Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Mending . . .

Thanks to everyone who prayed for or checked on Isaac. We did, unfortunately, have to go back to the Clinic later this afternoon. Our little I-pod still had a fever and, seemingly out of nowhere, some conjunctivitis in his right eye. His blood draw turned into three draws -- in his arm, then heel, and then finger before they secured some blood that did not clot. Thank goodness Daddy went in for all of them and spared me from that trauma! The good news is that all the blood work came back good. He just has a nasty viral bug. We just have to keep him well hydrated and love on him a lot. I think we can handle that. Daddy should have a lighter schedule the next two days thanks to the holiday which is good news for his very tired and very pregnant Mommy.
You know, all in all, parenthood is a lot of what I expected it to be. I think I knew, for the most part, what I was getting into when I, literally, signed on to be Isaac's Mom. Not much has taken me by surprise.
But there still are a few things that have not been exactly what I expected. One thing that has surprised me is how sensitive a parent is to their own child's plight. I remember hearing parents say that they cried when their child got a shot. I have to admit I used to think that was a bit extreme. Not anymore. I hate watching Isaac feel bad. I hate feeling helpless to help him. And JB feels the same way. And this is just a little illness. I can't even imagine how I'd feel if it were something more serious.
This little twenty pounds of chunk has completely stolen our hearts. I cannot even begin to explain the love I have for him and the motherly protection I feel toward him. The fact that he is not biologically related to me is so not important. I think we sometimes allow biological relations to be overrated. I mean, I love JB something fierce and we definitely aren't related by blood. I also love this silly dog of mine and, obviously, he is not a genetic match to me! I just want the world to know how wonderful adoption can be!
Isaac, you are our boy! Get better soon little guy.

A long night . . .

It is 1pm on Wednesday. I just got back from Dr. G's office where Isaac was seen as a quick drop-in appointment.

Isaac had a really long night including one ninety minute period in which he was completely inconsolable. When you have a child who never even cries much and he then spends nearly an hour and a half screaming at the top of his lungs no matter what you do, it is a little overwhelming. In addition, he never wakes up in the night and last night he was up four times. During these times he didn't want to eat, wasn't dirty, but just couldn't put himself back to sleep.

During the worst bout, I had no choice but to wake JB up as I didn't know what else to do. We were actually dressed and ready to head up to the ER to see what might be going on in his little belly when JB said he would try one more time to get him to relax -- it took about 40 minutes but our little guy finally fell asleep with Daddy in the rocker.

Dr. G. is a tad concerned about the possibility of a bacterial infection with such a high fever. She is giving us a few hours to see if his fevers can stay down and he can start feeling better. Yesterday they peaked at 103. If we can't get things under control, she wants us to come in and get some blood work done. We are all hoping to avoid our little guy having to get blood work so if you think of it, just say a prayer for our little boy. That when he gets up from his nap he is feeling great and back to his normal self. He had a short window today that he got down on the ground and was playing, climbing all over Scrubs and trying to share his toys with Scrubby. I pray that when he wakes up, he is back to that same Isaac.

Thanks everyone! Sorry this is dominating my blog, but I really don't have much else to share with you except this right now. Seeing your little baby sick is a really stinky feeling!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

I think . . .

. . . that my leg cramps are contagious.

JB and I were petting Scrubs who was rolling on his back on the side of the couch. Suddenly he started yelping uncontrollably, got up, and started limping around. Poor dog had a leg cramp!

Mind you Scrubs doesn't yelp in pain, like ever. Not even when he cut his leg wide open at the bay.

I didn't know dogs got leg cramps but apparently they do. He worked it out pretty quickly and returned to his spot next to us on the couch for some more attention.

Praying that tonight is leg cramp free -- for me and my pup.

Sick again

No big monumental post here today. Isaac is sick again. I try to avoid talk of bodily fluids on the blog so just take my word for it -- last night was a long night. I had noticed all day that he wasn't acting quite right, but when JB got home around dinner time, it quickly became obvious that Isaac was under the weather.

In addition, I am just having trouble finding any position to sleep where my right side is not hurting. I found one position on the couch that took the pressure off for a few hours at a time. But between Isaac getting up sick and me not being able to get in a position that I didn't have the pain or the leg cramps, and sleep wasn't readily available.

This morning his fever was 102 but after some Motrin, he is acting more like himself. If you think of it, your prayers for our home -- for Isaac to feel better and for me to find some sleep, somewhere.

We remind ourselves how incredibly blessed we are. We are blessed to have this precious boy in our home. We are blessed that I am headed into my last few weeks in preparation of a second little boy. These little valleys are totally worth the journey!

Monday, December 29, 2008

OB update

Back from my now weekly OB appointments.

In a nutshell:
  • I am the next woman on Dr. G's delivery schedule!
  • As of Friday, I'll be 36 weeks and will for-sure deliver here at Eglin. (Anything earlier goes to Pensacola or Fort Walton Beach where they have a NICU.)
  • As of Friday, they would not try to stop labor if it started.
  • Dr. G is guessing that Elijah is hovering in the six pound range right now. (She guessed pretty accurately with Joia and Andrea.)
  • Dr. G's guess is that, if I make it all the way to 40 weeks, we are looking at an 8 to 8.5 pound baby! (Please only offer me encouragement and not concern regarding this fact.)
  • I was tested for GBS today. Hopefully that will come back negative.
  • My weight is a little over what Dr. G would have hoped I'd have gained, but she said it is nothing to be concerned with. She allowed me 40 pounds, and I am currently at 43. She said, and I agree, that it seems every single one of my pounds is directly in my belly!
  • My belly is still measuring 1 or 2 weeks ahead which is within the "normal" range.
  • The rib pain, while unfortunate, is most likely due to the fact that Elijah is still head down, butt at my belly button, and feet in my right ribs.
  • Elijah is, without a doubt, for sure, no question, still a boy! :)

Some of you have asked our plans for "help" during baby time. My mother-in-law and possibly my Mom are hoping to come up when I go into labor. My mother-in-law will stay to help for awhile, and then Joan plans to come in. Tara and Lesley are also hoping to make visits in late February. My mother plans to come back around the second week of March. I made a special request that she be here when JB does nights.

Speaking of JB, it looks like he will have some significant time off! He still has over two weeks of vacation we have not used. In addition, the military just approved a ten day "paternity leave" that he will be able to utilize. We are hoping that he gets to take a lot of February off! How awesome would that be?

Next appointment is on Thursday next week. Until then . . .

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Sunday School Smiles

Today, JB taught Sunday School with me.

Boy: Points at John. "What is his name?"

Wendi: "His name is John."

Boy: "No, what is his last name?"

Wendi: "Oh, his last name is hard. You can just call him Mr. John."

Boy: Shakes his head. "I can say that!" Pauses. "Okay, Mr. Hard? Can I have some more cookies?"

I'm still smiling about that one!

At least today, I was not compared to an air headed fish.

* * *

In other news, my parents left very early this morning and were back in Fort Lauderdale by lunchtime. What a wonderful visit we had with them. We did a ton of eating, relaxing, walking, trips to the Bay . . . JB and I even took a brief break to go and see Marley and Me (very good but very sad) on Friday. We ended our visit last night by having some Indian food at a local restaurant owned by one of the physicians JB works with.

My Mom is so unbelievably helpful while she is here. I can't get her to relax: laundry, dishes, bottles, mopping my floors! She really blesses me during her time here. I truly get some "Mommy/wife vacation time" -- time I am really valuing as the "countdown-to-Elijah" marches onward.

We had a lot of plans for today, but since church, we've ended up each lying on a couch, with Isaac asleep on his Daddy's chest, Scrubs asleep by my feet, watching the Dolphins game! Scrubs and JB completed their longest run yet this morning in training for the half marathon in March: seven miles!

Scrubs is so cute when he gets back from a run. Normally that dog is attached to my hip, but after his run with JB, he won't leave JB. He sits on the ground while JB stretches, rubbing his face on JB's legs as if to say, "We're buddies! We are a team! We just ran seven miles together!"

Tomorrow I have an OB appointment and JB gets started on a pretty intensive week of the Family Medicine Team. But what a wonderful Christmas week we had as a family. We missed JB's family but truly had a very relaxing holiday. Hope everyone out there can say the same.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

A (sort of) book

So I've been working on a book. Not really working. More like writing. And I wouldn't call it a book. Right now it's just a few dozen pages. Hardly book-length.

However, I guess all books have to start somewhere. Every book I have ever read was, at one point, just a few dozen pages as well. So maybe that means there's hope for my book even yet.

I don't have much time mind you. Between my 20 hour a week job and Isaac and Scrubs and company and the holidays and my blog, I don't have many extra hours in the day to write. But I've been dabbling. Just a bit but dabbling just the same. I dabbled more before Isaac was born. Since he's arrived, the dabbling has been more limited. There's no telling how much more limited it will be when Elijah joins the fray.

I hesitate to tell people this fact -- the fact that I am (sort of) writing a book. I hesitate even when they tell me that the story of our infertility and Isaac and Elijah, and the daughter who hasn't been born yet, is worthy of something people would buy.

"You should write a book," they say. And I smile and nod but don't say, "Well, actually, I have been . . ." It sounds lame to me. And it somehow makes my "dabbling" much more concrete.

I hesitate for a lot of a reasons. Will I finish it? Will it be any good? Would people buy it? Is my writing actually any good? Does anyone really care about the story I can tell? Should it be all truth? Some fiction? All fiction? Funny? Sad? Serious?

When it is just me writing it, and I don't tell anyone about it, it doesn't really matter. But as soon as I say it out loud, well, then, it seems to becomes something I am really doing, and something people ask me about. What if I quit? What if I don't finish this book? What if it never goes anywhere? I told people I was writing a book. If I tell people I'm writing a book, I need to do it. But if I don't tell them, then it is only me who knows and the pressure is only pressure I put on myself -- not pressure from anyone else.

So that being said, I'm not really sure why I am telling "my blog" this right now. I just feel like it. As I have written previously, sleep has been a problem for me lately. It's basically due to rib pain that prohibits me from sleeping on my back or right side. And it's rib pain that makes sleeping on my left side something that needs to be "just right" for it to be successful. The stomach is obviously not a possibility so finding a position that I can nod off in has become problematic.

I've turned to sleeping, basically, sitting up. JB sets up a great little "upright bed" for me each evening and this allows me to get 3-4 hours before early morning shows up, and I have to saunter back into the kitchen for some Tylenol to try to help the rib pain dissipate enough for sleep to return.

It is during those wakeful hours that I think a lot. And last night I thought a lot about my writing and this book I am (sort of) writing. I wish I had the energy to get up and actually write during those wee hours of the morning. I come up with a lot of good things during those hours that I can't, for the life of me, remember when I get up the next morning.

But last night I remembered the book I was working on and the fact that I hadn't touched it in many months, and this morning, I decided to open it again and write a bit more.

I feel that if there is some pressure on me, I'll be more prone to work on this (sort of) book and I figured my blog was a great place to enact pressure.

So, without further ado, I share with you just a short passage from the pages of my (sort of) book. In this way, I put some pressure on myself. People have read part of it. Now I have to finish it. Right?

In theory, yes, but I still make no promises. All I promise is to share this short passage.

So here you go . . .

* * * * * * * * * *

I did not want to call him again crying.

And yet I did not have anyone else to call.

I quickly dialed the number to his pager, followed by our home number and the pound key. Then I put the phone back in the cradle, slowly mumbling a prayer that he wasn’t busy – that he could call me back right away.

He did. And his voice on the other end of the line immediately slowed my breathing down. My rock. So solid all the time.

“What’s up?” he quickly asked.

“You busy?”

“Pretty,” he paused. “You been crying?” I nodded. And even though I didn’t say anything, I think, somehow, he knew I had nodded. “I’m sorry.”

I wanted to say so much at that moment. I wanted to tell him I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t live here. I couldn’t be here. I couldn’t exist in this perpetual state of sadness. I didn’t want to cry anymore. I didn’t want to hurt anymore. If the pain would just go away. If my heart would just quit wanting what it couldn’t have. Then, I’d feel so much better. I’d be happy. I wouldn’t cry anymore. I wouldn’t have to call him crying anymore. We could laugh and kiss and be young again.

But I did not say any of that. I didn’t need to.

He knew.

“I’m so sorry,” he said again. And then a long pause. “Listen, I’ve got to get back to work. But when I get home, I have a surprise for you.”

“Okay.”

“It’s a good surprise. It will make you feel better. I promise.”

I’m sure, in his heart, he wanted to hear me get excited about the surprise, but lately, I knew he’d settle for just an acknowledgement. “Okay,” I said again and then mumbled a good bye.

I hung up the phone and glanced at the clock. Home would have to wait quite awhile. It’d be hours before he’d be home. But just hearing his voice made me think that I would make it through today. I wasn’t sure about tomorrow, but today, I could do.

I stood up from my desk and made my way to the bathroom where a handful of tissues and a splash of water on my face made me feel a little better. A quick look at my watch. Two o'clock. Maybe he’d home by seven. That was five more hours. That would only be twelve hours without him. I could do twelve hours. I could do five more. Back out of the bathroom and across the hall. Back into my broken office chair where six new emails were waiting from the few minutes in which I had taken a break. Five more hours.


* * * * *

Just a few weeks earlier I had been nearly as sad. But not nearly as lonely. Our ninth year of marriage wasn’t much different than the three which had preceded it. We were still living in the frozen tundra of Rochester, Minnesota. (Which, by the way, is quite different from Rochester, New York – much to the chagrin of all the unfortunate souls we had heard of, including my friend Ebby, who had booked tickets into Empire state instead of the one with a thousand lakes and had to eat their ticket. Still Rochester but much whiter. Much colder. Just be careful when you book airline tickets.)

Sorry. I often have trouble remaining focused on the story on hand. (Something, that if you stick with me through this entire story, which I, at the moment, have no idea how long that will be, you’ll quickly see.) The important part of the story at hand was not that people accidentally flew into the wrong city. That’s where the digression took place. The important part of the story was that for the last four years, we had made our home in this amazingly cold place that had only two claims to fame. The first was that it was the headquarters of IBM. And the second and more well-known fact, was that it was the home of the Mayo Clinic.

The Mayo Clinic was what had brought us to Minnesota in the summer of 2003. My husband had decided at twenty-five, that he in fact did not want to be a graphic designer. To heck with brochures and websites and corporate identities. To heck with his Associates Degree from the Fort Lauderdale Art Institute. What he in fact wanted to do, was be a doctor.

At the time, the only doctors I knew were the ones I went to. Doctors were an ethereal being to me. I could not comprehend my husband becoming one. But my husband was a dreamer, and I was flexible, and so I would ride the wave of the doctor dream until a new dream emerged. I made only one demand and that was that we did not accumulate debt in this quest to become a doctor. He agreed. He took the MCAT and signed a paper at the U.S. Air Force recruiting office which would pay for school and pay our bills while we were there. He also spent his free time flipping through this two hundred page book which detailed all the medical schools in the country. I can’t remember now if the book was blue or green. One of those anyway.

Each time he’d tell me about a school he wanted to apply to, I would open up that two hundred page book and focus intently on the details – the average GPA, average MCAT, class size, percentage of accepted applicants. When he told me he wanted to put the Mayo Clinic on his list, I turned to the corresponding pages. The average MCAT score was higher than his. The class size was under 40 – the smallest in the country. The percentage of accepted applicants was below one percent. “Go ahead and apply,” I eagerly acquiesced. I hate to admit it now, but I truly believed he had no chance of getting in. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in my husband. He was smart and diligent and a great conversationalist. I knew he would interview well. And I knew he would be a fantastic doctor. I just believed in the odds more. Less than one percent chance! I felt pretty confident that I wouldn’t need to buy a heavier coat anytime soon.

My husband put it on his list and called it his “dream” school. “If I get accepted there, you have to promise me, we’ll go,” he said one night over dinner. Of course we’d go. It was the Mayo Clinic! For the weeks and months that followed, I called it “Frickin’ Minnesota” whenever he discussed where we hoped to be going that summer. We had grown up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the furthest point south in these here continental United States. I’d gone to college in Kentucky to play basketball, and my boyfriend, now husband, had followed. But Kentucky was still the south. It still had summers. I could not even comprehend somewhere as far north and as incredibly cold, as Minnesota – as “frickin’ Minnesota.”

But I’d soon comprehend first hand. A phone interview and a campus interview later and my husband was the recipient of a phone call that would change our lives. Was he interested in accepting a spot at their little medical school? Heck yeah he was interested. There was never a moment of debate in our home. We never discussed the offer. We celebrated immediately knowing that we would go from the moment the phone rang. He was accepted. And we were moving north.

So the summer of 2003 took us to Rochester, Minnesota and I spent the next four years calling it my home. I could write a whole book just on how cold it was for me in Minnesota, but, well, if you visit Rochester (Minnesota not New York, although I would venture to say Rochester, New York isn’t exactly balmy) in January you can just see for yourself. It once hit forty below with wind chill and it once snowed nearly 20 inches in May. I’ll just leave it at that.

But for all its ice and wind and snow and teeth chattering and frozen nose hairs (did you know that actually happens?), Minnesota had been home. We had made friends. We had found a church. I was writing for a few places and working more than full-time doing what I loved. And now? Now I was back in the Sunshine state wishing we had never left the Polar North. Now I was warm but calling my husband, begging him to come home early from work so I didn’t have to be alone. I missed that frickin’ cold land of a thousand lakes something awful.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Scrubs celebrates

Our Scrubby had an exhausting Christmas Day. Not only did he go for a two mile run with JB, a trip to the Bay with me, and my daily two mile walk with me, but we played a lot with our flashlight and rings, and then Philip & Joia and family came over -- new people (and a brand new baby!) to smell and investigate.

When we finally found Scrubs on his bed late that night, he was conked out in such an interesting position, JB went to get the camera. Scrubs opened his eyes for a moment and then went right back to his slumber.

Merry Christmas Scrubby!

Christmas Evening


We had a wonderful Christmas evening. First of all, my JB made what was probably the best meal I have ever had on any holiday. It was definitely one of his finest performances. Everything was beautiful and amazing! What's even better is that there will be leftovers to feast on today. Excellent work hubby darling!

Joia (with Moriah) and Philip (with Keenan) joined us for the evening. They too were "tied" to base in expectation of their new arrival. Moriah's early arrival meant 2008 was her first Christmas, instead of 2009. They are such wonderful people and such good company. And, they love good food as much as we do! To see more photos of the evening, you can jump over to Joia's blog.


It is hard to believe that Isaac was nearly this small when he was first born. Here he decides to do a little praying over Moriah.


And here, Moriah decides to fight back!




Here's our best attempt at getting a picture of the three kids. (Thank you to Joia who loaned me this outfit for the holidays!)



This last picture stirred some crazy feelings in me. Take a look at us with two babies in hand:




It's hard, and nearly impossible to believe, that this will be out family in right around one month from now. As JB and I laid in bed last night, we flashed back to this moment with an abundance of emotions.

Those emotions range from excitement in meeting Eliah to relief in getting his feet out of my ribs! I have had some great difficulty sleeping at night due to the position he is lying in as well as the leg cramps that continue to plague me on random evenings. Elijah's arrival in the world will not necessarily bring me sleep-filled nights ... (I'm not that naive) ... but at least when I do sleep, I'll be able to get a bit more comfortable. :)

But this photo also stirred some other emotions. We are so in love with Isaac. We are absolutely addicted to this little boy. The thought of sharing ourselves with another baby is not something we feel quite ready to do. I want to have more time with just me and Isaac. I want to love on him and him only for a few more weeks or months or years. I know many parents go through this when child #2 joins the family; I just feel that we are having to go through it more quickly than many parents ... well before we feel quite prepared.

We also cannot believe that we are just weeks away from Elijah's arrival. How did all this happen so quickly? How did we go from a family with zero kids, to a family with one puppy, to a family with one puppy and one boy, to a family preparing for a grown up puppy and boy number two?

Right now, puppy and man are out for their morning jog. JB and I are thinking about taking a bit of time, just the two of us, to go and see Marley and Me while my Dad and Mom babysit. Every time we go out now we think, this might be the last time we go out for quite some time ...

Christmas morning











This was the first Christmas that I can remember spending away from Fort Lauderdale. I think I probably spent a Christmas or two in Chicago when I was young, but this is the first, in the last fifteen years or so, that we have not been in South Florida.

It was a bit strange to not be with the Kit. family for the holidays. I spoke with them after we opened gifts and asked Mom K. who gave us the chocolate milk shirt (as the tag had fallen off the bag). She stops and starts yelling over the cacophony of sounds in the Kit. home to try and be heard! WHO SENT THE CHOCOLATE MILK SHIRT TO JOHN AND WENDI?!? Aaaaaaaaah, now that is how we are used to spending Christmas morning -- amidst well over a dozen souls, with orange cinnamon rolls, and Mom's scrambled eggs, yelling louder when the need to be heard becomes imperative.

That's not to say our Christmas morning wasn't wonderful in its own way. It was nice to establish some of our own family traditions. JB made some awesome french toast, bacon, and sausage for breakfast, and we opened our stockings the evening before. Isaac surprised us all and stayed awake for all of the festivities. He even got into opening a few of his gifts. Scrubs waited patiently for a gift that smelled like something for him. Leave it to Aunt AD (whose parents own a pet shop) to remember our four-legged family member at Christmas.

The entire Kit. also tried something new this year. Instead of exchanging gifts with all six siblings, five spouses, two parents, and three grandchildren, the siblings pulled three names a piece. It made for fewer gifts to open but did result in some very nice gifts. While the knife block (shown in the photos above) was one of JB's only gifts from his siblings, he was thrilled with it, and was loading it in the kitchen as soon as we were finished opening gifts. I got some wonderful gifts as well including some post-baby-delivery robes and pajamas, earrings, gift certificates, and an awesome "Story People" print from Ray & Gabbi that I loveeeddddd!

So while Christmas was different this year, it wasn't necessarily better or worse. It was just different. It was very relaxing to not travel this year and to take things easy and celebrate with our boy and my parents. We missed JB's family and seeing them open the gifts we bought them, but it was a great day nonetheless.

I hope everyone had an equally great day. More posts to come this morning, including how we spent our Christmas evening: eating JB's food with great company!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Dinner is served!

Missing JB's cooking anyone? I'm not! Here's the menu for Christmas dinner. Philip & Joia & family will be joining us. You can click on the image for a detailed look at what you are missing! Bon appetit everyone! And what he didn't include? The mint chocolate chip cookies and ice cream for dessert. ;)

Merry Christmas from the (Eglin) Kit family!

Merry Christmas . . . From Isaac and Wendi. This was taken last night, after JB and I got back from a candelight service at the church on Base. My Dad and Mom babysat.

Scrubs wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas as well.


And so did Elijah. Here he is at 35 weeks. 35 Days to go!

My whole fam wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas. This was taken in Destin at Thanksgiving.


Merry Christmas with Santa. This is Isaac's first try with Santa. No smiles -- talk about a deer in the headlights.

Wearing Keenan's antlers during a sick evening at Matt & Tiff's awesome Christmas party.

Fun times while Joia was babysitting!



Hanging out with Dad at a Christmas party with our Care Group.



Isaac's second try at meeting Santa. This one seemed to be going better . . .




And then suddenly went very bad . . .

We pray that you have a wonderful Christmas Day -- a time to remember our Savior's sacrifice for us on the cross. I also ask that we remember those people who are celebrating while surrounding by grief. As I wrote on our Christmas cards (which finally went out about two days ago), our five years of infertility left our hearts incredibly sensitive to those people reading this who are still waiting for the completion of their family or those who are grieving a loss of someone they love on this day. Please stop and pray for those you know and don't know whose hearts are hurting today . . .

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

The parents are here, dude!

We are so excited to have my parents here! They came bearing a car full of gifts -- from them and from JB's family. While JB was working on pre-Christmas dinner cooking, we had a quick lunch at the Greek restaurant with Isaac and brought some lunch back for JB. This evening, JB and I plan to attend the candlelight service at the protestant chapel on Base while my parents babysit babe and dog.

Here's a quick video of Isaac demonstrating his new fascination with shaking his head no:

Have a great Christmas Eve everyone!

2nd haircut

Our little, nearly eight month old, got his second haircut this week so he would look his best before Grama and Grampa come into town today! The only way to get Isaac to sit still enough to cut his hair was to give him his favorite toy: the remote! Look at our little chunk. :)



My Mom asked if the spiked look was the final product?! Nooooo. I realized I actually didn't take a picture of the finished product. Look for that photo in upcoming posts. It's a little shorter than I would like, but hey, his Dad's in the military. What can you expect.

Speaking of my parents, they left very early this morning and should be arriving before lunch. We are so blessed to have them with us to celebrate Christmas.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

First time waving

Tuesday, JB and Isaac came home from the grocery store, and Isaac waved at me! I wasn't sure if it was an accident so we decided to have me hold Isaac and JB enter the house to see if it was for real. It sure was! New milestone: waving.



P.S. I think we are actually practicing to wave to Grampa and Grama when they get here TOMORROW!

JB to the rescue!


Monday was a cooolllld day here on Eglin AFB. Well, not cold compared to Minnesota, but cold compared to Eglin AFB. I decided to wait until JB could watch Isaac before venturing into the cold with Scrubs for a trip to the Bay.

As I've mentioned on the blog before, Scrubs usually fills his days at the bay by playing with his Frisbee or playing with his buddy Deuce. However, on Monday, the dogs playdate was interrupted when an injured bird meandered up onto the scene. Thank goodness the dogs didn't hurt the poor bird, and all of us jumped into action. Bobbie ran in the house to call JB, I managed to lug Deuce into the house and away from the bird, eldest son Robert secured Scrubs to a leash, and the girls, Paige and Brooke, kept an eye on the bird until JB could get home. Seven-year-old Matthew was there too -- running around in his warm ski mask -- leftover from their prior base assignment in Alaska.

I headed home to watch Isaac, and JB headed to the Bay to get the bird. It turned out to be an American Coot. The poor little guy had a broken leg.

All four kids decided to ride with JB to an animal rescue facility in Niceville while I stayed home with a napping Isaac. They were hoping they'd get to meet with the doctor and find out if the bird would make it or not, but the facility simply accepted the bird, and JB and the kids were forced to return home without any more information than that! We have no idea whether the Coot survived or not, but at least we tried to save it's life!

Once back at the house, there was a little time for Scrubs and Isaac to get some attention before the kids headed back to their house, and we headed out the door to run some errands.


Here's Robert getting Scrubs to rollover. Somehow I managed to capture him in mid-roll which is actually quite an accomplishment -- his rolls are very fast. Silly Scrubs is doing all these tricks for one tiny piece of kibble. :)


Here's the other three kiddos with Isaac: Matthew, Brooke, and Paige. Brooke and Paige have been starting to do some babysitting for Isaac. The great thing is, they can watch Scrubs at the same time since there are two of them to tag team the dynamic duo!

Here's all the kids (including JB) taking a look at the type of bird they found on the Internet.

Best buds till the end



Monday, December 22, 2008

I'm a big kid now!

Can you believe that our little Isaac has reached the weight limit for his infant seat? Today was the day to move him into his new carseat. He is growing up so fast!



Polar North blog saves a life . . .

I got this email from my sister-in-law AD last week who is due to have her first baby six weeks after me -- a little girl.

Now AD is, admittedly, not the best blog reader ever. She likes the pictures, and is a self-professed "skimmer". However, she was glad she didn't skim on my post about leg cramps! It saved her life!

Your blog saved my life....ok not my life, but I woke up in the middle of the night with the worst cramp in my calf so I tried to pull my foot back and that didn't work and I thought...maybe this is training for labor so I'll just breathe and see what happens if I relax....OK, so I am not brilliant at 3 AM. But then I remembered you saying that you limped around one night with a leg cramp so I got out of bed and walked around, WAY BETTER! It is still sore, but I've been doing stretches before bed. Thank God for your blog and its priceless information. Love you, AD

Just a note to anyone who has leg cramps, pregnant or not. GET OUT OF BED! Do not try to solve the cramp in bed. It will only get worse. Or you'll cramp something else. I cannot tell you the number of times that while trying to get a cramp out of my calf, I got a new one in my thigh or foot. Not cool at all. Move around until you find a position that the cramp hurts the least in and then remain in that position until you are SURE the cramp has gone.

My cramps have gotten a tad bit better, but they are still present and quite annoying. At least my pain helped save AD's life!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Dory

This morning, I substituted in the 6 & 7 year old class for Sunday School at church. Bernard & Lisa were out-of-town and asked if we could fill in. With Isaac being so young and Elijah on the way, JB and I did not feel comfortable committing to being full-time teachers. However, we did want to serve and subbing seemed a perfect way to do that. We will be working this week and next week with the 6 & 7 year olds. This week, I did it without JB as he didn't get home from work until 9am!

This morning I was attempting to tell the story of Jacob & Esau. Now I was a high school English teacher. I really do know how to teach a lesson and lead a class. Unfortunately, I think that pregnancy brain has finally gotten to me. While I did a good with the class, I did say things backwards quite a few times. Jacob was older ... I mean Esau. Jacob sold his birthright ... I mean Esau.

At the end of class one of the little girls thanked me for being their teacher and then said, "Have you ever seen Finding Nemo?" I had. "Well you remind me of Dory," she giggled.

If you have seen this movie, you are probably chuckling right now. If you haven't, let me just tell you that Dory has a memory problem that prevents her from remembering anything! She's quite the airhead throughout the movie.

Dory! Oh man!

Christmas party (without the hubby)

JB was on call yesterday. Actually, it was our friend Matt's call date. However, they decided to switch for two reasons. The first is that Matt wanted to get out of town for the Christmas holiday a day early. The second is that JB has been scheduled for call the weekend before and the weekend after I am due in January! Talk about bad timing! So he and Matt decided to switch days. JB took this call date for Matt, and Matt will take one of those two call dates for JB -- depending on which one we need him for.

I spent the day getting some work done for RLS, taking Scrubs and Isaac to the bay, working on Christmas cards, and trying to start making and working on a list of things we need to do before Elijah joins our home. Joia and Andrea both going three weeks early has even calm, cool, and collected JB a little flustered! ;) If I were to go three weeks early, I'd be going in three weeks! We are not ready for that. Of course, this is my first delivery and it was both of their seconds. Hopefully that means I'll be closer to on-time.

As much as I am ready to get this little guy's feet out of my ribs, going early would mean less time with Isaac, less time for preparation, and more gaps when I do not have help present. I took a breast feeding class the other day and the lady running the classes first question to me was "Are you going to have help when this baby comes?" Uh, yeah. Does she think I am crazy! We are blessed that my mother-in-law, Joan, and my mom are all going to spend some time here with us. In addition, Tara and Lesley are also hoping to get to spend some time here with their men by their sides. What a blessing to have great family and friends.

Last night I decided to tag along with Philip, Joia, and their now two children to the annual resident Christmas party (held at my doctor's house -- Dr. G.) Our families were actually the only representatives from the second year class! There were a TON of people there and it was difficult to maneuver through the masses. At one point, an anonymous three-year-old came up to Isaac, grabbed his little Dalmatian dog, and went running. I had no idea who she was, where she came from, or where she went with his favorite toy. It took me nearly five minutes to find her in a back bedroom, dog in hand. She did relinquish rights easily, however, which made me feel less badly about tracking her down!

Leave it to Joia to snap some shots of our evening. Here are a few pics (stolen from her blog).

Babies everywhere. Here is new baby Moriah (pronounced More-iah not Ma-riah) with Isaac (who is kindly hiding his brother.) Isaac was a bit in shell-shock mode the entire evening -- I think it was due to the sheer number of people present. Two times I walked out of the room, and Isaac freaked a little bit. "Who are all these people and where is my Mommy!?"


Isaac and I chilling with John and Becky. Isaac LOVED John. I think he reminded him of his own John whom he hadn't seen all day. John and Becky are currently pregnant and expecting via IVF! They find out if there is one or two babies present on Monday! Please keep them in your prayers during this exciting time.

Rick is a third year resident. His wife is my role model with her two active twin girls. Here he is with Philip and Keenan -- one of Isaac's greatest fans.
Following the party, I headed up to the residency room to see JB. He had a few free minutes, and Isaac and I hung out with him as well as the other resident on call -- a first year and his wife. We were glad to get to spend a few free minutes as a family.