6 months...already?

How on earth could my sweet little baby girl already be a half a year old? Time has flown by so so so fast, and I literally can not believe it! Today, Samantha was not in the best of moods. But, I decided to take her to get her 6 month pictures taken anyway... Even though she wasn't all that cheery, they still turned out so cute. Here's a look:

Growing Up

Because we moved Samantha has been sleeping in our room in her bassinet a little longer than I had originally planned. This past week, I finally got her room somewhat ready for her furniture. Then, daddy put her crib together, and we got in all nice and snuggly for her first night in it. I got out the baby monitors and placed one in her room and one in ours. When she fell asleep that night, I slowly crept into her bedroom and put her down in her crib. I watched for a couple minutes to make sure she didn't wake, then tip-toed out of there and shut the door behind me. A couple hours later that night when I got ready to go to bed, I walked into our bedroom and saw that empty bassinet...


I expected that she would've woken up at least once before I went to bed, so I made Ben go in her room...just to check on her and make sure the monitors worked. They did. So I layed down in bed and waited for the house to get quite and then waited for Samantha to wake up and cry so that I could go rescue her from the Big Bad Crib...wasn't she supposed to be upset that she was in that big room, all by herself?

She wasn't. I didn't hear a peep out of her or the monitor for a good 30 minutes. It was safe to go to sleep...I hoped. It was. At about 6:30am the next morning, I turned over in bed to look at her bassinet, of course it was empty. But I could hear her through the monitor. She wasn't crying, she was cooing...happily. I went into her room and there she was...







She is showing me day after day that she is getting bigger. She is such a healthy, active, happy, outgoing little wonder...And I was afraid to let her sleep in her own room! Someday I'll learn.

Trogdor...The Burninator

Samantha just wanted to give her Auntie Lizzy a shout-out and say "Thanks" for this awesome shirt! If the little dragon on her shirt doesn't mean anything to you, you obviously haven't ever visited Homestarrunner.com. If you like stupid, nonsense humor, you'll love it...

check it out here: http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html

Happy Birthday...to me!

Wow...looks like I haven't updated this thing for well over a month. My bad. As most of you know, Samantha is doing wonderfully since her little stint in the hospital. She had an appointment with the cardiologist over at Doernbecher's a few weeks ago and they said that as long as she keeps up with the meds, she should be just fine....whew!!!

Thursday was my 27th Birthday and my mom came to watch Samantha so that Ben and I could go out. Let me remind you all that this was my first time leaving Sam for more than a few minutes in her 3 and a half months of life. Needless to say, I was a little paranoid and anxious. My mom did a wonderful job of keeping my sisters and I out of harms way, alive and healthy all these years. I knew that Samantha would be just fine with her Grandma, but I didn't know if I would be okay without my baby girl.

Turns out, I was just fine. Big surprise, huh. Nanny did a great job with her and Sam was happy the whole time. I only called six or seven times and I didn't hear any screaming and crying out of my little one. I can't believe that I have turned into one of "those" parents. The mom who is so overprotective and calls the babysitter every five minutes....oh my!

Out of the Blue

Monday was Samantha's 2 month check-up. We went in, the doctor said she was growing wonderfully (12lbs - 23 1/2 inches). Then the doctor was doing her regular examination stuff, when she noticed that Sam's heart rate was racing a little bit. She had the assistants come in and do an EKG on Samantha. They put a bunch of little blue sticky things all over her chest and tummy, and then attached wires to them. When they started up the machine, I just wanted them to hurry up and get it over with so they could take those little sticky things off. Samantha looked so uncomfortable. They finished with the machine and then left Ben, Sam and I alone in the room. I remember thinking, "oh, this is normal, babies heart rate's race all the time." A few minutes later the doctor returned to tell us that this wasn't so normal. . .

Sam's doctor is a wonderful lady and she was very calm and reassuring when she told us that we were going to have to go straight to Doernbecher Children's Hospital and see the pediatric cardiologist. She told us that Samantha probably has something called SVT (Super Ventricular Tachycardia) which in short means - fast heart rate. Too fast.


We took her straight to OHSU, and got her checked in. We passed many hospital rooms before we arrived at ours and I notices a lot of sick children, and I felt my pulse quicken. I was thinking, a hospital is for sick kids, Samantha's not sick, she was just fine this morning, why are we here?

A few moments after we got into the hospital room and Samantha on the table, they hooked her up to more machines, that had me wishing for the little blue sticky things again. The things they put on her were big and looked extremely uncomfortable for an infant. One time I counted and noticed 9 doctors and nurses in the room. This of course is totally unnerving. Why on earth would there need to be so many people in here?! The next couple of hours were a blur. I remember looking at the monitor and seeing her heart rate as 280 (it's supposed to be around 100). One of the doctors put an ice pack over her entire face (to try to shock her heart into going back to a normal rhythm), he also tried pressing down on her chin/neck, for the same purpose and it just wasn't working.


The nurse put an IV in her, that then fell out and they had to do the process all over again. I was crying and Samantha was screaming her little heart out. Meanwhile, Ben was trying to keep us both calm. . . poor guy. Finally, the doc decided to give her a dose of medicine that goes straight to her little heart to slow it down, and it worked. . . finally!


After all of that, the cardiologist came and talked to us about what SVT is all about and what we will have to do about it. I guess the bottom line is that Samantha is okay, and God is in control. This has been the most difficult thing I have ever gone through, but it is all going to be okay. We are still in the hospital until at least tomorrow. I will write more later. If you could keep Sam, Ben and I in your thoughts and prayers over the next few days, we would greatly appreciate it.

Way too many wires

Mama trying to keep it together while Sam is crying. . . again!

Keeping her spirits up

And I was complaining about the little blue sticky things!

Tired baby and tired daddy

Meme?...Okay

Leanne suggested that I do this Meme thing, so I'll give it a try. However, I do have a newborn, so I don't think my answers are going to be all that exciting, but here we go...

5 Thing In My Bag
Like I said, I have a newborn so the only thing I'm carrying around right now is a diaper bag.

1. Diapers...duh (also, wipes and other baby changing paraphernalia)
2. Camera and an extra set of batteries
3. Cell Phone
4. Wallet
5. Soft Lips chapstick


5 Things In My Room

1. My bed, which does not get used enough these days...NO SLEEP
2. Samantha's Bassinet
3. Samantha's Changing Table
4. Books and Magazines
5. Way, Way, Way too much clutter


5 Things I Have Always Wanted To Do

1. Go to grad-school
2. Run a Marathon (Got half-way there!)
3. Learn how to cook
4. Establish a deeper connection and relationship with God
5. Train our dog


5 Things I Am Currently Into

1. Samantha - she's extremely time-consuming but I wouldn't trade a second of it!
2. Reading...mostly parenting books and magazines but I love novels also. I'm a little in between novels at the moment.
3. Trying to find time and energy to get out and run.
4. The Office and Lost
5. Scrapbooking - I haven't done this since Sam was born but I have enough pictures to fill several albums.


5 People That Should Try This Meme:
Unfortunately, I am relatively new to this blog thing, so I don't have many blog-friends, or friends that blog.

*I do think that Judith Anne should try it out though. I already know her pretty well but I think her answers would be entertaining, to say the least. She's always got something funny to say. Love you, love you, love you Judith!

Mother's Day

Yesterday was my very first Mother's Day! My mom, sisters, and Samantha and I went to my Grandmother's house to celebrate. It was so cool having 4 generations of girls in the same house. It was wonderful how everywhere I went this weekend, people would tell me Happy Mother's Day. It was even extra special because my little sister is expecting a baby soon, and we were able to share our first Mother's Day together. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful Grandmother, Mother, and two wonderful little sisters that are going to make such awesome mothers.

I also have a truly wonderful Mom-in-law and two great sis-in-laws that I love so much!

It also made me think about something that has been on my mind a lot lately. I have a really good friend and a couple other people that I know that desperately want to be mamma's. It's crazy how there are incredible women that would make such perfectly amazing mothers and they are having such a hard time making that happen. Unfortunately, I also know some not-so-amazing people that are taking advantage of pregnancies and using abortions as a type of birth control. What is wrong with people? I have always been anti-abortion but how could someone that has had the joy of having a baby once, have an abortion because they simply forgot to use protection...? It's so unfair and confusing. This is definitely something I'm going to have to ask The Big Guy about when I get to Heaven. In the meantime, my heart and prayers go out to you that are going to make wonderful mothers someday. God has His plan, and it is perfect, even though at times it's hard for us to understand...He already has it all figured out.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are mothers and to all of those who will make great ones someday!