You tell me... is he walking?

So, Pierce took a couple steps 2 weeks ago (for Ryan, of course), but once he realized his "goal" was out of reach, he plopped to the floor to crawl... I have had a hard time "counting it" since I think he was just distracted, and didn't really mean to walk.
Yesterday he took 3 tiny steps to get to the stroller. Now I'm more inclined to "count it" since he was only focused on his mission of chair-to-stroller, and there were no distractions or trickery.
I guess it's the teacher in me that struggles with giving credit of "mastery" if there was any chance his actions weren't deliberate. I'm a nerd. Maybe he's walking, maybe he isn't.... either way, he's pretty close!

Our computer crashed

Poor Dell. All he is capable of is a black screen with a faint blinking cursor. Its very sad. Fortunately the guys at Frontier were able to retrieve our data and pictures and get them on our external hard drive. The bad news... looks like it overheated and the motherboard is ruined. Apparently you don't get too far with out a working motherboard.
PSA for the day.... be relentless about backing up your files daily.

Jana's miracle!

Jana was scheduled to have her surgery today. This morning the doctors performed an angiogram, to make certain everyone was on the "same page" as far as how they would proceed with the surgery. What they found was a miracle~ She has completely healed. Her surgeon says he has NEVER seen anything like this, and cancelled the operation. She should be released from the hospital today. They will monitor her over the next few months, but it looks like she is totally healed, with no need for any future surgery. Praise God and thank you for your prayers! Her doctor says this is one for the medical journals! Halleluia!

P is sick

It has just been congestion and a cough. Gunky though. Fortunately no fever. We just put him on antibiotics on Saturday to take care of an ear infection. I took comfort in the fact that would head off anything else that might be lurking. He's fine in the day other than his faucet of a nose, but the cough turned "wet" today, and I was thinking this was the home stretch... just had to cough all the yuckies up.

I was wrong.

Poor little guy had a long, rough night. Ryan was at a Young Farmer's meeting, then went out to eat with the guys. Meanwhile, mama was home trying to console an inconsolable baby. He was just screaming and moaning in pain. Then came the vomit. Lots of it. I was rocking him in the glider when I heard the sound. Immediately we were both COVERED. It kept coming and coming. Dinner, the bedtime bottle, the whole nine. It was like a war zone. We got in the shower for damage control, only to be followed by another 2 hours of agony. I guess about 10, we finally got him down for the night. It was brutal.

What a great helper!

Pierce LOVES to mop! He is fascinated with all forms of cleaning and house maintenance really, haha. Now if I can just get him to keep it up!

First trip to the Zoo

We took Pierce to the Fort Worth zoo on 9/28, and he really seemed to "get it". It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, perfect for a family outing! His favorites were the birds b/c we could feed them feed off of a Popsicle stick. He also liked the penguins and the elephants the best.

Swallow Study at Cook Childrens

Pierce had been coughing a lot at mealtimes, and we talked to Dr. Power about it at his one year well-check. We took a sippy cup to show her, and she referred us to Cook's after hearing him cough, just to be safe. Naturally he didn't get choked up once when we were there. A speech path watched him eat, looking at his oral-motor develpment, and that all looked fine. They then had him do the Barium swallow study so they could see what was happening behind the scenes w/ an X-ray. Basically 3/12 swallows there was a little bit of a problem w/ the liquid or food going toward his airway, but it was still within the "normal" limits. They gave us some suggestions for home, and sent us on our way. They think he'll outgrow the problem with experience eating and smaller bites, and thicker liquids.

Cool setting= Cool photo

I've been trying to learn a little more about the different features on my camera. This one allows you to shoot in B&W, but have 1 color show.

Cute model, huh?

The Bathtime Mohawk

Finally he's got enough hair to do a "faux-hawk" in the bathtub.

Ryan gets the credit for this one, BTW.

My *baby* is One!

It was a bittersweet milestone. Thanks to those friends and family that made the day so special (and especially for my mom for all of her help/ hard work)!


Pierce loves ducks, so naturally that was our theme. His cake was covered with his favorite indulgence.... Gerber star-shaped "puffs".

We also did a time capsule of things relevant to the past year, that we'll give Pierce when he's 17. Everyone was so creative with their contibutions!

Catch up!

I'm playing catch up today, to share some of the latest news...

Prayers for Miss Jana

Surgery on Oct. 23rd

Jana will have surgery to correct a vascular lesion on Oct. 23rd, on the left side of her brain. It is a very delicate procedure that will take most of the day, going in through the center/ top of her skull. Please pray for her, Dr. Siadati who is her surgeon, and the medical staff caring for her at Harris.
She has been doing increasingly better each day, but this is a necessary operation to significantly reduce the risk of any future bleeding in her brain.