quick prayer request

This will be quick because Matt and I are going to work on organizing the garage/start yard sale pricing stuff tonight. But I did want to mention that Jonah has been really hoarse and wheezing for the last three days. Matt and I suspect he has some blistering in his trachea and so his airway is at least partially constricted. I talked to Dr. Heather (his NICU doctor) today and described what was going on. She said she doesn't think he's in immediate danger yet (not retracting, color is good), but that if he gets any worse (stridor gets louder, retracting, color changes, rapid breathing), we need to take him into the Emergency Department. If he stays the same, I'll take him to the pediatrician on Monday. But hopefully he'll be fully restored by then.


Trying not to get discouraged with "It's always something" and be thankful. It doesn't help my attitude much that I spent the entire day sorting and pricing TONS of baby boy clothes, hardly any of which either of my sweet boys ever got to wear. So much of it is new and has only been washed twice - once before Gabe and once before Jonah. And there are also many many things that are new with tags. Having to sell them feels so... final. I don't know. I shed some tears. It's been hard. Anyway, we're having a yard sale on July 9th, so if you live close by and you have a baby boy, you should come. I would love some of these clothes to go to families who know our story. Either way, it's time to close the door on old dreams and start focusing on our new ones.


No church for us tomorrow given Jonah's fragile state right now, but I hope all of you have a blessed weekend.


I'll keep you posted on Jonah if there is any change, one way or the other. As always, thank you for your prayers.

the last few days (with cute pictures)

Last Saturday we went to hang out with our friends, Shawn and Jen, and their cutie, Jude. Jen and I have decided that Jonah and Jude will be best friends, and Matt is already calling them "The J Team." (Now we just have to get them a cool black van). Jude seems very interested in Jonah, and Jonah, well, he seems very interested in Baby Einstein. But soon enough I know they will be good buddies. And BOTH parents like to hang out with BOTH parents, so we're pretty pumped about their arranged friendship. Here are the boys mesmerized by Baby Mozart. They both behaved beautifully, and we plan to get together again really soon.

Here is a shot of our yard sale stuff. We did alright money wise, but after it was all over, Matt and his dad took the rest to Goodwill, and we can now fit the Escape back in the garage - the real point of having the sale. With the hot weather, it was imperative we get the car in the garage, so it won't be so hot when Jonah gets in. We are SO tired. We didn't get in bed til about 1:30 last night, we were up with Jonah from 3:45-4:45, and we had to get up at 6. Tonight will be an early to bed night, even if it means getting up an extra time or two with Jonah. (Although he was mostly on an up-one-time-a night schedule, he's now back to waking us up at 1:30 or 2:00 and then again at 4:30 or 5:00... even if his last feeding of the day is at 10 or 11.)

Don't ask me why Matt looks so grumpy. I'm pretty sure I had just called him down for selling all my really good stuff for hardly anything. That'll teach me to go inside and pump.

Jen and Jude came and hung out with us a couple hours at the yard sale. And then Jude stole Matt's hat.

Matt and I are using some of the money to start a "Tenth Anniversary Trip" fund - the only way we will EVER save money for a tenth anniversary trip. We discussed going back here in Riviera Maya, Mexico, where we spent our honeymoon, but Matt would LOVE to go to Hawaii. I don't care where we go as long as it's tropical (or a cruise), but I'm planning on needing a break in five years... or possibly five minutes.

And on a completely different note, look who's doing a great job with tummy time! He'll enjoy it for five to ten minutes, and then he's all done, but we'll take it. He's got pretty good head control, but we're working on building up his arms. He is delayed in his grabbing/grasping/reaching (obviously), but we'll have to give him some time. He's only had his hands unwrapped for a week, so you can't really blame him. He does try to hold his bottle when he's eating, and he always plays with his fingers. The only rolling over he's doing is from side to back, so I figure he's going to be a little delayed in that too. I'm okay with it though, because once he knows how to roll over, dressing changes are going to be a nightmare.

Off to wash dishes, switch the laundry, wash diapers, feed Jonah, and go to bed... eventually.

yard sale pricing woes and jonah, of course

Man, pricing stuff for a yard sale is tough! I can't stop thinking about how much money I spent on the thing when I bought it... and my books, my precious books. So hard to let them go. I will take it very personally if people try to haggle with my books. Just rip out my soul why don't you?

Matt's gotten slightly carried away with the "what to sell" pile. I've already had to rescue our fire escape ladder, our screen insert for our storm door, and a memory card for my digital camera. We were going through our books the other night, and while I sorted through my books on the bed, Matt was sorting his on the floor and reorganizing the book shelf. I came up with a huge pile to get rid of, but when I handed him my keepers to put back on the shelf, he informed me there was no room. "Where are all the books you are getting rid of?" I asked. "I want to keep all mine," was the response. Um, no. Try again. So he was able to get a small stack together to sell and mine found a place on "his" shelf. And I love my Matt, God bless him, but he's really more of a Sports Illustrated kind of guy than a book man. I think he likes the idea of the books and wants to be a reader, but the odds that he'll actually read them are slim to none. But hey, they look really nice on the shelf, and what if Jonah wants to read them in fifteen years?

We are giving away our extra Bibles for free, but you'll have to pay $3.00 to get our PlayStation South Park game. How 'bout them apples?

I'm excited about pretending I don't speak Spanish, and then fluently bargaining the socks off any Spanish-speakers that come our way. I've been out of the Spanish loop for a while, so I'll be excited to practice.

Kathryn came and helped me price some stuff today, and we've both decided that we collectively suck at coming up with good prices. Our mottos are, "You couldn't get that for a dollar at The Dollar Store," and "I paid ____ for that," and "That would make a great _______ gift." Anyway, I think we're looking for very specific buyers. We've pretty much mapped out their whole life story and the exact reason and motive they will have in order to pay $15 for a pair of shoes. (Just kidding. Sort of.) Anyway, it's hard, but I know the price is really just a suggestion anyway. Let the haggling begin.

I about put a "Make an Offer" sticker on a travel bandaid case just to be funny, but wasn't sure people would get my humor. I also have this big wooden circle decorative thing on a stand, and I was going to write, "Why reinvent the wheel when you could buy this one for $10?" but again with the humor thing. Maybe you just had to be here. I'm funny in my head, at least.

We're going to have a table set up with Jonah's story and some magnets. I don't really care whether we sell any magnets or not, but I am excited about spreading the word about EB. I'm actually looking forward to people's questions. It's supposed to be in the mid 90's here on Saturday, so I don't think Jonah will be making an appearance, but the 7th grade girls at church did a nice trifold presentation for us to put up with the magnets. It's kind of a summary of what EB is on one poster, and then another one with clips from the blog and pictures that tell our family story. I want people to know Jonah and to know about EB whether they buy a magnet or not.

Jonah had an appointment today with the ENT, and he said everything looks really good (just one small place on his tongue that he could see - he didn't scope him again). He says the noisy breathing is probably just from excess secretions (something any baby could deal with), and the stridor when he's sleeping is probably just a floppy airway that he'll outgrow. He's still breathing well, never in distress, always has good coloring. I'm feeling better about things on that front, which is a huge praise. We'll see him again for a check-up in three months. I'm nervous about the GI doctor on Wed. I'm not really sure what they can do for Jonah without going down in there, but hopefully they can give us some feedback on the acid reflux stuff. He's eaten more today, but it's still a lot of fighting to get him to do it. I guess just meeting with the doctor who would make the g-tube decision if it ever came to that scares me. I don't even want that to be in the realm of possibility for Jonah, and it just makes it too real.

Ok, I better run. It's almost 1:00 am, and I'm sure Jonah will wake up as soon as my head hits the pillow. He has a sixth sense about these things. Have I mentioned that he sleeps with his eyes half open? Freaks me out. I guess he knows I'm always coming at his face with a needle as soon as he sacks out. I can't really blame him. But unfortunately, he also uses it offensively as well, making sure to wake up as soon as I shut my eyes or sit down with a plate of food. I know, baby, revenge is sweet. Revenge. Is. Sweet.