Sunday, May 30, 2010

Kayla Graduated!!

KAYLA GRADUATED FROM CENTENNIAL!!

I can't even believe that it's already time for my baby sister to graduate from high school!! I remember being in high school, and thinking that "2010" was so long away, knowing it would be here graduation year. And now, here it is!!

Kayla was such a rock star. She is her senior class president, so she got to speak, and she did so amazing!! I can't believe how poised and grown up she has become, and so beautiful. We were so proud of her...

The proud parents and their baby girl

Me, Josh, and Kay

Karalee, Mom, Krystin

Me + Joshy = L.O.V.E. :)

Kayla is going to go to BYU in the fall, which just totally blows my mind. I feel like it was just the other day when I was moving in to Rogers Hall on campus, meeting the girls that would become my best friends and roommates for five years. I know Kayla is going to do so awesome, and we will miss her a lot! At least we get one more summer of her here. Kayla loves Lily so much, and is such a great auntie, and I'm glad she will be around for a bit longer.

I am so proud of you Kayla!! I love you!!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Loving Lily-- L.O.V.E.

What can I even say... we LOVE our little Lily so much, I don't even know what to write about her!! Josh gave some details of how she got here, and it's already been one week, and we love her even more!!

Here is our girl... Lily Jane Davis.

We have so many nicknames for her already... I'm pretty sure she gets called something different every time we talk to her. Baby girl, peanut, precious, princess, little girl, angel, Lil, Lily baby... if there is a cute name out there, you name it, she gets called it. We just can't get enough.

Here is Dad at the hospital with her!!

Josh really is such an incredible father already. He is so loving and natural at it, and being a family is the most perfect fit for us. It's so natural, and I really feel like Lily is the perfect addition to our family right now. Lily was born on a Monday evening, and we stayed at the hospital until Wednesday morning when we headed home.

It's funny how attached you get to some nurses. Our Labor and Delivery nurse was named Rachelle, and we just loved her!! I kept telling her I didn't want her to leave, because I knew the shift would change at 7:00, and we weren't thinking the baby would come until 10, midnight, 2:00, or later.... LUCKILY, she checked me just before she left and I was at a 10!! So she decided to stay longer on her shift and help us!! She was so sweet, and I felt like she really cared about me and the baby and getting her here safe for both of us. So she was awesome.

I went back and forth about who I wanted to be there when Lily was born. When it came down to it, it happened so fast, and I actually loved how things turned out. My sister Ally, who is finishing up Medical School this month, has been such an amazing source of help and information, and I loved that she got to be there, watching the process and making sure they were all doing their jobs right. :) It was amazing to have my mom and mother in law both there, as there is nothing like the love from two grandmas to bring her into the world.

And most importantly, it was so special to have Josh right by me, telling me I was doing so good and he was so proud of me. I just kept looking in to his eyes, and felt so much love and excitement that we were about to be a family. The whole thing turned out perfect, and
LILY WAS FINALLY HERE!!

As you can tell, I was a very proud mama from the start!! :)

Here we are... our little family. It was so crazy to think that we get to have Lily now in our lives FOREVER, and we would forever be a family through all eternity. I can't really put in to words how amazing it is to have her here, and all the emotions I feel, so I can't even try to tell you how much I love her, but I know our little family is so strong, and we can't wait to keep growing together.


Here is Josh, loving his little girl so much...


We got to go home on Wednesday. We enjoyed a mere precious 24 hours with her at home, and we were right BACK AT THE HOSPITAL. It really was an insane week. Full of the most excitement, love, but also stress and fear that I have ever felt.

My little 3 day old baby had to be rushed back to the hospital on Thursday, and we had to stay until Saturday afternoon. I have never had such a stressful, scary experience as seeing her, only 6 pounds, hooked up to an IV, sleeping in a scary "cage bed" as I called it, just holding her tiny hand and snuggling her and praying that she would be ok!!

She had insanely low blood sugar and was dehydrated. She was just so sleepy and small, and I kept asking the nurses at the hospital, saying she wouldn't wake up to eat, and they kept saying she would wake up soon, and that she was just a little early and so small, but that it was normal.

Well, apparently it was not normal, and we now had a sick baby on our hands who would refuse to eat anything. I think one of the lowest points was when we were trying to feed her and she wouldn't breastfeed, wouldn't take a bottle, and we had to force feed her with a syringe in her mouth just to get her to get some calories in. It was almost more than I could take. :( She had to be hooked up to an IV all night long, and needless to say, I pretty much slept a total of 2 hours for 2 days.



TENDER MERCIES

However, despite the fact that we had this big scary thing happen to her in her first week of life, I have to take a moment and say how blessed we were by the Lord. Lily's pediatrician is actually my family's home teacher. He has been an amazing friend to my family for years, and is such an incredible guy. I am so happy that we chose him, because he is the reason we were able to figure out what was wrong and help her. At her two day check up, she was still pretty jaundice, so he ordered a blood test for her. Another tender mercy was that he just had a gut feeling that he should also check her blood chemistry. He says he doens't usually do that, but he just felt like he needed to. That was the only way that we could tell something was wrong, and get her help as soon as we could!!

He was also able to give Lily a very special blessing in the hospital, and he truly went above and beyond to get her the best care she needed. It was so amazing to see the hand of the Lord so much in her first week of life!! We are so lucky to have made it through that experience, and now are even closer together as a family.

Here is josh, comforting little Lily in her hospital bed. It was so big, that it made her tiny little self look even smaller. But the nurses were great, and made us feel really comfortable there. One in particular named Karen really loved Lily and did everything she could to make me feel like things would be ok. She called her "peanut", and the name may stick. :)


Our entire family was a huge help getting us through. Our sisters and dads and moms and brother in laws all came and cuddled Lily and helped us out. I do have to give a shout out to my MOM though, as she has been an aboslute incredible help. She stayed with us hours through the night, and helped keep me going and was a huge support. I couldn't have done it without you mom! You once again showed me what it means to be Christlike and to sacrifice for your kids, and as I was able to learn how to do whatever it took to keep my daughter safe, you did that for me, and I appreciate it. I love you!

HOME AND HAPPY

Anyway, she finally got to go home on Saturday!! We have been working really hard on feeding her exactly the way we need to, and Lily is growing already!! She went back for a check up on Monday at the pediatrician, and he said she already looks way better, is getting stronger, and is acting like a perfect, normal, healthy, precious newborn. We just LOVE having her... and I already can't imagine life without her!!

Here are some cute pictures of her growing up already!!

Her first attempt at wearing a headband!! This one is from Benita... Lily's head is still so tiny that not a lot of the bows and headbands fit her yet (much to Josh's delight) but I can't wait to keep her growing and dressing her up so cute! :)

Daddy loves to cuddle with our little snuggle bug... I know she is only one week old, and things will change crazy fast, but atleast for now, she is such a cuddly baby, and I hope that stays!!

Her is Lily sleeping in her bed in the pediatric intensive care unit, with Dad sleeping right next to her. We didn't get a lot of sleep, as I just wanted to watch her all night and make sure she was ok...

NOW she is home and doing so much better. She has the most beautiful blue eyes right now, and she is opening them more and more as she is getting stronger and staying awake more!!

I love this picture because it shows just how small she really is. She stretches so cute, and has the most amazing hair!!

Everyone comments on how crazy and cute her hair is. It really is funny that it pretty much is Josh's EXACT hair. He woke up one morning in the hospital, and his hair was sort of in a mohawk and standing up all over, and he and Lily had the exact same hair style and color!! They were like twins... I love it.

Her we are at the doctor's office. I think I am starting to get *some* sleep from the awful week, and I am no longer looking like the living dead. :) haha.... I just love this girl.

Washing her hair... She looks so different with her hair all slicked back. So adorable!

Her first little sponge bath...


Anyway, we are just loving having her home!! Our families have been so supportive, and I love that they all love her so much. I know this post was super long, but I just had to catch up on the last week of happenings. Lily makes the cutest little faces and stretches and noises, and I can't wait to see what the next week will bring!!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

LILY JANE DAVIS


Lily is finally here! And let me tell you Heath is so happy. She was having a rough day sunday and we just prayed that if it was time that she would come soon. I woke up monday morning to get ready for work and Heath came out of the bathroom and said she thought her water had broke. Me still being out of it asked if i was supposed to go to work :) We made it to the hospital by 930 and they checked her out and admitted her. We had to wait around for some stuff to happen before the pumped her full of drugs to help with the contractions. Before long we had her hooked up with her epidural and boy was she happy after that. Our amazing nurse that was with us all day was getting off at 7 decided that she was going to check how far along she was right before she got off and asked Heath how far along she thought she was. Heath said she thought she was only at a 5 cause the last time they checked she was only a 4, but nope she was at 10. The nurse had her start pushing at 7 and by 713 our little bundle of joy was out and crying. She weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces and was almost 19 inches long. She is so tiny and has so much hair! She has Heathers nose and my chin and head full of hair that looks almost identical to mine. Heath was laughing the next morning when i woke up from my chair/bed because our hair was done up almost the same and we looked like twins. We just got home today and are loving having her in our lives. I will let heath post most of the pictures but i will upload 1