Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Date Night


For the first time in 5 years we did the dinner and a movie thing! We were so gracious when Lauren gave us this present for Christmas, which included babysitting. The Italian restaurant was very romantic and the movie Juno was adorable...a great night all together.
So I was just realizing how much God has blessed us as a family to get through the hard times. Life is so much more complete with Emily in our lives, and recently life has gotten much easier. It's great that we've added hours onto our day in that we don't have to commute to see her and scrub our hands raw if we want to open the door to the NICU. She's no longer on her heart monitor which we had to drag around the house, she is only on one medication a day (rather than 4, 3 times a day), and she primarily breastfeeds (which means I'm not pumping 8 hours a day and cleaning bottles in my sleep). I think I'm most grateful for being able to leave the house with Emily and going to public places...we've been grocery shopping once and she slept the whole time! Eli and I love going to mass as a whole family, and I love getting out of the house nearly everyday to go to daily mass with Emily.
I don't think we ever really envisioned what life would be like with Emily without family here. While in the NICU the doctors and nurses tried to prepare us, as did the support groups, but I think I walked away more scared than I needed to be. She did not need seclusion until April, she has not gone back to the ICU, we can take her on walks!!! Emily is not fussy all the time--rarely is she fussy!! She is sleeping more at night, and she is happy! Truly happy...not dazed because of her medicine, but joyful. We couldn't ask for a better feeling when she smiles. This is the absolute best time of our lives, and we cant thank you all enough for the prayers. Praise the Lord! God is good.

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