6 Month Update

Whoa ... it's been a whole month since I have blogged. Sorry this is so overdue! I have been working a good amount in the last couple weeks, so extra time is harder to find.

Oxygen update: She is consistently requiring oxygen at night ... bummer. But we are strategizing some ways to help her breathe better at night, so stay posted for potential progress.

Nickname update:
Currently, she most often gets called...
Bee Bee
Sugar
Sweetie
Baby Girl
Poop Mouth (there has to be a nickname for when she's a handful, right?)

Personality update:
- She is awesome when she first wakes up ... she will just lay there with her eyes open until one of us goes to un-swaddle her, and she almost always gives a big grin. Then she lays on the changing table being all smilely and sweet and awesome ... who would have ever guessed that I would love getting up with my girl at 7:30 in the morning?
- She is using her hands a lot more ... meaning she will pull on her blankets or clothes, hold onto her bottles, and grab my fingers. I call them her "helper hands," even though they are usually in the way.
- She is sooo close to laughing ... especially with Josh.
- If I stand in front of a mirror while holding her and make silly faces, she will see me in the mirror, smile, and then playfully turn her head away.
- She is much better at sitting up and holding her head up. When she is really content (usually after eating), she will sit up straight and look all over the place. We love it, because then it actually looks like she has a neck.
- She is a little socialite. The more people around, the better. Especially if they will hold her.
- She makes a very distinct noise when she is pooping ... and it is hilarious. Josh and I just laid in bed giggling at her the other night, because she was being so loud. And sometimes she works so hard it makes her eyes water.
- She has this amazing capacity to turn Josh into a pile of mush. In the last month or so, he has really fallen head over heels in love with her. He is always saying sweet things to her, gushing over how cute she is, and he relishes everything about her. It's the best thing ever.

And, last but not least, the picture update:

Hand in the mouth ... story of her life

She's not wearing cloth so I could capture her cute bum

 

Cheeks!

Holy crap ... cutest baby ever in the world. Ever.

Rocky dreams

 

 

There had to be a daddy/baby sleep picture, right? Phoenix looks like a hobo ...

And here are a couple pictures from Phoenix's first visit with Santa. It was not premeditated, so sorry for the lack of Christmas clothes ... oh well. It's still super cute.

Hope you are all having a lovely, reflective Advent season!

5 Month Pictures

My computer is on the fritz (I spilled several ounces of breastmilk on the keyboard ... I cannot wait until this terrible phase of my life is over), so I am having to use Josh's work computer whenever I want to post pictures ... hence the delay.

Unfortunately, I still failed to capture a smile. She has started to smile A LOT in the last few days, but has also mastered the art of keeping those smiles secret. As soon as the camera is out, she either stops smiling or moves enough to make the pictures blurry. Bummer for you ... but I kind of relish the fact that Josh and I get all her secret smiles.

Notice that we exchanged accessories ... no cannula in these pictures! Unfortunately we are still not rid of the oxygen tanks, but she continues to do better. Last week, she went 5 days and 4 nights breathing only room air! Keep praying -- we would love to have tank-free holidays!

The post-smile spit face

Darla snugs

She smacked Darla out of this picture

I like how Darla is peeking at the camera in this picture

And a picture post just feels incomplete without pictures of Josh and Phoenix napping together. So here you go!

FYI --- I plan on ending this blog once sister is totally off her oxygen, which will hopefully be soon. But never fear, I will continue to blog. There will still be Phoenix pics and stories, but also lots of theological musings, quotes, baking brags and whatever else I feel like sharing with the world. I would continue with my old blog (emilymhcash.blogspot.com), but I cannot sign on because I forgot my password, and I can't login to the Baylor email address I used to create it. Lame, I know. But a tumblr account seems more appropriate for myriad of things I plan to share, so check out my so fresh and so clean blog at emilycash.tumblr.com. (Thanks to TL for the tumblr inspiration!)

Much love!

Adoption Awareness Month

November is adoption awareness month, which I happened to find out a couple weeks ago thanks to a multitude of social worker Facebook friends.
Josh and I have been setting aside time to pray this month about adoption as an option for our family, and would love it if you would join us in seeking God's will.
Adoption and foster care have been part of my heartbeat ever since spending my college summers in inner-city Philly, watching children being largely neglected by their parents. It only seems right to open our family to children who would otherwise live without the most basic and profound human need: love.
Now that we have started our family, the timing is ripe for us to pray about growth - especially because the adoption process can take years.
Just to clarify, we haven't 100% ruled out more biological children. Though, to be brutally honest, just thinking about it makes me tear up. My pregnancy and Phoenix's birth were the two hardest (and scariest) things I have ever done, and it is extremely likely that future pregnancies would be just as complicated and dangerous. But, as my life continues to attest, God will do what he wants, and I never want to make decisions driven by fear.

So we are taking this month to educate ourselves and ask God to let us in on His vision for our family.
Here are some things you can join us in praying about:
- TIMING!
- how it would work for us financially
- domestic or international (though I definitely lean domestic)?
- which agency?
- infant or older?
- sibling groups?
- special needs?
- foster care first? Adopt out of foster care?

We so appreciate you partnering with us in prayer!

And now, for your viewing pleasure ....

The Latest

As of today, our once tiny little baby weighed in at 12 lbs, 4 oz!

We took her back to Emory today to get the special RSV vaccine that I mentioned in an earlier post --- which, by the way, ended up getting worked out so that WE DIDN'T HAVE TO PAY A DIME (Thank you, Jesus!) She took her shot like a champ, which is good, since we have to go once a month until RSV season is over (in April).

We stopped in to the NICU to say hi to some of the nurses ... and they just about died when they saw her! They couldn't believe how big she is, and they loved seeing her without her oxygen cannula.  She is still doing really well with the 02, by the way. She never needs it during the day, and doesn't always need it at night. Earlier this week, she went three straight days (and two nights) without needing any suplemental oxygen! We are almost free from her tubes! It just makes her hate the cannula that much more -- right now, she is screaming as Josh is putting it in for the night.

She saw her neonatologist again today, for the first time in a couple months, and he was incredibly impressed with her progress. He checked her out, and said everything looked/sounded good. In his words, "No concerns." Finally ... after 5 months of back-to-back problems, she got a clean bill of health today! Music to our ears!

It was surreal for me to be back in the NICU again ... sometimes I wonder how I survived that season. It still blows my mind that I didn't get to hold her for 18 days and I made it through. Several well-wishers have told me that I should count it a compliment that we have endured so much as a little family, implying that, because God doesn't test us beyond what we can bear, Josh and I must be pretty freakin' strong. But, turns out, the only strength I had was borrowed ... or gifted, rather. God asked a lot of us, and then made us capable of that which he asked.

I have been thinking a lot about my wonder-girl (one of her trillion nicknames) the last few days -- with all the ways that God has spared, protected, and anointed this little soul, I can't even begin to fathom what He has in store for her. What a powerful little life he has placed in our hands. I don't feel quite adequate for the task ... why us? Why are we entrusted with such a wonder-girl? I can only trust in God's consistency of character, knowing that he will gift us the same power to parent her as he did to survive her early days.

Here are some pictures of my sweetie girl. Enjoy.

Sleepin in jammies that belonged to me [Emily] as a baby

Sleep smiles

What happens when we don't swaddle tight enough

I can't handle her.

The best nappers I've ever met

Walked in on her checkin herself out

Angel baby sleeping after her shot today ... rockin the cloth diaper booty!

Anniversary Trip

Our 36-hour getaway to Savannah was just what we needed to celebrate passing the one-year mark. It was PHENOMENAL to just be married people again, without being parents.
Well, I guess we still had a few parental moments -- like when we were comparing stuffed animal dragons for Phoenix.
But we didn't have to function around her schedule, we had no oxygen to cart around, no diapers to change and no monitor to break the blessed silence.

I, being a little bit more reflective than Josh, made us talk (a lot) about the past year, everything we have learned about relationships, and what was surprising to us about marriage. It has been a fun week of conversations, and I can honestly say that I love that man more than I ever imagined possible ... and definitely more than I did a year ago.

We had a TON of fun together, due in large part to Josh's awesome trip-planning skills. That's right, people, he planned it all! 

Here are just a few pictures:

Awesome room at a bed & breakfast (which, ironically, didn't really have breakfast)

River Street

Meet and my forever-man

It was simultaneously decorated for Halloween and breast cancer awareness. Awesome.

Anyone who really knows me will understand why Josh picked the perfect place for dinner

Year-old cake (Still looked and tasted good, Lisa!)

Thank you all for loving and supporting us ... it has made all the difference in the way we love and support one another!
And here is a shout-out to Skitch and Doobie ... thank you for showering our girl in snuggles, and for blessing us with the chance to leave her at home!

Side note -- without any context, it is kinda sketchy that we have a four-month-old and have only been married a year.
Side note #2 -- While reading this post, Josh said, "You aren't more reflective ... you just think about it more." Yup. He's mine.

4 Month Pictures (and some randoms)

Turns out sister is done being cooperative for these pictures ... she was alert and flinging her limbs all over the place. I took millions of pictures, most of which had at least one blurry extremity.
But here are a couple of the best ones!

Most beautiful baby ever!

Wassup, Darla?

Mid yawn

Couldn't tell you why I like this one

Super girl!

Today I decided to carve a pumpkin -- except that I forgot we don't have a carving kit until I had already gutted the thing.
So, in the interim, I decided to put my baby in the jack'o'latern. And sister hated it. But the pictures are AWESOME!

Chillin'

Eat that pumpkin

Wait a second ...

Angry girl!

Check out her fatty arm!

Get me out of here!

And a couple of random pictures:

Layin' on Daddy

Couch nap

Love her tons!