Another Prayer Request

Yup, another one! I know how powerful prayer is though! I figure it sure can't help to use every avenue I know of to ask people to pray with me! This one is another that hits so close to home.

I have a very dear friend that I met last summer (2007). I met her through Agape'Care Cradle, the organization that helped us in many ways with Babe B.'s arrangements and such. Last summer we were asked to give an interview about Agape'Care Cradle just two months after losing Babe B. While we were there, we met this couple and I could tell just by looking at the woman that we would get a long very well. (I actually remember seeing her at Babe B.'s funeral and wondering who she was. There were a LOT of people there and I was not in the frame of mind to recognize some of them!) As we were waiting outside for our interview, we struck up a conversation. Through the course of it, we talked about our babies (who were the reason we were there). She had a little girl in March and was actually due in July. Babe B. was born on her due date. We kept in touch after that day and we really hit it off. Our husbands even seemed to have a lot in common. She was such a blessing when I needed one the most. I didn't have anyone that I really knew that I could talk to about the feelings and emotions I was experiencing through the loss of my child. She knew exactly what I was going through. Even through the midst of her own grief, she was there for ME! Someone she hardly knew! She was such a key component to my healing. (You never fully heal from the loss of a child. You just heal enough to get you through each day. This is especially true at the very beginning.) Later that year, we both discovered that we were expecting again! Even better we were only days apart! We had prayed for this since the day we met! Stephen and I went on a cruise in March when my friend and I were about 16-17 weeks along in our pregnancies. When we were delayed in Memphis, I was able to read my email for the first time in a week. We got an email saying she had just found out she was having a boy! By the time we got home there was an urgent message on my phone from her. She had gone into premature labor at 17 weeks and lost Thomas. I was heartbroken! Not nearly as much as she and her family, but I was still shocked and heartbroken. How could this happen to her two times in a row? I supported her the best I could without being a constant reminder of what she didn't get to have. She was very supportive when Jesstine was finally here! She really has a special place in her heart for Jesstine. In October, she called me and told me that she was expecting again! The amazing thing was they were given very little hope of conceiving on their own and without serious infertility treatments. We were so overjoyed and started praying fervently that this pregnancy would go to term or at least to a point where the baby would make it! I have been following up with her for the last several months. She had a procedure done to tie her cervix up at about 14 weeks so that she would decrease the chance of the same thing happening again.

Okay, so my whole point of telling you this is because I have GREATLY concerned! We have been keeping in contact every few weeks. She has pretty much stayed in bed except for going to doctors appointments and getting up to go to the bathroom and such. I have been meaning to bring Jesstine over to say hello and to give her some joy while she is stuck in bed. I called twice this week and have not heard back. I am just so worried! I feel like if something were seriously wrong, she would have called and told me. Yet, if she was still in the midst of it all, it may take a while and be well after the fact before I heard from her again. I am hoping that she reached a point where the doctor just said, "Okay, we are getting close and we just want to monitor you VERY closely, so we are putting you in the hospital to make sure we get this baby here." Regardless, I would appreciate it if you would pray for this special person and her unborn (or born for all I know) child. As I mentioned, she was so supportive and such a gift to me! I want so much for her to finally have that little child she desires so much! I want so much for her to never have to go through the tremendous heart break of losing a child ever again, especially this, her third child in a row! Please pray that God will send his love and surround her with it. Pray that he will protect her and her unborn child until they reach a point where the child WILL survive if born early! Ideally, we would like for her to reach term, but if that isn't in the cards we will understand! I will have to understand no matter what the outcome. If you know of anyone you can ask to pray on her behalf, please do! You don't know her, but we are all God's children. She is such a wonderful person as you can see from my description above. I have not used her name because I have not been given permission to do so. Just pray for Lacie's friend who is having a complicated pregnancy! Thank you SO much!

In Him,
Lacie, Stephen and Jesstine

Baby Cora

A lot of you who read my blog are already a part of the online prayer group that I am a part of. If you aren't this will all be news to you.

I have seen the power of prayer working so many times in our little group. It has seen victories over illnesses, healing or temporary relief of chronic problems, and many other things. We have also seen our fair share of bad outcomes come our way and are able to help people heal through our prayers. That is why I lift this little child up and charge you with praying for her even though I don't know her.

As many of you know, we lost a child. When you lose a child you become a part of a club per say. It isn't necessarily a club that you want to belong to, but you do. This club is made up with people who have lost a child as well. No matter the circumstances, you all have something in common and you all have felt the same grief. Each time I hear of a child who is sick with a terminal illness or a child that has died (again no matter the circumstances), I relive my own pain of losing Babe B.

That is why I ask you to pray for this family even though I don't know them. This baby is just a few months older than Jesstine. It pains me to think of what this family is going through at the moment. Please pray for their understanding of what the doctors are telling them. Please pray for them as they try to remain strong for this little baby. Pray that God will heal this child and she will resume a normal life following this great ordeal. You will know as much as I do if you go to their blog at: http://themcclenahans.blogspot.com/.

Thank you so much!
In Him,
Lacie, Stephen and Jesstine

More from the Mammarazzi!

As promised, here is the video of Jesstine rolling!

We were getting ready to go for a walk one warm day. I dressed her in her purple fleece outfit. She was so cute and the hood framed her face perfectly. I had to take a picture.

Lately, she has been outgrowing a lot of her clothes, so I have been taking a lot of pictures. This particular day, she was so happy! Every picture I took she had this huge smile! It is the one that melts my heart! This is one of the few where she didn't have her hands in the way of her mouth.

Before Jesstine was born, we found a rare gem. We call Stephen's mom Grandmom. This outfit was one that we found at Penny's and it says: I Love Grandmom. Most stuff says Grandma. Once again, a lot of her clothes are getting too small, so we had to take a photo op. to get a picture of her in this.

Okay, so I recently discovered that clothes that say "6 Months" almost always mean 3-6 months. So, I bought these last two shirt/rompers with the intention of her wearing them this spring. They are already almost too small! So since it is cold, I put her tights on her and let her wear them. This particular day, the Shockers played and won! We all were wearing our WSU gear. It made the victory sweeter (besides the fact that they have been losing a lot lately)! We will have to work on getting the family Shockers picture up. She also was able to get a photo opportunity with her cousins, Noah and Ian that same day. Priceless!


Okay, so you are probably thinking that this is a conflict of interests. WSU AND KU? Well, there are a few reasons she has a KU outfit too! First being that I was a KU fan before I became a WSU student. I have kind of carried that with me. Second is that there is a man at church who really wanted her to have a KU outfit. He was unable to pick one out for her before she was born. So he handed us some money and said, "Get her a KU outfit." We found this and it was girly. Thirdly, she had a KU outfit in a 0-3 month size from another friend that she wore for a special occasion (my last appointment with the doctor who delivered her)! You see, the doctor that delivered her is a KU grad and VERY interested in KU sports. He was in attendance at the NCAA Championships last year. He holds a special place in our hearts. He was with us through my first pregnancy with Babe B. and he was there through Jesstine's obviously. I guess you could say that this is partly a tribute to him for putting up with me in a very anxious pregnancy! He was always so understanding and didn't think twice when I was concerned. He always said, "Let's just take a look and see that she is okay!" Thanks Dr. Depew! This picture is partially for you!

Once again, thanks for sharing in the memories of our joy, Jesstine! She is so special and I know many of you appreciate the updates. Some of you just can't get enough of her pretty little face (neither can I)! Well, enjoy and as always, we hope you are doing well!

In Him,

Lacie, Stephen, and Jesstine

Rolls, rolls and family pictures!

Well, Jesstine is just growing so fast! She is so chubby! She has more and more rolls developing on her legs each day! It is so cute! We had some great news this week. She graduated from physical therapy this week! Her therapist was phenomenal to work with! She had nothing but praise about working with us. She was so happy to have worked with Jesstine and thought she was SO cute! (She was right!!!!) Just today we hit a major milestone we have been working toward for quite a while. She rolled over consistently several times! She has rolled a couple of times before, but that was a few weeks ago. Her therapist said that she has not mastered it until she can do it consistently in one direction! She rolled several times from her tummy to her back today! And of course she doesn't like being on her tummy much (at least when I am around) so she is happy about being able to get off of her tummy on her own as well! I hope to add video of that for you very soon! We also had a new family photo taken at church today. Jesstine was of course dressed to the nines as usual! She was sporting her pink and brown scottie dog dress with a hint of argyle. She was also wearing her pink and brown mary janes that were given to us by a family that we know through one of the elders at church! She was SO cute. It was a great opportunity also for us to get a photo with Jesstine's friend, Kara. Kara is a girl who was in Stephen's Sunday school class not too long ago. She LOVES Jesstine so much! Jesstine is quite fond of her as well! Since Kara's mom, Johnna, was taking the photos, she was happy to take one of Kara and Jesstine as well!

We hope that all of you are doing well. Enjoy these photos and I hope to add the video in a post very soon!

God Bless!

Lacie, Stephen and Jesstine

Happy Family!

Kara and Jesstine

P.S. This is Jesstine's typical look when she gets tired. She is not really responsive when she is like this. Doesn't she just LOOK tired?

5 month-old!

Yes, it feels odd to say so, but I now have a 5 month-old! It is hard to believe that she is already almost half a year old! Lately she has really been giving us a run for our money. We are still working out the sleep stuff. I know that many of you have children who didn't sleep through the night very early and still may not! I was blessed (I thought) that MY child would sleep from 7:15 pm to 7:15 AM with little fuss. About a month ago, she started waking up at about 3 AM. She almost always went back to sleep within 5-10 mins. Lately it has been around 6 ish! I know I am complaining, but when I already had it so good, why did it have to change! I am too crabby at 6 ish! I would be fine if she would wait just one more hour or so! I know Sandra can understand my point on this because she is not a morning person either! This morning I even had the added joy of a dirty diaper to clean! To top it off, most of the time her naps are only about 25 mins. long during the day. She takes three at least, but that is just not long enough. I know I mentioned a lot of this in the last post, so I will quit beating a dead horse and get on to the fun stuff!

Yep, a 5 month-old. She has grown so much! I know that if you are viewing this blog, you have likely kept up with it pretty regularly. Well, she is getting so big. I thought I would post a picture of her when she was newborn and compare it to her 5 month picture. In her five month picture she is wearing an outfit that her Papa Hutchins got her. Doesn't she look cute?

Also, I thought I would include a few more pictures. One is of her playing with her favorite toy which is a cloth book that has the crinkle paper in it. We looked up and she had her hands to her side with the book covering her face! We also have recently discovered that she fits in the Jeep carrier a whole lot better.

I hope you enjoy! We hope that all of you are well.

In Him,

Lacie, Stephen and Jesstine

P.S. Here is a link to the video I promised. It really doesn't do the moment justice. I guess you would have had to have been there! Maybe you will enjoy it a little bit. You can certainly tell that Ian LOVES Jesstine! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT_FGVi8tBk

1 week and 2 days-old.

5 months old

Reading through osmosis!

Super Daddy!

Eat, Sleep,....Shake it!

We have had a fun week this week with our little one. She is growing so much each day. We are at that point where a lot of her clothes are really getting tight and she still has a month before she is technically 6 months old! Her cheeks would give you an idea of the size of her belly and her thighs!

So, about the title. I have asked many people about food (hence the last post) and sleep lately. We think we have found a solution to the food that suites us and her pretty well. We just feed her a couple of tbsp. at night with formula in it. Then we give her whatever she wants from a bottle. Then it is off to a bath. After her bath we get her ready for bed. Sometimes she wants more to eat (that has been a comfort thing for her for a long time now). One night she had 2 tbsp. of cereal followed by a 5 oz. bottle at around 6. At 6:30 she had her bath as usual. Then when we got her ready for bed she was really fussy. We got her a bottle of 2 oz. and she sucked it down! So, I got her three more (in case two wasn't enough) and she sucked it down. She seemed happy after that! With in two hours she basically had 2 tbsp. of rice cereal and 10 oz. of formula!!! Amazing!

I have also been trying to get her to sleep longer in the afternoon. She is getting to where she will be awake for two hours then take anywhere from a 20 min. to an hour nap. Most of the time it is about 40 mins. It is a continuous cycle of this usually. I know she is right on the edge of being able to sleep longer. Sometimes in the afternoon she will sleep for two hours or a little more. It isn't consistent yet and Mommy is ready for a break in the afternoons! 40 mins. doesn't leave time to get much done or a nap in myself! So, I have asked around to see what others did when their kids were this age. I have lately started a Noon nap. No matter how long she has been up, I put her down right at Noon each day. This should work for when she stays with Grandmom during the week as well. It has only been a few days, so I will let you know how that goes!

Also along the lines of sleep, she is moving more! I think it is time to retire the sleep positioner! You can tell by the pictures below. I also couldn't help but take a picture today as her beloved Seamoore was resting on her belly when I went in to check on her!

The last clip is a video of her with the stocking stuffer she got! These things are amazing. As many of you know, they just don't make practical rattles that are easy for babies to maneuver! Being a music teacher, I knew I had seen these tiny maracas that were simply an egg shaker with a handle! They are the perfect size and weight for little hands. So, I did some research and got some. They were her stocking stuffer this year and as you can see she LOVES them! She will sit and do this for a min. or two straight! If you are interested in them, the brand is Latin Percussion. I think that you can find them online by doing a search for Chickitas (that is what they are called instead of maracas). Sorry there is no sound! I have a video function on my digital camera, but it doesn't have sound with it. It was much easier than getting the video camera out. Much easier to post as well! Maybe Grandmom can video her with her camera (hint, hint). Enjoy! (For you music teacher friends that follow this: She already knows rest position!)

Having fun in the excersaucer!

Humm, that isn't how I left you!


A toy well loved!

Shake, Shake, Shake! Shake, Shake, Shake! Shake your chickita!

In Him,

Lacie, Stephen and Jesstine

Solid Foods

Okay, so this goes out to all of the people who read my blog and have experience raising children. I will certainly check with Jesstine's doctor to be sure, but thought I would see if her followers would be my sounding board in the meantime. Here it goes:

I started Jesstine on Rice cereal almost two weeks ago. At first she would only eat a few teaspoons and didn't seem interested. She is up to where she will eat up to three tablespoons! I was feeding her in the morning first thing and then at night before bed. She just seemed that hungry. Before introducing rice cereal, she would be hungry again just an hour after her morning bottle. At first she drank the same amount of formula for the day (with one feeding of rice cereal for the day). Lately (the last three days), we are doing good if she will eat 5 ounces and that only happens for about one bottle a day! The rest are anywhere from 3-4. Before rice cereal she was eating 6 ounces and was ready to move to 7. Should I be worried that she isn't eating as much formula? Is this just a normal thing when they start to eat solid food? I am going to back off to one feeding a day, probably at night, and see if that makes any difference. Like I said, I will also call her doctor on Monday, but wanted to see what you all had to say about it in the meantime.

Please post a comment if you can remember what it was like for your own children. It may be too specific to remember.

Thanks!
Lacie, Stephen and Jesstine Hutchins