Mark and I are an Aunt and Uncle again to Chris and Amy’s beautiful Livia Joy.

For those whom we’ve told about the situation and have been praying for them, thank you! Both Amy and Livia are healthy and strong! Praise God!

Just a quick catch-up for some who may not have heard: Amy was pregnant with twins Amélie Marie and Livia Joy. On August 13th, Amélie Marie (Mia) went to be with Jesus. Livia Joy was seen to be doing well and her heartbeat was strong right after they found out. Mia’s heart stopped beating sometime around 27 weeks. We know this because Amy’s last ultrasound revealed no major complications at 26 weeks. At 20 weeks both babies were completely healthy; growing at the same rates. By 24 weeks there was a slight difference in growth and one baby appeared to be smaller than the other. The discordance was at about 19% at that point. The high risk Doctors begin to start weekly monitoring when they see discordant growth that is 20% or greater. At 26 weeks the doctors saw a growth discordance of 21.5% and recommended Amy be seen on a weekly basis to monitor for Twin to Twin Transfusion (TTTS). They did not seem too worried about TTTS developing as it is not common after 25 weeks. Because their twins are identical and shared a placenta they were at risk of TTTS. Also because their girls were sharing a placenta and some of their blood vessels were connected, Livia was most likely considered to have suffered some sort of brain damage as a result of Mia’s passing. When one identical twin passes, the other is forced to absorb a high level of blood, resulting in what could be mild to severe brain damage. After this happened hundreds of people who knew Chris and Amy and our family began to pray for Livia. I know that both Chris and Amy were overwhelmed by the amount of support that they received!

Livia Joy was born healthy and beautiful on September 14th. She was 8 weeks early and so she was transported to the NICU at Mass general in Boston. Amy and Chris were also able to spend a good amount of time with Mia saying goodbye. Livia will need to stay in the NICU until she is able to breath and eat on her own. She is doing great and already able to breath on her own! Please continue to pray for Livia, Amy, Chris and their little boy Micah as they continue to care for and welcome Livia into their family while also grieving the loss of Mia.

I went for a couple months with out blogging…so I had a couple things to catch up on.

1. Mark and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary!! Wow!! Can’t believe we’ve made it this long…ha..just kidding…it’s been a great and kind of crazy three years. Mark was wonderful and surprised me by taking me out to a really nice dinner at Seasons and then kidnapped me and took me up to the most beautiful cabin in Silverton! It was wonderful! Go Mark!

2. We dedicated Ellie during our church’s river baptism service. It was beautiful! The most wonderful spot on the Florida River. It was such a fun service all worshiping by the river in a back yard. We were so glad that Jeff Dobesh, our pastor, dedicated Ellie. We both really admire him and a pastor and friend. And Ellie looked so cute in her white dress. ;)

3.  My mom up and moved to California for 9 months to take a  school of ministry at Bethel church in Redding. She bought an airstream now named “Patty” for her stay. Some funny lessons from living in an airstream for the last month:

5.  You have to wash your face at night in the kitchen sink.  The bathroom sink is entirely too small and water drips all over the front of the cabinet and on to the floor.

6.  If you can plan a cooked meal that only takes one pan your miles ahead in the organization department.

7.  When you walk in your unit, your house giggles.

8.  WiFi today is pretty overrated.  Too many people can access it and it gets snarfed up by others then nothing is left for you.

9.  Dumping the black water tank is big excitement.

10.  It’s best not to put anything on the bedroom floor, this way you can actually walk around your bed to make it.

   

 

   

Elise has started to growl….a lot. So…we decided to turn it into something fun to avoid the peculiar glances from passerbys: Now she knows what a Lion says:  (so funny!! We have a wild baby!)

My friend Shelly and I threw a baby shower for a good friend and I decided to try my first Fondant cake with a belly cake ;). So I thought I would show some pictures…it didn’t turn out to bad.

Here is the first cake…ummm… that Sage ate… ya. …welcome to my life… 3 hours down the drain…

 

Take 2:

Ready for the fondant….trying to get it just the right color….

  My friend Casey happened to be staying with us this weekend while she’s in town and I roped her into helping me make the flower…she’s amazing. And the finished product:

What do you think? Not bad for my first try…maybe a little booby…;)… it’s a good cake for some laughs!

Mark, Elise and I flew down last week to Florida and met up with the fam for a nice little vacay. Mark’s dad’s 60th birthday was  a good excuss to all get together. I met Mark’s grandparents (Stroup side) Aunt and cousins for the first time and he saw them for the first time in over 10 years…so needless to say it was a much needed trip! I was so wonderful to meet that side of his family. I loved his grandma and grandpa…just wonderful people and his grandma is just as cute and sassy as I’m sure she always has been ;). His Aunt Teresa and her family just purchased a new home and worked it out so that we could stay in their old home right before it sold. It was awesome. She’s an amazing hostess and it was so fun to hang out by the pool and relax for the week. We spent a couple days at the beach as well, and Erin and I went out for a night of Bingo…because you can’t go to Florida and not partake in some killer Bingo ;). But mostly we just caught up on some great family time.

Our dear friends Gus and Casey came out for a weekend, and Gus took some great pics of our little family. I can’t believe Elise is already 6 months old!

 Does anyone else out there remember being in love with these things? Ah, the memories of carefree summers spent running around in the back yard catching rocks in the bottoms of your sparkly pastel jelly shoes! Let’s face it, Jelly shoes were just “it” when we were in grammar school! I thought they were like the one-hit wonders of the 80’s never to return again…but they’re back in full force. Ginger brought Elise a pair of her very own clear sparkly Jelly Shoes when she came down for a visit this weekend…so great. The touch and even the smell of them floods my mind with memories…good times, good times…. glad Grandma could pass the Jelly-torch on to Ellie :)

Jelly Shoes

Summer is offically here in Durango…yea!!!! And the river is running so high! Mark and some friends took the first raft trip of the year down the animas and the babe and I sat at the Smelter rapids to take some shots as they cruised by. The only thing is that I had just barely gotten there when here they came! The river was running so fast they flew down the river and I barely got there in time to take a video…crazy ;) …but non-the-less here’s an o.k. clip from the side:

And my oh my…little Elise is growing up…5 months and acting like a big girl! She sat up for the first time (well for a couple of seconds ;) ) without help. I wasn’t expecting it to happen and it did! wow…guess I’m a new mom! HA!  I was jazzed! She’s growing sooo fast! Check it out:

We’re moving again. Mark and I are going to watch over my mom’s property while she goes to the School of the Supernatural at Bethal in Redding, CA. So we’ll get to spend a year doing a whole lot of gardening staying in her cute little cottage.

Ellie just went for her 5 month check up and is doing great. She’s in the 98th percentile for height…no surprises there..and 25th for weight..the little bean stock! :) And Dr. Pahkididn’t hear her heart murmur…Praise God! For those of you who don’t know we had to get a bunch of tests done on her heart about a month after she was born. They found that she had a moderate VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect). The cardiologist, however, said that her body was handling it well as he saw no abnormalities but wanted to keep checking on it until it either closed up by her 2nd Birthday or would need to be surgically closed. So tons of people have been praying for her heart to heal. And prayers for us to get insurance for her (as we’ve been denied due to her VSD).

And praise God at her last visit Dr. Pahki couldn’t hear her murmur at all. It would be a total miracle if it really closed up in such short a time…so we’re scheduled to have the cardiologist look at it again! She also got accepted that same day by an insurance company who will cover her completely! So I feel soooo blessed and taken care of this month!

Mark’s been working hard as always at Dgo. Joes. Their 6th location is finally coming into fruition in Farmington. He’s working hard on that and on all the changes their doing to the company logo, look, drink names etc… They’ve completely remodeled the original store and it looks fantastic!

I’ve been enjoying being home with Ellie. We’ve been out in the sunshine everyday on runs, gym classes in the park, and a little swimming…she’s such a great baby. We are so in love with her. I’m sure every parent feels this way…but I just keep thinking, “we are the luckiest parents in the world…we got the best baby!” She is so mellow and happy. She loves just hanging out with us, or going out with friends. She’s learned to smile and is just smiling at everyone now! SOOO cute!

Much love to you all!

My baby…

.

.

.

Just kidding… here are the real pictures.