Zach Dotsey

From Nick’s sister, Amber:

Well a lot has happened since last we’ve posted anything. I apologize for the long absence of information, things have been very crazy with Nick and Amy’s new baby Elijah, Jenny planning her wedding and myself counseling at a Youth Camp in NY.

I was able to visit home the first couple of weeks of June. It was such a sweet visit! Missy seemed to be doing rather well. They had a port put in so that she doesn’t have to be pricked so much. They also trained my mother to be able to drain her chest at home, which greatly adds to Missy’s comfort.

Today though, I would ask again for your prayers. Since my visit home there have been a few steps down hill.

Missy’s Anemia has been very persistent, requiring a blood transfusion about once every 2 weeks. Her Left chest cavity has now started filling with fluid, meaning that they may need to put a port in on the left side so that we can drain that as well. Her Edema is acting up again causing her abdomen, legs and feet to swell. Doctors have told us that the greatest threat to her right now is the lack of nutrition in her body. So, a feeding tube will be place in this week. hopefully they can take care of the lack of nutrition with high nutrition and Calorie shakes. Due to all to all of these complications, Missy has spend about 2 1/2 of every 4 weeks in the hospital. Doctors don’t offer much encouragement in this situation, but that’s ok because they are not God and we know that He still holds Missy’s life in his hands. Her life is His and He can take when He wishes. In spite of all this Missy has gained a bit of strength the past couple of days and the swelling has gone down in her neck almost completely!

We are all doing alright. God continues to show us his Grace and Mercy in the midst of this. I really don’t even what to think about what a wreck we would be if we didn’t have the peace of knowing that Missy has a better home waiting for her in Heaven because she has placed her trust in Christ alone. Thanks so much for your prayers and encouraging words.

Psalm 62:1-2 My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my Salvation. He only is my rock and my Salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.

Amber Warkentien

As I type this I’m watching The Office with Amanda as she’s feeding Milly, who slept fine early in the night but woke up a lot later on, in the early morning.  From about 6:00 to 9:00 this morning she and I were downstairs.  I carried her down there and we napped on the couch.  I thought it would be a good way to let Amanda get a little extra rest, plus she seems to go to bed easier snuggled up on me than in the crib.

Karen was nice enough to go get us some biscuits this morning.  Actually, she got some croissanwiches from Burger King, which I really like, but they’re too sweet for Amanda’s taste.  I guess Karen hadn’t had them before because she ended up not liking hers either, so she went back out and picked up biscuits from Hardee’s.  Amanda urged her not to go back out on her account, but she said she’d been listening to a show on the radio that she was enjoying and she didn’t mind.

I was finally able to go out surfing today, and not just go but actually do it too.  It ended up being me, Michael, Barry and the Larses (Mike and Kaitlyn Boscaljon).  It was the first time Kaitlyn had gone out since last summer, and Lars had a pretty sweet new board that he did quite well with.  It’s only a seven-footer, but it’s pretty wide.

While we were out there it started to rain, then it started raining hard and thundering.  The rain was coming down like daggers and driving almost sideways, but it was really cool.  I can’t really explain what the experience was like.  The last wave I caught (because I think lightning was getting closer) was awesome, because I was standing up on the board with the rain stabbing me in the back, dark skies overhead and thunder rolling.  It was just so elemental.

Michael and I went back to the house where Karen had fixed us a wonderful steak dinner.  He left shortly after we finished and Amanda, Karen and I watched The Incredibles.  Well, Amanda watched it until she put Milly to sleep and I watched it until I got tired and went upstairs, but Karen, who had never seen it, watched the rest of it.  It was on ABC Family I think, and I’d offered to put it on the DVD so she could watch it without commercials, but she said it was fine.

Zach Dotsey
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Milly lost her umbilical cord tonight.  Karen and I were changing her and handed her off to Amanda in the bedroom, and after we had Karen noticed she had something stuck to her hand.  It turned out to be the shriveled remains of Milly’s umbilical cord.  Now she has a cute little belly button.

Backing up, last night was not a good night of sleep.  It’s been kind of a bummer day all-round, actually.  I tried to go out surfing for the first time in I think three weeks, but shortly after I got to Anna and Barry’s it started raining, and I mean really pouring.  Thunder, lightning, severe storm warnings and the works.  So it was yet another surfing trip to Wrightsville Beach for naught.  Michael and I waited to see what would happen then drove home in some nasty weather.

Two bright spots- Mia Kay brought us enough food to feed a small village and Karen decided to buy us the supplies to redo our porch, which has been listed as “the next big home improvement project” for a while now.  Right now most of the beams are rotted or rotting, and we’re going to replace them with plastic or vinyl, whatever, posts and beams.

Back to the bad- we couldn’t find the camera tonight.  The new camera.  The waterproof one that takes HD video that I got for Amanda’s birthday.  The one that wasn’t cheap enough that we could just go out and get another one.

I had taken it with me to the mall yesterday and I remembered taking a picture in the food court.  I’m a pretty habitual person, so I was pretty sure I’d put it back in my pocket, as I’ve done with our little Sony camera for years now, when I was done with it.  Problem was, try as I might, I couldn’t remember the feel of having the camera back in my pocket and I couldn’t remember taking it back out.

We looked everywhere multiple times and just could not find it.  I even called the mall on the off chance that somebody had found it and turned it in to lost and found.  They took my number and said they’d call if it turned up.  I thought back to the table and couldn’t imagine that all of us would have gotten up and left without someone noticing a camera sitting on the table, and I’m pretty sure that I’d have felt it slide off my tray if I’d thrown it away.  It’s small but it’s a solid camera.

Amanda was distraught because there were some really cute pictures of Milly on it and the whole reason she wanted that camera was to be able to take pictures of our daughter at the beach.  I felt terrible, having just wasted all that money, not having had the camera for much more than a month yet.

Eventually we moved on and settled in for the evening.  Amanda had wanted to check out the show Whale Wars and recorded a couple episodes.  She, Karen and I watched the first one before Amanda headed to bed.

I was downstairs in the office when Amanda came down with some news.  After she’d laid down to go to sleep it hit her- she had planned on taking the baby carrier (the kind you strap onto yourself) to the beach when we’d considered going yesterday, and the camera was in it!

Zach Dotsey

Wow, we actually had a pretty good night of sleep last night!

Today’s Milly’s First was Milly’s first trip to the mall.  Any time Amanda’s grandparents are in town they treat us to a meal at the food court, so that’s what we were there for.  Michael was there too, along with all the ladies Frazelle.  After we ate the women all went to The Loft while Michael and I wandered around in between there and whichever video game store is across the way from it.  Earl, Amanda’s grandfather, walked through there with us.  We told him we were going to buy him a Wii.

After work I planned on going surfing, but I talked to Barry on the way out to Wrightsville Beach and he said unless I had a boat I wasn’t going to be doing anything out there, so I turned around and went back home.

So here’s something.  Farah Fawcett, who has been struggling with cancer for some time, died today.  It’s sad, but it wasn’t a huge surprise.  Amanda and I were in the office looking at something or other when we heard some talk about someone dying on the TV in the living room.  Figuring they were talking about Farah Fawcett, news which had been out already today, we didn’t think anything of it.  When we got to the living room we saw images of Michael Jackson.  We both were thinking, “No way,” so we rewound the TV until we passed something that read: Michael Jackson 1958-2009.  Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, is dead.  It’s so out of nowhere that it’s pretty mind blowing.

Much has been and will be said about all the influence Michael Jackson had on pop culture and music.  He was about to go on a concert tour, and who knows how that would have gone.  I’ve always said it would have been better for his legacy if he’d died earlier, before all the strange diseases/surgery and the questions about his character had arisen.  Despite all that, people are mourning his passing in droves.  It’s really just hard to believe.

Moving on, Amanda and I watched a little bit of the NBA Draft tonight.  We just wanted to see where Gerald Henderson went, and we happened to turn it on just before he got drafted at #12 to the Charlotte Bobcats.  I’m mixed on that because the Bobcats are such a Tar Heel team that I don’t root for them (as much as I root or don’t root for any other NBA team, really), but I really enjoyed watching Gerald Henderson and really hope he does well.

Seemingly as a joke, Tyler Hansbrough was taken by the Pacer in the very next pick.  What I did like about it was that his highlight reel showed a flop, a tremendous travel and his weird sissy fist pump celebratory dance.

Zach Dotsey

I received some terrible news today that had me depressed pretty much all day long.  Elliot Williams is transferring from Duke.  It’s not that he has a problem with the playing time he’ll get next year.  He got plenty when he showed his stuff at the end of last season.  On top of that, he was one of only three guards the squad will have next season.  No, apparently his mom is terribly ill and he’s transferring to be closer to home.  I wish him the best and pray for his family in this tough time, but I have to admit that the selfish part of me is really, really upset at this.  Duke will be so ridiculously thin on guards next season that this single transfer might do some real damage to them next year.  It’ll be really interesting to see what the coaching staff comes up with.

Not a whole lot else going on today.  Amanda and Milly went with me to pick up my paycheck, so they got to meet Karin, the lady who works for my the accounting firm the company I work for uses.  I usually chat with her when I pick up my check, so she and another lady there came out to see Milly when I went by there.

After Amanda went to bed I watched Kings, which was solid as always.  I’m really going to be upset when that show runs out.  It’s probably the best drama on TV right now.

I also checked out Merlin.  It’s a show about a young Merlin who comes to a Camelot founded by Uther Pendragon, who has outlawed all magic.  It reminds me a bit of the BBC’s Robin Hood, which, though not a good show is a guilty pleasure of mine, except I find a lot of the casting a bit annoying.  This show reeks even more of BBC than does Robin Hood in the outdated camera work and special effects.  I’ll probably continue to watch it anyway, though I can’t tell you why.

Zach Dotsey

We still didn’t get a good night of sleep last night, but I think I found a method of putting Milly down to sleep that works decently well.  After Amanda feeds her I swaddle her, turn on the bear with the heartbeat sounds then lower her slowly to her cradle.  Each step of the way I stop and listen/feel her breathing to make sure it’s regular and calm.  It’s not rocket science or anything.

Amanda and I went downtown with Milly today, her first trip to downtown Wilmington, to get a registered copy of her birth certificate at the register of deeds. I found myself a little disappointed that the ladies in the office didn’t really give much attention to or fawn over her.  Isn’t that what people are supposed to do with nine day old babies?

After that we walked a block or two to the Port City Java where Michael works to stop in and say hi, but he wasn’t working at the time.

After we got back to the car we drove over to where Amanda works so everyone who hasn’t seen Milly yet could see her.  We stopped business for a little while as everyone was oohing and aahing over her.  We were going to stop by to show her off to one of my clients as well, but as soon as we turned down Market Street Milly started fussing something fierce (and continued to do so until we got all the way home), so we decided against that.

With our lack of sleep we decided to forgo small group tonight. I felt a bit bad about that, but we’re adjusting, you know.

Ed McMahon died today.  I didn’t know he’d had all the health problems that he had.

Zach Dotsey

We didn’t sleep very well last night, which made me reconsider starting back at work today.  I did work though, and as much catching up as I had to do, I think it was a good idea.  Actually, it’s not that I had to catch up with a lot of work, although there was enough of that, but a lot of what I do involves knowing what’s going on with different clients, and that was the part that took a bit of effort.

I like having Amanda around while I work.  I wasn’t sure how I’d like it, as it’s always sort of been my own time, but she made me a sandwich for lunch (whereas I often don’t think about lunch until 2 or 3:00) and she has also started on our laundry.

The state of our laundry has been abysmal for some time.  There’s no problem washing clothes- I do that all the time.  It’s the folding and putting up that usually goes by the wayside.  In the past I’d do a bunch of loads of laundry in between work, but then we’d have daunting piles of clean clothes that needed to be put away, and the bigger the pile the less Amanda would feel like messing with it, and since neither one of us wanted to mess with it it would never get done.

But now I’m doing the washing (because Amanda’s not up to carrying a basket full of clothes downstairs or leaning over to put wet clothes in the dryer) and she’s folding them and putting them away while watching daytime TV in between Milly feedings.  It works well.

Other than today being my first day back at work with Amanda at home with me, we watched Pushing Daisies tonight, and when Amanda and Mills went to bed I watched a new episode of Kings.  Two great but canceled shows.

Oh, Amanda’s boss, Laura Wyte, came by tonight with a pizza.  And remember how I said the house was hot yesterday after everyone had left?  Well, the AC had gone out downstairs, and since our usual handyman helper was out of town Laura suggested someone else who came right over to fix it.  This time there was actually a part that had to be replaced, and the help was extremely welcome.

Zach Dotsey