The Hand of Hope

Most of you have probably seen the picture below, taken in 1999. It shows the hand of a 21-week-old fetus reaching out and grasping the finger of a doctor about to perform surgery on him.

This is where he is now.

Riley Alyssa Swenhaugen

Meet my niece!

She was born Monday, May 18th, at 5:34 pm. She weighed in at 7lbs, 14oz and measured 20 ¼ inches long. Stacey is doing well, which is no surprise after 5 minutes of hard labor! (I'll go ahead and follow suit when it's my turn, thanks!) Riley will be coming home from the hospital probably this evening or tomorrow morning. Her little heart is doing well, but due to a narrowing in the aortic arch, she will probably be going in for surgery in a few months. Please say some prayers for her!

She is precious. I held her yesterday for the first time. In my previous visit to the NICU I only got to touch her. Don't tell the nurses we played "This Little Piggy" or that I made the sign of the cross on her...several times. Some nurses prefer only small touches to "stroking." Oops! My favorite part of the first visit was pressing my finger into her foot just below her toes to make them curl around my finger. :) She already loves the Hail Mary. I'm basing this off the fact that she didn't start crying when I sang it and we all know my gifts are not exactly in the singing department. Then again, she was sleeping, but come on, I'm her aunt, I can just tell!

Mother's Day Pictures!/We got skills!

Note: I got tired of trying to fix the layout over and over and over...sorry for the enormous length between pictures and weird placement of pictures and captions. Do your best! :)

A Very Happy Mother's Day, Family Picture Style:
















Son, Mommy/Daughter w/ Child, Daughter, Mommy:

Leap Frog:

Catching Marc on my shoulders:


















Just kidding! That was the dismount after this picture:


















I like pyramids:


















Jaden's turn:


















Super Pyramid:

Great Blog!

Hello, hello!

I wanted to clepto a few things from this blog, but instead, I just decided that you should all check it out: my friend Karlo's blog. :) Hi Karlo!