My Favorite Jack-isms

Jack is just over two and a half now. Conversations with him are pretty funny, when it's a normal conversation and not a tantrum, that is. Those happen a lot, too.

I've had a running list of these words and phrases I wanted to get down running around in my head for weeks now. I have to get them down before he stops saying them! He's already dropped a few from his vocabulary (sniff!). I was so sad the first morning he actually asked for a banana. He must have learned that at school. I've been calling them meemas for about a year now.

Anyway, here they are, in random order. I might come back to this list and add to it.

Fun Phrases
"Daddy. What you doin', Daddy?"
"I'll be...RIGHT BACK!"
"Can I watch a wittle bit a Thomas?" (the tank engine, that is.)

Bulldozer fun
"Steam rolla!"
"Escavator" (excavators on the roads)
"Bob da Beelder" (Can we fix it? Bob da Beelder, YES, WE CAN!)

Food fun
"Meema" (banana)
"Yogo" (yogurt)
"Eggie"
"Wookie Charms" (Lucky Charms)
"Mamos" (tomatoes)
"Doot Dats" (fruit snacks)
"Hamberber"
"Dip dip" (ketchup, or "red dip dip." Not to be confused with "white dip dip" which is Ranch dressing).

Our Favorite Things
Brown Doggie
Big Doggie
Beep Beep (this was his pacifier, which he gave up before Thomas was born. But I miss him asking for Beep Beep!)

Thoughts about 2010 (two months late)

Note - I started this post at the beginning of January. Guess I should finish it...albeit two months later!

A year ago Lyle and I were the proud parents of a little boy who in many respects was still just a baby. Last year Jack could sit up under the Christmas tree - as I remember we have a photo of him in a Santa suit to prove it - but that was just about it. In a nutshell, 2010 witnessed the growth of our son into a toddler, which has been a life-changing experience, as well as the growth of our family with the birth of Thomas just before Thanksgiving. Here are the highlights of what I remember about the year...



January: We had gone through a bad phase for about two months starting in November where Jack would wake up in the middle of the night and be awake for about 2 hours for no particular reason. I remember just hanging out with him, usually from about 3 a.m. to 5 a.m., because he just seemed so wide awake, and I didn't know what else to do. It was the month of January where we started letting him "cry it out," and this changed our lives radically! It took only three nights, and we went from being insomniac parents to happily-sleeping parents. The first night Jack cried for 25 minutes, and I was miserable. The second night he cried for 10 minutes, the third night for 5, and by the fourth night, he stopped crying as soon as we shut the door. It was like a revelation for us. To give credit where credit is due, I have to say that it was Lyle who wanted us to try this, and he held me to it. My only regret afterward was that we didn't do it sooner.



February: We celebrated Jack's first birthday, and we wondered how a year had really gone by so quickly! Aunt Sarah and her family came to our house to celebrate. Jack also had a party at Primrose, too. The best story about his birthday was that Jack swiped a cupcake from one of the other kids at his party. Their high chairs were right next to each other, and the little boy was just holding his cupcake and looking at it. Quick as a wink, Jack swiped it and scarfed it in his mouth (they were little cupcakes, I should say). The mothers, teacher at Primrose Miss Mays, and myself all got a huge kick out of it, mostly because Jack's appetite was already well-known to his friends. This just proved it!



March: I got my belated Christmas present - a weekend for the two of us (me and Lyle, that is) for a weekend to Charleston. GloMom and JoPop came to stay with Jack. While it was difficult to be away from him for a weekend, it was N I C E to get away for a bit. The only downside was that when we got back, Jack had not only taken his first step, but he was taking about 3 or 4 at a time. I was so bummed to have missed it, but at least I know when it was, since I remember our weekend getaway was March 5-6.



April - June: In April we learned that we were expecting a baby (again!) I think that's why these three months were a blur. We were just in shock for a while trying to absorb the news that - Holy Cow! - before the holidays we'd have two little kiddos in the family to look after!

July: We went to Asheville for a wedding at Biltmore. It was one of Lyle's friends from Arkansas who was getting married on the estate grounds. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony, the weather was perfect, and we had a night out sans Jack. That was a fun weekend. Later on in July we flew to Texas for another wedding (Lyle's cousin Rachael). There were some record-setting days of heat even for Texas while we were there, but it was good to see the family, and I managed to catch up with some old friends in Houston as well.

August: We began to get super-excited about Amy's family moving to Georgia! Woo hoo! They live in Waynesboro now only a few miles away from Sarah's house. Now we can travel for two and a half hours and see everybody, which is awesome.

September - October: Nothing memorable here, except an absolutely wretched trip to the beach, which I would honestly prefer to forget. Note to self: if you think your toddler is coming down with an ear infection, DO NOT TAKE HIM TO THE BEACH. Other than that fun getaway, the only thing I remember about these two months was that I was tired and cranky a lot as I got bigger. Being pregnant while chasing a toddler around...honestly, it's for the birds. One bright spot was that we started attending the Grove Church just after Labor Day. After four years of searching, I think we might just have found our church home.

November: Thomas Oliver (named after his great granddaddy Mahaffey) arrived on November 10. He weighed in at 8 pounds even, so not quite as big as Big Bubba, but he was also 5 days early, whereas Jack was 10 days late. Everything was so much easier this time...recovery, taking care of baby, knowing what the heck to expect...just everything. He did not look at all like Jack, which was probably a good thing, because I kept wanting to call him Jack at first, anyway! He was tough for the first few weeks, but then settled down into a very laid-back, super sweet baby. We celebrated a very low-key Thanksgiving at our house with Amy's family. We did not have a turkey, but I don't really like turkey, and it's a lot of work considering I had just had a baby about two weeks beforehand. It was a fun day.

December: We celebrated our first Christmas morning with just our immediate family - just me, Lyle, Jack, and Thomas. It was weird to be the only grown-ups in the group, but fun to realize that we're our own little family now and we can make our own traditions. Jack did not "get" the concept of Christmas this year, but he totally got the idea of presents! He loved his racecar set, his tool bench, and his new stuffed dog, appropriately christened, "Big Doggie." Later in the day, we went to Waynesboro to celebrate Christmas again. It was a really fun few days, and we even got snow, which is crazy in Georgia in December! One of my favorite memories from Christmas was going over to Sarah's house one night, and everyone (all 13 of us!) piled on the giant sofa and watched Despicable Me together. It was so fun to laugh together and hear all the children laughing, too. If you can't tell already, this was one of my most cherished Christmases that I can remember in a while.

So...that was our year in a nutshell. Better get it down before I forget it. We are blessed. Life is crazy these days with the children being small, working, taking care of the house, etc. etc, but it is a good kind of crazy. I don't think I would change a thing.

My Message to NBC

I sent an email to NBC today. It was a ridiculously small action considering how angry I still am about the incident, but still, I guess it was the only thing tangible I could do about it today. I offer no apologies if this offends you; at least then you'll know where I stand. Below was my message:

While channel surfing last night, I stopped for just a few moments on Last Comic Standing and was completely disgusted and appalled by what I saw. One of the female contestants was making jokes about the topic of abortion, having had an abortion, and saying that she is "pro-life" - for her own life, that is.

Shocked is not even a strong enough word to express the outrage and disgust that I felt. It is one thing that other disgusting issues like pornography and masturbation have become the topics of commonplace jokes on television, but to joke about abortion just goes beyond any sense of decency for network television. In case you haven't noticed, NBC, abortion is a deeply divisive issue in this country, and to those of us who believe that it constitutes the mass murder of children, in my mind her jokes were as awful, horrifying, and inappropriate as someone to joke about the Holocaust of World War II.

Is this what we are reduced as a society to laughing at? The murder of children? Are your programmers and writers so starved for something original that they must resort to such low-life inhumane tactics such as a "talent search" for truly talentless individuals?

Even as I recall this incident last night, I am filled with horror to think that my son has to grow up in a world where the value of human life is so cheap. Please, NBC, use a little sense next time. Why put such trash on network television? Can't you find something else for us to laugh at instead of topics that fill me with nausea at the thought of what they are implying?

As a side note, I also happen to be five months pregnant - and the little movements inside of me that I feel every day are a constant reminder of the life that is growing there: life that even though it is contained inside my body for the time being, should never, ever be treated so casually.

First Trip to the Zoo!

Last Saturday we took a fun trip to the Atlanta Zoo. We went on a morning that was cool and overcast, but we knew the weather was supposed to clear up that day. It actually worked out really well, because it was very pleasant when we got there and by the time the temperature was really heating up, we had seen just about everything we came to see!

I couldn't tell you if Jack had a favorite animal or not - he did seem intrigued by the otters because they moved so fast - but I really think he enjoyed just watching all the other children walking around and riding in strollers as much as any of the animals! He was quite the people watcher that day.

Here are some of our favorite moments...

Mother's Day

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." - Psalm 139:13

As you can probably imagine, Mother's Day for me is very bittersweet. It's so ironic that days designated to celebrate something specific can often bring joy to many and pain to some. Take Valentine's Day, for example. If you happen to be single, on Valentine's Day you feel single, but even more so. Boy, do I vividly remember those days!

But this entry isn't a pity party for me. As much as I'd love to call my mom up and wish her a cheery "Happy Mother's Day" this afternoon, I know there are many, many others out there who ache today far more than I do: the countless women who would love to become moms but so far cannot, or the mothers out there who have lost a child.

Yes, this is not just about me, this is intended to be an encouragement to anyone out there who thinks God might have forgotten them today. Here's a story for you:

This is the fifth Mother's Day I am celebrating in my mom's absence here on earth, but I must say, the first one without her was by far the hardest. I was living in Boston at the time and just about to finish my Master's Degree. I was in the final stages of school and was working hard to finish my thesis. I was tired from school and planning a wedding, and I was ready to go back to Virginia. And I missed my family and Lyle. So I walked that morning to church - Mother's Day of 2006 - with a heavy heart. I didn't want to be celebrating anything that day - the pain was just too raw.

In the middle of the second set of hymns that morning at Christ the King Presbyterian in Cambridge, MA, as soon as I heard the opening chords of "Great is thy Faithfulness" the tears just began to slide down my cheeks. Some of you might remember that this is a song that has very special meaning to me: it's the one I sang at Mom's funeral. I felt then and there in church that God was whispering to me that He loved me and He hadn't forgotten about me at all. And what a beautiful way to deliver the message through that hymn! It was such a gift to hear that song on that day, and what made the gift even more unique was that in the previous 8 months I had been attending that church, we had never once sung that particular hymn. I don't know who or why someone there picked that song for Mother's Day, but I do know with all my heart I believe God had His hand in their decision, just because He wanted to give me a special gift and let me know how loved I am.

So to anyone needing encouragement - know you are loved by Almighty God who knit you together in your mother's womb. He loves you way too much to forget about you, today or any other day.

I can hear Jack upstairs waking up from his nap, so it's time to close. Motherly duties call!

Finally Feeling Better!

It is amazing how much brighter the world seems when you get to feeling well after a long illness. Not that I should really categorize the past 2 months as a "long illness" in the strictest sense, but boy, it sure feels like it!

Beginning in March, we kept going around and around with series of colds, ear infections, sinus infections, and then after that about 3 weeks ago Jack and I both caught a virus that literally knocked us flat for over a week. I learned that taking care of a sick toddler while being sick yourself was just about the toughest thing I've done for a while. There was one morning where instead of making my typical "to do" list, I just told myself..."All you have to do today is survive. That's it." And of course, we did.

We have finally started to fully recover, and in the mean time we're trying to get out and get back in contact with the outside world again. I feel like we fell off the face of the earth there for a while. We are having a good week, though. The weather has been beautiful here in Georgia lately - not too hot and humid yet - and Lyle, Jack, and I are back into our regular routines with work and daycare.

Speaking of daycare, Jack has recently moved from the baby class up to the "big boy" class. That's been quite a milestone. He's finally adjusting there, I think, and he seems to like all the activity, but it was a tough transition there for a while. There were a few mornings when I brought him into the class, stood him up on the floor, and he would just cling to my leg and cry. Is there really a worse feeling in the world than leaving your toddler when they're screaming, and all they want is YOU? I know they stop crying after a few minutes - those short attention spans really are good for something - but, oh, what a horrible way to start the day!

So I'm glad we're past that phase now, too. In a nutshell, March and April I would not want to repeat, although we did get some surprising good news during the month of March. But I shall save that for a future blog!

Jack's First Birthday - Party #1

This is called Party #1, because there were officially three days of celebration over the event of Jack's first birthday. The partying began on Thursday, February 25, a day before his actual birthday, and ended on Saturday when Aunt Sarah, Uncle Nathan, Cousin Lauren, and Cousin Benjamin could come to our house for a celebration.

Party #1 was in Jack's class at daycare. He was rather grumpy that day, unfortunately, and kept crawling away from me when I would approach him with a birthday hat. (Maybe he feels like with his helmet, that's the most hats he can wear at one time!)

We took pictures with his little classmates - Christina, Lauren, and Dane - then ate some lunch, but then the REAL partying began when we brought out the cupcakes. They were the tiny cupcakes that it takes an adult two bites to finish...or they can take Jack just one handful! He had the entire cupcake in his mouth before we'd even finished singing Happy Birthday!

The most memorable event was when the boy in the highchair next to him, Dane, was holding a cupcake in his hand, not quite sure what to do with it. Quick as a wink, Jack grabbed Dane's cupcake and put that one in his mouth, too! The moms all got a kick out of that one.

That's our Jack - the boy sure does like to eat.

Too Many Excuses...

...But most of them are really worth going into as far as why I have not published a recent blog.

Maybe I should try a "New Year's Resolution" to blog more, although with the current pace we've been keeping, I honestly don't think it will help!

Part of the reason why we've had our hands full recently, as you'll see in this video, is that Jack has suddenly gone from being our baby (who we could sit in the middle of the floor and he would play contentedly), to "Now I'm a pre-toddler, and I'm into everything!"

This new phase of crawling, pulling up, pulling things over, climbing up stairs, and just generally wreaking havoc around the house (he broke a lamp today, for example) certainly has its challenges. But it also has its joys. Jack is such a happy little boy. He loves to laugh, and we love to laugh with him. He's obsessed with Roscoe and thinks that the doggie is so funny! To give you an idea how much he likes Roscoe, the three words he can definitely say now are Dada, Mama, and Doga.

Here are Jack and Roscoe in action. Be sure to turn up the volume so you can hear the cute "baby laugh." I'll try and post more soon - this is just to get me back in the habit, so to speak.

Proud Moments Prayerfully to Come

When I was pregnant and the tears came easily, I blamed it on the crazy hormones. After I had Jack and the tears still kept coming easily, I said it was post-partum. And by and large, it was. However, these days, there are just some surprising moments every now and then where I find myself with tears in my eyes, and I just didn't see it coming.

Can't blame it on the pregnancy, the hormones, or the post-partum. Guess it's just part of being a mom.

I had one of these moments yesterday morning in church. At the end of the service, the pastor said they were going to have one baptism that day. It was an 8-year-old boy with blonde hair named Christian. After he and one of the other pastors waded down into the baptismal, the pastor placed his hand on Christian's shoulder and asked him, "Christian, have you accepted Jesus into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior?"

Unconcerned of the hundreds of people that were watching him at just that moment, Christian looked up at the pastor and answered quite solemnly, "Yes, sir. I have."

And then I found myself with tears in my eyes as I watched him go under the water and come back up. All I could think about was how I cannot wait for the day that will hopefully and prayerfully come when I see someone ask my own little boy that question, and Jack will respond in the affirmative just as Christian did. I thought that that must be just about one of the proudest moments in life that a parent can have. I cannot imagine anything that would make me happier.

Even though Jack is just an infant now, moments like this are good reminders for me because they inspire me to want to show Jack Christ's love right now, not tomorrow, not the next day, but now. It's so easy for me to get wrapped up in the daily grind of diapers, baby food, trips to the grocery store, and then other days where I get to wear my Business Analyst hat for most of the day. It's like watching it rain and only focusing on the raindrops as they fall, forgetting that they pool together on the ground in a big puddle. Our days as we go through them seem so individual, but really they run together and create patterns and habits for living that pool together to make up our entire lives.

I want to give this idea some more thought about raindrops and puddles...which will probably be easy to do as they are calling for five inches of rain tomorrow thanks to Hurricane Ida. I think when it comes to changing my focus from the temporal to the timeless, I need all the help I can get!

October in a Nutshell

I cannot believe I have gone a whole month without a blog post. Bad, bad Mommy!

The month of October has been full of challenges but also excitement. As far as the challenges, Jack has been sick for much of the month which has not been fun. He had a couple of painful, fussy days of teething towards the beginning of the month, then he had an ear infection, then rounded out the past few weeks by getting a cold. He had to get a second round of antibiotics from the ear infection--I sure hope we're past all that now. He seems to be doing well lately, though, which has been so nice. It was tough around here for a couple of weeks. My heart goes out to those of you that have or have had children who get sick easily and often!

The flipside with his illnesses this past month is that he has grown in leaps and bounds with some new motor skills and developments. He now is a pro at clapping his hands, rolling over, pushing way up on his tummy, and even scooting backwards. I must admit, it is a strange feeling to walk away from him and then come back and find him in a different spot and/or position on the floor! I'm not used to that yet (but I better get there fast, huh?)

We also have continued to have the visits to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta about his head shape. At the end of September he was showing two months worth of improvement, but at the end of October his skull had not grown enough for them to tell anything conclusively. The doctor said it made sense because he had been sick so much, so his body had not really had a chance to grow because it was too busy fighting off illness. So...we have to go back there in yet another month for a re-evaluation.

Another interesting part of last month is that Lyle and I decided that we want to try and move to Peachtree City. There are a number of reasons why we'd like to move, and with the current housing market, provided we can sell our house here, we're hoping to get a good deal on our next place. We spent a couple different weekends in October visiting and driving around in Peachtree City.

So these are exciting times...life is definitely fun these days with our little pumpkin!

Fun with Rody

Meet Rody. He is an inflatable toy that was a garage sale find on our recent trip to Arkansas. We're not quite sure if he's supposed to be a donkey or a chubby horse, although a donkey sure is a strange toy for a kid. Anyway, apparently they are big in Europe, which is not terribly surprising. Doesn't he look like something you would find at IKEA?

Jack is not quite big enough to ride Rody by himself, of course, but he's already excited about the prospect as he continues to grow and get better balance. Jack loves to bounce so much. Sometimes I think he is two parts Sewall and one part Tigger!

Here's a minute of Jack and me having fun with Rody last week.

Little Rock Trip - Jim's Wedding

I'm a week late posting this, but the weekend was a pretty big deal, so it at least deserves a blog post, I reckon. (The above pic is blurry, but you get the idea...it was fun for all of us to dress up!)

The weekend of September 12, Lyle, Jack, and I drove to Little Rock, AR, for the wedding of Jim Phillips (he was the best man at our wedding). We split up the driving on the way there, and stayed Thursday night in Tupelo, Mississippi. We finished the remainder of the trip on Friday morning, and when we went to the tux place on Friday afternoon in downtown Little Rock we happened to run into the groom himself who was there at the same time! It was a great coincidence and fun to introduce Jack to Mr. Jim.

We then met up with John and Gloria at the home of new friends Robbie & Marie, who graciously let us stay at their house. The rehearsal dinner was Friday night, and it was fun to visit with some of Lyle's old friends, many of whom I had never met before. Jack stayed at Robbie & Marie's with his grandmommy and granddaddy, although I heard later he was not a very happy camper that night before bedtime!

Saturday morning we had a yummy breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. Any idea when we'll get one of those in the South Metro Atlanta area?? They are fabulous. The afternoon drifted away before we knew it, and then it was time for the wedding!

It was a beautiful wedding - lots of fall colors and pretty flowers - and Jack fell asleep through it, so we brought him inside the chapel instead of walking him in his stroller the whole time out in the hallway as we had planned to do. He went to the first part of the reception with us, but he really wasn't all that up for partying, so he went home a little early with John and Gloria. Too bad...I think he would have liked to dance to YMCA if given the chance.

Sunday was a looooonnnnnggggg ride home, but after such a fun weekend it was well worth it. Many thanks to John, Gloria, Robbie, and Marie who helped us out so much!

He's six months old already?!?

Man, time flies when you have a little one. It seems like we were just bringing home our adorable dark-haired "Hungry Jack" home from the hospital, and now he's half a year old already! I feel like I'm going to turn around and the next thing I know we're out picking out colleges. Scary.

Here are the official stats: At six months, Jack weighs 25 lbs, 9 oz, and he measured 29 and 1/2 inches long. So, that means he's almost tripled his birth weight and he's grown a whopping 8 inches in length! The boy is so tall! He's wearing 18 month clothes these days, and many of them I have a hard time snapping underneath his bottom because his torso is so long. He's basically built like a baby linebacker.

As far as what he's doing, he sits up very well by himself these days, loves to play with toys, loves music and listening to me sing, eats very well with a spoon, and is so stinking close to rolling over! He pretty much rolled all the way over a few days ago, and just as Lyle and I were holding our breath to watch him go all the way, he reversed course at the last second and flung back around. So even though he was close, he still has not "officially" rolled over. He loves bouncing in the Exersaucer but even more so in the Johnny Jumper. Lately he has started "crib-spinning" when he gets bored in the nursery, and I don't come in soon enough to get him out of bed. He's quite the pro at turning himself around in strange directions in that crib. Let's see, what else...he makes lots of noises with his mouth (mostly buzzing his lips) but occasionally shrieking or laughing. He loves to stick his tongue out. He seems to prefer vegetables to fruit, which is strange. He likes carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, applesauce, and pears. He does not like bananas or peaches. Who ever heard of a baby who doesn't like bananas? I thought all kids ate bananas!

I mentioned earlier that we had a dark-haired newborn six months ago. These days Jack's hair is a lovely shade of sandy light brown. His hair never did fall out, though, despite the many mothers who assured me it would when he was born with a head full of hair. His eyes are a strange color still somewhere between brown and blue. I think Lyle's and my genes are still at war for Jack's eyes.
As far as disposition, Jack loves to be where the people are! For the most part he is very laid back and "chill." He's very sweet and cuddly still, which I love, and he does this shy smile when he meets strangers that absolutely melts your heart. The owner at his daycare asked me the other day, "So, I just have to ask...is he really this good all the time?" I was only about as proud as a mother can be when I happily told her, "Yes, he really is."

Jack's First Christmas

Yes, I know, it's only September 1, so it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas, but this year I can't help it. But it's not just for the reasons you might think...


Here are some of the obvious reasons I hope December 25 comes quickly.


This year will be my first Christmas at home (YAY!) with Lyle since we have been married. It is Christmas #4 for us, and the previous 3 years we have always traveled. So another thing I'm looking forward to is really decorating the house since we will be here this time around. I hope we can start some family traditions of our own this year. I also can't wait to help Jack open his presents and then watch in amusement as he probably will be more entertained by trying to eat the boxes instead of actually playing with his gifts. Just having him here with us this year on Christmas morning will be such a blessing.


However, the real reason I'm talking about Christmas today doesn't at all have to do with the tangible aspects of the holiday. I'm writing about Christmas because of what it will mean to me spiritually this year, which is something I don't want to allow myself to forget...especially knowing that once Black Friday arrives it will be a mad rush to buy presents and attend parties and do all those crazy things that make Americans love and hate the month of December at the same time.


Last year Christmas had special meaning for me since I was about 7 months pregnant with Jack at the time. Boy, did I empathize with Mary in a new way! (Traveling to Bethlehem on a donkey, are you kidding me??)


But this year, my first year of becoming a parent, my first year having my own son...I already know that I will have a different perspective when I think about Jesus' birth. It hit me this past Sunday in church during Communion.


God sent His Son.


Not just an ordinary messenger, not one of His angels, not a highly trusted business associate. He sent His Son.

Wow. When I think about how I love Jack, I think of so many things. Snuggling his little head on my cheek as he's falling asleep in the rocking chair with me, wrapping him up tightly in his Winnie the Pooh towel after I give him a bath, tickling his tummy to make him squeal that delicious little "baby laugh" of his...the list could go on and on. Love doesn't just have one meaning for how I feel; it has several: protection, devotion, wonder, sacrifice, and affection, just to name a few. And all of these things come from my imperfect, selfish little heart! How much greater must the Father love the Son, when the Father's heart is perfect. I can't even try to put my brain around that one.

God sent His Son.

God sent Him knowing the abuse and treatment Jesus would receive while here on earth. Would any of us as parents knowingly leave our children with someone who would abuse them? Of course not! So does that make God a bad parent? What seems to be the greatest contradiction is in actuality the most beautiful part - He did it out of love for us! Me and you! He wanted to make us His children, too.

Oh, how I pray that we can communicate these amazing truths to Jack as he grows into a little boy across the Christmases. The gifts we can buy for him will only last a short time until they either break, or he outgrows them.

But if we tell him about God's Gift and we live it out in our lives...

Why, that is the Gift that lasts forever.

Fun with Fruit

This is just a short post. But it pretty much sums up what we've been doing new recently. Jack has started solid foods in the past few weeks. He'd been eating rice cereal for a while, but now we're expanding his horizons to fruits and veggies.

As soon as I gave Jack his first spoonful of pears I knew we had to get this on video. So Lyle got the camera going in time for Bite #3. I'm not completely sure...but I *think* he liked it.

Growing in the Right Direction!

On Tuesday we had our follow-up visit in North Atlanta with the orthotics / prosthetics specialists about the shape of Jack's head. I am very excited to report that he was down from 11.8 mm asymmetric to 9.9 mm!! That probably doesn't mean anything to most people, but this is actually very good news. The specialist was very excited that he had that much positive growth in just one month. If we can get him down to 7 mm then he'll be within normal range, and we won't have to even question the whole "Should we or shouldn't we get him a helmet?" thing.

Lyle and I were both extremely encouraged after this visit (and Jack would be, too, if he knew what was going on!) If you think of us, please pray that Jack's head will keep growing in the right shape to correct this problem. Thank you!!

Moments of Serenity and Insanity

The other day I had this great idea for a blog post. It was going to be about enjoying the moments of serenity and gratitude that come into our lives and taking each beautiful moment as they come. It was going to be one of those things that I would feel better after writing and you would feel better after reading. It was supposed to be something that would inspire all of us just to be thankful for happy little blissful moments as they are sprinkled throughout our day-to-day lives.

Here's the backdrop...

Thursday night around 9 p.m. I had just finished getting Jack to go to sleep. I went downstairs and ate some of Lyle's German chocolate birthday cake and ice cream and joined my husband to snuggle up on the sofa and watch the last part of a documentary on PBS. (PBS on a Thursday night at the Sewall house...woo hoo!)

Anyway, I settled into our sofa and my mind drifted away from the television to just thinking about how happy, thankful, and peaceful I felt that night. I had so many things to be thankful for...Jack is doing well and just knowing he was safely asleep in his crib upstairs made me happy. Plus, it was Thursday night which meant that there was only one more day to the work week before the weekend. Plus, I was just happy to be cuddled up with Lyle and eating my favorite kind of cake. Life was good.

So I had fully decided to write a nice tranquil post telling us all we should appreciate each and every moment of our lives including all the little things that make life sweet. Like German chocolate cake.

However, the weekend got in the way and tonight was the first time I had some down time to even really think about composing my little Oprahesque messaged blog. And after the events of tonight...I don't really feel so stinking serene anymore, so I'm not really sure what the message is now.

My emotions were already on a roller coaster because of the book I've been reading this weekend. It is an allegory similar to Pilgrim's Progress, and I remember my mom often saying it was one of her favorite books. The simple truths in this book have humbled me to the point of tears in revealing to me how far away from God I have strayed in my spiritual walk. So I had just been thinking how ironic it was that I felt like this was my mom's way of getting me back "on track," so to speak, and all these thoughts were making me rather emotional. I was feeding Jack upstairs in his room when this was going on, when suddenly, Jack started coughing. Well, the coughing turned into full-fledged vomiting, and the next thing I know I have a very wide-awake child on my lap whose jammies are now soaked. Plus I needed to go change my own clothes again...I think it was the third time today??

It was another hour before I was able to get Jack to go sleep again after that and needless to say, the serenity and gratitude of Thursday night feels clean out of my system -no pun intended.

What is the lesson here? Am I just one passenger of many on this crazy ride called the first year of motherhood? How do we learn to swallow (and keep down!) the sweet moments in life along with the bitter ones? How do we keep our hearts filled with gratitude and love when sometimes we just feel like screaming and running away? How is it that sometimes we can feel so in control and at peace with our circumstances and other times we feel like we're just being dragged along for the ride?

I'm not posting any answers tonight. Maybe those will come in the morning. Tonight is just for questions. I guess it's okay to go to bed feeling a bit overwhelmed, puzzled, and yes, even humbled sometimes. Maybe especially humbled. And if I am feeling thankful for something small tonight, at least I can go to bed with a dry pair of clothes on.

Over the river and through the woods...

...To the north Georgia mountains we went!

Last week Lyle, Jack, and I escaped for a few days to the beautiful country near Blue Ridge and Ellijay, Georgia. I felt like I was back in southwest Virginia for a few days - it was great.


We rented a cabin that was a mile and a half up a very steep and narrow gravel road. But once you got there, it was well worth the trip. Here's the view we had from our back porch.


Our trip started off a bit rough...I caught the rest of the virus that Jack had had the week before, which really tore up my stomach for a few hours. But it didn't stop us from hiking the Amicalola Falls the next day. All 425 steps of it!

The next day, we took a train ride (the first for Jack!) from Blue Ridge to Copperhill, Tennessee. What a fun adventure! When we got there, we had enough time to eat lunch at a Mexican restaurant, walk around a bit, and then catch the train back. The weather cooperated the whole time we were there, too. It was a little cooler than it's been here in Hot-lanta.

As you can see in the background of this picture, Roscoe came on this vacation with us. I guess it was better than the kennel for him, but boy, he was one stressed-out pup the whole time we were there. Too many new smells in an unfamiliar place, I guess.

Jack was much more laid back about traveling.



We tried to take a family picture with the timer, and it sorta worked, but it looks over-exposed. (Yes, we are all pale, but we're not THAT pale!)

Overall, it was great to get away for a few days. The cabin was very cozy, and we'd love to do this again maybe with some more people next time. I really missed a lot of the "creature comforts" for Jack that we've gotten used to at home! I bet other moms know exactly what I mean...things like the Johnny-jumper, the Exersaucer, and the high chair really make life with a baby a lot easier.

So...even though it was a great trip, it was good to come home, too!

Is it time for a vacation yet?

Thankfully, the answer to that question is actually, "Almost!"

This past week seemed like one of the longest I can remember for a while. Lyle was off this week for the plant shutdown, so I decided to work all 5 days. I should have known by last Sunday night that we were going to be in for a crazy week. That night Jack just decided at 2:30 a.m. that he was tired of sleeping for a while. No real reason, he was just very awake! So Lyle and I took turns with him until about 4:30 when Jack fell back asleep. He must have realized that it really was still night-time after all.

Wednesday was stressful because pretty much out of the blue, Jack refused to drink a bottle at daycare, so I ended up rushing home that afternoon to feed the poor guy. That night we made a Wal-Mart run to try a couple of different types of bottles that he might like better. (No real luck, by the way, on that one). That battle is still on-going. The next day, when I got home Thursday night I noticed that his skin looked a little spotty. He didn't have a fever, so I thought we would wait another day before we took him to the doctor.

Friday morning we were scheduled to have an appointment in North Atlanta with a specialist to talk about Jack's head shape. Note to self: Do NOT try to schedule another 8:30 a.m. appointment on the north side of town!! Stupid, stupid, stupid me. What a stressful morning. The appointment went okay and we really liked the doctor, but by the time we left, we found ourselves driving straight back to Stockbridge for an appointment with Jack's pediatrician. The spots we noticed Thursday had turned into a full-blown head-to-toe rash by Friday. The doctor said it was a viral rash and not an allergic reaction to anything, which is what I had assumed it was. Thankfully, he said it would pass and that Jack had already been dealing with the virus even before the rash showed up. This explained some of the fussiness and odd sleeping patterns we'd noticed in the past week. There were a few more complications Friday that made the day even more hectic, but you get the picture, right?

Suffice it to say, by the time the weekend finally arrived we were both completely and utterly exhausted!

Lesson Anne has learned this week: Be Flexible. Just when you think you've gotten yourself and the baby into a nice routine and things are going smoothly, something is inevitably bound to occur to change things up. Whether it's a trip, a virus, a growth spurt, or all of the above, that routine you've come to enjoy won't stay permanent for too long. But I guess that's what keeps things interesting, isn't it?

And P.S. - Jack's skin is back to normal now, which is a huge relief. Now only if he'll take a bottle tomorrow when I'm at work!

Blue or Brown? We can't decide...

It is so fun these days to see things come out in Jack that are hints of his personality to come.

First of all, we think Jack will be an extravert. He really likes to be where the people are! He's a big fan of his exersaucer these days, but he likes it best if you're in the room with him. He'll bounce and bounce as long as you're there, but if you get out of his sight, he's not a happy camper. The same thing happens at dinner. He doesn't like it if he's in his bouncy chair and we're at the table. He likes it much better to be sitting on my lap and being part of the conversation!

Second, we think he might be a leftie like his dad. I have no idea when this really starts to emerge in children, but so far Jack seems to prefer to grasp toys with his left hand. He seems to use his right hand as more of a secondary support for the toys. I'll be curious to see if this one pans out.

Speaking of whom...I know this pic is blurry - but doesn't he look like his daddy in this one??

And finally, there are his eyes. It is the strangest thing, some days they look just as clear blue as they can be. Then the next day they will be brown. Then the next day they'll be blue again. It's like his genes can't decide who's going to win this one yet!

Here's my hungry cutie...Jack has started eating rice cereal in the past week, and he is a huge fan! He was starting to get hungry all the time, so thanks to some advice from Aunt Amy we went ahead and tried some rice cereal with him. He was hooked after the first time! He still has a little trouble with the spoon, but boy is it cute to hear him get so excited to eat! MMMmmmmm!!!