Turnerville

20 Month Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Wed, 23 May 2012 01:05:00 +0000

May 13, 2012 Dear Christian, Happy Twenty-month birthday! Twenty month statistics: Weight: 31lbs Length: TBD inches. Diaper Size:5-6 Clothes: 24 months – 2T.

The word of the month is MONEY! One of your favorite pasttimes is playing with grandma downstairs in her room. She has lots of little sewing notions for you to play with, but your favorite is a little box of buttons. For some reason you call the buttons Money. In fact, you call all buttons money. It is adorable to hear you chant Money, Money, Money at grandma when she comes upstairs for dinner. She has a chair in her room that you love to sit in and play with your money.

This past month you continue to love most fruits and turn your nose up at vegatables and sometimes all of your dinner. You have eaten a few carrots on occasion, and sometimes dinner holds absolutely no interest for you whatsoever so you simply don’t partake. You generally like to have some of my green smoothie in the morning with your breakfast. Your typical breakfast consists of some smoothie, milk, and either a waffle, french toast or bowl of oatmeal. You also like plain yogurt and applesauce, just like your brother. The tough part about the appleasuace and oatmeal is that you only want to feed yourself. As you can imagine this makes quite the mess.

Last month I wrote about you sitting on the potty and going pee. We continue to put you on the toilet before bathtime and about once a week you go potty. A week or so ago, I placed you on the toilet and turned around (just for one second) to turn on the bath water. BOOM! Down you went, head first onto the tile floor. Ugh! I felt like the worst mom in the world. When you read this letter when you’re 30 do me a favor and tell me you don’t remember that fall and it didn’t permanently scar you in any way. Okay? Thanks!

The past few weeks we have been taking a Baby Signs class on Wednesday mornings. It is so much fun. You have learned a ton of new signs and you love to play with the other children. Your signs now include: dog, bird, fish, blanket, bubble, book, more, eat, all done, berries, one, horse and sometimes thank you. You also seem to recognize a bunch of other signs so I assume they will be forthcoming. Some new words also include: bus, choo-choo, wall, tweet, neigh, out, and shoes.

I mentioned above, but will give you a little more detail here that you have been growing this past month. Some of your 24 month clothes are a little tight in the belly so we have moved up to 2T shorts. We are also starting the transition to size six diapers. As a point of reference, we pay between $.22 - $.27/diaper and you go through between 5 – 8 diapers per day.

The teeth that I mentioned last month are all in now. I don’t know exactly how many teeth you have, but all the front ones are in and you can chew like a champ. You are also sleeping better. I hate to even type that for fear or jinxing myself. The past couple weeks you have been taking fairly reliable 1 – 2 hour naps every afternoon. I just know that tomorrow will be back to 27 minutes because I put that out there.

Hard to believe it is looking toward the end of May. You have been enjoying brother’s t-ball games because you love to run around and be outside. We always come home with dusty knees and mulch on your bum and dirty fingernails. Yes, we always have a good time!

I’m looking forward to a fabulous summer. I hope you love the beach in August as much as I do.

Love you little tiny one, Mama

Happy 19 Month Birthday!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 02:48:00 +0000

Dear Christian,

Happy nineteen-month birthday!

Nineteen month statistics: Weight: 29lbs Length: TBD inches. Diaper Size:5 Clothes: 24 months.

Ugh. I’m embarrased to say that three months have passed since I have written you a letter. Please forgive me sweet boy! I did take pictures. So much has been going on, and I’m sorry that your letters weren’t completed.

The word(s) of the month(s) are WALKING, BUBBLE, and TALKING. You took your first steps just a few days before your 17 months birthday, and by 18 months you were really moving around. Now, at 19 months you are scampering here and there and everywhere. In fact, you crawled for a few seconds the other day and I thought how odd it looked since walk and run everywhere now. Just like your brother, I love to see you run and take wide corners. You still fall as you seem to magically trip over your own feet. You smile and giggle when you get going at a good pace!

When we went to the doctor for your 18 month appointment, you only had about 12 words. This was a minor cause for concern, and she asked me to bring you back if you didn’t have 20 words by 20 months. Well, no problem with that. Here are a few of the words you are saying: mama, dada, nana, ball, shoes, hat, cheese, no, mine, up (your first word), out, bubble, baaa, Something that sounds sort of like brother, hat, and a couple others.

In addition to the words you can say, you understand many more. You still know and use many signs, which is awesome. You are also learning to point out body parts like: head, teeth, eyes, ears, belly, fingers, toes. I think fingers is my favorite because you hold out your little hands and wiggle your fingers.

Last month, you discovered bubbles and a true love affair began. I blame it on the unusually beautiful March weather that we were able to go outside and blow bubbles in early March. Every since you stand at the back door, with your little face pressed up against the glass, saying bubble, bubble, bubble. Recently, you’ve added out. “Bubble, bubble, out, bubble, out, out, out, bubble.” Sometimes when you wake in the morning and talk to yourself in your crib I can hear you say, “Mama, dada, nana, bubble, out. Dada, bubble, out, bubble, out.” Adorable!

Given your love of bubbles, we spend a good deal of time outside. You love your swing in the backyard and we’ve been on lots of walks around the neighborhood. You enjoy playing with your brother’s soccer ball in the front yard and we even moved the small cube slide into the yard so you can play. You love to be outside! It is often a very sad time when we have to come in for the day.

Just like at 16 months, you are still taking one nap per day – generally around noon or 1pm. Today was one of those days when you only slept for 27 minutes. Grrrrrr….. Why do you do that? I wish I knew. You generally wake up around 6:30am and are asleep by 8pm. We’ve had a few tough nights the past couple of weeks, but you have three new teeth coming in.

In January I registered us for a Baby Sign Language course, but it was cancelled. I re-registered for another class that begins this week. Let’s cross our fingers that this class is able to run. If this doesn’t work out, I’ll have to look at Story Time at the library again. It has been awhile since we did that class, and I’m sure with your love of books you would enjoy it.

When we go for car rides, you love to read books, play on your laptop and draw. It is amazing to me how much you already love to hold pens and crayons and try to color of draw things. Ms. Lali is constantly sending you home with little papers that you have scribbled on. I suppose coloring is one of many ways that your fine motor skills are really developing. You also love to stack blocks or any kind of toy, and you enjoy moving things from one bucket to another. One day you snuck into Grandma’s room and found a little tiny box of buttons. You love that box of buttons. I think you could sit for 30 minutes just taking the buttons out and putting them back in again. Oddly enough, you don’t try to eat them, which is pretty rare at your age.

Speaking of rare for your age, you have now gone pee pee on the potty several times. We try to put you on the potty before tub time. We were pleasantly surprised (shocked really) when you actually went potty! Hooray! You really do love the toilet. We have to keep the bathroom doors closed for fear that you will go toilet diving. As I type, your dad is downstairs putting the toilet back together. Looks like you put Nana’s pink comb down the toilet. Ick! Try to stay out of the toilets would you please!

April 13, 2012
One of my favorite times of day is first thing in the morning. I simply love listening to you in your crib chatting away. Nothing makes snese, but I love to hear you babble about bubbles and mama and dada and whatever else you have on yoru mind. When I go in to get you out of bed you love to flop around in your crib and hide under your blanket. I sit on the floor and we play peek-a-boo and play with your little stuffed animals. Sometimes we read a book or two before getting up for the day. This time of day is always fun and you are almost always happy.

Well, my little guy, this letter went a little longer than I planned, but I just had a lot to tell you about. I can’t wait to see what the next month holds.

Love,
Mama

Christian's 16-Month Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:53:00 +0000

January 13, 2011

Dear Christian,

Happy sixteen-month birthday!

Sixteen month statistics: Weight: TBD Length: TBD inches. Diaper Size:5 Clothes: 24 months.

The word of the month is SIGNS. You are a little signing madman. We don’t always know exactly what you mean, but signs for more, please and up we see every couple of minutes. You also know pig and elephant. You do something for cat that looks nothing like the actual sign for cat, but you do it very regularly whenever we read a book about cats.

Speaking of books, boy do you love books. At night time I can ask if you are ready to upstairs and read books and you drop whatever you are doing and run for the stairs. Well, not running exactly, but quickly crawl to the stairs. You have taken about four little unassisted steps, so I imagine next month the word of the month maybe walking. Back to books though. You love to read books, but you are very specific. You adore the Usborne “That’s Not My….” Books. You also like I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, Maisy, and the Baby Signs Books. You get quite upset with me when I try to read a new book. You actually shove it out of the way and screech until I find one of the approved books.

This past month you have been taking pretty regular naps around noon or 1pm each day. They typically last about an hour, but at least once a week the nap only lasts about 30 minutes. This is frustrating for me, but you have been sleeping better at night the past two weeks so I’ll take what I can get.

You love to be where your brother is. You want to play Legos with him, you want to knock down anything he builds, and you just want to be in on the action. Your brother doesn’t always take too kindly to you playing with his Legos, but in general he is very sweet to you. You have just recently started defending yourself a bit with random shoves. We are now practicing being gentle with each other.

Your eating habits are so different from your brother’s. You love fruit, but I don’t think you ever eat a vegetable willingly. I try to hide veggies in your food whenever I am able, but I worry that you are getting enough. Thank goodness you enjoy fruit, and you are always excited to sign more and please whenever a blueberry, raspeberry or banana comes into your view.

To wrap up this month’s letter I just have to talk for a minute about your sweetness. You have that adorable little baby giggle that makes this mama’s heart beat fast. You love to stand in the tub and bend over to look “up” into the water spout – and I’m always oh so tempted to randomly turn the water on you. I haven’t and think I’ll wait until your big brother figures out how much fun that would be. You love to stick out your tongue and raise your arms up in the air just waiting for someone to pick you up. While sometimes I think I just can’t possibly carry you for one more minute of the day, I do love just how sweet it is to have you at my feet, little arms stretched high into the air, just begging to be held. You have also gotten into the habit of clutching the top of my shirt in your little hand when you fall asleep at nap or bedtime. I love to rock with you and stare at your little hands while you are snuggled up in your baby bag.

I love you little one.
Happy 16 month birthday.

Love,
Mama

P.S. This month’s picture is you happily playing on the floor of the pantry. You love to root around and see what you can find to occupy your time.

Christian's 15-Month Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:52:00 +0000

December 13, 2011

Dear Christian,

Happy fifteen-month birthday!

Fifteen month statistics: Weight: 27lbs. 12 oz. Length: 31.75 inches. Head circumference 19.5 in. Diaper Size:5 Clothes: 18-24 months.

You may have noticed that I was completely fail last month at writing a letter. Sorry about that.

The word of the month is MIMIC. You have picked up some of the sweetest little mimics. You pretend to sneeze by going Ah… Ah… Ah… Ah – choo! Then you laugh and clap for yourself. You also do things like smacking your lips, blowing raspberries, blowing kisses, and waving good-bye.

Dad is still calling you Scooter because of your cute little scoot-crawl that you do. You are cruising around the furniture and will walk a few steps when holding our hands. The pediatrician was minorly concernced that you aren’t yet walking, but given your early birthdate she said she wouldn’t have any real concerns for awhile.

For Halloween you dressed up as Ming-Ming, the duck from a cute little show called Wonder Pets. You basically wore a duck costume and then grandma made you a green cape to wear. It was adorable. You had lots of fun answering the door the nana and handing our treats.

In early November, we went to the Annual Parish Retreat at Shrine Mont with our St. Matthew’s friends. We had such a nice weekend. You didn’t sleep well at all, but the days were beautiful and filled with relaxing with great friends.

You had a couple of weeks of good sleeping at night, followed by a few horrible weeks. In November you contracted hand, foot and mouth disease. It looked like you had chicken pox, as you were covered with little sores all over your skin, including on yoru fingers and your down your throat. It was nasty business. Oh, and that was followed up by an ear infection. Kind I mention this was a fun couple of weeks? Not really!

Once you got over your assorted illnesses and we put a space heater in your room you started sleeping a little better. We have had a few tough nights, but we’ve had some good ones too. Napping during the day hasn’t been great. You’ve been sleeping about 20 minutes and then crying. Sometimes you fall back asleep, and sometimes you don’t. Not an easy road for me, but I’m happy to have you sleeping at night.

In addition to sleeping a bit better, you are also eating a better. Still picky, but showing improvement. I’m finding a few things you like: Chicken with Vodka Blush Sauce for instance. I’m even able to hide an occasional vegetable in there.

As Christmas approaches you are loving the holiday decorations. Just like your brother, you love the jingle pals from Hallmark. They sit on the floor under the Christmas tree and you love to press the little button to make them sing. When the dog sings and shakes you make the sing for dog. You are adorable when you pat your little leg. Some other signs you know include: hat, airplane, and more.

I’m so looking forward to your second Christmas. I know you wont remember it, but I’m sure looking forward to seeing you with the wrapping paper and lights on Christmas morning.

Love you sweet little one.

Love,
Mama

Christian's 14-Month Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:51:00 +0000

Christian's 13-Month Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:51:00 +0000

October 13, 2011

Dear Christian,

Happy thirteen-month birthday!

Thirteen month statistics: Weight: 23lbs. 4 oz. Length: TBD inches. Diaper Size:4 Clothes: 18 months.

The word of the month is FUN. This month we have done all kinds of fun activities. We started off with a visit to Cox Farms. You had a great time going down the slides. We all had fun in fact. It was a cool day, with some rain in the morning, but we persevered through the rain and endedup having a wonderful day. You loved riding in the backpack where you could see everything.

In addition to Cox Farms, we also managed to get you on the swing in the backyard. You loved it! I seem to remember your brother not enjoying swings for a long time so I was worried about your reaction. You had a great time!

On Saturday, September 24th, Nana arrived! Nana packed up her stuff, rented her house to a friend and drove across the country to come live by us. For now she is staying with us until she finds her own place. You love spending time with your Nana. You also love pinching her nose! She is teaching you to rub noses which is just adorable. Speaking of adorable, you have recently started giving kisses. They are just open mouth slobbers, but I love it!

We waited for Nana to arrive to have your first birthday party. On Satuday, October 1st, we were joined by some wonderful friends as we celebrated your first birthday! Dave, Jen and Annabella Gentry; Jimmy, Missy and Nikki Yarbrough; and Matthew, Becca, Betsy and Abigail Pepper were all in attendance. We served chili and macaroni and cheese for dinner, and then you had Wild Maine Blueberry Cake for dessert. You weren’t incredibly impressed with the cake at first. Dad helped you figure it out and then you were pleased to help yourself. You received many wonderful gifts: Little People Super Heroes, Animal mobile, winter clothes, books, custom designed teddy bear to match your room, and a variety of little toys. It was a wonderful day.

This past weekend, we drove down to Norfolk, Virginia to attend a wedding. My half-brother, Steven’s daughter, Amanda, married David Rodriguez. It was a beautiful ceremony right by the water. Uncle Steven took us down to the Naval Base to see the ships and we got to see two aircraft carriers – they are huge! They hold 6,500 sailors and 90 aircraft! It was amazing to see. You had a tough time sleeping and were pretty fussy over the weekend, but we still had a good time.

I don’t know exactly when it started, but recently you have turned into the pickiest eater on the planet. One day you will eat something with gusto and the next day you turn up your little nose at it. You spit food out. You throw it on the floor. You don’t want to eat at mealtime. It is infuriating!!! We just keep offering you whatever we are eating, and occasionally we supplement with yogurt and applesauce if we feel like you didn’t eat enough dinner. You also drink whole milk now since you decided to stop nursing on October 2nd.

When we took you to the doctor for your one year appointment, the pediatrician suggested that you be evaluated for gross motor skill delays. You just started crawling at about 11 months and just started bringing yourself to sitting in the past couple of weeks. The evaluation process was very easy and it was determined that while you are delayed, you are not delayed enough to warrante any kind of intervention. The physical therapist gave us lots of activities to do at home, and we are already seeing improvement. You enjoy standing at the couch (minus the couch cushions) to play.

This past month has been a challenge for me as I have started teaching a new online class for Art Institute, and your nursing strike has been a difficult change for me. Through it all it has been great to see your many smiles and laughs. While motherhood is never what I expect it to be, it is always amazing. I love you so very much.

Love,
Mama

Christian's 1 Year Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:45:00 +0000

September 13, 2011

Dear Christian,

Happy one-year birthday!

Twelve month statistics: Weight: 23lbs. 4 oz. Length: 29 inches. Head Circumference: 19 inches. Diaper Size:4 Clothes: 12 - 18 months. That is 58th percentile for weight, 23rd percentile for height, and 97th percentile for head circumference.

The word of the month is TEETH. In your last letter I wrote about your third tooth coming in. This past month you have sprouted four new teeth – all on the top. There has been some serious fussiness associated with this, but what can we expect when you get four teeth within about a weeks time.

Since we returned from the lake house in August, you are basically napping once a day. You are still very tired in the morning around 11am, but if I can keep you up until 1pm you take a two-hour nap in the afternoon. I use this time to pick up the house, prep dinner, eat my own lunch and get work done.

Speaking of work, I was just offered a teaching job with Art Institute of Philadelphia in their online division. This is a job I have been wanting since 2008 when I first applied. Last year, right before you were born, they invited me to take a training course they offer. I thought I best to wait until after you were born. I’m sure glad I did that considering you were born about a week after the offer was made. A week or so ago, they not only offered me the training class, but also my own class to teach starting September 26th. I’m excited to teach my first class for them.

You continue to eat a wide variety of foods, but you sure are a picky little eater! When I offer you something you don’t want to eat you purse your lips together and shake your head at me. It would be adorable if it wasn’t so incredibly frustrating! You have started to like foods that you can feed yourself better than anything I can put on a spoon. Of course this makes for crazy messes! Your dad is out of town for work and we made him a little video of you covered in dinner. For the record, roasted chicken with bowtie noodles in vodka blush sauce is one of your very favorite dinners. In addition to pursing your lips at me, you also like to hide food behind your back when you don’t want to eat it. For some reason you think I won’t notice, but you should see how dirty your clothes are getting.

At your one-year appointment, the doctor expressed some mild concern over the fact that you aren’t yet bringing yourself to sitting, nor are you pulling up on furniture yet. You try, but you just can’t seem to get your legs under you. She suggested that you be evaluated for gross motor skill delays through a county program. I’ll call and set up an appointment. I personally think you are just a little slower to milestones than some kids, but we’ll see what they say.

In about two weeks your nana is leaving Henderson to come stay with us while she looks for a house in our area. I’m so excited to have my mom close to us! You will be so lucky to spend time with both your nana and grandmother! I’m sure you and your brother will be spoiled rotten. Since she will be here so soon, we have decided to wait until October 1st to have your first birthday party. We want her to be here to celebrate with us and I don’t think you will notice if your party is delayed a couple weeks. I’m sure looking forward to celebrating this milestone!

It has been quite a year little one. The first few months were sure a difficult time for all of us, but you have just turned into the sweetest little thing. You are all smiles now. You still love to be held, but really, who doesn’t? I love you so much and I’m so happy to have you in our lives. I’m also really happy that you don’t cry so much.

All my love,
Mama

Happy 11 Month Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 01:40:00 +0000

Dear Christian,

Happy eleven-month birthday!

Eleven month statistics: Weight: TBD Length: TBD inches. Diaper Size:4 Clothes: 12 - 18 months.

The word of the month is BUSY. Oh, have we been busy. Since I wrote last month we have celebrated my birthday and brother’s birthday, we have driven your brother to summer camps all around the city, we’ve had play dates and we went to Pennsylvania on vacation.

You had a fabulous time at your brother’s sixth birthday party. (Star Wars theme, complete with Death Star piñata!) Nana was here to help us celebrate and you were such a good boy. You didn’t care for the water much, but you loved to sit on Nana’s lap and eat watermelon. You even signed “more” for her. Of course, you haven’t signed “more” since, but it was cute that day.

Your brother has had a busy summer filled with nature camps, vacation bible schools, fencing camp and more! Of course, most of the drop off and pick up coincided with your nap schedule at some point, so your napping has been off. The past several weeks you have only taken a very short morning nap – if any, and then a longer afternoon nap (1.5 – 2 hours). You are so very tired in the morning and I know you still need a nap, but when we have places to go it just doesn’t always happen that we have time for you to snooze in your crib. Every once in awhile you will fall asleep in the car, but you wake up as soon as we get home.

We had fun this month having a play date with baby David who lives around the circle from us. David has six older brothers and sisters and you seemed to love all the attention and commotion at his house! His sister Anna just loved you, and you loved to play with her hair. Mason also came along since David’s brother, John, is just about his age. We have also enjoyed some playtime with Abigail Pepper. The two of you are adorable as you wave back and forth to each other and make giggling noises!

August 6 – 13 found us at Treasure Lake, PA, where we rented a four-bedroom house right across the street from the lake. It was beautiful! What a lovely, relaxing time we had. You loved to sit in the sand and let the water rush up over your little toes. You really enjoyed the sand and only had a few bites. You were much more interested in the ice cream we were eating. You also enjoyed your first time on the swings. What fun!

You continue to enjoy lots of new foods. You are becoming quite skilled at putting food in your mouth. Blueberries, black beans, kidney beans, waffles, and little baby crackers called Mums Mums are your current favorites. While we were at the lake house we fed you jarred baby food for the most part. Your poor little skin broke out in a nasty rash of eczema. I don’t know what it is about jarred baby food that does that to you. Your brother had the exact same reaction when he was a baby. Good thing we make most of your food. As soon as we got home and fed you table food again, it cleared up. In addition to table foods you continue to nurse four times a day.

You have done lots of exciting things this month. You practice standing, and you are rolling like a champ. You still don’t roll the way your brother did – traveling from room to room. You don’t seem to mind being on your belly quite as much as you did in the past. You are starting to push up on all fours and push yourself backwards. The other day I sat you in the middle of the living room to play while I did some dishes, when I came back you were gone, but I could hear your grunting. I finally found you around the side of the couch with your little legs stuck under the couch and you were laying on top of the A/C vent with cold air blowing on you. Poor baby!

All of your scooting around has led to a new nickname – Scooter! You can blame dad for that one.

In addition to scooting around, you still love your tea set and you are developing a love for board books. The series from Usbornne books, “That’s not my ….” are some of your favorites.

I almost forgot! While we were at the lake house you got your third tooth - another little tiny tooth on the bottom right. Seems like it took months for that stinking tooth to come in. We even make two trips to the pediatrician because I thought for sure you must have a cold with the stuffy nose, fevers, and irritability, but she kept saying, “It’s just teething.”
She was right. I’m so glad the tooth is in. You are much happier now!

My sweet little boy, I’m excited to say that your eyes are still blue as we head towards your first birthday. We’ll see if they stay that way.

Keep smiling at us and showing off those little teeth!

Love,
Mama

Mason II Turns 6 Years Old!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:34:00 +0000

Dear Mason II,

Happy Seventy-Two Month Birthday! You are six years old!

Statistics: Weight: 55 lbs. Length: 48 inches. Clothes: 6. I’ll have more accurate numbers on Wednesday after your doctor’s appointment.

Well, the word that best describes the past six months is READING! You are an amazing reader and your dad and I are thrilled that this new world has opened for you. You still like for us to read to you, but you often can be found with your own book. Your dad has read the Chronicles of Narnia to you. I found a funny little series of Stink books that we read, and you continue to love Bible and Star Wars stories! We are even attending a Boys Summer Book Club on Fridays this summer.

It is amazing to me that in just a few weeks you will be starting kindergarten at Countryside Elementary. You seem pretty excited for school, and I hope that you have an easier time going to kindergarten then you had with the past year at preschool. Even on the very last day of preschool you had a fit and threw yourself on the ground and refused to go to school. Let’s hope this next year is better!

Your favorite toys are still Legos and anything Star Wars. In fact, for your birthday that is about all you received. Dad and I purchased Slave I for you, and you received your first Star Wars action figures. The top of your birthday cake was decorated with Captain Rex, Anakin and a battle droid.

In April, I took a day off work and we headed up to Baltimore. The two of us had a special Mom and Mason Day of Fun! We went to the Port Discovery Kids museum and had a great day walking on the rope bridge, climbing the tower, going through the mystery house and playing in the water room. We had ice cream before we headed for home, and you took a short nap in the car so I figure that is a sure sign you had a great day! I wish we could have more days like this.

In May we went camping at Camp Hebron with our friends the Peppers: Matthew, Becca, Betsy and Abigail. It had been pouring rain before we left so the campground was a muddy mess. You and Betsy had a great time getting dirty and seeing the animals at Lake Tobias. While we were packing to leave on Sunday morning, you and Betsy found an outdoor shower and absolutely drenched yourselves. It was hilarious and the highlight of the weekend.

The end of May brought a sad time at our house as your dad’s best childhood friend, James Welborn, passed away. James had a son just one year older than you and our hearts break for his son and family. To remember James, we headed to Las Vegas for a memorial in June and while we were there we took a side trip to Southern California.

You had a fabulous time in Las Vegas playing with your cousins Mary Lynne, Howard IV and Harry. What a cute bunch you all made! Our trip to Southern CA included a surprise visit to Legoland and Disneyland! (Three tickets for Disneyland cost $250.) Visiting two theme parks in two days was a bit much for you. You really are kind of a homebody so you were pretty tired by the second day. In fact, we had to convince you to stay at Disneyland because at 10am you started asking if we would take you back to the hotel.

You are sitting next to me as I write this so I asked you what your favorite ride was at Disneyland. You said Star Tours and Winnie the Pooh. Funny thing is when we went on Star Tours at Disneyland you said it was boring and you wanted to go home. I do not understand you sometimes you funny little boy! After the Star Tours ride you made your own light saber at the Star Trader gift shop. It cost $24. Other rides we went on: Finding Nemo Submarine Ride, Autotopia, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pirates Lair Island, and the monorail. We also watched the Jedi Training Academy program while we ate lunch at Tomorrowland Terrace.

Legoland was also fun, but you weren’t much interested in going on rides. You only went on two rides the entire day. You did enjoy looking around at all the exhibits. Your favorite thing about Legoland was the Star Wars exhibit. No surprise there! We were lucky that the weather was beautiful while we were there and your brother seemed to get along well with all the traveling. Oh, you did puke twice in the car on the way home to Las Vegas. We figured it was because of the excitement and weird food.

Since preschool got out in May, you have been very busy with camps. You went to Wetland Detective Camp where you learned about wetlands and made frog puppets. You went to VBS at Galilee Methodist Church where you learned about Super Heroes of the Bible. This past week you also went to Little Pirate Fencing Camp at Claude Moore Park. Coming up you will attend VBS at Saint Matt’s, Nature Detective Camp at Claude Moore and finally Camp Smashup where you will go fishing in the mornings at play Legos in the afternoons. Should be fun!

Nana was just here for your birthday this past week and you had lots of fun playing and snuggling with her. The two of you can always be found up early rooting around in the kitchen. Nana even brought you Star Wars sheets for your bed as an early birthday present.

Your birthday party was lots of fun. Again we filled the backyard with sunshades, a pool, slip and slide, food and lots of friends! We had Padawan Pizza and Boba Fett’s Favorites Fruits and Darth Vader Veggies for lunch. Oh, and we enjoyed Yoda Soda and Tatooine Iced Tea to drink. Your dad made a Death Star piñata for you and we filled it with Darth Vader pencils, lollipops, Star Wars stickers and Tootsie Rolls. We also had water balloons! Good times!

Over the past few weeks we have tried having movie nights on Friday or Saturday night. We set up dinner in the family room and watch a movie. So far, we have had to turn several movies off because they are too scary. (Brother Bear and Up went off right away. Luckily we have Veggies Tales as stand bys. For your birthday, you watched the Clone Wars movie.

Okay, both you and your brother seemed to be starved for attention at the moment so I need to run. We are about to read a Star Wars story.

Love you, you sometimes little aggravating one.
Mama

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 02:02:00 +0000

Dear Christian,

Happy ten-month birthday!

Ten month statistics: Weight: 22lbs. and change Length: TBD inches. Diaper Size:4 Clothes: 12 - 18 months.

The word of the month is: FOOD. You are now eating so many exciting kinds of food. In the past month you have had the following: pancakes, waffles, salmon, grilled cheese, pasta noodles, blueberries (one of your favs!), yogurt mixed with avocado, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, cantaloupe, watermelon, and lots of other things. You are also starting to show some pickiness in your eating habits. You can often be found turning your head away from some of the vegetable choices you are offered. Sorry kid, just cause you turn your head doesn’t mean we won’t keep offering vegetables!

You are becoming quite skilled at picking food up with your fingers these days and most of it actually makes it into your mouth. In addition to picking up food you are also picking up small blocks and other toys. We recently pulled out the wooden blocks and you enjoy knocking down your brother’s creations.
When we went to the doctor for your nine-month appointment we found out you had an ear infection. Perhaps that is why you disliked the plane so much when we were traveling? You also had slightly low iron, so we have been giving you vitamins with iron the past month. Finally, the doctor had some concerns about you not making any consonant sounds, but that has changed this past month. You have started babbling some and making some “D” sounds. So cute!

While you still aren’t crawling, you are able to scoot yourself around in a circle and push yourself backwards. Dad has taken to calling you Scooter for your ability to scoot around while sitting. We have also been practicing standing this past month. I purposely took your picture standing at your little activity table. I should mention that as soon as I snapped the picture you promptly fell over. J

You are still taking two naps each day. They follow the same pattern as last month: one loner nap and one shorter nap. You are still nursing about four times a day, and most nights (knock on wood) you sleep through the night.

During the day we play Little People and tea party and drive your brother around to his activities. You don’t like to be left alone for long, if at all. Some days it is very hard because I have things to do around the house or for your brother and you just don’t want me to take a step away from you. I’m so sorry that you have to cry sometimes so I can go to the bathroom or wash dishes. I hope you know how very much I love you even when you are fussy and I can’t be right there, right away to hold you.

Here’s to hoping the next month is even better than the last.

Love,
Mama

Happy Nine Month Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:41:00 +0000

June 13, 2011
Dear Christian,

Happy nine-month birthday!

Nine month statistics: Weight: 20+ lbs. and change Length: TBD inches. Diaper Size:4 Clothes: 12 - 18 months. We go to the doctor on Wednesday so I’ll update then.

The word of the month is: SLEEP! Precious, glorious sleep! A few days after you turned eight months old we decided to put sleep training into high gear. I hated to do it, but my body was seriously shutting down from the lack of sleep. I also don’t think I was a very nice person to be around. After just a couple of rough nights, you have now been sleeping through the night from approximately 8pm – 6am.

Another exciting thing that happened this month is our trip to Las Vegas and California. I’m actually a few days late writing your letter because we were gone from June 11 – 18, 2011. Your first plane ride to Las Vegas was a tough one. The last two hours of the flight you screamed your bloody head off. The guy across the aisle from us put his hands over his ears and a man a few rows ahead of us gave me the stink eye the entire time. Like I really wanted you to scream at me for two hours. Grrrrr!

We spent a couple of wonderful days in Las Vegas seeing friends and family. We also took a couple of days and drove to Southern California. We went to Legoland and Disneyland! We had a great time, and you actually traveled quite well. The drive to CA was a little rough, but I think you had trouble with your ears adjusting to the pressure changes as we drove over the mountains.

Once we got there, you did surprisingly well. You slept well at night and took a few short naps at the parks. Disneyland was packed with people and even in the crowds you did well. You screamed through the submarine ride, but loved Pirates of the Caribbean. You also went over to Pirates Lair and on the Winnie the Pooh ride. Overall, the trip was a success!

Prior to our visit to Las Vegas, we took you on your first camping trip. You even have special shoes for camping. Who could resist shoes with little bears in a tent with a campfire?!?! We went to Pennsylvania and stayed at Camp Hebron and visited Lake Tobias. This is a place we have camped with your brother before. We brought along our good friends, the Peppers. It was great to camp with such good friends. You and their daughter, Abigail, got along well. The first night was pretty rough, but we had a great time at the animal park on Saturday. We were reminded just how much work camping is and think we might be waiting until next year to try again.

In preparation for your doctor’s appointment on Wednesday I filled out a form that talked about your development. You are a champ at sitting up on your own, and you can spin yourself around. However, you still aren’t crawling at all. I suppose I shouldn’t complain and should just appreciate that you stay in one spot. When I hold your hands/arms you are able to stand on your legs, but not much movement toward walking. You easily pick up toys and pass them back and forth between your hands. You pick up little pieces of cereal and sometimes get them in your mouth. You are not using the pincer grab yet, nor are you making any consonant babbling sounds. I guess we’ll have to ask the doctor if that is any concern.

You are eating a good variety of foods: spinach with apples, applesauce, carrots, squash, sweet potato, avocado, beets, peas, nectarines, and bananas. You had a bunch of pre-prepared baby food while we were traveling and you seemed to like all of it. While the packed baby food sure is easy, you did develop a few eczema spots and it is quite expensive. I think we’ll stick to making our own at home for now. In addition to eating food, you are still nursing four or five times a day. You also like to drink some water from a sippy cup.

On average you take two naps per day. It seems to be one long one and one short one, although they alternate. The past few days you have taken a longer morning nap (a couple times over 2 hours). This morning was back to just one hour. When the morning nap is long, then the afternoon nap is generally an hour or less. Right now you are awake upstairs, because the UPS deliveryman rang the doorbell and woke you up after 20 minutes. *sigh*

I’m looking forward to your doctor’s appointment on Wednesday to see how much you have grown.

Love you little bear,
Mama

James

noreply@blogger.com (Mason) — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:37:00 +0000

It's important to say this: James killed himself. It's important because we are surrounded by sad people. In fact, we are all sad people, aren't we? We have to confront each other's sadness, or we all run the risk of becoming lonely little islands in a sea of other lonely little islands.

But we can't wait until things get "really bad" before we start talking. At that point, it's too late. We have to find the people that we care about and make their business our business. And we have to let other people butt into our business, too. We all need to be aware of each other's normal so we can pick up on the faintest sign of abnormal. We need to help each other pull our devils out into the light before they get too strong. Because once they get ahold of us, they won't let go without a bloody fight. They will make it very, very hard for us to accept the help, the love, we need.

If you knew James, you knew a joyful man. A man that would help anyone; that took delight in the delight of others. But obviously — obviously — there were dark demons pulling James into a horrible place. I certainly don't know much about them ... because I had stopped being a safe place for James a long time ago. If he ever did trust me enough to share his pain, that trust died while ago.

I trusted James with my sadness for many years. So yes, I feel horrible that I didn't have his confidence when things may have been manageable. Maybe I was too judgmental in my youth. Maybe I was too self absorbed. But I know we stopped talking, and recently it became impossible to reconnect.

Of course I am going to remember the friendly and goofy James. But I will not let the sad James be forgotten. When I think of the other friends and family I have let slip away, I'll think of James. When I pull away from any new friendships, I will think of James. It's important for us — for me — to remember that we all need to reflect God's love for us back onto the world. That reflection has to be contstant and consistent. And it has to start with the people that are closest to us.

Happy Eight Month Birthday, Christian

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Tue, 17 May 2011 01:39:00 +0000

May 13, 2011

Dear Christian,

Happy eight-month birthday!

Seven month statistics: Weight: 19 lbs. and change Length: TBD inches. Diaper Size:4 Clothes: 12 months.

The word of the month is: Raspberry. You love to blow raspberries. All the time you make the cutest little noises. It cracks us up.

Last month you were sitting up on your own with the Boppy behind you. This past month you have really mastered sitting and can do so all on your own. You topple once in awhile, but you are pretty stable now. You are also rolling in both directions now, although you don’t do it very frequently. We can still sit you in one spot with a few toys and find you in almost the exact same position a few minutes later.

Speaking of toys you are really enjoying toys now. You like anything you can put in your mouth. We have also brought our a few Duplos for you. Might as well start you on the Legos sooner rather than later! You enjoy playing with rings that click together and also the Little People farm. Each day you spend some time in your exersaucer and you enjoy all the sounds the saucer makes. Your other favorite toy is your older brother. You love when Mason smiles at you and shakes toys at you. He isn’t always as gentle as he should be, but he is trying and he loves to spend time with you. One last thing that you love to play with is paper. You love a piece of paper, you love the paper that covers the table in the doctor’s office, you love waxed and parchment paper. But, you only like it so long as it crinkles. Once you have squished it up enough that it doesn’t make noise anymore you totally lose interest and demand a new piece.

You have tried lots of new foods this past month. You still struggle with anything that needs to be chewed even though your second bottom tooth has come in. You are eating the following: banana, avocado, peas, carrots, sweet potato, pear, apples, bread, beets, chicken, and salmon. I was surprised how much you liked the salmon the other night! We will likely be starting spinach and yogurt this coming month.

Your sleep patterns are still killing me. You usually take one good nap (1.5 hours) each day, plus one shorter nap (30 minutes). You go to bed around 8pm, but you are still up a lot during the night. Many, many nights you are still up at least twice and won’t go back to sleep unless nursed. Your dad has tried to go in and change your diaper, re-swaddle and then rock you – but the screaming is torturous! We don’t know what to do, but something has got to give. We are all exhausted! We love you, but we are tired! Yes, you also read that right that we are still swaddling you for naps and bedtime. You always break out, but you just can’t seem to fall asleep without being swaddled.

This next weekend we are going to try going camping for the first time this season. We are excited to be heading back to Camp Hebron in PA, and we will spend Saturday at Lake Tobias Wild Animal Park. Our friends Matthew, Becca, Betsy and Abigail Pepper are coming with us. We figure since you and Abigail are so close in age we can commiserate if it doesn’t go well. I have confidence that it will be a great weekend.

I know I say it every month, but it is hard to believe another month has gone by. Eight months old! Wow! We enjoy your sweet little smiles and raspberries every day. Now, just give us some nights of good sleep, please!

Love you, sweet Christian,
Mama

Happy Seven Month Birthday, Christian!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 01:20:00 +0000

April 13, 2011

Dear Christian,

Happy seven-month birthday!

Seven month statistics: Weight: 19 lbs. and change Length: TBD inches. Diaper Size: 3 Clothes: 9-12 months.

The phrase for this month is an oldie, but a goodie – Better! Things are better! You are feeling better (all the RSV is gone) and you are sleeping better. Thank goodness, because I have been one tired mama these past few months. Since you are feeling better and sleeping better, your little disposition is also better. Better than better, in fact, dare I say sunny? During the day you are taking great naps and you are down right cute and adorable during your wakeful periods. Thank you!!

Here’s a brief overview of your daily schedule:

7am – awake and having morning milk
9am – nap time (anywhere from 30 – 60 minutes)
11am – lunch milk and some cereal
1pm – nap time (anywhere from 1 – 2 hours)
4pm – snack or dinner milk depending on the time
5:30pm – dinner milk and/or some cereal and other solids
7pm – night milk and bedtime
8pm – usually asleep
Sometime between 3am – 5am you have an early morning snack. Maybe once or twice you have skipped this one altogether. Feel free to skip this feeding whenever you like.

I should go back and read, but I think you are slower at starting solids than your brother. So far you are eating banana, avocado, peas, carrots and squash. Banana and avocado are the only things you really like. You tolerated the carrots and peas and squash continue to be a struggle. Oh, we gave you a tiny bit of applesauce the other day and you hated it! Who hates applesauce? Crazy kid! I try to give you solids twice a day at lunch and dinner time, but sometimes we just get too busy. You seem to enjoy sitting at the dinner table with us and eating some cereal and the veggie of the day. I have tried putting some food on your tray, but you don’t quite get the idea of picking it up and putting it in your mouth just yet. We also give you a little sippy cup of water, but you aren’t really sure what to make of that either.

You are a champ at sitting up now, although we still put the Boppy pillow behind you if we are walking away from you at all. Your activity mat has taken on new interest since you are now seeing it from a different perspective. You have only rolled from your front to back twice so far, but I’m sure it will happen when you are ready. You are really grabbing at toys now and putting everything in your mouth – including your toes and socks!

Speaking of your mouth, you got your first tooth! Bottom, middle, left came in just the other night. We can’t even really see it yet, but I can feel it. Sharp little bugger!

This past month we have been attending Babygarten at the local library. It is basically a story and song time. Although you are the youngest baby there by six or eight months, you seem to have a good time. We sing all types of songs and then read a story of some sort. Your dad loves the shark song (Baby shark, doot doot, doot doot….)

We are finally starting to get out of the house more. We actually went out to dinner for the first time since you were born a couple weeks ago. We joined some friends from church at Pomodoro’s for pizza. We figured we would go with friends so that way if you got upset, hopefully they wouldn’t be too upset. You were great! A fun time was had by all. Your dad even learned about to play Bananagrams after we ate!

We also started packing at the LINK food pantry in Herndon. We have signed up to pack food once a moth for families that don’t have the resources to feed their family. Helping others is an important part of our beliefs and we hope that you and your brother grow up to be kind, generous and helpful men. The only way to make that happen is for us to donate our time as a family so you see how easy it is to integrate helping others into our everyday lives. Your dad and I hope that as you grow you will find lots of opportunities to help others. If you don’t see any, then you probably aren’t looking very hard!

Okay, my cute little smiling son, oh wait, I have two boys that fit that description…. How about, my cute little smiling seven-month old son, it has been a great month. I’m glad you are feeling better and sleeping better and starting to discover the world around you. I love you so much!

All my love,
Mama

Happy Six Month Birthday, Christian!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 01:19:00 +0000

March 13, 2011

Dear Christian,

Happy six-month birthday!

Six month statistics: Weight: 18 lbs. 12 ounces Length: TBD inches. Diaper Size: 3 Clothes: 9-12 months.

Last month the phrase of the month was maintaining the status quo. This month the word is sick – icky, icky sick! You were diagnosed with RSV about three weeks ago, and it seems like we have been in the pediatrician’s office two – three times per week since. RSV is a viral respiratory infection that caused you to have horrible wheezing. It also then contributed to a double ear infection. To help you breathe easier, we gave you nebulizer treatments every four hours around the clock for over a week. You also had oral steroids and antibiotics. When the ear infection didn’t get any better – in fact, it got worse – they gave you a stronger antibiotic, which wrecked havoc on your poor tummy. The past four nights you have been up from approximately midnight – four am crying your heart out. Your dad and I take turns walking, patting, rocking, singing, anything we can think of. The sleep deprivation is really getting to us. We took you back to the pediatrician on Saturday and she prescribed a new antibiotic that should be easier on your stomach. We also started probiotics again. I have my fingers crossed that tonight is better! We hate seeing you so sick.

In addition to getting RSV yourself, you were kind enough to pass it along to grandma. She has also not been feeling well. Luckily, you were done with the nebulizer just as she started to need it. She had an x-ray and on Friday and seems to already be feeling much better.

In the past two days you have started sitting up on your own. You are pretty wobbly, but it is great to see you hit this important milestone. A few days ago you also rolled from front to back. I even got it on video! You don’t much like being on your stomach so perhaps that is what motivated you to roll. No sign yet of rolling from back to front.

Now that you can sit up a little, you love to sit on your play mat and swat at your toys. Speaking of toys, you are so interested in them now. Dad pulled some of your brother’s old toys out for you to play with. It is amazing to see you so engaged with them. We also give you a spoon to hold and play with. In addition to toys and spoons, you have found your feet! It is adorable to watch you grab at them.

Speaking of spoons, it is time for solid foods. This morning I gave you a little tiny bit of banana on my finger. You weren’t quite sure what to make of it and promptly pushed it right back out of your mouth. Tonight, we gave you a little bit of rice cereal for the first time. You seemed to really like it! Of course, you had a bunch of it in your neck when I got you ready for bed, but I think that goes with the territory when first starting solids. I checked a book out from the library called, Baby Love, a collection of recipes for first baby foods. I’m excited to start making some delicious foods for you.

It is hard to talk about any kind of schedule for the past month since you have been so sick. You have not been sleeping well at night since the wheezing got bad. I think at a minimum you are up two times each night, and you are having lots of trouble going back to sleep. During the day you are taking naps, but only when we swaddle you and then walk with you for 7 – 20 minutes. Most of that time you are crying. Once you calm down and fall asleep, we place you in your crib. You are still a fan of the 28-minute nap, but we have had a few longer naps. Sunday, for instance, you slept over two hours. I’m not sure if this will happen on any kind of regular basis, or it is just all the medication you are on.

Well my little one, it is nine o’clock at night and you have just woken up crying already. Your dad is up with you, but I better go check on you both to see how you are doing. Your dad and I are really tired, Christian. If you could help us out in the sleep department it would be greatly appreciated.

Love you and your sweet smile bunches and bunches,
Mama

Happy Five Month Birthday, Christian!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 02:25:00 +0000

February 13, 2011

Happy five-month birthday!

Weight: 18.4lbs. You are wearing size three diapers and 6 – 9 month clothes.

If last month the word of the month was better, this month I think the best descriptive phrase is maintaining the status quo. Your eating and nighttime sleeping schedules have remained largely the same, and you are still experiencing some happy times during the day.

Your schedule varies each day, but you eat roughly every three hours during the day. You go to sleep around 8:30pm pretty regularly, and most nights you wake once during the night. We were blessed with a few lovely nights when you slept without waking for almost ten hours! Of course, those lovely nights were balanced by a few really rough nights. Just two nights ago you were up crying from 10:30pm – 1:30am. We finally gave you a dose of Tylenol since I thought for sure you must be in some grave pain and would likely wake in the morning with five new teeth. Alas, there were no new teeth when you woke, but the Tylenol helped you get some sleep. Perhaps it was a growth spurt?

While you are sleeping quite well overnight, the daytime sleeping is just not happening. We have been trying to swaddle you and put you down for a nap as soon as you start yawning during the day. Unfortunately, you don’t seem to be able to self-sooth at all and end up crying until we end up walking, bouncing, rocking, you to sleep. Yesterday afternoon the walking – bouncing routine took over an hour. I finally laid you in your crib and you slept for a total of 28 minutes! 28 freaking minutes!! You are killing me (and my back!) Everyday is like this and I don’t have any idea what to do. I’ve tried putting you in the swing to nap, and still, you only sleep for 30 minutes or less. A few days ago, you did take one nap for 41 minutes! Did I mention at day care you sleep for almost two hours? I have tried my best to replicate the daycare routine, but it just doesn’t seem to work at home. What’s up with that??

Let’s talk about something happier, shall we? You have the most adorable, sweetest smile! You are even laughing a little bit. I have started playing patty-cake with you and we do our own rendition of the ‘We’ve Got Spirit’ cheer from high school. Both of these bring huge smiles to your face, even when you are feeling grumpy.

Another sweet thing about you is your fabulous little peach fuzz head. Some days it appears to be light brown, and other days it looks almost blonde. You are also still holding on to those blue eyes. Wouldn’t it be fabulous to have a blonde haired/blue eyed little boy in the house? What a contrast it would be to your brother’s darker hair and eyes.

Speaking of your brother, oh boy is he in love with you. Each morning he comes into our room and wants to know if you are awake yet. He runs into your room and throws himself over the edge of your crib to lay his head on your belly. “Good morning, brover,” he says. He doesn’t quite have the “th” sound down just yet. You smile and coo at him, which just thrills him. Every night at dinner your brother gives thanks for you being in our lives.

You are just starting to sit up on your own, although you are pretty top heavy so you lean pretty quickly. You are doing great at tummy time and holding your head up. When I lay you on your activity mat you throw your legs around and lean from side to side. No rolling yet, but plenty of rocking.

We still aren’t getting out much, because you just don’t like to sleep on the go, and you get cranky quite easily. Your dad and I get to the grocery store each Saturday morning and your dad loves carrying you in the mei tai baby carrier. You usually fall asleep about 10 minutes before we are ready to leave. We haven’t been brave enough to try to go out to dinner, but we have had a few trips in the car where you aren’t crying. Things are definitely looking up.

Christian, you have been such a wonderful, but different addition to our lives. Your dad and I are faced with challenges we never even fathomed before you were born. However, we are so happy to have you with us, we are so happy you are a healthy little boy, and we love watching you grow. Sometimes when I go to sleep at night I wonder about what kind of man you will become. Will you be a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker? No matter to me, I just hope and pray that you become a man that knows great joy, smiles easily, knows God, and loves BIG!

With love and affection my sweet boy,
Mama

P.S. Becoming a candlestick maker is probably not the most lucrative career choice – just saying! ;-)

Mason II Turns 5.5 Years Old!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:18:00 +0000

January 21, 2011

Dear Mason II,

Happy Sixty-Six-Month Birthday! You are five and a half years old!

Statistics: Weight: 52 lbs. Length: 46 inches. Clothes: 6

Well, the word that best describes the past six months is CHANGE! There have been lots of changes around our house since I wrote last.

The first and greatest change was the arrival of your brother, Christian. Born five weeks early he really threw us for a loop. The first three months of his life were some of the most difficult I have ever encountered. I naively thought I would have another baby that was just like you – so sweet, so happy, so flexible. Ha! As you and I both know, your brother has not really been any of those for his first fifteen weeks of life. You, however, have been such a trooper and the most awesome big brother around. You fetch diapers when needed and can often be found signing silly songs to encourage your brother to stop crying. You love to give him belly pats and hugs and kisses. I hope the two of you will be lifelong friends.

One week before your brother’s early arrival you began your final year of preschool. You attend five days a week, from 8:30am – 12:30pm at a Montessori school that is very close to the house. They include a morning snack of cereal and fresh fruit, and lunch is also included. The school is beautiful – your classroom has beautiful windows with lots of natural light, a big playground, and very nice teachers. You have approximately twenty students in your class and three teachers. The classroom is filled with lots of interesting activities in areas such as math and language arts, but also science and geography. With so much to do and explore I thought you would just love it. But – no! I’m still not sure exactly what all the issues are, but you seem to be having a very hard time adjusting this year. It could be the five day a week schedule, it could be the Montessori environment, it could be the lack of a dress-up play area, or maybe that you just haven’t really made any great friends. Any way you look at it, it has been a hard few months for all of us where school is concerned.

Despite the fact that you aren’t always enjoying school this year, you have been learning a great deal. I’m amazed with the things you have learned! I try to make it a point each day to ask you what your favorite thing is about school and what is something you would like to change. Some of your favorite things have included: lunch, reading, playing outside, snack and various math games. You seem to be very drawn to all the math activities and you get your feelings hurt when your teacher tells you an activity is too difficult for you. You are now able to count to 200. You can count by 10’s to 100, and you are working on place value. You are sounding out words and recognizing some sight words. Most days when I pick you up from school, I find you snuggled into the reading corner with your nose buried in a book.

Speaking of books, you and dad have been reading some amazing books at bedtime. You are currently reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis. You have already read the first books in the series. You are also enjoying Magic Tree House books, Star Wars books, and Adventures with the Parkers – about a family that has adventures while camping. You also still enjoy your old favorites: James Herriot and Winne the Pooh.

A comprehensive overview of your last few months would not be complete without mentioning your love of all things Star Wars. Just a few days after Christmas we all watched the movie for the first time. There were a few scary parts that we fast-forwarded through, but overall you loved it. Much of your playtime is centered around the Star Wars universe. We battle droids, use our light sabers to fight the Wampa, and make plans to capture the sand people. Oftentimes you can be found sitting in the bathroom talking to yourself, making up fantastic stories of battles and duels all centered on Star Wars.

In coordination with Star Wars, is your love of Legos. For Christmas, you received the Star Wars Lego AT-AT Walker and the Portal of Atlantis. Santa also left a special scavenger hunt for you and daddy that led you to a Lego winter village set. What fun you have putting together your Lego sets. I’m amazed at the ease with which you put together sets made for 7 – 12 year olds. You have made friends with a little boy in the neighborhood, Brandon. Together, with his sister, Lauren, you love to play Legos and Star Wars. Brandon is nine years old, but you have dubbed him your best friend.

One of the ways you currently fund your Lego addiction is through your weekly allowance. A few weeks after your brother was born, you stared earning five dollars per week allowance. You have daily chores which include: setting and clearing the table for dinner, getting dressed in the morning and dressing for bed, and no teasing. That last one we use fairly liberally to include insubordinate behavior. If you elect not to do one of your chores you earn a white tile on your chore chart. Three white tiles in a week and you forfeit your allowance for the week. Each day that you complete all chores you earn 30 minutes of computer or screen time for the following day. So far, it is working pretty well.

For the past eight weeks you have also been attending gymnastics once a week. Your friend, Lex, from Classroom of Discovery is in the class, and you seem to have a great time. You are learning to do cartwheels and forward/backward rolls. You have the chance to walk on the balance beam and work on the uneven bars. You don’t have a lot of upper body strength just yet, but you sure seem to have fun. When I asked you if you wanted to sign up for another session of gymnastics you said no. There have been a few weeks at class where the teachers changed, and I think that has been hard for you. In February you are going to start Tae Kwon Do. Your dad and I are hoping that it helps you build some self-confidence.

The past few months have not been the easiest for you my dear one. As I mentioned at the start there have been lots of changes. Many days you have preferred your dad’s company to mine and I hope that is due to the combination of all the changes mentioned above. I know during this time that my attention has definitely been largely focused on your brother, and I look forward to the days ahead when he isn’t quite so needy so that we can spend more time together just playing and having fun. Some of my best memories of the past few months have been when you and I dance in the kitchen. We sing Rockin’ Robin and dance and laugh while we make little bird noises. I hope that you know that even though my attention may be drawn elsewhere, you are always in my heart. Wherever you go, whatever you do, whoever you become, I will always love you my first-born son.

All my love,
Mama

Christian's Four Month Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:40:00 +0000

January 13, 2011

Happy four-month birthday!

Weight: 18lbs. Length: inches. That is x percentile for weight and x percentile for length. We go to the doctor on Friday so I’ll update then. You are wearing size three diapers and some 3 –6 month size clothing and some 6 – 9 month. I think we are about at the end of the 3 – 6 month clothes. I can’t believe you are growing so fast!

The word of the past month is BETTER! Everything is getting better. You are sleeping better, eating better (this means less frequently) and in general you are happier. While the past month hasn’t been without a good share of hard times, things are definitely looking up.

Since right before Christmas you have been sleeping through the night with just one wake up around 3am. We still have a hard time getting you to sleep at night, but waking just once sure is nice on ‘ol mom. I try to nurse you for the last evening feeding somewhere around 8pm. This generally takes about 40 minutes or so and then I try to put you down for the night. Most nights it seems you wake several times and there is walking, bouncing, or rocking involved. Last night you were up and down for almost an hour with a good bit of crying. Thank goodness for your dad! He is such a big help during this time of the evening. After he puts your brother to bed, he does things around the house and then he is always first up to take a turn when you need extra snuggling for bedtime.

Have I mentioned what an amazing dad you have? You and your brother are so very lucky. I can’t even imagine the ways my life would have been impacted if I had a father like yours. Your dad wrote you an amazing letter this year for Christmas. We’ll be sure to save all your letters for you to read when you are older.

Christmas was wonderful! Nana came to visit and even though she was sick, we all had a wonderful time. We made cookies and fudge and wrapped more presents than we could count. You received some lovely gifts! One of my favorites was the rocking horse from grandma. Other gifts included: little drum, CD player for your room, Star Wars/Winnie the Pooh pictures for your room, adorable clothes and your first little stuffed dog, courtesy of cousin Wil.

Perhaps it was the Christmas mojo or perhaps you are just growing out of some of the extreme colic that plagued us for those first three months. Right around your three-month birthday you started smiling and you haven’t stopped! I love to tickle your chin and watch your face light up. You have the sweetest little smile and giggle. Your brother loves to make you smile and can often be found giving you little belly pats and singing, “Brother, brother, brother” to you until you grace him with a smile.

In addition to smiles you are definitely having more happy times. You are enjoying time on your activity mat and you have just started swatting at toys on occasion. You love to kick your legs. We attached a new little wooden toy to the mat that Aunt Christy and Uncle Dennis sent you from Germany for Christmas – and you love to hear the little bell ring. You also like to spend a few minutes sitting in the high chair. You still flop over so we have to keep a close eye on you, but it is nice to wheel you around the kitchen while I’m cooking dinner, etc…

After the happy times come the sad times. The more I examine your moods throughout the day, the more I’m convinced that your sad times are simply tired times. As soon as you start being fussy we swaddle you up and start working toward a nap. During the day you will sometimes take a pacifier and that seems to help soothe you. You also seem to like your swing and can sometimes take a nap for 30 – 45 minutes. One day you slept two hours!

I just realized that I forgot to take your three month picture, sorry about that. There is a great picture of you in your bumbo seat that was taken just about on your three-month birthday so that will have to suffice. I’m excited to take your four-month picture tomorrow because I’m hoping I can actually catch you in a smile!

Well, I’m about to run out of power on my laptop so I better head off.

Love,
Mama

Christian's Three Month Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:38:00 +0000

December 13, 2010

Dear Christian,

Happy Three Month birthday little one!

Weight: 16lbs. That is 93rd percentile for weight. We don’t go to the doctor this month so that is your weight from our home scale. You are wearing size two diapers and 3 –6 month size clothing. I think you will be moving up to size three diapers soon.

Some sweet things to share with you: You are making some happy baby noises! Not all the time, but enough a couple times a week. You also had your first smile just about a week ago. We have a couple of sweet little smiles when I kiss your cheeks or tickle your belly. I’m so happy to see you smile!!!!

Last month I wrote to you that you had very little active alert time. Well, that is starting to change. The past week and a half or so you are having some great periods of wakefulness. It doesn’t last long, but it sure is nice to see. During these times you enjoy laying on your activity mat and waving your arms and legs around. Your brother loves to crouch down next to you and shake toys in your face. This usually startles you and then you cry. Your brother is slowly learning to take it easy on you. He just loves you so much. He is constantly showering you with hugs and kisses and the occasional “firm handshake.”

Last month I also wrote about your intense crying. The past month has certainly had its fair share of crying, but you are making huge improvements. At your last doctor’s appointment the pediatrician labeled the crying as colic. She said that any baby that cries a lot and they have no explanation they call colic. You do have a herniated belly button, which I thought might be causing you pain and therefore crying, but the doctor said no. The hernia should clear up on its own by the time you are three or four. If it doesn’t then we need to see a surgeon. Let’s hope for the best. Speaking of crying, earlier this week we went an entire day until 4pm before I heard you cry. It’s a miracle!!

You are on a pretty steady schedule of eating every three hours now. You nurse for about 30 – 40 minutes, then have some kind of awake time (sometimes 2 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes), and then as soon as you start acting fussy or yawning I get you ready for a nap. This includes swaddling you and walking. You have been taking a pacifier more readily the past couple of weeks and it seems to help calm you down for sleeping. We have also found that once you are drowsy you like the swing. One day you slept two hours in the swing!! Another miracle!

Evenings are still really tough as this is your grumpiest time of day. We often have a two or three hour period where you nurse almost constantly. We put you down for bed around 8:30pm or 9pm. You have given us three or four nights of sleeping until 3am!!! These nights are fantastic! However, most nights you are up around midnight, and then again at 3am and then again at 6am – sometimes even more. Those are the not so great nights.

We have been able to get out of the house just a little bit this past month. After nursing, we can do a short errand like the grocery store, and we even went to the mall once to do some Christmas shopping. You still despise your car seat and the car, so the only way to get through the store is to put you in a baby carrier. The mei tai has been so awesome. I’m so happy we have this from when your brother was little. Both your dad and I enjoy carrying you. We also get lots of funny looks, but we don’t mind. We just like you to be happy.

On November 30th I went back to work part time at our church, Saint Matthew’s. You spend your days with a wonderful woman, name Lalie, who works in our church nursery. There are two other little girls there who are three years old. Everyone loves you!! The first couple days were a challenge, but Lalie just wore you in the mei tai and now you are doing fine. She has you on the same schedule I do, of eating, some awake time and then as soon as you are tired she helps you get to sleep. I’m so happy that you seem to like it there. The first week was so hard to leave you. The first day I cried all the way to work. I’m pretty sure I did the same thing when your brother went to day care as well. Maybe it is something most moms do.

Christian, these first few months of your life have been a far cry from what I expected. Before you were born I had this idealistic vision of the two of us strolling through the mall doing our Christmas shopping while your brother was at school. So far, your temperament has not really allowed for that. Aunt Betsy assures me that once you get a little older your sweet little personality will blossom. I’m often reminded of our cousin, Nicholas. He too had a rough, crying start to life. However after a few months, he turned into once of the sweetest little boys I know. I hope the same happens for you. I’m learning that I can’t force you into meeting my expectations. I just have to take one day at a time. Here’s to enjoying every minutes of our time together without regard to where we are, what we are doing, or what I’m able to accomplish in a day.

Love you tons,
Mama

Christian Is Two Months Old

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 22:18:00 +0000

November 13, 2010

Dear Christian,

Happy Two Month birthday little one!

Weight: TBD Length TBD inches. Head circumference TBD inches. That is TBD percentile for height and weight and TBD percentile for head circumference. You are wearing size one diapers and 0 – 3 month size clothing. We go to the doctor on Wednesday this week so I’ll fill in the details about after the appointment.

Some sweet things to share with you: When I kiss the top of your head it feels like peach fuzz. Your nickname is Mo Mo. You have the most adorable little feet and hands. Your brother loves to give you hugs and kisses to the point where we sometimes have to swat him away from you. You also open your eyes now and I love to see your baby blues. I’m still hoping that perhaps your eyes will stay blue.

Right around your six week birthday we transitioned you to sleeping in your crib. You handled the move just fine. We don’t have much of a sleep schedule yet, but in general you go to sleep around 9 or 10pm. Most nights you wake twice – although we did have one night where you only woke up one time. That night was glorious! We have had some challenging nights where you have woken up almost every hour. Those nights are not glorious and I sure don’t feel glamorous the morning after.

Your favorite things to do are nurse and sleep. I have this little program on my iPhone that lets me keep track of how often you nurse and how much you sleep and how many dirty diapers you have each day. Typically, we spend between 5.5 – 7.5 hours nursing each day, and changing eight – ten diapers.

Speaking of diapers – boy did I have a crazy diaper experience the other day. I removed one diaper only to find I had gotten the clean diaper I had prepared dirty. So I place down a second clean diaper and as I’m wiping you more starts coming out. I quickly try to cover you with the diaper that second stand by diaper. That diaper is now dirty and as I’m removing it to place on another new one you go yet again! It was like four diapers in less than thirty seconds.

While your dad and I have certainly loved becoming parents for the second time, it has not been without its share of challenges. My dear Christian, you are not the happiest of babies. When we first brought you home you were so quiet. You literally slept all day and night except when we would wake you to eat, and it would often take 30 minutes or more to get you awake enough to eat. Now, I am pleased to say that you wake up all on your own when you are hungry. However, you also seem to cry for a good part of the day. While some babies have these active alert periods where they stare off and look at their surrounds, you simply cry. It is quite heartbreaking for all of us and many days I simply don’t know what to do for you. Thank goodness nursing seems to always calm you! You detest the car and begin a tortuous blood curdling scream as soon as we get the car seat out. You also dislike diaper changes, your swing and bouncy seat.

All that said, we have seen small improvements in the past week or so. I am hoping and praying and hoping and praying that this means that your disposition will improve as you get older. The past few days we have been granted a few minutes each morning (maybe 15 – 20) where you are alert and quiet. We have also had a handful of diaper changes and dinnertimes where you have been content. Let’s hope these times of contentment only increase as you get older.

Milestones this month include you lifting your head, looking around the room with your eyes, and moving your arms and legs.

My favorite moment this past month was about two weeks ago. You were nursing early in the morning just as the sun was rising. Your room is this beautiful blue color with yellow curtains. As we sat in the rocking chair the room just filled with light. It was the most peaceful, happy moment of the month.

This past month we had a good friend come to visit – Dallas Wisehaupt. He was just passing through town and needed a place to stay for one night. We were happy to have him stop in and meet you and your brother. He is the dad of twins, so he knows all about crying babies.

To celebrate Halloween we went to dad’s work for trick or treating. Your brother dressed up as a deep sea diver and you wore a little orange outfit. We received several little Baby’s First Halloween outfits so we figured that was better than trying to find a costume to wear for just one day.

Christian, I am anxiously looking forward to this next month of your life. I’m hoping and praying that your find more time in your day to be happy and content with our beautiful world. Perhaps you just came into this world a little sooner than we were all planning so it is taking you a few extra weeks to adjust? Perhaps this month you will grace us with a handsome smile?

I will be going back to work the end of November and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m scared. How I’m ever going to get everything accomplished at home and work seems to be an utter mystery to me right now. I’m saying lots of prayers for patience and energy to get through the long days and nights ahead.

With much love,
Mama

Christian - 4 Weeks Old

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:49:00 +0000

October 13, 2010

Dear Christian,

Today is your four-week birthday! I think I still haven’t totally come to terms with the fact that you are even here yet, given that your original due date was October 17th.

We went to see the pediatrician today for your one month check up and got the following report: Weight: 9 lbs. 8 oz. Length 21.5 inches. Head circumference 14.25 inches. That is 50th percentile for height and weight and 25th percentile for head circumference. She was pleased with your growth. You are wearing newborn size diapers and clothing.

I suppose I should start at the beginning so you have a record of your birth story. I have been remiss in writing these past few weeks, so I have some catching up to do. The morning of Monday, September 13th I woke up around 3am to go to the bathroom. I was 35 weeks and one day gestation. When I got to the bathroom I felt like perhaps my water may have broken or had a small leak. However, since it was so early I figured it was highly unlikely. In all honesty, the same thing had happened the night before when I went to the bathroom and I ignored it, so it is possible my water may have broken on the 12th. In any case, I went downstairs and did a Google search on broken water. I called the nurse line from our insurance – which advised me to go to the hospital. Then I called my doctor who said that since I hadn’t experienced a huge gush of water that I could wait a few hours until the office opened and then stop in. Unless of course I felt a gush of water between now and then. This entire time I was pretty sure the water had broken, but I was just in denial! When I stood up after speaking to the doctor on the phone I did feel a gush so I woke up your dad and we headed to the hospital. Given that you weren’t due for five more weeks we were not prepared. We didn’t have a bag packed nor did we have the car seat in the car. Oddly enough, the car seat had just been returned to us the week prior from friends who had borrowed the seat for their daughter born in January. We sure are glad they didn’t wait until October to bring it back.

As soon as we got to the hospital they determined that my water had broken and the nurse said to me, “Well, looks like you’re having a baby today.” My first thought was – NO WAY! I’m not ready! Once you are older and understand my fascination with planning all things you will have a better understanding of just how traumatic this moment was for me.

I was hoping to have a VBAC, but that would no come to pass when my body didn’t go into labor. After almost twelve hours, I did not dilate or have contractions. So, off for a c-section we went. At 2:25pm, you were born! Your 1 minute and 5 minute APGAR scores were 8 and 9, respectively. Hearing those numbers convinced me that you were fine and I could relax. Little did I know what was in store for us.

While in recovery, I kept asking the nurse, Leah, to find out where you were so we could begin nursing. I kept asking and asking and time kept ticking by and nothing. She finally made a few phone calls and I was told that you were being taken to the NICU for some breathing problems. You were put on a CPAP machine for twelve hours. At this point is where I felt like the hospital did a very poor job of communicating with us. Your dad and I were under the impression that after the twelve hours on the CPAP machine that we would get to see you and all would be well. In fact, it turned out that you would end up staying in the NICU for six days before being released to us.

The week of your birth was the most emotional and stressful weeks of my life. We were so happy to have you here and healthy. Healthy being relative as compared to the other babies in the NICU. Weighing six pounds, fourteen ounces you were the largest baby in the NICU. On Monday, due to the epidural, I was not able to even see you. Tuesday morning at 3am I started calling my nurse to help me get out of bed so I could go see you. Around 6am I was able to see you for the first time and we were allowed to touch you, but not pick you up. Later in the day we were allowed to hold you. Unfortunately, by that time they had already given you a pacifier and were feeding you formula from a bottle.

On Wednesday, I was allowed to start nursing you, followed by pumping and bottle feeding. We did this round the clock every three hours. The first few weeks were so difficult. You were so sleepy and hadn’t really figured out how to nurse. Just in the past week or so have you started waking yourself up when hungry and you are much better at nursing.

The day after you were born you had an episode where your breathing slowed down to a dangerously low level, which made the doctors very concerned and also earned you a few extra days in the hospital. I was lucky that my insurance allowed me to stay four days in the hospital due to the c-section and then we were permitted to stay one extra night where you roomed in with us – so we could have a practice run. The NICU nurses checked on us every three hours and we had to take a CPR class before you came to the room. Saturday, September 18th, I was never so happy to go home with you in tow!

Since coming home, and while at the hospital, we had many visitors. Our wonderful friends from Saint Matthew’s brought us meals while we kept up with the crazy schedule. We also had lots of help from grandma, and nana came to visit for two weeks at the end of September. She had plane tickets for October, but was able to change them when you decided to make your early appearance.

Well my dear son, it has been a heck of a first few weeks. You are already keeping us on our toes. We are so happy to have you in our lives. Your brother is thrilled to be a big brother and I look forward to the days when the two of you can be the best of friends.

I’ll try to be better about writing these next few weeks.

Much love,
Mama

Christian Update

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 01:58:00 +0000

Hello to all-

I know that I owe emails and phone calls to so many people, but the list is long and the tasks at home are overwhelming us right now, so please forgive me for this mass communication.

Old News:
Christian Pierce was born on Monday, September 13th at 2:25pm via C-secion at 35 weeks.
He weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz.
Immediately after birth he had trouble breathing and was put in the NICU for six days, where he was supplemented with formula and bottle fed. We didn't get to see him until the day after his birth, and we were able to hold him the afternoon of the second day. He had one episode on Tuesday morning where his breathing became very shallow and he needed some assistance to get back on track. This was a major concern and precipitated the need for him to remain in the NICU until Saturday.

Update:
We all came home on Saturday morning. His breathing seems to be stable now.
Christian is nursing well, but also being supplemented with additional fortified breast milk to help him get his birth weight back.
We are running a tough three hour, round the clock schedule of: nursing, supplementing and pumping. This isn't leaving a ton of time for things like sleeping or returning phone calls.
He had his first pediatrician appointment Monday morning and he had gained back five ounces - Very good news. If he keeps up this progress then we can discontinue supplementing after the two week appointment. The tough news from the pediatrician is that we need to keep Christian home for the next few weeks to help his immune system build up. She said we need to wait until at least his regular due date (October 17th) before taking him out into any sort of crowd.

This afternoon we got a call from the pediatrician that Christian had failed part of the state wide newborn screening for some very long disease that I can't pronounce. After going back to the pediatrician we were sent back to the hospital for a retest of the blood work. The doctor just called us about 30 minutes ago to let us know that the new test came back negative. They are running some additional tests, but she said we shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Several people have called and asked about visits. For now we are doing short visits with healthy adults only. We anticipate being able to have friends with children over in the next couple of weeks.

We continue to be thankful for our friends and family. Thank you for your prayers, phone calls, emails, visits and support. This has been such a difficult time for us, but know that the kindness and love from our friends and family will see us through.

Love,
Miriam

Haiti Reflections

noreply@blogger.com (Mason) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:41:00 +0000

On Sunday, before church, we took a walk around the work site at Gressier. This is a small compound on the outskirts of Port-Au-Prince with a church, a school and a few shacks were the pastor and his family live. The schoolhouse was well underway, with all of the cinder block walls up and a few walls finished. When completed, the school would have twelve classrooms, a larger room, and four small offices. This is where we would spend the next three days working with a Haitian construction crew.
We helped with every station at the site. We sifted rocks out of the sand and black dirt. There wasn't a concrete mixer, so Father Rob spent hours mixing concrete by hand. Jody, Tegan and Hilary learned to bend small rebar squares that would be used to hold the larger pieces together. Mary and Fred helped pour concrete into the forms for the posts and headers. Lacey and Deanne spread concrete mud on the cinder blocks to form the smooth walls. And we all cleaned out debris from the rooms.
We did all of this work under the tutelage and supervision of the Haitian construction team. These are skilled men who take pride in their work. The concrete was mixed to just the right consistency, bricks were laid evenly, and the finished walls were beautiful in their own smooth, grey way. The foreman, or “Big Boss,” held his crew, and us, to high standards. When he found a wall that wasn't perfectly square, he had the workers strip the concrete and start over.

What amazed me is how they did so well with so little. Wheelbarrows, buckets, shovels, pick axes and trowels were our primary tools, but there were never enough to go around. Rebar was bent on a plank of wood with nails used as guides and a battered piece of pipe.
Cleaning out the rooms was probably the least desirable job. We wanted to be building, not cleaning. And constantly scrounging for tools didn't make it any more enjoyable. There was a rainstorm every night, so every morning we had to bale water out of the rooms: with a five gallon bucket and a small soda bottle with the top cut off. When we couldn't find the wheelbarrow, we'd haul the broken cinder blocks and gravel by hand, in buckets, or in a large tub made form the bottom of a 55-gallon drum. But, when a room was cleaned up, we would look it over and know we had actually accomplished something.
Wednesday afternoon, it struck me that I wasn't going to see the completed school. Only a fraction of the headers and posts had been completed, and the walls of only three or four rooms had been finished. In fact, I wasn't even going to see all of the rooms cleaned out. When our bus arrived to take us back to the lodging facility, there was still a room and a half full of debris. I felt incomplete.

We are so thankful that so many people wrote us notes of encouragement and prayed for us, commending our bravery for going to Haiti. But for me, it wasn't going to Haiti that took courage. Sleeping on the floor, new food and even the heat were easy for me. My challenge was listening to God, and trusting in what He asked of me. He didn't ask me to build a school, he invited me to be part His plan. He didn't ask me to do what I really wanted to do, which was tie rebar while standing on rickety scaffolding, He asked me to help the Haitians. And for three days that meant hauling construction debris. By cleaning the rooms out, we freed up the skilled Haitian labor to work on finishing walls and pouring the posts and headers.

Until this trip, I had never heard God. For me, this was not a voice, or a sign. Instead, I ran my experiences and feelings through my understanding of how Jesus lived, and how God asks us to live. I recognized that I was focusing on my own need for a sense of accomplishment instead of focusing on the privilege of serving God by doing what needed to be done. Wednesday evening, we had a closing ceremony were the pastor asked for two people to share their testimony of how the week had touched them. A gentleman from Middlebrook United Methodist shared how the community came together to form a bucket brigade. And then the room fell silent, waiting for the second volunteer. Surely, I thought, someone else has something to share. Then I realized, I had something to share.

We don't always get to see the results of our labors for God. In fact, we're lucky if we even know what part we are playing in His plan. But that doesn't make our actions any less significant. In everything we do, every decision we make, we are invited to be part of God's plan. Everyday, at home, work, school — and even in Haiti — it is up to us to set aside our own priorities and have the courage to follow God.

I gave this talk at St. Matthew's on 15 August. If you would like to support some great, on the ground work that is directly impacting the lives of Haitians, I encourage you to donate directly to Praying Pelican Missions. They partner with local churches who decide what work needs to be done to best serve their communities.

Five Years Old!

noreply@blogger.com (Miriam) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:00:00 +0000

July 21, 2010

Five year statistics: Weight: 50.5 lbs. Length: 45 inches. Clothes: 5/6

Dear Mason,

Happy Fifth Birthday! Wow – I feel like I don’t even know where to begin. I never intended for it to be a full year since my last letter. Not sure where the past year has gone. So many things have happened so let’s just do a quick year in review.

Last September we made our annual beach trip to Bethany Beach. We had one, just one, beautiful sunny day and then the rest of the days were rainy and chilly. Nana came with us and we still had fun – we even flew our first kite.

When we returned from Bethany Beach you started soccer on Saturday mornings. The team had practice for 30 minutes and then played a scrimmage against another team for the last 30 minutes. You seemed to enjoy the practice part of it, but didn’t much care for the game time. You spent most game time on the sidelines sitting with dad.

At the end of September, we were very blessed to have grandma come to live with us! What a treat! I’m not sure she knew what she was getting herself into by coming to live with us, but she has quickly adjusted to your early morning wake-up calls! You enjoy playing with her and we continue to reap the benefits of her amazing sewing skills. For some reason you love to tease her by saying “Cloud Car” all the time.

October and November brought cooler weather and we visited several local farms with friends. You also enjoyed helping dad rake leaves. Good thing we got all the leaves up before the snow came! We had several big snowstorms this year. December 19th we got over 24 inches of snow and then in February we got two more snows with another 15 -20+ inches each!

Christmas found us making our way back to Las Vegas to visit friends and family. We were hoping to get to meet your cousin Harry, but he decided to wait until January to be born. While we were in Vegas, we had lots of fun with our other cousins. You continued to love playing in Nana’s backyard with Mary Lynne and Howard IV. Uncle Dennis, Aunt Christy, Danielle, Kaitlyn, Cameron and Aedan stopped by one afternoon for a visit as well.

In March you started swim lessons again and you finally made some huge improvements. You had a wonderful teacher – Mr. Eric – who really helped you learn to love the water. The first day of class, he sat you aside the pool and then proceeded to do a huge back flip into the pool, splashing you to soaking. When he came up he asked, “Who wants to learn to do that?” Your little hand shot right up! Over the next three months, you would begin swimming with your face in the water. No back flips just yet, but we are so proud of you!

Springtime brought Easter, and Nana came for a visit. Your dad and I went on a short trip up to NYC by ourselves for two days while you, Nana, and grandma stayed home. We heard something about you taking a road trip to West Virginia, getting lost, and enjoying an ice cream cone. Sounds like fun to me!

May brought a very sad time for us, when our dear dog, Miss Bianca, went to heaven. Your dad and I felt like Miss B was our first baby. Losing her was much more difficult than I ever imagined. We had some sad days around the house as we talked about Miss B passing. We read a great book called Dog Heaven, which helped you to understand that Miss B was up in heaven now with Nanny, and that we will get to see her again some day. The book also describes how sometimes dogs come back down to earth to check on us. A few weeks ago you came running into the house declaring that Miss B had been back for a visit. Apparently you found a little doggie poo in our backyard (not really sure how it got into our fenced yard) and you just knew it was Miss B back to check on us.

In June, dad was part of the Tour de Cure bike race to support Juvenile Diabetes. The race started in Reston and you were so excited to see a local carnival opened after the race. For the first time you were thrilled about going on rides. You rode your first little roller coaster, which you later told us had some speed issues. You also enjoyed the little cars, Ferris wheel, and little motorcycles.

Also in June we started camping again. We went to Mathew’s Arm at the beginning of the month, with friends from church. We stayed two nights and in spite of some pretty good rain showers, we still had fun. That first night sure did see some rain though – we were ringing out our clothes we were so drenched. You had a great time with Betsy Pepper, exploring the surrounding areas, and Fr. Rob gave us a tutorial on how to identify and stay away from poison ivy.

Our second and final camping trip was to Bear Creek Lake with the Chamblin’s. A beautiful weekend filled with laughs and friends, but oh – so –very – HOT! Thank goodness we spent all day Saturday in the lake, but even the water felt really warm in most places. Dad had to buy us a fan for the tent and I decided that maybe it was just too hot to take a pregnant lady camping.

And that leads us to the biggest news of all during this past year – you are going to be a big brother! Sometime around October 17th, 2010, we are expecting a second baby boy in our house. We told you the news around Easter and you weren’t quite sure what to think of this big brother business at first. However, I think the idea is growing on you now. You are watching us get his room organized, and pretty soon here your dad is going to paint. About two weeks ago we went to the store and you bought your brother his very first lovie – a little white lamb. It is almost a miniature version of your own lamb. You love it so much you haven’t been able to let it go since we bought it. We know you will be an awesome big brother!

In addition to all the fun activities, you also managed to go to school three days a week at Classroom of Discovery. You really loved your classmates, especially: Lex and Kyle and Helen and Maddie. Next year, we have decided that you will do another year of preschool at Lola’s Place – a Montessori school close to the house. Your dad and I think you will benefit from an extra year of playing and growing before heading into kindergarten. You are already so intelligent – you know all your letters and most letter sounds, your address and phone number, you count up to 50 alone or 100 with help, and you occasionally sound out words. We are so proud of all that you have accomplished. Given all those feats, you are still very apprehensive about your writing. While some of your friends spend hours drawing, writing and coloring, you are much more interested in playing Legos or practicing your Jedi light saber techniques. In fact, you are so accomplished that you said if the ultrasound showed we were having a girl baby, you would simply use your Jedi powers to change her into a boy.

Oh, I almost forgot you have of course provided us with your choices for names of your sibling. If it was a girl you liked the name Betsy. Not sure if this is from your sweet friend from church, Betsy Pepper, your friend from school Betsy Welt or from your rocking’ Auntie Betsy, but that is the name you liked. If it was a boy you like the name …. Prepare yourself for this… Bread and Jam, Cheesy Noodles Turner! What a mouthful. I think your brother will thank us one day for making our own choice.

This past week you went for your semi-annual dentist visit. Dad has started to take you because you just seem to do better when he is around. You had a great visit. Your teeth were cleaned and you even let them take your first x-rays. We can see your two bottom adult teeth starting to come in. No loose teeth yet, but I’m sure that will be forthcoming.

Last weekend you had a wonderful fifth birthday party - with 100 of your closest friends. Well, not quite 100, but about 23! Lots of friends and siblings were there to help you celebrate. Once again, we set up the backyard for some water fun. You enjoyed the slip and slide and pool and we even had some water balloons and a sprinkler rescue. You received many lovely gifts including Lego's from mom and dad, and nana, and a magic set from grandma. You shook each present prior to opening and would announce if it was a Lego or not. You tried to skip the non-Lego packages, but we took this as a good opportunity to practice our manners.

I feel like there are probably other things I should tell you, but I can’t remember them all now. I’m sorry for going a whole year without writing. I’ll try to do better next time.

Much love to you my sweet little five-year old boy.

Love,
Mama

Preparing for Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Mason) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:49:00 +0000

It was only January 12 that an earthquake struck Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Already one of the poorest countries in the world, Haiti is now struggling with forging a path for its future. While the government is doing its best to lay a new course, the people and children of Haiti struggle to find their own new normal. A normal that consists of few jobs and living in makeshift shelters in the ever-growing tent cities in around the capital.

In less than one month, St. Matthew's Episcopal Church will be sending twenty missionaries -- including myself -- to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Working with Praying Pelican Ministries, we will be help with construction projects and visiting an orphanage. In light of so much damage, and so many affected people, what can we hope to accomplish in just six days? What difference can we make?

While we won't know what projects we'll be working on until we get to Haiti, our coordinator says we can expect to be working on a temporary shelter for a school at the Mariani Baptist Church. Without the shelter, the children will have no place for school beginning in September. Many Haitian families see their children's education as the only way for them to escape poverty. By building a temporary school house, we can help make the dreams of those parents come true.

We have been told that the orphanage may have 75 to 100 children. For as little as many Haitians may have, these children have less. They may have friends, and a staff that cares for them, but they are missing a parent's love. Now, there is no way we can fill that void in one day of playing soccer or reading books, but we can show these children that there are people around the world that do care for them. It is an opportunity for us to reflect God's love on some of His most deserving children.

But shouldn't the Haitians help themselves? Aren't there hundreds of charities already in Haiti trying to help these people? Yes, I believe the people of Haiti are struggling to help themselves every day. And yes, there are millions of international dollars going into Haiti to help them emerge as a stronger, self sufficient country. But there will still be children that may not have a school building, and there are still children that won't have a mother or father to kiss them good night. We are blessed with both families and employers that can let us go for a week. For six days, we can be the the loving hand of God for some of these children.

The missionaries can use your prayers through the month of July, as we prepare for the trip, and August 7 through 13 as we travel to Haiti. Please also pray for the people of Haiti, especially the children, that they may know God's love in their lives.

If you would like to support this trip financially, you can make a tax-deductible donation by using the "Mission Trip Fund" field at http://stmtts.org/donate. These funds will be used for missionary air travel, lodging and donations to the Praying Pelican construction projects.