Downtown Atlanta - Olympic Park

We drove to Atlanta for the weekend and visited the Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta.  It was great!  Abby loved playing on the great play structures they had there and then we ran through huge fields and played in a fountain!  You can't tell from the pictures but the fountain is the five Olympic rings.  It was a great day!

(Lucy's new thing is to put her foot up, relaxin...)

Thankful and Thoughtful

I I have a friend and this is her blog name "thankful and thoughtful" I am stealing that phrase today...It's how I have been feeling recently.

We are in Alabama right now with Steve for a training he is attending at Maxwell AFB.  The family came along and I was praying that this time would be a time where I could reflect, learn about myself and my relationship with the Lord, spend time with the girls being less busy, and minister to others.

Little did I know that I would be blessed by others while we were here...crazily blessed.

The other day I needed paprika...I put it out there on the "SOS Facebook page" that I needed paprika for my dinner (Steve had the car that day...) within minutes of posting it I had a text from a friend that said, "here is my apt number, come get it."  I got the girls ready and we headed over (just a short walk around the pond).  I got there and she let me use some of her essential oils that are supposed to help with allergies...Because earlier in the day I was telling her about my issues with allergies.

Two other "new friends" have asked how Lucy has been sleeping because that is a constant struggle in the Klenke household.

I met a friend who lives basically next door to me in Colorado....

Our upstairs neighbors are incredible...They drive Steve to work all the time so I can have the car, take out our trash, and bring us ice cream after we have to take our kids to the ER for the afternoon (trip to the ER was fine, Lucy just fell and hit her head..She is OK).

To top it off...Today I met someone with the EXACT same issues with NAIT that we have...Her daughter turned three TODAY and she has another little one who is not far behind Lucy.  Her story is almost identical to ours....IVIG, brain bleed, low platelets, hospital transfers, the list goes on.  I am blown away....Never in a million years did I think I would MEET someone who knows what it was like to have NAIT.  I've contacted people online, exchanged email address', but never have I talked face to face with a mama who knows what it feels like to get IVIG every week, one who knows what it feels like to have a doctor tell you your baby has a bleed on their brain, one who knows how it feels when someone else says, “oh, it’s an Rh issue, I had that”, one who knows the REAL issue of NAIT and has dealt with it first-hand....I'm in tears right now.  To see her healthy little girl running around was God saying to me, "I've got you Carey"  

Today, I'm thankful and overwhelmed by God’s goodness.  

Abby Turns Three

It's hard to believe our little one is three.  It seems like just yesterday I was at the hospital on the phone with Steve telling him how beautiful our little one was. (For those who may not know, or remember, he was in Afghanistan).

Abby's birth was quite eventful.  The night she was born we were transferred to Memorials NICU because they noticed some red spots on her body and the blood they took from her was clotting too fast.  They put in a red cross note for Steve to fly home from Afghanistan ASAP.  

The next four days were probably the roughest of our lives.  Steve was traveling home, not knowing what was really happening (he had long flights where we couldn't talk) and I was getting news from our doctors, much of that was not good.

Basically it turned out that Abby had a bleed on her brain, it covered 1/8 of her entire brain.  We were told this meant: the areas of her brain that the blood has covered could be damaged and she will have significant delays because of this.  The extent of the delays we will never know until she can't do something.

There are no words to describe what that feels like, I'm crying as I am writing this.  Thank the Lord he put me in a bit of a fog because if I really knew everything, I don't know how I would have coped for those two long days without Steve.

When Steve got there, we were able to process together.  The Lord was with us...that is all I can say.  There is NO WAY we did any of that without Him.

The bleed was on the right side of Abby's brain....Causing her left side to be the "damaged side"

Now we are into year three of Abby's life:

She is an absolute joy.  Often saying/doing things that make us crack up.

She likes to be by herself, an introvert.

Her best friend is Alice. Whenever we go somewhere, "Will Alice be there?"

She can't say "vanilla" :)

She used to say, "What's happeting?"

She loves Lucy unconditionally, even when Lucy tries to take her toys....

It usually takes her at least 45 minutes to wind down when going to bed.

She LOVES crafts

She is doing PT once a week to help with pronation in her feet (turning in).

Her favorite games are: open handed go fish and a bubble puppy's game

She loves Daniel Tiger, Barney and Blues Clues

Being outside is her favorite thing ever, she loves making tracks in the snow.

She doesn't like to do what we want her to do....i.e. come talk on the phone...take a picture for us...Let Lucy sit on your lap....However, if we don't ask to do those things, she will readily do them...She's three.

And...she is left handed...I used to joke with the doctor's, "I think she is going  to be left handed..." just because I thought that was God's way of saying He healed her....Well, He did, and she is indeed left handed....Take that brain bleed!

Here are some pictures from her sweet Blues Clues/Superbowl party:

We have a ruler now so we can measure the girls every year!

We made tickety tock from Blues Clues!

And we played "Pin the Paw on Blue"

And....we watched the Super Bowl....

Pin the paw on Blue

We never get pictures of them both smiling at the same time..

Sweet Clementine Mae.

It was a great party.  We love little Abigail Ann and can't wait to see what God has in store for her.  Her testimony is already pretty amazing!  Can't wait till she is old enough to tell it herself!

Daddy takes Abby out in the snow!

Matching Outfits

They are sweet together....

LG 10 Months

LG

Some of you know...

We had a long discussion about Lucy's name...it took us forever to figure out if she should be named Helen or Lucy..

See, Helen is my great grandmother's name.  I'm named after "Gunny" (that's what we called her).  Her name was Helen Carey.  I have fond memories of Gunny...we always had Christmas Eve at her house...Her house was full of crazy contraptions and she was always running around the kitchen cooking....cooking....and more cooking.  I remember her wild curly hair, the crazy amounts of dolls she used for decorating, the "iron" in the basement which was a big roll and ice skating in her back yard.  We have a lot of good memories at "Gunnys" house.  Clearly, naming my daughter after Gunny would make sense.

For some reason we went with Lucy.  We like the name, it's perfect for her.  We call her LG, Lucy Grace, Lucy Gracie, and a new nickname was formed this Christmas: Lulu.

Sweet Kate, my niece (her middle name is Elizabeth, so is mine...we have a special bond), started calling Lucy, Lulu.  It stuck.  We love Lulu.

Now, let's go back a year or so...When we were deciding on what to name Lucy, I asked my mom what Gunny's middle name was....she didn't know and asked her sister.  Laurel (my mom's sister) said she asked Gunny once and Gunny said, "I never had a middle name, but if I did, I would make it my favorite name...."  You want to know what that name was???  It was Lulu.  Yeah, I'm not joking.   God is pretty awesome isn't He?  When I look at my Lulu, I see Gunny, and my Lord, smiling at me.  It's pretty awesome how He speaks.

Gunny and I one Christmas Eve....

Lucy and I this year on Christmas Eve (the best picture of just the two of us...)

I love this little one and the constant reminder of how awesome God is every time I say her name....