I can guarantee that you're gonna have a ball...

Monday Oct 20, 2008

I can guarantee that you're gonna have a ball...

Learning how to do the watermelon crawl
Well we got a hundred gallons of sweet red wine
Made from the biggest watermelons on the vine
Help yourself to some but obey the law
If you drink don't drive do the watermelon crawl
Do the watermelon crawl
Have fun you all
Do the watermelon crawl!
-Tracy Byrd "Watermelon Crawl"

Remember back to the days when "Torquil" was a vegetable of the week? (For newcomers to my blog, I got an email each week I was pregnant that compared Jay to the size of some food - grape grows into lemon grows into cantaloupe ... you get the idea.) I was just sure he'd be watermelon at 40 weeks. Well, he was a watermelon all right. And a big 10 lb. one at that. But this watermelon has learned to crawl.

Yep, you read that right - Jay is crawling. He had been rolling for movement for about a month, and we thought that was an entertaining (if a bit odd) way of getting around. He started to scoot on his belly right before we left for the beach, and he got really good at it during that week. The funny thing is that it's not the traditional hands and knees crawl - we call it the Army Crawl. He never gets his belly off the ground and he pulls himself forward with his elbows. I call it the Army Crawl because that sounds cool and tough. Truth be told, he looks a bit like Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, dragging his body behind him.

Now that our little guy is mobile, our world has really changed. In no way will I pretend to be a good housekeeper. I'm a slob, and my house shows it. I rarely vacuum, but I think this crawling business may finally get me going. Poor kid has a thick layer of cat hair all over his clothes, all the time. And those shoes I leave lying all over the house? Jay goes right for 'em, and they go right into his mouth. In fact, he'll crawl PAST a toy to gnaw on a nasty tennis shoe. That's just gross. And it's a whole new world for Jay's feline siblings, too. He's on a mission to grab that fuzzy tail. While he hasn't caught a cat yet, it's only a matter of time.

Check out the video from 2 weeks ago - this was what we called the "turtle on his back." It's like he knows if he wiggles his arms & legs enough, he'll move forward, but just can't QUITE figure out which way they need to go...


Turtle stuck on his back from Jen F on Vimeo.


And now, just 2 weeks later:


On the move from Jen F on Vimeo.

(Yes, I realize that he's crawling over to the trashcan so he can look at his reflection. Yes, I agree that's kinda gross. Just think of it as an inexpensive funhouse mirror where your face looks all distorted, and it's somehow more appealing.)
Oh, the things you never expected from parenthood...

Posted at 06:43AM Oct 20, 2008 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[5]

I believe in the sand beneath my toes...

Tuesday Oct 14, 2008

I believe in the sand beneath my toes...

The beach gives a feeling, an earthy feeling
I believe in the faith that grows
--Third Eye Blind (from Semi-charmed Life)

The song may be mostly about sex & drugs, but I do love that line - and I do believe in the sand beneath my toes!

Jay doesn't just believe in the sand beneath his toes. He also believes in the sand inside his mouth, between his fingers, in his hair, behind his ears, under his armpits, and in his diaper. He didn't particularly like the taste of sand, but he kept putting handfuls of it into his mouth, as if the next fistful would somehow taste better than the last.

We had a great time at the beach - lounging around, reading magazines, admiring the cuteness of Jay and his cousin Camden, and taking pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. He was completely spoiled by having all of his grandparents around, since he spent the entire week being passed from one set of loving arms to another. And perhaps, just as bad, we were completely spoiled during the week, too. It's been an adjustment to go back to the bottle-washing routine. While Dorothy may have said, "There's no place like home," for me there's no place like the beach.

Posted at 07:32PM Oct 14, 2008 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[2]

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound...

Wednesday Oct 01, 2008

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound...

...That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind but now I see

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we'd first begun

*******************************
**Update 10/1/08**
Little Gracie got her angel wings this morning . While we are certainly sad for her family, we can find comfort in the fact that she will feel no more pain. She was a fighter and her story has been, and will continue to be, an inspiration to many. Please remember the Lockyer family in your prayers as they face the difficult days ahead.
********************************

Many of you have heard me talk about a beautiful little girl named Gracie. We joke about all of Jay's girlfriends and future prom dates, but Gracie was his first love. Born on the same day, both Jay & Gracie spent their first day of life with their parents, oblivious to the serious heart problems that each had. Both arrived at Duke Hospital within a few hours of each other and shared a room in the PICU.

Jay and Gracie each had heart surgery, and both surgeries went well. Jay quickly moved to a step-down room, but Gracie continued to have lingering troubles that kept her in the PICU. She has been there ever since, battling infections, fluid build-up and continuing heart disease. That is nearly 7 months in intensive care. Can you imagine what that would be like as a parent? Seven months of watching your baby get sick, get better, get sicker again. To say it's been a roller coaster ride doesn't even begin to describe what they've been through. Her mom, Amanda, has invited everyone to learn about her story.

Gracie's ordeal is all the more touching to me personally because I can't help comparing her to Jay. When he learned to laugh, Gracie was still in the PICU with a breathing tube down her throat. When Jay rolled over for the first time, Gracie was still lying in the same position in the same tiny hospital bed. When Jay growled over his first taste of green beans, Gracie was still receiving food through a tube. She's never felt the sunshine on her face or seen anything beyond the hospital walls. My heart absolutely breaks for her, for her parents, her grandparents and for her big brother, Haddon.

Amanda's unwavering faith through the entire time has been amazing. Her journal is very personal, sharing her intense faith with readers. When I would have felt doubt, she has confidence in a miracle. And the miracles have happened! Gracie has nearly died so many times I can't even keep count. But her parents keep praying for a miracle. And if ever she needed a miracle, today is the day. She's having the second of her 3 open heart surgeries, and has been given a 10% chance of surviving the surgery.

Please take a minute to remember her, and then take a minute to hug someone that you love and be grateful for the sunshine on your face.

Posted at 03:43PM Oct 01, 2008 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[1]

Pump up the jam...

Monday Sep 29, 2008

Pump up the jam..

Pump it up
While your feet are stompin'
And the jam is pumpin'
Look at here the crowd is jumpin'
Pump it up a little more
Get the party going on the dance floor
(A little early 90's Technotronic to get your week started right!)

Well, I'd been avoiding the topic. I wasn't going to write about it in such a public forum. But after this article, I had to share with you the joys of pumping. (Short version of the article: the geniuses at PETA's have suggested to the makers of Ben & Jerry's ice cream that they use human breast milk instead of cow's milk. Yeah, good luck with that.)

As you may or may not know, I'm an exclusive pumper. I spend an inordinate amount of time with "the girls" attached to plastic parts to get the milk to feed Jay. Well, I'm not truly an exclusivepumper - we do nurse some, mostly at night before he goes to bed. But the vast majority of the time, he gets my milk in bottled form.

Why do I pump as opposed to traditional breastfeeding? We had a great deal of trouble getting him to latch in the hospital (the fact he wasn't getting any oxygen certainly contributed to that!). But even after surgery and after he came home, we really struggled with nursing "from the tap." We had a fabulous lactation consultant who helped and was able to get him to nurse a little. But by that time, he was good at bottle feeding, I was good at pumping, and it was nearly time for me to go back to work when I would have to pump anyway. Plus I have an enormous volume of milk - for a while, I was making enough to feed twins. I still pump more than 50 oz per day - that's 1 or 2 bottles more than he's eating. (Yeah, that pretty much makes me a rockstar in the pumping world.)

Do I tell people that I'm breastfeeding? Absolutely. That's how I'm feeding my child, albeit indirectly. He gets the nutritional benefits of breastmilk, which is the main reason we didn't switch to formula when nursing got tough. There are some great things about it - anyone can feed him, anytime, anywhere. It's free (and have you seen the price of formula lately?!) and it burns a ton of calories for me. But as with anything, there are drawbacks, too. I spend 2 hours a day hooked up to that thing. I can hear its rhythm (wha-wo wha-wo wha-wo) in my sleep. I have to take 2 breaks at work to close my door and pump. I've been interrupted at work not once but twice - once by a fire drill (uh oh) and once by a power outage (big uh oh). Fun times. And the washing of those aforementioned plastic parts is a never ending chore.

But back to our friends at PETA. I think it takes an incredible amount of gall to suggest that breastmilk be used for anything other than feeding babies. Some moms with extra donate it to milk banks who typically give it to sick babies/preemies. But because I'm not an eligible blood donor, I'm also not an eligible milk donor. (Long story, and no I do not have any diseases.) So the extra I'm freezing will probably be used to keep feeding Jay the good stuff past the magical one year mark. Heck, at this rate, I may be pouring it on his cereal when he's in kindergarten!

Posted at 10:46PM Sep 29, 2008 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[2]

Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches...

Wednesday Sep 24, 2008

Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches...

I'm movin' to the country, I'm gonna eat me a lot of peaches
Peaches come from a can, they were put there by a man
-Presidents of the United States of America

No, we're not moving to the country. And Jay hasn't actually eaten peaches, not yet anyway. I really struggled with the musical intro to this particular entry because food songs keep popping into my head. This one was a close tie between the Presidents of the USA (one of my personal favorite mid-90's one-hit-wonders) and "Day Old Banana Pudding" by Southern Culture on the Skids. Every time I eat banana pudding, which is pretty frequently, this song runs through my mind. And if you ever go to a SCOTS show, you will actually get to eat some day old banana pudding. Try it sometime - you'll love the food/music interaction!

Okay, I'll get on with it. I realize that no one looks at this blog to read my music or food ramblings - you want news & pics of the kid. Well, the latest news is that this kid loves, and I mean LOVES, to eat real food. He started on rice cereal and has moved right along through squash, carrots, peas (he's not so much a fan of peas!), green beans, apples, pears and bananas. When you've had nothing but milk for your entire life, a little variety is pretty exciting.

It's funny though - I guess he got accustomed to eating from a bottle where your food comes in a constant stream. When you eat from a spoon, you have to actually pause between bites as you re-load your spoon and get it back into the mouth. Jay is NOT happy about this pause. He wants me to have his next bite ready and waiting at his lips. If you're not prepared for this next bite, he makes a fist and growls at you. Seriously. My mom calls it the Incredible Hulk face, and it's pretty accurate, particularly when his face is smeared with the offending peas. Confession time: I sometimes pause extra long between bites just to see him make the face. While I probably won't win Mom of the Year for doing that, it is absolutely the funniest thing he does.

Posted at 07:49PM Sep 24, 2008 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[1]

Jesus Loves Me, this I know

Tuesday Sep 16, 2008

Jesus loves me this I know...

For the Bible tells me so
Little ones to him belong
They are weak but he is strong

Sunday was a very special day in Jay's life - his baby dedication. I've gotten several questions from non-Baptist friends along the lines of "What the heck is a baby dedication, and how's it different from a baby's christening/baptism/(insert name of your favorite baby religious service here)?" Well, the short answer is that there's no water involved. This Presbyterian-raised Baptist convert won't pretend to be an expert on the finer points of Baptist theology and infant vs. adult baptism - you can Google that yourself. Traditionally we Baptists baptize by immersion (thus the name!) as adults, and present babies to God and to the church through a baby dedication. For me, the baby dedication is a way to thank God for the amazing gift of our child, and for us to publicly promise to raise him in a way that guides him to the opportunity to know Christ and develop his own sense of faith in him.

In the service, we as parents are asked to do two things - to promise to raise Jay in a home filled with Christian love, and to give attention to our relationship to each other. Piece of cake! We do that every day, right?

I'd certainly like to think so ... but when you think about it, these are the "big picture" things that can get lost in the day-to-day routine of diaper changing, bottle washing, and laundry. So how exactly do you guide a child into belief in God? You simply can't force faith. I've thought & prayed about this a lot, and what I've decided is that, for right now, the bottle washing and diaper changing are modeling God's love. Jay doesn't know where his next meal will come from. He certainly can't get up and warm a bottle himself. But he'll be fed every day, and he knows that when he cries, his needs will be met.

The same is true for us ... it's in the day-to-day, unexciting regular routine that our faith is formed & strengthened. We don't know what scary thing may be right around the corner. (And as first time parents, we really don't know what we're doing!) But I know that when I ask for guidance, when I cry for help, God places people in my path who are there to show me the way. So I head off to wash those bottles yet again, and try to remember that I am showing him what love is all about.

So here's a picture of the McClan at the big event. Don't you think Jay is saying "Hallelujah!" ?!?

Posted at 08:41AM Sep 16, 2008 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[2]

Goin' to the chapel & we're gonna get married...

Thursday Sep 04, 2008

Goin' to the chapel & we're gonna get married...

Ahh, wedding season strikes again. When we graduated from college, my roommate's dad told me that all I'm going to do every weekend for the next year of my life is go to weddings & help people move. It was completely true ... the only thing he was wrong about is that it's lasted far longer than a year. After 8 years, the weddings are still going strong. Luckily, the moving has slowed down some, but boy has Derek developed some mad U-Haul packing skillz!

We've now been to two weddings in the past two weeks, and we had a blast at both. The first was Jay's "Aunt Mimi" in Colorado. Beautiful dress, gorgeous flowers, stunning table decor ... a wonderful event overall. The best part was that we got to spend lots of quality time with the bride & groom - I helped with decorating for the big event, and we even got their undivided attention at breakfast the morning after the wedding. It was great to get to know Mr. Groom ... especially since this was the first time I'd actually met him!

The only drawback to the whole weekend? That infamous "stomach bug" that reared its ugly head on the airplane going out there. Yup, it struck me about 4 a.m. on Saturday and hit Derek a little bit later that day. The only thing we could keep down that day was Gatorade and saltine crackers. But we were not going to miss the wedding of the decade - and we really were feeling better (not great, mind you, but a helluva lot better!) by the wedding. Unfortunately, the bride did not fare quite so well the next day, and she came down with it too. There are no apologies that can begin to make up for giving your friend the ultimate wedding "gift" of a stomach virus on her wedding night. All I can say is that if we're still friends after that, she must really like us! And we really are sorry.

So, on to wedding #2 and camping. Yes, it's not just any wedding that allows you to build in a camping trip, but we managed to incorporate both. Derek was a groomsman in this one - the groom was his close friend from vet school. The wedding was also beautiful - they carried out the orange & brown colors through everything ... the handmade invitations, the programs, the orange flowers, the bride's orange shoes, even the groomsmen's ORANGE ARGYLE SOCKS. Yep, and they actually looked good! Derek's thinking of reusing them to dress as Payne Stewart for Halloween...

But because the Catholic service was going to be about an hour, we were pretty sure we couldn't keep Jay quiet that long. So he got to spend the night with his Granna, but she brought him to the reception to meet everyone. Then she headed off to the campground and we followed a few hours behind. We had a great time camping - much better, in fact, than I ever would have expected. Jay was a trouper, happily enduring being held by lots and lots of Granna & Steve's friends at the campground. He slept between us in the tent and seemed to think that camping was pretty cool. (He seems to think that sleeping with Mom & Dad is pretty cool anywhere ... whether in a tent or in a house!)

But the best part is that Jay met a girlfriend at each of the weddings ... each a niece of the bride/groom, and older women in both cases. We'll see if the romance lasts with either of his potential ladies!

Wedding #1:


And wedding #2:


A big congrats to both couples - we had a great time at your weddings, and we wish you both all the love & happiness in the world! And we wish you both LOTS and LOTS of babies!!

Posted at 06:17PM Sep 04, 2008 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[3]