Girls/Boys Weekend

We had the BEST of weekends :)

We started off with the guys heading up to the mountains for a Father/Son Retreat at the lake....so us girls made it a Girls Night! We went out to dinner, got our toes painted and enjoyed some yummy yogurt ;)

 This was Kaylee's first time getting her toes painted professionally ~ usually her daddy is the one who paints her sweet little toes
(because he is WAY better at it than Sissy and I are ;)

 She started off on my lap.....
but soon ventured over into her own chair in between Sis and I :)
Sissy and I chose a teal blue color and Kaylee Grace chose purple with sparkles ;)

 This is what I saw as I looked over after paying ~ Kaylee giving Sis a pedicure :)

 Yogurt time!

I LOVE these girls so much!!!! It was such a treat to have sweet time with just the 3 of us girls :)

We had SUCH a fun night....we had a sleepover in Mom and Dad's room, then woke up and packed our stuff to head up to the cabin! 

The boys had a GREAT Father/Son Retreat :)  They ate great food, fished, hiked, did devotionals, watched a movie and had some great quality time!

Here they are hiking the Falls ~ Keeg and Kols say this was their FAVORITE part of the weekend. They said they liked it because it was SO dangerous.....they told me, "Mom, you would have Nnnnnnever let us hike that if you were with us!" I said, "Well, that's what brave dads are for - taking their sons on things that us moms would worry WAY too much about :)"

They said that their favorite devotional was when they learned about a man who sacrificed a lot to help the Jewish people hide and escape during Hitler's reign. What stood out to them is how sometimes as Christians we are called to give up a lot in order to lead others to Christ.

Boys, you are blessed beyond what you'll ever know to have such an awesome daddy who loves you so much :)

Kaylee Grace ~ One Year Video

Our church, New Harvest, is doing a series on 3 pillars that are foundational to our faith: Prayer, Love and Mission. We started this series on Easter and we were blessed to be able to share our story of God's AMAZING love in Kaylee Grace's life and how He has forever changed our family through her precious life. They did a beautiful video that really captures just how GREAT our God is!!!

Below is a link to our New Harvest FB page ~ just scroll down a bit and you will see our video :)
(the link isn't working so you may have to copy and paste it in address bar)

https://www.facebook.com/nhclife

All praise and glory to our Lord Jesus who LOVES enough to rescue the weak and vulnerable!

More Food?

I'm pretty sure this is what  Kaylee Grace is thinking every time I make another meal for her and call her in to eat.

We've been REALLY working on our eating over the last few months ~ well, we've been working on eating since she came home ;). 

But we've been really pushing her over the last few months. Some days we make great progress ~ like last week.....

I made a half of a PB & J and sliced a large strawberry. It was the first time she tired PB & J ...... And she liked it! Like, she actually asked for MORE on her own rather than me bribing her in one way it another ;)

She even put a bite or two in on her own :). This is huge because she is still really funny about touching most foods other than Cheerios or goldfish ;)

She worked and worked on getting it down ~ she doesn't quite have the oral ability to move the food to her side teeth to chew and therefore get it down. I put it in at her side teeth and it ends up right behind her front teeth- and stays there (even when she chews and chews- it just stays stuck there). 

So I put Cheerios in at her side teeth and have her drink LOTS of water....and eventually that bite gets down and we start again :). 

It takes about an hour for us to get a half of PB & J and 1 full strawberry down...

But here is what her plate looked like after an hour!!

If I do a slice of turkey and cheese, that takes more like 1 1/2-2 hours ~ same with the egg and strawberry we've been working on lately

She's not as into the egg~ but will let me put it in her mouth nonetheless ;)

Here's what her plate looked like last week after 2 hours....almost all gone! I was really proud of her!!

So, today when I busted out the egg and strawberry, she just didn't have it in her....we worked and worked (I offered reward after reward) ;). But we really didn't end up getting anywhere....

So, I finally gave in ~ which was hard for me ;). When it's something as essential as eating, I can get pretty determined ;). 

She kept asking to swim (even though it's early and only 64 degrees out) and I could tell she just wasn't going to help me out with the whole "feeding therapy" thing today......it had been over an hour and we hadn't really made any progress at all. 

So, I told her, "two more bites and finish your strawberry and we will go swimming"....she was ALL in! She got her two bites down cheerfully; without crying and refusing to open her mouth ;) and ate her strawberry and we were off~

And her happy smile appeared again :)

She really is working so hard....overall she has made such great progress! So I 

am praying that today was just one of our "off" days and we'll be back at it tomorrow ~ or maybe even this afternoon ;)))

We still supplement her with a packed full bottle about 4 times a day (depending on how much food she takes in with eating). We put yogurt, baby oatmeal, fruit squeeze pouches, coconut milk (she seems to be bothered by cow's milk) and even olive oil for some extra calories! 

I keep reminding myself of how far she has come~ she takes her bottles consistently so we no longer have to worry about dehydration or calorie intake, she lets us put different foods in her mouth and she tries to get them down, she drinks water throughout the day when I ask her to.....all steps in the right direction!

We praise Jesus for how He leads and guides us step by step everyday!