Memory Lane: "House Broke"

Wow, do these pictures take me back! It is in December 2007, after Christmas. It was a day or so after I was home from having Sabrina (which occurred on Dec. 27th). Catherine had been diagnosed with brain cancer just a few weeks before this, and my heart was convinced that God was giving me Sabrina because He was about to take Catherine back. So, every day we tried to make as special as possible for Catherine.

So, I bought a kit for a gingerbread house at Costco and we built and decorated one. Being a non-eater from birth, Catherine of course had no interest in eating the candy, like most children. But she has always loved crafts and enjoyed making it and decorating it.

Unfortunately, the house had a cave in! During the decorating process, one of us (I can't remember if it was Catherine or not) leaned on the roof and smashed it. I love the worried look on Catherine's face:

We had taught Catherine sign language because she was such a late talker, so we were tickled when she made the signs for "house" and "broke." Here's Catherine making the sign for "broke:"

Even though these pictures were taken almost THREE years ago, it is striking to me how Catherine's face looks exactly the same. It is like she has been in a time warp for three years and has not aged physically.

Memory Lane: Big Drums

I love "action shots" of my children playing. Here is Catherine playing drums at a park across the street from the Georgia Aquarium. If you have never been there, it is well worth the trip!!

Memory Lane: First Ferris Wheel Ride

Robby loves to go to the county fair every year, so we go. Here is a picture of the first time we took Sabrina on the ferris wheel. She looks so young, but still has her huge smile!!

Memory Lane: Kidney Ultrasound

We focus on Catherine's medical journey so much that poor Sabrina gets forgotten. Sadly for her, she has had to undergo some testing simply because of her sister's history.

Apparently kidney and bladder problems can run in families. So, even though there was no reason to believe that Sabrina had any kidney or bladder issues, she had to undergo a series of tests when she was a few months old.

Here she is getting her kidney ultrasound (back in the spring of 2008 - look how dark and short her hair is!):

Memory Lane: Playground Exhaustion

I love this picture of Catherine at the playground. She actually put her head down and started sleeping while we were there. She was 2 at the time. I love how small kids can sleep any time, any place. I wish I still had that ability!

Memory Lane: Laptop

About a year ago we had a yard sale. While waiting for customers, I sat in our driveway in a folding chair with my laptop. As always, I was humbled by Catherine's desire to copy me!

Memory Lane: Swinging by the Pool

Sabrina was born in December, so she was six through eight months old during her first summer. We go to the pool almost every day, so we would bring the portable swing. After she swam, Sabrina would relax by the pool with her bottle before napping.

Memory Lane: Physical Exam

I love these pictures! Sabrina was being seen by the genetics clinic because her father & sister have nuerofibromatosis. While we were waiting, Catherine took the opportunity to pre-examine her sister.

Memory Lane: Easy Containment

This is a great picture of Sabrina. While my Dad was building his house in Jasper, he came down every few weeks to check on the construction. This picture was taken in September 2008. When I took my Dad to his house, I often brought my kids with us. This box was a great option for Sabrina one afternoon: it actually contained her and a few toys while we looked at the house.

Memory Lane: Cotton Candy

Sabrina's first Halloween - we dressed her up like an angel. We went to the Fall Festival at Camp Sunshine, where she LOVED her first taste of cotton candy!

Memory Lane: Tummy Time

Here are some pictures from July 2008 when Sabrina was 7 months old - practicing that "tummy time." I can barely remember a time when she was still working on those skills - now she can climb the stairs by herself!

Memory Lane: The Joy of Eating

This is probably a strange picture to take. I am sure very few parents would take this picture. This is Sabrina when she was first starting to eat rice cereal. Because Catherine has never eaten and has been G-tube fed her whole life, we were very nervous about having a second child with a feeding disorder.

We were also like first time parents when it came to feeding. We had no idea how to get a child to eat. In fact, our track record was such that we could not get a child to eat. Would we be able to get Sabrina to eat? Were we incompetent parents with Catherine? Were we mixing rice cereal and water incorrectly? Could we have held the spoon a different way to get her to eat? We experienced a lot of self-blame as a result of Catherine's refusal to eat.

Well, time has revealed that Catherine's refusal to eat is not because of our feeding techniques. Of course we still have no idea why she won't eat. But, we do know that getting Sabrina to eat was never a problem. We simply offered her food. Almost any kind of food. Even if we don't offer her food, we just have to have food in her vicinity and she will eat it. So, we took this picture because we were so impressed that Sabrina would eat a few ounces of rice cereal. In our house, that was a cause for celebration!

Memory Lane: Not a Happy Face

I love this picture because it reminds me of how miserable Catherine is sometimes in the hospital. As a general rule, Cahterine is very tough and tolerant and smiles through most everything. I forget how rough these tests and procedures are on her and just how much she goes through. She really does not complain much. If a Barney video is playing, she will sit completely still while an IV is inserted.
But, this picture captures just how much she sometimes suffers. It was taken in June 2008 while we were inpatient at Egleston. She had a kidney removed (God had given her three; one was dead and infected, so the surgeons removed it). We kept her on morphine for a week after that surgery. This was one of the worst recoveries she has had. Poor thing!

Memory Lane: Pool Play

This photograph was taken during the summer of 2007. Catherine was almost 2, although she looks a lot younger because she is so small. Catherine loved playing in the pool. She had no fear of flying in the air, even way above Robby's head.

She knew quite a bit of sign language by this point. I remember after every throw we would pull her out of the water and she would smile and sign "more" for us. We spent at least an hour a day at the pool with her that summer.

Memory Lane: Sabrina's First Fourth

These pictures were taken on the Fourth of July in 2008. Sabrina was 6 months old and Catherine was one month (well almost two months) shy of three years old. Our fabulous neighborhood has a parade, BBQ and pool party every Fourth of July. So, we dressed the girls up in all the red, white and blue clothes we could find. We also decorated their wagon and "marched" in the parade with all of our neighbors.

After we got home, we sat around the family room, playing. Robby noticed that Sabrina had wiggled so much that her headband had slid down her forehead and was covering her eyes. Of course, that caused her to wiggle substantially more!

I love these pictures, even if they are a bit out of focus. Now that Sabrina is just over two years old, it is hard for me to remember her baby fat days. Her arms look like a miniature sumo wrestler. Her hair, which now requires regular bang trims and goes down past her shoulders, was so short in these pictures!

Memory Lane: Sneeze Practice

In this season of colds and sneezes, I loved reviewing these pictures of Catherine "learning" how to sneeze. We were eating lunch at Swallow at the Hollow (or something like that) with my father, who was teaching Catherine "how" to sneeze.

I think Catherine was about 20 months old at this time. She was 17 months old when my mother died In January 2007. Sabrina was born in December 2007. So this photograph was taken between those two events.

Catherine was having a blast practicing her sneezing!