The Month of January

I have a lot of catching up to do! We drove home from New Jersey on Tuesday, January 2. It was a long 12 hours in Tyler's truck, but we finally arrived home safely. The very next day, I left in the morning to take Ella to the doctor's office for her second dose of the flu shot. The sunshine and warm weather (it reached 50 degrees that day!) deceived me and after turning onto a back road, I lost control of the car. My poor Civic went into the ditch, causing the air bags to deploy. I was in shock and completely freaked out, not even knowing I had hit black ice until the police officer explained the situation to me. Ella was not hurt at all. Our Graco SafeSeat did its job well. I got second degree burns on my right hand from the air bag explosion, partly a chemical burn and partly heat. My skin is healing quickly and now it just looks like dry, red winter skin. Anyhow, I'm not quite sure why God allowed us to be in this accident, but it forced us to search for a new vehicle a little sooner than we had planned. We found a sweet deal on a Honda Pilot in the paper, so now we have our family SUV, which was really helpful this weekend during the blizzard that we experienced in Grand Rapids. I love my new vehicle, but am still traumatized by the accident and am more cautious than ever when driving now, always looking out for signs of black ice.

School's back in session at Chandler Woods and I welcomed Krysten Karpicke, a student teacher from Central Michigan University. She is getting to know the students and families and has been a tremendous asset to our classroom. With a new person on our team, I'll hopefully make it home a little earlier for the next few months. Tyler and Ella will sure love that!

Also this month, Ella had another cardiologist appointment. She had a successful ultrasound this time! She stayed still longer because she wasn't feeling well and Tyler came along to entertain her and help me out. Dr. Schneider gave us a super report. Her circulation is great--like a normal baby her age. They'll keep watching her left pulmonary artery as it could be enlarged with a stint in the future to increase blood flow to the left lung. No need to worry about this now, and it is a minor procedure compared to the surgery she has already gone through.

Ella is sure growing up. She is now quite a proficient crawler, from room to room, and even into my lap when she wants comforted. She is also beginning to pull herself up. She can get toys out of her basket herself, and she tries to operate the stereo, adjusting the volume and opening and closing the tape cassette holder. TODAY she really surprised us when she was standing up in her crib, holding on to the rails. I was shocked and happy, and she laughed very pleased with her new accomplishment. Tyler lowered her mattress to the bottom setting in the crib so she won't fall out in her "climbing."

December and January have been such l o n g months for us because Ella has been sick on and off and NOT sleeping through the night anymore. First she woke up because she was really sick. Then she woke up because she was coughing or couldn't breathe. Now she wakes up... FOR NO REASON AT ALL! or at least none we can discern. I'm not feeding her during the night anymore. I'll give her a bottle of water (a great suggestion from Aunt Kathy-Thanks!) or put her Nuk back in her mouth and tell her to just go back to sleep. And she usually does. Now sometimes I don't even have to get out of bed to check on her when she cries. She usually can fall back asleep on her own. So... we are heading in the right direction. Tyler and I are getting a little more sleep now and we all want to stay healthy!

My biggest challenge this winter will be writing my final grad project so that I can complete my Masters Degree in Elementary Education. There will be no slacking off on this research and writing as I have a very "persnickety" prof who has very high expectations and strict deadlines. My new mantra this semester will be "They only give A's and B's. They only give A's and B's." The worst thing that can happen is that I would have to rewrite my paper... which I've already been asked to do. It can't get much worse, so it can only get better, right? The real reason that I am finally writing in this blog is because it is much more fun to do than my research. so basically, I'm procrastinating again. But, hey, I did really need a break.

If you made it to the end of this entry, you are a TRUE FRIEND! Thanks for caring about our family so much to read my long ramblings.