Family Alive

It’s that time of night again… I should be in bed now that Josiah is calling it a night, but I’m going to post a few tidbits before I forget them.

Bwackas and Boppas
As we’ve mentioned before, Analise named Brian’s mom, Beverly, “Bwacka”, and Brian’s dad, “Boppa” in liew of Grandma and Grandpa. When my mom arrived, she started calling her “Grandma Sandy” and sometimes, “Bwacka Sandy”. She’ll even call Beverly “Grandma” sometimes now. My dad arrived last week, and Analise immediately named him “Poppa Dale”. She took an immediate liking to him, which was so sweet. Since he left yesterday, she’s been asking, “Where’s the Poppa Dale?” (She has a fun way of asking where people are, for example, “Where’s the Mommy? Where’s the Boppa?” It’s very, very cute.) Anyway, she’s missed Poppa Dale. Last night was a first: We always say our prayers before she goes to bed, and we ask her who she wants to thank Jesus for. She’s only ever said Boppa and Bwacka until last night. Her first request was Poppa Dale and Grandma Sandy. My heart just melts. I wish my parents lived closer to enjoy her more!

Mothering a little boy
I’m a slow learner. I’d been warned of the ability of boy babies to “spray” at any time that they were diaperless. But our first 5 days with Josiah were event-free, and I got a bit lax. At the doctor’s when he was 5 days old, I had just taken his diaper off and was lifting him from the examining table to the scale when I got wet. All over me, the car seat, the floor and the examining table. Ag! The nurse chuckled and told me she’s more surprised if it DOESN’T happen. I was cleaning Josiah up on the changing table, thinking I had a minute before the doctor came in, I got sprayed AGAIN, just as the doctor walked in. I was so embarrassed, covered in pee and trying to keep from getting wet. Our doctor couldn’t believe this was my first “incident”, and he related that he was sprayed when his son was 5 minutes old!! I’ve since been sprayed countless times, and I don’t feel like I’m getting any better preventing/avoiding. Brian doesn’t understand why I can’t keep from getting wet or keep things covered, but he’s only changed a fraction of the diapers since we came home from the hospital. His time will come, I’m sure. I’m hoping I’m going to get better at this. Any suggestions from the moms of boys out there? I know you’re reading this!

Growing!
Today was Josiah’s 2 week appointment (at 16 days old). He already weighs 8lbs 11oz! He was 7lbs 11 oz when he was born, dropped to 7lbs 3oz when we left the hospital, and at 4 days old, he was back up to 7lbs 9oz. That means he’s put on 18 oz (1lb 2 oz) in less than 2 weeks! It’s no wonder, given that he wants to eat every 1 1/2, or even less. We’ve had a couple days of fussiness, and it’s been hard to make him happy… except when he’s sucking on me. Today’s been better, so we’ll keep taking things one day at a time.

Sweet and Sour
This is the best description of my Analise. She’s as sweet and snuggly as ever, funny and lively, full of chatter about any and everything. But she’s had a few sour moments that we’re thinking are the “terrible twos” starting a few days early. She’s still been very sweet with Josiah, and I’m so thankful she’s been so good about sharing us and adjusting to him. She seems to have woken up with a new concept yesterday, though… “Mine!” In the last two days, she’s been telling us quite strongly that things are hers. Hopefully, we can gently learning about sharing and move onto the next fun phase. Tomorrow should be a good day – we’ve got an appointment for 2-year photos! I hope we’ll be able to catch some beautiful Analise smiles, and I’ll get a chance to post them tomorrow.

Purses and Diaper Bags
I just realized something. You know that you’re moving up in the parent ranks when there are more diaper bags than purses in your house. Our “purse/diaper bag” table has 1 purse, 3 diaper bags and 1 kid activity bag. The sad thing is that the purse doesn’t have anything of value in it… it’s all in the diaper bags. Makes life very confusing when you’re trying to grab the kids, the bags and lastly whatever you need!

My Public Service Announcement
Lastly, I’ll share my little lesson from the past week. In the hospital, the pediatrician noticed that Josiah has a small birthmark on his low back over his spine. Sometimes birthmarks like that can indicate a problem in the spine, like spina bifida or a “tethered cord”. He didn’t think that was the case since this wasn’t a birthmark typical of that, but we scheduled an ultrasound of the lower spine just to be sure. It was a simple painless procedure last week, and Josiah slept through it. I, though, had a feeling things weren’t right. Something my untrained eye saw on the ultrasound made me very worried, and the ultrasound tech said that we’d have to wait to talk to the doctor (today) about the results. This was Wednesday, and today’s appointment felt like ages away. I normally don’t stress out very easily, but I was STRESSED out about this. I spent the entire weekend preparing myself for the bad news. I was already blaming myself, too, thinking about the times I hadn’t taken my prenatal vitamins due to my miserable morning/all day sickness, and how that could be the reason something was wrong. (Prenatal vitamins are especially important in the first trimester, when the spinal cord is developing. Folic acid has been shown to decrease the number of spinal cord defects.) Needless to say, everything was just fine at our appointment today. The doctor said that everything had shown up as normal on the ultrasound, much to my relief. I’m embarrassed to admit that I let myself get so consumed by worry. I know God has things in control, and whatever the outcome was, He would have walked with us. I was reminded firsthand how much believing God is a mental battle in the face of our circumstances. We have to CHOOSE to believe that God is God and He is good. The other lesson to take away from this is TAKE YOUR PRENATAL VITAMINS… no matter how queasy you are with morning sickness.