Week 19: Mango

Your little action figure is able to choreograph Matrix-like moves by now. Arms and legs are finally in proportion, neurons are now connected between the brain and muscles, and cartilage throughout the body is turning to bone. All these upgrades combine to give LBN more control over limb movements. Which explains all that kicking, stretching, and bodysurfing (or rather bellysurfing) I've started feeling by now. (which I definitely have.)

19 Hour Trip to Mpls.

Bryan and I headed north for less than a day to make it to Erik & Joni's wedding. Fast trip - but wouldn't have missed it. Much to our surprise, Brandon and Nia also showed up! We flew in... arrived around 1:30, ate a quick lunch, showered and headed to the Arboretum for the ceremony. The reception was at Solera in Minneapolis where we danced all night long. Up at 8am to catch a flight. Phew.

As Derich said, "The Unintended Family."


Bryan & Me all dressed up.


The Boys.


Nia and myself.

And Derich for got to walk with Kristen.

A Little Game of Catch Up

9/2/08
2nd Anniversary ... Charleston, SC

Georgia Southern Tailgate. Fall 08
Brandi & Robbie


New Statesboro Resident, Lindsay.

Proof that siblings CAN get along.

Week 18: Ultrasound Pictures

Look! LBN is waving! "Hello!!"

Well, I had another great doctor appointment yesterday. We got an ultrasound that covered all of the vital organs to make sure they were okay to go. No problems with LBN other than he moves ... A LOT. Hopefully he'll calm down once he comes out - Auntie Robbie was gracious enough to come with us (LBN and myself) to keep us company as Bryan has been stuck in Ft. Stewart the past couple of weeks. I think she really enjoyed watching him dance around.

LBN is 8 ounces, no tail and has super long legs. His head looks to be the same size as his stomach ... the typical large Neal head. (looking forward to that one.)

While the technician was pressing down looking at his heart, I watched as he geared up and kicked - and Wow! I felt it, too! It was a little flutter, but definitely a kick. He was definitely mobile - but the ultrasound came to an end as we watched him cuddle up and go to sleep. Aw, precious.

Robbie said it best ... "LBN already has his outfit for Halloween... a skeleton!" Next year we'll make sure he's in a cuter costume.

We were able to record the ultrasound so daddy-to-be could watch it last night. We both felt somewhat clausterphobic watching... As soon as I figure out how to make it into an mpeg, I will be sure to post. It's long, but sweet.

Week 18: Sweet Potato

LBN has become amazingly mobile (at least compared to me), passing the hours yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking and swallowing. And, LBN's finally big enough that I'll be able to feel those movements soon.

Week 17: Onion

LBN's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and fat is finally accumulating around it. The umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger, and those little fingers and toes are now topped by one-of-a-kind prints.

Disabled vets redeploy — to Beijing Paralympics

(nothing makes me more proud to see a familiar face fighting for a good cause on the front page of msnbc.com)

USOC seeks federal funds to expand training; VA, some vets groups object

Melissa Stockwell, 28, started her swimming career only after losing her leg to an IED blast in Baghdad in April 2004. In April, after about three years of training, she qualified for the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. She is shown poolside in Minnesota, where she initially trained on her own.

As U.S. swimmer Melissa Stockwell competes in three events in the Paralympics Games this week, there is little of the media frenzy that surrounded megastar Michael Phelps during the Olympics. But her presence in Beijing’s Water Cube is in some ways more remarkable: Stockwell started swimming seriously less than four years ago, after her left leg was blown off by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.

With more than 31,000 U.S. soldiers left permanently disabled by conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are, potentially, many more veterans who could follow Stockwell’s path. That’s why the U.S. Olympic Committee — seeing both a need and an opportunity — is proposing a major initiative to expand sports-focused rehabilitation programs for disabled soldiers and, in the process, perhaps swell the ranks of the U.S. Paralympic team.

“The assumption is that (disabled soldiers) were active in the first place,” said Steve Bull, director of government relations for the USOC. “They probably have a greater motivation to become active again and would be more likely to jump in and be served by programs like this. Who better to head up a program than the Paralympics?”

But the USOC’s initial effort this year to secure federal funding for the Paralympics program has run afoul of traditional veterans service organizations and the Department of Veterans Affairs, which could end up footing a big portion of the bill for the sports program. These critics argue that the increased focus on sports rehabilitation would siphon away scarce resources from essential services, from core rehabilitation programs and, potentially, away from the veterans.

Legislation approved by the House and a similar bill under consideration in the Senate would authorize $10 million a year from the VA budget for the USOC Paralympic initiative. In testimony before a House committee in June, VA official R. Keith Pedigo described the bill as “unnecessary.”

“Although we applaud USOC’s efforts to bring more veterans into their elite-athlete competitions, we believe VA’s rehabilitative events are much better suited to providing the services veterans need,” said Pedigo, an associate deputy undersecretary in the VA.

Kerry Baker, associate legislative director of the nonprofit Disabled American Veterans, agrees with that assessment.

‘A crying need’
“The veterans health system has been underfunded for decades,” he told msnbc.com. “There is a crying need for the VA to have really good screening and treatment programs for traumatic brain injury, PTSD … all kinds of health care and mental and physical health treatments. Ten million dollars can go a long way toward helping a lot more people than a relative few who might be Olympic athletes.”

At heart, this is a turf war, sparked by the USOC's pursuit of government funding. But it has triggered a broader debate about how to best allocate limited resources to treat and reintegrate returning veterans facing an array of obstacles, ranging from depression to paralysis.

The USOC has just started tapping into Department of Defense funds for disabled veterans. The 2008 defense budget authorized $5 million to bolster the USOC’s existing Paralympic Military Program — clinics and camps that introduce disabled veterans to adaptive sports, provide training and opportunities to become mentors to other recovering soldiers. A separate defense budget item, added in 1996 but previously left untouched, is being used by USOC to support the U.S. Paralympic team — 213 disabled athletes including Stockwell and 15 other veterans — currently competing in Beijing. The American athletes are among more than 4,000 athletes from some 150 countries competing in 20 sports at the Paralympics.

The USOC says the need among disabled veterans exceeds those resources, prompting it to seek the VA funding. The USOC proposal was incorporated into the House bill, sponsored by Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., whose district includes an Olympic training center. If approved, the VA funding and the money from the defense budget would roughly double what the USOC currently spends on Paralympic programs.

It's a ...

BOY!

Did we ever have a great day yesterday!!

We were supposed to have an ultrasound to determine the gender in 2 weeks, come to find out - but Bryan was going to be away at school - so our doctor let us get an "under the table" ultrasound and to "shhhh, don't tell anyone." Wink, wink.

So we waited to what seemed like an eternity - and finally went in. Without missing a beat - LBN (Little Baby Neal) showed us his "business" as the technician called it. It was absolutely amazing. I thought seeing the heartbeat for the first time was amazing - but no words can describe watching your baby move, wiggle, kick, suck, push, and stretch his way around his womb. He was so active this time around. We saw his hands, his feet, his brain, his bladder, his kidneys, his heart, his ears... oh so precious.

We're in love.

(Now, back to the drawing board for names...)

Week 16: Avocado

Watch what you say... tiny bones forming in baby's ears mean the little one can now pick up your voice. Eyebrows, lashes and hair are starting to fill in, and taste buds are forming. And an ultrasound might be able to determine gender.

Two Years Down

September 2, 2008 - time has definitely flown by since this day two years ago. Since our wedding just two years ago, we both have different jobs, a new house in a new town (we'll even go as far as saying a new region), a roommate, a new car, a riding lawn mower, new cousins, nieces and nephews and a baby of our own on the way. :)

Though we know the future holds many battles for us, we both know that we have the best partner to tackle them with. We are lucky to say we love each other more now than we did two years ago. And we are so thankful for the never ending support from our family and friends.

Happy Anniversary, Bryan!!