a full yet fantastic day

This has by far been Madelyn's busiest day so far in her little life. It was jam packed full of diaper changes (including one really important diaper change), visiting some very special people, Madelyn's first trip to a restaurant, and her first Christmas party. Lots of first, lots of fun, lots of friends. That would just about sum up our day in the short version...but here's the loooong version with lots of pics from a great December 22.

This morning Madelyn and I did not get up and moving until around 10am. Her schedule is waaaay off so she has been going to bed really late. I'm talking midnight sorta late and considering these next several days are going to be busy and long with family time I am not sure we will get back on schedule until next week. Anyways, once we got our lazy little selves moving, Madelyn hung out in her bouncy seat in the bathroom (playing and cooing like crazy) while I took a shower (yay for personal hygiene--never knew motherhood would make me celebrate my shower time so much). This was the first time since her last little apnea episode two weeks ago that sent us to the hospital that I have braved taking a shower without someone else being there. Since she was awake and I could see her from the shower, I even kept her off the monitor. I am proud of myself. This was a huge accomplishment for me.

Then I got the little stinker all cleaned up. She couldn't be smelly when we went to visit her favorite NICU nurses and doctors, could she?? Practically since the day we left the NICU at Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler I have wanted to do something to show everyone up there how incredibly special they will always be to our family and how much their care for Madelyn (and us throughout the whole ordeal) means to Luke and I.

((Side note:: I will be sad when it is time to put away all of Maddie's cute Christmas clothes...but I am thinking she is going to where them right up until the last day of December just because she can))

For as long as I live I will never forget the day that Luke and I walked in to Madelyn's room and saw this...For the first week of her life, we saw Madelyn hooked up to so many wires and monitors and tubes in her nose and down her throat to help her eat and more importantly, breath. It was heartbreaking to see her this way when we imagined her at home in a sweet little pink outfit with a bow in her hair. One of her super sweet nurses, Sherri, had taken the time to clean Madelyn up, put a purple flower clip in her hat, matching purple sheets on her bed and snuggle her up tight. She didn't have to do that, yet she did it anyway. So today Madelyn took lots of little pink, purple, blue and white bows up to the NICU so that other families that find themselves in our situation will be as blessed as we were by Sherri's actions. Here's a pic of Maddie holding the bows before we left the house...
My sister made these AWESOME little tags to express our thanks to wrap around the gourmet caramel popcorn bags my mom bought for us to give them...We also wanted to give something to the absolutely phenomenal doctor that Madelyn had while she was there so we put together a little family movie night basket for her family complete with hot cocoa, marshmallows (because you can't have hot cocoa without 'em of course), popcorn, chocolate, a couple of movies and some other goodies. Definitely not near enough to say thank you, but something small to let her to know how much we appreciate her. Here is Madelyn with all the goodies before we headed up to the hospital...Here is a pic from the beginning of October with Dr. Morris after Madelyn was off the ventilator and making the steps to head home. Mother Frances has a real gem in this doctor.Here is a picture of our family of three today at the NICU with (from left) Lamesa (the clinical director), Linda and Meagan (the two amazing women that transported Madelyn the day she quit breathing), one of the sweet nurses who was there the night we got there and always had a smile for us (bent down-can't put a name with the face at the moment), the fabulous Dr. Morris, Sherri (the charge nurse who took care of Madelyn and put the bow on her) holding Madelyn and myself with Luke.

I was SO excited that most of the people that we wanted to see were there. There were a few others that I would like to have thanked in person, but it was awesome to see this smiling bunch. They are amazing. What they did for us ministered to our family in a way that no church or organization ever could. They cared for our daughter as if she were their own. They treated our family (which stayed by Madelyn's side 24/7 on a constant rotation) with love and kindness.

I could have never prepared myself for the flood of emotions I felt walking back through those doors. In all the excitement, I forgot to take into account that it might stir up feelings that had not surfaced in quite some time. It broke my heart to think that all the rooms were full of sick little babies who may not get to go home for Christmas. The bright side is, they could not be in better hands. God's hand is on this special unit that finds it's home on the second floor of TMFHS... I am sure of it.

Once we were leaving the hospital we ran into some good friends, Matt and Katie, that were going to visit Rex and Judy (remember them??). Rex was having a biopsy, so we went back in to sit with them for a while. Please remember Rex and Judy in your prayers as they embark on long journey to get Rex better. They are dear to us in so many ways.

I was afraid to have Madelyn in the germy waiting room too long and thought she might get fussy soon so we left shortly after that. Madelyn fell asleep once the car was rolling so Luke and I did something incredibly brave...we went out to eat. It was 3:00pm so the restaurant was empty but the food was still awesome. If you live in Tyler, you have to check out Los Gueros on Vine Street...

Here is a pic of Luke and the sleeping beauty. She didn't wake up once while we were there!! Our first trip eating out as a family was a success!!

After our little family outing we headed straight home so that I could make broccoli cheese casserole and green bean casserole for the the church staff Christmas party. Check out Madelyn in her party dress...

We had a great time hanging out with the staff that Luke works with. We are blessed to be a part of sweet fellowship at West Lake Baptist Church and it was a fun night being in such good company. Here are some pics from the night (and despite the fact that I am only in one of the pics-I promise I was there-just behind the camera of course).

The music minister's wife, Denise, hanging out with Maddie...

The "boys" table...

The "girls" table plus Keith (I was in the empty space on the far right)...

My precious family in front of the Davis' gorgeous tree...

Keith got the little munchkin to sleep...

Luke and the Davis boys jamming after everyone left...

Macey was so good with Madelyn. She asked me if Maddie could spend the night...her mom told her that Madelyn might not like being away from her food supply for that long! Ha.

On our way home I freaked out because I could not believe that in all the hustle and bustle I had forgotten to call my dad to wish him a happy birthday. I am the bad daughter this year I guess. I love you, Daddy! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

It was an incredible day. So many blessings and lots of fun. Here are a couple of videos from the day for your viewing pleasure...