Lily gets married

Lily went to her first wedding this last summer.  Ever since, she's been obsessed with the ladies dressed in white.  When our friends, Mary and Eric, asked her to be in their wedding, we knew she would be overjoyed.

This last weekend was the wedding and Lily was the life of the party.  I can't tell you how many times people came up to me and commented how wonderful, lively, loving, sweet, kind and beautiful she was.  Our sweet Lily thrives in environments with lots of people.  The night after the rehearsal dinner, she had so much energy flowing through her she couldn't fall asleep until 11:30!  Needless to say, after the wedding she had a complete meltdown on the ride home.

Nevertheless, she looked beautiful and did great.  And her big sister Eloise did great and working through those emotions of jealous and helped Lily to have a wonderful time.  Another great accomplishment for our 5 year old.

Here's the proof of cuteness...
First, the rehearsal dinner

Waiting for the wedding to start.  A great distractions with coloring crayons.

 A cute cheesy smile.  She did not like the headband and wouldn't put it on until the very last minute.

 Finally, the time arrived and she concentrated very hard on dropping her flowers just right.  There were several candles lining the isles so they needed to be careful no petals landed in the flame.

It was great to be a part of this fantastic wedding at our church.  We love this couple dearly and love how supportive our church family has been.  There were over 400 people at the wedding.  People were standing in the isles.  Lots of love to go around.

Lily turns 4!

I've neglected this bloggy blog for a while, but there's nothing like a birthday to bring me back.

 Lily turned 4 last Wednesday.  Part of me can't believe the 4 years has flown by, but the other part of me feels like it's perfect timing.  We've rising out of the whiny 3's and we're powering into the rationalizing/arguing 4's.  All part of growing up and all part of me learning how to teach and train her in the right way she should go. 

Lily is the light of our family.  She brings laughter, craziness, and joy to our family.  She is our feeler.  I can already tell that one of her gifts is mercy.  When we watch Wipe-out, she gets very unhappy when we laugh at the people falling.  Sometimes to the point of tears.  At the end of Toy Story 3, she nearly fell apart at the possibility of the toys being burned in the incinerator.  So we've learned that she has an extra sensitivity to people's pain and we make sure to help her work through those emotions.

She loves to hug, kiss and cuddle constantly.  It's often a point of frustration.  She loves to hug and cuddle Sam and he does not want his sister smothering him.  Her challenge will be learning to respect people's personal space.

Eloise is her world.  They fight, but they create, play, and imagine together and Lily watches what Eloise does with an curious eye.  I look forward to watching their relationship change and grow.

We're still following the family birthday party plan so we just had my parents down to celebrate.  Lily is in love with unicorns, so we opted for a unicorn birthday cake and a few rainbow party props thrown in. My cake wasn't as fabulous as I had hoped, but she loved the rainbow inside and the princess and unicorns on top (Playmobile). 

 





















She wanted a rainbow fruit salad, pickles and olives, mac & cheese shells and chicken strips.  She also wanted orange juice.  Requests granted.



Her favorite gift was a hula hoop!  She had hours of fun playing.  They also got a store front that Sam loved to play in and Eloise loved to draw on.  She received lots of other great gifts too.



It was a great day to celebrate the Lord's wonderful gift to us.  We are blessed and thankful to have Lily as a part of our family.  

It is finished!

After all members of the family getting hit by this nasty bug and throwing up a combined total over more than 55 times, I'm happy to say WE ARE FINISHED!

I knew after Eloise got sick that the rest were to follow but I didn't expect it to be on the same scale.  No more trips to the ER, thankfully, but Lily and Sam threw up almost as much as Eloise.  Apparently, the anit-nausea medicine only worked on me, which is great, b/c we all know mamas are the ones that take care of the family.

So tonight, we are breathing a sigh of relief.  We had our first meal together, we went for a walk, I cleaned the house, and I left the house for the first time in 5 days.  The outside air never smelled so good.  I told Dave we needed to find a way to create a sign to mark an end to this blasted week.  I mentioned something about the passage in the bible where they dust off their feet.  Not the same reference, but I like the idea.  So we've dusted our feet, sleeping soundly in beds and letting our stomachs celebrate by toasting ginger ale.  It's a refreshing feeling.

sickness of epic proportions

On Wednesday night, I sat with Eloise in the ER watching her throw up for the 30th time and I cried.  I cried the tears of a mom who felt so helpless to stop her child's pain.  I knew someone could, they just happened to be taking longer than I hoped.

Eloise threw up in the sink on Wednesday night before I left to visit a friend.  When i got back home she had thrown up 8 more times.  And it kept going, closer and faster together.  I almost couldn't believe that her body was doing this to her.  I called the dr. and before they even had a chance to call me back, i was in the car on the way to the ER.  By the time I had arrived she'd thrown up 21 times in just under 4 hours.

And as most everyone knows, when you rush to get to the ER, you wait. and wait. and wait.....During our waiting time, she started to have other symptoms involving the lower half of her bowels.  I thought to myself, "seriously, this is getting worse?"  They gave her a pill to try and stop the vomiting but it just slowed it down to every 30 minutes.

When we finally got to our room, I just laid with her and waited for it to arrive yet again.  For 2 hours I restlessly dozed in between the heaving and then at 2:25 a.m., the last time she threw up, I cried and prayed as only a mother could.  I prayed that life would return to her.  I prayed for her to be bouncing off the walls, I prayed for her to cry.  I thanked God that this wasn't normal life.  I prayed for those families in which this was normal life.  Those that were battling horrific diseases with no end in sight.  I prayed for relief for all of those parents.  I prayed for the family next to us that was dealing with a teenage girl who had talked of committing suicide.  I knew they would quickly take the hand that was dealt to me than the one they were currently facing.

Finally, a dr. came in to my swollen, tear drenched face and said they would finally be giving her an IV.  She was asleep and lifeless on the bed at this point.  When he asked if there was anything else he could do, my first thought was, "MOVE FASTER!"

The nurses were amazing as I think all pediatric nurses are.  They woke her up, got her IV in and she barely made a sound.  Within 15 minutes she was sitting up, talking about the fish on the wall, and told me she was dreaming about a tall glass of water.  And right at that point, I started to get sick.  The nurses helped to sit with Eloise while I dealt with a sour stomach.

Thanks to their compassion, they bestowed upon me some glorious anti-nausea medicine that helped to alleviate the symptoms.  The problem is, the meds also made me drowsy and it was 4 a.m.  I prayed again on our drive home that I would be able to make it without falling asleep.  It was by far the scariest drive I have ever driven.

Upon arriving home we realized that our heat was out and it was only 59 degrees in our house.  I could not believe that this was happening.  I laid down for 2 hours and prayed, yet again, that the heat would turn on. I prayed for mercy.  I told the Lord I was done. We had some amazing friends come to our rescue.  Lily had a playdate, treats and movies and coffee and flowers were dropped off.  And a space heater!

After long naps, Dave getting back from work, and baths, I thought about what was good about everything that had just happened in the last 12 hours.  Because the only way I was going to stay out of a funk was making sure to look for the good things.  So here's some good things:
Eloise got the medication she needed and it worked almost immediately.
Eloise is not chronically ill
The nurses gave me medication to help keep me from throwing up
The dr. gave our entire family a weeks worth of that same medication
I made it home safely
The man who fixed our heater is honest and kind
Dave was able to stay home for most of the day
We have a washer and dryer to clean all of our laundry
She is better, slept 14 hours last night and woke up a happy 5 year old

When Eloise and I sat down today, I asked her to tell me what she thought was good about the situation.
She said that the "straw in her arm" (IV) was good b/c it made her feel better and it didn't hurt when they put it in
She got to drink a tall glass of water
That Jesus was with me in the hospital and mama too
That I got new sparkly panties
That God kept me safe from the loud noise that the tube made when they put the straw in my arm

I am still surprised at how emotional this experience was for me.  Lily and I have spent many times together in ER's and dr.'s offices with her barely breathing and I was seemingly unemotional.  But with Eloise, something took over in me.  The crying came on without warning and the level of sadness and helplessness I had felt so deep.  Maybe it's because I've never seen her in that type of situation and I've come to accept it with Lily. Who knows?  But I hope never to repeat it anytime soon.

On a slightly different note, I do think that more scripture in my mind would have been helpful.  I don't know if I could have recalled it given the middle of the night, overwhelming emotions I was feeling, but it did remind me of it's importance.  I'd like to work on that.

In the meantime, we healthy and rising up out of the sickness funk.  Thanks friends for your help and prayers.

New phases

Our sweet little Sam is now 17 months old.  That's how old Eloise was when I had Lily.  Hard to believe.

This morning I finished nursing.  Either some of you are appalled or applauding, either way, it worked for us.  He's only been nursing in the morning when he first wakes up (which is early, this kid is a morning person - 6 AM is a good day). 

This morning, I bypassed our regular snuggle in bed and went straight for the TV.  Yes, he watches TV in the morning so I can go back to bed until 7.  We'll work through any issues he has from that later, for now he has a slightly more rested mama.  Anyhow, he put up a cute little whine but once we were out near the TV all whining disappeared.  

I thought this might be a more bittersweet moment for me but it's not.  I feel ready to move into the next stage of life.  I feel ready to go to Nordstrom purchase some nice, comfy bras.  These girls need to move back up where they used to be. (I don't think there are any men reading my blog, besides my husband and he wants this too).

I love the stage our sweet little family is in.  I love the age of our children and I love the fact that they are all still home with me.  And i also love that time is moving forward.  I'm eager for new stages, but I'm savoring the ones we're in.

So, no more baby connections.  We're barreling into the toddler years!

Goals 2011

I'm not a big goal setter.  Or maybe I am, I just don't follow through.

Here's what I'm thinking for this year:

*workout more - I know, everyone says this one, but this past year I've discovered how great it makes me feel.  I want to feel that again.

*SEEK Him - I'm going to try to read scripture everyday. I don't know where I'm going to start but I want to be reading the bible daily.

*Vegetables - I want to love vegetables.  Do you know I LOVE brussel sprouts?  I'm not kidding.  I really love them.  So why do I only eat them during Thanksgiving and Christmas? I don't know, but I'm going to pump up the green.

*Coupon more - for the items that we use daily that can free up more money for real food - veggies!

*SIT with my kids.  Be kind with them, listen to them and remember there questions are not meant to annoy me, they really don't know.  They are experiencing our world for the first time.  I"m committing to seeing it through their eyes.

That's it for today.  I'm sure I'll come up with more.

Reflections on 2010

2010 always sounded like we'd be living in a space age era with hovercars.  Not so much.  2010 was an interesting year for our family that provided good things.

I found these questions over at (In)Courage that offers a great format for reflecting on the year.

20 Questions for a New Year’s Eve Reflection

1. What was the single best thing that happened this past year?
**Dave getting a job.  We started off the year unemployed and ended it in job that could have only been orchestrated by the Lord.  It has been new, challenging, and sometime uncomfortable to work through the learning curve, but we believe the Lord didn't design us for comfort and teaches us great things through struggles.
2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened?
**Managing 3 kids in a new schedule (Dave's hours were drastically different from before).  It has been a challenge to raise 3 littles and keep my wits about me at the same time. Being diagnosed with Graves' disease.  It was a challenge to work through before I knew I had it.
3. What was an unexpected joy this past year?
**the job - getting a pretty clear picture of the main even of the year
4. What was an unexpected obstacle?
**Working out the details and expenses of Dave's dad care and move to LA and then him unexpectedly dying the week he arrives.  It was a shock.  We had so many ideas about the good things that would come from this move and to have it end abruptly was not something anyone was prepared for.  We grieve mostly for his sister who was more than excited about this move.
5. Pick three words to describe 2010.
**Challenging, Growing, Deepening 
(I took out two questions here)
8. What were the best books you read this year?
**The Help!  Hands down the BEST book.
9. With whom were your most valuable relationships?
 **Okay, this one is tough.  I feel overly blessed and humbled by my friends.  Each and every one of them adds value to my life.  I mean, my list would be off the page and I'd have to describe what I love about every single one.  Let's just leave it with - I love all my friends deeply and value them all uniquely. (hope that doesn't sound passive)
10. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year?
**Gluttony!  I learned more about my eating this year than anything else.  I learned what happens when I'm gluttonous and how it affects my relationship with my children and husband.  I draw on it almost everyday and I continue to learn from it.
11. In what way(s) did you grow emotionally?
**I figured out ways to handle my frustrating with my children better.  I learned that teaching them a lesson in the moment of frustration or anger does nothing.  I learned that love teaches much more and that to teach a child, dominating anger will not work, it crushes and my goal as a mama is not to crush the spirit, it's to encourage it.  I want my children to know they are loved at all times, they just might not get away with what they think they should.  And that can be communicated with a smile on my face.
12. In what way(s) did you grow spiritually?
**It was all tied into gluttony.  I need help to conquer these types of struggles and that I do alot of asking and now it needs to move onto seeking the Lord in scripture (goal for 2011)
13. In what way(s) did you grow physically?
**the just makes me want to write a snide remark :)  I don't know.
14. In what way(s) did you grow in your relationships with others?
**I learned to think and wait before speaking.  That often times emotions are added to the mix and they will make a situation work.  I learned to not ask so many questions and instead ask only those that are important and not just to tickle my curiosity.
15. What was the most enjoyable part of your work (both professionally and at home)?
**I'm now working for Angela at Frugal Living NW.  I love being able to work from home and there are a ton of creative outlets.
16. What was the most challenging part of your work (both professionally and at home)?
**Eloise, Lily, and Sam.  
17. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year?
**the computer, isn't that every moms?
18. What was the best way you used your time this past year?
**just sitting with my kids and playing (I'm not very good at that)
19. What was biggest thing you learned this past year?
**I think we already covered this...gluttony and trust
20. Create a phrase or statement that describes 2010 for you.
**Full on the right things.  Cheesy, but true.