Back to reality.

I realized today that I needed to switch out of vacation mode and back into medical mode.  Bummer.

Noah's eye surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at noon.  We have to be there around 10am and Noah can't have anything to eat after midnight tonight.  He can drink apple juice, pedialyte, or water after midnight until 8am.  If all goes smoothly, we will be able to bring Noah home to sleep in his own crib tomorrow night.  

Another sad reality is that I have outgrown my laptop.  For those of you who know me well, my laptop is my constant companion and is my main way of keeping connected after our move to Alabama.  Josh informed me tonight that my hard drive is basically ready to explode because I am using every inch of space available... I'm going to have to move some files to an external hard drive to lighten the load a little... or buy a new laptop.  The latter option is not really in our financial cards right now (unless we sell both my laptop and Josh's laptop), so hopefully I can move enough files to temporarily solve the problem!

I'll end with a fun video clip of Noah from our trip to New Haven.  We hung out on the beach for an afternoon and while we were there Noah learned a new trick.  Check it out:

Back home again.

After a long day of traveling, we are home safe and sound from our trip to New Haven. We had a wonderful time... Noah LOVED hanging out with his aunt and uncle! I'm working on compiling our pictures into a slide show, but here are a few to give you a taste...

Nick and Beth during our walk around the Yale campus.  

(Yes, it was cold enough for jackets that day...)

Our little family at the beach in Rhode Island

(Yes, it was hot enough for the beach this day...)

A pacifier, the ocean, and a nap... what more do you need?

Welcome to the world, Samuel Fabbiano!

Congratulations to our friends Jeff and Katie on the birth of their son, Samuel!

We made it!

It was a really long day yesterday but we made it to Connecticut!  This means that Josh has gone coast to coast in one week's time... last weekend he was recruiting on the Pacific in Anaheim, CA and this weekend we are on the Atlantic.  Noah did great on the plane... although he decided to have a big poop about 20 minutes into the first leg of our flight.  Yep, the kind that went all the way up his back and everywhere in between.  It's a good thing that noses adjust to smells after a few minutes, otherwise everyone on the plane would have had a very unpleasant remainder of the flight.  

We are loving the chance to see Nick and Beth... and they are loving the chance to love on Noah. I'll post some pics once we get home!

GI Report

We ventured into Birmingham early this morning to meet with our awesome pediatric GI... he's one of those doctors you feel comfortable with immediately and who acts like he has all the time in the world to discuss your child with you. Those are the best doctors.

Our new plan of action is to give Noah a medication that will encourage his stomach to empty into his small intestine a little more quickly. The faster we get food out of his stomach, the less likely it is to come back out the other way! We have another medication to try in a couple of weeks, if necessary, that will calm the nausea center of his brain.

We also talked about formula changes for when Noah is past 12 months... which made me realize that he is going to be ONE YEAR old in just 2.5 months! I can hardly believe it!

Perhaps the biggest development after this appointment was trying the "bolus feed". When we use the feeding pump, we usually feed Noah over the course of 1 hour. With the bolus feed, we can give him over the course of about 10 - 15 minutes. The fear of him vomiting remains, but, if we can get his stomach calmed down, it would revolutionize my day!

We head to New Haven, CT, tomorrow to see Uncle Nick and Aunt Beth for the first time since Christmas... not looking forward to the long plane ride (please pray for no public throw-ups!) but can't wait to see them!!!

A hunting I will go...

Job hunting, that is.

With Noah going to school from 8:30am to 2:30pm every day beginning in August, I am looking to go back to work sometime this fall.  

I have thought about lots of options but remain unsure about what to pursue.  Returning to full-time teaching seems a little overwhelming at this point, knowing that grading papers and lesson planning would compete with my time with Noah in the evenings.  It also would make taking Noah to doctor appointments in Birmingham difficult, not to mention traveling with the team at all during the season.  

Substituting appears to be a good option.  (Although I may have to contact Sally Lapides to find out all her subbing tricks... she is widely known as the best sub ever seen at NKMS as well as an all around wonderful person).  Subbing provides a lot of flexibility but has some obvious drawbacks... Jeanette always did a great job of setting a tone with the kids regarding subs in the classroom - I doubt that all schools will be as positive an environment for subbing.

I have also kept my eye on the postings at the University of Alabama.  I groan inwardly thinking about all of my great science teaching stuff gathering dust in the garage, but maybe God wants me somewhere besides the classroom.  Nothing has jumped out at me yet, but I will keep looking.  

So prayers would be appreciated as I try to sort through the possibilities.  And if you are a reader from the Tuscaloosa area with job ideas for me, feel free to comment!