Rochester Post-Bulletin Babies 2008

"Baby #495"

This is the picture you can see in our local newspaper today as a part of their "Babies 2008" contest. Isn't Malachi adorable? :) We'd love to have your vote, so please got to (link removed) and vote by this next Wednesday- March 4th. Malachi's number is 495, and each household can vote up to 3 times. Oh! And you don't have to be from the area, either. Thanks!

Malachi's Appointment Update

Today we saw Malachi's cardiologist. Things went well as far as going through the motions of the appointment. Sometimes he gets really fussy and it turns into a long day, but they decided to try it without sedation today (yeah!), and so that seemed to really help. Overall his heart looks about the same as the last time. A couple of things are slightly better, and some others look slightly worse, but each thing could just vary from time to time or with and without sedation.

The biggest piece of news is that we are looking at doing a trial period of stopping his oxygen treatment starting this weekend for about 1 1/2 weeks, followed up with another echocardiogram on March 11th. We are excited to see how Malachi does without this extra help! We are especially excited because he started crawling in the past 2 weeks, and is starting to get caught up with the tubing. In fact, tonight I looked over to see him straining his whole body to try to move forward while the tubing was pulled taught behind him. Ooops! It looks like we may have a busy boy on our hands!

Pictures of the Party and CAKE!

Some picture highlights from Malachi's party!

Malachi loved his balloons!

Yeah PRESENTS!!!
(He's trying to lick the turtle that Aunt Ange and Uncle Joe sent)

A Birthday crown. :) Thanks Grandma Sands!

I call this one "dumb parents."
Let the CAKE EXPERIENCE begin!

Happy Birthday Malachi!!!!

Today was Malachi's 1st Birthday, and what a special day it was! We are so blessed to be celebrating this milestone. All of the memories of a year ago have been flooding back to me as I recall all of the uncertainty surrounding his birth. How faithful God has been to us; how gracious and merciful! A year ago today we found out that Malachi was not going to have an early surgery, that his heart did not have the problems we anticipated, and that we would get to have him near me at Methodist hospital. Shortly after that we found we would get to take him home with us by the end of the week! It is overwhelming for me to recall all of the answered prayers of the past year, as we celebrate the life of a little boy who has made it through his first year! Praise the Lord! We all enjoyed our day today, and I will post pictures of the party separately. Thank you for supporting us for the past year (and beyond). Our little boy is growing up!

Back to Life

So, the 3rd Quarter has officially started, and conferences are almost over, and life is starting to settle back down again. I'm sorry about the blogging dry-spell, but I hoped my message of hate might help you understand what was happening. Wow- was I ever over-committed and worn out!

Well, I think I will keep this post light. Below are some of my favorite pictures that haven't made it on here before. Why? I don't know. Just enjoy!

This first one is my sister Kristi holding Malachi and his cousin Liberty. I just think this is too funny!

Here's Malachi playing with Liberty. He loved hanging out with her on this day in November. They were so cute together!

Here's Malachi enjoying one of his first "solid food" meals. Mmmm... cereal!

I just like how he's sticking out his tongue- plus the shirt from Aunt Kristi is adorable!
Sticking with the theme of eating- Malachi got this book from Aunt Ange and Uncle Joe for Christmas and immediately showed his appreciation by gnawing on it.

Well, life is almost back to normal speed for us. We're getting ready for Malachi's Birthday-- I cannot believe it is less than 2 weeks away! Our baby boy is getting so big!

I Hate

I hate the end of the quarter!

Happy New Year- 2009!

Happy New Year, friends! As I sit here writing the last post of 2008, I can't help but think back on all that has occurred in the past year for us. What a difference a year makes! We've become parents, which has turned out to be every bit the big deal it was billed to be. We are SO thankful for our little boy and have really loved this new change to our lives and marriage. In fact, we are SO thankful for SO many things:

• A God who loves us, supports us, takes care of us, encourages us
• The opportunity to vacation this year- twice!- and without baby (not that we don't love him- it's just nice to have a break)
• Our family, and their willingness to help us out
• Excellent child care for Malachi
• A wonderful church where we both belong and can serve
• Jobs, even though we may not always be happy with them
• Holidays with family
• Unexpected stays out of town
• Sarah is thankful for snow
• John is thankful for sun
• Good friends
• Etc.

I really don't mean for this to turn into one of those corny posts, but I do think it is good for us to look back on the year and reflect on the things that have brought us happiness. A guest speaker at our church the weekend after Thanksgiving talked about living with a thankful attitude. That really struck a chord with me. Sometimes I don't think I take the time to be thankful- may I do a better job of that in 2009. For now, I am thankful for 2008 and ALL that happened, good or bad, as it either brought me joy or taught me something I was supposed to learn.

From one of my all-time favorite songs: "Thank you Lord... How could I ask for more?" - Cindy Morgan