the hopeful sandersons

Update

2012-01-26T12:53:00.000-08:00

So ever since I got data on my phone, all my pics and videos end up on facebook rather than on our blog. I have been so bad about updating this blog! I am not even sure how many people follow our blog, but I know Kyle's parents appreciate an update since they are non-facebookers, so here is one for them!

Sawyer's newest favorite thing to do is stand all by himself! He needs something small on the floor in order to pull himself up like our leg or a toy, but he just loves to stand up as often as possible. He can balance for about 10 seconds and he is all kinds of excited. Here is a video of him doing so:

Happy kiddos with Poppi! Or as Suzie put it, "My friend, Poppi!"

Both kids really enjoy hanging out with their friends:)

Sweet Suzie wearing Mommy's glasses

Tired from a fun day

Mommy and daughter bonding:)

Suzie just loves to read!

Desperately trying to wake up sister!

Not feeling well

And one more video of my sweet boy laughing

a few more pics

2011-12-17T12:58:00.001-08:00

so i got a new phone a couple weeks ago with a data plan which means i finally have access to the internet at home. this is my first time trying to do a blog post from my phone so it might be a little ghetto:) I am still learning how to use my camera too so some pics and videos are sideways! But at least I don't have to go to the church!

Pictures

2011-11-23T07:10:00.001-08:00

Happy Reformation Day!

2011-10-31T19:18:00.000-07:00

On Monday we went to our dear friends' house to celebrate the reformation! This is much more exciting to us than Halloween, but we do have fun getting the kiddos dressed up. Suzie loved being a ballerina...however, Sawyer didn't really like being a monkey so much:) Last night we took them to the Boys Ranch again for our church Trunk or Treat event. Suzie had such a great time that she asked me several times today if we could go to the Boys Ranch.
Here's a sweet pic of my kids watching a video together and Suzie burping her baby after feeding her:)
Suzie after spending 30 minutes licking a Mickey Mouse cookie...
And here are some more Suzie quotes I want to remember when she's all grown up:

Mommy: "Suzie, do you have to go potty?"
Suzie: "No comprendo."

Suzie: "My arms are sad."
Mommy: "Why?"
Suzie: "Because my legs tripped and hurt them."

While dragging Sawyer's tunnel out of his room into the hallway: "I will get your tunnel for you, Sawyer. You will like it."

Suzie: "I will make dessert for you Mommy."
Mommy: "What kind of dessert?"
Suzie: "Lunch."

Suzie: "Welcome to Suzie's diner. What can I get for you Daddy?"
Daddy: "Can I have a hamburger?"
Suzie: "No, we don't have hamburgers. Only Whataburger."

Mommy: "Time to go night night."
Suzie: "Momma, can I just play in my room for a few more hours?"

"Sawyer's sleeping. Momma, can I just love him and kiss him?"

"The trailer is here! Mema and Poppi are coming on Tuesday for a party!"

"Momma, you are so sweet to me."

Suzie's prayer tonight: "Dear Father, thank you so much for this wonderful day. Please help Mema to feel better and help us to honor you. In Jesus name, amen."

Officially Crawling

2011-10-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

So two days after my last post, Sawyer officially started crawling on all fours. So I posted two little videos for family to see how's he's doing. He's all over the house now but his favorite place to just hang out is the hall for some reason. It's so interesting to see him do all these things in a normal time frame after Suzie has been significantly delayed in everything. Everything just seems so easy for him and I didn't realize how difficult everything was for Suzie with her being our first child.

Speaking of Suzie, she is a Cubbie in Awana now! She loves it and mostly just looks around in awe the whole time. Here are two little clips of our big girl in her Cubbie vest just soaking it all in:)

6 Months

2011-09-28T12:13:00.000-07:00

We can't believe Sawyer has already been with us for half a year, and yet it seems like he's always been with us at the same time! He is doing great. He is such a happy, strong little (ok...big) guy and he makes us laugh and smile every day. Here are a few little tidbits about our big 6 month old!

Weight: 18 lbs. 4 oz.
Favorite Person: Suzie
Favorite Foods: Sweet Potatoes, Banana, and Mixed Berries
Least Favorite Food: Green Beans
Favorite Things to Do: Pull Mommy and Suzie's hair, scoot all around the living room, get into everything, watch anything on TV, and be thrown or dangled up in the air
New Motor Activities: Pushing up to sitting, and back to hands and knees, and scoot all around. He is so close to crawling! He can do two or three movements and then splats onto his tummy and resorts to scooting like an inch worm.
Tooth Count: Zero!!
Cl0thing Size: Just about ready to move up to 12 month and he's busting out of his 6-9 month stuff
Bed Time: 9:30-10:00pm
Wake Time: 8:00-8:30am (yes...this is nice:)

Enough of me telling you about him...now you can see him for yourself! This video is of him desperately wanting to crawl, but not quite coordinated enough:

And here's on of Suzie singing the Raider Fight song...for Auntie Debra:)

My family took pictures out in California while we were there. Unfortunately our computer is being really slow so I can't post them at the moment. My family posted them on my facebook though:)

That's all for us! Enjoying life here in the great state of Texas and thankful for all the Lord has given us.

Two Fun Kiddos

2011-09-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a few videos and pictures of Suzie and Sawyer for some restless Grandma's, Grandpa's and Aunties to enjoy:)

Today is Texas Tech's first football game of the season. Suzie is very excited:)

Suzie and Sawyer have so much fun together. Suzie is a great big sister and loves to take care of her little brother.

This is what I often find Sawyer doing on the floor or in his crib. He can't wait to take off!

Suzie loves to play dress up...and of course it's hard to not capture her cheesy smile:)

These are her favorite jammies that our good friend Donna got her for her birthday. She likes to play dress up in them and then go to sleep in them.

My sweet boy!

C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A

2011-08-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

This past week we were able to go to California to visit my family. I was dying to meet my newest little nephew Caleb, who is already 7 months old!

Here he is...isn't is SO cute??
Of course Mema was just thrilled to spend time with her 6th and newest grandchild.
It's so fun that my sis and I have babies so close in age...just two months apart! I only wish they lived closer:(
You'd never know that Caleb and Sawyer are two months apart. They are almost exactly the same size. My two kiddos had such a great time. We praise God that they did so well on the plane and with all the hubbub even though they were so exhausted when we got home.
Here's the boys...
And the girls...
Suzie was in heaven playing with all her cousins.

Ashley and Suzie, who are 10 months apart, were like two peas in a pod.

Sawyer learned a new trick from Caleb...he can sit up all by himself!

He's also become quite the roller We decided that Sawyer and Ashley look like they could be brother and sister.
I was able to visit with my friend Joy and meet their newly adopted daughter, Kate. She is so beautiful! Of course, I forgot to take a picture so I snagged this one from their blog so I could show off her cute kiddos:)
Of course the kids were thrilled to see their Auntie Debra again...despite the sad face in the first pic:)
And the kids were able to see their great grandparents
And Daddy was so glad to spend so much time with his kiddos...
And that was our trip! We had a wonderful time but it's also good to be home. I'm bummed that it will be another 7 months till I see my sister and her family again, but I know the time will fly by.

Ladybug Birthday

2011-07-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

My little girl turned 3 on Monday. I can hardly believe it! Took the kiddos to the doctor for their check ups and the doctor was so pleased with both! She was so impressed with Suzie's walking and language skills. Suzie weighed 26 lbs 2 oz (10th percentile) and is 36 inches (25th percentile). Sawyer is also developing wonderfully and weighs 16 lbs 6 oz and is 26 inches 75th percentile for both) at 4 months old.

We had a ladybug birthday party for Suzie. Granddad, Nana, and Auntie Debra were all here to celebrate! Here are some pictures of her fun day:

She looked a little like a ladybug in her cute polka dot dress!
I saw some pictures online and was able to make her three ladybug cakes! Unfortunately, she was a little afraid of them. She loved them, but thought the legs made them look a little spidery. She also burst into tears when everyone sang, "Happy Birthday":)

So tired!

Having fun with her friends.
Here are a few other pics of our funny little kiddos.
Poor Sawyer gets his sister's girly hammy-downs:)

A Few Laughs

2011-07-08T12:08:00.001-07:00

This is for the family. Sawyer is starting to laugh and I caught a couple little ones on camera:)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

2011-07-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

Suzie loves to "read" books. She has such a great memory and is so independent that she likes to read her favorite books all by herself. This video comes in about 1/4 into The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I've only read this one to her a few times but the illustrations on this one are so good, she just improvises:)

And here is our happy little man at 3 1/2 months:

Summer Retreat Pictures

2011-06-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

Suzie Sayings and Sawyer Smiles

2011-06-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, so here I am finally posting on our blog! I can't imagine why I haven't had time to do more...:) I did want to post a video of our chunky little man. At his two month appointment he weighed in at 13 lbs. 4 oz...85th percentile! I think he's gained another two pounds in the past three weeks. He is already so big! Sawyer has two moods...super sweet, happy and smiley. And super tired, cranky and screaming. But either way he is such a blessing to us. I decided to post of video of his smiley mood instead of the other:)

Well, our little almost three year old sure is a chatter box! And kids sure say the funniest things! I wanted to record some of the silly things Suzie has said so that I can remember them when she's all grown up. Much of what she says is repeated so her pronouns are often mixed up. And I hope I can remember her sweet little voice because it makes it so much better. Here are the funny little sayings I wrote down, although there are so many more!

"I'm a stinky little boy!"

"I need protein."

"Are you serious???" (She usually shouts this when she is in trouble)

"I did such a good job sleeping!" or "I did such a good job staying in my bed!"

"I have crazy hair!" (she sure does!)

"Babe! You're supposed to turn off the light!"

"I want some guacamole, Mommy"

"I'm so proud of you."

"Ouch! It hurts me!"

"She wants to snuggle, Mommy."

Whenever she falls she says, "I'm sorry."

"I want to see Goliath! He's dead."

"I want to walk by yourself." (little miss independent:)

"Mommy, I'm gassy!"

"Your hair looks so pretty, Mommy."

"Hi Mr. Kyle. Hi Miss Stephanie."

"Can I have a heartbeat?" (she means sweet tart)

"Mommies and Daddies and bears...oh my!"

"She kissed him....eeeewwwww!"

"I want to read The Very Hungry Patagator."

"Your sister loves you, Sawyer!"

While pointing her cute little finger and you, "You stay right there! I be right back."

Suzie: "We have a family!"
Mommy: "Yeah, who is in our family?"
Suzie: "Sawyer."
Mommy: "Yeah, who else?"
Suzie: "Auntie Denise!!!"

Daddy: "What is the Bible?"
Suzie: "God's Word!!"

Daddy: "What are your doctors names?"
Suzie: "Dr. Consor, Dr. Nagy, and Dr. Eisenbaum!" (She says all three of the names perfectly)

Daddy: "Suzie, are you a sinner?"
Suzie: "No, I'm a princess!"

And I'll leave you with a video of her singing...gosh I love that sweet voice:)

Suzie the Cheerleader

2011-05-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

Our Sweet Kiddos

2011-05-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Videos & Pictures of Sawyer

2011-04-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

It has been a hectic few weeks as the Sanderson family is adjusting to the new member of the family. Admittedly there have been some challenges and adjustments. But by God's grace we are doing well and enjoying baby Sawyer. Steph (this is Kyle) is an incredible mother who honors Christ with her service to her family. She doesn't get much sleep but she continues to persevere. Here are some more up-to-date pictures and videos!

More of Sawyer:)

2011-03-11T17:31:00.000-08:00

Born on 3.9.11 at 9:51am
8 lbs. 4 oz, 21 1/2 inches

Sawyer's Birth

2011-03-10T20:26:00.000-08:00

Be sure to look at the previous post which has Suzie meeting Sawyer!

Sawyer and Suzie Meet!

2011-03-10T17:19:00.000-08:00

Almost Ready

2011-03-07T06:43:00.000-08:00

In just two days we will welcome the newest member of our family into the world! I can't believe how fast it has all gone by, and yet I feel like I've been pregnant forever:) We are so excited and a little nervous for this new adventure. The past couple of weeks I've been trying to get the nursery ready for Sawyer so I thought I'd post a couple pictures of how it turned out. In honor of Sawyer's daddy, we did a sports theme!

On Saturday our church had a shower in honor of Sawyer. We were able to just squeeze it in before he gets here:) Our church is filled with the kindest, most generous people. We received so many baby clothes, diapers, toys, and other essentials and had such a fun time of fellowship with these wonderful ladies. I am so thankful for the love and support that is constantly lavished on us at FBC Roosevelt. We have been so blessed! Here are a few pictures of some of the wonderful ladies that I get to minister alongside.

We will post when we have pictures of the newest Sanderson!

10 Days!

2011-02-26T09:24:00.000-08:00

Well because Sawyer is measuring so large, I've already had one C-section, and apparently I am quite small, my doctor is recommending a scheduled C-section at 38 weeks. I had really been hoping to have a normal delivery, but the past few weeks had been wondering what the wisest thing to do would be. Since my doctor had been so open to normal delivery the whole time, I really trust her judgment and we decided to go ahead and schedule the C-section. Which means that Lord willing at 7:30am on Wednesday, March 9, Sawyer Dawson Sanderson will come into the world! We are so excited and can't believe that's only 10 days away! Crazy!!

Suzie had been doing such a great job walking. She was walking around everywhere, maybe up to 75% of the time. In fact, it was rare to see her crawl at all. But on Tuesday she wouldn't walk at all, not even holding our hands or pushing a toy...something we hadn't seen from her in months! Wednesday morning was the same thing so when I took her to therapy, her physical therapist started working with her and said that she had been working so hard, she strained her hamstring! Poor thing. She will walk a little bit here and there, but is still recovering. When she does walk at all she has a sad little limp:( It's strange and a little sad to see her crawling everywhere again, but she doesn't seem to be in pain, just discomfort. Her therapist did some massaging on her and taped her leg and we are letting her have long baths and not pushing her too hard. I hope she's back to her normal self by the time Sawyer comes!

A couple weeks ago we transitioned her into her "big girl bed." I was a little nervous because she is such a picky sleeper and always has a very hard time with change. But she absolutely LOVES her big girl bed! She is sleeping even better than she was in her crib and has learned that she is not to get out until Mommy comes to get her. I am so thankful for this smooth transition. Here are a couple of pictures of her in her big girl bed.

She also loves to play dress-up and put on all her jewelry. Here are a couple pictures of her all dressed up!

And here's a little video we took this morning...note the typical Suzie Bed Head:)

Dancing and Simon Says

2011-02-16T12:49:00.000-08:00

Another Glimpse of Sawyer

2011-01-24T16:15:00.002-08:00

I had my 30 week ultrasound two weeks ago. Sawyer is doing great and measuring two weeks ahead! Kyle was almost 10 pounds when he was born so I'm bracing myself. I feel huge, squished, and don't know how I'm going to make it another 8 weeks. I'm praying he is a couple weeks early:)

Here are some pictures of our precocious two and half year old. She is doing so well and has really improved since her surgery. She is starting to walk more and doing better at therapy than she has in a couple months. She is finally back into her routine, but we are going to try to transition her out of her crib and into a big girl bed next week so her sleeping well could go out the window! She continues to be such a joy to us and we praise God for another successful surgery!

Post Surgery

2011-01-09T15:08:00.000-08:00

Thank you everyone for praying for Suzie's surgery! What a blessing it was to be surrounded by so many loving believers once again. This was probably the scariest experience we have had since Suzie was first born. Apparently, her shunt has been failing for several months, and she started having some symptoms for a while, but because the shunt was partially draining, she would get relief and seem like she was fine. For about a month we thought that she just had a bad cold and we got antibiotics for her on Monday since it had gone on for so long. Then early Wednesday morning it was apparent that things were getting worse so we took her into the ER. After they tapped the shunt and drained some fluid, she once again seemed like her old self and didn't really seem to be in any pain. But early Friday morning she took a turn and was in the most pain we'd seen her in for a while. We praise God that the surgeon was able to get her into surgery so quickly so she could get some relief. He was able to replace the valve in her shunt with one that will hopefully be more effective at keeping the pressure more consistent in her brain. Suzie was like a new person after the surgery. She is exhausted and in a little discomfort at times, but overall she is just as happy as we've seen her in weeks! We were released from the hospital yesterday and are so thankful to be at home.

Here is a little video to show what good spirits Suzie is in today! You can also see her "ouchie" and post-surgery hair...what a mess!

Praise

2011-01-07T14:15:00.000-08:00

We praise God that Suzie's surgery went well! The doctor said everything went as well as he could have hoped. Suzie was in a lot of pain this morning and it was very hard for mom and dad to see:( We are so thankful they were able to get her into the OR so quickly and get the catheter that was clogged replaced so smoothly. The doctor also put in a different valve that he hopes will keep this from continuing to happen. Suzie is a little uncomfortable but is SO much better than she was this morning. Thank you everyone for your prayers!

Prayer Request

2011-01-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

Suzie is having shunt revision surgery tomorrow. Please pray that God would protect her. Please pray that the neurosurgeon would be able to find out what exactly is causing the shunt blockage. Please pray that we would glorify God with our attitudes as we are fighting fatigue and of course sadness in seeing our sweet Suzie go to surgery.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a little Christmas cheer from our sweet Suzie:

28th Week

2010-12-22T06:37:00.000-08:00

As I enter my 28th week of pregnancy, tons of memories flood into my mind of a little over two years ago when I experienced one of the scariest and yet most joyful times in my life. At this time in my pregnancy with Suzie, I noticed that she wasn't moving as much as I had become accustomed to. For two days I would try to get her to move and felt as though her movement was becoming less frequent. Looking back, I can see the Lord's hand in everything that happened those few weeks and months when Suzie was born. I wouldn't have gone in to the doctor unless my nurse had called me to give me some test results. Had I waited even a day, it would have been too late and we would have lost her. I had the most wonderful OB who was not only incredibly skilled, but also a strong believer who kept telling me, "We know Who's in control!" We were able to get into one of the best NICU's and stay right across the street. Suzie was given a 40% chance of surviving and we were told if she did make it, she would most likely be moderately to severely mentally and physically disabled. And just look at her now! What a blessing she is to us and we wouldn't trade all that we went through for anything. We have been blessed far more than we deserve and every day Suzie is a testimony of how merciful God is to us wretched sinners.

People ask me all the time if I'm scared about this pregnancy. The truth is, I can be tempted to worry sometimes. Who's to say that the Lord doesn't want me to go through something like this again? And yet, I know and have seen that when you encounter a trial that seems far too great for you to handle, God's grace is right there to see you through every moment. And so, whenever I am tempted to fear, I look at my Suzie and see God's grace overflowing. I remember how scary it was and how the Lord comforted me all the way. And I do pray everyday for the safety of Sawyer, knowing how the Lord loves Him far more than I ever could! I praise God for allowing Sawyer to be quite the mover so I can have that little bit of assurance that he's doing okay. If I were to encounter a day when his movements decreased significantly, it would certainly be scary! But what a blessing it is to know that we can trust in our Sovereign and kind God.

I thought I'd post this picture of what Suzie looked like the day she was born, since Sawyer is about that size right now, and I still have a whole trimester left!

Suzie Lorraine; 7.18.08; 1 lb. 14 oz.; 13 1/4 inches

Is It December Already?

2010-12-07T15:45:00.001-08:00

Well, I don't know where the time has gone. Thanksgiving came and went so quickly and we were so blessed to have our dear friends invite us over to their home for the holiday since it was our first Thanksgiving away from family. We were at their house from 10am to 8pm. I hope we didn't overstay our welcome! Suzie just loves the Eddins and will always recite all 7 of their names whenever we are on our way to their home. Here is a picture of her with two of their boys, Danny and Judson:

I said I would never get a fake tree, but some friends had an extra one that they gave us and I gotta admit, I love it! No mess, no hassle with the lights, no dead needles, no holes. Why didn't I convert sooner?

We don't have a fireplace so we had to improvise with the stockings:)

Our traditional Thanksgiving family picture. It's amazing to get one with no one's eyes closed!

Here's one of my favorite's of Suzie-Q.

And one more fun one...with Suzie's bedhead:)

We are doing great here. I'm 25 weeks now and feel more pregnant than I ever did with Suzie. I'm only three weeks away from where I was when I had her! That is just crazy. Kyle wanted to stick with the "S" names so we've decided to name him Sawyer. Little Sawyer is quite the mover which is definitely the best thing about pregnancy. Suzie's doing great and is officially doing therapy without mom around. I watch from the parent room and she is just thriving. She is walking more and more, probably 5-10 steps 6-8 times a day on her own. She does better at therapy. She is talking up a storm, knows all her shapes and numbers from 1 to about 13 and is even getting pretty close to knowing the whole alphabet (in the song, not by seeing the letters).

Since this really is my online scrapbook and the closest thing I have to a baby book for Suzie, I wanted to record some of the cute things she has been saying lately so I'll remember them years from now. Here are a few phrases she says regularly in her sweet little voice:
"Hi Mommy! Good morning to you!"
"Daddy!!! Suzie wants you!!"
"I get it for you."
"Hey! What you doing?"
"How are you?" Then when you ask her how she is she'll respond with, "Pretty good."
"I hurt. Kisses make it better."
"Twenty-two hours." (No idea where this comes from but she says it a lot!)
"Where are we?" She says this whenever we get really close to home and she wants you to ask her the same question back. Then she'll say, "Home!"
"Night, night darling."
"Bye sugar!" She says this to her therapist Pam when she's leaving.
If you go into the bathroom she'll say, "I go potty too!" Although she's not really close to actually using the potty:)
There are so many other funny little things she says, but that's all I can think of for now.

Thanks for continuing to follow us here on the blog. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Trunk or Treat

2010-11-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

For Halloween our church went to The Boys Ranch, a children's home in Lubbock. The kids had all kinds of games and food and then they went around the parking lot to receive candy from all our trunks. The kids had a great time and ended up with TONS of candy! Here are some pics of our time.

Suzie went as a puppy dog but some people thought she was a cow:)

She keeps asking for her puppy shirt!

And I had to include a few videos of Suzie singing. So sweet!

She starts yelling in the middle because she is so impatient to watch herself on camera!

Praise the Lord

2010-10-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

Thank you all so much for your prayers for Suzie's eye surgery! The surgery went very well and the doctor was pleased. Her eyes are very red and a little crossed for now, but we hope that once her eyes adjust to her new looser muscles, they will be a little straighter. After a few hours of fussiness and discomfort after the operation, she had a great night's sleep and seems to be back to her normal self. Praise God! We won't have a complete look at her alignment for another six weeks, but the doctor seemed pleased with how she looked this morning. We pray that she will not need another surgery for a very long time! Or at all would be nice:)

Please Pray

2010-10-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

Please join us in praying for Suzie's eye surgery! The surgery is scheduled for 10:00am on Monday morning. They said for us to plan on being there all day and being able to bring her home that evening. Please pray for the Lord to protect her and for wisdom for the doctor. We will post how it turned out on Monday evening. Thank you so much for your prayers! What a blessing it is to be a part of the family of God.

It's a...

2010-10-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

For those who haven't heard on Facebook...

Kyle is just thrilled!

I also wanted to post a little video of Suzie taking a few steps! We see more and more progress with her every day.

We had a great time with my sister and her youngest daughter, Ashley. Suzie liked Ashley a lot, although she kept calling her Shelby, but Ashley seemed a little afraid of Suzie. Suzie is kind of a rough little girl, so I hardly can blame her!

Suzie is officially a "Puggle" in our Awana program. Here she is sporting her new shirt and backpack. She's such a big girl!

She's already such a loyal Red Raider fan and cheers, "Go Raiders!" even when we are losing:)

We're Still Here!

2010-09-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while so we have a few things to update on! First of all, Suzie has made some tremendous progress in the past few weeks. First, she has begun to stand on her own for up to 10 seconds! She is getting much better at keeping her right heal down and putting some weight on that right leg. All that increased weight bearing has allowed her to start taking steps! She has taken up to 7 steps at one time but definitely does best in therapy after they've been working out her legs. She can take two or three steps at home before she sits down. But this is a huge improvement for her and we are very hopeful that she might start walking before the baby comes in March.

She also just continues to grow in her vocabulary and piecing sentences together. She can sing the whole song, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," all by herself, although she slurs several of the words. She is learning new words and new ways to express herself every day.

Here is a video of her standing for a few seconds all by herself:)

And here's our clever girl turning a basket over to stand on so that she can reach higher. She pulled this picture down and brought it over to me and said, "That's Daddy!"

Another update we have is regarding her eyes. The doctor only saw mild improvement from patching and recommended surgery to correct the strabismus in both eyes. While the problem seems mild right now and she appears to be able to see okay, her vision is likely to become impaired the longer we wait to correct it surgically. So her surgery is scheduled for October 11. It is an outpatient surgery so she will be able to go home that day provided there are no complications. She will have to be put under anesthesia and be intubated so I am not looking forward to that. We so appreciate all your prayers and trust in the Lord to continue to show His mercy to our girl.

On a more fun note, we have had a slew of visitors lately! My parents came two weeks ago, Kyle's parents came last weekend, my sister and niece come tomorrow and two more good friends stop by in October! We just love having our dear friends and family staying with us. Suzie likes it too:)

Aspiring Singer

2010-08-24T10:59:00.000-07:00

One of Suzie's favorite thing to do is sing. Some of her favorite songs are Jesus Loves Me, The Wheels on the Bus, ABCs, and Elmo's Song. Here's a little video of her going through all the different parts in the Wheels on the Bus.

Here are a few pictures of Suzie Q:

So happy to be with Daddy:)

Trying to stand all by herself! She can get up but has no balance and falls over right away. But it's a step in the right direction!

Coming in March 2011

2010-08-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

Baby Sanderson #2!

Goose-egg

2010-08-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

Suzie has become quite daring in her climbing efforts lately. This picture shows the unfortunate result of her trying to climb from the couch to the ottoman. Poor baby!

Happy Birthday Suzie!

2010-07-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

(Okay, so I've been trying to publish a post for Suzie's birthday ever since last Sunday, but the video option still isn't working right! So I decided to post anyway:)

Last Sunday, our sweet little girl turned two. I just can't believe how big she is! She is more and more fun everyday. We praise God for giving us the past two years with our precious girl. We were reflecting back on two years ago when we weren't sure whether our little girl would survive or be severely disabled. To see her now, her joy and sweetness, we are just so amazed at how much God has blessed us.

Suzie had a great birthday and got a lot of fun new gifts! Here is a little video of her enjoying one of her presents:) You can view the video on You Tube by clicking here, but I'll leave this up in case it starts working.

Her vocabulary grows everyday and she is beginning to speak in sentences now which just amazes us. Here are a few of her most common phrases where she puts a couple words together:
-"Help me Mommy!"
-"I go church"
-"Hold you" or "Hug you"
-"Up please"
-"Chocolate milk"
-"My baby" or "My Daddy"
-"Wreck em' Tech" (thanks to Auntie Debra)
-"Bye bye yucky" (when we throw her diaper away)
Another funny thing is that she has started calling her Daddy, "Kyle." I don't know why, but sometimes she'll be wandering around saying, "Mommy! Kyle!" It's so funny:) I'll try to be better about posting next month:)

Counting and Cookies

2010-06-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I am aware that every parent thinks that their child is the most adorable, funny, and brilliant child alive. But I think since we were told that Suzie would be moderately/severely mentally and physically disabled, we are even more prone to gawk at her achievements and think she is the smartest little toddler that ever existed. Especially since she is so far delayed physically, we are just so proud of how she is developing cognitively. We are so thankful for all her progress. So here is a video of our brilliant little Suzie doing one of her new favorite things...counting!

(On a side note, the reason for the blog title is that Suzie's new favorite word is cookie. It is by far her favorite thing to eat, which she is now asking for every time we enter the kitchen or I say it's time to eat. She is also quite fond of the Cookie Monster at Therapy and the ladies at her therapy place have recently dubbed her "The Toy Monster" because she goes through more toys there than any other child:)

Recapping May

2010-05-31T12:08:00.000-07:00

The month of May was another wonderful month for the Sanderson Family! Kyle gets to enjoy the next few months of teasing me for no longer being in my 20s as I turned 30 this month and Kyle doesn't join me until October. My parents came out to celebrate with us and we had a great time showing Suzie off. My mom taught her to say "Love you!" when prompted. It's very sweet and you can see how she says it in this little clip:

My parents turned into cowboys while they were here!

We've had some great events with the youth group and look forward to going to summer camp in South Texas in two weeks! We've had a great time getting together with friends and watching our little girl progress. Here's a video of her reading her book. Check out how many words she knows!

We are so thankful for her and so proud of her. The eye doctor hasn't seen much progress her exotropia, so he wanted to give the patches one more month and then we'll consider surgery if there is still no improvement. We pray that the Lord would allow her eyes to correct themselves through the patching, but we trust that He has a perfect plan for our Suzie. Here are a few more pictures!

She loves to stand up on this table and turn on and off the light. She's getting much better at climbing up on things!

Exotropia

2010-04-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

Suzie had a follow up appointment with the eye doctor last Tuesday. We felt like the few days preceding the appointment, her eyes had gotten a little worse. The eye doctor immediately saw the issue, diagnosing Suzie with exotropia. Most likely a result from her cerebral palsy, her eyes tend to drift outward, the opposite of cross-eyed. He noticed it in both eyes, although the right eye is stronger than the left one. So he recommended we start patching her eyes for two hours a day. We patch the right eye for two days and then the left eye for one day, and repeat for the next three weeks until we see him again. I was a little skeptical that Suzie would even tolerate the patch, but she does so well! She cries when I pull it out, and will rub it sporadically, but she leaves it on and just gets caught up in playing. I'm so proud of her! I think part of it is that she really doesn't like the way it feels when we pull it off, so she's not in a hurry to remove it herself. I feel like her eyes are already getting better, although she still struggles the most when she is tired. But I am hopeful that this will resolve the issue and she might not need surgery. Here are a couple of pictures and a short video of our little pirate!

The day before her eye appointment we went to meet her new neurosurgeon in Midland. He was very personable (who knew a brain surgeon could be sociable!) and recommended we come back every six months until she is five years old. If I am tempted to be discouraged about Suzie's eyes and how she has another possible surgery looming in her future, I just need to remember many of the children I saw come in and out of the neurosurgeon's office. Many of them in wheelchairs and/or unable to speak or do anything for themselves. God has been SO abundantly merciful to our little girl and to us and we are extremely grateful for how well she is doing. Praise the Lord!

April Showers

2010-04-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

We have had a very busy few weeks and it's just getting busier! The past few days have brought a whole lot of rain, which Lubbock, similar to Santa Clarita, is not set up the best for. Our church parking lot, front and back yards, and the roads are just seeping with water. But we are enjoying the rain and things have gone from dead brown to lively green in a matter of days. Spring is here!

Here are some more pictures to recap our last few busy weeks:

Suzie went to her first Red Raider baseball game! She did great and would even clap right along with the rest of us.

We celebrated our first holiday here in Texas and had a great Easter service followed by fellowship, food and an egg hunt with some wonderful new friends.

Nana, Kyle's mom, came in for a weekend visit.

We've been having a blast with the youth group!

The craziness continues these next few weeks. Granddad (Kyle's Dad) is coming in a few hours and the guys hope to go to a football game and a baseball game tomorrow, despite the stormy weather. Then we have a baseball game with the youth this Sunday. Monday we meet with Suzie's neurosurgeon for the first time which is more than a two hour drive for us. Then Tuesday we're back to the eye doctor. That afternoon, one of my best friends, Karyn, and her husband Darby are stopping by for a visit on their way to Georgia. And that weekend we have a campout with the church. And my parents come in a few days after that!

We are all doing really well and loving life here in Texas. Suzie continues to progress and grow and we are continually amazed at God's mercy to us. She is such a joy. She is talking up a storm and now says more words than I can count. Here are a few of her new words: yellow, red, blue, green, three, sit, bubble, cheek, toe, my, church, catch. She is also beginning to put two words together. The other day when Kyle picked her up from nursery, she said, "My daddy!" and at therapy the other day when she saw herself in the mirror she said, "Hi Suzie!" And when you ask her what color something is, she always says, "yellow" first, so I have been correcting her by saying, "It's not yellow, it's red." So when I asked her what color something was she said, "Not yellow.":)

She's also progressing very well physically. Her therapists really want her to use both her hands at the same time to engage both sides of the brain together. One of her favorite activities in doing this is catching the ball like this video shows. She is also starting to be able to inch forward on this car using her legs.

One day, Suzie discovered that she can use this toy to walk around the house. She just started doing it all on her own! This video only shows her walking a few steps. She actually will walk around for much longer, but I chose this one because it also shows her crawling correctly for a bit and putting on a "necklace" which is one of her other favorite two handed activities.

Well, thanks for keeping up with us! God bless!

As Promised...

2010-03-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally have some pictures and videos to share! Thank you to my wonderful hubby for staying with SueSue while she is napping so I can spend some time on the computer:)

Therapy is going so well. We have already seen an improvement in Suzie's posture and extension in her right arm. She is starting to stand much better as well, not leaning on furniture as much, although she still isn't standing on her own. We are so thankful for the great service she is getting.

She is chatting a ton too! Here are some of her new words: Mommy (instead of Mama) and Daddy, walk, yuck, neigh (horse sound), shoe, sock, play, go, Mary (her video), hippo, bath, two. She is so social...all the therapists know her because she is always saying "hi" to them.

Let me quickly paint a picture of what it looks like every time I go to the store with Suzie. Suzie says, "Hi....hi...hi....hi...hi" to everyone she sees. Even if they say "hi" back, she just keeps chatting. Then they will say, "what beautiful red hair! Where did she get that hair from." I will tell them that neither of her parents have red hair, but she has an aunt on Daddy's side with it and a great-grandma on Mama's side. Meanwhile, Suzie is persistently saying "hi" the whole time:) I can't remember the last time we were out where this did not happen...seriously.

We had so much fun painting the youth room with the kids last week. Here are a few pictures. The whole room was painted in the blue that is on the top. We added the orange on the bottom, the white stripe, and painted all the door jams and border on the whiteboard white. We think it turned out pretty well!

This is what happens when I let Suzie feed herself...

Now we're just hanging outside with our neighbors and enjoying the sunshine!

Suzie is frequently doing more of the correct crawling rather than army crawling. She is so fast combat crawling though, it's no wonder why she prefers it!

Here's a video of Suzie in her big girl pigtails doing her favorite thing ever...watching a video of Mary Rice Hopkins.

And here is is kissing her baby...so sweet!

Thanks to all for your prayers and encouragement. We are so blessed!

Prayer Request

2010-03-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay. I know that I have not been faithful to blog since we moved. We opted to save $50/month by not getting internet in our home since the church is just steps away. However, it does make blogging, emailing, and other internet functions much more difficult. I do have a few new pictures and videos to post but Suzie is going to wake up any minute and I need to let Kyle get back to work. However, I did want to post a prayer request while I have a few minutes.

I took Suzie to the eye doctor on Tuesday for a bi-annual check-up following her laser eye surgery. (On a side note, our appointment was at 8:45am so I naively assumed we would be able to make it to Suzie's 10:30am therapy, or at least her 11:00am session. Not the case. We finally left the office around 12:30pm. Officially goes on record as Suzie's longest doctors appointment to date. And she has had a lot!) Anyway, the good news is that there are no concerns about her ROP at this point meaning the surgery did exactly what it was supposed to do. The sad news is that the doctor is concerned that she might not be using both of her eyes properly. We have noticed for some time that that occasionally it seems like her eyes are looking a slightly different direction for just a moment. We really didn't have too much concern because it is so subtle and she seems to see everything just fine. But the doctor thinks that her brain might be shutting off one or both eyes for a time. He asked us to pay attention to try to determine if it is one eye or both eyes and the frequency it occurs. He wants to see her in five weeks to see how she is doing and mentioned the possibility of patching one eye or even doing muscle surgery on one or both eyes. After watching her more carefully for the past few days and getting her therapists perspective, it seems like her left eye is the eye that is affected. 75% of the time, she is looking with both eyes correctly, but the other 25% of the time, her left eye will drift a little too far to the left and have to correct itself, which it does after only a second. The therapist suggested that her left eye is just slightly less controlled and is more affected when she is tired. The prayer is that we would be able to get her to strengthen her eye muscles without surgery. Please continue to pray for our family!

Another prayer request would be how the new health care reform is going to affect Suzie, and of course so many others! It has been a good week for me to lay my requests before the Lord and know that He is in complete control over every detail of our lives, even our government. He has provided amazingly for our little Suzie thus far and we can trust Him to continue to do so. Suzie is on medicare so there is concern that she might lose her insurance all together, and if not, most likely she would lose the amazing coverage that she is getting especially in regards to therapy. There is a also a concern that should she have a shunt malfunction and need emergency surgery, she might not be able to be treated in a timely manner. These are the specific requests that we are bringing before our God right now even though much of this may not be an issue for several years. Of course we are also praying for all the unborn children as well as the elderly and many others. We are so thankful that we can trust in a good, sovereign, loving and omniscient God in these times! Thank you also for your prayers!

Lots of Catching Up to Do

2010-02-22T16:19:00.000-08:00

Well it seems like forever since I posted last, partly because we've been so busy, but mostly because it's much harder to keep up with the blog when we don't have internet at our house! Kyle is giving Suzie a much needed bath right now so that I can devote some time to updating this thing!

We have been having such a great time here in Lubbock, Texas. The adjustment has been pretty smooth for us thanks to our loving church family. Although I do miss my friends and family in California and am so looking forward to seeing them next week when we are in town for the Shepherds' Conference! We are getting to know our way around the city quite nicely and I like to venture into town virtually every day to break up our day. It's a good thing I enjoy the drive into town too because we got Suzie set up with a new therapy program that requires me to drive her into town 4-5 times a week. The new program is great though so it is well worth it.

Suzie was recently given the official diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy. This doesn't really change anything, as we have known for quite some time that it is most likely the case. Her right side is the affected side, but all her therapists are quite impressed with how much she actually uses her affected side and we hope that as she gets older it won't limit her too much. She is standing up a little better now, but still not close to standing on her own or walking. She can crawl on her hands and knees now but only when you entice her with something. She's just too fast on her belly! She adds more words to her vocabulary every week which is a lot of fun. Some of her new ones are Bite, Suzie, Pray, and Bath.

And now for a couple videos! Here is a sweet little clip of Suzie and her new friend, Owen, our friends Robin and Timothy's son:

And here is a video of Suzie busting a move! She just loves to dance:)

I thought I'd include a few pictures too. We have such a fun group of kids in the youth group. We've been able to do a few events this month including a Super Bowl Party, a Texas Tech Basketball game, and our very own Winter Olympics! We have a lot of fun with these kids.
Super Bowl Party with the youth group at our house:

Crazy hair night at Awana. Pretty much like every other day for Sue...

"Winter Olympics" with the youth group:

We've had quite a few snow storms since we arrived. I must confess that Lubbock is much prettier covered in snow:) Most of the time it is gone after only a day or so, but I enjoy it while it lasts. In fact, I think I see some flakes coming down outside the window right now!

Kyle's parents were able to come and visit a couple of weeks ago. Suzie had such a great time with Nana and Granddad and we are so thankful that they are able to come visit more now.

And here's one last one of our fun girl. Thanks for keeping up with us!

Welcome to the Sandersons!

2010-01-25T08:54:00.000-08:00

We are so glad to have you stop on by for our virtual tour:) I have enjoyed preparing our home over these past few weeks and am almost completely settled in.

This is the front of our home...

And this is our view of the church from our porch. Can't get much closer to church than that!

Here is our living area when you first walk in and a 360 view...

We have been so blessed by a family in the church who gave us a great deal on furniture, so we were able to pick out some wonderful new stuff to furnish our new place. We love it!

And into the dining area/kitchen...

I have about three times the cabinet and counter space that I had in California!

And into our HUGE garage! Because we have so much storage space in the garage, it really enables us to keep our home free of clutter.

And one of my favorite features....our washer/dryer!

Back into the kitchen...

And down the hall...

First door on the right, our guest room!

As you can see, still a bit of work to do in here:)

Across the hall, our bathroom...

Last door on the right is Suzie's room...

And our room is across from hers...

Well, there is the "virtual tour" of the Sandersons. Should you ever find yourself in Lubbock, please stop by for the real thing:)

18 Months

2010-01-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

Well, Suzie had her 18 month check up the other day! I just can't believe what a big girl she is. The appointment went great! I just love her new pediatrician. She is maybe only a year older than me, but was very thorough, kind, and seemed to really have Suzie's best interest in mind. She covered all the bases including wanting Suzie to be seen by a dentist, optometrist, get a board certified neurosurgeon, and helped me think through how we should go about getting therapy for Suzie. She has been getting therapy through the state for a few weeks, but they have a much more hands off approach than what we are used to in California. She urged me to try another group through insurance, who have a more aggressive approach like what we're used to. She thinks that this would be more effective for Suzie. So we were thankful for all her advice and ready to give it a shot!

Here are her 18 Month stats for her actual age:
Weight: 19 lbs. 9 oz. (less than 3rd percentile)
Height: 31.5 inches (40th percentile)
Head: 18.4 inches (53rd percentile)

Everything else looked great for Suzie and the pediatrician was very encouraged by how nicely Suzie is developing. She now knows about 30 words including her signs and animal sounds. Here is what recently has been added to her vocabulary:

Light
Elmo
Hello
Book
More
No (her new favorite word)
Nigh Nigh (which she will now request when she's tired)
Pa Pa (that's my dad...and my mom too)
Burr (if you say it's cold)
Mmmmm (whenever you have food or drink)
Animal sounds: Baaaa, Moooo, Meow, Oooo Oooo (monkey), Bock (chicken)

So we have quite the chatter box on our hands! she's loving her new home and even getting to experience the nursery. No pictures to post for today, but I wanted to post all this before I forget:)

For the Grandparents

2010-01-15T07:01:00.000-08:00

We have been here in Lubbock for almost three weeks now and we couldn't be happier! Aside from missing our wonderful friends and family, everything is going so great. We received such a warm welcome from our new church family and we continue to be so blessed by them. Our neighbors, the senior pastor and his family, have been more hospitable than we knew possible! We also love our new home and look forward to posting some pictures once we're done with the house. Still waiting for our dining set and the guest room needs a lot of work!

We wanted to post a few videos and some pictures to help the grandparents out a bit. I know they all miss Suzie, I mean us:) like crazy! So here you go!

Here is a video of Suzie playing sitting up. She is sitting up more and more which is a great thing!

And here is one of her saying her new word, "Light!"

Here's a few pictures of Suzie enjoying her new home. She is hanging out on her knees a lot these days and will even crawl on her hands and knees for a few steps!

This is the artwork that we won from that contest. I love it, but I'm not crazy about the blue and pink hair. At least it was free:)

We miss you Mema, Poppi, Nana, and Grandad! Can't wait to see you soon!

L-U-B-B-O-C-K

2009-12-28T17:14:00.000-08:00

Well, we are here safe and sound! We arrived at our new home yesterday aftenoon to find about 25 adults and children from our church awaiting to welcome us. We were greeted with hugs and smiles and led too a huge table full of food and cleaning supplies to help us get settled in. They all pitched in to get our truck unloaded in less than an hour and then proceeded to help us set up our beds, Suzie's crib, and other odd jobs. We then got to enjoy dinner together and had so much fun. The church all pitched in to help get our place looking so nice and we just love it! We are so thankful for their care for us and can't wait to get to know them more. Here are some pictures from yesterday.

Some of the church folks helping us unload.

This is our new front yard!

As we pulled up, we saw this sweet sign welcoming us.

This is our new house!

And the front of our new church.

And here is our pantry full of food!

We feel tremendously blessed that God would call us to serve with this loving group of believers. We praise God for a safe trip out here and look forward to getting settled in. We'll keep you posted!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T10:29:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of our girl yesterday after getting into a packet of hot cocoa:)

And here is what our new hometown looked like the yesterday! Can't wait to experience the seasons! Kyle and my dad head out with the truck tomorrow morning and my mom, Suzie and I head out on Sunday. We are so excited!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and remember the most precious gift ever given was Jesus Christ who gave up so much to reconcile us to His most loving Father. Praise God!

We've Been Busy!

2009-12-09T15:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I realize it's been a while since I posted and it will probably be a while before I post again! Things have been very busy for us here. We spent five days in Kansas for Thanksgiving and had such a great time with Kyle's family. I don't have any pictures but hope to soon. We've been packing and doing double duty with Suzie's therapy to try to get in as much as we can before we move. Plus I have been sick the past few days which has slowed us down a little. But in the midst of all the craziness, life is good. Kyle officially finished Seminary on Tuesday afternoon. What a blessing the past four and half years have been for us and we are so excited for this new phase in our lives. Suzie is developing so much lately. she is pulling herself up to standing frequently on anything she can. She is repeating lots of words and seems to be learning more and more every day. Here is a little video of her progress as of late.

Hope you all are doing well and praising God for the gift of His precious Son this holiday season!

Too Funny

2009-11-18T19:14:00.000-08:00

Tonight Suzie was just cracking up and I caught it on video. She is such a cutie!

I never did get around to posting her 15 month stats for her actual age, so here you go!

Length: 29.75 inches (24th percentile)
Weight: 18 lbs. 1 oz. (less than 3rd percentile)
Head Circumference: (49th percentile)

The doctor would have liked to see her put on a little more weight. She was on the charts in the 5th percentile but now has dropped off the chart. So we are reversing her meals so that she eats regular food before she gets her milk...because she is a picky eater:) Also, we're adding lots of avocado and full fat yogurt to her diet! Other than that she got a clean bill of health and her doctor was very encouraged with how she is developing.

This past weekend Suzie and I were able to go visit my good friend Kim in Redding! It was so much fun to spend time with her. They have such a cute home, a really neat church, and the area is just beautiful. Seeing them 6 months into their ministry made me more and more excited to begin our new venture! Here are a couple of pics from our weekend there.

On a another note, we have finalized our moving plans! We will pack up our truck and be out of the apartment on December 23. We will spend Christmas at my parents' house. Kyle and my dad will leave the day after Christmas to drive to Lubbock and my mom and I will fly there the next day. Here is the cute little house that the church is allowing us to live in! It is three bedrooms and one bath and is just steps away from our church. Our new church family are graciously getting it all ready for us and we can't wait to move in!

Three Years

2009-11-11T17:15:00.000-08:00

Today is our three year anniversary! We celebrated on Monday night by going to the new California Pizza Kitchen and then played a game of bowling. I hadn't been bowling since college so I started off a little rusty. We both played fairly well and had a great time! Just as we were getting ready to head home we got a call that Suzie really missed us. We had a great time just the two of us but were glad to get home to our baby girl too:)

I praise God for giving me such a wonderful husband! He is my best friend, leader, counselor, encourager, and a model of Christ's love. I am so thankful for him!

We're Moving!!

2009-11-03T05:25:00.000-08:00

The Lord has provided a full time ministry position for Kyle at First Baptist Church, Roosevelt in none other than Lubbock, Texas! Kyle lived in Lubbock for four years while he attended Texas Tech University. It's a town of about 200,000 located in West Texas. The church is actually out in the country, about 15 minutes from town. Kyle will be the Associate Pastor overseeing Youth and Childrens Ministries. We are SO excited that the Lord has allowed us to move to such an amazing church. The people there are so warm and generous and we can't wait to serve alongside them! Of course with the excitement also comes a little bit of sadness as we have to say goodbye to many friends and family who have played such a crucial role in our lives. We will miss them dearly, but trust that God will allow these relationships to grow despite the distance.

Here is a picture of our new church home:

A Few New Words

2009-10-27T09:00:00.001-07:00

Things are trucking right along here in the Sanderson home. With three more trips scheduled in the next month, we are super busy and the time is just flying by. Suzie seems to have completely recovered from her ear infection (praise God!) and aside from not sleeping through the night quite yet, she's doing just great!

Physically, she is still very behind in her development. BUT, she is making progress and for that we are so thankful. She can stand with a lot of support but still doesn't make any effort to try to cruise. She can maintain the crawling posisiton for longer, which is good. Her physcial therapist thinks she actually could crawl on her hands and knees if she wanted too, but has no desire to since she's so good at army crawling. Boy is she fast! She still won't pull up to sitting, but again I think she could if she wanted to but she just really doesn't like sitting:)

The exciting thing is that her language skills seem to be developing very nicely! She loves to try to repeat us. She will just stare at our lips when we talk to her and you can tell she's often trying really hard to figure out how we're doing it. Here are some of her new words that she'll say when she hears us say them:

(Mama, dada, amen, and more are old words)
Love you (sounds more like Luh oooo)
Baby (sounds more like bay bay)
Bye Bye
Hi
Ball (she'll say ball ball)
Ba Ba (for bottle)
La la la (when we sing a song she'll sing along with her la la la)

My favorite is that she loves to say, "Uh oh" and will just travel around the house throwing a toy and saying, "Uh Oh," over and over and over again. It's so sweet!

Here are a few recent pictures of our little urchin.

She still makes this funny face when we take her picture:)

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Deal of the Week

2009-10-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

This deal of the week is too good to pass up! It's from CVS of course:)

Retail Value of my purchase:
2 Glade Sense and Spray starter kits: $9.99 each
1 Glade Fragrance Collection Candle: $9.99
2 boxes of Fiber One Granola Bars: $4.29 each
1 Gallon of Milk: $2.49
Normal total with tax: $43.96

What I Paid:
Glade Sense and Spray Sale Price: $5
2 coupons for $4 off
Glade candle sale price: $6.99
generated $6.99 ECBs
1 coupon for $3 off
Fiber One Bars sale price: $2.50
2 coupons for $.40 off
Milk sale price: $2.29
bars & milk generated $3.00 ECBs
$4 off coupon for purchase of $20
My total: 15 cents!!!

And the best part is that this is all stuff I can use! My best deal yet:)

Sickie

2009-10-17T22:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry we haven't posted in so long! We've been busy here in the Sanderson home. We took a trip to Texas and after we got home Suzie got sick:( She was throwing up on Tuesday and I thought it was a little flu bug. By Thursday she started tugging on her ear. After a fever on Friday morning, I took her into the doctor and sure enough, she has a double ear infection. Poor baby! She really is quite a trooper. She has been pretty happy except when it's time to go to bed. She has been absolutely refusing to sleep in her bed the past few nights so none of us have gotten very much sleep this week. Last night she threw up again, but she is on antibiotics now so hopefully that will stop in the next day or so. I've never done so much laundry in one week or taken so many showers in one day:) But everything else is well here and I hope to post some new pictures soon. Just wanted to let you all know we're still here:)

Videos Galore!

2009-10-01T17:55:00.002-07:00

Suzie will be 15 months in just a few weeks! She is doing wonderfully, aside from not sleeping very well at night! She was teething for a couple weeks only to have just one tooth break through. Then she had a cold and then began teething again! She had the second top tooth break through just yesterday, but unfortunately she is out of the habit of sleeping all night long. Plus we are doing a lot of traveling the next month so I'm not sure how she's going to get back in the habit! But when she gets enough sleep she is just delightful:)

Here are some new things she's up to along with some videos:
waving hi and bye consistently
signing more and all done
blowing kisses
trying to repeat many words that we say and imitating a lot
folding her hands to pray and trying to say, "amen"
learning to use her thumb and index finger
patting her hands to "Patty Cake" and "If You're Happy"
putting objects in and out, on and off
getting more stable at standing (with lots of support)
starting to take steps with lots of help
trying to get from standing to sitting
playing peek-a-boo
taking her bow out and trying to put it back in:)

The following two videos are from one of Suzie's therapy sessions. She is doing much better at using her right hand! But she does hate sitting and would much rather lie down all the time:)

Thankful

2009-09-15T17:10:00.001-07:00

This morning I was reflecting on both God's sovereignty and mercy and it led me to pray for Suzie and thank Him for how well she is doing. I was convicted that I am not nearly thankful enough for how kind God has been to our family. I was convicted that I do not give all the glory to God in my conversations with others. Suzie's therapists are constantly saying how well she is doing and it is the perfect opportunity to tell them how thankful to the one and only true God I am. I interact with high school students a couple times a week and I want to praise our gracious God to them as well. I asked the Lord to grow me in verbalizing a heart of thanks to Him for His incredible mercy, so I thought I'd start here, on our blog. I am SO incredibly thankful to Him and humbled that He has chosen to answer so many of our prayers with a yes! I know that should He say no to these requests, He is just as merciful. But I have every reason in the world to constantly grateful to Him, and I pray that I would share that so much more with other people.

Yesterday we went to the neurosurgeon for a follow up and got great news. Suzie's head size has decreased a tiny bit from the last visit and her head size has now gone from the 80th percentile to the 50th! Her shunt seems to be working well and we are so grateful for a good report. Here are a few recent pics of our family. Thanks for keeping up with us!
Suzie playing with her friend Kaitlin at a High School Staff meeting.

Suzie has her very first cold right now:( The only thing that will comfort her at night when she's all stuffy is being with momma. Needless to stay we have had a rough few nights.

Suzie in a box!

Trying to escape:)

Chilling with mama

I wonder what she's up to...

Daddy bringing the Word!

She looks like such a big girl when she's kneeling!
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Suzie's new thing is to make this very funny face every time we try to take a picture of her. She does it as soon as she sees the camera. The good pictures above are hard to get now! Here are several shots of her funny face.

Deal of the Week

2009-09-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

So my great steal of the week is the Airwick Mini Freshmatic from CVS. I put these by Suzie's diaper pale and it spirts off freshness every 15 minutes. It makes her room smell fresher:)

Retail:
$9.99 each
Total for 4 with tax: $43.86

What I paid:
Sale price $4.99
with $4 off $20 purchase from CVS
and four $4 off coupons for the Freshmatic
from the paper and internet
My Total: $1.90

And since I had extra care bucks, I really got them for free:)

One Proud Mama

2009-09-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

I am so often looking at other babies Suzie's age and am so amazed at all they can do. They so easily flip around from sitting, to push themselves onto their hands and knees, to crawling, back to sitting, to standing, to cruising, back to sitting, etc. They are super flexible and make all this moving around look so easy. For Suzie, these things that most babies just naturally learn to do are a huge challenge for her. Her therapists spend hours a week trying to just get her to tolerate staying on her hands and knees. Getting her to just keep her hands open has been an obstacle. I'm sure most parents are so proud of their babies any time they learn a new trick. But for people who have children with any kind of disability or delay, I think we get proud at even the smallest bit of progress, because for these kids, the small things are really huge!! I have just been so incredibly proud of my little girl lately. She is so expressive, curious, and learning so much all the time. I am proud that she is starting to stick her little tush in the air when she army crawls. I'm proud that she throws things with both hands now (although it’s usually inadvertent with her right hand). I’m proud every time she grabs for something with her right hand. And I’m so proud that she has now begun signing “more” when she wants more of something! Suzie is a little miracle, a precious gift from God. The doctors told us that she would be moderately to severely mentally and physically disabled due to the extent of the brain damage that she has suffered. So we are so thankful to God for His grace in allowing her to progress so much, and so proud of her for every little new thing she does.

Here is a little video of her with her latest trick.

I also want to make a quick mention of how proud I am of my wonderful husband. This weekend we went to San Diego as Kyle was the guest speaker for a retreat for a small church in Cerritos. He spoke on how we need to use spiritual disciplines for victorious Christian living. He did such a wonderful job and was such a blessing to the people. We had a great time as a family and I'm so thankful that God gave me such a wonderful husband and Suzie such a great dad!

What's New

2009-09-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted an update on how we're doing! To tell you the truth, not too much is new here. We're doing very well and very busy! Kyle just started his semester and has been super busy the past six weeks with his summer class, a few weekends away, and preparing for a retreat that he is speaking at this Labor Day weekend. Hopefully things will slow down a bit for him beginning next week. We are so blessed the the Grace Book Store has decided to keep him employed part time this semester! So work is keeping him busy as well. We're still in the candidating process and are praying for God's wisdom and direction as we seek where the Lord would have us serve.

Suzie is doing very well! She is sitting up much better and I can finally leave her alone while she is sitting. She still hates it so most of the time she gets out of it fairly quickly. She can use her left hand to help her get out of it and when she falls to the right side she just kinda rolls out of it. She is now getting 5 hours of therapy each week which is keeping her busy, but I think it is helping her improve quicker. She has become a pro at combat crawling and will leave the room when I'm not looking:) She says, "Ma Ma" sometimes for me and "Ma ma ma" for more. She says "Da Da" for Kyle sometimes too. She is laughing a lot and usually in a good mood as long as she gets her nap. We think she's teething right now so sleeping at night is a little tricky. Hopefully that will pass soon!

Here is a little video of her sitting and smiling at Mommy.

Steals and Deals

2009-08-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

I have recently begun to study the supermarket/drugstore circulars each week to combine their sale prices with coupons to save money. I used to subscribe to a website but I was only able to see one store, so I thought I'd try it on my own. I only look at the stores that are close to my house: VONS, Ralphs, CVS, and Rite-Aid. CVS has the best bang for your buck for sure with their Extra Care Bucks (thanks Karyn!!). Several items every week are not only on sale, but generate ECBs which function at CVS just like cash, only they have an expiration date and you can't get cash back for them. If you do it right and only buy sale items, especially items that generate ECBs, you will end up getting many things for free or for a very low price. I thought it would be fun to periodically post some of my great deals, so here is the steal of the week (again, thanks to Karyn):

Regular Price:
L'Oreal Revitalift Lotion with SPF: $19.99
L'Oreal Cream Cleanser: $6.99
Normal total for 2 of each plus tax: $59.22

What I Paid:
Sale price for lotion: $14.99
Sale price for cleanser: $5.99
CVS coupon: $4 off $20 or more
L'Oreal Lotion coupon: $5 off
L'Oreal cleanser coupon: $1 off
ECBs when you buy $20 in Loreal products: $10
My total for 2 of each with tax: $4.90

Total Savings: $54.32

What a deal!! I had to do this in two separate transactions to use all my coupons. I had two of every coupon plus I already had some ECBs to use. If you don't already have some, you would have to pay an extra $10 for the first transaction and have $10 ECBs to use next time. Not too shabby!!

Suzie's New Tricks

2009-08-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Ever since we got home from Dallas, Suzie has been doing a lot of fun new things. Some of her new tricks are:

~New Sounds~
The day Kyle came home from summer camp, Suzie decided it was time to introduce the "M" sound. We both got to hear her say, "Mama," for the first time. It was so sweet! Since that morning, "Mama," and "Nana," are two of her favorite sounds. She knows that I am Mama, and she can say it, but I don't think she's saying it specifically yet. But it's still so fun! She's also starting to string different sounds together. She is definitely becoming a little chatter box!

~New Moves~
Before we left for Dallas, Suzie had attempted to scoot forward a couple times. As soon as we got home, she just started scooting all over the place! Because her right arm is so weak, crawling on all fours is very difficult for her. So she is adapting by doing combat crawling, where she doesn't have to push up on her arms. She's getting pretty good at it! She can combat crawl all the way across our living room now. Although she is weaker with her right arm, she at least is using it when she moves, so that is great! Here is a little video of me enticing her with one of her favorite things....the remote.

~New Skills~
Suzie is now waving hi and bye pretty well. She won't always do it, but she does quite often. Especially when she sees herself in the mirror. She is also giving "five" a lot now. She does most things with her left hand only, so she's not clapping or signing for "more" yet. But we're working on it! She also loves to kick her legs like crazy! I don't know if that's a skill, but she is quite proud of herself for doing it. Here's a video I caught of her kicking away.

~New Food~
Suzie is starting to really not want baby food any more. She wants to eat whatever we eat! Sometimes when she is refusing her baby food, I'll take my fork and get some baby food on it, and she'll eat it because she thinks it's my food! We are incorporating a lot more table food into her diet like bread, crackers, cheese, yogurt, pasta, soft fruit and veggies, pureed meats, and of course a little ice cream:) It's hard because she eats like a normal one year old, but only has two teeth, so we have to make sure all her food is soft enough for her to gum.

~New Bed~
Our long girl outgrew her little portable crib a while ago so we had been in search for a standard size crib. A very generous family gave us a crib the other day so my dad helped us set it up for her and the little crib came down. I was expecting her to have a hard time sleeping in her new crib because she has a very hard time with change. But she is loving the space to roll around! She has begun to sleep later which I am loving. She doesn't get squished into the corner of her new big crib so she doesn't wake up in awkward positions. I had to wake her up at 9:00am this morning to make sure she could get a nap in before therapy. And yesterday she didn't wake up until 10:00am! It's been a while since she slept in like that.

~New Schedule~
Her additional hours of therapy have been approved so beginning this week we will have five hours of therapy a week. That sounds like a lot, but my friend Dana's son get 7.5 hours, so that's even more intense. 4 of the hours will be in home, which is wonderful. She will have multiple hours in one day, so I'm curious how she will adjust to that. I'm excited for her to get more therapy though and I hope it helps her progress even faster! She also recently dropped her third nap so she takes a morning and afternoon nap and then stays awake for a longer time in the evening. Now that she is more mobile, she's better at entertaining herself so I can get more done around the house while she's awake.

Suzie's First Flight

2009-07-30T22:30:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, Suzie and I headed off to Dallas to visit one of my closest friends, Karyn. Darby and Karyn just had a baby girl in May and I couldn't wait to meet little Calla! Suzie did so well on both flights. The first flight I had an aisle seat which was so helpful. The take off and landing didn't seem to bother her ears at all, so that was great. She just got tired of sitting with me. But I worked hard to entertain her and we made it there in good spirits. It was so great to spend the extended time with Karyn. Since both her and Darby's families live here, whenever they come visit it is difficult to coordinate seeing too much of them. So it was so nice to have three full days of just talking and catching up. I felt so much more connected to their life once I got to see where they've been living. Suzie did so well the whole trip, although she did get a little spoiled sleeping in bed with momma. And she was a little rough with poor little Calla. But we are so thankful for how well Suzie did and for the Hughes' hospitality to us while we were there. Since Kyle was still at High School camp when we got home, I was really wishing I had stayed with them an extra day. Here are some pics I found on their blog of our two babies. Suzie seemed liked such a big girl next to sweet little Calla!

Double Stamp Wednesdays!

2009-07-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite places to go in Santa Clarita is the Golden Spoon. They have many different flavors of creamy, delicious, non-fat frozen yogurt to choose from, but to be honest, I pretty much stick with the same few flavors:) There are three locations in Santa Clarita so it's pretty much convenient to just stop on by no matter what direction I'm headed!

One thing I really appreciate is that they offer stamp cards for frequent customers. (Starbucks has yet to catch on to this). I recently discovered that they have, "Double Stamp Wednesdays." So no matter how many you buy, they give you two stamps per yogurt purchased. You only have to buy 8 yogurts to get a free small, so if my monthly (okay, weekly) trip to the Golden Spoon is on Wednesdays, I get a free one after only visiting four times! It's a pretty good deal so I just couldn't keep it to myself. I always appreciate it when others share these tips on their blogs. Happy yogurting!

Professional Shots

2009-07-24T15:46:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday my mom went with me and Suzie to get her pictures taken at the mall. Suzie did so well and she got a lot of great shots! It was so hard to choose which ones we wanted and they were so cruel to bring out several of them in beautiful frames. It took a lot of self-control for us to walk out there is only our free package and a few additional sheets. Here are the ones we brought home:

You can view all the pictures here.

The Many Ages of Suzie

2009-07-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

Suzie recently received her one year reports from her therapists. They all put her at different age levels for her development. Here are the many ages of Suzie:

Actual age: 12 months
Adjusted age: 9 months
Cognitive/social/expressive: 9 months
Left side fine motor: 9 months
Physical: 7 months
Right side fine motor: 6 months

Overall, I was very encouraged with what her therapists had to say. They are hopeful (but cannot guarantee of course) that Suzie will be able to overcome the obstacles with her right side and that there won't be many things that she cannot do. She is already learning to adapt to the difficulty of the increased muscle tone on her right side. She passes things immediately to her left hand if she wants to examine it better or eat it. Or, if we give her puffs and pin her left arm down, she will try really hard to use her index finger and thumb to grab the puff because she knows she can't turn her hand to get the puff in her mouth if she fists it like she does with the left. She's been unsuccessful in doing it so far, but getting closer. It just seems like she's very aware of her limitations already. She's getting much better at sitting and uses her left arm mostly to support her, but is getting better at balancing on her own. Her right leg remains partially bent to relieve the muscle strain. She can now sit for a couple of minutes and is getting better at catching herself when she falls. She also tolerates the crawling position for longer, but isn't really close to doing it on her own. I'm so thankful for how well she is doing. Every session she makes a little progress. God has been so gracious to allow our little girl to do so well!!

Yesterday we went to the doctor for Suzie's one year check up. The doctor was very pleased with her progress and growth. She is now officially on the charts for her actual age!! In fact, she is growing so well that the doctor decided to take her off formula and onto whole milk! She really is a big girl. She received her one year vaccines which she did very well with. Her eyes got all big when the first needle went in and she screamed while they gave her the shots, but after I picked her up she stopped right away. Here are her current stats:

Weight: 17 lbs. even (actual: 3rd%; adjusted 14th%)
Length: 28 1/2 inches (actual: 25th%; adjusted 75th%)
Head Circumference: 18.1 inches (actual: 75th%; adjusted 90th%)

These three pictures were taken the past week

She got some cool new shades to help her get through the summer

Here is Suzie all dolled up and ready for her party

She was so glad to have her Granddad and Nana here for her birthday! Many thanks to them and to Nema and Papi for all they did for her birthday party.

Here is Suzie's friend Joshua enjoying the balloons

We had a little table displaying a collage with a picture from each month of Suzie's life, her first diaper and booties, the sign from her incubator, and a picture of Kyle that looks just like Suzie

Suzie had her very own cake all to herself

Although she got a little scared when everyone sang, "Happy Birthday," she definitely enjoyed digging into her birthday cake!

She decided that the dogs needed some frosting too. Daphne had pink and green icing on her back the rest of the day.

Our family picture:)

Happy Birthday Suzie!

2009-07-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

Our precious girl is one year old today! I can hardly even believe it was a year ago that she came into this world, three months before her due date. One year ago we were told that our baby girl had a 40% chance of surviving. And now here she is, healthy and happy and doing so great! We praise God for blessing us with this little one and for allowing us to be stewards of her for however long He allows. We praise Him for teaching us so much over the past year and for blessing us far more than we ever imagined. Happy birthday Little Suzie!

July 18, 2008

July 18, 2009

Here is a little recap of some the events of the past year, thanks to the wonderful calendar my sis made for me:

7/17 Mom checked into the hospital due to lack of movement from baby
7/18 Suzie is born at 5:44am
7/19 transferred from Glendale Adventist to Huntington Memorial
7/24 Mommy got to hold baby in her hands for the first time
7/19 Suzie first tried Mommy's milk
8/4 switched from intubation to c-pap machine
8/7 Mommy held Suzie in arms for first time!
8/7 switched from c-pap to nasal cannula
8/9 Daddy held Suzie for first time!
8/11 Suzie's first surgery to install a reservoir to relieve her hydrocephalus
8/16 first time doing cuddle care
8/18 started wearing clothes
8/21 moved to first step down nursery B
9/4 first attempt to drink from a bottle
9/8 Suzie's second surgery to put in her shunt (back to critical care nursery A)
9/13 moved from incubator to crib
9/14 moved to second step down nursery C
9/30 drank a whole bottle
10/8 first attempt off oxygen
10/10 due date! Weighed 6 lbs. 2 oz., 20 inches
10/11 back on oxygen
10/14 off oxygen except for feedings
10/15 drank all 8 bottles on her own
10/18 Suzie came home after 92 days in the hospital
11/7 third surgery--laser eye surgery
11/23 Suzie laughed for the first time
12/25 first Christmas
1/6 first session of therapy
1/18 six months old!
1/27 started scheduling
2/13 first time to see snow
3/3 completely off oxygen
3/16 started solid foods
4/8 can sit for a few seconds on own
4/26 first time going to church
5/2 NICU reunion
5/4 first two little teeth appear
5/18 became a cousin again to Ashley Sharon Case
6/5 surgery to repair shunt
6/6 came home from hospital
7/18 first birthday!!

Suzie's First Year

2009-07-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

With Suzie's birthday just two days away, I wanted to post some pictures from the past twelve months of her life. We can hardly even believe how big our little girl is! She continues to be such a delight to us. We go to the doctor on Monday, so I will get her current stats then. Also, her therapists are currently doing her one year reports, so I should have some info on where they put her developmentally. She is getting closer to sitting on her own, but she really doesn't like it because it pulls on her tight muscles on her right side. She would much rather prefer to stand or lay down. More info on her development to come, but for now, here is a picture from each month of her life. Look how much she has changed!! We think she's cuter now than ever:)

On the day of her birth, weighing 1 lb 14 oz, and 13 1/4 inches long. She was about 27 1/2 weeks along, but pretty small for her age.

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months

Seven Months

Eight Months

Nine Months

Ten Months

Eleven Months

12 month pictures will be posted soon!!

Great Grumpy's Birthday

2009-07-06T21:54:00.001-07:00

On Friday my family all got together to celebrate my grandpa's 92nd birthday! We call him Great Grumpy because that is the name my sister's kids gave him a while ago. We had a great time celebrating with him and we are so thankful for his very generous and loving heart.

Here is Suzie and her Great Grumpy!

This is Suzie and her newest cousin Ashley, exactly 10 months apart! Although it's more like 7 months. Suzie looks so big!!

All the Wahler grandchildren all lined up from oldest to youngest. Shelby at 5 years, Jason at 2 1/2 years, Suzie at 1 year, and Ashley at 2 months.

Jason and Suzie both playing with their toes:)

Showing some tummy with Daddy

Showing a little attitude

Happy with mom:)

Our newest family pic!

The Big Switch-A-Roo

2009-06-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

Well it's almost July and time is just continuing to fly on by. We are certainly enjoying the cooler weather and I try to take Sue out for walks as much as I can. I wrote a few weeks ago that Suzie has been waking up a lot earlier...like 6:00am instead of 9:00am! So we decided this week to switch rooms with her and put all her stuff in our bedroom and our bed in the little cove in the back of our living room. So far, this is working out much better and Suzie is able to sleep in later now that she has a door to shut out all the morning noise (eh hem...Kyle eating cereal and getting ready for school:) It took her a few nights to get comfortable in her new surroundings, but last night she went down without a whimper and woke up happily at 8:30am:) Here are a couple of pics of the new set up.

Suzie is wearing a combination of 3-6 and 6-9 month clothing and is still in a size 2 diaper. One of her new things is that she wants to roll over and explore things when we're changing her diaper. This can make changing a poopy diaper an even greater challenge!

I also wanted to give a brief update on her development. Here are some areas where Suzie is falling behind and we are working on catching her up in therapy:
-sitting up by herself (she can sit up for 10-15 seconds but she should be able to sit up and play by herself for long periods of time)
-weight bearing on her arms
-fine motor skills (grabbing, shaking, turning objects) with her right arm
-some fine motor skills on left side (using her thumb and index finger to grab)
-more consonant sounds (she does a lot of "b"s but not "g"s and "m"s etc.

Here are some things we are working on that she's not necessarily behind in for her adjusted age:
-relational play (getting her to brush a baby doll's hair and feed the baby doll a bottle)
-wave bye-bye (she loves to look at my hand when I wave and will occasionally move her hand as well, but not waving so much)
-crawling (sitting is the first step, but we're trying to get her into crawling position to help her learn to put more weight on her arms)
-taking rings off a ring stacker (she can do this but forgets and has to relearn every time:)
-pulling a cloth off of a hidden object
-give us an object when we tell her to

Here are some areas where she is right on track for:
-rolling from back to tummy back to her back (she is a rolling machine!)
-pivoting when on her tummy to face the direction of a toy (or mommy:)
-passing objects from one hand to the other
-pulling multiple objects out of a bowl
-banging two objects together
-bearing weight through her legs
-responding to sounds
-tracking objects and looking for a dropped object
-eating puffs and feeding them to herself (we introduced the puffs to her last week and today she started feeding herself for the first time! Here is a video of her feeding herself)

Yippie-Yah-Yay Mini Sirloin Burgers

2009-06-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

There is this Jack-in-the-Box commercial that makes Kyle and me laugh every time. It's advertising their mini sirloin burgers so they have these little people roping miniature cattle and they sing this song in really high little voices. The song will get stuck in our heads and we'll sing it on occasion. Well just recently Suzie has decided that she really HATES that song! She will make this pouty little face and if we keep singing she will start crying. It's so funny.

Things are going well here. Suzie has now completely recovered from her surgery. She has decided that she wants to wake up earlier now, against my pleading for her to sleep longer:) Two of her therapists recently informed me that when she turns 1 (next month!) they would like to increase her therapy to two hours a week. She is doing really well with her left side but her right side is still behind. This is keeping her from sitting on her own for very long and also using her fine motor skills on that side. That means we will have five hours of therapy every week! As if we're not busy enough:) Here are her 11 month stats and percentiles for her adjusted age of 8 months:

Weight: 16lbs. 4oz. (15th percentile)
Height: 27 1/2 in. (60th percentile)
Head: 17.9 in. (90th percentile...down .3 inches since before her surgery!)

Other than that, we are doing great here! Our really good friends, Andrew and Kim Callaway, recently moved up North to be a youth pastor at a church in Redding, California. We really miss them but are so excited for them too. We will be transitioning to High School ministry this month to get some experience in youth ministry ourselves. And Kyle is officially candidating! He graduates in December and we are hoping to find a church to go to as early as January 2010. We are in the very early stages of talking with a church in San Antonio, Texas and look forward to visiting the church in the middle of August to see what the Lord might have in store for us.

Here are some more pics of our precious girl. She continues to bless us more and more each day and we continually praise God for her!

Recovering

2009-06-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Suzie has been doing very well the past few days and is very glad to be out of the hospital. She doesn't seem to be in all that much pain which is a huge blessing. Her main problems when returning home were eating and sleeping. She was very tired but had a little trouble staying asleep and would cry in her sleep which was very sad. She also had not been eating very much and was throwing up for a few days. As of today, she really seems back to normal! Her bandage fell off today and I think the incision is bothering her a little, but other than that, she is doing so well. We praise God for the quick surgery and recovery and are so thankful for all of your prayers! Here are some pics of her bandage and incision, as well as a few that our friend Kim took before the surgery.

Praise God

2009-06-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Thank you all so much for praying for us this morning, the past week, and really the past year! We continue to be amazed by God's kindness to our family. I was very emotional when it came time to let Suzie go into surgery. I just wanted to hold my baby close to me!! The surgery went just as long as they had predicted, and the problem was exactly what we prayed for. The catheter going from the ventricles to the reservoir was a little clogged, so they simply replaced it and sewed her back up. She was crying a lot when we first saw her and her voice was a little hoarse from being intubated. She also has half of her beautiful hair shaved off:( They gave her a little morphine to help with the pain. She is just exhausted but being the very finiky sleeper that she is (she wants to be in her crib and wants to be swaddled tightly in the her dark, quiet room with the fan running) she isn't sleeping too much. She finally took a little bit of formula and hopefully will go back to sleep soon. We hope to be released tomorrow!

Thank you again for your prayers. We feel the love of God through His children and are so blessed to have such amazing support!

A Few Details

2009-06-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be helpful for me to provide a few details regarding Suzie's surgery tomorrow. We have to be at the hospital at 5:45am to check in and take care of all the post-op business. She cannot eat anything after 10:00pm tonight, but she really doesn't enjoy eating all that much so that part shouldn't be too bad:) At 7:30am, they will put Suzie under anesthesia and begin the surgery shortly after. They will begin by going into Suzie's original incision in her skull. They will have to make it a little larger in order to have access to the valve. The hope is that they would find a little debris in the valve or tubing on the ventricle end, so that they can simply clean it out and sew her back up. If that is the case, she should be out of surgery around 9:00am. If there is nothing wrong with the valve or tubing, they will have to decide how to proceed from there. I'm not entirely sure what they would do, but I believe they would try to replace the tubing that goes into her abdomen or have to replace the entire shunt. This would put her in surgery a little longer.

She will have to be intubated while she is on anesthesia, but they will extubate her as soon as she wakes up and may or may not require supplemental oxygen (nasal cannula) for a few more hours. They expectation is that she will only have to remain in the hospital for one night and be able to come home some time on Saturday. We will be able to stay the night with her (praise God!), but she will be sharing a room with one or two other children so it will be a bit crowded:) Of course if they end up replacing the shunt entirely, she may have to stay in the hospital a little longer.

We are doing well here and trusting in God to get our baby girl through another surgery. I think the hardest part will be seeing her in pain:( Again I am reminded how amazing it is that God would crucify His only Son whom He so loved to pay for the sins of those who rejected Him. What a gracious God we serve! I cannot even imagine willingly putting my child through so much pain to save even someone that I love, let alone an enemy. It is such a great reminder of how gracious, loving, and merciful our sovereign God really is. We have a confident hope that He will get us through this next little bump in the road and bring our baby girl safely home with us soon.

We so appreciate your prayers for us! Here are some specific ways you can pray for us this weekend:
*That when the doctors do the surgery, they would simply have to clean the valve and not have to redo the entire shunt.
*That we would trust God and find joy in Him no matter what happens.
*For us to be a testimony to the doctors, nurses, families at the hospital, and unbelieving friends that we have.
*For us to have opportunities to proclaim the gospel and to be bold in our faith.
*For Suzie to recover quickly and be able to come home on Saturday.

Here are a few pictures of our very big girl!

The Next Surgery

2009-05-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

Today we met with the Neurosurgeon to see what we do next regarding Suzie's head. Her head has grown 1.2 centimeters since three weeks ago when we last saw him. So like we had predicted, the doctor decided that she needs a revision on her shunt. The surgery is scheduled for next Friday at 7:30am. The most likely problem is that the valve has some debris in it or one of the catheters on the ventricle end is partially obstructed. That would be much simpler than if they have to replace the entire shunt. She most likely will only have to stay in the hospital for one night and we can stay with her. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors and that the issue would be easily resolved and that she would recover quickly.

I had an emotional morning thinking about my baby girl going in for surgery again. I think it will be harder on all of us this time since we are so used to having her here with us all the time now. But we know that we have SO much to be thankful for and we praise God for how well Suzie is doing. Thank you so much for your prayers!

Here are some of our recent family pictures:)

Shunt Update

2009-05-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

Two and half weeks ago we were told that it was likely that Suzie's shunt was not working properly. The doctor said her ventricles were much bigger than they should be and her head size had gone from the 2nd to the 60th percentile. So we were very eager to set an appointment for Suzie to be seen again by the doctor. The only thing standing in our way...getting it approved by our insurance!! After calling multiple offices several times a week, we finally got everything approved and were able to make an appointment. The ultrasound is set for 7:30am next Thursday at Children's Hospital. As much as I am not a fan of sitting in rush hour traffic at that hour in the morning, I am just so glad that she was able to get in so soon! She then has to see the Neurosurgeon at 12:45 that afternoon. So we'll have five hours or so to kill...with a 10 month old. No biggie:)

I'm 90% sure she is going to need a surgery to repair the shunt as her head has grown another 1/2 a centimeter since she has been home. A 1/4 of an inch doesn't sound like much, but it brings her into the 72nd percentile for her head size. If she continues to grow at this rate, she'll be off the charts in no time. Please continue to pray for our little girl and for her possible surgery coming up. We are reminded daily to trust in our sovereign and good God. There are so many times every day that I just look at her and praise God for what He has done for our little girl.

Here are a couple recent pics:

Two Babies on One Day!!

2009-05-19T09:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a very special day for me. Two of my very best friends gave birth to precious little girls.

At 3:10am in Dallas, Texas, my friend Karyn gave birth to her first child, Calla Grace Hughes. She was 8lbs. 8oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. I really hope it will work out for Suzie and me to fly out to Texas to meet her soon!! Here is their sweet baby:

Then at 9:46am in Lancaster, California, my sister gave birth to her third child, Ashley Sharon Case. She weighed 7lbs. 15oz. and was 20 inches even. I was able to spend some time holding my precious little niece last night. I can't wait to see her again! Here she is:

Hilarious

2009-05-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

Suzie gets in these moods where she thinks mom is hilarious. She has developed quite a hearty little belly laugh that is so adorable. You see it especially in the first video, but sometimes she will laugh even harder! It's so funny.