Disneyland

Luke is 3 months old!

Birthday Party Circus Blast

Last weekend, we were invited to what turned out to be the birthday party of the century. Our little friend Ruby turned 1, and did it in style. The circus themed party included a petting zoo, amusement rides (including a ferris wheel), bounce house, pony rides, carnival booths, pirate ship, face painting, and more. That's not to mention the great eats, including mom's favorite cotton candy. Isaiah got his first taste, and let me tell you... like mother like son. Cavities here we come. Isaiah had a blast hanging out with his cousin Julia and her cousin Tyla. Luke was a party pooper (literally) and slept through the entire party while being held affectionately by his Auntie Tiffany. We stayed all day, had a blast, and came home and crashed. Nothing like a good sugar high.

Enjoy the pics...

Birthday Party Circus Blast

May the Force Be With You!

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away...

The Rebel Force right before their trick or treating adventures...


Master Yoda and Little Luke Skywalker...


Cute, I am.


Luke even had his own Lightsaber.

Mom couldn't go trick or treating without sporting some kind of disguise. Bad hair day to the extreme...

Hope you had a great Halloween! We are still coming down off the sugar high.

The Fire

Thank you to those who have been praying for my parents in San Diego. Their house has been saved! What a blessing. Here are some pictures from their yard and the story from my mom.


My mom in the backyard at 3am right before they left the house.


The view from the side yard.

From Nancy Trout...

GOD is wonderful. Terry and I are overcome with gratitude and humbleness that the Lord saved our home. IT IS HIS!!!

Okay, here is the story for those that missed out.

At 11PM, we could see a far away glow in the direction of Ramona which is east of us. At 12:45 AM, when Terry went to bed, the fire must have gone into a valley as the glow had greatly diminished.

Nancy awoke at 3 AM to the phone ringing and a wrong number! Hmmm, the Lord works in mysterious ways! She noticed how light it was outside. Thinking Terry might have left a light on in the family room she went down the hall and was shocked to find that the fire was on the ridge line directly across the valley. Those were the earlier pictures. It took only about 1/2 an hour before it was coming down the mountain towards us. At about 3:45 AM it was in the valley that our backyard looks over. You'll see the pictures. We could hear the sickening sounds of the consuming fire and feel it's heat as it came nearer. It was time to GET OUT.

Yes, we took the 'old' Nintendo, the game cube we could replace! Lots of clothes, pictures, files and the computer tower. Funny how 'stuff' really becomes just stuff when you start thinking what is important and what is not. The surf boards, guitar and Mom's china was left. STUFF!

We sat at McDonald's from about 4:30 am until 7:00 am. Than we got gas for the cars and went to see if we could get up to the house. NO.
The air by then was unbelievable, and the winds were really howling. It was very hard to breathe. It was thick and orange from the rising sun. Pictures of what daylight looked like are included.

About noon, we decided to try and find a hotel. We drove clear to Oceanside looking for rooms, everyone was evacuated and already booked. Finally, Terry's secretary found us a room at Welk resort in north Escondido, just off the 15. The air there was clear. Even though there were fires on both sides they were far enough away to feel safe. Yeah sure! Awoke early, and at 8 AM pounding on the door gave us another evacuation order. Okay Lord, you gave us both a really good night sleep and we'll go!

Heading with both cars towards San Diego to Terry's office, he changed his mind and headed to 2811 Sunset Hills. San Pasqual was still blocked but Ryan was open and we turned up it to head home. Houses were ok, we both thought.... maybe...

Rounding Sunset Hills we began to see the scorched earth, the burned trees, however still not home damage. We can't even begin to explain the overwhelming feelings that came when we pulled up to our home. It's a mess and pictures show it. We checked our neighbors and they were both gone. The fire had swept through all the ridges and gullies between homes. The firefights kept the fire off structures, what wonderful people firefighters are! Our neighbor to the west still had some hot spots smoldering and we went over and hosed down those and used the shovel. We checked out other places in the neighborhood also. Across the street you can really see the fire damage, yet again so close to houses but no damage to them.

The yard is a mess, the house is full of ash. Who cares! Not me!!!!!

The CDF has helicopters still flying over to make sure that there are no flare ups from hot spots. We are spending the night tonight and feel safe.

Thank you to everyone for praying for us. We are grateful for your love and concern. Enjoy the pictures... IT WAS AN ADVENTURE OF THE GRANDEST SCALE!

Please continue to pray for the winds to abate, the fires to be put out and that lives and houses will be spared, like ours!

Our fun and exciting weekend

Friday night... Football with Daddy at Fresno Christian's Homecoming. Isaiah enjoyed hanging out with Dad and watching the homecoming floats. Theme this year was TV shows. Isaiah seemed to like the "COPS" float the best because of the lights and cool music (hopefully this won't reflect his future television taste).




Saturday morning, we took Luke and Isaiah to the pumpkin patch. I guess Isaiah thought we were going to the playground because he climbed all over the pumpkins like gym equipment. Unfortunately, he face planted into the stem of one of the large pumpkins (those suckers are hard).
Result...


Nice lip! The pumpkin may have won this match, but watch out Christmas tree!

Calling all Cuties

Did you say cute? Oh yeah. Luke just celebrated his 2 month birthday. He is doing great as you can see. Weighing in at a huge 10 lbs 12 ounces as of last week. He has a pretty bad case of reflux that we have been battling through. He is hurting and fussy quite often, and spitting up enough to keep our washer going 24/7. Fortunately he is still gaining weight. Oh, the fun first few months of life.

Luke and Isaiah are already becoming playmates. Isaiah likes to show Luke how to play with all of his old toys including his activity pad that Isaiah used to (and we found out still does) love to play with. Time is flying by already. Before we know it, these two are going to be getting into all kinds of little boy mischief.

My Daddy

My Daddy took me to the park

We played 'til it got dark

Hanging out is what we do

The magic number is two

He is so very cool

He works hard at school

He comes home ready to play

I shout out loud "hooray"

He makes me laugh and smile

I'm happy for a long while

My Daddy is who I love

Thank you God above

Happy Birthday Auntie

Isaiah and Luke wished their favorite Auntie Happy Birthday this week.

Isaiah helped make some special cream filled chocolate cupcakes.

A Trip to Rotary Park

Isaiah and Luke got to spend some time with some fun-loving ladies at Rotary Park Playland and Storyland the other day. What a blast we had with Mema and Auntie Jodi. This is the same exact park (and the same exact rides) that Josh and Jodi went to when they were kids. The trees are just a tad bit bigger and the rides just a bit older.

Whoever says grandmas can't play as hard as kids has not met "Mema." Isaiah goes down the slide with his bud. Storyland is the cutest part of the park where kids can walk through enchanted looking gardens where kid toys and buildings are laid out to visually tell them their favorite stories. This slide is a shoe. Can you guess the story?


Auntie Jodi was in town and got to join us on our little adventure. Her and Isaiah had a blast going on all of the rides together (including Isaiah's first roller coaster). Isaiah's favorite ride was the train in the picture that took you all around Storyland and Playland.


Even Luke got in on the fun and had his first ride on the merry-go-round. He slept in the sling the whole time, but definitely got some practice in for his trip next month to Disneyland.

Here's Isaiah cruising in the same cars that his dad cruised in when he was his age. Next car will be a '66 Chevelle.

Bath Time

Occasionally in the hustle and bustle of double diaper duty life, we find time to bathe. What a concept. Fortunately, Isaiah is quite the little helper when it comes to bathing Luke. Even better, Luke loves baths. I am not sure if it is the warmth of the water, the calmness of the lavender wash, or the gentleness of Isaiah splashing water all over him and laughing hysterically. It is truly a family affair.

Toz Boyz

Luke's latest and greatest...
Our big guy is already up to 8 lbs 8 ozs! Go Luke! He is quite lucky to have a big brother to show him the ropes and give him hand me down clothes with gingerbread men on them (Isaiah was a Christmas baby). Its never too early to celebrate Christmas, right? Jingle all the way!


Isaiah and Luke look less than enthusiastic for their glam shots. They are pretty darn cute together. Isaiah is completely fascinated by Luke and loves to just stare at him or lay down next to him. He gives him lots of kisses and pets him like a cat (it could be worse). Luke is getting much more attentive in his old age of 5 weeks and totally checks out Isaiah now. Who is this crazy guy? Future best buds...

Family Time

Oh, the blessings of family. How very lucky we are to be related to such wonderful people that care so genuinely for Luke and Isaiah.

What a blast the boys have hanging out with their cousins Mason, Julia and Ethan. Auntie Tiffany is always generously handing out hugs and homemade cookies. And who can forget Uncle Doug (aka the Toddler Whisperer) who is so good at teaching important things like how to give knuckles.


Mema (Christi) is such a joy to have around. She is always willing and available to help out with whatever is needed. Mema is probably Isaiah's favorite playmate. She is always full of energy and such fun to be around. These boys won't be running circles around her.


Ahhh.. the perfect parents. Ok, maybe I am a little biased. Nana/Ma (Nancy) is such a natural with kids. I wonder why. While she was up taking care of Isaiah while Mom and Dad were in the hospital with Luke, he was pretty much attached to her side. Each time he spends time with her he gets smarter and learns something new. She'll probably have him making his own blog in no time at all. There is something about Papa (Terry) that the boys and their cousins just can't get enough of - the enthusiastic smile or the loving embraces, its all great.

Heavyweight

Check out these chins! At his weekly doctor's appointment last Thursday, Luke weighed in at a massive 6 lbs 13 ounces. He almost gained a whole pound last week. What a champ. We also got back the results from his upper GI test, and his digestive system checks out good. Thank you so much to everyone for your continued prayer for our little guy. We are really happy to see him healthy. We are truly blessed.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. -Luke 6:21
Go Luke!

Time for Cookies

You know things are going well, when you have time to bake cookies. Baking is one of Isaiah's favorite activities (just like mom). He seems to like the end of the process the best. I wonder why. He makes for a great dishwasher with that tongue of his.

Luke is doing great. He has been eating like a champ and has his next weigh in tomorrow. We are praying to break into the 6 lb range. We'll keep everyone posted. As for Isaiah, we don't really worry about him gaining more weight. The kid is definitely a healthy porker. Must be all the cookie dough.

Weighing in at...

Luke is chunking up! He weighed in yesterday at a whopping 5 lbs 15 ozs (up 4 ounces from Tues). It may not seem like much, but this is definitely an answer to prayer. We are just going to keep working hard to keep his feedings going well and his weight gain going up. He is still having some pain with eating, so we have an upper GI today at Valley Childrens Hospital. Please pray that the test goes well and proves to be helpful.

Meanwhile... As I was taking this picture of Luke sleeping like an angel, Isaiah took advantage of the alone time to "water the plants" (aka flood the yard). This kid sure keeps us laughing. He is such a wild and crazy guy.

Update on Luke

Well, our little Luke has been home for a week now. Its good to be at home, although we are definitely exhausted from all the work that comes from caring for a newborn, trying to entertain a toddler, healing mom's c-section war wound, and dad going back to work.

Luke did well for the first few days and even started gaining weight. However, we are having some challenges now with getting him fed and he is losing weight again. We were at the doctor's today, and it looks like Luke may be having some reflux issues. Isaiah has similiar feeding issues when he was a newborn. Luke hasn't been able to keep any food down, and keeps throwing everything up. After everything the poor little guy has been through, you can imagine how it breaks our hearts to see him in pain. The doctor is scheduling an upper GI exam for Luke at Valley Childrens so we can find out exactly what is going on.

Please continue to keep Luke in your prayers. We are praying that he will be able to keep food down and start gaining weight again. Feeding him well is pretty much our main focus in life right now. As a parent, you want your child to be strong and healthy and know how critical being well fed is. As I started worrying about this, God gave me the thought about how He must be the same way with us. God wants the best for us and wants us to be well fed; praying and being in the Word. It feels so good as parents when you have a baby who is happy and has a nice full belly. I think God must feel the same way when we get a nice full spiritual belly. We just need to keep looking to Him. That is where we are right now. Thanks again for all of your continued thoughts and prayers. We are confident that each person praying makes a big difference.

Luke's Homecoming

WE ARE HOME!!!!!!!!!!

As of last night, we are finally a complete family. Yesterday morning, Luke was discharged from UCSF (thank you for all the prayers) and we were able to bring him home. It was a nice long drive back to Fresno (especially for Luke being so tiny in his carseat), but he was a champ. He isn't even two weeks old, and he has already been flown in his own private jet and picked up some extra miles on his first road trip.

It is great to be home, and especially to have both our boys together. We missed Isaiah a ton. He is being such a wonderful big brother, full of kisses for Luke. I think he is already counting down the days until Luke is big enough to play with him. Thank you again to everyone who has been praying for Luke and our family. We cannot express enough how much we appreciate your thoughtfulness.

We are just going to be taking it easy at home now, finally getting into that normal newborn craziness of sleepness nights and loads of diapers. What a joy! We are actually really enjoying every moment of having a healthy, happy family. We'll keep everyone updated with more adorable pics as they come.

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his we are his people,

the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations."

-Psalm 100

Good News

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Luke 11:9

Sunday mornings at the hospital are very peaceful and quiet. I guess that is why the doctors choose this time to do their rotations (we always seem to miss them). This morning, lucky us and lucky doctors, we all happen to be in the same place at the same time. The great joy from this is that we got to create a dispatch plan with the head doctor this morning. He is very impressed by Luke's progress (especially since mom showed up). He said that eventhough he said a week, he thinks we could be out of here as early as Tuesday at Luke's rate. This was obviously both exciting and a bit scary for us (but mostly exciting). As long as Luke continues to eat well and gain weight, we could be looking at a Fresno homecoming a few days before my birthday goal date (what an overachiever Luke is already turning out to be).

I'll be moving back to the hospital tomorrow morning and staying near Luke to test out a 24 hour breastfeeding-only cycle. Josh will continue to stay at Ronald McDonald House. Then hopefully from there its homeward bound to be together as a family with big brother Isaiah finally. Please pray that Luke keeps up the good work and that our transition home will be smooth. Everyone's prayers have been so productive, and we could definitely use them once we get home and try to parent without a team of doctors and nurses on standby. Although we still have some long term concerns with Luke and his development because of this whole experience, we definitely feel good about God getting us to this point. Since the doctors can't give us any clear answers about Luke's future at this point, we will just do our best to love for and pray for Luke everyday (pretty much all parenting in a nutshell). For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Thank You

Friends and Family - Thank you so much for your continued prayers and kind messages. We just want you to know how much we enjoy reading your notes and thoughts posted on the blog. It really makes our day.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34

Time with Mama

I got to come up to San Fran on Friday and am now staying with Josh at the Ronald McDonald House. We are spending the day at the hospitals and then heading over to the house to get some rest at night. I am so happy to be here with Luke and with Josh. Isaiah is having a blast at home in Fresno hanging out with my mom, spending tons of time with his cousins. It will be so great when we all get to be together as a family, but we are each hanging in there in the meantime. Again, it is so good to finally have mama and baby together. That is how it is meant to be. It just feels so right. I love this kid!

Feeding Progress

Now you see it.... Now you don't. Luke has been doing such a good job feeding through bottle and breast that they took out his feeding tube this morning. Praise the Lord. This is such an awesome step in his progress. At this rate, he may be out of here in a week. I've told Josh that all I want for my birthday (the 24th) is to bring home Luke. What a great present that would be.

Here are some of the latest and greatest pictures of our little darling Luke...

New Home

So here are some pictures from my closet/room on the highest floor in UCSF Long Hospital. It's 6 feet by 8 feet with a window. Just outside my window are some other room windows and the 2nd one is Luke's. I am 10 seconds away from his bedside. Kind of nice, even though I will have to move into a room in a Ronald McDonald home about 15 minutes from the hospital. (I knew all those Big Mac's would pay off somehow). This will be a little different as once I leave the hospital, I won't be able to just peek in and say hi and spend some time when I want. It will have to begin and end in a one stretch. We will see how that goes, but what is nice, is that mom is coming and will be better off in the new room. I don't know if I will have internet there, so this could be the last post for a while. Luke also had his MRI done today and we will not get results for a couple of days. He also had his IV taken out, so now it's all about the feeding. I fed him after his MRI and he had his eyes open the whole time. They must have done something because he normally wants to sleep. Pretty cool though for dad. A full feed is 50 cc's and he has taken one or two full feeds through a bottle, but mostly he takes about half and then is fed the rest through his tube. He needs to start taking all of it through the bottle before he is ready to come home. Hope for this and keep thinking of us. I know HE hears you. GO LUKE!!!!!!