Brenley Milestones

After reading a friends blog, I am feeling the need to record some of Brenley's milestones here. I used to do that with Ryland all the time, so more for me, then anything... here is what Brenley is doing these days:

She is 7 months and 16.4 lbs. She is scooting across the floor, army style. She eats three meals a day and I have yet to find a food she doesn't like. I am making my own baby food this time around (most of the time) and she has loved everything, but her all time favorite is sweet potatoes. She has several roles on her legs that I can not get enough of. She loves to hit things, she gets going really fast the better mood she's in. She bangs every toy she holds on the floor to see what noise it makes. Someone said the other day, "Maybe she'll be musical" and I can totally see that, she keeps a pretty good beat going sometimes. I will try and get a video of it. She "talks" all the time and the louder it gets the louder she "talks". She SO incredibly easy to put to sleep. If any of you walked with me through Ryland's sleep issues, you understand how thankful I am for this! I give her her pacifier and her blanket and she's out, every time! Although, she actually still wakes up once if not twice a night for a feeding... I am totally OK with that because I know she can put herself back to sleep if I made her and I actually enjoy the quite moments when it's just us awake. She is content to take her naps anywhere I put her, car seat, stroller, the floor at a friends house, where ever... she makes life easy!

She is not always easy, she doesn't enjoy baths very much nor does she enjoy letting others hold her when all she wants is mom. She is a little timid in large crowds, but Ryland has also always been that way.

But, IF the measure of how difficult she has been was a determining factor of if we have more babies, we would have 20 more! :)

Those eyes

Having fun with my sister

Update

Yesterday we met with a surgen about Brenley's Dermoid Tumor that I wrote about in this post. He is confident that it is just that, a Dermoid, also called Dermoid Cyst. He thinks we should remove it, but wants to do a CT scan before proceeding. It is located on the left side of her head, about two inches behind her ear, which happens to be fairly close to the second, small soft spot on the back of her skull. He said that when a Dermoid is close to the soft spot or directly on the soft spot it is common that they have roots (tenticales) into the skull and possibly brain. So, he ordered the CT scan to see if that is the case. If it is, then we will be referred to a Neurosurgen. If not, which he feels strongly like there are not roots, then we will proceed with the surgery to remove it.

The CT scan is scheduled for April 6th and I am quite anxious about this day. They said they will give her a sedative to relax her for the procedure, but if she is not still enough they will need to put her under. We will not know until that moment so we need to prepare her as though she will be put under. That means she cannot eat past 4:30am - BRUTAL! Not feeding my baby for over 6 hours will probably be the longest 6 hours of my life! AND we have to go in an hour early to have a dye put in the spot they are looking at... keeping a STARVING baby calm enough to go through a CT scan seems almost impossible to me.

After the scan we will decide how to proceed. IF there are no roots then we can take our time removing it. We can wait as long as we'd like assuming it does not get bigger. I don't know what we will choose at that point. The surgery itself is pretty easy, but yet again she will need to be put under. So, we will be praying for wisdom.

Ryland on the other hand, is doing great. She is still taking her steroid inhaler four times a day, but our goal of keeping her well for a month has worked. It's been almost six weeks and she has not needed her other inhaler at all! We are just about done with staying away from other kiddos, so we will see if her immune system was able to recover AND if the steroid inhaler is working.

Thanks for your prayers. It was actually quite humbling to go into the hospital yesterday. There were SO many other kids there and several babies that were definalty worse off then us. It was a welcomed perspective that the Lord gave me. We are all His children and He does ALL things for His glory. My journey must be about giving Him all of me and not about figuring out how I can help my babies.

Truths from Brenley-Boo

Brenley's first time on the Skype Camera, she was quite full of things to say. :)

Truths from Brenley-Boo from Sherah on Vimeo.

Vacation @ Aunt Tal's

Here are a few pictures of our stay at Aunt Tal's. We had a great time and made some wonderful memories... one in particular was Ryland getting to take a bath in Aunt Tal's swimming pool! :)

Snow Day

SNOW hit this past weekend and man... apparently we broke every record in the book for DFW with this snow fall! It was crazy! At 1:15 am on Friday morning our power went out. It was so cold, all four of us ended up sleeping in the same bed. This is the scene we woke up to on Friday morning. Literally could only get out of the driveway one way and that way was blocked by another tree in the road. So, our neighbor helped us cut down the big branch just so we could get out, mean while we took advantage and played in the snow a little while. We were able to make it to my sweet sisters house, where we spent the night in her one bedroom apartment... that was fun! ;) We finally got electricity back Saturday late evening and were able to have a full 8 hours of sleep (thanks Brenley)! Now all Ryland can talk about is "her" snow and how much fun it was. :)

Story Time

Story time just before bed is a favorite at our house. Kyle loves to read and both girls LOVE to sit and listen! Ryland would sit and read books for hours if you were willing. And thanks to a family full of educators, we have some of the most wonderful children's books for her imagination to explore. I hope this tradition lasts long into their lives.

It's not for the faint at heart...

Being a parent that is, it's defiantly not for the faint at heart. This week as been trying for me and I think the next several month are not going to get much better, but I know I have much to learn in the area of faith, especially when it comes to my babies, so the Lord gently holds my hand as I put my babies in his lap.

"And Jesus said, 'If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.' Immediately the father cried out and said, 'I believe, help my unbelief!" Mark 9:23-24

Yesterday we went back to our Pediatrician to check out Brenley's lump. We have successfully treated the cradle cap and yet, the lump remains unchanged. So, we have been referred to a surgeon who will look it over and remove it. She is confident that it is a Dermoid Tumor and reassured us that it is a fairly easy removal process, which is comforting.... except when it's your own baby that you will have to watch be in pain.

Lord, I believe, help my unbelief! 

On another note, Ryland was diagnosed with Reactive Lung Disease. This is a early childhood form of asthma and does not necessarily mean she will have asthma later in life. What it means for right now is that every time she gets a cold, even those without fever, for her it turns into lungs shutting down and wheezing, mucousy cough for four or five days. Since her bought with RSV just before Christmas she has had three episodes of difficulty breathing where we needed to use her inhaler to help her. The rule of thumb is if she had three episodes in a full year they would treat her with preventative measures and she has has three in less then two months. So, she is now taking a steroid inhaler four times a day until May as well as another inhaler during the times that she is sick to help her lungs stay open. She is also on medicine to help reduce the mucous and ease the coughing. In May we will stop the steroid inhaler and see if she reacts the same during the summer months or if her reactions possibly come at other times in addition to viruses. If she continues to struggle between now and May will will be seen by a Pulmonologist (lung specialist) to monitor her more closely and run further tests.

So for the next several months we have decided as a family to stay at home as much as possible. We will drastically limit her time with other kids, especially in public playing areas or areas where there are a lot of kids we don't know. Since her immune system is so down right now, I would love to just keep her well for more then two weeks at a time. So cabin fever here we come! :)

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart" Colossians 3:15


I will walk in this season diligently and know that He has already written the story of my two babies lives. And as my Dad reminded me today, the Lord loves us MORE then I love my babies. My hope does not lay here on earth, but in heaven and my peace rests in the eternity of the cross. ---- much easier to write then live out.

*** On my previous post, you can actually see the lump on Brenley's head. It's about two inches behind her ear and up a little. It's about the size of a pea.

Better together!

Watching TV is so much better done with a friend then by yourself.... now she has someone to hide behind. :-)

Happy Birthday Tal!

Happy Birthday sweet sister of mine! It's hard to believe you are 30 today! I have loved spending my life with you, God could not have given me a more perfect sister! Thank you for all the things you teach me and for loving me the way you do! I love you! Happy Birthday!!!

mood swings

We have hit the age of mood swings... one second things are fine and in another they are not.... but, Kyle would say that women never grow out of them and I would say.... neither do men! :)

The BEST swing in the entire world

Her Ammy and Paparino have set up the best swing in the world in their back yard. Maybe not to most, but to Ryland there could be no better place to be. She asked to swing morning, noon and night.... sun or snow... it did not matter to that girl, she wanted to swing. I have a feeling there will be so many fun memories from this precious peice of pink plastic heaven.

TGIF

Happy Friday! Hope you can get think out of the box this weekend! ;-)

Food Inc.

Just watched Food Inc. the other day and I think it is safe to say that it has changed my view (and probably our budget) on food for good! I am shocked at all that we don't know about what it is that we eat and how much of it is not actually food anyway. I am now on the hunt to buy local foods. If you have any tips I would love them, I am kind of at a loss of where to start and how far to take this thing.

Yikes!

FYI - Did you know that Chipotle is doing their part in serving Food With Integrity? Go to their site and read all about it!