Zach Dotsey

Yes, we spotted Milly’s first booger today.  It was very small and it was up the right nostril of her perfect little nose.  We left it there and, like with her detached umbilical cord, decided not to put it in a scrapbook.

Amanda went to bed at a little after 8:00 last night along with Milly.  I think she’s starting to try to go to bed at generally the same time we get the Millster to go down.  She (the baby, not the wife) slept really well until early in the morning, after which time she didn’t want to sleep very easily, so it was a mixed night as far as sleep went.

Work was stressful today.  On top of being busy myself, Milly had maybe half an hour of nap time today, which made Amanda stressed.

The family went to the beach then came over.  Adam, who wasn’t at the beach with them, picked up some Jackson’s Bar-B-Que.  I’d seen the place but never had anything from there, and I must say that it was really good.  After the rest of the crew got here Mom and Jackson played some more Little Big Planet and Andra got Milly to go to sleep.  I feel bad not mentioning anything Addison did, but she’s only seven and a half months old.  She’s cute though.  She’s got beautiful eyes and was intrigued by Milly.

The fam took off right before we had small group.  Due to having Milly, Amanda and I missed the last two weeks.  On top of that, Milly tends to be fussy during the time we have small group, plus we’re trying to put her to bed during that time too, so we had it over at our place.  Today happened to be Jenny Cain and Sarah Nowak’s birthday, so we had cookie cake and ice cream and pretty much just socialized.

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

I worked a little bit today, but I got everything done pretty early so I could spend some time with my family.Mom, my youngest sister Andra Sawyer and her two kids, Jackson and Addison.  They got here last night and stayed with my brother, Adam Dotsey, who also came over eventually, so as not to disturb Milly with a four year old boy running around.  Of course, I offered to have them all stay here.

For a while we just sat around and visited.  I did some work here and there and Jackson and Mom played Little Big Planet for a while.   I was surprised how much fun Mom was having with the game.

Amanda had a dental appointment, so while Milly, Amanda and I went there (Amanda’s not supposed to be driving yet) my family went to do a little shopping and eating then we all met back up at Wrightsville Beach, where I taught everyone to surf.

I took Jackson out first, as it has been my goal for some time to teach him to surf.  At first I carried him and the board out in the water, but after a couple small waves hit us he wanted to go back in.  I caught a couple waves (they were all small and tame) to show him what fun it was, then Adam helped me coax him back out.  Adam carried him then eventually sat him on the board, which was floating next to us.  Then we got him to grip the rails as I pushed him in the waves.  He had a lot of fun until the water got in his eyes, at which point he’d want to “go back to the sand” for a few minutes.  I never did get him to stand up.

Next I pushed my mom on a couple waves and then Andra.  Andra was the only one to actually attempt to stand up (and she accomplished it too, however briefly).  I have now gotten each one of my siblings to surf, plus my mom.  I’ll have to get Dad next time he’s down here and we go to the beach.

Amanda and Milly didn’t come out, as newborns aren’t supposed to go out in the hot sun.  When I went in I left my board out because Mom and Andra were using it as a raft.  If you could see me shake my head in writing, you’d see it right now.

Amanda and I got home in time to meet Justin and Lisa Hauenstein, who brought us a very nice dinner of chicken and salad and such.

Amanda went to bed a little after 8:00 and I watched Kings.  I say this every week and I’m going to say it again- it’s such a travesty that this show has been canceled.

We used formula for the first time today.  We weren’t planning on it, but Amanda just got so sore from feeding that we had to do something.  On the plus side, she’s pumping better now, so we can mix real mama’s milk with formula.  Milly doesn’t seem to mind.

Zach Dotsey

Amanda, Karen and I went to the 8:30 service at Port City Community Church this morning.  As with last week we got up at 6:00 (or Amanda did, anyway) to do it.  Regardless, we were able to pull it off, which is great.  We really like going to the 8:30 service.  In a few months when they go to four services we’ll go to the 9:00 (services will be at 9:00, 11:00, 4:00 and 6:00), so then we’ll at least get to sleep in a little bit more.

Milly slept through all the loud music but got fidgety when the sermon began so I took her out of the main auditorium and watched the message in the hall, where she stayed awake but didn’t fuss or cry.  I talked to a couple other parents with babies out there as well as Kirsten Paschal, who got to actually hold Milly for a while today.  Last week when they met, Milly was sleeping.

We went to Sam’s after that, mainly to get some bottled water.  Personally, I hate spending money on bottled water, but Amanda doesn’t like the tap water here.  (I don’t either unless I add ice, which oddly makes it better to me.)  Since the bottled water is so much cheaper there and Karen has a membership, we took advantage.  We also got a few other things.

We used to have a membership to Sam’s, in case you’re keeping track, but it was through Amanda’s work and they discontinued that not too long ago.

Upon getting home I learned that pitchman Billy Mays had died.  Like Michael Jackson, he was only fifty years old.

Billy Mays was best known for his beard and his shouting tone in all of his infomercials.  “BILLY MAYS HERE.”  Yeah, he talked with the CAPS lock on.

It was a pretty big surprise, especially coming on the heels of Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.  Just wasn’t a good week for being a celebrity.

Billy Mays was in a new show (I think on the Discovery Channel) I watched once or twice called Pitchmen, where he and another guy, his British equivalent I think, look at products to endorse.  It was a pretty interesting show and I he seemed like a pretty funny, down to earth kind of guy in it.  Anyway, my prayers go out on behalf of his friends and family.  I believe the cause of death was something to do with his heart.

I decided it would be a nice time to take a nap on the couch, so I did.  There was a sale at Old Navy so all three of the girls went to that and after a little rest I met Michael and Lars for some surfing.

We had quite a good time and were out there for about three hours.  It got crowded in about the middle of the surf zone, and after a while Michael and I got out (Lars had gone to sit with Kaitlyn for a little bit a while prior to this) and walked to the southern end of the surf zone.  Lars had gotten back out there a few minutes earlier, and we found that not only was it much less crowded, but the waves were better there too.

A little while after I got back home Karen took off back to Richlands.  Amanda and I gave Milly her first non-umbilical corded bath and were pleased to see that her hair curled up when wet, just like it was at the hospital.  It didn’t stay that way long, but it gave us hope that it would end up being curly.

Zach Dotsey

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!

Milly Dotsey in her first trip to the mall

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