The Burgess Family

Faces...

2011-09-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

This is the face of one happy mama.

This is the face of one happy three year old!

This is the face of one happy two year old!

This is the face of one happy 7 month old!

Blessed. So very very blessed.

Summer 2011

2011-08-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

Weeds! They are growing like weeds!

Shewh, what a busy summer this one has been! Beach trips, family trips, beach trips, pool trips, beach trips... yep, lots of road time! This summer has been a bitter sweet one. While it has been a fun one with the children, it has been a very sad one for our family. My father in law passed away almost 2 weeks ago and his loss is a crushing blow to our family. He was a one of a kind that will never be forgotten. We love you Randy and will miss you dearly.

G-Man with Grandpa Randy

County Lake Road was a great adventure when we were at Grandpa and Gram's house!

G-Man playing in the pool, he loves the water! And his sister, yep. She loves it too!

5

2011-06-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

5. It's a big number.

5 years.

260 weeks.

1825 days.

My sweet Hope Noelle you would have been 5 today. While I do stay busy with your sisters and brother, you are never far from our thoughts. At times, moments catch me off guard when I stop to think of all the things that we will never know... what does your smile look like? what is the sound of your laughter? what does your voice sound like? which would you have liked better, a swing or a slide? A lot of dreams were shattered and lost when you died and a lot of tears have fallen since you left this Earthly world. It also would have been a lot of suffering, a lot of sadness, a lot of pain. Hope we miss you every day more than words can say and I would never trade the short time we had with you but I would never wish you any pain or discomfort. Rest easy sweet girl. You are still loved. My cup runneth over. My cup runneth over.

A Taste of Spring

2011-04-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

This past week the weather has been wonderful here so we have been out burning off some cabin fever! What was that? You asked the best way to end the day? Oh, that's simple... with some frozen icceeesss!!!

My my my...

2011-03-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

Oh how things have changed over the last year! I still cannot believe I have let that much time pass without blogging!

As you might have noticed, there is an extra face in our pictures these days! Yes, we welcomed another baby into our family in January. Little Miss Peyton.

So much has gone on over the last year! Chayse is talking up a storm and is learning Spanish. While she is a very independent child, she is such a joy to be around and brightens our days! She had double eye surgery in September and seems to be doing well. We still are seen monthly for check ups and she may have to have surgery again at another time but for now, we are so thankful for the gift of sight.

Garris has started walking and talking and he is SUCH A BOY!!! He loves trucks and balls and loves to play in the dirt. He is 100% boy! He is currently cutting 8 teeth in one shot. The child has gone from 8 teeth to 16 teeth in less than 4 weeks. Talk about getting them all done in one shot!! Shewhhhhh!

Peyton is our newest addition to the family. She is our runt and is 2 months old now. She is a sweet sweet baby and loves to snuggle. We could not be more thrilled to have her in our family!

Nathan is still working with the fire department and I am still a stay at home mom. I spend a lot of my time working on my quilting. A friend and I started the NC Chapter of Quilts for Kids about 10 months ago and we have had a ball doing it! If you don't know about it, you should check it out. It is a great way to give back.
www.quiltsforkids.org

Double Day at Duke!!

2010-09-22T00:57:00.000-07:00

Today is the day we have prayed for and about for so long. Chayse will be going in for double eye surgery today! We pray that everything will go smoothly and that she will have no problems with her eyes as we move forward in life. We are so blessed to be so close to such wonderful doctors and amazing facilites. God is good.

A sad day

2010-06-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

It's June 14th again. A day that is so bittersweet to our family. Four years ago, we welcomed an amazing little girl into this work, only to lose her too soon. Today, on Hope's 4th birthday, she got an amazing present... a puppy. And not just any puppy, but our puppy. Our beloved Red Blood hound, Sandy May, died unexpectedly this morning at just 6 years old. While our hearts break from the losses we have suffered on this day, our hearts smile knowing that Hope got the best birthday present ever. Happy birthday sweet girl. I hope you will love Sandy as much as we have! Sandy May, you are already missed.

A Day at Duke

2010-05-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

This morning, I packed for a long day at Duke and I am glad I did! We were there for over 5 hours! What a day it has been! We had to go today for Chayse, as she had two doctor's appointments scheduled.

First we had to go to the Duke Eye Center to meet with Dr. W. and let him check on Chayse and her progress. Chayse's eyes have gotten no worse, but they have not gotten any better either. We did learn today that her glasses were made with the wrong prescription in them, which didn't hurt her at all, but they were not strong enough to help her either. So, we are now without glasses for a week while the lenses get replaced with the correct prescription. Hopefully once they glasses are replaced, she will be able to focus and see correctly.

Her eye is still turning in so we are continuing with the occlusion therapy in hopes of strengthening that eye muscle. We are praying that we will not have to do surgery on her eyes and that this will all correct itself over the course of therapy over the next few months.

Time will tell.

Once we left the Eye Center, we walked over to the Children's Hospital to meet with Dr. B. to have her murmur checked out. It is something that Chayse was born with but it has to be checked as she grows. Dr. B. worked with us when we had Hope and would have been her surgeon had she ever gone into surgery. I always felt very at ease with him as he spoke in simplicity and never let things go over my head. Today was no different as he went over Chayse's heart with me. Chayse had an EKG and Dr. B. listened to her heart valves and the flow everything in there and all in all, she is just fine! It will be something to watch as she grows but overall, it does not appear to be something that will be a life changer for Chayse.

Praise God for the blessings in life we receive when we least expect them!

Occlusion Therapy

2010-03-18T12:34:00.001-07:00

Chayse seems to be adjusting well to wearing her patch during her therapy hours. It is something we are able to do here in the home so that has made this part pretty easy so far. The first few minuets she has it on are a little challenging but once she gets ajusted to it, she does ok. She has run into the furniture a few times but I think that will get better as she gets used to using her eye again! I also think that this gives her a little headache though as it is pushing her brain and eye to work together in ways that they have not worked in a while, but is what we are wanting to happen!

This is the face of occlusion therapy!

And this, is her little brother!

The gift of sight

2010-03-18T11:36:00.001-07:00

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that one day I would wonder if my child would be able to see things or not, but over the past few weeks, I have began to wonder just that.

You see, as we were having a family meal one night two weeks ago, I saw something that startled me. Chayse's eye rolled all the way in where you could not see the iris or the pupil. It turned it back almost as soon as turned in but it caught me off guard. Over the past week, I watched as it did it again, and again, and again. Nathan was in NYC when it started happening regularly but as soon as he came home, he was seeing the same thing I was. We also had several members of the family notice it as well. So, two things were determined:

1. Chayse is cross eyed.

2. We needed to see a doctor to see what was going on.

We spent several hours yesterday at Duke with a doctor who specializes in pediatric ophthalmology and strambismus. Dr. W. confirmed what we already knew, Chayse's eyes were indeed crossing. After running several test to rule out different things, we have learned that Chayse's brain is not receiving the images from one of her eyes. Her eyes are not working together as a team so one eye looks at one thing while the other eye looks at something else. This would normally cause double vision. But in small children, the brain uses suppression to switch off the second image. Children rarely have double vision because of this suppression... they instead just use one eye as their primary source for sight. That said, we now are doing occlusion therapy every day for 2 hours a day, and Chayse will have to wear glasses. The hope is that this regiment will indeed make her brain recognize and accept the images that it is currently rejecting, thus keeping her from having permanent vision loss.

We are so thankful that this was not as bad as it could have been. We now pray that this will work and Chayse will be able to gain full binocular vision with her eyes!!

Hope

2010-03-13T17:18:00.000-08:00

Tonight, I find myself thinking about sweet baby Hope. I am sitting here, in my home, with two wonderful and loved children. I see them play and interact and in the midst of it, I think about Hope and the moments we never had with her. The hour she was here was so short and yet it went by so fast. I know had her time been longer it would have been a time filled with pain and suffering due to her organ defects but I still find myself sometimes wondering about her smile or her laugh... things we will never know. I look at these two miracle children playing at my feet and my heart overflows with love. While we have a void in our lives that will never be filled, our lives are so full from these children. And I wonder, how is that possible. How did we get so blessed. God... He is so good.

My cup runneth over.
My cup runneth over.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T11:11:00.000-08:00

Happy FIRST Valentine's Day my sweet baby boy!!! We love love love love you! You have brought so much into our lives in your short 5 months in this world and we are forever grateful for it! Sweet sweet babies of mine today and everyday, I hope you know how much you are loved!!!

And it SNOWS... AGAIN!!!!

2010-02-13T16:48:00.000-08:00

This snow, this snow was awesome. It was the snow you wanted when you were a little kid so you could have snowball fights and built a monster snowman with! It was the PERFECT SNOW FOR PACKING!!!! There were so many snowmen up that when we went out today, we were looking at them all and comparing them! It reminded me of looking at all of the lights at Christmas! Nathan and Chayse made a huge snowman this morning... Chayse in her normal snow loving fashion tried to eat it! She cracks me up! Garris hung out in the house while we were outside... he was busy watching a Baby Einstein video! He never even missed us! This snow melted as fast as it came though and that was kind of sad... Chayse would have loved to been able to play in it for longer but it just wasn't ment to be.

The veiw from here...

2010-02-13T09:51:00.000-08:00

is white, white, white!

Now I Now....

2010-02-07T16:43:00.000-08:00

Yep, those are the new words to the ABC song according to Chayse. She is singing lots of little songs with all of her new words and this one, the good ole ABC's is one of my favorites! It goes a little something like this...

A-B-C-D-Now I now my A-B-C.

She cracks me up. I am trying to get it on video but that is wishful thinking at times! She never does anything when we ask her to! If I can catch it, I will post it!

Finally, we get to play in the snow!

2010-02-02T16:18:00.000-08:00

The snow came and it is still here and we are loving it!! Just loving it!!! FINALLY! We finally got above freezing here today and it was in the low 40's with the sun shining!! It was awesome weather outside and a perfect day for a snow play date! We had our fantastic baby sitter Allison and her boyfriend Ryan over today and then we played with some of our neighbors that live down the street! Being that we don't get snow too often here, and usually not enough to play in (we get ice most of the time) we were not really to play in it as far as a sled goes... so we used a garbage can lid and it worked wonders! Chayse had a blast and a half playing and loved that she could be outside for more than 10 mins! It was so much fun watching her actually enjoy the snow! She would come down on the lid and as soon as she was done, you would hear her say "again again" over and over. She is in the midst of a vocabulary EXPLOSION and it has been amazing watching her vocalize everything she is wanting. It is so amazing watching this little girl grow up right before our eyes! We are so blessed!! It was warm enough that I felt comfortable taking Garris out in the snow for a bit today. He had no clue that anything was any different than it is any other day but he has now seen snow!! I took his bouncy seat out and let him hang in it while we continued to play.

We were able to make a VERY small snowman as this snow was not packing well. It was fun to play in but it was not good snow for snow balls or snowmen. We tried though! Chayse's favorite part about the snow? Well, that is easy... she wanted to eat it! YUM!

Let it snow, let is snow, let it snow!!!

2010-01-31T15:49:00.000-08:00

SNOW! What a treat to wake up to!!! We got so much snow last night, right around 4 inches and it has been so fun watching Chayse explore this white stuff!!! She was so amazed with it when she woke up to it that she pulled the curtains down from the front door! The snow has brought the cold with it, and by cold, I mean bone chilling cold!! The wind has been ripping and it is cold to the core!!! I think that the wind chill has been around 10 or so the last two days!! BURR!!! We have taken Chayse out just for 10-15 mins. at a time as it is too cold to stay out in. She could care less about the cold, she just wants to be outside! Amazing how much fun she can have with her nose running and her cheeks so red!!! And as for Mr. Garris, while I know that this was his first snow fall, I don't think that he even knows that a single flake fell, let alone four inches! It was way to cold for that little boy to be outside!

Big things from Jan...

2010-01-30T08:42:00.001-08:00

Garris is pushing up!
Chayse is peeing in the potty!!!

2010

2010-01-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

Thinking back over the last 10 years, life has changed so much for me. I was in college and living the college life to the fullest when the year 2000 rang in. I remember the party that I was at for New Years, when the clock struck midnight, they turned off the power to scare everyone. If you remember, there was "rumors" that technology wouldn't be able to deal with the changing of the century numbers. Funny huh.

Over the last 10 years, my life seen so much. I have had some of the most emotional highs and have also been at my very lowest. The events were big for me... I had two breast tumors removed that were not cancerous, only to have my mother diagnosed with breast cancer 3 months later... I graduated college and then went on to grad school... I started my career in a 9-1-1 center... I got engaged and eventually married... My father was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer and passed away 11 months after his diagnosis... I had miscarriage... my first born child, Hope, was diagnosed with fatal health issues and passed away an hour after her birth... I fell into a deep depression that looking back on, I am surprised I survived as well as I did... I had another miscarriage... I got pregnant and gave birth to my second born, Chayse, which was one of the scariest and most joyous journeys I have ever been on... I quit my job to stay home with my baby girl... I got pregnant again and gave birth to our son, Garris... I reconnected with some of my friends from high school and rebuilt friendships from childhood... I lost many family members to cancer... I help to restart the ladies auxiliary at our fire house... I taught Sunday School at church... I stumbled in my faith... I have loved and I have lost.

Simply put, this was a very emotional decade for me and for my family as a whole. I failed miserably at some things but am proud to have overcome others. I will always have some things that I wonder what if about and I think that this decade will be one that I try to face head on and always stay positive... not live worried about the what if's. I miss my Daddy terribly and I wonder every day about Hope but no matter what I do, I cannot bring them back and I cannot change the fact that they are gone. I reflect on them with love and appreciate all that I learned from them. Everything that I have been through has been a lesson... some that I did not want to learn and other lessons that lead me in my footsteps everyday. The coming decade should be so much fun as this journey of parenthood continues. I look forward to every day with my greatest treasures in life... my husband, my children, my family, and my friends. God bless you all!

Happy New Year!

Stats on a growing little boy!

2009-12-30T17:17:00.000-08:00

We went for Garris's 4 month check up and he is doing great! He is still a little on the colicky side but Dr. P says that usually goes away between 4-6 months so hopefully we are on the last few weeks of the screaming episodes!

At birth: 8 lbs, 21 inches
At 2 months: 10 lbs 13 oz (25%), 22.5 inches (30%)
At 4 months: 14 lbs 11 oz (45%), 24.5 inches (30%)

From our family to yours...

2009-12-25T11:30:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Ginger Bread House

2009-12-19T19:56:00.000-08:00

So, this ginger bread house thing, it is really much harder than I thought that it would be! Well, if I had know that there was a box in the box that you can use for the cottage, it would have been much easier to make! But, alas, I did not find that till we were done with the house. I had to bust out a can of icing to use as "glue" to hold this thing together! I will have to remember to use the cottage template next year! All things considered, Chayse had a wonderful time working on her ginger bread house and it will be something we do every year!

Stats on a growing little gal...

2009-12-03T13:09:00.000-08:00

We went for Chayse's 18 month check up but in reality, it is her 19 month check up as she turned 19 months on the first...

At birth: 7 lbs 14 oz, 20.5 inches
At 2 months: 11 lbs 10 oz (60%), 22.5 inches (45%)
At 4 months: 14 lbs 3 oz (50%), 24.75 inches (60%)
At 6 months: 15 lbs 7 oz (30%), 26.25 inches (60%)
At 9 months: 18 lbs 2 oz (30%), 27.5 inches (35%)
At 12.5 months: 19 lbs 7 oz (20%), 29.75 inches (65%)
At 16 months: 22 lbs 1 oz (32%), 32 inches (85%)
At 19 months: 24 lbs 8 oz (50%), 33.75 inches (93%)

It's Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T13:44:00.000-08:00

Well, almost! Tomorrow it will be and what a wonderful time of year to really say thanks for all that we have! I cannot believe how blessed we have been with our children. We really are so grateful for them... all three of them! We learned so much about love, life, and letting go with Hope... she is missed dearly everyday and not a day goes by that she is not thought of. Nathan and I were sitting in the den the other night and Chayse was dancing and laughing, Garris was cooing, and Nathan and I were just taking it all in. Nathan looked at me and said can you even imagine how it would be with a 3 year old, an 18 month old, and a 2 month old? We both laughed and my heart smiled knowing that in moments like that when everything in our home is perfect, she is still remembered. For that, I am thankful...

Chayse had her 18 month check up and she is growing away! It is official... she is a TALL child! She is almost off the charts with her height as she is in the 95%, which is tall for a girl! She is growing and learning everyday. She is amazing to watch as she soaks up everyday life. She is talking and is just amazing to be around. She has such a sweet personality, even if she is a bit stubborn! What a wonderful spirit that little girl has.

For that, I am thankful...

Garris is almost 3 months old now! Can you believe it!?! He is smiling and cooing and laughing these days! He is also holding his head up and trying to push up a little. Before we know it, he will be sitting up and then running and walking! Agh! The pages of time are turning so quickly is this book of life we live! He is sleeping through the night now for the most part. He is nursing wonderfully. He is sweet sweet baby and we could not love him more. He is our sweet boy and is such a wonderful addition to our family! For that, I am thankful...

I often wonder if I am truly worthy of all that I have... my husband, my children, my family, and my friends... thank you God for blessing my life with more than I could ever imagine.

For that, I am thankful.

check out the other blog...

2009-11-01T21:16:00.001-08:00

and you can win something!
www.coastersandcards.blogspot.com

Remember me??

2009-11-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

I know I said it wasn't going to be long for pictures but it was. I need to apologize to Garris for not blogging about him the way that I should but he is just too stinking cute and he takes up all of our time! Now, ON TO BLOGGING!!!

Happy fall!! Can you believe Thanksgiving is almost here?? I cannot but I know it is coming because I see pumpkins and mums!! But, I have to be honest... I think that I have the cutest pumpkins in the patch! Here is our latest family photo!

Like I said, I think that we have the cutest pumpkins in the patch!!

Garris has been doing better with his reflux. For a while there, he was throwing up almost every day, several times a day. It was nasty!! But, he has been on some medication for almost three weeks now and it seems to be doing the trick! I cannot believe that he is already 2 months old! It seems like we just brought him home yesterday! He is holding his head up really well and is cooing away! He is so fun to talk to because he just smiles and smiles and ugh, it will melt your heart!! Garris went on his first beach trip a few weeks ago. We went to Myrtle Beach in S.C. and had a blast. It was a girls weekend plus Garris... Me, my mom, my aunt, Chayse, and Garris. While Garris did a lot of sleeping, Chayse did a lot of swimming!

Here is Garris, smiling... while it was night time, it was his first ever look at the ocean!

And these were taken on the same... Chayse and I walked down the beach at sunset and then we went and played in the hot tub!

Lots of things to post about and new pictures to come soon!!

Stats on a growing little boy!

2009-10-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

Can you believe G-Man is 2 months old already!!

At birth: 8 lbs, 21 inches long
At 2 months: 10 lbs 13 oz(25%), 22.5 inches (30%)

Agh!

2009-10-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

Time has gotten away from me yet again. We have been super busy since Garris was born! We have had family in town, we have been out of town, we have had lots of company... it has been hectic! Things are finally slowing down now though! Everyone is good, Chayse is adjusting wonderfully to having a baby in the house and the baby is doing great! We couldn't be happier if we tried! I will post pictures soon... baby is crying so I need to run!!

Our newest family member...

2009-08-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

I am excited to say that we welcomed our son into the world this morning! Garris Noland was born at 12:15 am weighing 8 pounds even and he is 21 inches long. He, well we, had a rough delivery but he is here, safe and sound and that is the name of the game! He is doing great and we are hoping to go home later this weekend. Garris is my great grandmothers maiden name and Noland is Nathan's mother maiden name... Here are some pictures, more to come later!!!

Stats on a growing little gal...

2009-08-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

We went for Chayse's 15 month check up today but in reality, it is her 16 month check up as she will be 16 months on the first... still hard to believe that she has been here that long! It seems like yesterday I was trying to finish getting her nursery ready!!

Almost 16 month stats on a growing girl!

At Birth: 7 lbs 14 oz, 20.5 inches
At 2 months: 11 lbs 10 oz (60%), 22.5 inches (45%)
At 4 months: 14 lbs 3 oz (50%), 24.75 inches (60%)
At 6 months: 15 lbs 7 oz (30%), 26.25 inches (60%)
At 9 months: 18 lbs 2 oz (30%), 27.5 inches (35%)
At 12.5 months: 19 lbs 7 oz (20%), 29.75 inches (65%)
At 16 months: 22 lbs 1 oz (32%), 32 inches (85%)

Really, a month??

2009-08-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that a month has passed since I last posted! Where is the summer going? I cannot believe it is August already and that my little baby girl is 15.5 months old! AGH! Slow down time, slow down! Chayse is WIDE OPEN! She is running and into EVERYTHING! She is so much fun to watch and play with but man oh man, does she make me crazy some days!!! She is going to be the reason I have gray hair someday! She has cut FIVE teeth in the last WEEK! She has been kinda crabby but I think that a mouth full of teeth is a good reason to be a crab! She has also been on a MAJOR growth spurt. She has grown over an inch and a half in the last 6 weeks!!!! NO JOKE! We won't go to the doctor's office for her 15 month check up till the end of the week so I will let you know her growth status on the growth curve when we get it.

We have been very busy trying to get the upstairs finished and I am very pleased to say that we passed our final inspection!! YIPPIIEEEE!! We have a CO! Can I get an AMEN on that!?! We are sooooo thankful to have much of the project done. We still have some cosmetic things to do, like put carpet in the stairwell, touch up some paint spots, and we need to get the rest of stuff out of storage but all in all, we are "done". What a relief that is! I will get some updated pics this week with the furniture in and post those soon.

Baby Boy and I are doing well, tolerating the heat as best as we can. He has found my sciatic nerve over the last few days and gracious, is that a painful thing! We are getting excited and are beyond ready to meet him! No news on when he will get here though... soon though we hope... at least we know he cannot stay in there forever!! Here is a shameless belly shot from the park last week at 38 weeks into this pregnancy!

Nathan and I celebrated another year of wedded bliss this past week. It is crazy to think how much things have changed over the years and yet know it will change even more over the next year as we adjust to another little person being in our lives... We have traveled more paths that we never planned on going down in our time together than most people experience in a lifetime together. I am still so grateful to have this wonderful person in my life and be able to call him my husband.

Before and After...

2009-07-09T06:31:00.001-07:00

We are still not done yet but here are some before and after pictures....

This is what the stairwell used to look like. It was nice and dark!

And this is what the bonus room looked like after some of the furniture was already taken out...

This is what was on the other side of the door from the bonus room... lots of empty space that we used for storage.

Now, this is what the stairwell and bonus room area look like without the stairwell and wall there.... a whole lot brighter and a whole lot more open!!! We took out the walls and the door, added columns with rails (they are not done yet) and had hardwoods laid throughout the upstairs... they are currently being sanded and stained so it will be a few days before we can get any more pictures as we are not able to walk up there for a while...

When you go down this hallway, there is an open area on the right, a bathroom to the first door on the left, a closet on the second door to the left, then the second floor kitchen, the den/family room, and the sitting area. There are two doors in the family room... one is a crawl area for access, the other is a storage closest that runs the length of the house.

Again, this was before...

This is the after....

This is the bathroom...

This is the closet...

This is the kitchen area...

This is the den/family room...

This was the before area of the sitting room... we had to rip out some of the roof support line and rebuild this area to open this us!

Can you tell we have been busy?? Chayse is having so much fun running around up there through all of the open areas. She went to the doctor this week and has reached 21 pounds! She is growing away and is so much fun to watch. She has recently started walking on her tippy-toes, she dances all the time now, she is very vocal (although we are still not sure what she says half of the time!), and she LOVES to be outside. She could care less if it is 110 degrees out there or not... that is where she wants to be!

The bean is growing away, and I do mean growing. He is consistently measuring larger that I am as far as his gestational age. I am still having contractions but he is not engaged, I have not dilated any and am not effaced so that is a great thing! So far so good!! It is hard to believe that in just a few weeks we will have TWO little babies in this house!! Once we get construction done upstairs, we will be cleaning out the guest room and office so that we can start his nursery.

Short Runs...

2009-06-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't blogged in almost two weeks if you can believe that! It doesn't seem like it has been that long! We have been SUPER busy with the upstairs and are close to being done. We hope to have our final inspection sometime during the week of July 13th! I will get some new pictures and post those later... maybe today if I have enough time.

Chayse is doing well. She is now "dancing" which is quite comical and last night when I turned on the bath water, she started pulling her clothes off. She is growing right in front of us and it is amazing to watch her learn! Chayse has the best personality and it shows in everything that she does. She is truly a wonderful blessing in our lives!

June 14th

2009-06-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hope Noelle introduced us to Holland, a place that we never wanted to go... Although I have no idea who wrote this, I read this right after she died and it has stayed with me. Now, here we are three years later... on her birthday and on her death day... the day we let her go.

"I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this . . .When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, Michelangelo’s David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, 'Welcome to Holland.' 'Holland?' you say, “What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.' But there’s been a change in flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland, and there you must stay.The most important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It’s just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It’s just a different place. It’s slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for awhile and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland has Rembrandt's. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, 'Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned'. The pain of that will never, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland."

Hope and Holland. We learned so much from a 9.1 inch, 8.6 ounce little girl and our hearts still mourn for her. We have looked around and caught our breath, we have seen the windmills and the tulips and still, we miss her. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her or look at her little urn sitting on the fireplace and wonder how different life would have been. Today, I look at Hope's younger siblings... my 13 month old daughter Chayse and at my growing belly with our soon to be born son, and think of how truly blessed we are. Thank you, God, for all of the beauty you have given to us in both of our girls and in our son. We would have never known the beauties of this country without God's plan. Holland truly is beautiful this time of year... Happy birthday sweet baby girl, happy birthday.

ONE MORE WEEK FOR THE FREEBIE....

2009-06-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

only one more week to get your name in the running for the chance to win a free 4th of July giveaway.... a $10 value!!! You don't have to flow that blog or even make a purchase! Go check it out!!
http://www.coastersandcards.blogspot.com/

Construction 100!!!

2009-06-09T05:48:00.001-07:00

We have been busy little bee's over here! Well, I have been busy going up and down with refills of water and Nathan has been busy working!! Progress is coming along well with the house and we are hoping to have the upstairs construction done in the next 3-4 weeks. Sheetrock is being hung today and I am sure that will make it look so different! We are both getting excited about the extra space we will be gaining from this!! Here are some pictures of a few of the rooms I took this morning before they started hanging sheet rock.

This is what will become the play room...

This is where the new office will go...This is looking down the hallway into the den...
This is the looking out into the den from the second floor kitchen...
And this is what will be the sitting room area... my favorite place!!!!

Chayse is doing much better. She still has a little bit of a lingering ear ache but we are working on that. She is currently weighing in at 19 1/2 pounds! AGH!! She is getting so big! She is a long skinny little thing! Baby Boy is growing away. In fact, two weeks ago he was measuring 3 weeks ahead! I think that maybe it was the way he was laying because I am not that much bigger than I was with Chayse. My total weight gain is now at 8 pounds. We don't have the nursery set up yet as his room will be what is now the guest room and that won't be moved till upstairs is done.

On a totally random note, I doubt you guys know this because I never have blogged about it before but, I have a second blog that is about all things Etsy... a place where you can buy anything handmade. Anyhow, I currently have a blog giveaway going on for a 4th of July hair bow that has a $10 value on it. If you know any little girls, nieces, neighbors, grandchildren, etc who love to get all dressed up for holidays, you should check it out... no purchase needed!! Have a great week!!!!

What are you laughing at Mama??

2009-06-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

A Week Of First's...

2009-05-25T16:29:00.000-07:00

This week has been a week of firsts for Chayse! It started off with her FIRST EAR INFECTION, which was actually a double ear infection causing her fevers of over 105. She was not a happy girl for a few days but she is feeling much better now!

Chayse went to the BEACH for the first time this year...

Chayse sat on the POTTY for the first time, although she has no idea what she is supposed to do with it once she is on it...

Chayse played with BUBBLES for the first time, at her first VISIT to her Great Aunt Gracie and Great Uncle Temus's house...

And she added "ALL DONE" to her vocabulary this week!!

12.5 month stats on a growing girl!

2009-05-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

As her pattern has shown, she continues to be a longer, skinner baby on the curve! She burns sooooo much energy and sooooo many calories a day walking around... and now running!!! She gets going so fast it is hysterical to watch. Because of her teething causing the running nose, which caused a double ear infection (which has been causing the fevers), Chayse did not get any of her one year shots today. We will have to go back at 13 months and have those done once she is over this double ear infection.

Chayse...

2009-05-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

Baby girl has been a sick little thing this week so I have not been on line very much. She has been fighting a fever that has been right at 105 several times. We go to the doctors office again on Monday so hopefully we will know more about what is going on once we go. If you would, please say a prayer that she gets over whatever this is pretty quickly as she is not herself at all and I miss my baby girl!!!

We did make it out to Duke toward the end of last week and took them a CAR LOAD of toys! They were very grateful and most of the toys went to use as soon as they were taken out of the box. We were very pleased with the toy drive and the Camp K outcome. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Chayse's first year of life!!! Duke sent us a very sweet thank you note this week for all of the donations so from Duke to us to you, thank you!!!

Other than that, not too much has been going on. We had a wonderful Mother's Day. It was quite but fun. Nathan and Chayse got me a new camera and I LOVE it! Now I just need to fugure out how to use it!! It is a canon 50D and is a little over my head still but I am learning how to use it! Chayse and I played outside in her little blow up pool. We set it up three weeks ago and she LOVES it! She thinks it is the neatest thing!! I thought about Hope a lot that day and how different our life would be had she lived. It is hard to soak in Mother's Day... I am so lucky that my mother was able to go into remission from cancer and that she is still here with me so that I can celebrate her. I wish Nathan was able to see his mom on Mother's Day but the distance makes traveling so far with a little one and being pregnant a little difficult (it is too far to be from my doctors at this point) so I felt bad for him not to be able to see her on Mother's Day. I love that I was able to spend my second Mother's Day with Chayse and how special that was. I was sad that Hope was not here with us. Mother's Day was the last time that I saw my Daddy as my Daddy... his brain tumor started bleeding just two days after Mother's Day and he was never of the same mental status again. It is just a flurry of different emotions and it is hard to sort them out. I know time makes things easier but there are some days that are just plain hard and Mother's Day is one of them.

The toy drive for Duke

2009-05-05T15:04:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the big day for Chayse's first birthday party, which meant not only were we celebrating her birth, we were celebrating her life. And what a fun first year it was been! Instead of toys, friends brought toy donations for Duke Children's Hospital as well as partaking in a quilt raffle fundraiser. And gosh, did they ever answer the call for our cause! The toy drive for Duke Children's Hospital was HUGE!!! We had lots of toys donated and we raised $761!!! We split the money up into two piles... one for more toys and one for Camp Kaleidoscope. Nathan, Chayse, and I all went Target last night and purchase over $700 in more toys (we matched the toy money donation in order to be able to get that many toys) and we put $300 aside from donations to send a child to Camp Kaleidoscope!! IT WAS SO MUCH MORE THAN WE EVER DREAMED IT WOULD BE!! I have to be honest though, it has been such a high to know that we are doing something so good for so many children and families. I cannot image what it will be like when we actually take the toys to Duke Children's Hospital later this week and deliver the check to send a child to camp!! Here is what the final toy pile looked like before I boxed it all up...

The Cake Never Stood A Chance....

2009-05-03T23:40:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Chayse's birthday at home with family on Friday night and it was so much fun. It is amazing how much Chayse has changed and grown in the last year. We grilled out and had her favorites for dinner and then Chayse took on a small strawberry cake, made just for her! She loved it!!!

Her actual birthday party was on Sunday afternoon and we had such a good time with family and friends... the weather was perfect and it was a great afternoon for a party! All in all, we ended up with over 100 people and it was so much fun! We had tents in the yard and a blow up bounce play house for the kids to play in...

Not a fan of grass...

Miss Fearless wouldn't get off the slide! Here she is with her Uncle H!

And we had a great success with the toy drive... more to come on that in another post!

A Letter For Chayse...

2009-05-01T02:56:00.000-07:00

My dearest Chayse,
My beloved child. So much has changed in the last 365 days since you entered into this world. The pages of time are going by so quickly. One year ago, a miracle of God’s doing met us face to face at 2:56 am. It rained that day, and I held my breath as I pushed you out. You entered into this world quietly but you were ever so ready to face the world. Our eyes beheld you and nothing has been the same since. From the first moment I saw you, my precious daughter, I knew you were special. I honestly cannot believe that it has been a whole year since we were finally able to see your sweet face and were able to hold you in our arms. I was in total awe of you right from the first breath you drew. The first time I looked into your face, I knew I had been given something far better than anything I ever deserved… a precious and wonderfully made gift, directly from God. I was given you. My dearest Chayse, you have helped heal both of your parents and mend broken people. You see, when your big sister left this world, she also left us with broken hearts. I was not sure that they could ever be mended. My pregnancy with you was a sweet dream with no troubles or trials to overcome. As much as I worried about heart defects and Down Syndrome and kidneys and stomachs, I knew that no matter what, all of my worries would be worth it… the reward was at the end of the delivery… it was you.

Chayse the moment I saw you, I cried and I am sitting her crying now as I think about how much you have changed me. I used to sit every night and look at Hope’s urn sitting on the fire place and every night, it was all I could do not to cry. I would sit and stare at her for hours for it was all I could do. She was not here for me to be a mother to. With Hope, we missed so much and we you, we have grown so much. Learned so much. Loved so much. I know that Hope is so proud of you and loves you just as we do. You could not have a better guardian angel than her.

You have been such a treasure to watch every day and I am the luckiest person in the world because I get to spend every day with you. Leaving my career was the best thing I ever did, next to having you and Hope of course! The changes you have made over your first year of life have been amazing to watch. The new things you learn excite us every day. It has been a blessing to be able to watch you grow from a newborn into an independent one year old! Chayse you complete me in ways that I did not know that I needed to be completed. Watching you has been better than anything I could have ever thought of in my wildest imaginations. You make me a better person just by being in my world. I love you, sweet girl. I love you without needing anything from you in return... I just love you. I am so proud to be the one you call Mama. I love being your mother, your teacher, your healer when you hurt, your comfort in the night when you cry, your friend when it is playtime… I just love you.

Chayse Nicole, I pray you know how proud of you we are. You are a wonderful person and I am so glad that God chose me to be your mother, and for you to be my daughter. I would not change a thing about this past year. While I know that I am not a perfect person or mother, always know that I love you and will do anything I can to make your world and life as good as it can be. I cannot begin to imagine what you will learn and accomplish in the next year of your life. I look forward to many conversations with you. I look forward to seeing you interact as a big sister! I look forward to watching you accomplish many things in your lifetime. I pray every night that the Lord would bless your Daddy and I both with one more day with you, one more year, one wonderfully full lifetime with you. I love you to the moon and back sweet baby girl. My cup runneth over Chayse Nicole, my cup runneth over.
With love always,
Your Mama

Chayse Nicole Burgess

May 1, 2008

2:56 AM

7 pounds, 14 ounces

20.5 inches

Babies...

2009-04-30T05:40:00.000-07:00

Baby Girl: I can hardly believe it but this time 365 days ago, I was almost 7 hours into labor... a labor that would last over 24 hours and would leave me with one of the best blessings in my life, Chayse Nicole! I can hardly believe that she will be 12 months old tomorrow, ONE YEAR!!! Tomorrow will be a wonderful celebration around here!!!

Baby Boy: I went to the doctor on Tuesday and had my monthly check up. I am now at 23 weeks!! The baby's heartbeat was in the 150's every time it was checked and he seems to be happy in there from all outwardly appearances. He is no longer the size of a tiny little bean... he is getting big and he is VERY strong. He makes my stomach move all the time. It is no longer little flutters inside that only I can feel. He can make my whole stomach rock n' roll when he gets going. My weight gain hit the 5 pound mark this check up, which is not bad for being 23 weeks pregnant. When I go back next month, I will have my hour long glucose test done. I failed this test with Chayse and had to have the half day test done (which I passed) so I am praying I have no issues with it this time.

Helping Babies: Other than that, life is good. I have been reading lots of blogs lately, several with very very very sick children, and I find myself praising God more often for the healthy miracle we have in Chayse. We have started getting toys in the mail from friends and family for the toy drive and we are also several hundred dollars into the raffle drive for the quilt. It will be amazing, and I am sure very emotional, to be able to give back to Duke Children's Hospital in this way. I miss Hope every day of my life and I thank God for this little girl Chayse that I get to see everyday. She is my friend, my daughter, my partner in crime. I love watching her learn new things every day... she is amazing and I pray that the children who use some of the things we plan to donate will be able to make some of these same memories with their parents! For those of you who have given me advice as a parent of a hospitalized child, thank you so much. We have gotten some great ideas and plan on adjusting some of our purchases to include mobiles and mirrors for infants in cribs, a wagon (if the life reach coordinator says we can take one), as well as games for some of the older children. THANK YOU ALL so much for your input on this... if you have any more ideas, please, let us know!!

These are a few of my favorite things....

2009-04-27T06:06:00.001-07:00

This is Chayse's paci collection, of which she always has around 10 in her crib so she can easily find one in the middle of the night if she starts to look for one...The tiny shoes that are now lining up with ours in the mud room...

The never ending curiosity of an almost one year old learning about the sprinkler system for the first time... and that she was fully clothed doing it!!The quilt that will be raffled for the Duke Children's Hospital fundraiser that we are having this weekend to celebrate Chayse's first birthday!! I love the colors and the pattern that are in this quilt and I am thinking of making up a name, entering tickets under that name, and seeing if I can win this thing!!!

Supporting Duke

2009-04-22T07:37:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that Chayse will soon be turning one. It has passed so quickly. Today was my due date with her and I warped back to 365 days ago when we were waiting for her to make her entrance into this world. I was scared to death that something would happen to her and I wanted her to get here, so that I could see her face. I needed to see her face, her arms, her legs... her being healthy and whole. I could never have really fathomed the love that I would have for her a year later. When she was born, I had such a sigh of relief... she was here, alive, breathing, she was Down Syndrome free, she had a heart with all FOUR CHAMBERS, kidney's that worked, organs that functioned... Praise God for that was a huge sigh of relief that came after 42 weeks of fear and worry. We would have loved her with any health issues she had but in all honesty, our history shows we don't have healthy DS babies... we have MULTIPLE organ issues when we have them and we have MAJOR defects within the organs. I really do not think that I would have been able to handle the loss of another child. Hope's journey almost broke me, I cannot image having to do that again. To be able to enjoy her without the worry of organ defects or congestive heart failure or transplants or kidney dialysis was just overwhelming.

Chayse has truly been a blessing to us. When Hope was diagnosed with all of her health problems, we really learned what the value of a healthy baby is. Many people take them for granted everyday. Chayse is someone that I NEVER want to take for granted. She is someone I will always kiss goodnight and someone that I will love unconditionally with every fiber of by body and every ounce of my being. As we approach her first year of life coming to an end and her second year starting, we are going to give back to Duke Children's Hospital. Instead of gifts, we are doing a toy drive at her birthday party to donate to the children at Duke and we are also going to raffle off a handmade quilt for the occasion. With the money from the quilt, we are going to purchase more items for the children to play with while they are in the hospital. Hope was not alive long enough for us to learn the needs of children in hospitals so I am asking for your help. We have already spoken with the life coordinator for DCH and she said that they are in need of infant and toddler toys at this time. Are there some that are better for bed ridden children verses children who are mobile?? If you have knowledge of this, if you can give me any kind of advice on what helps children pass the time while they are on the children's floor, that would be great. I know about rattles and blocks and stuff like that... I just didn't know if there was something that often gets overlooked. Thanks for any insight you might be able to give!!

My Little Pampered Chef

2009-04-22T07:28:00.000-07:00

Seriously, she loves to play in the cabinets...
And she pulls everything out of them when she does...

Which is why there are unused hairbands on the cabinet doors... keeps her out of the glass stuff and out of the cleaning stuff without having to put the locks and big bulky slides on the cabinets!

Finally... It begins!!!

2009-04-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

We have been very busy so pardon the lack of posting! Nathan and I have decided to finish off our upstairs, which will in turn give us 1650 more square footage to our house! We had been thinking of building a shop out back so that Nathan could have more room than in the garage but with Baby Boy on the way, we decided we needed the extra living space now. We have been working with an architect and with a structural engineer to get things rolling. After a glitch from miscommunication we are FINALLY moving on the upstairs! These are some of the pictures I took last week before we began construction so we would have some before and aftere pictures! Here is our starting point:

This is what will become the office area and will attach to the bonus room. The walls here will come down and the stairwell will become open with an overlooking banister.

French doors will go in here off of the back end of the stairs as a break to the rest of the upstairs, which currently is one LARGE room... this area is about 1200 square feet so it was perfect for any design we wanted to go with.

This is the same open area, just from the other side of the room looking back to the stairs onto what will become a very open hallway, a bathroom, a closet/bedroom, a second kitchen, and a large family room.

This area is going to be floored and closed in to be used as a large "walk in" closet... perfect for all of my holiday decorations!! Yippie!!!

And this area is going to be redone completely. This is where the communication got misunderstood with the engineer and he told us we needed to TAKE OFF THE ROOF!!! Um, NO!!! So, after redrawing the plans, we will be able to open up this are (without taking off the roof) and make this into a sitting room with a fire place... this area comes off on what will be the family room.

A great report!!!

2009-04-02T16:40:00.000-07:00

We were able to see Baby Burgess this week up close and personal! And I must say, I agree with Nathan... this baby looks like Chayse! Candice, the lady who did our ultrasound, spent a an hour and a half measuring bones and organs. We were so excited when we saw four perfectly-formed chambers pumping away!!! No obvious signs of cardiac defects! Praise the Lord! The baby was very "good" and Candice was able to measure all of the bones

and look at all of the organs that she needed to look at. All of the bones are measuring within a day of the EGA which is almost perfect! There were no organ defects seen on the scan either! The kidneys and the heart looked great! Actually, everything looks great at this time!

The doctor then came back to review the ultrasound findings with us. Thankfully, no structural anomalies were found!!! We opted not to have the amnio with everything looking as well as it did. So, as we did with Chayse, we will have to wait till the baby is born to get an absolute answer on everything but we feel great about the scan and the blood work and are not worried about anything!!! What a relief!

Have I said that this baby looks like Chayse? It is a good thing that I saved Chayse's clothes from when she was a bitty baby because we will be reusing some of her clothes if the seasons line up for the new baby to use them!!

Guess it ended up being a good thing that I bought some green and yellow things for Chayse just in case she came out a boy instead of a girl because we are having a BOY!!!!

I am sure one day he might not be too pleased that his Mama posted his "stuff" on the web but, we are so thrilled that all signs are pointing towards a healthy baby boy!!!!! Its truly a blessing to receive such a good report... it was at this stage in the pregnancy with Hope when we first learned of her cardiac defects. We already knew she had DS but we were not aware of all of the organ defects. Thank you all for your prayers this far... God has been faithful in answering them with a simple and loving “yes”.

A sigh of relief!

2009-03-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

Praise GOD everything looked great at the ultrasound today! Organs look to be right on track and bones are measuring where they are supposed to be! I will share more news on this once we are able to share with the family but, I will leave you with this sneak peak! THANK YOU so much for your prayers!!

Today is the day...

2009-03-31T06:24:00.000-07:00

And my calmness seems to have left me. I have woken up this morning to a very nervous stomach and a very nervous set of nerves... if you get a chance, say a prayer for a clean scan! I will let you know how it goes later!

The organ scan

2009-03-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

The big day is less than a week away and I must say, I am very much so at peace with it. When we had this scan done on Chayse, I was VERY nervous about it in the weeks leading up to it but right now, I find myself very calm. I have lifted this child up in prayer, the same as I did with Hope Noelle and Chayse, but I feel very peaceful this week... no gitters, no fears, no doubts. It is an odd feeling because while my brain knows that there is always a chance we could be where we were with Hope, my heart is calm and steadfast. My fears with Chayse were that we were going to have to deal with the loss of another child and I could not get over that fear. Chayse has instilled a ton of confidence in me over the last 10 months and that might be where all of this peace is coming from but, I think that prayers do wonderful things... don't you?

It is spring!

2009-03-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

And that means my baby girl is almost one! AGH!!! Where is time going? I have been a bad blogger lately... my memory card is MIA still so no pictures with this post. Chayse is FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY well again! Three months of the crud was no fun at all! She has 8 teeth now and has 2 more that are close to coming in and... she is WALKING some!! AGH!!! She is taking several steps at a time now and is getting more confident every day.

The little baby is growing away! It is hard to believe I am finished with week 17 and starting week 18 already!!! It is going by so fast! We still do not know if we are having a boy or a girl, but we may be able to find out when we go for our organ scan later this month.

Other than that, not too much new news around here. I will post more later, and hopefully with some pictures!

The long awaited pictures....

2009-03-05T09:25:00.001-08:00

I know, I am late with these but these are the ultrasound pictures from our last apt at Duke on the 17th. These were taken when I was @ 12.5 weeks with the bean...

The whole body of the baby.....

Level 4 image of the baby, which looks odd at this stage but you can see arms and legs...Here you can see the legs and one hand... and a verrrry "empty" crotch area... hummmmmBut here, maybe a white shadow in there... still too early to tell if it's a boy or girl...And this one is just a face shot of the baby We did have an appointment this week and the baby's heart rate was in the 160's and everything is going well. I am up 1.5 pounds on my scale here at the house so while I feel like I am getting large already, I hope this means that I follow my footsteps from Chayse and have very little weight gain. We won't go to the doctors again until the end of the month, at which time I will be 18 plus weeks so if the baby show us "it's stuff", we will know if it's boy or a girl! This will also be when we do organ scans. While Hope's heart condition, kidney issues, and renal failure were all attributed to the Down Syndrome, we are still praying for everything to look great with this baby's organs.

10 months!!!

2009-03-01T13:58:00.001-08:00

AGH! Where is time going???? It is so hard to believe that Little Miss Chayse is 10 months young today! She is becoming her own person in so many ways. Her newest accomplishment... is STANDING!!! She has been doing it on her own for about 3 weeks now but I lost my memory card so this is the first time that I have been able to get pictures! While it looks like she is holding on to the bar stool, she's not! She cracks me up... she laughs when she finally sits down!

Chayse is also mastering the words of the English language... she can say Ma-Ma, Da-Da, Baby (she loves her baby dolls) we are working on bye-bye... she is quite intrigued with the whole waving thing and is doing very well with it. Chayse is almost 100% on table food! She is such a good eater but she does still love to get a bottle. Yesterday was Chayse's last bottle of my milk... she is now solely a formula baby. I hated to give it up but being pregnant again tends to make you do things you had not always planned on. All in all, I feel good that I was able to "feed" her for the first 10 months of her life. She isn't crazy about formula but at least she doesn't have to drink it for very long... cows milk is just around the corner! Nathan is trying to teach Chayse how to drive. SHE LOVES IT!!! She is sooooo stinking funny when she does it and of course, those pictures and video are on the MIA memory card so as soon as it shows up, I will post some pictures of her and her Daddy!

The good news keeps on coming!!!

2009-02-25T17:31:00.000-08:00

So, after many many prayers, we heard some great news from Duke Fetal today!!!

Before the blood test:
Chance of Down Syndrome 1 out of 127 (high due to prior DS history)
Chance of Trisomy 13 & 18 1 out of 973

After the blood test:
Chance of Down Syndrome 1 out of 2,561
Chance of Trisomy 13 & 18 1 out of 19,000

Thank you Lord for answered prayers this far! We continue to pray for a clean scan when we have the organs checked in a few weeks!

9.5 month stats on a growing girl!

2009-02-18T15:44:00.000-08:00

At Birth: 7 lbs 14 oz, 20.5 inches
At 2 months: 11 lbs 10 oz (60%), 22.5 inches (45%)
At 4 months: 14 lbs 3 oz (50%), 24.75 inches (60%)
At 6 months: 15 lbs 7 oz (30%), 26.25 inches (60%)
At 9 months: 18 lbs 2 oz (30%), 27.5 inches (35%)

Things have been out of sorts here lately so I am trying to catch up on blogging!! Chayse had her 9.5 month check up this morning and is doing great! While she is still on the small side, she is advanced for her age according to her doctor! She is an EATING MACHINE and is going to eat me out of house and home. No complaints from us though! We went to Out Back this past week and she ate an entire grilled cheese AND a sweet potato! Where she is putting all of this food is beyond me! She has 5 teeth now and is standing on her own for about 30-45 seconds... still no steps yet but we are in no hurry! She has had a runny nose here the last few days so we are praying for that to go away... she and I both are tired of using the little suction thing to get gunk out!!

Duke Medicine...

2009-02-17T15:58:00.000-08:00

I have to say that while I grew up loving Duke (my Mom went to school there), I have a love for Duke all on my own. They have such a GREAT fetal diagnostic department and wonderful OBGYN's! I could not ask for a better place to be . I learned when I was pregnant with Hope that the fetal department was awesome, and then I learned that the doctors at Duke Children's Hospital are top notch. Today, I was reminded of why I love going to Duke.

Today’s appointment went as well as it could have gone! First, I was able to met with "our" genetic counselor to review family history and to understand the range of testing available throughout the pregnancy. This is the fourth pregnancy (Hope Noelle, a tubal, Chayse Nicole, and this one) that she has worked with us on and it is so nice to see a familiar face when you are in the middle of such uncertainty. I did not have to rehash anything with her as she remembers our family and I have to say, what a feeling of peace that gives!!! To have someone that you can connect with during such an emotional time is priceless. I was reminded today that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

I had blood work was drawn for screenings on three Trisomy's... Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome), Trisomy 18 (Edwards Syndrome), and Trisomy 13 (Patau Syndrome). Babies with these trisomy's sometimes show a pattern in the blood work... Hope's pattern was high-low, high-low which is a pattern for Down Syndrome. It will take a week to ten days to get these test results back so please keep that in your prayers.

We also had an ultrasound where the fluid on the neck in measured. Studies have shown a direct link between excess fluid found at the back of the baby’s neck (nuchal translucency) to trisomy's and to heart defects. This test/ultrasound HAS to be done between 11 and 13 weeks gestation. The normal range of fluid is 1 to 3 millimeters and anything above 3 mm can be indication of a syndrome or heart defect... both of which we had in Hope Noelle. Today, our sweet one's fluid measurement was 1.4mm! This is the EXACT same measurement that Chayse had! No anomalies were detected at this time for this stage of our pregnancy. We will go back around 17-18 weeks and have the organs and bones scanned to check their development and make sure all is still on track! Thank God for a good report this far! As I said before, it will take about 7-10 days for the blood work results to come back.

That said, seeing the baby today on the ultrasound was amazing. The littlest Burgess was all over the place! I was so excited to see that little bitty baby in there, kicking and moving... what a sigh of relief!!!! The tech was able to get a few pictures... I will get them posted in the next day or two!

Happy Birthday Nathan!!!

2009-02-17T15:50:00.000-08:00

Nathan turned 35 today! Nathan had to work but that didn't stop Miss Chayse from visiting the fire house so she could see her Daddy!!! She also had dinner with her Grandma who turned 60 today! Happy birthday Nathan and Mom!!

My Rock Star!

2009-02-04T08:04:00.001-08:00

Chayse had some rock star hair when she woke up from her nap yesterday... it was quite comical!! It looks like she was sleeping HARD!!! Miss Chayse is doing well. Her tooth count is now at 5!! She is a trooper though and has only had a few rough bouts with the teeth. She is crawling all over the place and is pulling up and cruising around everything... cabinets, couches, chairs, people... she is such a busy body!

It is hard to believe that she is already 9 months old! Where in the world has time gone?? She is getting so big and is such a joy in our lives.

Miss Chayse has some BIG news to share... she is going to be a BIG sister! AGH!! This was not a planned pregnancy but we are excited about this. I have been very nauseated but not as sick as I was with Chayse. We have had two ultrasounds so far and things look good! We will continue to be monitored due to our prior history. We will again be going to Duke for organ screening and nuchal testing... which is all a standard level of care now for all OB patients at our practice.

While I am excited to know that they have set a new standard, it is still very scary to think about. Nathan and I are both very excited over this little one but at the very same time, there are the natural emotions of grief and fear that re-surface due to our experience with our daughter, Hope Noelle. Preparing for a new baby always brings emotions of joy and gives you something to look forward to but for me, it also brings back a flood of emotions and memories that are still tucked away deep in my soul. While memories can make you smile and laugh, they can also be painful all at the same time. So now, I find myself thinking about what to do as we have this history of past experiences and yet such future hopes staring us in the face. With Chayse, I learned that my body is able to get a baby here healthy and whole but at the same time, dealing with the emotions of knowing what can happen leaves you stuck somewhere in the middle praying for the best in the things to come. I do find myself asking at times, What if such and such happens? What if they find something wrong? How will we be able to explain it to Chayse? Will we be able to go through all that again? And in those moments when I find myself lost in the emotional fear of these things, Nathan as always calms me down and keeps me grounded. I could not have asked for a better father for my children... all three of them. As I said all through labor and delivery,

"I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me."

looking down onto the brain with hands and legs out front... fingers and toes!!

heart beat was at 182 on Monday

Tuesday...

2009-01-30T20:17:00.000-08:00

If you were able to pray for the Whitt family at all, please continue to do so... Tuesday passed away today.

The Whitt Family

2009-01-30T15:23:00.000-08:00

I ran across this blog and it broke my heart... this family is in need of prayers badly as they have a little girl, Tuesday, who is dying from cancer. They are home from the hospital and are just in that waiting stage. I remember doing this with my Daddy but I have to tell you, I cannot image doing this with my child... watching Hope was hard enough for one hour before she passed... I cannot image months of treatments like this family has done. Tuesday is one of 4 children (and is a twin) so please keep the siblings, parents, and grandparents in your prayers...

http://half12.blogspot.com/

More snow pictures!

2009-01-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

Is snowed all day here! Not very common for this area and when it was done falling, we ended up with a 6 inch snow blanket!!! Chayse was only outside in it briefly as it was very cold but, she did get to taste/eat snow for the first time... she wasn't too crazy about it! Sandy, our bloodhound, wasn't too sure what to think about the snow either but she had so much fun running around in it!

Snow falls in NC!!!

2009-01-20T10:27:00.001-08:00

A rare event has happened here... snow had accumulated!! Normally, we just get ice so snow is always a treat! So far, we have gotten 4 inches and it is still falling! The dates are wrong on some the first picture but they are all from today! Here are some of the house and of our Red Bloodhound, Sandy, out playing on the snow!

John Deere Green...

2009-01-19T09:24:00.000-08:00

Smiles!

2009-01-17T10:25:00.001-08:00

Always all smiles!!

Oh, and the tooth count is at 4!!! 3 on the bottom and one on the top!

2009

2009-01-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first 2009 Burgess blog post! Yes, I know we are a little late but things have been busy around here! Chayse is a busy body and is all over the place. She loves chasing the cat and is never still... unless she is asleep! She is doing well though and has a third tooth! We took her to the doctors last week for a courtesy weight check and she is 16 pounds, 9 ounces now! She may not weigh much but that is because she is always moving!

Nathan is adjusting to being promoted from Car 2 to Car 1. He moved into the chief's position from the assistant chief position on January 1. We have been busy painting his office and trying to get him a new desk.

I have been busy trying to keep up with Chayse, which is a full time job. I have been having headaches at night so I am not on the computer much these days which is why we have had the lag in postings. My Etsy store has been keeping me busy but I was able to take a much needed break at the first of the year! Christmas was a busy coaster season for me so it was very nice!

Oh, and I talked to Kelly and Kyle the other day... Brayden is doing GREAT and Grayson is so excited to have his little brother home. He has all three of them come and pick him up from daycare when he is there... he wants everyone together since they had a few weeks spit up. Kelly and Kyle are very grateful for all of the prayers that were sent their way. Thank you for keep my cousin and her family in your thoughts!

Home!

2009-01-05T19:17:00.001-08:00

Brayden went home yesterday! He is doing well and his big brother Grayson was VERY EXCITED to finally meet him! Thanks for all of your prayers!

Echo results!

2009-01-02T18:38:00.000-08:00

Brayden had a very eventful day... he pulled out his arterial line! Kind of messy but everything is back the way it should be now! He is still eating like a champ and is keeping it down. He is currently taking between 30-45 cc's a feeding. Brayden did have his post surgery echo today and the results were great! It looked so good that they are weaning him off of his heart meds and he MIGHT go to NICU tomorrow!!!

What a way to bring in the New Year....

2009-01-01T17:36:00.000-08:00

being able to hold Brayden AND give him a bottle! His swelling is gone from the open heart surgery and all of the fluids they pushed during it... he looks like a new born again! Needless to say, his mama was a happy woman holding and feeding him! And look... he is going without an oxygen line!

Post surgery with no swelling...

2008-12-31T23:40:00.000-08:00

Progress!

2008-12-31T15:52:00.000-08:00

Well, Brayden is off of the CPAP and is on a full flow nasal cannula. He seems to be doing well with it and they are going to back down the oxygen flow later tonight or in the morning. His blood gas levels are great as well! Brayden is passing a ton of fluid so most of his swelling is gone and he looks like a newborn again! Today the doctors were able to pull out the pace maker wires, they pulled out a few IV's, and they even pulled out one of his chest tubes! Needless to say, Brayden is doing well and is on his way to recovery! He has an NG tube in and is getting breast milk through that... FINALLY FOOD!!!!! He is still in the cardiac unit and will be there a few more days before he goes back to NICU.

New prayer request.... Brayden will have another echo done either tomorrow or Friday so pray for wonderful results with that!

2008-12-31T06:47:00.000-08:00

CPAP

2008-12-30T20:14:00.001-08:00

Brayden took a small step back today. He had to go back on the CPAP after an x-ray showed his lungs are not fully inflated. MD says is a normal finding and will probably be back on nasal cannula by the morning time.

WOAH!!!

2008-12-30T16:51:00.000-08:00

She is pulling up on everything... chairs, people, cribs, furniture! You know what that means, WALKING is next!!!

Pic of Brayden with no tubes...

2008-12-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

This is one that was taken prior to surgery without all of the tubes and machines that are keeping him alive right now... just thought a face to go with the prayer might be nice!

Brayden

2008-12-29T14:30:00.000-08:00

Brayden made it through surgery today and seems to be holding his own. He is off of the by pass machine but is still on the vent. They were able to close his chest though which is a blessing. He will be completely knocked out (medically induced) for at least 24 hours so that his little body can heal... this was a HUGE surgery for a 5 day old little boy who does not even weigh 8 pounds. Please keep him in your prayers that there are no infections, that the issue was corrected, and they he heals with no set backs. He will be recovering in a cardiac unit for a week and then will go back to NICU for another week or two before being discharged if everything goes well. I know that my cousin appreciates and feels all prayers being sent her way. I remember having to listen to the pediatric cardiologist when I was pregnant with Hope and being overwhelmed with it all. I know she is glad to have this part of the journey over with so that she can focus on her new baby boy and not on the medical terms and issues being thrown at them.

Brayden

2008-12-28T16:55:00.000-08:00

My cousin delivered 4 days ago and had a little boy. Brayden Pierce is in DIRE need of prayers. Baby Brayden is going to be having open heart surgery tomorrow morning and they could use all of the prayers they can get.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T18:43:00.001-08:00

Well, Miss Chayse celebrated her first Christmas today! We opened presents last night on Christmas Eve and then went to the fire house for dinner tonight with Nathan. Chayse did well opening her gifts and was a very happy girl. We feel so blessed to have her here, safe and sound this Christmas. I will say, this season has had a different meaning to it this year as we are so aware of the blessings we have to have this little girl with us this Christmas season. Today, as we celebrated the birth of one precious baby that was born so many years ago, we said a prayer of thanks for another.

This was Chayse opening up her presents...

The Burgess Family at bed time on Christmas Eve...

Chayse getting ready for bed on Christmas night with her Christmas Elf! This is the elf that has become Chayse's Christmas Elf. Francois is his given name but I am not sure Chayse will be able to say it next year so we will have to see what his nickname becomes! This elf will come every Christmas and will be here with us for the month of December.

From our house to yours, Merry Christmas!

P.S. Francois came to us from a very wonderful lady named Sara. If you ever need an addition to the family, check her out @ http://woolies-woolies.blogspot.com/ or @ http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5078988

My big girl...

2008-12-20T17:31:00.000-08:00

We have had some major events happen around here this week! Chayse is sleeping all night!! ALL NIGHT!!! She is only waking up when she needs her paci but for a week now, ALL NIGHT!!! Mama is not sleeping though as I have been up every night for over a year between bathroom trips while pregnant to getting up to tend to a baby so this is a little odd for me!

Little Miss Chayse has learned how to pull up on things so it has made the last 3 days very interesting! While I know that this is a great developmental step, I was not ready for it. I learned of her being able to do this three days ago when I walked into our room and she was standing in her cradle! AGH!!!

So, three nights ago, I sat in the room till she fell asleep and then I went on about my way. Two nights ago, she woke up WIDE AWAKE at 3 am and was up until 6:15. I kicked her out of our room (where she has been sleeping in her cradle since she was born) shortly before 6 and put her in her crib because I was ready to go to sleep! Last night, she spent all night in her crib... for the first time ever!!!! Nathan and I are both a little sad about this... we enjoyed having her in her cradle in our room to tend to in the middle of the night. Now, we are tromping through the house, which is fine, but a little sad. Our baby girl is getting big!

I just happened to take pictures of her in her cradle this week (the night before I found her standing in there!) with no knowledge that these would be the last images I would get of her in her cradle. Chayse LOVES to sleep right up to the bumper in the corner. On this night, she had her feet kicked up and it made me laugh. This is Chayse on her first night sleeping in her crib... sleeping right up beside the bumper in a corner, as always!

Prayers....

2008-12-20T16:01:00.000-08:00

I grew up down the street from the Keeter family. I went to school with Kara and her brother Brian. Brian Keeter played basketball at my high school and went on to play in college at NCSU. He was in a wreck on Dec. 14th and is in need of many prayers. This is the link to the blog his family has set up for him... if you get a chance, I am sure they would love all the prayers you could give them.
http://bkrecover.blogspot.com/

Hanging with Daddy...

2008-12-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

What more could a girl ask for??

Bounce Bounce Bounce!!!

2008-12-06T21:11:00.000-08:00

Endless hours of fun have been had lately in this door way jump up! Chayse wears herself out in it! We were given this as a shower gift from the Fosters and the Waltons... thanks guys-she loves it! We just crack up when she gets in there because she kicks her legs like scissors when she is up in the air... it is just tooooo funny!

Chayse and trees...

2008-12-03T20:37:00.000-08:00

Christmas is a big thing around here and we love trees. I grew up with themed trees (my mother has 5 trees in her house) and I just happened to marry a man with a themed tree! While my tree is mostly Barbie, Nathan has a tree mostly fire related. It is looking like Chayse may have a Disney tree but it is still too early to tell! Here are pictures of her helping her folks' with the trees.

She's up, rocking and ready to go!

2008-12-03T18:55:00.000-08:00

Smiles and Laughs....

2008-11-29T19:51:00.000-08:00

Who knew that a wipe could be so much fun??? I was making faces the whole time too and towards the end, I started making faces and noises so when you hear the zerbert at the end, just know it was me and not her making fun things in her diaper!!! Oh... remember to go to the bottom and turn off the music from the list player!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T18:16:00.001-08:00

What a wonderful little face to be thankful for... we are counting our blessings this Thanksgiving season and hope you are too.

A few pics from the past week...

2008-11-22T12:03:00.000-08:00

Little Miss Chayse has become Little Miss Independent! She is learning something new every day now and it just cracks me up! She is sitting solo, holding her own sippy cup (yes, a sippy cup!), she is pushing up to her knees but is not crawling around yet... she is just growing growing growing. Nathan had her in the bathroom the other night and she was looking at herself in the mirror... she put her hands all over the mirror while talking and laughing at herself. Two days later as I was walking towards her bathroom, I saw these tiny hand prints in the reflection and it hit me that there is A BABY IN OUR HOUSE!!! It was one of those surreal moments that catches you totally of guard. It is hard to explain but it made my heart smile, and made my eyes tear up!

Anyhow, on a funny note... Chayse has learned to look out the bumper of her bed and peek. She waits for someone to come in the room and BOING! She sticks that little head up and smiles so big as if to say HEY! It is sooooo stinking cute and really funny. I will try to snag a few pics of her doing it.

The count is at 2!!

2008-11-22T11:59:00.000-08:00

The first one is out where you can really see it now and right beside it her other front tooth has finally broken the in! Two teeth in one week! How lucky can one gal be!

6 month stats on a growing girl!

2008-11-17T20:04:00.001-08:00

At Birth: 7 lbs 14 oz, 20.5 inches
At 2 months: 11 lbs 10 oz (60%), 22.5 inches (45%)
At 4 months: 14 lbs 3 oz (50%), 24.75 inches (60%)
At 6 months: 15 lbs 7 oz (30%), 26.25 inches (60%)

I will share this with you... Chayse was a busy body this morning while we were there and her Dr. said well, it is no wonder she is a skinny little thing because she moves all the time... she is is burning off everything she eats!

New Bath!

2008-11-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

Well, Chayse has gotten to big for her little green bath tub... It is sad because that little green tub has been hers for the last 6 months! Hard to believe she is getting so big but, she is becoming way to active for it now that she is sitting up. So today, we ventured out to get her a new one and boy did she have fun in the tub tonight with it!

Do you see what I see?

2008-11-15T18:54:00.001-08:00

There is so much slobber in there that the pictures did not take all that great but, we are getting a tooth! It is on the bottom row, in the center, on her right side (so here it would be the left side in the pictures). It FINALLY came into sight and is sticking up out of her gum but it has not come up all the way. Chayse has been a bit crabby with this tooth... fever, drool, chomping on everything!! And that little tooth is so stinking sharp!! Anyhow, just wanted to share!

BTW, the camera is up and running again so we will be posting pictures pretty regularly again!

233

2008-11-10T19:53:00.001-08:00

Yep, thats how many years old the Marine's are today... so many men and women have given so much for this country and today is a great day to say thank you to them! Happy Birthday Marines and Semper Fidelis!

Well...

2008-11-06T08:31:00.000-08:00

She was talking up a storm untill I got the camera out... and then she froze! Oh well, at least you can see her sitting up, and staying up when she moves, ALL BY HERSELF!!!

Smiles!!

2008-10-29T04:47:00.001-07:00

So, it has been several days... I know, I know. We were gone to the beach again. I think that this was Chayse's 6th trip to the coast and she is not even 6 months yet!! AGH!! She is a travelin' thing! While we were there, I had some vehicle issues... Renee, this was a trip that you should have been on! When I got up Saturday morning, I had a flat tire. No problem, my uncle and I got it changed out (in the rain and some nasty winds!). Later that day, my car got hit while it was parked in front of the house. Now this is not a small car that you cannot see... it is an SUV. How the guy hit it, I don't know but at least he told me he hit it instead of driving off. So, I have spent the last few days getting quotes for the repairs. It was only the mirror but because it is electric, it will be somewhere around 500 bucks! YIKES! So, needless to say, it has been a little busy... not to mention Chayse is all over the place! She is not crawling yet but she rolls everywhere. She is still working on sitting up solo but I can tell you with this... she loves to eat. She says what sounds like "ummm" or "yum" with every bite she takes. And when she eats, you get this face... next thing she will need to learn will be to chew with her mouth closed!! But hey, at least she has mastered the smile!

It is not official yet but...

2008-10-16T15:15:00.001-07:00

Look at what my monkey girl is working on! She still has not mastered the art of sitting by herself yet... she falls over quite a bit but she is getting there! Agh! Where is time going? What happened to my newborn baby!?!

So long Summer!

2008-10-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

As Summer comes to a close and Fall makes its way here, we decided to hit the lake one last time before it was too cold to go out. The weather was wonderful. The water was just as smooth as I have ever seen it.
It looked like a mirror! You would never know we were on a boat zooming right through!
Nathan was doing a little wake boarding... which I couldn't do because that board is too heavy for me to get up out of the water...
So Chayse and I hung in the boat and watched the boys wake board and surf.

The Pear Tree

2008-10-05T12:27:00.001-07:00

This is what we started with... and 6 hours later, I can proudly say that I used well over 225 pears off of this tree. With the help of my Aunt Clem and cousin Janet, I peeled, diced, cooked, and canned pears this weekend. Aunt Clem and Janet helped me get 57 jars canned for Pear Preserves and when I got home I cleaned and steamed 67 pears, then pureed them down for baby food. It was my first adventure doing pear preserves... boy are they good! Does anyone else can their own jams?

Beach Trip

2008-10-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

Well, Chayse and I struck off to Myrtle Beach last week with my mom. We were there for a week and had a wonderful time. We did a TON of shopping and hung out at the pool. Chayse loved being in the water and it was amazing to see how big she is getting... her float was too big for her to sit in just two months ago and now she is whizzing around the pool in it!

Chayse and I out on the beach... The weather was wonderful, slightly cool with a great breeze...

Chayse and I playing in the pool... she loved the water!Chayse in her floaty swimming getting pushed around the pool... Chayse and her Grandma one day while we were out shopping...

Overall, we had a great time. Chayse had her hands and feet washed more than she normally does because people just could not seem to keep their hands off of her since she is so cute! I try not to worry about bugs and germs and what not but sometimes, someone says something crazy and I just cannot help it. We were in the Ralph Lauren store on Monday where a wonderful lady was helping me with some jeans... while I was checking out, she was talking to my Mom. In the conversation, she tells my mom that she babysat her grandchild all weekend long and that they had just found out the baby had chickenpox. She had been all over Chayse's feet so as soon as we walked out of the store, she was sanitized, the toys were sanitized, and her stroller was Lysoled (yes, I keep a travel size can in the diaper bag!). Needless to say, Chayse was the poster child of cleanliness every time we walked out of a store and someone touched her. You never know what lurks with strangers and if I can keep her from being sick, then I am going to try! I will just be that crazy mom!!

We got back from the beach at 6pm, I ran in the house so I could change clothes and then we were off to see Nathan. Chayse was very excited to see him! After a quick visit at the fire house, Chayse hung with one of my girlfriends for the night while Mom and I went to a concert. We went to see Michael Buble at the RBC Center. I had no idea who he was when we went but he put on a great show... and now I know who he is!

Thanks Mom, for spending the week with us! We had a blast!

A post from Chayse....

2008-09-26T09:12:00.001-07:00

Chayse likes to do whatever it is that we do so, today it was type on the keyboard... anyhow, here is her first post! She has so much to say and yes, all of it is her typing!

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