"As Different as Silas and Micah"

Many of you have been asking me, "Alice, did that phrase originate with your boys? I've been hearing it all the time."
Well, it sure did. Here's the differences between Silas and Micah.

Silas liked to swing.
Micah doesn't. (who doesn't like to swing?)

Silas likes MAM pacifiers.
Micah likes Nuk pacifiers.

Silas still liked to be swaddled at 3.5 months. We had to "wean" him off the swaddling blanket.
Micah wants his hands free and gets really mad if we swaddle him.

Silas insisted on crying it out before he would sleep through the night.
Micah seems as though he's going to do it on his own.

Silas rarely slept in the carseat.
Micah really likes to sleep in the carseat.

Here's a picture of Silas at 3.5 months. As you can see, from the following picture, Micah is beginning to look like Silas.



Here is a picture of Silas at 19.5 months. I tried to upload my picture of Micah of the Future at 19.5 months, but iPhoto had some sort of problem exporting it.

Conspiracy Theory

Silas and Micah keep waking each other up. It's very frustrating. It's most frustrating not because I especially need the time to myself, but because when they don't sleep they get overly tired, thus mean and cranky. Silas does things like throw 2 forks at the cat, or spitefully pulls all the socks out of Joel's sock drawer. I wouldn't mind if it was a game, but he cries and yells things at me while he does it. Sometimes he walks around in circles, saying in a half crying, half whining voice, "Where's the water?" or, "the bed. the bed." Sometimes I oblige and put him in bed. He doesn't want to sleep. He just wants his pacifier.

Micah, on the other hand, expresses his over-tiredness by not wanting to do anything. He doesn't want to swing, exersauce in the exersaucer, play on the couch or play with the dangling barnyard toys. He doesn't want to be cradled, swaddled or doodle-dumped. He just wants to be held like an old boring sack of russet potatoes.

Come thou long expected book review

I've condensed the book review of Wayne Grudem's "Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism?" into these two paragraphs and included a picture so you'll be encouraged to read the second paragraph:

A few criticisms I might list are these:
I had a hard time keeping in mind that his point was not to refute evangelical feminism, rather to list the ways evangelical feminists undermine or disregard the authority of Scripture, thus leading to liberalism. In a few instances, he was contradictory, as in his chapter on teaching in the parachurch. And in several places it seems he does not follow his own method of interpretation, but this is difficult to determine since the purpose was not to give an exegesis on the disputed passages. Finally, he leaves some very important terms undefined, such as how evangelism is neither teaching nor presenting passages authoritatively.



I have to hand it to him. He's got some good points. He listed and refuted 15 arguements that evangelical feminists use to justify their position, as well as listed and refuted 10 views evangelical feminists use that are based on claims he says are untruthful or unsubstantiated. Many of these views and claims I was taught both as an undergrad and graduate student in Bible and theology classes. Particularly convicting was his conclusion: many evangelical feminists approach Scripture with the assumption that because men and women are equal, they should share full equality in ministry. We ought to be careful when we come to Scripture that we regard it as truthful and authoritative (as the Word of God Himself). And we ought to realize that we cannot use experience, calling, "prohpecies", tradition or circumstance as our primary reasoning through what we would claim to "know" to be true.

The end is only the beginning

What's the secret?

Why are we celebrating?

It's Joel's last day to be 27.


April 17, 2007: rejoice one and all.
Happy Birthday, loved one!

Day's Events

Several things have happened today that I would like to remember.

BY MORNING, NEW MERCIES
This morning Micah woke up at 6:20, a full hour and 40 minutes before I was hoping he would wake up. I fed him and for the next hour and 40 minutes tried to get him back to sleep. As the clock moved closer and closer to 8, I found myself feeling more frustrated and tired. I especially didn't want to get Silas out of bed while I was STILL trying to get Micah to sleep. I felt a sigh escape from the very depths of my soul when I heard Silas at 8:15. I asked God for just 15 minutes of power-nap type sleep. I didn't hear Silas cry or talk again, Micah fell asleep at 8:20, and exactly 15 minutes later, I woke up to a happy Silas, both of us ready to face the day. I guess God cares about the little things at home too.

REFLECTIONS AFTER THE MORNING OUTING
We took Sabrina to the vet this morning for a routine check-up. We walked around PetsMart and then Toys'R'Us, which is right next door. I was amazed at all the things I suddenly felt like my pets and children NEEDED for a happy, healthy existence. I was especially drawn to playground equipment and fish tanks, and doggie chew toys. Thankfully, I had already resolved not to spend any money whatsoever, except on flea and heartworm medicine (for the pets, not children) so I didn't get sucked in all the way. But it was drafty somethin' aweful.

I also noticed that toy kitchens and cleaning supplies were marketed in the girls' section of Toys'R'Us. Silas has been especially helpful with the broom lately, and really enjoys making snacks with his Cookie Monster dishes. I haven't finished thinking through the meaning of "Biblical Manhood and Womanhood" yet, but something about this scenario doesn't seem quite right. And I DON'T think the problem is Silas' interests.

IMPORTANT PHONE CALLS
Someone called Silas on his hotdog bun at lunch today. I couldn't hear what the other person was saying, but Silas had to hang up and call back several times.

BAD INFLUENCE
Last week we went to Waco with the Morgans. Shortly after we arrived, new baby Corinne had to be changed because she was all yellow and sticky all the way to her shoulder blades. Micah pulled a similar stunt after lunch. He somehow had poop on his upper thighs, knees and feet. I should have just put him in the bath because it took 10+ wipes to clean him off.

Up for discussion

Hi. I read this article today and thought it was interesting as well as resonating with my experience with church, adolescence and ideas of virtue.

http://www.cbeinternational.org/new/E-Journal/2007/07winter/07winterbarger.html

It may be a little early in the season, but 4 1/2 innings in and my Braves are on course to go 162-0 and Brian McCann will bat 1.000 with 162 homers. It's opening day...

Around the House

I've titled my post this because that where I've been for the last week with a few exceptions. Here's the news, starting from last Saturday.

DANCE PARTY
We went to a huge birthday party last Saturday and I somehow managed to not take any pictures. We did have fun though and happy birthday to Katie. Thanks to the sisters for the dances, chocolate fountain, green party punch, chinese lanterns and chocolate ravioli. (There were other delicious foods, but I especially appreciate the chocolate things). By the way, Katie is a sweet 16.

THE BIG GAME
On Monday we went to watch Joel play on his kickball team. But nobody showed up except for the opposing team, which consisted of some really big black guys that Joel felt he couldn't take on without a team, and since neither I, nor Silas, nor Micah signed up to play, we decided to go to the hospital to eat hamburgers. We beat the hamburgers.

PLAY DAYS
There was no fun Bible study this week, but we got to play with Melody and Eleanor two days this week. On Tuesday, Silas and Eleanor took turns not sharing toys until we took a walk and played on the swings at the park. On Thursday, we went to Melody's where we got to see some men hard at work at replacing not one, but TWO windows in Matt's truck. Then we played with water on the deck. That was a blast and Melody gave us delicious homemade pizza. This picture, by the way, is in our back yard. Because of a good rain last night, there's too much water standing around to try to keep Silas out of it. And why should he stay out of it?


WHY THE DMV IS WORSE THAN THE WIC OFFICE
Sandwiched between two fun play days was a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles. The state of AR has ensured that everyone who goes there will leave in a crabby mood. They start by calling their building "AR Revenue Dept". Doesn't that make you think of paying large sums of money? Yep. After my SECOND trip to the DMV, I learned exactly what a large sum of money the DMV wouldn't take via credit card or monthly installments. The first and second trips were child-free. OK, now imagine having to take 2 small babies and a huge chunk of check-book, taking a number, and then w...a...i...t...i...n....g for a cranky government employee to call your number. It finally happened but because I had 2 babies, I couldn't get up very fast. She tried to SKIP MY NUMBER!!!!!!!!! I was totally prepared. I had downed a cup of coffee and listned to "Eye of the Tiger". I was ready to conquer and I did in fact, walk away with a license plate.


AROUND THE HOUSE
Yesterday was Joel's day off. We worked outside, picking up sticks, mowing the lawn, pulling up bushes. At the end of the day, Joel and I ate our favorite desert and watched nearly 6 episodes of "the office" from Netflix, including my favorite episode, "Diversity Day." I have included this picture of our disaster room because while we have been working around the house, very little has been done inside the house. Not enough naps. Too much nice weather.


Stay tuned this week or next for a book review and something that will attempt to make Andrea mad.

Poll

Under what conditions would you be willing to read an entire book review on someone's blog?

Amendment to Previous Post:

I have translated the babies' growth stats from number of dominos into lbs and inches and percentiles:

Micah: 10lbs 13oz (15th percentile)
22 3/4 inches (22nd percentile)

Silas: 28lbs 4 oz. (77th percentile)
33 3/4 inches (84th percentile!)

Great Deals with Daylight Savings!

In this week's Fank. news:

SPRING BREAK
I took my first road trip with the babies. Amazingly, we didn't fill the car with all our stuff. We did take a pack n play, 2 strollers (no, BOB Duallie wasn't one of them), 3 duffle bags, a dog crate, applesauce and fig cookies, 15 cloth diapers and a suitcase.

Phase 1: Shreveport- we began with this quick little jaunt to celebrate the life of a friend in Shreveport at a funeral. It was great to see friends at Shreveport Bible Church and see the adult Fanks even if it was for a very short amount of time. I was glad that Joel was able to join us for this leg of our journey.

Phase 2: Texarkana- this was highlighted by a trip to Target, the mall and twice to the grand opening of Kohl's on Saturday which I vow I will never do again as long as I have two children in strollers. Then daylight savings hit and Silas has been sleeping until 7:30 or 8 instead of 6:45 or 7! We went to church with the Poteets and then we were off to Andrea's.

Phase 3: Caddo Mills- we had a GREAT time with the cousins. Andrea took everybody to the store in a wagon while I got a chance to zip to Plano for much needed heart-to-heart with 2 very dear friends. Anabelle and Ava are so much fun to be with. I got to be um...Tiko the squirrel (??), Silas got to be Baby Jaguar and Anabelle was Dora. Andrea, Heath and Ava were other Dora characters, but I can't remember their names. Ava sweetly showered Silas with hugs around the neck and told me a VERY funny knock knock joke. If I tell it here, it won't be as funny so you'll have to call or perhaps even ask Ava herself.

Phase 4: the drive home- I learned the time limit for car travel is 1hr 45min at a time. Thankfully, we were able to stop in Texarkana and Arkadelphia on the way home. THanks to Emily for feeding us on the way back. Silas was greatful for several chances to walk thru mud and splash in puddles before we drove the last hour home.

COMPANY
*photo courtesy of Matt Lumpkin*
We had the pleasure of a surprise invitation to a picnic last Thursday from the Lumpkins. Matt brought his camera and got some fun shots of the picnic fun. We had to end it a little early so we could make it back for "the Office". I've been especially grateful for the many ways they show me their friendship.

The adult Fanks and Emily came to visit this weekend. We ate a lot of food. We played a lot of games. Debbie washed a lot of dishes. Joel was off so it was a lot of good ole family fun together.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE
I'm happy to share the many successes we've been enjoying as a family. Though Silas really, really enjoys pushing the envelope, he is learning to obey me without discipline as often. I can't believe how much he watches and learns when I don't think he's paying attention. He understands that he has to eat vegetables before he can have something to eat off my plate, he (occasionally) picks up a box of toys before he asks me open a new one, and today I watched with my jaw dropped to see him pick up a plastic cup from the stairs, carry it to the kitchen, open the dishwasher and put it on the top rack! He's also very helpful to throw away diapers (even the cloth diapers) after Micah has been changed. *photo courtesy of Melody Lumpkin*


Micah is also such a joy to be around. He is very smiley now and starting to coo and goo. His eyes are adjusting to normal and the tear duct is no longer blocked. He likes every thing except facing forward in the Bjorn carrier.

Here are the stats from today's 18mo. and 2mo. doctor visit:

The only major failure I can report is that I did not dominate in dominos as I told Emily I would. Some might regard the excessive number of laundry baskets full of clean laundry to be put away a failure, but I don't. It's all organized by room.

NEXT WEEK'S NEWS
Will hopefully be posted on time. Already, a week's worth of events have transpired before I could publish this post. I guess you'll have something to look forward to... *photo courtesy of Matt Lumpkin*

Spring is in the Air

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE OF BOB DUALLIE
A couple weeks ago my 5/9 of my (Poteet) family came to visit. We shopped, watched a couple of movies and ate nice food. The weather was really nice so the LKS and I took Silas for a walk on the nature trail. There were no rocks or roots that BOB Duallie couldn't take. It was a lot of fun and since then, I've been out walking a lot with the babies.

BABIES REPORT
Silas has reached an important mark in language development: He has started putting 2 words together! The most memorable phrase so far has been "bye bye, mama". He said this as he turned to run away when I asked him to follow me at the Rock Creek playground. Silas is also getting better at using a spoon and fork, and has started responding to "time out" for touching the computer and pulling Lewis' hair.

Micah rolled over twice today! He is smiling when he's in a very good mood (that is, when he's fed, dry, and just woken up from a 3 hour nap). Otherwise, he seems to be content to watch me fold laundry or swing while we all eat lunch. I'm glad he's around.


BAKING AGAIN
After all the coffee I drank post-Micah-call, I was feeling somewhat manic and baked petit fours and decorated them with my new mechanical pastry bag that I got for Christmas. It was a lot of fun and they turned out quite delicious. Please someone, give me another reason to bake cake.

MICU IS DONE
We stay-at-home Fanks are hoping to get reaquainted with Joel again this month. He was really busy pronouncing people dead last month in the Medical ICU. It should be noted that he did a great job balancing an emotionally stressful job with what can be an emotionally stressful family life (2 kids crying at once can drive anyone crazy).

Running on empty

Micah had his first bad night last night. From about 2am until Silas woke up at 7, he woke up at least every hour crying. Every other time I fed him and he quickly fell asleep. When Silas woke up, he cried too, I think because I didn't bring his milk into his bedroom. I never bring his milk into his bedroom. I'm not sure why this was a problem today.

So I think I'll make some coffee, light a candle, take a couple tylenol and spit this yucky day in the eye. Rain, bring it on. Crying children, I can take it. There's a God in heaven who's behind me all the way. He was awake all night too.

Long time readers will no doubt begin to be disappointed with blog post titles such as this one

I do not have the mental energy anymore to think up clever titles or make sure that most words are spelled correctly in my posts. I hope that's not why you read them anyway. You're supposed to be looking at the cute pictures. But for you "readers", here's this week's news brief.


BODY BUILDING
Today I went in for a 4 week post-partum, well person check-up. I was irritated the nurse didn't tell me I looked great. Then I realized it was because I have over 15 lbs to lose to be just pre-Micah-pregnancy weight. That's ok with me though. I'm breast feeding AND I'd like to introduce you to our new family member: BOB Dualie, our new jogging stroller! Don't worry. I'm not about to do anything crazy like jogging just yet. For one, it's too cold. For two, Micah can't hold his head up yet. For three, I'm at least a good 10 lbs away from being able to jog without hurting my knees and hips. BUT...I can go walking over rough terrain. BOB Dualie has 3 inch shocks. We know for sure that it can run over most toys we own so we assume it can also easily go over roots and rocks.

HIPPIES?
I bought cloth diapers for MIcah. My friend, Kim, who lives in Tanzania said she uses them with her baby who is 2 weeks younger than Micah. She doesn't have a washing machine and is still able (well, her household helper is able) to wash out the mustard-poo that sweet little breast-fed infants have. Also, Micah is now 28 days and we've gone though at least 140 diapers. But the REAL reason I bought these diapers that will no doubt add hassle to my currently hassle-free life, is that I'm tired of looking for the diaper rash creme or petroleum jelly that I have to slather on M's little bottom to keep him from getting a diaper rash.
ADDENDUM: in accordance with the Fank. Family Policy 12.22 to promote companies that have provided good service, we add cottonbabies.com to our list ( http://www.cottonbabies.com/ ). I ordered diapers on Monday and they arrived Wednesday. Today is our first day to use them with Micah but as I mentioned before, I really like using cloth with Silas. And just like we enjoy saying BOB Dualie, we enjoy saying bumGenius!

AND SPEAKING OF MICAH
Someone said yesterday that he has my mouth. I agree. He and Silas and I all have my mouth, that I think we got from my mother, but it might have come from my father, who has a beard, so it's hard to say.
Silas and Micah have been keeping me especially busy these last 2 days. Micah apparently doesn't like to have air in his stomach after eating and Silas apparently doesn't like our clothes to be in closets or dressers.


FINAL REFLECTIONS
I have to remind myself that the every day trials of having these little people around me are merely a season. In the blink of an eye this time will have passed, and I fear I'll regret not taking note of the precious moments that come with all the diapers. Silas still loves to sit in my lap and listen to me read books to him. He explores his world with the determination of his father that I so greatly admire. Micah is so sweet to hold. When he's awake, he's so easy going and seems to enjoy studying my face. When I remember what I'm doing here, I'm thrilled to be the one to disciple these boys thru their childhood and adolescence.

photo experiment: by ann

The Fankhauser News Brief

PARENTS
We're really grateful for all the moms that came to help when Micah was born. Mom Poteet drove 2 hours in the middle of night and stayed with Silas while we were in the hospital in spite of having a dying gall bladder. When she left us, she didn't waste too much time before heading to the hospital herself. Mom and Pops Fank came too. Pops was only able to stay for one night but we covered the important stuff while he was here: Jack Bauer Power. Silas had a great time with Debbie and she was even gracious enough to take him to get his shots so there will be no flu around here. Then Andrea came and we had a great time making delicious chocolate things. Thanks to Andrea, the wallpaper shadow of the tv wall stand is gone. She also brought a billion new toys for Silas to play with. He especially likes Smart Street. I was inspired by Heath's fun parenting (see the Bradley blog post "Daddy's Girls") to take Silas to home depot and not make him ride in the cart. It was raining and I would not have imagined that the most fun part of the trip was stomping through the puddles on the way in and out of the store. I got what we needed as quickly as one can while holding a squirming hand and we made our way to the front of the store. People kept staring at us, but not in the way that says "oh what a cute toddler". I guess they haven't had to keep their children inside for the last week because of the rain and cold. Maybe it doesn't rain at their house.

CHURCH
Yesterday Joel and I went to a class to tell us about Fellowship Bible Church, the church whose ministeries we're considering committing our time and money to. Towards the end of the class, a man stood up to ask a question that went a little something like this:
"I just WASTED a year at a church because they didn't have something like this. I think the Bible teaches a lot of good things but I think there's a lot of truth found in other places and I don't think that everything the Bible says is true. Jesus was certainly a good guy but y'all don't teach ridiculous things like that Jonah was really swallowed by a whale, do you?"

The pastor answered unapologetically that yes, they do teach that Jonah was an actual person and there have been other acounts of people being swallowed by sea creatures and still living just fine. The man said this:
"That is absurd! Are you serious?! Y'all don't have any snakes in the back of this church, do you? Well, thanks a lot, but I'm not going to waste any more time here!" And he pretty much stomped out of the room.

VACATION
Today is Joel's first day of vacation. He's catching up on the all the medical journals I've been threatening to recycle. We ate some delicious banana bread that Melody made us for breakfast and Silas is already down for a nap (he's sick and coughing on everything and everybody). Micah's asleep too (but not in the sink. That's just while Silas is taking a bath. We don't have any beds in the bathroom). He's a sleeping champion. Last night he slept from 11pm to nearly 5am. This was great since the new pediatrician (who we LOVE) told us not to wake him up at night to feed him anymore. He's not supposed to be back to his birth weight until this Thursday. But he was already last Thursday, plus and extra 6 oz.

Joel just told me that when a kid has rotavirus, in only 1 gram of their stool there are 100,000,000,000 virus particles. Now I'm going to do all the things that I can think of to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in this household: wash my hands and take a nap. A well rested body can fight illness better than a tired one.

P.S. I forgot to mention that Joel might have saved Silas' life when he was choking on a bite of apple. Silas was trying to swallow and cough at the same time. It didn't work out, but all's well that ends well.

Micah Alden Fankhauser

he's one cute baby.

Poll

Over Christmas, I got some new stretchmarks. At my doctors appointment yesterday, my uterus (and thus the baby in some way) had grown 3 centimeters from top to bottom. I don't know how much weight I've gained since I lost the half pound before Christmas. I figured with all the candy I got for Christmas, and that it's nearly gone now, this time I really would not want to know how much I weighed.

I feel like this baby is getting pretty big. If anyone would like to guess his birth weight before he's born, there will be a prize for the winner, or the closest without guessing over (think "the price is right"). Also, for all you who have been DYING to know what you can give this baby as a gift- he really would like money for cloth diapers and a swaddling blanket I've placed a bid for on ebay. You're so kind. So generous.

Here's my guess: 8lbs 7 oz. (if I guess right, the prize will still go to the next closest guesser).

New Years Resolutions

#1 Do not agree to puppy sit for a week within days of baby's due date.

#2 Give my immediate family more kisses

#3 Save money in a savings account

#4 Update our OS so I can post pictures of the growing family

#5 Lose at least 10 lbs (I like to be able to check things off my list and this one should be pretty easy so long as I don't have the baby today, tomorrow, Saturday or Sunday.)

#6 Be able to do addition in my head more quickly

#7 Print and label more pictures

#8 Join a church

#9 Accessorize

#10 Finish a book (not by Doctor Seuss) in a timely manner


I'll post the rest as I come up with them. 2007 is going to be great!

Fun facts about being Great with child

On Thursday, I will be 36 weeks pregnant. I wonder how many weeks Mary was when she gave birth to little baby Jesus. Maybe Jesus was born around the same time our baby will. Mary and I have this in common: we both are/were likely deliver early (she because of her likely young age, and I for having had a delivery within 18 months).

At my doctors visit today, I told the nurse I didn't want to know how much weight I had gained because I didn't want to feel guilty for eating fudge or other Christmas foods. She asked if I wanted to know if I had lost any weight. I thought she was kidding so I said sure, cause then I could know how many extra cookies I could eat. She said, "OK, well you lost half a pound. It's probably from holiday stress so I wouldn't worry about it."

Worry about it? The baby is growing fine so that was music to my ears.
Bring on the holiday cheer!