Jason's New Trick

Jason learned how to raspberry on the way to church last night. That is quite an accomplishment for him! If you listen closely you can hear him giggle. He was cracking himself up with his new trick.

Grandpa's Still Got the Moves

I really could sell this video, but you are viewing it free of charge.

More Pictures: People of Trip

Grandpa was a real hit! He did a marvelous job of explaining and spanning the generation gap. You see him here with Jacob's hat - an icon of the current times. I hope to post a video in which you will see the hat on Grandpa's head as he demonstrated that he understands the times - and MTV=)

















Grandma and the babies - grandson and great granddaughter.














A rare photo of John and I. (Not that we mind being in the same place - it's just the photo that we object to.)











Grandma and Grandpa. I am so, so glad that we got to see them!

Pictures of the Trip

The scenery was gorgeous in every state. We saw so much diverse beauty. I was constantly putting my camera away then getting it back out. It seemed that around every bend in the road was another marvel. God and the Flood of the Bible were clearly obvious. It was certainly an awe inspiring journey through nature.

I think this in Utah. On the first leg of the trip we went from southern Arizona where it was very hot to northern Utah where there was still snow in the mountains. Most of us found that very refreshing.

































The astounding lake at Couer D'Alene, ID.

A Special Trip

We decided to go to Washington to visit John's family this year. We hadn't been there in nearly 12 years. We made the beautiful trek in May, stopping in Utah on the way there and on the return to see some good friends. Michael, Elizabeth and Haelley flew here and rode with us, then flew home from Washington. Though we had some definite difficulty, the trip was wonderful! I think all were glad that we went, and wishing we could go again soon. I will try to post pictures in a little bit. I am having difficulty locating them=(

Catching Up a Bit

I am often surprised by how much time goes by between posts. Some have asked about James. Thank you. He is absolutely fine! Praise God! James will go back to work Tuesday. He will be so glad! He has cabin fever somethin' fierce.

Jason is walking all the time - quickly I might add. He just started walking all the time the day before his birthday and has continued. Because he's so small I have thought that we might not deal with so many "get into" issues. You know, door knobs and counter tops are a long way off. But, little places are very accessible to a little person. We have found him sitting in the few inches behind the stand where we keep the DVD player, X box, etc. Tonight he was sitting in another hidey hole trying to push buttons on a computer. He does look pretty cute just sitting happily in some very small place. However, I am not so sure that it is going to be any less troublesome than being able to open doors and other things.

Some of you might remember that Joshua had some very serious eye trouble last Spring, finally diagnosed as an auto-immune disorder. It has reappeared, but not nearly as severe, thankfully. He started two different kinds of drops today. Hopefully that will keep it from reaching the awfully miserable level of last year.

I said quite a while back that I would explain my recent visit to Indiana. JW had been having trouble that could have possibly been connected to his neck injury. I worried and worried about it and finally decided just to go and suggest that we go to the emergency room and check it out. Well, to the emergency room we did go. While I was there (and the day before we planned to go to the hospital) he cut himself with a chainsaw. A CT scan of his neck revealed a healthy repair of his injury over a year ago. That was good news. The stitching of the cut was reminiscent of Rambo. Two attempts were made to numb the wound for stitching. Neither was successful, so he got to have the job done fully sensing each poke and prod. The injury put him off work for a week. When the stitches came out it opened up again. It just wasn't a good experience;-) He'll have a great scar, I'm sure, which will make the story all the more delicious to tell someday.

While in Indiana I got to spend time with the others too. Elizabeth and I decided to let Jason and his niece play in the pool - a first for both. Jason was chicken and, well, Haelley was not=)



We will all be in Indiana soon. I am very much looking forward to it. Little Grandbaby will have a birthday soon, and we thought we would like to attend the party. Can hardly wait!

The Final Word - Hopefully

James has a fast growing, strong colony of the old fashioned staphylococcus aureus, not MRSA. It is only resistant to penicillin. The reason that the first antibiotic didn't work is likely because the dose or the method of delivery (oral) was inadequate for the rate of multiplication. He is doing much better. After two more doses of IV antibiotics today he will be coming home, probably late evening. Thank God for His mercy, and thank you for praying.

Doubling Back

The threat of MRSA is still possible. The culture comes back in stages. It is now showing a strong colonization of resistant staph. However, it is sensitive to some antibiotics too. That is allowing a switch to a less potent drug with fewer side effects. Won't know about MRSA until further growth of culture.

Regarding Mom's comment: Poison Ivy has always been in the picture. That is what allowed invasion of the staph. Probably many, many people have MRSA on their person, but won't manifest because there isn't a site for invasion. That's why hand washing and not scratching itchy things is so important=)

Surprisingly Good News

Well, James' labs were all negative and the culture from his wound (done Friday) was negative for MRSA. I am so grateful. He is looking better too! He is bored, but that's okay with me. He will be here until tomorrow to continue the IV antibiotics, but it looks like that should be the end of it. (It is a bit of a mystery because the original antibiotic should have taken care of the infection - according to the culture findings. Don't know why it escalated so dramatically.)But thank God that things are turning out so well!

James

I'm at the hospital with James. The hospital pediatrician was in this morning and felt certain that we are dealing with MRSA. He also had an abnormal urinalysis yesterday. That is being repeated today. If it's still abnormal an ultrasound of the kidneys will be done. Will post more when I know more. (There is a computer in James' room=)

James

James was admitted to the hospital today. His staph infection has not reacted to antibiotics and has spread quickly. He will be receiving IV antibiotics immediately while waiting to get the culture results tomorrow. I will probably post here because it's easy to give information widely this way. Please pray for him.

The Day

James came home from camp Tuesday with extensive poison ivy. (He's always been very allergic.) Yesterday he didn't feel well and had some pain in the upper leg. Today he had an obvious abscess on his knee with symptoms from the lower abdomen to below the knee. I took him to the doctor this morning. He has a staph infection. He has started an antibiotic, but is having pain, fever and general discomfort. (Some of his pain is due to a reactive lymph node.) I really think he'll be okay, but it's always worrisome when there is something like this. He worked four hours today and is scheduled to work eight tomorrow. I did talk to his boss because the antibiotic creates a potential problem with sun exposure. She let him work inside. Hopefully, that will happen tomorrow too.

John came home from work two days in a row with kudos. Today's was actually concrete. He has been filling in for a co-worker's vacation. On top of that have been some stressful developments in the Canadian division for which he buys produce. His big boss was so impressed with his above and beyond efforts that she wrote to him her thanks and gave him a free day off whenever he wants. He was happy. It made the stress and headaches of the last two weeks worth it.

I heard from the geneticist's office today. Already they have authorization for the chromosome and thyroid studies for Jason. I am glad because I just want to get it over with and hopefully move on. I guess this means that we might have results during early July instead of August.

Mom - Josiah was trying to get the caterpillar off his hand, but it was reluctant to cooperate=)

A While Back

I discovered this while going through pictures on the computer. I thought it was cute enough to share all this time later. Josiah would have been just a bit over five.

Appointment With Genetecist

I'm going to start at the end of this story because that's what the picture is all about. We were getting ready to leave the genetecist's office today by picking up the toys that some of the children had played with. Jason climbed right in to help! (Now that he is walking, he is going anywhere he can manage, climbing, exploring etc.) I just had to snap this picture of him sitting in the duplo tub. I wanted to get the process, but he was too fast.

Okay, now the beginning: We balked about going to the genetecist because Jason has seemed so normal. The problem with that is reality. His cleft, VSD (though resolved) and small stature are real. We finally convinced ourselves that three abnormalities should send us to the genetecist, just in case. Her preliminary opinion, based on the external physical exam, family history, and Jason's development is that he does not have a genetic problem. Another possible cause of the cleft (which was new info to me) and the small stature is thyroid dysfunction (which I have wondered about a lot) He doesn't fit that profile perfectly either though. Usually kids with thyroid related growth deficiency are short and chubby. Jason is small vertically and horizontally. She said that did make her think we might have a nutritional problem. At that point, I find myself defensive. Jason has been a big eater and is now even using sign language to ask for food. I always feed him until he stops and conscientiously put together a balanced diet for him. He's not picky. He is still eating two full bottles a day of rice milk/goat's milk because together they have a higher fat content than soy formula. He drinks well out of a cup and can ask for that too. (And does.) The pediatrician has also said that he doesn't think he is malnourished because he's so proportionate and healthy.

The conclusion of the appointment was the ordering of chromosome and thyroid studies. If those are normal then her suggestion would be to see a GI doctor about malabsorption, which profile, she said, he doesn't exactly fit either. (In other words, he doesn't suffer from chronic diarrhea.) After the process of approving the studies with the insurance company, getting the labs, and waiting for results we should know something in August.

I might add a note about Jason's size. So many people are surprised when I tell them that Jason is small. If you've known me most of my parenting years, you will know that I'm pretty relaxed about stuff like that. If Jason was just on the small end of the curve I wouldn't be allowing concern. However, he is far below the curve. I think people balk at the idea that he is small because he looks so proportianate. He doesn't look scrawny. Today Jason's height was normal for a six month old, and his weight for a 4 1/2 month old. He is 12 months and 1 week old. The good news is that his head size and development are normal. In fact, his development has even been somewhat advanced. He surprised the doctor today with all his gross motor skills=) We have no other children who have been even close to this small. The smallest before Jason had other issues that, once resolved, also resolved stature.

John and I are thinking that if the thyroid and chromosome studies are normal we will be pushing to sit on things for a year or so and see what happens. But, we will need to be prayerful about that. Of course, we want the very best for Jason. At this point, it seems to us that he needs an abundance of time to be normal and avoid unnecessary and traumatic medical attention. You can pray for us too. We do want to make wise short and long term choices for Jason.

Trip to Indiana

I recently went to Indiana for a weekend with Jason. It was a good trip. (More about the reason I went later.) Jason and Haelley travelled right next to each other. This is Haelley. I really enjoyed getting to see her and spend some time playing.

Blogs

We recently changed computers. In the process I lost all my bookmarks. If you have a blog that you want me to frequent would you email me the address? Thanks!

Sad News

As you know this year has been fraught with violent weather. The son of some friends of ours from Omaha was killed in the tornado that hit a boyscout camp in western Iowa. I am just so sad and preoccupied with this. I don't know who all reads my blog, but if you see this, please pray for our friends.

Josiah's Lost and Found

Josiah lost his first tooth yesterday, and the day before that we discovered a new one behind it.

Bowling

**Note** Sorry the following post is so messy. I have spent lots of time trying to fix it, but can't get it to do what I am used to doing. I'm not sure if it's the new computer or the different browser. Ugh.

James and Joshua are both at camp this week, so I thought I would come up with some fun activities for the children at home. Today we went bowling with "free" coupons. (The shoe rental wasn't free and was $3 per person!! So much for free!) Joseph was the star, nearly beating John, who only came back at the end to narrowly overcome Joseph.

Jacob did pretty well. With some practice he could have a pretty good game.
















Jared was a natural. We used the bumpers to avoid gutter balls, but he rarely needed them. He was just at ease and had good form.








Nancy celebrated after every ball - no matter the outcome=)

Josiah always looked crooked as he bowled, just like this picture.

Joseph shone brightly today. He nearly beat John who only narrowly overcame him at the very end. Joseph's score is at the top of the scoreboard.

Jason's First Birthday 2

Jason was terrified of his burning candle. He tried and tried to get out of his chair and away from it. I tried to get a picture of that but didn't. His attitude toward the whole thing changed when the cupcake was for eating=)





When the meal was all done he noticed his messy hands. It was pretty cute.

Jason's First Birthday

At our house presents come first. We put them in the birthday person's chair, so they have to open them before eating.


















We don't usually let Jason feed himself, and he has shown no interest in doing so. Tonight we just cut up his food and gave it to him. He didn't know what to do. For a while he just played with it, then he seemed to figure out that he could eat it. He ended up eating quite a bit actually. I don't know that I'm ready for the mess at every meal, but it was a good experience for today.

Pool Party

Nancy and I were invited to a pool party at the home of a couple from church. We had a good time. Nancy has never been afraid of water. Today was further testimony of that! Though she can't swim she was uninhibited. She observed the other girls jumping far out into the pool and tried to imitate. It scared me a lot but never her. I am certain she never felt the slightest bit of danger. (Soon I may have pool party videos here because we bought a refurbished computer that has a video card. I will be able to upload pictures from my camera and put them here once that is up and running.)

The Eggs

I discovered the hummingbird nest minus mama, so John took a picture of the nest and its contents. He said the eggs were bigger than peas, maybe almost navy bean size.

Hummingbird

We have a nesting hummingbird in our basketball net. She has been quite an attraction. We are all anxious to see how her little bitty offspring fare.

Eat Mor Chikin

Joshua got to be the dancing advertising cow at work today. Yep, that's him. (I would think it was absolutely hilarious except it's very hot. I feel sorry for him actually.)