Accidents Happen

Sunday Isaac went to Louisville to a Phil Keaggy concert and I was having a girls’ night. Nate was supposed to spend the night at the grandparents' but she called around 9pm and he had fallen on (not off) the couch and hurt his arm. We went to Clarian West ER and were taken care of very well. Nate had x-rays and it was clear that he had fractured both bones in his left arm a little above the wrist. They wrapped him up with a fiberglass splint and sling and we were told to follow up with an orthopedic doctor the next day to get a cast that'll be on for a few weeks. By the time we got home from the hospital around 1am he was not acting like the same boy who came in all sad and injured earlier that night. He was back to bouncing off the walls as usual. The next day he hardly complained about pain at all - just about the sling being "stuck" – it was cramping his style. We saw the orthopedic doctor on Tuesday. Isaac went back with Nate to get more xrays and they came back with an xray of Nate’s toy cars which he thought was pretty cool. Then the Dr. Kendall reset the bone (Nate did not like that part!) and put a plaster splint on it - he'll probably get a hard cast later. Nate's been such a trooper. Our appointment was right during naptime so as soon as we got on the road to come home Nate fell fast asleep. All things considered none of this has really slowed him down much; he's still been bouncing all over the place. It is wearing mommy out though! We're very thankful that he didn't need surgery or anything. We'd appreciate prayer that he doesn't re-injure his arm during this critical healing time.

As mothers we want so badly for nothing bad to happen to our kids, right? I think the only thing worse than something happening to our child is having it happen when we're not with them. There was a whole lot of guilt going on Sunday night. Isaac felt guilty because he was in Louisville and couldn't be there until we were being discharged from the hospital. I felt guilty because the reason he wasn't at home with me was because I had been having girls' night (and I was bummed to be missing that girls night). My mom felt bad for leaving Nate with Hannah. Hannah felt bad for leaving Kyle and Nate alone for a few minutes. And Kyle felt bad because he was the one with Nate when it happened. We were all innocent of any actual guilt. Nate is a rambunctious two year old and while having a seemingly normal jump on the couch, he fell just right and hurt his arm. It could have happened while he was under anyone's care. Just last week he fell off a play ground ladder and bounced back within a couple of minutes later without hardly a scratch on him. Who would have thought that he would end up with a broken bone from jumping on the couch (and not falling off of it!)? I saw a book once and the title was "Motherhood, the guilt that keeps on giving" (or something to that effect). Its so true. I know I blame myself for far more things than I'm actually responsible for. But while motherhood is full of responsibility, frustration, anxiety, work, worry... its also full of joy, fulfillment, rewards, love, cuddles, bonding... I say (or maybe I heard it somewhere) marriage and motherhood both are the hardest jobs and the most rewarding. Sometimes its hard to see all the great stuff through all the hard stuff, but it doesn't mean its not there.

Tickles and Giggles

Of course daddies are the best at tickling and getting good laughs out of kids. Josiah is a happy and pretty content baby. Occasionally he'll be in the carseat or swing staring off into nothing and chuckle to himself for no apparent reason - which is pretty funny. But usually he doesn't hand out smiles and giggles for free much. Isaac can usually find the right spot and make Joe grin and laugh it up. Here is a clip from one of those times.

My Little Sunshine

Having a two year old can be at times challenging, frustrating, tiring, I could go on but I'll stop there. But then God is faithful and He gives us times when its pure joy. I think He knows we need those times of respite to be renewed and have reason to not lose heart when we moms feel like just about anyone could do our job(s) as good or better than we are doing them.

Over the past few months Nate has started taking more of an interest in praying with us both at dinner and bedtime. He’ll give suggestions on things to thank God for…. Usually its Cars or Toy Story, etc, but sometimes its Pop, Grandma, etc. Lately after some guidance from Isaac, he has been saying little prayers on his own. He’ll say “Jesus (or sometimes, God or Lord)…. thank you…. For…. Cars. Amen” Its so precious!

Isaac's mom taught Nate the cutest thing! Here is a video of him singing (in a whisper - so you'll have to turn up the volume) "You Are My Sunshine" along with Isaac. I thought it best that Isaac sing it with him and not me. Trust me, you should be thanking me!

Labor Day Weekend

We went to the lake for Labor Day weekend. It got off to a lousy start. We got up there late on Thursday evening and when we put Nate straight to bed he was a little warm but we didn’t really think anything of it. I awoke at 5am to hear Josiah stirring and I was preparing myself to get up to nurse him. I could hear Nate in the other room, he was having a raspy, kind of gurgled breathing and I hurried in to check on him, and found that he was having another febrile seizure. Isaac got up and we held Nate’s hands through the seizure which probably lasted less than a minute. He was burning up. We couldn’t find a thermometer but we gave him some Tylenol. He was very lethargic while recovering from the seizure, but slowly normalized and said he wanted a “nap”. His little body was so tired. We eventually went back to bed but I don’t think I actually went back to sleep. The next day we continued to give him Tylenol at regular intervals but he continued to feel feverish. Throughout the morning he would “start” occasionally, and every time I thought it was another seizure. Around 1:30pm he was sitting on my lap and he did have another one. I laid him on the floor and again we talked him through it. It wasn’t until this time that we had Dane go to the store and got a thermometer. When we took his temp after he recovered it was 104degrees. We called Dr. Bain and he recommended that we take Nate to the ER. Not because of the seizures necessarily, but because of how high his fever was. Dane came with us to the ER in Goshen and he watched Josiah(which was so helpful) so both Isaac and I could be with Nate. He napped off and on throughout the couple of hours that we spent in the hospital. They did a blood test and sent some blood off for a blood culture, but we were all confidant that it was again a fever related issue. The doctor said that Nate must have a low fever threshold. He said probably on top of teething (we can see a couple of teeth about to come in) he might have something viral (he’s had a bit of a cough). He had us continue a Tylenol/Ibprophen regimen for the next 24 hours or so to keep the fever under control. They say that the most significant effect of these seizures is "Parental Anxiety" - and boy are they right! Obviously it was stressful and scary, but we’re thankful for the prayers of our church body and that he is alright and by that same evening he was acting like his normal self again. Thankfully the rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful. We enjoyed the time we got to spend with our family and friends.