emails to m

excerpts to my love, during my travels:

The world seems impossible to cross until you get half way there and all you've missed is a sunset. There are strings connecting us from point to point. A women living in the counrtyside of the Czech Republic is from Newport Beach, that makes the world feel small. I feel myself moving along strings like a zipline. Quickly! From Prague to Berlin to Croatia to Amsterdam. I feel this tiny section of the world being woven together by me...

The quilted chartreuse hills in Šumava are wrapping around us. Let's lay on them and look at the clouds. Unlike anything we've ever seen, whiter than ice or an ipod, softer than down or cotton balls. They are so close to our faces moving at a rapid pace; our necks bend back trying to hold on to each one. What should we talk about now? Or can we even talk? We are in such awe at the beauty around us. There is so much beauty it could make you cry.There is so much beauty it could make you cry.

more photos here.

Happy Dad Day

Along with being Thanksgiving, today is also my dad's birthday. Happy birthday dad, from Kara, Mike and Evelyn!

The Explosion

Yesterday night I was changing Evelyn's poopy diaper and she let out a huge squirt of poo. It sailed 3 feet, all over the door frame, the carpet, her changing pad, dresser and pj's. No picture can ever do justice to the image in my mind of a straight yellowish stream flying through the air. But here are some images anyway.

Thank Yous

It's awesome how life can pan out to make me appreciate the little things. Like today I got to drive for the first time since October 8th. I loved the independence!

My mom came to help out when I had the preterm labor; who knew that I would end up needing her help so much. When I was on bed rest she kept me company, brought me food and cleaned my house. After some other sad events, it was so good to have her support. Then she got to be here to see the birth and help me through the initial emotions of having Evelyn in the NICU.

I've loved that Mike was able to take a week off work. It was s good healing time for both of us.

Even though Evelyn was born with pneumonia, I'm so glad that we have amazing technology and medicine to take care of her!

Last week, there were a lot more thankful things I wanted to write down. Hopefully I can remember more of them and keep this list growing.

We Love Our Baby!

Here are some more recent pictures of Evelyn. She is done with her antibiotics and her oxygen! Now all we need is to get her nursing and gaining weight. Yay!

This morning she ate so much that her stomach expanded 3 cm! She is yawning after a big meal.


Love this one :)

Updated update

Make that NEXT Friday...hopefully.

Time for an update

Our little girl is getting better each day and we are looking forward to taking her home on Friday. She was born with pneumonia, but luckily it wasn't too severe. She has been on high flow oxygen, not a ventilator (that's a good thing). The saddest part for me has been knowing how many times the nurses have had to poke her for an IV. Hers kept going bad every 12 hours and they would have to poke a couple times to redo it. She's had them in her hands, feet and head. There is something called a picc line that they tried at least three times. The illustration below explains it better than I can.It is good because once they get it in place they don't have to poke her again. Unfortunately none of the picc line attempts were successful. I know for sure they tried to do one in her arm, like the picture and also one in her head that threads down her neck. I hated hearing about them doing that stuff to her! Finally today they doctor did what's called a UV where they put a tube into her umbilical cord hole and thread it to her heart. This sorta worked, but they only got the tube to go in 4cm so she can't be moved around or else it could come out. SAD, we can't hold her anymore until Thursday.
Good news is her oxygen flow has been coming down. She has also been keeping down the milk that I've been pumping for her. That means they can decrease her IV fluids and increase the milk. The other happy thing is that she's been very pleasant throughout this whole thing and that gives me a lot of peace.
I'll add some more pictures soon.