What is it about fire? Here are a few photos that I grabbed the other night while we burned a few pallets. I monkey’d around with a few different shutter speeds trying to get different effects. Click on the slide show to view larger images with captions.
This is a cool new video distribution service that is just in beta right now. They allow their player to be embedded in blogs very easily. I know that you can just watch this at NBC.com, but hey I thought the name hulu was cool. Hulu is a partnership between NBC and News Corp. Two very big players, indeed. It’s great to see more choices regarding consumption of digital content.
Want more video? Here’s a promotional video from JDRF that is freely available to anyone for placement on their site or blog. I came across the video promoting the JDRF and TuDiabetes.com, a site where I occasionally hang out and swap stories with other parents of diabetic kids. The point of the video is that 6 million people every year are diagnosed with diabetes, and it shows folks running around with a little number hovering over their heads. When I finished watching it, the first thing that I thought of was my son Ben running around and seeing his BG number hovering over his head. It would be wild to watch his BG in real time. I guess those with the continuous glucose monitor can already do this.
On a related note, I was watching Ben at a soccer game this weekend and he was playing really poorly. He just wasn’t into it. At halftime I ran over to where he was and checked him. I thought sure he was low because he was just dragging big time. The meter counts down… 5, 4, 3, 2, …1. 400 mg/dl. 400! Funny how I was almost hoping he was low so there’d be some excuse for his performance. (I know, you’re not going to feel great being that high either, but…) I’ve thought the same thing when he’s behaving badly. “There must be a reason for this behavior.” Yeah, I guess the reason is, he’s a kid. He’s seven. He’s going to have bad days completely unrelated to being a diabetic.
Find more videos like this on Tu Diabetes – A Community for People Touched by Diabetes
I’m happy to say that Jack Allen was able to come home from the hospital today. He’s eating well and it appears that all systems are go. And he’ll need them, too…especially his immune system. I think all four of his siblings are suffering from colds right now. Let’s see how long he can go without getting a cold.
His brother and sisters are thrilled to have Jack home. They’re also relieved to have their mom back. It was a tough few weeks with her on bed rest, then having Jack stay in the hospital for a while after he was born.
Once again, we thank each one of you for your support during the past few weeks. Many of you have literally lent us a helping hand, either with the kids, or with getting Lindy back and forth to the hospital. Many more of you have kept us in your prayers, and for that we are very grateful.
We continue to be amazed at God’s goodness and faithfulness. We’re overwhelmed by the enormous responsibility that comes with raising each one of our kids, and we know that we could never do it on our own.
As things stand right now, Jack will probably be staying at the hospital until sometime next week. He needs to get the hang of the feeding thing a little better. He’s eating pretty good right now, but he tires out quickly, so he’s unable to get all that he needs. His current weight is 6 pounds, 12 ounces, so he’s down just a bit from his birth weight.
We’re disappointed that he’s not coming home sooner, but we understand that he needs to be eating well before that happens. The kids are very anxious to get little Jack home so they can begin spoiling him.
Jack staying in the hospital greatly complicates childcare issues with the other kiddos. Lindy is not supposed to drive for two weeks, so she can’t get herself back and forth to the hospital at this point. She likes to be there most of the day to do Jack’s feedings, so that leaves us scrambling to find something for the other kids to do. We’re managing okay right now, but we’re all eager to welcome Jack into our home.
Here’s a link to some photos of Baby Jack.
This is a slide show of the images in the gallery that I posted. Picasa Web Albums creates the HTML required to embed this slide show right into this page, which I thought was a pretty cool feature.
Jack Allen was born at 10:46pm, Monday, October 15, 2007. He was born a little early at 34 weeks of gestation, but he still weighed in at a healthy 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and he measured 19 inches long. It’s 2:30 in the morning, so that’s it for now.
It appears that Baby Boss is intent on making an appearance sooner, rather than later. Lindy went to her normally scheduled doctors appointment feeling pretty uncomfortable. After checking her, the OB sent her to the hospital where they tried to stop her labor again. No luck. By 6pm the doctor found that she was still progressing so they stopped the Mag Sulfate and ordered the epidural. By 6:30 she had an epidural and her doctor came in to check her again. During the check, her water broke, so there’s no going back. She’s comfortable now, so I thought I’d post this little update.
I’ll be sure to post again when Baby Boy Boss makes his appearance.