Thank you, God!!

On Saturday Kyliava suffered a seizure. It was the scariest thing that has ever happened to us, I was so afraid that we were going to lose her.

She was in my arms, arched her back very forcefully, shook all over, then went limp in my arms as her eyes rolled back in her head. Mike and Shelby were right there, we all ran in the house to call 911. She was out for about a minute, then Mike took her in his arms because I was on the phone with the 911 operator, she was crying. I have to give Kevin credit, he sat quietly on the couch the whole 3.5 minutes I was on the phone.

The ambulance was on the way, so I took her back from her dad. She was very limp, like a rag doll. She wouldn't respond to anything I said to her, wouldn't do or say anything, she wouldn't even look at me. It was like she couldn't hear me. The ambulance arrived... they had me sit on the stretcher with her in my lap. The EMTs were wonderful with her. I wish I knew their names...

The ride to Baptist was very bumpy. She was pretty unresponsive most of the way. I was so scared that she would be like that the rest of her life from this... I prayed in the ambulance while I held her.

They checked her at the hospital and observed her for a few hours, gave us instructions on what to do at home and what to look for. I'd forgotten Ava's sippy cup and all they had was a styrofoam cup or a bottle. Well, she's still breastfed and won't even try a bottle, but they got her a straw and she drank down almost a full 8oz of ice water... which was amazing because she never drank more than 3oz at a time before in her whole life. She started acting normal again, walking around and playing. She found mini M&Ms that I had in the diaper bag and was quite happy to sit and eat those in the hospital bed.

I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all the Sisters in the church who kept Kyliava and our family in their prayers; even those we haven't met yet were praying for her. We brought her to our family doctor on Monday and he said that she shouldn't have any lasting effects from it. So I titled this post, "Thank you, God" because He answered our prayers and our precious little Blessing is doing well!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family!!

Awesome Kevin

Kevin is a natural gymnast. Even without lessons, he can do perfect handstands and cartwheels, and he is *this close* to doing a front flip... it's just the standing back up part that he's working on now. When he was 3 he started doing a cartwheel kick that is worth 2 points in the Karate Tournaments, whereas other kicks are worth 1 point. He wanted me to put this pic on here so everyone could see him.

That's our awesome Kevin!!

Putting Presents Under the Tree!

No, we don't do Santa. Yes, we put the presents under the tree as we buy them and wrap them.

This year Kayla put the tree up all by herself and fluffed out the branches. Kevin helped her put the ornaments on, Kyliava put the candy canes on. After a few minutes, we realized that it wasn't going to work this way. Our Much-Awaited Blessing decided that she just had to touch every gold and silver ornament... babies and glass ornaments don't mix LoL! So the bottom of our tree is now devoid of ornaments... but the lights are permanently attached to the tree, so she can't mess with them!

When Kevin was about 3 we were in the checkout lane, the man in front of us asked Kevin what Santa was bringing him for Christmas. Kevin replied, "There is no Santa, silly!" The cashier gasped and blurted out, "What do you celebrate then??" We told her that we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! Every year Kayla will relate that story to anyone who will listen :o)

We all thought it was so funny that the poor girl couldn't imagine what you did if you didn't celebrate Santa. Well, we haven't "done" Santa since Kevin's first Christmas... I think it is much more meaningful for the children now. They know that daddy works hard to pay for their gifts, and mommy puts a lot of time into shopping for them... it's not just a fat man throwing them down the chimney! They love to help wrap the gifts and arrange them under the tree. And we don't have to worry about the dreaded "Santa isn't real" talk.

Would you rather Santa or Jesus be the focus of your December each year?

The Princess Who Won't Sleep...

Kyliava is "The Princess Who Won't Sleep Through The Night"! That could be the title of a children's story, right?

It is SO easy to get her to go to sleep... I just nurse her and she drifts off so peacefully! But she is still waking twice in the night to nurse. It's not really a huge deal, though, because she goes right back to sleep. And I waited so long for her, what's a few night wakings when I have such a Blessing?

I don't understand the books that tell you to let a baby CIO (cry it out). It seems to me that the baby learns that mommy isn't going to tend to his or her needs when he or she cries out for help (so why bother, huh?), resulting in a baby who doesn't feel as loved and secure, but learns to be content in being ignored... and how would you like to be left laying there all alone to cry your heart out?!

It upsets me just thinking about it... God trusted me enough to give me these three wonderful children and I could never make one of them feel like that!

Kyliava Helping With the Dishes

Kayla was doing the dishes and Kyliava was in the kitchen with her. Kayla turned around to put some dishes in the cabinet and the baby was climbing into the dishwasher! At least our Princess is happy to help!

Kyliava's 1st Birthday

This is one of my favorite pictures from her 1st Birthday!

My other favorite is of her staring at a huge slice of birthday cake... she wouldn't touch it until we gave her a fork!

We always said we were going to write down things that our children said and did, but didn't do it nearly enough. So I'm taking the opportunity to take note of the things Kyliava does!

Her vocabulary:
mama
dada
ayla (Kayla)
at (that)
up
buh bye
hi

no no
bruh bruh ('boobie' when she wants to nurse)
rarr (When we ask, "What does the Lion say?")
baaah (When we ask, "What does the Goat say?")

Body parts she can point to:
head, nose, eyes, ears, mouth, belly, foot, hand

She brings you a diaper when she wants a change... Time to start potty training!
Wooden puzzles are a favorite of hers, as are touch-n-feel books.

She loves to scribble on her drawing board.

She loves to run around the backyard, and has tons of fun climbing on things.

Disney Princess dolls are her favorite.

Her grandmother bought her a lavendar blanket with butterflies on it when we were at Disneyworld in February... she runs and gets it when she's ready to nap.

She loves to look out of the window at our goats.

When she wakes up in the morning, she runs down the hallway to Kayla's room and taps on the door, she just adores her big sister!

Kevin always makes her smile and laugh, she loves his nuttiness! He will come to me and say, "Mom, isn't she a Blessing?" and my heart just swells with love!

A Miracle

This is our much-awaited miracle, Kyliava Mikayla. We tried to have her for nineteen months, even went through two months of fertility treatment that failed. Casting Crowns has a song, “I Will Praise You In This Storm” that really spoke to my heart, it would make tears come to my eyes when I heard it, because even though I felt this trial was a horrible storm, I was continuing to praise God and trust him in this, hard as it was.

Finally, in January 2007, after nineteen long months of praying for a baby, I fell on my knees and told God that I was tired of praying for a baby, and that if He wanted me to get pregnant, then I‘d get pregnant. I didn’t pray for a baby any more. I was beginning to feel that we would never have a baby, even though I felt an earnest yearning in my heart for another. It constantly broke my heart to see what seemed like everyone around us either pregnant or with a new baby. I couldn’t help but continually ask God why He would do this to me.

In February, I took a pregnancy test, as I had many times before. As usual, it was negative. Crying, I fell to my knees and begged God to make it be wrong. Two days later, a month since I had told God that I wasn’t asking him for a baby any longer, I took another test and got the positive that we had waited so long to see. On September 26, 2007, Kyliava was born, a perfect seven-and-a-half pounds, absolutely beautiful, with a head full of gorgeous black hair. She is now a year old… and I am still in awe over her. I still can’t believe we have her. I look at her, and I truly can feel my heart smile, it‘s a feeling that I can‘t describe. An answered prayer, a dream come true.

I thank God every day for my three wonderful Blessings!

Funny Moment at Miyo's!

We usually go to Miyo's in Harbison once a week for lunch. Mike's mom watches the older children or all three, so that we can have a nice lunch together :o)

So this week we decided to take all of the children with us. Steven was the waiter, he was enthusiastic and great with the children! Calamari was the appetizer (the "usual" LOL!). I got the Salmon, Mike got the Flank Steak, Kayla and Kevin-Michael had the Sesame Chicken. Kyliava had a little bit of everything. Wonderful as always!! It was a nice family lunch.

As we were leaving, Kayla had one of the baby's hands and I had the other hand so that Kyliava could walk out of the restaurant. She was having great fun walking to the front of the restaurant! Everyone she walked past was smiling at her and talking to her, she had the biggest grin on her face!

When we got to the parking lot, I picked her up because I didn't want her walking where the cars were, and she yelled, "No, No!" at me! Barely a year old and already asserting herself... she didn't want me to pick her up, and she sure let me know it!!

We have a blog!

Welcome to our blog! I don't know how often I'll add to it, or even what kinds of things we will blog about, but here it is... Our First Blog!!