It's Official...

Sigh.

Your Grace is Sufficient

We had a pretty silly play-moment last week. Grace was in her dress-up clothes and wanted to dance, so I pushed play on the CD player in Josh's room and Shane & Shane provided jumping and leaping worship tunes.

Then we got to "Your Grace is Sufficient" and every time Grace heard her name her eyes got wide and she wanted them to sing it again. Luckily, this word is repeated several times...

Then she decided to run down the hall and run back and "tackle" Joshy...again and again. Many giggles. Later she asked, "Mommy, can we listen to that 'Grace is So Special' song again?" Yes.

Mixing Milk...

I laughed today as I tried to find the kitchen counter under all of the FORMULA CONTAINERS and milk-mixing apparatus this PKU family shuffles. Even though we see it every day, I realize that most families don't have to reserve cupboard space (and garage shelf space!) for three different types of formula, nor do they have hand mixers or milk containers constantly drying in their sink and filling up the top rack of their dishwasher. :)

We have quite the "milk" routine at the Lochhead house. I don't know if we've blogged it yet, but Josh also has the mild (and rare) form of PKU that Gracie has. Jeff and I laugh that the odds are with us--our kids have a 25% chance of having PKU (thanks to a recessive gene we both carry) and we are 2-for-2 at this point! Now that Josh is weaned, he's joined his sister in the milk-mixing routine each morning. The Phenyl-Free formula that they drink gives them the protein that their bodies can digest, without the phenylalanine. We celebrated this new step by purchasing new milk-storing Nalgenes for the kids--purple for Gracie and blue for Josh.

Most PKU kids can't digest ANY phenylalanine, but our kids have a mild form of PKU where their bodies can digest SOME phenylalanine. So, we have only had to keep a few high-protein foods (peanut butter, eggs, meat, beans) out of their diet. So far we've been able to keep a couple of servings of dairy in their diets! We feel completely blessed to be this way--life without yogurt and cheese would be unbearable! :) And with Josh eating more solid foods now, we're finding that his case is very similar to Gracie's--each month when their levels are tested, we are quite relieved to find they have similar levels of "slightly elevated" phenylalanine in their bloodstream. Completely safe.

Another development in our routine is that Auntie Debbie, our good friend and NURSE, has been such a saving grace--she's been coming over to help with Josh and Grace's monthly blood-draws (finger pricks) so that our lives can be a bit less stressful! This is a HUGE blessing to us! She is quite talented with a finger poke--and our kids get spoiled by her attention! :)

All-in-all, we feel that we've been given a huge helping of grace to travel this interesting life path. Our genetic disorder is completely manageable, not life-threatening. (We won't talk about the non-diagnosed genetic disorders that others call "oddities"...ha!) And if you ever want to see canisters of formula jim-jammed creatively into cupboards (on a good day!) or sprawled across the length of the kitchen counter (on a crazy day!) come on over to our GRATEFUL house!

Giggling Siblings

Grace: "Where's Gracie?"

Grace: "Peek-a-boo, Joshy!"

Both: [Cackle, cackle, wheeze, wheeze...obvious language for, "Do it again!"]

Gracie: "Ahhhh..."

Gracie: "...PEEK!"

Josh: [more cackle, cackle, wheeze, wheeze...]

Complete fun--for a whole five minutes! No adults needed.

Jeff and I love watching them begin to discover that they can play together. (Although 90% of the time Gracie still sees Josh mainly as a real-life doll. We quite often are saying things like, "That's Mommy's job, not Gracie's..." when they're bathing together and Grace wants to wash Josh's hair or when he's eating and she wants to break off bites for him. She's quite the little mommy!)

THE CHRISTMAS TOUR, 2010

We had a fabulous two weeks of THE CHRISTMAS TOUR, as we affectionately call it. Down to Colton for Gma Trudy and Papa LeRoy's Christmas, back to Spokane for our Christmas and then the Lochhead/Birchill Christmas, back to the farm for the Moser Christmas, back to Spokane to breathe for a couple of days, then to CDA to see Auntie Julie and friends, and then back to Colton to celebrate one more Christmas at G'ma Caroline's house. Phew! What a couple of great weeks with family and friends! We are SO BLESSED...and now we're SO TIRED!!! I think we'll need a week of work to recuperate from our vacation! We loved every minute of it. :)

To show the highlights of our two weeks, we'll put together TWELVE PICTURES of CHRISTMAS (great idea, Nelson Bell!)

THROUGH THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS,

OUR LOVED ONES GAVE TO US...

TWELVE MINUTES SLEDDING...(we hope we get this much snow when the kids have increased outdoor snow stamina!)


ELEVEN PICTURES TAKEN...(of cousins Gracie, Josh, Janie and Anthony just to get ONE GOOD ONE...next year we'll have two more little ones! Another Showalter and a Largent girl!)


(an extra take just to prove my case--Joshy's expression is PRICELESS!)


TEN TISSUE PAPERS RETRIEVED...(from Joshy's mouth--the wrapping was so much fun for him!)


NINE EXPOSED TO PINK EYE...(yes, Gracie had pink-eye right before G'ma Trudy's Christmas and I woke up Christmas Day with a crusted-over eye. As a perfect fit, Ben sent Dad a set of shop glasses, which were perfect protective eyewear for the family.)


EIGHT EYES ON A MOVIE...(Brooke, Megan, Gracie and Abby all crammed in our bed at the farm to watch a movie. Gracie lasted all of ten minutes, but it made for a great cozy cousin picture!)


SEVEN GRANDSON APRONS...(G'ma Trudy and Papa LeRoy gave the grandsons--and grandson-in-laws--aprons with their names embroidered on them. Jeff was the unintentional black sheep...we were missing Ben, Ryan, and Adam)


SIX THANK-YOUS UTTERED... (Jeff was THRILLED with his Christmas gifts, but at the top of this list was his replaced tool-pouch! This thing was on within seconds of his opening it.)


CHOCOLATE MILK GLASSESSSSSSSSSSSS...(need we say more, Megs?)


FOUR OOH-LA-LA's... (Gracie cracked us up opening her gifts--she looked surprised and pleased for ALMOST all of her gifts...we practiced!)


THREE MEN STUCK IN THE DEN...(watching football because the girls were downstairs playing Wii Dance)


TWO BOISE STATE SHIRTS...(we had my cousin Matt's name for Christmas and he showed up wearing the exact t-shirt that we had wrapped up for him to open! I guess the shades are a BIT different...)


AND A BULLSEYE HORSE FOR JOOOOOOSHY!

Phew! A great two weeks!

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

... Jingle all the...



...GULP.



Joshy LOVED investigating all of the Christmas decorations this year...with his MOUTH. Advent characters, Christmas books, a stray card that fell to the floor...they all found a place in his drooly mouth. He loved the tastes of Christmas! Hopefully next year he will taste more cookies and fewer decorations...