daisy's ears!

the fam all went to support daisy....

dad and sally were a bit unsure

uncle caleb- the marine - held her tight

daisy only cried for 1 or 2 minutes and then was her sweet self once again. she even touched her lobes a few times this afternoon... no pain! no wimpers!

ta da! no smiles on this pix... but it's late and i am trying to hit the hay.. you can see a smiley one on a later date.

tomorrow we are heading to the tide pools in Laguna!

love to ya'll

oh and kelli lenz had here lil baby too!

Solomon Parker! He was born December 21st (Winter Solstice) at 3:51 pm. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 13 oz and labor in the hospital was less than 3 hrs. congrats kelli!

i love it that its baby season! =)

oh and lil taylor is such a dolly! she has lots of hair, is cuddly and perfect and just doing great!

night to ya'll!

another beautiful baby!!! This one is Donnie's!

hello all-

sorry, no time for bloggin much this week... vacation has been fun and full!
but many great pix to come!
we are soaking up the great out doors(lots of rounds of corn hole, nut tree, mud pie making and just playing outside), gow got a movie in with the guys this afternoon (Avatar) and i got to go shopping BY MYSELF this morning!! i didn't have to entertain anyone, change any diapers, feed anyone or wipe a single nose! it was wonderful! =)

uncle steve, aunt leanna, cousin linds and great grandma gowan came to town to meet sweet taylor lee and our daisy kate. so fun to catch up and share our little bundles of joy with them.

k... and now.......

(this is from donnie's blog...)

It's a BOY!

Introducing...

William (Liam) Dan Robbins

7 lbs 1 oz and 18 inches long.

He was having trouble with his blood sugar, so he is currently in the NICU. At his 10 PM check, his blood sugar had gone up:

We are now praying it stays up so he can join us in our room again soon.

We just went in again at 1 AM and Liam's blood sugar is doing great!

There is another minor set back, though. He is breathing just fine on his own, but his blood/oxygen level is low. After taking a chest x-ray, it was discovered that there are little holes in the 'balloons' that surround his lungs (I'm sure I'm not explaining this right, but it's close!). This probably happened when he took his first big breath. It will heal on it's own, but in the mean time, he was on oxygen through his little nose and is now in an oxygen 'hood' for 4 hours. We will go back in around 4:30 or 5 to feed him and check on how he is doing.

We will keep you posted! Thank you again for your prayers!

David spent the day with Grandma and is sleeping at Grandma and Papa's house tonight. Unfortunately, he is not allowed in the hospital at all. We are hoping tomorrow he can come down here and we can meet up with him in the lobby and at least be able to see him and hug him. He'll have to wait until we get home to meet his little brother!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Robbins Family Update

I'm home ... but without my husband or our Liam :( Bill stayed at the hospital tonight so I could come home and be with David. Liam is doing MUCH BETTER!! PRAISES TO JESUS!! He is keeping his blood sugar up and eating a bunch! He was on 10 units/hour of glucose and is down to 7. Once he gets off the IV, he'll need to be stable for 12-18 hours and then he can come home!! Hopefully by the middle/end of the week.


so praise God for lil Liam and keep praying that he can come home soon! and for donnie, bill and david as they wait and make a zillion trips to be with Liam.

amazing gift! amazing timing!!!!!

we arrived safe and soundly last night and got to hang out with buela, buelo, uncle gregorio and auntie Kat with her teeny self and big huge tummy! she was a pretty prego! and then.....

this morning Taylor decided to join in the fun family festivities!!!!

She is here!!!!! and we will go hold her this afternoon! can´t wait!!! here are some pix and the announcement that Kat sent out.....

Taylor Lee Hickle
has decided that this week was her week!
She has deemed December 22 as her birthday!

She arrived at 3:23am after a relatively quick delivery
and weighed in at 7lbs 12oz
with a "height" of 19.5 in

Look how PRIM and PROPER she already is!
Such great manners
folding her hands
as she praises Jesus for His arms of protection!
First Birthday Present: a Spa Treatment!
Awww!

First Moments with Daddy: Priceless

Feets
The most beautiful Stocking Stuffer!!

Merry Christmas to you!

what a little dolly! can´t wait to hold her!

sally and daisy wont get to meet taylor yet as there are nobody under 18 years of age allowed in the baby wing due to the flu seaon...

a few other notes....

the girls were total rock stars on the airplane. they were great. gow and sally were crammed in a window seat three rows up from me.... and i didn´t hear a peep from sally until our final descent. she napped, colored and watched Bob.

daisy and i were on an aisle. and she napped, smiled at our neighbors, and then napped some more. it was actually one of the calmest, most restful four hours of life that i have had during the daylight since daisy was born. awesome!

this morning Johannita and her beauty Jadelyn came to play! so fun to see Johannita( a high school buddy from youth group and accountability and high school) to reconnect and to see ou little ones play by and with each other. we took an adventurous trip to the beach000 it was windy with ginormous waves and sand blowing everywhere. the girls did well but didnt last long. and at one point we were robbed a whole bag of cookies by the lurking seagulls. it was fun and the beach... ahhh the beach... it was BEAUTIFUL.

so now the girls are napping and then we will head out to meet Taylor Lee. can´t wait and we are LOVING our time here. loves and Merry Christmas!

youth group, parades and white elefante

a peek into youth group!

i am REALLY loving being one of the yg leaders here in our small church.

i am truly blessed!

one of the HOT items at our Youth Group white elephant gift exchange - ended up going home with a freshman guy who wanted to have them be his snow boarding socks.

i walked away from the white elephant with goggles! wahoo!

on the left is eric- freshman and proud owner of hot pink puppy socks and on right is Andrew- the dude i co-lead with.

Ang. she is an 8th grader- wild and super great

Alan and Sherri have been the youth leaders for the past year and a half- and are handing the baton to Andrew and I with the new year.

i think it was like 3 below for this Christmas Lights parade. BRRRRRRRRRRRRR

and this is our group! Eric, Paul, Andrew, Anna, Ang, (half of Anna) Kalib and Cooper

Cooper- a fellow abba zaba eater!

this was another christmas parade- they had huge sausage guys! (yes, we are now living in Wisconsin! )

the big white tuba is Paul- he's in our yg.

cool - wheely dude.

and (video) everyone doing the "warm dance".

tonight we had a big yg fundraiser at church to send the students to DEEP FREEZE- our winter retreat. it was a smashing hit! we raised 600 buckaroonies at a silent dessert auction and talent gala.

and to brag on my auntie for a moment- her egg nog pie was one of the top sellers bringing in $22! =) thanks Auntie Karen!

and one more shout out- to my fam that makes it possible for gow and i to be so involved at church. you know that gow has been on the worship team- well, with the start of the new year, he will take over as the worship leader.

as well as i have been 1 of 4 youth leaders- and with the start of the new year will be co- leading with Andrew. all that to say.... thanks to mom, dad, auntie karen, cyndie, neal and even emma for all of your amazing help with sally and daisy during the times that gow and i are doing worship and yg. thanks so much!

and now... on to the excitement of tomorrow... we are leaving for cali! woot woot!.

sally was thrilled going thru her christmas gift from Auntie Karen- a travel back pack filled with GREAT things to do on the plane!

our bags are all packed.

and we are heading to bed for an early departure to the taubes and then to the airport.

we are thankful for a direct flight - 4 hours i think.... and will be STOKED to be with Gowans in Orange County.

some of things i am looking forward to the most...

1- meeting Kat and Greg's baby girl! holding her! snuggling her and seeing kat and greg be PARENTS!

2- time for sally and daisy to BE with the gowans. playing, reading, eating, just BEING together.

3- THE BEACH! and really, just warm weather in general! we are going to let sally play outside from the moment she wakes up- till she falls down to sleep at night. =)

4- having gow with us the WHOLE vacation!

k- those are just my quick highlights.... i am tired. and excited. so going to bed.

nighty night!

vida

so gow has been home for four days... and it has been the fullest four days.

oil changes, cleaning, baking, packing, worship planning, gift buying and wrapping.

i am READY for a vacation!

California here we come!!!

tonight is coffee shop (our community group dealio) that will be fun... white elephant gifts, snackies and then the kiddos will watch the St. Nick Veggies while we adults hang out.

then tonight is dinner with neal and cyndie and a jack attack! (24 baby!)

then tomorrow am is brunch with the clausens- buddies from church/mexico/quito.

then naps, then church for a youth fund raiser to send our students to camp! then church, then beddy bye then we are off to Mark and Kora's and then to the airport! woot woot!

and- let me add here that it was 77 degrees in fountain valley (cali- where we are going!) today.

ahhhhhh yeah!

i told gow that i am going to let sal play outside from the moment she wakes up- until bedtime while we are in cali! =)

Know any 17-22 year olds interested in Missions?

This is thru the mission I was with for 5 years in Quito.... pass it on to any 17-22 year olds that you may think are interested!

blissful days of having gow at home with us!

it's Christmas! and a sweet sweet gift is that Gow has taken yesterday thru our Cali vacation OFF!! so he has been at home with us for the past two days and it is FANTASTIC!

we have conquered a ton of projects that have been needing our attention, plus working on Christmas gifts and the best of all.... all three of us girls have SOAKED up time with gow.

it is WONDERFUL!!

check out these lil hats that Donnie B made for us three girlies!

Thanks Donnie B!! and praying for you in these last days as you wait and wait and wait for your second lil one to arrive!

this pix is from a few weekends back when Kelli (my buddy from JBU) and her fam came to visit. super fun to reconnect and to meet her hubby and lil one. Also thinking of you Kelli in your last days... waiting for YOUR second one!

AND.. thinking of Kat as she is waiting for her lil one! Good Grief... babies EVERYWHERE! =)

We are hoping and praying that Kat will have her babe while we are out there for CHristmas... can NOT wait to meet Sally and Daisy's lil cous!!!!

k- nothing much more to comment on ... other than REALLY being happy with having Gow home. sighh.... big blessing.

k- toodles!

gow's home!

he walked in the door at 5:30pm!!!

we are soo thankful.

Christmas vacation has officially begun for us!

ps- all day today, sally was asking for daddy to play ring around the rosey with her.

("da da.... wosey!?")

praise God for a break. for family time. for rest. for sending baby Jesus to the manger for us.

some fun pix from my phone

this was before winter. =)

my sweet Auntie Karen with one of her water color paintings on the wall behind her... I am hoping/planning to take a painting class from her in the spring!

the girls and I went to their art show.... Auntie Karen also only lives about 6 minutes from us! we are soo blessed.

sal enjoying the fall leaves...

so this morning i woke up to sally at 6:30am. yes, she normally wakes up at 8. hmmm.

i went to investigate - and found her jammies soaked down to her ankles and even up to her elbows! poor lil one.

you see- gow usually does bathtime for the girls. however, he has been working late and long and lame hours. (sigh-- hopefully TODAY is the last of this Harley Davidson Project- pray that with me k?)

ok- so back to the story- he doesn't allow sally to drink the bath water. understandably why.. it's kinda nasty. =)

i on the other hand- decided to let her as it seems we have other, bigger battles to be fighting these days.....

so last night she had a big bread size tupperwear in the tub to play with and she was drinking out of it. and drinking some more out of it. and then some more. and then some more.

so i guess she is hydrated. and the sheets are in the washer.

needless to say- no shower for me today. as both girls found their way to our bed by 7am.

so- off to a nearby town i go this morning to try and nail out 4 of the things on my to-do list. (massive to do list in order to get ready to leave for Christmas next week).

i drop sweet sally off with BLESSED Aunt Cyndie and zip to a town 20 minutes away.

first stop- i realize i left my wallet in the diaper bag with Sally. ARGGH.

my dad to the rescue as he was coming to the same town for errands too!

next stop- i realize i left my grocery list at home.

oh good grief.

what a day!.

the best of it all- the girls are both down for their naps at the same time, in the same room!

and i am cranking on things around the house.

gotta jet!

oh- and here is from my brother's blog about our SWEET weekend in Chicago......

We had a great time this past weekend down in Chicago. Leslie, the great lady who has been leading worship at our church for the last couple of years, lives down in the city and invited the regulars from the worship team (and our families) down to see the lights and do some Chicago stuff. It was a blast.

We headed down Saturday morning with Gow and Laura and their kids. We fit perfectly into the Suburban (8 people, 8 seatbelts), so we were able to take only one vehicle. Leslie fed us a light lunch and then Andrew, the other worship regular, and his girlfriend and her kids showed up. We headed downtown for an afternoon of wandering and looking at the lights. We walked through Millennium Park, watched ice skaters a bit, did the bean thing (our kids LOVE that thing every time they see it). Then we headed over to Macy's to take a look at the famous Macy's Christmas windows. After that we headed over to an outdoor German market that was PACKED. I cannot remember ever being with that many people in such a small place. Then it was off to Lincoln Park Zoo to see their lights, some animals, and ride the carousel. After that, everyone, especially the kids, were pretty much pooped, so we headed home.

Leslie's kids had prepared the kids' meal for us, so the kids were able to sit down right away and eat. Man, Leslie and Don (her husband) were good to us. The kids ate, played a little, and then we put them to bed. During this process, the adults were treated to a variety of yummy appetizers. Cyndie and I were joking that between the shrimp appetizer, and this excellent cranberry/cream cheese/bacon/garlic appetizer (on crackers), we would have been happy just with that. But after the kids were down, all the adults sat down to a quiet (so fun) meal together. We ended up eating/talking for three hours. It was really great to just hang out with other adults with no time pressures or kids coming to interrupt. All of the couples have small kids in one way or another (Laura and Gow with their little ones, and Marika, Andrew's girlfriend is a single mom with a 9 and 3 year old, so she especially, but Andrew too, were grateful for a nice, quiet meal), so we reveled in nice meal. Eventually, we were all pooped too, so hit the hay.

In the morning, we just relaxed, had a nice breakfast, and hung out a bit. I think we ended up leaving around 11:30 or so. Early enough to get home and have some down time before church. All in all, it was an outstanding weekend. We were so blessed by Leslie and Don's hospitality!

tuckered out

am tuckered out tonight.

gow is on his way home! and i am betting he is beyond tuckered out... i think he has work around 70 hours this week.

am so thankful it is friday and he is coming home.

the girls and i had a great day today- sally slept for 14 1/2 hours last night and woke up cheery!

we headed over to hang out with Cyndie, Timmy and Pepper (the pup) for the morning and sally even played outside both with Timmy and back here at home! the temp was up today- around 16 degrees- so i think that helped.

i am amazed at our old honda accord that our friends the Mathis' blessed me/us with when i left the mission field. this car is an 87 has a bazillion and 5 miles on it and the sweet thing even started up for me this morning! God is good- and i think He is showing His sense of humor to us with this sweet action car!

this afternoon grandpa came over with timmy and emma as neal and cyndie went to buy some boat supplies from a dude on craigslist. we had a good time and ended with the kids "skiing" (wearing the skiis in our living room and being towed by cyndie) and then the St. Nicholas Christmas Veggie Tales. A good time.

they girls are getting really good at going to bed in the same room.

we are blessed.

however, still working with trying to get daisy to go back to sleep withOUT the plug in the early am. letting her cry it out... its hard on the heart to do that. =) but sally usually sleeps thru it..

k- i am beginning to ramble.

tomorrow we are headed off to downtown Chicago to go and see the lights and Christmas cheer with the worship team and fams from church.

should be a blast! freezing- but a blast!

aight- good night everyone.

pray for gow

hi all.

please stop and pray for gow right now.

he pulled an all nighter last night and is having to make a deadline tomorrow that he is stressed about.

please pray for creativity, speed, wisdom, discernment, professionalism and a God honoring heart in the midst of it all.

also, he has to drive home tonight for worship practice on zippo sleep and icy roads.

thanks.

and this is sally's reaction to me taking her outside in the ONE BELOW weather this morning.

i had to hold her the whole time we were out there- and then this is what she did as soon as we came in...