Happy Halloween....

Halloween was very special for our family this year. For the first whole year our family was home together and we were able to dress both kids up in their costumes for some fun
Trick or Treating!

We started our Halloween Saturday by relaxing at home. Danielle and Daddy had some morning snuggle time while mom ventured to the doctor with Dylan to get his ears checked out. It was an ear infection but after some medication and more drops he is on the mend! Later in the morning we cheered on the Hawkeyes for our tradition of watching Saturday Hawkeye Football together. The game was pretty rough to start. Indiana was sure giving those Hawkeyes a run for their money. Grandpa Kinney was sending us text messages from the stands in IC to let us know how the crowd was handling the game. They weren't handling it well at all until the Hawkeyes turned their game around in the 4th Quarter, then the crowd was wild! Somehow the Hawkeyes turned the game around and got a big 'W' for another Hawkeye victory! They Hawks are 9-0 for the season and the first time in school history. This is very exciting for our family also as we are extreme Hawkeye Fans.

Danielle got in a couple naps during the day to get all rested up for our Halloween evening. Late in the afternoon we got the kids dressed in their costumes. Danielle as an 'Adorable' Witch and Dylan as a Dinosaur. We took some pics at home before venturing to our cousins, the Aarhus'. We met cousins, Morgan, Collin and Kyle and friend Savanah. Uncle Bill, Kris, Kim, Aunt Ellie, Andi, Tim and Friends Hal, Bob and Sheila. We were all celebrating Ellie's Halloween Birthday, Uncle Bill's Retirement from the Railroad and Halloween! The Aarhus house was very festive as it is every year. Complete with a fog machine to make the decor nice and eery for the trick or treaters!

Soon the kids were off for some trick or treating. Danielle stayed back with Daddy and the guys because it was very very chilly outside. Although she was bundled up quite a bit, we decided we best keep her in where it was nice and warm. Mommy, Ellie and Kim took Dylan out for some trick or treating. He was hilarious of course, really getting into trick or treating this year and making us adults laugh and laugh. Danielle was relaxing and watching football in her adorable costume. She was the cutest, 'Adorable' witch ever!

After trick or treating we ate lots of goodies and watched Ellie open her birthday gifts and ate cake and ice cream of course! Ellie's cake was amazing, all decorated for Halloween complete with spiders, pumpkins and fingers on top; it was awesome! Danielle took a little snooze but awoke just before Kris broke out his guitar and Hal his bongo drum and played some great tunes. Danielle loves music and loved watching everyone and smiling non-stop. Kris was taking requests from the big kids and 'The Climb', by Miley Cirus was the top request. Danielle loved to watch as everyone sang along. She is just awed by the older kids, she loves to watch them and smile at them with whatever they are doing. Now that she has lots of teeth, she sure shows off those pearly whites when she is happy, it is pretty cute!

Halloween at the Aarhus has become a family tradition for us and this year we are very excited that our kids were there and making the memory's with us. It is always fun to spend time with family and friends. Dylan and Danielle love to be around their cousins, they get lots of attention from them and the kids just soak it up. Mommy and Daddy really enjoyed dressing Danielle in her costume for the first time. We look forward to many more Halloween's spent trick or treating and with the ones we love.

Happy Halloween Danielle and Happy Halloween Birthday Aunt Ellie!~

Surgery day.... :(

Danielle had another ear infection about 2 weeks ago. We last met with her Odo doctor in IC back in September, at that time her ears looked great. He asked though, that if she got another ear infection or started to get them this winter that we contact him to possibly think more about tubes. Well Danielle finished her antibiotic a week ago today, I was talking with Brad and we decided that we should contact her doctor in IC to tell him she had got another ear infection.

Upon contacting him he at first did not look back in her chart to see that she had subsequent ear infections. In my e-mail I reminded him that she has had 7 since she came home from the NICU, needless to say....too many. Upon review of her chart he decided that we should do tubes. He suggested we do them this week, Tuesday.....well nothing like short notice, right?! Well since she had just come off antibiotic we decided that it would be best because from Thursday until Tuesday there was less of a chance she would develop another ear infection in that time, versus waiting longer. So we did it.

Poor little thing. It was a fairly quick procedure. But it sure broke mommy and daddy's heart. This was 2 kiddo's with 2 surgery's in 2 weeks time....that equaled too much. Danielle was a trooper. Surgery meant no food the morning of and Danielle loves her breakfast! That is hard but she didn't complain one bit. We bundled her in some comfy pj's as they suggested and headed off for IC bright and early. Her surgery was at 8am. The Anesthesiologist carried Danielle back to the OR and mommy met her in recovery after the procedure. It went great, without a hitch. The nurse that brought her into recovery had her drinking Pedialite, I was shocked. Danielle isn't much for juice and I was totally floored that she was taking it, but she was a hungry girl. She wasn't acting groggy at all. The anesthesia they used was just a 'gas mask', and she tolerated it fine. Her ears were a little ouchy any time she would cough or hiccup but Tylenol helped the pain. We were back home around 10am and snuggled on the couch all day long.

Danielle and mommy don't often get one full morning and afternoon to snuggle but we did that day. It was perfect. We took a couple of snoozes and just giggled at each other. It was pretty amazing that literally right after surgery she was talking so much more. She even talked in the carseat on the way home from IC and she never does that. Wednesday both kids got to catch up on some much needed sleep and sleep in. It was a day of recovery and that extra day really helped Danielle.

Brad and I really hated to see our little girl go thru another surgery. We wanted to take that pain away from her, but deep down we knew she needed the tubes. 7 ear infections in just a year is way too many. We are hoping that this will help her especially going into winter. As we were leaving recovery her doctor came over to me and said, 'thank you for letting me help your daughter.' It just melted my heart. He is the same doctor that did Dylan's tubes also, we are so comfortable with him. Just after he made that comment I knew right then that we had made the right decision for Danielle.

Today Danielle is doing great. We are putting ear drops in her ears for the next few days to help them heal. She is a happy camper, she is talking so much and eating great and just being the sweetest little thing ever. We love you Danielle Marie, we are so proud of you and happy that your ears will be feeling much better now. Thank you lord for protecting our little girl.~

Home for 1 year....

We did some celebrating this weekend with our little Danielle. Saturday marked one year ago that we welcomed our little princess home for the first time. Looking back, Brad and I remember what a glorious day it was. Being able to all be in the car for the first time as a family and bringing our little girl to the place we call home. Introducing Danielle to her surroundings was such a momentous day, one that we look back on and smile from ear to ear with a little tear in our eye, we remember back to the day our family became complete, and everyone was home!

This past week we have worked more on crawling. It is so adorable to see Danielle up on her hands and knees rocking from side to side shifting her weight back and forth and beginning to move one hand, then one leg, then the other hand, then the other leg. We are really enjoying seeing our little girl move towards these big milestones. Daddy was so proud of her last week, he was clapping and grinning from ear to ear. It sure was cute! We will still be working on this, but seeing her up and starting to feel what crawling is all about is very exciting! We are still working on sitting up in the Bumbo and she is liking it. She is sitting on the floor with hand support and we are working on getting her to lift up her head to figure that she needs to strengthen those mid section back muscles to pull her body up and figure out she can do it with out her hands down for support. We are getting there, and for all of these fun things and our little girl working so hard....we are thankful!

This weekend our friends the LeConte's came down from Wisconsin for a visit. We were so excited to see them and our kids were excited to see Drew and Allison again. We figured what a better way to continue our fall traditions then to venture with the LeConte's to the Pumpkin Patch. This was Danielle's first visit to the Pumpkin Patch and she really enjoyed herself.
We headed to Bloomsbury Farm, they offer so many fun things for the kids and adults alike. We took Danielle on her first hayrack ride and we saw the little pig races, the big kids ran around and did their own thing and we came home.....with 4 big round pumpkins to add to our Fall decor! We took advantage of the mild temperatures to enjoy each other, let the kids be kids and search for the perfect Pumpkins! We are excited for our Fall Family Traditions to continue...

Thank you Danielle for being the best little girl that any mommy and daddy could ask for. One year ago we brought you home. What joy you have brought to our lives. You have warmed our hearts and made our days brighter. Thank you for fighting and believing and never giving up. We love you sweetie!~

Due Date Birthday....

That's right....today....October 11Th....1 year ago, was Danielle's due date. Our little princess of course decided she wanted to come about 15 weeks early! We still think of this date as momentous, although it isn't actually her birthday, it is the day, about the time we anticipated the arrival of our little girl.

Our First Family Picture!

We were always by her side, speaking life to her, singing to her.....

......believing in her!

We look at today as a moment in our past, that came and went with our beautiful daughter already here. What would have changed if she would have been born on her due date....nothing, we are fortunate, we have been blessed, she is our daughter, a fighter, a believer...our little miracle!

Look at her now, she's beautiful!

Danielle had a great week. She was finally able to get her flu shot. We resorted to our wonderful doctors resource in IC for this, as our local Ped office was still out. Such a relief to have that behind us, she got it, thank goodness! We also found out that Danielle does qualify for Synegis again this winter, the RSV 'preventative'. Her qualifying thru our insurance, was borderline, since she had been off oxygen since March. But she did, 5 doses starting in November. We will take it, no matter the cost, it will help protect her, that is what we want for our baby girl.

Danielle has gotten lots of snuggles this week. She has wanted extra snuggles, often letting us know vocally if she is not getting enough snuggles! She has been telling us lots of stories, especially in the mornings. She will squeal and giggle and just smile from ear to ear. Such a happy baby we have been blessed with. Dylan has been referring to her as, 'baby sister', or 'baby sissy', it is pretty cute. He is her protector, always wondering where she is, she needs to be in his sight for him to be content. She loves to watch him, she tries to grab at his hand when they are both sitting on mommy's lap reading books. We have been reading lots and lots of books, Dylan absolutely loves to read books, so what a great opportunity to read to Danielle also. Both kids will get on mommy's lap and we will read and read. Dylan follows along and Danielle is awed by the vibrant pictures and the sound of a soothing voice reading a book.

Thank you lord for blessing us with our precious baby girl. Danielle's due date is just a day for the doctor's to go by now for development, it's in the back of our mind but nothing like her birthday. the day she was born. The day she came into our lives and warmed our hearts. We have been blessed, she is a fighter a believer, we believe in her....we are blessed, life is grand.~