Almost

My girl is ALMOST there!  She is almost walking on her own.  Yesterday I got her to take a couple steps before she plopped down on her butt and today I got her to take 4 steps before she plopped down.  She is so close and I can tell mentally she is so ready, she is still working on perfecting her balance and taking the actual steps.  She still likes to curl her little toes up...so precious.

She gets so excited when she takes a few steps on her own.  Is this really cheesy of me or what?  But the first few steps yesterday and today brought tears to my eyes.  I have gotten excited about her accomplishing other things but I haven't felt this emotion with those things.  My girl has climbed mountains to get to this point.  Mountains she certainly won't remember but they are mountains we will remember and they are mountains none the less.  Around this time last year I felt like she was NEVER getting out of that hospital and now look at her...such a fighter and a determined little thing at that.  She wasn't going to let being born 11 weeks early keep her from doing anything any other baby her age was doing!

                          *Watching her daily installment of Yo Gabba Gabba

                               *Waving at Daddy in the kitchen

She loves doing the airplane game!!!

While out running yesterday, Jim had her in the jogging stroller and I was running behind, like usual.  Towards the end of the run we ended up running right into the sun so he had to turn the stroller around so she was facing me and he kept running.  A lady came up behind me from nowhere, no big surprise because I am not the fastest runner, and said "She's gotta make sure she sees you right?!" I laughed and explained in a minute or so I would be left in the dust because Jim runs so much faster than I do and she wouldn't be able to see me.  She then asked me how old she was, I told her 13 months and she replied, "The same age as my little girl" She then told me her little girls birthday, it was the end of February and I told her K was born March 1st.  She then said she had hoped she would have been born on another day (she told me the day, can't remember it) because the numbers would have worked out to be a cool birthday.  "Didn't happen that way" she says.  Which of course sparks it in me to say "Well, my girl was due May 17th and she came March 1st so it didn't happen the way I wanted it to with her either. "Oh my goodness" she says. She then asked all the usual questions other people ask when they find out she's a preemie.  Is she OK now? Is she still itty bitty? How much did she weigh?  I told her she was great, she was 21 lbs, which she remarked "She's bigger than my girl" and I told her she was 2 lbs 7 oz when she was born.  "Oh my goodness" she says "what a blessing.  She is such a blessing."  Of course I know this already but it really made me think.  There's a reason she was born so early (He uses the tough stuff in life to bring us closer to Him), there's a reason God let her survive.  Maybe He's got big plans for my girl.  Who knows.  But what I do know is that my preemie is the biggest blessing of my life and I don't know what kind of person I would be today without her. She is such a HUGE blessing..."For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope"  ~Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV    I thank my God for giving her and me a future and hope....and I thank my God every day for this blessing named Kenley Schuyler...

Busy Busy Busy

Needless to say I haven't been able to get on here much these past couple weeks because life has been a bit hectic.  Between doctors appointments, planning parties, work craziness and a husband that just turned 40...life has been in a constant stream of go go go.  Not that I'm really complaining because always having something to do is a good thing but in my down time aka...when K is napping or after she goes to bed at night...I haven't had time to write any.

I'll start with her doctors appointment last Thursday.  We had our follow up for her laser treatment at UNC and her doctor wants her to come in for another one at the end of April.  Which so happens to be the exact same day her appointment at the Developmental Clinic in Wilmingon was so that had to be rescheduled.  They only do lasering once every 6 or 8 weeks so we can't miss out on an opportunity to get it done.  Then he said after that lasering he probably wanted to go ahead and schedule to have it removed, somewhere in the late summer early fall.  So we are getting there...just have to go through another day of grumpiness with her from being sedated and probably a little sore in that area on her face, then we won't have anymore of those to deal with.

So then this past weekend, Jim turned 40 and my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.  Crazy as it but my mom and dad were married the EXACT same day and year that Jim was born.  So we decided to throw a 2 in 1 surprise party!  With the help of family friends (and they really did the bulk of it) we pulled off a party for both my parents and Jim.  Jim thought it was a party for my parents and my parents thought it was a party for Jim!

For any of you that know Jim, you know that this is his drink of choice,  well shot of choice is more like it.  I think this stuff runs pretty thick through his veins.  But isn't that the most awesome cake!  The detail on it was incredible!!!

        I have NO clue what is going on with my hair on my forehead!!


This weekend was just all about surprises.  Jims mom and her husband Terry flew in to celebrate Jim's bday with him.  It was supposed to be a surprise but he figured out a day or so before that they were going to be in town.  One thing lead to another and he just figured it out on his own.  So he wasn't surprised about their visit but we still got him with the party!

This was also only the second time Vicki had gotten to see Kenley.  She saw her in July of last year but she is a completly different baby now.  It's tough when you live 3,000 miles away!  You don't get to visit as often as you'd like.  Kenley went right to her and Terry and enjoyed every minute with them!

We also had my Grandma, dads mom, and his brother and his wife fly down for the party and completly surprise us all!!!

Overall, it was a Great weekend!  And KK agrees!!

The Park

So we ventured to the park last weekend for the first time ever with a little one in tow.  It started out fun and I got some really good pictures of Kenley smiling and laughing in the swing...

And then it took an ugly turn...Daddy lifted her very high and swiftly brought her back down and the cries started.  She first shook like a leaf, and I am not exaggerating on that either.  Her entire body started to shake and then the crying started.  Poor thing was scared out of her mind.  We tried to take her mind off of it by getting on the horsey...she wasn't having it...she had been scarred, hopefully not for life!

Daddy felt bad because he didn't mean to upset her, Mommy was pissed at Daddy because we had only been there for about 2 minutes before it happened and I knew after that it would take an act of congress to get her to be OK with the swing again.

I took her the next day to the park before we went on our run and she was not fond of me sitting her in that evil swing again.  She lunged forward for me as soon as I sat her down and she then started to whimper and cry. 

Oh well...we shall try again next time.  I wish they made those things so parents could sit with their children and swing.  I'm hoping the long term memory decides to not hold on to this memory.  Our first time at the park turned out to not be so grand!

Birthdays and Babies

This past weekend was a fun little getaway for me.  I handed the job of caretaker of Kenley over to my sister for a full 24 hours so that I could escape to South Carolina to attend a surprise 30th birthday party for my college bestie.  My poor sister...little did I know but the evening I dropped K off with her, her oldest starting throwing up and pretty much continued the puke fest all the way til I picked up K the next day, and then some.  So not only did she have three children to take care of which was a new experience by itself for her, one of them was horribly sick.  God bless her! I'm pretty sure I would have spent much of that time in tears if I were her.  But she did a great job with my girl, had no doubt of that of course, and so far did a great job of keeping the sickness off her as well!  Guess I shouldn't speak too soon though!

Anyways, I had a great time with my dear friend who I've known for 12 years now.  Holy cow!  12 years.  I didn't realize it was that long til I just counted it up.  We met at our college orientation, lived just down the hall from each other our Freshman year, lived together our Sophomore, Junior and Senior years, were in each others weddings, shared lots of tears, many laughs, been there for each other through pregnancies, through early births, through family drama, of course boy drama and have been through all that and then some together and after all this time she is still my best friend.  She has stood by my side and had my back through some very thick and thin and I'm so lucky to have her in my life.  She is such a blessing.  I only wish we lived closer to each other.  I love her like she were my own sister.  Friends come and go...life carries on and even when I moved to California and we weren't as close (not just physically but emotionally) I knew that she was always there if I needed her.  Some people you become friends with and even if you go through a period of time where you don't talk as often or keep each other updated on life's happenings, no matter what you know that you can call them anytime and it is like you never missed a beat, that's my Jenny.  I have a lot of acquaintances, I only have a few that I would call my close friends, and I have only one I would call my best friend and that is her. (and this goes unsaid but of course my sister is my best friend, shes my blood bf, Jenny is my non-blood bf)

And with that said...I'm takin it back...Jenny don't be mad!!!  I had to show how young and goofy we used to look!!!

And us now...

I love this girl and her precious family so much!  I'm so glad she's kept me along for the ride!!  And taking pictures beside her reminds me I need to whiten my teeth!!


####################################################    New topic!!!

So we have discovered that Kenley likes to bang pots and pans, don't most young children?  She got a kick out of playing with these the other day!

She cracks me up!!!   And this next picture is one that I FINALLY captured on film, because my camera sucks, and she's not smiling but hopefully in the next few days I'll get one with a smile.  And this is her "hang at home, can't go out in public because someone will think I'm a boy outfit"  But I love it anyways because it has a monkey on it!

"How big is KK???   Soooo Big!!!!"   And she's drooling...lovely...

The Ickies

So the ickies finally hit the Copeland house.  I was hoping we would get away scott free because I do a pretty good job of keeping her secluded and away from sickness but it found us.  It found Kenley first, the poor thing.  She has never really been sick before.  She got a runny nose and coughs around Christmas time that lasted about a week but other than that she has escaped sickness.

She spent last Monday night in bed with me so I could take care of her and it never crossed my mind that she would decide to pass her fun stomach bug on to me.  Well it hit me Wednesday morning and it hit me hard.  I wasn't as lucky as K was.  She was whiny all day Monday so I guess she didn't feel good but the actual sickness only lasted about 4 hours for her.  It lasted much longer for me!  Jim had to come home early from work because I couldn't watch her and run to the bathroom every 15/30 minutes.

I finally started to feel like myself again around Thursday night and then Jim woke up Saturday morning sick.  It was a fun filled week here last week.  I'm surprised we didn't pass it on to the cats and dogs with as many germs as there were floating through the air.  At least it happened the week after her birthday party and the week after her actual birthday and lasering. 

            I was trying to get a picture with her wearing my glasses, she wasn't having it

                            Watching Yo Gabba Gabba...she loves DJ Lance Rock!

And of course I have to end with a picture of her smiling!!

On a side note...anyone else ready for Spring to get here? And stay here!! I can't stand these awesome 65 70 degree weekends and then waking up to coldness on Monday morning.  Ready to get my girl out to the park during the week and ready to take some pictures with my camera that sucks!!

Other than that can't really complain...life is good!!!

One!!!

She made it a whole year!  Its been a mighty rough year and this year will be tough too...though not as nearly as tough as last year but Hallelujah she made it!  Does every mommy tear up when "Happy Birthday" is sung to their baby or is that just me?

Her actual birthday was a very low key evening for us.  She had had a rough morning and afternoon with her lasering so we decided to just celebrate at home, the three of us, and we got her a giant piece of cake from the grocery store.  Lite the candle, sang her happy birthday and let her dig in!  Her first real piece of sweetness ever and she LOVED it!!! I think she's gonna be a sweets girl like her daddy!!

Thank goodness by that night she had started to feel a little better and was in a much better mood.  I didn't get weepy when we sang to her home but I did at her party!


Her party was this past weekend and we celebrated down at my mom and dad's place in Wilmington.  I wanted to invite some of her NICU nurses and I knew they were not probably going to be able to make it if we did her party at home so we had it down there.  And all but one were able to come.  And of course did I get a picture of K with her nurses???!!!  Of course not! Because I had ten thousand things on my mind and totally forgot.  Just like I had made her a photo book of pictures of her first year that I wanted to give her and let other people see and did I forget to give that to her as well.  Yep, sure did!  Oh my brain...

But we had such a good time and I'm pretty sure she did as well and my mom and dad did such a great job of getting everything together and for hosting.  They are the best!

                                                                               Here was the cake for everyone else      

                                                                             The Birthday girls cake!

She is such a stitch!!!  She figured out she could get to the cake faster by just skipping her hands and putting her mouth right down to the cake.  Most hilarious thing I have ever seen!!

I think it is safe to say she enjoyed herself some cake!

Then it was presents time!

Among other fabulous gifts she received this monkey chair!  I think I'm in love with it more right now then she is.  Once she figures out how to get herself in and out of it then I'm sure she'll love it more than me!  This was a gift from her Nurse Amanda and Nurse Rachelle.


Overall it was a great weekend!  To be surrounded by so many people that love this little girl just makes my heart swell!  I'm not entirely sure every single person knows exactly what they mean to Jim and I.   To have them travel through such a hard time in our lives and be there every step of the way to offer any type of help they could offer means the world to us.  We love all of our friends and family so much and will be forever grateful for the emotional, physical, spiritual help they have given us, without us even needing to ask this past year.  And the fact that they love our Kenley girl so much and are so happy to see her so healthy and doing so well is the kicker for me.  I know there are quite a few out there that love our K like she is their own and I am so grateful.

This little girl is so blessed...and so are we!