Back tracking a bit

As I mentioned earlier in the Walking post, I had a few more videos from a few weeks ago to put up. While Micah was in California for a conference I went home to stay with my parents for a few days. It was right after my procedure, so it was nice to have a little help with the boys and fun family time with my sisters and parents. While we were there I wanted to see what Devin would do with a push toy-and he was starting to take a few steps! I knew that walking on his own would be just around the corner :) And I was right! haha. So here's a short video of his 'walker' walking.

Micah had told me before he left that Devin had been trying to go up the stairs, but I hadn't really seen him do it yet. So when I heard him crying in the foyer at my mom's I didn't think much of it. Then all of a sudden I hear my sister going "Oh Oh Oh!!" and I ran in...there is the goobots standing on the second stair holding onto the railing crying! Poor guy! So now that we were there he was fine to go all the way up. It took him a little practice to come down, but is starting to get the hang of it now. He typically will crawl up and wait for you to come before trying to go down-which is great for my piece of mind! But I still put the baby gate up just in case...

In just a blink of an eye he is growing up soooo fast!

Walking!

We've had a crazy busy week, and it's been a lot of fun. I have a ton to post about, and a lot to catch up on-but this just happened today and I wanted to get it up on the blog ASAP! Devin has taken his first real steps!!!! I'm so excited :) I know I'll regret saying this later-but I'm so happy he is going to be walking! It's hard to keep him clean/germ 'free' when he's on the floor so much, especially in public places. So I think this is a good thing, but again I'm sure I'll wish for his immobility at some point ;) Micah unfortunately was out of town and is coming home in a few minutes-so he missed it :( But will get to see it in person tomorrow. We called him as soon as it happened though!
My little baby is growing up!!!!

I'm such a proud Mama! :)

I've been having problems uploading videos to blogger these past few days and so the videos I have of him walking with a walker and going up the stairs a few weeks ago aren't up yet. I'm glad that these walking ones uploaded ok, and I'm posting them now since it happened today. So it may be funny that those other videos will be up after his "walking" ones-but I wanted to be sure to post this one now :)

Church nursery

As some of you are probably wondering what prompted the recent poll about church nurseries...I would like to share my recent experience. A few Sunday's ago it was Consecration Sunday and Micah's church was only having their later service at 11:00 with a luncheon and games for the kids to follow. We hardly ever go to the later service because it cuts our day in half, it's right before lunch and about the time Devin takes a quick cat nap. But we didn't have any other choice this particular Sunday. We got there on time and sat in the back on the end so we could easily exit with Devin if he was too fussy. As the first few minutes wore on, more people were coming in late and they needed more chairs. So they added to our row and then added more rows behind us. Then because the entire congregation was going to be in attendance they opened up the dividers so the entire space was open-and there was no place to retreat to with a crying baby-nor could I easily get out of our isle without further distraction. So needless to say it was a rough service for us...but one we felt we couldn't avoid.

The next Sunday as Pastor was dismissing the older kids to Children's Church (CC), he made a reminder that the Church had a nursery, and that everyone was free to use their services...for the sake of others. Now it was this last part that both Micah and I had some real disturbing feelings about. "For the sake of others". I completely understand that it is distracting to be listening to a sermon and have a screaming child disrupting. And I personally have no problem taking my son out if he is being too fussy. And we have! But I do not feel it's appropriate for MY family to be put in the nursery. My viewpoint is that we are there for Christ and our spiritual enrichment. How is a child to understand that if they are put in a nursery to play the whole time-and then at a certain age be expected to sit still and pay attention? And we are there to worship as a family, not be segregated. Don't get me wrong-I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I'm not saying it's not appropriate to have a cry room or nursery, however I feel that it's not the place for my family.
So when Pastor said this, I was really uncomfortable especially since it seemed that we were the only family present with a baby at that time. Micah also expressed his distraction for the remainder of the service when we were leaving.
We decided to give it another week to see if the same comment would be made. As we walked into the church, the first thing the greeter said after "Good morning" was "we have a nursery". And then pastor again mentioned it as he dismissed the older kids to Children's Church. But this time left out the "for the sake of others". I felt a little better about this, but still got the feeling that it was being force fed to us.
I'm not sure what we are going to do-if anything- about all this. One of the reasons we chose this particular church was because we thought it was very family friendly. The church we left when we had to move was very much family orientated, and even had the Pastor comment to us that he enjoys hearing the babies cry because that means that the family is there. And that everyone is welcome, however if someone happens to find it too distracting than maybe that church wasn't the right fit for them. And as Micah made note of...Jesus said "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." Luke 18:16-17.
I cannot say for certain that those comments were pointedly made to us, but it really made us feel very uncomfortable. I feel that we may have to address it with Pastor if something more direct is mentioned to us, but right now I'm trying to take it with a grain of salt and let it roll off my back. I just felt I needed to explain the poll a little, and I appreciate the votes that were cast.
On a side note, we also have not sent Aiden back for CC. At my old parish I actually led the music for our version of CC, and it was literally a juvenile version of our Liturgy of the Word, with a reading, psalm, reading, Hallelujah, Gospel, and then homily. All of this was in language and message children could understand better. I thought it was great, and then the kids went back to their parents in time for the Liturgy of the Eucharistic. The CC at Micah's church now seems to be a time for the kids to go back-maybe hear a message and then run around and play until its time to return to the parents-at least this is what Micah observed. A few Sundays ago the kids came back with bags of Doritos. Now to me that was distracting! Again, we don't feel that church is the time for play-unless in a structured and/or liturgically meaningful way. So we have not felt comfortable sending Aiden back.
I hope and pray that we can again feel welcome with open arms-no strings attached.

Micah's account of Liz's procedure

So the doctor prior to the procedure stated that there is a small chance that he may not be able to do the ablation in certain instances. He stated that he would do the EP study to map out Liz's electrical pathway of her heart. This would give him the exact location of the aberrant pathway causing her symptoms. So she went in for her procedure, fully expecting that we would fit in the group of people who do not have a condition where the radio frequency ablation would be too risky. Based on what they saw on her EKG they told us not to be surprised if it took up to 5 hours or so.
The nurses notified me when they actually started the procedure and then about an hour later she came in and told me they were finished. I knew then that something was up.
The doctor came in and explained some good news and some not so good. He explained that he conducted the EP study and found exactly where the pathway is, however the not so good news is the location of the pathway. He explained that the pathway is immediately adjacent to the AV node (Atrioventricular Node). This node is the gateway or 'toll booth' for the electrical pathway to travel from the atria to the ventricles to coordinate contractions. The only way for normal electrical activity to move from the atria to the ventricles is through the AV node. Therefore, if the area ablated with the radio frequency ablator gets the AV node in its attempt to get the aberrant pathway then she will have heart block; her atria and ventricles cannot talk to each other and then she would need a pacemaker. This is why he did not proceed.

So now what? He put in a call to Cleveland Clinic and U of Michigan to two of his friends that have access to cryotherapy. With cryotherapy they can use liquid nitrogen at -20deg C to cool the area of the pathway. If this does not lead to heart block, then they wait a few more minutes and do it again. If this works well, then they can use liquid nitrogen at -70deg C and actually burn/freeze the pathway permanently. If she does go into heart block, they warm up the area and it is reversible.
So, we need to call the doctor on Monday and find out who we need to talk to, and will probably go this route. We will see when we can get into somewhere that has access to cryotherapy for heart ablations and try this route as opposed to her having to take medication for the rest of her life.
To do the EP study, they went in through the groin on both legs, and so she is supposed to keep reclined for the next few days and cannot lift anything to allow the pressure in her veins to stay down and prevent any large clotting. She'll gradually go back to normal activity throughout the day tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and concerns. We were really hoping by this time she would have been 'fixed' but it looks like we have to wait a little more for that to happen. We'll keep you up to date as we find more out. Here are some pictures we took when she got home.

Beautiful peonies from Laura's garden

And flowers from Hilary, Aiden, and Devin

Coincidentally my Aunt and Uncle, who are also my Godparents from Texas were in our area for a wedding, so they stopped by for the evening to visit :)

having fun with Devin

Prayer time in the living room since I'm not supposed to eat at the table for the next few days.

Devin trying to push me out of the way to get to the food. Such a stinker!

Aunt Laura and Micah doing dishes. I can get used to that!

Wasting time :)

A few pictures before they leave

It was so nice to come home to a house full of family :) Thanks for coming out to visit everyone!

It's Official!

We finally sold the house! We got up early this morning and made the drive to the house for the last time. We had a few cleaning things to pick up, and we wanted to say our final good byes to our first home.

Even though Devin never lived here, he's been back with us plenty of times and almost started crawling in it when we came back after the vandalism in February.

Last time in our master bedroom

Aiden's nursery! That border was discontinued right after we ordered it, so I cut the scenes from the leftovers we had and had them framed to put in our nursery here. So Pooh lives on in our house here, just not all the way around the room.

The boys goofing off

They are so cute together! They are definitely each others entertainment :)

You can't see it, but I'm pointing to a wax droplet from my accident that keeps seeping through even though I've tried to scrape and paint over it numerous times.

The smoke on the ceiling from the accident. I was so nervous someone would notice it, but it just looks like a shadow if you don't know its up there. I threw the curtains away that melted ;)

Last family photo in the house.

Signing it away! Well, it feels like we gave it away, but whatever!

Dawn, our wonderful Realtor that finally helped us get the job done! It only took 2 1/2 years and about 4 Realtors to find her...but we're happy and grateful that we finally did :)

Concentrating very hard during our celebration lunch before heading home.
We are so thankful to everyone who has helped us make this closing a reality. Many lessons learned, and now we get to finally move on. It's been a long drawn out process, and I'm so happy that it's over. No matter what happened, we loved that house and it will always have a place in our hearts, and it will truly be missed.

kite flying

The Easter Bunny at Grammy and Papa's house gave Aiden this great Airplane kite. Aiden has an airplane bed that Micah and my dad built for him, so anything airplane we get excited about :) It was a great day to fly a kite, so we gave it a go. It took us awhile to put it together, but finally we got it.

I'm bummed that this camera doesn't take the best videos, but at least the beginning is cool.

Devin joined the boys watching the kite fly high.

Finally after awhile we decided it was time to eat. We could have kept that going forever the way the wind was blowing :)

Bike Rides

One of our favorite things to do when the weather breaks is to ride our bikes. Micah rides more than I do...he'll go for miles and miles. I enjoy the exercise, but I can't go nearly as long as he can. Plus he pulls Aiden along, and now Devin :) Extra weight for a better exercise. So now that the weather is nice Micah got the bikes down and the go-bug. He took Aiden for his normal ride, and then when he got home I said to get Devin in so he gets used to wearing a helmet and the rides. He took them around the neighborhood a few times, and he did great :) Next time I'll go too and we'll go for a little longer, but not as far. I didn't get to bike at all last summer because I was hugely preggo-so I'm a little nervous for my first ride. But I'm excited to get back into it, especially after my surgery is over and I'm good as new!

Aiden telling Devin about safety first and how it's important to keep your helmet on!

Ready to go!

and they're off!

We've been trying to get Aiden to ride his bike he got for his birthday-but he has been having a hard time with the concept of peddling. Our neighbor has a little boy 2 weeks younger than Aiden, so he's been watching a learning from them a little. It's getting better, but he's fallen a couple of times and now is scared. So we put his pads on.

Getting a little push up the slope...I'm hoping by the end of the week he'll have it down pretty good and we'll have fun rides in the neighborhood soon.

I can't tell if that's an attempt at a smile or a wince of pain...actually it was the sun :)

Showing off his battle scars...that other one on the knee goes around the side another inch too. Poor guy!

School program

Aiden had his last day of preschool the week after we got back from our trips. His teacher put together a little program for the kids to perform some of the songs they have learned throughout the year. And the older kids going on to kindergarten "graduated" while the younger ones got certificates. It was pretty cute. Micah was on call, but he was able to stay long enough to be there for it all, getting paged the whole time, but he was there and saw most of it, and it was important to Aiden that he made it.

Aiden had been practicing all week, so it was cute to see him perform his songs with his class. And the fact that he actually sang this time! If you recall his Christmas program it was a lot of grinning and looking around and watching his classmates instead of doing what he was supposed to :)

Ok, sorry that the video is sideways...I was using my camera and most of the pictures were taken that way. I keep forgetting that even though it's fine on the screen, it's filming sideways. It was hard to man both my still and video cameras and a 9 month old at the same time while Micah was in the back answering all his pages. At this point I had both filming at the same time so I had a small video to put on here and the full song on our video camera.


All done! First year of preschool under our belt :) Time to enjoy the summer!