Keetha's Vacation Post First

Well, Keetha, as promised.... An Irish Feast!

We arrived in Ireland after having missed our night's sleep on the plane. We thought it was Saturday, but, as it would happen, it was really Sunday. We were lucky to find this place open and serving breakfast. This was my first encounter with a Full Irish Breakfast, which my in-laws both ordered. It included (at this place) two fried eggs, two white sausage links that were the size of hot dogs, two dark sausages of the same size, two slices of rashers (like Canadian bacon, but larger), beans, grilled/roasted tomato, toast, and, of course, tea.

WOW.



The first time I remembered to take a food picture for you was of the yummy tiramisu from Morellis. We were Americans eating at an Italian restaurant in Ireland. We were the United Nations. :)


The next big food adventure was at Bunratty Castle's Medieval Banquet. They had the kind of food that you don't really need utensils for, great music, and fun entertainment. This is Stephen and I with our nieces, Megan (L) and Savannah (R). Savannah had to sit by some lady who didn't like to see meat on the bone. Boy, was she in the wrong place! We had rib racks, roasted potatoes, chicken ON THE BONE, veggies, and other yummies.



One of our evenings was spent touring the Dingle Penninsula, a very scenic location that was draped in fog and clouds for most of our visit. While we didn't eat at this restaurant, I thought it was totally interesting that the entire building was made from stone.


Another day trip was to the Aran Islands, specifically Innishere (or Inis Oirr). In a typical Irish day, in the morning, the weather was cloudy and cold. The girls needed some hot chocolate to warm up.


By the afternoon, it was warm enough for us to lay out on the beach and have a picnic. PBJs, cheese, and fruit taste even better with a view of the water. I even accidentally got some serious sunburn this day. Now I have a half-tanned right shin and a quarter-tanned left one. Don't you wish you were cool like me??


I spotted this Q sign in a take away place. While we were there eating our pizza (no, we didn't "take away"), we met one of the town councilmen, Cllr. Cantwell, who gave us an extensive, unsolicited history of the area, including information on when Braveheart was filmed in the area. Cool stuff.



On our tour of Dublin Castle, we saw this dining room, but we didn't deem it appropriate to eat here.


Nor here, in the fancy room, where they were setting up for some kind of shindig.


Your last "taste" of Ireland is a picture of Stephen with Molly Malone, who sells "cockels and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"
(Please excuse Miss Malone's lack of upper coverage. I'm sure things were soooooooo different back then...)


Well, I hope you enjoyed the first bit of Ireland I've had time to write about. More to come as soon as possible, but hopefully tomorrow will be occupied with the beginnings of potty training for Caleb.

Visions of Natasha Richardson

Warning: This is a long 'un.

It all started a few months ago when my mom, noting Caleb's rambunctious behavior, said, "You know, for as active as he is, I'm surprised you haven't had to visit the ER yet." That was in November.

Before this, and before the events of the last two days.

Last evening, the warm weather was calling us outside. Stephen worked on the garage, the kids played in the driveway, and I cleaned the kitchen. I left the door open in case anyone needed anything, and that's why I heard one of the most gut-wrenching sounds a parent can hear: a child falling onto concrete.

Katy and Caleb -- both accomplished ladder climbers -- had been taking turns climbing up and down a ladder in the driveway. Later, Katy told us she had decided that it was her turn, so she shook the ladder so Caleb would get off.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!," thinks her mother.

Stephen scooped him up, and I looked him over. There was no bump on the back of his head, just a small abrasion, and he was understandably upset. I held him with an ice pack on his head. He seemed like he was seeing stars -- eyes kept closing and his head was bobbing. I got him calmed down and started doing an analysis. I asked him some questions and asked him to wave his hand, etc. His responses were slow, as if moving through a fog. I rocked with him as Stephen put on a Veggie Tales movie. Stephen and I decided to watch him to make sure he was going to be ok.

Honestly, visions of Natasha Richardson were going through my head. I have problems balancing my desire to NOT be the overreacting parent with knowing when my kids need serious attention. I like to feel self-sufficient without being needlessly frantic.

We had been rocking for a few minutes when he projectile-vomited. That made our minds up -- hospital time.

Stephen took Caleb right away, and I waited for Stephen's mom and dad to come stay with Katy. Katy and I prayed for Caleb, and I went to the hospital. The boys were waiting in the emergency room when I got there. They ordered a CT scan and x-rays. Caleb still seemed like he was in a fog during the CT scan. They restrained his arms and strapped his head down. He didn't say a THING. In fact, it wasn't until we needed to step out of the room for x-rays that he started crying. Crying a lot. That seemed to flip some sort of switch in him, and he was back to normal when he finally got calmed back down.

We waited in the ER for the results of his scans, and they all came back clear! We were so thankful and relieved. I started to feel a little silly, but then I remembered the throwing up and didn't feel bad at all. We called around with the good news and went home to bed. Caleb also slept through the night at home on doctor's orders.

This morning he woke up chipper and happy. Later in the afternoon, I had to go to work for a bit. I looked at my phone and saw that I had a voicemail. The ER charge nurse had called and urgently needed me to call back.

MILD INTERNAL PANIC, folks.

She explained to me that when people come in after hours, the radiology information is digitized and sent to an all-hours facility for analysis in California. However, the following morning, the hospital radiologist re-reads any films from the previous night just in case. In Caleb's case, the Marion radiologist spotted a fracture in his skull and a small blurred area that could possibly be bleeding in his brain or just movement during the scan. To be safe, we needed to bring him in for another scan. She was encouraged, though, by the fact that he was acting completely normal.

I was encouraged by that too, but we definitely wanted to get him in right away for another scan. Since I had to go to work, and I felt ok with what was happening, and it was such short notice for a sub, Stephen and his mom went to the hospital with Caleb. I planned to join them right after my class, figuring that they'd have about enough time to do the scan and then I would get there.



They did two CT scans: one with a contrast dye and one without. It did show that there was a small bleed in his brain, but it hadn't changed significantly since the previous evening. After consulting with a neurosurgeon, they said it's best just to keep an eye on him and keep him from cracking his noodle again.

Excuse me??

He's a two-year-old boy, for Pete's sake!! Do they have an instruction manual for keeping him still and not injuring himself 50 times/day? If so, it definitely should have been sent home with us approximately two years ago.

So, for our own peace of mind, we got him this:




Sadly, his reaction to it is mostly this:



So we watch and wait, more conscious of every near-fall, while hoping that he continues to be a non-injurious version of everyday Caleb.

What I Found...

I heard a slapping sound that could only be my son smacking his smeared yogurt hands on the table. Sure enough, this is what I found:



That's what I get for trying to actually accomplish something, like laundry.

Where We've Been...

My gracious, it's been a while since I could sit down and write, what with the meteor crashing through our roof and all.

Nope. Lemme try again.

My goodness, it's been a while since I could sit down and write, what with solving the global economic crisis and all.

That's not it either.

Shoot! I'm spending WAY too much time on facebook. Ah. That smacks of the truth.

Here are some update snippets from the last 6 weeks.
Caleb had another dr check up. Things look great. One more appt in June to check and make sure his leg is actually growing. In other news, he had his speech evaluated because he seems to be behind in that area. He's almost two and is still using monosyllabic speech. It was so neat to see the ladies who were evaluating him play all sorts of purposeful games to check him. They agreed that he is behind and gave us some tips to help him out. He was at-level or advanced in every other area of development. I'll let you know an update after a meeting we have about him on Thursday.

Stephen is doing well. He's getting excited about planning our trip to Ireland in June. It's vastly different than the Mediterranean trip we had in mind, but it will still be great.

Deven is figuring things out. With the change in job hours, I'm not feeling much like a teacher any more. I've been dragging my feet on getting the coffee shop in order because I feel like I'm giving up on teaching by doing something else. I really think I was experiencing a mild depression over it, but it's been better since I talked about it with Stephen. So, as I tell my students, onward and forward.

Katy is enjoying school, as always. She's learning how to write her name and several numbers. She's absolutely adorable with her best friend, Elise, and she brings home lots of papers for us to put on the fridge.

Family News - We have had a couple of interesting family experiences. We were so glad to be able to visit with our friends, the Fannins, in Ohio. Bekah is a year older than Katy, and Sarah is the same age as Caleb. They have another girl, Leah, on the way, but we don't have one to match yet. :) We were passing on some baby items and took in the Armstrong Air and Space museum while we were there. During lunch, Katy went to the bathroom about 47 times. At the museum, she only went once, but she chose the moment when we were at the farthest point from the bathroom to announce her need. UGH. :) It was great to see them for a bit, and hopefully we'll get to meet Leah soon.

In other family news, I single-handedly thwarted any bit of happiness for my parent's 30th anniversary dinner. Oh yeah, I'm THAT good.

It all started when Dad invited us to join them for dinner on Monday night to celebrate, possibly forgetting that I lead a Bible study on Monday nights. As he was explaining the details to me, I let him know that there was a lot of background noise and that I couldn't hear him all that well, but I got that dinner was at Texas Roadhouse at 6:15. I spent Monday afternoon calling around to the church ladies canceling Bible study, hoping that I got in touch with everyone who had planned on attending. We left just on time to head for Muncie and Roadhouse. About halfway there, I realized that we had forgotten Caleb's diaper bag. UGH! But no worries. There were stores in Muncie if we needed them. We got into the parking lot, woke up the kiddos, and were delighted to discover that not only were we there on KIDS' NIGHT, but that we were on time, having beaten Mom and Dad. HA.

Once in the waiting area, Katy was a little grouchy about having anything cool done to her, like having her face painted. My dad called just as she needed to go to the bathroom (shocking, I know), so Stephen took her, leaving me with a crying Caleb ("Daaaaaaaaaaaddy!"). Dad just wanted to check where we were and, I thought, probably have us put our names in since we arrived first. I told him we were there, and he told me that they were in the waiting area. "WHAT!?! We're in the waiting area, and I don't see you." As it would turn out, part of the conversation I missed was that instead of our usual eating in Muncie, we were going to eat in Kokomo, which is more of a halfway between our two cities. This was one of those moments where I had a combination feeling of "Earth, please open and swallow me" with a healthy side of "sinking heart." Seeing as how it was already 6:15 and the two locations are 1 hr and 19 min apart according to Google, we decided to eat where we were and meet for dessert. Oh my.

For a month's investment in pictures, see below!

Kiddos

Today was a great day. It was an ordinary, great day. I believe tonight was the first time Caleb has had the chance to paint. I have to say that there are some things I don't want him to do because he's crazy. I was trying to teach him to use scissors, and when I wasn't looking, he nearly cut his finger.

Yikes.

Let me say that again. YIKES!!

So when Katy wanted to paint after supper tonight, I said yes, hoping Caleb wouldn't be interested. Or perhaps he WOULD enjoy painting. (Drat, said the mom.) I walked into the other room to take care of a simple task, and this is what I found upon returning:


So far, so good....





Uh oh.




Oh deary dear. That'll need a bath.

Looks like he had a GREAT time. :)

Recent Pics

Sometimes I don't get around to sharing our family pics because they sit on the camera for a while. Here are some of the recent happenings.


Barb in Peds @ MGH, one of Caleb's nurses


The kids and I just hanging out. I think it was one of those super-cold days, so we were in hibernation mode.


Nate finally got to come stay with us. He was supposed to on the night that Caleb went in for emergency surgery, so this had been in the works for a while. Nate was taking a catnap on the couch, and Caleb saw fit to share his naptime essentials.


Her royal highness, the Princess Cinderella-Katy, dressing up for LCS Homecoming Week on Disney Character Day.

THANKFUL!

I am listening to the sounds of TWO kids splashing in the tub, something that I haven't heard since mid-December. Caleb is well again! He's been feeling well for quite a while, but now he has his PICC line out, so we're completely medicine-free. From the sounds of things, he's glad to be back in the bath.

Just so I have everything in one place, here is a summary of Caleb's whole illness, written to the best of my memory. :)

Saturday, December 20th - Caleb was cranky and clingy all day, walking with a limp.

Sunday, 21st - Caleb refused to put any weight on his leg. Winced any time it was moved or bumped (like by his sister -- whoops). Dr sent us to hospital for x-rays and blood work, which all came back clear. Suggested that we give him ibuprofen on Monday to see if it improved. If not, come back Tues. for check up.

Monday, 22nd - All day ibuprofen with no signs of improvement. Caleb was frustrated with not being able to walk, so he invented a one-legged crawl that looked really pathetic. His "sympathetic" parents thought it was cute and caught the incident on cell phone video.

Tuesday, 23rd (night of icy storm) - Still no improvement. After picking up my brother (the one with the seizures) to spend the night with us, We took Caleb back to dr for a check up, and he ordered more tests at the hospital, especially after noting that he had a double ear infection. Stephen left us all at home since he would be "right back" after testing. By 6 pm, Caleb was having an MRI to check for infection in his legs. Diagnosis: Osteomyelitis of the femur. The infection in his ears had traveled through the bloodstream and settled around his knee, requiring immediate surgery. My parents had to come get Nathan and Katy, and I took my mother-in-law's car to the hospital. Surgery went very well. The infection was dangerous, but not as advanced as previously suspected. However, it was near the growth plate, so extra caution was warranted lest infection stop his leg from growing.

Tuesday, 23rd - Wednesday 31st - In the hospital. Caleb had major issues with his IV being replaced a few times, but other than that, his incision healed just fine, and he became a cooped up boy tied to an IV pole. :) Thanks to those who called/wrote/visited/brought treats and books. It was a great break from the monotony!! Stephen's family came on Christmas and spent a few hours making us part of the celebration.

Wednesday, 31st - Caleb was discharged from the hospital. One of the last procedures he had done was putting in a PICC line so that he could continue to receive IV antibiotics without being in the hospital. A home health care nurse came to our house to show us how to administer his meds, change the IV tubing (which only had to be attached when he was getting medicine), and how to take care of him. He only needed meds every six hours, and they take an hour to go in. We gave him meds from 6-7 AM, 12-1 PM, 6-7 PM, and 12-1 AM. He was usually asleep for two of the treatments, so that made things easier on him. When he wasn't, the IV pump was in a little fanny pack so he could be mobile.

Wednesday, 31st-Tuesday, 20th - We've been giving Caleb his meds, which caused slight sleep deprivation for his mom and dad, but it's been going well. One big downer for him was not being able to splash around in the tub. He got a little jealous of his sister. Tuesday he had his PICC line removed and is done taking medicine. One more checkup, and, after nearly a month of sickness, I think we'll be done!

Self-Pity, Party of One

Warning: The following words are just a mini-rant of frustration with my circumstances.

If I were so silly as to tempt the Lord, I would say that life is not going according to the Deven Plan, and I've had just about enough.

I would say that He's pushing it by asking me to trust Him with
(a) the hospital bills that are beginning to roll in,
(b) the fact that the insurance year rolled over while Caleb was in the hospital so we have to meet his deductibles twice,
(c) my cut hours at work resulting in a as-of-yet undisclosed, yet assumedly serious, reduction in pay, and
(d) the family car (MY CAR) that is currently dead.

But I won't do that. :O

Actually, as I was tackling Mt. Laundry this evening while throwing my woe-is-me lollapalooza, I did think "Lord Jesus, come quickly!" Nothing like a little adversity to kick in some longing for HOME.

The Comforter reminded me that "in this world you will have trouble." (Me: Is that really necessary??) "But take heart! I have overcome the world." I am so thankful that, if I work up the courage, I can hand these troubles over to someone who saw this day coming.

PS - Also, a backrub from Stephen was helpful too, but I don't want God to think that I put His help and Stephen's on the same level. :)

PPS - God has blessed us with being able to save up for emergencies, so there is no imminent financial crisis. I just hate to see that savings being used. (So wait a sec... I save up for it, but I don't want it to be touched. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. That makes a whole lotta sense.)

Fun Meme

Just because I saw this on another blog tonight, I'm going to give it a whirl. (While I'm doing this, though, I'm being excited for AT LEAST a 2hr delay, maybe a cancellation.) Here's the idea: Google your name + needs and share what you come up with.

Here were my top hits.

Deven badly needs some CAKE and a warm place to stay.

What -- this person has cameras on me? :)

Deven needs some money so he can marry his love Anushka.
Actually, I'm taken, but thanks anyway.

Deven needs to know what route to drive the cattle.
If it's anything like City Slickers, no thanks.

My ex-wife pays for everything Deven needs.
Oh, sure, now you tell me!

Let me know with a comment if you decide to follow along on your blog.

Post-Op Checkup

Caleb and I left our house a little after 11 to head for his post-op checkup appointment. Hello, icy roadways! The checkup included some in-house x-rays so we could see how things were healing. The good news is that things look...[drum roll please]...good. There is new bone growth to strengthen what was soft, infected bone. His surgery scar has healed well and doesn't need to be bandaged anymore. It's so great to see all of his two little legs! (Actually, I can't see them that well because of the blur of motion, but you know what I mean.) One minor bummer for Mommy and Daddy (and Caleb, perhaps) is that we're facing at least one, if not two, more weeks of IV meds. It's what's best for him, but it does interrupt everyone's sleep, and it means that I can't start my second job. (Oh yeah -- my job at Lakeview was cut to teaching just one class and some side responsibilities, so I need another job. More on that at a later date...) He's got another follow-up scheduled in two weeks, and we pray that things continue to go so well.

The second part of our day was at MGH to get blood drawn. Now, I didn't like blood draws before the PICC line, but now that Caleb didn't have to get stuck, I was OK. I waited for Caleb's turn at the lab, only to find out that they can't draw from a PICC line at the ACC building. I was mildly insistent that the draw come from his line, since that's a big benefit of having it in. Mary the supernice, superPhlebotomist called Oncology, and after much delay and some confusion, we headed back out on the icy roads toward the Oncology building. The ladies in Oncology were overwhelmed by Caleb's cuteness and showered him with praise and stuffed animals, which he ATE UP. They drew his blood, changed his dressing, and sent us on our way at about 2:20. Whew. That was a long, long afternoon, and one without a nap for Caleb, but he handled it fairly well. Mommy made it too. :)

Update on Caleb

**Read the post below if you have no idea what I mean by "Update on Caleb."

The MRI is over. As it turns out, it seems the infection is in his knee and not in his hip. They are going to draw fluid from the knee to see if the infection is in the joint or in the bone. If it's in the joint, he'll be treated with antibiotics. If it's in the bone, he'll probably need surgery. I have to say, that makes this momma nervous.

I'll update asap.

'Twas the day before the day before Christmas

...and all through the Swan house was quiet and still. Unfortunately, it is still and quiet because Stephen is with Caleb getting some tests done at the hospital. Here's the story:

SATURDAY
I took Katy and went shopping with my family in Fort Wayne while Stephen kept Caleb and worked with his dad on getting our garage door opener put in (yesssssssssss!). After returning home, Stephen told me that Caleb had been fussy and had started limping. Weird, no?

SUNDAY
Caleb woke up but wouldn't move from his bed, refusing to put any weight on his leg. After consulting with his doctor, we took him to the hospital for x-rays and blood work. (The blood work was to rule out infection since, to the best of our knowledge, there was no fall to explain a hurt leg. Although sometimes I wonder about what those kids do after we put them to bed...) He called us later to let us know that all the testing came back normal except for a slightly elevated infection count, but nothing that was too concerning. He told us to give him some motrin to relieve swelling and pain. If Monday saw no change, we were to check back with him.

MONDAY
Still no change, although frustration with not being able to walk has led Caleb to invent this cute semi-crawl. He crawls with both arms and the OK leg, dragging the ouchie one behind. We got Caleb in to see his doctor, who ordered more blood work and an MRI. Stephen's at the hospital with Caleb getting those things done, and I am home with my brother and little girl. On the inside, however, I am semi-pacing the floor. I'll let you know how things go.

Looking Forward to Christmas

I LOVE having kids this time of year. I am looking forward to helping my kiddos learn why we celebrate Christmas. We have a large tree up in the front room, and a tabletop tree in the kids room. (LORD -- please protect my ornaments!!) It was quite the treat to decorate the tree with Katy because each ornament was new again, and it was as if each one was a present for her. We let them put up ornaments that are theirs, like the "Baby's First Christmas" etc. Each time I handed one to her, I got this huge response: "Thaaaaaaank you, Mommy! This is goooooooooooorgeous!" (Yeah -- she's only three.) So it's been super fun.

Caleb-boy has been adjusting well to life outside the crib. He usually wakes up with 10 books in his bed, body out from under the covers. He is normally a very light sleeper, but every once in a while he just doesn't wake up when I open the door. Here's a picture of how I found him the other day.

What a cutie!

Big Feet

I seem to post in spurts, because this is the second one of the day.

Back when I was pregnant with Katy, the ultrasound tech was ::ahem:: flabbergasted at the size of her feet. She maintained that shocking foot size for about the first 18 months, but it's kind of evened out now. Imagine my surprise when I was in for Caleb's ultrasound and the same ::ahem:: flabbergastedness occurred.

Fast-forward to today...

I just got back from Muncie with my two kiddos. We were shopping with Mamaw, Nathan, Aunt Sandy, and Aunt Karen. One of the goals of the day was to pick up a first pair of shoes for my beloved son who has hard-to-fit feet. That's mostly because they're shaped like this:




So we went to a specialty shoe store to get his feet measured and to buy a pair of shoes that fit properly. After waking him up to stand and put his foot on the measuring doodad, we discovered that his size is 6EE (or 6XW or 62E). YIKES! He's only 13 months old! So here's what we got for Mr. Megafoot.


Of course, now that I have purchased these, he will need the next size tomorrow. :)

My Baby Boy

Caleb had his one-year checkup yesterday. Here are his stats:

Weight: 21 lbs., 6 oz.
Height: 29 in.
Head Circumference: 18.25 in.

I don't know what percentiles those fall in since they didn't write it on the sheet, and I wasn't there. He also got three shots (boo hoo!), so I'm glad I missed that part. His ears were a little red, so he's on antibiotics. He was a happy boy the rest of the day, and in fact, he said his first two words! "More please." My mom was here and heard it too, so I know I'm not crazy. He's been jabbering for a week, so I'm glad he's starting to figure out this whole language thing.

Caleb has been walking with two fingers for about a month, and we've also been working on walking with one hand. I think today I'll try him out on the little car/walker we have. Katy loved walking behind it, but it hasn't worked till now because he didn't have enough balance not to lean into it and zip away faster than he could keep up with.

Gotta get ready for school!

Milestone!

Caleb milestone...check it out!

Ch-ch-ch-CHANGES

I've been writing this since Feb. 17th. Sad, isn't it, how I can't even finish posting before I have to move on to something else? Anyway, you need to read a few things as they were written a couple of weeks ago...

It's been a big week here en la Casa Swan.

#1 - Last Saturday, I took Katy and Caleb to Muncie. While we were away, Stephen moved Caleb's crib into Katy's room, making the New and Improved KID ROOM! We were very excited not to have to roll Caleb out into the den/office every night, but our excitement may not have spread to the entire family. When we got home, I showed Katy the new setup, and she said nothing. She played around for a while, both in the room and out. Later, as I was working in the living room, I heard some thuds and thumps coming from Katy's room -- whoops! I should say, "the KIDS' room." Anyway, the thuds were the sounds of the crib hitting the door posts as Katy said, "Caleb, look what I've got for you!" I told her that Caleb was going to sleep in her room now. She wasn't fond of the idea at first, but she loves it now.

#2 - I attempted my first haircut on Caleb. I am pleased at how it looks, even though I would like to trim some more, and I am pleased that he didn't lose an ear or finger in the process. He tried to turn and grab the scissors a couple of time, but he didn't get them.

.........................................................................
Ok. Back to real time.
The sleep thing is still going well, and Caleb's hair looks fab. :)

#3 - I have finally hit the "10 Pounds Lost" mark, and I would not like to find those pounds again. :) I definitely am feeling healthier, but I hope to be able to do a little more walking etc. when the weather turns nicer. I have also lost about 4 inches according to the measurements that Curves takes. Unfortunately,

#4 - This is a big one. I am about 10 days away from being finished with the required courses for my master's degree. Originally, I had planned to be completely done at this point, electives included, but originally I didn't plan on having Caleb, so those electives will wait till this summer. I should be graduating in August. Hooray! On the downside, I'm having trouble justifying the expense of getting my degree while only working part-time. It's something I'll have to be thinking about as I consider job opportunities for the fall.

#5 - We have officially entered the cool group known as PTPs, or "Potty Training Parents." If you've been through it, please pray for us. If you haven't, count yourself lucky. :) Actually, Katy's doing pretty well. After changing two years of diapers, having her go in the toilet is a grand and glorious thing.

Well, it's time to pay some bills, so off I go.

Deja Vu All Over Again and Birthday Girl

My dad just sent me this comparison picture of my Caleb-boy on the left and Daddy on the right at about the same age. Talk about resemblance!


Katy's birthday party is tomorrow, so I'll have to post some pictures and such after it's over. I'll tell you a secret if you promise not to say anything. Promise? Ok. She's getting a little tricycle from Mommy and Daddy. And clothes, but those aren't as fun. :P

A Visit with Mamaw

School starts very soon. My mother, wise woman that she is, wanted to take Katy on a special outing since getting out will be much more difficult this year with Katy AND Caleb. She graciously allowed me to accompany them with Caleb on a trip to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis. After some delays (including a hungry baby), we made it to the museum at about 12. Mom decided to get a Grandparent + 2 membership for the year, so we could come back as often as we wanted without having to feel like we "got our money's worth" out of each visit. We started in the lower level with the Chihuly art glass exhibit. They have a reclining, revolving seat for viewing the glass in the ceiling. Katy didn't seem too fond of that idea. :)

We also saw the train exhibit, an aquarium display, and a dinosaur area. Katy was a bit confused, thinking that if we left the lower level, we were leaving the museum. Additionally, we were running into naptime, so resistance was high. We took her up to Level 2 for the Passport to the World section. She hugged an elephant and saw what she would look like if she was dressed in traditional Norwegian clothes. I think she makes a cute little Norwegian.

After Level 2, we hit the Playscape, an area designed for kids 5 and under. Katy loved the kid-sized world, spending time in the water area, the sand pit, the playhouse, and mowing the fake grass.

Last highlight of the day was the carousel ride. We had to stand in line through two cycles till it was our turn. To keep Katy occupied, I put her up on my shoulders and danced as the music played. She pulled my hair out of the ponytail and swirled her hands in it. I looked awful, but it kept her entertained. I am ashamed to admit that I purposefully ignored the rules and tried to get Katy on a jumping horse instead of the stationary animals. She is supposed to be 3 to ride the jumpers. So we got busted by the carousel 5-0 and got stuck on a giraffe. When the ride started, Katy noticed that the horse in front of her was starting to move up and down. Her eyes slowly looked to her own animal's pole and traveled upward......not moving. She looked at me with slightly sad eyes but didn't say anything. She really enjoyed the rest of the ride and wanted to ride again. Here she is on her giraffe, a lesser mount.
Caleb spent the day alternating between crying and sleeping in the stroller, never for very long. Here he is enjoying some time with Mamaw while Katy plays in the sand.



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Now playing: Walt Whitman & the Soul Children Of Chicago - Allelujah, Praise Jehovah
via FoxyTunes

Dedication

The transcript from a phone conversation this past Friday between my pastor and me:

Me: Pastor, I've got an idea that will test your flexibility.

Pastor Dan: Wow. That was a great set up. What's going on?

Me: Well, I was sitting here watching pictures go by on my screensaver. One from Katy's dedication came up, and I had an idea. Why don't we have Caleb dedicated while Stephen's whole family is out here? I realize that Sunday is only two days away, but I really would like it if we could make this happen.

Pastor Dan: Sure! There's always room for a baby dedication.

WOO HOO! So today during the morning service, we dedicated Caleb to the Lord. He wore the same christening gown that Stephen's mom made for Katy. The only slight "masculinizing" that I did was removing some ribbon detail from the front. This "dress" caused some of the cousins to question Caleb's gender, but he's a little young to be scarred. I am so glad we made it happen. The only sad tinge to the day was that my brother was out of town on vacation and couldn't make it back. :( But he was very understanding with the proviso that we videotape the event. Thanks, Nate! Anyway, here's a shot or two of the day.

Pastor Dan, Caleb, me, and Stephen



A close-up of the star



All the Swans who were here for the day, except Great-Grandpa, who had already gone to the car. :)