Searching for the sea

News: February 18 Johanna laid Keenan down for his nap as usual in his beautiful crib. She was surprised when he started crying in a way that said, “Hey, what happened? Help! I can’t sleep this way! The world is spinning around in circles and I’m scared.” She immediately went in to check on him and found that he’d rolled over for the first time. She’d put him on his stomach and he was laying there crying on his back very confused and scared. She comforted him and within a few minutes was able to put him back down. Since then he’s rolled over two more times. We wonder if he may have rolled over sooner if he’d been in his crib in PP. The play yard that he slept in every night began to warp under his weight and it was really hard for him to move let alone roll over.

Keenan does what we call the “belly button dance” when he’s starting his nap. We lay him down on his stomach in the crib, put the mosquito net over him, and then leave the room. Not always, but often we’ll hear him grunting and whimpering a little and we’ll look in there and see his head up above the bumper peering at us. He’s lifts not only his head but part of his chest up. But what’s funny is he often puts his feet up behind him just as high so it looks like he’s balancing on his belly button. He’s so cute. He doesn’t really cry at nap time. He just makes grunting sounds like, “Hey guys, I don’t think I’m tired yet. I wasn’t finished with my play time. Couldn’t we just play a little longer?” But just a few minutes later he’s sound asleep.

Keenan also does the “snorting wood pecker.” This is after his nap when he is getting really hungry. I’ll go in there and pick him up and sit with him awhile in the rocker while Johanna gets ready to nurse. He again makes little snorting sounds and short little cries. At the same time his head bounces back and forth across my chest as if he’s looking for something. (Any guesses?) We can’t help giggling as we watch him.

Last night he was lying on my chest in the bed after his feeding. He suddenly pushed up with his hands and lifted his head and chest up in order to look into my face. He just looked and looked at me for several minutes. His head didn’t bob. He held it steady and looked and looked at me. Then he burst into the biggest smiles we’ve ever seen him make. He smiled with every muscle in his body. He stayed there looking at me with his head held way back in that awkward position until we thought he must be getting sore. He started whimpering and puckering up his mouth into a cry. But he wouldn’t rest his head. He wanted to look at daddy. So eventually I sat up and held him in front of me so he could still look without getting a kink in his neck. What a cutey!

Saturday evening Johanna suddenly said, “I don’t feel so good. I feel so tired I’m almost sick.” A few minutes later she said, “My stomach doesn’t feel right.” And moments after that she said, “I feel chilly all of a sudden.” He temperature suddenly rose and within a couple of hours was 102.7. I called the doctor and she told us to take Tylenol. She wanted to feed Keenan first though so he’d not get much of the medicine. But before she could feed him she had to make a quit trip to the bathroom to vomit up all of her lunch. He temperature slowly receded after that so she never ended up taking the medicine. By the next morning she was feeling much better, just weak. Today she feels back to normal.

But Sunday was my turn. I didn’t feel right all day long. By the evening my temperature started to climb and I felt like I was going to die. (I’m a real weakling). I was shivering with cold and feeling just awful. My temperature climbed all the way to 100.8 and then receded. While Johanna was burning up she was making jokes. When I got sick I just whimpered and asked Johanna to do things for me. I don’t know what I would have done if I had had the higher temperature. J Last night when we got up to feed Keenan I had a terrible headache and ended up taking some Tylenol. I woke up this morning feeling so much better, but weak. So I’m guessing by tomorrow morning I’ll be feeling back to normal.

We’re still cleaning the house and trying to get our lives in order. The fridge is a real life saver but the washer is an absolute miracle. Every day we do several loads. We had no idea how many extra clothes a baby would bring to the laundry. Especially with his little washable diapers. We had a lot of electric problems last week and didn’t know for sure if we’d get the fridge and washer working, but I think we’ve solved the problem with a good voltage stabilizer. Praise the Lord!

Janti and her husband stopped by last week. Her son is still very much alive and doing much better after his episodes with malaria, though still weak. She immediately wanted to hold Keenan. He wasn’t so sure and looked at her shyly. When she held him he started whimpering and complaining. I took him and he immediately calmed down. He kept looking at Janti though. He didn’t know who that woman was that kept talking to him and stroking his arms. Eventually he allowed her to hold him without complaining much but it was clear he wanted to make sure mommy and daddy where there still. We’re always amazed at just how much Keenan seems to be aware of. He’s far more intelligent than we could have ever imagined.
Love,

Braden, Johanna, and Keenan