Tiptoes

These days more and more is within this little one's reach. Check out her feet, she has perfect form for a point ballet dancer. Ouch.

One of those days...

Everyone needs to have days where everything seems difficult or goes wrong. It is part of life.

These are hershey kisses wrappers. The only things that brightened my day.


Every time I try to sit down, a baby is crying. Every time I try to feed a baby, they are crying so hard they won't drink. Teething, growth spurts, falling down learning to walk, missing moms, all these things contributed to a challenging day. And I am becoming more and more pregnant and the emotional hormones are raging. And then there is thinking about the future (which can either be one of my good or bad tendencies) and worrying what that will look like with respect to a variety of areas: jobs, house, kids, finances, etc.

I said to Faustina, "When you feel like I do right now, this is when you say, "Jesus, please give me patience!". She doesn't know what I said, but at least she smiled.

My new obsession

This may look to you like a simple blender, but oh no folks, this is a vita-mix. And it is truly amazing. A few weeks ago I convinced Mike (it wasn't very hard to) that we need one of these kitchen appliances, and I have been using it incessantly since then.

I wrote awhile ago how I have been trying to have Mike and I drink these green smoothies regularly. The smoothie has any sort of green leaf in it (kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, etc) along with either a fruit of your choice or other things such as avacados,tomatoes, onion, garlic, etc. Our old blender left a kind of 'chunky' smoothie because some of these ingredients can be difficult to grind to a creamy consistency. The vitamix, however, completely pulverizes anything in it to the finest possible texture.

The novel aspect of the vitamix is that it has an incredibly powerful motor. It has a low speed and the high speed goes as fast as 250 mph. Their sales pitch is that you can make staple items typically bought at the store easily at home - for example mayonnaise, salsa, ice cream, peanut butter, soup, and you can even grind wheatberries to make your own wheat flour - and it takes just a few minutes. For peanut butter, you just buy peanuts and pulverize them in the vitamix and you have peanut butter (there is enough oil in the peanuts). Mayonnaise only calls for 5 simple items. And when you make these items yourself, they are much more nutritious.

I have made ice cream and it turned out great. Actually, I like it better than store bought stuff because I put less sugar in it. I made asparagus soup. For the soup you let it run for 4 minutes and the vitamix even makes the soup so hot that it is steaming and ready to eat. This weekend Mike has been sick so I have been juicing 2 oranges so Mike has fresh OJ. Faustina likes it too and you can see.

Captain Faustina

We went for a walk on Thursday night and we found a new version of a 'stroller' for Faustina - I LOVE it. Haha. It is so awesome. So this stroller that Faustina is standing up in is actually a universal stroller frame that you are suppose to put a baby car seat on top of. Mike was genius and simply put Faustina in the bottom pouch area and she can stand up and hold on as we go for a walk. It is pretty hilarious and I am sure people wonder if we realize we are using the stroller incorrectly. But it works great. We went a few miles like this and she just took everything in. I decided to not purchase a nice single stroller because I figured at some point I would want a double one anyway. And that turned out to be true! So we make due with what we have and it always works out. I guess there are 'standing stollers' out there now anyway - we're doing our part to keep up with new designs.

Yuk

My first major mistake with diapers and poop happened on Thursday. And it was disgusting.

I am in a bad habit of changing a kid's diaper and then placing it directly to my left on the top of Faustina's crib. Then, of course, I am suppose to take the dirty diaper to the diaper pail. Otherwise, Faustina can reach the diaper while she is in her crib, or the dirty diaper just stinks up the room.

Well, on Thursday the diaper didn't make it to the pail. I changed Ella's poopy diaper which was absolutely nasty and then rushed to the living room where 2 other babies were crying; I forgot the diaper.

I put Faustina down for a nap and I could hear her happily playing in her crib for quite awhile. After 15 minutes I went to check on her and she leaped up in the air and laughed when I opened the door which made me laugh aloud UNTIL I smell a lot of poop and look more closely in the crib.

Faustina was COVERED in poop.

And I mean covered. Poop was in her hair, by her mouth (yes, I am sure she did a taste test), behind her ears, around her eyes, on her teddy bear, on her blanket, all over the crib bumper, all over the crib wood. It was nasty.

I immediately took her to give her a bath. I could only laugh at myself because it was my fault and of course she took the natural course of action - to play with a fun poopy diaper. And in one sense....although sad, it struck my funny bone when I said aloud to her, "Faustina, do you realize you have POOP all over your FACE!" And then she looked at me with her big eyes and smiled. What are you going to do.

Nevertheless, I spent the next hour cleaning up; thank goodness it cleaned up well! I will not make that mistake again.

Prayer Request for Baby Adkins [updated]

On Thursday I had an ultrasound at 21 weeks for our little one. There was nothing unusual about it and ultrasounds are always fun to see the baby moving all over the place.

This afternoon I received a call from our clinic; my doctor called instead of the nurse who usually calls just to say, "Everything looks fine. We'll see you at your next appointment.". Of course, immediately alarms went on in my mind.

She told me that the baby's weight looks good and s/he is on track for the original due date. There are, however, some abnormalities in the baby's kidneys. It looks like the baby has double kidneys on its left side. Since I am only halfway through the pregnancy it is difficult to tell exactly what is going on, but the possibilities are that there are 2 kidneys on the left side or there is a cyst on the one left kidney. I'll be going to a more advanced ultrasound lab in 4-6 weeks to find out more and will probably have an ultrasound every 4 weeks.

Dr. Mary said we won't have a complete diagnosis until the baby is born. She said it is very likely that it is a benign case - what that means I don't know. She didn't offer many details and my mind wasn't quick enough to formulate questions that I thought of later. I asked her if this is pretty unusual and she said yes it is. There was little information online about 'double kidneys'. We will try to assume the best and pray for little Adkins in the coming weeks.

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We'd ask that you pray the Divine Mercy Prayer (on right side-bar) for the little one and/or also the St. Jude prayer (below). St. Jude was Mike's Confirmation name and he's the saint of lost causes; that's why Mike chose him! Anyway, we'd appreciate any prayers. Also, we believe not only in the intercession of our friends and family in life, but those who have gone before us in faith - the saints. We encourage you to also ask for the intercession from these holy men and women who have yet to be canonized as saints:

-Pope John Paul II (+2005)
-Fr. Richard John Neuhaus (+2009)
-Blessed Mother Theresa (+1997)
-John Henry Cardinal Newman (+1890)
-Pope Pius XII (+1958)

Prayer for the intercession of St. Jude

Most holy apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honors and invokes you universally, as the patron of hopeless cases, of things almost despaired of. Pray for me, I am so helpless and alone. Make use I implore you, of that particular privilege given to you, to bring visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive the consolation and help of heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly - (here make your request) that I may praise God with you and all the elect forever.

I promise, O blessed St. Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, to always honor you as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to you.

Amen.

Divine Mercy Sunday - April 19th

Here's an image of the shrine in Krakow, Poland.

Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.

You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty yourself out upon us.

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us. I trust in You!

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One,
have mercy on us and on the whole world.
[recite three times, once for each member of the Holy Trinity]

Amen.

Green Smoothies

A few days ago I finished this book "Green for Life" by Victoria Boutenko and I found it absolutely fascinating. It is an easy read and she framed health and what is going on in the body in an incredibly clear light for me. After many years of her husband, and 2 children having many health problems, she started serious research about how to change their diet. This lead them to adopt a raw diet which they sustained for 9 years and almost all of their health difficulties were cured.

After 9 years, Victoria felt that something was missing in their diets. She found that they were not eating nearly enough 'greens'. After a great deal more research and experimentation, she came up with 'green smoothies'.

The idea of these smoothies is that you are not only consuming greens, but since these greens are blended you are getting all the vitamins and minerals in them. Victoria found that since plants have such solid cell membranes, even when a person chews a salad, they get only a small percentage of the nutrients available. These smoothies are very simple since they are only fruit, a green and water. These in the picture have 4 kiwis, 1 banana, 4 celery stalks and 2 cups water. And they actually taste good! - I think anyway; Mike likes them as well.

The book makes a strong case for how many different ways these smoothies help a person. In general, a person has more energy, sleeps better, regular 'elimination', clear skin, hair stays natural color in old age, they balance PH in one's stomach, help lose weight,takes away unhealthy cravings, etc. Mike and I are going to try to drink them regularly for a month and see what we think. One cannot deny that no matter what, they have ingredients that can only contribute positively to good health.

Update on Grandma Gail

In a few days, it will be 3 months since we heard my Mom's breast cancer returned. It is has been a tumultuous few months, but the Lord has stayed close to my parents and the family. Friends have been incredibly supportive in every way, especially prayers for her healing if that is the Lord's will - it certainly is ours! Yesterday we attended a mass which was said for my Mom thanks to my sister-in-law Annamarie.

The first round of Mom's cancer five years ago was diagnosed as HER2 positive. The 'HER2' strain is serious and there is even less information about it than other cancers. The 'positive' part of the cancer means that it is aggressive but treatable. Mom went through difficult chemo, but her body prevailed and she has been healthy the past five years. Chemo was the obvious action to take at that time and there was little to no question about how to proceed.

This time around, however, Mom's cancer is diagnosed as HER2 negative. The negative means that it is slow growing, but there is really no treatment available in the medical field. This time around, it is crystal clear that the Lord is in charge of Mom's situation. Mom and Dad have found a wholistic approach which a man by the name of Doctor Ralph Anderson created. Mom eats a great deal of garlic and some other natural ingredients that help protect the body against cancer and also help get rid of radiation from years ago that remains in her body. This approach is really quite fascinating based on the idea that the body can heal itself if nourished correctly.

Mom and Dad have regular pray times, often people pray over my Mom, and they often go to daily mass for strength and wisdom in this situation. The Lord is good and he provides each day whatever they need.

Life seems like it is starting to return to 'normal' for them. Tough decisions that needed to be made are out of the way and we continue to pray to see what the Lord has in store.

My Dad started a blog to keep track of daily life (you will hear a LOT about grandkids!) which you can find at grandmagaill@blogspot.com - note there are 2 'l's.

More than a 'Growth Spurt'

In fact, our Saturday evening and Sunday morning turned into a visit to the urgent care and then at 3am in the morning a visit to the emergency room! Our first experience as parents with a sick child.

When Faustina woke up from her nap around 4:30 on Saturday, she definitely was not acting herself; we figured she was just tired. Well, she kept laying on us and she was hot; when we tried to encourage to her play with her toys, she just layed on the floor with her head on a stuffed animal. Her eyes started to look a bit glassy. We took her temperature on our cheap little thermometer which showed she had a fever of 100.5. We called the nurse line and she thought we should take her in. She said we should take her to the ER, but when we arrived at the address she gave us it was an urgent care center.

I must admit, I don't get worried very easily, but Faustina really looked terrible. And it was scary. At urgent care, the nurse took her temperature and I watched as the numbers climbed to show a fever of 104.1! Well, they took a blood sample and her white blood cell count looked fine. And then they told us to 'just keep an eye on her' and they sent us home. This advice was not very satisfactory, but we did head home.

We got home and my Mom thought we should take her in to the ER (which was also Mike's inclination), so I got her ready to go again. Well, this was pretty crazy, but all of a sudden Faustina woke up (I had put her down to bed since it was 10pm) and she was chipper and back to her old self! She was laughing, giggling, smiling which was a huge relief. I talked to my Mom again to let her know we weren't going to the hospital and my Mom told me they had just been praying for Faustina (along with some relatives who were over) right around the time Faustina perked up. I'm sure it was not a coincidence and the Lord heard their prayer!

We all went to bed, but around 3am she still had a fever. We decided to take her in and get her checked out to see if she may have a urinary tract infection. It was a mini little adventure - not necessarily the kind you want to have. But in the end, fortunately everything checked out and Faustina really is fine.

We did learn a bit about what to do for sick little ones if this were to happen in the future. The reason for Faustina's high fever still remains a mystery, but she is back to her normal self which is the most important thing.

Growth Spurt?

This little child of ours has been sleeping like a log yesterday and today. Yesterday she took 3 naps (2 of which were over 2 hours) and today she took 2 naps (one of which was 4 hours!). When she woke up from her long nap this afternoon, she just layed on Mike for about 20 minutes and if Mike propped her up she fell back on his chest. She has seemed to be growing a lot lately, I hope that is all that is going on.

Spring Roll Fest

We spent this morning with family friends making LOTS of spring rolls, egg rolls, and cream cheese puffs. It is a fun way to spend time together while chatting and being productive! We made about 120 egg/spring rolls and about 110 cream cheese puffs. Some were already eaten :), some are fresh waiting to be eaten, and the vast majority will go in the freezer to be enjoyed in the weeks to come. If anyone is looking for some nummy egg rolls, you know whose door to knock on. :)

4 Sleeping Babies

Today is my second day of having 4 under 1. That is four babies that I am taking care of under 1 year (actually Isaac's first birthday is this week). Yes. I know, most people think I am crazy; that may be partly true.

Aidric Axvig is the new guy in the house and he is just the sweetest little guy. He is a very good baby and his cries usually have a reason and can be taken care of. He is 2 months and I'll start taking care of him full time April 20th. His Dad works at Trinity so he will drop Aidric off in the morning, and then Mike & Matt can carpool to school together which is convenient.

Right now, as I speak, all four babies are fast asleep; I am a bit in awe and am savoring it. I, however, don't expect it to last too long.

Tuesday I had a sharp learning curve with so many little people around and there were definitely a few moments when more than one baby was crying. Perhaps this is the reason why God gave me such a laid-back, phlegmatic temperament. :) Both Mike and I asleep that night at 7:30pm; he got up later, and I just went to bed for the night!

Nonetheless, it is fun to see the kids interact with each other; Faustina and Isaac love the two little babies. Maybe a little too much sometimes when they really like to touch the babies faces! I like a phrase a friend used when I got married, having little people around will be our 'new normal'.

The Zoo

On Tuesday we ventured out to the Minnesota Zoo. Monday-Wednesday of this week I only had Ella and Faustina so I felt as free as a bird to go out and do activities, especially with the nicer weather.



The Zoo is such an absolutely fascinating place. Seeing the beauty of the different animals, their habitat, watching them interact, seeing the diversity in the species, and even marveling at how strange some of the animals appear at first glace truly is breath taking. You know there is a God when you witness such magnificence and creativity.



I don't remember the last time I'd been to the MN zoo, but it had been a loooonnng time. In fact, I think the last time I was there was my 7th grade field trip. Of course, going with all your close friends in school is all fun at that age (well, any age I guess). I landed myself a 30 minute detention as a group of us girls were looking at the fish in the aquarium and I said really loud, "Look at its tes-" well, instead of saying tentacles, I said a word that sounds like it and happens to be quite inappropriate; and the thing is, I honestly did not know the definition of the word I did say! 7th grade innocence. Everyone else thought it was pretty funny and I definitely turned red when I learned what I had said. One of those embarrassing moments.

Anyway, we went with our friends the Grams and had a great time. I cannot wait to go again when the weather is even a bit warmer out. Faustina stared at the animals a lot, but she is just figuring stuff out. It will be fun to go with her as she is more and more aware.

Our Puppy Dog

Faustina is currently our little puppy dog. She wants to know everything we are doing at any given moment; and I mean everything. 90% of the time Mike and I spend in our very small upstairs. Faustina crawls back and forth, back and forth, back and forth between us to see what we are doing. She crawls really fast to one of us, gets up on her knees and starts half laughing half grunting, then she takes one of our legs and stands up until eventually we pick her up and spoil her with kisses. Then she gets down on her knees, falls forward as she slams her hands on the wood floor and on all fours quickly crawls to the other parent. If we are eating she waits for us to feed her while she hangs on our pants. If I'm cooking she waits until I pick her up to see what I am cooking. If Mike is on the computer, she waits until Mike picks her up to see the computer. This afternoon I watched her for about 10 minutes as she peacefully played in the crib by herself after a nap. She was talking to her teddy bear and she was fascinated with her right had. She examined it and then slowly licked her palm. She then put her left pointer finger on each of her fingers on her right hand. Then she stared at her hand and then she jabbed her right hand up in the air and stared at it up there for awhile. It really was very amusing and clear that she is absorbing all sorts of new information. She really is all fun right now. She is an easy baby, sleeps well, and she is so much fun whenever she is awake. I wish this stage could last for a loooooooonnnnnnnnnggg time. The thing is, I believe her days of walking are soon approaching; today we watched Faustina stand all on her own for about 20 seconds or so just looking up at us!

Pals

Could it be?

This past week I have not been able to figure out whether I am imagining Faustina sounding out words or if she truly is. I am now convinced that she is! Mike, Auntie Kim and Grandma Lee are all witnesses. I thought 9 months was way to early for that sort of activity - but she has proven to be quite a social little one. She is not imitating only simple words like 'ball' or 'dadda' (although 'dadda' is her favorite word at this point), but Kim and I heard her repeat 'zebra' and 'hamburger'. Crazy! She is quickly turning into a 'little girl' instead of baby with her interactions and her tiny person body. Each day proves to be more entertaining than the last. What fun these little people are!

First tooth!

This morning when I got Faustina from her bed and started playing with her, she grabbed my hand, put it in her mouth and bit. Normally this feels like a goey chomp, but today I felt a little, sharp tooth jutting out!

She's growing up fast!

I found this hilarious picture on the internet... are people really this dumb, or do the 'experts' just think we are? Who knows...

Faustina signs for "milk"!

Faustina has been watching "Baby Signing Times" in DVD and has apparently picked up a few things. She now knows "food/eat" and "milk". "Milk" is especially cute as she does it somewhat incorrectly, putting her pointer and middle fingers together with her thumb instead of as the image below. This is great- the little one is learning to communicate!




The sign for "milk" is supposed to appear as if you are milking a cow.

Contrapposto?

I think Faustina fits in among the greats: Michelangelo's (1475-1564) "David"; Polyclitus' (c. 300's B.C.) "Doryphorus"; and Cesare Sesto's (1477-1523) "Leda and the Swan".

From Wikipdedia:

Contrapposto is an Italian term meaning "counterpoise" used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs. This gives the figure a more dynamic, or alternatively relaxed appearance. It can also encompass the tension as a figure changes from resting on a given leg to walking or running upon it (so-called ponderation). Contrapposto is less emphasized than the more sinuous S-Curve.

Contrapposto has been used since the dawn of classical western sculpture. According to the canon of the Classical Greek Sculptor Polykleitos in the fourth century B.C., it is one of the most important characteristics of his figurative works and those of his successors, Lysippos, Skopas, etc. The Polykletian statues for example Discophoros (discus-bearer) and Doryphoros (spear-bearer) are idealized athletic young men with the divine sense, and captured in contrapposto. In these works, the pelvis is no longer axial with the vertical statue as in the archaic style of earlier Greek sculpture until the Ephebe-statue of Kritios ca. 480 B.C.

Contrapposto can be clearly seen in the Roman copies of the statues of Hermes and Heracles. A famous example is the marble statue of Hermes with the infant Dionysus in Olympia by Praxiteles. It can also be seen in the Roman copies of Polyclitus' amazon.

Here, again, is Faustina getting in Mom's cookbooks... gotta love those leg muscles.