child of God

Posted on April 13, 2015 by electricnurse

It was important to us that Adam’s Dad, Michael, be the one to do Lainey’s dedication so a trip to Mississippi was planned! She did awesome on her first trip, of course. She even continued to sleep through the night there which was great (she has slept through the night (7-10 hours) since she was 5 weeks old!).

tired mama…tired baby

Her dedication was done the last Sunday in March at their church and was wonderful.

Brother Carter (Pawpaw) challenged us and all of the parents there that day to raise our children for our Lord. I will admit that when I look back at this photo I think of Simba in the Lion King and the song The Circle of Life is in my head!!! (you know you are singing the same song in your head right this minute!!) bahaha

The gown Lainey wore is a family gown from my side of the family that my Mother and all eight of her siblings were baptized in. Almost 70 years old, a Feltman Brothers gown, it has been repaired by hand in several places in the back. Lainey spit up a small amount on it while wearing it. While I hand-washed it once we were home, I imagined my Nana doing the very same thing nine times before me years ago. Wow!

Our Lainey girl met so many more family members, including her great grandfathers! This is precious to me as I never met any of my great grandparents.

Great Grandaddy checks her out!

Meeting Great Pawpaw Carter

This little gal is so loved by her family! We hope to make a trip to Florida this fall for her to meet the rest of my family next!

“So we have dedicated her to the LORD; as long as she lives she is dedicated to the LORD.” 1 Samuel 1:28

nothing is the same

Posted on April 6, 2015 by electricnurse

As I fall asleep at night and think of my day I can’t help but think of how nothing is the same. Nothing. I am married to the same wonderful man. Our address is the same and we drive the same car. But, really that is it. And, I love it! Our lives are so full at last. Today started a new chapter as I returned to work. I am only seeing patients two days this week, three next and then will return fully the week after. Last night was tough. I didn’t want Lainey to go to bed because then I had to go to bed which would mean this morning came, and so on. I’ll admit most of my tears were cried last night, with only a few shed this morning. I remembered to be so thankful that I didn’t have to bundle her up and take her out with me as Adam held her in the garage waving at me when I pulled away. She will stay home with him full-time.

Undoubtedly there will be days when I can’t get away for lunch and on these days they will join me at my office to eat and Daddy even says they will be coming to visit me at other times during the day when I get settled at the clinic. Having been unexpectedly gone my desk and patient schedule are (kind of) a mess but will get better within a couple of weeks! The one thing I want to share is how this morning at work for the first time in years I was actually looking forward to this evening already. I couldn’t wait to get home and rub my little girl’s peach fuzz head! Our lives used to be happy, don’t get me wrong, but I truly felt like I was on an episode of groundhog day most of the time. I would get up, go to work, come home, eat supper, read something, go to bed and then do it again the next day. Being married for 19 years, I guess you could say we were in a rut from being in the same routine forever. Losing babies and depression compounded this exponentially! Adam and I are the perfect match as he is usually always “up” and that way if I ever struggled with something he was able to grab me by the shirt collar and pull me up with him, but after losing Lainey in November, we were both at our lowest of lows. It is so wonderful to feel alive again. To want to be here tomorrow. To look into those beautiful crystal blue eyes and see our future!

I brought two photos with me to the office today, one was this one:

Mundane, everyday things now hold new meaning. Planning our garden out on paper, something we have done for several years, was a blast! Things like turnips, sweet potatoes and parsnips?! Yay! Who would have thought? Why, of course we need to plant those so that we can put them up for our Miss Lainey to eat next winter!

Love her faces to pieces!!!

It is wonderful to have someone other than Adam and I to be aware of, to plan for. And, I know it is just beginning. I realize that some of you Mama’s of teenagers out there are probably saying “Oh, Shana…you have NO idea what you are wishing for!!!”. And, you are probably right! But, for now, I am enjoying figuring out silly things like where she is going to take swim lessons this summer already! =)

Please keep praying for the little one (Baby E) that I have mentioned previously. Baby E and her family need our prayers very much!

Oh, one last nursery teaser! We were surprised when her furniture came in one month sooner than we thought!!

Precious

Posted on April 4, 2015 by electricnurse

This. This preciousness lures me over and over again. She was born with quite a bit of dark hair that she subsequently lost in a male-baldness-like pattern, except for the 80’s mullet she kept and rocked quite well if I might say so myself! And, then this has happened in the past few weeks. This light brown silky fuzz! We love it. It may not look like much in this photo but it made a nice mini-mohawk in her bath Thursday night!

The other thing that we both find absolutely miraculous is her soft spot. An area that I probably normally touch at least a dozen times per day….on other babies that are sick. It is like an instinct to me after all of these years in medicine. It is just something my hand does…reach for their sweet head to be sure they aren’t dehydrated, be sure it isn’t bulging inappropriately, etc. But. I am ashamed to say I have never sat and truly looked at it. We find ourselves staring in awe at the pulsatile life coming from her sweet noggin’ while she sleeps! It amazes me.

I leave you with two more things tonight. I have more to blog soon but for now I leave you with a photo of Lainey….of course (considering the above two things are just of scalp!). This is from her dedication last Sunday-it was wonderful and I’ll write more soon.

Lastly, I mentioned recently about one of Lainey’s milk buddy’s having heart problems. She is ten weeks older then Lainey and has two holes in her heart. She is not doing well and will be having open heart surgery. My heart aches for both she and her family. The surgical team will be meeting on Monday to make a plan. Please join us in prayer for guidance and knowledge for her medial team and peace and comfort for her family. Celebrating Easter this weekend is especially fitting as in His death He saved us and therefore can definitely heal this sweet child.

this and that

Posted on March 6, 2015 by electricnurse

So, we know God is amazing, right? There are so many faith-affirming things happening in our lives currently….and many lessons, too. I am learning so much. Not only about my faith but about who I am and who I can and should be. I have always been a planner and liked to do things “just so”. Adam teases me that if a balloon came with directions on how to blow it up I would make sure to read them every time in case they change! Well, Miss Lainey’s “abrupt” arrival taught me that I don’t have to plan everything. While it is nice, it is just a bonus…not a necessity. A pretty nursery is not what it is about. I used to have (and still do-I will not lie) this vision of what her beautiful, perfect nursery will look like, but the reality is that this is simply not the priority in our days. This, my friends is actually what her nursery looks like currently (and yes, sadly those little piles of cute clothes are organized by size and category….believe-you-me!):

Her furniture is coming from Nebraska Furniture Mart and will not be here until some time in April….gah! I would simply love to have her dresser at least! We ripped the carpet out and are laying solid oak flooring. We have the flooring-Daddy just needs to find those extra hours to get it down! Thanks to our awesome family while they were all visiting the walls have all been painted and we put gold polka dots on one wall, the curtain rod and curtains are up, white blinds are up and we wall papered the back wall of her closet. Very fun! And, of course we have all of the pretties for her room….but we are going to wait until the furniture is here to put everything together. It is teal and coral with gold accents! Meanwhile, her mattress is on the floor and we rock her in one of the rockers off of the front porch!

You may have seen some of the photos on facebook by now from her first photo shoot. Blue House Fotos was awesome. We refer to her as the baby whisperer. The studio was about 300 degrees (perfect for naked babies) and she had white noise playing quite loudly. We literally handed Miss Lainey over when we arrived and she worked her magic, swaddling, wrapping, touching, etc….making her just melt in her hands! I am so glad she’ll be doing all of Lainey’s photos this year!

Perhaps a life-long dream of Adam’s has been to use a “family bathroom”. Unfortunately I am dead serious. To say this made his day is really down playing it…..

Lainey seems to be like every other baby and has unfortunately lost all of her hair on the top part of her head. The whole receding hair-line male hair loss thing is happenin’ to our gal:

One final thing….if you are looking for a totally awesomesauce baby gift that no one else will be giving, think about something from magnificent baby. Lainey got this outfit from her Uncle and Auntie in Montana. They got it at a baby boutique. It closes by magnets, people. AH.MAZ.ING. We will be shoving her little legs and arms into that thing as long as possible…which unfortunately will not be too much longer. So, with that said I would like to say if you do get anything from them ever, go big. I feel like maybe they run a tad on the small side. Or, maybe my baby runs a tad on the large side….

Mom

Posted on March 4, 2015 by electricnurse

We just received a book for Lainey and on the inside cover the person that gave it to us wrote that every time she hears this song titled “Mom” by Garth Brooks that she thinks of me. Thank you, Chelsea….I hadn’t heard this song. It touched me deep, made me weep and will now be one of my favorites forever…I know God sent her to me…

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Tag Archives: Lainey Noelle

child of God

nothing is the same

Precious

this and that

Mom