Monday, March 30, 2009

Spring!


Easter is coming! I love Easter--I love everything it is about. It is such a time of hope, of re-birth, of redemption. I've never loved Easter as much as I did after last year. After one of the rainier weeks since we've been here in Oregon, we had a beautiful day today. It started out cold, with frost on the ground when Jack and I left this morning, but turned into a just beautiful spring day. There are a lot of flowering trees in full blossom here; we don't really have trees like that in San Diego and it is just spectacular. After I picked Jack up, we went to Target to get him diapers and I wound up buying stuff for his Easter basket. What do you get for a 1 yr-old's basket??? They had some cute stuff and I finally settled on a Mr. Potato Head in a bunny costume, some eggs filled with Little People Easter characters, a little flip board book, and a little book about the story of Easter. I will post pictures of his basket after Easter.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, baby Stellan has been on my mind. As I read the updates and as I bought all of Jack's Easter basket fillings, I was reminded of where we were last year. We were traveling daily between home and the hospital, alternately hoping Jack would be cleared to come home and being absolutely terrified of bringing a baby home that would regularly "forget" to breathe. We were struggling with the ups and downs of being told he would come home, then told he wouldn't...changing care plans, etc., etc. And then, two days before Easter, we came to the hospital and they told us Jack would be going home with us...THAT DAY!!!! We were so excited--but cautious (we had gotten halfway through the paperwork once before and Jack had had a bradycardic episode during the process and wound up staying three more weeks). Looking back on that time, it's hard to imagine we were the same parents and Jack was the same baby he is today. We spent that Easter weekend, which was full of everything Easter promises--renewed beginnings, renewed life, reveling in the blessings that had been heaped on us and exploring our new, tiny son. He was, and still is, the best gift God ever gave me and it was so fitting that he came home at Easter. I am grateful for the lessons Jack has taught me over the last year and for the privilege of being his mommy.

Here's a picture from his first Easter, I'm looking forward to many more to come! I'm praying that the people whose blogs I read who are struggling with illness in their families or with their children know the peace and renewal of Easter this season, as we did.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Prayer Request

I've blogged about MckMama when she was pregnant with her baby, Stellan. Long story short, when she was pregnant, her baby went into heart block, including severe tachycardia, and it appeared there was little hope of him surviving. Miraculously, he made it through and was born without a trace of the heart problems he experienced in the womb. Now about 3-4 months old, he caught a cold and received a nebulizer treatment that inexplicably pushed him back into tachycardia. He's going on a few days of his heart rate in the 200s and things aren't looking great. All attempts to convert his heart have failed so far. MckMama and her brood need your prayers. Please join us in praying for Stellan's healing or visit her blog.

Blogger's Block

Not that I have ever been particularly diligent about updating my blog but I feel fairly negligent these days...I just have nothing much to write about. I also have no pictures to post (well, not entirely true, I'm just too lazy to pull them off the camera!). Anyway, here are a few things going on in our life (does anyone know how to make bullet points in Blogger????):

--My dear friend, M, had her second baby last Monday. I was lucky enough to be in San Diego when Baby T was born. He, unfortunately, spent a couple of days in the NICU but I was able to see and hold him before I left. He's out and home now--and 100% sweet, cute and cuddly!
--Jack is starting to walk. He'll take a few steps, mostly in the company of other wobblers, and is not likely to repeat his performances for his parents, causing them much aggravation. :-)
--We had Jack's 1-yr appointment two weeks ago Friday. I am happy to report that he has sprouted up to the 50th percentile in height, though still hovering between 20-25th for weight. He may have a heart murmur (first we've heard about this!) so we have an ECG on Friday to determine the extent of it. We're hoping it's nothing serious!
--Our friends, Jenn and Robby, made the decision to move to Texas in late November. Jenn went first with the girls to live with her parents while she hunted for a job. Robby stayed behind to continue working, with the plan to follow Jenn out when she found a job. He actually found something first and so he moved out there in February! Now, she is waiting to hear back on an interview she recently had and they've made an offer on a house, contingent on her job offer. So, we're praying she gets the job and they can move into their beautiful new house! We miss them a great deal!
--I'm starting to feel the loneliness of moving somewhere I don't have friends. I miss mine dearly and I'm trying to join some activities so I can meet people. It's tough as a working mommy to find things on the weekends and balance that with family time!
--It's apparently whale season! Here in OR, we had a (sadly, dead) whale beach and found out that OR has a history with dead, beached whales. In the 70s, the same thing happened and, oddly, someone had the bright idea to blow the whale up as a means to dispose of it. That plan did not execute well and this time they buried the whale. Meanwhile, when I was in San Diego, there was a whale in the bay (which almost never happens) and I got to go out on my parent's new boat and we were able to see the whale breach and blow several times! It was pretty amazing.
--Finally, I have given up pumping! I'm shocked that I made it to my original, lofty goal of one year--actually I made it to 13 months of exclusive pumping! It's been a *painful* process of weaning but I'm almost through it!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Playmates

Sorry for the terrible quality--I only had my phone to record this video. Two of Jack's favorite pasttimes: playing with the dogs (unless there is food involved, they run for the hills when they see him coming) and the newly discovered snack trap.