Back in the Swaddle Again

With all the Chaos in life since the Haiti Earthquake, I have fallen severely short in my attempts to do, well, almost anything. As such, see this post as a commencement in catching up. To follow are all the post I've meant to make and have not. Yep, all three of them.

A couple weeks ago our little Lilly started being sweet, and sleeping all the time. You would wake in in the morning, and she would be lying there, arms raised above her head and completely unconscious. This sweet state of affairs ended after the night she turned one month old. On that night, she blissfully slept six solid hours. After that night, She began sleeping 20 minutes only, waking, eating for 2 or 3 minutes, then passing out again to begin the whole pattern all over.

This unfortunate state of affairs went on for two days. Then, from somewhere in the back of my tired mind it occurred to me that something else had changed as well. When she was wake she would flail her arms around, frequently banging them against her head and each other. You would come in when she began screaming to find her, with one arm above her head, curled in a little fist, elbow slightly bent, waiving all around as she screamed. She looked like she was trying to stir the stuffed animals outside her crib up in revolution. During one of these flail moments, I grabbed Che Gue-Lilly's little hands, folded them over her chest, and held them there. She passed out immediately.

As my older brother said on her behalf, "Oh, now that someone stopped hitting me, I can go back to sleep."

We figured out a way to swaddle her so that she cannot get her arms out anymore. She is back to sleeping 3-4 hours between eating now. These last 2 nights she has done 5 hours between. Swaddling = sleep. Sleep = good.

The Week from Haiti.

Pun intended.

Of those who read this, many of you know that My older sister, Lori Rosenlof and her husband Brent have spent years trying to adopt children from Haiti. They were months, possibly years away from bringing home two beautiful Haitian orphans named Nathan and Jessica, when What looked like multiple disasters struck. First, Jessica's birth father came and took her away from the orphanage. Then, with Jessica still off with her father, an earthquake strikes in Haiti and its Epicenter is in the same little town as the Orphanage.

Every waking moment was spent trying to reach people from the orphanage in what became an effort to not only track down Nathan and Jessica, but all the children from the Hope for Little Angels of Haiti orphanage. Word slowly cam that children were being found and gathered. Then came a silver lining. It was announced that the orphans could get Refugee status. This meant that as soon as the children could be found, they could come home!

Brent left with a group of parents and the adoption agency supervisor to haiti to track down the children. Lori commenced several sleepless days of work. Over the next two weeks, a small bedroom in the upstairs of my sisters home would become a fulcrum of international events. As word came in that the children were being found, alive and unharmed, my sister commenced communication with Senators and adoption agencies. She now has personal contacts at the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security. She raised money for jet fuel, obtained a plane, and gathered paperwork for everyone of 70 children that "Team Hope", our five heroes on the ground were out to gather.

Chareyl, The adoption agent, spent every hour of every day waiting in line at the embassy to get our paperwork processed, helping those in line around here, and sending home stories of people who had been waiting in the embassy lobby for over a week for medical visas, literally dying to get to the United States.

Slowly the children were all located, Nathan was reunited with Brent, and Lori performed miracles, getting parents flights to Utah in the hopes they would soon see their children. Jessica was even located and found to be alive.


Then the Haitian government said no. Lori, at wits end, managed to rally enough support, that Senators contacted The Ambassador to Haiti, who contacted the Haitian Ambassador to the US and said that that was unacceptable. Our children's papers ended up on the desk of the Prime minister for signatures.

But what really got things moving was a story that will become a family legend. Planes going into Haiti right now are allowed to stay on the ground for 2 hours, then they have to clear out to make room for another arriving plane. The Pilot of the plane that took down relief supplies and doctors to our orphans refused to move his plane off the tarmac until he had the orphans on board. The government capitulated, most of the children were loaded, and they and the parents landed in Miami this evening. They will be there for some time, a few days, but they are on their way, and their parents will see them soon.

I write this all for two reasons:

I want the world to know that despite what you may hear on the news or from various people involved in this, No one did more for this miracle than my sister an Chareyl. Do not believe it if anyone else says otherwise.

Second, The company the Pilot works for backed up his actions, but the FAA might not. If they come after him, I want all of you to join us in going after them. This man is a true humanitarian and hero.

Please go to my sisters blog and read the heart wrenching stories posted over the last 4 days.

http://countdowntohomecoming.blogspot.com/

The worst Irony of all this, is that the woman who has given her all for these children and their families this week, only one of her children is coming home. Jessica's birth father refuses to give her up, even under pressure from his whole neighborhood.

These children will be home soon, but there is a long way to go to rebuilding the orphanage. If you, or anyone you know can help, go to my sisters blog to find out how you can donate. These children still need your help.

It'll Cost you Just a Nickel...

Or not.

Got a moment?

This is from my sisters blog. We are trying to raise money to bring these orphans home. Thinks have progressed very rapidly in the last 48 hours. These kids could come home this week, we could just use a little help. Commenting on the linked blogpost brings these kids the food they need. Just comment. That's all.

"My friend's brother's wife ('s cousin's uncle's neighbor...??) writes a blog that gets traffic. She's using the "Coin for Comments" idea to donate 5 cents to Hope for Little Angels of Haiti for every person that comments on this post

http://babesinhairland.blogspot.com/2010/01/coins-for-comments.html

Thanks for the great idea, Becky. Things work better when we all do the best we can with what we have where we are. Thank you for your support of our babies."

Hope For Little Angels of Haiti

There is no way I can explain this as well as the Daily Herald. Please read here about my sister and brother in law. If you can do something to help go here to the facebook page or here to read more on my sister's story or donate.

Twiners

Uncle Matt and Aunt Chris bought Lilly a cute little doll. After we get it home we suddenly realized that it is almost identical to a little outfit Lilly has. It's an awfully cute little doll, thanks Matt and Chris.

As you can see, we are trying to branch out and use something besides Gma Barlows Quilt as the backdrop for EVERY Picture. Here we went so far as to roll the quilt aside and use the fitted sheet underneath. Classy.

Shout Out to My Homies

Apparently Lilly is a member of a gang now. My they do start early these days. Her gang is the "NASA" Side and their colors are pink and lavender. (No complaining Jon, you picked out all those clothes.)

I have no comment about the binky.

But she sure is cute, i'nt she?

Dear Diary

Today was such a weird day. Early in the morning I awoke to the indignity of a messy diaper that had overstepped its bounds...all over my cute pjs. We had a serious talk; I resolved to throw out anything in my life that does not meet my expectations...goodbye diaper.

Then, Mom and Dad put me in this warm wet stuff that DID NOT feel good. After all was said and done, I decided to forgive them. Really, what is it with parents!?




Then, I decided to show off some of my tricks today. You would think that my parents would just take it in stride; I am amazing after all. Anyway, they took lots of pictures and video of me playing. I can hold my head up for a few minutes all on my own.



Apparently, my weight is an issue. I thought I was beautifully slim, but after losing 9.5% of my body weight since birth, the doctor sent me home last week with the instructions to bulk up. At my weigh in today, I came in at a robust 7 lbs, 13.5 oz. Dad won the pool hands down with his guess (only .5 oz off). I am still not above my goal weight, so I will need to stop by the doctor again next week. Ah well, we are all encouraged.

Anyway, it was a great day!

Love,
Lilly

Visits

I meant to post these weeks ago. Here are photos of the visitors that Lilly has had since arriving that I have not already posted. These aren't in correct order, and i seemed to have failed to get a bunch of pictures when people arrived.

Aunt Lori. Lilly's First Visitor!

Aunt Lindsay

Aunt Chris and Uncle Matt

Great Grandma and Grandpa Harris

Uncle Jon

Aunt Carie

Aunt Marshell, Uncle Caleb and Cousin Abby

Uncle Brent


Grandpa Barlow

Daughters Were Made to Make Great Fathers

Do not misunderstand me, I thought very seriously about life when I married Paige. But something really serious came over my mind when Lilly arrived.

Not completely serious. I am very ridiculous when interacting with my Daughter. Those are the times that I teach her about the facts of life. Slurpees are fools gold, Go for the hotdogs if they are fresh, Wendy's has the best fries, Pepperoni rocks, and, as Snoop Dog would say, "Pizza is teh fashizzle." Whatever that means.

But I find myself more concerned about the meaning of all my other actions. This became extremely true as Saturday the 26thof December rolled around. There was a reason this date was so serious. Even though she was just over a week old, that is the day we blessed and named Lilly. We did it then so that Paige could have some of her family there.

As the one performing the blessing, I was extremely nervous. I wanted to give a good blessing, but more importantly I wanted to give her the blessing the Lord wanted me to give her.

Anyone who has been in that position before knows, that by the time it's done, it's all a blur. I was told I did all right, and I felt good about it.

And it was good to have the family there.