James Pierce, RN

James pulled these books off the shelf the other day.  He told me he was just brushing up on his studies in preparation for the NCLEX:

Fall in Woodlake

I love our neighborhood.  I never really imagined raising my family in a neighborhood, or living on a cul-de-sac, or having a club house and neighborhood pool.  I still don't really want to raise my family in that, but it works for us now.  It's a safe place for us to live with Stuart working so many nights in this season of our lives.  Many residents live near us in the neighborhood, and one of our pastors and a couple of elders from our church live right around the corner.

But what I love about our neighborhood is the trail.  And the lake it surrounds.  And the ducks and turtles and cranes that we live among in Woodlake.  (I don't so much love the Canadian geese, but hey, we try to live in harmony here...)

Here is autumn in our community:

Epiphany

There are few things that bring more joy to my husband than sweet harmonies and thoughtful lyrics.  So a few years ago, when he was approached by his dearest friend and fellow musician, Wen Reagan, about revamping and re-releasing their holiday album, Stuart jumped at the opportunity.  He found himself in the middle of a sultry Little Rock summer, neck-deep in medical school, singing of Advent.  Any few, precious spare moments he had were spent at his desk in the middle of our living room, picking away melodies on his guitar and exploring his vocal range to find just the right place to add a line of harmony.  "...in excelsis Deo!"

It lasted into the fall,  when he found himself on airplanes and highways, exploring new cities and hospitals, impressing program directors and chief residents, trying to find his place in the world of OB/GYN residency.  He was able to complete his creative work just in time for the mixing and mastering to be done back in Durham, in Wen's spare bedroom (that's where the magic happens).

Epiphany was released in time for the holidays in 2011.  And my husband had a complete project, totally unrelated to that which was dominating his life: medicine (and it remains so).  It was so special for me to watch him create this album.  He had done this several times before, but entirely before we met.  This time, I got to watch it happen (at least a little... many of the songs were complete, just needing some retouching for this new release).  It's a curious, beautiful thing to watch someone that you love pour themselves completely into a project that they love.

But this album grew to be so much more important to me since its release.  As soon as the CDs arrived in the mail, we made sure they were distributed out for all of our family to listen to and brag about (and sell!).  One made it's way into the hands of my Pappa Acree, who was battling relapsed lymphoma at the time.  He and my Mamma were making the trek into Charleston, WV a few times a week from their home in Ripley, roughly an hour's drive.  He needed chemotherapy to fight the cancer.  When he wasn't able to receive chemo anymore, he still needed blood tests and transfusions to keep him going.  I went to visit him in November, and I rode with them to the hospital for one of his many lab checks of the week.  Epiphany started playing when my Mamma started the car.  Pappa started telling me how much he loved it, how they listened to it every time they drove down to Charleston.  I like to think that these words of Advent fed his soul and gave him courage every few days as he went into battle for his life during his last several months.

Here's the thing about my Pappa:  he wasn't a lovey, mushy gushy kind of old man.  He was a story teller, a joke teller, gave little side hugs and said "thanks for visiting."  "I'm glad you got to see me."  We adored him for these things.  But then, he had this unusual affinity for Stuart.  They played golf together.  They picked on the guitar together.  He just really liked him.  That trip I took to see them in November was the last time I saw him before Pappa went home on hospice.  Before I left for home, Pappa took me aside and told me how much he respected Stuart and how proud he was of him and all that he had accomplished in school, and with this Christmas album, that it was really special to him.  I knew that was his way of telling me how immensely proud he was of me, too.

In February of 2013, Stuart drove us through the night to make sure I got to WV to say goodbye to Pappa before he passed.  We arrived and it was so gloomy in the house, with Pappa laying unresponsive in his hospital bed.  Stuart picked up Pappa's guitar and started singing to him.  A palpable sense of peace, even joy, filled the home.  Pappa passed away late that night.  After the funeral a few days later, as we loaded the car and said our goodbyes, my Mamma gave to Stuart my Pappa's old guitar.  "He would have wanted you to have it."  Tears filled our drive home.

As this year's Advent season approaches, and my heart begins yearning in anticipation of the coming Messiah, I listen to Epiphany with my baby son.  "I only wish Pappa could have met him," I think, or rather, that James could have had the privilege of knowing my Pappa.  I find myself so grateful for Epiphany.  So grateful that Wen asked Stuart to work on such a project, at such a seemingly inconvenient time in Stuart's life for such things.  So grateful for the timing of its release and the way it ministered to my Mamma and Pappa Acree.  So grateful for it, even now, as I long for my own son to anticipate the coming season.

[And here is a photo of James, since I know that's why most folks read this blog.]

James: 11 months

I cannot believe this little person has been in our lives (on the outside!) for 11 months. 30 days short of a year.  Wowie.

Overview & some stats

- Sleeping 11-12 hours at night

- 2 naps per day, 1-2 hours each

- 4 bottles per day

- Dropped to only 3-5oz at bedtime!

- 3 solid meals per day

- Trying to do better about snacks between meals, though bottles seem to fit this bill

- 7 teeth, but I suspect an 8th is on it's way through

- 1 nasty cold that turned James into a snot factory (thank God for humidifiers)

- Goes from belly to sitting on his own (find him sitting up in his crib often after naps)

- Lowered his crib mattress (finally) for the first time since we brought him home from the hospital

- Sometimes crawls/scoots around on hands/knees/feet, but usually still swims around on his belly

Nap Regression

We had a weird thing happen with naps this past month, and I want to make a quick note about it before I forget, because I almost moved him to one nap a day because of it.  One random day, he decided to scream through this entire afternoon nap (with frequent checks).  For the life of me, I could not figure out WHAT could possibly be wrong.  He would stop crying as soon as I walked in his room, and start crying when I walked back out.  He did this for a few days (for one long, terrible day, he did this for both naps, and another day my poor mother was caring for him and had to endure it while I was a work - what a doozy of a week!).  Then, Stuart was off on Saturday at the end if this particular nap regression week, and James miraculously napped beautifully for first and second nap, and has been doing just fine ever since.  No new teeth, nothing else crazy that I've noticed.  This is the kind of mama thing that drives me absolutely bonkers - there is seemingly no explanation or purpose behind James' terrible nap protests.  But here we are on the other side and doing just fine.   He quite obviously still needs two naps, so I'm very glad we were patient and didn't just drop to one!

Busy busy!

He is so, so curious these days, and I find him much more intrigued by objects that he is not supposed to touch than with his toys.  The filter at the bottom of the refrigerator, the peace lilly leaves, Stuart's OR notes in his work bag, my Pappa Acree's old guitar, the fire place... He keeps us busy making sure he doesn't eat something he shouldn't or pull something over and crush himself.  But he is so cute when he gets going on this circuit around to all the exciting objects, because he just squeals while he crawls back and forth between them.  At least he is a joyful, although disobedient and depraved, child :)

Favorite books recently:

Little Blue Truck

Don't Wake the Bear

The Eye Book

Babycakes

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes

ABC Menagerie

When I Was Born

New foods:

- Quinoa (not a huge fan)

- Pineapple

- Blueberries (again - no rash this time)

- Various new winter squashes

- Baked goods! (With chia seeds as egg substitute for now, or anything store bought that is labeled vegan, so as to ensure it's egg-free)

- Green smoothie: no new ingredients, just a new route to get veggies in :) includes spinach, an orange, some banana, & sometimes yogurt and berries

Storytime

We go to story time at our library once a week.  We try to go on Monday or Wednesday, when it's intended for James' age group, but sometimes we end up there on a Tuesday when it's for walking, talking toddlers.  James usually gets a little overwhelmed and just hangs back when we go on toddler day.  But when we go with other babies, he jumps right in and has a blast.

The first 15 minutes we spend singing songs and doing "lap" games, and the librarian reads some stories.  Then for the last 15 minutes, she turns on music and dumps out a bucket of toys, and the babies are turned loose. There is usually a bubble gun involved at some point, and that is James' favorite.  

(In case it's hard to tell, he's the blondie with the yellow-toed socks.)

Pig Pickin' 2013

Every year our church holds a Pig Pickin' in the fall.  For those not from the south, this means we get a whole pig, rub vinegar and hot pepper on it, and smoke it forever and ever and then eat it.  And it is delicious.  There's usually chicken, brisket and hushpuppies to go along side the pig, and all kinds of other side dishes and desserts brought by members of the congregation.

This is the second year that it has been my responsibility to plan the Pig Pickin' - recruiting volunteers for set up and clean up, making sure the guys doing the meat have all the supplies they need to do so, making sure the schedule looks good the day of, and making sure there's enough food, drinks and paper goods to feed the 150 folks that show up hungry!  It's a ton of work and keeps me very busy during the fall... and a lot, lot of fun!

Unfortunately, we didn't get many photos of James, and the only photos of both Stuart and I are of our backs while we're working hard.  Well... actually, the photo of Stuart is him watching Eddie (our gracious host) work hard while he makes the hush puppies! :)  James took a nap (praise the Lord), so he missed out on some of the fun, and then right before dusk when the light was pretty and I was hoping to get some nice photos of James, it started raining.   Anyways, enjoy what we were able to capture!