Neo-Natal Follow up

Today was Danee's 18th month follow up at the Mary Bridge Preemie Clinic. I have been anxiously awaiting this appointment for some time but due to Danee's illnesses we have had to reschedule several times. This explains why she is only having her 18 month check up even though she is almost 2!

Even still, she did not meet the developmental milestones of a 18 month old toddler. Danee is way...way...way behind. I am not really surprised as I have been suspect for a while. I am however a bit taken aback by some of the ideas that were talked about today.

Danee isn't verbal yet and I knew that by 15-18 months most kids should have a vocabulary of around 25-50 words. She maybe has 5 if we prompt her. I expected that the Speech Therapist would want to do some interventions immediately, and they do.

The Occupational Therapist noticed some things that weren't even on my radar, like weak arms and trunk. Danee is still a bit wobbly when throwing or kicking a ball. She also would go up one side of the stairs but rather then go up and over and down the other side, she just turned and went back down the same way she went up.
So Danee will also get O.T.

For me the biggest surprise is that they are concerned with her "Sensory Integration". Danee is really, really busy. I always knew she was by far the craziest kid I have ever had, but I guess I just chalked it up to her personality. It Turns out that she is so busy because she is unable to organize the information she receives through her senses. She is a "Sensory Seeker", this explains the constant movement, dumping of toy bins, climbing...etc. It also explains just why she isn't talking yet. She can't stop moving long enough to hear or see what we are trying to teach her. It's good to know I am not crazy and it is not my old age making me so tired!

The final concern is Danee's weight. She had gained a pound last month and by today has lost weight. At her last "well baby" appointment she was (negative) -3rd percentile for weight today she is -5th. So we will continue to let her have bottles and eat what ever she wants but now she will be monitered by the G.I people. I am not sure what that means but will keep you posted.

All of this new information certainly gives Mike and I a lot to mull over and of course many new appointments to make and therapist to meet. I am looking forward to getting Danee the help she needs and moving her in the right direction. I get to learn a new skill and teach Danee sign language until she begins to talk and hopefully she will be less frustrated and someday soon calmer as she begins to file and organize her information.

She is happy and full of life and we couldn't love this little girl anymore then we do. She may be small and full of it but at the end of the day she is perfect to me!

Steppin' Out

Danee has been walking around furniture for months. We have been waiting...and waiting for her to attempt letting go, even if to just stand there.



She started pushing her toys around the floor several weeks ago using everything that wasn't bolted down as a walker, laundry baskets and garbage cans not excluded.


Then Friday night as we were getting ready to head out and watch Tyler's play I put on her new Sketchers "Twinkle Toes" shoes and off she went... 5 steps as if she had been doing it all along! I was so surprised all I could muster up was "Mike come see what your daughter is doing!". He missed it but the room full of people did not. Since then she has tried out her new skill a little each day. More and more finding herself strolling across the room before she realizes what she's done and sits down. Oh yes folks we are close!

Could it be, we're coming home?

(By Cindy Brinkerhoff - from Keeping Up With The Brinkerhoffs) - click on over!

Good News! After this mornings breathing treatment the RT deemed Danee's lungs clear! She went all but one hour last night with out supplemental oxygen and has had plenty of wet diapers in the past 12 hours! (thanks to the IV) The word on the 7th floor is that we should be coming home soon. :)

We just need to get this girl to drink and keep herself hydrated. As of this morning it was a NO GO! She just isn't interested. But she did eat a pancake and some chocolate pudding.
Any tips any one?

Today they brought in a play mat and I am bringing some of her favorite toys from home for her to play with. I can't wait to see her award winning smile again.

Thank you SO much Sister Garlock, and Sister Van Valkenburg for feeding the big kids in our absence and Sister Farnes for the sleep over with Kaylee. We are very grateful for ALL the support we have been given. We truly are a blessed family.

Disney Fans: GET THEE TO WOOT NOW!!!

Okay Disney and/or Awesome Classic Vinyl Records Fans...

Today is a GREAT day over at my beloved Woot!

They're offering up a classic, vintage, 1978 issue 4 Record Box Set of the Magical Music of Disney plus a 52 page full-colour book, for only $15.99 plus their standard $5 shipping...



This deal is ONLY available today, and ONLY until it sells out.

GO!! BUY!! LOVE!!

Oh, and if you need a turntable, they're selling one that connects to your computer at their sellout.woot site. To get there, you have to go to Yahoo Shopping and scroll down to the Deal of the Day section and click on it.

And there ya go - truly classic vinyl, and a truly modern way to play them!

Enjoy!! But don't blame me if you didn't see this TODAY (Saturday April 11) and you missed out...

Good News!

The phone rang today with Good news. Our Final Adoption court date is here!!

The court has approved everything and Danee will officially be a Brinkerhoff,


Friday March 27th at 9:00 AM!

Mike and I, along with our attorney and any family that would like to join us will take our oath, sign our order and take our picture with Danee. We are so excited and feel so blessed that this day is finally marked in ink on the calendar.

We plan to have an Open House to celebrate our little girl joining our family saturday March 28th in the afternoon from 4:00-8:00 with food, drink and of course yummy chocolate!

We will have Danee blessed Sunday the 29th of March during our sacrament meeting at 1:00. We would love to have friends and family join us for this very special day.

Going On Tour!

HEY ALL YOU EASTERN WASHINGTON FRIENDS AND FAMILY...

We're packing up our little Babykins and heading east!  There's a Grandma, a couple Aunts (and corresponding uncles) and a whole buncha cousins that have been waiting patiently to meet her, and this weekend Danee will make the meet 'n' greet circuit!

We're hoping to see as many people as we can get away with!

Big Girl, You Are Beautiful!

Look at that amazing, one-of-a-kind picture I got of Danee eating her fist! She almost NEVER does that! (except for every time I'm trying to get a picture of her, every time I look at her, and probably all the times that I'm not looking at her as well)

If you can draw your eyes away from the precision with which she shoves her right hand into her open mouth, you may notice the yellow band-aids on her legs.

Yes, today was Shot(s) day.

She received (I think...) 8 different vaccinations today, and for the rest of the day, has been very fussy, especially if anything touches her leg. We've kept the Baby Tylenol flowing into her, and hopefully after a good night's sleep (PLEASE!!!??) she'll be feeling much better.

There was a happy side-effect to her going to the mean old doctor's office to get those horrible shots... We got to throw her on the scale and get an official read on how big she is!

I'd been guesstimating "between 6 and 7 pounds" for the past couple weeks, but this last few days, I've been thinking that she's much closer to the seven end of that range.

Well, she hopped up on the scale (or was placed there, whatever!) and two months after she hit her lifetime low weight of 2 pounds and 12 ounces, she turned in a very respectable...

SEVEN POUNDS AND TWELVE OUNCES!!!

TWENTY INCHES IN LENGTH!!!

CUTER THAN ANY OTHER BABY AROUND!!!

It's possible that the doctor didn't certify that last one, but she should have! To help prove my point, here is yet another picture of Daneekins shoving her fist into her mouth!

The Latest & Greatest Danee News

I feel like I should do another Q&A post, but it's way too late and I'm way too tired to do something like that right now.

Instead, I'll just give a quick update on what's been going on.

As I mentioned the other day, with the latest video, Danee has finally passed her due date, and is a "newborn" instead of a preemie. To go along with that, she has outgrown all preemie clothes, and some of the newborn size ones are getting a little snug. The newborn diapers are also getting a little tight around the thighs... And last night, all three of us (Cindy, Danee and myself) had the worst night of sleep we've had since she was born. This evening we kept her up as much as we could, so she'll hopefully sleep more tonight.

My sister Susan recently asked when the adoption will be iron clad, to the point where she is really ours and nobody can take her from us. Susan, you can rest easy knowing that last Friday, our attorney went to court and officially terminated the father's rights. The mother had already signed hers away, but the father wasn't so cooperative, so we had to give him 30 days notice, and then cut him off. It went off without a hitch!

Next on the Adoption Agenda, is another home study. You know, in case we were just kidding when we put on the "aren't we a great family" show back in November. This second inspection needs to come once we've had Danee for 60 days. Since we brought her home on December 24, that means that sometime around February 24, we'll call the inspector guy for the follow up. We're budgeting a month or so for him to visit us, put together his report, and get it to the Pierce County adoption liaison, who in turn will send it to the court commissioner with her recommendation that we be granted permanent adoption status. Then, Cindy and I will go before the court and take an oath of some sort - kind of a parental inauguration day, only probably with fewer people attending - and then it'll be done! We'll get her new birth certificate that lists us as parents, and she will officially be ours forever.

All of that will likely take place by the latter half of March. Once it's all done, we can finally bless her in Church, which is tentatively penciled in for the first Sunday in April. We'll see how well we stick to that date! In other exciting family and Church related news, Cindy and I will be getting Sealed for Eternity this Spring also! We're really excited to be taking this big step, and are even happier to be able to do it with our sweet baby! More details will be revealed as they unfold...

Okay, so that covers Danee becoming a genuine Brinkerhoff... But we gotta keep her healthy too! And that is where this comes in:



I think they mis-spelled it on their own logo though. It really should be $YNAGI$. It's one of the new genetic engineered drugs, that is reportedly very effective at preventing infections of RSV, a nasty virus that is the leading cause of bronchiolitis and several other respiratory infections. In babies, it can be fatal.

Just so we're all on the same page, it's important.

Even more important, since we have a daycare in our home, and those little germ-magnets bring in every bug from miles around! Danee got her first dose at the hospital the day before coming home. We'd heard that it was very expensive, but nobody actually told us how much. The first dose was covered by her DSHS/Medicaid insurance, since she hadn't been placed with us yet.

For the past week, we've been wrangling with pharmacies and insurance companies trying to get her second dose lined up.

It's not a drug that's stocked at your corner pharmacy. It's overnighted from somewhere (the manufacturer maybe) the day before it's needed. It really is quite a big deal.

I got a call from the specialty pharmacy, wanting to get my insurance information so they could have our medicine sent to our doctor's office. I got as far as saying what insurance company I'm covered by, and the girl on the phone cut me off. "Oh. With that company, they don't cover the shot at your pediatrician's office. You'll have to bring her here to us."

When I asked where they were located, she initially said Everett (YIKES!) but then said "or Tukwila." For those of you not from the wet side, Everett is a good 2+ hours away, but Tukwila is just over 30 minutes. So that sounded good.

It sounded even better today, when we found out that to have it at the pediatrician's office would cost us $720. That was enough to make us build a bubble around Danee until Summer to keep her safe. $720 per month until April is not something we have in the budget, especially after all the expenses of the adoption...

Oh but wait. If we go to the pharmacy in Tukwila, it's "only" $160 per dose. Well, that's much better!

Until Danee gets a little bigger, in which case she'll need a larger dose of $ynagi$.

That larger dose will cost us $300 at the cheap location. We didn't ask how much it would be at our local Dr. office. So Wednesday at 1, Danee is going up to Tukwila to get a shot in the leg, to protect her lungs.

In case you were wondering, this starter dose retails for nearly $1000, and the larger dose is $1500.

Cindy had the first of her two baby showers tonight! It was the one put on by her friends at church, and they did a great job! She got lots of loot, and a bunch of them even pooled together and got us the stroller we wanted - the one that our carseat latches in to!

One of the ladies in our ward is a professional chef, and naturally she was recruited to make the cake. Cindy brought home some of the leftovers, and I'll verify the fact that it was a very delicious cake! In fact, it still IS a delicious cake - there is still some left, because I did NOT eat it all!

It was decorated cuter than any baby shower cake I've ever seen! (not that I've ever really seen any baby shower cakes before though) The cake was roughly the shape of a baby bed, and this fondant sculpture was sitting on top of it:



After they got home from the shower, Cindy brought Danee downstairs to get her ready for bed, while I made bottles for the overnight shift. I really wasn't too surprised to come downstairs and find the picture-perfect Mommy/Danee moment that I did, but I was sure glad that I had the camera with me! (which I did, because I'd just taken the pic of the cake topper, and wanted to post it on the blog!)



And finally to close out this update on the Danee News Network, last week the Puddle Jumpers finally got to go hands-on with our little baby girl! (not ALL of them, but a couple of the older, more trustworthy and germ free ones did...)

Here's Zoe enjoying some Danee time:



And Kaoru not only got to hold her, but he'd also made her an origami ninja hat!



That'll definitely come in handy if she ever needs to fend off someone who wants to hold her, who hasn't washed their hands!

Well there's all the news that I can think of in my half asleep state. It's definitely time for bed, and HOPEFULLY Danee will sleep for a long time so that her loving parents can too.

G'nite!

Amazing View Of The Inauguration

Just for a moment, throw out the political views and agendas involved, and just take in the scope of this week's Inauguration.

The estimates of 1.8 million people seem to be agreed upon, and the visual spectacle of seeing all of those people in one place is a powerful sight.

Undoubtedly, nearly everyone there was packing some sort of camera... Certainly there were professional and press photographers lining the entire perimeter.

One such photographer used a robotic camera mount called a Gigapan to stitch together 220 shots to make a monstrous, 1,474 Megapixel image that you can zoom through, pan around, take in the massive event in amazing clarity.

Check it out!

For more details on how the picture was created, go here.

(thanks to Gizmodo for the original article)

We Finally Got Registered!

Ever since we announced that we were adopting our sweet baby girl, everyone we know has been asking us the same question:
"ARE YOU GUYS OUT OF YOUR MINDS??" "What do you need?"

Before we brought her home, we had already arranged all of the immediate needs - Crib, Cradle, Changing Table, Car Seat, Bottles... And I knew that once we brought her home, we'd suddenly realize all the things that we'd forgotten, so we decided to hold off registering anywhere until after we brought her home.

Well, by now she's been home almost a month, and we definitely have some shortcomings in the "Stuffs" category. On top of that, two groups of Cindy's friends (one from the School and neighborhood, and one from Church) have finally pinned her down and told her that she's going to have baby showers. So far, she'd been holding them off by saying that we didn't really know what we need yet, and have so much stuff going on with the Holidays and assorted similar reasons. This week, the appointed leaders of the two groups put their feet down, named a date, and said "Go Forth And Register!"

So Go Forth And Register we did.

We hit up both Target and Babies R Us, and learned that there is a huge difference between a store with four aisles of baby stuffs, and a store entirely devoted to the same stuffs. It took us a lot longer to get through Babies R Us, but having been ordered to get it done, we soldiered on through it.

The end result: We now have wish-lists at both stores, as well as their respective websites. I've had a heck of a time looking them up through the normal methods, so I'm gonna cheat and put the direct links here.


(Just click on the logo to go to our registry at that store)

Now, here's the deal though. It's awkward doing this... We both feel really weird asking for stuff, when we already feel like simply having Danee is the biggest blessing we've ever received. We're putting this registry information up at the requests of people who have asked us to do so. We are in no way ASKING for gifts - the love and support we've gotten through the comments here, the phone calls, the visits, the meals, the free babysitting, has meant more to us than any material items ever could.

Thanks for all the support! And thanks for making it to the end of this - I think it's the wordiest post I've done in quite a while, but it feels good to actually take the time to write something again! As a reward for sticking with it, here's a pic I just took of Danee in Grandma's arms. Cindy and her mom just left to take Mom back to the airport for her flight home, so she gave Danee a farewell feeding and snuggle. Danee had just downed one of her biggest feedings yet, so she was starting to snooze it off!

She Did It!

After falling for a trick question on her first attempt, yesterday Ellysa again ventured into the depths of the DMV, and emerged victorious with her License to Learn to Drive!



She was ready... SO ready...



And last night, since she was going to church for youth activity night anyway, we got there a little early so she could, for the first time, meet The Clutch. She did really well, stalling it a few times, but quickly learned important Clutch Concepts, like pushing the clutch in whenever you need to hit the brake...



I've actually been dreading this moment for several years, but after trying to teach our niece Chelsey to drive last summer scared the crap out of me, I figured I would either be somewhat desensitized now, or would have a much greater level of appreciation for Ellysa when she started driving and did things well.

Well, she really did! After the activity, I let her drive around for another 20 minutes or so, and she made several laps around the parking lot. I had her stop, and then restart on a slight hill, so she could feel the need to keep the car from rolling backwards... I had her park, so she could give Reverse a try... For a first timer, I am very proud of her!

But what's a first drive without some comic relief? After doing really well, and getting some confidence, I told her to go down one side of the parking lot, and park it, so I could take over and drive us home.

I TOTALLY know why those official driver's ed cars have a brake pedal on the passenger side for the instructor... In a quick moment of Oopsitude, she hit the gas rather than the brake, and...



Her nervous giggle was really cute, and helped keep my calm... It was (obviously) dark, so I didn't get to see if there's any damage, but I'm thinking other than some scrapes on the front bumper, we got off pretty easy. And luckily, the handrail for the stairs she almost climbed was spared!

Good job on your first drive, Ellysa! I'm proud of you, and I love you!!

Looking Back at 2008

I can't believe that this is the last day of 2008... Cliche or no cliche, I'm completely amazed at how fast this year has gone by. It's made even harder to believe when I look back at all the things that happened this year... Fortunately, everything we do gets documented here so it doesn't get forgotten... Let's review, shall we?

We rang in 2008 at Disneyland, acting like children... Kinda ironic that a year later, we're taking care of a new child of our own!

In late January, we had some snow! After the last two weeks, it's hard to believe that we were so excited to have that little dusting...

February was an exciting month around here. Not only did we get opening night tickets to the big Hannah Montana concert movie, but earlier that same day, Cindy fell and broke her ankle... Overcome with a sense of commitment to the kids, she decided that the show must go on, and hobbled her way into the theater. We wouldn't actually find out until a few days later, that her ankle was, in fact, broken... Oh, and the movie that was supposed to be out for one weekend only, was promptly expanded to a general release. Way to reward the TRUE fans, Disney...

Also in February, we learned a great new game - Speed Scrabble! If you like Scrabble, check it out... We haven't gone back to regular Scrabble since!

On February 21, Tyler reached the milestone of his first Double Digit Birthday, and we celebrated at the Space Needle.

In March, Andy created a new weekly comic strip called "Rodney & Jim" and it started running weekly here. The first couple months of the strip suffered some growing pains, but by the end of the school year, it started to really hit its stride! Click here to look back over his creations!

April saw Tyler playing as a Hun in his school's production of Mulan the musical, and Ellysa learned how much fun it can be to combine swimming and basketball! We also took a Spring Break getaway to the grand opening of the Great Wolf Lodge Waterpark. I can't wait to go back there... Shortly after returning to work, I got to have the fun of bringing some work home with me. And when you work for a construction company, you can bring some COOL STUFF home from work!!

As April wound down, I started writing a weekly column about music - my experiences working in the music business, some of my favorite albums, and more... I kept it up for 16 columns, but ultimately I didn't have the time to keep up that pace. I hope to start it back up again sometime, because I really enjoyed it! To read through the archives, just click here!

The end of May saw some of the warmest weather of the year, and I DJ'd the first ever Fircrest Pool Party, which was a complete blast, and inspired us to re-launch the DJ Business! And as one business had a new beginning, we are (or at least, I still am) mourning the loss of Mad Jack's Ice Cream...

In June, we decided to help out our niece from Arizona, by letting her move in with us. It ultimately didn't work out, but in hindsight, it was a great practice for adopting our new beautiful baby girl!

June was also the highlight of the Music Monday column, when we had the big debut of the song Kaylee and I wrote and produced, "Breathe"!




With school out, summer approaching, and our niece Chelsey due to join us soon, we decided it was time to get a bigger vehicle. The decision was quickly made, and we love our new van! (even if we're not crazy about the payment...)



July kicked off with an explosive 4th of July weekend at my uncle Richard's lake cabins... And then a 5th of July Karaoke-fest at our house!



In September, Kaylee made it so that all four of our kids (which was all of them at the time!) are now wearing braces. Our orthodontist is living comfortably off our family, no doubt... And, at the height of Twilight Fever, Cindy and the girls went to Forks for the first annual Stephenie Meyer Day!



October is Soccer month for Kaylee, and this year we got some great action shots! And sticking with photography in October, we got awesome new family pictures taken!



From November through the end of the year, the big news has been our adorable, tiny, adopted baby Danee! We've had way too many posts to even pick a highlight to link here, so if you, by some small chance haven't heard this news, just scroll back through the past two months. She turns one month old tomorrow, and is surpassing all expectations - even all hopes and dreams! She is, quite simply, our miracle baby!



Happy new year to all of you! We can't wait to see what kind of fun and exciting things 2009 has in store for us!

Settling In...

Wow, it's amazing... You bring the new teeny tiny preemie baby home, and suddenly all online activity screeches to a halt! No blog updates, no reading other blogs, I even forgot to get in on Woot's Christmas Day Bag o' Crap!

But we've been plenty busy since the daily Danee updates stopped... And I've even managed to take lots of pictures to share!

Danee and her cousin Rachel



And her cousin Alicia



Cuddling with Big Sister Ellysa on Christmas Morning!



...And big brother Tyler...



And of course, big sister Kaylee!



This next picture, I really love... Yesterday, Danee was a little constipated, and had some tummy aches. Cindy sat cross-legged on our bed, and lay Danee across her lap. Instantly, she calmed down and looked amazingly peaceful... After half an hour or so, Cindy wanted to try to go do something, so she put Danee down on the bed - still on her tummy (don't worry, I was there to watch her) and almost instantly, she started fussing. Cindy put her back on her lap, and presto - Angelic Peace returned!



This morning after her morning bottle, Danee didn't go to sleep like she usually does. There wasn't any problem, she just felt like staying awake for a while! It was a lot of fun to see her so alert for so much time!













This afternoon Cindy's brother Chuck and his family came over to do our Christmas gift exchanges, and of course snag a little cuddle time with Babykins... Here she's enjoying some lunch courtesy of Uncle Chuck!



Then, after dinner it was time for her first bath at home! We did it in the sink of our downstairs bathroom, which has an extra heater built into the wall, so we cranked it all the way up, and got a small plastic bin that normally stores toys for the daycare... Put it in the sink, filled it with warm water, and kicked off the quickest baby bath in history! (after all, we gotta let the little girl keep her body temperature up!)



Unlike last week, there was no sleeping through this bath!!



We bathed her before we fed her... And at this point, it looked like she'd decided to eat her wrist, since we were postponing her ACTUAL food!



In addition to the heater being on, we had her towel in the dryer on high heat... Nothing like a heated towel to put the finishing touch on a nice warm bath!



And then it was back to the changing table, into her clothes, and FINALLY...

DINNER!!

Oh, also... Friday morning we took her to her first "Well Baby" checkup with her pediatrician. Our little superstar had already gained 3 ounces since coming home, and has also grown 3 inches since birth!

Current Stats: 4 Pounds, 3 Ounces, 17.5 Inches long!

That means she's put on a whole pound from her birth weight of 3lb, 3oz, in less than a month! She's amazing!

We can't even put words to how much we love finally having her home with us. It's going to be really hard getting back into the routine of going to work every day... Her feeding happens pretty regularly every 3 or 4 hours, which always seems to include one about an hour before I'd normally be getting up - which of course, makes getting up that much harder! Luckily I'm off til next year, so I've got plenty of time to figure this all out!

We hope you all had a very merry Christmas, and are working toward a Happy New Year!

Danee Comes Home!

We got up early this morning, so we could go to the hospital and bring home our precious pink bundle of joy! She was so alert this morning, it was as if she knew that something big was coming... Sure enough, after a few minutes of discharge instructions, and one mind-numbingly repetitive infant CPR video, we were presented with discharge papers to sign!

Once that stuff was out of the way, it was time to load up that fancy new car seat!



Yep, there's nothing like a car seat that's good for up to 30 pounds, to make our little just-barely-four-pounder look as tiny as she really is!

A quick ride down the elevator, and I went to get the van, and loaded up my precious cargo!



Fifteen minutes later, Danee was safe in her new home, sleeping off the morning's excitement!

And right now, as I type this, she's laying in her big sister Kaylee's arms, with the fireplace going, and the heat cranked up to an otherwise ridiculous 77 degrees... Which is going to make it SO much easier for me to wear shorts all winter long, which as most of you know, is my preferred method of dress!

Best Christmas Present Ever: DEFINITELY!

Cutting It Close!

See that boring looking legal document, laying in Danee's little cradle?

It's not so boring... It's actually the most exciting legal document I've ever seen!

This legal document, filed today, is the one we've been anxiously waiting for for the past few weeks.

Armed with this legal document, we will descend upon the NICU at Saint Joseph Medical Center tomorrow, and when we leave, we will have our sweet little Daneekins with us!

It seems almost unreal... and yet here is the paper, right in front of me!

Another Big Step!

Take a good look at our beautiful little girl's face... Notice a change? Danee had her feeding tube removed last night!! She's getting all of her food through her mouth now, and she LOVES to eat!



Don't let the droopy eyes fool you... I fed her a bottle yesterday while she was half asleep... And she still managed to pack down 50 milliliters of formula in less than ten minutes! When the bottle was empty, she woke up enough to look around, making sucky-faces, hoping for more. She usually doesn't get any more, because her little tummy is still pretty tiny.

They've moved her to a new feeding schedule, or rather, they moved her OFF the feeding schedule. She now gets to eat when she's hungry, and as much as she wants! Of course, you can't just hand a 34 week preemie complete nutritional control... So if she ever tries to sleep more than 4 hour between feedings, they'll wake her up to eat. It's a pretty sweet gig for a tiny girl!



Kaylee got to hold her, and feed her today, which she loved. If you look in the bottom left corner of that picture, you'll see a car seat. Last night, the nurses did the "Car Seat Check" on Danee. They put her in the seat for an hour, while monitoring all her vitals to make sure she can handle being in that position.

Not that it's any surprise to us, but she aced the test! We actually ran out last night and bought a really nice new car seat, so it's great that she's already put it to such great use!

Oh, and there's even more great news...

Remember the caffeine thing? Danee hasn't had a single problem! Hasn't forgotten to breathe, hasn't had any extreme irritability... She's handling giving up caffeine much better than most grownups do!

Remember how they want to watch her for these problems for seven days?

Day seven is next Tuesday... Which means that unless something goes haywire, Danee will be released from the hospital on Wednesday, also known as Christmas Eve!

Our little Christmas Miracle! She is so completely amazing, so completely beautiful... We are SO blessed to be able to welcome her into our family!

Two big things left to pray for:

1 - Keep on praying for Danee's health, growth, and amazing progress to continue.

2 - Pray that our attorney gets into court on MONDAY to get an emergency temporary guardianship order, so that we can actually take her home on Wednesday. With all the delays in court hearings, our nerves are shot. So we're praying for Monday.

As always, Cindy and I would like to thank all of you for the constant stream of good wishes that you've been sending - THANK YOU!!

Little Victories - Take 'Em Where Ya Can!

Hot on the heels of mourning the adoption failure, I was (possibly a little too) excited this morning to fill up my gas tank...

At a very reasonable (in contrast to what I paid even a week ago, but I'd still love to see it lower, so don't any sleazy oil executives take this as permission to leave prices here) $2.05 per gallon!

My car was about as empty as it gets, and my 14 gallon fillup cost a mere $29 even! I fondly remember Christmas 2001, when we filled up for 99 cents a gallon. I'll let a repeat be my Christmas Wish for 2008 - We're heading out on the 26th for a road trip, after all!

Stickin' It To The Man!

Most of us who grew up on Looney Toons and Merrie Melodies recognize that picture... A classic moment where Bugs Bunny refused to give up his home to the developer who wanted to build a skyscraper in the same spot. As hilarity ensued, Bugs prevailed and the skyskraper was built as you see above, with a little indent for his humble rabbit hole.

Well, there's a similar situation playing out just down the street from us right now... Until today I only had a hunch that it was truly happening, but it's now been confirmed in the business section of our local paper!

The business in question is the Little Holland Drive In. It's an old fashioned burger stand, and an institution in the Tacoma area. In fact, their signature burger, the Mikie Burger, has been voted as the Best Burger in Seattle. For ANY Seattle list to even acknowledge that Tacoma has redeeming qualities is amazing, for it to take the top prize is unheard of. The burger is that good.

The Little Holland sat in an area that was greatly in need of renovation. Across the street, remodels greatly improved the visual appeal, and new tenants moved in. Down the street a recent remodel had similar results. The LH itself has a certain charm to it, and has recently been painted, so it looks quaint. But its immediate neighbors were truly an eyesore... There was a run down sleazy-mart on one side, and various dumpy offices on the other side. A few months ago, a sign went up in front of the sleazy-mart with a beautiful artist's rendering of what that corner will look like soon. Within weeks, the sleazy-mart had its going out of business sale, followed quickly by the other businesses. But the Little Holland kept pluggin' along, selling burgers (and frozen custard!) Wednesdays through Saturdays, as if nothing was going on.

A few weeks ago as Cindy and I drove by, I mentioned how strange it was that they weren't making any moves to close up shop, and jokingly referenced the Bugs Bunny cartoon pictured above. In the artist's rendering, you could ALMOST make out a similar indent in the new structure, but upon closer examination we decided it was just a shadow.

Last week the sleazy-mart came crumbling down... Then the offices on the other side were reduced to rubble. On Saturday I was buying gas across the street, and there was an excavator breaking up concrete from the offices, clearing the ground. The Little Holland stood amidst the dust and noise, not open for business, but its lights were still on, and the windows were filled with the same signs and posters as always. No big "GOODBYE!" notice. My curiosity was really tweaked!



This is what it looked like yesterday... Surrounded by rubble, blissfully unaware that time is marching on without it. And for the next 12-18 months, time will march on without impacting it! The story in the newspaper is that the owners have negotiated a deal to stay open during construction of the new business center - I'm really not sure how that will work, since the external structure is generally built fairly early in the construction process. I can't wait to see how this all develops!



I also can't wait to enjoy at least one more Mikie Burger before they're gone for good!

I Saved Three Lives Yesterday - What Did You Do?

Yesterday Cindy and I took time out of our frantic, busy lives to donate blood. Unfortunately, the dirty, rotten Puddle Jumpers have passed on some sort of bug to her, resulting in a fever that kept her from donating, but she'll be back in a week or so!

I've managed to dodge the little germ-bombs so far, so the good folks at Cascade Regional Blood Services was more than happy to relieve me of a pint of my finest blood.

There was a time that I thought I'd never give blood. I thought the very notion of it was far too terrifying, so no way was somebody sticking a needle in me!

Shortly after I graduated High School, my sister Janice (you may know her as Janice Head) began working as a phlebotomist (fancy word for person who delights in sticking needles in the arms of the innocent) at the Bellevue office of the Puget Sound Blood Center. For months she nagged, prodded, and occasionally attempted to encourage me to donate blood. I was steadfast and immovable against the idea!

Then a perfect storm of events cropped up that changed my thinking. I was working in the warehouse/office of Silver Platters, and the whole office decided to take a field trip to go give blood. It just so happened that the day all my co-workers chose to bleed for humanity, was also Janice's last day on the job there.

That made her prodding and nagging far more effective, plus she had the peer pressure factor on her side.

The day and time came, we headed over to the blood center, and Janice was, I think, more than a little shocked to see that I had actually shown up. Since it was her last day, and I was her little brother, everyone there made sure that I wound up being poked by her. The whole time she worked there, she would look at my arms and say "Oh, you have GREAT veins!" and things like that. I am VERY glad to have "great veins" because it turns out that makes the whole process MUCH more enjoyable. That was a good thing, because while I was cool on the outside, on the inside I was a complete scaredy cat!

Janice did a great job, and I had to admit that I suffered little, if any pain. From that point on, I have tried to give blood regularly. I'm not as good about it as I should be, but I definitely give several times a year, and it feels great to help out the community.

Each donation can help up to three recipients. That's a HUGE return on the investment of a little discomfort!!

Plus, you get to choose obnoxiously bright arm-bandages to ensure you don't keep bleeding when the draw is complete. Last night, I chose bright green with smiley faces!



I always try to choose the bright, loud colors, because I am truly proud to take part in such an important, and EASY process that does so much good in society. People often ask what happened when they see the bandage, and I tell them that I gave blood and they should too.

I don't know how many people I've actually convinced to do it, but my hope is that I've at least helped the cause for more donors at least a little...

So, help me help the cause! Find the Donation Location near you and give! You'll be glad you did!!

(plus, you can post pictures of yourself with a fluorescent bandage on - that's gotta be worth SOMETHING!)

Oh yeah, after I gave blood, Janice tried pulling a prank on me... She called me up and said that my blood type was (something) and that since Mom was (something else) and Dad was (still another something) that there was NO WAY they could be my parents... and that I was adopted. Unfortunately for her little trick, there were two things that kept it from being effective: (1) I had joked for many years that I was adopted, so it really wasn't that big of a stretch, or a blow to me, and (2) I was just too dumb about the ways of blood types to even get what she was saying!

Sometimes, Maybe It IS Your Fault

Ahh, the radio at work. Next to my sister Susan, it's one of my most consistent sources for blogging inspiration! No need to worry, we're still tuned in to JACK, so I'm not suffering through the world's smallest and most annoying playlist (aka star 101.5) anymore. But while Jack's playlist is immense and mostly good, they still sell airtime to any fool with an open wallet... And lately, there are more and more commercials that use the same phrase... It's started to sound like that old classic, Fingernails on the Blackboard.

The phrase is "It's Not Your Fault!"

It's EVERYWHERE!

If you've tried to lose weight but are still fat, don't worry - IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!

You want a fancy new laptop? All your friends have them but you can't afford one? IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!

Are you mired in credit card debt? Well, IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!

The thing that's really getting rough is that all three of those commercials play on nearly every commercial break, all day long. As I listen to the soothing, understanding voices explain why THEY can make everything better - and transform you into a skinny, out of debt, laptop owner, I can't help but ponder our nation's - and the world's - financial situation.

How did we get here? A large part of it started with people who didn't have enough income to afford a house, and couldn't save up a down payment because, well, it IS hard to save up a bunch of money. But through the miracle of "IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!", they were handed out home loans they couldn't afford. SOME of the loan recipients probably COULD have afforded their loans, IF they curbed ALL frivolous spending. An even smaller portion of those people probably even tried to, cutting out the daily trip to Starbucks, maybe switching to generic cigarettes... But without a ton of discipline, those habits creep right back into the daily routine and suddenly the end of the month comes and there's no money for the house payment.

Cindy and I were in a situation a few years ago where a mortgage broker was trying his hardest to get us into a "New Kind Of Home Loan" from Washington Mutual. After a few meetings, we both felt that the whole program not only felt irresponsible, but it crossed the line and was downright sleazy.

Needless to say, we were very relieved to NOT be impacted by WaMu's meltdown a couple weeks ago.

So here's the deal: Maybe, JUST MAYBE... Situations you find yourself in ARE, at least a little, YOUR OWN FAULT! If you have tried losing weight and failed, TRY AGAIN, AND TRY HARDER! Man... I've lost nearly 50 pounds in the past 18 months or so. I still have another 20-30 to go before I reach my final goal. By the original timeline I'd worked out, I should have reached that already. But the fact of the matter is, IT'S HARD! And it's nobody's fault but my own, that I haven't gotten there yet. The difference is, I realize, and accept this. Rather than call some toll free number from an ad promising that IT'S NOT MY FAULT, I was up at 4:30 this morning playing racketball. I'm ignoring the movie theater butter popcorn in the breakroom. I'm making small changes in my lifestyle that will compound over time to get me where I want to be.

The general state of society today is one of no responsibility. Not for their kids, not for themselves, not for their jobs, their commitments... It's all about what they can get the easy way. That laptop you can get just by calling this toll free number is going to cost you about three times what you'd spend by saving up for a couple months and hitting Office Depot on the Monday after their latest ad hits.

Here's another nugget o' wisdom: JUST BECAUSE THEY OFFER YOU A LOAN, OR A CREDIT CARD, DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD TAKE IT! While the "predatory lenders" love to fill my mailbox with "pre-approved" credit card offers, they can't stop me from taking those offers over to the shredder and making some confetti.

I really hope that the financial shakedown going on will result in a wake-up call to the basic responsibilities of life. Because unless you're talking about natural disasters or freak accidents, most of the stuff people are all hysterical about is very much SOMEBODY'S fault.