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Well, we did it. We took Amelia to see Santa today. Check her out. The whole experience was straight out of a Christmas movie...A Christmas Story or Elf perhaps. The hilarity. Let me start by saying that clearly this is not the real Santa. If it was, he would not have had his cell phone, car keys, and jar of Carmex sitting on a faux present next to his "throne," (Elf fans, you know just what kind of throne I am referring to). He even had an air purifier blasting next to him, that's a new one. And certainly the real Santa would not have asked me how old she was, twice no less, or her name for that matter. The real Santa knows stuff like that.
So, we waited in line and watched kid after kid, dressed in their Christmas dresses and Christmas sweaters enter beyond the golden velvet rope to sit on Santa's lap. Some willingly, some a little apprehensive and of course, there were those who clung to their Dads, screaming to be rescued as he, all the while perspiring from the brow, gently tried to pry desperate little hands off of himself and into the arms of a big bearded stranger. :)
But our Amelia, obviously by the look on her face, was just humoring her parents on this one. She never even looked up at Santa. For all she knew, she was sitting in a big, cozy, fuzzy, red chair in the middle of a mall, staring back and forth from Dad to Mom to a camera lady who were all making fools of themselves jumping up and down, shaking jingle bells, yelling her name trying to make her smile. She remained quite serious throughout the whole thing, a little perplexed even, but never cried. The silliness of it all made me laugh and filled me up with that fuzzy nostalgic feeling you get when you watch your kid experience something for the first time. I also couldn't help but jump ahead a few years in my mind as I wondered which of the above mentioned kids she would be when she was old enough to actually be aware of what was happening...excited and confident, shy but intrigued or just plain terrified...we got our shot, paid our fee and went on our merry way with yet another surreal parenting moment under our belts.
Happy belated Thanksgiving! I don't think I even need to mention what we are thankful for this year, but I do want to say I don't think I've ever been MORE thankful! I also want to say how thankful we are for each and every one of you! While we were home I kept hearing how many people read Amelia's blog, even still. Amazing!
It was truly wonderful to finally get to introduce Amelia to her family. It has been hard for me to be so far away from family and friends since Amelia's birth, but it is so awesome that you all have been able to get to know her through this blog. She is a blessed little baby to be loved by so many.
We traveled to Michigan on Wednesday. We debated about flying vs. driving, deciding that either way, it was going to be a long day. We opted for driving to avoid the dreaded holiday airport scene. But what is normally a 9-10 hour drive took us 13 hours with our new traveler in tow. She did so well up until hour 8 and then she made it quite clear that she no longer wanted to be confined in her car seat, and can you blame her? No, I never got her out of her seat while moving, hence the 13 hour trip. (I had flashbacks of her days in the NICU when she was in her little box and I could not pick her up when she cried. :( What an awful feeling. One I will not soon forget). So, we had to make many quick exits to various fast food parking lots or gas stations to free her! We even found ourselves in a Menard's parking lot at one point. ? Poor Ford drove the whole way so I could ride in the back with her. Around hour 11, we were all fried. I was out of tricks, I was actually at a loss and feeling so bad for Ford who was driving in a torrential down-pour, in the dark, while listening to his 4 month old baby scream for freedom. At one point, he actually pleaded with her, from the front seat while driving, to help us out and to go to sleep. She stopped, looked out the window, gave a few sucks on the pacifier and closed her eyes and went to sleep. We were so thankful. :)
We didn't really have much time to recover from the drive and had to jump right into the festivities on Thursday which was quite an overwhelming day for her too as we celebrated with both the Lotos and the Stornants. She had never seen the likes of so many people; all who had been waiting to squeeze and love her up. She also did not have regular naps, needless to say I spent most of my Thanksgiving tucked away in various bedrooms, feeding and consoling and attempting to sneak her in a nap here and there. I even missed dinner but I didn't care. I was happy and thankful none-the-less. I knew the whole experience was a memory in the making... "Remember Amelia's first Thanksgiving? She cried all day and wouldn't go to anyone but her mom."
Friday was a little easier for her as we celebrated yet another Thanksgiving with the Turrells and Saturday she finally seemed to just be getting the hang of it, just in time to travel again! We left Michigan on Saturday night in the hopes that she would sleep most of the trip. She did, thank goodness. Lesson learned, travel at night.
Overall the trip was a success but she is certainly happy to be home. It's truly unbelievable how fast the time is going and how much she's grown. Just the fact that she seems to recognize being home, her bed, her toys...Ford and I both commented on how she seems older now, that somehow this trip matured her a little.
Traveling with a baby isn't the easiest thing but I thought a lot about the fact that it didn't matter where we were, or even how long it took us to get there. As long as we were together she had everything she needed and she seemed thankful.
This was Amelia's face when we told her how many
people she would be meeting this
Thanksgiving weekend...
Good morning! I woke up early this morning, well, Amelia woke up early, and I decided to check my e-mail first thing. I received an e-mail from my good friend Molly Sly who has a prayer request for her good friend Casey. Casey is in his early 30's, married with two small kids, a 2 and a 4 year old and was just admitted to the hospital. It is possible that he may have lymphoma. They are all very scared and are asking for prayers. So, please, please add them to your prayer lists. We all know the power of prayer. (Just take a look at that photo for a quick reminder)!
God bless your day.
Kim
Has it really been a week since my last post? Wow, I'm slacking aren't I? Well, let's see...what has happened in a week? Well, for one thing, my little peanut is growing up. Today she let out a full blown belly laugh. I was so shocked and happy that I cried. So far it's been the one laugh followed by a squeaky inhale when she gets really excited, fun and certainly cute but not an official laugh. So today, while I was kissing and blowing raspberries on her tummy...it happened, giggle central. What could be better? I demonstrated again for Ford tonight while getting her ready for bed, she did it again. He couldn't believe it either. Watching her grow and change and witnessing her personality emerge is nothing short of incredible. After what we have been through already in her short little life, these important moments feel like the greatest gifts, and maybe I am just that much more grateful. They are almost like little surprises, you never know when they are going to come and when they do, it's like God wrapped up a little box and left it on your doorstep. And the best thing is the little boxes keep coming.
There's not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for her and for healing her. Sometimes when the discussion comes up, the whole skin thing, I want to cut the conversation short and not talk about it, not remember it, not relive it. But then I remember, what an important happening it was and is in our lives. It was by far the hugest test of faith that I have been through yet. Which leads me to this story:
I joined a Bible study with my friend Elizabeth when Amelia was just 5 weeks old. I have never done anything like this before but in light of what I was going through emotionally concerning Amelia and her health, well, it just felt right. Plus I thought it would be fun and informative and a great way to meet some nice women my age.
We are studying the book of Luke. Interesting in itself as I learned Luke was a physician. Also interesting as he describes in great detail Jesus' ministry and the miracles he performed while here on earth. Many of these I read over and over again while Amelia was in the hospital and after we brought her home as they brought me much needed peace and hope.
A few weeks ago, I was reading the commentary before beginning that week's lesson which focused on the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert. In the commentary, it mentioned how the number 40 was used over and over again in the Bible (Jesus in the desert, Noah and the flood, and several other examples) and how the number typically signifies a period of testing. I thought about Amelia and the past few months, how grueling it was to wait, how desperate I felt and how hard I prayed. Something inside me made me jump up and grab a calendar. I counted the number of days we had to wait from Amelia's first dermatologist appointment (when he told us he could not give us any indication of her condition until she turned 2 months and that we would just have to wait), to her 2 month appointment when we found out she was healed.
Guess how many days?
40.
Things have been busy on Beechwood Ave, hence the delay in posting lately. We've had visitors! Yeah! Friends Kate and Nancy and cousin Anna drove down last weekend after closing up shop for the season on Mackinac. It was great fun and we were sad to see them go. But now Grandma and Grandpa Lotoszinski are here getting in some snuggle time with Amelia. :) She is warming up to them slowly but surely. I can't believe what a Mama's girl she is already. It's really evident watching her interact with others these last few weeks. I'm confident that Grandma and Grandpa won't give up and they'll be able to break her in before all the excitement Thanksgiving weekend! She's got a lot of new people to meet! Can't wait.
Check out the bonnet! How hilarious is that? It belonged to me when I was a babe, where did I go that was so fancy?
