Almost A Year

Can you believe it? Alyna and Ryan are 11 months old.

We thank God every day for all that they are learning to do. They are such a blessing in our lives.

Quick Update

Barry is home and feeling better than before the surgery on Monday. He's still taking pain killers every 4-6 hours so he's probably going to miss his whole shift at work that started today. He is staying in bed except for a couple brief play periods with the kids throughout the day. He's drinking lots of water, Gatorade, and cranberry juice.

They went in and broke up the stone, but there was still a lot of infection to deal with. The doctor said it wasn't a normal kidney stone that is like a piece of gravel. His was goopy and probably was caused by the infection.

They placed a stint (small tube) in the opening between his kidney and bladder so the infection couldn't close it again. He will have to return to Lubbock on Wednesday for another surgery to remove the stint.

Hopefully after that he can recover, and return to work by the next Sunday. We'll see.

Alyna's first steps

Not to be outdone by her brother, Alyna officially took her first steps at 10 months old. (in 3 days they will be 11 months old)

She was standing at the ball ramp toy, turned, took 2 slow steps and grabbed the music table. I was standing right by her. I grabbed her up and threw her in the air congratulating her on her accomplishment. She smiled and giggled at the attention.

Ryan now takes 5 or 6 steps consistently when he thinks he can make it. Sometimes it's just easier to crawl though.

I'm sure that by their birthday both will be toddlering around the house. I guess that means a new level of baby proofing is coming. As they get faster, I can't always beat them in and out of a room before I can close it off.

I love watching them learn and grow. Yay Alyna!

Piling it on

The stress just keeps coming.

Saturday night, Barry was working the night shift so I was alone home with the babies.
At 12:30 am, the phone rang and woke the babies. After I got them back to sleep I checked the caller ID and saw Barry's cell phone number. When I called it back Barry's supervisor, Dustin, answered, and explained that he had driven Barry to the ER because of kidney stones. Barry had them 3 years ago so he knew what it was. Dustin was kind enough to stay at the ER with Barry at least to see whether they would release him or admit him.

Dustin brought Barry home at about 4:30 am in a drug induced stupor, and we went to bed. He has a kidney stone as well as a kidney infection.

Being a small town with problems employing enough people... we don't have a 24 hour pharmacy. The earliest one to open on Sunday was Walgreen's at 10 am. So I took the babies to church at 9, and left them in the cradle roll class at 10 while I got Barry's medicine and brought it to him.

The bad news is that the pain medicine doesn't seem to be helping much, and he is very nauseated and can't even keep much water down. So a man from our church is driving him to the Urologist in Lubbock this morning (about 2 hours away) and hopefully they can get it under control.

Added to that is my very sore throat, and the fact that I'm wiped from taking care of the babies by myself all week during Barry's shift.

More prayers please... we need them desperately right now.

Afternoon Update:
This afternoon, they took him to Grace Medical Center to do a procedure to remove the kidney stone. I'm unsure at this point whether he'll come home tonight or have to stay. They are currently trying to rehydrate him after over 24 hours of not keeping anything down.

Night Time Update:
The procedure went well, and he's doing fine. It was late in the evening when he got out so they are keeping him overnight. He should come home in the morning.

Done All I Can Do

I've finished... I've done all I can do. The rest is up to God... and the judge of the federal court in Albequerque.

This summer I received a summons from the Federal District Court in Albuquerque saying I'd been randomly selected as a possible juror in a case this fall. It's a murder trial that will last 6 weeks.

I sent in a request for excuse along with the short questionnaire stating that since Albequerque is a 6 hour drive from my home, I can't serve at this time because I am the sole caretaker of two babies while my husband is on shift work. He works 12 hour shifts, 2 days then 2 nights.

2 weeks ago, I received the full questionnaire in the mail along with a letter stating that the court knew it was inconvenient for everyone to serve. It said that excuse requests must be accompanied by proof of the claim, and that it must truly be an "undo hardship" to be excused.

So I've done all I can do now, first and foremost pray to God for intervention. I also asked for guidance from many friends including a local attorney. He advised me to seek a doctor's note from my own doctor or from the twins' pediatrician.

I actually went to the doctor this week and she wrote me a not for high anxiety and said she didn't feel I was fit to serve at this time. It's true. I haven't been sleeping well and have been crying a lot since receiving the questionnaire.

I also included a personal letter stating again that I have 2 babies, and with my husband's shift schedule it would be a hardship for me to be gone. I figured that each shift would require 80 hours of childcare, and 6 weeks even paying minimum wage would cost us about $4500. I also attached copies of the twins birth certificates to prove they existed, and a copy of Barry's schedule for those 6 weeks signed by his supervisor.

I answered the questionnaire honestly, realizing that I am probably what both lawyers want on the jury.

Please continue to pray for my situation.

Too cute

Here's my crew the day after Daddy got back from a business trip to Germany. They were so glad he was home they wouldn't leave him alone.


Alyna's babbling has some distinguishable words in it now. For a while now she's been saying Mama, um num, and hi. Last week we think she added Dada, but it sounds more like "the the". It is hard to tell sometimes because it's similar to the "bebebebe" babble she does a lot when she's playing. Sunday morning she looked at me and said, "Ah na nu". I said, "I love you too", and she smiled really big. Yesterday a friend and I both heard her saying, "Ryan" as clearly as is possible in her 10 month old voice. She's quite the expressive girl.

She also does the "big smile" I taught her Uncle Daniel to do when he was a baby. She squints her eyes real tight and smiles really big. I do it back to her, and then we both giggle.

Ryan can't make a right hand turn. {Zoolander fans will know what I mean right away.} He was standing at the side of the recliner, dropped his left foot back to face me while holding on with his right hand, and then walked 3 steps to me. I set him down, and he walked back to the recliner. He then dropped his right foot back to turn to face me again, and fell down. It made me laugh because of that movie.

We bought a toy with wheels and a handle for them to push around to practice walking, but Ryan keeps turning it upside down to play with the wheels. He'll be on the other side of the room, and when I turn it right side up again, he will crawl all the way over to turn it over again and play with the wheels. Funny kid... but Alyna's not too happy with him.

Ryan has also learned to "zerbit". (That's the Bill Cosby term for blowing on someone's skin and making that "phhttt" sound.) He'll put his mouth just about anywhere and blow. His favorite is when we're lying down because he'll lift our shirts and zerbit our bellies. Hmmmm, wonder where he learned that?

Ryan's First Steps

This weekend Ryan took his first unaided steps.

Saturday, He started by letting go of the ottoman, taking one step, and then grabbing the couch. A few minutes later, he let go of the couch, and moved both feet before grabbing my arms.

Sunday, he did one or two steps again a couple times.

This morning (Monday) he took 4 slow, careful steps towards me as he left a toy. He did it several times in a row.

He's very proud of himself, and loves all the kisses I give him when he does it.


This is one of their favorite new play areas. I put the couch cushions on the floor so they can climb all around.