Michael & Cathy at Grace Church Volunteer Banquet - March 9, 2008
If you are a member of Grace Church but do not volunteer or haven't been to an annual banquet yet... volunteer in service to God, but the banquet is a really nice thank-you! You get to relax and visit with the people you've worked shoulder-to-shoulder with all year, and you even get to cheer for your department (some of which cheer louder than others... for example - Youth department volunteers: "YAY!!!!!!!" Offering counter volunteers: "(yay?)" ) Anyway, it's loads of fun and the food is generally really tasty.
Can you find Mikey in the blue jacket?On Palm Sunday we had our annual "Eggstravaganza" at Grace Church (see official pictures here). The little kids' choir that Cathy and I have been directing (five mighty singers for the Lord!) sang a couple of songs (namely "Lord, I Lift Your Name On High" and "Father, I Adore You") and then we had the "Easter Egg Hunt", which in practice is more like an "Easter Candy Footrace". They throw a bunch of candy out on the baseball field behind the church and let the kids go crazy! It was a lot of fun... Mikey always has a blast! He was one of the first to get out to the field from the auditorium, and as you can see in the picture to the right, he got out into the candy area pretty quickly when they said "go!" Can you find him? (Click here to go to Flickr if you can't... mouse over the picture and you'll spot him easily!) And if you visit this blog on Easter, you'll get to meet the new critter friend he made when he ran out on the field!
Unfortunately, because Hannah was still recovering from her procedure, she and Cathy didn't make it out. Maybe looking at the pictures will help Cathy feel more like she was there!
Anyway, so the day after Winter Jam we went to the Baby Fest & Family Expo at the UMAC. One of our main reasons for going was that they were having a "cutest baby" contest, and we were POSITIVE that we have the cutest baby! (Several hundred... thousand? ...other people were convinced otherwise!) We got there and got in line for the contest, and Hannah looked like she looks here. In fact, she looked basically that way until we woke her up for the judging, at which time she spit up on Daddy and then gave the judges her grouchy-face. A few of the judges tried to cheer her up... a couple of them gave her a grouchy-face back! Fine, Ms. Simon Cowell, just BE that way!! Anyway, seeing as how it was the cutest baby contest and not the sleepiest or crabbiest baby contest, we didn't bother to hang around for the announcement of the winners. We did walk around the hall, though... it was the regular "baby expo" kind of stuff. There were portrait studios and brainy toy stores and clothes resale shops, the whole nine yards. Even Babies Я Us was there, with the weirdest baby swing I've ever seen. (Yes, I agree that I'm awesome for getting that backwards "R" on there.) So we walked around and saw everything, Hannah sleeping the whole time and Mikey complaining for part of it... until he saw the giant blowup obstacle course from the place that wants to rent you a Jupiter Jump for your kid's birthday. So he coursed and coursed, and all was right with the world.
Cathy and I entered every door prize we saw... and just about every table had one. And we actually BOTH won something! Cathy won tickets to the Blue Man Group concert on Mikey's birthday (so if he wants to go, it'll be a mommy and Mikey birthday date and Daddy will get to spend the evening with Hannah), and I won a $75 gift basket from Babies Я Us!
(Incidentally... I snapped the above picture afterward as we were waiting in line to get some refreshments at the concession stand.)
Yesterday Hannah spent the day at Saint John Medical Center, not because she was sick (she wasn't and isn't) but because we wanted to make sure that the squeaky sound she makes when she breathes wasn't anything to worry about. The procedure is called a tracheoscopy; essentially they run a small tube with a camera on the end of it right down her nose and through her breathing passages so they can examine them without having to cut her open at all. The assumption was still that she had laryngomalacia, which is essentially harmless, but this procedure would help us be sure.
We got there at 9am sharp and got checked in, and they took us right down to the pediatric ICU department where the doctor could perform the procedure. Their plan was to get a quick IV going and feed her some anesthetic through that. That was their plan. What's that about the "best-laid plans of mice and men"? Include PICU nurses in that list of plan layers... after the two best nurses at starting IVs in the whole hospital both failed several times to get her started (she's pretty strong for a baby and she was struggling) the doctor actually came in and tried it himself. After one or two false starts, the doctor managed to get one started, but then because Hannah was sweating from all the fighting she had been doing, the tape came loose and they lost that IV as well. Ultimately they decided to give her the anesthetic through a regular shot and not try to poke her again with an IV. To their credit, even though they poked her probably nine or ten times, I don't think any of the sites they tried to start the IV bruised up after. (I think the nurses were pretty embarrassed that they couldn't get it going... one of them kept telling me "we ALWAYS get it in one try!" and when the doctor ordered the shot for Hannah, they each tried to order one for themselves too. )
Anyway, they gave her the shot and then shooed me and Cathy out of the room, which was what we had been told already they were going to do. By noon they were all done with the scope, and the doctor came in and told us the results... it was indeed laryngomalacia and there were no growths or anything that shouldn't be there. Lifelong singer Cathy was ecstatic to hear that Hannah's vocal cords looked great. (I could have told her that... Hannah was crying pretty good when they poked her for the IVs, but you should hear her when she thinks we're slacking off on getting her a bottle!) We also learned that she had continued to wiggle so much that they had to dose her again to keep her still! Tough kid, that one! She was, to all appearances, back to normal by 3 or 4 or so, but we stayed until about 7 so Hannah could get two doses of a steroid that the doctor wanted her to get after the procedure.
That was yesterday, Thursday. Today Hannah had a spell where she was struggling to breathe, which is not an unexpected possible side effect of the tube (the air passage has been irritated by the presence of the tube and so there can be some swelling). We were told yesterday by the doctor to let him know if this happened and he would get us some medicine, so Cathy went down to his office and Hannah got some medicine to keep the swelling down for a few days; after that she should be just fine.
Only problem is, this medicine makes her a little cranky. It happens like this: she's perfectly calm and happy for a while, then all of a sudden she's like I'M GONNA BLOW!! I'M GONNA BLOW!! all wild-eyed and psycho for a few minutes. She fusses and fusses and then it's over. Again, we were warned that the meds might make her fussy, so everything from start to finish, with the exception of that initial IV that never happened, has basically been by the book. I told Cathy on the way home from the hospital last night... clearly she and I don't know how to make frail babies. Mikey's always been a tough cookie, too.
Last Friday we went to Winter Jam at the Mabee Center. It's the third Winter Jam we've been at, and the second one at Mabee Center. This year it had the distinction of being the only time I've ever seen Mabee Center full to capacity. There couldn't have been more than 100 seats in the whole place, floor to ceiling including the area directly behind the stage, without people in them. I know they turned people away... don't know HOW MANY they turned away, though.
We got there before the doors opened at 6:00 for the 7:00 concert... I don't remember exactly when we showed up, but it must have been something like 5:30pm. We had already had a big afternoon because Hannah had an appointment with a specialist about her squeaking; our doctor recommended that we go ahead and take her to the specialist just to make sure it wasn't something that would cause problems later (she has to go in and have a scope put up her nose next week to check it out... I'm sure I'll blog that when it happens. Should be nicely traumatic for everyone involved! )
Anyway, we were there between 5 and 6, and there were already three lines that stretched all the way across the parking lot! We wound up between the auditorium and the Praying Hands, almost on the grass. It was crazy!
So they opened the doors sometime around 6pm (I don't know exactly when because we were so far from the doors that I couldn't have seen 'em without a telescope!) and we eventually made it in shortly before the show started. We got seats actually to the side and a little to the rear of the stage, right over the vocalists' right shoulders and in the nosebleed seats. By the way... one reason that this event packs people in is because the price is only $10 at the door, which is an insane bargain because there are SO MANY groups on the program! We heard Mandisa, NewSong, Skillet, BarlowGirl, and MercyMe (what was this, the CamelCase tour or what?) for thirty bucks for the three of us. That's INCREDIBLE. And honestly, this year there wasn't a group I wouldn't pay full price to hear a concert from just them! (Well, I'm not that much of a MercyMe fan, but they're a big draw anyway, so they count.)
Mandisa was awesome. She sang 3-4 songs, all of the ones we wanted to hear (I believe she did "Only The World" and "Shackes" and "God Speaking" and... that may have been it) and was just excellent. I have to say, Mandisa is probably the best thing to ever come out of American Idol, and I say that as someone who really likes Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard and George Huff and even Daughtry. Mandisa sings songs about life being really hard, sometimes almost to the level of hopeless, but he voice is so hopeful that you can't help but be cheered up, even when she's singing stuff like "Been a hard one, been a bad one, been a tough one, been a sad one/It's been one of those days that keeps chipping away at my heart/Nothing new here, It's what I do here/Its a stereotypical day in the life/I'm surrounded by all of the pain and the strife..."
So Mandisa was awesome. I believe NewSong performed next... for a group that I couldn't have named one single song of theirs, they sure sang a lot of songs I knew. When they sang the chorus of "Arise, My Love" I could feel the presence of God so strongly... it was awesome. But there were some boys sitting behind us that had one thing on their mind. Every once in a while one of them would say, in his adolescent my-voice-has-almost-changed croak, "Skillet!"
Whispers In The Dark lyricsAnd so it was: Skillet. They ROCKED! They were my favorite of the night. They even had a couple of towers of fire that went off every time they sang the word "NO!" in "Whispers in the Dark" The flame went from the stage nearly to the roof, and every time it fired we could feel it where we were, up in the top seats. ROCK AND ROOOOOOL!
Don't let me forget... we got to hear one song from new group Connersvine (I believe it was "Live For You") although Hunter Smith from the Indianapolis Colts wasn't there because his wife had just had a baby so it was technically only 1/2 of Connersvine, but oh well. It's a nice song.
BarlowGirl was good as always... very loud, and it's great for teenage and tween girls to see young ladies publicly living out their faith. Of course, once or twice behind us I heard "Skillet! " but you know... give the boys a break. They wanted more Skillet.
Cathy went for snacks and Mikey fell asleep during BarlowGirl. The teenage girl sitting next to us (not someone we knew) was laughing that Mikey could sleep during "Average Girl" (AKA "No more dating, I'm just waiting..."), but I wasn't surprised. My brother fell asleep at the wheel once as a teenager listening to Whitecross. It can happen.
So we left a few songs into MercyMe. Mikey was really tired, and there was another reason but I've been sworn to secrecy. Mwa ha ha! Suffice it to say that something was missing and we left the concert to go find it. hehe
) Anyway, it's loads of fun and the food is generally really tasty.
It was a lot of fun... 
Anyway, seeing as how it was the cutest baby contest and not the sleepiest or crabbiest baby contest, we didn't bother to hang around for the announcement of the winners. We did walk around the hall, though... it was the regular "baby expo" kind of stuff. There were portrait studios and brainy toy stores and clothes resale shops, the whole nine yards. Even 
(I could have told her that... Hannah was crying pretty good when they poked her for the IVs, but you should hear her when she thinks we're slacking off on getting her a bottle!) We also learned that she had continued to wiggle so much that they had to dose her again to keep her still! Tough kid, that one! She was, to all appearances, back to normal by 3 or 4 or so, but we stayed until about 7 so Hannah could get two doses of a steroid that the doctor wanted her to get after the procedure.
all wild-eyed and psycho for a few minutes. She fusses and fusses and then it's over. Again, we were warned that the meds might make her fussy, so everything from start to finish, with the exception of that initial IV that never happened, has basically been by the book. I told Cathy on the way home from the hospital last night... clearly she and I don't know how to make frail babies. 
)
When they sang the chorus of "Arise, My Love" I could feel the presence of God so strongly... it was awesome. But there were some boys sitting behind us that had one thing on their mind. Every once in a while one of them would say, in his adolescent my-voice-has-almost-changed croak, "Skillet!"
They were my favorite of the night. They even had a couple of towers of fire that went off every time they sang the word "NO!" in "
