Saturday, November 29, 2008

our baseball fanatic son

I promise to get some Thanksgiving pics on here soon, but had to share a video with you. Not only does Brady probably not get much choice in the things he'll hopefully love and what we watch on TV - he now has embraced baseball so much that when he is pitching . . . he only throws strikes. Which you'll hear for yourself in the following clip.


Tuesday, November 25, 2008

we had a bit of a rough week last week. Tuesday 11/18/08 we lost James' maternal grandmother, Violet Stiller. Doctors had warned us they felt the end was near, and so it was. She was on her morning walk with Grandpa when she collapsed. The prayer service was last Friday and funeral Saturday in Zumbrota, MN. While it was a sad time that brought us together - it was a celebration in that all of her 23 grandchildren were together for the first time in many years. I even got to meet a couple of James' cousins that I hadn't yet met - so I have now officially met all his first cousins.

11/18 is usually a somber date for another reason - in 1988 on that very same day is when James lost his father. Funny in a weird way how things happen . . .

As if James didn't have enough reasons to remember 11/18 - he experienced his first kidney stone that afternoon - or so we found out later. He took himself to the walk-in clinic that evening because the pain was quite unbearable, enough that he couldn't finish a sentence without having to stop to wince in pain. Tuesday night and in to Wednesday was tough, Wednesday it got a little better and Thursday it turned worse again - so much that I took James to the ER. We both learned more about kidney stones, got some cool pictures from his CT scan and even better . . . he passed the stone while in the ER.

He's still a bit sore and I'm sure the 5 hour drive on Friday and Saturday was no help - but there was nothing that was going to stop him from being at his grandmother's funeral . . . even a kidney stone.

Hope you all have a wonderful & loving Thanksgiving - remember to give thanks for all you have . . . . every day :)

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Not so great news

Happy or good news is not what I bring to the blog tonight. Today has been a long one, in only negative ways. Today marks 20 years since James lost his dad, which of course is a sad day in itself.

Sadly, the news got worse - we received a phone call early this morning that his maternal grandmother had passed away. While her passing was somewhat expected, the actuality and finality is always hard. We are so grateful that we were able to visit with her this past summer and say our goodbyes at that time.

Additionally, James spent some time at the doctor this evening for some intense pain he was having in his mid to lower back which has turned out to be a kidney stone. I think we're both relieved he went to be seen and received some medication to help with the pain. He's having some trouble dealing with the next stage right now - but know that it has to run its course and was told it could pass in a few days or take as long as 2-3 weeks. Cross your fingers for the shorter!

Hope all are doing well!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Halloween


Halloween was definitely a blast this year - Brady's first time actually trick-or-treating and he LOVED it! We were a little unsure how he might react to others in costume, but wasn't scared and called many by name (Batman, Spiderman, Elmo, etc). That was a nice surprise - you just never know.



We sure think our little "Jeff Gordon" was cute - but you can be the judge :)

He was able to be with his cousins, Grant & Dylan which always makes for a good time. We were actually successful in getting the 3 to stop long enough to get a picture - pretty good considering they were having a blast looking through their candy buckets and running around. Grant was dressed as a Twins baseball player, Justin Morneau he tells me - Brady as Jeff Gordon - and Dylan as Elmo (or mo-mo as he calls him, I love that).