Happy Birthday- 8th-Valorie Nicole

In that bag was a few 'hidden' gifts. She loves to draw, so we got her a durable clip board that has a Calculator attached to it, a place where she can put her art work and extra paper, plus her color pencils. (oh and we couldn't forget her pencil sharpener). Since she has gotten this she has been using it to the wee hours of the morning on the first and second night. :( then she sleeps in... This is Christmas, a time for messed up schedules :) Oh and by the way... she is a wonderful artist- we will need to post some of her pictures soon.
Photos were taken by our family photographer- Kiona (10)
This is the Cheese Cake she has been wanting since her last birthday- which was the same one. She also really likes Sherbet ice cream... this child knows what she likes with food. Maybe she will grow up to be a chef?
My mom started to write up something on each of our (me and my siblings) birthdays. Starting February 2008. I have thought it was a wonderful idea, so well I thought to start on Valorie's birthday. Her birthday was actually on the 18th of December (thus I am 2 days late) with her posting that is.. Here are a few pictures of Valorie Nicole, who was born December 18, 2000. She was actually due to be a Christmas baby.. oh well, she wanted to days to get presents. She was born in Houston, Texas at a midwifery place called Nativity Birthing Center in North Houston. She was a good sized baby at birth. However she was severely constipated. The Nurse/Midwife was concerned about her distended stomach and said we should take her to our pediatrician asap. However the night before she was due to visit and get a check up, she went to the ER at Texas CHildren's Hospital- Tim and I had no idea what was wrong with our little baby, but we knew she needed us to care for her. The medical staff at TCH were for the most part very understanding of us crying from not knowing what to expect. We spent the next few nights in the lobby, sleeping when we could.... We ended up spending Christmas in the NICU (New born Intensive care Unit). During this time the grandparents were wonderful to Olivia and Kiona. Thanks.





This was Valorie's first Christmas that she spent at home (she was now 1yr old), this is her Grandpa Wells.
Here you can see how she really loved her Johny Jump up, and was a wonderful/smiley child. The cake she is eating in her high chair was a cheese cake on her first birthday- I wonder if that is why she loves cheese cake ever since. :)
These 3 pictures I think are the cutest of Valorie and Ziggy- who in no longer with us :( He was the most gentle of German shepherds He really humored Val0rie and was wonderful with Children, while being feirce when those not welcomed came around our property ( a whole story in itself).
Valorie is such a 'dog lover'. Here you can see this. From feeding her from her own bottle and carrying them around etc.







These are all pretty self explanatory, you can see that she loves to eat and she loved her baths and music. These are pictures that have been scanned, the most recent pictures of Valorie you can see on the other postings of this blog..

Valorie had an appointment with Dr. Black in Kansas City on the 16th (Tuesday) and the good news is that she has gained 2 lbs over these last 3 months, her lungs are clear and she is energetic. We want to thank you all for your prayers for her :)

Our Christmas Family Picture

Taking this picture was really quite hilarious. The kids did a wonderful job, although Valorie was really insisting that Sedrick come into the house to be part of the picture taking. However he wasn't very cooperative. Valorie had tried to put a scarf, then a Santa hat on him, but unlike Tanzy (our Boston Terrier pet) he didn't play along. Oh well, we had fun. Valorie is going to be turning 8 on the 18th of December.

The nice thing was that we were able to take it before this storm hit. As later on in the day (7pm to be exact) we got a lot of ice and sleet outside. The cars are all covered and so is the road. We'll be posting pictures soon..

Update on Valorie as of December 10th

Thank you all for your prayers and notes. Valorie is doing a bit better, and is able to cough up her mucus. Valorie has been checked by her local doctor/friend and her lungs are clear - which is a very good sign-. She is weathering this cold/snowy weather well. Her treatments are going good, and she is being cooperative :) She has an appointment coming up December 16th, in Kansas City. Please pray that the Doctors find everything well with her at that time too. Thanks and have a wonderful evening

Please pray for Valorie

We would like to ask that anyone who is reading this to please pray for our daughter Valorie. She is not feeling so well today. She woke up in the middle of the night coughing a lot. She got her breathing treatments at that point, that seemed to help a bit. She has gotten a bit more of a cough that occurs during the day and that is not normal. We have increased the amount of treatments from 1-2 times a day to 3 complete times a day, which include:

Vest time for 45 minutes at 11am
Albuterol mask
Hypertonic Saline
Tobramycin mask

Vest time again for 45 minutes at 3pm
Albuterol mask
Tobramycin mask

Vest time again for the same 45 minutes at 8:30 or 9pm
Albuterol mask
Pulmozyme mask

She is also doing sinus rinses with distilled water and saline

Valorie has been having pretty good health for the most part and this is just recently that she has been having this cough. We will be contacting her doctors on Monday or Tuesday if this increased treatments doesn't do the job. But we know that prayer is the best. So, if you would please pray for Valorie, specifically this week end and Monday that she will not continue with this cough. Thanks and we will keep you posted. Have a wonderful Weekend.