Strike One for the Gardeners...somewhat

Well, we have had our first hard lesson...mosaic virus. Apparently, this virus attacks all sorts of veggies and flowers and we just ripped up all of our tomatoes, beans, peppers, and sunflowers. We started to notice the leaves on our tomato plants were curling and looked liked ferns. And the fact that we have had green cherry tomatoes, full size, on the vine for 2 weeks. Then the peppers started to curl...and then the bush beans.

After some online investigation we found out that there is no treatment other than pulling everything up and boiling all of the tools that we have used and then using strong soap on them. I am waiting for an email from our local extension office to see if there is anything we have to do to the soil. The easiest way to introduce the virus to your garden is buying tomato plants, and then it is easily spread by bugs or by infected garden tools or your own hands. Ewwww...

The silver lining is that it has not affected the zucchini by a long shot...we have already harvested 2 and have about 8 in the works with roughly 3 dozen blooms on our 4 plants. And now that the tomatoes are gone, they have more room to spread...

In other, much more exciting news, Timothy weighs 13 pounds and 3.5 ounces! Yes, that means he put on a half pound over the past 4 days. :) We have the green flag to increase his dosage and shorten the length of time he needs to be on the feeding pump to 20 hours a day. This is also good news because the whole practicing-with-solid-foods-thing is not working out when he is getting fed constantly and doesn't seem to have an appetite. Next weight check is Friday...

Cattle Drive and Weight gain...all in the same day

In honor of this weekend's rodeo the next town over, we had an old-fashioned cattle drive down main street today at noon. We have been truly enjoying all of the festivities of the summer in our new town and we are looking forward to going to our first rodeo Saturday. (hopefully the threat of rain and 95+ degree weather won't keep us away)

In other news, Timothy gained 3 and 1/2 ounces over the past 48 hours! We are now allowed to increase his dosage and back down the time to 22 hours. As long as he keeps gaining weight, we can keep working the time down so he will have a few hours unattached to the pump. We did use more burp clothes than the first day, and I had a couple of outfit changes, but he is still doing better than he was just a few days ago. :)

A one-burp-cloth day

Now that we have moved and changed all of our doctors, specialists, and therapists, we have a new plan of action for Timothy's healthcare. According to our new GI specialist, Timothy may actually have a milk allergy. I am really interested in the outcome, because we asked ALL of our former doctors about this and they were all VERY sure that he did not have a milk allergy. He has been switched to a hypoallergenic formula that is broken completely down to the amino acids and we started a 24-hour drip with a feeding pump. Just switching formulas helped him put on a whopping 5 ounces this past week! Adding the feeding pump into the equation should help too because so far today, we have used only ONE burp cloth. (As a side note, we own at least 2 dozen and do laundry every 1-2 days because we are constantly running out of them) Who wouldn't struggle gaining weight when they are spitting up half of everything that they ate? Thursday we go back in to see if he has put on any weight. If he does, we can increase the rate of dosage so that he can slowly get a few hours off of the pump. In the meantime, we are also working on eating solids and relearning how to suck and swallow. Our one burp cloth for the day was mostly sweet potatoes.

Throughout all of this, he remains a champ. He is truly a content (most of the time) and happy baby that we love to pieces. Yet, one of my new favorite pictures of him (see previous post) is when he is screaming. :) That is one tired, don't-you-dare-put-me-back-in-the-carseat little boy...

Trip West

While my parents were in town this past week, we took a trip out to the Black Hills to see some sights and visit my in-laws. We had a great time driving through the badlands, visiting Mount Rushmore, and stopping in Spearfish.

By the end though, Timothy I think was happy to be home. :)

Small Town Fourth of July

So, I have been busy lately. Since the last post, Jared graduated, we moved from St. Louis to Gregory, SD, we have unpacked, visited Spearfish over Memorial Day weekend, Jared was ordained and installed, painted, weeded, decorated, explored, played, and had my family in from Michigan. I refuse to apologize for the lack of updates...besides, I have been loading pictures faithfully onto picasa, so if you have been checking, you are up-to-date. Now on to 4th of July...

It is a big deal around here. A really big deal. The town of Gregory puts on a whole host of activities which include a carnival, parade, run/walk, geocache event, golf tournament, kids' tractor pull, greased pig wrestling, sack races, turtle racing, car show and a baseball game with the neighboring town. (I am sure that I am missing half of the events, but you get the idea) With my parents and Mindy in town, we had a blast taking in many of the events and throughly enjoyed watching the parade that went right by our front door.

going down to the carnival

waiting for the parade

one of the floats in the parade (theme was "America's Unsung Heroes") :)