12 Days of Christmas

We're getting ready to embark on our road trip to Montana for the holidays. We actually will be gone for about 12 days and will be celebrating several Christmases over that time! We're really looking forward to the time with our families. We wish all of you a very merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Christmas Preview

We've spent the weekend celebrating Christmas! Since we travel to Montana every year, we decided to start celebrating sometime before our trip as a family of four so that we can start establishing some of our own traditions. On Saturday, the boys received a few gifts, chowed down on monkey bread, visited a living nativity, and went for a drive to see Christmas lights. Monday is our much-anticipated visit to Denver Zoo Lights.

Jacoby received a train table and a few Thomas the Train accessories for his Christmas and birthday gift this year. It was a combined gift from Mommy & Daddy, Grandma Pam & Grandpa Bill, and Aunt Linda. Most of you know that I love to shop on Craig's List here in our area. Most of the gear we have for the boys (that hasn't come from the grandparents) has come from Craig's List. So, this summer I started looking for a train table for Jacoby. I found one up in Loveland, CO for a great price that came with a dozen or so engines, miles of track, and a bunch of accessories. Its been a big hit, and Jacoby has already logged quite a few hours playing with the trains. Morgan likes watching the trains go around the track and has taken it on as his personal mission to undo the track, much to Jacoby's dismay. We hear "I need help with Morgan!" a lot right now.

In other news from our week, Justin gave his final exam to his students. They all did very well in the end and he's officially done for the quarter. One of the professors he's worked closely with on a Dead Sea Scrolls project asked him to come in a couple of days this week to assist her with some things. He's also finalized classes for next quarter and is trying to prepare for his comprehensive exams.

I took Tuesday off from work while the boys were in school. I can't remember the last time I was home by myself...actually, Justin was allowed to stay home too only because it was 7 degrees outside or something like that. After we dropped the boys off at school, we went out for a quick breakfast together and then I spent the rest of the day getting caught up on a bunch of different things. It was a great day, but by the end I was definitely missing the noise of my little guys in the house. My "Mommy Mistake" of the week was accidentally leaving Jacoby's blanket at school Tuesday evening. He went to bed fine and I thought maybe he was ready to be without it...but I found him and Justin sleeping on the floor together in his room Wednesday morning!

Morgan Ethan turned 9 months old last week! He had a great appointment with our pediatrician and is weighing in at 22.5 pounds and is 30.25 inches long. We worked some some sleep issues out this past week, so he's back to sleeping almost 12 hours at night time and is taking longer naps during the day now that he's actively crawling. Morgan loves to clap, play peek-a-boo, wave, and shows us how big he is now. He also signs for "more" and is starting to say "uh-oh" and "ball". He is busy following Jacoby all over and loves it when his older brother plays with him. They currently enjoy emptying the kitchen cuphoards and chasing each other under the dining room table.

New cargo box thanks to b-day gifts from Grandma Pam & Grandpa Bill

When life tosses you lemons...or a food allergy

The week Jacoby came down with H1N1 is also the week he had a couple of serious reactions to some food. We made an appointment with an allergist and our pediatrician armed us with Benadryl and epi-pens to have on hand until food allergies were confirmed.

The Appointment

We had our appointment on Wednesday this week, and I first just have to say that we are so blessed to live in a community with such excellent medical care. Our allergist is wonderful. She spent about 30 minutes with us discussing our observations on Jacoby and the foods that seem to bother him. After our discussion, he was tested for about 25 different allergies.

The Allergy Test

I'll be honest, the testing portion of our appointment was awful. Jacoby was scared and upset and throughout the test he tried to come up with every way of saying "No", "Stop, please", "No thank you" he possibly could. I think in his little mind, he must have thought he was getting 25 different shots. It did not take a trained eye to see that he had allergies. Over the course of the 20 minutes that we had to wait until they would come back in and "read" the results on his back, Justin and I watched nearly all 25 marks fill up with hives and redness. Now, we both knew that some type of allergy would be confirmed at the appointment, but it was still very distressing to see just how many we might be dealing with. Jacoby finally settled down a little but when they came back in to read the test, he got upset all over again. The only way I was able to distract him somewhat was to talk with him about our upcoming visit to Zoo Lights. We talked about the animals we'd see and which ones might be sleeping while we're there (it's a night time visit to the zoo to see a fabulous array of christmas lights throughout the zoo).

The Results

Jacoby is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, sesame and sunflower seeds, fish, and eggs. It was no surprise about the nuts and seeds, but we were surprised about fish and eggs. As I've been trying to process all of this over the past couple of days, I've been thinking about both the positive and negative implications. In some ways, I think Jacoby has been trying to tell us that some foods bothered him. We all know how picky toddlers can be about food, but I think we interpreted pickiness (like with eggs, some baked goods, peanut butter) when really Jacoby was trying to say "Mommy & Daddy, this stuff makes me feel really icky!". As a result of his "pickiness", he hasn't consumed a lot of the things that would make him sick. Looking back over the past year, there are situations that have come up that I can now attribute to a reaction to food. Another thing that I think has been a blessing, is that Justin and I for some reason have never been completely comfortable feeding Jacoby nuts. He was exposed to peanuts and nuts sometime after his first birthday, but I think Justin and I both felt like we still needed to be really careful. And because of that, we have really kept our home nut-free for the most part. Back to the results, Jacoby developed a hive that measured a little over 5 cm to pistachios (a nut we've never given him, thank goodness) and a hive right around 5 cm to peanuts. The other biggies were sunflower seeds (which is what he reacted to in October) and sesame seeds. Fish was surprising to us because he generally enjoys tuna if I bury it in casserole. Eggs were also surprising but also somewhat less worrisome because he'll likely grow out of this one by age 5. He is able to tolerate eggs if they are really well cooked. A few environmental allergies that he tested positive for were cottonwood trees, cat hair and dander, and dog hair and dander (although not has much as cats). He was given Benadryl after the test because they were worried about the strong reactions he had to pistachios and peanuts.

One Step At A Time

Since the appointment I've been busy filling out paperwork, making follow-up appointments, getting prescriptions filled, and talking with his teachers, the school program director and health liason about our situation. Another huge blessing is that his school is nut and seed-free, and they provide an alternative for Jacoby when they serve eggs or fish. On Thursday they served quiche for breakfast and gave something else to Jacoby. I talked to him about why he couldn't have what the other kids were having. A little while later while he was playing trucks, he stopped and looked at me and said "I'm allergic to eggs. They make me sick". And thus begins the process of teaching Jacoby about his allergies and the foods he'll have to avoid. He can now list off everything he's allergic to. We've cleaned out our cuphoards and have a few things to give away to friends and the food bank. We're doing a lot of reading and research and are quickly becoming experts on food allergies and how to read food labels. It's amazing how well-disguised some things are that we're going to have to be careful with. For example, his favorite cereal bars are made with sesame seed flour. And sunflower oil is often found in the ingredients list of things we have in our house. We also have to stay away from things that say they are processed in a plant with tree nuts or peanuts, which will be really challenging since that's on almost every label you read. We'll be ordering him a medical bracelet to wear when he's not with us. Morgan has to be tested for dairy when he turns 1 before he starts consuming dairy. He'll be tested for the rest of the things when he's a little older.

That's where we're at right now. For the most part, we're doing ok with all of this and know that it's manageable, and we're hopeful that there might be new treatment options on the horizon by the time Jacoby enters kindergarten. I've probably felt the whole spectrum of emotions from sadness, being overwhelmed and fearful to relief that we know what we're dealing with and determination to handle this as best we can and live a normal life with it. There are a whole array of life-threatening, chronic illnesses we could be facing, and we actually feel really thankful that food allergies are what we've been given. And we also know that Jacoby is going to be able to manage this as well. He's very verbal and very smart, so we're going to be able to teach him about his allergies and how to help us manage them. Jacoby is still Jacoby, and he's still a very healthy, smart, caring little boy.

Our sweet, sweet boy

Thankful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with our family. Granmanette and Grandpa Michael spent the week with us. We enjoyed their company very much. They spent lots of time with the boys, playing, driving trucks, doing puzzles, reading books, and watching the antics of both Jacoby and Morgan. Morgan has come a long way with crawling over the past week, so now he's quite speedy and goes just about anywhere he wants and leaves a minor path of destruction behind him. We went on walks and enjoyed our beautiful Colorado weather. And we even ventured down to the Aquarium for an outing. Jacoby much prefers the zoo over the Aquarium--he wasn't thrilled about the dark tunnels and the simulated flash flood/thunderstorm. But he did enjoy watching the big fish and turtles. We then took Granmanette on the free mall bus ride downtown from Union Station up to Civic Center Park (where we attended the Obama rally with Jacoby a while back). Uncle Jared arrived on Turkey Day, so we celebrated on Friday with a very nice dinner and a walk around the lake. We have much to be thankful for this year, and it was a blessing to spend the holiday with family once again.

Jacoby went with Justin to drop Uncle Jared off at the airport today. He reported back on all of the airplanes he got to see. Morgan and I caught up on a few things around the house. And I went and saw New Moon with a friend. We had a good time seeing the movie and catching up with each other. We put up our Christmas tree this evening--we'll see how long it lasts with our two little mobile monsters.

Justin is finished with his quarter and has a few more Greek classes to teach before they take their final exam. It's nice to spend time with him and not have the pressure of school hanging over our heads. Tomorrow is my fifth anniversary at work! I can't believe its been that long already...and I really can't believe we've been in Colorado 5.5 years too!

Thankful for Jacoby

Thankful for Morgan

Thankful for Our Family

Morgan's New Moves

Our littlest munchkin is on the move, and he sure is on a mission to figure out how to get into everything! Here's a peek at what he's up to as he perfects his crawling skills.

Turkey Time

So much to look forward to this week! Grandma & Grandpa Barber are visiting, Uncle Jared visits, celebrating Turkey Day. We're excited about spending some time together with family and counting our many, many blessings. My confession of the week is that I'm not actually cooking Turkey dinner. Actually, if I was really going to confess I would add that I haven't cooked Turkey dinner on my own in a long time because my wonderful mom-in-law does a fabulous job when they're here with us. However, this year we've ordered a yummy dinner from the caterer I use at work. I'm only feeling a little guilty about this. But there's only so much this super-mom can handle with working full-time and being a full-time mommy too. So, not too much guilt and we'll see how it goes.

Morgan and Jacoby have had a good week. Jacoby's paper chain has helped him count down to the upcoming festivities. Morgan is officially crawling and is embracing the role of "trouble-finder". He's also sprouting his first tooth. I'm always amazed at the things these two boys decide to do together to amuse themselves. On the way home from school this week they decided to hold hands in the backseat of the car! And when they held hands they just laughed and laughed! Jacoby is perfecting his fireman routine. We've now added a ladder to the firetruck and he wears his red rubber boots. Last night I was taken to the hospital after he rescued me. You could tell he wasn't sure what was supposed to happen after he dropped me off. (: He's in a really fun stage of toddler-hood right now. He continues to enjoy helping me cook, and we put up our map last weekend so he could see where all of our family members live. Quote of the week: "Don't tease me right now, Mommy!"

I was in Portland on Monday for a trip for work. It was so fun to visit--I really miss the Northwest. All of my meetings went well, and I spent some time downtown where I happened upon a really cool toy store.

Justin is just days from being finished with the quarter--hooray! He'll continue to teach into December, but the pressure will be off. Winter quarter won't be quite so crazy, but he will be studying for one of his comprehensive exams taking place in the spring. And then he'll enter the dissertation phase--finally!

In case I don't get another post in before the holiday, we hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving!

Our Family Map

Checking out the recycling bin

Making Tatertot Casserole

Weekend Update...

I'm pleased to write that there hasn't been a ton of excitement going on in our lives over the past week. That's a good thing for us! We're catching up on some chores around the house, and believe it or not, I'm working on a few Christmas projects. (: We're supposed to get quite a bit of snow in the next few days, and the only downside of that will be if I can't fly out to Portland tomorrow evening for my trip for work. It won't be the end of the world though.

The boys are both doing great. I got to meet with Morgan's teachers this week for an update on how he's doing in the class. I was happy to hear that he is a very content, happy little boy in the class. They love his bear hugs and how soft and squeezable he is! It's great to hear that he's adjusted well, especially since he only goes on Tuesday and Thursdays. I think I can officially say that as of today Morgan is crawling backwards. He can also go from laying down to sitting...which is quite a feat for one of his size and stature. (: As for the crawling backwards, he's following in his brother's "footsteps" by trying out reverse first. I expect him to kick it into overdrive any day, and then we'll all be in trouble!

Jacoby is BUSY! He's kind of hard to keep up with these days! One of his most recent interests is cooking. He loves to help me in the kitchen, and he's always making Morgan something. I got him an apron this week (thanks to the $1 bin at Target!). Here's his quote of the week: Mommy asks "Jacoby, what are you wearing?" (when he's got the apron on) Jacoby replies "I'm a princess". On another occasion he told me the apron was called an "airplane". (: Jacoby is also very interested in doing "projects". So, this week we made a paper chain to help him keep track of how many days there are until Grandma & Grandpa Barber visit and Turkey Day. We're going to make another one for Christmas.

That's about all of our news. Justin is busy writing a paper for his class. He's also busy as a research assistant, continues to teach Greek twice a week to graduate students, and last but not least, watches the boys three days a week. He's definitely got a full plate right now and is looking forward to being finished around Thanksgiving time.

Cooking with Mommy

One of their favorite activities

Who's in charge of this child's hair?!

Back to "Normal"

Its been a busy time around the Barber house this past week, but thankfully things are returning to a more normal pace. The board meeting at work went extremely well, and I feel really good about all the effort that went into it but even better about being finished with it. The Lt. Governor stopped by and gave a presentation, which was really interesting, and we had a lovely reception and dinner event. So, I'm back to a much more normal schedule at work and relieved to have less pressure in my life. I'm looking forward to spending more time with the boys, enjoying the rest of the fall, and getting ready for the holidays.

We spent time outside this weekend raking up all of our leaves. Jacoby loved jumping in the piles. We also enjoyed a great visit with Grandpa Michael and Granmanette. It was so nice to see them. Both boys enjoyed their company and showed off all of their tricks. Morgan is as close to crawling as one can be without actually doing it. He's very proficient at rolling and reaching. Jacoby is busy, busy, busy. He enjoyed going to a friend's birthday party over the weekend. They held it in the gymnastic center at one of the rec centers here, and he loved jumping on the trampoline, going down the big slide, and leaping into the foam pit. We were really proud of him for joining in with the rest of the kids. We've also been introduced to "Fireman Jacoby" who "saves the day". So cute! I've been meaning to start posting a "Quote of the Week" from Jacoby, but so far the ones that have popped up this week can't be posted publicly. (: We'll have to share those with you in private because they are hilarious.

Justin is working on all of the end-of-the-quarter tasks. He'll be done with the quarter around Thanksgiving time. I'm flying to Portland next week to scout out the location of our spring meeting. It will be nice to spend a bit of time in the Northwest, which is one of my favorite places, and have a little "me" time.

Jacoby has taken a lot of interest in the upcoming holidays and all of the different activities that come with them. Here's his holiday schedule (which he reminds us of quite often):

1. Thanksgiving--when Grandpa & Grandma Barber come back and Uncle Jared visits
2. Zoo Lights--the most important event in the schedule (apparently going last year made a real impression on him)
3. Trip to Montana for Christmas and to see everyone (and then he goes through roll call of all our loved ones)

Snow Storm!

We received over two feet of snow at our house this week thanks to a huge snow storm that blew in. Jacoby spent an hour outside today sledding and falling into the snow with his dad. As you'll see, Jacoby is not the only one who enjoys a good snow storm. Here are a few pictures and videos of our adventures:

Purple Dragon Sighting!

We found a small, very energetic, purple dragon in our yard the other day. He seemed to like running around in circles and made noises like a choo choo train. This particular dragon really likes picnics, doing things all by himself, and marshmallows. He tends to start breathing fire when he has to brush his teeth or gets a timeout. A few photos to document our findings:

Seriously, Way Too Busy

I don't think things could get any busier for our little family! The mantra playing in my head all weekend was "Seriously, this madness has to end!" Justin is swamped with teaching, school, a research project, and minding our two little ones MWF. I am working like crazy in preparation for our fall board meeting coming up next week and trying to maintain some semblance of order at home. I've been putting in time for work in the evenings and over the weekends. I think things are in good shape for the meeting, but this is always a really stressful time for me. Poor Morgan developed an ear infection while combating the flu and they put the little guy on antibiotics that are wreaking havoc with his system. I won't go into the details about the state of his little bottom, but it's terrible and he's not a happy camper. We've got a couple more days to go and then this medicine is getting tossed out.

However, in the midst of the chaos, we're having a great time with our boys. Jacoby is all about reading books right now. His trucks have been parked in their bin for over a week! He is also enjoying preschool so much, especially when the music teacher visits. She plays the guitar and sings with the kids and he thinks that's just about the greatest thing ever. We had a parent-teacher conference with his teachers today. It was so great to hear about what his strengths are in the class and how much they enjoy him. He's doing great, and we feel so blessed to have him in this school. I came in to pick him up this afternoon, and as I was gathering our things Jacoby tells me that he put his scissors in the fish tank. I looked over, and sure enough, there are a pair of scissors in the fish tank and the teachers had been unable to find the culprit! Needless to say, we talked on the way home about what scissors are used for and what they are not!

Morgan has figured out that he can roll to get from point A to point B. He also can wave now and plays peek-a-boo with us. He's really trying to figure out how to coordinate his arms and legs to get crawling. That's going to make life interesting when he gets mobile! He's still Jacoby's number one fan, and I'm always amazed at the things they do to make each other smile and laugh.

I'm really thankful for these little guys. They remind me to slow down and not take things so seriously. Enjoying a picnic in the living room the other night for dinner with Jacoby and watching my littlest one wave to Grandma Pam and Grandpa Bill on the web cam for the first time were great reminders that they are what's important and everything else is secondary.

We are very excited about an upcoming visit from Granmanette and Grandpa Michael. Jacoby knows that they come on Thursday (also garbage truck day) and talks about it everyday. Morgan will just be glad for additional arms to hold and lug him around.

Checking out the books

Breaking into the Halloween candy...don't worry, none was consumed!

Thankful Are We

Well, we're 3 for 4 in terms of the lucky winners of the flu this past week. Morgan and I followed after Jacoby. The boys were such troopers, and we're so thankful that what we experienced seemed to be a rather mild form of this new, weird flu virus. Mine feels more like a bad cold with a lot of aches and chills. I expect that we'll all be back to normal this coming week.

Since we were quarantined to the house this past week, we kept ourselves busy and our spirits up by doing a lot of art, reading books, collecting leaves in the yard, and sorting through some things. Normally I wouldn't recommend accidentally dumping all of the puzzles so they end up in a huge heap, but this turned out to be quite an educational activity: sorting, recognition, counting, etc. We also cleaned out our toy box and got reacquainted with some toys we hadn't seen in awhile (or that Mommy had forgotten she'd put away).

Along with caring for the boys during the week, Justin remains very busy at school and with his teaching in the evenings. He's also very busy helping a professor with research for an entry in a new book that's being published on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers over the past week!

Bear Hugs

The Flu Crew

Silly Boys

More Than Ok...

I was thinking of naming this post "Stupid Germs" or "Stupid Flu", but then I was thinking that the "stupid" flu has already gotten way too much press and attention, so I'm going to try to avoid that here. Yes, Jacoby has H1N1 flu as was confirmed yesterday at the pediatrician's. Yes, we're all (except for Morgan) on antivirals now. And yes, we've been sanitizing, cleaning, and laundering like mad to banish the germs and bugs, while keeping the makers of Lysol, Wet Ones, hand sanitizer, and Clorox wipes in business single handedly. But you know, we're doing just fine. Jacoby and Morgan are both very healthy boys, and Jacoby is showing a great deal of resilience through his illness. He's actually quite himself as long as the Motrin is warding off the high fever he's been having. Of greater concern to Justin and I right now is the possibility that he may be developing a food allergy. We're scheduling an appointment with the allergist on Monday to have him checked out. Needless to say, we're spending this snowy, cold weekend inside reading lots of books, watching videos, and snuggling on the couch (and avoiding nuts). We're definitely more than ok!

On to a few highlights from our week! Morgan earned the title of "biggest feet" in his class this week! And he's not even close to being the oldest child in the bunch! They take feet prints to put in each child's journal, and the teachers thought it was pretty humorous that our ginormous 7-month old won out in the feet contest. He's getting used to eating table food. We're also kind of wondering if he's going to skip crawling and go straight to walking--his favorite activity this week has been standing.

The other night I heard a soft knocking on the other side of Jacoby's door. It was about 9 pm and he went to bed (supposedly) at 7 pm. I opened the door to check it out and there he was standing in his red rubber boots looking at me. Busted! Apparently he had put them on (on the right feet no less!) and couldn't get them off. So cute!

Another highlight of our week was talking to Aunt Kenzie via web cam! It's so fun to be in touch with her this way...and we even got to meet Ben.

Here are a few pictures from our week (more on the picture web site)...

Waiting for supper

No flu is going to take this smile away!

Checking out the first snow of the season...in his red rubber boots

Sing Along Songs With Jacoby

We love listening to Jacoby sing. Here are a few of our favorites from earlier this summer.

So Happy Together...

Welcome to our blog! We thought this would be a fun way to keep in touch with friends and family and to capture some of the sweet moments we enjoy together as a family. Not to mention, we feel really technologically cool now even though we are not on Facebook and we don't tweet or twit or whatever. Anyways, on to the first post!

Jacoby and Morgan are so delighted with each other these days. They make each other laugh everyday, so we wanted to share a couple of videos of their interactions. We hope this growing friendship between them will continue long into the future. Jacoby is also showing interest in baseball. I found him a bat at a sale in Boulder this weekend. Mostly for him, baseball means throwing the ball and then running after it with his bat dragging behind. But Justin was able to show him how to hold it and swing while we were out in the yard yesterday.