I had to open my mouth

I did it -- blame it on me. I declared with fervor that Grace had avoided the reflux bug that plagued the boys. Then with an unbridled fury reflux swooped down us. Grace had her 1 month visit Tuesday (a HUGE thanks to Dr. L for rescheduling Grace's one month appointment so I didn't have to come back to the office for the 4th straight week in a row). In addition to now being on reflux medication, Grace's measurements are as follows: head -- 14" (less than 5th %), length -- 20.5" (10th %), weight -- 7lbs 2oz (less than 5th %).

Here is a picture of Grace from Monday night; she's saying THANKS to a local girl scout troop who gifted us with some goodies to celebrate Grace and commemorate the birthday of the founder of Girl Scouts.

Happy Birthday Sam!

My Sammy baby is 2!! That is absolutely unbelievable! He is such a lovebug, and a polite one at that. He uses "please" "thank you" and "excuse me" without prompting (most of the time). He says "I love you" and freely gives kisses often. Lately his vocabulary has exploded -- his communication is now mostly in complete sentences. He still doesn't have great pronunciation so he can be a little difficult to understand but for those around him often it isn't too bad. Sam's motor skills are crazy! He can jump with two feet in a circle and can balance for a short period of time on one foot; he is also definitely a right-handed kid and does well at small movement skills like coloring (still looks like little kid scribble but he holds the crayon/marker well). Of course he can climb ANYTHING and usually does. Sam loves to sing and his favorite song seems to be "Big Big House" on the VeggieTales worship cd. Sam can count to 10 and can count objects up to 10. His favorite food seems to be anything Mexican -- queso, quacamole, chips, tortillas, etc. At Sam's 2 yr well-visit he measured as follows: head -- 19.5" (70th %), height -- 33.25" (20th %), weight -- 27.5lbs (40th %).

Let the present opening begin!

Showing off his new shirt

He couldn't stand it any longer -- had to try on the new digs
Blowing out his candles
Enjoying some green Larry cake

I always wanted an older brother

And I always wanted a brother like Jack. What a boy. He holds hands with Grace and Sam while we drive in the car so they won't cry. He plays with Sam all day. He constantly tells Grace how beautiful she is. He is my second set of eyes and ears and hands when we all venture out together. He is a patient teacher and is more forgiving of his siblings than I am of him often. Luke and I always say that we couldn't have chosen a better kid to be the "big brother" if we tried. Just wanted to brag on my oldest baby -- I've come to see him in a new light lately and I couldn't be more proud of him and more thankful for him. Here's looking at you big kid!

happy happy joy joy

We spent some time in Philippians this Sunday talking about the difference between being happy and being joyful. The difference is something I meditated on heavily while Grace was in the NICU. I mentioned in an earlier post that I've decided most people can't handle emotions outside of "happy". And I think the root of this is our inability to understand the difference between "happiness" and "joy". While Grace was in the NICU I was most certainly NOT happy. I was joyful -- in my knowledge that God is in control of the situation, that our circumstance was not a surprise to Him, that despite the storm in which we found ourselves my God had not changed. But for all this joy I struggled to make my face reflect anything but the sadness for the present circumstance. See what I mean about the difference being difficult to understand? I'm having trouble just writing about it...forget knowing it. It seems to be too great a contradiction for our human-ness to grasp. Nonetheless it's a state shared by Biblical "giants" -- David, Job, Paul, just to name a few, struggled with their temporal feelings of unhappiness in contrast to the inexplicable joy they had through their knowledge of and relationship with God.

The birth of each of my kids has been a conduit through which God has taught me an invaluable lesson. I think my lesson with Grace is this striking revelation of the difference between the temporal emotion of happy and the nonsensical permanence of joy. There was a verse that reverberated in my head throughout our ordeal with Grace (beginning in September when we thought she might arrive) and it's stuck with me still. Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice. (Philippians 4:4) That's something I think I'll work on today.

Sneaky Sneaky

After taking a break from working on Sam's cake Friday I headed back into the kitchen to continue the Larry/Bob creation only to find this...

Gracie Girl at 3 weeks

Grace had her "2 week" pediatrician visit. Yes I know she's 3 weeks but she's only been out of the NICU for 2 weeks. Grace is still measuring 19.75" long. Her head is now 13.75" (up a quarter inch from last week). The most surprising statistic is her weight -- Grace is now 6lbs 14oz (up 7oz in one week)!! Yipee! She's getting so big! So far we haven't seen any indication that Grace will have reflux issues like the boys did. She does have some discomfort after eating but nothing that would be considered reflux. To end the good news post, here is a picture of our pretty little lady!

They know we have a real dog right??!!??

Rounded the corner Tuesday morning and found my boys in this scene. The blur in the corner is Jack -- about the only way I get pictures of him lately. What does it say about Ginger that they would rather feed the robot dog than play with her??

Yes...that's Ginger's dog bowl in the living room floor