At Home in the Mountains

You know that movie Four Christmases? We lived it. We technically had five Christmases. My pictures loaded up all out of order so I'll just tell about the Christmas of each picture. This was at Aaron's grandparents ranch. They had a real tree. By that I mean they went out and picked it and cut it themselves. I always love Grandma Fletcher's tree because it had a bunch of ornaments she made herself and lots of old ornaments that her mother made. It is hours of entertainment to look at the tree and hear the stories about the ornaments. We got there on Christmas day night and then had Christmas dinner with them the day after Christmas. Aaron's Dad and his wife were there and Anna's sister and her husband came for dinner. We had a good time there. This is Maddy's Christmas outfit that Aaron's Aunt Sherry gave Maddy. She works at the Salvation army and found it there. Someone had donated it brand new. I will probably redonate it since Maddy will not be small enou...

It is a gorgeously warm day today! Maddy and I went on a walk to stretch out the sore muscles from the race yesterday. Before the race we had to go to the expo on Saturday to pick up our numbers. We had like 15 bags to haul around plus Maddy because of all the relay teams from DBU. Fortunately Tricia and Nat were there with us so they took turns holding Maddy. We walked around and got free samples of stuff, mostly nasty sports drinks and bars, but we did get about 15 lbs of free dog food out of the deal and Aaron bought this awesome tape called K tape that he used for the race for his knee and feet. It is the tape that Kerry Walsh wore for the volleyball games during the olympics. Then we went to lunch with Nat and then came home and cleaned and cooked spaghetti and then TRicia came to eat. Brittany came to stay the night and we left at 5:45 to get to the race the next morning. The race was really cool. I thought I was going to die but I ended up doing much better than I expected. I...

Can't see them very well in these pics best picture I was able to get for now sitting in boppy Maddy's ornament for her first Christmas Aaron's first Christmas ornament his mom made him. Well we did it. We got Maddy hearing aids for Christmas. :) When we were at Grandma and Grandpa's we were all talking about how much the average family spends on Christmas presents. Aaron looked it up and it turns out that the average American spends over $400 PER PERSON on Christmas presents. Yikes! So we decided we'd count Maddy's hearing aids as a Christmas present so we could brag about how much we spend on her for Christmas. haha! So we went to the Callier at 8:30 this morning and waited about 30 minutes in the waiting room. I think our doctor is just slow because while he was working with us a nurse or someone knocked on the door and it sounded like he was supposed to have been with somebody at 9:30 and it was about 15 after ten. That is okay. Getting hearing aids is a big...

One year ago today we found out we were having a little girl. One year ago today, the OB called us into his office and told us that Maddy was not going to survive. One year ago today God heard the prayers of many friends and family and he started working a miracle. One year ago today I thought I would never see my precious little girl alive. One year ago today I was so shocked I didn't and couldn't feel anything but disbelief. One year ago today, God started planning that today a little girl named Madeline Mae Fletcher would be by my side as I write this, talking and playing with her stuffed cow that Aunt Tammy gave her. One year ago today God set out to prove that he is faithful and he hears his people's prayers and that he still does miracles. Today is bittersweet because one year ago today our dreams and plans we had for our new life with our baby girl were destroyed. But one year ago today God started making a new plan to give us a different dream and a different plan. ...

Pediatrician check ups always stress me out. I know it is because of this whole weight issue. Every time we go in I know he is not going to be satisfied because she is still not on the chart with her weight. Today Aaron went with me so it made it a little better, but I still left the office feeling like a horrible mother. Maddy weighed 10 lb 13.5 oz so we are creeping toward that 11 lb mark we thought she was at a couple of weeks ago. Still, she has gained a lb in 1 month. Between August and October she gain 1 lb so this is a big improvement for her. Still not good enough though. This time he decided that she is not getting enough calories. She is eating about 23 oz a day which we thought was doing pretty good. Nope. She needs to be eating 28 oz minimum and he'd like to see her eat 30-33oz. Sometimes I feel like I am doing something wrong, but when your child starts screaming and punching the bottle away because she's had enough there is not much you can do. She is eating more ...

I am not sure what she was doing but this picture is hilarious! Well God just added another thing for us to be thankful for and something I just had to share. For Maddy's hearing aids our insurance only pays $1000 for hearing aids every three years. Fortunately we don't have to replace the actual hearing aid piece very often but we do have to get new ear pieces, fittings, etc. as she grows. Aaron has been talking to the HR lady, Tamy Rogers who is a sweet and wonderful person and helped us when the insurance was trying to get out of paying for my pregnancy, over the last few days to see if we can talk to insurance into giving us more money for Maddy's hearing stuff. They regard it as a quality of life issue and we are trying to say that for now it is not quality of life but a medical necessity so she can learn how to talk!!! All very frustrating. So we were going to have to come up with about $2500 before December 8th to pay for the part with the hearing aids that the insur...

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Maddy's labs from the endocrinologist came back normal. Thanks to everyone who prayed for her about this over the last month or so. Now please just keep praying that she will gain weight and that she will be the size she needs to be for her. So thankful for this good news this week as well as the news for Brandon and Amanda and kids.

I guess I should start with the endocrinologist appointment. We went to that on Wednesday. Their scale showed Maddy's weight as 10lb 10 oz. What happened to 12 oz?!?! She did have a wet diaper and onesie on when they weighted her for the ABR but I seriously doubt that it weighed that much and I seriously doubt she lost weight in one day. So it is a mystery so apparently she didn't weigh as much as we thought but she had still gained close to a pound in two weeks which is still great. Nothing in the consultation jumped out at him so he ordered blood work. We got that done at the hospital right after we saw the doctor and should have the results in 10 days to a week. He is looking at thyroid levels, growth hormone, iron levels, and some enzymes that indicate nutrient absorption. So we shall see. Maddy was a trooper for the blood work. She cried of course but she seriously handled getting her blood taken better than I handle it. Once they got the needle in she was fine and pretty ...

We probably take a picture of ourselves by holding the camera at arm's length about once a year so we don't have much practice. It took several attempts to just get one that all of our heads were in so it is what it is. :) Maddy in a super cute jean skirt from her 3-6 month drawer. She looked so cute in it for church on Sunday! Today we had the ABR. Hopefully this is the last one because she slept through it very well with the help of the sedation medicine and they were able to complete all the tests they wanted to get done. Things hadn't changed much even with clear ears so it looks like we'll be keeping our appointment on Friday at the Callier Center at UTD. This is where they fit young children for hearing aids. I am not going to say that is 100% sure though because we've got to talk to Dr. Gamble on Thursday first but since nothing has changed this was kind of the plan we were given to go with if there was hearing loss so it is the schedule I'm anticipating....

Today we went to the library to get a book for treats. If your kid went in their costume they got a free book. Then we went to a pumpkin patch with some friends from church. We were going to go do a trunk or treat at a church by our house, but Maddy got too tired and crashed before we could make it so I handed out candy to trick or treaters instead. I also carved a pumpkin this afternoon. I'd say Maddy had a great first Halloween. She turned 7 months yesterday!

Last Sunday was a beautiful day. We took Maddy out in the yard to look at all the fall flowers blooming. She loved them. I think this picture of her with the flowers is so sweet and thought everyone else would enjoy it too.

Gross, right! Nevertheless, she does. She takes after her dad I guess. I think I told the story on here about how Aaron asked for prunes for father's day. What? Anyway, Maddy has had some constipation from the antibiotics (I'm pretty sure this is the cause anyway) that she's on for her ear infection. It was so bad that I called the doctor about it last week. If she doesn't start doing better soon I'm going to take her in I think. Meanwhile we've tried several things: apple juice, which she does not like; prunes, which she loves as you can see; kyro syrup in her formula; and yes...even enemas. It is very sad. She finishes her round of antibiotics on Friday so I hope once that is done this problem will be gone as well. She is doing great otherwise though. Her ears seem like they've stopped draining so hopefully we're on our way to healthy ears. Prunes for lunch anyone?

Just a quick update to say that Maddy's ear tube surgery went great. She was probably gone about half an hour total if that. She was awake and crying when they brought her back to us. She calmed down as soon as they gave her to me. She ate some sugar water and then hung out for a bit to make sure she was okay. We got to the hospital at 5:30 and left at 9:30 so not too bad at all. They ended up doing both ears. She had fluid in the left and then actually had an infection in the right. Always makes you feel kind of bad when they are sick and you never had a clue, but she was eating good and she never had a fever so there was no way I could know. We have drops to put in her ears three times a day and she'll take antibiotics for 10 days. Aaron will pick up the prescriptions on his way home from work tonight. I may be taking her to get a flu shot tomorrow. They are now available at our doctors. Just the regular flu I think. I don't think anyone down here has the swine flu shot y...

This year's fair was a great one! Everyone came in on Friday making it in time to at least wish Tricia a happy birthday. After at least an hour of effort on Aaron's part we got a fire going with wood that had been soaked by the rain. We roasted s'mores and played bananagrams. The day of the fair was chilly. I don't think it got above 55 all day. Fair food was excellent as usual and we started with some corn dogs. We watched the K9 acrobats-dogs that chase frisbees around. We also saw a diving show, a BMX bike show, and rode the ferris wheel. The boys made sure they all got to chow down on their fair favorite...turkey legs! Every year there is a butter sculpture at the fair. Yes it is made out of butter. They display it in a refrigerated area to keep the butter from melting. This year's sculpture was a western bar scene. This is the group that came to the fair. 13 of us in all plus two of Tricia's roommates joined us. This is the Dallas skyline from the Ferris wh...

I have this pic on my facebook page but some of ya'll aren't on facebook so thought I'd share it here as well. We started Maddy on cereal on Wednesday. This is her reaction to eating cereal for the first time. I started her on oatmeal but think I was supposed to start with rice cereal. She seemed okay except yesterday she seemed like maybe she was getting some diaper rash. She has never had a problem with that before so I stopped oatmeal and got some rice cereal so we'll do rice for a bit and then try oatmeal again. I need to do more reading before I start these new things but I was busy looking up stuff about weight gain, etc. this week so sort of forgot it MIGHT be important to figure out the specifics of introducing solid foods. If she does okay on the cereals this week, maybe peas will be next. I better look it up though to make sure that is a good plan. :)

Sitting on the couch like a big girl. She sat like this for probably ten or fifteen minutes just watching the dogs and feeling special. Last time we tried this (awhile back) she couldn't hold herself up and would just slide right over to the side and land on her face. Yes, I know it's crazy, but I made her a 1/2 birthday cake. The girls been through a lot and, let's face it--Mom needs some chocolate. Looking studious for Papa. Notice that her highlighter matches her outfit. I hope this isn't an omen of later on. Why is this picture on here? Maddy is actually tilting her head the OTHER way. Hamming it up for the camera. This outfit came out of the 3-6 month drawer. The first one she's worn from there. It didn't have a size on it so it might not technically be 3-6 months but I am still excited! More hamming for the camera. I went to see my friend Beckie and her kids last week. Richard really, really wanted to hold Maddy. I don't think it was as exciting as he ...