18 Months!!!

So I'm a bit behind for this post. So much time and energy goes into a newborn because they are so dependent on you. However, I don't want to miss a very monumental occasion. My little Gracie is 18 months old as of Oct. 22nd. However, she reminds me more of a 2 1/2 year old. She is so BIG! She has been doing some great things over the past month. She is practically running now and into everything. Her vocabulary has grown tremendously and is mimicking everything we do. Her latest thing is to smell her feet on command and wave around her hand like it smells and pinches her nose saying ewww... So hilarious! She is also carrying around her baby doll and putting her in the swing,pack-n-play, and feeding her a bottle.

Some of her other favorite past times is going running with dad, dancing, playing with shoes, playing with her buddies, going to the park and just being outside, and watching the occaisional "Wonder Pets" and "Backyardigans" with Daddy when he gets home from work!









I was very nervous about how Grace would adjust to having a new baby sister at home. She has pleasantly surprised me. She is always loving on her and every time the baby makes a noise, it doesn't matter where she is in the room, she runs to her side to check on her. When people come by to visit she is very verbal and seems like she is trying to introduce them to her or telling them that that is HER baby sister. Very cute!




My baby is growing up too fast. Here is a picture of her this time last year and a recent one. We are so proud of her and all her accomplishments. She surprises us every day. Even though she isn't the baby anymore she is still my baby!






Enjoy your kids! They grow up too fast!

Pumpkin Patch 09'

This is our 2nd year to take Grace to the pumpkin patch. They have a really great one here called Hunt Club Farm. The difference from this year and last is Grace's mobility. Last year she was just sitting up so we could prop her up and pose her for all kinds of fun pictures. This year, we were lucky to grab a few. The girl was all over the place! The weather was incredibly warm, upper 70's. It was a great day to get out of the house (and believe me we all needed that).


Grace rode her first kiddie ride. She went on it with Aunt Jenn and cousin Alex. She was all smiles before the ride but as you can see that changed quickly once the ride began. Bless her heart.





She also kept pointing to the Ferris Wheel so Aunt Bethany and Lauren decided to take her on it. Again, excited to get on but not so excited once the ride began.







We also attempted the pony ride but as soon as we put her on she was not having it. I think also, it was too close to nap time. Maybe next year.






As you can see Reese slept through most of it but still came up in her pumpkin best!

Some of my favorite pics....

Our Baby Girl is Home!!

We brought our precious baby girl home yesterday. Her platelet levels have stabilized and are at an all time high of 167,000 (they were at a dangerous low at only 23,000 before her transfusion last Thursday). Her jaundice is much better and she is still feeding like a champ. We were able to "room in" with her Tuesday night at the hospital. She did great. I actually had to wake her up every three hours to feed her.




She met her big sister, Grace for the first time yesterday. The meeting went better than expected. Grace was very interested in Reese, touching her toes and even giving her kisses. It was a precious moment and one that I will forever cherish. And seeing them together made it real..I have two beautiful daughters! What a blessing!




With this past week behind us, there are a lot of emotions and things we are still trying to process. We have kept one significant detail to ourselves mainly because we were awaiting the results of one test. However, we knew pretty much after a few hours of life what the diagnosis would probably be. We got the results yesterday before she was discharged.

Reese has Trisomy 21, better known as Down Syndrome. Even as I type this it is hard for me to comprehend. We were so concerned with the possibility of Reese having a stroke in utero like her sister, that this never crossed our minds. Also, me being only 31 years old, we were ignorant to the fact that it does occur in 1 out of 877 births for woman my age. The statistical probability I believe is 1-2%. So although the odds seem unlikely, my children fall within the these small statistics.

We do however believe Reese is a gift and a miracle. My OB told me that if we had delivered naturally that Reese most likely wouldn't have survived or would have most definitely bled internally (in brain or intestines) due to her blood platelets being so low. We know God protected her by not allowing her to flip which in turn caused me to have a c-section. I thought maybe there was a cord around her neck but the low blood platelet was something I couldn't see and was much more severe. So thank you Lord!!

I know that many of you are feeling bad or even sorry for us. Please don't feel that way. We may not understand and may never will but we are so blessed and so thankful that God chose us to raise these special children. Good news is that her ECHO cardiogram came back clean..no heart defects or problems. That is great news as many children with Downs have heart problems. She also passed her hearing test and her CT Scan and many more important tests. She is healthy and we are going to be meeting with a genetic counselor soon to ask our questions and get more information about how to make her quality of life the best we can.

We love you and all can't express in words how much we appreciate your prayers and all you have done for our family. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives. We couldn't have gone through this with out you and we know you are there with us on our journey as parents to both Grace and Reese.

Our newest addition....

Reese Taylor McClain came into this world Sept. 29th, 2009 at 10:57 am. She was 7 lbs 7 oz and 20 inches long. The c-section wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected and I'm trying my best to take care of myself and recover quickly so that I can be at my best for both of my girls. Many of you know the complications that Reese faced at birth. Her breathing was the first concern and because of this she spent the first 24 hours of birth in the level 2 nursery at Chesapeake General Hospital. I wasn't even able to hold her! You can imagine my panic and emotional state especially after going through a similar situation with Grace after she was born. It wears me out to even relive this and type it all out. I just don't have the strength tonight. However, I know so many of you are praying and thinking of us and I wanted to let you know how much we appreciate it. We feel the prayers and I know Reese does.

Her currant status is she is at CHKD (one of the best children's hospital on the east coast) and has been doing great. Her platelet levels are stabilizing and she is feeding very good! Now the issue of concern is her jaundice. She is under the photo therapy lights with the cool sunglasses! We thought we were going to get to "room in" (stay in a room with her in the hospital) tonight and take her home tomorrow but that isn't the case. They want to keep her a little longer to get her billy ribbon (not sure if that is how you spell it) levels down before we take her home. So now we are looking at either Wed. or Thursday.

She has had several tests and they have all come back good! We are still awaiting one test which will determine a lot concerning her future. That is all we are saying for now until we know for sure. But this we do know..she is a precious gift and we love her so much! We can't wait for her to meet everyone of our dear friends and family who have been praying for her since she entered this world almost one week ago!