It's a green day in more than one sense of the word!

Happy St Patty's Day! And we are having some unseasonably warm weather here in MN. Hey-O! So we ventured out to our neighborhood park to celebrate. Greta & mommy walked/waddled the block and a half to THE PARK! (this is always spoken about with an exclamation point behind it) and Greta even pushed her stroller full of animal friends there. Perhaps she is nesting? Preparing for baby brother? Maybe. Or maybe she just wanted to figure out a way I would let her bring her animals to the park. Either way we made it and daddy met us there after work. It does us all good to get outside and get a little fresh air! I included a pic of myself in the collage. You can see how....substantial... I am. I'm measuring 3 weeks ahead- oiye. And no, I'm not carrying twins, no need to ask. Enjoy a few pictures of us stealing some sunshine today.

One more: Recovery

So, I'll just make one post about Greta's illness and recovery. We have a few pictures of Greta at her most ill...mostly for her one day if she wants to see them. I'm still not comfortable sharing them- they stir up such intense feelings of vulnerability and sadness. However, I will post some pics of the massive machinery that Gboo was hooked up to, just so you can have an idea how she earned the name "miracle baby" in the PICU. I'll then post some pics from various stages in our recovery...and say a little prayer of thanks for where we are today. Hopefully the rest of our postings will all tell happier stories from here on out. However, it feels weird not to acknowledge this huge life changing event too so here goes....

ECMO...here's a look at the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxgenator (machine that oxygenates and circulates the blood outside of the body). The 2nd picture shows our child on her bed...you can see the large tubes carrying her blood in/out of her body that hook up to the ECMO (located to the left of this photo). You can also get a feel for how many meds she was on by the scads of IV "brains" that are at the foot of her bed. She was hooked up to the ventilator but it wasn't doing any of the work for her at the time (the ECMO was doing that) and the big lights were warming lights to make sure her toesies didn't get too cold. You can see why we couldn't just hang out in her room....there was no space.

Waking Up:

A few pictures of Greta once we got up to the 5th & 7th floors. She loved the wagon and it was a great way to get her out of the room when she was still too weak & sedated to get around herself. We had to re-teach her how to walk & swallow. Thankfully we did not have to re-teach her how to snuggle...

Going home & further recovery:

Greta slept through her departure from the hospital- but daddy's happy face says it all. She continued to have muscle weakness including weakness in her left eye. We've been going to PT & OT (leg work & upper body work) weekly since home and have seen remarkable progress. Finally when we said goodbye to all of the weaning drugs this week we are really seeing our little girl shining through again...an amazing gift. Kissing mommy's baby tummy & standing beside her amaryllis, you can get a glimpse of what we're seeing today.

Just 2 months late...

Hi friends.

I know those of you that check this blog have probably followed our family's story on Caring Bridge for the last 2 months. So, I don't suppose you are surprised that there have been no recent postings of Gboo's bday party or any of the aftermath. Well, I'm here 2 months later to give some updates and try and get back on track.

I have to tell you...looking at the pictures from Greta's birthday party bring me more pain than joy right now. It just sends me to that scary place and reminds me of how strange Greta's illness progression was (from her party to life support in 24 hours). But I'm trying...and our idea for her party was cute...so here's the scoop. We threw Greta a storybook party and asked some of Gboo's friends (playdates within the last year) to come dressed as a favorite storybook character. We had a dress up station (if someone wanted to change personas), a bookmark making section (which was largely ignored in the hubub), a reading area with G's favorite books, and of course the play area. We served pizza then had a cupcake for each child...a bookworm of course! The kiddos were darling...Madelines, the Cat in the Hat, Princesses, Bob the Builder, Little Red Riding hood, and our own little WonderPet (yes I know, only loosely literary but that's the only costume she'd consider!). It was a fun little party...enjoy the footage of our first "friends included" birthday party!

Christmas part 2...Bamalama time

Well, our threesome finally made it to Alabama....a bit later than schedule thanks to the snow, but we made it! We were greeted by Bama Gramps & Granny and Uncle Dan, Aunt Maureen, and cousins Evelyn (2 1/2) and Amelia (6 mo). How fun! We figured it would be a good year for Gboo and Evey to play together but that they might need a little "warm up" time. Um, no. Peas and carrots from the moment they laid eyes on each other. Those two ran up and down Granny & Gramps' halls giggling and playing all week long. With those two sillies entertaining themselves, that gave the proud aunt & uncle a chance to get to know our newest niece Amelia. It's amazing how quickly you forget how tiny they are.... We didn't schedule too many activities but still had too much fun. Here are some pics that testify to how fun Bamalama was!

Fun to come....Gboo's 3rd bday is coming up and she has a party this weekend to celebrate! We'll share some stories and fun with you as soon as we recover...

a few Christmas funnies...

Our Christmas plans were altered this year due to Old Man Winter...we'll be heading south in a few days all together, which won't be so bad. We missed seeing gramps and granny today but we're looking forward to being together with them SOON.

While you wait for Flotown footage, I'll give you a couple of funny Gboo outtakes from the last few days. She's been wired...what kiddo isn't at Christmas time I suppose...though we've jokingly said that her Christmas experience has been more like Hanukah than Christmas this year!

* Christmas Eve we have a no-practice Christmas pageant. Greta decided to dress as an angel this year...swerving from her all-day plan to be a sheep once she saw all the girlies dressing in white sparkly things. So...they started to call the groups of kids up front and she was convinced it was her turn. Grandpa told her she had to wait for the angel part, so she went out in the narthex where some fellow angel buddies were gathering and announced, "GRETA IS HERE!" Oh. My. So when they called the THRONGS of angels forward I went up on the stage and sat on the sidelines to try and bring a little stability to the situation. Greta was fine with this for about 2 minutes before she announced to me, "Mommy, I don't want to sit on the side over here. I want to sit out there...." pointing to center stage (of course). She promptly rose and went to stand in the middle of the group- front and center- where she smiled and waved and even did a lovely twirl for the congregation. It's official...this child is bound for the stage.

*Kylie the horse has been a hit but there have been 2 big concerns about him. 1) Where he would sleep. Thank God the preacher thought up the concept of the "stable" for him to rest in or else I think she'd still be begging to sleep with him. 2) Greta very seriously informed me that Kylie was different because Kylie had no legs. I tried to convince her that this was quite normal for pretend horses. Let's just say her expression made it clear that she was unconvinced.

*Rudolf has been a fav show here for the last 2 weeks. And with Rudolf comes the character of the Bumble. Gboo is now quite obsessed with the Bumble (is it a good Bumble or bad Bumble) and we "spy" Bumbles almost every time we get into the car right now.

*In the bath tonight, Greta spontaneously broke into Away in the Manger. Coupled with Jingle Bells and We Wish You A Merry Christmas, which she sang earlier, we've been delighted to hear her Christmas repertoire. At bedtime we read the little Drummer Boy together and she is chiming in with "pla rum pa plum plum."

* Tonight at bedtime while we were reading stories, Greta interrupted the story to say, "Jeez, daddy....you're breath is really smelly. It is awful." She hasn't quite figured out the difference in gas and halitosis. It was still quite hysterical.

* Recently when asked what we should name her little brother, her reply was "Jersey." When we reminded her that that name was already taken by our dog she said, "oh, ok....how about New Jersey." You can take the girl outta Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey outta the girl!

We hope your celebrations have been happy too! More soon!

Christmas in the 'Sota...aka the pre-Christmas Christmas celebration

Merry Christmas friends and family!

It has been an interesting December. We found out the Cubby is a boy, have been up to our ears in Advent work, Gboo's mommy hurt her back and has been laid up for 1 1/2 weeks (on the mend now), and now the Christmas festivities have begun! Here are some pics and stories from our fun.

Saturday we celebrated with Grandpa Jay & Kelly's side of the family. Great Grandma Dagny and Great Grandpa Holger had us over for a day of bowling (mommy and Greta sat that one out), singing (a BIG tradition in this family complete with caroling books), eating and, of course, presents. Greta spent most of the day chasing after her great-grandparents' kitty Louis who seemed equally interested, albeit quite distrustful of this new toddler. She was into the presents, particularly the first 3 or so, but after that Gboo entered the Christmas zone. We had to do a fair amount of coaxing to get her to open the rest of her presents (hard to do when there are fun new things to play with right in front of us). Such a good lesson for us as parents (and I mean no disrespect to the gparents, as I know it is their job to spoil...) that at least for now less can really be more with our girl. As you can see from the pics, Grandpa and Kelly did not disappoint and Greta was thrilled with her games, books, and copious amounts of wonderpets toys!

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas with Grandma & Papa Bruce's side of the family. A restful, game-filled, food-filled, present-filled day was similarly fun for all of us. Gboo definitely had the queen's share of gifts at the opening and showed the most interest in the first 3 gifts opened...the cowboy hat & horse (named Kylie, if you are curious) from Grandma, the toolbelt (to help daddy in the basement) from Aunt Kebbie and Uncle Peter, and the wonderpets cape from Jayne...ALL BIG HITS. There were more gifts, but these took the day and Greta was the coolest "handy caped cowgirl" you've ever seen. We heard "neeeeiiiighhhhhh, Merry Christmas!" all afternoon. Here's a video...that will give you some idea of the hilarity.

We have our church celebrations to come this week and then- weather allowing- we are hoping to fly down to AL for a long week with Granny, Gramps, Uncle Dan, Aunt Maureen and cousins Evelyn & Amelia (our first time to meet Amelia since her birth in May!). So we still have so much fun to look forward to! We'll post some pics of our adventures there soon.

Beyond all the gifts and excitement, the preacher and preacher's wife talked last night and felt so utterly grateful to be surrounded by (both near and far) so many people who love us and love our child. I can't imagine a luckier girl than our daughter. We hope your Christmas celebrations are also filled with love and peace.

Cubby is a.......

BOY! Just found out this morning that our newest Christiansen is a little guy. The 2 pictures on top are of his profile. You just gotta go back and compare that profile to Greta's! I haven't put them side by side yet, but to my eye they look ALOT ALIKE. The nose! The forehead! At least we know she turned out pretty well, so we won't be as concerned this time around (last time we thought she looked alot like Homer Simpson. We were worried.). The bottom two pictures are of, well, the "identifying marker of a boy." If you need a little orientation in the pictures...look for the arrow. It points to the goods. The arrow makes us giggle. He (still getting used to saying that!) was measuring TALL...a full week ahead in the leg department. So yes, it appears that once again I have simply been the incubator for the Christiansen gene pool.

Of course the biggest source of joy is that everything in the scan looked great. We had to get a level 2 ultrasound since I'm officially considered "of advanced maternal age" and because we waived genetic testing. So we spent alot of time looking at all the parts and for any potential things to watch. We are grateful that we got a clean bill of health and we pray that little Cubby keeps up the good growing work. 13 oz so far...so just needs another 7 lbs or so to be perfect like his sister!

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. Please keep up the good work!

Happy Advent,

the Preacher, the author, Peanut and Cubby