What's Up With This Flu?

No more than a half hour after my last post Todd started retching. So much for the "It's a new week!" thought. Todd has had more than his fair share of stomach issues over the course of his lifetime (for those of you who don't know his story, he's had over a dozen abdominal surgeries in his life), but this was the worst bout of his that I have ever witnessed (we've been together five and a half years.) He lost 9 pounds in 2 days. He was sick...VERY sick! A few hours after he started running to the bathroom I found myself running for our other bathroom. Fortunately my case was nowhere near as severe as his, but nonetheless it was wretched. This flu is vile! We are so glad to be on the road back to good health. It's easy to take feeling well for granted until you get sick!

What A Week!

This week was one of the craziest we've had in a long time and I'm glad we're starting a brand new one! First off, Nolan and Todd were both sick. Nolan vomited for a couple of days--his first bout with a stomach bug. I can handle icky poops and I can handle blood, but I can NOT handle vomit. Vomit makes me squeamish like nothing else. Just thinking about it makes my skin clammy and my insides churn!

While he was sick Todd had to be out of town for a business trip. It's awful being sick, but being sick and away from your own bed is like a kick in the head when you're already down for the count. To top it off, within minutes of Todd walking in the door I left him and Nolan together so I could go to the hospital to be with my mom who was having surgery. Her double mastectomy was successful and she is healing better than the doctor could have imagined. We are grateful to the Great Physician and to her surgeon, too!

So far this week has all the potential of normalcy since everyone's pretty much back to health. Only time will tell!

Big Day For Baby!

Nolan is FINALLY cutting his first tooth! Most 16.5 month olds already have a mouth full of pearly whites, but not our Nolan! Whenever he seems excessively drooly or more cranky than usual Todd and I have facetiously joked with each other "Oh, he must be teething!" knowing full well that there was not a tooth, nary a swollen gum, in sight. We resolved ourselves to the possibility that our child would soon be the recipient of "baby dentures" and bemoaned the thought that dental insurance surely wouldn't cover such an extravagance. But this afternoon, when Nolan was splashing around in the bathtub, I saw the smallest shimmer of something white. At first I assumed it was leftover cottage cheese from lunch...but it was a tiny tooth bud! I just about fell into the tub in disbelief! There's really nothing yet to take a picture of, but once this tooth fully comes in I will proudly share the evidence of this milestone with the world. It's been a long time in coming! I'm off to get the orajel!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things...

Books, books, and more books! Here are ten, in no particular order, that I think everyone should read at some point in life.

• East Of Eden, John Steinbeck A moving story of family and forgiveness you will never forget.
• Les Miserables, Victor Hugo A journey inside the mind and heart of one of the greatest literary characters of all time, Jean Valjean.
• To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee Poignantly asks "What is justice?"
• Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl, Harriett Jacobs A memoir written by a learned slave girl in the 1860's.
• Knuffle Bunny, Mo Willems An adorable children's book that depicts the great lengths a parent will go to for their child's happiness.
• The Bible I believe it to be the inerrant, inspired Word of God...and a great piece of literature!
• A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken A love story on earth that speaks of heavenly love.
• Roots, Alex Haley Amazing history right at your fingertips!
• In The Name Of Jesus, Henri Nouwen How to be a servant leader.
• One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez Magical and mystical adventure.

More installments of my favorite things to come! Now go get reading!

Hallelujah For Naps!

My 16 month old has been on a nap strike. The last nap he took was on Superbowl Sunday, February 3...until today! Eight napless days are eight too many! Babies are supposed to sleep and he is still very much a baby to me! He finally napped again today and in my mind it was akin to a much needed thunderstorm in a parched desert. Thank You, Lord!

What-Chu Talkin' 'Bout, Nolan?

Oh, how I wish I knew! Nolan is at that stage where he thinks I understand everything he says, when in reality I can decipher very little of his achingly sweet toddler gibberish. Adorable as his attempts at communication are, much of what comes from his little mouth are grunts. He has a few intelligible words...mama, dada, bampa (Grandpa), ba (ball or bath), baba (bye bye), ba buck (trash truck) and bagoom (vacuum.) Rabbit trail--He's obsessed with the vacuum and we can't wait til he can use it! Fortunately, I understand his ONE baby sign. I have attempted to teach him a few others, but only one has stuck. (Sigh!) In Nolan's world clapping his hands together means "more," "please," or "again"--dependent on the context. Of course it could simply mean "Yeah!" Who really knows? Regardless of what it means, be assured that it's very very cute! He nods yes and shakes his head no and seems to understand what we say to him, but he hasn't made much progress in verbally communicating to us. One of these days it will all come spilling out and we'll be amazed.

Cracker Kid

The fact that Nolan has no teeth doesn't stop him from thoroughly enjoying his food! Silly chipmunk!

Go Chargers!

Dear LT,

I think you're the best! I love the way you jump over all those guys to get a touchdown even though your wife said on an interview that Mommy and Daddy watched that it's too dangerous. Daddy wanted to name me after you, but Mommy said no. She says LaDainian Liedahl doesn't sound so good. Keep on doing what you do best and put those Colts in their place next week.

Your Friend and Fan, Nolan

A "Normal" Sunday At Last!

Since illness has been an unwelcome visitor in our home for what's felt like forever we hadn't been to church since Thanksgiving weekend. Yes, you read that correctly. Not Christmas, but Thanksgiving weekend. I can't recall a time in my life when I've ever been absent that long! Today we were able to participate in service (til we were paged to come for Nolan--no surprise there!) and it was so wonderful to be back! I felt truly rejuvenated as we left the sanctuary...and I definitely was in need of spiritual rejuvenation. I confess that when I'm not in constant fellowship, corporate worship, and learning from a gifted Bible teacher my spiritual life becomes stale rather quickly.

I've never been able to understand people who claim that they are Christians but don't feel the need to go to church. Fellowship is integral to growth--the Bible makes that clear. Yes, we can (and should!) study God's Word on our own, but when we make a conscious decision that no one else will be granted the opportunity to expound upon God's Word in our lives I believe that we are robbing ourselves of an amazing God-given gift. I learn just as much (if not more) from my pastors as I do in my own quiet, personal time with the Lord. Granted, there are countless people throughout the world who can't go to church for a variety of reasons. However, I know that God knows their personal circumstances and meets them where they're at. But when a person can go to church and benefit from an anointed pastor's teaching but chooses not to? I suppose I'll never understand.

Before we were married Todd and I never even had to have the discussion whether or not weekly church attendance would be a part of our lives. We both knew that we both prioritized it "at the top." After all, we met serving at church! We pray that, in time, Nolan comes to love being at church as much as we do. Now if we could just get through an entire service without having to come "rescue" Nolan from the nursery sometime in the semi-near future we'd be golden!

Out With The Old And In With The New

The holiday season is officially over. As much as I love the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season I must admit that I'm thrilled to be headed back to our day to day routine and a general sense of normalcy. Christmas for the Liedahl family was "ho hum" this year. Not "bah humbug," just "ho hum." Nolan was sick for two weeks straight, I had an ugly sinus infection that had me in an antibiotic fog, and Todd's been "on the verge" for about a week. We have spent days on end in our jammies, consumed lots of soup and have watched many many many Baby Einstein DVDs. Cabin fever has officially hit our home!

But Todd goes back to work tomorrow, Nolan and I will resume our daily routine, and if all goes as planned we'll even make it out to the park for awhile. The poor kid has probably forgotten that life exists outside our walls!

We have great hope that 2008 will be a year of God's blessings for us all and look forward to the adventure that He has in store for us! Happy New Year!