Good Friends...Good Times

How sweet are these two girls?! Billie loves to hold her sister first thing in the morning. I look at the two of them together and just thank God for blessing my family so much. I am so glad Billie and Harper will always have each other. God is GOOD, All of the time!
Bright eyes...for those of you who knew me as a baby, can you see the resemblance? I think it is amazing to look into her eyes, and see my own looking back at me!
Leatha, Joe, and I on our way to our 20th High School Reunion. I still can't believe it has been 20 years! It definitely doesn't feel like it.
Matt stayed home with the girls and sent me this picture just a few minutes after we left. He was so sweet to stay and take good care of them, and to update me through out the night with pictures of them, too.

20 years...it doesn't seem possible but here we are, anyway! It was so fun to see so many sweet and wonderful people from high school. We only had about 70 people, but it was still wonderful. I think it is sad that more people didn't show up, but it was so good to see those that did. Joe and Leatha came in for it and they picked me up and drove me. I was so thankful to have them there, it would have been hard to go in by myself if they hadn't been there. Matt had to stay home with Billie and Harper. Since she is still so little and she bradys so much, we don't want to leave here with anyone else just yet. Until you are used to her brady or apnea episodes, it is very scary...well, it is scary even when you are used to them, but if you aren't used to them you are apt to panic and not handle them well. She does usually recover on her own, that is one of the good things about the monitor...since it is so loud, it stimulates her and helps her recover, but still we don't want to put anyone else in a bad situation. Don't misunderstand me, the monitor is not designed to stimulate her or help her in any way. It is just a tool for us to know if something is not right. I am so thankful for that monitor. It gives me the peace of mind to be able to close my eyes and go to sleep. I know if she stops breathing the monitor will wake me up. The monitor is cumbersome and awkward, but so reassuring. So back to the reunion, Matt was so sweet to send me pictures and updates during the evening. I was able to relax and just have a good time, I didn't even feel guilty for being gone! I am so thankful Matt is so good with her and is always so willing to be with her and care for her. And I am so thankful for Joe and Leatha. I still would have gone if they had been unable to make it, but it would have been much harder to walk in by myself! I was able to visit with them which is always fun. There was a table there with nostalgic items from high school and they had our "Senior Predictions" on them. They got half of mine right - "Marry Michael Williams, and replace Edie Ellis on the news." I remember being mad at Darwin Williams for writing that because I was hurt that it was all about Michael and not about me! But I guess he wasn't very far off so I owe him an apology after all these years, ha! It was a very good night spent with very good friends and I am so thankful for the experience.
Tomorrow we are having our photographer, Nancy Hellsten, out to our home to take newborn pictures of Harper. I know she isn't newborn, but she looks it! I am very excited to get beautiful and artistic photos of Harper and of Harper and Billie together. Nancy was there with us when the boys were born and she is responsible for the beautiful photos of Joshua and Caleb that we treasure. Nancy was also our wedding photographer and we absolutely love her work. We are so comfortable with her, and I am so thankful to count her as a dear friend. I know we will be getting amazing shots of our two beautiful girls.
Harper is doing very good. She was having a lot of apnea episodes, as many as 10 a day, but Dr. Greg put her on caffeine and she is doing so so much better. She actually hasn't had any more apnea episodes since she started on the caffeine. She still bradys some, but only when she eats. This week she gets her eyes checked again, and then weight checks at the pediatrician's office. Next week she will do both of those again, and also visit the apnea/synagis clinic. They take care of the heart monitor/apnea episode stuff and also the RSV immunizations. I think she will have her first RSV shot next week, although I am not sure. She will have one a month during RSV season which runs from August through April. We have to protect her from RSV, with her lungs being so premature and damaged from the vent, it would be a disaster if she got RSV. She would for sure end up on the vent again, but she might not even survive an RSV infection. This is one of the reasons we have to keep her so isolated. Any respiratory illness would be a night mare for her this year, and maybe even next year. We are just praying we are able to keep her healthy and give her a chance to grow and also build up her immunity. It is hard for us to not show her off to the world - we have been through so much and we just want to share her with all of our friends and family, but her health and safety comes first. Dr. Greg says if we can just get her over 7 lbs it will change our life, so our goal is to get her over 7 pounds as soon as possible. We will still have to keep her pretty isolated, but she will be able to keep her temperature up better, eat better, sleep better, and just be stronger in general. I can't wait until everyone I love can see her and hold her, but until then I will share her with you through pictures!