Yes, she's always THAT busy: Tired...but thankful

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Since she became mobile about a year ago, Cece has not stopped. She goes, and goes, and goes - like our own little Energizer bunny. With only a few exceptions, the only time she sits still for more than a minute or two at a time is when she's asleep. This activity escalates exponentially when we are in unfamiliar surroundings. When we go to Target, Daddy's job is to chase Cece around the store while Alec and I shop. When we go to family gatherings or friends' homes, we plan on the fact that one of us will be chasing her up and down the stairs and trying to keep her from overturning numerous houseplants or breaking fine china.

So no matter where we go, we know that it won't take long before we hear the usual statement from those who do not know our Cece...

"Wow, she's REALLY busy!" (Yep, she sure is...but she's happy!)

"She sure has a lot of energy! Must tire you out!" (You don't know the half of it.)

"Is she always that energetic?" (YES!!!)

I can't blame anyone for noticing that she's a sweet little hummingbird, fluttering about from one thing to the next and keeping us on the chase. We say it ourselves all the time! But what they may not know is that all of that running, climbing up stairs, and mischievous laughter was not always a given.

There were many, many nights when she first arrived in our arms that we did not know if we could care for this tiny little blessing who demanded, needed and DESERVED so much.

There have been many times in the hospital or ER when we have been in fear.

There was a time that we thought she might never walk.

But God has answered so many prayers. He gave us wonderful doctors. He provided us with knowledge through our experiences with Alec that we didn't even know we'd need in the future. He led us to AWESOME physical and developmental therapists. He gave us the energy, resources and faith to be able to help Cece grow and thrive...even when we thought it was impossible.

Her start in life was not easy. She was born prematurely and spent the first few weeks of her life in the NICU. When she was placed with us at 9 weeks of age, she weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and came along with her own laundry list of doctors, appointments, medications and procedures. One way to scare the heck out of a parent is to tell them that they'll have to learn infant CPR before they take the child home. We were just a little overwhelmed (ha!).

Amongst several other issues, Cece's feet were turned in severely. In fact, her heel chords were so tight that it was impossible to manually push them into a neutral position (i.e., 90 degrees from the leg - the usual, natural position of a foot). We ended up starting her into twice-weekly physical therapy soon thereafter. We would drive home from work, pick the kids up from daycare, and drive 25 minutes to the therapy appointment. After a half hour of torturing (I mean, helping) our infant daughter, we would load back in the van and head home for the bedtime routine. Twice a week, every week. I think our van became one big McDonald's french fry pit during those months...yech.

After several weeks it became apparent that those darned heel chords were not going to let up. So we added one more doctor to the list - a pediatric orthopedist. We traveled to Peoria to meet with him for the first time, and only minutes after he looked at Cece we were watching her be fitted with plaster casts. The goal was to put her feet into a neutral position for an extended period of time (10 days) and then, hopefully, get her into some braces to keep the stretching going. We were adamant that surgery was a last resort. The risks were just too high, and the benefit too low, especially for a child with sickle cell disease.

Casting was NOT fun...starting with 1 1/2 hours of inconsolable baby screaming on the way home. But there was nothing we could do for her, except provide an unending supply of Tylenol. (For all of you who have had a child go through hip Spica casts...my hat is off to you!!!) None the less, she adapted quickly and after three or four days she could sleep again, sit again, and generally manage. The poopy diaper changing was another story...yuck. Amazingly I believe that we managed to keep those casts clean. Luckily she's never been a "blowout" kid.

Then there was the bracing. Pretty minor, really. The biggest challenge was getting her to sit still long enough to put them on every morning!!!

Now my beautiful girl not only walks, she runs. She jumps. She wears regular shoes (as long as they light up or have sparkles...or the cherished ladybug rainboots). She climbs up on stuff and gives me heart palpitations.