No Such Luck

Not only is my foot NOT a really bad sprain as I had hoped, it is in fact broken in 2 places and separated, which means I will be having surgery this Saturday, I will be out of commission for at least 8 weeks and on crutches, and it is my right (read: driving) foot. Did I mention I am taking 13 hours of classes, driving myself and Gabriel to school along with all of my other daily activities with the boys, AND we live on the second floor of a condo building? Peachy. Just peachy. 

So This Happened...

Leading our church's junior high youth group this afternoon and playing a round of blob tag, I tripped over one of the kids and rolled my right foot over, which was simultaneously stepped on. I heard a celery crunch. Not good. Praying it is a gnarly, bad sprain. I SO don't need this right now :(

Judah's Party: Piggie + Gerald

We had such a great time celebrating Judah all day today. Andy and I decorated the house when he went to bed last night so he woke to balloons hanging everywhere and was so excited to go point out each "balloom". Andy took Judah and Gabriel to Krispy Kreme for a birthday donut, word! Judah and Gabriel played this morning while we all got ready for his party, and he opened family gifts just before the party. SO cute. His fave seemed to be either Spiderman or Piggie + Gerald stuffed toys. 

Speaking of Piggie and Gerald, that was the theme for his party, which was a hit! It is a series of books by Mo Willems that Judah discovered at the library a few months back and he absolutely loves them. They are pretty clever so we like them too! We had books, puppets, lanterns, and even the cups had piggie and gerald drawn on them. Everyone had a really great time, especially Judah!. When it came time for his birthday cake, he blew out his candles like a champ, then proceeded to pluck Piggie right off the top of the cake and eat her, haha! He commented that he "ate her heiney", which was actually her head, but it was so funny to watch him eat the fondant pig. Of course you know Andy went all out on the birthday cake in his usual fashion, staying up all night making a multi-tiered cake with a 3D fondant piggie and gerald on top. Amazing. After enjoying all of his friends, we all went outside to play with his birthday balloons and the boys figured out that if they tried to smash the balloons on the ground, the dry/prickly grass would pop them! So they proceeded to pop every balloon from the party. Boys. 

Happy Birthday to Judah, such a fun day!

JUDAH: TWO!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our Judah Bear! Where did baby Judah go? Judah, you are such a joy, I can't quite find the right words to express how much you mean to me, and to this family. I get choked up just thinking of what a special little boy you are. You are generous, funny, smart, sometimes a little cheeky, outgoing but also easy going, and so many more wonderful things. You barely cry when you fall down and are quite a tenacious little boy! We can not imagine our family without you, truly. I thank the Lord for you and Gabriel every single day.

There are so many other things I could write to you about for your birthday, but really I just want you to know how incredibly, deeply loved you are by your family. There is part of me that does long for my baby Judah who is growing up so fast, but mostly I am excited to see you grow and develop into the man God designed you to be. You are incredible, Judah. We love, love, love you.

Happy Happy Birthday to my favorite two year old!! You are more loved than you will ever know.


Here is a run-down of where Judah is developmentally:

- Knows most of his ABCs (gets a little jumbled around "j,k,l,m .. but finishes strong!)

- Loves to turn the pages of books and requests to be read to all the time, he can recite lines from some of his fave books as well (which include Piggie + Gerald as well as a few board books be enjoys); also loves the library

- Pronounces all his Vs as Bs (elebator, darth bader, bery (very), abocado, olibes, etc)

- Can count to 10, and if coached a bit to 20

- Knows his colors (proudly)

- He can sort objects by color or size and can differentiate between big v small, etc. 

- Pronounces words that end in -oon like -oom so spoon is soom or spoom and balloon is balloom, etc. - others: pancakes are panpates, peanut butter is peekabutter, bubble bath is bubby bath, granola is gadola

- He can be a great eater when wants to be, often out-eating me! He likes to dissect his food before he eats it, so sandwiches get taken apart, edamame is shelled on the plate first, pizza is even picked apart, etc. 

- He loves to ride on the mini kick scooter and he is practicing on Gabriel's balance bike; he also continues to love any kind of ball which has been true since he could grasp a toy as an infant

- He has mastered running and jumping and tries really hard to keep up with Gabriel; his little legs flip out to the sides when he runs and his arms flail, it is the cutest thing to watch

- He has started to get into dressing himself and being more independent with things like hand washing and putting shoes on ("I do it" "No, Judah do it" "I do it all by myself")

- He is able to articulate his desires and dislikes clearly, and is polite in his requests (i.e. "may I have ...", "thank you daddy for ...", "excuse me" to interrupt, etc.)
- He loves to help in the kitchen
- He already has a lot of interest in the potty and even pooped once (by accident I think); but he loves to sit on it and try ... I envision potty training commencing in a couple months
- He is a great sleeper, he goes to bed easily, sleeps through the night and generally sleeps late in the morning
- He loves stuffed animals, his faves are brown bear, piggie, gerald, and spiderman
- He enjoys participating in our family prayers at dinner, often initiating prayer rather then copying what we say; so sweet

I am sure I have forgotten things, but this is a long enough list for me to come back later and remember what kinds of things Judah was able to do. We are excited to see what TWO will bring from this fun-loving little boy. Bye bye baby Judah, hello toddler Judah. Watch out world!

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First Day of 4-yr Pre-K

I can't believe Gabriel is beginning his third year of pre-school, which means he will be in KINDERGARTEN next year. I am so thrilled that he is back at Montview, where he attended last year. He will be attending Mon-Thurs in the mornings, which will be a nice jump up from TTh afternoons last year, he is ready for the longer week! I hope the months ahead will pass slowly so we can savor our last school year with a preschooler. 

Here is Gabriel on his first day, he LOVES school!

I also took a few shots of him with Judah, and one with his teacher during his home visit ...

A Big Scare...

Judah has had several high fevers in his first 21 months, relative to our experience with Gabriel anyway. Back in February after a round of vaccinations his fever shot up to around 105 the next day, prompting the doctor to strip his clothes off and put a cold compress on his head as soon as we walked into the office. 

So this time, as he seemed to be getting sick with what appeared to be a cold and cough we were keeping a close watch on him. Andy was away at a work retreat so I was home alone with the boys. I noticed through dinner that Judah seemed particularly droopy and uninterested in eating. I  knew he didn't feel well. I had been tracking his does of motrin and tylenol to manage the fever, so when I checked and he was over 103 with 3 hours to go until I could give him anything, I called the doctor to see if there was anything else I could do. Before the doctor could call me back (it was after hours) his fever spiked to 106 and he passed out in my arms and started convulsing. He was having a seizure. I scooped him up, called Andy quickly to say "I'm calling 911, come home!" then I called 911. The few minutes it took for the first responders to arrive felt like an eternity. As Judah continued to convulse, his eyes rolled back in his head and his skin burning hot, I thought he was dying in  my arms. Then he stopped breathing and his lips turned blue. I was on the phone with the 911 operator trying to hold it together as she gave me tips on helping him breath until the paramedics arrived. Meanwhile, Gabriel is running through the house screaming as loud as he can out of sheer fright and panic. Finally I get a little color back into Judah's face as he breathes shallowly and the paramedics arrive. 

They check his vitals and put him on oxygen, tell me to grab my things the ambulance is waiting for us. The three of us climb into the ambulance, me cradling Judah in my arms while Gabriel gets strapped into the jump seat. As we ride to the hospital the paramedic asks me for all of the details. By the time we arrive at the hospital, Judah is awake and breathing but otherwise pretty motionless. They take us back immediately to be seen where they confirm he has had a febrile seizure, the body's natural reaction to a quick temperature spike. We were assured that no brain damage was caused and that he would be fine, they just needed to get his fever down. Finally Andy made it to us, his retreat was 2 hours away up in the mountains. Our neighbor came to pick up Gabriel for the night and we were released sometime around 1am. We took Judah home and proceeded to watch him sleep until dawn. He woke up groggy but showing improvement. 

This was one of the scariest times of my life, holding my child and thinking he is dying. We are so thankful he is okay!