Friday, August 25, 2006
The Color of Love
Last night when David and I were coming home from Chattanooga, God gave us a beautiful sunset to admire. We were talking about how beautiful it is. David said the world was more beautiful because of a new, beautiful person. And I said, yes, and because of an older one, too. Thank you, God, for sunsets. Thank you, God, for my beautiful granddaughter. Thank you, God, for letting us keep Lydia. We love you, Lord. Love to all of you, and I hope God blesses you as richly as He has blessed us the last two days!
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Miracle
Wanna know what kind of God we serve? The one who puts the right people in the right place at the right time to do His work here on earth. The one who makes things we don't want happen so that He can help us anyway. The one who listens to His people when they need help, even when they are too worried to pray themselves. I'll tell you more about circumstances, coincidences, so forth, tomorrow, but right now here is what He did for us yesterday, straight from an email I wrote to a friend. Please don't feel like you're second-rate because you aren't reading your own email. This mama has not slept more than two straight hours in the last 38 or 40, and she's about ready to conk out right now.
Thank you. I am home from Chattanooga!
Lydia is doing really well. God is soooooooooo good. We had a real miracle. When the doctor did the c-section yesterday, things went pretty well until he lifted the uterus to close the incision. Lydia had some major bleeding. There is a huge blood flow to that area of the body in all pregnant women. When those blood vessels started to bleed, there was almost no stopping them. Her obstetrician worked on her until he realized there was more than he could handle, and he called in his senior partner who also worked on her at the same time. She was in the delivery room for at least three and a half hours. At the end of that time, they had her pretty much stabilized, minus one ovary and one Fallopian tube--but thank God, that was all they had to take. She had two units of whole blood and a unit of plasma (I believe that was what I counted) yesterday. That seemed to be enough. They took her back to the same room she had been in before the surgery, one step down from the recovery room but not as good as regular mother/baby room. She pretty much had the ward to herself that night--she had her own private nurse until around 2 or so, when a woman came in, in labor. She was in another room, so everything was okay there. A second nurse covered Lydia while her nurse was in with the other patient, and she was very nice and helpful. Lydia had great nurses.
She was not in a lot of pain. Fortunately, she has a very high pain threshold, so she was able to manage things pretty well until about 12:00, when she finally decided that she wanted the morphine pump they had on orders for her. She got that around 1 or so, and from then on, she slept well, except when the nurses would come in, and seemed rested this morning. They started letting her have clear liquids around 4 or so, when they were pretty sure they wouldn't have to take her back in to the OR.
Cora Sophia, our new granddaughter, is a trooper. She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz, and is too beautiful to believe. We are fairly sure she will have curly hair. Right now it is a really light brown, which was the way Ann's was when she was first born. David was standing outside the nursery yesterday watching the nurses take care of Cora. There was a family group a few babies down from her, admiring their new baby. David heard the man say, "I'm going over there to look at the pretty baby for a while" and headed straight for Cora.
Cora slept in the nursery last night, but is rooming in with Mommy and Daddy now. She is feeding well, sleeping well, pretty easy to comfort when she cries. Geron and I found out pretty quickly that she likes to be "danced" with. You just hold her in the crook of your arm and do a two-step with her. She settles right down. She just takes everything in. You can see her for yourself here: http://thebrownbabyblog.blogspot.com/
Back to Lydia--Geron gave us an update on her just as we got to the Horse Park exit here in Georgetown. She is in that regular mother/baby room now, has been up to the potty already, has walked from her room to the nursery and back, even got into a chair by herself. If you have had abdominal surgery, you can appreciate all those things. If you haven't, find someone who has. Her "friend", morphine pump, was discontinued before she left the labor/delivery area, also her "friends", her compression boots. Cora is in the room with them and is feeding well, still--she had been at it for 15 minutes when Geron called. I hope she is finished by now. Our only concerns now? A slight fever on Lydia's part, which they are already treating, and a row of blisters across Lydia's lower back. The nursing staff seems to think the blisters are from the waterproof pad she was lying on--now that is gone, so the blisters should clear up soon. She may go home as early as Sunday.
Thank you, Jesus, and thank you friends for your prayers. Love to all, and God bless.
Thank you. I am home from Chattanooga!
Lydia is doing really well. God is soooooooooo good. We had a real miracle. When the doctor did the c-section yesterday, things went pretty well until he lifted the uterus to close the incision. Lydia had some major bleeding. There is a huge blood flow to that area of the body in all pregnant women. When those blood vessels started to bleed, there was almost no stopping them. Her obstetrician worked on her until he realized there was more than he could handle, and he called in his senior partner who also worked on her at the same time. She was in the delivery room for at least three and a half hours. At the end of that time, they had her pretty much stabilized, minus one ovary and one Fallopian tube--but thank God, that was all they had to take. She had two units of whole blood and a unit of plasma (I believe that was what I counted) yesterday. That seemed to be enough. They took her back to the same room she had been in before the surgery, one step down from the recovery room but not as good as regular mother/baby room. She pretty much had the ward to herself that night--she had her own private nurse until around 2 or so, when a woman came in, in labor. She was in another room, so everything was okay there. A second nurse covered Lydia while her nurse was in with the other patient, and she was very nice and helpful. Lydia had great nurses.
She was not in a lot of pain. Fortunately, she has a very high pain threshold, so she was able to manage things pretty well until about 12:00, when she finally decided that she wanted the morphine pump they had on orders for her. She got that around 1 or so, and from then on, she slept well, except when the nurses would come in, and seemed rested this morning. They started letting her have clear liquids around 4 or so, when they were pretty sure they wouldn't have to take her back in to the OR.
Cora Sophia, our new granddaughter, is a trooper. She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz, and is too beautiful to believe. We are fairly sure she will have curly hair. Right now it is a really light brown, which was the way Ann's was when she was first born. David was standing outside the nursery yesterday watching the nurses take care of Cora. There was a family group a few babies down from her, admiring their new baby. David heard the man say, "I'm going over there to look at the pretty baby for a while" and headed straight for Cora.
Cora slept in the nursery last night, but is rooming in with Mommy and Daddy now. She is feeding well, sleeping well, pretty easy to comfort when she cries. Geron and I found out pretty quickly that she likes to be "danced" with. You just hold her in the crook of your arm and do a two-step with her. She settles right down. She just takes everything in. You can see her for yourself here: http://thebrownbabyblog.blogspot.com/
Back to Lydia--Geron gave us an update on her just as we got to the Horse Park exit here in Georgetown. She is in that regular mother/baby room now, has been up to the potty already, has walked from her room to the nursery and back, even got into a chair by herself. If you have had abdominal surgery, you can appreciate all those things. If you haven't, find someone who has. Her "friend", morphine pump, was discontinued before she left the labor/delivery area, also her "friends", her compression boots. Cora is in the room with them and is feeding well, still--she had been at it for 15 minutes when Geron called. I hope she is finished by now. Our only concerns now? A slight fever on Lydia's part, which they are already treating, and a row of blisters across Lydia's lower back. The nursing staff seems to think the blisters are from the waterproof pad she was lying on--now that is gone, so the blisters should clear up soon. She may go home as early as Sunday.
Thank you, Jesus, and thank you friends for your prayers. Love to all, and God bless.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
She's Making Me Mad!
I have a good friend, Gpjm Slop, who put on Lydia's blog that she thought the baby would be born on August 23, 2006, somewhere in the 8:00 ballpark. When Gpjm found out the Cesarian was scheduled for 12:00, she tried to change her bet to 12:15, but Lydia won't let her change! And darn it, she would win a free diaper change and a 3:00 feeding! Do you think it is fair of Lydia to treat poor Gpjm Slop like that?
Now I have to go to Wal-Mart to look for a magic mirror for my friend Ree Ree, among other things. And my good friend jjsmommy is sitting there reading this and wondering if this woman is EVER going to get her suitcase packed! Maybe will, maybe won't--we'll just have to see. My ADD is in overdrive, but I have ALMOST finished three loads of laundry.
Love to all, and God bless.
Now I have to go to Wal-Mart to look for a magic mirror for my friend Ree Ree, among other things. And my good friend jjsmommy is sitting there reading this and wondering if this woman is EVER going to get her suitcase packed! Maybe will, maybe won't--we'll just have to see. My ADD is in overdrive, but I have ALMOST finished three loads of laundry.
Love to all, and God bless.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Didja Ever Wonder?
Didja ever sit down to blog and then wonder what to write about? Doya have to have some exciting bit of news or pressing issue to orate on, in order to produce something worth reading?
Yesterday I saw a picture that I just loved. It was in the Life magazine section of our local newspaper, page 10. There are a group of four women standing around outside a little white frame house, working on a quilt. They are all elderly. Three of the four are wearing dresses, three of the four are wearing hats (not the same three), and one of the four is wearing a pair of slacks, athletic shoes, and a very fancy hat. Her name is Annie May. I LOVED that picture. Now I know what my mama is doing. I think I am going to buy a frame for it.
Then I saw a cartoon this morning on the Back Pew website. It is a cartoon of an elderly woman participating in the X games, walker category. Too funny. I have printed it out to put in my Bible by the corresponding verse. My Bible is acquiring quite a collection of Back Pew and Reverend Fun cartoons alongside their scriptures. I told the guy who writes Back Pew that he needs to think about doing an illustrated Bible, and he wrote back that he was considering that very thing.
And, ta dah--I got published! I was reading a Flylady testimonial yesterday and thought, gee, that lady sounds like me! Then I read a little bit farther and realized, that lady IS me! I had responded to a testimonial about a week ago, and lo and behold, Flylady printed my response! It sounded pretty good--looked pretty good, too. If you get Flylady, try to figure out which one is mine. If you don't, that's okay. It was really short and not too awfully inspirational.
Love to all, and God bless.
Yesterday I saw a picture that I just loved. It was in the Life magazine section of our local newspaper, page 10. There are a group of four women standing around outside a little white frame house, working on a quilt. They are all elderly. Three of the four are wearing dresses, three of the four are wearing hats (not the same three), and one of the four is wearing a pair of slacks, athletic shoes, and a very fancy hat. Her name is Annie May. I LOVED that picture. Now I know what my mama is doing. I think I am going to buy a frame for it.
Then I saw a cartoon this morning on the Back Pew website. It is a cartoon of an elderly woman participating in the X games, walker category. Too funny. I have printed it out to put in my Bible by the corresponding verse. My Bible is acquiring quite a collection of Back Pew and Reverend Fun cartoons alongside their scriptures. I told the guy who writes Back Pew that he needs to think about doing an illustrated Bible, and he wrote back that he was considering that very thing.
And, ta dah--I got published! I was reading a Flylady testimonial yesterday and thought, gee, that lady sounds like me! Then I read a little bit farther and realized, that lady IS me! I had responded to a testimonial about a week ago, and lo and behold, Flylady printed my response! It sounded pretty good--looked pretty good, too. If you get Flylady, try to figure out which one is mine. If you don't, that's okay. It was really short and not too awfully inspirational.
Love to all, and God bless.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Two posts in one day? Am I crazy or what?
My friend Jenn cautioned me in a comment on the last post to not try to put both legs of my pants on at the same time. She said it never worked. Becca said that yes, it would work, if you were sitting down at the time.
Back to putting on pants in unusual ways: When I was but a child in days of childhood, my folks used to try to get my brother and I to go to bed with some silly little games. One of them was to see who could put on their pajamas in the funniest way. Darn it, Mike always won that one--he could put his pajama pants on his head, but I couldn't!
Another thing they would do back before tv--we would play out in the backyard, my mom, dad, Mike, and me. We would play charades, of all things. And Mike was only 3, so the charades had to be pretty easy. Another thing they did--Mom would give each of the four of us a plate. One plate would have soot on the bottom, but it was dark, so we couldn't see that. Then either she or Daddy would rub their finger on the bottom of the plate, and then draw on their face. We were supposed to copy what they did. That was usually worthh a laugh or two, when they turned on the lights or we went inside.
I have some great playing memories. There were some wonderful games we would play at school, like "Queen of the Merry-go-round". We would also climb up in the crab apple trees on the edge of the playground. We could usually get away with that for at least ten minutes. For one thing, the teachers didn't see us until about five minutes after we got up in the trees, and then they would send someone down to tell us to get out of the trees. The person would probably take at least five minutes to get to us. We could ignore the first warning, and sometimes the person who warned us would climb up in the trees, too. No, we were not good kids. And no, no one fell out of the trees.
I guess that's it for now. I just felt like sharing the pajama game. Love you, and God bless.
Back to putting on pants in unusual ways: When I was but a child in days of childhood, my folks used to try to get my brother and I to go to bed with some silly little games. One of them was to see who could put on their pajamas in the funniest way. Darn it, Mike always won that one--he could put his pajama pants on his head, but I couldn't!
Another thing they would do back before tv--we would play out in the backyard, my mom, dad, Mike, and me. We would play charades, of all things. And Mike was only 3, so the charades had to be pretty easy. Another thing they did--Mom would give each of the four of us a plate. One plate would have soot on the bottom, but it was dark, so we couldn't see that. Then either she or Daddy would rub their finger on the bottom of the plate, and then draw on their face. We were supposed to copy what they did. That was usually worthh a laugh or two, when they turned on the lights or we went inside.
I have some great playing memories. There were some wonderful games we would play at school, like "Queen of the Merry-go-round". We would also climb up in the crab apple trees on the edge of the playground. We could usually get away with that for at least ten minutes. For one thing, the teachers didn't see us until about five minutes after we got up in the trees, and then they would send someone down to tell us to get out of the trees. The person would probably take at least five minutes to get to us. We could ignore the first warning, and sometimes the person who warned us would climb up in the trees, too. No, we were not good kids. And no, no one fell out of the trees.
I guess that's it for now. I just felt like sharing the pajama game. Love you, and God bless.
Whoops! I did it again!
Folks, thank you so much for the kind words of encouragement. I think I am going to be able to handle Granny-ing, well, maybe. And Grandpa has actually had his horn out this weekend--something he hasn't done for over a month or more! That's hard to believe, isn't it, considering he used to take it on vacation with him! At least one of you remembers the summer we took a tuba and a euphonium to the beach house in South Carolina.
The title refers to the clumsiness of me. Here's something stupid not to do: Don't try to put on your pajama pants without taking your Birks off first. Yes, the pants will fit easily over the shoes, but--and it's a big but--they will probably get hung up in there. Last night I was putting on my pajamas in my "computer room", across the hall from the bedroom, to avoid waking David up, and I thought I'd just be cool, pull those pants up without sitting down or anything. Ha ha. Right foot got stuck, clumsy arse tripped over the chair, fell down on same chair, which had turned over, and got a carpet burn on recently healed left knee about the size of a nickel--lost all the skin on that patch, burns like heck still this morning. Right leg has a bruise about halfway up the thigh where it hit the chair leg. BUT I can still walk, no real pain.
Oh: I have a good friend who recently broke her foot. I asked her how she did it, and she started giggling. She was getting ready for a social event and having some trouble getting her shoes on. One went on easily, but the other didn't want to go. She tried stomping on that one, trying to get her foot to go in--seems she was in a hurry. Then she said, very calmly, "Don't ever do that." Five minutes later, she couldn't put that foot to the floor. It was broken. So there are two things to remember when getting dressed: (1) Don't stomp on your shoe, trying to get your foot into it, and (2) Take your shoes off before you try to put your pajamas on.
I hope all of you are doing well and not conducting yourselves in a similar manner. Love you, and God bless.
The title refers to the clumsiness of me. Here's something stupid not to do: Don't try to put on your pajama pants without taking your Birks off first. Yes, the pants will fit easily over the shoes, but--and it's a big but--they will probably get hung up in there. Last night I was putting on my pajamas in my "computer room", across the hall from the bedroom, to avoid waking David up, and I thought I'd just be cool, pull those pants up without sitting down or anything. Ha ha. Right foot got stuck, clumsy arse tripped over the chair, fell down on same chair, which had turned over, and got a carpet burn on recently healed left knee about the size of a nickel--lost all the skin on that patch, burns like heck still this morning. Right leg has a bruise about halfway up the thigh where it hit the chair leg. BUT I can still walk, no real pain.
Oh: I have a good friend who recently broke her foot. I asked her how she did it, and she started giggling. She was getting ready for a social event and having some trouble getting her shoes on. One went on easily, but the other didn't want to go. She tried stomping on that one, trying to get her foot to go in--seems she was in a hurry. Then she said, very calmly, "Don't ever do that." Five minutes later, she couldn't put that foot to the floor. It was broken. So there are two things to remember when getting dressed: (1) Don't stomp on your shoe, trying to get your foot into it, and (2) Take your shoes off before you try to put your pajamas on.
I hope all of you are doing well and not conducting yourselves in a similar manner. Love you, and God bless.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
I'm Not READY!!!
I just got word from my daughter that my grandbaby is coming a week early, around August 23 or 24! I am really excited, but I'm not ready to be a grandmother! I have no idea what to do to get to that stage. Am I supposed to babyproof my house? Do I need a crib, high chair, baby bath, stroller, carseat? This baby will be living in Chattanooga, and I will probably only see her once every two months, and then only if I go down there, so do I still need those things?
I've had eight and a half months (well, almost that long) to get ready for this baby, and I'm not there. Maybe it's because so many other things have been going on in my life, maybe it's because I just don't know what I need to do. I have been shopping almost since the day I found out she was on the way, but she won't need much of what I've bought. Her closet already looks like the baby department at Kohl's. She has plenty of folks to spoil her down in her own neighborhood.
What do I do to bond with this baby who will be living so far away? This is one of those times when I wish my mom were here. I could ask her about the bonding--how to be a grandmother. She did such a super job with my kids. They expect me to be the same sort of person. I have news for them. I never have been before now, and the actual arrival of this baby will NOT turn me into Granny. There was only one, and they were lucky to have had her.
I don't even know how to be a mother to my daughter who is about to become a mother. What do I need to do for her? Keep her house clean, cook for her, wash her clothes, sure, but what emotional support do I need to provide? How do I reassure her that she is going to be a fantastic mommy? What sort of gifts do I need to give her? Folks, any and all thoughts on this matter will be appreciated. Love to you all, and God bless.
I've had eight and a half months (well, almost that long) to get ready for this baby, and I'm not there. Maybe it's because so many other things have been going on in my life, maybe it's because I just don't know what I need to do. I have been shopping almost since the day I found out she was on the way, but she won't need much of what I've bought. Her closet already looks like the baby department at Kohl's. She has plenty of folks to spoil her down in her own neighborhood.
What do I do to bond with this baby who will be living so far away? This is one of those times when I wish my mom were here. I could ask her about the bonding--how to be a grandmother. She did such a super job with my kids. They expect me to be the same sort of person. I have news for them. I never have been before now, and the actual arrival of this baby will NOT turn me into Granny. There was only one, and they were lucky to have had her.
I don't even know how to be a mother to my daughter who is about to become a mother. What do I need to do for her? Keep her house clean, cook for her, wash her clothes, sure, but what emotional support do I need to provide? How do I reassure her that she is going to be a fantastic mommy? What sort of gifts do I need to give her? Folks, any and all thoughts on this matter will be appreciated. Love to you all, and God bless.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Back to School (NOT!)
Annie suggested I share this bit from an email I wrote her this morning--good idea, Annie. Background information: School started today for some of my best friends. Please pray for Joyce, Sue, Vicki, and Marlyn. They're there, I'm not.
I am not much missing school's politics and messes, but I am missing
starting a new year. I keep thinking of things that I would do to decorate
my room or first-day activities I would do with my kids. I believe my theme
this year would have been something to do with pirates. I thought it would
be fun to piggyback off a kid-appropriate summer movie that had been hyped
all the summer--that seemed to make it more fun for the kids, too. And there
seem to be a lot of pirate things available at the stores. I probably would go more for the "treasure" aspect, though, since that's what the kids want, anyway. I might put together some sort of "treasure chest" for each child, made out of a brown lunch bag, or maybe even work out a "treasure map" where they could find their treasures in the classroom. Darn, I miss the creative end of that job!
A bunch of us got together last night for a "last hurrah" before school started. Just for the heck of it, I made little back-to-school gift bags for the
teachers that were going back, with different things that had significance,
like rubber bands to remind them to be flexible (I told one friend I put a bunch in
there, because I figured she would be snapping hers pretty quickly). I have
the list on a word document. I really liked this list, because it had
scriptures with it, one for each item. I added some stuff of my own, though,
and didn't get a scripture for any of those items. I added buddy bars (to
remind them to get a buddy and enjoy school together), reward stickers (for
the teachers, not the kids, to remind them that they deserved a reward for
what they did to educate kids), and Pop Rocks (to remind them that teachers
rock the world). They seemed to be delighted.
If any of you would like to make a gift bag for your child's teacher, just let me know and I'll send you the list. The items are not expensive and the bag won't take up much of your child's backpack space. Love to all, and God bless.
I am not much missing school's politics and messes, but I am missing
starting a new year. I keep thinking of things that I would do to decorate
my room or first-day activities I would do with my kids. I believe my theme
this year would have been something to do with pirates. I thought it would
be fun to piggyback off a kid-appropriate summer movie that had been hyped
all the summer--that seemed to make it more fun for the kids, too. And there
seem to be a lot of pirate things available at the stores. I probably would go more for the "treasure" aspect, though, since that's what the kids want, anyway. I might put together some sort of "treasure chest" for each child, made out of a brown lunch bag, or maybe even work out a "treasure map" where they could find their treasures in the classroom. Darn, I miss the creative end of that job!
A bunch of us got together last night for a "last hurrah" before school started. Just for the heck of it, I made little back-to-school gift bags for the
teachers that were going back, with different things that had significance,
like rubber bands to remind them to be flexible (I told one friend I put a bunch in
there, because I figured she would be snapping hers pretty quickly). I have
the list on a word document. I really liked this list, because it had
scriptures with it, one for each item. I added some stuff of my own, though,
and didn't get a scripture for any of those items. I added buddy bars (to
remind them to get a buddy and enjoy school together), reward stickers (for
the teachers, not the kids, to remind them that they deserved a reward for
what they did to educate kids), and Pop Rocks (to remind them that teachers
rock the world). They seemed to be delighted.
If any of you would like to make a gift bag for your child's teacher, just let me know and I'll send you the list. The items are not expensive and the bag won't take up much of your child's backpack space. Love to all, and God bless.
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