Cecily's GI Dr. was thrilled with her progress today... She weighed in at a healthy 18 pounds and 10 ounces!  Plus, she grew almost 2 inches!  While that would have been enough to make my day... Cecily's response to her Doctor was classic.  He was very happy with her gains but he casually joked that he may never see her smile...  She prompty responded with a raspberry that blew spit kisses all over his freshly ironed pants! I felt it was a very appropriate response!  When he pointed out her little gift she beamed at him as if to say - I can smile if I want too!  (That's my girl...)

We are seeing more and more smiles every day. We are hearing so much babbling that sometimes we think it is Noah! She even said "Hi Mama" and I think she said "My Mama"... to which Noah quickly corrected her, "nope, that's My Mama!"

I have to admit there were days when I wasn't sure we'd get here.  Every morning is getting easier.  We still have the vomitting, and we still have our bumps and bruises but they are getting so much easier to cope with! We believe in our little angel and she is showing her personality a little more every day.  We are pretty sure she has a good dose of Grandma Red.  It will be fun to watch her grow and we can't wait to see what each day brings.  That said - we're grateful for today and the smiles, shrieks and raspberries... even if they do get us wet!  Onwards and upwards! 

Websense does it again! Thank you for the very generous donation that will keep our charity growing! In addition, we finally finished the video of Nia's room. Check it out and see the Websense Service Committee in action! Thanks to them we were able to complete two rooms in one weekend!

Cecily continues to pucker up... and we're having a wonderful time watching her progress every day. She is almost 19 pounds! Onwards and upwards!

1 van. 2 kids. 2 adults. 10 pieces of luggage, 1 crib, 1 feeding chair, 1 exer-saucer, 2 boxes of toys, 1 IV pole... As we looked at the back of our Toyota mini-van we had to laugh. How many bags and boxes did it take to head out of town for a week?  The funny thing was we returned with even more stuff... and trash, sand, dirt, McDonald wrappers and golly knows what else tucked beneath the seats.  In summary, we survived our vacation... 

Vacation has taken on a new meaning for us at this stage in our life. If it takes more work to pack the car than it takes for the actual vacation I believe we have a problem... But it was a joy to reconnect with childhood friends and family over dinner.  It was so much fun to see a dear friend marry the love of her life in a beautiful ceremony in San Francisco.  It was wonderful to gather with family and friends in Grass Valley as we honored the life and spirit of Judith K. Ackerly and finally laid her ashes to rest in the family plot.  It was a blast to see Noah tear it up with his cousins at the dome and to spalsh around in the water and ride go-carts - all without injury!

While we had to cut the vacation short and leave the Lake sooner than expected - we had a chance to slow down and relax with family and friends. Perhaps next time we'll leave some stuff at home...

ps. we were featured in El Camino Pediatrics Newsletter! Thank you Dr. Wood for spreading our story and helping us grow our little charity! Onwards and upwards!

I came home from work yesterday to find our wonderful nurse playing kissy with Cecily. She told me she was teaching her how to kiss! I thought it was cute and in my hectic frenzy of switching from working-mom to care-taker mom I forgot about the encounter in the chaos of the afternoon with doctor appointments, swimming lessons, and getting the car serviced.
Then it was time to slow down and give Cecily her evening bath and enjoy the only quiet time of the day. I was drying Cecily off and getting her into her jammies when she started kicking her legs and trying to pull me closer. She is starting to pull to a sit and I could see her anticipation. I leaned over and she made a pucker face. I smiled and she was beaming and trying to sit - while keeping the pucker face! I realized she was trying very hard to give me a kiss! I leaned over and she pulled my hair with both chubby little hands and leaned in to give me a kiss - complete with the pucker and the kissy noise - right on the lips!

This was the best kiss! She was so proud of herself and I was so proud of her, too. She did it a few more times and when I tucked her into her bed she fell asleep with a smile.  It's the little things that make life worth living.  I will never forget this day or how much joy it gave me.  Onwards and upwards!

Cecily is babbling up a storm - and the most recent addition to her growing sound vocabulary was Dadda... We were lucky enough to capture this very adorable sound on video so Daddy could hear it for himself when he came home from work.  It turned an ordinary day into an extraordinary day and yet another reason to celebrate life's little victories.

The Doctors continue to be baffled by our little angel.  We learned a few more things about Cecily - some good and some not so good - but all important pieces of information to help us be the best parents possible for our little cherub.  On a very positive note, Cecily does not need brain surgery. This good news is what we will choose to hang onto this week.  It looks like all surgeries are now on hold for the short-term until Cecily presents a few more piece of information to the Doctors. 

We are in a "wait and see" mode which can be quite distracting.  Our goal this week is to stop waiting and to remember to keep living. It is all to easy to say, "oh we'll do that once Cecily stabalizes..." or we are waiting for blah blah blah until we do that... Life is here today and tomorrow is not guaranteed for anyone.  This reminder sits firmly in my mind tonight as a dear friend of our attends a funeral this evening for a friend of hers that died tragically at 32 in a car accident. 

It is Sunday night and the list of things that I didn't accomplish stares squarely at me from my "to do" list. The old Rachel would have completed all tasks and would likely be folding the laundry and making lunches for tomorrow.  The new and improved version is choosing to chill with sushi takeout, a beer, and a lovely cuddle from her adorable son as Cecily rests peacefully in her own bed.

This weekend brought many new and old faces into our world.  One of my dear college roomates that taught me a lot about life and living is again in my life thanks to Facebook. We appreciate her generosity with Cecily's Closet and we are happy to have reconnected after too many years.  This weekend also brought a long-overdue gathering with our next-door neighbors! We have lived in our house for almost four-years and this is the first time that we have socialized! They graciously hosted us and we had a lovely time.  We hope the kids get get together more often. We also have some new techniques to try with Cecily to help aleviate her pain without medication.

As the weekend comes to a close we are hopeful for another week of firsts and another reason to celebrate life's little victories.  Dadda this week... who knows what is next! Onwards and upwards!





 






 

Wouldn't the world be a better place if every morning you received a hundred kisses? I started this little routine with my son when he was a baby and I'd just keep kissing him until I reached 100.  As the months turned to years the kisses dwindled down but I still remember smothering him with love and I still do.  I decided to resurrect this routine again for Cecily and Noah.  I sometimes find myself in awe of how angry people can be! I think if they were woken with 100 kisses they would find it very hard to be so angry. They would know that someone in the world loved them so much and they could hold onto that. I hope my two cherubs can hold onto those kisses and pass the love (not the kisses) forward!

Noah is such a loving boy and we joke about what a little Cassanova he will be because of all of the love he receives. He is always hugging on us and Cecily and if he thinks we are sad he will come running and hug us or the needy child - whoever he or she may be.  He will hold me tight and say "I got you... I got you..." Of course I realize that a 3 year old boy should not be comforting his Mommy but I adore these moments when I see his soul and spirit come together into this beautiful being that is entirely Noah.  Like his Daddy, he sees what Cecily is doing and continues to cheer her on with high-fives and kisses.  A friend of ours referred to Cecily as timeless and we agree. We don't think of her as 16 months old... We think of her as an angel on her journey and her own path. 

This week we will learn more about what is ahead for Cecily. We know it involves more tests, more procedures and more hospital visits... but we also know that it will always start with 100 kisses and that we can make it as a family.  We are blessed. We are lucky. We are so happy.  Cecily has provided each of us with a completely new respect for life and the tiny things that make up each day. We no longer take for granted Noah's accomplishments on his scooter.  We adore every smile he gives us and we know that every day with him is a gift. With Cecily, we hang on her every inch across the floor and every mad screech that she likes to make. There could never be too much screaming in our house. First Cecily starts, then Noah repeats, then Cecily repeats and before we know it we are all screaming like crazy people... we love it! Who knew screaming could be so much fun... But nothing could be as fun as getting 100 kisses every day from our kids.  We know this week will come with its challenges but it will also come with its rewards.  Onwards and upwards!