Church

Her little cheeks are red and blotchy because she is teething

Today we made it to church for the first time in a long time. It was SO good to be back. I love singing the worship songs and always get so emotional, holding Cassie in my arms and singing the songs brought a flood of emotions and the tears came to my eyes. Not tears of sadness but tears of joy. We are so blessed and God is so amazing and to know that no matter what happens in our life he is ALWAYS in control is such a comfort. I am so thankful to God for everything, even for our infertility because it brought me even closer to him and made me stronger. Before we had settled on our decision of IVF and while we underwent the treatments I committed myself to reading the bible everyday, it was a great comfort. While Cassie was in the hospital the first month of her life I was still calm and at peace because I knew God was in control and nothing was happening that he already didn't know. This all was why I cried in church today.



Cass was mesmerized by the songs in church, she loved it. During the sermon she sat on our laps for a short while then started to get antsy so I took her out into the lobby. I then decided to check out the nursery and talked to the ladies running it. They showed my around and explained how it all worked, then asked if I wanted to try it out. I said "sure" They let me stay in the room with her for a while because I didn't want to just drop her off in a strange new surroundings and because she has just gotten over her stranger anxiety I didn't know how she would act. She did refuse to let go of my shirt at first but then she loosened up and went to a toy and another little girl her age came over to play so I snuck out. She did GREAT! Not a tear out of her and when we came back the nursery worker was holding her....what?! She let a stranger hold her - I am SO proud of her. The nursery worker told us how she was very impressed by how much Cassie understood and said she loved how I taught her to shake her hips on command :o) I am thrilled she did so great...yipee!! We can go to church every week now and Cass will do great in the nursery!
Showing me how old she is (1!)


Matts parents also came over last night and they were able to hold her...that is the first time they have been able to hold her since I believe she was 6 months old! So proud of my girl!

My Fertility Doctor

I just found out my fertility doctor passed away on Saturday. I was so surprised and saddened to hear this news. I will forever be grateful for his wisdom and his dedication to helping families acheive their dream of having a family. He affected many many lives. The following was from my clinics website:

We are deeply saddened that our director, K. Paul Katayama, M.D., Ph.D., unexpectedly passed away on Saturday, February 20th, 2010.
Dr. Katayama was world-renowned in his field, responsible for a number of "infertility milestones" including Wisconsin's first frozen embryo baby; first selected assisted hatching (SAH); first pregnancy by partial zona dissection (PZD); first sister-to-sister donated oocyte pregnancy; first gestational surrogacy pregnancy; first microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration pregnancy (MESA); first percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration pregnancy (PESA), and the Midwest's first pregnancies by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), blastocyst embryo transfer, and gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) done in the office suite.

For nearly three decades, Dr. Katayama dedicated his personal and professional skills to helping couples realize their dream of having a baby.

From his dedicated staff - "We miss and will never forget our KPK."

Thank you for keeping us all in your thoughts and prayers.

Visitation will be held on Friday, February 26 from 4 to 7 pm and Saturday, February 27 from 12:30 to 2 pm with the funeral service at 2 pm at Becker Ritter, 14075 West North Avenue, Brookfield, WI.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the K. Paul Katayama Memorial Fund of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Sound Investments Campaign

Tuesday

She will put her bear in the chair...


Then proceed to sit on him and laugh


The other day Cassie was sitting on the floor and just stood up and walked away. She stood up with nothing to pull up on...I was so proud of her. She proceeded to do it all day like she had been doing it for months. I don't know if it has taken her so long to be able to do it because of the g-tube being in her stomach??? It almost seemed like her stomach muscles were weak. There is alot of scar tissue in that area as well so maybe that affected how hard it was to stand up as well. Whatever it was she is doing it now and I am thrilled.

G-tube scar (No bikini for Cassie!)


Our favorite thing to do now is wrestle. She'll run around the house while I lay on the floor and jump on me. I'll throw her over my body, she will burst into laughter and repeat. Its so darn cute, those laughs are beyond priceless. I savor every moment with her and try to not take ANYTHING for granted.

Looking for more toys


Look what I found under my butt!!!


Little Princess


Look at the drool coming out her mouth!


From the pic above you can see she is drooling like a St Benard, she is getting two more top teeth. One is already visible and I can see the outline of the other one.

Watching Nick Jr


Pushing her train




Mug Shot - does she have a mop of hair or what??!!


Always sticking that tounge out


Giving her self a big wet kiss in the mirror

Injuries

Injury free


Injury free


Still Injury free


UNTILL....
Today we went to Babies R Us with "Na-Na". We walked into BRU (which was jam packed)and walked around looking at all the adorable clothes. Cassie wanted to walk around so I set her on the ground and went to straighten out her skirt, she took two steps and her boot caught the carpet....down she went. Not onto carpet or even a hard floor but forehead first onto the bottom of the metal racks the clothes hang on. She cried and cried and it immediately started to turn black and blue. A couple min later she had a huge goose egg right between her eyes. Withing a couple of min she was fine, walking around and having fun but it ruined by shopping mood....I felt HORRIBLE. Yes, I know toddlers fall and get bumps and bruises but I kept replaying her head hitting the metal bar...no words. Ouch.

Injury - Big Red boo boo (its swollen but hard to tell from the pic)


Injury #2 was not to Cassie but her favorite Pooh Bear. Someone chewed off Poohs ears....and it wasn't Cassie. I think that leaves the guilty party as a big yellow dog. Sigh. I had to throw out pooh because his ears are sharp jagged points now, Cassie did not see me do it. I'll have to get a new Pooh I guess.



Poor Pooh.

Playing with her best friend

Athena "chasing" Cassie


Cassie sticking her tounge out at Athena...come and get me!!


Teasing/taunting continues....


Athena follows her (to Cassie it is chasing)




Really all Athena wants at this point is to go outside..


Run, Run, Run....however Athena went the other way. (see the tail?)


Peeking around the corner for Athena


Don't ask...cause I don't know. Pretending she is a dog maybe? Athena always has something in her mouth.

Valentines Day Weekend

Cassie turned 16 months old on Saturday! We went out to lunch and she was walking around, some lady asked me "Is she an early walker?" I laughed and said "No, she is one." The lady thought she was 9 months old!! Again...Cass is only
2nd percentile in weight so I can see that. We got her a princess chair for Valentines Day. She loves putting her stuffed animals in it, and if we ask her where her "princess chair" is she will bring us over to it. She is also big into giving us hugs now, its so sweet.

Saturday we went out with friends for sushi and the martini bar. Yum yum yum!! At the bar they had an elvis impersonater and were handing out roses to all the ladies. Elvis did come up and serenade me twice. It was a nice night out on the town. For Valentines Day Cassie and I did a project, I dipped her hands in finger paint and put her prints all over some pastel paper, added some heart stickers and tada!! It was Daddies Valentine from Cassie.


Today we ran to the grocery store and then made our regular stop at the library...Mondays can be long days and it helps to do things to break up our day.

Putting blush on daddy (it only took her one time to watch me do my makeup & she copied)


Cassie and her princess chair



Taking her doggys for a ride

Wednesday

Today Cassie FINALLY pulled up to stand BY HER SELF!! At almost 16 months old!! She has always tried, given up and cried for me to help her which I always do. She was sitting on the floor at my grandparents house, grabbed a box and pulled up to a stand. When we got home she did it 5 more times like she had been doing it forever. Crazy girl!! So tonight we lowered her crib since she was pulling to stand in her crib as well and could launch herself over the side. She sure takes her time in doing things. She must get her uncoordination from me. :o)




Tomorrow I have a playdate and right after that we are meeting my husband and his parents for dinner, should be fun and a long day out on the town for Cassie... its so nice to get out in the afternoons, it reallys makes the day go fast.




Our IVF clinic has reduced rates right now so we have been discussing trying IVF again. I am torn on it. If we would have had embroys to freeze this would be a non-issue but unfortunatly we didn't have any to freeze so we would have to start from square 1. Pricey square 1........ I would also like to adopt. Things to think about.



Hugging my legs...such a cuddle bug


Hanging with the boys


Trying to balance the balloon on her head....


She did it!!!!


The other day Cassie went into the bathroom (which I usually close) and shut the door behind her. No big deal...until I went after her and she had pulled out the drawer.


This was as far as the door would open!! I couldn't get to her! I started to panic...tried to claw my way in (ha!). Finally in a calm voice I said " Cassie close the drawer" ....and she did!!! Thank God!