The Birthday Girls

10 months for Lyla Jane and 31 years for Jenny Jane. Yousers! :)

This is Lyla waking up from a nap and stretching out. The cuteness is sometimes unbelievable!

My Prince Charming

It's somebody's birthday today--here's a hint:

Wonderful daddy...

and loving husband.

Always fun...

to be around.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Joel!

We love you!!!!! xoxoxoxoxo Jenny & Lyla Jane

The Little Lady

The latest news! Lyla is cutting her top two front teeth! We just noticed it yesterday during church. :) She'll soon have 4 little toofers. Fun.

Anyway, here are just a few fun pics from the last few days...

Lyla wearing great-grandma Nita's glasses

Daddy & Lyla chillin and watching the sad, sad Packer game (I'm pretty sure they lost because Lyla wasn't wearing her Packer oufit--hee, hee)

Fun with Dad

A Fun Day

Today both Joel and I had off work and the weather was just beautiful so we took advantage of it. We love to enjoy the beauty of God's creation--especially in the fall! Enjoy the pics...

We went for an evening walk and tried out the hiking baby pack for the first time--Lyla loved it. :)

She loves to look up at the trees.

What a cutie!

Earlier we had gone for a bike ride along the Black River--an off-shoot of the Mighty Miss--it was beautiful except for the gnats!

Little Packer fan :)

Green Bay Packers defeat the Chicago Bears 21 to 15. Woohoo!

And here's the cutest little Packer fan... (at least we think so!)

Go Pack Go!

Lyla is doing her "hula hands" in this vid :)

The bike ride!

Our friends Luke & Susan borrowed us their bicycle trailor (is that what it's called??) so we can use it when we go to Door County in October. We took it out for a test ride last night and it worked perfectly--so fun! I think Lyla enjoyed feeling the wind in that crazy hair of hers. :)

Thanks Uncle Uke and Auntie Suz!

A new little visitor...

Yesterday our friends Diana and Anil and their 5-week old little Zahra came for a visit. Zahra (as you can see) is just beautiful--and so tiny! It was fun to hold the little munchkin and visit with our friends. :)

Diana and the bean

Zahra and Joel

Anil and Lyla

Zahra and Lyla checking each other out :)

What a weekend :)

Our messy little eater :)

On Friday Lyla got her suprapubic catheter pulled--woohoo! She (and her parents) are enjoying being free of those pesky catheters. :) She's been sleeping better and eating better and just progressing really well every day. Her incision looks awesome too. She's even back to doing tummy time. :) We truly give thanks to God for bringing her through this on the wings of many, many prayers. On October 1st she gets the test done to see if the surgery has resolved the urinary reflux--we're praying hard that it has!

On Saturday Lyla got to help in her first garage sale. I think her cuteness definitely boosted sales! That evening we went for a long walk in the country while Daddy put up a tree stand.

And on Sunday we went to church and then fishing with Daddy. The weather has been so gorgeous lately! It was perfect weather to be out in the boat. Joel caught a pretty good-sized Northern and some slime got on Lyla's diaper bag--so that was special. The funniest part of the fishing outing was when we were coming back to the landing in the no-wake zone--just putting along, and Lulu (our 5 lb yorkie) decides to jump off the bow of the boat into the river. Joel had to scoop her out with the net. It was hilarious. :) Anyway, hope you are having a fun Labor Day weekend too!

Enjoy the pics and vids. :)

The Slimer

You can disregard my talking in the background--I had been on the phone with my parents but I actually ended up accidently hanging up on them--oops.

This video was taken about a month ago on another beautiful evening on the river. :)

Turning the corner...

Yesterday Lyla had a follow-up appt with her surgeon and she got her foley cath removed--yay! She still has the other one until Friday. We were of course concerned that she might not be able to pee after getting the foley removed, but she's been peeing like a champ! Oh, the little victories. :) Also, she's been eating much better--close to normal, in fact. And she's been sleeping through the night much more peacefully, and she doesn't require pain medication anymore. She's mostly back to her happy-dappy self! So thank you for your prayers--we know they are being heard and answered. We are looking forward to Friday, when she can be line-free if all is well. :)

Enjoy the pics and video--

Cutie pie

Pics from the hospital

Here are just a few from Thursday and Friday.

Two grandpas doting over their sweet granddaughter.

Her toes are still cute. :)

Oh, the hospital fun.

The beginning shot on this video looks a little gross--the bloody thing is Lyla's catheter bag with her urine in it. Every day it gets clearer and more normal looking.

She has had apretty good day today--eating better and smiling quite a bit--Lyla smiles are good for the soul. :) Hopefully she'll be able to sleep better tonight!

We're home!

Just wanted to let you know that we unexpectedly got to come home from the hospital today! Lyla's doctor seems to think she's doing well enough. He said her appetite will eventually return. She did come home with both her foley catheter and the suprapubic catheter, which isn't extremely fun but it's still better than being at the hospital. She's having a bit of a rough evening--crying and uncomfortable and we can't quite figure out why. But I guess she's not going to be 100% for at least a few days. She had a big, bad surgery for pete's sake! It's just hard to see her suffering though. Anyway, we praise the Lord for her progress--she was pretty happy and more back to herself for the majority of the day. It is just amazing what a human body can take--especially such a little one. But we are glad to be home. Thanks for your continued prayers. If you do want to come for a visit please just call first. We love you!

Jenny & Joel

9 months today...

Lyla's 9 month birthday probably won't be a day that we look back upon fondly. She had a rough night last night--woke up several times (Grandma Cathy stayed with her at the hospital through the night) and just seemed uncomfortable. She still was not peeing this morning after having her catheter out for over 24 hours so they did an ultrasound to see if there was urine sitting in her bladder that she wasn't passing. Sure enough there was, so she had to be re-catheterized. Also, we tried to give her tylenol with codeine twice and she threw it up twice. So we're going to stick with just plain tylenol I guess. She still isn't eating hardly anything, but does seem a bit more comfortable now that her bladder is drained. Please pray that she'll start eating and that her pain will be well-controlled with just the tylenol. And just that she overall gets well enough to go home! I'm guessing we might be here until Sunday or Monday. I'll let you know if her day starts to get better. Love, Jenny

Well...

Lyla's not having such a great day today. She has not peed on her own since the catheter was taken out--it's been 8 hours. Also, she won't eat anything by mouth--she's had a total of 6 oz today, most of which was eaten at 8 this morning. She seems very uncomfortable and has had to have several doses of IV morphine today. We think she's uncomfortable because her bladder is full but she can't pee it out. I don't think she'll be going home tomorrow. Please pray that she takes a turn for the better. Thanks and love to you--Jenny

Slowly but surely...

Lyla gets better every day. Yesterday was a little rough because the ansthesia had worn off and she was having some pain--pretty typical for 2nd day after surgery. But we did get the pain under control and she had a great evening and slept really well last night. She slept from 9:30pm until 7 this morning! Now it's 9 am and she's back to sleep after having a bath and a bottle. Her surgeon came in this morning and removed her foley cath so all she has left is the suprapubic cath and the IV. If she eats well today and seems to do well overall, we may get to go home tomorrow. That would be awesome. :) She's our amazing little trooper as always. We know the Lord is carrying her through.

Thank you for your prayers and love sent Lyla's way. :)
Love, Jenny & Joel

Photo Update :)

Grandma's here--yay!

Papa's here too--yippee!

Lyla's favorite thing to chew on--her burp cloth

Arriving at the hospital on surgery day at 5:30am

Mom's a little nervous--Lyla's just sleepy :)

Lyla's slightly ghetto surgery hat :)