Merry Christmas!

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Merry Christmas from the Smiths!

"It's 24! It's CHRISTMAS EVE!!!"

That was Moses' exclaimation this morning upon opening the last door on the advent calendar. After trying for the last 14 days to convince us to open number 24, the morning finally arrived!

We started a new tradition this year- opening presents on Christmas Eve morning. It is so nice and relaxing- we aren't rushing them through it to put them to bed tonight, and/or we aren't rushing them through it so that we can get them in the car tomorrow. This way they have time to actually enjoy their presents. AND, it means that tonight at our Christmas Eve service, we can really celebrate the true meaning of CHRISTmas without rushing to be somewhere or do something else.

At 31/2, Moses was really into opening presents this year. And surprisingly, ZuZu really got into it, too:



























Merry Christmas Eve! :)

My little theologian

Every day since Thanksgiving, I have tried to do something Christmas-y with Moses. One day we put up and decorated a tree in his room, one day we made a Rudolph craft with handprint antlers, etc. Today we focused on Jesus. First I read the Christmas story to him, and then we made a book together using construction paper and nativity stickers.

Below is his first publication:

The Christmas Story- As told by Moses O. Smith

The angel says "obey."


Mary and Joseph; Mary on the donkey.

Baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph- they all together. The cow says "moo." And the donkey looking at Baby Jesus. MOOOO!

The shepherd and the angel and the stars in the sky. And shepherds. The lambs.

The three guys. Three camels. These are wise mens. The camels. Coming in the castle. [Editor's note: He watched "The First Noel" today, and it shows the wise men going to Herod's castle. I think that is what he is referring to-- or else he is referring to my poor drawing of a tent...]

The big star. Mary and Joseph and an angel. In the hay a baby lay. They're bringing presents for Jesus. The shepherd's playing with the camel- no, with the candy cane. The angel was happy.

The end. :)

How do I decide?!

We took the kids' for pictures today... and I have no idea how to decide which ones to put on our Christmas card! We even had an impromtu family picture (Glad Kurt and I were dressed accordingly! We've learned with our kids to always try to coordinate, just in case we have a cry-er and we end up being in the pictures somehow).


Both kids were angels all day, which made it all the more fun. We actually got to stay at the mall for a couple hours and shop!


Here are some of my favorites:

Conversations with Moses

Yesterday at lunch, Moses announced that he wasn't Moses anymore. He was Bob the Builder. And all the way through lunch, we had to refer to him as Bob. So I asked Bob where he parked the tractor. "In the garage." Of course.

Right before dinner, Moses announced the following:

Moses: I not Moses anymore. I Jesus.

Me: No, your Moses.

Moses: No, I Jesus.

K: There is only one Jesus (tone implying "and you are not Him")

Moses: Jesus go up to heaven.

K: Well, if we obey Jesus, then we will get to go to heaven to be with Him. But there is only one Jesus.

Moses: Can I go up to heaven-- pleeeeeeease?

And to top it all off, as we were leaving Walmart last night, Moses announced that he was "Tad." I immediately thought he was likely referring to Tad from the leapfrog toys. Oh no. He went on to say that his real name is Thomas. But he goes by Tad.

Yes folks, that's right. My 3.5 year old was pretending to be Tad Lincoln. Only our son...

My post on the work blog today...

Setting the Stage for Rationed Care: Gambling with Women’s Lives
November 20, 2009
By --- Smith, Staff Counsel

Women received two bombshell pieces of “advice” this week. First, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (a government-funded panel) released guidelines stating that mammograms are not necessary for women of average risk in their 40s, and that women aged 50 to 74 should only undergo mammograms every other year. The Task Force also instructed practitioners to quit instructing women to conduct monthly self-exams, because there is allegedly no evidence that it is of any benefit. As the Wall Street Journal reported, “The task force said the new guidelines strike a better balance between the benefits of early cancer detection and the unnecessary anxiety and extra costs associated with false positives….”
Breast Exam Guidelines Raise Furor (emphasis added), available here.

Second, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) released a report stating that women should be screened later and less often for cervical cancer. While traditionally women have been encouraged to have annual pap smears, ACOG’s report states that healthy women over 30 can go for as long as three years without screening. Healthy women over 65 can stop screening altogether. Its rationale is that there is a low incidence of cervical cancer among women aged 15 to 19; and gee, it grows slowly, anyway—so there is time to “catch it” before it is too late. Of course, this all begs the question of how a woman can know she is “healthy” if she hasn’t had a screening for a few years.

Throw major healthcare reform in the mix, and the timing is highly suspect. As the federal government is poised to take over healthcare, these two reports urge sporadic screening and for fewer people.

ACOG claims the events are coincidental. As the New York Times reported:

Arriving on the heels of hotly disputed guidelines calling for less use of mammography, the new recommendations might seem like part of a larger plan to slash cancer screening for women. But the timing was coincidental, said Dr. Cheryl B. Iglesia, the chairwoman of a panel in the obstetricians’ group that developed the Pap smear guidelines. The group updates its advice regularly based on new medical information, and Dr. Iglesia said the latest recommendations had been in the works for several years, “long before the Obama health plan came into existence.” She called the timing crazy, uncanny and “an unfortunate perfect storm,” adding, “There’s no political agenda with regard to these recommendations.

Guidelines Push Back Age for Cervical Cancer Tests, available here.

That’s reassuring. Because we all know that ACOG rarely has a political agenda.

Rightfully so, both reports have created a well-founded suspicion that government rationing of cancer screening is just around the corner. Even Democrat Senator Arlen Specter labeled the call for cut backs in screening as “curious.”

As Senator Reid’s massive bill comes to a vote this weekend, the nation simply can no longer afford to ignore the rationing of healthcare that is misleadingly referred to as “healthcare reform.” Apparently, the current leadership believes the government cannot afford to properly screen women for cancer. It would rather gamble with women’s lives.

In the balance of cost versus women’s health, women lose.

ZuZu's new "trick"

We were recording ZuZu the other night because she has a new trick: singing into a coffee container. It's so cute, so we decided we needed to record it for posterity. But she surprised us and did something we didn't exect:

Tidbits

1) It was day three of our week of festivities. Moses' class was adorable, and I was so impressed that there were NO scary costumes!

2) I want to THANK the mother who put ink stampers in the treat bags.

3) This kid is the cutest in the world.

4) And this one is the most beautiful.

5) It is WAY past time to lower the mattress in ZuZu's crib.

6). Moses has gotten braver in the last year- in the last week, really. He never wanted to touch the inside of a pumpkin before. Just last week, one of the games at our church harvest party was to dig in a pumpkin and try to find a quarter; Moses refused to try. In fact, we could barely even get him to look inside the pumpkin. But last night it was a different story:

Of course, after digging around for a few minutes last night, he said, "HEY! Where's the money?!"

Halloween, Mayberry Style

Every year, the merchants in town sponsor a "trick-or-treat" afternoon downtown. Although my posts this week will look otherwise, we're not real big on Halloween around here. But our town does things a little differently. For example, "trick-or-treating" doesn't happen ON Halloween this year- because Halloween is a Saturday, and therefore the night before Sunday (church). Instead, it is called "Beggars' Night" and it is on Friday.

And the merchant trick-or-treating is really more of an all-town event than a Halloween celebration. Literally every child in town goes, and it is so much fun to walk downtown and see each others' costumes (and get ideas for next year- I saw a rodeo clown that was adorable! And his little sister was a cowgirl...).

Here, Daddy and son make the trek downtown:



ZuZu just takes everything in:



In true Mayberry style, here is Moses with the town mayor (who, as I've also reported before, also happens to be the town barber- although there is no way Floyd could have pulled off this look):



Me and my babies:



And what do you think? Wrapped around her little finger?

Meet Bob.

The Builder, that is.

This afternoon was the Fall Party at story hour at the library. I think the pictures speak for themselves!

Our little miracle

I’ve been asked several times how ZuZu is doing—the short answer is GREAT. She’s a little miracle. But for future reference, I’d like to record some of my thoughts as I look back on the last 7.5 months.

We should have known when I was 21 weeks pregnant and already having contractions that this little baby was going to be HIGH MAINTENANCE! But we made it just past 37 weeks—she was born almost 3 weeks early and still weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces. Then the whole blood sugar/feeding tube ordeal followed. I remember thinking they would never let us leave the hospital. I wish I could have been present when Kurt had a “discussion” with my nurse about taking us home…


(ZuZu in the hospital)

The first couple weeks after that were ideal—ZuZu slept for hours at a time, she would let us put her down awake, and she was generally very content.

Then March 21 hit. She was just 2 weeks old. So tiny. For the next 7 weeks, we battled diarrhea, mucus and blood in her stool, green stool, foamy stool, and projectile vomiting. I can still picture her writhing and moaning in pain. It was one of the worst things I have ever gone through in my life. So helpless—both of us. She was so, so sick.

All the lactation consultants I talked to acted like it was normal and that I just needed to eliminate dairy. I did—and soy, wheat, nuts, beef, and so much more. Nothing helped.

The pediatricians, on the other hand, were concerned. While ZuZu’s pediatrician thought it was related to dairy, another pediatrician inspected the mucus and found some strange cell activity. He wanted her to see a specialist at the Children’s Hospital.

At that point (9 weeks old), they told me I MUST give her special formula. I did—for one week. It was TORTURE. For both ZuZu and me. After that week, I went into the ped’s office ready to battle for breastfeeding—but God had gone in before me and already changed the doctor’s mind on that matter. It was one of many miracles.

It was right about that time that ZuZu smiled for the first time ever. Looking back, I am glad that I didn’t realize how old she was to not have smiled yet. I would have been even more panicked. She was such a little angel during everything. She felt miserable, but she never fussed or complained. K would say it was because she had never felt well—so she didn’t know that she didn’t feel well. Totally heartbreaking.


(first smile!)

At approximately 12 weeks, we got in to see the specialist at the Children’s Hospital. I recorded my feelings on that visit here. Suffice it to say that I don’t think there is anything scarier than pulling into a Children’s Hospital and not knowing what was going to happen.

Her doctor there is AMAZING. Because she was no longer having any blood and was gaining weight, he told me to eat dairy, etc., and not to worry about her. Easier said than done… she continued to pass nothing but green mucus as “stool.” We’ve had a few conversations since then with the Hospital, but they have never grown concerned.


(waiting for the doctor)

So we learned to live with it. As she grew, she was in less pain. She was happy and mobile and learning and growing. And an absolute sweetheart. She just exudes sweetness. As one of my colleagues said, sometimes hardships breed the sweetest characters. It’s definitely true in ZuZu’s case. I’ve joked with K that if there was ever a baby to challenge the Biblical concept of our innate sinful nature, it is ZuZu!

And then ZuZu hit 6 months. One day she was still passing nasty mucus in her stool. The next day she had normal stool. And she never turned back. It was nothing less than a MIRACLE. It truly was. It still amazes me.

Thank you, God, for my little miracle baby!


(first bath in the big tub)

Who woulda thought?

...that TWO TIMES in one month, I would agree with NOW???

See here and here.

I can't believe it's only a weekly paper

I was perusing our paper today, and came across the following article:

FOLLOW THESE TIPS FOR SAFE RAKING

Yep. I was all prepared to write a blog post on that. I mean, the first “tip” was this:

First, do some stretching exercises to warm up muscles. Follow with further stretching.

[My thought: A little redundant. First, do some stretching. Follow up with some stretching…. ]

But then I came across THIS article, and I just have to share it:

AUGUSTA RECYLCES OLD BONES INTO ART

[Me: WOW. That’s… interesting…]

Make no bones about it. Kevin Hiland, Augusta, is an unusual artist.

On second thought, maybe we should make bones about it. [Ack- stupid pun- and they used it twice!] Hiland does [he makes bones?] – and creates some unusual works of art. He converts skull bones of cattle into some of the most unusual artwork you’re likely to encounter. [Again- wow. I’m almost speechless]

Nearly fitting for Halloween, the multicolored pieces of art have gained a measure of local popularity, although his work has yet to gain much acclaim outside the local area [I can’t imagine!]

Bones, however, are not the only art in which Hiland is involved. Some of his past work is on public display in Augusta [On public display? Like in the public library or something?]. Hiland contributed significantly to the construction of the wall mural on the south side of the building currently housing PJ’s pub & Diner [Oh. He painted the wall outside the local bar. THAT kind of public display….]

“I know that I’m not the greatest artist in the world,” Hiland said, “But these animals die. No sense in wasting their skulls.”

Way to “go green,” Kevin!

Here's the latest...

We actually had a free Saturday... so I decided to fill it with pictures. Both kids were great! Although you would never know that ZuZu is a smiley little baby. She ALMOST smiled in one of these...

(if anyone with great photoshop skills knows how to remove the runny nose stuff in this one, could ya help me out?!)