Evan

It has been an eventful last two days for Evan. It started Sunday night when he just wasn't acting like himself. We couldn't find anything wrong with him though no obvious symptoms. Monday morning was the same thing, not himself and his voice was starting to get hoarse, but that was all. Then he woke up early from his nap upset and he felt warm. I checked his temp and he had a fever. He was also still hoarse and he was breathing funny...almost sounded like wheezing. As the night went on he got pretty miserable we sat him at the table for dinner and he just sat there and cried and did not look good. I took him and rocked him and sat with him on the couch...we gave him some ibuprofen to see if that would help. Once it took effect it did help and he started to act more like himself again. He finally ate something right before bedtime and we put him down. He slept great except for one episode where he cried out and coughed a bit, but stopped on his own just as I was getting up to go to him. He slept pretty late that morning, but as the day progressed his breathing got louder and there were occasions where I could see and feel his chest sucking in when he breathed. I was definitely uneasy about it and called a nurse to see if he needed to come in. She said to bring him so we made an appt for the only time they had, 4:40. At this point I still wasn't sure what was going on I was thinking he was just wheezing because of chest congestion. I could always tell where he was around the house because I could hear him breathing. I put him down for his nap around 1:30 and he woke up early again, around 2:30. He was very upset, and when I got him up and held him his breathing was really bad. His chest was sucking in a huge amount, and his neck was sucking in as well. He was even louder than he was earlier. I got him calmed down, but he was still acting miserable and his breathing did not get better, it was very labored and loud. I called the dr to see if I could bring him in earlier than his appt because I didn't want to wait that long. Of course since I told them he was having difficulty breathing they said to bring him. I hurriedly put the boys in the car and off we went. Thankfully we didn't have to wait and the nurse checked his oxygen right away. She left and a minute later she and the dr opened the door and watched him for a minute. The dr looked at the nurse and said "yep" and then they closed the door. The dr came back shortly and did a quick check-up and told me that he had croup and that she needed to give him a breathing treatment and a steroid shot and that she wanted him to stay the night in the hospital so he could be closely watched. She said because he was having labored breathing and the sucking in of his neck even while he was not being active and not upset (which is what the nurse wanted her to see when they poked their heads in) that it was a bad case and she didn't want to send him home with us like that. I was not thrilled about the prospect of staying in the hospital and was honestly surprised she was sending us there because she is not an alarmist doctor, but I was glad when she said it was croup (although I felt a little stupid for not knowing that's what it was) because I knew enough about it to know that it's a common virus and not serious as long as you get treatment. So Evan got the breathing treatment (which was a nightmare trying to keep the mask on his face as he was crying and fighting it the whole time) and the shot, and we left the drs office and headed to the hospital. Mark met us at the drs office after I texted him and told him Evan was going to have to stay at the hospital. By the time Evan got all checked in his breathing was a whole lot better and he was acting like his normal self, although the nurse nicknamed him Darth Vader because of how he sounded. Our time at the hospital was pretty uneventful, the treatment Evan received at the drs office really helped a lot and he didn't need anything else done while we were there. After we had a "Curious George goes to the hospital" type night with evan and emmory running all over the place, eating at the chickfila in the cafeteria, going to see the helicopter, and watching Elmo in the room, Mark took emmory home and I stayed with Evan. Between the thing he had to wear on his toe continually coming off and beeping, getting his vitals checked, and him just not sleeping good, we didn't get much sleep at all, I think we got one stretch of 1hr 45 minutes and that was the longest. It really felt like when we were in the hospital together almost two years ago, when he was a newborn, except I think we got more sleep then! But thankfully he hasn't had any more problems breathing and we got to go home at lunch time. The steroid will last several days so the virus should be gone by then. He has been acting fine since we got home and will hopefully sleep good tonight.

Tonight

Tonight I laid with Emmory as I put him to bed, like usual. I told him a story. He interrupted me and told me how I should be telling it. When the story was over, we talked about my sin. I asked his forgiveness for getting angry at his brother earlier and not being a good example for him. He said, "You didn't do the right thing?" I said "no, I didn't". He said, "You didn't ask God for help?" I said, "no, I didn't. I tried to do it on my own, and I sinned because I'm a sinner". Then, he held my hand, tightly so I wouldn't leave. I laid there and tried to soak it all in. Then, after a while when I told him it was time for me to go, he put his arms around me and put his head on my face, and told me he wanted to snuggle. So of course, I had to lay there a little longer. These are the moments I never want to forget.

For my Dad

Since I am so forgetful and didn't get anything in the mail for my Dad in time for Father's Day, I thought I would write this post about some things I admire and love about my Dad.

1. His love for and commitment to my Mom. There has never been once in my life where I have ever doubted that commitment. They are going to be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary this September, which is pretty cool. Even cooler is the fact that we all get to celebrate together in San Diego :) My Dad has been an incredible example of sacrificial love towards my Mom. I see him sacrifice his own desires for hers continually.

2. His commitment to the church. My parents have faithfully served at the same church since I was born...and then some. That is really something especially in an age where people are going from church to church because they don't like the color of the building. I am thankful for his example of commitment to the most important thing we can be committed to on this earth.

3. His singing. Recently, we had a ladies fellowship for church and we each shared our favorite hymn and why it was our favorite. My favorite hymn is "Great is Thy Faithfulness", and the reason for that is that I can remember my Dad singing that one a lot growing up. One of the ladies told me I needed to tell my Dad that, so this is my opportunity to do that. That wasn't the only song he would sing, but that's the one that sticks in my head the most.

4. His generosity. My Dad is very careful with his money and has always wanted to find the good deal....but when it comes to using his money for others, he is one of the most generous people I know. There are countless things that we enjoy or have enjoyed because of him.

5. His love for my boys. I can't think of too many things I like seeing better than watching him interacting with my boys. He loves them, and they love him, and there is so much joy in seeing that. We will be going to Seattle this July and Emmory cannot wait, he asks me every day if it's July yet :) (And Evan will be thrilled when we are there, but of course is clueless at this point).

6. His strength and faith during trial. Over two years ago, after a routine physical, my Dad was found to have a higher than normal psa level, and it was confirmed that he had prostrate cancer. He had surgery to have the prostrate removed, everything seemed fine for a while, then last year his psa was elevated again, the cancer grew back, so he went through radiation and hormone therapy starting right before Christmas and ending in April. He had to drive to the clinic every single day during the week to get his radiation during that time. He stayed strong and steadfast, he was often singing hymns on the way to and from his appointments, and praying while having the radiation treatment done. Now, after having finished, his first psa test showed to be undetectable, to which we are so very thankful!

Of course, that is just brushing the surface. I was so very blessed to grow up with such a loving Dad who was committed to caring for our family, and I am still so very blessed to be able to enjoy spending time with him now that I have my own family.

I love you Dad!

Big boy bed

Well the day that I dreaded for so long has come, we moved Emmory to a big boy bed last weekend. I always said I wasn't going to move Emmory out of his crib until he started climbing out of it....well it never occurred to me that he would never try to get out, but that he would grow out of his crib instead. I was still reluctant to move him, but the fact that our boy is so tall meant he was constantly kicking the crib slats during the night and his legs would always be hanging out of them. So we decided to be on the lookout for a bed and when we found one we would do the switch. I suppose the fact that he is almost three means it was probably time anyways. Well, much to my surprise he is doing great with it. It hasn't affected his sleep at all and he doesn't get out of it! I'm starting to think that maybe the ones who climb out of their crib have a harder time staying in their bed than the ones who never attempted to get out. I'm sure that's not true across the board, but it does seem to be that way. It will be interesting to see what Evan does. He likes his crib and is often content to lay there for a while after he wakes up, but he is also a climber, which Emmory never really was. I frequently walk in the kitchen and find Evan either standing on a chair or on top of the table. I can't let that one out of my sight!
So we've got one big transition under our belt and I am very thankful for that! Here is Emmory's new bed...although he doesn't like his quilt or pillow on his bed, he just likes to sleep on top of the sheet (like he did in his crib) so it doesn't usually look like this :)

For real

It is midnight and I am posting on my blog. Yes, I should be going to sleep. But for some reason I'm not, and since apparently my two year old posted a blank post from my phone (his new favorite hobby is anything on my phone) I figured I would post a real one. Since I can't figure out how to write captions on the pictures when I post on my phone, I'll just say what they are now. Evan is obsessed with pretzels (or really just food in general) and seriously all day long he is taking my hand leading me into the kitchen to the pretzels saying "num-num-num" wanting me to give him one. He also is obsessed with whatever his brother is doing. I've said this before, but he just wants to do whatever Emmory is doing, and definitely learns a lot from him and imitates him. So when they go outside and Emmory plays in the dirt, Evan is right there with him. The last pic is from when I took them grocery shopping a few days ago. I almost forgot how hard those car carts are to push, because typically I shop without them...you know, so I can actually think while I shop and end up getting what I came for :) They did great though, just give them something to eat and they are happy. That's my wonderful parenting tip of the day :)

Seattle

We got back just over a week ago from our annual Seattle Christmas trip. It makes me tired just thinking about it! Not the actual part in Seattle, we were so thankful that the boys adjusted to the new time zone immediately this time, Evan did so great and we were spoiled with them sleeping until 8 most days and sometimes even 9. We have been really fortunate in the past to not have any big delays or cancellations when we have traveled, partly because a lot of times we have taken a non-stop out of Charlotte. But this year our flights both ways had delays, and other challenges as well. When we got to the airport to fly out to Seattle we found out our flight was delayed...but supposedly only 30 minutes. While we were waiting, Evan fell and split his lip really badly, there was blood everywhere, it was so gross I couldn't look at it (I am a bit squeamish). There were so many kind people there who jumped to help us, bringing us towels and ice, etc. So now we are sitting there with our plane supposedly taking off in an hour trying to decide what to do...his lip really looks like it needs to be stitched, people are telling us it needs to be stitched, Mark is considering sending Emmory and I off and staying with Evan. We decide to call the pediatrician before we made any decisions, and while I was on the phone with them Mark happened to run into a doctor who took a look at him and they both said the same thing, they don't usually stitch the lip unless the bleeding won't stop, which it had at that point. We were so relieved to hear that! However our flight ended up being even more delayed to where we were going to miss our connection, so we had to figure out what to do about that as well. We really wanted to get out that night since the next day was christmas eve and we had plans for that day, and thankfully they were able to put us on a different route with a few different airlines, we would just have to leave even later that night. So, after even more waiting we finally got on a plane, and after a layover in Chicago we made it to Seattle just before midnight (3am our time). Needless to say everybody was very tired, but we were so happy to have made it there! We had an awesome time in Seattle, it's always a joy to see my parents interact with the boys, and it was so great to see my nephew again, out of the hospital! (I flew out to see him in Nov. two weeks after he was born and when I left he was in the nicu, that was tough).
However, the flights back to Greenville weren't uneventful either. We were stuck in the Cleveland airport for a long time waiting for our flight to Greenville, and Evan got sick right before we left...we were told it was tonsillitis because his tonsils were bright red and there was some pus (eew) but we found out when we got back it was actually hand, foot and mouth disease, which I didn't know you could get more than once. So anyways, he was in a lot of pain, drooling like crazy and wouldn't eat hardly anything because he had huge blisters in his throat, and he also refused to take any medicine which made it even more difficult. So the trip back wasn't fun either, and Evan was waking up in the night pretty much inconsolable, and we were just exhausted. But God is faithful and rest came when we truly needed it.
Oh, and I can't forgot to mention how amazing Emmory did both travel days. Even with all the waiting, with the commotion of Evan getting hurt, traveling so late at night, he handled it all great and has turned into quite the little traveler. He just sits there and watches his DVD's and is just super excited about flying on a plane and seeing all the other planes. I am so glad we ended up getting on a plane that same day on the way out because it would have broke his heart to have had to go back home. I am so proud of that boy! And it was just so much fun to see all of his joy and excitement over flying and going to see "nama and papa".
Here are some pics I took on my phone while we were in Seattle.

Outside fun

My boys love to be outside. We have been so lucky to have some really nice weather in December, although to be honest we will be outside this winter no matter how cold it is as long as it is dry. We'll just bundle up because they love it so much. Emmory had to wear his pretend work goggles outside as he pushed his dump truck all around the cul-de-sac and Evan went back and forth between pushing the mower and running all over the place into our neighbors yards.