Dialogue with Samuel

I just have to share a conversation Samuel and I had a couple of days ago.

Samuel: "Mama? Does Jude still drink your boobs?" (meaning nurse).

Me: "No."

Samuel: "Well, who are your boobs for now, then?"

Long pause....

Me: "Um.....(big hesitation), Papa, I guess."

And that was my big mistake for that day. He had to double check with Colin on that one, which Colin denied instantly. Boys are funny.

And then the other day Samuel also asked if we're saving my boobs for the baby sister he's going to have. I informed him that we may never have a baby sister. I think he's still mulling that one over.

Experimenting With Photoshop

Ok - I've been playing in Photoshop a bit. Here's what I did to these pictures (and I'm not kidding):

Duplicate layer
Reduce saturation
Duplicate layer
Convert to black and white
Increase contrast a whole bunch
Duplicate layer
Convert to sepia
Reduce opacity to 40%
Increase contrast again to 30
Duplicate layer
Add Gaussian blur
Change opacity to 60% w/181 pixels.

There has got to be an easier way!! Oh, it's called Photoshop CS3.

Fun Park Day With the Boys

Here are some pictures of the boys I took while in the park early one morning during all of those hot days. Jude inspecting something.
What a cute profile of Samuel! I think he was saying "Jude!" while trying to get his brother to smile.

Wow - close up of Jude!
This is a token 'Jude being fussy' picture.
Doesn't he look almost regal in this picture? Too bad for that belly shirt.
I love seeing the boys play together...

A Lil' Something for the Foodies...

So, I had to share what two great deals Costco has right now. One - this Cuisinart hand mixer for $14.99. I've had my Cuisinart mixer for over 10 years now and it's been wonderful. However, I accidently burned the cord and Colin put electrical tape around it for a temporary fix. I figure I use my mixer enough to splurge on a new one.

And this little treasure has wonderful pictures and cookie recipes in it for under $15 - and since we saved lots of money on our natural gas and electric bills last month, why not blow it on these culinary treats?!

And here is the apron I am finishing tonight - this will go to a good home and has been made with lots of love. So, if you ever get a handmade gift from me, know that I'm not being cheap, I'm showing my love!! Also note that I'm about three months behind on birthdays and at the rate I'm going on gifts, no one else will get another birthday gift in '08.

Catching Up...

Well, Jude's genetic testing came back today and it was negative for cystic fibrosis, which is a huge answer to prayer! It turns out he has a bacteria in his throat which causes ear infections and respiratory issues but should clear with antibiotics.



Jude has discovered hummus and is abosolutely in love with it. I will post the recipe (provided by my mom-in-law) because it's hard to come by a good hummus recipe:

1 can garbanzo beans
1 can northern beans
1 clove garlic
3 T lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 teaspoon
(you could also add paprika, salt and pepper to taste)



Hummus. All over.
And after Jude gets completly dirty, he likes to touch other people.

This is a funny picture from last night - the boys were ready for bed, save for thier book reading time. I made a phone call and told Samuel to play with his books for a few minutes until I was ready to read them. This is what I came back to about 10 minutes later - every book they owned was piled up and Jude was swimming around in them. We had lots of fun cleaning them up. Notice the "we" - somehow I got roped into putting them away in thier rightful home.

Chloe Bella

I had a chance to visit my friend Erin today and her new baby Chloe. She is just the sweetest thing ever! Here are some pictures from today: Chloe sleeping.
Here she is getting burped.
More sleeping.
And here's Clarke, Erin's lab, overlooking the kids ransacking all his toys. He sure was a trooper with all the chaos we brought to his peaceful home.
Here's Jude testing out Clarke's spray.

Our Foliage Makes Me So Happy!

Yay! I have a garden this year. Ok, so most of the plants came back from last year of thier own accord. I spend about 1/2 hour each evening in this hot weather watering, hoping that I will be able to eat peppers, tomatoes, spinach and peas from my own garden. The lavender is coming in nicely as well. So, of course I had to take record pictures. I don't even know the name of these flowers, but they are very pretty!
These ones are bright pink, but I love high contrast b&w photos, so I changed it up a bit.

Here's my spinach. Yumm!

I'm running on pure exhaustion lately. Jude went to bed at 10:15 a couple of nights ago (considering my day starts around 6 with the boys, that's a long time to be "on" as a mom) and Samuel has taken to waking up at 2 every morning just for good measure. And just to add pressure to myself, I am making a retro apron for my friend Roseann for a birthday present (I'll post pics when I'm done) and it needs to be done by Friday. Did I mention how long it took me just to cut out all the pieces to the pattern? And I am completly pattern illiterate, so I was literally looking up sewing terms in Webster's Dictionary. Anyway, sewing is actually very therapeutic for me, so I am comitting a little time each day to it.

We went out to Applebees last night with Jeff and Jan (Samuel hadn't seen them in so long and really missed them!). It was so nice to go out as a family for dinner - while I love sitting around our dinner table every night, it was nice to sit with others and be served the food. And to top it off? I found out yesterday that Sarah is coming back from Japan. I couldn't be happier and Samuel could not stop talking about her yesterday.

I'll sign off for now as it is 6:15 and someone is bound to wake up soon...

Because I'm too tired to blog tonight...

I'm leaving you with a sweet little collage of my boys. I could just eat them up!

Doctor Appointments and Bathroom Remodel

Wow - another whirlwind of craziness!! We found out Monday that Jude's sweat test came back borderline - not normal, but not quite to the cystic fibrosis level either. After a few hasty (and very curt, might I add) phone calls to both Kaiser and OHSU, he was seen yesterday for genetic testing and a throat swab. It took three of us to hold down Jude while he had blood drawn - it made me so sad. The good news is, he has gained about 1.5 lbs in the last three weeks or so and lengthened a bit too. The bad news? We may not be getting test results for another couple weeks. It's amazing how I suddenly view my kids very differently now - I can't hold them enough or study them enough while they do everyday things like play with toys or hug each other. I've been getting teary a lot lately. Even if this test turns out negative, I realize that life is very fragile and I need to cherish them, right here, right now. Okay, on to a much different topic.

In case this while Jude thing is allergies, we decided we need to bump up the terrible moldy bathroom project. So, Colin is tearing it out and we are trying to decide designs for it. Here are the pictures from yesterday:

Here is Colin ripping out the toilet - yuk. I 'm so glad I don't have to do this. I would take poopy diapers any day over a bathroom remodel.
Here is the other half of the bathroom. We considered for about 1/2 second keeping these walls, staining them, etc. But because of how old this house is and how many nasty things have been crawling around back there from years past, we decided to start fresh with new walls. I picture for the new bathroom double sinks, mission style cabinet, white subway tiles and a claw foot tub (although we aren't sure there is space for a big tub).
And here is Jude asking politely this morning to go to bed - he's grabbing my pant leg and pleading with his eyes.

Update on Jude

Please keep praying for Jude - he just recieved an "inconclusive" result for his cystic fibrosis test. Kaiser recommends to keep watching him, however, I will not take that for an answer. Please be praying that we can get a negative result when he gets tested again.

Mother's Day Treats

Happy belated Mother's Day to all you moms!! We celebrated Mother's Day on Saturday because Colin was working yesterday. What a wonderful day that was - he let me pick out a place to eat for lunch and my choice was Panera Bread in Clackamas. I would highly reccomend that place for lunch - great sandwhiches! Then I ventured a few doors down to Starbucks for a chai tea and scone (so much for watching what I ate that day). The boys then suprised me with money for Fabric Depot and a book I have been wanting, Wild Swans. All such wonderful treats!! And an added bonus? My friend Erin went into labor and I can't wait to meet her sweet little baby. She doesn't know what she's having, so I'm excited to find out.

So this morning I am trying to make my friend a trendy retro apron for her birthday and here are the boys laying on my sewing mat, talking on thier respective phones:

Here is the beautiful fabric I purchased at Fabric Depot. The left one will be for an apron for myself, the middle for a shirt and the last one is for a light summer blanket for Jude. I also bought some patterns - including a Project Runway way that looks uber confusing.
I also bought these wonderful scissors - they are like butter when I'm cutting. There's really nothing like a good pair of Gingher scissors.
As a sidenote, these are Samuel's new favorite toys (very messy) - they are people that you can squeeze play dough through thier head and it makes hair. It doesn't look like much, but he loves it.

I've been talked into getting my makeup done by a Mary Kay consultant today - she claims I will be part of her Spring Bridal portfolio. I openly stated that I don't have money for fine makeup and if I did, I would buy MAC. Honestly is the best policy, right? She still wanted to schedule with me, so we'll see how it goes.

Jude Update and Other Ramblings

Well, it looks like Jude does not have cystic fibrosis. He had his sweat test up at Doernbecker yesterday morning - what a trooper! They attached these probes and machines to him for 5 minutes to stimulate something in his little arms, then they tightly taped more probes for 30 minutes to collect his sweat. I must say that the people in that hospital are so kid focused, it's amazing. And even though we were scared of the results, the actual experience up there was really great. I must say I'm glad we didn't go anywhere but the Specialty Clinic, because if I saw a little cancer patient, I may have broken down then and there. Since we did not hear anything from Doernbecker yesterday, it's safe to assume he doesn't have it since they would have called same day with critical news. So, we will be on to other diagnoses - perhaps asthma and/or allergies (Colin had both as a child). Whatever he has, I will be seeking first a natural remedy - I am a bit fed up with the Kaiser medical community at this point. Thanks for covering us in prayer - I did rest in the fact that no matter what the outcome of that test, Jude was the Lord's before he was ever mine. It's amazing that someone could love my baby more than I do....

In other news, I babysat again up in NW Portland for the Flamm kiddos. What a blast! I brought Samuel and just sat back while they chased each other around. So, I'm taking my $60 and putting in my new envelope entitled "Camera Lens". Ugh - it's going to be about $1,700 for the one I want. I may have enough money in, oh, three years or so. Hey, maybe by that time, the price will have dropped!! LOL. That's one drawback about Nikons - the lenses are quite a bit more expensive than the Canons. If I sold a kidney and a few pints of blood, how much do you think I could make? Hmm.

Colin's mom heads back to San Jose today. It's so nice having someone around to help with the kiddos or make meals. We are all going to miss her for sure.

Coconut Time With Grandma B

Here are some pictures of the boys outside (yes, Jude is in his high chair because the ground was wet) helping Grandma B milk a coconut.
I think Jude was excitedly yelling at Samuel.
Maybe we'll let Grandma B do most of the work.
And Samuel gave it a try.
Here's my token cute picture of Jude. I tried my best to Photoshop out all the food on his face. It's so tempting to leave the picture untouched as far as his messy face goes because that's really who he is right now - he loves to swim around in his food. Looking at this picture, or at him in general, makes me wonder who he looks like. I don't feel like he looks at all like either one of us. Weird!

Prayers Please

I feel like the last week has been a marathon of appointments for Jude, culminating in a horrible appointment today. He first went to the nutritionist, who was a hippie Eastern medicine type - it was great and we shared the same opinions on many things, at least as far as medicine goes. She recommended things like avocado, olive oil, almond butter, etc. Basically, anything to keep his protein content high. She also recommended a wonderful book called "Feeding the Whole Family" which includes some wonderful recipes which, like it states, feeds the whole family (including baby) in a healthy way.

Next, we went to the physical therapist who worked for an hour with Jude to help him get from laying to sitting, kneeling to sitting and standing, etc. It was a wonderful room filled with toys that Samuel could not keep his hands off of. About half way through this appointment, I point blank asked her why we are in such a rush to get Jude to walk, crawl, etc. She looked at me and said "He should have been doing this three months ago." Oh. My bad. She sent me home with a handful of diagrams of things I should be doing with him daily. My opinion? He will develop at his own rate and scooting on his bottom suits him just fine. Also - she said he has "low tone" and lets his body sink in with gravity. Translation: he's flabby and I need to get him some muscles quick!

And today I took Jude in a for a last minute appointment because this kid cannot shake his rattly breathing and wheezing. Here's what I left this appointment with: an inhaler with two different medicines (in case of asthma), a prescription for antibiotics (in case it's a sinus infection), and a referral to Dornbecker for a sweat test for Cystic Fibrosis. He could have allergies, asthma, sinus infection, reflux, cystic fibrosis and/or a cold. So, we have an appointment at Dornbecker on Wednesday morning at 8 a.m.. It will take 1 1/2 hours and I am hoping for a swift diagnosis. Please be praying for Jude.

85th Birthday Bash!!

Well, I have a break from company for a couple of days, so I thought I could catch up on the happenings around here. We went to Rainier on Saturday for Colin's grandma's 85th birthday celebration. It was crazy with lots of people and of course, Samuel loved it! Jude, not so much. I really think that kid is a introvert. Here are some pictures: Wes (Samuel's cousin) and Samuel wrestling around on the floor.

Barb I believe talking to Joy's baby (she's due in August) - very sweet!

Susie and Ryan having a moment...

Throwing kids down from the loft is an old McGladrey tradition - Jude didn't love it, but it makes for a cute picture, nonetheless.

Picutres of feet are so cool.

I heard loud kid giggles coming from the back of the house and I found Wes and Samuel pretend napping, then wrestling around in the bed.

Jake was taking a moment to admire and snuggle Jude - very sweet.

Here is Bryce with the most amazine lashes EVER!!
Grandma Bess holding Bryce's hand.