Baptized in Christ

Father's Day was a very special day around here. We baptized Lillian Jeanne surrounded by our church community, family and friends. Lilly is very lucky to have her Uncle Petey as her Godfather, and her Aunt Chelsea as her Godmother. Lilly wore the same baptismal gown that Cecilia wore. Lilly is baby #53 to wear the gown on their baptismal day. The hankie on her head was my grandma's (Jeanne) wedding hankie. It was added to the ensemble with Cecilia, and it completes the gown perfectly.






Jon rode in the back of the car with Lilly on the way home (just in case she threw-up) and she gave him her first smiles. She was being a little ham. I guess the combination of it being Father's Day and her being baptized made her smiley. She continued with the smiles when we got home, and Ma captured the first one on pixels.



We celebrated Lilly's baptism and Father's Day with brunch at our home. It was a beautiful day, and Lilly was happy to be passed around to anyone that would hold her and let her sleep.

Nick & Megan: Married!

Congratulations to the tallest of my little brothers! He married Megan on July 11, 2011. There wedding was here in the Denver area at Stonebrook Manor.

Cecilia had a great time with her buddy and cousin Andrew before the ceremony. These two are so cute together. She had a complete and total melt down during the ceremony. Probably because it was bed time for her. Jon spent the ceremony in the back with C, trying to keep her quiet and out of the ponds.
The ceremony was nice. Nick and Megan exchanged vows in front of about 200 family and friends. Then they shared their first kiss (ever)! It was a well executed spectacular dip.

The wedding party rocked back down the isle, and my Dad celebrated that he now had 3 married kids.

Here is the new Ambrose family. I would like to point out that for the first time ever, the female's out number the male's in the family.


The reception was very nice. The food was delicious! I even had seconds. We arranged for Cecilia to be picked up by a sitter so she could get to bed. Lilly slept through the entire reception in various sets of arms. Lots of friends and family got their baby fix, and I got a little break and was able to enjoy dancing with the crowd.


In keeping with tradition, Nick and Megan slipped away in this car:
This car was the get away car for both Jon & I, and Pat & Sarah.

July 2005

August 2010

So, the four of us greeted Nick & Megan as they came out to the Dart.

Congrats Nick & Megan! We love you!

Upper GI Results

The Upper GI Series was not as difficult as I had anticipated. In fact it was pretty easy. Lilly drank her barium cocktail like a pro, once she figured out the bottle thing. The results came back showing that her anatomy is totally and completely normal. Thank goodness! It did show the reflux in full force too.

She started on Prevacid last Tuesday and I was really amazed at first by how fast it was working. She went from throwing up 5-6 times per day to only 1-2 times on both Tuesday and Wednesday. But, by Thursday we were back up to par. So, we are still assuming this position after she eats (notice Lilly and I with the puke cup. Jon looks like this most of the time):
I fear that next week I will be changing my diet to see if that helps. I've been preparing myself and I've started taking note of what I can and cannot consume. I think I will miss my ice cream the most. On the bright side, I'm sure to drop the extra baby weight in no time if I have to eliminate milk and soy.

Lilly at 4 weeks

We had our follow up appointment with the gastroenterologist on Thursday. ... I think I forgot to blog that we met with him the first time, so I better catch you all up.

Back on May 24th we met with Dr. Rosensweig, a pediatric gastroenterologist. This came on the heels of a follow up appointment with my primary care doc where Lilly had showed no improvement. We were sent to see the specialist. But not before getting an X-ray of Lilly's belly. That was so traumatizing for me, thank goodness Lilly won't remember. Dr. R was very attentive to us, he listened to me and checked Lilly out. I feed Lilly while we were there, and of course, that was one of the only feedings she kept down that day. At this point Lilly was throwing up (and let me emphasize throwing up not just spitting up) just about every meal within 0-15 minutes of eating. He recommended that we either stop the Zantac that my primary care prescribed or increase the dosage to triple what it was. We decided to go with the increase of the dosage to see if it would help and then follow up in a couple of weeks. Dr. R seemed to think that Lilly most likely had a moderate to severe case of reflux that she will grow out of. It was at this point that I had to accept the fact that it was going to be a messy few months. This is when I implemented the baby puke cup. So now when I feed her, I am prepared with a burp cloth and a cup to catch what ever might come back up. It has worked great and cut down on my laundry loads dramatically. I also like the fact that I can quantify how much she is throwing up.

We had our follow up appointment with the gastroenterologist on Thursday. Lilly weighed in at 9 lbs, 8oz, and 21.5 inches. She is gaining weight, despite the amount she is vomiting. This was a good sign. The doctor was not thrilled with her reflux progress though. I explained that she was still throwing up often and I showed him how much she has been throwing up. She has also been getting more irritated after eating. She will get so visibly uncomfortable, and it was so hard for me to see her like that. Fortunately, she "performed" for the doctor at the appointment. I fed her, she got irritated and uncomfortable. I fed her the other side and then she threw up. I was quick on the draw with the puke cup, so Dr. R was able to see the full cycle of what she was going through. He was also very impressed with my puke catching skills.

At this point we are checking a few other options. Dr. R is not convinced that it is not a physiological issue, so tomorrow I have to take her in to have an upper GI series done. I am so not looking forward to this appointment. I just keep reminding myself that she won't remember this. Dr. R also instructed us to stop the Zantac for three days to see if there was any improvement, if not, then she will start on Prevacid on Monday. There has been no improvement, so Prevacid tomorrow it is. Hopefully the Prevacid works because if it doesn't the next step is to remove milk and soy from my diet. Apparently there is a protein in milk and soy that can cause the muscle to reflux. If it is not an acid issue and a muscle issue, then my diet could be the culprit. I really hope that this is not the case, because I'm not sure how well I will handle the stress of newborn, toddler, and a very limited diet (especially without ice cream). I will do what it takes though.

Other than the vomit issue, Lilly has been a wonderful baby. She is sleeping well. She is very patient and tolerant of her big sister. I've gotten a few first smirks out of her in the last few days and I can't wait for more smiles. She is a very content little soul. She loves to be in the Baby Bjorn, aka the "baby holster". She does have a bad case of baby acne right now, worse than I ever remember with Cecilia. She is a sweet heart and I am cherishing every moment with her.

Congrats!!

My very good friend, Amanda, had her second baby boy yesterday. Lilly and I went to visit them today and Lilly and Taven had their first of many play dates. Amanda and I have been friends since we were 14 and we are so lucky to be able to raise our babies at the same time. Our oldest kids are 3 months apart, and Lilly and Taven are just 3 weeks apart. Love you, friend! Welcome to the world Taven Eriksen!!

What are the Chances??

Over the Memorial Day weekend there was some out of town family in town for various parties. On the Monday holiday, the guys got together to go shoot things that go bang out in Elizabeth (about 1.25 hours away). I reluctantly sent Jon on his way with his promise that he would be home by 3 so that we could have some family time together. I didn't want to be "that" wife that says her husband has to stay home. I did want him to go and have some guy time, but selfishly I wanted him to be home with me too.

I called him at 2:15 to make sure he was on his way. No answer. I started to get mad.
He called me at 2:30 and said that he was on his way, but there was a little problem and he was in bad cell area and would have to call me back. I was almost boiling now.
He called me back at 2:45 and the first words were "I'm OK. But, there was an accident." WHAT!!! An accident with things that go bang! Start talking Mr. Fries!

He assured me he was fine, but there was some splash back from one of the bullets when it hit the steel target at 50 yards and it hit him in the neck. They had already removed the piece of shrapnel and had been to the Elizabeth Fire Department to have them evaluate it. The paramedics cleaned it out with saline and called the Parker Hospital, which of course had him come in to the ER to get an X-Ray to make sure that there was nothing else in there and that there was no other damage. The bullet fragment hit him about an inch to the left of his Adam's Apple.

I could tell he was fine on the phone, and it didn't really hit me as to what he was saying until my Aunt called and then my Grandpa, and then my Uncle. They all called to check on me- to see how I was doing. When I was talking to all of them, I was upset on the phone, but I was still upset that Jon wasn't home yet. Then it hit me that this could have been a really big deal, and that a 1/2 inch in any direction and Jon could have been in way, way, way worse shape.

Jon was seen immediately at the hospital. There was nothing else wrong with him. He was given 1 stitch and sent on his way. My grandpa, Pa, showed up at my door to stay with me until my uncle drove Jon home. Pa was the one who shot the gun, so you can imagine how he felt. I'm so glad that Jon was not hurt any more than he was. Jon had some awesome guardian angels with him.

Garage Sale Find

Last Saturday, I escaped all by myself to get a bang trim and go to the bank. (I know- it sounds so thrilling!) The salon I go to is in a very nice newer neighborhood and they were having the neighborhood garage sale. I was on a mission to find a play house for C. She loves them, and there is one at Costco that I purposely avoid because she would play in it for hours if I let her. So, I drove around until I spotted it. It was at the end of a cul-de-sac already taken apart, but I would know those Little Tikes plastic pieces anywhere. I pulled up and claimed it even before I got out of the car. They were only asking $25 for it! AND they helped me get it in to my car, which was no small task. Those houses are bigger than they look. Anyway, I was so proud of myself. I'm not sure who was more excited about it- me or Cecilia. Jon put it together right away for her, and it was almost traumatic for her to have to leave it to go down for her nap. I foresee hours of fun in the future.

Take Her Back

Some of us (eh-em Cecilia) are still adjusting to this precious little child.

Cecilia has become very protective of her time on the changing table. Whenever we take Lilly to be changed, C will strip her pants and her diaper off almost immediately and want to be changed too. She has also realized that the baby has certain places in the house where she goes. For example. If I am nursing Lilly and Cecilia wants me to put the baby down, she will point and/or hit the swing and yell "Baby" to have me put her in there.

The best one is the car seat. We have to hide the car seat now because Cecilia will drag it out, and become annoyingly insistent that the baby get in it and go out the front door. C will point/hit the car seat and then say "Baby, GO!" over and over again. It's quite comical really. I'm sure in time C will appreciate Lilly, but for now I better hide the car keys.

My Girls

Growing up, I always wanted to have girls but I never actually thought I would be blessed to have one girl, let alone two. This is mostly due to the fact that boys run in our family. On my Mom's side of the family, I am the oldest of 17 grandchildren, of which their are only three girls. To boot- of all of my Mom's cousins (too many for me to count), there is only one set of sisters from their offspring. All of the other cousins either have one or no girls. So, the blessing that I have of TWO girls is wonderful! I must admit though, I am a little jealous of my girls. They are sisters, and I never had a sister. I am so excited to see the adventures and friendship they find as they grow up.