Baby Pain

I took Soren to the doctor on thursday and had his cold checked out. Ears clear, lungs clear, this is music to a mother's ears after three babies that all got RSV, pneumonia, and monthly ear infections for the first 2 or three years of their lives.

I noticed that ever since Soren's nose started running a week ago, he downright refuses to be put down without crying. He wants mama all the time. For a baby that is always happy, I was a little concerned about the sudden clinginess and fear of separation.

I mentioned to our pediatrician that Soren started walking 3 weeks ago, and now does not walk at all. He got very concerned. he examined his hips, back, legs, etc, and went through a series of questions with me that made me both glad that he is so thorough and like a bad mother for not knowing all the answers.  The final test was plopping him down on the floor in the hallway at the Dr's office and trying to get him to stand. No dice.  I got some little baby snacks out of my bag and Soren crawled over to them fast and crazy to get to them, and the doc observed that his crawling pattern is totally normal and shows no sign of injury.
I've been pretty concerned about this but also chalked it all up to him not feeling well and wanting to be held all day.  I'm not crazy. He was walking and now he isn't.  I feel bad that I didn't even pick up on the fact that he wasn't standing either, because I've basically just been just holding him all day to soothe him. They're only babies and as far as attention from mom goes, this kid gets the shaft all the time simply because he's number 4. I'd just figured a few days of snuggling and blankies were long overdue.

The pediatrician sent us away with 1,000 boogie wipes samples and some awesome boogie wipe saline spray to help clear up the nose (no signs of bacterial infection), and Soren seems to be feeling better with each day and we're waiting for the clinginess to wear off as he starts to feel better.

Today he even started pulling himself up to standing again. (cue sigh of relief for paranoid mother.)

And that's when I noticed he will only put weight on his right foot. (cue guilt for not noticing this before.)

The left leg stays up, with no pressure on it, ever. He's happily crawling all over the house again, emptying baskets and filling toilets with toilet paper, but all on one leg. It's possible that the week he spent in baby-cold misery was actually a week spent in total pain from an injury.

Did he fall? How long has he been hurting? What happened? When did it happen? How did it happen? 

I have no idea. 

I only know there's a problem and it's in his lower left leg, but only an X-ray will tell us more. The sky has been brushing a beautiful layer of snow on us all day.  We are painted white and with 2-3 more heavy coats headed our way this week, I predict we will be snowed in for several days. I'll make an appointment for him as soon as we can get out of here. Since there's nothing more that we can do about it today, we're fasting praying for Soren to have comfort, telling my anxiety to simmer down (it's probably not a blood clot…but what if it is???) and enjoying this gorgeous day for what it is perfect for: pajamas, forts, wars over the back of the sectional with the plush angry bird stuffies, reading, games, and baking bread.

Steadfast and Immovable

I attended a baptism this morning and as we moved into the Young Women's room I was pleased to see this little poster displayed in the room. I made it for a New Beginnings centerpiece when I was serving as a youth leader about 6 years ago. 

I like knowing that a fresh group of teenage girls get to see this little message on Sunday. Be who you are and don't change with the world. That's a message that our youth need to hear almost daily now as the world pressures them to change their minds and lower their values as often as the media. 

I hope my own kids will hear these same messages from their youth leaders when they become teenagers. Be steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments. "Bloom into you"---discover and become the person Heavenly Father knows you can be through doing good works to others and standing for righteousness. 

FHE and a Gratitude focus

There's a phrase my sister says all the time and I believe it is true.
"What you pay attention to grows."

Putting energy into things that bring you down or make you angry just cultivates a garden of noxious weeds that suck the nutrients from a potential harvest of happiness.

I love hearing ideas from friends about how they are improving and enriching their home and family lives. I was recently inspired by something my friend Carly is doing and am going to do the same thing with our family. I share because the idea is awesome, and it might be something one of you readers might like to try…but I have to say first that I am only a participant in an experiment, and credit for the idea is not mine at all.  Carly is the creative genius behind this idea and deserves all credit for it's origin.  

The idea is simple: We will cultivate good qualities by paying attention to and practicing them. Perhaps instead of or in addition to year long goals, focus on one attribute each month and pray for experiences to help us grow that quality in our home. 

We discussed a lot of qualities our family could work on and a few suggestions that we came up with were: 
obedience, patience, being positive and cheerful, hardworking, selflessness, loving, gain knowledge/more studious, and forgiving
 We talked about this at family night and decided and after some discussion and prayer, we decided that our attribute this month needs to be gratitude. 

I like this little definition from lds.org and will use it as part of our next FHE lesson: 
Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation and thankfulness for blessings or benefits we have received. As we cultivate a grateful attitude, we are more likely to be happy and spiritually strong. We should regularly express our gratitude to God for the blessings He gives us and to others for the kind acts they do for us. 

A few scriptures we will focus on this month: 
Doctrine and Covenants: 59
7 Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things. 

Psalm 100

3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

Application: 

To put our study into practice, I've made a few things I am grateful for today: 

-kid artwork. Masterpieces of scratch paper and crayon.

-neighbors who are friends

-the new librarian at story time busted out a ukelele. What the awesome? She was quirky and fun and the boys loved it. 

-a friend volunteering to watch the big kids while I take Soren to a checkup today. There's something about taking 3 healthy children into a doctor's office waiting room that just makes me itch. I just know they would've come home home with strep and the flu as party favors.  Huge blessing that they were able to have a playdate with friends instead. 

-my church calling and the many opportunities I get to grow. 

-Sudafed, Benadryl, and alcohol free fiaming germX are my friends. 

-leftover cheesecake from our pre-gringo fiesta the other night

-the sun blazing through my living window 

-my favorite hat, because I didn't take a shower today and it's less obvious how nasty my hair is when it's shoved under a hat. 

-phone calls to my mom and sister. 

-Aaron's job and that he is able to take the girls to school or to the bus stop about 4 of the 5 school days a week. 

-that the chickenpox, flu, and strep have all somehow passed over our family despite multiple exposures to all of the above. 

-in addition to that, a clean bill if health for the baby guy at his appointment today

-possible snow days in the 10 day forecast.  I mean, if it's going to be freezing, then let's have ourselves some winter and enjoy it. Otherwise, we're just cold and there is no fun in that. I'm happy to see one more big snow headed our way before spring marches in. 

-29 cent avocados

-a best friend who sincerely cares about my family

-a wonderful pediatrician who is dedicated to Soren's health and development

-an early night run for me and a late night basketball tournament for Aaron

-boots that feel like slippers

-Soren said, "banana" today 

-fresh eggs 

-as of today I have a waiting list for my preschool. Happy. 

-enough clean underwear in everyone's drawers that I can ignore laundry until Monday. Boom. Awesome. 

-lotion and chapstick for my crazy dry skin and always cracked lips.

-tulips on my table 

-laughing with Aaron at a Jerry Seinfeld/Brian Regan video he found over lunch. 

-living 7 minutes closer to bentonville than we used to. I didnt mind the drive before but now that it's shorter I feel a huge difference in the convenience of living so much closer to places I love. 

-and a little unexpected nap with this guy in our sunny corner. Those cheeks. Yum. 

I have so much to be grateful for and look forward to a month of intentional appreciation of all that I am blessed with. And if you catch me being ungrateful, poke me with a stick and tell me to snap out of it. :)

Buddies

Whoever said that brothers and sisters are supposed to spend their lives disliking one another was wrong. These two have nothing but love for each other. 

Lucky enough to have a sibling? Call and tell them something you love about them today. 

Corbin's time

We learned about space in preschool last week. Corbin has been playing with his "rocket star" space ship toy all week. Today he got out the art clay and made little planets to match the pics in one if the solar system books. How cute are the rings on Saturn? 

Another cute thing Corbin always says is "gotfor" instead of "forgot". Every time. I should probably correct him but it's just so adorable when he says, "Wait! I gotfor my water bottle!" Or whatever he left behind.

He keeps us laughing daily. His dinner prayers always involve the phrase, "please bless my mom and dad to not be fighting" ---what the heck?! We totally don't fight and it makes us laugh every time.  Someone's going to hear that prayer and turn us into child protective services or something. 

He also told Mrs Schaefer and a bunch of people at church that his mom is having two babies. Uh, false. While that's like a dream come true and I'd be thrilled to have had twins, I am not pregnant, even with one baby. Corbin's enthusiasm is not limited to me, however. He also gave Kasey a "pat down" recently and asked if there's a baby in there. Nice. 

Corbin's new "thing" when he's telling a story is to put a hand on his hip and wave the other finger in the air. He bobs his head around while he talks and looks like a sassy teenager.

Contrastingly, when his heart gets broken or he is in trouble, he runs barney rubble style without moving his arms to his room and shouts, "I'm not your buddy!" 

We surprised Quincy for lunch today. While we waited in the school foyer outside the cafeteria, a kindergartner wearing bright red glasses and a Spiderman shirt was sitting near us with his mom. Corbin asked, "hey, why you got those glasses, dude?" (Everyone is dude). The little boy's mom said, "Joseph's eyes have super powers and can see in two directions. He gets to wear these super glasses so his super powers can help him at school too. 

Corbin: "oh yeah? I have powers, too! I have ...Scripture Power! And he pimped his fist and "flew" off the stroller singing the primary song. 

These are moments when I am glad we live in the south where everyone goes to church or has at least had some exposure to religion. Joseph's mother didn't bat an eye. 

Corbin surprised me today when I decided to pull out some preschool workbooks during Soren's nap time. He is struggling to recognize sounds and letters, but wrote out the numbers 1-8 unassisted in the answer boxes for some little farm animal math problems. Go Corbin! 

I sure will miss this guy when he goes to school next year and consider redshirting or homeschooling him every day just to have him around one more year. What if his peers and teachers don't realize how awesome he is and only see him as a busy body in need of discipline? What if he spends his first year of public school in time out for lack of impulse control? 

 He is no respecter of personal space and has never known a stranger. He often quotes Buddy the Elf and says, "who wants a hug?" Before charging at someone open arms. He's rowdy, rough, and wildly excited about life, and has a lot of love to give. 

I know that the best way to serve Corbin is to just love him. The more loving I am, the softer and more responsive he is. I don't want to change his personality or stifle his constant need for sensory intake. I only want to help him accept and know how to use his personality to learn, and I worry about how he'll make it in a classroom with 20 kids next year. But he thrives at preschool, has good behavior and doesn't have any difficulty there, so maybe he already knows how to learn, and I am the one who needs to gain more understanding of this giant spirit in a feisty active body. For now, my gut says to just send him and know that he'll be fine. Some days though...I hope his kindergarten teacher will have a lot of patience and just loves him. That's all anyone needs to understand him. 

Hastening

Guess what that is? Our very own chapel in Bella Vista!  The progress is moving right along since the groundbreaking last year and the building is estimated to be complete in August. Hip hip hooray! It is five minutes from my house. We've been driving to Bentonville for 8 years to get to church, and have prayed for a building in Bella Vista for as many years.

Our church is growing like crazy here and it's pretty exciting. our ward was formed in August with 305 members and as of last quarter we had 355 members. We give thanks for the incredible blessing it is to have a place to call our own right here in Bella Vista. 

This little meetinghouse was built by faith and is a very personal and emotion filled answer to the prayers of many people. It will be filled to capacity with saints, love, and gratitude.  

For Wife, From Husband.

Aaron came home with tulips and an everything baguette for me tonight. 

Just because. 

Tulips and bread are at the top of my favorites list, especially in winter. 

Quincy asked Aaron the other day why he doesn't call me, "wife" and I call him, "husband." We disregarded her question as silliness at first, but then she gave the fair arguement that I call Corbin, "son", and she calls Reese and Soren "sister" and "brother" and us "mom" and "dad" interchangably with our names and "it would be nice" if we used the titles too. 

Witty Daughter has a fair point. 

Thank you for the bread and flowers, Husband. 

 

Love, Wife.