Year of the Bunny

Hard to believe it's been a whole year since we brought Bruno home on Easter from our friends Zachary and Karynn!  He has been such a fun pet.  He's super soft, he is so cute, and best of all, he is so quiet!

We used to have his pen in the study, but when Verity was born, we needed to put the little playpen in there so she could nap downstairs as a newborn with the study doors shut.  So we moved Bruno into the schoolroom, where he reigns as the Rivendell mascot.  ("Go, Fighting Bunnies!"  Ha!)  When someone is in there working, we let him run around the entire schoolroom, although we have to make sure all the computer charging cords are up, or else he will nibble on them.  We now have quite a few books that have little nibbles taken out of the edges as well!  Bruno also loves to chew up paper left on the floor, so "my bunny ate my homework" could be an excuse, except that you shouldn't have left your paper on the floor in the first place . . .  The entryway is hard wood, and for awhile, Bruno was very scared of the hard wood, so he always stayed in the schoolroom.  But eventually he got over his fears and started venturing out into the entryway, so we now put our whiteboard across the entrance to the schoolroom.  It fits perfectly!  Bruno loves running laps around the room and kicking up his heels.  He's so cute!

We bought him a little cat tunnel/scratching thing with little balls hanging down to bat around.  Sometimes he's more into it than other times, LOL.  What can I say--he's a spoiled little bunny!  We had to put the cardboard on top of the cage in back because he figured out he could jump on top of the cage and then out back in June last year.  We were going to make something more permanent, but you know, once the cardboard worked, pretty much everything else was a higher priority, so we never got around to it.   The clear plastic in the front of his cage is part of a mat that goes under an office chair.  When he was in the study, Bruno used to push out his cage with his nose so that he could lay on the plastic chair mat.  It must feel nice and cool!  So when we moved him into the schoolroom, we cut off part of another mat and put it in his cage for his napping enjoyment.  He usually flops down there after he's been running around for awhile.

Sometimes the kids will let him run around the playroom (on the other side of the entryway from the schoolroom), which has the added benefit of having doors AND no cords.  We also take him outside when the weather is nice, and he loves to hop around the yard and dig in the mulch.  He's been hiding under the minivan in the driveway the past few times we took him out, though.  I think he feels vulnerable in the yard without our big oak tree having really any leaves yet!  We see a hawk circling around up high, and I'm guessing Bruno sees him too.

Bruno would make a tasty meal for a hawk!  He's been living the good life here, and he's become a bit chubby, shall we say, in the past year.  "Less carrots and more exercise" was our New Year's resolution for him.  You would think it would be impossible to gain much weight at all on a diet consisting primarily of kale and timothy hay, but apparently that is not true, at least for bunny metabolism.  Bruno loves his kale, but he is not such a huge fan of spinach.  Romaine is okay, and he loves eating pieces of banana for a treat.  Surely he is not gaining too much weight from eating toilet paper tubes!  He loves to nibble on them, and fortunately for him, we have a constant supply of them, LOL.

I'm so glad we went ahead and got Bruno!  He is such a sweetheart, and the perfect pet for us right now!

Verity Update

Today was another weight check, this time with a completely different doctor.  I was prepared today, however.  For one thing, I brought Grace and Faith with me, as evidence of skinny, healthy children.  Also I printed off 0-36 month growth charts and filled them in for Luke, Anna, Grace, and Faith.  They all showed that between 3 and 6 months, my kids drop down to a (much) lower growth percentile line.  Grace's was the worst--she went from the 60th percentile at 2 months down to below the 5th percentile at 7 months, and she continued on that line until at least 20 months.

You may wonder how I have weight data for all these kids for their first years.  I had the good fortune to start keeping a "baby's first year" calendar with Nathan.  These are blank calendars where you fill in the date blocks for each month, and you can write on the days or put stickers on or whatever.  These calendars come with some "first year" stickers like first bath, first tooth, starts crawling, etc.  There are so much easier than a traditional baby book--just jot down the weight when you come back from a doctor appointment, or write down some special thing in a square.  Easy peasy!  You used to be able to buy these in stores, but for the last several (4 maybe?) I've just had to order them from Amazon.  I don't know why they aren't more popular!  I now have a little keepsake for each baby that they can look back at if they are curious when they got their first tooth or started walking or whatever.  Or I can look back at when I need to chart their weight gain, LOL.

So anyhow, I was totally prepared for the doctor.  Verity is up to 14 pounds, 3 ounces, which is the 9th percentile, up from the 7th percentile.  The doctor thought that was great and told me to keep doing what I was doing.  I told her that I had been forcing food on Verity, and now she has even started spitting up some, and I was actually quite uncomfortable making her eat when she obviously wasn't hungry.  The doctor said I should just let her eat until she's done, but not worry about getting anything extra in her, which is good because that is what I have been doing.  Good grief!  Then the doctor said it was obvious that our family growth pattern was big babies who thin down between 3 and 6 months.  Well, yes, obviously--or maybe it's a metabolic disease?!    Actually, it's just like I've been saying--my babies are very active at an early age, and they have high metabolisms.  Once they start moving around, they lose weight for a little while until everything evens out.  It's really not such a bad thing to have a high metabolism!

So this doctor was totally unconcerned, and I could tell she was actually a little puzzled as to why we were in there, since Verity was such an obviously healthy baby, LOL.  We don't go back until 9 months.  Hopefully I can get the same doctor then (*making a note of her name on the calendar*) . . .

Verity has been really getting strong!  Last night she got herself up to sitting, which made her so proud of herself!  She's also now able to roll from back to front at will.  She has done it before, but it was more of a lucky accident, where everything just happened to come together at the right now.  This afternoon she was playing with this crib toy that used to be my cousin's back in the day--a certifiable antique, LOL!  We have it attached to the posts in our upper hallway railing.

After playing with everything for a little while, she pulled herself to standing!  Big girl!

Twists and Turns

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."  Prov. 16:9

The school year is winding down, but I haven't said much lately about Nathan's plans for next year.  Going back to the end of 2014, Nathan finished up a zillion applications and interviews.  He was notified in December that he received a 4 year type-1 Air Force ROTC scholarship.  This pays for all his tuition for 4 years at any school, plus a book and fee allowance of a little less than $1000 a year, and a monthly untaxed stipend during the school year that for freshman is about $300 a month.  Only 5% of scholarships are type 1.  How exciting!  He also was pleased to find out he received a nomination from our representative.  You should apply for all the nominations you are eligible for, so although he had Presidential nominations to all 3 academies because of Bob's service, he also had applied to all 3 of our congressmen.  The unofficial word here in VA is that the congressmen talk, and they do not duplicate nominations because there are so many qualified applicants, especially in our district in northern VA.  So we were astounded when Nathan received word that he had also been awarded a nomination from one of our senators!  He even called to make sure it wasn't a mistake.  It wasn't--it just apparently is extremely rare!  So that was very exciting too.

On Feb. 5, Nathan was surprised to receive a "big fat envelope" containing an appointment to West Point!  This was a huge surprise as well, since he had only a Presidential nomination for there, and he certainly wasn't expecting an appointment there, especially not one sent out in the "first wave" of only 500 appointments offered.  He had not really seriously considered going there, although we have several Army friends who we respect so very much, so he and Bob made an appointee visit up there in March.  He spent the night there and had a wonderful time.  He and Bob both were very impressed by the caliber of cadets they ran into.  The only drawback he could see was that when you graduate, you're in the Army, and Nathan really would like to fly.  February was really an "Army" month, because he also received word that he was awarded a 4 year Army ROTC scholarship!

March also brought word that Nathan had been accepted into Virginia Tech's College of Engineering.  He really enjoyed his visit there in the fall, so that was very exciting to hear.  Our friends who had been involved in Cru ministry with the Corps, however, said in their monthly ministry letter that they were being called in a new direction--out to Colorado Springs to work with Academy cadets!  So we were thinking that the Lord was definitely moving for Nathan to go out to Colorado next year.  But we received word in April that he had not been offered an appointment this year.  Since it seemed like everything was lining up for that, it kind of felt like the rug was pulled out from under us, but we can definitely say that the Lord slammed that door shut.  So the decision really was between West Point and VT.  In the end, Nathan decided he wanted to stay with the Air Force, so he will be using the AFROTC scholarship.  If he decided to reapply to the academy for next year, he could do that as well.  We'll see how the Lord leads.  In the meantime, other friends are also going to VT, so he is looking forward to a fun year next year.  And he will be closer to home, for sure, so that is a nice advantage.  We are really proud of him, and are so thankful for how the Lord has blessed his hard work!  We are trusting that the Lord has good reasons for shutting the door he did, even though it was hard to hear.

Happy Birthday, Micah!

Micah turned 4 today!  Hard to believe it has already been 4 years since I pushed out that huge 10 pound, 8 ounce boy!  And he's stayed big too.  He didn't have any of Verity's weight gain issues!  I think he's going to catch up to Faith soon, and after that it won't be long til he passes up our waif Grace as well.

We started the day with pancakes and eggs that we ate in honor of Micah, since he picked today to sleep really, really late.  Eventually he did get up!

Bob's sister Rose visited last night, and she swept in like Santa, bearing all sorts of wonderful gifts for everyone!  So not much school got done today, especially for the younger crowd, but they had an absolute ball playing with Model Magic, making scrapbook pages and bracelets, and (for the girls), playing with make-up.  Arts and crafts day!

Micah picked quite the birthday meal:  fish sticks and pierogies, with broccoli thrown in by me because well, vegetables.  Thursdays are busy, with Faith's co-op, rugby practice for the older 2 boys, and gymnastics for all 3 girls, so hey, I wasn't complaining about an easy meal!

After dinner, Micah opened his presents.  He got a Transformer and a game from Grandma and Grandpa, a penguin "Pillow Pet" , a foam sword and shield, a Lego Star Wars t-shirt (*cough* that I found on the top shelf of our closet recently--I had meant to give it to Jonathan many years ago but evidently forgot all about . . .) AND a box of Skittles and a small bag of Gummi Bears.  I think you can see what he was the most excited about . . .

He did have a really fun time playing his new game with Grace and Drew later on, so I guess the Skittles weren't the *only* thing he was excited about!

Don't tell Micah because he didn't notice, but I didn't actually bake him a cake today.  We actually celebrated both his and Anna's birthday last Friday, April 3, at Bible study.  Anna wanted angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream again, and Micah picked funfetti cupcakes with orange, green, and blue frosting.  The girls and Micah did all the decorating, and the results actually reminded me of the cake in the classic children's book Spot Bakes a Cake.  You'll have to check it out!  We did have ice cream tonight to celebrate, as well as leftover chocolate banana "muffins" for anyone who wanted one.  (They are technically called muffins by the recipe, but really are cupcakes!)

A year ago, I felt like we had made strides with Micah--he wasn't having nearly as many huge temper tantrums as he had been, he decided he wanted to be potty-trained, and we had even made a huge trip to Hawaii, with very unpredictable travel arrangements!  But there were still issues.  Every Sunday, dropping him off to nursery was a huge melt-down, and a ginormous cause of stress to me.  He still did have temper tantrums over little things.  But I could definitely see progress.

I see even more progress looking back over this year.  His tantrums are much rarer, and often they are exacerbated by him needing to go potty, so that is one of the things I always do when he starts getting wound up--try to get him to pee.  But sometimes he still will take some minor thing in the day and choose to melt down over it for no good reason at all, usually at a highly inconvenient time for me, LOL, like right at the start of Latin class, for example.  I usually just hold him tight and even sing to him for awhile.  Eventually he stops struggling and screaming angrily, although it can take forever.  Then he settles down and goes back to being his normal sweet self, because really he IS quite sweet most of the time now (I have not been able to say that before!).  He and Drew get along well for the most part.  I can tell they are going to be very close, like Nathan and Luke, or Caleb and Jonathan.  God has been very gracious in giving our kids to us in "sets", except for Verity!  Micah absolutely adores Verity, and he's very sweet with her.  Next year Micah gets to start gong to our elementary co-op, so I am really praying he will do well with that, and not go into his "recalcitrant mule" mode, where he is totally and completely uncooperative.  He's doing better with his children's church class, but there are still some days he doesn't want to go there and pitches a loud fit.  We have saints working in children's ministry for sure!

So I'm looking forward to seeing what this next year holds with Micah!  Hopefully he will continue to make progress in controlling his impulses and his anger--and I pray he will come to know the Lord at an early age so he will have the help of the Holy Spirit in him!

Happy 6 Month Old

"You talking about me?"

Yes!  This happy little pumpkin was 6 months old back on March 24!  She's been busy doing all sorts of things like crawling, which has enabled her to get pretty much whatever she sees, albeit slowly and jerkily.  She's also started solid food.  She thinks rice cereal and bananas are okay, but she really loves gnawing on frozen bagel pieces.  Gotta get those teeth in!  She's definitely working on teeth, but none have appeared so far, making her one of our later teethers.

Astoundingly, she has not packed on a ton of pounds.  (I'm shocked.  SHOCKED, I tell you!)  Verity had her 6 month well-baby appointment this morning.  She's up to 13 pounds, 7 ounces, but that's only the 7th percentile.  She had climbed all the way up to the 13th percentile the last time we were in for a weight check a month ago, but that was with much emphasis on feeding tons extra.  So after we stopped having to go back every week, I started getting more casual about force-feeding Verity, and just letting her be done when she was done.  We were still supplementing with about 3 oz. of formula after each nursing session.  Honestly, she is happy, sleeping well, actively moving around, and so on, so I once again was not remotely concerned.  I mean, I kept weighing her, and she was gaining weight, so everything is good, right?

Wrong.  Apparently Verity missed the memo, but she was supposed to be gaining 15-20 g a day from 3-6 months.  Unfortunately, over the past month she only averaged 8 g a day.  That is an acceptable weight gain per day for babies over 6 months, but not under.  I don't know who comes up with these random statistics, but the doctor today was concerned about that.  She kept saying how we needed to "make sure she can gain weight".  Well, duh, obviously she can, as long as I am really forcing the food on her.  But when I stop doing that, it seems that she trends back down to the lower percentiles, where I suspect her body is designed to be.  The doctor actually told me she could not rule out a metabolic disorder, and I just stared at her and then laughed.  REALLY?!?  She also said something about Verity "not meeting her milestones" and I immediately countered, "You mean mileSTONE", because obviously every other thing about Verity's development is on track or ahead.  Even her head circumference and growth are right on track!  I kept saying that she was following the exact pattern of several of my other kids, but the doctor wasn't buying it.  "I can't stand in a court of law and say, 'Well, I was concerned, but she said all her other kids were skinny'".

She threw out some potential solutions, including giving Verity the bottle first.  I immediately shot that one down, going into great detail about how difficult it was to get Verity to start nursing again once I had given her the bottle back in her first week of life, and I certainly was not going to have my milk supply drop off for this.  I told her about Luke, and about how I did stop nursing him at 6 months, since the doctors told me that starting him on formula and solid food would make him start gaining more weight (it didn't help).  I know a whole lot more now, and I am not weaning so my child can meet some arbitrary weight standard!  I'm really quite a pretty calm and laid-back, non-confrontational person, but I was highly irritated at this point.

We finally agreed that I will give Verity 5 oz. of formula after each nursing session, and I'll try to fit in an extra bottle somewhere during the day, although I'm still not sure how that will work.  And I'll bring her back in 2 weeks for yet another weight check.  She'll probably have gained, since I'll be forcing food down her, but as soon as I relax a little, she'll drop back down again.  Grrrrr.  You know, breast-fed babies are supposed to be less inclined toward obesity because they stop feeding when full, instead of just mindlessly draining however much is in a bottle.  Well, what is poor Verity learning but that you keep eating until your stomach is full to bursting, even when you have no interest in eating?!  How on earth is THAT a good thing??  Se'll definitely be ignoring any "full" sensations!  Good grief.

This really is going to be the last weight check.  I am toying with the idea of bringing in the younger 7 kids (max that will fit in the minivan, LOL), so the doctor next time can see all our skinny but healthy kids.  (I did not choose to make the next appointment with this same doctor I saw today, LOL.)  It just seem pointless to me to keep bringing in an obviously healthy baby for weight checks, and it certainly is a huge waste of my time.  So this is it!  I have had it!

Bonus picture of Micah and Drew, who wanted their picture taken too.  

Out With the Old, In With the New

Two Mondays ago, we were finishing up dinner.  Bob asked me if I could go on a walk, and I told him it had to be a quick one, since I still had things to do to prepare for Rivendell the next day.  I ran upstairs to grab a sweatshirt and brush my teeth.  As I was brushing my teeth, I thought I heard a strange voice downstairs, and sure enough, when I got downstairs, Bob was leading through our kitchen a lady, who I recognized as someone who lived in the neighborhood, although not on our street.  "And THIS is how much food we have to make EVERY night!" as he gestured towards the huge (13x20 in.) casserole dish that was actually still on the table.  Ummm . . . what is going on? was what I was thinking.  I assumed we were in some sort of trouble, although I couldn't figure out what for, since it's been a cold winter, the kids haven't been outside too terribly much, we haven't done anything to the outside of the house . . .

The lady seemed really nice, asking how many kids we had again--was it 7?  We chatted for a few minutes about her husband's recent bout with blood clots, as well as her son's badly broken arm that kept him out of lacrosse last season.  Her son did just recently have appendicitis, though (insert appropriately somber hmmming).  Bob and I waved her out the door, with Bob calling after her that we would see her at her house in a few minutes.

As soon as she left, Bob told me that we weren't in any kind of trouble--she had actually come over to offer us their old refrigerator, since they were remodeling their kitchen.  Ahhhh . . . that would actually be a good thing!

We have an extra refrigerator out in our garage, along with our freezer.  Both these appliances came from my grandparents, when they moved into a retirement home back when we lived in Colorado Springs.  Although this fridge has served quite faithfully, there is no getting around the fact that it is at least 25 years old.  My grandparents bought it from Montgomery Ward, but when they brought it home, my grandma didn't like it at all, which makes sense because the freezer is tiny, and the fridge part isn't much bigger.  So not too much later they bought another fridge (one with the freezer on the bottom, which we also got when they moved into the retirement home--we traded them our kitchen one for their house they were selling), and this one went into their garage.

Now the freezer part does not keep things reliably frozen, so I pretty much only keep things like chocolate chips and nuts in there--nothing I would really care about thawing, like meat or ice cream.  When we were stationed at the Air Force Academy, we used the fridge that came with the base house and kept our other "better" fridge in the garage, so Bob took this fridge to the squadron for 2 years.  The cadets were not super gentle with it, so it developed a bit of a mold problem around the seals that I never could get to go completely away.  And by now it is a complete mess inside, but it still technically worked, so we had no thoughts of replacing it.  We definitely need a second fridge, with all the food we go through in a week!  I try to keep at least 6 gallons of milk and 9 dozen eggs in there, as well as a 5 pound bag of cheese and plenty of fruits and vegetables, among other things.

So Bob and I headed over to this lady's house.  Geographically speaking, it was the farthest house in our little neighborhood from ours.  I was quite curious to see inside it because last summer, while I had gestational diabetes with Verity and was marching around the neighborhood daily, this family had started a renovation that included adding onto their basement so they could add onto their kitchen.  This is my dream, since the kitchen/laundry room is the only part of our house that I really don't like.  I had even dreamed of making a permanent shed (attached to the house) under our deck, and putting a room on top of it that would be where we could put our table, so our kitchen would be bigger!  Indeed, we went inside, and WOW!  The kitchen was AMAZING!!  They had an island as big as our table (which is 9 feet right now, and 4 feet wide!).  I was quite envious!  But then as we talked, she said she would have loved to have a big family, but they got married late, had several miscarriages, and then were so happy to have their one son.  I'm so thankful for our kids.  I definitely wouldn't trade them for a beautiful kitchen, and here is this lady, envying me.  Perspective . . .  Oh, this is funny though--the lady said she had asked all her neighbors if they needed a second fridge, but they all had one.  So then she was thinking who could possibly use this, since it was in such good condition . . . and they thought of that family with all the kids!  Ha!

So they had put the fridge on a dolly.  We called Nathan and Luke to come over, and then the 4 of us wheeled this huge fridge through our neighborhood to our house.  It was quite the parade!  The boys wondered what was more suspicious--2 teenage boys in hoodies walking through a neighborhood at night, or 2 teens with their parents wheeling a fridge down the street, LOL.

I am a little embarrassed to say that it took us until today to be able to actually replace the old fridge with the new fridge.  Let's just say our garage has suffered great disorganization and tendency toward chaos during this cold winter.  We had to work 2 full afternoons to get things organized enough to have room to switch them around!

So here's the new fridge:

You are probably thinking, "Ummm . . . is that really PURPLE?!?"  Yes.  Yes, it is.  A bold choice, to be sure!  In the dark, it just looked black, so we too were a little startled the next day when we opened up the garage and saw it in natural light for the first time.  Bob says the doors actually have covers on them that we could take off, and it would be black underneath.  Maybe sometime we will, should we ever want to, say, move it into our kitchen.  It's nicer than our kitchen one!  Bigger, too!  It's only 6 years old, which I believe is newer than our main one as well.  (ETA:  I just checked my blog, and it appears that we bought our current kitchen fridge on March 1, 2006--right before Anna was born!)  Anyway, it is absolutely wonderful inside--so clean and SO big!  And such an unexpected blessing all around!

Happy Birthday, Anna!

Anna turned 9 yesterday.  She celebrated Friday and today, but not yesterday, though.  Friday Elizabeth L. and Anna's birthday buddy Amanda took her to see Cinderella and eat lunch at Chick-Fil-A.  They did this last year too, and I do not exaggerate when I say this is a highlight of Anna's year!  She considers herself *extremely* fortunate to have been born on March 28 eight years after Amanda!

Yesterday, Anna's actual birthday, was a crazy day.  Nathan and Luke had rugby practice, Caleb and Jonathan had 2 rugby games down south, and Anna was invited to the birthday party of another girl in her co-op class at the same time as Caleb and Jonathan's games!  Bob was in PA with his sister Ann celebrating their dad's 90th birthday, so Anna had to ride with a friend to and from the party.  She had a wonderful time, and hey--a party I didn't have to plan!

So this afternoon we celebrated Anna!  We had her birthday dinner after church.  Once again, she asked for steak.  I went to Sam's Wednesday morning to buy everything.  I never go in the mornings, since we're always doing school then, but this week we're on spring break.  Being early meant I was able to snag steak that was marked down because it needed to be sold that day and used by Sunday.  Perfect!!  Anna also requested thin-sliced cheesy potatoes, cabbage salad, and fruit salad with lots of berries.  I forgot raspberries, but she had strawberries, blueberries, and her favorite blackberries, along with kiwi, her non-berry favorite.  We had brussell sprouts too, since I had a package we needed to use up.  Yummy!

Funny note:  in the picture above, facebook wanted to tag her as me!  Ha!

Anna wanted a strawberry cake, and she wanted to decorate it.  The girls got in some more cake decorating practice with Aunt Ann, who came down Thursday night and decorated a cake for her and Bob's dad that night. Anna had lots of plans, so we just made a 9x13 cake so she would have plenty of room to work.  She had a ball, and it turned out really well!  Caleb helped with the squiggly lines and the sea shells on the side of the cake.  The fresh strawberries on top were also her idea, and they were really yummy!  I'm telling you--it is a wonderful thing that I don't have to make elaborate cakes anymore for kids' birthdays!  I am all over this new trend of decorating your own!

Before we actually ate the cake, we did presents.  Anna has gotten really good at doing hair, so we got her some more hair things--lots of various headbands because they keep getting broken around here, and also this cool little thing that helps make buns.  I'll have to take a picture because it's neat.  We also got her a new jump rope, which everyone has been using, as well as a neat book of Frozen crafts and hair-related ideas that I had just happened to see at Michael's several weeks ago. Oh, that small package on top is candy--a bag of gummi bears and a box of Lifesaver chewy candies.  For Luke's birthday I got him a random bunch of chocolate and chewy candies, which was well-received, and everyone was very envious.  So I thought that might be a nice tradition, since it's really hard to know what to get for birthdays when you have so many kids, and you really do NOT want a ton of new junk coming into the house all the time.  Plus, we don't do anything candy-related for Halloween or Easter, so they don't get a ton of candy during the year.  So, edible gifts--a win/win all around!

The cake tasted as good as it looked!  Someone gave Verity a bit of frosting, and although she didn't know quite what to think of it at first, she soon decided it was a lot tastier than that rice cereal stuff!  In fact, some got smeared on the arm of her bumbo, and she spent the rest of the time trying to slurp her bumbo as best she could.

And this is what is left of the 9x13 cake.  I guess everyone can have a really small piece tomorrow?
ETA:  There's actually even less left now that I left it out on the table for a little while unattended . . . it might not see tomorrow at all!

So wow, 9 years old!  Anna is becoming a beautiful young woman with a lovely smile!  Like I said before, she loves doing hair, and fortunately there are several willing helpers to be practiced upon right here.  She also loves gymnastics and swimming.  She's a good reader, but she would rather be flipping or being a contortionist than actually sitting down and reading a lot.  She's good at math too, but again, that definitely doesn't light her fire.  She has really developed into a good helper, taking pride in keeping whichever room is her assigned room for the day clean and picked up.  And it goes without saying that she loves babies and is a wonderful big sister especially for Drew and Verity!  I think she will be in great demand as a babysitter in a few more years--she certainly has oodles of experience!  We look forward to seeing what this year holds for Anna!

Rugby Success

Today Caleb and Jonathan got to rugby practice, AND they were on time!  This is actually a huge deal, because we have failed pretty miserably so far this season at this very low bar.

In January we thought maybe Nathan's rugby team from last year wasn't going to happen this year, since we had gotten no emails and the website hadn't been updated.  So we started looking around, and we found another rugby team not too far from us.  The problem was that they had practices on Tuesday nights, which meant Nathan and Luke would miss CAP, so that wasn't ideal.  But then it turned out Nathan's old rugby team WAS going to have a season, so it all became a moot point.  The coach from the other team kept in contact with Nathan, however, and he asked if Caleb and Jonathan would want to play, since this club has teams for younger kids.  Well, sure!  Why not?!  It wouldn't be as bad as basketball season, where we had 6 kids on 6 different teams!  This would only be 4 kids on 2 teams!  Piece of cake!  And Nathan can drive him and Luke to their practice!

Except for some reason, we have not been able to get this second rugby team on my mental calendar.  It didn't help that there were a ton of practices cancelled in January and February because of bad weather.  Even at the first practice Caleb and Jonathan went to, I sent them off to the wrong place because somehow I misread the email--a bad omen, for sure.  Since then, it's been one thing after another, but mainly, I just forget all about their practice until I happen to look down at my watch and realize--hey, Caleb and Jonathan have practice tonight, and it is starting *right now*.  One time I misread another email and totally had the wrong starting time in my head.  I did check the email as I was stopped at a red light on the way home from dropping the girls off at gymnastics, and whoops!  That's when I realized practice actually started half an hour earlier (*right then*), and I wasn't even back home, much less on the way to rugby!  So we skipped that one, since we had been 25 minutes late the practice before because I failed to allot anywhere near enough time to get to this different practice location in D.C. rush hour traffic.  Gah . . . so embarrassing!  I was really developing a complex!

But tonight we had success.  Jonathan made a big sign to hang on the wall under the calendar to remind us of rugby.  All throughout the day he and Caleb reminded me that practice was tonight *at 5:30*, not 6:00.  And so we left at an appropriate time and made it there early!  Wow!  It's only taken us 2 months!  Clearly I am at maximum mental capacity right now, with no extra margin.  Good thing spring break is this next week!

Refreshment

Hey, it's Tuesday night, but guess what I'm NOT doing?  Latin, that's what!  Caleb and Jonathan took the National Latin Exam last Friday, so we are DONE for the year for Latin!  Yay!!  No more Wednesday classes, which means I can actually relax on Tuesday nights, which means maybe I can get a little bit caught up on this blog.  I've just been so tired and overwhelmed since the new year started, but the Lord has provided refreshment for me exactly when it was really needed.

One refreshing thing was a lovely snowstorm that we had Thursday March, March 5.  It snowed so beautifully all day, and no one had to go anywhere.  It was really nice because we had just gotten some bad news about Bob's job, and it was nice distraction.  Everything looked so peaceful, like Narnia or something.  The snow was so perfect, we actually got out our cross-country skis!

Even more impressively, we got out skis for the kids too!  Several years ago our friends Mark and Lori had passed down 2 sets of kids cross-country skis, but the snow just hadn't worked to try them out.  But this year it all worked, and they were so fun!  All 3 girls were able to fit into the bigger size of boots, and Micah could wear the smaller pair.  The girls took turns, and they all had a lovely time.  Faith as it turns out is a really powerful skier!  She caught on right away and just powered through the snow!  Micah wasn't exactly sure how to use his poles and fell down a couple of times, but overall he did pretty well too.  Anna and Grace did well, although I wasn't out at the same time as they were.  Oh, Jonathan and Caleb can both wear my boots, so they got to take a spin on my skis.  I love cross-country skiing!  Th girls think we need to move to a place where we can do it more than once every 3 or 4 years, LOL.

The next refreshing thing the Lord provided was a visit by my sister-in-law Melinda and her 2 girls.  We picked them up on Monday, March 9, and the weather was so lovely that day.  Bob was able to drive us around downtown, so the girls got a tour of DC and the monuments without having to walk all over creation.  Bob did masterfully find a parking place for the big van over by the Jefferson Memorial, so we did walk around there some.

Melinda and the girls visited the elementary co-op on Tuesday with my girls, since the co-op was having one of their special 5th week activities.  This time the "Reptile Man" came, bringing tons of scaly creatures with him.  I remember when he came 7 years ago.  I was just as glad to stay home and teach life science and anatomy.  I'm still not a fan of reptiles, LOL.  Wednesday we visited Udvar-Hazy.  We watched the airplanes land at Dulles for awhile, and then walked around the museum.  Thursday Melinda braved the Metro and took Emily, Anna, and Grace downtown to visit the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of American History.  Grace has been *dying* to go on the Metro, so that was a dream come true for her (and then she realized how boring it actually is, LOL).  The girls were particularly impressed by the jewel display at the Natural History Museum!  Elia stayed here and went to Faith's art and science co-op with her.  Friday we all went swimming at the local rec center, where Faith had her swimming lesson.

This is so obvious, I don't even need to say it, but the girls had a FABULOUS time together!  I think it is just so special that all 5 girls are so close in age to each other, and that they get along so well!  I had a wonderful time with Melinda as well, just talking about all sorts of things and hanging out.  It was lovely!  Plus, she was amazingly helpful, always unloading or reloading the dishwasher, starting a load of laundry, sweeping under the table--whatever needed to be done.  It was wonderful!  Bob thought we should convince her to stay longer, but I didn't think my brother would go for that, LOL.  Having her here, and Amy a few weeks earlier, definitely lifted my spirits during this long winter.

(Is this not the CUTEST picture of Elia and Verity?!)  Both Emily and Elia really enjoyed playing with Verity and holding her (and she of course enjoyed even MORE attention than she normally gets!).  They were both so good with her!  Emily is going to be a fantastic babysitter.  She was always looking out for the little ones, like holding Drew's hand when we were walking, and making sure Verity had a burp cloth or a toy.  By the end of the week, both girls were carrying her around like old pros!

Our last meal together was Saturday night.  It was "Pi Day", so we celebrated with 2 meat pies for dinner, as well as a delicious chocolate pie (made from Pioneer Woman's recipe, except I used semisweet chocolate chips for the chocolate, and an oreo crust) and a brownie dessert pizza with fruit on it.  Yum!

But all good things must end.  We left at 4:00 AM to drive them back to the airport Sunday morning.  The house was very sad when I got back!  Anna kept sighing and saying she wished it was still "yesterday".  There was much talk about moving to Texas.  Everyone is looking forward to this summer and another Grandma/Grandpa camp!

And now the warmer weather and the knowledge that our spring break is just 2 weeks away is giving me something else to look forward to!  We can make it through this year . . .

A Week Later . . .

This morning I was once again over at our morning elementary co-op, in charge of character/game/lunch time.  In a random bit of deja vu, the big van did not start again, but at least this time it had the courtesy to fail right in front of our house, as opposed to at the church, so we were able to switch everything including Verity's car seat base and stroller over to the minivan and only be 15 minutes late.

I was aiding the 3rd and 4th graders this time, instead of the 5th and 6th graders.  There was a child in each class celebrating a birthday, so we got cupcakes first for the 4th graders, then a big frosted cookie with the 3rd graders.  Lots of sugar!  In the 3rd grade class, I told a few girls we did NOT have to play dodge ball for game time, since apparently they play that game *every* time (said with appropriate 3rd grade drama and sighing).  I held firm to that, even though the boys insisted that EVERYone loved dodge ball, and that it is the best game *ever*.  We instead played a few variations of tag.

As co-op was finishing up, one of the 3rd grade girls presented me with the picture above:  "Best Teacher Ever".  I am assuming that this designation was awarded because of my resolve concerning dodge ball.  The ironic thing though?  The artist is the younger sister of the girl who drew me the sad cow picture last week! When I got home, we were laughing at their imagined conversation tonight:

3rd grader:  I had the best teacher ever!  We didn't have to play dodge ball!  She was so great!

5th grader:  Her?!?  She plucks eyes out of innocent cows, leaving them to wander blindly around fields!  She's the WORST teacher ever!

What a difference a week makes!

Happy Needle-Free Birthday!

Yesterday was Luke's big day!  His surgery AND his 16th birthday!  We headed off to Bethesda, getting there at 10:00.  We went to the "same-day procedure check-in desk", and they took us to a little cubicle where Luke donned this stylish outfit.  Then we waited around for approximately forever, twiddling our thumbs.  I read my book and Luke read an old Reader's Digest I had in my tote bag.  The hours rolled past slowly, especially for Luke, since he hadn't had anything to eat or drink since Thursday night before bed.

Around noon they finally took us over to the anesthesia care unit, where Luke got his IV.  The anesthesiologist came out and talked with us.  I did have some questions for her, particularly about why them putting Luke all the way under was better than doing a spinal or something.  She said that with a spinal, you have at least 2 hours of numbness, and you have to stick around until all that wears off, while when you use general anesthesia, you can go under and come back out pretty quickly.  Since it was getting so late, I was okay with not waiting around even longer after the procedure.  The surgeon came out and talked to us, and he looked at the lump above Luke's knee and agreed that it looked pretty obvious where the needle was.  I asked him about trying to get it out with a local, and he did not want to do that.  He said he thought it was still a little deeper than we were thinking from the x-rays, and the local only numbs the surface.  If Luke moved around during the procedure, that would be bad, especially as they were trying to get something so small out.  Well . . . okay, I guess.  We weren't really thrilled about that, but this guy was the head pediatric ortho surgeon, so I guess he knows what he's talking about.

Eventually they took Luke back about 1:40, and I headed off to wait in the surgical waiting room.  I was reading a book by one of my favorite authors, Lisa Wingate, called The Story Keeper.  It was so good, so the time really flew by.  Also I finally was able to eat my peanut butter sandwich and orange, since I hadn't wanted to eat in front of Luke.  I was so hungry by then!  The doctor came out about 2:20 to say they were done and to hand me the specimen jar with the needle tip in it.  It was a good 1/2 inch!  (You can see it at the bottom of the jar in the picture.)  The surgeon said everything went really well, no surprises, but that they were going to keep Luke in a knee immobilizer until his follow-up appointment 2 weeks later.  Ummm . . . okay.

Not too much later I was able to go back and see Luke, who was looking just fine.  He came out of anesthesia just fine, which was a huge praise.  His leg was bandaged up like a mummy, in a thigh-to-toes ace bandage, and then on top of that, he had this huge immobilizer thing around his knee.  They wheeled him back to the place we started out at, where Luke got dressed again (fitting his sweats over the huge immobilizer) and got his discharge instructions.  I have to say, we were both pretty surprised at the instructions, since they made it seem like he had a major knee surgery, like his ACL repaired, or a knee replacement or something.  The nurse kept telling him he should under NO circumstances bend his knee, and it was so important to keep the ace bandage on for 5 days "to keep the wound together".  He was supposed to wear the immobilizer at all times, even when sleeping, and after 5 days he could take a shower, wrapping the ace bandage (or maybe just the wound itself?  Hard to tell).  There was even a paragraph in the instructions about how he would be referred to physical therapy, where he could start regaining the full range of motion of his knee.  So . . . yeah, that's so not what Luke had done.  Although when he unwrapped the whole thing today, we were surprised to see that the incision was longer than we thought it would be, considering where the lump was.  Still, it's not really any different than what the guy did at the ER when he tried to find the fragment, and there wasn't all this rigamarole after that procedure!  Luke's not going to play basketball tomorrow, but he's also not wearing that crazy knee immobilizer thing either.  And he is just wearing one smaller ace bandage.  He's felt some throbbing, so he's been taking tylenol, but they sent him home with oxycontin!  Good grief!   His follow-up appointment in scheduled for Thursday, March 12.

We (finally) got back home around 5:45.  Nathan and Caleb had kept everything running around the house, giving Verity bottles, changing diapers, etc.  I was very ready to nurse, but I was also glad I didn't have Verity with me.  That would have made for *such* a long day for both of us!  I nursed, frosted a cake, put the toppings on a cheesecake, grabbed a quick bowl of soup, and then we rushed off to Bible study, where we brought dessert to celebrate Luke's birthday.  We brought chocolate cheesecake, a chocolate banana cake, plus M&M bars.  Everything was eaten--we brought nothing home!  At least there was a little birthday celebration on the actual day!  Funny thing--at Bethesda, they ask you for your full name and date of birth pretty much any time anyone comes to talk to you.  So all day long people asked Luke, and he responded with his name and "Feb. 27, 1999".  Only one person looked up and said, "Hey!  It's your birthday!"  Everyone else just checked it off and moved on, LOL.

Luke did get to celebrate a little early.  Wednesday night Bob got tickets to the Capitals/Penguins game, and he took Nathan, Luke, Jonathan, and Caleb and Daniel McC (our Caleb had basketball practice).  The seats were amazing, and everyone had a super fun time!  The McCs gave him a giftcard to Chipotle, his favorite place, plus a bag of peanut M&Ms.  Today we had his birthday dinner, which was chicken packets, cabbage, peas, and fruit salad.  I think we can guarantee this will be a birthday Luke never forgets!

Cow Eyes and Vans

Today was an interesting day.  I was over at the elementary co-op all morning, being the "aide".  I led game time, lunch, character time, and prayer request time for the 5th and 6th graders--and I dissected cow eye balls.  That was originally supposed to happen during the anatomy unit on January, but 2 weeks of that unit were cancelled due to snow, so the lady who had planned on doing the dissection hadn't been able to.  Although it turned out she was really very, very squeamish and didn't really think she could do the dissection in the first place!  She asked me if I'd be willing to do it during my aiding time, and of course I was more than willing.

The dissections were really well and were really fun.  I've done a ton of eye dissections, so I'm very familiar with them.  Not to brag, but I'm actually pretty good at leading dissections!  The kids started out thinking it as gross, but by the end they were all really enthusiastic and thought it was all really interesting . . . except one 5th grade girl.  She came into the class with a snotty attitude, telling me her mom had said she didn't have to do the dissection.  I told her no one was really "doing" the dissection except me, since there was only one eyeball per class, so she could just stand back and watch.  Then she told me well, she didn't have to watch either.  Fine, whatever, just sit at a table on the other side of the room and listen.  It's interesting.  That's what she did, and I didn't think anything of it.  Her classmates kept telling her to look at things because they were all so enthralled, but she resolutely faced away from us and wouldn't even turn around.  

She drew a picture while she was sitting there, and she left it there on the table for me.  It was a picture of a cow, with all these little thought balloons around it, saying things like, "I want to keep my eyes, thank you very much", and "Why would anyone want to give up their eyes?"  I was rather irritated because she definitely left the impression that I was going around plucking eyes out of innocent cows, leaving them to wander blindly around the fields.  Instead, I would think eyes would be the possibly most agreeable thing to dissect.  No one is raising cows for their eyes alone, LOL.  Those cows aren't wandering around blindly--they've been turned into hamburger!  If we didn't dissect the eyes, they would just be thrown away.  So after feeling so happy that everyone really learned a lot and were so enthusiastic, her attitude really dampened my mood.  

Then the day sort of went downhill from there.  I got the news that Micah had some trouble with the little tiny potty in the nursery, and somehow he dripped all over his pants when he was peeing.  It didn't even occur to me to pack extra clothes for Micah (although I did for Verity, since she blows out fairly regularly still), so they had to scramble.  They found some small pants, so they put Drew's 3T sweatpants on Micah, and put this camo pair of 18 mo. pants on Drew.  Micah went commando, since I didn't even have extra underwear for him (lesson for next week for sure, LOL).  

We made it out to the big van along with Joel and Elena McC, and . . . . the van wouldn't start.  Verity was crying since she was fried, Micah was wanting his underwear, Drew was fussing about something . . . it was very loud.  We tried jump-starting it, but nothing worked.  Nathan and Isaac had to come rescue us driving both our Sienna and the McC's Sienna, since we didn't all fit in one minivan.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love having the older boys be able to drive?  My feeling of relief when they drove in the parking lot was so huge--the cavalry is here!   

We made it back home an hour late.  Continuing our tradition of having random stressful things happen on days when people visit, we had not one but 2 visitors today!  One was a family considering joining us next year, and the other was one of the writers of Tapestry of Grace, who was sitting in on our dialectic lit class.  Oh well, no need to pretend we have everything together, LOL.  

Bob went back over to the church and rescued the big van.  Somehow the wheels were turned too hard (even though I pulled through the parking space??), and so it was locked or something.  Nothing to do with the battery at all, which was a big relief.  Now I am putting off finishing my prep for my Latin class tomorrow.  I don't want to use my brain any more today--I'm so tired!

Update on Luke

Several people have been asking if there is any news on Luke and his needle fragment.  Luke had his pre-op appointment today.  On Thursday Bob brought home a bunch of magnets from old hard drives at work.  They put them together, and Luke spent some time waving them over his knee, making sure the same pole was always pointing down.  After several hours of that, he could bend his knee again, and you could see a lump under the skin, so it seems like the magnet helped bring it up to the surface.  He and Bob actually went back to the ER at Bethesda Saturday morning, hoping someone would just take it out, since it was obviously so much closer to the surface.  But no one wold touch it, since his case had already been briefed to all the ortho residents, and it was someone else's "baby".  But they did do new x-rays, including one with his knee bent, and then they could see that the fragment is between 2 cm and 1/2 inches long.  Because the new x-rays took so long to get, Bob and Luke had an adventure driving home in a big snowstorm, so that was exciting.

So today they scheduled Luke for surgery on Friday morning.  They'll call us on Thursday morning to let us know exactly what time, but most likely we'll have to arrive between 6:00 and 8:00 AM.  Whee! They are going to try to get it out using local anesthesia, but if they can't get it, then they wiil put him under and try again, so that is why they are doing it in the OR.  Unfortunately the OR is booked until Friday.  By then the fragment will have been in his leg for over a week--and Friday is Luke's 16th birthday.  Happy birthday to Luke!  We are praying they will be able to get it out with the local anesthesia, with a minimum of rooting around in there, so that the recovery time is quick.  He'd really like to be able to play in his basketball game on Sunday, but that may be stretching it.  Thanks for praying.  It's been a wild ride!

Special Visitor!

This past week had its share of bad times (Luke's needle incident, frozen pipes), but it also had some wonderful times!  Amy came to visit!!  It was a late birthday present.  It was going to be a surprise, but she and Bob couldn't figure out how to get her from the airport to our house on Tuesday, so last Wednesday night, she called to tell me she was coming.  And *that* was a big wonderful surprise!  It also explained some minor things, like the end of a conversation Bob had with my mom, where he was laughing and saying something like, "Well, we got that settled in the nick of time" or something.  This was still before my birthday, so I assumed some package was coming, although when nothing came, I never thought again about it because my life is not such that I can just sit around and ponder things, LOL.  Also, Bob had been asking some weirdly detailed questions about my Tuesday teaching schedule for Rivendell.  As it turned out, Amy was scheduled to land during my free period after lunch!

Then weather happened.  It wasn't all that bad here, but the government shut down, so Bob didn't go into work on Tuesday.  Amy's connecting flight from Charlotte ended up getting canceled before she even took off from Ohio, so in one of those rare times where things work in your favor, she snagged the last seat on a direct flight from Dayton to D.C., getting in 2 hours earlier!  Woo-hoo!  And although I was teaching anatomy when she landed, Bob was able to run over and pick her up!  Yay!!

It was such a nice visit.  I will say we didn't really show Amy a good time or anything, though!  I taught Latin on Wednesday afternoon (and Amy watched Frozen with the girls, which made them VERY happy.  They couldn't believe she had *only* seen it once before!)  Thursday morning she made the trek to Bethesda with me for Verity's weight check.  Verity is up to 12.8 pounds, so that's  gain of over a pound, which made the doctors happy.  I still have to go back next Thursday for another weight check to make sure she is maintaining, which did not make ME very happy.  Oh well.  Verity also got shots, which did not make HER very happy, although she seems to have forgiven everyone for the stunning betrayal.

Amy also went with me to Faith's gymnastics class Thursday afternoon.  It's only 45 minutes long, so usually I just sit over there, reading and thinking about stuff I could be getting done at home, LOL.  But this week Amy and I talked the whole time, and believe me, the time has never passed so quickly!

Amy did some waterpainting with the girls, read a ton of books to the boys, and also helped the girls make this quilt!  My mom and dad had given Anna this kit to make it, and I just have not had a big chunk of time to help them get going on it.  But Amy diligently helped the girls tie a million knots, as well as fabric-glue on a bunch of shapes, and the quilt looks so cute!  The girls are enjoying sleeping with it.

It was SO good to see Amy again and catch up!  Before the boys started high school, we used to travel back to Ohio a lot more during the year, but lately we've only been able to make one trip during the summer, and sometimes a trip back for Christmas.  That's not enough time!  Plus, it was a godsend for me personally, to have this visit.  The saying goes, "The days are long, but the years are short", and it's never felt more true.  I have felt like the weeks just bleed into each other, with no break at all.  When I'm done with Rivendell on Tuesday and Latin on Wednesday, then it should sort of feel like the weekend, because I'm done teaching.  But Wednesday night 4 people have basketball practices, taking up the whole evening, Thursdays we're back in our regular homeschool morning routine and Faith has her science/art co-op and gymnastics, plus Luke has basketball, then Friday Caleb and Jonathan have art, Caleb's math class, Faith's swimming lesson, Bible study, then the weekend has 6 basketball games, church, Luke's rocketry team meeting, teen CBS for Nathan and Luke, and I'm prepping for my classes . . . and then the week starts again.

So Amy's visit was a much-needed mental health break for me!  It was very refreshing and encouraging.  And it was lovely that she didn't expect to go sight-seeing every day or actually go out anywhere or do exciting things, LOL.  We just did our usual (busy) routine and hung out together, so that was so relaxing.

Here's one last picture from before I took Amy to the airport on Friday.  The space pajamas that Micah is wearing were a gift from Aunt Amy many years ago, when Nathan and Luke were the ages of Micah and Drew.  They've held up quite well, I would say!  We have a second pair downstairs in a tub, but Drew's too big for them this winter.  So many memories from so many years!  I am SO blessed to have such a wonderful faithful friend for so many years!  Thanks again for the visit, Amy--it was such a blessing!

Sew, an Accident

Yesterday I was on the phone with Bob when Nathan and Luke came downstairs.  I could tell they were flustered, and Luke pulled up his pant leg to show me a little spot with some blood on his thigh right above his kneecap.  I was looking mildly concerned while still trying to listen to Bob when I heard them saying something about a needle.  I told him I needed to go, and then I heard the full story (although even then I didn't really understand what had happened, so I wasn't quite right in the details when I posted about it on Facebook).

Luke was doing push-ups in his and Nathan's room.  When he finished, he brought his knees forward really fast, up to his chest, so he could get up.  Somehow he hit a needle that was somehow stuck upright-ish in the carpet.  The needle punctured his thigh and broke off right above the kneecap.  It's still a mystery how the needle got up in their room, and how long it had been there.  I mean, they sew on patches and mend little things, but no one remembers doing anything like that lately.  And Luke was right by their door into the bathroom, where he and Nathan both walk barefoot or in socks a zillion times a day.  What are the odds that a needle would lie in wait for however long until someone's thigh hit it at just the right angle?!  Luke hit the jackpot!

We all cast about for things to try.  (Hint:  if you google "broken needle in skin", you will be brought to a bunch of forums for drug users, with foul language and absolutely horrible stories . . . gah.  No drugs for me!)  I called the Tricare nurse helpline, and she told me to have Luke be seen "in the next 6 hours".  This was around 4:30 in the afternoon, which is prime rush hour, plus we were expecting a "snow squall", with bad visibility and high winds, so that didn't seem like a good time to hit the Beltway on a trek to Bethesda.  The Tricare lady agreed and gave us a pre-authorization code for an urgent care place just a few minutes away.

Bob was on his way home, so when he pulled in, Luke got in the car, and they headed off.  The urgent care place took x-rays, so they could see the needle point, but the doctor didn't feel able to deal with it, so he sent them off to a local ER.  The doctor there also did not feel comfortable trying to extract it.  He consulted with an orthopedic surgeon, and there was talk of trying something on Monday. Well, that made it pretty much not an emergency anymore, and we have heard horror stories of Tricare deciding not to pay for situations that it didn't deem as real emergencies for people who had gone to off-base ERs.  At that point, the snow storm had passed through, and rush hour was over, so Bob and Luke stopped home to grab some dinner and a backpack of stuff, and then they headed off to Bethesda.

There happened to be an ortho doc in the ER, so the doctor that was examining Luke consulted with him.  The ortho guy decided he would like to try getting the fragment out.  He made the attempt there in the room, with a CT machine hooked up so he could see where he was aiming.  Alas, however, he could not get it out.  That means the next step is an actual surgery in the OR.  Unfortunately, there weren't any spots open for non-emergency operations today or tomorrow, so as it stands now, Luke will go in Monday afternoon for a pre-op appointment, and THEN they will tell us when the surgery is scheduled, which is a bit inconvenient, since that means I'm not sure what part of my weekly schedule will need to be rearranged.  Tuesday is the only day that really can't work, which of course practically guarantees that will be when it will be scheduled.  In the meantime, Luke has to keep his leg straight, so the fragment doesn't go in farther.  He's missing basketball practices and games, rugby practices, etc., and we don't really have any idea how long recovery will take, assuming they can get this thing out next week.

Bob and Luke got home last night around 2:30 AM, so that was a long night for pretty much nothing.  We would appreciate prayers that the surgery will be successful next week.  What a completely random accident . . . so weird.

A Comparison

 Here's a picture of Verity that Grace took a few weeks ago.

 Here are 2 pictures of Grace that I took when she was the same age that Verity is now (a little over 4 months).  Same skinny face and big eyes!

And here is a picture of Grace from Christmas.  She's beautiful--and skinny as a rail!  Verity should be so lucky as to follow in her footsteps!

Sweet Skinny Baby

Verity and Drew both had well-baby appointments this morning.  Drew turned 2 the end of November, and Verity was 4 months the end of January, so I'm a little behind, but better late than never, I suppose.  With stuff every afternoon pretty much, and Nathan needing the minivan for his community college class (it has the parking pass), and me not wanting to drive the big van to Bethesda, there really wasn't a good day or time to go.  But Bob was TDY to Florida this week, so it worked out well to get 2 appointments.

The good news is that Drew is just fine.  Big, even, for one of our kids!  He's like 28 pounds, I think--whatever the 57th percentile is--and the 80-something percentile for height.  A veritable giant for us!

Verity, however, not so much.  You may recall that after much syringe-feeding, she was finally up to 10 pounds, 14 ounces the end of November at her 2 month well-baby appointment.  So yesterday I decided to weigh her, just to get an idea of where she was.  It's a good thing I did, because she weighed less than 12 pounds.  What??  I reweighed her several times, but that's what it was.  I am *so* glad I was prepared, because it would have been a TOTAL shock to find that out in the vitals room of the hospital today!  So to recap, she went from the 50th percentile down to the 3rd percentile in 2 1/2 months.  Well!

I was so surprised because she is a totally healthy baby.  She eats well, sleeps well, pees and poops a good amount, is very bright-eyed and interactive, pushes up and has really good muscle control--everything a healthy baby does!  Ans she's so happy and talkative!  I had no reason to be worried at all, which is why it never occurred to me to check on her weight.

Now I do happen to have some experience with really skinny babies.  Luke, for example.  I stopped nursing him at 6 months and started him on formula and solid food because "that will make him gain weight", all the doctors told me.  But it didn't.  He hung out around the 5th percentile for years.  Grace was the same way.  She will be 8 on May 1, and she weighs 48 pounds now, which is all the way up to the 19th percentile for her.  She also hung out around the 5th percentile for awhile though.  I checked Grace's baby calendar, and she was all of 13 pounds at 6 months (8# 14 oz. at birth).  In fact, after she got sick Christmas 2008, she dropped down to 18 pounds at 20 months.  That was when she got cream on her cereal, Carnation breakfast drink, and all the ice cream she could eat!

But alas, Verity can't eat ice cream, or make any of her own high-fat meals, and you can see how sad she is about that.  So we are embarking on a weekend of Operation Feed Verity.  The doctor wants her to gain an ounce a day for the next 3 days, and if she hasn't gained that, then she wants us to take Verity to the ER on Monday.  Now that seems a bit drastic for a baby that is not showing any signs of failing to thrive, but the doctor did tell me that if this had been my first baby, she would have admitted Verity to the hospital (bringing back memories of Luke . . .)  Geesh!  So we are supposed to give her 2 extra ounces of either formula or pumped breastmilk after every feeding.  She tried some formula in the doctor's office, and she was not a big fan.  I may have to resort to the syringe again, since at least I can just squirt that in.  Still, I think it is going to take a long time after each feeding, and really, I don't expect her to start packing on the pounds.  She even looks a lot like Grace!  But if she could just gain some ounces by Monday, that would be really great.  We go back Thursday morning for another appointment, which is a total bummer because Amy is coming out here to visit from Ohio, and I don't want to have to trek to Bethesda and back while she's here!  But hopefully it will be a quick appointment, if Verity is moving in the right direction, weight-wise (please, Lord!).  I'm trying not to be too stressed, since she seems perfectly healthy, but I'm definitely feeling the pressure right now!