Our Trip to the Zoo

Friday, Jordan was able to take the day off of work and we decided to take Andrew to the zoo for the first time. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. Although Andrew will not remember this trip, he did enjoy watching the animals and all the people even more. We concluded the day with dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. We enjoyed crab (and perhaps a pomegranate margarita even more) and Andrew enjoyed his current favorite food, mango mixed in yogurt.

All things green

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Originally uploaded by jthomas2798

Well, another week has passed and with it has come another trip to the farm. We are loving being a part of The Great Country Farms CSA! All the fresh produce is so yummy and good for us. Jordan and I laugh at how "green" we are becoming. We are supporting local agriculture, are cloth diapering, and Jordan even rides a bicycle to work if his schedule permits.
In other news...Andrew has cut his first tooth. It is painfully and slowly making its appearance. Friday night was the first night it could be felt, and now you can see it poking through his gums, but it still has a long way to go.
Cloth diapering is going well, Jordan and I are finding what types of diapers we like and what we don't. I have also discovered that there is a whole, wacky sub-culture of cloth diaper-aholics. The craziest thing I have found are the women willing to dish out $40 or more per diaper!

Andrew's Fluffy Bum

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Originally uploaded by jthomas2798

We have embarked on a new journey...cloth diapering. Jordan and I have committed to cloth diapering for the next two months. We have our supplies and I am trying a whole variety of different types of diapers. Andrew is sporting a Knickernappie Disposanot diaper in this picture (yes, they all have cutesy names). We chose to try cd'ing (as the groupies call it) for economics, perhaps it is better for the environment, but it is definitely way cheaper!
So far so good, diapering takes a few more minutes these days, but I expect that once we get the hang of it, the time difference will diminish. And the laundry isn't really that big of a deal, (an extra load every other day) especially post basement flood since I was able to upgrade washing machines from one that only turns on and off and the ability to choose warm or cold water to a machine that has more options than one could ever need. I have learned that a prewash and extra-rinse are essential for success, or at least less trips to the laundry room to restart the machine.

Water House

Jordan and I have discovered that Andrew loves the swimming pool, but we weren't counting on creating one in our basement. Early Wednesday morning, Jordan heard water running when he got up to take the dogs out. Initially, he thought it was a toilet, unfortunately, he was very wrong, Jordan found it was the washing machine running. I had started a load of laundry before we went to bed and apparantly, the tub sprung a leak and the machine continued to fill for nearly 6 hours! The machine filled the basement with a couple of inches of water. We are currently waiting on our home owners insurance to inform us if the damage exceeds our deductible, and would therefore be giving us money to fix the basement and buy a new washer. Hopefully, we will hear to day.

Water Baby

Andrew has really been enjoying bath-time lately; splashing up a storm and chasing his rubber duck around the bathtub. So we were eager to see what he would think about the swimming pool. Today we found out when we took Andrew swimming for the first time at his Aunt Cindy's house. He had a great time and was completely comfortable in the water. I think we will be spending lots of time at the pool this summer.

God is good all the time...

This has been quite a week! On Monday, Jordan's grandmother suffered a heart-attack, by God's grace, she is home from the hospital and seems to be in good spirits and regaining her strength quickly.
Unfortunately, also on Monday, Luther fell ill. He didn't eat all day and we started to become quite concerned. By Tuesday he was eating again, but he was beginning to favor his back right leg, and by Tuesday night he began to do what is known as "knuckling." Basically, he was walking on the wrong side of his foot. This began a rather quick down-hill progression. Jordan took him to the vet on Wednesday and was diagnosed with conscious proprioception...he had a pinched nerve in his spine and he wasn't able to tell where his foot was. By this time the proprioception had spread to his left rear leg as well and Luther wasn't able to walk. We were quickly referred to a neurosurgeon. Thursday morning we went to see the neurosurgeon and Luther had an MRI and was diagnosed with a herneated disk in his spine. This required immediate surgical attention with the hope that he would make a full recovery. Luther had spinal surgery yesterday afternoon and today we brought him home and he is able to walk normally again! Although these were obviously not our plans, God has been so faithful and cared for us and our dog by allowing us to be able to see a neurologist quickly and the advances of medicine to allow for this to be treated.

On a celebratory note, Wednesday night, Jordan received his Master's degree in computer science from Johns Hopkins. I am so proud of my hard-working husband, and it is only by God's provision through Lockheed-Martin that he was able to attend such an outstanding college and God's faitfulness that he was able to complege the degree, but boy are we glad to have school behind us!

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man

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Originally uploaded by jthomas2798

Wow! This month has flown by. Softball has wrapped up and Jordan has finished his Master's degree (praise God!). This spring has been so busy balancing both of those endeavors with the demands of a new baby, but the Lord provided so much grace in so many ways. Understanding professors, classes that ended early, a delayed project at work, many moms and an assistant coach who loved to care for Andrew--God is good!

On to Andrew--this boy loves spinach! Jordan and I joined a community farm for the summer so that we can have loads of the freshest produce in effort to eat healthier and have good things to feed Andrew. Last weekend we decided to head to the farm to get the first crops of spring, although the official season does not begin until the first week of June. It was a miserable day outside, but well worth the trip. We have been enjoying fresh asparagus and spinach (that we picked ourselves!). There was not much asparagus available, so Jordan and I didn't share that with Andrew, but the spinach was abundant. I figured, what the heck, we'll see if Andrew will each pureed, steamed spinach, and eat he did. He loves it!