Field Trip

As you can tell from the previous picture (it was posted here so my pawpaw could help diagnose the problem for dad) we had some plumbing problems at our house. We had up to 4 inches of water in our basement today and our whole house smells. So we are spending the night at nanaw and pawpaws house and every future night until daddy fixes the plumbing and gets rid of the awful smell in our house.

plumbing problems

 

Sorry...

Sorry it has taken me so long to put up a post on my trip to Children's Hospital last week. It went really well! The doctor said I am doing really good and even said, "Wow!" after I did a few things she wasn't expecting me to be doing just yet. She did say it is time for me to start occupational therapy and speech therapy and to double my physical therapy. That means I'll be going to each twice a month when I've only been going to physical therapy once a month to this point. Mommy and daddy are a little overwhelmed by it all, but I'm excited to get to play with more new people!

I'm a half

I turned six months old yesterday and I'm learning to sit up by myself. I'm begining to not like these birthday things cause all I usually get is more shots. Since i'm six months old I get to go to the down syndrome clinic at Children's hospital for the first time this Thursday at 10:45 AM and every six months after that until I'm five. Mom and dad don't know what to expect from this appointment except that we will see a doctor who specialized in down syndrome. Say a prayer for us cause mom and dad are a bit nervous as always. 

Good friends...

My good friend Steve stopped by this morning to visit. I always love when good friends come over. He told us that his family prays for me all the time and especially when we put prayer requests on this site. He said that they get so excited whenever I tell about how I'm doing something new. Mom and dad are so thankful that we have so many people out there supporting us in this way. So thank you Steve and family and everyone else out there who does the same. 

On The Road

Well, my docotor's apt. went very well. They said that everything looks ok. I probably just had a virus. I'm on the road to recovery. Thanks for your prayers. The doctor also reasured my mom and dad that I'm eating just fine. It's ok if I'm not eating 32 oz a day. Since I'm growing just fine he said they could trust me to let them know when I'm hungry and when I'm done.

The runs...

I've had a bad case of the runs lately. Sunday morning in church it even got out of my diaper and dad had to hold me nearly naked, I had a diaper on, in a blanket while mom ran home to get me a new outfit. It wouldn't be so bad if it also didn't give me a diaper rash that doesn't always feel too good. The doctor said I should come in for a visit today to see if we can fix this problem. So I go into today at 3:20 and I would appreciate it if you would say a prayer for me and also for my parents, they get nervous every times something little like this happens.

Last night I went to the church where my mommy grew up. We had such a wonderful time. My pawpaw sure can sing. I was so proud to be his granddaughter. I just wanted to thank all the wonderful people who made me and my mom feel so loved. My mommy knows how blessed she is to have grown up in such a loving church. It was so good to meet all of you. I hope to vist again. You are always welcome to come and visit me.

My dad has too much time on his hands. 

Good Friends

This is mommy and daddy holding me and my next door neighbor Ella. I think we are going to be good friends. 

Christmas is coming...

Mommy started decorating for Christmas and I was the first thing decorated. I'm just glad she didn't try to paint my nose red! 

Mommy likes dressing me up in pretty dresses.

Go Bucks!

Daddy has a slight problem with his emotions during buckeyes games, especially when they play that team up North. Today I taught him how to keep everything in perspective. I did it by falling asleep on his chest during the fourth quarter of today's game. When things weren't going to well he had to stay calm so he wouldn't wake me up. When they won he had to stay calm as well. I think he realized my sleep was more impotant that a football game, even if it was the game against the team up North. Though he still has a slight problem cause he won't even let me mention the team's name the we wooped up on today. Go Bucks!

This picture speaks for itself!!! 

5 months old

For those of you keeping track at home I turned five months old last Saturday! I figure since I’m that old there are some new things I should be doing, so I just started doing them much to the surprise and joy of my parents.

On Sunday I rolled from back to my stomach for the first time. So now I can role both ways!

I’m also able to stand up while daddy just holds my hands. Daddy says no one will believe us, so he said he’ll post a picture here in the next couple of days to prove it to the world.

Mommy and daddy say I’m beginning to make a liar out of a whole bunch of people which I don’t think is very nice, but they say it is perfectly acceptable in this situation. They say it makes God smile. Thanks for smiling on me God!

Mommy and daddy tend to get pretty excited when I do stuff now days. I just picked this block up with both hands cause it was sitting on my lap and mom had to go get the camera and started taking all sorts of pictures. They just keep telling me how amazing I am. 

PT

I had my monthly physical therapy apt. on Monday and once again they were quite impressed by me. Sometimes we're not quite sure what they are looking for but they do something with me and then I do something back and they say "Wow, look at that!" They said I'm ready to start practicing sitting up. (Sitting up already, can you believe it?)

Happy All Saints Day!

Today is All Saints Day! Daddy found a good blog that explains it and gives some ways to help celebrate the day. Daddy says we should pick a saint who has gone before us to remember on this day and he chose Oscar Romero. He said he's been thinking all week which one I should have and he finally decided on C.S. Lewis this morning. In part because he created "Lucy" for the Chronicles of Narnia (ie. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). And in a larger part because when he reads those books he dreams beautiful dreams. He told me that he used to only dream those dreams while reading those books, but now he says he dreams those same dreams, as well as better ones, when he holds me.

My first All Hallow's Eve and mom dressed me up like a frog to help dad pass out candy to all the other kids in the neighborhood. 

Doctor Visit

I went to the doctor this week and they told me I'm now 13 lbs 4 ounces and I'm over 24 inches long. They also told me I needed some shots and I ended up with four of them that day. Dad said he never heard me scream like that before and I told him I never had to go through pain like that before. So as punishment for daddy and mommy making me go through that, one time a day I won't stop crying unless one of them holds me while standing up and while bouncing me for at least twenty to thirty minutes. Slowly their learning I'm in charge.

I'm shy 

All Smiles 

No more pictures! 

A Prayer for Lucy

O Father,
Would you protect her eyes,
so she may see what you would have her see.
Would you protect her ears,
so she may hear your voice.
Would you protect her mouth,
so she may speak your words.
O Father,
Would you protect her hands,
so she may serve you with them.
Would you protect her feet,
so she may dance for you with them.
Would you protect her lips,
so she may smile with the joy you have given her.
O Father,
Would you protect her mind,
so she may think your thoughts
Would you protect her heart,
so she may always love what you love
Would you protect her stomach,
so you may always be her bread of life.
Amen.

California Here We Come

Well, tomorrow I take my first trip out of Ohio. Mommy and I are going to CA to visit our good friends Carey and Madi. Daddy got us a special present since he was going to be out of town too. Mommy's pretty nervous because she really doesn't want to make me uncomfortable. I keep telling her I'll be fine but it doesn't seem to help. So if you would all pray for our journey I'm sure she would appreciate it. Hollywood here I come.

Mom and dad say I'm beautiful. 

Dad likes taking picutes. 

Update and Prayer Request

Well I went to my monthly physical therapy appointment yesterday and the therapist didn't know what advice to give mom and dad. She said I was doing so well that they should just keep doing what they are doing. I guess I am developmentally right on track for any kid my age so that is a big big praise!

Mom and dad say that I am one big miracle. They believe God is doing a great work in me. And since God is in the miracle business I ask you to pray for this guy named Mark Palmer. He is a church planter near OSU in Columbus. Though Dad has never met him before he has a ton of respect for him. A couple of girls who go to his church actually pray for me regularly (Mandy and Kelli, I can't wait to meet you this week!). Mark has a real serious form of cancer and dad and I pray for his complete healing nearly every morning. Would you join with us?

He actually has a blog that tells his story as well. To check it out go here.

Somebody get this guy away from me. 

I'm a happy baby! 

Go to work with dad day

Dad took me to the library at MVNU with him so he could get some research done. I was hoping for some picture books, but all he read was boring books. He did take me for my first visit to an art gallery while on campus. He took me around so I could see every piece of artwork. My favorite was this one called "712", dad knew it was my favorite cause I made all kinds of cute sounds when I was looking at it. Maybe I'll be artist someday...

My Birth - Chapter Eight

Eventually everyone left for the night and it was just the three of us in the room together. It was our first night as a young family together; a great night, but a really hard night.
Some time during the middle of the night one of our nurses came into the room and sat down. She told us that she was a pastor’s daughter, just like Lucy, and that her father has a brother who has downs. She then teared up and said that she couldn’t imagine life without her uncle. Now I know that God was with us that entire night, and that He is always with us, but sometimes he sends a messenger to remind us that He is there. That nurse coming into our room with that story was the first sign we received that God was there for us and that He was never going to leave us.

My Birth - Chapter Seven

Obviously, the shock of finding out your kid might have downs was completely horrible. What made it worse was to then have to go into the waiting room where you just announced the birth of your baby and have to announce that they think Lucy might have downs.
A few minutes later everybody came back into the room and marveled at our precious daughter in such a perfect way. We have the best family in the world and they showed it that night (not to mention every night since). Mandy and I each got to hold her for a couple of minutes and I got to say the first prayer over her young life before having to put her back in the incubator for the rest of the night because of her low body temperature. All we wanted to do was hold her, but for that night we just got to watch and pray.

This is me learning the O part of O-HI-O! 

My Birth - Chapter Six

Soon after all the craziness of the birth was over I finally got to get a good look at Lucy though she was still in the incubator. As I stared at her in wonder of how beautiful she was I soon thought to myself that Lucy had downs. But what did I know, this was the first time I ever saw a baby that was five minutes old? Nobody said anything to me, so I wasn’t going to be the dad who asked if his baby had down syndrome.
We had a lot of family out in the waiting room so I went out and did the dad job of telling everybody that we had a girl. Since the nurses said they wanted to clean some stuff up first before I brought everybody back I told them we would get them into see her as soon as possible.
The nurses took forever to get everything cleaned up and they kept telling us that our family had to wait just a bit longer before coming back. Finally one of the nurses came in and told us that they thought Lucy had down syndrome. While being one of the greatest nights of our lives, it also began to be one of the hardest nights of our lives.

My Birth - Chapter Five

When the doctor came in he was all business. He got all his equipment together and then sat down at the foot of the bed. He then put both sides of the forceps together and then another piece on them to hold them together. A forceps delivery is a sight to see!
Once he had those things around Lucy’s head it didn’t take long and there she was.
It was crazy cause the doctor said it snapped. Her cord snapped! On her way out the umbilical cord snapped in two, there was no need for someone to cut it; she took care of that herself (I guess that hardly ever happens). The doctor quickly got the cord from around her neck, tossed her on Mandy’s belly for a second and then off to the incubator to get worked on by the nurses cause she was blue and really not breathing yet.
The nurses got her breathing pretty quick and we got to hear her cry for the first time.
There she was for the very first time. Born at 11:04 PM on Sunday night June 12, 2005 in Knox Community Hospital. She was 7 lbs 3 oz. and was 20 inches long. She had strawberry blond hair and she had a hook mark across the left side of her face from the forceps. She was named Lucy Kay Peterson.

Almost forgot...

A week ago we received Lucy's first evaluation from the county's Help Me Grow program. It said for all her developmental things that she was within range for a child her age (any child, not just ones with downs). That's real good news. Thank you Father!

She also likes to smile a lot at mom now. Not too much luck with dad yet.

My BIrth - Chapter Four

Well Mandy got to start pushing and that was exciting! It was a lot better being active working with the contractions then trying to just deal with them, which is what you do until you are fully dilated. I’m not sure how long we were into the pushing process, but along the way the nurse told us we needed to stop pushing because Lucy’s heart rate was dropping. The nurse was calm about it, so we stayed calm, but it did make you a little nervous.
She explained to us that it could be that the cord was wrapped around her neck or it could be nothing. After the heart rate went up again Mandy started pushing again, but every time we started making progress Lucy’s heart rate kept dropping, so we kept taking breaks to get her heart rate up again. To be honest, I (dad) was a bit scared at this point, but I’m pretty good at blocking things out.
After almost two hours of that process repeating itself over and over again the nurse said she thought Lucy was far enough down for the doctor to get her with the forceps. So she left and called the doctor and we knew the time had come for Lucy to join the world.

My Birth - Chapter Three

From the time we left our house until we walked in the front door of the hospital Mandy had at least three contractions and the hospital is only a ten minute drive from our house. One of our fears in going to the hospital was that we would be sent home because she wasn’t far enough along. The nurse told us after Mandy’s first exam (5:30 PM) that she was only 1 ½ centimeters dilated and 100% effaced and we were pretty down thinking they would send us home, even if they didn’t we thought we would be in for a long night with such a long ways to go to 10 centimeters.
To our surprise the nurse told us we were in active labor and that they would start getting a room ready for us right away. So we started calling family, but we told them to take their time cause we had a long way to go. An hour later we had to call back and tell them to hurry cause she was now almost five centimeters. By 9:30 PM they had to really hurry because Mandy was now fully dilated and they were telling here to push. Both granddads were almost late to the hospital because they thought they had plenty of time to get there.
It was the oddest thing for us when they said it was time to push and they started rearranging the bed. We had been waiting for this moment for nine months and we couldn’t believe it was finally there. We were so excited and we knew in the next few hours we would meet our baby daughter.

Today's my mom's birthday!

Happy Birthday Mom! I Love You! You're the Best!

Guess what I found?

I thought I would take a little break from my dad's stories to tell you that my hand found my mouth this past week. I especially like the thumb part of it to suck on, but I can't always find it just yet.

My Birth-Chapter Two-

I know chapter two is a big jump from the first chapter, but I had to make that jump or there would be like 80 chapters in this story. Anyway, we pick up the story again as Mandy wakes up early on Sunday morning, June 12th. (By the way this is dad talking and unless otherwise noted the “My Birth” stories will be told by me.)
Well Mandy woke up early Sunday morning complaining of back pain. I got real excited and asked if this was it. She said all the books and information sheets we had said it is not real labor if you only feel it in your back and that’s the only place she felt it at. So we got up and went to church where I’m the pastor and Mandy leads the singing.
Needless to say Mandy had a rough time leading the singing that Sunday morning. Whenever she had a contraction while singing she would mess up a bit which I think is pretty normal. After one of the songs she said something along the lines of how thankful she was that she is a part of a church that still accepts you when you make mistakes. The whole time she was saying this I was laughing inside cause I knew those weren’t mistakes she was making, they were contractions she was having.
After church Mandy still wasn’t convinced she was in labor so we went to Taco Bell with Jamie and Amber. Mandy didn’t look to well, but she made it through dinner without letting on to anybody that she was having any problems. We then went home where Mandy did some laundry, packed her bags, and took a short nap. After two phone calls to the hospital and her contractions (still only in her back) getting within two and a half minutes a apart we decided to go to the hospital. The picture on this post was taken just before we left for the hospital.

My Birth - Chapter One

Most of my life since I have been born has been covered on this blog, but I thought I would have my dad tell you the story of my birth, from what I hear and remember it was quit the traumatic experience. Well, take it away dad...
It was sometime last October when we first found out that we were expecting Lucy. At the time we didn’t know if we would be having a boy or a girl. In my misguided way of thinking back then I was actually hoping for a boy and if we had one I wanted to name him Hobbes, but no one else really liked that name.
Soon enough we found out we were having a girl and we were really excited because we knew we were going to name her after Mandy’s grandma, Lucy Marcum. You should have seen the look on her face when we told her that was what we were going to do. Oh, I happen to have a picture of that moment, here it is:

I love my daddy!

I just thought I would take a minute to let you all know what a wonderful dad I have. He has made these last couple of days run so smoothly. My mommy feels so secure knowing that she is leaving me in good hands.
I love when he plays with me and talks to me. I love when he kisses me over and over-except when he doesn't shave. I love when he reads me stories. He takes such good care of me. I'm having so much fun with him I don't even want to nap some days. I've even heard Mommy say how wonderful he is at helping around the house and getting dinner ready. And when Mommy comes home she doesn't have to do anything except love on me. I hope all you other babies are as lucky as I am.

The Cold Hard Realities of Life

Life is rough, on the comments page of my last blog I noticed a few advertisements. I guess they call that stuff spam and it not only attacks our email, but also blog comment pages as well. So I had to turn on a feature of my blog that adds one small step to leaving a comment on my page. That way only real live humans can leave comments and not those terrible computer programs that rome blogs endlessly looking for places to leave their advertisements.

But keep leaving comments! Our family loves to read them and see who out their is reading all about my life. In case you don't know how to leave a comment:
1. Click on the comment below a post.
2. Scroll down to below all the comments already posted.
3. Leave a comment.
4. Click anonymous to bypass creating a password and username.
5. Fill in the Word Verification (that's to keep spamers away)
6. Click log in and publish.
6. You're done and then we get to read them.

First day alone with dad

Today mommy went back to work, so daddy is staying home with me doing church work while I sleep. I miss mommy a lot already, my sleep patterns are all screwed up cause daddy doesn't understand me like mom, but he's slowly getting it.

He took me on a walk in this carrier thing that is like a bookbag, but you put it on your frontside. He took me during my wake time, but I promptly fell asleep. Then the sun started shinning on my head, so dad had to stop at the Rowlands to get a blanket to shade me from the sun. I like the Rowlands!

On the hamack with dad. 

I thought they already took enough pitures of me, but now they found the black and white function on our camera and here come some more pictures.  

Mom and dad took me to Mound Builders Park in Newark yesterday. We had lots of fun except of all the ants and daddy longlegs that kept trying to crawl on me. It was a beautiful day! 

I'm growing up!

Yesterday I went to the doctor and he told me I now weigh 10 lbs. 6 ounces and I'm 22 3/4 inches long. Both of those put me in between the 45th and 50th percential for kids my age.

Then a few hours later we went and met my physical therapist and my early intervinsion specialitst (I'm not exactly sure the difference between the two). I will see each one of them once a month for the time being. I liked them a lot and so did my parents.

Tomorrow I go to get my two month shots. No one around my house is very happy about it either.

B-DAY!

Mom and Dad sung happy birthday to me today. They say I'm two months old today! They say they couldn't be prouder of me for how far I've come in these last two months. We go to the doctor for my checkup Monday and dad will post my up to date height and weight figures after we get home. Tonight we're going to the Dan Emmitt Music and Arts Festival to celebrate. Dad says he's gonna get one of the two inch thick pork chops, but all I get is milk.

That was all I was going to write today, but dad said I had to put something on here about how good God has been so good to us. He's says as he looks back over the last two months all we can see is God's grace. (Dad's eyes are watering up right now.) He also says he sees God's fingerprints all over me.

Can I tell you why I love my mom? Well, she's just the best. She knows how to get me to sleep, to eat, and to stop crying. She reads me books, sings to me and prays for me all the time. When she comes into the room my face just lights up! I could not have a better mom. 

I LOVE MY MOM! 

My parent's thoughts...

From Mom and Dad,
In regards to the post a few back about Lucy rolling over we thought we had to add a little bit to it. Our doctor told us that for us to figure out when Lucy should be going through the developmental stages we should take the normal time period they have for a kid without downs and double it. So if a they say a kid without downs should be able to walk between a year to a year and a half of age we should expect Lucy to be able to walk between two and three years of age.
Well Lucy rolled over today at 7 weeks of age and she actually did it yesterday too, but she was on a slightly slanted surface so we didn’t count that. She even tried to role over a few more times today and almost pulled it off. In the book “What to Expect the First Year” it says babies may start rolling over at two months (Lucy’s not there for another week and a half) and they should be doing it by five months. So a kid with downs should be able to role over, according to our doctor, sometime between four and ten months.
We know this doesn’t tell us exactly how the rest of Lucy’s development will go or how smart she will be when she gets older, but it’s so much fun to watch her do at least one thing ahead of schedule and to have that schedule be a “normal” kids schedule she is ahead of.
With all the tears of sadness we cried the first couple weeks of Lucy’s life it’s really nice to be crying some tears of joy and pride. God’s been real good to us. He has done many miracles in Lucy’s life and in her parent’s hearts already. Keep praying and thank you for all the prayers!
Love,
Kevin, Mandy, and Lucy

Mom doesn't know dad is putting this picture on the Web, he should know better! This one may get deleted in the not so distant future...