Daffy Dills

We took Eleanor to Wye Mountain today to see the flowers.



She looked at them,


felt of them,


and, of course, tasted them.


Our good friend Chessie sent Eleanor this adorable outfit months ago. Thanks Chessie!

Sophie and Eleanor

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Don't worry. Sophie had just brushed her teeth.

A Beautiful Monday

Matt stayed home from work today. Since he worked all weekend, he has quite a few extra hours to take off when he wants. We decided to take advantage of the lovely weather and go for a picnic. The last time I took Eleanor to the park, I let her play in the grass. My mom saw those pictures and said, "That poor girl needs some toys so she doesn't have to play with just grass." (Just for the record, we have toys coming out the qua-zoo.)

Thanks to her Mimi, Eleanor has fun little cars intended for outside play (and chewing).



She played with them for a while, but then went back to playing with (and eating) the grass.



Then Eleanor's good friend Sophie came over to play. Sophie is a very patient beagle. Eleanor was eager to explore this strange new animal. Sophie felt the same towards Eleanor. I think they will get along well.

On Call

When you get assigned to weekend call as a chaplain at Baptist Hospital, you are responsible for Pastoral Care needs from 8PM Friday night until 8AM Saturday and then again from 4PM Saturday until 8AM Sunday morning. I was on such an assignment this weekend and had perhaps the busiest weekends of call I’ve ever had. But nevertheless it is a good example of the kinds of work we do in terms of crisis response.

Without getting into too much detail (and violating the privacy of our patients and their families), Friday night at 9PM I was called in and didn’t finish until 4:30AM. I worked with the families of two trauma victims flown by helicopter (Med-Flight) to our hospital from scenes of accidents, one “code-blue” patient (either their heart or breathing have stopped and the staff is attempting to revive them), one brain dead patient whose family was continuing to arrive, and two deaths. Saturday night I was called at about 7:10PM and came home at 9:15 for thirty minutes before getting called back and staying until 3:30AM. Last night I worked with the families of two Med-Flights, the same brain-dead patient, and one other death.

People often ask what exactly that we do as chaplains in situations such as these and that’s difficult to explain in detail but it can mostly be summed up by our being present with families in crisis. At times we pray with and for patients and families, at times we help people know what to expect when their family members are coding, or have died. Other times we act as liaisons between medical staff and patients. We sit with husbands of wives who have been whisked away into emergency surgery in the middle of the night. We walk with grieving mothers who can’t bear being confined in small rooms laden with news of death. We listen to mothers exclaim their raging incomprehension at the meaninglessness of a bullet inside the heads of their sons (twice this weekend, actually). We look on with helplessness as a mother learns that her baby did not survive the accident* and she groans in incomprehensible pain. Today I am glad the baton of “call” has been passed to another chaplain as I am exhausted physically and emotionally, but knowing what its like to feel alone in the midst of the fear of a medical crisis, I’m glad I was able to be there for these people this weekend.



* I spent a few extra minutes this morning making sure Eleanor’s car-seat was properly configured. Perhaps this is making me a bit paranoid but I don’t want any of my friends with babies to go through what I saw last night. Here are a few notes (courtesy of Melody) on car seat safety.

A Few Notes on Car Seat Safety

- The safest place for a baby is the center of the back seat. Never put a car seat in a front seat with an airbag.
- Watch weight and height limits. If the baby’s head is within an inch of the top of the car seat, the seat is too small.
- The carrying handle on infant car seats needs to be locked down (not above the baby’s head) when driving. The principle at work here is that in an accident the seat will flip up towards the back of the car, creating a kind of safe, shell of hard plastic around the baby, covering the top opening. If the handle is up it will interfere with this protective action.
- The little plastic clip that holds the straps together should be at armpit level.
- For rear facing babies, the straps should be at or below the shoulders. For forward facing babies/children, the straps should be at or above the shoulders.
- An infant is safest when facing the rear. To protect little neck muscles, keep the baby facing the rear for as long as possible. One year AND 20 pounds is the minimum for turning them around.
- If the seat can move an inch in any direction after installed, it is not installed properly.
- The straps need to fit snug on the baby. If you can pinch it together, it’s too loose.
- http://www.aap.org/family/carseatguide.htm for more information

Tujuh Bulan

Grass
Originally uploaded by bendblock.

Seven months. We celebrated by going to a nice park and sitting in the grass. Eleanor loved the grass and watching a mob of preschoolers play.

I was looking at the shirt that she is wearing this morning and thinking, "if this were in my size, I would wear it." I don't think I would wear the matching hat though.

Video of the Day - Party in Realtime

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Okay. So I don't blame you all for not commenting on that last one. A little dark and self-indulgent and really 66% rerun photos but I wanted you to get the effect of them all together.

On Tuesday, February 28nd, 2006, Melody surprised me with the a 1/2 birthday party (to make up for the one we altogether ignored in the wake of Eleanor's arrival). It was amazing. This video is a little bit of the fun from that night. For inquiring minds the folks at the party are depicted as follows:

Matt Cleveland, Allison Cleveland, Kim Cleveland, Tiffany Stephenson, Donnie Stephenson, Meg Baumgardner, Eleanor Lumpkin, Melody Lumpkin, Joey Utter, Ben Utter, Josh Williams, Ayumi Williams, Brandy Ussery, Joel Anderson and again, Ben Utter. Hah, and you thought you all could attend my surprise 24 & 1/2 birthday party in anonymity.

I just have to brag that I have a good wife who still manages to surprise me (though I am terribly gullible). And she made a chocolate cheese-cake, to boot (or rather, to eat). And I stil have 1/2 a slice.

Photo of the Day - Delayed Tryptych Fulfilled

A ghost

is born.

Space Age Cubicle

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We never turn it on with her in it. I promise.

Yum...Table

Yum...Table
Originally uploaded by bendblock.

I finally uploaded some more pictures to our flickr site (you can see them by clicking on this picture).

The last two weeks have been very long with Eleanor being sick and me (lody) being a bit ill as well. We finally figured out how to get Eleanor to take her medicine. We have to give the dropper to her. Everything in her hands goes in her mouth, so we put the dropper in her hand and it goes in her mouth. Babies are crrrraaaaaaazy.

I've been working sudoko puzzles. The problem with them is while I'm solving them my mind is constantly singing the "onetwothree-four-five-sixseveneightnine..." from Sesame Street. Then there's never a place for the "ten...eleven-twelve."

Photo of the Day - Blink

Alas, it seems I've misplaced the third and final shot of this trio. I'll have to post them all together later. In the mean time Here's one of my favorite intergenerational shots (and I have so many).

To whom it may concern, the ladies of the house are feeling much closer to top form.

Photo of the Day - Hands

Photo of the Day - Elliott

To this day I don't remember drawing that face on my hand.
These next three qualify as something of a triptych.

I shot these one boring night after a hard day of tree-trimming. It was the same night I found out that Elliott Smith had died.

Photo of the Day - Self Portrait

A couple of years ago we lived in Malvern and I was shooting a lot of Kodak T-Max Black and White film mostly because it was cheap and I could process it in the sink at home and we didn't have a lot of money. I shot a lot of rolls and didn't get them all developed before we left for Indonesia. When we got back I rediscovered these rolls and had them developed. The last photo and the next few are from that set.

Today's pic is from one of these rolls that I apparently shot twice. The entirely accidental double-exposures made for some interesting juxtapositions (the word all artsy types love to get a chance to use). This is one of my favorites. It's one of the few pics of myself I actually like, mostly because I seem to have captured that smouldering, male-model, boy-band, album-cover look. That, and it makes it look like I'm thinking of stuff, but it's unclear what.

What do you see in it?

Photo of the Day - Chicago, a long time ago.

"All things go. All things go."

Rings and Tears

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Eleanor loves these rings from her rock-a-stack. Unfortunately, right now she has a cold. That is why the video ends the way it does. She had her six month doctor visit yesterday. She weighs 17.5 pounds and is 26 inches long. Her doctor said that she is "perfect." Then she woke up at four-thirty morning with a fever and a bad cold. Yuck When I called the doctor, the nurse said that they usually suggest waiting two days to see if a fever goes away before coming in, but since it was supposed to snow/ice tomorrow night I should take her in tomorrow if she's not better. I didn't think that I understood her right as I was standing in front of the open door relishing the springish breeze. After I hung up I checked the weather. What do you know, it is supposed to ice/snow. How bizarre.

I hope you enjoy the video.

Photo of the Day - Look out

So there you have it. The first of a new series, beginning with the dumplin'.

Photo of the Day - Dr. Brewer

(plus a conspicuous speck of dust)

Sundry Miscelany:

-Today I ran into old OBU friends at the hospital. Sam Wenger among them. Long time no see. You never know who will be wandering through there (or who I'm allowed to speak of by virtue of the rules created by the Health Information Privacy and Portability Act , HIPPA, for short [not to be confused with COBRA, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconcilliation Act, or the enemies of G.I. Joe]).

-When your baby cries it feels like she's stabbing at your soul.

-Some have deduced by clever sleuthery and I'll be attending the Wilco Concert in Fayetteville on Mar. 18th. I'm very excited and my good friend Matt Cleveland, and oft-seen-of-late acquantence, Mason, will be there as well. If you're there I'll look for you. Especially you, Brock.

-The conference you saw Eleanor packing for in Atlanta was very enjoyable. We learned more about a group of Baptists who are doing interesting things (this same group pays the bills for our friends Shane and Dianne in Slovakia; see linked blog).

-I just don't think that good ends justify bad means. Especially if those means are torture. Cheers to those who will stand up and write something about it.

-My good friend Brandon, from whose wedding this series of photos originates, is not feeling well. He's sick, but fortunately not nearly as sick has he had thought. Good deal. I think this will be the last of the photos from his wedding. Next, we'll be moving to some photos a great deal older... Tune in tomorow to find out what... or when...

POTD - 2 4 1

Ready to Go

Ready to Go
Originally uploaded by bendblock.

Eleanor didn't quite grasp the concept of packing. She tends to be myopic.

The winner of today's contest was the first commenter with the answer: beets. Unfortunately, the contestant forfeited their prize by not signing their name.

Zombie Baby

Zombie Baby
Originally uploaded by bendblock.

Eleanor has been eating with a vengence...but what? Whoever guesses correctly wins the prize.