Happy Birthday, Adam!

Adam turned two on Wednesday and we celebrated today with a Curious George party. There was messy finger painting and chalk drawing galore and the tables were decorated with bananas, mini bananas, and monkey paraphernalia. Nick is the creative one so he used he sweet skills to craft a monkey cake for the birthday boy. I found an old coffee table in my parent's barn and we cleaned it up so Nick could turn it into a train table. Adam's face lit up when he saw it and he started squealing "choo-choo" in a high pitched voice because he was so excited. Everything ran smoothly (other than Adam burning his finger on the candle while he was trying to blow it out.) and we all had a great time. Now I've gotta go work off that cake with a five mile run...

My first 5k

On Saturday, the boys and I ran in the Spring to Life Fun Run in Brentwood. The top three stroller runners won a prize and I was holding 2nd for the first half of the race then people slowly started passing me. If you want to see the posted results, I'm at the very bottom of the page in the stroller division. I was the very first double stroller to cross the line but I guess they don't give prizes for that :( I have a 10k scheduled for May 10th and I won't have to push around an extra 80 pounds on that one so we'll see how we do...

The great thing about weeds:

One day, when they were playing in the backyard, Nick helped Adam pick a flower and told him to bring it in to mommy. Ever since then, every single time he goes outside, Adam picks a flower and brings it inside to me. It's one of the highlights of my day- I love knowing that he's thinking of me while searching for a flower and all the way back inside to find me. That's a lot of focus for such a little boy! He'll be two years old tomorrow and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. He's done such a good job at growing and we thank the Lord every night that He's blessed our family with Adam.

The big 30!

He made it! On April 11th, Nick turned 30! A bunch of us met at the bowling alley to surprise him and to celebrate this momentous occasion. I had everything planned to perfection but alas, things did not work out quite as well as I had hoped. We arrived home from Arkansas at two in the morning and spent most of his day recovering and unpacking. We were going to get some hot wings (his absolute favorite) for dinner and then blindfold him so we could go the the bowling alley. I was so proud of myself for having it all together- we drove up to "Wings to Go" and they sure had gone-OUT OF BUSINESS! On Nick's birthday! We were very sad but the rest of the evening was a hit. Adam especially enjoyed the Funfetti cupcakes. And I have no idea why this whole thing is underlined. I can't get rid of it so I am sorry. :)

Arkansas bound

4:00am- in the morning- before the sun is up when it's still dark outside and any sane person would still be sleeping soundly in bed. We arise and head off to the airport. We were crazy enough to each fly with a child on our lap so we could save a few bucks. The first 2 1/2 hour flight was hard for Nick and Adam (who was too excited to go on an airplane to go back to sleep). Toddlers do not like to be contained especially when there is a whole airplane to explore. They finally both conked out on the second flight as you can see! Sam, on the other hand, was an angel- other than his training me to change several diapers on my lap in an airplane seat. We survived all but one of them, and for the weak of stomach, I'll spare you the gory details.

We were able to see family that we hadn't seen in a year and a half. Adam loved wrestling with cousins Christian and Cameron. At Nana and Papa's house, he helped Papa mow his lawn and ran around with Chase. Sam got to meet everyone and he had an exciting trip too. He learned to roll over and also started eating rice cereal when we were out there.

The night before we were scheduled to come home, we bathed the kids and put them to bed early so they would be well rested for our day of traveling the next day. We were so proud of ourselves for being so responsible. Then the sirens went off... Are you kidding me? Are tornadoes really that serious? But I just put them to bed! The next hour and a half was spent in the tornado shelter. Adam loved it- running around with his cousins in a big room is so much more fun than going to sleep. So we saw the pictures of the tennis ball-sized hail on TV and then made our way home when the twister had passed. Home, kids to bed again, not ten minutes pass and the sirens go off AGAIN! I love living in California. We go back to the shelter again to hear stories of roofs being torn off and cars being flooded off the road. So, after two stints in the tornado shelter and hoping there was no rotation in the third storm, we survived our last night in Arkansas.

At Papa and Grammie's

On Easter, we drove Nick to the airport so he could go on the church mission trip to Mexico, then the boys and I escaped to my parents' house for the week. It was a nice break for me because there is always someone willing to hold the baby, read to Adam, get up to feed in the middle of the night... (oh, wait- I went to far with that one!) Actually, both boys are great at sleeping and Sam's been sleeping from 9pm to 7am for months now. We are blessed.


I am a big fan of scheduling and the boys' days are very predictable. During an afternoon naptime, we heard some noises coming from the room where Adam was sleeping. These noises were much to gleeful for a slumbering toddler. I opened the door to check on him and this is what I found: apparently, I underestimated the distance from the port-a-bed to my sister's dresser. But no problem for my son- he emptied almost the entire contents of the top drawer onto his head and into his bed.

It's got its own weather system!

So now the appropriate thing is to joke about it... because there's nothing wrong with Sam's head! Praise God. After 3 hours in the waiting room at Children's Hospital, and 45 minutes for him to fall asleep for the CT scan, the results are in: he has an extreme case of bathrocephaly. At 4 months old and 14 pounds, he is in the 50th percentile for his height and weight and 75th percentile for his head. The Lord knows the plans for Sam's future and maybe someday that thick skull will come in handy. Thank you so much for all those prayers- God heard you!

Mama? Run...c'mon!

Praise the Lord! We mentioned to a family in our church that we were looking for a jogging stroller so I could run with the boys to train for the marathon in 358 days. We were hoping they could just help us find a used one but they bought a brand new one for us! God is good- all the time.

We wasted no time; we got the stroller last night and Sam, Adam, and I went on a 2.5 mile run/walk this morning. The stroller is so easy to push- it's my legs that are the stubborn part. When I would take a little break to walk, Adam would look up through the little plastic window at me and say, "Mama? Run...c'mon!" How could I say no to that sweet little boy who just wanted to go fast? I think he'll be a valuable asset to my training.

Sam update:

We have a CAT scan scheduled for St. Patrick's Day, March 17th at 1pm.

The Saga Continues...

We took Sam to Children's Hospital today and met with the fabulous Dr. Gizzi who has two guesses to what it might be that makes his head look like a bike helmet. The more likely one, and the one we are hoping it is, is bathrocephaly, "a developmental anomaly marked by a steplike posterior projection of the skull, caused by excessive growth of the lambdoid suture". It basically means that he has a really thick clump of bone at the back of his skull for no particular reason whatsoever.

The other option is that there could be something in/on/around his brain that is pushing the skull out and we will find that out with an MRI which requires general anesthesia (we're not excited about that). He also needs to get a CT scan to see if the skull is especially thick. The Lord knew what He was doing when He made Sam, and apparently, that's the head God wanted for him. If it is bathrocephaly, then we don't need to do anything- it will just be less noticeable as he grows into his head. He just won't ever look good with a buzz cut...

The Countdown Begins...

Today, thousands of people ran over 26 miles in the L.A. Marathon and I am hoping to join them for next year! Today, I am capable of running about 3 miles in one stretch so I have quite a ways to go. My friend Tim just ran 63 marathons in 63 days to raise over $750,000 for the AT Children's Project, so I figure if he can do that, I can at least run one, right?

An update...

Not much has changed since the exciting story of Sam's birth. We've just been adjusting to life with a family of four! Nick still loves youth ministry and just got back from the annual snow trip.

I somehow got it into my mind that I want to run a marathon next year (and if I write it down, maybe it will actually happen!).

Adam adores his little brother even though he can't say his name- he just calls him baby. Someday he'll be able to say words that start with "s" but until then, he loves doing puzzles, bowling, climbing things, and tackling daddy. He'll be two in April and we are already planning a Curious George party.

Sam, 3 months, is mastering smiling and laughing and that's about it for now.

As you can see from Sam's profile picture, he has a strangely shaped head. We have an appointment to see a doctor at Children's Hospital craniofacial department on March 3. Remember us in your prayers as we try to figure out if there's something we need to do about it or if Sam just has a funny head.