The latest

long time no blog

I am back at work. Week two and it's Vacation Bible School time. Translation: Daddy's got the evening routine with the boy all to himself. I'm happy to report Daddy and Zane are doing just fine.

We had a great week at the beach with Frank's family. Zane LOVES being in groups of people. The bodes well as he's "theological offspring"* and all. (*"Theological Offspring" = "preacher's kid")

He was all smiles for folks on Sunday when he shared greeting duties with Mommy after church.

A Parents as Teachers educator has had her 1st visit with us and he is meeting all the developmental markers for his age group. (I was hoping they had some sort of "extra credit" line so his permanent record could begin looking exceptional, but alas no.) Missouri is the state that began this amazing program. Every school district in the state has at least one parent educator. Our city even kicks in extra $ for is so there are 40 educators and an excellent resource library and space in town.

Ok, some of you want new pictures. Here goes:

pleased that Daddy got his toes out of his pjs to play:

chewing on his fist;

on the beach with Daddy:
playing with one of his cousins:
listening to a friend sing low tones in his ear:
Have a great week.
The Rev.

Shots!

Zane had his 2 month shots today.

Sniff. three big needles, two strong nurses and me making Frank help hold him down.

Baby and parents are doing fine.

He's now 11lbs and 11oz, 22.5inches long. He's jumped ahead in the % from where he was at birth (5%, now 25-50%)

He went with us to Annual Conference over the weekend (yes, I know I'm on leave) because a friend Rev. Andy Bryan was to be ordained and asked me to be one of the people to lay hands on him--with his Grandfather the Bishop and his dad the preacher. Pretty special honor, so I had to do it. Andy is the 7th generation in his family to be a Methodist pastor so to stand there with him was a powerful experience.

Vinny also had to teach a workshop with his boss on Sunday afternoon, so the trip was a family affair.

As for Zane's experience of AC: LOVES to meet/charm people, HATES long car rides.

It is less than a month before I return to work. Folks at church have been amazing to allow me this time. I'm really proud of them too for not going into "idle" mode while I've been gone. Personally I'm not anxious for the time over the next weeks to fly by, as I love spending day in day out w/Z (and being the one person who knows what is going in and out of him). But I do miss preaching. AC reminded me of that. It's a calling, not a job. I'm glad that it is part of my life.

All Clear

Today was Zane's follow up with his surgeon.

All is well. Dr. P did such good work that he took out his digital camera and took picture's of Z's tummy so he could show other parents how quickly the scars heal and how minimal they look, just after 2 weeks!

We in turn asked to take Dr. P's picture with Zane:

You many not be able to see, but Dr. P he is wearing a South Park tie.
Seals the deal for Frank, this guy is the bomb!

And yes, Zane is holding his head up unassisted. Stronger every day!

After an incredible quick visit (in and out in 10 minutes--must be a record for "hospital time") we zipped over to the cancer box to deliver the following pictures taken on Tuesday when Frank had a blood test.

At the Cancer Box, Nurses Julie and Rhonda were very excited to see him again. These are the pictures we took them. He is turning into quite the flirt.




























He's had a busy week. Monday night the church threw a baby shower for us. He was, as always, a really good baby, sharing smiles and coos equally. Here he is the next day all sacked out on his grandpa's lap. It takes a lot of energy to be so cute!

















The Rev.

Like Father, Like Son

Ok, so the short story is: we didn't spend Mother's Day weekend in Louisville because Zane was sick. He's better now.

Now for the long story...

While Sarah and Zane were gone and leaving me to temporary bachelorhood, Zane started having problems with vomiting. Now, most of us would think: no big deal, babies spit up all the time. Well, it got so bad that last Wednesday night Sarah called after Zane became the vomit comet and cried inconsolably for several eternities and said that they were coming home. Nana* (Sarah's Mom) rode back with them and they got home around 1 AM Thursday.

Before returning home, Sarah contacted our pediatrician's office and spoke with the on-call doctor, who suggested Zane might have something called pyloric stenosis (actually, hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, but most folks in "casual" medical conversation leave off the hypertrophic part) and we needed to see our doctor the next day. Basically, if you have this condition your pylorus, which connects the stomach to the duodenum (the beginning of the small intestine) is enlarged and squeezes shut the connection. This keeps food from being passed downstream and as a result, the stomach sends it back where it came from.

My Dad and I agreed it probably wasn't a smart idea to plant that idea in a parent's head just based on a phone conversation, but it did give me something to Google while waiting for Zane and Sarah to get home.

Well, we went to the doctor on Thursday morning, who sent us to the hospital for an ultrasound that afternoon. The technician (who we knew from our adoptive parents' group) called in the radiologists, who diagnosed Zane with, you guessed it, pyloric stenosis. So we admitted Zane to the hospital and immediately entered "The Hospital Zone", where time moves in a manner unfathomable to the outside world. We met with the surgeon, who explained how the laparoscopic pyloromyotomy would work. Zane couldn't have anything to eat or drink until after the surgery (all he had in the 1 1/2 days before the surgery was a few ounces of pedialyte).

We stayed with Zane in the room Thursday night, and Friday afternoon was the surgery. It went well, and we even got souvenir pictures of Zane's insides. By Friday evening he was eating well, and Saturday morning it was clear from Zane's migration in the crib that he felt better and was ready to go home. The surgeon agreed and discharged us. We were a little concerned by the discharge instructions that encouraged Zane to "walk as much as possible". I mean, talk about high expectations for a 6 1/2 week old!

So Zane now has a few marks on his abdomen (closed with super glue) and has entered the unofficial "scar competition" that previously had only been between me and Sarah's mom. I think I should get to count Zane's scars in my total (the aggregation rules are very complex). Sarah insists that this will be Zane's ONLY entry in this insane competition.

Slogging through Babyland

Well, Zane is just over a month old and has already made his first airplane trip (although I am a bit put out that it was in a cigar tube airliner and not with his Daddy in the pilot's seat). The Rev. and Zane visited her parents for a couple of days, then flew down today to visit my folks for the next week, as well as Zane's cousins (6 of them now, to be 8 later this year). For the Rev. it is a preview of our family's beach week this coming summer, where we'll have four toddlers ages 1 to 1 1/2, a 2 1/2-year old, a 6-year old, Zane, and 10 adults (one of whom will be pregnant with twins). Her assessment is that we should all sleep well because it will be pandemonium during the day. Eventually we may have a fun condo and a time-out condo, but this year it will be sheer madness.

So, I'm batching it with the dog for the next week. I plan to get some sleep, but I can't help thinking I'm missing out on the fun. Still, sleep is good. Next up for us is a trip to Louisville over Mother's Day weekend. It's the weekend after the Derby, so hopefully the city should be somewhat back to normal.

Announcing Our New Arrival

The Rev. and I are proud to announce the arrival of:

Zane Alexander
Born at 1:01 AM, Wednesday, March 28, 2007
6 lb, 5 oz, 19 1/2 in.

We were blessed to be present at his birth and had the opportunity to visit with Zane and his birthmom several times during their stay in the hospital.

On Friday, we were able to take Zane home, and earlier today (Monday), the court granted us temporary custody in our adoption case until the adoption is finalized later this fall.

So we are now in the throes of sleep deprivation and learning to decipher the crying language of babies. More pictures are available here.

The Rev.'s parents visit tomorrow, and my folks will come into town next week some time. For now, we are very tired, but very happy.

A spring break to remember

Tuesday morning at 6:30, we took prospective birthmom to the hospital to induce labor (it was her OB's idea). 18 1/2 hours later, she was no longer a prospective birthmom, having given birth to a healthy baby boy at 1:01 AM. 6 pounds, 5 ounces, 19 1/2 inches long.

Why the OB chose Tuesday to induce labor, I don't know. After all, this week is spring break in our town for both the public schools and the colleges and universities. As a result, the following people are out of town this week:

• Birthmom's OB
• Our adoption attorney
• The director of our adoption agency

Anyway, birthmom is resting at the hospital (although not comfortably, as there is major construction going on around the post-partum section of the hospital). The hospital allows prospective adoptive parents to visit from 1-4 PM daily (normal people can visit whenever they want). We stayed at the hospital with birthmom all day Tuesday and left about 4 AM on Wednesday, got home and went to bed around 5 AM - the same time we had awoken the previous day.

Assuming all goes as planned, here's the schedule for the next few days:

• The baby should be released from the hospital on Friday morning. The hospital won't accept a durable power of attorney from the birthmom allowing the baby to be released to us, so he'll be released to birthmom, who will promptly turn him over to the social worker from the adoption agency, who will in turn deliver him to us in the parking lot.
• We'll stay at home until Sunday, when we travel to a nearby city to spend the night, then file an adoption petition on Monday morning.
• In court on Monday, there will be a hearing to terminate birthmom's parental rights, then a hearing to determine temporary custody of the baby and award such to the Rev. and me.

Nothing is certain until then, so for now there will be no pictures or other details. Stay tuned!