JOY

 When we first learned about Theo's kidney failure, we knew that there would be "ups" and "downs" along the way.  These last few months have definitely been "ups."  If I had to pick one emotion to describe it, I would pick JOY.  Theo is full of it, and so are we.  We live an incredibly good life, and have had an outstanding October and early November.

Roar!

Aside from a nasty cold, which Theo probably picked up from his one and only day in daycare, we have nothing but good news to report.  Theo is growing really well again, has made progress army-crawling (and can move faster than you can imagine), and his throwing up has greatly improved.  The near-zero throwing up during the day is truly a miracle, and one that has made our lives immensely better.

A very quick note of thanks!

For all of you who have prayed for Theo over the last three weeks (and well before that), I want to thank you for your faithfulness.  If you recall, I asked in the last post that you join us to pray for big things to happen in Theo's health for three weeks.   Let me tell you, your prayers have been powerful.

The day after I wrote the blog post, Theo miraculously stopped throwing up during the day.  Completely.  With only a couple of exceptions, Theo has been throw-up free during the day for the last 21 days.  He's still throwing up most mornings in the crib, but we know that God can heal that.  So, we continue to pray.

Transitioning from Baby to Boy

Our little Theo continues his transition from baby to boy.  It's pretty incredible to look back at old pictures and videos and see how much he has developed and progressed.  We're pretty proud of him.  

Once again, I have allowed too much time to lapse between updates.  Life never slows down, does it?  It feels like last week that I was writing an update, when it has been almost two months.  Long story short, Theo is making progress and doing great, but there is still more progress to be made.  Nick and I are still doing really well, too.  We added some new excitement to our lives recently; we closed on a lot in a nearby neighborhood, and will be building a home.  So, we have a lot on our minds right now!

How do you measure a year?

You know those moments; the ones that completely alter the direction of your life. They can be good or bad. Maybe it happened when you got engaged, or the time you found out a family member had died. You might have had one when you got into the college you wanted to attend, or the first time you ate an In-N-Out Burger.


For me with Natalie, the first of those moments was on an early date at an A's game. Natalie impressed me with her vast knowledge of baseball, and even noted that Jeremy Giambi was a proper leadoff hitter because, despite his lack of speed, he had an excellent on base percentage. In truth, his lack of speed will forever haunt me. (Slide Jeremy, slide.)


More recently, one year ago today in fact, Natalie and I had an experience that forever altered the course of our lives. It happened during our 20-week ultrasound, when we saw this...

Time Flies

Special boys and special bears have dressings!

I cannot believe that it is already mid-July.  Where has the time gone?  I apologize that I have been less than stellar at keeping the blog updated.  In our case, no news is usually good news!

Hello, cords!

We've had an excellent month (or more) since I last posted.  Theo is the happiest little guy, and I feel so lucky that he is my son.  I wouldn't trade him for the world.  He is still growing well, and has become a lot stronger in the last month.  He rolls over non-stop now; we can't keep him on his back, no matter how hard we try.  While that is a great sign about how he is developing his gross motor skills, it means that we get a few extra alarms during the night because he is not draining well on his dialysis, and it means that we wake up to find him with cords wrapped all around his body.  Nick may have a heart-attack from the stress of the cords one day soon.

An Update for May

Theo with his dad at Wild Dunes

Since I last wrote, life has been a bit crazy.  But crazy has been good.

Several things have not changed:

1) Theo still has the best dad in the world.
2) We still love Theo's nurses who come during the week.
3) Theo's been showered with love from lots of family visitors.
4) We continue to believe that Theo is an absolute miracle, and that God is working in his life.
5) He keeps growing like a champ, and is still exceeding our expectations in nearly every way.

A few things have changed:

1) As of a little over a week ago, Theo has now spent more days at home than he has in the hospital.  Hooray!
2) Theo rolled over (numerous times!) a few weeks ago.

Rolling over!  He hasn't figured out what to do once he is on his tummy

3) We had a lovely family vacation at Wild Dunes in Isles of Palms over Memorial Day, where Nick officiated a wedding for some friends.  (Talk about a beautiful bride and handsome groom!)  It was a spectacular weekend for us.

California Love... and then Surgery

First time meeting Anna! George, Carly, me, Anna, Hil and Theo

Life seems to be moving very fast these days.  It's hard to believe that it has been almost a full week since we were in California.  What a special trip for me!  Last weekend was the first time that my dad, my twin,  my younger sister, and my brothers-in-law had met Theo outside of the hospital.  I really enjoyed seeing them meet him as a little boy in the real world, and not just a patient.

Theo also met his California cousins for the first time.  He loved to snuggle with Anna (my beautiful, incredibly good 3-week old niece) and to watch George ("the Great," a very active two-year old).  We were able to capture all three on camera in what is one of the funniest, most awesome pictures I have ever seen.  (Seriously, it looks like Theo could body-slam Anna AND George.  What a chunk!)