Because they're ours...

When Jude was born, several doctors talked about his unique characteristics like his chromosome abnormality was completely to blame for all those details. 


Not only would they would contribute his medical problems to his genetic disorder, but also physical characteristics like his curly red hair and short stature as well.  The disorder even gained credit for his happy disposition.  


Many of these opinions made Lane and I feel like Jude belonged to his genetic abnormality more than he belonged to us.  


Then we had Aubrey Lane.  She does not have the same chromosome abnormality that Jude does, yet she shares so many of her big brother's characteristics.  They even share a small birth defect.  When Jude was born, he had a little dimple in his lower back known as a sacral dimple.  Lane has one too, but the doctors still credited Jude's chromosome disorder to that birth defect.  Well four years later, a healthy baby girl was born with that same exact dimple.  Proving that Jude did not have his dimple from his genetic disorder, but because he was Lane's son.


This makes my heart so happy and I watch both Jude and Aubrey Lane in amazement as their personalities develop and I see so much of Lane and me in them.  And I love how they are even sharing so many personality traits.


Now don't get me wrong, God is completely responsible for creating both of those precious babies.  But God did give them our genes. 


So, because they're ours...


they both have their father's blue eyes


Jude has my course curly hair inherited from my own father


they both have a great love for music


Aubrey Lane has my pug little nose


they are both little shorties


Jude is a cranky morning person just like his mommy


they both rub their faces and snuggle blankets when they sleep


Aubrey Lane already sings like her daddy


Jude loves the outdoors like both of his parents


they both have tiny little feet


they are both well known for their happy and sweet personalities


I could not be prouder or more in love with those two little people that are so much like Lane and me.


 

AWANA be a Big Boy!

At our church, on Wednesday nights, all the children participate in AWANA.   It stands for "Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed" from 2 Timothy 2:15.  Well this is Jude's first year to participate, and he is having a blast as a Cubby!

Last night, Lane shadowed him and we participated in his class where I learned two things.

1.  Jude is very accepted and loved by his peers.  None of his funny quirks and yelling seem to bother or scare them at all.  They seem to genuinely accept Jude as part of their group.  It's very, very sweet.

2.  Not only is Jude accepted by his peers, but dare I say he may actually be somewhat of a leader among them?  Every time Jude was acknowledged or praised, the children would copycat what he was doing.  For example, during story time, Jude became very excited and started clapping.  The story teller acknowledged him and told him good job.  Immediately, about 7 other children sitting next to him start clapping with him.  It was kinda cute.  

Jude is also getting better at his walking; taking steps on his own and going where he wants to with the assistance of hand holding.  So he walks from class to class.

sorry... these pictures were taken on my phone

Okay... on to some updates.

So remember the whole sleep apnea scare?  Well that day while we were at the hospital, the doctor ordered an xray to see if Jude's adenoids had grown back.  A couple weeks later, we received a call that they had and we needed to see our ENT.  When we got to the ENT, he informed us that it wasn't Jude's adenoids that they saw in the xray; it was his tonsils.  Apparently the tonsils aren't getting smaller, only bigger.  But he didn't want to make the call for them to come out.

So Monday, we saw our pulmonary specialist again and he said that it's time for the tonsils to come out.  In fact, he wants them out ASAP.  And he said he didn't even want Jude to have any other procedures until the tonsils were taken out.

Tonsils being removed is a big surgery for Jude.  The doctor said that he'd be in the hospital for 2-4 days at least and he couldn't go to school for 2 weeks.  He also said Jude would need to sleep in our room for those two weeks.  They told us to be prepared that Jude's eating would regress in the beginning, but ultimately be better in the long run. 

So we are waiting for the nurse to call us with a surgery date.

On the flip side, we got some good news.  Despite the increase in severity of sleep apnea, Jude NO LONGER HAS TO WEAR OXYGEN AT NIGHT!!!  The doctor said that since Jude pulled it off constantly, that he'd be more worried with him wearing it than not wearing it.  

So I had to ask:

Does this mean no more O2 tanks in the truck and only going on road trip vacations because we need to bring the oxygen concentrator?  

The doctor told me to leave that junk at home and go have a good time!

I have to admit, it was a little scary at first, but the doctor is über conservative and careful, so I know that he would have never told me to do this if it was too risky.

Well, that's it for now.  I hope y'all are all enjoying this fabulous early spring (guess the groundhog was wrong- again).  

Angel

Catching up

As I'm writing this blog post, it does occur to me that I would not have to play "catch up" all the time on this blog if I would make a little bit better effort at keeping it up.  BUT... that's kinda hard to do when you've had a week like I did.  


We started the week with me and my redhead having fever and a runny nose.  I got better after a couple days, but it progressed into an upset stomach for Jude.  So I had one snotty, puking, miserable little boy to tend to last week.  It was a miserable week for everybody.  


Saturday rolled around and Jude got up and seemed to be better, but by noon, he was back to being miserable for the rest of the day.  So we counted church out and decided to let the family sleep in and rest Sunday morning.  Wouldn't you know, Jude got up in the best of moods.

So we took them for a wagon ride.  (I had been giving them wagon rides regularly during the week because I read somewhere that sunlight was good for bronchial congestion)

Aren't the soooo cute in their sunglasses?

Monday got here, and I decided that Jude was ready to go back to school.  Then I got a call from the school to come get him :-(  so we cancelled today's activities too.  Hopefully, he will be well enough to back to school tomorrow.

The good news is that Aubrey Lane stayed well through all of it.  

Hopefully, today will be a turning point for Jude and our family.  And you'll start to see fun stuff on the blog, not just health updates.

Hope everyone is enjoying this gorgeous day we are having,

Angel