lived closer, but the distance makes the trips all the more special.

Here are some of my favorites:

King of the king bed.
Thinks he is royal already.

Gavin traveled EXTREMELY well! He slept 6hrs to the Nebraska border, slept all night in the hotel, woke up talked/slept 3hrs to my hometown. On the way back he did the same thing! What a blessing!

He is loved so well by his Auntie Tracy!
She is one of the godly women I hope to model motherhood after!
 

He loved meeting his great aunt Joleen. I think the feelings were mutual.
I spent so much of my childhood with her and she is still sweet, loving, and GREAT with kids!

 

Instant bond. Love you Aunt Joleen!

One of my heros - my Uncle Verny
 

 Verny is in the battle of his life with cancer. He has put so much into perspective. When life should be dragging him down, he bravely marches forward. As he put it "I could go out on the highway and get in an accident. Just take life one day at a time. If your name is in the good Lord's book, you go when HE calls you home." Thank you for the witness you are to so many! You are, and forever will be, one of my greatest heros!

This picture bring tears. Gavin just sat in his lap, staring into his eyes.
He is usually so squirmy.
Not in this moment - he was still, just taking it all in.
These are the moments money can't buy. Love you Uncle Verny!

Spending time with his beautiful cousin, Megan. Isn't she just gorgeous!
Look at that tan. In my dreams I look like that!

Gavin was introduced to so many new people and in my attempts to spend time with them too, I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked to. But here are some more:

How wonderful to be back in Husker land!
We were blessed to watch some Husker football with uncle Rod & aunt Kathy!

The first time Gavin met Amanda he was 2 days old.
How things have changed! Love you Mandy - so glad we got to see you!

Cuddle time with his Great Aunt Deanna!
I love her smile - such a sweet woman of God!

Someone loved Cassidy's pink shirt - like slobbered ALL over it.
Sorry Cass! So great to see you - miss you!

The newly weds. We were surprised by their impromptu trip to see us too!
You completed our trip!

Buddies? I think so!

Our gracious hosts - Rod & Kathy.
Thanks so much for making us feel so comfortable and loved!
I think Jason & I put on a pound or two!

Konked out in the hotel. Trip - complete!

 

We had a wonderful trip and can't wait to go back! Love you Nebraska/Kansas family!

How can it be?

My baby boy is already 9 months! I feel like a typical mom saying that - but it really has flown! Especially considering that I never even let myself think of him being this old for fear of losing him. God is bigger than my fears though - He is more powerful than we could ever imagine - and He loves us more deeply than we will ever know.

Today Gavin is spending the entire day with his grandma - as you can tell from this picture he is having a blast! Thanks for watching him mom!

Day with Grandma & his jumperoo -
makes him Happy, Happy, Happy!

Gavin has his favorite toys still - his Sophie Giraffe, his gray puppy, and his pacifier (not a toy - but it entertains him to no end!) I pray he never loses his innocent wonder when he comes across new things. He makes new faces each day - this is one of my favorites:

He is not sitting unassisted yet, but he is so close! If he is focused on a toy or a person he will sit still, but once he loses focus he will start to lean. He loved sitting in his laundry basket yesterday while I got ready for church.

I can't get enough of my sweet boy!

He is my precious gift. When Gavin was in the hospital his uncle Tony wrote out Gavin's name like this:
God's
Awesome
Very
Inspiring
Newborn

He may not be a newborn anymore, but he is still awesome, and still inspires me daily. Most of all - he is still God's boy.
My sweet Gavin, I pray that we will be able to teach you about the love your Abba Father has for you. For his love is deep and it's wide. It looks past mistakes and sees His children. I pray for the day that you accept Him as your Savior, and will teach you about Him until then.

My wide-eyed wonder

I love you my sweet buboo!
Love, mamma

One year ago.

As I looked at the date on 9/11 - I first thought of the tragic attack on our country. I thought about the families that were impacted - loosing loved ones. I then remembered that one year ago, we were sitting in an ultrasound room - ready to see our sweet baby on the big screen in front of us. A day filled with joy and anticipation had come and with it, we got the first string of "but-um" news about our little Gavin.

Here is an exerpt from my Journal:

September 11, 2012 The day every parent waits for is here! We get to see the little baby on the ultrasound screen. The night before I didn’t sleep a wink! I was nervous that something would be wrong with baby D. I was excited to find out if it would be our daughter or our son. I was sad because this whole experience was already half over. I was thrilled that we are close to meeting our little baby face to face!
 

Our sweet boy!

 That morning we met my parents at the clinic. We were so blessed to have them with us in the room. After a few minutes she asked if we wanted to know the sex - um YES! She showed us on the big screen that we were expecting a BOY!!! My parents were there to see their grandson for the first time! The heartbeat of the little guy is so strong, and the technology of the ultrasounds is amazing! It was also so crazy to SEE him moving. I have been feeling him since week 16, and now I got to see him in action!

We met with the Dr. after the ultra sound and she told us the good news that our baby boy was VERY healthy. Absolutely perfect! She was a little concerned that the placenta was only 1 cm away from my cervix, but she said she had great hope that it would eventually move away as baby grew.
 

Bent in half - that is the top of his head and the bottom of his feet.
Yes - he is still that flexible!

That afternoon as I was leaving work, I got a call from the Dr. apologizing because she had read the ultrasound wrong. The placenta was in fact covering the cervix by 1 cm. This condition is called Placenta Previa, and it puts us at a high risk from here on out. My heart absolutely sank. I tried to hold it together to call Jason on the way home. We also knew that his parents were coming over to see the pictures and to find out the gender of our little one.

I managed to pull it together, but I sadly felt like a robot the whole night. Not wanting to give away how deeply sad I was. How scared of the unknown I was. How badly I wanted to go back in time and have a different result to the ultrasound.
 

Perfect feet - 10 toes!

That night was the darkest, loneliest night I have ever experienced. There was nothing Jason could say to comfort me. I blamed myself. I didn’t want to look at the picture of our beautiful son, for fear of losing him in the end. I hated that. I slept maybe 2 hours, finally getting up to research my condition. I was given a little bit of hope by some of the stories, but still had insurmountable fear.

Through the night I had many conversations with God. Pleading for Him to move the placenta. Begging for peace. Praying for Him to hold our baby boy tightly in His hands. Waiting for morning.
 

September 12, 2012 - The morning came, but with it, sadness still lingered. I tried to push it aside, put on a happy face. With every kick, I prayed that he wouldn’t disconnect from the placenta. It was one kick though, that I could feel him saying “Mom, stop worrying! I am happy, healthy, safe and sound.” I went to work, attempting to be brave, but by 11:30 the braveness wore off and I went home sobbing. Why did this happen to me? What did I do wrong early on in the pregnancy? Would I hemorrhage today, tomorrow, or further down the road? Would our boy be born too soon? Would I make it to the hospital in time? My dear, sweet husband came home to console me. He even made an appointment to sit down with a Dr. to talk about our situation, since we just got a phone call telling us the news.

I called my oldest sister to tell her what was going on and hoping for some advice since she had 3 C-sections. She reassured me that C-sections really weren’t that bad, and I would be fine. She has such an up-beat personality and by the time I got off the phone with her I was much calmer! Off to the Dr. we went.

The Dr. wasn’t able to provide much assurance, but it was good to know what we could possibly be facing. Her unconcerned demeanor allowed me to relax a little bit. She said it would be either serious, or a breeze, I will either bleed or I won’t. I will deliver early or I will go to 37 weeks. With that, we headed back home and tried to relax.

My dad sent out a sweet email, asking for prayer for his little grandson and that evening I got a phone call from my sweet youth leader from back home. She too had experienced Placenta Previa. She had so much great advice, and her placenta actually ended up moving! To say that the timing of her call was perfect is an understatement! She will never know how much that call meant to me and Jason. I had peace in my heart and sense of calm before I went to bed, and slept great! 

I woke with a surreal peace in my heart that can only come from God. He took away my fears, and replaced them again with Joy.
 
Wow - what a difference a year makes! We now have the most amazing, happy, healthy, smilely, huggable, kissable boy in the world! God is good - He saw that we needed to experience trials and heartache in order to fully understand His power. 

Absent

I am embarrassed at my recent lack of posting. So much has gone on the last couple of weeks. I keep meaning to sit down to write about everything, but I haven't had time. This is just a quick post to say that everything is great! Gavin is happy & healthy again after having a slight case of pneumonia.

Our little Viking

I promise I'll post more soon! Love to you all!