Sooooo Sleepy

Our sweet Ashley has not been able to sleep for about 24 hours now. She is struggling from withdraws. She is very content and happy, not like the last time. She is just not able to rest. Her tiny hands and arms are jittery and shaky. She is so "glassy eyed" from a lack of sleep. I feel so bad for her. She just stares at the ceiling, so I have tried to make it more enjoyable for her to look at. First, I took the flashlight and turned off all of the lights. Then I climbed onto the bed with her and we played the flash light game. She really enjoyed trying to reach out and catch the light, but her arms just weren't long enough to reach it. Next, I decided to make shadow puppets for her. Now you can't make puppies on the ceiling if they don't bark, so after a few minutes of "barking" to entertain my Ashley the nurses started poking their heads in to see what was going on. After our puppet session I had a brilliant idea. We were promised snow when we got to Nebraska and they have yet to really deliver it so I made Ashley her very own winter wonderland. It is lovely! I took paper and scissors and cut out different sized snowflakes to hang. Then I stole the silver icicles off of her tree and hung them on the ceiling as well. You would be amazed at the things you can do with hospital tape! They are all hung at different levels and it looks great. Ashley loves it! The only problem I can find with my new winter wonderland is that when I lean over to change diapers my hair gets caught on the tape. ( I hope the hairs I am losing are the gray ones) Other than that we are really enjoying it.

Guess who came to visit today? Santa! Ashley had no idea what to think of this chubbly little man all dressed in red. She just stared. No waving hello to him. He came in with a gift for her and posed next to her bed for a picture. (I never would have thought that her first and second visit with Santa would take place in a hospital bed!

All in all we have had a very enjoyable afternoon. We are playing Christmas carols and reading stories about Jesus. Even though she won't remember today because of the meds they are giving to her, we have tried to make it special. I'll be remembering it forever. I hope to take a little video of our winter wonderland to share with you all when Dave and the kids come next week. Can you believe it is only 10 days away? I am so excited!

Ash looks good. We are not going to feed her for a few more days. The doctors want to make sure her lungs recover well after this last bought with pnuemonia. No one really knows what is going to happen when we try feeding her again. We are just praying that the vomitting and asperating won't return. I am feeling optimistic about where we are right now. Thank you all for visiting Ashley's story today. I love knowing that so many of you love our Ashley and are praying for her everyday. You mean so very much to us.