Summertime campout with daddy!

Sweet times.

Neely was baptized last weekend and our family came to celebrate. Something about baptisms, welcoming children into the covenant family, just makes tears well up in me. Standing there holding my sweet girls hands, watching Justin hold our precious baby as water was poured over her head...too sweet for words.

Botox, please!

Maggie has been falling A LOT lately because of the tightness in her leg and her neck which causes major imbalance. She usually gets Botox every three months, but this time around we had to wait five months. And you can really tell a difference. You know you are a terrible mom when you start getting annoyed at your child for falling all the time! I never thought I would be so thankful for someone to inject poison into my baby, but boy does it make a difference.

I am so thankful she is well and could have it today. We will start going full speed ahead with our stretching and strengthening exercises to try to get her leg straighter and her neck, too! It's baby steps, what Botox provides us, but I am thankful for whatever we can get to help
her live a stronger and safer life.

She insisted on wearing her VBS shirt to the hospital because she was so sad about missing today.

...And Neely turned 6 months yesterday. I wish I was with it enough to do those cute month-by-month photos everyone posts on Facebook, but I'm not, and I'm over it!

Ordinary yet precious

I've told so many people how much I appreciate having all these milestones and experiences I didn't have with Maggie. For example, I loved cuddling and carrying around my newborn in a sling (which I wasn't able to do with Maggie because she was attached to large oxygen canisters!). And having her nurse and eat until she's full - or empty a bottle - is so satisfying. Watching her roll over and do tummy time without screaming in pain (like Maggie did because her g button bothered her so much) is more enjoyable than I thought it could be. I have even drawn out dropping those late night feelings because it is such a precious time for me to rock my sweet, healthy baby. I just look at her and want to cry thinking about how full my heart is...

While I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute with Neely, there is one thing I have had creeping anxiety about: starting solids! Having a child with feeding issues makes you always fear that you'll have the same experience again. The odds are so small, and I know Maggie has a complicated medical history, but still, the fear exists because it is such a difficult and exhausting, nearly life-consuming issue when your child refuses to eat.

But Neely is almost six months and I realized I couldn't put it off any longer when she started grabbing my chips and salsa and tried to shove them in her mouth. So we started rice cereal this weekend. The older girls had a blast and it was so good for Maggie to teach her younger sister how to "take bites." It was a lot of fun and I don't think I need to worry about Neely not eating- she loved it. Another "normal" baby experience: messy hands, cheeks, and, well, everything else!