Road Trip!

So, I finally got to check out the Iowa scene this past week... I discovered that it's a pretty laid back place to hang out, we had a great time just visiting with all of Mom's family. I also found out that the trip from home to Orange City, Iowa takes about 10.5 hours and I travel really well for about 10 hours - those car seats are pretty comfy, but sometimes enough is enough!

Here's a picture of me in my seat - I spent about 22 hours in this thing on our trip!

We spent a lot of time in Orange City walking downtown and to all the city parks. Our first night there we went to the downtown park where they have a bunch of windmills on display for the yearly Tulip Festival the town hosts.

We stopped on our walk to take a picture in front of the Sioux County Court House.

This is a view of the downtown park and all the windmills - it's a Dutch thing.

I just thought I looked pretty cute on this one with my dad.

Wednesday night, our second day in Iowa, we went to the Blue Mountain restaurant in Orange City - it was good, but the highlight was the huge thunderhead cloud we saw as we were leaving.

It's real, and it's spectacular!

Grandma bought me a snowsuit for this winter - Hopefully I grow really fast after my surgery so that I can fill it out!

On Thursday was my cousin Maddie's birthday, she turned 5. We went to the other park in town to have pizza and cake - by the way, if you ever get a chance to try Pizza Ranch pizza you should - it's mine and my dad's favorite. We enjoyed Pizza Ranch pizza three times during our 7-day stay as well as some of their broasted chicken - yum!

This is my cousin Maddie with her birthday cake - I hope I grow up to be almost as cute as she is!

Before going to Maddie's birthday party we went to my mom's college to check out the campus, and since Julie is going to school there now, she gave us a tour of all the updates around the college. We stopped to reminisce about the days when mom was fit and ran track for the Dordt College Defenders - she even has some records that still stand from such a LONG time ago -hard to believe!

Me and mom in front of the record board.

Our little family being models for Dordt College - you should have seen mom trying to get up on the sign...she's got some working out to do!

Dad got a chance to do some golfing with Uncle Andrew on Saturday morning and then we spent a good part of the rest of the day posing for pictures....you know how grandma's are, we needed to have pictures since all of the family was together since Joni and Barry and my cousins, Ethan and Erin, came to join the family fun. After the photo shoot, we headed to the downtown park again and had a snack and enjoyed the beautiful weather and each other's company.

Here's the whole family.

Back row: Andrew, Matt, Grandpa, Barry with Erin
Middle row: Jenness, Me and Mom, Grandma, Julie, Joni
Seated/front row: Marty, Michael, Maddie, Max, Maggie, Ethan

Saturday night, we went to the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor in LeMars, IA
Now you all know how I keep gaining all that weight - my secret's out!

Mom, Julie and me in front of the old fashioned ice cream truck.

Sunday was another good day. We went to church - I was really good. I met all of Grandpa and Grandma's good friends and I thought they were all pretty great. Then we had some dinner and spent some time just relaxing with the family again.

This is our family in front of Grandpa and Grandma's church.

I enjoyed spending time on my clown quilt in the park with Mom and Maddie.

And, of course, we spent a few hours every night watching the Olympics.

Dad and I took a break from watching the Olympics to ponder all the tough questions in life.

Now we're back at home and ready for our next adventure!
Blog at'cha later!

Saturday was a fun filled day with my cousins. We mostly hung out at home since they had a full week of activities in CA but we still had a lot of fun. My Dad and Max went on a hike in the Boulder foothills while us girls went shopping in the afternoon.

Dad and Max going up Bear Peak trail.

Max takes a break and looks out over Boulder.

Mom got me a swim suit that I will not be able to wear until next summer. Something to look forward to I guess. My friends Scott and Andrea got me a little Broncos cheer leading outfit that I sported during the first pre-season Bronco game. Even though the Broncos were not victorious, I sure cheered them on and looked good if I don't mind saying so.

GO BRONCOS!

My cousins look pretty comfortable in their van as they get ready to head back to Iowa.


Tomorrow we take off to Iowa for a week long visit. I hear that there is more oxygen down in Iowa and that will be nice. There are also lots of really nice people that I cannot wait to meet. I think Orange City is going to be one of my favorite places to go in the years to come.

Crazy eights

So I am now 2 months old and to celebrate, the world is putting on a whole Olympic ceremony thing. That's very nice don't you think? I also had a not so fun thing to do today, my 2 month shots. Not a very fun way to spend the day if you ask me. I weighed in at 8lbs. How appropriate on 8-8-8. It's almost like I planned it. This is also the day that my cousins are stopping by on the way back to Iowa from California. To celebrate all of this my Mom and Aunt Julie made a cake.

My 2 month B-day cake.

My Mom and her creation.

Wow! I'm so excited about my cake.

The family gathers around to sing a birthday song.

Well, with all of the cake that I had tonight I should be well on my way to 10lbs by September. Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers with my weigh gain and health before the surgery.

Goodbye for now until I Blog again.

Meeting the rest of my cousins

This past Wednesday I got to meet the rest of my cousins. Their family was on their way to California for a family reunion and they stayed with us for a night. They are planning to stop by again for a couple more days on their way back to Iowa.

It was a lot of fun to see them, and I look forward to many more play times with them in the many years to come.

Here are some fun pictures of me with my cousins.

Marty and I are hanging out while Max and I are sporting the same hair do.

I look up to you Max.

Maddie is too cute.

Maggie gives me a nice little hug.
Michael enjoys some breakfast before he and the family hit the road.

It's good to be back blogging again. Thanks for your comments on the blog. I like to read them knowing that you are having fun seeing what I'm up to.

Birth until July 28th - revisited

Overview of the past blog site and Lydia's life 'til now.

Baby Lydia Ruth was born on June 8th at 7:48 am to Matt and Jackie. She weighed 5 pounds, 4 ounces and was 19 inches long. She found her way into the world by way of C-section and is keeping mom and dad very busy. Mom and baby are doing well and will be in the hospital for a few more days. There should be some pictures on this site very soon if they are not already there.

Posted by Lydia at 4:30PM 06/09/08

DAY ONE - June 8

What a day indeed!
It actually all started on Friday night with what Jackie thought were "false labor" contractions. Well, these contractions lasted all through that night and the following day... finally, on Sunday at around 2:30 am, Jackie was "sick of this" and called the on-call nurse. The nurse, of course, said, "you're experiencing false labor... call us back if your water breaks."
At 3:38 am Jackie's water broke.... so we took showers and headed to the hospital - not before calling the nurse back and Jackie saying, "I told you I was in labor!"
We were escorted to the delivery room at precisely 4:20 am (that's right Zach).
Again, they were doubtful that they wanted us to stay - saying, "are you sure your water broke?" - um yeah!
After having to sit still for two and a half hours of contractions to see what the baby's heart rate would be if she was awake, they finally let Jackie move around during the contractions - thank heaven. However, at that time she was through with pain and went to the epidural.
Following the epidural things were a bit of a blur: Jackie was beginning to feel the effects of the medication and then several nurses and Dr's came rushing into the room saying, "Turn this way, turn the other way, now, get on your hands and knees... the next thing we knew, Jackie had been wheeled out of the room and Matt was left standing alone in disbelief!
As you probably deduced, Jackie was rushed to emergency surgery to get Lydia out without further complications.
At 7:48am Lydia was introduced to the world!
The rest of Sunday was spent cuddling the precious new bundle of joy - who by the way, was expected by most to be a boy - Lydia is quite the trickster already! Lydia's first visitors on Sunday showed up around 1:30 pm and the last to leave did so around 10:45 pm.

DAY TWO - June 9

Lydia's 2nd day of life consisted of more visitors and routine and non-routine testing.
Matt spent Day 2 learning to swaddle, change diapers and just be a dad!
Jackie spent the day admiring her baby and trying to get some rest after the surgery and excitement of Sunday... she couldn't sleep Sunday night due to her infatuation with her beautiful baby girl!

Day Three -June 10

Alright. Day 3 - a doozie!
The morning was spent similarly to Day 2. Just learning more about being parents... the usual stuff.
2:30pm came around and our life plan was altered dramatically.
Dr. Stigler (the hospital pediatrician) came to visit the room and delivered some news we had been slightly warned about, but not expecting. She informed us that our beautiful Lydia had tested positively for Down Syndrome - in other words she has an extra chromosome and the condition is known as Trisomy 21.
After receiving that blow, she informed us that about 1/2 the cases of Down Syndrome are accompanied by a congenital heart defect. So our next step was taking Lydia to have an echo cardiogram. This test also came back positive and Lydia will probably be under going surgery within the next 3 or 4 months - once she is strong enough.
Following both these items of news, we spent much of Tuesday afternoon with mixed emotions and many questions circling our brains. "What now?" "How severe?" "What's the heart condition entail?" -just to name a few.
We found that in that one instant, our lives changed drastically: we went from Matt and Jackie - charmed couple, to Matt, Jackie and Lydia - family swimming in the unknown.
After many hours of tears and joy we came to the realization that God had chosen us to take care of his special little girl and that we would take that challenge and run with it at full speed! Even though we had not been consciously preparing, God had been putting the stepping stones in place for some time preparing our hearts for this special opportunity.
We immediately experienced tremendous love and support from friends and family... this was truly comforting considering the rough road ahead and all of the times we will be requiring their support as this journey continues.
We write this hoping that as we enlighten you periodically on Lydia's progress, your hearts will be touched and enriched as much as ours.
We appreciate your prayers as well!

Day Four - June 11

To go home or not to go home? That is the question.

Jackie was given the go-ahead to be discharged from the hospital on Wednesday late morning. However, the doctors were a little concerned about the color of Lydia's skin and wanted her to be placed under UV lights for some time get rid of the Jaundice. Turns out that some time ended up being just over 17 hours and was not started until 4PM.

We are staying, that is the answer. The food is not too bad, there is a place for me to "sleep" and the view is pretty good. Things could be worse.

It was another nice evening filled with more wonderful friends stopping by to see the little peanut. Lydia, like many other kiddos that need to go under these lights was not very happy. Being the little trooper she is though, she calmed down and adjusted to her new situation nicely.

We all thought the "glasses" that she got to wear were cute but I don't think she felt the same way. They were held on by velcro with sticky adhesive on the back. There was no problem with them going on but the coming off part was a whole other story.

We all settled in together after Julie left for the night to try and get some sleep. We needed our energy for the next day which we hoped was going to be the day we would go home and start our new lives together.

Posted by Lydia at 3:25PM

Day 5 - June 12

Momma I'm comin' home:

It takes all morning for the discharge paperwork to be completed and then we are on our way home. The only car seat we have does not double as a carrier so Jackie gets a ride out of the hospital in style in a wheel chair.

Once we get Lydia all buckled up we are on our way. She seems to enjoy the car, let's hope that it stays like this in the future. We have many Iowa trips in the future and it would be nice if she enjoyed the car ride.

We are happy to hear that Jackie's mom and dad will be here later in the evening to see the little baby girl. They cut their vacation short at the lake to come out and see the little peanut. What great grandparents!

Posted by Lydia at 9:49PM

We are now home with our precious little girl.

We're home!

Love,
Jackie, Lydia and Matt

Posted by Lydia at 5:08PM 06/12/08

After returning home from the hospital we've had countless numbers of visitors including: Jackie's parents, sisters and their families; Matt's parents, aunt and uncle, and brother and sister-in-law; and friends.

We've also seen our fair share of health care professionals. We've had two visits with Lydia's pediatrician, two visits with her cardiologist and four home health care visits. Lydia has also been set up with an Occupational Therapist who comes for a play date once a week.

Our biggest goal to date is getting Lydia up to 10 lbs. by September so that she can be strong enough to under go heart surgery for a condition called AVSD (atrio-ventricular septum defect). We found out on Monday that she is at 7lbs. 5oz - so we're on our way!

I'm Sorry... So sorry (cue music)!

Well everyone, it looks like we've been booted from our previous location - it seems that somewhere along the line, we disobeyed the rules (horrible examples for our little gal) of Blogger - lets just say mistakes were made.

Not to worry though, we will not be defeated so easily. The blog must go on... and will.

Most of you have been following Lydia's blog religiously. But for those of you who are new, we will be posting a few catch up blogs to get you up to speed on Lydia's condition and progress. Following that we will resume blogging as usual.

For those of you who really want to see the old blog in its entirety, we are working on putting it in PDF form... email us to see if that is available to you!

Lydia's so upset about the inconvenience this poses to you all!