No, I haven't left...

Dear Kelly,

Thank you for post and concern. But, be assured I have not left the blogging world. I have spent more time on facebook, but I don't plan on abandoning our blog. I've just been plain lazy lately. Well sort of. There has been more frustration with the blog I guess. When I use slide.com sometimes it lets me post and sometimes it doesn't. I don't know what the glitch is all about. So, I've been annoyed. Here are some recent pictures. I will write more later!

Sarah :-)

I can't believe we are half way through another week. Last week was crazy and unpredictable. As you know, it started with Joe's kidney stone episode. Then, Tuesday afternoon Jonas woke up from his nap, crying and covered in throw up. This has NEVER happened. The little guy has never been sick, not even a cold. A couple hours before he awoke, I received a church email saying there is a nasty virus going around the children at church. That previous Sunday Jonas and I only attended the evening service. He was in the nursery for a little over an hour. It didn't take much with this virus! By Friday the count was up to 60 + kids and some adults who were sick.

Back to Jonas...I changed his clothes and got him cleaned up. He was acting fine. We were walking down the hallway and he was making a funny face, then came the eruption! My poor little one could not stop spewing. I never knew an 11 month old could throw up so much. I stopped dead in my tracks so we wouldn't drip all over the house. Thankfully Joe was home and saw this happen. I yelled, "grab a towel!" Once Jonas stopped, I leaped for the bathroom. I put him in the tub and started taking both our clothes off. Jonas and I were both covered from shoulder to toe. Moments later he was acting all excited that he got to take a bath. He never did act like he didn't feel well. Thankfully that was the end. Until...I got the virus Thursday evening around 5 p.m. Let's just say I had it much worse. It lasted till around 8:15 that night. Joe stayed home until he got Jonas to bed and then went into work, a couple hours late. I'm so glad I didn't have to take care of Jonas while I was sick.

I had to post this picture of Jonas in his We Are Marshall t-shirt. (and his blue eyes are just irresistible! :-)) Those of you who are around my age probably didn't know about about the Marshall tragedy until the "We Are Marshall" movie came out this past December. 75 Marshall University football players, coaches and fans perished in a plane crash Nov. 14, 1970, on their way back from a game against East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.

When there was talk about the movie being made, the Barker family started sharing their connections. Dad Barker was a West Virginia State Police Officer at the time and was on scene of the crash. Ma Barker's mother worked for a travel agency and she booked that flight. Ma Barker's stepfather worked for the airport and was in the air traffic control tower when the plane crashed. Although the Barker family wasn't related to any of the ones who were lost in that tragic accident, that day in history is forever in their memory and has been reminisced about for years. The movie is good but focuses more on rebuilding the Marshall football team. There is very little live footage of the crash. (And who doesn't like Matthew McConaughey) :-)

A friend of the family's sent us this t-shirt for Jonas when he was born. Its just about too small now, buts it has been fun having him wear it.

We Are Marshall!

Monday

Today was an eventful day, starting at 8 a.m. I don't think I have ever posted about Joe's kidney stone history before. It all started back in 1999 I believe. His first stone attack occurred while he was on his motorcycle. It took two weeks to pass after the first sign of pain. We were dating at the time and I took him to the ER, after he was puking, practically passing out and on his knees. I felt so bad for him. He was in bad shape and I had never seen him sick before. Well, 8 years and about 10 stones later, he is still having them. He came home this morning around 7, after working all night, and he went to bed. At 8 a.m. he got up and came to the kitchen for a drink of water. He never gets up once he goes to bed. I had a feeling something was wrong. He said "I'm feeling a little bit of pain, I think I have a stone." Within 5 minutes he was falling to his knees in excruciating pain. I was trying to finish feeding Jonas breakfast so we could get out the door. We know from his past experiences, you just never know how big the stone is or what it could entail to pass it. He has had two Lithotripsy procedures in the past as well as one emergency Sunday surgery to extract a stone that was stuck and causing a severe infection. His urologist has an x-ray machine in the office and usually they can fit him in on a whim like this, to let us know how big the stone is. This prevents us from going to the ER and paying a larger co-pay. So, I called my mom and said we have to drop Jonas off and get Joe to the Dr. I threw a days worth of Jonas necessities together in case we had to go to surgery or have a day full of doctor's visits. We dropped Jonas off and arrived at the doctor's office a little before 9. They were very accommodating and told Joe to do a urine specimen. He did and passed the stone!! For those of you who are familiar with kidney stones, you know that it never takes less than an hour to pass a stone after the first onset of pain! We are grateful he passed it so quickly and we didn't get charged for the quick doctor office visit. I am grateful he was home when this happened. He tends to have attacks when we are on vacation or ready to go somewhere. He has had a stone in Hilton Head, Charleston, Pigeon Forge, right before leaving for Atlanta...and I believe all the rest here at "home." Yes, there was a time when I was afraid to leave overnight with him! :-)

He goes back this Monday for a check up to see if he has any more stones. Hopefully not!

I love you baby, in sickness and in health!