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!