YIPEEEEE!!!

We are giving God praise tonight because this little boy,












baby Stellan was discharged from Children's Hospital in Boston today and gets to fly home to the midwest tomorrow. He's been in the hospital for almost six weeks, endured countless drugs to try to control his heart rate, had a (failed) ablation surgery, and then finally the doctor found a drug that worked with his heart.

Lord willing, Stellan and his MckMama will land in MN tomorrow and be reunited with Stellan's daddy and his two older brothers and sister. Please pray with us that the new medicine will continue to control his heart rate until he is old enough to get a pacemaker without open heart surgery.

My Fireman's First Real Fire

So, Jeff had his first big fire last night. This is it. Can you imagine owning so MUCH house and then losing it to a fire? Apparently, it was struck by lightening. Here is a slide show of the damage. Yet another reason why my husband rocks, because there is no way I would be getting near a fire like this.

(Note that this was not his first fire. The first one was when that psycho lady set her entertainment center on fire because she was fighting with her husband. Uh, yeah, that'll teach him. And then there was the two during recruit school, but they were only there to help with the overhaul and salvage.)

"My Husband Rocks!" Friday

This week Jeff REALLY, REALLY rocks! See, he finally figured out a plan for the workout dilemma. (You know, the one where it is really hard to work out with 2 babies in the house 40+ hours a week.) So, Wednesday morning, I got to go for a run, right after Ellie went down for her first nap. I get to go again tomorrow, and every A shift day, forever and ever, amen, as long as it is not raining. Then we switch off and Jeff goes for his run.

If you know me, then you know that I once weighed 200 pounds for a couple of years right after I got married. Then I got the weight off and even some more that I had put on before we were married and I was back in the 140s (my high school weight). I managed that for three years until winter illnesses occurred leading right up to one very sick pregnancy. Then I was not able to run anymore because you can not start something new that you weren't doing before pregnancy, and I didn't think the second trimester was the time to pick up running again. Thus, I am back where I started.

Stack that on top of the fact that you aren't actually supposed to run with an infant in a jog stroller until they are 8-12 months old and I haven't run in 18 months! I was running 5K before all of this and now I am luck if I can run 5 feet. (O.k. maybe a little more than 5 feet. Let's just say that there was a lot of intermittent walking.) But I'm on the Couch to 5K program, so I have all the confidence in the world that I will get back up there. Maybe by the time Jude can go in the jog stroller with me.

Thank you my sweet husband, for figuring out a plan!

And this? This is the best sound in the world!

Boy! Did he put his foot in his mouth!

Hee, hee, hee:-) (Just a little funny for Jude's 200th day on this earth!)














I'm telling you, this little man is going to be quite the daredevil. He LOVES to be startled. He laughs when Jeff brings his hand to his face very quickly and suddenly stops. He loves being dipped upside down and brought back up quickly; being bounced over head. And then there's this:

I had a marathon baby food making day on Saturday and Monday. I was really surprised that a 16 oz bag of frozen veggies only makes 4 containers of food. Right now Jude's food experience consists of sweet potatoes and avocado. He has been eating 3/4 a container of the sweet potatoes and 1/4 container of the avocado (which I only fill half full because they are expensive, and high in calories anyway). Tomorrow, we will dive into the world of carrots and next week, maybe peas and bananas or apples.
Here's my stash. To date it consists of sweet potatoes, avocados, peas, carrots, broccoli, and apples. Eventually, I'll do some pears, brussle sprouts, beans, peaches, etc. But, one day at a time.

"My Husband Rocks!" Friday

This week, Jeff rocks because he's giving up his Saturday to mow Linda's yard. This is something he used to do regularly until he started the fire academy, and then Linda didn't want to take from the only full day we got to spend together, so she found someone else. Actually, Jeff DID mow her yard for a while during the fire academy because I remember he was mowing with his broken leg.

A little background for those of you who don't know who Linda is (Grandma Linda to Jude). I met Linda eleven years ago when a friend brought me to her house for lunch one Sunday. No, actually, I met Mike-n-Linda. That's always how it was said. You could hardly think of one without the other, so it almost always came out as one word. Mike-n-Linda always treated you as if you were their own children. As a matter of fact, Linda even organized our wedding reception (Mike was in California closing down illegal chicken markets).

But it wasn't until 2005, when Mike went to be with Jesus, that the real familial bond was formed between our family and Linda. It started because we saw what an overwhelming responsibility taking care of the puppet ministry (www.theagapepuppets.org) and the property would be. You see, Linda is in 7 countries on 5 continents a year, and she lives in an old farm house with a lot of property. It's not just a quick mowing job. It takes hours.

Jeff used to mow for another widow in our church, who had a postage stamp yard, like we do. He mowed for her until she stubbornly insisted that she needed to start doing things for herself. So it was only natural to him to offer this service up to the woman who looks at me as a daughter.

So, that is why my husband rocks this week; for giving of his time to do tasks that are not easy.

More Feeding and Another Milestone

I don't have a photo, but Jude sat in one of those basic frame restaurant highchairs today! He did really well, too. The whole time, he was just looking around EVERYWHERE like there was so much more to see from that perspective.

Here are a couple of pictures and a video of him enjoying more sweet potatoes (I made this batch.) It's nothing really exciting. As a matter of fact, you'll probably only care about it if you are one of Jude's far away family members. I like how excited he got when he saw the jar and started reaching out for it. Also, notice that he likes to "help" get the spoon into his mouth. He hasn't quite figured it out, so he's using the back of his hand. Guess I'll definitely be washing every shirt, every time he wears it now.

Much to my consternation, he enjoyed it!

Jude's been practicing this one for a few weeks now. He dosen't really drink the water. He sucks it in then spits it all over his shirt.




























However, after many, many days of frustration while nursing (his that the milk wasn't coming out as fast as he wanted, and mine that he was so fussy while nursing) we decided to give this a go:














That's right, folks. We started solids yesterday. This is MUCH earlier than I was hoping. In my head, I was kind of thinking he still wouldn't be interested. We tried a couple of times before, just to check, and he always thoroughly ejected every last drop from his mouth. But, well, it looks like my boy loves his sweet potato. Yesterday, he downed 10-15 spoon fulls, and tonight he ate a third of the jar. So, it looks like it's time to start boiling, mashing, and freezing some fruits and veggies. (Do you like the bib? Aunt Ann sent it to us from Japan.)

Here's my happy boy just after his second nap today.














And speaking of my big boy, I finally got it! Drum roll please. . . footage of Jude rolling over! He went from maybe doing it once every other day to doing it like 10 times today alone. See how pleased he looks with himself after he does it.


And these are strictly for your enjoyment. He is really getting into that saucer. He's finally able to reach for some of the bigger toys.










































I think he was in a mood the day I took these because he has a funny face on in every one of them!

The thing I have been aiming for all week

Hooray for Jude! I have him on a pretty consistent night time routine, but daytime routines were eluding us. Since Miss Ellie was on spring break with her mommy, I thought that I would take this time to work on that area of our lives.

My plan was to put him down for 1.5 - 2 hour naps at 10ish and 3ish, however, my child has a hard time staying up for more than two hours at a stretch most of the time. So, he was always fussing by 9. All week I think that the longest nap that we got him to take may have been 55 minutes. So he was taking three and four naps a day -- really short naps! This may in part be due to this on-again-off-again low fever he's been battling since Monday.

So anyway, today was not much different in the beginning. He woke up for the day at 6:55 and was starting to get fussy around 9, but I managed to convince him to stay up until 9:20. I almost fell over with shock when he did not wake up from this nap until 12:15! Then we had a good old time. No fussy baby! Around 2ish we took our daily walk around the cemetery and as always, he fell asleep for in the stroller for the last 10 minutes of the walk. We cam home, played for a while and by 3:30 he was starting to fuss a little again. He was out by 4 and slept for another hour and a half. Then he was a happy boy all the way up until bedtime.

By 7:40 he was out for the night. And if I had to guess, I am sure he will sleep until his 3:30 feeding and then go back to sleep until 6:30/7ish. All this in time for Sunday which always shoots any semblance of a schedule out the window because he will NOT nap during church anymore. Oh, well. There's always next week.

P.S. No picture with the post today because my computer crashed so I'm blogging from our old Apple and I don't upload photos to this thing because it is already SOOOO SLOOOOOOW!

"My Husband Rocks!" Friday

Jeff rocks this week for coming home with a bag full of bread from Publix. This is the second time this year that the manager has brought the day old bread to the station. I am so glad that Jeff thinks to take some home with him. I now have 6 loaves of really great bread in my freezer. Rather than just leaving it up to me to figure out what to get from the store, Jeff shows initiative in helping with the meal planning for the month(s).

Lookout, Daisy!

Well, Daisy is in for it pretty soon. All day, whenever she walked by him, Jude would reach out for her. One time, he came away with a hand full of fur. To be fair, she is shedding her winter coat, so it comes off pretty easy. This is the best shot that we could get of it.














Of course, he's really reaching out to anything that catches his eye these days. Here he is reaching out for the camera.














He had already reached out and taken my water bottle by this point.














Yes, he's getting really good at holding on to things.














He has still had that fever off and on all day today. Maybe that's why he's been acting so loopy. Neither Jeff nor I are sure why he thought this was funny. Maybe the kid likes danger.

Fever

My baby has his first fever. It is not a bad one, but it was enough that the doc did not want to give his vaccine today. (No love lost there. We're not really on board with vaccinations anyway.) This would explain why he has been so wakeful and fussy today. I think until 5:00pm he had only taken about an hour and twenty minutes worth of naps. He crashed at 5:00 and has been out ever since. He's been so pitiful for the last half hour, whining and whimpering in hie sleep. Looks like it's going to be a Tylenol/ Motrin night.

So, we'll go back for that shot after he's been fever free for two days.

Here's a funny face he's been making lately. Usually accompanied by spitting and sticking his tongue out.

PRAY!

Please, PLEASE continue to join with us in prayer for McMuffin (baby Stellan). He stayed out of SVT for more than one whole day so things were starting to look up. But then he was in SVT most of yesterday. MacMama (Jennifer) has an appointment this morning with all the cardiologiest so they can make a new plan, which might involve taking him to another facility so he can have the best in the field. Please pray for wise decisions to be made and for a cardiologist to take over Stellan's case that has experience with such resistant SVT. Jennifer has a whole other list of things she would like prayer for on her blog. Please check out the button link to her blog to the right (MacMiracle).

"My Husband Rocks!" Friday

Ahhhh. . . quiet. Jeff rocks today because he got crying boy to sleep. All of a sudden Jude went from loving his swing to hating it, in just a day. We needed to transition him out of it anyway because he is getting too tall for it. But, he will only nap for like half an hour/forty-five minutes in his bed during the day for some reason. (The same bed he sleeps in 9 hours straight without stirring at night). But Jeff got Jude to stop crying back there and he's been sleeping for nearly 2 hours. (Jeff's been sleeping that long, too, but he had over night calls last night, so I completely understand.)

Ooooh! Jeff also rocks because he said we can join Prince Charming, MacMama, and the MacKids on the MacCruise in January. It will be cool to meet one of the babies I have been praying for. Wheeee! Jude's getting his first passport!

6 months, a prayer request, and a post which reveals that I can not spell.

Can you believe that 6 months ago, tonight, we did not have Jude yet? I went to bed thinking he would not be here for another four and a half weeks. I am so glad that God had other plans. He is growing SOOOOO quickly, weighing in two weeks ago at 17 pounds, 12 ounces, and measuring 25.5 inches. He stands if you hold his hands, sits unsupported for about 30 seconds, laughs like crazy, and is rolling over more and more (though still not consistently).

Jude is posing here (with the sign on which I misspelled the word months. Give me a break. I haven't slept 8 hours in over a year!) to let our little brother in Christ, Stellan know that we are praying for him.
I heard about Stellan from Veiyah's mommy, Ani. Stellan's mommy, Jennifer, has a blog that you can read if you click the MacMiracle button to the right in the side bar. Stellan was not supposed to be born alive. But God had other plans, and not only was he born alive, but he was born completely healthy. Then a couple of weeks ago, his heart fell into something called supra ventricular tachycardia. Basically, his heart has been failing over the past two weeks. It will beat well over 200 beats per minutes, then it gets so tired that it can not get blood all the way to his extremities. His mommy is tired, but she exhibits influential faith in our Lord for this matter. Last I checked, he went 15 hours out of SVT, which is a major praise, but I beg those of you who read my blog who are praying folk, please check out Stellan's story and pray fervently for him and his family.

Please pray for baby Veiyah and her family, too. They found out that because of the time period that she went without oxygen caused something to happen to her brain. It was revealed by a trip to the ophthalmologist. Then while in the ophthalmologist's office, she began having seizure like episodes. I am sure that Ani is tired, too. Yet, here is another woman who is putting the health of her child completely in the Lord's hands. I only pray that if am faced with any such trials with Jude or any subsequent child, that I would follow the example set before my by these two women. As it is, I hug Jude a little tighter each night since I came to know about these sweet babies' struggles.

Animal Abuse

This morning, I was looking out the back door window to check that my corn was not in too much sun since they are new plantings and I saw this little dog. This dog was even smaller than my little sister's dog (it's a Jack Russell). It was a mutt of some sort; probably had some Jack Russell in it. I went out to see if it had tags so I could contact someone, because if you know our street, you know there is no way in good conscience I could just let it go. No one would ever see it and it would be toast before you had time to blink.

What I saw was so pitiful. The dogs nails were probably an inch and a half long. That's long for such a small dog. You could see ribs and it never took its tail from between its legs. I put down some old chicken leftovers that we had in the fridge that I was getting ready to throw out anyway. (I tried dog food, but it was like she didn't even know what it was.) She ate it all up and then went over to the other side of the porch. I went in and called the codes department where our animal control comes from.

The animal control guy was at our house in less than 10 minutes and when he tried to get her to come to him, she squealed like nothing you ever heard and started peeing. She would only come to me. It was apparent that this dog was severely beaten.

I HATE people who beat animals. I do not use that word often, but I do really hate in this situation. I understand a swat to the nose or the rear end from time to time. Daisy gets those because she's so dang pig headed. But how in the world can you call yourself a human being and beat such a small creature until it is afraid of people? Jeff had a good point. He said it had to be a coward. Some guy who probably also beats his wife and kids.

I got the dog into the truck. I sure hope they find someone to adopt it; someone who will make it feel more at ease around people.