Off to Vegas ...

Hi Everybody,

This week has been another good one - not too much happened out of the ordinary for us, but it's been good just the same!

Robert has been working his tail off at the house fixing up the kitchen, among other things! I'm so proud of him! He's sent me some pictures and even though it's not finished, it looks great! His Dad flew out last Friday to help him and they've made some great progress. They're not sure if they're going to be able to get EVERYTHING done that we want done (shower doors installed, ceiling fans installed, brick backyard, etc...), so I'm going to be packing like crazy so they can focus on the hard work. I fly out to Vegas tomorrow around noon and I will be back with our girls hopefully next Monday.

Be praying for us - it's going to be hard for me to be away from my beautiful baby girls, and we have a few days of VERY hard work coming up with remodeling, packing and moving by this weekend. Pray for strength, energy and safety for all of us!

Apparently it wasn't quite clear, but Robert is NOT being stationed at Beale Air Force Base like we initially thought earlier this spring. His new job will be as an instructor of the Air Force ROTC program at Sacramento State University. His report date is September 3rd, so it'll be nice to have Robert closer! We're planning to be together for the weekends, so it'll be nicer than seeing each other every few weeks. It's still not the most ideal situation, but we're grateful for it! =)

Being that we don't have a house like we were hoping we'd have by now, Robert doesn't have a place to stay while he's in Sacramento. We've been asking around to see if anybody has an extra room available for him to crash at nights and we MIGHT have a possible lead, but as of today, still nothing very promising for him. If you know of anybody in Sacramento area, please let them know he's in need of a room to stay for a couple of months until we have a house. Pray house hunting will go well once Robert is back in the area, too!

Mia has been doing really well! Her physical therapy is going well... she's starting to move more and her neck is getting a little stronger which is great!! Last week we noticed that she's starting to reach for things!!! Praise the Lord!!! That is HUGE! It's not all the time, but at least she does it! I bought her a bean bag and she looks SO cozy in it!! (Like her new Crocs from Pops??)

Last month before the RT's changed Mia's trach to a different type, she had an air leak that wasn't good for her, but I loved it because she could talk! I was able to record it on my cell phone, so yesterday I made a couple of quick videos of the recordings so you could hear her talk! Click on the following 3 pictures of Mia to listen: (Note: the vidoes aren't actually videos. They're basically just audio clips, but I video taped a picture of her, so that's why she's not moving or anything.) =)

I finally got some time and money to go shopping to fix up the trailer! I went to Ikea for the first time ever and it was definitely interesting! I got some bedding which was nice. Now I actually want to be in there! I got a tension rod for the bathroom (since I'm not going to use it anyway) so I can use that as a closet; I got a nice cloth shower curtain for my bedroom divider; and all the bedding! Next step is to make curtains for all the windows to de-90's the place! haha Pretty soon it's going to be nice! I still haven't slept in there yet, but I will when I get back next week. I'm looking forward to it now! =) I took some pictures today and Mercedes loved posing for the pictures! She's such a silly girl!

Well, that's it for now...

Love to you all,
Rachael <3

There's actually an update!!

Hi Everybody,

So many of you have been wondering what's going on with us... sorry!! I've been so exhausted and the time I do have, I can't seem to get out of the chair I've fallen into!

We're all doing well. Robert has been busy in Las Vegas working and remolding our kitchen to get it ready to rent. There's no way we'd be happy if we left it the way it was. We just wish we could have made those changes (adding more cabinets and counter space) while we actually lived there! Hopefully the renters will like it! Pray that we WILL get renters eventually, too. =) Robert sent a few pictures of the work he and his buddy Christian did yesterday - it's looking great!

I'm hanging in there... I'm trying to find time for myself as well as for my girls, but this sure is hard!! It's so much easier being able to take your newborn HOME instead of having to leave home to visit. It's so unnatural. It breaks my heart every time I walk down the hallway to leave. When I am home, though, I can rest easy because I know she's in great care. The RT's, RN's and CNA's are all great and I know most of them pretty well and they are now familiar with Mia's little quirks.

I'm trying to make time to eat right and go to the gym without feeling guilty, but of course making sure my Mom is okay with watching Mercedes for an added hour so I can workout. It's normally fine, so that's good! I'm trying to go after I get Cedes in bed so Mom can also relax. =) I actually didn't gain much fat with my pregnancy with Mia, so that's good, except that since she was in the NICU for 16 weeks, my eating habits had definitely slipped and my exercise habits became nonexistant resulting in gaining around 10 additional pounds. I'm happy to say that I now only have 18 more pounds to go to get back down to my prepregnancy weight (which was the same exact weight with Mercedes, too!) So that's exciting for me! =)

Mercedes is just as happy and cheerful as ever!! She's so goofy - I love it! Robert always says that she has his great personality and sense of humor, but we all know she gets it from me! haha (Seriously... it's kinda scary how much we're alike!) =) I know in the last update Robert asked for prayer for Mercedes to want to be potty trained.... I think some of you DID pray because now she's asking to sit on the potty!!! She still has yet to accomplish anything, but it's a start!! =) I know that when she understands everything, it's going to happen fast, so we're excited! I have to thing of ways to get her to stay on longer, so she's been getting lots of manicures and pedicures! =)

Mia is just so beautiful! A lot of people are noticing that she's moving a LOT more, which is amazing!! She's getting a lot more active and she loves putting her fingers to her mouth. Tonight was the first time I had noticed that she actually coordiniated her mouth to open so she could get her finger inside just a little bit. She really enjoys touching her face and she's clasping her hands together as well. Her coordination is getting so much better! Scott, the physical therapist, says that she's getting better with her head control, though her neck is still really weak. She IS getting stronger which is an answer to prayer!!

Last Sunday, I took her for a walk for my first time (she's been twice with my parents before) and we walked across the street to the liquor store (of all places! haha)! It was fun because Sarah and Sophia (Mia's first roommate), three other little kids, some parents and 2 RT's went along, too. =) Mia was asleep for most of it, but she woke up for the walk back to CRC!

These past few days have been a tad up and down. She's been having a lot of nasal and oral secretions, which I'm wondering if it's from teething, but it seems to be causing her to cough a lot and need trach suctioning as well as her not being able to maintain 94%-100% oxygenation. It's not really much to mention as far as her respiratory situation goes, but it's just something new this past week. She hasn't had a fever or anything else that would point to get getting sick, so that's why I'm thinking she's teething.

So, the trailer arrived about 3 weeks ago and Mercedes and I have slept in there once! That was the most restless night in my LIFE!! haha Never attempt to sleep with a 3 year old windmill!! Again, she's just like her mother when I was little! =) She finally fell asleep just after midnight, woke up around 6:30am, and everytime I'd move while she was sleeping, the mattress would squeek and she'd move around. First of all, I'm freaked out because there were spider webs that I had vacuumed out and I wasn't sure if there were spiders hiding anywhere, so I wasn't totally relaxed to begin with. haha (A BIG thank you to all the guys who helped push into place! James, Robert, David, Brandon, Rod, Sam, and Dad)

The following night, I was being all brave ready to get in bed when I saw this black thing by the bathroom door (which is only like 2 feet from the bed). I knew what it was right off the bat, so I got the flashlight to look at it... there was NO doubt that it was a huge black widow!!! Thankfully my Dad hadn't left for work yet (he starts at 11:30pm), so I ran in the house and begged him to please kill it! He went in there, killed it, and kissed me goodnight! I looked at him and said "Are you nuts?? I'm not staying in here!!!" He told me not to be a chicken, but I reminded him that I'm a woman... women are chickens!!! =) I sprayed the trailed VERY well the following day and I haven't seen a spider since, so sometime this week I will be moving back out there. Hopefully I will be alive to write another update at the end of the week!

Last Wednesday, a cousin of ours gave us 10 free SF Giants tickets! Had I known they were bleacher seats for the noon game, I would have taken the two extra minutes to look for my sunblock. I am very burnt now, but at least it's not painful anymore! It was a GREAT game and the Giants BEAT the Dodgers in the 10th inning! Uribe hit a 2-run homer and a guy just two rows in front of us (seriously like 8 feet away) caught it! I was too short to see, of course, but Renee came out in the news!! We got a picture with the kid who caught it... he was SO excited and shocked, his hands were shaking! It was cool. =)

I'm flying out to Las Vegas next Tuesday morning to help pack the house up and organize what needs to come to San Jose, what needs to go with Robert to Sacramento and what needs to be in storage in Chico until we have a house. It's going to be nice to finally move, but so sad at the same time. Thankfully, Robert said Mia's bedroom (that she never saw) is already mostly packed up, so that will be one less big emotional thing I'll have to deal with. All of my friends back 'home' in Vegas are Air Force, so it's going to be sad saying bye to them. I hope it's not the last time I'll ever see them, but the reality is that it very well could be. We've all been there around 4+ years, so everybody is leaving within a few months of each other and getting stationed around the US. I'm grateful I'm going to be able to see them again!! It's going to be a good, but depressing trip for me. =)

I promise, unless a black widow gets me, I will update every week!!!

Love to you all,
Rachael <3

For many more new pictures, go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107194&id=614762171&l=4225e10b5d

You can also click on the pictures to see them full-sized.

Quick Update

Hi All, I thought I would post a quick update since I have a couple of minutes. After spending almost a month in San Jose with my girls I am now back in Las Vegas. It was a blessing that my boss was so flexible in allowing me to go on a moments notice and also that I was able to do some work at Beale AFB that allowed me to stay for an additional two weeks.

During the past couple of weeks I have been busy working with our realtor trying to find a home in Sacramento where I will be working for the next three years. Although this is considered a buyer's market we are finding it to be very difficult to find a house that we can put an offer on. As of today we have placed offers on 6 houses, 5 of which are Short Sales that are already in Contract with someone else (we essentially are backup offers). The 6th house seems to a possibility as it is a short sale also but it is not in contract yet. We are hopeful that we will hear on Monday if our offer was accepted or not. I even bidded $16,000 over the asking price just to try to ensure that we would get the house.

At this moment it looks like we will not have a home in Sacramento before it is time to move. As a result we will be moving all of our stuff to my parents home in Chico until we are able to find a new home in Sacramento. In the mean time I will be looking for a bedroom to crash in for a couple of months while I'm working at Sacramento State. If you know of anyone in the Sacramento area that might have a room they would be willing to let me use for a couple of months please let me know.

Speaking of Sacramento State I have gotten the chance to visit my new job assignment. I am pretty excited about my new assignment but also pretty nervous about it. I will be teaching an introductory course to the Air Force to an estimated 50+ students. Although I don't really mind public speaking it will be different for me to be teaching for over an hour versus just giving a ten minute brief.

One exciting bit of news is that we finally have a travel trailer that was delivered to Rachael's parents place today. Rachael is very excited to have a place of her own with a bed and storage options. It has been pretty tight in her parents house so having the trailer will make this process much easier for everyone. For those of you that haven't heard about us getting a trailer our insurance company has agreed to pay for the cost of the trailer (in lieu of a hotel room) since she is the attending parent to Mia. It took a lot of work to find a trailer that would both fit and work for our needs but we were able to find a trailer at FamilyRV.com which is just a few miles from Willow Glen. The folks over there where really awesome at trying to make something work, we even had the owner of the business helping us out. Currently we will be able to have the trailer for up to a year but we can extend longer if necessary.

So on to more important things... Mia is doing very good now. It's amazing to see how big she is growing, she is no longer a tiny baby anymore. I haven't seen her for close to a week now but Rachael has told me that she has been doing very will with her occupational therapy sessions. Apparently in past sessions she has been either asleep or falling asleep so the therapist wasn't able to do much. It is interesting that when Mia is sleeping you can't do much to wake her up.

The last couple of therapy sessions Mia has been awake so they have been doing things like neck muscle strengthening, rolling over, and taste testing. About two weeks ago Mia almost rolled onto her side by herself which I was very impressed to see. She often is quite content to lay in bed but sometimes she gets energetic and starts kicking her feet and moving her hands around. Rachael and I are working on coming up with ideas to get her out of bed and stimulated so she has to move herself. Although we know that Mia is behind developmentally we do not know how much is because of her and how much is because she does not get stimulated as much. The next 6 months or so should give us a clearer picture of what Mia's needs are going to be for the long run.

On the breathing front she has been pretty inconsistent so far. Sometimes she initiates breathing on her own but most of the time she is riding the vent. One thing that Rachael and I have been wondering is if the vent is not sensitive enough to pickup her attempted breaths. The vents at the hospital where she does end up usually breathing consistently can be set for small infants. The vents at the recovery center though are setup mainly for adults so it may be they are not sensitive enough to pick up her very small attempted breaths. One thing that Rachael and I are grateful for is that Mia normally does not require supplemental oxygen to stay saturated. Since her lungs are working just fine we are hopeful that if Mia's respiratory drive does not normalize that she eventually might be able to have a breathing pacemaker installed.

Some things to continue praying for:
* Mia and her therapy sessions, especially that she will be awake for them.
* Rachael and her energy and time management
* Me for a temporary place to stay in Sacramento
* Mercedes for her potting training!

Thanks again for all of your support and prayers. A lot of people have told us they wonder how we have been able to go through all of this and our answer is it's because of all of the people that continuously lift us up to the Lord everyday.

Robert

Amazing how fast time passes...

This first full week back at CRC has been good. Mia's bedroom changed 3 times while she was in the hospital and not all of her belongings got moved each time, so when I was looking for things, it was like a treasure hunt trying to find all of her things!! As of now, I don't think she's missing anything else, but we'll see! =) Now I'm making sure I write her name on every little thing so we don't totally lose it! Other than that, things haven't been too "exciting". =)

Mia's doing great - she's a little chatter box... I love it!!! She's actually cooing with inflections and everything. Even when I hear her on the phone, you'd never tell she even has a trach... she sounds like a "normal" baby! It's so adorable! She's starting to hold her head up a little better now, too.

I'm so tired, so my mind is drawing a blank of what's been going on this week.

Robert is still here in the area - right now he's working at Beale AFB north of Sacramento. Oh, I guess we put offers in on three houses. We'll see if anything gets accepted. Apparently they all already have offers (like most of the 1 story houses in that price range) and the realtor says if more than one of our offers gets accepted, we can back out whenever. I hope she's right! haha

Mercedes had her birthday last Sunday afternoon and she had a great time! It was wonderful seeing family and friends again - things have been so busy for everybody that I've hardly seen any of my favorite people! Mercedes was good for the most part... it was during her nap time, so she missed that, so that means we she cranky when we wanted her to certain things that she didn't want to do. She freaked out with the party hat... then she freaked out when I put her "Kiss me, it's my birthday!" ribbon pin on her shirt. She was crying because she wanted a Curious George tattoo, then she freaked out when she got it and she was crying so hard she almost tossed her cookies! She also started crying when it was time to blow out the candle.... she didn't want to play the 'stick the butterfly on the Curious George picture' (pin the tail on the donkey game). Other than THAT (haha), she had a great time! She mostly loved climbing the big redwood tree and running in the baseball diamond at the park with her cousins Arianna, Caitlin, Gracie and Josh. =) Arianna and Mercedes were making dust angels on the pitcher's mound... they were FILTHY!! It was a great day! We figured opening gifts wouldn't be the best thing to do at the park, so she opened the gifts the following morning. =) You can see those pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107194&id=614762171&l=4225e10b5d

Tomorrow is the end of Mercedes' birthday celebration (three weeks, not too shabby for a 3 year old!) We're going to watch Curious George at a small local theatre! We're going to go with Arianna and Caitlin, too... it'll be lots of fun! Mom and Mercedes just left to watch it (it plays today and tomorrow for $1). It's Mercedes' first time to a theatre, so Mom wanted to get her used to the idea so she's excited for tomorrow. =) Tomorrow is also Robert's birthday!! I don't think I'm going to see him, but I'm sure we'll go out and do something at some point. =)

The little girl in the pictures with Mercedes is Julianna. She's a patient at the Children's Recovery Center and she and Mercedes love playing with each other! Yesterday was Julianna's 6th birthday, so I thought it'd be cute to get pictures of them together. =)
She's such a sweet girl - pray for her, too, when you remember her! I'm not exactly sure what her medical issues are, but she has quite a few. You can't really see her trach in the pictures, but like all the kids there, she has one as well. =)

Keep praying for Mia! She is doing something that we can't figure out what's going on.... her face turns blue, but her oxygen saturation is fine, her heart rate is fine... Brandon, one of the RT's, thinks he MAY know what's going on, but we just have to watch her more.

I'll keep you updated as much as possible...

Rachael <3

A short update...

Well, since it's me (Rachael) writing, this short update will probably get too detailed and end up being long, but I have to hurry because I have to take Willow to get his shots!! =)

Okay.. Mia is doing GREAT!! Praise the Lord!! She was so sick just 10 days ago - it's such a miracle that she's come through this especially since we almost lost her three days in a row.

She's ready to get moved back to Children's Recovery Center today! The paramedics came yesterday to move her, but when they loaded her on the stretcher her co2 was through the roof. They drew a blood gas to see if the machine was reading it correctly - and it was. 104. It should be in the 30's. They called Dr. Silva to see if they still wanted her moved, but he decided it'd be better to keep her in the hospital. Angela, the night nurse (who is also the nurse who got her from the ER) was so excited to have Mia one last time!! =) So were we... Angela's my favorite!

We think her co2 went up because the guys didn't know how to work the home vent, so something weird happened that they didn't set it so it would give her breaths, just pressure, so she was breathing on her own (just not very well). Poor baby. =) This time they're going to get an RT from CRC to come and set up the home vent since that's what they use at CRC anyway. =) My idea!! I'm so smart. ;-) haha

We're doing well - Robert had to work at Beale AFB this week and next week for a few days, so he went up to Sacramento yesterday to look at houses with our realtor on his way up to Chico. They have one more house to look at on Wednesday on his way back down to San Jose, so we'll see which one he likes best. I wrote the last check to my friend last week, so know we're also going to have to order checks and have them sent over here so we can actually make an offer on a house!! All these little things you totally forget about - we should have grabbed another book of checks from home before moving out here! =)

Well... I think that's about it for now...

Thank you so much for praying! Love to you all!

Rachael <3

Pictures (finally)

She's not wearing her cute clothes here at the hospital, so you'll just see her natural beauty! =)

Mia was so swollen at the beginning of her stay here at the hospital that she could barely open her eyes. This first picture was taken on Monday.

As you can see from the second picture, she's back to normal! You can also see that she's opening up her mouth so much more! I'm so happy about that! =)

I'm so proud of Mia!

Aside from Mia continuing to recover SO well from her pneumonia, I've been working with her with taking a preemie pacifier. She has a really stiff jaw and very low tongue muscle tone (I couldn't even see if she HAD one until she was a few months old - that's how tight her jaw is).

Jessica, her night nurse while at Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas, sent us 4 preemie pacifiers in the mail last week, so I've been working trying to get them in Mia's mouth. They are so tiny - maybe a little thicker than a pencil - and it would take quite a bit of effort to pop it in there. WELL... ever since I got the paci in the very first time, Mia started chomping on it!! Sure she's not sucking on it, but she's working her jaw muscles and she's opening her mouth much more!! I took a bit of a break with the paci because I didn't want to aggravate when she was already going through enough with being sick.

I starting working with her again a day or two ago and noticed that when the paci isn't in her mouth, she opens it a LOT more and she's moving her tongue around as if she's sucking!! I've also noticed that she seems to be swallowing a lot more - she hardly has any oral secretions (and the meds should make her secretions increase)! Just now I was suctioning her mouth to see if there was anything in there and she was opening her mouth quite a bit and even was sticking her tongue out!!! I'm SO proud of my baby!! =)

Mia has improved so much - she looks better now than she did even a month ago which makes us wonder if she's been sick for a while. Her coloring looks great, her face isn't swollen which makes her nose look bigger!! You could hardly see her nose before from all the puffiness, so this is a good thing! =)

Robert has this little hand-held computer (Nokia Tablet) that he put cartoons and movies on for Mercedes, but Mia now loves watching Mickey Mouse and the gang, too! Right now she's watching Donald Duck. =)

Robert finally got a start date for his new job! First day class will be September 3rd. Robert will be an instructor for Air Force ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) at Sacramento State University! We're, of course, not exactly sure how it'll work out with him working and living there most of the week and coming back down to visit with us, but at least Sacramento is a whole lot closer than Las Vegas is! We'll do whatever we need to do to make this work! =)

Keep praying for our family and our little Mia. Mercedes is such a happy girl and loves to visit Mia at the hospital! She's able to visit Mia this time, so she's happy! This morning she was planning on what to bring to the hospital and she decided she was going to bring her train track set to set up in the lobby. I don't know how great of an idea that is, but that's what she wanted!! haha

We'll keep you updated as often as we can...

Rachael