home, sweet, home!!!

we had a FABULOUS time with leon, carlene, and their 5 million kids! (okay, just 4, but it might as well be 5 million!!!) it was great to see leon again and great to meet carlene (finally) and the kids. abigail did AMAZINGLY well on the 8 hr car ride. i honestly couldn't believe how well she did!! not one peep from her on the whole way up! on the way home she started fussing at north druid hills. i mean, seriously, you can't ask for better!!!

but, we were in kentucky, which means one thing:



all in all, a FABULOUS weekend!

amanda, if you EVER give me important news like that again, i'll walk to waycross and kick your tail!!!!! but...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!

i love you!!!!

some pictures from our trip to florida



on the plane ride down. she's such a GREAT traveller!!

getting ready for the outdoor wedding!!!

posing with mommy by the water


posing with her jojo by the water....

abigail's first dance!!

our morning ritual!!!

abby is 4 months old!!!! where does the time go?! i just got home from her 4 month check up and she is doing really well! she is 10 lbs even! we have hit double digits!!!! she is 21 1/2 inches long and her head is 15 1/2 inches circumference. she's not on the charts with height and weight but is on the charts (3rd %??) with the head circumference. my child has a big head! she got 5 shots and the rotovirus oral vaccine and got really pissed off with the shots! i know it's bad but it made me laugh. it always makes me laugh. i guess i saw much worse in the NICU and she did fine with those that to see her get to upset at these shots is just kinda funny. plus she does this lower lip thing where she pouts it out and it totally cracks me up! i know i'm a terrible mother to laugh at her expense but i can't help it!!!

she is a little behind this time. she's doing some 4 month stuff (holding her head up when being held, putting a good amt of weight on her feet, etc) but she's not doing others (reaching for toys, holding her head up while on her tummy). her pedi said hes not worried yet b/c she IS doing some things and does those very well (she showed off quite well for him today!) and that b/c she's early, she has a bit of a grace period. so i'm happy with that.

he said that while her weight gain is great, he wants her to gain more to kinda play catch up since she is still so small. so he changed her to neosure formula - which, of course, is the expensive stuff. he did give me 3 big bottles of it and is going to see if he can get me a case of it. apparently he can do that with multiples, but he's not sure about preemies. hopefully he can. along those lines, she is NOT to start solids until at least 6 months, and probably after that...but when she does i'll be making her food instead of buying jarred food.

i can't believe she's 4 months old!!! seriously, where does the time go?!

2nd post in one day. WOW!!!

today ended up SO much better than yesterday! my dr appt went well, with the exception of high blood pressure due to stress (or so my dr says! and i completely believe her!). after my appt, i walked across the breezeway to see dr ahmed. i've tried 3 times before to see him, but he's never been there. i've heard from nealette that he's been wanting to see abigail, so i thought i'd try again. well, he finally showed up!!!! he was very pleased with how abigail is progressing. he played with her a bit and saw how she can stand with assistance, hold her head up all by herself very well, how she talks to us and mimics facial expressions that we make. he said that she is doing amazingly well. i was SO pleased by that! honestly, i needed to hear that! it seems like everytime i get discouraged in my faith, god comes back and gives me a out-of-the-blue reason to fully trust him. even though we are financially struggling, my daughter is healthy and thriving. and honestly, which is more important? i'd much rather be severely in debt with abigail healthy than to have all the money in the world and her be sick.

lord, forgive my anger. thank you for showing yourself to me today. thank you for taking care of my daughter...and for taking care of my family; even when it seems like we are on our own, we aren't really. we are just on a journey of learning to trust you more. teach me.

abby and dr ahmed

Abigail is still sleeping - we are almost 10 1/2 hrs into this sleep stretch! - and i really should be getting ready since she's sleeping and i have to be at the dr at 11, but i can't bring myself to get ready. i'm tired. i haven't been sleeping well the past few nights. this weekend was horribly stressful over stupid stuff. (well, half stupid, half not stupid!) actually, forget this weekend: LIFE has been horribly stressful!! i know, life isn't easy. but it would be nice to get a few breaks in between the insane hard-ness of it all, sometimes. i feel myself getting angry with God. that's not good. i talked to my aunt on the phone last night for over an hour. she called to talk about something completely different but we ended up talking about all the crap that robert and i are dealing with right now. it helped b/c she and i are so much alike it's scary yet she can still see things clearly b/c she's not in the middle of the situation. robert was great letting me talk to her - even though abby was going crazy. i just feel like a break would be nice. for just a minute. but then i feel guilty b/c half of america is going through the same thing we are! why should we be any different? i just feel like we've tried so hard for so long to just be not only no better off, but worse off!!! that just doesn't make sense to me.

anyway. here endeth the senseless rambling. my beautiful daughter is starting to stir...

We took Abigail to the park for the first time today! Here are pictures!