Sooo Unlike Me

I rarely (if ever) post about politics and current issues. Well, I've got a few things to say.

~On Dark Chocolate~
One would be crazy to not like dark chocolate. It's full of antioxidants, desire, smoothness, passion, bittersweetness, and feel-good-juices. Please, if you are going to take a stance on chocolate, I'd rather you were hot or cold. Not lukewarm. ;-) Either like chocolate in all its wonderful varieties, or don't like chocolate. None of this loving milk chocolate but despising the dark varieties. I have recently reaquired the freedom to indulge in chocolate and have danced across the world one dark chocolate square at a time thanks to the Choxie dark chocolate sampler box and a special dark chocolate bar from Central Asia. Truly, truly a delicacy to be fully explored and enjoyed. Now, I shall step off my dark chocolate box...

~On the State of the Union Address~
If you want quick proof that we are a country divided by politics, just watch the State of the Union Address. It's frustrating to see the CLEAR dividing line between Democrats and Republicans. Often, all the Republicans stand to cheer on their same-party President while Democrats remain stoic and seated, some whispering to each other. Unless of course it comes to environmental issues. Then it's the Dems who stand first. ::sigh:: How difficult it would be to run a country. So many people with so many different views. When you think about it, Bush is really like a father trying to lead his own family -- he even has to present a budget! Even if you don't like him, respect him for taking on perhaps the most difficult, most criticized job in our country. And please, spare me any divisive comments.

~On a Bumper Sticker~
Last Saturday I did my grocery and Target shopping. It was just me out and about, hurrying along to get it done and get home. As I was leaving my car to walk into Target, I noticed a couple getting their baby out of the car next to me. They were kind of an older couple for having such a young child, both dressed professionally. It made me wonder how much they value having a child. Then I saw their bumper stickers. "93% of women regret their abortions." Hmm. An interesting and very believable fact. But it was the second one I read that immediately choked my throat, teared my eyes, and gripped my heart. One of those moments that you are totally not expecting to be so emotionally affected by such a profound, debated issue in our society. Even now as I think about typing it, it chokes me up again. It read:

Equal Rights for Unborn Women.

~On...well...this is difficult...~
And here's the part that is soooooo very unlike me. If you know me, you know that I do not stand for stupid humor. And my definition of stupid humor are things like Sponge Bob, Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, Monty Python, etc. Well, I now give you a link to a Saturday Night Live clip that I personally find 100% hilarious. And not only is it SNL, it is also political. Stupid humor about politics. Now there's something I've never endorsed! But please, take a moment to get at least a little giggle. It's clean, I promise. Parallel Universe: Al Gore, President of the United States, gives his State of the Union Address

Whew, ok now that that's over...

Our 12 month old...clothes that is. I feel like I JUST put these away!


Crazy Cute Judah...who is starting to say small sentences and whose new best friend is a little stool. He has discovered he can easily carry it around and reach more countertops, more things on countertops, furniture to climb higher on, and even the lid to the washing machine. I gotta say I kind of helped this discovery unknowingly because I have let him stand on it to help me cook this past week. I know, only 22 months old; but he is extremely good at helping me cook. Not once has he touched anything hot. I think he really understands when something will hurt him without having to be hurt by it first -- a blessing I hope continues throughout his life! And to hear him say oil and boil? Aww!

Get this...A RANDOM! POST!

At the command of dear Jaclyn, I am taking care of myself today. You should see my apartment -- it's just like the old days when everything is picked up and clean looking. So relaxing! And because I didn't feel it necessary to nap today (say what??), I took a long shower, did a face mask, and am in the process of a minor pedicure. And now I'm going to do a random post. We may not be 100% in health, but I definitely feel like we have our home, our lives, and our routine back. Whew! That took a while...what, about 6 months? And it all started with Elijah's birth...

To answer a few comments on the previous hospital visit post:

~That peach hospital gown was for the birds. There were a couple nurses that just couldn't stand a naked baby (though Elijah loves to be naked). It was the smallest one found, but still too big. I'm glad he drooled all over it quickly. Then I had the "wet" excuse to take it off. I did put real clothes on him a couple times to appease the masses. :-P

~I've had two lumbar punctures and don't think they are the most painful thing I've experienced at all. Uncomfortable, yes. Especially when they hit a nerve and your whole leg jumps. I, too, am glad he won't remember. But, I'd much rather him have it done to rule out meningitis then to let things go... It wasn't our pediatrician that went a little overboard -- it was the ER doctors. But they were just doing their job, making sure Elijah was ok. Bulging soft spots are hard to figure out, I guess.

~Matt and I have often though that Judah and Elijah look WAY different. But last night we browsed some old videos of Judah on YouTube. Oh my WORD! How Elijah looks like Judah when Judah was his age! I hate how much I've forgotten Judah's babyhood. And I'm already losing the vividness of Elijah's newborn days. It hurts, but Praise the Lord for pictures and video, seriously!

~As of last Friday, Elijah weighs a whopping 19 lb 1 oz and Judah 25 lb 9 oz. Wanna start betting on when Elijah will pass up Judah?

We're starting to take measure to get rid of the extreme draftiness of our apartment. Those window insulating kits that include tape and a thin plastic film really do work! You put the tape around the window casing, then apply the film. It's kind of like a celophane. Then you put a hairdryer to it to shrink it taught and get rid of wrinkles. Night and day difference in temperature for the boys' room! We currently have a call in to the guys to come look at our front door. You can see light on several sides when it's shut. One time, I even went to stand by it to breath the drafts to calm my asthma down. It's that drafty. Hopefully they will help because we already tried to insulate it ourselves. You can't nail weatherstripping to a metal door frame. :-P So that's out of our league, now.

Here are some pictures we took when we FIRST got our camera. The painting and Christmas tree pics were taken while I was sitting on the living room couch. This puppy is GOOD at detail!



My adorable birthday flowers present from my mom and my precious Christmas gift from Laura. One still makes me smile, the other melts my heart out my tear ducts. :-D



I mopped today. Yes, I did. Judah helped after I was finished. It was too cute! He just LOVES to do all the grown up things. Give him a toy screwdriver, and he'll still want the real thing. Or he'll just try to use keys instead.



Have a moppy afternoon!

How was your weekend?

So, my birthday came...and it went. Funny how we plan our ways but the Lord directs our steps. What did we plan for my birthday? An evening out while Laura watched the boys. The plans for dinner/dessert changed a few times before they all came to a screeching halt. So what did I do for my birthday celebration? I had McDonald's in Elijah's pediatric ER room. :-P

Many of you know the story, but some of you don't. It all started on Friday when I took Elijah to our pediatrician. He'd only had a low-grade fever and congestion for a day and a half, but I had a feeling I needed to take him to the doctor -- at least to rule out ear infection. Sure enough, he had a right ear infection. But what concerned Dr. L was the bulging soft spot. He sent us immediately to the pediatric ER for testing to rule out lots of things, including meningitis. So, a blood culture, chest x-ray, sinus suction, CT scan, and lumbar puncture (to get spinal fluid) later, he had the Adno virus and an ear infection. Praise God it was nothing else, but that was ALOT for Elijah to go through in only a few hours. The Adno virus causes the common cold in adults but is a little more complicated in babies because of their smaller size. There is also question as to whether or not he officially had/has mastoiditis, infection in the sinus cavity behind his ear. So they hooked him up to an IV dose of antibiotics. We were told to go back on Saturday for another blood culture and antibiotic dose.

Which we did. Before the nurses even came in to do the blood and IV, the doctor came in and said she had talked with an ENT (ear/nose/throat doctor) at Hopkins who suggested admitting Elijah for 2 days in order for him to receive 2 more doses of the antibiotic. ::shock:: Ok? Sunday, he was put on eye drops for pink eye. He also got a crazy rash from the Adno virus.

So that's how we spent our weekend. I missed my birthday. I missed my first ladies' retreat with our new church. But I had a wonderful time learning what it is to be the mom staying in a hospital with her young son. I did have a retreat in that I had lots of down time to just sit and relax, unable to do any housework and such. We received a quilt and an afghan from two very kind and generous groups who do that for the pediatric ward. And we are so thankful this happened over a federal holiday, so Matt only missed a few hours of work total.

The only question we have remaining is if Elijah truly had mastoiditis. If he did, we will follow up with an Ear/Nose/Throat doctor. If not, then we'll just follow-up with Dr. L who will probably put him on long-term antibiotics to prevent ear infections. Sound familar? Hint: Judah.

AND we got to experience more winter -- the high on Sunday was only 23. There is still snow all over the ground and piles of it in parking lots. How cool! Yeah, yeah, Jaclyn. Whatever.

AND last night, the inevitable happened. Judah tried to cut Elijah's hair. He managed to get a little chunk off the top center, but thankfully it's not apparent unless you know to look for it.

Here are some pics from our crazy weekend:



Cordless and ready to go home!

Ummm...

::deep and low:: Iiiiiiii'm dreaming of a whiiiiiiiite birthdaaaaay....

And I was excited about a little flurry yesterday??? It's still crazy to me that I live in a place that experiences ALL the seasons. Just a few months ago I gazed at colored trees, now this! And if you view my previous post, you'll see what it looked like only a few hours ago. When Matt left for work, there wasn't one speck of snow to be found!

Lifted Spirits...Already!

January 17, 2008. Judah's first encounter with snow!



Video:
Snow!

::sigh::

Elijah has a fever this morning and is quite congested. Maybe the expected snow will lift our discouraged spirits later this afternoon?

::cough cough::

If you've never heard me raspy and asthmatic sounding, now's your chance. :-P After a very disappointing visit to a nurse practitioner at what we believe to be a government medical facility, things are inconclusive. I don't have strep. "It's just a cold," she said. Ok, fine. Autumn, I know you'll be a much better, more personal/compassionate nurse than that. She gave me some cough syrup and new albuterol. However, I think the cough syrup trashes me a little much to be taking it during the weekdays when Matt has to go to work. I could not function this morning for one or both of two reasons: 1) Cough med hang over, 2) Bad asthma attack means less oxygen and more coughing. Both sap the body of strength and energy. So my loving hubby went into work late and acquired help in the form of Tara. She came over with Hannah from 9:30 until 1:00 to take care of the boys so I could sleep and rest. The more I am up and about, the worse my asthma gets. I'm thinking if things aren't much improved by Friday, I'll be seeing a different doctor. I can't go on with troubled breathing for too long. Not to mention, the Ladies' Retreat is this weekend.

Judah is cuh-razee! He must be feeling alot better because he is just too cute and FULL of personality these days. He is learning how to converse quite well, though it is still mostly one word questions or statements. Cute situations are starting to pop up more and more with the two boys together. Elijah LOVES to look at Judah and try to touch his head which Judah gets a kick out of. So Judah laughs which makes Lijah laugh... Too cute. Two fond memories of today: Judah spent 5 or 10 minutes sitting on his toy car blowing bubbles with his spit. He was quite proud of himself and thought it was funny when he drooled -- and even tried to drool on me! He also spent 5 minutes solid meticulously picking sock toe jam out of Elijah's toes. That boy is a clean freak when it comes to specks that don't belong. Toys are a different story.

We saw something exciting yesterday -- our very first Maryland snow! It flurried and was so beautiful. There was still a touch of snow underneat our bushes. We're expecting to get quite a bit of snow-turned-sleet tomorrow. And the high on Sunday is TWENTY-THREE. Brrr! I've been waiting for true winter to set in, so here we go!

I had coffee tonight since I'll be finished nursing in the next couple days. It's only a little bittersweet (the weaning, I mean). It took me a while to come to the final decision, but I really believe this was the right time for many reasons. I will miss the "bond," but Elijah is so crazy cute and cuddly that I get enough goodness from bottle-feeding him. AND since I will be finished nursing on my birthday (Saturday!), I get to have whatever I want for dessert. That means chocolate, of course. And I can start digging into the 4 boxes of chocolate (varying sizes, of course) on top of our pantry! Don't worry, I got weighed yesterday and I'm doing fine in that area.

Ok, I need to get to bed. Here's hoping God will continue to restore my family's health even just a little bit with each new day. His mercies are new every morning, are they not?

Where have all the healthies gooo-ooone?

So that's my little morning song. I'll be going to the doctor today to see if I have strep throat and to get a new prescrip for my inhaler...which expired Dec '06. I'll be seeing a Dr. Romeo. Here's hoping he's nice. I havn't been to a general doc in years. Hopefully I can convince Matt to go with me in case he needs to go on meds too. He and I both have pretty bad coughs, along with Judah. 'Lij has a small cough.

On top of that, we had to take our Pilot in yesterday for some weird noises in the tire region. Honda deemed it undrivable! SOMEHOW the pneumatic suspension on one of the tires is shorn off and the axle bent. They said that is collision quality damage. But we haven't had any collisions. We don't remember any major pot holes or anything. There is no exterior damage, so no one hit our car while we were gone. We didn't notice the problem until we got back from vacation. It's a mystery -- an expensive one. Thankfully, USAA (LOVE them) is covering it as a collision that is not our fault. And once we get this puppy fixed, we're going to see about selling it and downgrading a little in hopes to get a family car and a cheap commuter car. Pray for wisdom!

Good news, though. Patrick almost died while we were gone. He's been resurected -- yet again. Matt said he was a goner, but I put in the (tiny bit of) work and time to bring him back to health. I really think that when I die, he'll meet me in my mansion. God must have given me an eternal plant. ;-)

Mmm....carrots. For those who don't know, I've been in the process of weaning Elijah. We're down to only one nursing session a day now, and we just decided to officially start the process Saturday. I think the way my body is reacting and Elijah's improved mood (and growth!!) are proof that it was definitely time. Not to mention I could use the extra energy for my own immune system. Look how big he is compared to Matt now! We call him "fappy" after he finishes a bottle -- fat and happy. :-)


Some family time last night.

Picture Post Palooza

You won't believe how many pictures are in this post. So let's get to it.

CHRISTMAS DAY 2007

Elijah's first Christmas.


Judah's turn -- which included a real boomarang from Australia!


Momma and Daddy's turn. My new Willow Tree Family and the necklace from Australia were two very special gifts to me! Matt got a guitar which he is currently strumming -- I love to hear him play!


Despite what the sticker says, he's NOT for sale!


Jesus' birthday party. There is alot of symbolism in this pancake birthday cake. It tells the Gospel story...and it's tasty, too!


ARKANSAS FAMILY

Now tell me who he looks like. ;-)


Hailey, our sweet niece.


Hope, me, and 'Lijah.


My beautiful older sister, Autumn (who took many of these family pictures because she wanted to play with our new camera). Thanks!


Linus...I mean...Judah.


Hope playing with Matt's Christmas gift.


Gramps, whose Sugarbear I forever will be.


My beautiful older sister's handsome hubby, Andy. Now you know why their kids are knock-outs. :-)


Erik, our oldest nephew.


I have a feeling that someday these four will keep us all on our toes when they are together.


Sick in Arkansas, but still smilin'. Update: Judah had a follow-up appointment yesterday. Right ear looked semi-better, left ear was still pretty bad. Pink eye has hit again, therefore another round of eyedrops is underway. He will go on a new antibiotic for his ears on Saturday for long term (same thing as last winter/spring). I'm assuming if his ears have not improved by his next check-up in two weeks, then we will really be discussing the possibility of tubes. I won't be surprised. He is becoming my "pay-back" child. ;-)


'Lij and his Nini.


Doesn't he just melt your heart?


Me and my boys. ::sigh of bliss::


PLAYDATE WITH HANNAH

Yesterday, Tara graciously came over to watch Elijah while I took Judah for his check-up. She also brought dinner! It was heart warming to be with Nathan and Tara again and to see adorable Hannah. God's goodness can be seen in how quickly we made dear friends here. Thanks again, Tara! Judah tried to play ball with Hannah, but she wasn't quite sure what to do. She's cute even when she's crying. They made good music together!



EATIN' FUN

Judah has recently gotten to try Daddy's favorite cereal, Lucky Charms. He's a natural in that he picks out the marshmallows and leaves the cereal. The second picture is evidence that he would even take the cereal pieces out of his mouth if they happened to tag along with a marshmallow. Kids will be kids. A bowl of those sounds good right now, actually.



We started veggies this week with Elijah, debuting with Sweet Potatoes. He was quite shocked when they first hit his tongue, but he gobbles them up. It might be hard to see, but in the first picture you will notice the spoon laying on the coffee table with a little smattering of sweet potatoes. That's because I let Elijah hold the spoon for a second and before I knew it, somehow he had LAUNCHED the spoon all the way over there. Hilariously cute! We're gonna have to stop the sweet potatoes and oatmeal thought because something is not sitting well. Trial and error can be so tough sometimes!



PART OF YESTERDAY'S HARDSHIPS

If you read my most recent post, you found out what kind of day I had. Here are two pictures from it -- Elijah crying next-to-non-stop and the chenille blanket after it's second time in the dryer. Note the lint trap, how packed full of fibers it is. I took the blanket outside and shook it off well, lint rolled it, and placed it back on it's designated chair. I THINK it survived the dryer.



A LOVELY WALK IN...JANUARY

The weather has been beautiful the past couple days, so we went for a walk today. We walked around our building to our "backyard" where there is enough grassy room to run around (even though Judah doesn't really do that). I love our camera. I love the weather (for the time being). But most of all, I love my boys!



WHEW! GOODNIGHT!