Quick Update on Baby

The report this morning is that our boy took 2 bottles! This is wonderful news as it means no more feed tube, and Catherine can hold him, feed him, and change his diaper. His respirations are still a little fast; overall he is doing well. Keep praying. . .!

He is here!

Here is our beautiful baby boy! Cason was born at 6:57 on March 18 and weighed in at 7 pounds 11 ounces. Apparently he has some fluid on his lungs, and was transferred to NICU. Lots of signs look good - he has no fever and his respirations have slowed to a normal rate. Lab results tomorrow will help tell the full story. Catherine is doing well, just a little upset that she cannot hold the baby or feed him yet. He is strong and we will get past this. I cannot help but think of Hannah and her prayer for a baby - Samuel! He is beautiful and we cannot wait to play with him. Do pray for Catherine and Mike for their peace of mind and strength, and for our boy as he fights to get rid of this fluid and go home to his beautiful nursery.

Sun Dog Zillionaire

If a picture is worth 1000 words. . .this is where our Reese stays most of the day or at least as long as the sun is out. Princess was not sunbathing today. Apparently I had closed a door which shut her off from her usual path to the bedroom. She could have walked around another way, but no. She was miffed and got in her own bed in the laundry room. . .such drama!

Celebrate

No picture on this post, just some random thoughts. We watched the inauguration this morning. Then I decided to make cupcakes - celebration cupcakes. DH wanted to know what we were celebrating. We were celebrating the process. We didn't crown a king today, nor did we rubber stamp a dictator. We did not hail an emperor in a parade and we did not have a civil war to decide our leader. We inaugurated a president. He may not be your choice or my choice, yet the process is the important thing and plenty reason to celebrate! So have a cupcake - they were carrot by the way.

Life with BunaB

Around 1985, we purchased a house in Houston. In the built-in desk drawer I found a small plastic case labeled BunaB. Inside was a set of instructions and a. . .well, the picture is better than a description. The instructions were rather detailed, but I could not figure out what a BunaB really was or what it was supposed to do. Even so, I moved the BunaB with me to Nacogdoches, through 3 houses there, then to McKinney and 2 residences. Yesterday I found the BunaB again in a desk drawer. Since 1985 a few things have changed - we now have internet and Google. So to Google I went for answers. Sure enough, there was an article on BunaB's. Come to find out, Al Crowder invented the BunaB in the 1950's. Apparently he didn't have enough to do, had a bunch of clarinet reed cases (he was a musician), and came up with a use for the plastic cases. You can read more about this on www.samueljohnson.com/bunab/index.html. Anyway, Crowder took the name Orville K. Snav and the BunaB was the flagship product of his company. Yes, he actually sold these. Bottom line: The BunaB does absolutely nothing. Yet the instructions are quite detailed, and again, really say nothing. It is kind of funny. And yet, maybe there is a lesson here. Are we carrying around something in our lives that doesn't do anything, complete with instructions that tell us nothing? Are we depending on the useless to bring meaning? I read these instructions many times before I figured out that it was all a joke. Now BunaB is my reminder about how critical it is that what we depend on for instruction is real. And the real, best instructions come from a book with a single title: Bible. My friend Christy would be much better at making the spiritual connection - she is so gifted that way. And perhaps I am making too much of this - nevertheless, I am hanging on to my BunaB!

Flower Arranging 101

After taking down the Christmas decorations, the house looked empty and boring. What would spark it up? A few fresh flowers!

Flower arranging should be an art that all good southern girls know. My friend Christy gave me a fabulous book years ago; it is like my textbook. So this should be easy. In truth, flower arranging requires a double Masters in Design and Engineering. I have neither. I do have a wonderful son-in-law who gave me a beautiful vase for Christmas. So after studying my textbook and the new Martha Stewart catalogue, I tried copying her January arrangement. Hmmmmm. I will try some more. Meanwhile, my brother looks, just looks, at an arrangement and copies it for his Christmas Eve dinner. Real horns and pine cones and stuff. It looks great! I will keep working and experimenting. And a little PS: one of my flowers was dead by the next morning. Oops. Won't use that one again.

Family Christmas Fun

Every year we try to find something new to do as a family. Grapevine was our pick this year. Did you know it is the Christmas Capitol of Texas? Neither did we. The Christmas part of Grapevine is really one street, Main Street, with lots of shops and restaurants. There are displays in the town square depicting life at the North Pole. There are carriage rides and a train that goes to the Gaylord Texan Hotel. Some of Santa's elves have escaped from the workshop and are running around town. We had a wonderful time shopping (we didn't buy anything), eating, and visiting.

In the midst of our fun, Chris made a new friend. They visited briefly.