Good-Bye Little Friend

Here are excerpts from Darian's blog last night and this morning:

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 5:04 PM, CDT

Although he sounds pretty bad, Darian is comfortable. He is now on oxygen all the time, and takes morphine every 2 hours, tylenol and adavan every 4 hours. As we approach this time in the journey-our hearts are sad, but know that a paradise awaits Darian. There is no easy way to say good-bye...and although many say there are no good-byes-we will have too soon.

Rest assured God knows this and will be with us-he will not leave us. Our hearts may break-but he is the great surgeon. So, lay your troubles and worries on him...and he will give you all you need.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 9:57 AM, CDT

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith Darian went to be with Jesus this morning at 2:20am. We're proud of you buddy. Give Jesus a hug for us.


My heart aches for his family. Things like this always made me sad, but after having a child of my own, it really gets to me. Between Darian and following the little Minnesota baby, Stellan, (who, if you haven't been following his story, got to come home!) I have been focusing on cherishing every moment with my family, even the 3am ones :) Each day truly is a gift from God and I don't want to take them for granted.

Good Food?

I have pretty much given up on feeding my baby only perfectly healthy foods. We are now in a just get her to eat anything until she gets used to eating and old enough to reason with stage. So, I cooked up one of my childhood favorites - Mac'n'Cheese! She likes it! At least yesterday and today. Tomorrow it may become the worst tasting food ever. Today we enjoyed a long walk outside followed by play time on a blanket out back. I just love living on campus on beautiful days like today - how many people get to enjoy a 100 acre back yard!

Abby turned 11 months on Friday. She had a 5th tooth poke through and possibly a 6th but it is hard to check without risking the loss of an apendage. She loves climbing stairs, playing on top of the pool table and emptying drawers. She is becoming more and more interactive. She now trys to feed Eugene and I her food (does that really surprise anyone?) and hands us things as she plays. When she sees her Old McDonald book she says, "e-i-e-i-ooo". Tonight actually she kept repeating that over and over and over and over and over. She is starting to enjoy filling things back up that she has emptied - time to teach clean-up! At breakfast she will put her cherios back into the cereal box one-by-one, occasionally stopping to take a bite. Yes, a bite. Apparently if she put the whole thing in her mouth that might be considered eating and, well, we all know that just wouldn't do.Learning to share with her work-friend, Lincoln.

Decisions

Abby's first birthday is just a month away. I had decided on a bug theme with this cute cake:
but my obsession with ducks keeps making me want to do a duck theme. I can't decide!

Our precious little girl just gets more and more fun every day (day, not night because nights are still not fun although they are getting a bit better). She has developed a deep love for her teddy bear - the giraffe is feeling a little left out lately. Although this morning when I went in to get her the bear had been chucked out of the crib. Not sure what that was all about. Her new favorite sleeping position is on her tummy with her legs tucked up under her and her little rump sticking up in the air. It's really cute. She can also walk while pushing a little walker toy thing. I have been trying to capture a good video of it but whenever she sees my phone she gets all excited and distracted.

Swimming!

Yesterday, Sara put up a swimming pool and invited us to come play. Abby and Sterling had lots of fun together.

I don't think there are many things cuter than a baby in a bathing suit!

Happy Birthday Eugene!

Today is Eugene's birthday. Since he does not really like cake I usually don't make him one, but this year he was in the mood for chocolate layered cake. I was so excited to get to make a birthday cake, but I forgot to make it layered - oops! Here is a picture of my fun:


My parents stopped by on their way home to Portland and dropped off some birthday balloon. Abby thinks they are hers.Dad Edwards brought pizza over for a birthday lunch and then had to say good-bye as he headed for Canada for the summer.

Here are some things I appreciate about my husband:
* He loves me
* He does the laundry and helps clean the house
* His sense of humor
* He loves God
* He is a good Daddy
* He is dedicated to me and Abby
* He buys me ice cream
* He loves to learn
* His good looks :)
* He is kind-hearted

Easter

I had so much fun dressing up this little cutie! Thanks to my co-worker, Summer, for this adorable dress.

She knew she was dressed up special and when Grandpa Terry walked in the door she held out her dress for him to see. The four of us headed up to Portland to spend the day with my family. I always enjoy a chance to visit my home church and Abby was kind enough to be happy in the nursery the entire service. The music was wonderful and the message very encouraging - a great celebration of Jesus' death and resurrection.

New toys for the grandkids!

Abby entertained herself for a long time playing with Aunt Cyndi's necklace!

giving Grandpa Bass a good-bye kiss!

My sister found a stuffed smurf for Abby and it came with a DVD. I had so much fun taking a little trip down memory lane and I think I enjoyed it much more than our daughter :) Thanks Cyndi!

a candy duck for me - thanks Mom!

Updates

I apologize for the absence of posts lately. I haven't had time during the day and have been too tired at night! So, here is what has been happening in our lives. We returned from Sacramento the Tuesday of Spring Break. I was going to spend the rest of the week playing catch-up at work but Thursday I got a fever. It was actually good timing. Since Eugene wasn't working I was able to rest a lot. Abby did really good on the flight home; the drive back to Salem was another story. When she wants to be done traveling, she lets you know. Not much happened last week until Friday when Eugene got the fever and chills. Sunday Abby played in the church nursery while I got to sit through service for the first time in a really long time - it was so refreshing! Sunday night Eugene's fever was still there and spiked during the night, so Monday we went to the urgent care. 3 hours later he was being treated for pneumonia. Our doctor's office is located next to a lake so Abby had fun watching the ducks and geese. Monday night Aunt Ellie was in town so she, Abby and I were able to have dinner together. Eugene's fever finally broke Tuesday and he is feeling much better now but still very tired. Dad Edwards arrived in town Tuesday night so we have enjoyed visiting with him the rest of this week.

Abby is now 10 1/2 months. She cruises around more and more and just never seems to stop moving! She enjoys turning the pages while we read to her, playing with push toys, playing outside, riding in the laundry basket and playing with daddy's homework. She has learned that she can put off bedtime for a few extra minutes by giving me lots of kisses! She is slowly starting to eat a little more. We are starting to pick out what we think are real words from her jibber-jabber. I think she says dog and duck. She will imitate many sounds including snoring!

Abby's hair is getting much thicker and harder to dry with a towel. So, I decided to try the hair dryer, but that did not go over much better than the vacuum cleaner.

Hair Bows!

Last week I took Abby shopping for Easter shoes. I had so much fun and I'm not sure which I think is cuter - the shoes or the little shoe box!

Abby loves rocking the dog. Sometimes I catch her giving the doggie a kiss on the nose - very cute!

One of her new favorite things to do is to help me "sort" the laundry. She loves flinging things out of the basket and then flinging them all over the room. Here she is worn out after her hard work.

Helping me decorate for spring

We went on a walk today and stopped to play with the daisies.

I love spring and our campus is so beautiful this time of year!