June 25, 2009

Father's Day

My wild eyes =)

We are overwhelmed once again at the wonderful love and the mighty healing hand of our Savior. We just let the eye doctor and were told that Sam's blood vessels from the optic nerve had grown correctly to the retina and crossed the plain properly!! No more blood vessel check ups. Dr. Thompson really took his time and explained R.O.P. to us once again. Sam had ROP because of his prematurity. When he was delivered at 31 weeks, his development that was taking place in my womb came to a hault. In this hault, Sam's eyes stopped where they were. Usually the vessels properly grow and attach to the retina around 38-40 weeks. With Sam it has taken much longer but they are there now! God has continued to shower us with His blessings each day. It is so exciting to see Sam grow a little more each day. I can't believe that it has been 12 weeks since he so quickly came into our world and he is 4 weeks old from his due date. He is around 7lbs 8oz now. We've been able to take him more places which has been a little easier for me during the day. It was so exciting to be in church with him on Father's Day. Jeff and I never could have imagined the joy that having a child brings you. I continue to thank God for the simple things that we experience with Sam each day. I may be sleep deprived but that's much better than visiting the NICU all day, everyday. I'm thankful for things that some first time parents might not think about like being able to get him up out of his bed when he's crying or giving him a bath or even changing his clothes whenever I want. ( Sam might not be so thankful about the clothes changing) At 3am when he is wide-awake and sometimes crying and I'm trying to figure out what to try next, sometimes I sing to him, usually Jesus Loves Me and he calms right down. Singing that song to him sometimes brings tears to my eyes. Especially when Sam looks up at me with those beautiful blue eyes and looks so happy. When I sing the words -little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong - it melts my heart because I know just how true those words are in Sam's life. When Sam (and Sam's family) was the weakest, our Lord provided strength and healing in his little body. At the eye doctor today, the nurse and dr continued saying how strong Sam was (as all 3 of us were trying to hold him down for the eye exam). I'm amazed at the strength of this little guy. He holds his head up and turns it without any problem. The other day when he was on his tummy he began grunting, I'm thinking this grunting was in relation to messing up a diaper, he began pushing up with one of his hands and his legs and if he could've moved the other arm out from under him, he would have rolled over. :) I know that we still have a long journey with Sam full of excitement, worry, and even fear at some times. I also know that our God is still holding Sam in His hand and protecting him which provides me with a peace about all of the things we might face in the years to come. Thank you for all of your prayers during the past 3 months. We wouldn't have been nearly as strong without the persistent encouragement and support from our family, church family, and friends. Please continue to check Sam's blog for updates and prayer requests. I'm trying to get better about posting updates. I want everyone to know how God continues to work in his little life and our family. Also, continue to pray for Sam to develop properly. We have another pediatric drs. appt July 1st and an eye appt with the opthamologist in 3 months. I'll let you know how it goes. We love you guys!

Sam's newborn pics are online for viewing. go to http://www.studioenvogue.com/main.html
click on proofing - the password is 033109 they are only up until July 4th Check them out, enjoy!