Happy birthday, Katie!!

Our little ball of fun

Has just turned one!

Our joy and laughter have been restored

And we're so thankful for this gift from the Lord.

California, Here We Come (Part 2)

Two hours after leaving Palm Springs, we arrived in Pasadena, CA to visit my good college friend Kristi and her new husband Bob, whom we had never met. We are happy to report that Bob is a great guy and we approve. Not that Kristi was waiting for our approval...

Anyway, Kristi cooked us a delicious couple of meals and we enjoyed great fellowship with the newlyweds. We stayed in a dorm room that is part of the William Carey International University -- a sleeping situation which was missing many of the perks of a hotel but which only cost $50 for the night, so we couldn't complain.

Unfortunately, Katie hit her fussiness climax in Pasadena. She hasn't napped well all week, and Monday/Tuesday were especially rough. Thankfully she conked out for a bit while Kristi, John, and I walked around the Rose Bowl. Here are some photos of our Pasadena trip. The photo of Colorado Blvd. is because it's referred to in the song "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" ("She's the terror of Colorado Boulevard...").

California, Here We Come (Part 1)

We're in California this week with my entire family to attend my brother Stephen's seminary graduation! In honor of this occasion, I just had to post a favorite "I Love Lucy" clip:

OK, now that that's out of the way, here are some of our adventures so far.

The plane trip to Phoenix was not easy. Katie had a hard time napping and did a good amount of fussing, especially on the first 3-hour leg. I thought the second leg would be shorter but it ended up being about 3 hours as well. I almost did not get on that second plane once I realized how long the second flight would be. Thankfully, due to sheer exhaustion, Katie fell asleep sprawled on her back across my legs near the end of that second leg.

We were so glad to finally arrive in Phoenix! We flew there to visit some close friends -- Jaime was my roommate before I married John, and her husband West really gets along well with John. They have two children, Ava (nearly 4) and Logan (nearly 2), and Katie became instant friends with both of them. We had a delightful time for the nearly two days we spent with them. Katie was so inspired by the older children that she did a new trick the very first day: Standing without support!

Here are some of my favorite photos from our visit.

Monday morning we left at 7:30 am to try to get to Palm Springs, CA in time to watch the last half of the collegiate lacrosse championships, which John's favorite team had made it to against all odds. This was a last-minute change to our itinerary, and I Googled "Palm Springs sports bar" to find what ended up being a hole-in-the-wall place inside a strip mall that didn't even serve food. And in the end, all our racing across Arizona and California was to see a very disappointing loss for John's team. Bummer. But I did manage to get another funny photo of Katie on the way. I've never seen her hair stand up quite so much!

To be continued...

Katie for Cook!

Congratulations to David Cook for winning American Idol last night! Katie is a big fan of Cook -- I can tell because she danced to every one of his songs Tuesday night, as you can see in the video above.

John and I first became Cook fans when we watched him sing the coolest rendition of "Billie Jean" since MJ did it himself. Footage below.

Congratulations, Stephen and Lindsey!!

My brother Stephen called me yesterday with the most EXCELLENT news: He is now engaged to Lindsey Rowe, his long-distance girlfriend of many months! We were expecting them to get engaged, though he surprised all of us (including Lindsey) with a surprise trip to Seattle this week to propose. Congratulations, Stephen and Lindsey!!

In addition to being fellow bloggers, Stephen and Lindsey both have a love of learning and a passionate heart for the Lord. I've only corresponded with Lindsey thus far by email and Facebook, but I look forward to meeting her next week when our family and Lindsey and her mom are all in California for Stephen's seminary graduation. Then L&S both plan to move to our area this summer, with Lindsey getting settled while Stephen endures a few months of boot camp in preparation for his career as an Army chaplain. They hope to get married sometime next year.

I have prayed for years for the Lord to bring Stephen the right woman, and especially a wife who loves the Lord. Katie and John and I all look forward to welcoming Lindsey into our family!

Raising a Worshipper

Tonight Katie and my mom and I went to a worship service at a local church. I had a strong hunger to go because I am just BRIMMING with thankfulness and really wanted to worship the Lord! Katie was quite the worshipper too -- clapping, bouncing, and squawking!

One song we sang tonight is one I'm familiar with thanks to Chris Tomlin, but it struck a particular chord in my heart tonight:

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord, We will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever! Our hope, our Strong Deliverer

You are the everlasting God, the everlasting God

You do not faint, You won't grow weary

You're the defender of the weak

You comfort those in need

You lift us up on wings like eagles

Amen! He has proven this to me again this week!

Reflections In Her Glasses

What a blessed two days since Katie first got her glasses. Two things I'm praising God for tonight:

1. That Katie is NOT fighting me AT ALL with her glasses. So far she is wearing them contentedly at all times. The only time she takes them off is in the car, but I think it's more out of boredom and to have something to chew on than it is because they're bothering her.

2. Instead of being annoyed by strangers' questions, I'm finding that they are now a chance to tell people about how good God has been to us.

Let me explain. Up till now, the questions have been about why she had to wear a patch -- something like, "Awww! What happened to her EYE?" Such well-intentioned questions were unfortunately usually thrown at me while we were in a rush, and there really is no quick answer. “She had JXG and now has lingering vision issues” begs the question, “What is JXG?” And unless I was standing in line or otherwise chilling out somewhere, I really didn’t want to get into the long story for someone who wouldn’t understand what I was saying and who wouldn’t care five minutes later anyway. I’ve been happy to explain the story to people who love Katie and who will pray for her (in fact, I should probably post the long story on the blog for those of you who still want more background). However, I quickly tired of investing time and breath to merely satisfy others’ fleeting curiosity. I actually found it easiest when a child asked me about the patch, because I could keep the answer super-simple and avoid any second questions: “The baby has to wear a band-aid on her eye because her eye is hurt.” That has satisfied almost every kid we’ve run into.

And since questions about Katie’s patch have been constant when she’s worn it in public, I have tried hard to do her patch time only at home or with close friends and family. However, Katie now has to wear her glasses every waking moment. So unless we’re going to turn into hermits (yeah, like THAT’s going to happen with us super-extroverts!), that means Katie’s eye issues can’t be hidden from public scrutiny anymore. And you know what? It’s actually been very cool! Because now that Katie is wearing glasses, the question from strangers is no longer, “Awww, what’s wrong?” but rather an incredulous (and sometimes jealous), “How did you know something was wrong with her vision at such a young age?” And yes, the story is still a bit long, but it’s a HAPPY story and one in which I can give God all the glory for His mercy and goodness to us. It really is a MIRACLE that we found Katie’s eye issues at 5 weeks old, and that we have been under the care of the best infantile glaucoma expert ever since then. And I have been able to testify to my God’s goodness over and over again this week.

Here are a few more photos of my bespectacled baby:

This is Katie with my good friend Amy, who got her Masters in Social Work today after MANY years of hard work and while raising two kids and working as well. I admire Amy so much! Congratulations, Amy!

Amy handed her daughters' swimsuit down to Katie, and guess what? It's the exact same five colors as her glasses!

And just in case you had any doubt that Katie's mommy was raising her to be a Broadway Baby, check out the onesie that Mommy brought back for Katie the last time we were in NYC:

Deep Thoughts From a Recovering Germophobe

I just got this email forward from my friend Mary:

The First Kiss

It's your First Kiss and several questions might come to mind:
Is it the right time?
Is anyone watching?
Does your partner even want to?
Is your breath fresh?
AND,---Should you use some tongue?
Then you say . . ..
'What the heck!' and Just Go for it!!!

(scroll down)

This must be a 2nd or 3rd child... because Mom grabbed the camera and not the kid! :O)

Cute email, but it strikes me as a bit odd, because Katie is my first kid and I probably would have grabbed the camera too. Am I a bad parent because I videotaped Katie's cousin tackling her on the moonbounce rather than running to her rescue? Or because I photographed Katie meeting Bella for the first time, even though they both used their tongues? :-)

My friend Shi-Wei complimented me the other day for not "coddling Katie" constantly. Her comment has really made me think. After all, I've always been a bit of a hygiene freak, although I knew going into motherhood that I'd be forced to relax a bit.

On the one hand, I want to build up Katie's immunity, so I don't freak out about every possible germ she may encounter (hence her 6 months of colds this winter). Plus it's simply impossible to keep her away from all gross things, especially with a dog (dog hair on the floor; or the fact that Katie loves to "share" her food with Bella before sticking it back into her mouth). I also read this week about studies that show that children who grow up with older siblings or pets tend to be healthier as they get older simply because they were dirtier as babies!

At the same time, I obviously want to make sure Katie doesn't do or eat anything that would hurt her. So I try to keep a close eye on her, even if I don't panic over everything. (Her close encounters with poop -- the dog's or her own -- are an exception to that rule.)

I'd be interested in hearing the thoughts of other mothers about this, especially mothers of older or multiple children who don't have the luxury of watching each child every moment of the day.

The Bespectacled Baby

Well, the day has finally come. Ten months after a team of great doctors miraculously discovered our five-week-old child's vision problem, Katie is old enough for glasses.

I had been both looking forward to and dreading this day. I was looking forward to being able to work toward FIXING her problem, rather than just keeping it from getting worse by using eyepatches. But I also knew that keeping glasses on a girl who's less than a year old would be a 24/7 battle.

And at first it was a battle. Especially in the eyeglasses store. (incidentally, email me if you want a recommendation of a GREAT glasses store) So I took the glasses off, got her home, and put her down for a nap, hoping a bit of rest would make her more docile during the next battle.

Daddy was home by the time she woke up, and he was great in helping me to distract her in her highchair while we started the next battle. And you know what? Within 2 minutes she stopped the constant fighting. A minute or two later, as I took a few photos, she even gave me a smile or two. And a few minutes later she stopped fighting altogether. In fact, she only reached for her glasses a few more times over the next few hours. Only when she started getting sleepy did she start grabbing at the glasses again.

I'm constantly humbled and amazed by God's mercy to me. You'd think after 20-odd years of following Him, I would know better than to worry about such things. He always takes care of me, whether His Will lines up with mine or not. And I'm truly grateful.

So is Katie seeing better now? Hard to tell after just a few hours with a barely verbal bespectacled baby, but I did notice a few things tonight. I found her examining her wiggling fingers as if she was seeing them for the first time. And when I took the glasses off just before putting her in her crib, she looked at her fingers again, as if to notice the difference. Also, when I turned on the end of American Idol, she seemed to be able to see the TV better than she could before.

Thank you all for your prayers and care for us.

Playing a Little Blog Catch Up

Here are a few fun items I never got around to blogging about.

April 17 and 21 -- Katie "helped" Daddy put up the safety gates on the stairs. No more climbing stairs for Katie!!

April 18 -- Several of my high school friend "mommies" gathered at our house for brunch. It was so fun that we're starting to do it on a regular basis.

April 24 -- Katie watched cartoons for the first time. She seems to be enjoying it, don't you think?

April 29 -- Katie and I waited in line at Ben & Jerry's for Free Cone Day. She skipped the spoon when trying to eat her Strawberry Kiwi sorbet. Yummy!

Sunday, May 4 -- My organist father-in-law invited me to join his church choir when they sang John Rutter's "Gloria." I sang that 3-movement piece twice while a senior in high school and enjoyed singing it again with them (although it didn't take me long to realize that I'm no longer the soprano I was then!). Katie and John watched from the back of the church, and I could see Katie clapping during the song and I could hear her trying to sing along. Here's a photo of my father-in-law and I after the performance:

May 11 - John had already showered me with blessings for my first Mothers Day (he replaced my wedding ring with an even better one, plus he babysat for 6 hours on Saturday so I could have girl time and go clothes shopping for the first time since Katie's birth!). So I was happy to spend Mothers Day doing his favorite activity: watching lacrosse! And this time, Katie got to come along!

Here's a hysterical video of her cheering with us:

YEA!! Katie's first lacrosse game!!! Well, unless you count the game last May when I was a week and a half overdue and Katie cheered from my belly while refusing to come out:

The two best things to come from that game? Our team won the National Collegiate Lacrosse Championship that day. And I didn't have to deliver Katie in the middle of Ravens Stadium.

Bobblehead Katie

Yesterday morning I noticed that when I asked Katie questions, I was actually getting a response: She was nodding yes! Very fun. By the end of the day, Katie was so impressed with her new trick that she used it to charm the table of people next to us in the restaurant:

Oh, and a few more "firsts" this week:

• First time trying on her eyeglasses (they'll be ready next week)


• First time in her new toddler carseat (see photo below)


• First time drinking a juicebox (she learned to use a straw a few weeks ago in Costco when I had a smoothie I was hoping would pacify her -- nothing like a sugar-filled drink to motivate a baby to learn a new skill!)


• And, as I've already reported, first time running across the living room with her walker toy, eating grown-up lasagna, and playing on a moon bounce.

Cousin Ali's birthday

On Saturday Katie and I joined my family for Katie's cousin's first birthday. Katie and Jessica Alize' (called Ali) are 3 1/2 weeks apart.

Here are a few highlights:

Ali's 4-year-old brother Andrew had a tee-ball game before the birthday party. My brother Jason got his son psyched up for the game by encouraging him to hit him with the bat as they ran around the bases:

Katie and Ali cheered from the sidelines:

Back at the house, Ali introduced Katie to chicken nuggets by feeding them to her. I think she missed Katie's mouth this time.
Katie enjoyed chasing their cat, Tigger, around the house:

Lesson apparently not learned at the beach: Sand is not for eating, Katie!
Mommy, if it's not ok to eat sand, why is it ok to eat this? Brrrrrr!

Highlight of the party for Katie: Getting on a moon bounce for the first time! She LOVED it! (She's SOOOO much like her mommy!) Her cousin Ali wasn't as impressed, though she and Katie did have a wrestling match.
Here's a hysterical video of Katie and Ali wrestling:

Ali may have won that match, but Katie won the match with her 4-year-old cousin Andrew: Here's the video of that match:

Hi, Grandma!

Katie loves her grandma!

Guess I needn't have worried about where Katie would nap during the party:

Ali, on the other hand, didn't nap once. I think it's because she downed most of an entire birthday cake:

Thankfully, Ali's mommy Sharon saved the beautiful fondant cake for the guests:

Katie had a great day!!!