1 month old!!

Well part of me feels like 'where did the time go??' and part of me feels like this has been the longest month of my life.  :-)  But despite the lack of sleep and all the other challenges we've had, this has been by far the best month of our lives.

Everett is ONE MONTH old!!!  (Ok, he's 5 weeks old and I took this picture when he was 5 weeks, but that's pretty much how things go for me, so we might as well start out with honesty!)

A lot of this is going to just be for me to remember in the future, so if you're bored out of your mind reading this and stop here at this cute picture, I'm not offended!

In the first month of life, Everett:

Had (and still has) some serious trouble gaining weight.  We are still trying to figure out exactly what's going on with that.  As of his 5 week appointment, he weighed 7 lb 7 ounces, which was one ounce above his birth weight.   So we will be going back to the doctor on Thursday (again... for the 5th time... they know us by name now!) to check the weight again.  He only gained one ounce last week (they are supposed to gain one ounce a day) which I can not figure out because he ate a lot more last week than usual but oh well.  We'll figure it out.  I really like his pediatrician so that helps with all this.

Has 'silent' reflux.  Meaning that he has reflux but it doesn't come all the way up.  So it burns on the way up and then on the way back down.  Poor guy.  You can tell when this is bothering him.  We are trying Prevacid right now and just increased the dosage so I'm really hoping that starts helping.

Has some trouble breathing when he eats and sometimes when he sleeps.  It scares me to death when I can hear him struggling to breathe while he's sleeping but the doctors don't seemed too worried.  Apparently it can be a flap in his esophagus that just needs to develop further, and there's nothing to be done about that, or it can be related to the reflux.  We're still working on figuring that out too.  The great news is that they sent us to a pediatric cardiologist to make sure it was nothing major and his heart is perfect.  :-)  So in 5 weeks of life, Everett has been to the pediatrician 5 times, and to see a cardiologist and ENT, as well as had his tongue clipped in the hospital by a pediatric surgeon.  Poor little guy!

Can just about full-on smile!!  This is my absolute favorite thing.  (Ok this didn't happen in the first month, it happened in the last week, but still.)  I have to make a complete fool out of myself to get him to do it, and he still only smiles with the right side of his mouth, but he's so close!  And he looks right at my eyes now and follows me with his eyes when I'm walking around.  So fun!

Loves to lay on his belly.  Sometimes (if he's next to me on the couch or something - don't worry) I lay him on his tummy to nap.

Loves the swing!  I can only leave him in there for about 15 minutes before he falls asleep, but he'll sit in there happily and watch the mobile, so it gives me a little bit of 'awake' time where he's occupied.  He does not like to be left alone and not held, so I'm limited in what to do with him during the day when he's not sleeping (unless I want to listen to him cry).

Is really good at holding his head up.  He loves to be held upright and look around.

Loves the paci.  I was a little worried he had stopped loving it, but we switched to a different kind and we're in love again.  Phew.  I really like having that to soothe him, especially when we're out.

Loves to be outside, especially if one of us is wearing him.

Is a really, really good sleeper.  He'll usually give me 6-7 hours between two of his feedings at night.  (We only go 2.5-3 hours during the day.)  We're working on getting into a better routine during the day/night so I can better predict when he'll be up.  The problem is that when he wakes up early in the morning, I feed him and stick him back in bed so I can get more sleep.  :-)  If I actually had a 'wake up' time that I stuck to, I think we'd be in better shape but so far I haven't been able to talk myself into staying up in the morning yet.  He slept 5 hours for the first time before he was 2 weeks old.

Had a couple really rough days where his days and nights were mixed up.  We wound up letting him finally cry after that so he could figure out that he had to sleep some at night, and crying it out with him was an absolute disaster.  He wound up crying for about 24 solid hours and we wound up feeling like the worst parents ever.  Thankfully we're past that and sleeping good (usually) at night and still napping pretty good (usually) during the day.

Is so. stinking. cute.  He's got a milk belly now, but he's still super skinny everywhere else.  He has really long fingers and toes, and lots of extra skin to grow into!  He loves to cuddle, which we take advantage of quite a bit.  He loves to be swaddled, and we're still making him wear mittens because he sticks his thumbs in his mouth and the rest of his fingers either in his eyes or dug into his face.  (He is NOT  a fan of this mittens!  He tried hard to suck on his hands through them.)  We just love discovering all the sweet little parts of his personality and watching him learn to interact a little bit.  He's started to sort of coo at us, and he's developed this pitiful, 'someone pay attention to me' cry that is clearly different from his 'I'm furious' cry.  There is a serious learning curve to being first-time parents but we are loving it.

Can't wait to see what's in the months to come!!

Family of Three

Well we are officially a family of three.  :-)  Little Everett made his arrival on September 28th and made us parents!

Isn't he perfect?  It's been a challenging few weeks but we think he's pretty great.  I think we heard about nine bajillion times before he was born that having kids will change your life dramatically.  I think it's just like everything else in life - no one can really explain it to you until you do it.  It certainly changes your life in an instant.  But I don't think you can really understand in what ways until you do it.  And of course Patrick and I, being the low maintenance, low expectations kind of people that we are, always adapt to change perfectly right from the beginning.  :-)

But really, he is a fabulous dad.  And although I've already put this picture on every other form of social media I could find, I will put it here as well.

Isn't that adorable??

More blogging to come!

In Christ Alone

We sang that song at our wedding, and that is one reason it will always hold a special place in my heart. The other (and significantly more important) reason is this:

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

I listened to an old podcast by Ben Stuart this morning and he was saying that a lot of times our response to the fact that 'He is risen!' is 'Yeah ok.' So may we spend this Easter with a true response of excitement for the fact that we serve the one and only God who is risen, and an appreciation for the sacrifices it took to get there.

Happy Easter friends! He is risen!

And speaking of weddings... Congratulations to Elijah and Krista! We are so excited for you!

Compassion International

Remember that time I had a blog? I feel like I'm always thinking 'as soon as I get through _____ I'll have time to breathe.' And then whatever I was working on is over and the next thing is right behind it. Thus completely ignoring the blog.

But that's not at all the point of this post. I have been surrounded by Compassion International lately. Our church church is extremely missions-oriented. They partner with Compassion and many, many others. Recently there was a woman who came and spoke at our church that was a Compassion child and now works in social services in Atlanta. It was extremely touching and she just couldn't say enough about how much she valued the people who sponsored her. My mom and sister went to El Salvador over the summer with Compassion and got to meet their Compassion family. The children (and families of the children) who are sponsored through Compassion are SO, so grateful. Our pastor went on one of many trips with them several years back and as soon as he entered the home of one family, they went and showed him an old microwave that they had painted and were using as storage in their house, and it was the place where they kept their letters from their Compassion sponsors. It was the first thing they showed him when he arrived, their most prized possession. The woman who spoke at our church said the same thing. She lived for letters from her sponsors.

This is Sterline.

Patrick and I have sponsored her for years now. We try to do a good job of writing her fairly regularly, but I really want to do a better job of writing more often. (Especially since Compassion now lets you send emails and upload pictures online to send to your sponsored child. I really have absolutely no excuse not to do it.) Sterline lives in Haiti, near Port Au Prince. Luckily, she lived through all the destruction in her area. Well ok, we know it's not luck, but we won't go there right now. That, again, is not the point of this. The things that gets me about Sterline is the things that she writes to us. When I look at our lives compared to hers, the difference is honestly ridiculous. When we think of things that are going on with us to write her about, if we think about it in the same way we would be sending an email to a friend, it's typically things like a vacation we recently went on, or updates we're making to our house, or Patrick is training for a marathon, or whatever. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those things.

However, on our honeymoon, we sent her a postcard from Maui because we were thinking of her. She loved it and said it was beautiful. And that she had never seen the beach. Y'all. She lives in Haiti, which is an island. Not far from Port Au Prince, which is ON the water. And she has never seen the beach. She has never left her little village. She ended her letter by stating that her parents were having trouble getting work and then asked 'is there poverty in your country?'

Here's the thing. I don't think there's anything wrong with us telling her about our lives, the way they really are. I don't think that we're flaunting how wonderful our lives are to her, and I don't think she's ever felt that we are. I think she likes to hear about the things we do. I don't think she was trying to be rude when she ended a letter about our vacation asking if there was poverty in our country. She was 9. But of course she wonders that... of course she wonders how in the world there could be poverty in a country full of Americans who can afford to sponsor Compassion children and go on vacations. Of course she wonders that... when we give her money at Christmas, she uses it to buy rice. When I get gift cards or money of any kind, it's a given that it won't be used on a necessity. It's a gift. In my world, gifts are for luxuries. In hers, they are for eating.

Again, I don't think there is anything fundamentally wrong with us taking vacations or buying things or whatever. I don't think there's anything wrong with sharing things that excite us with our Compassion kids. But her description of her life, and her wonder at a vacation, is a sobering reminder of how much they need us. And when we think about how much money to give her for Christmas, or her birthday, or just in general, it's good to remember she's going to use it for food. And when I get an email asking if I'd like to consider visiting my Compassion child, and my first thought is that no, I really have no interest in visiting Haiti, it's a very good reminder that in fact it does not matter one bit whether I'd like to visit Haiti. It matters that I know it would change my life to see Sterline in her life. And the fact that her sponsors would come to Haiti to visit her would hopefully speak to her about how much she really does matter to us. That even though she is one of MANY children living in poverty in Haiti, she matters. In reality, we aren't just sponsoring Sterline. We're feeding her parents as well. When she needs medicine, it comes from Compassion. When she hears about Jesus, it comes from Compassion. She has stated in every last letter we have gotten from her that she is praying for us. We get updates every now and then about Sterline, and sometimes she is a 'below average' student. But she loves Jesus and she prays and that matters a LOT more than being an 'above average' student. I think I have a lot to learn from Sterline.

I know there's not a huge following on this blog, especially since I haven't used it in so long. But in case you stumble upon it, please PLEASE consider sponsoring a child through Compassion. There are so many kids waiting on sponsors. It's not terribly expensive, and many of them literally need it to survive. Everyone who has an experience with Compassion International reaffirms that they are doing amazing things around the world, and they are using their resources in the best way possible. It's a very well-respected organization. Please consider sponsoring, and if you do, please remember to write to your child.

And that is all! Maybe I'll blog again before 2013.

Show Us Your Life- Crockpotapalooza

I'm not typically one for linking up on here (and by not typically, I mean never), but I love this recipe to such a ridiculous degree, I can't pass up the chance to share. So I'm linking to Kelly's Korner's Crockpotapalooza.

This is my go-to 'someone had a baby' or 'someone got sick' or 'I really like you' dish. It's so, SO easy. And delicious. And I just had cereal for dinner and I am REALLY wishing I had this now!

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
A few shakes of onion powder
2 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth

Directions

Place the chicken, butter, soup, and onion powder in a slow cooker, and cover with chicken broth.
Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 90 minutes before serving, shred the chicken. Place it back in the slow cooker and add the torn biscuit dough. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

Don't skip this recipe. I promise.

Happy crockpot cooking!

OBX

We went on vacation last week with 21 of my family members. Honestly I had some slight concerns that it wouldn't measure up to our Cancun trip last year (LOVED Cancun!) but I have to say I think it did. I love my extended family and wish we could see them more often, so to have them all in one place for 8 days was really, really fun times.

We went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina and I would recommend that place to anyone. It's awesome.

There are about 9234890 pictures to be seen, but here's a pic of the cousins with my grandparents.



Wish I was there right now!

the not-so-million-dollar question

You know how when you're like in 5th grade, and you're trying to figure out what you wanna be when you grow up, that silly test they have you take asks you 'if money was not an obstacle, what would you want to do?' And typically you wind up being like a stargazer or a trash collect or something?

(Insert quote from The West Wing regarding the importance of trash collectors in society.)

Well if we all started living on monopoly money or it grew on trees or something, I would hang out with teenagers every day. Patrick and I returned from youth camp last night. I. love. camp. Truthfully, there are very few places I would rather be than at youth camp. Returning is the pits. Except of course that it means I don't have to sleep in those terrible beds anymore. Or eat the food. But other than that.

The speaker was really good, the kids responded to him well, and I personally thoroughly enjoyed myself. The thing about youth camp is that when I describe it without being there, it sounds terrible. Tons of time outside in the heat. Bunk beds that are specially created by camps all over the country to be the least comfortable thing imaginable. Tons of fried food for lunch when it's over 100 degrees outside. A camp staff that is less than spectacular and ridiculous rules galore. Having something on my schedule from 7 am to midnight. Never fails, a clogged toilet every single year. (This year's was especially yucky. That's all you need to know.)

I mean it really doesn't sound all that enjoyable. It's a hot, jam-packed, often gross, exhausting time. But throw in some teenagers and some water games and you've got yourself a party. I absolutely love it. My face hurts from laughing so hard by the end of it.

And just because I've been so severely lacking in the picture department, here are two of the reasons I love it so much:



Happy summer, folks! I hope you get to go to camp!