Visiting Karen

Yesterday, (before our Memorial Day gala with the Katterson clan) Ben, Victor, and I got to make a quick visit to our friend Karen. Karen is a dear lady from church, and she has been battling cancer for a long time.

The cancer is getting the upper hand, from a medical perspective, but Karen is a beautiful, beautiful picture of triumphant faith in Jesus, in the midst of "slight, momentary afflictions." This is the kind of faith in Christ for which we named our son, and it was a privilege to visit Karen with him--and such a delight to share his smiles and giggles.




I remember making hospital visits and nursing home visits with my mom and dad often growing up. And I hope we share that gift with Victor often as he grows too.

Preparation for Worship

This Sunday morning's preparation for worship:

Wake up when Ben's alarm goes off, sleep until he comes in to say good-bye
Wake up before Victor and roll out of bed
Bible time, until I realize this may be my only chance for a shower
Shower and put on pajama pants, because it's way too early to put on church clothes
Hear a cute little munchkin talking away in his crib and say good morning to Victor
Feed said cute and hungry little munchkin
Burp munchkin, wipe spit off pajama pants, and be thankful I didn't put on church clothes
Bounce Victor on my lap for attempt 2 at Bible time
Hear suspicious sound, smell suspicious odor, feel suspicious warmth, and see suspicious mustard-colored stain spreading down Victor's sleeper leg and onto my pajama pants
Bring mustard-covered baby into bathroom and place gently on floor
Clean little bottom and dispose of diaper
Clean bathroom floor
Run bath and bathe little munchkin
Put munchkin into church onesie, with bib, since it is still too early for church clothes
Put sleeper, towel, and pajama pants in laundry room to soak in Oxy-clean
Put on 2nd pair of pajama pants, thankful I didn't put on church clothes
Back into the living room for attempt 3 at Bible time
Put pants on Victor
Put on church clothes
Drive to church to worship Jesus

Long Ago

Ben and I were just looking at some old photos of Victor. Old, being 4 1/2 months ago. That feels like such a long time ago already. He was just a tiny little peanut then.






I remember that moment when I first saw him after birth. He was swooped away by the NICU team, so I didn't get to hold him immediately. But they brought him over to me for just a few minutes, swaddled in a little blanket, before taking him downstairs to his room. I did love him. But I didn't know him.

I used to look at him sleeping and think he looked like a baby doll, such precious, perfect little features. And when he woke up, I had lots and lots of moments of bewilderment. What do I do with this little person? He would cry. And I would cry, not knowing how to help him.

We've had him in our arms only half as long as I carried him during pregnancy, but we just love learning about our little son.

He has never declined a meal, no matter how much I have tried to "cluster" them in the evenings.

He thinks it's hilarious to watch his daddy do sit-ups.

When extremely hungry, he scrunches up his nose, gulping down the first mouthfuls of milk.

He holds my fingers when he rides in the Baby Bjorn, brave to face the world, as long as momma is right there.

He loves people, giving out happy, whole-body smiles generously at church.

When he wakes up from a nap or night of sleep, he cries until we come in and turn on the light, and then he catches our eye and gives a huge, slow smile and pulls his legs straight up in the air and rolls onto his side.

He's never real thrilled about getting in the carseat.

When Victor is crabby, his favorite activities are going outside, standing up on someone's lap, and snuggling on momma's shoulder, while we smile into the mirror.

Although normally mild and content, when tired or hungry, he can absolutely bellow. This normally hits us by the end of a long Sunday at church, which is when we know it's time to make our exit. :)


What a precious gift it is, to see this little person grow. We've had 4 1/2 months with Victor and love him more as the days go by, love that aches to see him thrive, to see him grow into a man of God, to see him trust Jesus and walk in the light all his days.

O Jesus, keep our sweet little Victor in Your arms and guard him from evil and from harm. Thank You for the exhausting, perplexing, and endearing adventure of parenthood. Let us honor You in it.

Sabbath

My sophomore year of college was the craziest. My academic load was pretty intense (I remember that semester with 4 classes, including Accounting I and Argumentative Research Writing). And for some reason (God, I think), I determined that I would not do homework on Sundays.

Some weeks, that meant some pretty late Saturday nights, but I actually think that it probably helped me survive the rough road.

The past 5 1/2 years have been different--Sundays have definitely felt like work days! (And, with Ben's school schedule, and work, the rest of the week has been pretty intense too.)

But we're in the midst of Ben's last school semester (for now, anyway), and we're looking down the road at a different time ahead, and perhaps a bit of a schedule change.

I hope that we'll find a new way to bring some elements of Sabbath back together.

An interesting article to think about.

Men and Boys

Here is a good post about how father can influence their sons.

HT: MOB Society

A Few Photos

2 Firsts

It has been an action-packed time around here!

Two firsts for Victor:

1) Last night was his first night sleeping with no arms bundled. And he did a good job.

2) This morning I witnessed him rolling over (back to front) for the first time! (He's done it before in his crib, but nobody saw it...)

Way to go, Squirt!

Zzz

Disclaimer: This blog post will probably not be of interest to any average, well-rested person.

I will confess. I have spent an inordinate amount of time in the past 2 weeks thinking about sleep.

Not in a day-dreaming kind of way (although, believe me, I have my moments), but in a how-do-I-help-my-child-sleep kind of way.

Victor was in a real good groove with sleep up until he hit about 3 1/2 months. Big nap in the middle of the day. Little nap in the late afternoon. Bedtime around 6pm. Feeding at 10pm and 4am. Sleep until about 7am, play for a while, eat again, and then sleep until 9am. It was a comfortable routine.

But it seemed like he was out-growing it, so we shifted things around to 2 mid-sized naps (morning and afternoon), and he did super during the days.

But meanwhile, his night sleep was pretty rocky. He was waking up many, many times during the night, and we found shuffling into his room to pop the paci in his mouth was minimally effective. He'd quiet down until it popped out of his mouth (sometimes about 30 seconds), and then wake up and cry again.

I consulted some books. Ben and I decided that it might be time to help Victor sleep without the paci, and maybe we could give up that 10pm feeding (which I normally had to wake him up for).

We braved some pretty rocky nights of crying. But we felt like we were on the verge of getting things in order. Then we went on a 5-day vacation.

Naps were hit-or-miss (mostly miss). Long hours in the car stretched everybody's endurance. It was our first time sleeping in a hotel room with Victor, and my strategy was simple. The first time he woke up, I'd feed him. After that, I'd pop the paci in as quick as possible so he didn't really rouse. It worked like a charm (and I was up at 11pm, 12am, 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am (feeding), 5am, and 6am. At least.).

After more long hours in the car, we arrived home Monday night... and had Victor's 4-month check-up on Tuesday (including shots).

He had good naps after his shots, praise Jesus! But besides that little window of rest, his naps were off, his nights were off, and I was feeling like the sleep-deprived mom I always feared I'd be with a baby.

Victor was not his normal happy self... fussy when I put him down to play in his pack-n-play, crying long stretches after just 30 min of a nap. Not nice.

I read most of 4 books on babies and sleep, and gleaned something from all of them. (If anybody has random questions about the topic, I now have accumulated a substantial pool of information. :) )

And finally, after much, much prayer, Monday was rather a breakthrough day. Victor took 2 really nice naps, went to bed earlier than normal, and (besides eating twice in the night) slept until 6:30am. When he woke up talking happily.

And he's kept up the good work.

I am so thankful! (The verse I kept praying over and over was Psalm 127:2, "He gives to his beloved sleep."

[Side note: I think that possibly the interrupted sleep was starting to get to me. For example, today when I was out running errands, I stopped at a store to buy a couple gift cards. Paid the cashier. Rummaged around in my purse for car keys. No keys. Put my purse down to really dig through it. No keys. Finally gave up and went to check the car. There they were. In the ignition. With the car still running. And all the windows down. So anyway, if you see my car driving around without me, check on me, ok?]

Mother's Day

Last Mother's Day, Ben and I were in Indianapolis with Lori and Mom and Dad. It was the weekend that we told the family that we were expecting. :)

This year, Ben gave me a special break to celebrate. Saturday I had lunch in a park in the glorious sunshine, read for a while, went for a walk, stopped at a garage sale, and took an crazy 90 min nap. (The past couple weeks have gotten me into a pretty nasty sleep-deprived state, so the nap was definitely medicinal!)

For dinner we split a Caniac chicken dinner from Cane's and split a chocolate bar with a cup of decaf. It was lovely.

Most special, I got a sweet card from my sister, a lovely picture book from my parents, and from Ben, I got...



an ulu knife. Makes me think of my mom and Saturday pizza nights growing up!



My cup overflows.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!




You can see that Victor is very blessed by his Grammy.

We love you!

Giggles

Daddy was making Victor giggle and giggle this afternoon. Love it!

Motherhood

Being a mother is not easy. Probably every mother feels insecure, overwhelmed, uncertain, intimidated, self-conscious at some point or other.

But motherhood is a gift. And our little ones are an immeasurably precious gift from the Lord. No matter what kind of challenges they bring.



May God turn the hearts of mothers to their children, so that none would consider ending that precious little life through abortion.

Growing Boy

Tuesday was our 4-month check-up (and shots).

We are pleased to report that Victor is growing healthfully and doing very well. He is 15 lb 11 oz and 25 inches long.

Woohoo, a big boy!

The doctor asked if he ever puts his hands together... which he kindly demonstrated for her a moment later. (He is quite a reflective fellow, often has his hands folded on his chest.)

We survived round 2 of shots (more traumatic for me than the first round, because I knew what was coming... but Victor did very well). This time we didn't even need Tylenol to deal with the pain afterward.

Check out the circle bandaids...

Today, while I was away doing some work, Ben called to tell me a first for Victor. When he had gone in to get Victor after he woke up from his nap, he was flipped over on his tummy! His very first rollover, though we didn't witness it ourselves!

We love you, Victor Albert!

A Letter to My 4-Month-Old

Dear Victor Albert,

How amazing that you have been with us now for a third of a year. Looking back through lots of old pictures, your daddy and I were remembering how you used to be just a perfect little armful... and now you fill both arms, for sure!

These past few weeks have brought lots of changes in you.

- You're eating much quicker now, most times. During the day it's down to about 8 min, though you'll still give me a good 45 min feeding (when you're all relaxed for bed).

- You just love people! That's not new, but it is confirmed over and over. You may fuss the whole way to church, but normally you'll beam and giggle as soon as smiling faces come to visit you.

- You can spot Mommy and Daddy... and even in your little backseat mirror, you'll give us a huge grin.

- Your schedule is in the midst of change, from one huge nap in the middle of the day to a morning and mid-day nap, and a little one before dinner. We're still trying to finesse the rhythm (our nights have regressed somewhat...), but you've been doing really great with the new daytime routine.

- You've done very well with your babysitters to date (per the "loving people" post above). You've been taking a bottle very well, so long as we have it warmed up enough. And we always come home wanting to snuggle you and loving you more than ever.

- You still spit up plenty. This causes some consternation when you spit up all over Grammy, all over the new church carpet while visiting Auntie Lori, all over your sleeper, all over Momma right before church, and so forth. But if a little extra laundry is the worst we encounter, we have nothing to complain about, huh! You don't seem to be uncomfortable anymore, and there are some signs that it's getting a little less frequent. The day will come when your tummy is ready to keep all that milk in (and until then, Momma will just enjoy being Trudy-the-dog's favorite milk-scented friend).

- You are just starting to notice toys. You'll grab the ball suspended over your pack-n-play and put just about anything in your mouth. It's amazing to see you absorbing all that you see around you!

- Though tummy-time still is not a favorite, you are getting so much stronger! You can push yourself up on your arms and hold your head up, and we've thought you were going to roll over sometimes... but not yet!

- Grammy has an excersaucer that is so much fun! With a towel behind you for extra support, you just beam to swing around and be upright, seeing the world.

We went for a huge roadtrip over your 4-month mark, down to Iowa and then to Indiana. What a fun time, seeing family and visiting Auntie Lori's new home.

You did a good job, although we scrambled your schedule pretty well. And it was sooo many hours in the car--we hope never to get in the carseat ever again. And least not before tomorrow morning (when we have your 4-month check-up).

Still such a special time, and it made us look forward to more times making memories as a family down the road.

May the Lord Jesus continue to help you grow and give you understanding of the world around you, and most of all come to know and love Him.

We love you, big boy!

4 Months Old

4 months old!

3 months old

2 months old

1 month old

2 weeks old

Faithful

I can hardly believe we made it to this point.

Last fall, while I was feeling kicks and hiccups from my belly, I was pretty nervous about facing the first quarter of this year.

I knew Ben would have class 4 nights a week. Then we heard that the South Site was also going to be moving its worship location to Lakeville South High School. And I envisioned myself with a brand-new baby, trying to cope with 4 months of essentially not seeing my hubby.

I didn't even want to think about it. We were signed up for the Indi Mini--our annual run in Indianapolis with my dad and sister the first weekend of May--and I felt like if I could just hold my breath and survive January through April, then by the time the Indi Mini arrived, we would be through the gauntlet.

And now it is May 1. And we are packed to head south tomorrow morning. And God has brought us through.

I will confess that the first week I was home with Victor by myself and Ben headed off to class, I cried. I was lonely and a little scared to manage this new little life all on my own.

But despite that first week or two, I attest that grace covered all the craziness of the last 4 months. Ben has finished his classes. We're moved to Lakeville South. And I love our little boy and feel so privileged to be home with him. What a faithful Father we have.

Tonight, when we drove around as a family of 3, running errands, and then sat together eating dinner, I realized just how lovely it will be to have some evenings together... maybe weekends without just staring into our laptops... time to go on walks together with Victor... sharing Victor's little bedtime routine together... Lovely. And probably all the sweeter for having scarce time to enjoy them up til now.

Thank You, Lord!

(And a few snapshots of what we've been up to lately.)

We go for a walk in the neighborhood pretty much every day.

Ready to take on the slide for the first time!

Victor gets a lot of compliments on his shades...

Back When

Ben and I were cleaning up our camera (to make room for new pictures) and found this old videos of Victor.

He looks so little!



The fine fellow is getting so big and so strong...

Bedtime

Last night Victor was being such a little pickle before bed.

The walk we took before dinner must have really worked up an appetite, because when I stopped feeding him for a mid-meal burp, he started sucking on my chin!

To get him calm and quiet before laying him down, I settled him on our bed and lay down next to him. When I picked him up to put him in his crib, he grabbed two big hunks of hair, right by my head, and he would not let go for anything! I laid him gently in his crib, and then I had to just kiss his little cheeks for several minutes until I could pry my hair out from between those sticky (and surprisingly strong) little fingers.