Baby Alex is HERE!!!

Alexander Pierce is HERE!!!

There have been issues with Trinity's pregnancy since the 32nd week when they found out that the baby was very small.  The doctors and neonatalogist followed the pregnancy closely, but when the baby still wasn't growing enough by her office visit on Monday, they decided to admit Trinity to the hospital that night for a C-section the next morning.

So Alex made his debut yesterday, July 2, sometime around 8:30 AM!  He weighed in at 5 pounds, 4 ounces.  He appeared to be doing well for the first hour or so and was able to be in the room with the parents and family for  a little bit.  However, after a couple hours, it was noted that he was grunting and retracting...both signs of respiratory distress in infants.  

He was taken to the intermediate nursery, placed under oxygen, had a chest x-ray and some lab work.  Today tests show he has bilateral pneumonia.  :(

At this time he remains in the nursery in an incubator, unable to be held by his loving, and obviously upset, parents.  They have placed an IV in the cord vessel and have started giving him nutrition through it until the mom's milk comes in.  

These pictures were taken when he was still in the room soon after birth...before he was whisked off to the nursery/incubator.

Is he making "moose ears" or is he saying "nahnah nahnah nah nah"?

As soon as she learned that her sister-in-law was going to have her C-section, Erin and Sera packed up and drove to Georgia to be there to take care of Alex's big brother, Andrew, and to get the nursery and house in order for Alex's coming home.


Here is Erin holding Alex...

Does she look like a proud Auntie, or what???  :)

Andy & I cannot be there till next week.  We are beside ourselves with concern for Alex's health and longing to hold and kiss our new grandson!  This is the first grandchild that we have not been present for the birth.  :(

Please keep this little peanut in your thoughts and prayers for a quick healing so he can be cuddled by those who love him so much!

Oh...and before I forget...HAPPY 8th ANNIVERSARY to Alex's parents, Paul and Trinity!

7-3-2005

AND...a very HAPPY 31st ANNIVERSARY to my husband, Andy!   Here's to another 31 years!  :)

7-3-1982

 

Loretta

THIRTY!!!!!!!

Quote for the Day:

"I love being married.  It's so great to find that one special person 

you want to annoy for the rest of your life."

 ~Rita Rudner

July 3, 1982 

 

THIRTY YEARS today!  Yep...that's how long Andy and I have been married!!  Can you believe it?  I can't!!!  

Thirty years sounds so LOOONNNNGGGG...but it doesn't feel like it's been that long.  Even with the moves, the kids, the grandkids, the job changes, the automobiles purchased, the remodeling of  two different houses, etc., etc., etc., ...all of the things that have occurred over the many years...it still seems like it's only been about 8 years or so.  After all, how is it possible that I could even be OLD ENOUGH to have been married 30 years???    Oh, that's right...I married when I was 6 years old!  LOL 

Us with my mom and 2 of my sisters and 2 of my nieces...

Funny...I look older than six years old in those pictures!  LOL

These past 30 years have been a roller coaster ride... sometimes fun...sometimes frightening,  but we take each day as it comes. 

And then, seven years ago, Paul and Trinity, our son and daughter-in-law, said their vows on this same date...July 3, 2005!!

So a Happy 7th Anniversary shout out to them, too!!   Love you both!  :)  Pretty soon it will be THEM saying to themselves, "Thirty years?  How can that be?"  LOL

They had a much better photographer than we did, so their pictures turned out great!  LOL  At our wedding we had a friend who thought he knew how to use his fancy camera...but didn't!  :(    


Loretta

4th of July edition...

Quote for the Day:

"You cannot do a kindness too soon, 

for you never know how soon it will be too late."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy "4th of July"...or "Independence Day"...as we call it here in the United States. 

Yep...today is the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which was the document adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, that announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire.



This weekend, while the States celebrated this historical event, Andy & I celebrated another historical event.  Yesterday, July 3rd, was our 29th wedding anniversary as well as our son & daughter-in-law's 6th wedding anniversary!  WOOT WOOT!  

 July 3, 1982

July 3, 2005

So how did I spend the holiday weekend???...

...making a quilt for the daughter of a very good friend.  You see, the daughter was in a bad car accident last Wednesday and has been in the hospital, first in Surgical Trauma ICU and now in the Trauma Step-down Unit.  So far she's had one surgery and multiple blood transfusions and has a long rehab before her...and possibly more surgeries.  After seeing the picture of the car, you realize how lucky she is to be alive! 

So what do quilters do in times like these???  They QUILT!  Some people cook or bake to bring a gift to the family in times like this...but quilters quilt!  'Cause when you are wrapped in a quilt, you are wrapped in love!  Can I get an "Amen, Sista"???

I had some crumb blocks stashed away that I had made at some point.  (I like to make crumb blocks and string blocks when I want to do a little "mindless" sewing.)    "Crumb" blocks are made from the little pieces of fabric that are leftover from the making of other quilts.  You see...I'm too frugal to throw out those end pieces....so you just start sewing them together until you have the size of block you want...

These are some of the crumb blocks...if you own a quilt made by me, you may recognize one or more of the fabrics from your quilt in them!  LOL  

Anyway...I've had a BUNCH of them stored for a little while now...had no sure plans of what I was going to do with them...so they've been on my shelf, stored in a clean pizza box.  (Yes, I buy new ones especially for this use.  My local pizza place sells them to me for 50 cents!)

So Saturday I pulled them out and started joining them to plain white-on-white squares...

Here they are on the design wall...

 
After sewing them all together and adding a cheery border (yellow with blue lollipops!), I embroidered some flowers on some of the plain blocks (I love my embroidery machine!!)...

I hope you are looking closely to see if there is any of your quilt's fabric in it!  :D  Trust me...making a scrap quilt like this is a walk down memory lane for me!  There's leftover fabrics from my kitchen curtains from my previous house, fabric from a skirt and top I made myself, some fabric from a skirt I made for Erin when she was in 4th grade, and even some fabric that I had inherited from my mom's stash when she moved from California to Illinois in 1978!!!  LOL    Yeah...sorry...I'm that frugal!  :)

Anyway...moving on...
I machine quilted the quilt yesterday and then washed it...

...and here is a close-up showing the crinkliness (is that a word?) that washing creates.  (You can see the border fabric in this one, too.  Don't ya just love those lollipops on the border fabric?)

Today I delivered it to the parent's house so they could give it to her.  Her mom was at the hospital and her dad was leaving shortly to go over there, so hopefully, she will receive it today.   (Later we found the card that had been in the bag with the quilt had evidently fallen out and was in the back seat of the car.  :(   Oh well...)

BTW, using those crumb blocks didn't even make a DENT in how many I have!  LOL  Not to mention the fact that my scrap bins are starting to overflow again...time for more "mindless" sewing, I guess!  :)

Hope you had a great holiday weekend!  

Loretta