Sad Day

This picture has nothing to do with our sad day. My mom sent these boots for the boys. They love them. However, they do take them off a lot. It's not uncommon to see them walking around the yard in their bare or stocking feet. Especially Nathan.

This afternoon Isaiah called me outside to see a little caterpillar he had found. For the next 1/2 hour he carried it around. At one point he told me he was "picking off that yellow stuff". I told him that wasn't a great idea. Nate was pretty excited about the caterpillar too, but Isaiah didn't let him get to close -most of the time. They eventually brought the poor thing into the porch. Somehow it ended up on the floor and the next thing I knew Isaiah was crying and very upset with Nathan. When I went to investigate Isaiah cried "Nathan stepped on the caterpillar". Sure enough, I could see two yellow smears on the brick and then the remaining chunk in a little pile. Nathan was sitting a few feet away looking as if nothing had ever happened. When I looked at his sock (he had taken his boots off) I could see lovely yellow caterpillar guts. Great. I almost cried right along with Isaiah because he was so upset. I also tried hard to hide a smile. Life is not fair.

End of the Day

It's been a good day. This morning I sorted through the boys winter/summer clothes. I hope it doesn't get real warm again because I've put most of the shorts and t-shirts away. They have plenty of clothes. I've decided that Nate could use a good pair of jeans. However, I hesitate to even buy a good pair because jeans always seem to wear out in the knees, even if they only wear them to church and the like. Isaiah needs a pair of shoes for church. He'd wear his rubber boots if I'd let him. My pride gets in the way sometimes. Other times I swallow hard and look the other way.

This evening I gave Jeremy, Isaiah and Nathan all haircuts. I almost wrote "tonight I gave all three boys a haircut", but I didn't because Jeremy is not a boy. I get tired of hearing grown men referred to as such, even if it is in a joking sort of way. It just seems disrespectful. do you agree? Am I totally off my rocker? Respect is not a bad thing. Back to the haircuts. I don't think I charge enough. What a job. We bought the clippers soon after we were married and I think they are about worn out. If you know what Jeremy's hair is like you'll understand why. Nate's hair is going to be just like it I think.

On to better and brighter things. I'm going to Halifax, NS the end of next month! Someone (who wishes to remain anonymous) is making it possible for me to make a trip to see my dear friend Robyn. I can hardly wait. I know it will be very hard to leave Jeremy and the boys, but they will survive. (note: I'm more sure of this than Jeremy -you can pray for them. :)) I've never been the to east coast of Canada. I'm looking forward to seeing some new things and of course just hanging out and talking and talking with Robyn. Maybe I'll even update my blog once or so just to let you know what we are up to. If I have time that is.

Lastly, here's a conversation I had with Isaiah yesterday. He had just told me he wished he could have a toy moose. I have NO IDEA where that came from.
Me: Did you know that Thunder Bay Grandpa hunts moose with his gun?
Isaiah: Why does he do that?
Me: So he can eat the meat.
I: That's disgusting!

I decided not to tell him about cows or chickens.

Brothers

Last Saturday our church hosted a bluegrass festival at the community center. The boys loved the moonbounce, mini golf and other games planned for the children. They each came home with a little plastic flash light. What is it with boys and flashlights? They love them! Isaiah and Nathan are definitely entering a new phase in their relationship. We're starting to see the brother bonding thing happen. Here are some examples.

• Nathan still doesn't understand the "rules" to racing cars the way Isaiah would like him too, but they do play with cars together. One throws a car and the then they both laugh like it's the funniest thing they've ever seen. We love hearing them laugh, but our red living room wall now has a nice, white nick out of it. :( No more throwing cars.
• During prayer time before meals we close our eyes and usually hold hands. Lately it's been a battle to get them to close their eyes and be quiet. One boy looks at the other and starts giggling or making odd noises and it's all over.
• They dump sand in each others hair. Let me tell you that sand is VERY hard to get out of hair!
• Isaiah chases Nathan around the house while Nathan runs for his life laughing and screaming until he falls face first into the carpet and hurts his nose. He cries. Then they do it all over again.
• They get sent to the backyard to play until Daddy gets home because Mommy is tired of the running, throwing, laughing and crying.
• They strip naked and jump like crazy men in Nate's crib until someone (usually Nate) is crying because he bumps his head or because Mommy or Daddy finally decide to put a stop to it. The question that always remains, how exactly did that blanket get wet??

So, if I am carrying a girl, will she want to throw cars and balls and take flashlights to bed? And the biggest question of all, what do we name her? I'm thinking something that means, peaceful, quiet, gentle, etc. Any suggestions?

Recipe

Here is the link for the Roasted Tomato Soup I mentioned in my last post. Let me know if you have trouble getting it. It was in one of the last issues of Taste of Home so I can't take credit for any of it. :) I added homemade croutons and cheddar cheese to it.

Friday Night

I'm feeling the need to update, but not sure what to say. I'm starting to think seriously about Christmas shopping. Could this possible be the year that I actually get it done early? If a new baby doesn't get me moving what will?!

Before Christmas, however, is fall. My favorite season of all. Sweatshirts and jeans, apple pies and pumpkin rolls, leaves and mums, it doesn't get much better. Bring it on!

Last night I made a roasted tomato and fresh basil soup for supper. It was great and was even healthy. It even smelled healthy.

Isaiah has started speech therapy. Many of you know this has been a concern of ours for awhile. Especially since he was tongue tied until he was 21 months old. It's encouraging to see him making progress. He enjoys his teacher and all her toys too so it's something he looks forward too. If you ever have a baby that is tongue tied fight to have them clipped it at birth. It's worth it.

Nathan is doing great. Thank you for all your prayers. I took him back to our family doctor on Wednesday. It felt great to leave with a healthy child this time. The ENT doctor still wants to see him. I'd like to skip that appointment, we've had a lot lately, but I guess we'll go to one more.

I've forgotten, again, what week of pregnancy I'm in. I used to think that people that forgot such important things were crazy. Hmmm... I just know I have three more months to go. I think. Jeremy, bless his heart, looked at me one day and said "I guess they aren't like a month off or something". :( I'm very grateful for a healthy pregnancy and baby so far. If weight gain comes with that I guess I'll be thankful for that too.

I've taken on a new adventure and decided to sell Avon. Mostly because I don't know anyone that sells it and I really like some of their products. They have the best eye makeup remover I've ever used, and I've tried a lot.

Jeremy and I are getting ready to watch a movie. Nothing like a date night at home on a Friday night. :) Right now Jeremy is telling the boys a story about Brother Hans and Brother Jonathan racing around their house and their Dad scaring them. Isaiah is eating it up.

Thankful

Someone get me out!

I'm so glad today is a holiday. We're going to be lazy and not feel bad about it! I can't tell you how glad we are to be home and that the doctors didn't make us stay until today. I realize I've posted a lot about this last week and you may be tired of reading about it. You may stop now. :) I view my blog as kind of a journal.


Thank you for all your kind comments on the previous post. My mom mentioned something about the doctor's having wisdom. There were several times during the last week when I felt God's presence so strongly. There were times when verses, or even just parts of a verse would come to my mind. God really doesn't leave us alone in difficult times. There were also a couple time when Nate would wake up at night crying. I'd try to get him comfortable and ask him if he wanted me to sing him a song. His response was usually yes. I'd rub his face and sing, usually Jesus Love Me because that is one of his favorites. I was always amazed to watch him relax and fall back to sleep. Even a mother's touch can't do that.


Isaiah did amazingly well through this whole time. He is a child that does well with a routine and set schedule and when that is missing tends to fall apart quickly. We are so grateful to my aunt and Jeremy's parents who were able to take care of him. He went to work with Jeremy and Hans on Thursday and I think that was a highlight of his week. He was excited to see Nathan. When I brought Isaiah home on Saturday night Nathan just looked at him and giggled and smiled. They were very glad to be back together again.

Nathan's Week

Do you ever wonder what is going to happen in any given day or the near future that you don't know about yet? Not really a fearful thought, just a thought. What is in store for this week. I don't know where to start this post so I'll just give you a run down of our week.


Monday: Nathan woke up from his afternoon nap crying. This happens sometimes, but this time he didn't snap out of it. We noticed he was holding his neck funny and didn't want us to move it. He was also running a low temperature. The stiff neck scared us so we called our doctor's office. They advised us to watch him closely and make sure the temperature didn't get too high.


Tuesday: Nathan woke up still fussy and not turning his head. He also wasn't eating anything and drinking very little. I made an appointment at the doctor's. I thought we'd go in, he'd tell us what the problem was maybe give Nate a prescription and we'd go home. He checked for strep throat, but that was negative. He finally told me he was concerned because he couldn't figure out the problem. This of course made me even more concerned. He sent us to the lab right away for blood work. Nathan did not enjoy having his blood taken, I cried right along with him. Then we went home to wait. The results from the blood worked showed his white blood cell count was 16,000. That's high, but the doctor didn't feel we had to do anything right then. He told us as long as the Tylenol or ibuprofen kept the temperature down and if he was drinking at least something we didn't have to head into the ER that night, but he wanted to see him again in the morning. If I didn't sleep well Monday night Tuesday night was even worse. Nathan would wake up crying and I could tell he just wasn't comfortable. His temperature stayed down if we kept him on medicine.



Wednesday: Not much different. About 1 to 2 hours after he'd have ibuprofen he'd crawl off the couch and try to play a little. He still wasn't moving his neck. He also wouldn't eat hardly anything and was drinking very little. He'd be up for about an hour then he's start to complain again and say "Seep, seep" (sleep). Back to the doctor we went. I should say by this time, I was exhausted and even more emotional than usual. This time we were sent for a neck x-ray. About 5 minute's before they called us back I remembered that they wouldn't let me anywhere near an x-ray machine because I'm pregnant. It was too late to try to call Jeremy so I just decided to go ahead. I don't know about you, but I like to be with my kids when they are going through things that our unfamiliar. It was not easy to leave Nate with the x-ray technicians and walk out of the room listening to his crying. More tears. I'm pregnant, they were very kind and understanding. Back to the doc to find out the results. There was some swelling in the neck. Probably infection. He was sending us straight to the ER for a CT scan. I left the office in tears. Jeremy would meet us at the ER.



I'm sure I looked a site walking into the ER with my big belly and trying to carry a 30 lb sick boy wrapped in a blanket. Fighting the tears. Why do I have to keep crying? Jeremy walked in while we were registering. Many, many more tears. When Jeremy's around I don't have to be a strong. Seeing him walk in was such a relief. I'm crying while I right this. I'm pregnant, please be understanding. :)

We signed in at 2:00. I've never experienced an ER before. The nurses and everyone were great, but let me tell you it's not fun sitting for hours on end waiting and waiting. they were really busy. I think it was about 2 hours before we saw the doctor. I'll try to keep this short (I know, I've already failed). Nathan just sat on our laps or asked to "seep" and laid on the bed and slept. Putting in the IV was not fun. They finally sent us for a CT scat. So Glad Jeremy was able to be with Nate the whole time. I was able to watch from another room. Back to the ER for more waiting. Some thing's wrong with the IV. It all has to be redone in the other arm. Finally hear the results. There is some sort of abscess in the neck. Sometimes these things can be taken care of with antibiotics, sometimes surgery. It looks like we could be heading to Hershey or Geisinger for surgery. Can this really be happening? The ENT doctor is recommending we transfer. However, Hershey is saying it might not be necessary. (I hope I'm getting this all right. I've listened to so much lately, it gets a little blurry). Now we're seeing a hospital doctor instead of the ER doctor. They are going to admit us instead of transferring for now. More waiting. It was 9:30 before we finally got to a room. About 1:00 AM before the nurse told us they wouldn't be bugging us for at least 2 hours. Thanks.

Thursday: Nathan is still pretty out of it and not moving his neck and doesn't want to eat anything or drink. No longer has a temperature. Thank you Lord! The ENT Doctor sees us at 5:00. He wants to see his white blood cell count go down by the next morning and see him drinking something. If this doesn't happen we'll be transferring to another hospital. Praying, praying. Nathan did have an awake time of being happy and moving around some without the aid of Tylenol in the evening. Drank a little. Definitely seeing some improvement. Praying, praying.

Friday: Blood cell count is down to 11,000. Nate is definitely improving. Still not moving his head, but looking and acting much better. Looks like we'll be staying.

Saturday: This is getting way too long. I'll end it by saying, we're home! Nathan is feeling much better. I don't know how we would have entertained him much longer in the hospital. He was about to start climping the walls. The ENT doctor would have had us stay at least until tomorrow or Monday so he could stay on the stronger antibiotics, but isn't against us coming home if we keep a close eye on him. Another doc is saying he's fine. Our decision was to bring him home. He will be on antibiotics for 10 days.

I'll be amazed if anyone is still reading this. :) We are so grateful for all your prayers this week. We believe God is healing Nathan. He was such a trooper. He got so sick of being poked and listened too. He (and I!) especially did not enjoy the 5:30 or 6:00 AM blood work.

Isaiah is doing great. He has spent time with my aunt and uncle and grandma and is now with Jeremy's parents. We'll pick him up tonight. I miss him a lot, but he seems to be having fun. Nathan often would ask for "zaha?". they talked on the phone a little this morning. Nathan just kept smiling and saying "Hi, Zaha, hi zaha". I love my boys. Now I'm ready for all four of us to be home!




Very common sight for the first day or so. I think the Lord prompted me to grab this blanket before heading out the door on Wednesday. My mom made it for him and it was something familiar for him.
Starting to improve. Trying to eat a cut up hamburger. (Lovely hospital food). He wouldn't touch ice cream or Popsicles -very odd. He wanted a lot of bread at first. And asked for candy ALL THE TIME.

Up and smiling and playing games with "Puppy".
Enjoying a wagon ride from Pappy. You can see how he's holding his head. This is getting better.

Waiting for one more dose of meds so we can go home. Watching TV. He was pretty spoiled. When we finally got him outside. he just kept grinning and saying "outside!" "outside!". :)