Questions

Generic Questions

* What's my favorite Disney movie?

It used to be Cinderella (5 yrs old). I actually had a birthday cake with Cinderella's profile and her carriage on it. Back in the day when my mom had the patience for icing cakes like that!
Then it became The Little Mermaid. I love the songs. In fact, my dad loved the songs too, so we grew up singing Le Poissons (the crazy chef singing about his dead fish).
It's probably an all-time favorite of Cinderella.

*What's my favorite move?

Ok, this one's a LOT harder. I have certain movies that I never get sick of. I don't know if that deems them a favorite. But the list of never-sick-of's is
That Thing You Do
Center Stage
Ten Things I Hate About You

*What's my favorite band or artist?
Again. Um....
Third Day
Brooke Fraser
Chris Tomlin
Todd Agnew
Casting Crowns

Probably Third Day as an all-time. Used to be Newsboys. Hahaha.

*Do we have Vegemite in New Zealand?
This requires some explaining for my Northern Hemisphere friends. :) Vegemite is a yeast extract spread. It's about the consistency of thick peanut butter and the color of dark chocolate. It tastes very salt, and a bit like soy sauce (in my opinion). In fact I've used it while cooking if I need a soy sauce flavor, but don't have it.
Yes, we do have Vegemite. No, I do not like Vegemite. I think you have to have grown up on the stuff to like it. It's usually served on toast and butter - as you would with jam. However, it's usually a very scant layer. Too much of it is overpowering. Vegemite is more of an Australian thing, most New Zealanders (called Kiwis) like Marmite, which is a milder version of Vegemite. I don't like that either. Oceana eats Vegemite and Marmite though and seems to like it. We have it in the house and I figured she needs to learn to like New Zealand foods, even if I don't like them. She can grow up on it and never know the difference.

*What do I miss about the US besides friends and family>
This is a long and random list.
- Wal-Mart
- big shopping malls
- Crisco, specifically butter-flavored
- keilbasa (Polish sausage)
- Italian sausage
- hot dogs
- inexpensive food
- inexpensive clothes
- inexpensive shoes
- clearance racks with decent sales
- Old Navy (for the previous 3 reasons)
- being close to a city

JOSHUA QUESTIONS

*What happens to Joshua if he stays with us, in terms of growth and movement?
This question scares me. We've thought about it a bit. It's sort of hard to know. Obviously the doctors aren't much help here as they said they didn't expect him to make it this long. But already we've noticed that he moves a bit more. His movements are what scare us the most. Right now he's still in the newborn stage and so he doesn't move much. Sometimes though he'll toss his head a bit and that puts strain on both the 'cele and the connective skin and veins between the skull and the 'cele. He has to stay still - either laying on his tummy or back with his head to the side, or sitting with his cele supported by a pillow behind him. He wont' be able to crawl or sit up unsupported with the cele - it's just physically impossible. As it is, if I sit him up on my lap, I have to hold his cele up to a particular angle so his head isn't dragged back by the cele. His development and discovery of motor skills will only aggravate this problem.
As his body grows, his brain will grow. We can only assume that the 'cele will get larger, causing more stress on the membranes, possibly causing a rupture. It's unknown really. We'll take one day at a time, and figure out what we can do to help him. Like I said in a previous post, the doctors keep telling me I've had more experience than them with a 'cele, so I'm gonna know better how to cope with it and protect it.

*What do we tell Oceana about Joshua's 'cele?
Oceana is 21 1/2 months old. She's talking, but not isn't to an "age of reason". We can't explain things to her that she'll really remember or understand. Basically we use words that she knows and understands. She asks (every day, several times a day) "Wassat?" and points at his 'cele. My two normal responses are "Joshua's special head" and "Baby's Ow-ie". She understands the words careful and gentle, so we often say that too, in reference to the 'cele. She knows the word "special" and "ow-ie". But like I said, I have to say it a dozen times a day, and she never seems to remember. She doesn't seem to realize that anything is wrong with him.

*What's my favorite memory of Joshua's pregnancy?
There's a few things.
A funny one: When I thought I might be pregnant, I kept waiting and waiting and waiting to take a test, because I'd been sure I was pregnant the two previous months. I was still nursing Oceana, so the whole system was off-kilter. I went and bought the cheapest test I could find ($14 - do you see why I miss Wal-Mart?). Unfortunately I didn't read the box, and when I got home realized it wasn't a stick test. Ak! It was a cup, syringe, and transfer test. anyways. I did what the test said, and then after 5 minutes I'm looking at a BLANK test! Not even the test strip showed up! Then I looked at the syringe... it was so cheap it had a hole in it and hadn't worked! So I did it again, after chopping off the broken part and *voila* - quickest two pink lines EVER. I didn't even have to wait ... they just were THERE!
A precious one: I posted pictures of it back in December (I think). I had a day I was laying in bed with Oceana. I took some pictures of all three of us (Joshua the bump anyways). I so enjoyed cuddling with both of my babies. I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it. That's why the picture (from Week 1) of all three of us cuddling on the couch was so special.
A cute one: When Joshua was head-first in utero, his feet were right at my bellybutton. Around 39 and 40 weeks he'd put his feet right up against my belly button and I'd play with his feet. Earlier in the pregnancy he'd always pull his feet away, but the last few weeks he'd leave them there. I could feel the sides of his feet and how long they were. It was adorable. And yes, they are long and skinny, but big.