can't stop

I can't stop reading. I know I'm a little late to this game, but wow! These are really not my kind of books which is why I'm really surprised at myself. But I can't stop. This is reminiscent of reading the Francine Rivers "Mark of the Lion Series" back in 2000. I have kids to take care of! Ben and I have a hot date to watch the movie on Saturday. Not my kind of movie either, so we'll see!

I read this one in about 5 days. I started by only allowing myself to
read while on the exercise bike. My legs couldn't handle it!

I read this entire book on Saturday. Ted had strep throat
(again) and laid around all day. That helped the cause.

I'm taking this one a little slower. But I still really like it.

 

 

gone

Thursday, I saw the most beautiful picture of a brain I've ever seen. Not that I've seen all that many! Ted had a CT scan and a follow-up appointment with her neurosurgeon. The cyst on his brain is completely GONE! The doctor had told us at the start of all this that it may never be completely gone but might just be smaller. So the fact that it is makes all of this a complete success. The bone has healed. The cyst is gone. His brain is unsquished. He is officially released to ride bikes and his scooter, climb and do all things a 6 year old wants to (and may or may not have already been doing). Tomorrow we're taking his birthday money to go get a new bike!

The EEG came back normal. But the doctor decided that they would like to keep him on the Keppra for 6 months total. So we'll have another EEG in May. Whatever. Not a big deal.

And his hair is GROWING!! We cut it was a #1 blade last week. The difference is less and less.

For all of this, I am beyond thankful!

pain vs. sick

Sophie is a very healthy child. In her lifetime, she has had one ear infection, one ingrown toenail, a concussion, a seizure and lots and lots of nosebleeds. But she's healthy in regards to viruses and stuff. She's never thrown up in her whole entire life. Unlike her brother who, by her age, had christened every corner of our van with vomit. She has snot from March-May and Sept-Nov, but that's very much allergy related and I don't count that as sick.

Why do I say this? Recently, Sophie has had a hard time when it comes to differentiating between pain and sickness. And between different parts of her body.

For instance, the other day, we picked up the little girl I'm babysitting and Sophie says (in front of the other mom) in her best whiney/sick voice, "Mom, I don't feel good." I chalk it up to allergies and you'll be fine. But I have recently learned to say "Show me." Because usually what she says and where she points doesn't match up.

She says, "I don't feel good. My head hurts."
"Show me."
"Right here by my headband."
"Is your headband hurting you? Do you think you should take it off?"
"Oh yeah. That's it!"

So then she says later that week, "Mom, my tummy hurts."
"Show me where it hurts, Soph."
She points to her throat.
"Sophie, that's your throat."
"Oh, well it hurts where my jacket is zipped."
"Maybe you should unzip your jacket a little."
"That's better!"

Sophie getting ready to take her baby to the park. Camera. Purse. Lunch. Baby.

She is one prepared Mama. I believe there's pretend food in the lunch box and maybe another baby.

In the other world of sickness and health, Ben's shingles were relatively short lived for what I guess they could've been. Two weeks from the start of pain to waking up one morning and it's gone. We are definitely both in the agreement that his shingles were a sort of divine intervention. He slept a lot, was home a lot and this past week wasn't even a wreck from catch up stuff. I'm praying it sticks. And thankful I haven't gotten it.

I, however, had pink eye or some other form of conjunctivitis. Gross. I HATE wearing glasses. Hate. It. I got glasses in 1st grade (Ted gets it honestly) and contacts around 7th grade. From the day I got contacts, I have worn them every day of my life from dawn till dusk and sometimes longer. Sophie asked me several times, "How come you have on your night glasses?"

And, Ben is officially get o.l.d. He got reading glasses this week.

This is how I found Sophie watching tv the other day.
The dress up box could be comfortable - but probably not.

Aunt Sara came to visit and we had a girls dinner at Black Bear.
Always so fun to have a visit with Sara.

2nd annual

A couple of weeks ago, I texted Ben when he was in Idaho and said, "Do you want to go to Charleston the weekend of the state basketball tournaments? Ted has a 3 day weekend." I think it may have won me "Wife of the Year." So this weekend we spent in Charleston. Ben worked his way down on Thursday morning and the kids and I came Friday morning. I love going to Charleston, but it's always hard not seeing everyone we would love to see and still having every minute of the day accounted for. I need a good 4 days there. Thankfully the weather was beautiful which is always helpful and Ted always gets some basketball in. We stayed at the Godwin's B&B. It's a great arrangement b/c they don't feel like they have to be there to entertain/feed/be there when we are. And we can come and go as we please. It's a great situation.

Ben started Friday morning at men's group and we hit the ground running on Friday with Chuck E. Cheese's with the Santens and the Holberts.

Will, Sophie, Ivy, Levi & Ted

Sophie & her "twin" Ivy

Ben, Levi & Ted with Good Ole' Chuck

The only unaccounted time I had was a little time Friday afternoon which I didn't really realize we  would have. Sophie got in a nap and Ted and I got in some good basketball playing.

In the evening we played with the Youngs and the Bishops. Love those families!

Sophie & Maisie

Sydney & Ted

Michele, Me & Liz
pink eye = glasses

Saturday I had coffee in the morning with my friend Amy, spent some time with Adrienne, hit up the Carter's store for some spring/summer clothes, cancelled with the Isaacs b/c the kids were shot and needed a nap, visited the Hannah's and then played with Uncle Andy & Aunt Courtney. My camera stayed in my purse.

We went to dinner with Andy and Courtney instead of going to the GW Championship game. Crazy, I know! But it was really good. We haven't spent much time with them recently. We hit up the Grimm's annual St. Patrick's Day party where we got to catch up with lots of people all at one time.

Sunday morning we went to River Ridge Church. I wish I could stand and talk to everyone forever. But alas, it's impossible. It was so good to be there. But so many people we don't really know. Which is weird.

Next time, I have a whole other list of people that I want to see. Next time.

Some days it feels like we left Charleston 10 years ago. Sometimes it feels like just a few months. It's such a weird thing. Sophie didn't remember lots of people this trip. It's sad for me to think that my kids won't remember a lot about our time there. Ben and I were talking on the way home about, when we had lived in Charleston the amount of time we've lived in Morgantown (about 19 months), we didn't even know most of the people that we wanted to spend time with on this trip. It took almost 4 years for us to really feel totally invested and relationally involved there in so many ways. Which is helpful to remember. It really was the last 5-6 years that were so relationally and ministry rich is such a wide variety of ways.

I think this will be an annual trip for us. This was our 2nd annual. I like it!

eeg

Ted had an EEG last Tuesday after school. I received one instruction: he must be sleep deprived. No naps. No caffeine. That's all I was told in a letter I received. So, I picked Ted up after school and took him over to Ruby. They hooked him up to 24 nodules, Ted asked a thousand questions, and then the guy says, "I'm going to turn out the lights so you can take a nap." WHAT? Seriously? Yes, they needed ONE HOUR of sleep for this particular EEG. No one told me. If they would have, I would've told them that 2:30 in the afternoon, after school was the worst possible time. Ted's teachers assure me that he does a really good job at school. Believe me, I've asked based on his behavior when he gets home. I can only assume that he's sat still and obeyed all day, so when he gets home, he has to let completely loose. This beautiful weather has been fabulous because I send him outside to do laps around the house. Let alone the fact that he really doesn't sleep anywhere but a bed. He's fallen asleep on a couch about 3 times in life. Never on command!

So last Tuesday, Ted didn't even come close to sleeping. He couldn't even lay there and close his eyes. I felt so bad for him. It really was not his fault. Every 45 seconds, "Are we done yet? How much longer? Can I just open my eyes?" I don't exaggerate on that. It was over an hour of pleading with him to rest and be still. All the time knowing it was so hard to ask that of a 6 year old boy at that time of day. Needless to say, the Dr. called back and said they would need to do it again. I asked for a very different appointment time and told Ted he owed me $100 for deductibles!

So this morning, Ted had an EEG at 8:00 am. We put him to bed at 10:00 pm and Ben volunteered to get up with him at 4:00 am. He took him for a fun breakfast at Eat N Park to fill his belly with french toast and bacon. Ted took his Steeler blanket and his pillow pet and PROMPTLY FELL ASLEEP! I think Ben wanted to sleep too.  Ted slept the entire time. Hopefully they got what they needed and we can get him off the Keppra. (Totally forgot pictures both times!)

Next week he has a CT scan and follow-up with the neurosurgeon. Hopefully this will be it!

just so you know

I started this blog for two reasons. One was to be a scrapbook of sorts for my kids. I love to write and journal. I also love to take pictures. I'm not saying they're good pictures. Just pictures for the sake of remembering. I was falling behind greatly on my photo albums and definitely not keeping up with (or starting) my kids baby books. This seemed like a good outlet of sorts. The other was to give our parents an avenue to see their grandchildren more. Even though we don't live far, far apart, they are still not part of our daily lives. And this is an easy way for them to be more a part of that.

 Never did I think that so many people would read this blog. For that reason I will say this as a disclaimer of sorts . . .

Sometimes I read other people's blogs and I feel bad about myself as a wife, mom, Christian, etc. My kids haven't been memorizing scripture since they were in the womb. Being a mom does not come easily for me. I struggle with feeling like I am making an impact or doing things of significance. I don't have it together even one iota. I get irritated with my husband and struggle with him being in ministry sometimes. I get jealous over what others have and I do/can not. To name a few.

So, I hope that you never look at this blog and feel bad. I hope that I put it out there that raising kids is hard, being in ministry isn't all fun and games, things aren't always a walk in the park and that life just stinks sometimes. I hope I don't give you some sort of false/fake impression of us.

I will tell you this - when I started this blog, I started seeing the fun things in life a little more. I started considering things a little more of a blessing because I wanted to take pictures of them and remember the moments.  Even the ridiculous, frustrating, nonsense, life-is-hard moments that I might otherwise forget or remember more negatively. And I am thankful for that.

Bottom Line: I don't EVER want to give anyone an impression that we have it all together, that life is always lovely, or that you should be like us. Because I'm pretty sure that we would make you crazy!

To prove it to you, here's my daughter "exercising" on my unmopped kitchen floor while my son dances to "Party Rock Anthem"in the background.  In case you don't know, it's not the best song to expose a 6 year old to. It definitely does not win me mother of the year.

this and that

Last week, Ted brought home The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. I had never read it. It was a good book. Good moral of the story. I really had no intention of going to see the movie until a friend said how good it was. So today was an early dismissal and it looked to be a long evening. So off I went with both kids. It was really good. Sure it has environmental and political undertones. But there are so many spiritual truths - selfishness, greed, reaping what you sow, crossing one "line" after another, materialism, saying I'm not "that bad," sticking to your word, what you do affects others. I look at it as great conversation starters with my kids. Oh, and one of the main characters name is Ted. Ted loved it.

In case you missed my last post, Ted has been teaching his friends to rap and beat box at school. Today he informed me that he taught them to "two step". And then he showed me how he taught them - step by step. He said that they can two step while they rap. Sometimes I wonder what his teachers think of us.

Tonight, I put the kids to bed a little (too) early. They were up very early (5:45 & 6:15) this morning. Sophie was having a hard time. I went up to her room and she was sleeping in her pillow case. She said it as a sleeping bag. Fair enough.

I've started babysitting a 3 year old little girl two days a week. It's working out really well considering that it's really stepping out of my comfort zone. She and Sohpie get along really well and it's actually a really good thing. We usually play somewhere in the morning (library, B&N, the mall, a friends) and then come home to eat lunch, hang out, nap, and then Ted gets home and they play till her mom gets picks her up. 

Ben has shingles. He spent last Sunday in the ER b/c he thought it was kidney stones. A couple of days later, the rash came. I think in the whole scheme of things he has a pretty mild case. It's totally a result of his work too much, not rest enough lifestyle.

Last week we played the old switch-a-roo with the kids. I met Ben
and found the kids sticking out of the roof. They loved it!

A note I found on Ted's door after I asked him to clean his room
"I'm all done cleaning. And I want to kiss and hug you."
And I can't remember what the last line is!

Ben was assistant coach to Ted's basketball team. At their last game there was
only one kid on the bench at a time. So Sophie joined in the bench warming.

Sophie & I went to get our bangs trimmed Friday. Sophie ended the
visit with pink fingernails and purple shatter on top. She was one happy girl!

We went to New Martinsville for 24 hours. Gary Pap set up a target for Ted to
shoot a BB gun - indoors! Ted LOVED it to say the least.

Shooting from the family room into the workshop.
Be sure to note the angry bird pj's tucked into my Christmas socks!

Uncle Charlie taught Ted how to play the card game "war."