State Night (and other news)

Lady Gaga, Swoosie Kurtz, Katy Perry, Tom Wopat (Luke Duke),  Bruno Mars, Dolly Parton, Michael Jackson, Miley Cyrus, Buddy Holly and 2 of Johnny Cash.  Snow White, Abe Lincoln, Henry Ford, Sarah Palin, and Hawaiian Princess Kaʻiulani.  Barry Sanders, Brandon Weeden, Tim Tebow and a skate boarder named Ryan Schekler.  Plus about 50 others I can’t recall.  What do all of these famous people have in common? They were all at Westwood’s 4^th Grade State Night last night!  It was AMAZING!  The kids did SUCH a great job, and we all had a blast going from booth to booth learning about each of the 50 states, the celebrity that was being represented, and getting snacks native to that state at some.  (You could bring snacks for the crowd for extra credit – my girls were ALL OVER this step!)  We really enjoyed asking questions and listening to the kids give their spiels, while Jake just went from station to station getting food.  He saw someone with fried chicken, a complete stranger, and then asked her where she got it, because he NEEDED some chicken!  LOL!  We also had grapes, cantaloupe, ice cream (thank you, Buddy Holly), wild rice, pineapple, dried cherries, blueberry muffins, sunflower seeds, and pickles- among other treats.

Emma represented the state of New York and dressed as a pop super star that is hugely talented and legendary for her strangeness, Lady Gaga.  Her costume consisted of a “bubble” dress, red tights, silver glitter high heels, a microphone (from our Wii) Gaga-esk wig, and outlandish make up.  She brought pizza bites as her snack for her station.

"Lady Gaga" telling Jake about New York

Lara chose to research the state of Nebraska, and her celebrity look alike was Swoosie Kurtz who is currently on the sit-com Mike & Molly on CBS.  He costume was an awards ceremony worthy coral dress, the highest heels she could find, and “show” make up – with a prop of an “award” and actress of Ms. Kurtz quality might have won.  Nebraska is the Cornhusker State, so her snack was popcorn.

Swoozie Kurtz posing with her popcorn

In other news, Finn is FIVE MONTHS OLD!  

He may be colic-y, but he sure is CUTE!

As of yesterday, he has been with us for five whole months.  It really doesn’t seem possible.  Time is going so quickly.  I would estimate his weight to be 10 pounds 10 ounces, and he is 21.5 inches long.  Pretty much right on track with his 2 month old peers.  We are weaning the oxygen this week – hope to be off completely by the weekend!  He is sleeping soundly right beside me with no oxygen assistance, and we shall see how the rest of the day goes.  He’s a trooper, for sure!

All Babies Cry

Some babies cry A LOT!  FRW would trend toward the latter category, I would say.  Wikipedia defines infantile colic as a condition of a healthy baby in which it shows periods of intense, unexplained fussing/crying lasting more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week for more than 3 week.  I’m not sure we’ve been dealing with it for 3 weeks yet, but 3 hours 3 days a week qualifies.  Some days less, but it’s still there.  “They” also say it is usually in the early evening, and Finn’s tends to be from about 8pm to about 11pm.  But I’m calling it colic.  Emma has THE WORST COLIC EVER, so I am an experienced mom, and I know what this is.  It’s colic.  And it’s so frustrating for us all!  I also know it will end as abruptly as it as started, so we will survive.  In the meantime, my heart breaks daily as my sweet baby cries and cries for no evident reason.  Poor little dude!

In the meantime, another week has gone by.  Jake’s Power Rangers party was changed to a Star Wars party at the last minute since I couldn’t find party supplies locally, and it was a GREAT time at the Oklahoma Wondertorium!   We had never been there, and it was so fun and the kids and adults all loved it!  Jake got loved on by so many people, and his room is now full of fun new toys to keep him busy.  Also, the RSV shot situation has been resolved.  Last Friday, I got the 2 phone calls that got that ball rolling, then on Monday I was informed the medication was overnighted tome to show up on Tuesday, as well as the name and number of our home health nurse.  The meds arrived at 1:30 on Tuesday, and the nurse got here about 4:00 to administer the shot.  It was about 4 days late, but we are approved for the next few doses so it won’t be so hard next time!  My dog is still gone, and I am still sad about it.  Britt found us the PERFECT puppy on Craigslist earlier this week, but it was spoken for before we could get ahold of them, so the search continues.  And I am still jobless.  I am happy to be here at home for the time being, and I am determined to enjoy it.  I still feel like a puppet on a string in this area of my life, but it is what it is, and God’s plan will prevail.  I just need to be patient and prayerful and the answers will come!

Our big excitement of the week was the follow up article the O’Colly did on Finn and the OBI blood drive.  I was contacted about the possibility late last week, then this week a photographer came to the house on Monday, then a reporter interviewed Britt and I separately (due to the home health nurse and RSV shot) on Tuesday. On Thursday morning, the front page of the Daily O’Collegian featured a HUGE picture of me and sweet Baby Finn! 

CLICK HERE for the link to the article.  I think they did a really good job.  Donating blood is a simple thing to do and it can affect lives on so many levels.  We are so grateful for all the strangers who have helped us out along the way.  Whether praying for us, supporting us financially, and especially those who donate blood regularly to provide for needs of people that need that kind of support.  If it were not for the generosity of other people, Finn might not be here with us today!

As of the nurse visit on Tuesday, Finn weighed 8 pounds, 14 ounces and was just over 20 inches in length.  He is growing so quickly these days!  He will be 4 months old on Sunday, and his adjusted age is 4 weeks.  It seems like we just came home a few days ago, but he has been home 1 month and 6 days.  In the past week, he has started to sleep a little longer during the night.  We used to feed him 3 times overnight, and we are down to 2 – or just one depending on how the schedule goes during the day, and how early we need to get up the next morning.  THIS is a major milestone for me, as I really need my sleep! LOL!  He still eats every 3 hours during the day, and still sleeps A LOT during the day as well.  My mom and my sister-in-love are thrilled that they have both gotten to see him with his eyes open for more than a few seconds at a time lately!  He finally enjoys his swing, and he likes to lie under his play gym and watch the things hanging above his head.  He is still on supplemental oxygen at ¾ Liter for 24 hours a day, as well as the heart/apnea monitor.  I am REALLY hoping to change some of these statistics when we go for his 4 month visit to the pediatrician on Tuesday. This is my prayer request!  We NEED to start weaning the oxygen as he keeps pulling the cannula out of his nose, and I am SO OVER the heart monitor that only goes off with false alarms.  UGH!

The other project I am working on now is for the 4^th grade STATE NIGHT at Emma and Lara’s school coming up in a few weeks.  Each student is assigned a state, and they have to do a report on the state as a famous person from that state – as well as a report on that person. The person reports were due last week, so now we are working on the STATE part – as well as costumes.  They are supposed to dress up as that person for the presentation on State Night.  Lara has the state of Nebraska, and the famous person she chose was Swoosie Kurtz.   This costume will be pretty easy.  Lara has the perfect looks for this character, so we just need a “red carpet” dress, and perhaps an award to carry.  Emma has the state of New York.  Her “person” she chose is Stefani Germanotta.  Lady Gaga.  Yeah, we had to ask the teacher if that would be acceptable. It was, so now I am on a costume hunt!  I got a dress that I think will work perfectly.  Now for a wig, some shoes and other accessories. WHEW!  I can’t wait to see how this turns out for both of them!  They are pretty excited!