The onesie that went around the world

At church on Sunday, Jeff was talking to some friends of ours who were having a 'meet the baby' shower later that afternoon, the Phans. While visiting, Wes, the teenage son of a couple of friends of ours came up to Jeff and handed him a gift bag. When Jeff asked him what it was, he said "It's from my Mom and Dad, for you and your family." Jeff thanked him, finished talking and went to his car.

Curious, he opened the bag and unwrapped the gift to find a pink baby outfit, size 9 months, adorable and all, with the cutest elephant on the front. So he arrives at my Mom's house for lunch with the bag, and as we are all sitting down to eat explains what has happened, and asks me if I have been talking to Jackie Greer about something I had NOT been talking to HIM about. We all had a good laugh and figured it was a teenage boy mixup and that the bag had been for our friends the Phans and their new baby girl. Of course it changed all the lunch time conversation, and Jeff kept talking about if we had another baby, would he wish it were a boy or a girl ( we have differing opinions, we discovered), so forth, to the point that I'm asking him,"have you prayed about this and not told me? are you wanting more babies?" We were all laughing and joking, but let's face it, I think the question is now very much on the table now, thank you, Jackie.

So a few hours later, Mom and I head off to the Phan's shower, deliver the Greer gift, and even make sure that Kristen, who was writing down all the gift info for Ruth, knew who the gift was from. There was no card attached. Everyone loved the outfit, ooohed and aaahhhed over it.

Later that night at a leadership meeting another friend commented to Jackie what an adorable gift she had sent to Ruth's shower, and puzzled Jackie said,"Well, that's who it was for then." Jeff told her how he had delivered the gift for her and Jackie explained that she had actually sent Wes with the gift that morning to give to JERRY West, NOT Jeff!! Then later my Mom told her about our lunch discussion...

So, if you read this Lexi, the gift that was meant for you and precious Audrey went around the world instead, put babies on my husband's mind, and gave about 5 of us the best laugh we have had in quite awhile!!

Update on Trystan...

Trystan is doing much better today, praise the Lord!!

All day yesterday he kept getting worse and worse, and my Mommy hackles were really up! He was just laying on my bed staring at the wall for hours at a time. His fever had broken, but he was acting worse than ever. No TV, no games, he even refused Popsicles. He was already dehydrated, and still would not drink more than a sip of water all afternoon. He wouldn't walk, wouldn't talk. He took a long nap, so I waited to see....

Around 2:45 he got really bad, his stomach pain was really intense and he started throwing up bile. Yuck. Of course all over me. You know I was really worried about him, I told him he was doing a great job throwing up. At this point things were so bad I felt like we were looking at appendicitis. I've seen stomach viruses before, I've WORN stomach viruses before, and this was not it.

Then things changed drastically. He asked for a sucker (which he fell asleep trying to suck on), and then he wanted ice cream. I'm not out of my mind, so I said no to the ice cream, but I told him if he could eat a popsicle and keep it down we would go to sonic and get a milkshake. I remember that it was 3:15, because I told him he had 30 minutes to eat a popsicle and we could leave at 3:45 and make it to sonic for 1/2 priced shakes by 4pm.

That boy was determined. He took a few licks on the popsicle and he was just begging for that milkshake. I'd just like to say that I don't usually give dairy to children with fevers and queasy stomachs. This is not my usual mode of operation at all. I figured what is the worst that can happen? He's already upchucking... and he desperately needed some kind of fluid. He walked down the hall with a bowl under his chin throwing up in it as he went. We just cleaned it in the hall bath as we went and proceeded to the van. With the bowl. BUT HE WAS WALKING.

We got to sonic, and he started slowly sipping his shake. He kept his bowl beside him, but he didn't need it. Jeff came home and made them frozen pizza (again, not my usual m.o. for a sick kiddo) and he ate some and kept it down. He even ate some popcorn (it was movie night) and kept it down, too.

He went to bed with his bowl, his spiderman blanket and his glow puppy. He even brought all three to bed with us in the middle of the night. He never needed his bowl.

Today he is acting like Trystan. Diluted Trystan, but him just the same. He is not eating much but he is giggling and playing nintendo and fussing at his sister for bugging him...

The really cool thing is that last night I checked my email and saw that our church had sent out a prayer request email yesterday with several different requests. Trystan was in that email, and I didn't know it. The email was sent out at 3:13 pm. How awesome is that? He asked for that popsicle I had been begging him to eat all day at 3:15. When he asked that we were going over a child's pain diagram that helps them to explain to you how bad their pain is. Trystan was showing me that his pain was as bad as it could be, and in the next sentence wanted a popsicle and a milkshake.

Thank you for praying for Trystan. Thank you all for dropping what you were doing when your inbox chimed and praying for this sweet child!

Stillness...

Last night I took Trystan to the after hours LeBonHeur Clinic. He's had this recurring high fever with no other real symptoms. It had been responding well to ibuprofen and came and went with Tinnie acting pretty much normal until yesterday evening. He started acting like he was actually ill, and the fever was not coming down as well so off we went.

The doctors did a strep test, which came back negative. Then they checked his white blood count (they said he was as tough as spiderman. High-fived the guy WHILE they were drawing blood.) which was normal. Urine clear, too. We left scratching our heads, with orders to see his regular doc today. Sigh. There is a very good reason we went to the clinic instead, and it involves the regular doc, so we're not sure what to do.

I thought things might look clearer in the morning, but now Trystan is acting like he feels much worse, his fever is barely responding, and he is refusing popsicles. The doctor said last night that he was dehydrated, so this is concerning. He is drinking small amounts of water, though. Now he says that his throat, tummy and legs hurt and is refusing to walk. I've carried him to the bathroom, and finally he wanted to go out to the family room and I carried him there. He tried to crawl to his bedroom and gave up and wanted me to pick him up.

If you know Trystan, you know how uncharacteristic this is. Last night at the clinic he was extraordinarily STILL. That's part of why I took him. Trystan is only still while snoring.

I'm sure this will probably turn out to be some extremely strange but harmless virus, but we would appreciate your prayers. I am enjoying the chance to cuddle our little blonde tornado, but I'd much rather have him whirling about in good health!!

First Day of Spring....

Worms.

Yesterday Isaac came in the house with a couple of earthworms he found in the backyard. (How he found them is beyond me, he was on the trampoline) Daddy and I helped them fill an empty peanut butter jar with dirt (more like mud) and the boys dumped in the worms. We made a couple of holes in the top, and set them up on the breakfast bar. The worms immediately tunneled down in the mud, obligingly along the sides of the jar, so we could see what they were doing.

Today I googled worms and found out that they like to eat kitchen scraps, paper, that sort of thing. We had eggshells in the sink from breakfast, so the boys had fun crushing them up and feeding the worms. They haven't told us if they like them, I don't think they have even come up to see what is for lunch, but here they are.....

I've had this spring feeling lately, and had begun saving every emptied jar and milkjug that has passed through my hands. I knew that the bugs would be coming soon, and if I don't want every "look what I found, Mom" to be running loose in my house I had better have temporary apartments ready for all of them. There's not a single container that makes it into my house now that I don't think "hmmm.... that would be great for tadpoles, or caterpillars, or pillbugs.......".

For spring break...

The boys' TaeKwonDo instructor asked me last week if we celebrated spring break. That was funny to me. I laughed really hard and she just smiled and I told her we absolutely would if we weren't behind from all of the extra time we spent goofing off after Christmas.
So, for spring break we are doing schoolwork. I had a grand plan to surpise the kids with a day at the zoo LAST week before everyone in the tri-state area had spring madness, but on the planned day, Trystan woke up with a mystery 103.5 fever and we will have to reschedule. He had the fever for 2 days and no other symptoms. AT ALL. Then it completely disappeared. I wonder if when we get to Heaven we will get to find out about all the things the Lord protected us from.

Anyhow, last week went well. We had a friend's children with us for several days and really
enjoyed their company.

Our new read aloud for March

This morning was bible study at church, so we had a light homeschooling day. We did bible reading, and I found an awesome new math worksheet generator I downloaded and printed Isaac some math charts. We'll start using those tomorrow.

When Alyza went down for her nap the boys and I cuddled up on the couch and started reading Charlotte's Webb. Isaac protested at first, but became more interested as we went along. That is not the story HE would tell, however! Trystan was really engrossed, which surprised me. We read 3 chapters this afternoon before TaeKwonDo and another 2 chapters before bath and bedtime tonight. Then Trystan wanted to hear Where the Wild Things Are. Again!!

Winter is Melting Away

We had a late season snow this weekend after a nice warm week. It was a nice treat here at the end of winter, but I am looking forward to the 70's that are forecast for later this week! We are hoping that this late winter weather didn't affect all of the crops here again this year. We are really looking forward to blueberry picking this summer and would hate to hear that the crop has been lost!

You can see the pictures of the snow resting on all of the spring flowers on our pear tree. That was the scene all over town. Almost all of the spring flowering trees were in bloom and covered in snow at the same time. It was beautiful.



The kids had fun playing in the snow for very brief periods of time. Alyza could only stand it for about 15 minutes at a time; her hands would get cold through her mittens. She liked it this year though, which was a welcome change from the snow of '08. Last winter she was quite certain that the white death had fallen upon us and all the earth was ruined. She wound up sitting in her swing bundled up like an eskimo looking at all of us with a sad and slightly fearful expression. What a difference a year makes!! She made snowball after snowball and came and dropped them on daddy's feet!

We had some friends over to play Wii that evening and even they couldn't help going out to make snow balls !! Isaac is getting better and better in the aim department, and he made more snowballs this weekend than I've seen him make in all of his eight years. He was a really good sport about getting smacked, too. You can tell from the photos how many times he got hit!! We made him go warm up in the shower when he came in!!



Trystan was spending the night at Ninnie's house so we didn't get to play in it with him until the next day. But here's a pic of all three of them in it the last time it snowed.












The kids enjoyed studying the snowflakes up close with magnifying glasses on dark socks I put on their hands. (that one was a surprise snow that only lasted a few hours) I'm hoping to do more nature study this year if I can get the kids excited in that subject. The new trampoline they got for Christmas has helped alot to get them outdoors more, and we have enjoyed it every day the weather has allowed!!


Don't think for a minute that we are in a deepfreeze here!! In just two more days the weather will be in the mid 70's, and just a few short weeks after that we'll likely be wearing shorts and running the air conditioner again!! This snow was just in honor of my Mom's birthday this week. She grew up in South Dakota and every year on her birthday in the first week of March there was a blizzard. Her brother called her to joke about it this weekend. No matter how far away she moves she still gets her birthday snow!! Happy Birthday, Mom!!

Rank Graduation

Last Friday was Rank Graduation at Top Notch TaeKwonDo. The kids had a blast getting to show off their mad martial arts skills for parents, grandparents and friends. At the end of the ceremony they received their certificates and the grand prize: their new belts. Trystan has graduated to a beginner yellow belt, and Isaac is now sporting an advanced yellow belt!!


The boys were proud to show off the fruits of their hard work to Ninnie, Mr. J.D., Grantee, cousin Julia, Uncle Jake and Aunt Christina, Ms. Latisha, and of course, Mom and Dad. Afterwards we celebrated with chips and dip, pizza, brownies and ice cream.

The highlight of the ceremony for the kids was watching a beginner red/black belt perform a bo staff exhibition. When that staff WHOOSHED through the air dozens of mouths dropped open and dreams of bo staff swooshing began. Isaac ALREADY wanted to learn the bo staff, this just gave him more ammunition. It gave Trystan a little belt envy, because you have to be at least a yellow belt to pursue weapons classes.


Isaac's belt group was called up and were given the opportunity to show off their ChunGee, which is a combination of nineteen moves with varying turns. Memorizing their ChunGees and executing it flawlessly was the test they had to pass to earn the last of the six belt stripes they had to have in order to graduate. Isaac had it memorized weeks in advance of the testing, and really impressed his teacher.
Trystan's class came up and rocked the house with their EEE-YAHS! The littlest white belt class is without a doubt the loudest in the building and they really put on a show. Their pint sized punches and snapkicks will make you cry for their cuteness, and they are really tough. The week after graduation they got to try some board breaking, and they are a tough little crew. They executed their moves with incredible precision accompanied by ear deafening screams, of which you could make out Trystan's voice at the top of the pack. He is probably the loudest white belt in the room, and he always makes his teacher smile with his enthusiasm when he is paying attention. I will never forget when he received his belt. He had to go back up to the teacher 3 times. He forgot his certificate, He forgot to give her five, and he forgot his belt. He just laughed with everybody else and shook his head.
These boys have always been dangerous little warriors. Now they have belts to prove this point.

Oh, and Trystan is made of rubber. Just ask him to do the splits and stretch forward. You will hear his head thump on the floor.