Of Serendipity and Stethescopes

Jack and I just got back from our week in San Diego. The first half of the week was HOT! I was completely unprepared for 90 degree plus weather--I had to use it as an opportunity to buy Jack some warm weather clothes. :-)

It was a week full of doctor's appointments, beginning with an ultrasound where I got to see our growing little baby waving it's bitty little arms around. That was reassuring and heart-warming. I am, however, ready to start feeling better. But, I am not complaining (well, too much!) as I am keenly aware how lucky I am to be carrying this baby!

Jack had his 1-year adjusted development assessment. He is 14 months actual now and we were eager for the appointment in hopes that he would be discharged from the high-risk infant clinic and further evaluations. The good news is that he tested at 12 mos for gross and fine motor skills and cognitive development. This is in line with his adjusted age. The disappointing news is that he tested at 9 mos for expressive language (talking) and 6 mos (!) for receptive language (understanding words). The delay was not altogether surprising to us as we knew he wasn't demonstrating an understanding of almost any words or simple commands (e.g., "where's the ball?"). But...I wasn't altogether prepared to hear 6 mos. The long and short of it is that this qualifies Jack for Early Intervention services, including speech therapy. Since we did the assessment in California, they are coordinating services for us in Oregon.

On our flight back from San Diego, we were in an aisle seat and sitting across from a woman who was entertaining Jack by playing nursery games with him. He was quite taken with her, flirting and smiling and giggling. She helped keep his attention and spirits up--and fussing to a minimum. Towards the end of the flight, I asked her what she did for a living and it turns out that she is the director of the early intervention program in our town that Jack has been referred to! It was quite serendipitous and, after we got off the plane, she introduced me to the woman who will be his teacher (they were traveling to a conference together).

On a funny note, yesterday, I went to pick Jack up from daycare. He is now walking nearly 100% of the time. Well, he came to the door with a stethescope around his neck, the same way a doctor wears it (slung around the back of his neck). I laughed and the teacher told me that he had been wearing it all day and knows how to use it appropriately. She said that after he "checks" out his "patients" (stuffed animals), he slings it back over his neck and has worn it like that all day. She was puzzled as to how he would know how to wear it like that since none of the older kids do. In my estimation, he has either spent too much time at doctors' offices or he is striving to follow in his Bampa's footsteps (given his affinity for my father, I am putting my money on the latter...). :-)

We're Growing!

I've been waiting to post our family news for a couple of weeks now but since we've had recent encouraging appointments, we're going public.

We're pregnant with baby #2! Jack will soon be a big brother! Given the amount of complications we had with Jack, we're cautiously optimistic for the outcome of this pregnancy. So far, we've had a pretty good start to things...and one of the biggest differences is the peace I have about the current situation. I have a peace that whatever is coming our way is meant to be and we will weather any storms that may come. (I am a little overwhelmed by the thought of TWO babies under the age of two!) Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts as we make it through the rest of the first trimester and beyond.

In other news, I am distributing Stellan's bracelets again. Visit MckMama's blog to buy yours in support of Stellan! He is having his ablation surgery tomorrow.

Today I...

I am taking the invitation to be tagged from this blog I read.

Today I...


Ate: 1 plain bagel and cream cheese, 2 peanut butter cups, and a bowl of noodles.


Felt: Content


Listened: to Nicol Sponberg's Resurrection. I love this song--and very fitting for Good Friday.


Watched: Nothing yet!


Loved: My sister's recent blog post. My niece cracks me up--I love her spelling and pictures. I equally loved the video my childhood friend Brigid posted on Facebook. Her husband is a Navy SEAL in Iraq right now, she works for the Padres and her little 3 yo son got to yell "Play Ball" to start a recent Pad's game after a video message from his daddy in Iraq.


Hoped: that my husband would come home early tonight and handle dinner and bathtime. He did!


Wished: that I could see the house my best friend just bought in Texas. To anyone from Texas reading this...I've VERY RELUCTANTLY handed my best friend over to your state. But, I'm glad she got her first house. :-)


Enjoyed: Listening to my son try to say "tickle, tickle, tickle" in his carseat today.


Wondered: When my son will start talking!!!


Drank: Orange Juice


Wanted: to have the time to get to Children's Place to get Jack's Easter outfit. Tomorrow, I guess...


Looked: Stellan's bracelets...still looking...


Tag! You're it.
Leave me a message if you take the tag.

On a closing note--after almost 4 weeks in the PICU, baby Stellan's heart has finally responded to a medicine regimen. He's moving on down to the step-down unit. Did I not say that Easter is a time for miracles????

Slow Living

My whole life (or at least since I read Little House on the Prairie), I've had dreams of a front porch with rockers. Well, this weekend, my dream came true! Our new house has a front porch and one of the things I love the most about the neighborhood we bought in is that everyone is always in their front yards. Kids run around together through the cul-de-sac and the parents hang out in the front yards. This weekend, we went to the new Lowe's in our area and used the coupons they sent us to buy two porch rockers and a little table. The weather this weekend (71 degrees!!!) further added to my visions of enjoying coffee on my front porch while rocking. We also FINALLY have a spot to hang up the beautiful windchime we received from Jared's sister and husband as a wedding present. It plays Amazing Grace (I had no idea windchimes could actually play a song!). It will hang on the porch, as well. They had a little child's rocker but it only came in white and we bought black rockers. Maybe when Jack gets a bit older, we;ll try to find a matching one for him (he did have a great time rocking on it in the store!).

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.

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!