Amon’s 1st Birthday

Amon is officially one!  How can that be?  Where did the time go?  I still remember that day last May when Josh and I sat on the floor in his parent’s bonus room and opened those incredibly longed for pictures and stared at this adorably small, dark headed, big eyed 6 week old baby boy.  There he finally was.

I’ll be honest in saying I’ve always struggled a bit with Sol’s birthday…and now Amon’s.  Today was a very hard, celebrated, tear filled day.  With adoption there is so much joy and beauty and love, but also sadness and grief and questions.  I ache for my kids in many different ways and I grieve for Solomon and Amon and all the questions and possible sadness that they will face…especially on their birthdays.  I so wish I had all the answers.  I so wish I knew exactly what to say.  But I don’t and Josh doesn’t either and this is the part of adoption that is really hard.

But, I am thankful for the amazing, incredible parts of adoption…the ones that fill my heart to the tip top and make me absolutely weep with gratefulness to God.  These moments out weigh all the hard ones.  Today I cried so much…tears of sadness for Amon and tears of absolute thankfulness for this child.  He is just amazing.  He blows us totally away.  I wish I could accurately describe how honored and grateful and blessed and just in awe of God for allowing us to be his mom and dad we feel.  There are really no words to even begin to capture our gratefulness.

We choose specific verses for our kiddos before they come along.  I remember sitting in church scanning over 1 Thessalonians when I read Amon’s verse.  I knew the moment I read it it was suppose to be our next little boy’s verse even though we had no idea who he was yet.  And I held tight to that verse…hard.

“How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the JOY we have in the presence of our God because of you?” 1 Thessalonians 3:9

Every time I think of Amon’s verse now, I am thrilled with God’s loveliness.  I adore how He moves and works and enjoys even the smallest of details like a scripture that absolutely nails our son…long before we knew his joyous personality.  Amon really is joy.  I opened a card from my Aunt Linda today to Amon for his birthday and absolutely sobbed.  She nailed it.  My Aunt Linda understands what this child means to our family.  What hope we have found in God through this crazy, beautiful boy and his beautiful heart.

So today was Amon’s day.  We ate muffins for breakfast and had doctor’s appointments, and shared cupcakes with medical staff who take mad care of our family and we enjoyed cake ourselves and we enjoyed each other and we loved on Amon hard.

And like everyday, he brought smiles into our family.  And he brought his typical joy.

Amon Kelley you have rocked our world in the best way ever.  God has used you my joyous baby boy and will continue to do so.  You have touched hearts with your perfect one.  I am honored to be your mom and CANNOT wait to see what God has in store for your little life.  I know it’s going to be grand.  I know you are going to change the world.  I love you madly!  Happy 1st Birthday to our Ace of Hearts!

First Word {Ma-ma}

All of my children have said “dada” for their first word.  Harper still holds the title for making me wait the longest to hear her say those sweet little syllables…”mama”…at the young old age of 10 months old.  I was determined that Amon’s first word would be “mama”…I would finally claim the title of first word for myself.  Since the first time we met him, I would say those traditional parental words, “Can you say ‘ma-ma’?”  And then repeat over and over and over again for his first 4 months home.  Last week during our flu rampage I heard the sweetest little words come from our little ace of hearts mouth.  Ma-ma.  Maybe the two greatest syllables ever uttered.  It is bliss.

And what makes this one a little sweeter is that we’ve been a bit concerned with Amon’s hearing…like if he can and if so how much.  One of my 2013 goals is to get to the bottom of this, but what a hope filled heart I have since hearing him say my name.  There’s something there and wow…it’s just amazing to know that.

So enjoy.  Ignore the snot pouring out of his nose and thin iPhone quality and the chaotic background and all the dead space in the wait.  You do what you gotta do as a Mama trying to catch those crazy good words.

Happy Wednesday!

Roll-Er-Coast-er

Amon had some unexpected bleeding this morning.  A little while later our pediatric cardiologist came in shaking her head back and forth and said, “I was going to send you home today.”  Ugh.

Amon was taken off food again…nothing by mouth the entire day.  Seriously bummed.  What a roller coaster this has been.  All day they ran blood tests and we met with some specialists and they did more x-rays.  Nothing was panning out.

Just a little bit ago, they decided to try and let him eat again later tonight.  And we’ll go from there.  He seems totally fine.  This mess, along with his little heart, makes me semi terrified to take him home…how will I know if something is wrong.

But he is happy.  Well kind of.  He had just gotten his appetite back so he has been a little ticked all day.  That means extra Amon cuddles for me though.  So we’ll see how eating goes through the night.  I’ve decided it is, what it is.  We’ll go home one of these days.  And I’ll leave you with cute Amon pictures.

Abdomen x-ray time.

Just let him eat something.

He’s a big hand guy…loves his hands.

Aunt Ashley he loves his dream light…thank you!!!

#1 pass time…other than cable TV.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.  Thank you for all the prayers.  Happy Friday!

Prayed Into Hunger

In the middle of the night Amon decided to bring his A-game for eating…and I was over the top joyful.  He ate more in the middle of the night than he did all day yesterday.  So much, the doctors decided to let him have formula starting at 9 this morning and there was even some talk of us maybe going home this weekend.  Knock on wood!!!!  Formula is becoming our new best friend.

I’m happy to say we have been puke free the entire day.  And his picc line isn’t even hooked up to anything right now.  Holla!  It was a night of not a lot of sleep, but it was a good night.  Here’s video I took this morning of Amon…he gets excited when he sees the tiny bottle come out now.  Dang you uncentered video…I will figure you out one day.

This hospital has been amazing and this entire journey has been crazy.  I know Amon won’t remember, so I have been documenting the best I can for him with his globe messages and polaroid pictures.  Lots and lots of pictures.  I cannot wait to tell him about what a fierce little guy he has been.  He amazes me.

Some of you asked about what kind of polaroid I have.  I have the Fuji Instax…it’s ginormous, but I love it.  True love.

And it was 2 months ago today that I landed in Nashville with Amon.  What a joy it has been.  What a blessing it has been.  What a whirlwind it has been.

So thankful he is our son.  Oh my goodness…I just could never ever ever accurately describe how grateful we are for this sweet boy.

In some down time at the hospital I have been gearing up for our Random Acts of Kindness in December again.  My 30th birthday is coming up soon and it will be my first birthday without Mom so I decided to cram my day full of random acts of kindness too.  I’m even going to pull Harper out of school so she can participate with us.  I think it will be a grand birthday.  Also I would love some new ideas for our Christmas version…I want to change it up some from LAST YEARS LIST.  Would love for you to leave a comment with some new ideas.  Multiple minds are better than just one.

So that’s it for today.  It’s been such an encouraging day.  Thank you for praying for us.  Thank you for praying for Amon.  And Josh and the big wee Kelleys will be here any minute now with Chick-fil-a.  Hooray!

Happy Thursday!

Asi Asi

I took Spanish in high school and unfortunately was not a very good student.  It’s sad, but I remember very little.  One thing I do remember is asi asi, which means so so.  That was our day…not terrible, not great, but so so.

He is ridiculously cute and I don’t shy away from agreeing with every doctor and nurse and care partner and tech and xray person and volunteer who comes in  his room…yes, he is adorable…yes, his smile is killer, yes, his hair is fabulous and yes, he is such a good, good baby.  He seriously blows my mind.

There was no puke today…praise…but Amon wasn’t very interested in actually eating since he hasn’t done so in 7 days now.  At the end of the day we logged a whopping 4 1/2 oz of pedialyte.  Better than nothing though.

We did our usual of taking walks in our wagon and just chilling watching way too much cable TV and I emotionally ate my way through yet another box of sugar babies.  What is wrong with me?!?!

I love how artsy the children’s hospital is.  There are art displays everywhere in tons of different mediums.  I do love walking around and exploring and finding new displays.

Staying in the hospital this long is really difficult.  Hats off to the parents who have stayed for far too long…my heart goes completely out to them and their sweet kiddos.  I know that sitting on Day #20 I feel very, very down and depleted…I can only imagine how other parents feel.

I miss Josh and Harper and Huddy and Sol terribly.  I feel like I am missing out on so much and it just makes me sad.  I miss being home…together…all 6 of us.  I miss sleeping in a bed.  It gets kind of lonely here too.  And you’ve heard of the Freshman 15, well I’ve gained the Hospital 15…I miss my zumba class and my crossfit class and running.  Why do I emotionally eat?  Why!?!?!?!?!?!  And who is the genius that invented microwave pop up bowl popcorn?  Genius.

But tomorrow we’ll give it another go and eventually we’ll get to walk out of this place.  And that is a very big blessing that I recognize and DO NOT…DO NOT take for granted.  Things can be sucky sometimes, but blessings are still all around.

Happy Very Late Wednesday Night!

Humbled

I just have to say, sitting here on Day #19, I have been completely humbled to be apart of Amon’s journey to his new heart.  I have been terrified at some moments and sad at others, but joyous and thankful and humbled the most.  What an amazing son I have and what a gift God has given Josh and I to be his parents.  And I am just completely overwhelmed with how we have been loved on and prayed for over the past month.  We truly know some amazing people.  I will be the first person to tell you, I’m prideful.  I don’t like to ask for help…I don’t like to appear weak…I don’t like to put others out, but God has brought me to my knees and taught me a very valuable lesson about swallowing my pride and asking for help and accepting help when people offer.  We could not have done this past month without help.  I have written countless thank you notes, but I just want to say again and again “Thank You.”  Sincerely, sincerely, sincerely…Thank you!!!

Tomorrow is Amon’s big day to start attempting to eat again.  He will start with a little bit of pedialyte and we’ll cross our fingers and toes from there.  I’m just praying everything goes smoothly.  Here’s to no puke!

Like I said, we know some amazing people who have done some super amazing things for our little family.  One of the sweetest ladies I know, Sandra, continues to bless our family all the time.  She loves us so well.  She brought me an entire bag of movie night treats, including an oldie, but a goodie movie, Now and Then.  One of my all time favorites.

And she also brought me Heart Health stamps.  Can you be smitten with stamps?  Yes, yes you can.

Sweet Miranda sent me the best labels ever for my baked goods.  Miranda is a digital queen and just does so many amazing things.  I told her she needs to sell these asap.

And today Kara brought me this awesome coloring book…from the Dollar Tree.  I’m probably going to photo copy the entire book before letting the wee Kelleys loose on it.  It even has a Swaziland page…score.

And I have been working on more canvases.  I finished this 11×14 “Standing in God’s grace & mercy” canvas.  Lots of doodling going on due to lots of down time at the hospital.  This canvas will be up for sale once we get home.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far.  I think this week is going to be very stellar…I’ve got really high hopes.

Happy Tuesday!

Day #18

Here we are…day #18 in the hospital.  Amon is doing well, but is still on no food…letting his intestine rest and the super antibiotics do their job.  He still gets a bit fussy, but definitely not like he was on days 1-3.  He will slowly be reintroduced to formula on Wednesday.  I seriously LOVE this kid…he is just so incredibly amazing…has my heart for sure.

This weekend was pretty great.  Saturday Josh and I switched out and I took the kids to Pioneerfest at Harper’s school.  We had so much fun.  The book fair was definitely our favorite part.  I love how choosey the wee Kelleys are about their books.  It took us quite the chunk of time to narrow down our selections.

There were tons of games and a cake walk (I LOVE CAKE WALKS) and yummy food and face painting and a firetruck.  Everything kids love all smashed together in one location.

The school was packed and we had to park quite a little ways down the road.  The kids thought it was incredibly cool that they got to walk down the road, but they were also a little on the paranoid side checking for cars.  I love them.

It was really, really nice to be with them outside of the hospital.  I loved interacting with them and being their Mom again.  I was reminded of how sweet and quirky and crazy and fun they are.  I just sooooo miss being with them in our normal everyday life.

And Amon had a great time with Josh.  I know Josh really loved getting to spend so much time with him also.

We’re going to power through this week and just wait and be patient for Amon the heal the way he needs to.  I am so anxious to go home, but so, so thankful and blessed Amon is in such a good place and getting such good care.  Bring on Day #19.

Happy Monday & Happy Columbus Day too!

Hangry Baby Coping

Turns out hangry (hungry + angry) babies are pitiful and super no fun!  I feel so bad for Amon and his little fast-athon.  Today was a bit tough, but we definitely had some good sane moments.  Consider the evidence.

A)  A morning walk.

B)  Another walk to meet Micky Mouse.  This hospital is simply amazing with all the things they have going on and provide for the kids and parents.  Amon was super skeptical about this so-called “mouse”…notice the cutting of the eyes.

C)  Fingers.  Apparently finger chewing can help take the edge off.

D)  An afternoon walk with Josh and the wee Kelleys.  Definitely the highlight of our day!

I personally love Harper’s heart hands.

E)  Dinner with my most favorite people in the world.

And F)  The craziest, most awesome mobile ever that has helped keep our sanity in tact.  Lifesaver for sure.

Now if I could just give him a 42oz bottle of milk…that would be awesome.

Happy Thursday!