Knox Jameson Jeffares

Congratulations Mim!
My older sister Amanda had a beautiful baby boy this morning. I have to applaud her, she did it sans drugs. God is so good, the baby is healthy and rosy. And thank goodness, it looks as though he avoided the requisite pointy newborn head.
Knox Jameson is named after John Knox, a Protestant reformer and founder of the Presbyterian church. Knox has an older brother, Ashton. What a sweet family. Amanda's pretty face looks like she stopped by the beauty parlor on the way to the recovery room. I guess it's just that new mama glow.
We (Caleb, Joshua and I) are driving down to Augusta on Wednesday after a stop in Nashville for a check-up with Caleb's surgeon to see the newest little boy.
Oh, here's something funny. I got the bill for the surgery in the mail the other day. Take the poll and guess how much 4 hours in the hospital cost. (Don't worry, it didn't cost us a dime. Thank you, Army socialized medicine and you, the American tax payer.)

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Save this sinking ship

All signs pointing toward my external hardrive say "Titanic." The thing is nearly full of several years of photos and scanned negatives. Of course I don't have them backed up anywhere else. And now my computer is saying that it is an Unknown Device. I've run through all the Windows help menus to deal with a malfunctioning USB device, but nothing. Their advice? "Replace the device." Microsoft, I want to like you- the Gates Foundation does such wonderful things- but you are so unhelpful and full of vulnerabilities. If my genius husband were nearer, he would fix this in no time, I'm sure. But he's not and my computer's hard drive is full, yet I keep taking pictures and need to store them somewhere... So, I'm wondering, does anybody have any advice about this? Has anyone else dealt with this? I did a Google search, and I turned up a bunch of $oftware that I can buy that promise to help, but surely there's a free killer app out there, right? Anyone? Help?

Here are a few recent examples of the preciousness that needs a home. (I didn't dye my hair, that's my pretty friend Emily holding Joshua.)

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My little Politico. Sorry Dad. Sorry Katie.

I was listening to the radio as I made dinner the other night, and Caleb was in the kitchen with me "making coffee" with my old coffee maker. There was (yet another) story about the tight race between Clinton and Obama, and Caleb stopped what he was doing, walked over to me and said clear as day, "Barack Obama." Since then, he's been saying "Vote for Barack Obama" as he walks through the house, eats dinner, plays, etc. They say he has the youth vote, you know.

PS- I am intentional about not watching TV when the kids are awake, but I didn't realize he was actually listening to NPR. Sorry Dad, guess you'll have to give him some doses of Rush when we visit, just to be fair and balanced.

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Go ahead, try not to laugh

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Food? What food? I thought this was about a spoon

Joshua started rice cereal on his 6 month birthday a week ago. Although I'm not sure he even ingested any. He was really excited to put the spoon in his mouth but most of the cereal ended up on his bib. I'd like to say it's gotten better since then, but no. He didn't react to the new taste/texture at all. I'm not sure he noticed that there was anything on the spoon.
Please excuse the blurry photos, I had the thing on self-timer. Caleb can't hold up my heavy camera and hit the shutter button yet. We're working on it.

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Caleb's not the only cutie in the family

Joshua's pretty cute, too.
Here he is all bundled up and ready to go. Ready to go sit in the stroller at the playground and watch his big brother play, that is. He'll have his day soon, too.

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First Frothy

Kevin bought me (us) a fancy schmancy espresso machine for Christmas. It's way overkill, but totally fun. I am getting a little jittery because I don't have any decaf beans left, and I can't help but make at least 3 cappuccinos a day. It's just so easy, I literally touch one button and voila, real cappuccino that takes me back to that coffee bar in Cortona. Even if the machine is off, there is this alluring light that beckons me to make another. It's getting out of hand. Caleb has been enjoying the machine, too. We made his first "frothy" the other night. I steamed some milk in a cute little elephant mug. He could barely contain himself when he looked in his very own mug, then at my cappuccino then back at his milk, then back at mine, pointing with an "I can't believe it! We're drinking the same thing! This is so cool!" expression on his face. He called it his coffee, then we called it coffee milk, and settled on frothy. We had fun reading books and sipping our warm drinks.
A friend at Bible study last week told me about a fun thing to do that we have adopted into our morning ritual. After breakfast, we get out some books, make a frothy and a cappuccino, and sit and read. It's a wonderful way to sneak in my quiet time, and I actually get to read a whole chapter in one sitting. Wow. So much fun, and Caleb gets to see me enjoying my time with God, and hear me pray. Why didn't I think of this before?
PS- There's your "after" picture, Marie and Kevin. I didn't actually take one after the haircut since it took two sittings to complete.

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Hair cut

Kevin didn't want me to get Caleb's hair cut until he gets back. Kevin has given the boy the few cuts he's received and wanted to be the only one to do it, I guess. I obliged until Kevin's mom stayed with us last week and couldn't take it. She had to stop the torture. Caleb was rubbing his eyes because his long, rockstar bangs kept falling foppishly forward. She did a fine job and having Kevin's mom cut his hair is almost as good as Kevin doing it himself. (I hesitate to say that she did a better job, but she has a certain command of the scissors near Caleb's head that I hadn't seen before.) I thought these images were funny, though and wanted to share. Mr. Potato Head's permutations are a little disturbing, at times.

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Caleb's surgery

Caleb had a hydrocele that I noticed when he was six months old. It hadn't gone away before Kevin deployed, so we saw his pediatrician who referred us to a specialist at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. The surgeon we saw explained that a hydorcele is basically a hernia, but a hernia involves abdominal tissue, and a hydrocele is just fluid. The Mayo clinic says it pretty common: "About one in 10 male infants has a hydrocele at birth, but most hydroceles disappear without treatment within the first year of life." So because it didn't self-correct, Caleb had corrective (outpatient) surgery yesterday. We got there at 9 a.m. and he was discharged around 1 p.m. Caleb was a little apprehensive of the nurses and uniforms, but readily put on the new pajamas they gave him. He even tried to steal them and take them home with us when we left.

Kevin's mom and my parents came up for the surgery. Mom and Dad got him a Curious George that they let him take back with him. He had a pre-sedative that he happily drank and then had fun giving George medicine through a little dropper. Caleb became pretty groggy and started to swoon so much Dad had to hold him. He happily went to the nurses and they whisked him away to fully sedate him. I know why they don't let anyone go back, but I wish they would have let me come with him.

45 minutes later they called me back to meet the surgeon. He said all went well, Caleb did great, etc. Nondescript, but that the surgery went off perfectly. He had already performed 15 of that type this week, and said that it is the most common procedure he (a pediatric urologist) does. Good to know it's not some crazy disease, but it's weird that I'd never heard of it. I guess most people don't go around talking about their hernias.

Joshua hung out with his myriad grandparents in the waiting room and was very accommodating to the changes in his schedule. What a happy baby.

I was thankful to have my grandparents there, too. They were driving to Augusta and came through Nashville for the surgery and waited with us in the waiting room.

When the nurse called me back 30 minutes later as he was coming out of anesthesia, he was happy and content, asking "Where Mama go?" But by the time Mom and I got back there he was disoriented and very concerned with the huge sock on his arm covering the IV. He couldn't talk for the sobs and finally got out the words, "Take it off." After another few minutes of coaxing him to drink some juice first (per the pediatric anesthesiologist's request) the nurse removed the offending IV. We rocked and he ate a popsicle until Kevin's mom came back and read him his choo-choo book. 30 minutes later we left.

Caleb was pretty sore last night and we spent the evening reading 63 books on the couch. His "dressing" over the incisions (the stitches are internal) looks like a big piece of plastic, kind of what those commercials for the liquid band-aids show. It covers his whole diaper area and part of his leg, so it hurt to bend and move. He was on pain medication and slept a lot yesterday. Today he woke up like nothing had happened and ran, danced, jumped, and climbed like normal. It hurt when I changed his diaper, though he did ask for the potty several times. So recovery is easier than I'd expected, but I'm greatly relieved for Kevin's mom's help, and her company. I think she's Caleb's favorite playmate. I am weaning him off the pain meds and he cried a little bit tonight. I hope it's better tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers. God is good.

Jeremiah 17:14

"Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise."

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Is Kevin crazy, or am I?

Take the poll on the right.
After seeing the second post about pottying, Kevin called, sounding a little worried. He thinks it's weird that I post potty news. Okay, I know it's weird to share bodily functions with the world and come to think of it, in 10 years Joshua will probably kill me for posting that video. But seriously, I'm at home with two under two and pottying takes up a lot of our day. And it's a little unique. It's not like I'm writing about the daily trials of my three-year-old pooping in his pants. And I don't plan on writing about it all the time. It's just that the littlest one joined the party and I wanted to share.

I told my friend Robin about Kevin's dislike of my most recent post and the following photo was her idea. That's her with our friend Shaun. He put the bow on the potty for modesty's sake.


Joshua, I'm sorry. Kevin, if this photo really bothers you, I'll take it off. But I promise I'll lay off the potty talk for the foreseeable future. I just couldn't resist this jab.

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