Happy Birthday Eli!!!

This weekend we celebrated Eli's 28th birthday! We had a really great night beginning with mass was concelebrated by Archbishop Gustavo and Bishop Cantu at San Fernando Cathedral. Following mass we were thrilled to be able to attend the JPII CHS gala honoring Karl Keating, the founder of Catholic Answers. Mr. Keating's speech inspired us to continue to live an authentic Catholic life despite what society and history suggests.


On Saturday we took advantage of the cooler weather (ya know, below 100*) and treked down to the Pearl Farmers Market. We had a nice little picnic down by the river and played soccer in the park!


And as if that wasn't a great day so far, we topped it off with a visit to the Children's Museum! Here's our little construction workers after operating the dump truck.


On Sunday my parents had us over for yummy steaks and a swim.

Happy 3 week birthday Max!

Family Updates

Eli loves his new job and comes home in such a great mood everyday. His schedule right now includes working in Austin on Thursdays and Fridays, meaning he'll be able to see his parents every week. Also sometimes Emily and I will be able to join him and stay the day in Austin to hang out with Grandma and cousins. (I'm writing this from Austin today!) He really loves spending time with my dad and working on all his home projects...most recently cleaning out the garage and installing shelving. It's nice to have someone to watch football and drink a beer with every now and then too! (that used to be me, but I'm so worn out on football). One cool thing about his new job is that it's about 2 minutes away, meaning he can wake up later and also come home for lunch.

It didn't take long for Emily to get used to her new home, and now she's by far the happiest she's ever been. My parents' house is one big adventure that needs to be explored, and what better way to explore than by WALKING!! That's right...actual walking. One day Emily went from not take a single step alone, to walking 33 steps for the first time. After that, it took only a few days to make the complete transition to fully walking everywhere she goes. I'm going to miss that cute little crawl she had...but am happy she can walk mostly so I can put her down in public places if need be. Right now molars are cutting, which will make 10 teeth (that's a lot since September when she got her first one!) She loves to listen to music and dance, play outside on the trampoline or swing, open and close cabinets and drawers, and is attached to her baby who she pushes around the house. We have met another little baby named Lucy who is just a doll and is fun for Emily to play with on Tuesdays after bible study. Emily's new physical therapist is so sweet, and at the moment is only concerned with her lack of speech. Recently she's finally be able to comprehend what we're saying and is following directives. Her favorite words are baby, dada, eetie (for sweetie the dog). She also can point to Nana, Grandaddy, Aunt Teresa and Auntie Annie.

I'm feeling really great these days and can feel a little rumbly in my tummy everyday. We had a miscarriage scare in early December, with dilation and heavy contractions, and it was suggested that I go on bed rest until July. I was just torn to pieces and emotional for a long time, but the contractions subsided after a few weeks and I've felt pretty good ever since. I'm about 16 weeks along and have a new high risk OBGYN who I feel comfortable with, and I'm going to see a perinatal specialist soon to determine if I need shots to maintain the pregnancy to 40 weeks. I'm so thankful for my mom and dad and sisters who have really helped me out with watching Emily so I could take it easy. At our next appointment we'll be able to tell the gender of the baby, but I really love surprises, so I think we'll wait until the actual birthday (that is if Eli doesn't go crazy with curiosity beforehand).

Emily has a new girl cousin, Adelina Joan, born to Eli's sister Olivia. She favors her older brother Felix with dark curly hair, and weighs just about the same as he did: 9lbs 9oz. Labor was tough and long, and I was just so worried (my hormones are on overdrive right now). We're so excited to meet her today, especially since this is our first niece!

Prayer Requests:
For my brother-in-law Kyle, as his kidney disease has rapidly progressed and dialysis and transplant are in the near future. (also of course for his wife Teresa!!) Eli's brother Fred and Grandpa are leaving on a 2 week cruise to Antarctica tomorrow. My sister Lauren's theology thesis is due very soon, along with comprehensive exams. Eli's parents are awaiting the arrival of a sibling group for adoption very soon.

November News

Well I'm back after temporarily falling off the face of the planet. Since Emily's surgery, Eli and I have barely had a chance to stop and catch our breath! There are so many updates in our family...so here we go!

The most exciting news is that we're expecting another baby! After a scary 3 month preterm labor and a difficult 6 month recovery, Eli and I were told that we probably wouldn't be having kids for awhile, which is always disheartening. So by the grace of God I'm carrying a kidney bean sized baby due on July 18th. I have a feeling it's a boy because I am just sick as a dog everyday. We had our first ultrasound and everything looks good...and we're hoping to go past 6 months this time around!

Emily is doing very well as always. The scar on her arm is healing nicely, but her hand is pretty infected. We've been keeping it wrapped and it looks like it's starting to heal. We also had the formal physical therapy assessment to figure out if Emily still needs services each week. A team came out to our house for a few hours and ran a battery of tests to assess her skill levels, and socially, cognitively, and emotionally she's caught up to a 15 month level. Language and motor skills are still delayed, but the possibility of cerebral palsy has been dismissed...yay! She can almost walk and I predict that she may be saving it for a christmas present:) She weighs 17lbs and measures 28" (which puts her on the chart at 5% for height for the first time!!)

Eli graduated with his MBA this past weekend. We are so proud of him! We've spent a lot of time with his family lately--a few days after visiting the Harkins for Thanksgiving, Philip's 50th, and the Lemieux's Christmas Party.

And lastly, we're moving to San Antonio on Saturday. Eli's job is set up, we've got a place to stay, and now we're just trying to get there. As you can imagine, packing has been a lot more difficult with our little helper and her obsession with unpacking. She'll definitely come in handy later on! Also this darn morning--more like evening--sickness has left me pretty much unable to help after 7pm (which is really when it all gets started!), so Eli can take credit for most of the work! We are just about drowning here trying to get everything done in the next 3 days...but it will get done and soon we'll be enjoying the Christmas season without a care in the world!!

Big News!

Drumroll please...we're moving here! Can you believe it's going on 7 years that we've lived in Dallas? A lot has happened here...college, meeting our best friends, falling in love (well, really that happened in Rome), getting engaged, our first home, our first baby, our first salary jobs. I could go on and on. We plan to make the move after Christmas and are excited to be closer to family, but are sad to leave our good friends behind. We had already looked into moving down and Eli had started to send out resumes, when a change in his job position encouraged him to resign and move on at the end of the year.

I thought that finding a job last year would be difficult, but this year's recession has us worried about how much hiring companies will be doing in the future months. Eli is the hardest worker I've ever known and scarecly takes even five minutes for himself to relax. His capstone class is very labor intensive, but also interesting and well worth the hours he puts in each night. In December he will graduate with his MBA and take a break from school for awhile (but seriously, who knows what he'll do next!). At TEMSCO he is the marketing director and at his previous job he was the marketing manager, so naturally he will be looking for a marketing job in a large company.

I wish I could bottle Emily and save her in this age forever. What a sweetheart! Apparently she had been going through a phase of being a little difficult (not sleeping through the night, not letting me put her down or leave the room, fussing all day, and not playing by herself) for the last few months. I chalked it up to sleep deprivation and severe stranger anxiety, and am pleased to say she has moved miles this month!! Oh I wish you could see her crawling and cruising around the room. She plays independently for a good portion of the day and rarely cries! Finally she is going down for 2 naps easily and bedtime is 1000 times easier than in the past. I'd like for her to sleep past 5am (since she goes to bed at 7), but I'll take what I can get! I think she's used to going to mass with me and although she still wants to talk and play, she has shown a great improvement in her patience. Emily still eats like a champ, eating everything I put in front of her--all vegetables, fruits, meats, beans, breads and pastas. I tested her dairy allergy yesterday with a pinch of cheese and she still got hives, so we'll continue to wait. I've begun to wean her (those top teeth are vicious) and she likes the soymilk and is learning how to drink out of a sippy cup. The cloth diapers are still easy and are better for her diaper area than before. We have a pedi appt on Friday to see if the medication is helping her condition, and we may do an ultrasound as well. Keep our little trooper in your prayers:)

I realized that I never really talk about myself, and so I thought I'd take this chance to update on what I've been up to. Besides taking care of Emily all day everyday by myself, I've been working on my faith life. I enjoy reading about saints' lives and am strengthening my devotion to Mary. When I was having a hard time with Emily in the hospital and when she was such a high need baby, I was able to put my life in perspective with remembering the seven sorrows of Mary. To keep the faith during hardship is nothing but an extreme necessity for us all. I also spend a lot of time reading about strenghening my marriage and family in the Catholic faith. It's tough having just a few hours to spend together as a family a week, and even tougher on a marriage if you never see each other! We know that full time school and work are what allow me to stay home with Emily, and it's worth it. I also spend my time doing marriage counseling and teaching about Natural Family Planning. This weekend we're starting up our pro-life involvement with the life chain and 40 days for life vigil in front of the abortion clinics. Of course for fun I recently taught myself how to knit and sometime soon my cousin will be teaching me how to make bread from scratch.

Birthday Weekend

Last week was super busy and went by super fast! Eli has been enjoying the Cowboys games on his new TV and had company over to watch the Monday night football game. On Tuesday I had a baby play date over here with Teresa and Aidan, and Katy and Caroline. Caroline cracks me up...she loves to carry her toys in her mouth so she can cruise around. She and Emily pretty much fought over every toy the whole time. Aidan is growing so much too, as he can hold his head up and has really good trunk support. What a sweetie!

On Wednesday night we hosted (a very lonely without the Kanes and Alexanders) supper club. I made my mom's King Ranch Casserole and Rebecca brought some fantastic peach cobbler. Sophia is very mature and officially is a toddler!

Friday evening we made our way to San Antonio to spend the night with my parents. I just realized that somewhere down the line I stopped referring to my previous house as "home". Eli had a meeting for his capstone class in San Antonio the following morning, so it worked out great to spend a few hours hanging out with my sisters. Teresa scored some points at her volleyball game and afterwards we had a birthday steaks for Eli on the balcony. Of course no visit is complete without a dip in the pool! Emily loves to swim!

From there we jetted off to Austin to meet the Danzes for the birthday party of Wilma, Felix, and Eli. The whole family got together to watch the UT game and hang out. Lots of fun! Emily loved playing with her cousins and all of their toys. She was very content the entire time--it always surprises me how much Emily thrives outside the home. I guess she takes after her parents because she's definitely not a homebody! Grandma and Grandpa have a fun setup for the grandkids in the backyard--I can't wait to see Emily playing with her cousins in the future!

Yesterday we celebrated Eli's birthday with dinner for our Dallas family. Of course I made Eli's favorite--steak and potatoes!

Love never fails

The first reading from last Wednesday's mass is one of my favorites. Each time I hear it, my heart jumps to 5 years ago while Eli and I listened to our professor recite the beautiful verses in Corinth, Greece. Centuries ago, St. Paul went to the town only to encounter dozens of citizens living in deep sin, disrespecting all of God's gifts. In dire need of help, St. Paul encouraged them to live by these very inspiring words:

Love is patient, Love is kind, It does not envy, it does not boast,
It is not proud, It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
Love always protects, always trusts,always hopes, always perseveres.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. Love never fails.
Corinthians 13 : 4 - 8

Father's Day at the Lake

Emily has the best Dad in the world! We love him so much for working hard for our family everyday without a single complaint. After Emily and I made him breakfast in bed, we gave him a travel coffee mug that said "I love Daddy." We decided to go out to Lake Grapevine for a picnic and had a blast. Emily at first was very hot and afraid of the tiny waves, but Eli took her out and let her kick around and she couldn't stop laughing. Hopefully we'll be able to make this a tradition to celebrate Eli each year.

Goodbye Kanes and Hello Baby Lemieux!

This week was an emotional one for us Danzes! Meaghan, Patrick and Matthew moved to D.C. and we will sure miss them. Since they lived about 2 blocks away we were able to get together all the time and they became like family to us (as they have no immediate family here either). We wish them all the luck in the world and will pray for them each day.

On May 30 at 6:48 am Aidan Peter Lemieux was born to happy parents Kyle and Teresa. Weighing 7 lbs 12 oz and measuring 21" long. Way to go on a 24 hour drug free labor! Everyone is doing well and is happy at home. I think he looks more like a Lemieux than a Danze for now, and we love his bald little head! The family will be moving to Austin at the end of June and then up to Dallas two months later. We're thrilled to be able to see little Aidan grow!

Emily is getting the hang of Dad putting her to sleep every night. The whole routine still takes at least 2 hours, but her crying time has cut down. Today was the first day she said "Dada" and Eli's heart melted.

90 mph winds rip through Dallas

Ever wake up at 3:30 am to sirens and trees crashing outside your window? Suddenly you're wide awake and wondering if the sky is supposed to be green. Our brave little Emily was all fun and games (she always is begging to play in the middle of the night) while we sat weary eyed in our bathroom. Luckily we made out ok, but here are a few pics from our neighborhood.

The NICU reunion was so fun...we saw lots of Emily's doctors and nurses who took such great care of her in her 3 month stay. Here's nurse Judy and Emily's friend Bella.

Classic bluebonnet pics. Taken before Josh and Erica's baby shower when she was getting very sleepy :)

Twist and Shout at Lazy Fair

Eli vs. Matt

Getting the hang of rice cereal. She has started to inch towards her toys and can almost sit up! Her favorite thing to do these days in sleep in late (sometimes 9:00!) and skip all naps and stay up late. She unfortunately doesn't know the meaning of the words "sleep train".

Downtown with Anne after our 5K