Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Kindergarten Welcome Letter!

I sent Hannah out to get the mail this evening and Rachel followed behind her.

When they returned, Rachel was holding an envelope and had the biggest smile on her face. We opened it up and just as I was expecting it to be, it was her "Kindergarten Welcome Letter" telling us what teacher she got and what class she was in.

We got the teacher we requested and come August 4th, Rachel will be attending Kindergarten every morning from 8:00-11:30am! She is SO excited!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Disneyland with Mom

Rachel has been out of school now just over a week. Hannah's last day is a week from today, we cant' wait to officially start summer fun until she's out! Therefore Rachel and I went to Disneyland today! The weather was absolutely beautiful!!! The crowds were getting bad by the time we needed to leave to head back to home to pick Hannah up from school. So we were leaving at a good time.

Today was the last time in the foreseeable future that it'll just be me and Rachel on a trip to Disneyland. So while we weren't exactly celebrating that, we were celebrating being out of school! Thus the picture in front of the balloons, etc. :)We did all a lot of Rachel's favorites - waited in line to see Tinkerbell, her most favorite Disney character. She's so cute when she approaches characters these days. She told TInkerbell she saw her in the Fireworks last week and carried on a conversation with her and hugged her and was happy to see her. She's so stinkin cute.And of course there's the usual picture taking of the beautiful flowers and landscapes, although I put Rachel in a few of the shots this time. She's used to it. We had a good morning. Looking forward to some long days and into the evenings once Hannah is out of school next week!!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Recovery Following Surgery

The recovery phase following any surgery on our cleft affected babes is difficult.

All of us been there, done that Moms can testify to that. The constant worry and stress as to if our baby is getting enough liquids to avoid dehydration. The constant fear that our babes are in pain. The bothersome arm restraints. And the list goes on and on.

Imagine if you were just days, two days to be exact, following a lip repair on your babe. You had feeding issues following surgery. Your anxiety level is already high. And you get the most devastating phone call of your life....Your Mom had been killed in a plane crash. Your biggest supporter of yourself being a Mom, your biggest supporter aside from your husband in the recovery phase following surgery. Now gone.

Just the thought, just knowing it happened to one of our own cleft affected families moves me to tears.

On Wednesday, Kelly, Gavin's Mommy, received that phone call. Her Mom had been killed in a plane crash late that afternoon.

For anyone who's ever prayed on behalf of Rachel, I come to you with a saddened heart and ask you to keep The Rogers Family in your prayers. It's hard enough dealing with the recovery phase following surgery, let alone adding a death in the family to the mix.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Gavin Update

I've gotten a few people asking about Gavin.

I got a text from Kelly Monday night with a picture of Gavin's new smile. He's adorable! He was having trouble nursing, so they were resorting to feeding him by medicine dropper.

I didn't hear anything today. I'm gonna try and call Kelly tomorrow (Thursday) for an update!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Prayers for Gavin

Gavin is having his lip repair Monday morning.

Please be praying that all goes well and for the Lord to guide Dr Martin's hands and all the nurses and residents whom will care and have contact with Gavin in the course of the next day or two.

Please also be praying for his Mommy, Kelly, and his Daddy, Matt. Those of us who've sent our babes off to surgery know how hard surgery day is for the parents!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Last Day of School..

Well, it's official, our baby is no longer a preschooler! This morning was her last day of preschool an our preschool days are behind us!

Everybody was the special helper on the last day of school!
One last 'trip' in the motor home. Both our girls have enjoyed this toy!
One last picture of all the Sunny Sunflowers together.
Taking a picture with Mrs. Vasquez, one last time.
One last phone call in the super cool phone booth.
One more day of school together.
Next year it'll be different schools for the both of them.
It was a good morning. One filled with tears (all the Mommy's of course), laughs, hugs and lots of pictures. This preschool has been a great place for both our girls and while it's sad our days at the preschool are gone, we'll be back to visit when the girls are off track. FUMPS will always hold a special place in our memories.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

New Adventures this Week

Just a couple pictures of some new adventures from earlier in the week....

For the first time, Rachel rode the canoes at Disneyland with Daddy on Sunday. She loved it!! And can't wait to go back on them again. The nearby parking lot for the jurors in our county is currently being worked on. So for the last month or two, the city trolley transports jurors from our preschool parking lot to the courthouse. Several times throughout the morning, the preschoolers gather along the playground fence and watch as the trolley passes through out parking lot. On Tuesday, the trolley actually stopped and let the preschoolers all have their turn in sitting on the trolley. Something I'm sure the jurors sitting on the trolley loved, being joined by 75 preschoolers! LOL. The kids all loved it.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Fun Times at Preschool

The Preschool year is quickly coming to an end and they are jam packing these last few days together.

On Tuesday, the preschool went on their final field trip to a nearby Nature Center where they hiked and made a fossil imprint, etc. I have no pictures (gasp!!) of that event as I was unable to drive like normal because I was at Hannah's Magnet School Open House.

Tuesday afternoon, we hosted the class year end picnic in our backyard. There were eight of the eleven classmates that showed up with their Mommies or Daddy and even some younger siblings too! The kids all had a great time playing, and Rachel LOVED having her Sunny Sunflower friends over to play at her house.Today was a fun day. There was face painting, a popcorn machine, balloons, and the morning ended with a visit from a very special someone! I hung out at the preschool all morning, helping Rachel's teacher out by taking down all the arts and crafts the kids had made for the Open House last month and putting them into bags for the kids to take home. The classrooms are starting to look really bare. It's sad really. I also helped the director blow up 78 balloons for the kids and just helped where I could. There aren't too many days left that I can do this and I was most happy to be at our preschool today.
With her friend, Kaylee.
At the end of the morning, Bubbles the Clown paid a visit to the preschool and she was a lot of fun. It's the same clown that was doing these visits over four years ago when Hannah attended the preschool and she was happy to hear that! Bubbles was hilarious! She really knew how to keep those preschoolers laughing, at some of the most simplest of things. LOL. She periodically needed volunteers to help her out with a trick or two, and my niece Haylee was lucky enough to be chosen for the final trick. Check out the expression on her face. It's as though her little mind is saying "My Daddy told me to be weary of anyone with pink hair". LOL. It was a fun morning. It's been a fun week. And next week proves to be another week of fun with water games on Tuesday and our very last class party on Thursday, ice cream sundaes!

Monday, June 01, 2009

Meet Gavin

This is Gavin. He was born in March with a unilateral cleft lip and alveolar ridge. And I have actually had the privilege of meeting this little guy and his Mommy and Daddy in person!

Long story short, Gavin's Gramma goes to the same church as Rachel's Gramma and once his parents found our about his cleft on an ultrasound, someone in the church referred his Gramma to Rachel's Gramma because they knew of Rachel and her birth defect. Got that??

In March, days after his birth, I learned that Gavin had been re-admitted to the hospital for dehydration issues. Not having ever met his parents, Kelly and Matt, I wasn't shy about making my way to the hospital to meet them and offer any encouragement or advice I could. I always go back to how we would have felt had someone done that for us when we had Rachel, and I went with my emotions and feelings for how much we would have appreciated a visit, advice, encouragement from a "Been there, done that" family.

What wonderful parents the Lord has blessed Gavin with. Both Matt and Kelly were nice and accepting of my visit.

I've emailed with Kelly a few times since and I look forward to a day when we can see each other in person again and have her see Rachel in person and how the Lord has done wonderful things in her little life. But for now, I am able to keep up on the going ons of Gavin on his family blog, The Rogers Family.

Less than 3 months old and he's already proving to be quite the character with the ability to be soothed simply by the sound of the hair dryer and/or the running of the vacuum! One in which his loving Grandparents recorded and looped onto a CD! LOL. Check out his blog and watch him grow!