Illinois here we are

Aspen at the airport

Sorry we have been delinquent on blog posts for those of you that are still following. A lot has happened in the past week! Up until a week ago from today, we planned to arrive in Illinois on Friday (the 12th). But, then a week ago (7th), Laura received a call asking if we could have our stuff delivered in Batavia on Tuesday (the 9th) morning at 8 AM. Well, that shook things up a bit. We were planning to just have somebody else meet the movers at the house, but since we had never been in the house, that was a bit overwhelming to us. So, we booked a last-minute plane ticket for Laura to fly out late Monday night. This was all contingent on Aspen not having oxygen anymore since she would not be allowed to fly with oxygen. And, the doctor appointment was at 2:30 on Monday afternoon. If you are following the details here, you will realize this was crazy. But, again God provided. Aspen did very well without the supplemental oxygen, so she left the doctor that day breathing all on her own. Laura got home after 4 from the doctor and a friend took Laura to DIA at a little after 6 PM (thanks Kacie!). My trooper wife had her flight delayed and didn't get to the house here until about 4 AM on Tuesday. The movers showed up a bit before 8. She then proceeded to direct traffic with the movers on about 2 hours of sleep while caring for Aspen. Pretty impressive. Thanks much to Mom and Dad Lanser who slept in their car while waiting for Laura and Aspen to arrive in Chicago, and then spent a day and a half moving things around in the house. The other kids and I drove her most of the day on Tuesday and Wednesday. And, thanks also to Mom and Dad Sharda for helping us the rest of the weekend as we continued to unpack. That was a massive project, but on Sunday night, finally feel like we have a house that is livable and we can find things like towels and other important things like bikes :).

Unpacking can still be fun

A pre-Halloween party- happy to have dress up clothes again!

The heat and humidity are kicking my butt, but we are very thankful for A/C. Off to my new office tomorrow to hopefully get us into somewhat of a routine with our new lives.

Sorry, I don't know how to turn the pic. ;)

We continue to appreciate prayers as we make this big transition and for Aspen as she continues to grow. By the way, she is now eating like a champ and even appears to have a double-chin now. Awesome!

Shardas Six

It feels like Aspen is our baby now and not someone I am going to visit at the hospital. It is soooo good to have the Shardas Six all together. The big kids looove to hold her and even just look at her- surprisingly Caleb is the one most interested in her and keeps track of her feeding schedule for me (he loves anything with numbers.

Aspen is a super sweet baby. Only cries when there is a legitimate reason.  She likes to eat at night, so hopefully we can help her learn that eating during the day is a better program. I don't have much desire to become nocturnal.

The kids gave Aspen two of their favorite animals. Someday we will look back and be surprised at how tiny she was...Red and Fuzzy are much bigger than Aspen's head!

We took Aspen on her first outing last night to YoYogurt (thank you library reading program!). She thoroughly enjoyed it by sleeping through the whole thing.

My nurse friend, Mandy, reminded me how amazing it is that Aspen came home before she was even term (37 weeks) since she was only 36 and one day. I believe that God answered my "miracle baby" prayer and may He receive the glory. She is still on a slight bit of oxygen but I am not-so-secretly hoping that at her pediatrician appointment on Monday she can be done with that. Otherwise she probably will be once we move to sea level. Crazy Colorado air. She has been taking bottles like a champ and I hope to gradually start her transition to nursing more today.

I know this pic is blurry but I loved her sweet smile.

Speaking of sea level...we are grateful to report that all of our junk and treasures are being loaded onto the moving truck today and should arrive at our Batavia, IL home on Friday.  For a while we wondered if we were going to have to wait until after Fourth of July weekend, so this is nice to be able to move things along. So we plan to pack up our Shardas Six and drive starting on Wednesday. 

Closing this chapter of our lives in Colorado will be really difficult after the incredible support we've been shown through this time. We are so fricken' blessed! Sorry for the pg13 language.

Thanks for checking in. 

Laura 

She's "home"!!!

15 Days in NICU

About 30 minutes ago marked 15 days in the NICU. The past couple days have been very good ones. Aspen seems to be grabbing hold of the concept of eating, which has been fantastic. She drank a full bottle for me at the 5 PM feeding today. Full means the bottle was full, and she had 15 more mL than her minimum is, but she has never had that much before! Also, she passed her car seat test this afternoon, which means she can stay oxygenated in a car seat for a couple of hours minimum. This is one of the final steps they do before releasing babies from the NICU, so we are very encouraged. Hoping that Laura gets to "room-in" tomorrow night, which means she stays in a room at the hospital with Aspen to get used to having a baby around without all the monitors and distractions that have become our norm and given us a semblance of peace. If all goes well with that "room-in," Aspen would hopefully be able to come up Thursday.

The car seat test 

We'll keep you all posted on how that progresses, but we believe all of your prayers have had an incredible impact, and at the very least have brought us an incredible sense of peace through all of this.

We did have to say good-bye to our last full-time helper today as Mom Lanser flew home this afternoon. We have had some sacrificial love displayed by our moms since Aspen was born as one of them has been her since the day she was born. So, now we get to see what life is like without that incredible help. Praying that Aspen gets to come home and we can get things back to our new normal soon!

Proud "big" sister. Also they took out Aspens feeding tube today (hopefully forever)!

2 week old Aspen

2 weeks can feel like forever and the blink of an eye at the same time! I really can't believe that Aspen is two weeks old already.

The last 24 hours have been a major success for Aspen's feeding. All of a sudden she loves to eat and has lots of energy to do it. She even likes to hold her own bottle! Overachiever.

It is still hard to tell when we will be out of the hospital but we are encouraged by her increased interest and energy for eating. She still has the feeding tube but doctor ordered that we don't use it for the next day and see how she does. As far as I understand, they want her to succeed without using the feeding tube for at least 48 hours.

Aspen will also need to pass a car seat test (no desats for 90 minutes) and will stay overnight with me in the hospital before we discharge.

I have lots of milk and usually nurse before one or two feedings each day but can get bottle feedings in her much more efficiently. I'm not worried about Aspen learning to nurse when the time 

Our family is doing really well for the most part. My heart is happiest when baby girl is in my arms and I really look forward to having her home when the time comes but for now I will enjoy the good nights' rest! I make it up to most of the daytime feedings every hours. Jeff is balancing work and the dad role (as well as some biking and golf) well and makes at least one visit each day to the hospital. Kinley waivers between good days and challenging ones. All of the kids will be tickled pink to have her home. Mom Lanser is doing a fantastic job loving on our tired kiddos.

Jeff and I were talking the other night about how we don't really have energy to pray...or know what to pray for. Yet we totally feel His peace and know your prayers are being answered. Thanks for approaching Aspen's Heavenly Father for us. We are so grateful to rest in His plan for our little crew. 

Blessings to you all!