Birthdays and Baby smiles

We went to Michigan July 8th to visit everyone for John's Dad's 80th birthday and hang out with everyone. Lily had a bit of a cold but otherwise was doing well. I gave her some chocolate ice cream and she loved it. She grabbed the spoon so that she could be sure to get all of it. I love her smile and her giggles.

Jamie and I took Lily to Ohio for a visit. She got to meet her cousins and hang out with Peyton and Morgan. I have a feeling they will be conspiring so devilish plans when they get older. They are so cute!!!
Lily is growing fast now, rolling around and scooting backwards. Learning how to get around and get to the things she wants. Could be trouble for Mom and Dad soon. But I think they can handle it.

Little Lily has become Big Lily - kind of

So it's the middle of June and our little Lily is now up to 14 pounds! She's not so small anymore. She laughs and giggles. She sits up and holds her toys and books. She is quite the amazing little girl. I can hardly wait to see her again! I still love getting pictures and videos of her. I am so thankful to live in an age where I can get pictures every day and videos too! I think back to when my kids were little and feel bad that I didn't send pictures more often to my parents so that they could see them grow and change. I regret that we didn't go visit more than we did too. I know it was a bit far when they were younger but I still wish we could have visited more. I know that Jamie and Daniel both love their grandparents very much and that gives me comfort at being so far away from my grandchildren. I know I will probably never live close to any of them but I hope to visit them  show them my love all the same. Just as my parents did to my kids. 
I love my Lily-bean and her Mommy and Daddy so much! See you in less than a month!!!

Looking back

I was looking back at pictures of Lily when she was in the hospital. Wow was she small! Her head was smaller than Jamie's hand! It's amazing to think that she came into the world so small and has come so far.
I love listening to her chat and coo in the videos Jamie sends. She is such a blessing. I was talking with Dan about her tonight and what an impact on our lives she has had. He was talking about when he is out of school having more of an opportunity to see them and get to know her more.
Sometimes wish we lived closer but at least we can keep in touch through videos and text messages. Unlike when our kids were small and their grandparents lived farther away. Those videos are quite the pick-me-up on a rough day. Seeing her play with her toys and learn to push the buttons to hear the music is very cool. Even watching her get mad when it goes off is kind of fun. Love our little Lily-bean and her Mommy and Daddy

Reading old messages so here's an update of Christmas

December 25 - Merry Christmas

I know this is a bit late. I've been going through old text messages that I never deleted so that I could do this blog so I guess I should put them in here. Lily had a rough day on Christmas. The doctors and nurses had said Lily would have ups and downs when she was born. But she really hadn't had too many major ups and downs (at least that I knew of) until Christmas day. On that day she had a major episode of low desaturation and they thought she might have to go back to the other pod or back on the CPAP machine. They said she might have pneumonia or some other kind of infection which isn't good for  her obviously.

It was a very rough day for Jamie and Josh (and us) as they watched her struggle through this day. She had tests and extra attention, was put on antibiotics and had a blood transfusion.

Thankfully she didn't have pneumonia or any other problems. The nurses said that preemies sometimes just have a few episodes as they are growing but get past them. Our little Lily did and went on to recover from this one.

Last Day with my babies

So last day with my Michigan babies. Joshua came over with Lily around 1:30. He is so incredible with her! You can see how much he adores her and she just beams when she looks at him. I played with her for a little bit and then she got tired so he rocked her to sleep. Then we visited for a while and checked out his new phone. Jamie came over when she got off work. She loved the new tennis shoes we got Lily and put them on her right away. Then we packed up and went to Buffalo Wild Wings. We'd never been there before but it was pretty darn good. We'll have to go again. Josh had to go to work and Jamie took us to Walmart and helped me pick out a new game for our trip home. It's been so good to visit with them! Never enough time of course. I wish we had more time to visit. I would have liked to have a mommy and daughter time to go out with Jamie for a while but time is just too short. But I enjoyed the time we were able to share. She is doing an amazing job with Lily. If Jamie is there Lily is watching her most of the time and talking with her. It is so sweet! I love this little family very much! Gah! Why do we have to leave? Ah well, make the most of what we have as they say and take the blessings as they come. My children are a blessing to me and I'm glad for the time I do get with them.
Goodnight for now. More in a while.

Visiting with Lily, Jamie and Joshua!

I know I've been terrible at updating this thing. But here we go with a bit of an update.
Jamie, Joshua and Lily came down for a visit right before Easter and we got to take them to Disney for a bit of a visit. We got to take care of Lily while Josh took Jamie to her first baseball game. I can't believe we were such slackers that we never took Jamie to a game! It was so nice to have them come down for a visit. Lily is doing so well! She's off of the oxygen and off of the monitor and managing just fine. She's eating about 6 ounces at a time now which is amazing. She talks to us and smiles so much it's unbelievable. Jamie and Josh are amazing parents. They have such patience with Lily and you can see how much they love her just by watching them take care of her and cuddle with her and talk to her.
When I take a moment to think about what happened almost 6 months ago and I almost lost two babies, it's hard to take in. I remember watching Josh worrying about Jamie and then Lily and wish I could have taken all that stress and pain away. I know he was scared he would lose both of them just like we were. But I'm sure it would have been even harder for him. I am so thankful that we still have Jamie and we now have Lily. And that we have Joshua in the family too. He fits in so well.
Anyway enough walking down memory lane. This week we have gotten to visit again with Jamie and Joshua and Lily. I have a hard time taking my eyes off of her, she is so adorable. My heart just melts when Lily smiles at me and talks to me. It is so sweet to watch her listen to her Gumpie as he talks to her. She looks like she is mesmerized by his voice. It is so great to see him so happy.
This trip is kind of bitter sweet. Getting to visit with Lily but also getting to visit with Dad Burnham, who is not doing very well. I know John is so worried about him and finding it difficult to be away from him at this time. It's the same as when Dan was here. Saying that it may be the last time he sees him alive. A very difficult position to be in. Hopefully the doctors at U of M can help him with the pain at least. I hate to see him suffer. We will continue to pray and hope for something good to happen. But we also know that sometimes things just don't go that way.

Well I wasn't meaning to end on that note but it's time for bed. Tomorrow is our last day to see Jamie, Josh and Lily again for a while. It's so difficult being so far away from everyone you love. Seems that's just how my life goes. But on a good note we will be back again in July!!! So I can visit with them again! I better do a better job with Skype between now and then I guess.
Thanks for putting up with me tonight. Off to bed now.

Lily is in her home LILYPAD

Okay so I know this is out of order of Lily's progress, but I am so excited that she finally got to go home on January 22, 2010!!! The day after her due date and 4 days before her Mommy's birthday! Plus I was able to fly up to go home with her. She is so awesome I can't stand it. All of her little coos and moans and squeals and cries are great! I imagine some of them drive her Mommy and Daddy crazy at the wrong time of the day but I know they are happy that she is home. Anyway she is settling in pretty darn good. And I've taken a bunch of pictures that are on our website. So I'm not posting them here too.
So proud of Jamie and Josh and how well they are doing with little Lily! Love them all sooooo much!!!
That's it for now.
Love to all! Gummie Burnie

Lily is growing in a big way!!!

December 1, 2009 Today Lily weighed in at 3 pounds 9 ounces!! That is awesome! She is eating 35 ml and doing very well. They examind her eyes this morning and they look good. I'm not sure how you can examine eyes of a baby. I guess you can look at them and see if there are any oddities in the back of the eye and make sure there is no bleeding and stuff. She sure does focus on her Mommy when she talks to her in the videos. It is so cool to see her bond with her Mommy! Lily is still on her canula at 35 - 40 %. Hopefully they can lower that and eventually get her off of it. But we won't rush her. We are just thrilled that she is doing so well and happy to look at her sweet little face.
December 14 Lily is doing well. Her breathing is still a little fast but they have decided to start bottle feeding her a little anyway. Her head ultrasound was excellent. The fluid is gone and the doctors are pleased with how she looks! Jamie said that Lily got a little excited from the bottle feeding and had a little trouble with that. But she does really well with nursing. I am so proud of my little girl and how well she is taking care of her little girl!

CPAP? Learning new words and phrases

November 24, 2009 Another day for our little Lily-bean and more progress. She is now going off of the CPAP machine and onto canula every 3 hours. She is still eating about the same and doing very well with that.
On November 28, 2009 Lily had a blood transfusion because she is a little anemic. The doctors think that will help with her breathing as well. Being on the CPAP and having her blood gases a little off make it harder for her to maintain proper blood levels so it's not uncommon for preemies to be anemic.
November 30 they did another ultrasound on Lily's brain. There was no change which is good. They'll continue to watch it to make sure she is doing well. They will do another one in a month. As long as there is no change and the blood resolves itself and the fluid drains they won't have to put in a shunt to drain the fluid. Then hopefully there won't be any permanent damage from where the fluid had been laying. So far they don't see any signs of problems. Lily is moving very well and her eyes and hearing are good.
Way to go Princess Lily!!! We love you and are very proud of you!