Christmas Ornaments

Ornaments are being hung...

Janie Grace Sitting!

Until last night, Janie could sit upright on her own for just 5-10 seconds before needing a hand of support to keep her upright. However, something has clicked. Last night, Janie sat up straight for several minutes on a couple of occassions. This was a first. The cameras were rolling!

Granny & Jensen

The kids have enjoyed spending quality time with Granny this week. Last night, Jensen asked Granny to read her a book...they ended up reading four!

Janie's Dedication

Janie Grace was dedicated at church on Sunday. Monthly, our church, designates time at the beginning of the service to dedicate young children to the Lord. It serves as a public proclamation by families of their intent to raise their children to know Christ...hoping and trusting that each child will choose to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Further, it reminds the church Body of its responsibility to provide a place where children can be taught the Truth.

As this is our third time around the block, we've grown accustom to looking forward to this memorable day for each child and each service has been special in its own way. I remember our time dedicating Jacob and Jensen very vividly.

Naturally, as we approach Janie's first birthday and reflect on the past year, anticipating yesterday with Janie Grace was an even more emotional as there were times over the past 18 months where we wouldn't have been able to guarantee in our minds what yesterday would like for her. As it turned out, it was memorable for all the right reasons and some humorous moments made it an event we won't soon forget.

Thanks to technology, you'll be able to watch it here shortly but some written commentary is probably appropriate to provide a bit of context.

First, with Jennifer's dad being a pastor, it's an honor and privilege to have the kids' Poppy D dedicating their lives to the Lord. While Don does a great job making dedications personal for all families, his opportunity to dedicate his grandchildren is a neat family event.

Secondly, as has been documented here through various examples, Jacob isn't very shy once he's comfortable with somebody. Therefore, despite the fact that he was probably standing in front of close to 1,000 people while on stage, he might as well have been in the living room with Poppy D alone. Also, as has been documented here, Jacob is a very precise kid. As bed time approaches, we'll give the 30-minute warning. It wouldn't be unusual for him to say, "Dad, bed time is actually in 28 minutes." Response..."yes, Jacob, that is true", followed by a roll of the eyes (presuming he isn't looking!)

Therefore, at the 0:50 mark of the video below, you'll hear Jacob correct Don while Don is making introductions as Jacob reminds Don (and the crowd) that he's actually "six-and-a-half". As if that wasn't enough, Jacob went on to correct Don moments later when he mistakenly mentioned that Jensen will be 5 in April only to have Jacob inform him (and the crowd) that Jensen will be 5 in May (Jensen was originally due in April and came late on May 2nd).

Okay, so the humor is behind us and it's time to get down to the rather serious task at hand, right??!!...reading a verse that we'd selected as sort of a charge for Janie Grace's life and praying for Janie Grace. However, Janie decided to throw a curve ball. Pay special attention beginning at 1:50 of the video...



Let's just say that Jennifer and I probably needed to re-apply deodorant after those brief moments on stage!

Ironically, Janie Grace almost NEVER spits up like that. We were completely caught off guard. (Now Jacob was a whole different story, he spit up after every meal and in between throughout the first year of his life. We walked around with towels on our shoulders never sure when he'd strike.) Thankfully, Janie Grace has always been good about keeping her food down (that was all the more important when every calorie counted early on!).

Fortunately, all the unplanned extracurriculars, didn't completely distract from the task at hand and there were a few moments that went according to plan. However, for many reasons, it'll be a day we never forget!

Here's a progression of still-shots while Janie was spitting up. Jennifer's facial expressions are priceless.

Finally, here are a few shots of the family on hand to celebrate including Jennifer's Granny from St. Louis.

Sibling Snuggle

Jacob and Jensen have their moments but most of the time they have a sweet brother/sister relationship. This past weekend, they went to bed at Gigi & Poppy D's house while we had dinner with friends. We picked them up around 10:30 PM to transport them home. This was how we found them...

A Doll

This is Charlotte. She's our newest niece belonging to Tracy (Jennifer's sister) and Zack. Charlotte looks just like her mama!

TD Celebration

Notice: Significant thought was given to how best to tell this story. Certainly don't aim to endorse the behavior but believe this is a tale that Jacob will hear told many times as he gets older.

I may be corrected on this, but I don't think Jacob's football team had a non-rushing TD all season going into the final game (but not for lack of trying). I can picture an extra point conversion in week 1 with a pass from Brooks to Carter. (We were in disbelief when it actually worked as designed!) Throughout the year, it appeared we tried more passing plays than our opponents week to week and that fact was confirmed by the head of the league late in the year. Robert would tell you we had no other choice but to pass as the running game often stalled! (We were rarely the quickest team on the field!) Most coaches offensive philosophy seemed to be that if you hand it off 10 times, one play is bound to open up due to a missed assignment or an inability to grab flags. With a few kids capable of passing and catching, our team tried its best to keep the defense honest and passed the ball (or attempted to) 40%-50% of the time.

Before I go on, let me mention that at the coaches meeting before the first practice of the season I have a vague memory of being told that we were to discourage celebrations after big plays and scores. At that point, Robert and I were far more concerned with our kids actually scoring a TD than what they'd do after getting one, so the message probably fell on deaf ears. I can honestly say we preached sportsmanship (picking up an opponent's flag, giving a helping hand to a player down on the field, no gloating etc.) However, I have no recollection of telling the kids not to celebrate a big play. Through the first 7 games, it never appeared to be an issue. We had several different kids score TDs and none of them seemed to do more than high-five their teammates and/or hug a friend/coach.

Back to the final game...the defense was struggling against one of the better teams we'd played but certainly not the best opponent we'd lined up against. Jacob's friend Carter had made several key flag-grabs that prevented a bigger hole. The opponent was up 2 TDs to none in the 3rd quarter (we're not suppose to keep score but every brain on the field knows the score), and we had zero momentum as our offense was struggling to move the ball. After a couple plays that yielded a few yards each, Brooks (Jacob's close friend, Robert's son) lined up at QB while Jacob was out wide with a couple other kids at the receiver position. Brooks took the snap, rolled right to avoid the blitzer and threw towards Jacob (about a 7-yard pass probably). It was a well-thrown ball by Brooks (accurate with good pace). The only problem was that Jacob was pretty well covered by a defender. Somehow, the ball got by/through the defender, Jacob caught it in traffic, turned and ran up the sideline for a TD. There was a defender right behind him the entire way (20 yards). I'm still not sure how he didn't get one of Jacob's flags (although the same thought came to mind several times throughout the season when our kids were on defense). We were all pumped. The passing TD got us back into the game and I was excited knowing our team had finally converted a passing TD as we'd tried so many times. Knowing it was nearly time to play defense, I took my eye off of Jacob to see the next line-up and lost him amidst the celebration in the end zone.

After the extra point attempt, I was approached by the opposing coach. He didn't appear pleased. He informed me that I needed to remind our players about sportsmanship. I gave him a puzzled look as I hadn't observed anything I'd deem inappropriate. In fact, Robert and I were always proud of our kids' sportsmanship. I asked, "what happened?". He replied, "Number 7 (Jacob) spiked the ball after he scored." I nodded and told him we'd address it. (Admittedly, I was snickering a bit on the inside as this was the first I was hearing of it.)

As it turns out, Jacob went all NFL with his TD celebration. According to my father-in-law, "it was a great spike." (I'm picturing Walter Payton back in the day.) He certainly didn't taunt the other team and was only doing what he sees on TV each week. Bottom line: he was having fun. Arguably, the fun he should have as a 6-year-old when scoring a TD. (I'm just glad he didn't pull a sharpie out of his sock or do a Lambeau-leap into the parents section.) However, we had to tell him that league rules don't encourage such things, and it has muted some of the enjoyment of the moment as he hates to consider that he did something wrong. Tactfully, I keep reminding him of the sweet catch and run that he had.

I only wish it was captured on video!

Jacob Pics

Jacob was invited by his former kindergarten teacher to come back and read to this year's class.





Here's Jacob's classroom this year, so that you can picture where he his every day.


Nice to be able to do homework in short-sleeves on the front porch during November!

Jensen Pics

This picture captures Jensen in the midst of a very regular activity...playing library.

Jensen decided to make a leaf box.

When Jensen is truly tickled...

Jensen's close friends Lanie and Julia who happen to all be in the same pre-school class.

Two Beautiful Girls...One Beautiful Picture

Chicago

Recently, Jennifer and Janie Grace got to spend time in Chicago for a visit with college friends, teaching friends and family. Janie Grace was with Jason's mom for the 2nd time, Jason's 99-year-old Grammy and Jason's Aunt Grace (a main reason for Janie's middle name) for the first time.

Janie Updates

1) As of a recent eye doctor appointment, we've been told that Janie will NOT need eye surgery any time soon! We were thinking that was a possibility for late this year or in early 2012. Additionally, she's done wearing an eye patch for a couple hours each day. We were told that she'll probably wear glasses her entire life.

2) Perhaps we've not communicated this well enough, so we wanted to formally share that Janie gets 100% of her nutrition through her mouth. Her g-tube is still in place (we have the 3-month check-up tomorrow) and it continues to be used to get her miralax solution into her belly, but we've not been using it for nutritional purposes in weeks (maybe 2 months). In fact, she started taking in most of her food orally almost immediately after the tube was installed back in August. Naturally, this is an answer to prayer. Jennifer continues to introduce solid foods to Janie as well as her bottles of formula. Janie likes a variety of solid foods and is willing to take bites of beans, broccoli, meat, fruit, bread etc. She's slowly adding weight as well.

We're not quite sure what the doctor will say tomorrow when we tell him that we don't use it anymore. Surely, he'll be glad to hear it. We suspect they may keep it in during the winter flu season as a precaution.

3) Speaking of baby formula...with Jacob and Jensen, I don't think we purchased even one single can of formula ever. Fortunately, Jennifer was able to very successfully feed both kids. As was previously documented here, Jennifer nobly pumped for 8 months to feed Janie. During Janie's first ten months of life the formula we needed to fortify Jennifer's milk and then to be her only source of nutrition seemed to just keep showing up. Mainly, our pediatrician stocked us up with free "samples" every time Jennifer was in there with Janie Grace. There was also a miss-communication with the in-home service company that resulted in us getting a large supply free of charge. Recently, we had to purchase our first big can of formula as the "free" supply had run dry. (I know for many of you buying formula is as customary as buying diapers and you feel no sympathy!) Howver, just days later, as only the Lord can, a 54-day supply of formula showed up thanks to Jennifer's willingness to ask and the willingness of the nutritionist at UNC to make a call to a sales rep. on our behalf. Certainly, we'd have bought formula the next several months and not have given it a second thought. However, this was a great reminder to us that the Lord will not only continue to meet our needs but also throw us some nice surprises now and again.

4) We found this humorous...Jennifer called the in-home service company to have them come pick up the feeding pump and pole we no longer use (thankfully! although we do realize that it may have saved our daughter's life.). She was surprised when the person on the other end of the line said, "keep it, you now own it". So if you need a feeding pump... (who says only the health insurance companies win these days??!!)

5) Finally, we've referenced Janie's new-found mobility in recent weeks as she's figured out how to maneuver around a room to get where she wants to go (army crawl). This story will make more sense to those that have been in our home but it should illustrate her mobility to all nonetheless...Certainly not every night, but more often than not, Jacob and Jensen greet me at the door into the garage before I get out of the car once home from work. After greeting them, I typically see Jennifer and then go in search of Janie. Sometimes, her smiling face is right at the edge of the kitchen and family room as she works to follow Jacob and Jensen towards me. More often, she's swimming in a pool of her toys near our TV on the other side of the room.

One night recently, I walked into the family room after greeting the others and didn't see her. I asked Jennifer, "where is she?" Jennifer answered, "right there in the family room. I put her down two minutes ago." I responded, "no, she's not." Rather calmly, I started up the hall figuring she was working her way towards the bedrooms. However, there was no sign of her in the kids' bathroom, J&J's bedroom, JG's bedroom or our bedroom! (I even quickly looked under the beds where she's been known to roll before.) As I walked back through the family room towards the sunroom hoping she hadn't navigated the step down from the family room onto the tile sunroom floor (she hadn't, the doors were closed as they're suppose to be for that very reason...good job J&J!), I said to Jennifer, "I don't know where she is". Jennifer chuckled thinking I was joking. When she realized I wasn't, Jennifer ducked into the dining room from the kitchen and into then into the living room as I walked around the other way through the entry way. As we joined in the middle, we find this smiling up at us from right by our piano in the living room.


In just a brief couple minutes, Janie had scooted from the family room through the entry way and into the middle of the living room. Naturally, she wasn't nearly as concerned as we were and seemed pretty proud of herself!

Sportsmanship

Stories like this are even more touching than they use to be...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/07/chip-mullen-touchdown-sportsmanship_n_1080702.html

Touchdown!

Jacob loves some weekend football-watching.

When Jensen Attacks

(Warning: The following will be disturbing to those of you that like a clean, organized vehicle. Being one of you myself, I feel your pain.)

Many of you know that sweet Jensen is nearly always thinking of others. It seems she's constantly working on some little project to give to a friend. Often, it involves stickers, a craft or "written" notes. It's not unusual for Jensen to receive a little gift only to hear her immediately say that she's going to use it to make something for a friend because "______ likes Cinderella". Not a day goes by that she doesn't walk around the house placing stickers on all of our bodies. She sets a great example of generosity (most of the time!).

There have been several times where before bed she'll come right up to me, bring my face close to her face and, in her husky little voice very seriously say, "Daddy, I made-ed a present for _____. It's on my table. Don't let me forget it in the morning." Admittedly, I often fail to remind her (and she often forgets to grab it herself). However, she always seems to remember after she's strapped into her car seat, so she'll going running back into the house with the determination of a 100-meter sprinter to retrieve her package (which is often a handful of crumpled papers adorned with dozens of stickers, but papers crumpled with love nonetheless).

There are other times that Jensen is in the midst of a masterpiece when it's time for us to leave the house. This often frazzles her a bit as she insists it be "just right" and cannot be rushed. As parents, it puts us in the challenging position of choosing between squelching her desire to share/encourage and allowing her to bring her countless supplies into the van in order to complete the project. I know what you're thinking..."that should be an easy decision, Dad. Let her finish in the van!" Truth is, often we do. However, we've learned that it comes at the expense of a van full of paper, stickers, pencils, pens and other art accessories which are often left to accumulate for weeks at a time.


Recently, my patience for the clutter had grown thin. In a moment of calm, I made a new deal with Jensen. What goes in the car when you leave the house must come back into the house when you get home (a reasonable expectation I believe!). And, I added an additional caveat that I'd prefer she do more reading in the car than artwork. (Recently, the carpet "somehow" got red crayon all over it...Jensen denied the allegation.)

In the last week, Jennifer mentioned in passing that it seemed Jensen had "forgotten" the rule but I didn't give it much of a thought. (I only drive the van on weekends!) However, Jennifer didn't have a recollection of actually observing Jensen bring stuff into the van, yet clutter was accumulating at record rates. Translation: now that Jensen sits in the back row of the van full-time...she was sneaking it in.

Last night, I was looking for something in the van (that's another funny Jensen story), noticed a smattering of Jensen's belongings and decided I would quickly clean out the van...or so I thought. Let's just say that Jensen had attacked the cup holders and storage bins in the back row. About half-way through my clean-up efforts, I decided to just start making a pile and then grabbed a photo of the following (remember this is the 2nd half of the clean-up effort). By the end, I had paper, stickers, one sock, a coat stuffed into a purse, books, pencils, crayons, silly bands, cheerios, 4 old cell phones she uses, a dehydrated apple slice, her digital camera, hair bands, candy wrappers and a super ball. One item belonged to Jacob (sunglasses...a legitimate van accessory) and nothing belonged to Janie Grace. Perhaps what was most strange was that had you opened up the van door yourself, 95% of these things would not have been visible during a quick scan of the van's interior. She had squirreled most of these items into compartments and beneath seats.

I implemented our not-well-adhered-to-rule about 3 weeks ago. At that time, there was nothing in the car that wasn't suppose to be, but I've learned I've got to watch out for Jensen's clutter-full sneak attacks!

(I know...someday I'll look at several empty cup holders in the back of the van and long for the day I could find 8 miss-matched silly bands, an old piece of half-eaten candy and a sock.)

First Flight

Janie Grace and Jennifer are Chicago-bound on what is JG's first flight.

Standing Up

Janie's physical therapist has been encouraging us to have Janie stand up as much as possible in order to help build strength in her legs. Last night, she had her longest stretches of standing alongside her activity table. Supportive hands were not far and she lasted 10-30 seconds, but it was fun to see her upright like that. Given that she doesn't sit up on her own, she spends lots of time on her back and belly.

Jensen will hold Janie any chance she gets. She's also started helping give Janie a bottle on her own and actually does a really good job.

Trick or Treat