Things That Make Me Happy

After the last post, we really needed some happy news! So here goes....

Paul's mom sent us a Roomba for Christmas. Yes, it actually vacuums your floors while you watch! Rejoice, women everywhere!

Christopher is getting better and better at tummy time. Here his head is even turned to the left to look in the mirror.

Andrew is looking more and more like a little man. Here he is before church this morning. I love this picture!

He has made everything beautiful in its time.
Ecclesiastes 3:11

Things That Make Me Sad

We got a new roof this week, which is actually a good thing. Because of a hail storm back in the summer, our insurance covered everything. However, it certainly made a huge mess before it was finished!
And having people hammering on your roof for two straight days was NOT good for children napping. Poor Christopher really had a hard time. Happily, the new roof is finished and looks great.

However, as the roofers were leaving on Wednesday, they actually saw 30-50 bats fly out of the eaves of our house over our driveway (from the area above our family room, if you have been in our house). Little, flying bats. Gross, gross, gross. Paul did some internet research Wednesday night and Thursday morning - not a good idea, as it was even more disturbing. So on Thursday we called the only company in the yellow pages that said they dealt with bats: "Critter Solutions." Seriously?

Anyway, the man who came to our house was very nice, very knowledgeable, and very affordable. Here's what he told us:
* The strange stuff we had been finding on the driveway for several weeks are actually their droppings. Again - gross, gross, gross. And the squeaking I heard that I thought was a bird nest is actually the bats. Is your skin crawling yet?
* The bats do not all leave together in the evening. So we have more bats than the roofers saw. More good news.
* You cannot kill bats because they are protected. Seriously?!?

Here is his plan of attack:
1. Attach a trap to the eaves for TWO WEEKS. How festive is that for the holidays? The bats will be able to fly out of our house, through the trap, and into the "wild" (or our neighborhood). However, they will not be able to fly back into our house because of the trap. The trap has to stay for two weeks because bats don't like cold weather, and it will probably take a while for all the mothers and babies to leave. Lovely.
2. Once the bats are gone, he will clean up where they have been.
3. Then he will "bat-proof" the rest of our house to keep them from re-entering somewhere else. We are very anxious for this, as our neighbor told us the former owners of this house had bats in the exact same place.
4. Everything comes with a 2-year warranty. I like that part, but we may have to move in December of 2011....

And yes, you can cue the "Batman" theme at this point!

You may eat any clean bird. But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture...and the bat.
Deuteronomy 14:11-18

More Videos

Andrew's new racetrack



Christopher is getting better at finding his thumb

In the Christmas Spirit

This is one of Andrew's favorite Christmas books. It's called "That's Not My Reindeer," and our friends in England sent it to him last year. As you can see, he's learning to memorize books he really likes.



Another attempt to capture Christopher's smiles



The lighting here is not very good, but these are my two favorite things for Andrew to say this season.

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home....
Deuteronomy 6:6-7

More Doctors

Today was Amy's day at the doctor! Back when Paul's mom was visiting (over a month ago), I stepped off our front porch wrong and twisted my ankle. It was really painful at that moment, but it improved pretty quickly. In fact, I only took one dose of Advil and never even iced it. After all, I had just had a baby, and I didn't have time to think about my ankle. However, it has continued to bother me, and the bone is still sensitive. So today I saw an orthopedist about it. They took x-rays, and it turns out that I actually have a tiny fracture in my ankle!

The doctor said that since it isn't displaced, there isn't really anything else to do but wait for it to heal. And since I have been walking on it this whole time, he said there was no reason to add a brace now. However, if it's still bothering me in 2 or 3 weeks, I have a referral for physical therapy. If that doesn't take care of it, then I will have to go back to the doctor. So maybe Christopher and I can be in physical therapy together!

Speaking of Christopher, here's a quick update:
He seems to have recovered from all the vaccines without any side effects. We moved him to a 3.5-hour routine today (instead of 3 hours), and so far he hasn't seemed to notice. We have his first physical therapy appointment this Thursday at noon, so we'll know more about his neck then.

Quick update on Andrew:
He is much better, although he may climb the walls or take flight from all the medication! Still, he did not seem to have any wheezing today, and we are very thankful.

The best thing about Wednesday - no doctor appointments! (so far....)

The Doctor Is In ... And So Are We!

Today was a first for me - both boys had to see the doctor. Andrew has had a slight cough since Saturday, but he was wheezing pretty badly at bedtime last night. This morning, it was even worse when he woke up, and we couldn't get him to stop after 2 breathing treatments. So I took Andrew to the walk-in clinic at our pediatrician's office. Two hours and a third breathing treatment later, we were finally finished. (Thankfully, Paul is finished at VSU for the semester, so he was able to stay at home with Christopher.)

Andrew's asthma was pretty bad at the doctor this morning, so he is on a LOT of breathing treatments plus an oral steroid. The doctor seemed fairly concerned, and really stressed how important it was to do exactly as he recommended to keep Andrew out of the hospital. Clearly, we don't have time for a hospital visit, so we are being very good patients!

Then this afternoon was Christopher's two-month check-up. This time Paul stayed home with Andrew while I was gone. Thankfully, this appointment only took 1 hour. Here are Christopher's official measurements from today.

Weight: 14 pounds, 2 ounces - 82nd percentile
Height: 24.75 inches - 89th percentile

Andrew has never been higher than the 65th percentile for weight, so we were pretty impressed. Christopher has literally gained 5 pounds in 7 weeks. Wow!

I also talked to the doctor about some concerns we had for Christopher's head and neck. His skull shape is slightly uneven on one side, but the doctor said it should be rounded by Christopher's first birthday. However, Christopher definitely favors turning his head all the way to the right - to the point that it's very difficult to get him to turn it to the left. The doctor shared our concern over this, so we have been referred for some physical therapy to try and loosen up his neck muscles. I have to wait for the PT office to call us, so I don't know any more about that yet. Then poor Christopher had 3 shots plus an oral vaccine, and then we headed home.

Honestly, we have an amazing pediatrician, but this is sort of how I feel today:
She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had....
Mark 5:26

Christopher is Two Months!

In some ways, it's hard to believe that Christopher is two months old. But he seems so big already that someone asked me this week if he was 4 or 6 months old! Our doctor's appointment is Monday, so we won't have official measurements until then. I did try to weigh him on my bathroom scale two days ago, and it suggests he may already be at 15 pounds! We'll see on Monday!

Here are a few other details about Christopher at two months:
- He is smiling more and more, and he even has a little laugh. He doesn't "talk" much - he seems to just be taking everything in.

- He is WAY out of newborn clothes, and out of almost all of his 3-month clothes as well. We're hoping Santa will bring him a size 6-month winter wardrobe!

- He is still nursing every three hours between 8 am and 11 pm. I'm hoping to stretch that to 3.5 hours next week, but I'm waiting until after his doctor's appointment.

-Four out of the last five nights he has nursed at 11 pm and then not again until 8 am! Of course, knowing my children, posting this may cause him to immediately revert....

- He still sleeps in his swaddling blanket, which keeps his arms at his side. But he's gotten very good at getting his fist to his mouth when he's awake, so I think it may only be a matter of time before he sucks his thumb. Meanwhile, he continues to "consider" the pacifier. Sometimes he loves it and keeps it in for an entire nap. Sometimes he can't hold it for 5 minutes. We're just waiting to see what he decides!

-He can hold his head up for long periods while we are holding him upright, and he's getting stronger with tummy time as well. He is even scooting a little while on his stomach.

- He's not a fan of his bouncy seat, and sometimes his car seat/carrier is a tough sell, too. I really think the straps may be too tight next to his chubby neck!

- Sadly, he's taking a regular beating from Andrew. "Gentle" has been replaced with some very strong "whacks." We are working VERY hard on this!!

The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up,
and He let none of his words fall to the ground.
1 Samuel 3:19