tall and skinny

we had the kids' 2 month and 18 month checkups today. Caleb did great, although he cried about getting a shot whenever anyone would make a move. of course he's done with his shots for a while, but he obviously thought there was one coming. poor kid. he's still solidly in the 50th percentile for weight and off the chart for height, just like his daddy.

Alice got her share of shots, much to her displeasure. and despite our best guess, she really hasnt gained any weight or length in the last month (just 1 oz), which we thought was more than a little concerning. but hooray for Dr. Jack, who is the nicest and most laid-back doctor we've ever known. she wasnt too concerned about her not gaining, since she shot up relatively fast her first month. and based on all the usual questions they ask, she's doing just fine developmentally (she smiles and coos and waves her arms and recognizes our faces, etc). so we'll stay the course and continue fighting off the thrush (yes, it's back in mama, but baby seems ok this time around). mama's having a bit of a hard time with thrush and back struggles, but she's determined to keep at it. we're all very thankful and proud of her.

as I keep reminding myself these days: I guess we make skinny babies. that's ok, because they are darn cute that way, if I do say so myself.

me four

Four Jobs I Have Had
Fast food cashier
Golf course mower
Kitchen painter
Greyfriar's barista/manager

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over Again (well, maybe a few times)
Chicken Run
O Brother
Pride & Prejudice (A&E)
Baby Einstein's Baby McDonald (not necessarily by choice)

Four Books I Could Read Over and Over
The River Why
LOTR
Shepherding a Child's Heart
Goodnight Moon (see above)

Four Places I Have Lived
Prospect Park, NJ
Boynton Beach, FL
Pittsboro, NC
Chattanooga, TN

Four TV Shows I Watch (I dont watch much, but when I do...)
MLB Baseball
NCAA Basketball
Football
SportsCenter

Four Places I Have Been On Vacation
Lake Bomoseen, VT
Bethany Beach, DE
Lucaya, Bahamas
Florida Keys

Four Websites I visit Daily
Chattablogs.com (and other various terrablogs)
CNN.com
weather.com
chattanoogan.com

Four Favorite Foods
beer
ice cream
cookies
more beer

Four Places I'd Like To Be Now
hmm, I think I like it here, actually, but if it weren't winter:
Lake Bomoseen, VT
the scottish highlands
a visit to Colorado might be nice
maybe the Grand Canyon or some other park I havent yet been to

Four Bloggers I'm Tagging
mama
andyp
lynnp
davidg (are you still out there?)

animated

here are some of Alice's many cute faces. click for a little low-tech animation.

the longest saturday

Michelle had quite a long week with Caleb, who was sick with a cold the whole time. he would fuss and whine pretty much all day, and we'd give him the benefit of the doubt due to being sick. so we'd sometimes let the whining work, instead of the usual "no whining" rule we have. so after all that plus the usual lack of sleep due to feeding the tiny baby, she was quite happy to have me home for the weekend. Caleb usually does better when I'm around, as he's grown more attached since Alice arrived. so we were hoping for a weekend of everyone feeling better, as things seemed to improve on Friday.

but Saturday was the longest Saturday ever. it doesnt really do it justice to say that he whined all day. it was more like he threw a temper tantrum at every and any opportunity. not quite continuous crying, but close. there comes a point when you just let him cry it out, but it does start to wear you down. at one point I couldnt pick him up b/c I was making lunch, and he got in such a state that he was kind of twitching his head when he'd inhale from his cries. this freaked us all out a little, but thankfully a brief stroll around the back yard settled him down.

thankfully he's usually not a temper-tantrum kinda guy, so we're not quite used to it. more often than not, if he's upset about not getting something, we just have to ask him where one of his stuffed animals is, and he'll happily go find it for us (I'm actually surprised this trick works as often as it does). but we survived, and a couple beers and some pizza helped wash it away.

but now we're dealing with the aftermath a bit. thankfully he's feeling much better. but it seems he's learned that whining can get him what he wants. this morning when I was leaving he gave me the fakest cry I've heard from him. I couldnt help but laugh as I told him that whining doesnt work any more. he seems to be catching on again, as his little tantrums are much shorter now, and now and then I think I see a light bulb go off when we (once again) explain that he's not allowed to whine, but needs to ask nicely for things he wants. after the non-stop whinefest, we're thankful to have him more back to normal.

but is this just a preview of what is to come as he approaches the age of 2? and who knows how Alice will be with these things. we're realizing that we need to think and pray about these things more, and maybe pick up a few tips from the woodshed lady (who apparently changed the name of her site, but the "godly tomato lady" just doesnt sound as cool) and re-read Shepherding soon.

oh and lest I forget, then there was Sunday. he wasnt well enough to go to church, so I let mama go without the kids, and we watched "praise baby" during church time (b/c who doesnt want to watch goldfish and toys and kids playing ball while listening to "shine, Jesus shine"? -- it's not as bad as that sounds, but sometimes it's a little absurd. I take comfort that at least he's learning some good songs). and everyone had a GREAT nap in the afternoon (while I had a mental nap - watching the steelers game a bit). and mama recounted some of the sermon for me...something about giving our battles to God, who has won them all in Jesus already. good thing He's really in control around here, or we just might go crazy.

and finally, there are some more pictures here.

seven weeks

happy seven weeks birthday to Alice. it seems like she's been around a lot longer, but sleep-deprivation tends to mess with my sense of perspective. she's actually a pretty good sleeper for her age. she'll go 5 or 6 hours between feedings at night, so that usually means we're up only once in the middle of the night. if Michelle's back isnt doing well (which is more often than not these days), I'll sometimes change her diaper at these times, although often it's quite grudingly.

it's amazing how my moods are dictated by my expectations. if she sleeps well for a few nights in a row, I'll get all bitter that she's up twice the next night, or that she's super bright-eyed wide awake at 4am. but the night after that happens, I'm much more patient because I assume it's coming. and I think a lot of my moodiness has to do with not spending good time with Michelle, and not taking much time to pray and such lately. we look forward to the day she'll sleep longer, but we know these days of her being tiny and snuggly are going by fast.

overall she's doing well, although the thrush seems to come and go. it was almost all the way gone recently, but now seems to be returning. we've tried everything we can think of, so hopefully it will subside again. she'll often have fussy/gassy times in the late evening, but pumping and running her legs helps her get that out. we think she's a bit more fiesty than Caleb, as she'll loudly let us know her opinion when mama stops her latest meal. thankfully she doesnt spit up much unless she's had a lot more than usual to eat.

we have a baby swing that we call the "seat of power" and "the magic seat" and "the best $10 I've spent on baby junk." if Caleb is down and mama needs a nap but Alice isnt willing, she'll go right to sleep in the swing. a very powerful tool indeed, and sometimes TOO powerful, as she can sleep too much there and not enough later (see above).

the latest thing these days is that Caleb has a cold. nothing too severe, but he's got a nasty cough and lots of snot, and TONS of fussiness. ALL. DAY. LONG. of course this is wearing down Michelle rather quickly, so please pray that he'll be well soon, and of course that Alice wont get sick (she seems fine so far). I've found that, for me at least, when everyone is doing fine, we can do pretty well together. but when you throw in sickness or some other stress, we start to come undone much faster than we used to. it does seem to drive us to our knees, which isnt a bad thing.

Alice will be baptised at SEPC on Feb 5th [date TBA] Feb 5th (2nd service). she'll be baptised by Michelle's dad, wearing a dress that was made from Michelle's mom's wedding gown (and also worn by our niece Casey), so we're really looking forward to it. with 2 babies in the house, we definitely need to be reminded of God's faithfulness to our family.

a toe in CCM - results

a couple months ago I posted a request for some suggesions for worship music that I might like. thanks to those who offered suggestions, as I put some on my Christmas list. I ended up getting CDs of Robin Mark, Derek Webb and City on a Hill, and I got Michelle a CD of Ginny Owens.

so far, I really like all 3 of the albums I got. The Robin Mark CD called Revival in Belfast has a cool celtic flair (he's Irish) and they do good arrangements of worship songs. I epecially like his song "Jesus, All For Jesus," so our little band sang it today in church. I think our rendition went well, especially thanks to the abilities of the other guys. Tom's driving guitar, Jim's solid bass, Joe's sweet harmonies...very nice. my main contribution (besides suggesting the song) was adding a mandolin shout-out to "All For Jesus," which is the official hymn Covenant College (so I imagine about 90% of the hearers got the idea). I was actually hoping to have us sing one of the lines of the hymn in the middle of the new song, but we couldnt make it work to our satisfaction. anyway, if you're interested in Celtic-style worship music that rocks out a bit, do check out Robin Mark.

Derek Webb apparently used to sing in the band Caedman's Call (I was never into CCM, so I dont know much about it). these days he's on his own, and quite involved with Indelible Grace, which is my favorite band lately (they do new versions of old hymns, in case you havent heard of them). a couple folks suggested one of his albums, and I'm glad I got "She Must and Shall Go Free." I definitely like the musical style (I'd call it edgy acoustic), and the lyrics are often challenging. his stuff reminds me of Bill Mallonee and VoL, although he's not afraid to be more direct about his faith. most of it is not quite worship music (as in stuff I'd sing in our band for church), but generally good stuff.

City on a Hill is a series of albums that brings together various CCM artists to do various worship songs. I dont like bands like Third Day and whatnot (I've hardly heard most of them, although I recognize some names), but whoever brought these folks together did a pretty good job of producing these songs. I got the album called Sing Alleluia, and there are a couple tracks that stand out (the title track and "Our Great God") and a bunch of the rest are growing on me. we'll see if our little band can do them justice.

so if you're into such things, check these out, and bring on any other suggestions. a friend just gave us a stack of Fernando Ortega CDs to borrow, and I'm sure there will be a lot of good stuff there. I've also been able to check out the Jars of Clay worship album, which sounds really good overall.

I know taste in music is very subjective, so I wont assume everyone will like what I do. but I will say that ever since I've been filling my head with songs like these, I've felt more worshipful throughout the day. there's always a song in my head, so it might as well be something good (both tune and content). on the flip side, I had the unfortunate experience of catching the latest Madonna song (entirely vapid) and the latest from Black Eyed Peas (unabashedly sexual). yikes. I shudder to think that my kids might like something like this someday. I must be getting old.

sweets

"sweets" is my nickname for Alice, which I suppose is from shortening "sweetie." just recently she's been smiling a little, which is such a reward after weeks of relatively blank stares. well she's been good at focusing on faces, but hasnt otherwise interacted yet, so it's a lot of fun to see her smile. I like to watch her "evening excercises" as she flails her arms and checks things out. today mama caught lots of her cute expressions while she looked out the window and around her crib, and some are indeed hilarious (I think she was trying to look at the camera on a few). here's a bunch more cuteness.

it seems that the thrush is getting better. we're still hitting it with lots of meds and such, so hopefully it will be all gone soon. we had a setback yesterday as Michelle twisted her ankle, but it's not as bad as we feared, and she's been able to get around relatively OK. many thanks to Sarah (who is in town this week -- yay!) and Leah for helping out with the kids while she kept her feet up.

sparkle button

Caleb likes belly buttons, especially sparkly ones, although in this picture he seems to be thinking that Tia Lori is a little crazy.

growing

whenever I pick up or change Alice, she seems SO tiny. I was even starting to worry that she wasnt gaining enough weight, even though it's pretty obvious that she's a good eater. she's not chubby in the least, but perhaps we just dont make chubby kids? I'm sure Caleb's eating problems last year feuled my fears.

so today was her 1 month weigh-in, and she's doing great. she's up to 8 pounds and 22 inches. of course that IS tiny compared to Caleb, who is quite a solid kid, but she's well on her way.

in other news, the thrush is back, and it's quite evil. it actually never went away fully. it's not causing major problems yet, but we're not waiting for it to get bad. the latest tactic is an enzyme powder that is supposed to eat the yeast on contact. while this is "alternative medicine," we have some friends who've had great success with it, so hopefully this stuff will work.

resolved

these are more new life resolutions (as in life with 2 little kids in the house) than new year resolutions, but I have resolved to make sure the kitchen is clean before bed every night, but to not worry too much when I miss a night, and yet not let it pile up too high. we'll see how it goes. we also want to start planning meals in advance, instead of throwing something together at the last minute.

more importantly, I want to get into the habit of family devotions and singing. any ideas for things that work or dont work with little kids in the house? Caleb likes it when we sing together (and so does the dog for some reason), so that's a start.

lotsa pictures, happy new life

I've added a bunch of new pictures to Alice's first month, as well as Christmas fun and other various December festivities. and if you're tuning in late, dont miss Alice's first pictures as well as Caleb's first haircut.

happy new year to all, and happy first month birthday to Alice. as expected, December went by very, very quickly. my mom left this morning, so today was back to reality for us, or I suppose it's more like starting the new reality. I think it went pretty well. now that help is gone, I've found myself stepping up to do more. perhaps not a lot more than I would usually do, but I've been doing it a bit more urgently. if there's a free moment to clean off the desk or empty the dishwasher, it must be siezed before it's gone. with 2 babies in the house, there are not that many free moments any more. so Christmas is packed away, our new water filter is installed (you know you 're getting old if you spend your christmas money on a fancy water filter), and the kitchen is nice and clean. for now.

we're wondering how Caleb will do without extra people to play with him, but he seemed to be fine today. the real fun begins tomorrow when I go into work and mama tends after everyone by herself. we're praying for strength for each day. in a lot of ways I'd love to stay home and help all the time, but we gotta pay for diapers somehow. and without an office in this house, working from home only works for short bits. anyway, please pray for Michelle in this big transition. her health is doing pretty well except for her back. we're hoping that will improve as she's able to get more sleep, but we may be at least a couple months away from that. but considering how fast the first month went by, we may be there before we know it.