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.