April Flowers

Well, I felt it was time to redesign this blog. I'm still working out some tweaks in the layout. I know I haven't posted in a while. As it turns out, trying to finish my expriments for my dissertation, being a wife and mom to two through and through Mama's boys doesn't leave much time to blog, or even eat some days. Life has been crazy busy the last month. Luke got baptized the end of last month. That was a very special day. He wore the same knitted blue sweater that I made for Isaac when he was baptized. Then there was Easter, when Luke got to dress up like an Easter bunny and we went to a plethera of both Catholic and Protestant church services to celebrate the rising of our Lord. Then, Uncle Joe came down for a visit while working at the Toyota plant in San Antonio for the month. Last weekend, we took a trip down to San Antonio to see him and enjoy some time in the city. Along the way, we took a side trip through some small towns with some beautiful wild flowers. We were able to get a few shots of a field along the side of the highway full of blue bonnets, buttercups, Indian paintbrush, among many other unknown types of flowers, but we just couldn't get close enough for my satisfaction. Then, while driving through the small town of Sanguin, TX, we spotted a small cemetery off the main highway that was full of gorgeous flowers. It turned out to be the perfect setting for a photo shoot. It was so peaceful and fragrant there. We could have stayed all day and enjoyed ourselves. Then we headed into the city and dined at our favorite Italian restaurant on the River Walk, where we passed by a couple exchanging wedding vows. Spring was definitely in the air. It was Luke's first trip away from home, and he did fantastic.

I have seriously been blessed with the best baby any mother could ask for, especially a working mom with a toddler in the terrible 2's and more on my plate than I can sometimes handle. He is the easiest baby I could have ever imagined existed. He rarely cries, unless he's not being held. He is never fussy or colicky like Isaac was at this age. He eats well, though he has been resisting the bottle lately and just waiting on Mama to get home, but who can blame him? He has been sleeping through the night for well over a month now. We co-sleep, so that I can get as much sleep as absolutely possible, so if he does wake up, I don't have to even get out of bed to feed him. Although, even if he does wake during the night, it's never for longer than 5 or 10 minutes. When we go out, he either sleeps the entire time, or hangs out all cozy in the sling taking in all he can. He just has such an easy going personality. He takes after his Daddy. This is a very good thing, because this family only has room for two high strung crazy lunatics, and that's me and Isaac! He just fits in perfectly and keeps the balance. I can't imagine what we did without him.

This week will be another crazy week. I'm in the middle of teaching a portion of a course at Texas A&M University in Galveston this week. I get to teach a section on Immunology and toxins that affect the immune system. My first lecture was on Thursday, and I really enjoyed it. It's really great class this year, and I think they were able to keep up with my fast talking fairly well. The course director tells met that I have a natural gift for teaching, but I still need to work on slowing down quite a bit. What makes it more difficult for me is the fact that I am a fast speaker by nature, not just when speaking in front of a group. I've been working on it for years, and I'm not sure I'm improving much, unfortunately. On Tuesday of this week, I will celebrate my very last birthday of my 20s. How did I get this old??? I can't believe I've been an adult for over a decade now. It seems like it took an eternity to reach adulthood, and now it's breezing by so quickly. And they say it goes faster the older you get. That's a scary thought. Then, on Friday, Steven and I will celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. Wow, I can't believe it's been 5 years. It's been an amazing 5 years. Then, the week after that, Pappy and Nanny (aka, Dad and Rebecca) are coming to visit!!! I am so excited!! They don't make too many trips down this way, so when they do come (usually just for the birth of a baby), it's a big deal! Anything that gets Rebecca on a plane has to be a big deal. I guess if we stay in Texas much longer, I'm just going to have to keep having babies to get her down here as often as I can!

So, it looks like I will have a lot to blog about in the coming weeks. I'll try to keep up. Here's some pictures of the last several weeks for you to enjoy - April 2010
I have also added the Easter pictures to the March 2010 album, along with the baptism pictures.

I think I sent this email to everyone who has supported me in the MOD March for Babies, but in case I missed anyone, I want to post it here as well, as a follow-up to my previous entry asking for support. I just want all the info out there.

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It has been brought to my attention that the March of Dimes may be involved in supporting Planned Parenthood, the use of abortion to decrease the incidence of children born with birth defects, and research involving the use of fetal tissues to expand the understanding of birth defects and pregnancy issues relating to preterm birth - http://www.lifeissues.org/marchofdimes/index.html (there are other resources that support this as well). You all know that I, personally, am 100% against supporting these actions. I was completely unaware of these claims until yesterday. I have since done much research myself, and feel the claims do have some validity. I did research the foundation prior to committing to my fundraising for the March for Babies walk, and I never came across this information. I do know that the March of Dimes is directly involved in supporting the research that led to the specific treatments that I received during both of my pregnancies that prevented me from delivering earlier than I did. Additionally, MOD also funded the research that led to the treatments that both of my boys received while in the NICU after birth. Much research still needs to be done to identify the causes of preterm labor and ways to prevent preterm births. Obviously, I am very passionate about helping to fund ethical research in any way I can, especially since I hope to have more children in the future, and I hope that by then, there are further treatments available to me to help prolong my pregnancies. These are the reasons for which I chose to support this foundation, as MOD is the primary funder of such research endeavors. However, I never would have asked my friends and family to donate to this cause had I known that the funds could somehow be used to support the taking of a life in any manner, for ANY reason. I feel terrible that many of you have sent money in support of me that could be used for this unknowingly. I want to thank you so very much for your support. MOD has done so much good for so many babies, including mine, and that was where my heart was/is in this. In the future I do plan to look into other organizations that support this type of research in a more ethical manner.

I just wanted all of you who donated or plan to donate to be fully aware of these allegations, and I encourage you to research for youself, if you like. I do not know if donations may be withdrawn, but if you so choose, based on this new information, you can try to contact MOD to persue a refund. If you have given me a check or cash, I will gladly withold it if you so choose. Because I have committed to this walk, and am supportive of much of the research done by this organization, I do still plan on participating. But I will be walking to support my babies, and the research that helped bring them into my arms healthy, as well as my future babies.

Thank you all, again, and please forgive me for not researching this further before I asked for your support.

Julie