becoming a demon deacon...

I meant to post this so long ago... but I present to you the soon to be demon deacon in our family... We found out on June 26th (also our 5 year anniversary) that Adam got accepted to Wake Forest's MBA program.  He will start the last week in August and will attend classes 2 nights a week from 6-9:30.  He will be going to class at the Charlotte campus of the MBA program so he won't have to travel very much at all!  His classes will run for 2 years and he will finish in the summer of 2011.

We are so proud of our husband and daddy for this great achievement and we covet your prayers as this will make for a very busy 2 years for us!  Congrats babe!

my unbelief

This is something that I read the other night in my Daily Light that really spoke to me (from July 25th evening): 

• He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God (Rom 4:20).  Have faith in God... if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours (Mk 11: 22, 23-24).  And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (Heb. 11:6).  He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."  Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead (Heb 11:17-19).  Being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised (Rom 4:21).  Is anything too hard for the Lord (Gen 18:14)?  With God all things are possible (Mt 19:26).  Lord, increase our faith (Lk 17:15)!

God really spoke to me through this in the midst of the financial hardships we have been going through (with Adam's commission only job not bringing in much revenue).  I was convicted that when I was praying for God to provide for us that in my heart I wasn't truly believing that He was going to do it - I was so jaded from all the months (over a year) of praying about this situation.  As I look back I can see that God was providing for us all along - but not to the standard that I felt was acceptable.  In the midst of this, I am learning to let go of my idea of how my prayers should be answered because I know that God is the perfect Father - "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Mt 7:11)  I know that "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"(Rom 8:32)  And so I cry out with the father of the convulsing son in Mk 9:24 - "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"  

6 weeks...

So to continue our adventuresome story with this sweet little guy - last Saturday when I started nursing him again he started to develop this rash on his face.  You might be able to make it out in this picture.  The rash was like lots of teeny tiny bumps and very rough and red - it covered his face even spreading to his eyelids and ears.  I called the doctor on Monday to get some recommendations and the doctor said she was pretty sure that it was eczema - which would make sense because eczema often goes along with allergies.  She prescribed us a mild steroid cream to use.  I was so thankful to hear that it was eczema and not hives or something - I was also so thankful to hear that I could keep nursing him... I don't think I could have done another week of pumping and feeding bottles.

By the mid to end of the week his rash had cleared up and I actually got some good pictures of sweet little A's smile. So content... Also this past week Andrew has started waking up only once at night.  Yay! (but why do I still feel so tired?!?)  I will feed him at 10 pm and then it usually takes him until 11 to fall asleep - he will lay in his crib and grunt or coo until then.  He then wakes up around 4 to eat and again takes usually until 4:45 or 5 to fall asleep after he eats.  Then I will wake him to start our day at 7.  He really is such a sweet and adorable and strong little guy.  His neck is so strong - he can already push his head all the way off the ground to look straight ahead and turn his head side to side while doing that - he seems so much stronger then I remember Caleigh being at this age.  Despite the hard weeks with our sweet little A, we love him SO much, feel totally bonded to him, and love being a (busy) family of 4.  

Andrew is one month old!

So this past week has been really crazy.  Everything started on Sunday (July 12th) with Andrew being really fussy.  All of a sudden on Sunday he got really fussy, was pulling up his legs to his stomach all the time, and he was never awake and happy - if he was awake he would be screaming.  Sunday night was awful with me only getting maybe 2 hours of sleep because as soon as we would get him to sleep and lay him down he would start screaming 5 minutes later for the whole night.  So Monday morning I took his temperature because I didn't know what else to do - it was 100.5 rectal which is borderline.  I called the doctor on Monday around lunch because I didn't know what else to do - it was such a change from how he normally is. The pediatrician wanted me to bring him in mostly just because of the dramatic change in his disposition.  When we got there he was 9 lb 5 oz, so he was still gaining weight.  The doctor was GREAT and she examined him head to toe to try to find a cause for him being so fussy - she stained his eyes and looked at them with a fluorescent light to look for scratches, she checked out his ears, mouth, nose to look for infection, she felt his tummy, checked all his bones, even put in a catheter and took a urine sample (b/c of Caleigh's history of urinary reflux and kidney infections) which didn't look pleasant... but she couldn't find any cause for his fussiness.  One thing she did check also was to see if there was blood in his stool and there was - she checked it twice and both times it came back positive for blood.  So she said that by far, the most common cause of blood in the stool is a milk protein allergy.  So for me to continue nursing I am having to stop eating all dairy - all milk, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, sour cream, etc.  Cheese is my favorite food (pizza!) so I have been having a hard time accepting it but I am committed for now.  It can take 10 days for the milk proteins to get totally out of breastmilk so this entire last week I have been feeding him formula (and not the regular formula - we are having to use Nutramigen in which the proteins are broken down so small that his body doesn't recognize them - it is super expensive which is another reason I am going to keep nursing).  So for the entire week last week I was having to pump and dump and then give him a bottle.  I was pumping 8-9 times a day and giving him a bottle that many times which was very time consuming and difficult to do while taking care of him and Caleigh. On top of that he started waking up every 2.5 hours at night - so by the time I would wake up, pump, get him a bottle (Adam helped with that part), and then get him back to sleep I would only get 1 or 1.5 hours of sleep at a time.  I was totally exhausted and on top of that I was really wrestling spiritually - feeling like everything I enjoy was being taken away  - my happy content baby, our finances, all the food that I like to eat.  I really felt the Lord speaking to me in that though - especially through Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.  I realized that God is removing or allowing everything to be removed that I am delighting in besides Him.  So it has been a hard week.

One exciting thing happened at the end of the week (definitely a gift from God in the midst of this hard time) - Andrew smiled for the first time on Saturday (July 18th - the day before he turned 5 weeks old).  It was a real smile too - not the ones they do when they are falling asleep and dreaming (which I love).  We tried to get some pictures of it but this was the best we could do.

Andrew's one month stats -Weight: 9 lb 6 oz (39th%) - he was previously in the 69th% so his weight has taken a pretty big hit with all of this allergy stuff, Height: 21 and 1/4 inches (40th%) , Head circumference: 14 and 1/4 inches (14th%).  I started nursing him again once on Friday and full time on Saturday and so far he has done pretty well with it.  So the plan is for now I am avoiding all dairy until he is at least 6 months old and hopefully he will do well with that so that I can continue nursing.  At 6 months I can start to add tiny amounts back and see how he reacts.  Most kids outgrow milk protein allergies by the time they are 9-12 months old so we are praying that he outgrows his.  We would love your prayers for him and for us as we try to love him well in this midst of this chaotic time.

crazy week...

This week has been so hectic - a lot of things going on with Andrew that are hard, but I will post more about that in his one month update.  We pulled these blocks out of the toy box this week, we hadn't had them out in several months.  It was neat to see Caleigh play with them in the way they are meant to be played with - she started building towers all by herself.  

And a picture of the little guy who has been making our (my) life crazy this past week...  For now we are just barely surviving.

cow day 2009

On Friday July 10th (I am so behind in blogging!) we dressed up like cows and headed to Chick-Fil-A for free food.  We had a fun night there and are excited to make it a yearly tradition.

We love it that Daddy participated too and wore his spots! We were the parents with "that child" that was TERRIFIED by the cow.  When we first met the cow we were standing in line to order and I was holding Caleigh and the cow was bent down with his back to us.  All of a sudden he stood up and turned around (it is a tall cow - at least 6 or 7 feet tall) and Caleigh let out this shrill scream of complete terror.  We couldn't help but to laugh hysterically - her irrational (probably rational to her) fear was hilarious to us.  After that she cried in the line and at the table as she worried that the cow would come back.  Thankfully, ice cream solves all wounds and appeases all fears...

We had a great time and can't wait for next year - funny to think that Andrew will be one by then and will be partaking in the free food!

more cow pics

Oops - Gigi, Poppop, and Aunt Karen joined us as well...

kiddos lately

Caleigh has been totally in charge of her personal grooming lately.  Here is a picture of her sitting in the bumbo and trying to use the nail scissors on her toenails (which she actually hates so it is funny that she is trying to do it on her own).  She also loves putting on lotion, washing hands, and lately she has been obsessed with bows.  As soon as she wakes up she will ask for a bow ('doe') and whenever her bow comes out or she doesn't have one in she will pick up her hair and try to put it behind her ears.  Pretty cute stuff.

On another note we have been going through some major behavioral issues lately (likely a combination of the age and adjusting to a new baby)... Major whinning (like all day, follow you around whining), sticking her leg through the crib slats (and getting it stuck) and then crying - and she gets it really stuck - she has a bruise from doing it, and the constant "no" with disobeying.  At least in the midst of it though she is getting so much more verbal which is fun.   When Caleigh was a baby I never believed anyone when they said, "it is so much easier having a baby than an older child," but now I see that it is completely true.  All this little guy needs is to sleep and eat and have a clean diaper.  

Andrew is doing great.  We took him in to the doctor on June 29th (15 days old) and he was 8 lb 4 oz... a growing machine.  He is looking more and more like his daddy every day and generally he is a great baby.  At night he is waking up every 3 hours like a clock but at least at night he goes straight back to sleep.  He has been such a joy to us and we are loving our little family of 4.

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons (children) born in ones youth.  Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. Ps 127:4-5a

happy 4th of july!

columbia zoo

On Friday Adam took the day off and we took our first day trip to the Columbia zoo.  We left around 8 am (it is about 1.5 hours away) with Caleigh and Andrew and tons of stuff.  We had a great time.  Caleigh really enjoyed seeing all the animals and did a lot of pointing and talking.

One thing that was funny to us was how scared of the animals she was.  At one point we were standing with her near where you can feed the giraffes and as one of the giraffes leaned its head in Caleigh started saying, "no, no, no, no, no" followed by crying.  She did the same thing when the elephant started walking towards us.  

Caleigh really liked the chickens and the rabbits (probably because they were the only animals we saw that were smaller than she was).

She was also a big fan of the birds.  We had a really good time and even though the temperature was 95, it really didn't feel that hot.  Andrew did great and slept most of the time.  Caleigh napped in the car on the way home for 45 minutes which was not a good thing (would have been good if it was longer).  Once we got home there was crying by her and Andrew from 3 until 9 pm - so we really paid for making the trip.  But overall it was a fun memory making experience.

flashback to 1980

In a tribute to the 80s (and my childhood), Caleigh came home from my parents house on Thursday in one of the outfits I used to wear.  I wish I had a comparison picture (Mom?).  She was pretty cute.

a day with the ducks (and doting grandparents)

My parents came over this morning and picked up Caleigh for a fun outing.  The came armed with a picnic lunch and some bread for the ducks and headed over the Freedom Park.  I have been wanting to take Caleigh to feed the ducks there (as there are tons and they are zealous for their food) but with Andrew arriving 8 days early we never got the chance.  

(I can just see her babbling away while she points in the above photo - and of course nobody has any clue what she is saying.) From what I hear she did a great job of throwing the food to the ducks - although there was one mishap.  Once when she threw a piece of bread it didn't leave her had and the ducks (being the lovers of bread that they are) ran up and snatched it out of her hand.  Apparently she was saying 'up, up' and trying to hightail it out of there (I don't blame her - those big geese are aggressive!). The herd... (actually what is a flock of geese called?  a gaggle?) Thanks for the outing Gigi and PopPop - clearly Caleigh loved it!

caleigh grace at 19 months

Our big girl is 19 months as of last week!  She is doing so many new and fun things - more than I can capture in this update.  Her biggest thing she is doing all the time is mimicking everything we do - whether it be cooking, using our feet to do something, turning on and off the lights, pushing the stroller, changing the diaper on her babies (like mommy does with baby Andrew),   

• ~ My favorite milestone so far: Caleigh said Mama (actually referring to me instead of babbling it)!  She said it on 6/17/09 - the day after we brought Andrew home from the hospital.  That was probably one of the harder days since bringing them home and it was such a treat to finally hear her call me by my 'name'.

Here she is eating some mud pie and really enjoying it.  We have been giving her a tiny bit of dessert from time to time if she eats a good dinner.  Unfortunately this time after forgoing the spoon and using her fingers to eat the mud pie she decided to play peek-a-boo.  Needless to say, she went straight to the bath after this.

Ta-da... I am 19 months old.Some of the things she is doing (that I can remember):

• ~ She is saying tons of new words.  This is probably the biggest milestone.  Some of my favorites quack (kaak - the sound a duck makes), elephant (el-de-pant), Gigi, Poppop, sho-wee (shoeee - when something stinks),  turn it on/off (dur dit don) - often confused/interchanged with put it on, take it off, rock rock rock (ra-ra-ra, often said while swinging Andrew in his swing at breakneck speed), night-night (ni-ni), please (pa-pa-peas, the pa-pa part she says to imitate us because we always try to get her to use her words instead of just signing please).  Her favorite word by far: no (often said in a sing-song, whiny voice - nooooo).  This has made discipline a little more difficult as now we are trying to parent and discipline her attitude as well as her actions.  
• ~ She is really into climbing - she is climbing on top of the coffee table, under the chairs, on top of the chairs, onto the couch, and onto our bed.  
• ~ She is so close to running and jumping (her feet don't leave the ground).
• ~ She loves animals - ducks, dogs, kitty-cats (her favorite).  She loves books about animals, farm animals, pointing out animals everywhere we go, and reading books about animals.  

while andrew is sleeping...

This is how Caleigh likes to entertain herself while Andrew is sleeping - "cooking" and playing with the water.  Also notice the picture from behind - that is not a poopy diaper, though it may look like one.  Caleigh got her diaper wet and then sat on the black ledge of our doorway which was covered with dirt and pollen - makes for a dirty looking diaper.  No need for Caleigh to say "sooooeeee" (meaning sho-wee) and wave her arms as she does when it is a real dirty diaper.