Half Way!

We are half way!

Things I miss:
1. my friends
2. Villa sport
3. rice cooker
4. Keurig
5. A dishwasher that doesn't melt all my stuff
6. a quiet washer/dryer/dishwasher
7. My bed (right now we are sleeping on a mattress, on the floor, in the living room - sharing a room with LG doesn't work).
8. a garage
9. dry climate - you sweat when you work out here...a lot...

Things I am enjoying:
1. New adventures
2. Slower pace of life
3. No things to rush to
4. fewer toys to clean up
5. new friends
6. living with less
7. slower days
8. Bible Study Fellowship
9. breathing while running

4 down, 4 to go!

Atlanta Aquarium

 We love aquariums...It was expensive but we are so glad we went!  It was out of control busy, but still a great experience.

The day started off with a dolphin show that was incredible!  Dolphins jumping and splashing all while telling a story with singing, dancing, and special effects.  It was quite the production.

Then we got to walk around the aquarium and see all the tanks.....

This is where I could have spent all day....It is a piece of glass that is two feet thick, 20 feet high by 60 feet wide.  I stole the description from their webpage....I can't even begin to describe how wonderful this was!

Georgia Aquarium is also home to four manta rays. It recently added a fourth manta ray to the Ocean Voyager exhibit. Our newest ray is the first male added to the exhibit and will join our three female manta rays, Billi, Nandi and Tallulah, as well as four whale sharks and thousands of other fish in the 6.3 million gallon exhibit, the most magical aquarium habitat in the world. The fourth ray, who measures almost nine feet across and weighs approximately 265 pounds, was collected off the coast of Florida.

Walk through an acrylic tunnel or stand in front of a gigantic acrylic viewing window, and you will feel like a SCUBA diver in an endless blue sea, mesmerized by thousands of fish swimming overhead. Ocean Voyager, built by The Home Depot, is home to the gentle giants of the sea, including whale sharks and four manta rays. They are the only manta rays in a U.S. aquarium, ever. Learn more about our first manta ray Nandi's journey to the Georgia Aquarium from South Africa.

This exhibit was specially designed to house whale sharks, the largest fish species in the world. Schools of predatory trevally jacks, squadrons of small and large stingrays, enormous goliath grouper and several sharks all ply the waters of this ocean habitat containing more than six million gallons of saltwater. With 4,574 square feet of viewing windows, a 100-foot-long underwater tunnel, 185 tons of acrylic windows and the second largest viewing window in the world at 23 feet tall by 61 feet wide and 2 feet thick, visitors will have multiple opportunities to view all of these magnificent animals. No other aquarium in the world has ever attempted to manage the variety and size of fish in this major exhibit.

After we went to the very first chick fila.....I'll let that speak for itself.  We are in the south, aren't we?

Montgomery zoo

We had a family day at the Montgomery Zoo.  It was so fun and despite it being "zoo weekend" it wasn't crazy crowded.

I am not a huge "bird fan" but the parakeet house was amazing.  Abby loved holding and feeding the birds!

To end the day, mama and Abby went on a train ride through the zoo. Abby loved it!

 

A highlight of the zoo trip was seeing the elephant go to the bathroom....Abby asked to go back several times...gross.

A great way to spend a weekend!

Montgomery

We are at a training with Steve in Alabama. It is so fun and I am so glad I came with the kids.  We are enjoying our warm days and even enjoying the rainy ones (when it rains....it pours....all. day. long).  We have adjusted to the days here and are making some great friends.  

There are about 20 families staying at the same apartment complex as us and we all are in the same boat....Living in an apartment with limited toys, kitchen items, etc., driving across the country, making new friends, etc.) It's great to "learn to live with little" with these women.

Yay for hot days!

We went bowling on base with Steve's flight.

Did some touristy stuff in downtown Montgomery.

This is Abby's little friend Isaiah.  She LOVES playing with him.  He lives upstairs.  Their family is great.  We have really enjoyed getting to know them and would love to be stationed in the same city as them one day!

This little one is growing like crazy here!  She finally cut her third tooth, is staring to walk (takes 3-4 steps on her own), is nursing less (2 times a day), is eating big girl food, and is starting to cuddle!  It is so fun to watch her grow!  She is still tiny and is slowly killing mama with her terrible sleep, but her cuddles and smiles bring joy to my heart!

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!