December In Review

December was kind of a crazy month for the Love family. Here are some of the goings on:

Grandma and Grandpa Love came for a visit so they could be here with us during Andrew's second open heart surgery. This was the first time they were able to hold him. Ali was thrilled to have them back! Andrew's second open heart surgery went great! He was in ICU for only three days and was home after six. And then it snowed! Ali was so happy to be able to play in the snow. This is how much snow we had on Sunday, Dec. 14th. They cancelled church and school on Monday because of it. And then it snowed some more: (This is after the third time shoveling. The first two times we totally cleared the walkway. The third time we gave up and just did a small path.) School ended up being canceled for a whole week and no church for two. Luckily we have great neighbors and Ali played with Meredith everyday. Ali and I decided to try making some melted chocolate lollipops. It was fun and we learned some tricks for next year. We forgot to take pictures of the finished products but here are some of us having fun with the leftover chocolate. Chocolate lipstick...mmmmm! We had a great December. I'll add the Christmas pictures at a later date.

Andrew's Four Months Old

We can hardly believe how wonderfully our lives have changed over the last four months. We decided to celebrate Andy's four month birthday with a big feast- turkey,stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, green bean casserole...the works. ;)
Andrew seems to be getting so big to us but when we see other babies his age, he's still a little guy. Everyone who passes us asks how old he is. I can tell they are surprised when I say four months rather than four weeks. Here are his current stats:

10.81 lbs (.58 %tile)
23 in (1.58 %tile)
head circumference is 14 in

A lot happened during his fourth month of life. First smile, first cold, first (and hopefully last) bout with pneumonia, first cardiac cath, first Thanksgiving, first Halloween, first trip to the pumpkin patch, first giggle.
Here is the much anticipated video of his giggles. (I had to break it up into three files because it was too long. The third is not so much giggles as it is smiles and a chance to hear his voice.)








He's changed so much-
One Month Old

Two Months Old

Three Months Old

Four Months Old

Curses to Judy Blume

Last night while I was in the middle of a presidency meeting and John was at choir practice, Ali decided she wanted to try something she'd read about in a book. So, after she wrote a letter to Santa, she went into my bathroom, found the supplies she needed and went to work. Here is what John found when he got home and went to give her a kiss goodnight: Don't you love the look on her face? She KNOWS she did something wrong and is just waiting to see how mad we are.
So, after my presidency meeting ended, John told me I needed to look at the pictures he took. He gave no information other than, "They're not good pictures." By this point he'd already washed her face and she was waiting for me to go up and talk to her. (BTW- it's after 10 PM) Here's how the conversation went: Me- "Ali, is there something you need to tell me?"
Ali- "About what?"
Me- "About what happened to my lipstick."
Ali- "OH. [long pause] Well, um... will you forgive me for using your lipstick, I'll try not to do that anymore." (Before you get too impressed, she says this line for everything she does wrong. It's not like she just came up with it. It's a memorized speech.)
Me- "Why did you use my lipstick?"
Ali- "Because I wanted to have freckles."
Me- (Slightly moved thinking she wanted freckles to be more like me)"Why did you want to have freckles?"
Ali- "To be like Andrew in 'Freckle Juice'. I was going to draw them on with a blue pen but then I decided to use lipstick instead. Then I wanted to see what it would look like with blood coming out of my face- but not for real."
I can see that we are going to have to screen her books a lot more closely from here on. What's next? Worms for an after school snack??

Fall on the Farm

This year we tried visiting a different farm to get our pumpkin. So instead of driving for 45 minutes, we drove for 10 and found ourselves at Baggenstos Farm. It was pretty cool. We got to go on a tractor hayride out to a little field with a ton of pumpkins just waiting to be chosen. Ali was excited to show "Bubba" all about picking the best pumpkins.
Here was his response:
As usual, Andy slept the whole time in the sling. This made it a little trickier to get a cute picture of the kids at the pumpkin patch.
It didn't take too long for Ali to find the perfect pumpkin.
It was just a little too heavy for her to carry by herself...
so Dad saved the day and carried it for her.
After a quick round of pumpkin bowling the kids insisted on posing as farm animals.

Halloween Fun

We had a great Halloween this year. Ali got to attend her first elementary school festival and was on cloud 9. For the festival she dressed as a clown. Inspired by a knitted hat that John's coworker gave Andrew, he decided to be a pumpkin. Originally it was going to be a jack-o-lantern but Mom never got around to "carving" him. Andy slept the whole time.

Ali posing as a clown.

Ali and Andy after the school party.

There is nothing to say about the following pictures except that John was responsible.

On Halloween, Ali decided she no longer wanted to be a clown saying she was afraid people would laugh at her. I asked why she thought they would laugh at her and she said it was because clowns are funny. I guess she didn't want any more attention than any other kid would get. Anyway, we went through several options (Cheryl Crow, rock star, roadie, rock star's manager, princess, chinese girl, witch, doctor, nurse, knight, hula girl...) and FINALLY settled on chef. Her restaurant was called "Ze Bananas" (said with a thick French accent).




Andy didn't go out for candy but I had to have a picture of him in his costume on his first Halloween. So, just before we left to go home, I put him in the pumpkin suit. Obviously he wasn't pleased and no amount of discussion would persuade him of the need to document this special occasion.

John and I went to a costume birthday party. We spent weeks trying to decide what to wear and five minutes before the party started John received inspiration. OK, maybe I exaggerated a little bit but I think his idea worked out really well.
Meet John Halpert and Sarah Beesley:
(from the TV show "The Office") I had a hard time keeping a straight face with John doing his impressions.

For all those 'Dora' fans

I love this clip from Brian Regan. If you have kids, you probably will too.

Just for Uncle Justin

We went back to the hospital yesterday for one of Andy's follow up visits. It felt very weird to be walking those halls again-especially carrying him with us. It reminded me of a particularly wonderful conversation I had with Ali while we were still living there.
I had been explaining to Ali that babies cry because they haven't learned their words yet and that is the only way they have to let their Mom or Dad know that they need something. She pondered on this for a moment or two and then said, "I hope Andy doesn't speak Spanish."
"What??" I asked.
"If he speaks Spanish then he'll have to go home with a Spanish family and I want him to come home with us." She matter-of-factly explained.
"Well,don't worry. He IS coming home with us and he'll speak the same language that we do."
"How do you know?"
"Because we'll teach him."
"That's a great idea, Mom!"

Blessing Day

We decided it would be prudent to bless Andrew before he went in for his surgery- just in case. Normally only three people are allowed at the bedside in the NICU at one time. However, the chaplain was great and helped us make arrangements so that all of the visiting adults could come in and witness the blessing.

Andrew was given a name (Andrew John Love) and blessing on Thursday July 31, 2008 by his father. Both of our fathers joined in the circle (well, triangle actually). It was so wonderful! John did an excellent job. Even amongst all the beeps and alarms that are in the NICU, the Spirit was so strong.

Because of the surgery, the doctors had to put an IV line in through Andy's umbilical cord. That meant two things for us- we would not be able to really dress him in the little blessing outfit Bonnie made and we would not be able to hold him or move him. Bonnie was able to do some last minute stitch removal and made his outfit one that we could just lay over him and tuck around him at the sides. It was perfect.

Just before the blessing we had a professional photographer come and take pictures of Andy and our family. She is part of an organization called Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. You can check out their website and find out more about them but basically, they go into hospitals and take portraits of critically ill babies so that families have beautiful memories in case they pass away. Here are some of the pictures she took. (She did try to edit out some of the wires but the results made Andy look a little alien-ish. You'll see what I mean.)