Prayers and help for Baby Hannah

Please help this sweet baby Hannah Byker!

Almost exactly 8 months ago, I wrote a blog asking people to help us by praying for and supporting Kenya.  The memories of how people reached out in EXTRAORDINARY ways and the memory of God's miracle for Kenya will be forever etched in my heart.  Now I'm asking all of you incredible prayer warriors again for prayers and support for some fellow missionaries down in Jarabacoa who just had a baby named Hannah, born in the same hospital as Kenya.  I will attach Hannah's story below but she also needs to be medically evacuated to the U.S. and the parents are looking for advice on where to take her for the best treatment as they are currently without health insurance for her.  Please read her story below and leave a comment if you would with any advice/words of knowledge or just to let them know that you are sending up prayers and where.  I know God can do a miracle for Hannah just like He did for Kenya and it is so amazing to see all of the support that is already coming together.  Here's the story from Hannah's mom and dad, Joe and Christen Byker, that was posted on facebook...

Our little daughter Hannah is currently in the NICU at HOMS (Santiago Met. Hospital) in the Dominican Republic. We need to medically evacuate her to the US to get her treatment for a condition that we are still finding out about. If you have ANY connections with good Children's Hospitals (particularly Pediatric surgeons), please let me know ASAP.  Please pray for Hannah's pancreas / liver as the Drs believe there may be a lesion or tumor and pray for the peace of God to reign in this trying time.  Please share this with anyone else you believe may be able to help us find a good place for her to be treated.

 They are considering some of the same hospitals we did - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Shriner's, Devos Children's Hospital.  Please share your words of wisdom and your contact info. if the Byker family can contact you with their questions.  Thank you for your help!!  And please visit this website if you are able to help financially.  Their medical evacuation costs alone are around $28,000 and they need all the help they can get! 

Donate to Baby Hannah here!

Love,

Kristin, Dave and Kenya

7 months

You wanted to show everyone how you could sit up and wave in your 7 month picture!  And show off your new top front teeth too!

Dear Kenya,

Here I am writing your blog late once again.  It seems like you have grown up so much this month.  Today you kept putting your toy phone up to my ear for me to talk into and seemed like you understood perfectly what you were trying to do.  You impress and surprise me everyday.  It is another snowy Saturday and your daddy is going crazy in the kitchen making pasties to freeze and singing you silly blues songs all about being a yooper and eating pasties (your daddy and I are both real yoopers in our love for pasties).  I was just helping him to peel potatoes but took a break to write you this way overdue blog!  

First things first - this week we celebrated your very first Valentine's Day!  Here we are one year ago on Valentine's Day....

Valentine's Day on the inside..

And here is us on Valentine's Day one year later...

Valentine's Day on the outside!

Crazy what a difference one year can make huh?  Last year I remember writing you a long letter on Valentine's Day all about love and telling how love is a choice you make and an action that you take, and how Daddy showed me love by cleaning up my puke one time long ago.  Whoa baby, if those kinds of actions are what makes true love, your dad has been a love machine this year!!  And I don't mean that in the way it sounds. :)  Cleaning up a little puke is NOTHING compared to what he has done for you and I this year.  He has been there through thick and thin, for better and for worse, high tide or low (like he said in his wedding vows), and shown us what true love is all about - that real love really has nothing to do with romance and everything to do with our actions to serve each other.  This year has been a crazy journey with a rollercoaster of ups and downs but there is no one I would rather have spent it with than you and your dad!  

My two favorite valentines who I love more than anyone else in the world!

 You and I started our Valentine's Day by going to our very first MOPS group, where they talked about LOVE and you got candy and a Valentine kit to make your very own valentine for your dad....

You stuck the stickers on all by yourself!

 I had the idea to hide it on your dad but then we got the idea to send him on a photo scavenger hunt instead with all the photos of your life with you and him together. and clues to why he is the best dad in the world..

Here was how it all started with the first photo clue of your dad when he got "pregnant" with you :)

 I forgot to get pictures along the way or his pile of treasures at the end, but I did get this picture of the aftermath...

 

After the scavenger hunt, we went out to Bilbo's for heart shaped pizza!  Your mommy and daddy spent our very first Valentine's Day eating heart shaped pizza at Bilbo's 10 years ago our first year dating and were so excited to be in Kalamazoo again so you could spend your first Valentine's Day doing the same with us! 

You were pretty excited to eat heart shaped pizza...

You weren't sure what to think about it at first, but once you tried it you just couldn't stop gobbling it up!

After dinner, we went out to Bob Evans for our favorite $3 chocolate peanut butter brownie hot fudge sundae dessert!  We agreed not to let you try it but Dad gave in to give you a taste...

After one taste you couldn't get enough and SCREAMED at the top of your lungs for more.  Mind you that you can scream pretty loud now so we were paying our bill and leaving Bob Evans pretty quick after that.  I think your dad learned his lesson and we decided to wait til your first birthday for your next dessert.  Oh and I forgot to mention your dad got me a beautiful bouquet of daisies which are my favorite flower.  All in all, it was the best first Valentine's Day for you that we could've asked for.

You've done quite a bit more traveling this month, including lots of trips to Grand Rapids where we've gotten in visits with your Auntie Lisa, your cousins Asher, Abram, and Zoe, our cousin Beth Wiersma, and friend Erin.  I am grateful for all of the people who help us and hang out with us in Grand Rapids to make for fun days even with all mommy's doctor appointments!

 

Always a fun time playing in Grand Rapids - you and Zoe had an apple eating party and Abram and Asher always make you giggle!

You are still a very well traveled baby making your way all around Michigan - here you having a "girls day" with Auntie Melissa in Battle Creek... 

Playing in Auntie Melissa's glasses while waiting to eat at Applebee's

Taking a nap in the dressing room at Macy's - these girls days are hard work!!

You also went to visit Lansing for the first time.  We got treated to some yummy PF Chang's and showered with gifts by mommy's friends Marie and Ellen.

Eating out at mommy's favorite Chinese restaurant

Maya loves you so much and brought you tons of new books that we love reading already!

We spent the rest of the day in Lansing having a pizza party and hanging out with some of mommy's favorite cousins, the Foley family...

We've also had some more visitors here this month including your Grandma Bradshaw and Beatriz Jacinto who is studying now at WMU...

She loves your kisses!

Visiting and spinning letters with your Great Grandma Meints

 We also started going to "Baby Talk" play group at the library... here you are sharing your toys with your new friends (I think you should learn to crawl or walk soon so they can share with you too)

And here are some photos of you with your best friend and total OBSESSION, Santa dog!  You can never get enough of her and she always makes you giggle (as you can see on this video)...

Santa is always spinning you in circles in your jumperoo!

Tying for second place after Santa, your other obsessions are our cell phone and computer!  It kinda scares daddy and I how much you already love technology!   And here are another handful of photos of you at 7 months old... (just cause they're too cute to pass up)

And now, some sad news... I believe this might be your last photo in a headband.  It seems you have decided to retire from your headband modeling career as you now rip them off your head in about .2 seconds.  It was fun while it lasted I guess... I may have to enlist some of your cousins to model them for me now... (Ana Leah perhaps?)

A few other pieces of news from your seventh month....

Santa had an accident this month and hurt her "dew claw" - dad said they were going to amputate and I thought he meant her whole leg so you and I were home praying all night that daddy wouldn't bring home a 3 legged Santa dog.  We were so happy when she came home with all four legs!

Your grandpa and grandma are back in Mexico so it's just you and me now at home.  And while it's a little harder and busier and I definitely appreciated all the help I've had over these past months, it also feels good to finally feel like a mom, all on my own, for very the first time.  

You still hate to sleep.  I'm wondering if we will ever get a good night's sleep again?

And last but not least... 

 

  We fall more and more in love with you everyday.

Love always,

Your mama

 

Serenity

Well the New Year has come and gone and I am slowly playing catch up.  Instead of New Year's resolutions, I found this idea to focus on one word for the year instead from my cousin Rachel at The Haney Life.  One word seems a little easier to achieve right?  It didn't take but a millisecond to think of my word for the year.  It's what I pray for in the morning and cry for at night and work for all day in between.  I just want to HEAL.  Dave and I have put our all into getting me healed in every way you could think of (and probably more).  From seeing 11 different doctors to countless library books, DVD's, support groups, internet forums, exercises, special massages, super foods, super juices, vitamins, and supplements.  I've gone lactose free, gluten free, acidic free, sometimes it feels like food free (never lost weight during the holidays like this year).  I've put up schedules, checklists, and goals around the house.  I've even eaten a box of jello everyday for the past 3 weeks without missing once because it's supposed to help build collagen (ask me about flavors, I know them all).  And it all brought me to this conclusion from the doctors:

"You are not healing.  You have shown no improvement.  You have been through extreme trauma and your body has undergone significant damage."

(insert big gusty sigh here)

And in the time I am waiting to heal, I miss out on life.  My eyes are blinded to the beauty around me and ears are deafened to the conversations because I am so focused on getting to a place where I feel better and where I'm not in pain anymore.  I go out and come home crying about how much I want to be normal like the rest of the moms I see instead of enjoying my experience for what it is.  So instead of trying to heal, here is what I've been told to do.  

Think about the old Kristin I used to be - the adventurous, carefree girl who crossed country borders alone without thinking and hiked waterfalls (even at 9 months preggo).  And then... grieve her, mourn her, let her go.  She doesn't exist anymore.  I will never be her again.  Redesign a new person who does the best she can with the body she has now.  And find peace and serenity in being that person.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am anything but serene.  And lately I have been a big ball of anxious, nervous energy who can still burst into tears at any mention of the DR or Kenya's seizures or giving birth.  I can't tell you how many times doctors have tried to practically shove anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds down my throat.  I'm climbing an uphill battle.  I live most every day afraid of what's to come instead of enjoying it for what it is.  I know I might never be the same.  I might always live in pain.  I might never be the mom who can give Kenya piggy back rides or teach her how to ride a bike or give her brothers or sisters.  Instead I have to find the things I can do and focus on those.  

So instead of praying for healing, this year I will pray for serenity.  That I can handle each day and make the best of it while enjoying the beauty of life around me - Kenya's giggles, my husband's embraces, Santa's antics, the pretty white snow falling down all around, family and friends who stand by through thick and thin...  This is my prayer for 2013 - what I will pray for each morning and each night and all day in between: 

"God grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change.  The courage to change what I can.  And the wisdom to know the difference."

Serenity is my word for 2013.  What is yours?

6 months

Dear Kenya,

A lot has happened in your sixth month!  That is my excuse for writing late yet again (it's the Dominican in me ;)  First things first, let me tell you about your very first Christmas!  You got to celebrate Christmas four times!  First we spent Christmas Eve at your Great Grandma Meints's house with a white elephant gift exchange and singing Christmas carols.  It was pretty easy to find white elephant gifts around this house. :)  Your dad and Uncle James enjoyed regifting an alligator back and forth that Santa attacked in Florida (someday your dad can tell you the whole story).  And you got to meet your cousin Lena that night for the first time too.

Look at this beautiful stocking that your Auntie Lisa sewed just for you, such a special gift! (this was not part of the white elephant exchange of course)

Hanging with Grandma at the Christmas party

Eyes all aglow

Your great Aunt Diane and Great Grandma Meints with your Grandma

Mama and Kenya after opening your presents (I think you were tired out)

Cousins Asher and Zoe

 I think your favorite part of this Christmas party was playing with your cousin Abram's toes.  It made you giggle all night long, I think we have a video of it to show you somewhere too! 

You've become a pro at opening gifts - after so many days of this we thought you would be expecting gifts everyday!

Family shot on Christmas Eve

In your "Baby's First Christmas" jammies on Christmas Eve

Sitting under our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree (it came hundreds of miles all the way from the u.p.!)

After you went to sleep, Daddy gave me my special present from both of you.  5 years ago on Christmas Eve your daddy got down on one knee at his house and presented me with a diamond ring.  Since mine was stolen, little did I know your daddy had been saving up money to get me a new one, and he gave it to me this year on Christmas Eve.  He is the best!

Christmas morning after opening some presents, we got ready to go to church and wouldn't you know it that Daddy and I got the time mixed up and showed up at the end of the service.  Oops!  At least we got to sing a Christmas song as everyone was leaving.  Then we went to the big DeYoung party at 2nd CRC.  They rented out the whole activity center and had tons of food and people.  Everyone was gushing over you all day in your little Santa dress.  

Here you are on Christmas day all ready to open presents!  You got a new puppy laptop from your cousin Lucy and a monkey hat from Great Grandma DeYoung!

Look at Grandpa enjoying his new gift!

Then everyone went to the special bowling tournament the DeYoungs have every year where they have all kinds of crazy tricks and challenges and someone wins a big trophy with their name engraved on it.  This year your cousins Beth and Andrew tied for first.  But instead of bowling, you and your mom and grandma came home and took a big nap instead! 

The next day it was time to get up and drive to Detroit for the next Christmas party.  But wouldn't you know it, there was a HUUUUGE blizzard! 

Helping Daddy drive through the blizzard!!

 It took us almost six hours to get there and by the time we did we were all pretty tired and cranky so we rescheduled the next Christmas party for brunch the next day, where we celebrated with your Grandma Bradshaw and the Hartmans.  You finally got to meet your cousin Landen and he was so smitten with you, giving you hugs and kisses and treating you like his little doll!  You got lots more great Christmas presents from all your fam including a new carseat!

Hanging in the Baby Bjorn with your dad is one of your all-time favorite passtimes!

Then it was time for Christmas #4 with the Dorr family which included a delicious meal cooked by Grandma Debbie and of course, more presents! (trust me, you are a pro at opening gifts now!)  I think your favorite is your new recordable book "Goodnight Moon" read to you by "Grandpops" and Grandma Debbie.

Enjoying a yummy Christmas meal cooked by Grandma Debbie

Your Auntie Megan loves you!

Hanging with your cousin Gavin

You'd think you'd be all Christmased out by now right?  Well guess who showed up next all loaded up with gifts like Santa Clause?  Your Auntie Lauren all the way from London!  It had been a few years since I'd seen her so you can bet I was sooooo excited, and she was equally excited to meet you for the first time!  And wouldn't you know it that we were so busy enjoying the day together that I didn't get a single photo of it?  But here is a picture of you wearing one of the many awesome gifts she got you.... 

That's you - a Dorr & DeYoung production - love this onesie!! :)

Then after Auntie Lauren came, we had more visitors!!  Our friends Tim and Laura Stanley and their son Abram came to visit us on their way home from NY to Minnesota.  They were some of our very closest friends when we all lived together in the DR and we have missed them so much so it was a very special visit!  And of course, we were too busy having fun again that we missed all the photo ops!!  But we had a great time eating PF Chang's and your daddy got to go out to a Lions football game too.  We can't wait to see them again.  AND to meet their new baby who is arriving this May, another baby boy! (wow lots of options popping up for arranged marriages for you huh? :)

Santa coming to welcome us home from Detroit

We finally made it back to Kalamazoo on Christmas Eve but your daddy was pretty sick and everyone was so tired that you, your dad, and your grandparents were all sleeping at midnight and so I rang in the New Year all by myself this year.  But that's okay - since you hate sleeping these days, I didn't have to wait too long for you to wake me up so I could give you a New Year's kiss.

Shortly after NewYear's was your grandma's birthday where we went out to Finley's restaurant for her free birthday steak like she does every year.

Chocolate Volcano for Grandma's birthday

Besides your first Christmas and first New Year's, you've had more firsts during your sixth month - like your first food, which was avocado!  You weren't a big fan, but are gradually warming up to solid foods.  So far your very favorite is sweet potatoes.  Your dad swears it gives you a sugar high cause you bounce up and down like crazy after you eat them.

Not much avocado made it in your mouth the first time

Grandpa says we should add salt and maybe you'd eat it better

 
You also said what we count as your first word!  You say "dadadadada" all the time!  I always try to get you to say "mama" but it's always "dada".  Your dad says that he has been whispering it in your ear at night.

Some other new things from this month are that you have your third tooth, and are working on your fourth.  This keeps us up a lot at night!  Some nights you are up 7+ times and me and your dad are walking around all day like zombies.  The family decided that when it comes to sleep, you are a Dorr and not a DeYoung cause the DeYoungs love sleep and you do not!  Also new, you are sitting up with support and many times without support!  You go girl! 

One more new thing for the new year - your dad got a new job!  He is working at Kentwood Furniture now in Grand Rapids so we will be moving back up that way someday soon, but for now are staying with Grandpa and Grandma in Kalamazoo and will be holding up the fort while they are in Mexico.

Other than that, life is just back to normal after the holidays - hanging around the house, doing lots of playing, singing songs, and making more headbands of course too!  Here are a few more photos of that...

You are not going to fit in this little tub much longer!

Little penguin!

Airplane rides with dad

New monkey jammies from Uncle Bradley

Breakfast date at Coney Island in Grand Rapids

So that's your long update from this month, I hope you enjoyed all of your firsts!  Next month, maybe you'll be crawling! (but hopefully not, cause we are not ready for it!)  Oh and one more story cause your dad insists to include at least one funny story in each of these blog entries...

This actually happened after we got home from Detroit last time after Thanksgiving but who's counting... before we left your dad and Grandpa were outside working on the car and needed a place to save the transmission fluid so they got one of my empty juice bottles out of the recycling bin and dumped it in.  A few days later your grandpa found it on the picnic table, forgot about dumping in the transmission fluid and thought it was my juice (it was called Blueberry Goodness or something like that so it looked just the same) and so he stuck it back in the fridge.  When we got home after 4 days in Detroit, I came in while Dad was unpacking the car and got my juice out of the fridge to take my vitamins and took a big gulp and.... ran to sink screaming and splashing water in my mouth and all over my face while your grandpa just laughed and laughed so hard he couldn't even explain what happened, then your dad came in and was like "What is going on??" and made me go in the bathroom to try to make myself puke and the whole time your grandpa was still laughing!  All of the family got a big kick out of that story at your dad's birthday party and now everyone asks me if I'd like transmission fluid to drink.  I thought you might like that story. (but don't ever think about playing that prank on me again, one time was more than enough and my belly was not feeling good that night!)

Okay little chica, that's all for today, I wish you a very happy 2013 year full of firsts, full of fun and memories, full of love.... I love you to the moon and back.... xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo (I could hug and kiss you forever!)

Love,
Your mama

P.S. A couple of blast from the past photos that I just found on your dad's phone that I never posted... look at how much you have grown.... (and sure does make me miss summer on cold days like today!)