a reminder...

I was brought to tears this morning....by a blog. I don't know how many of you are following the McKMama story. The youngest child in the family is sick. Hospitalized. As I read the story, the memories came back. The situations are COMPLETELY different. Mine was a husband. Her's is a child. Andrew was in a coma. Stellan is awake and interactive. Neither situation is better or worse. They are both just sad. My cardiac nursing knowledge came back as well. Her child is fighting a significant heart arrhythmia that is becoming more complicated as I type this. I cried for her. I left her a comment. What do you say to someone you don't know, dealing with something you haven't been through. Maybe if she knew of my experience she would hear/read my words differently. That's not the case and a blog comment is not the place to go into detail. I just wrote "God is good. ALL the time. Praying added strength for you." I wish I could reach through the computer and save her..and her baby. I wish I could suffer enough that noone else would need to....but that's what Jesus did isn't it. Yes, we still suffer, but our sufferings (described biblically as "light and momentary" in 2 Corinthians 4) are nothing compared to His. Our sufferings are nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed to us (Romans 8:18).
And so I pray. I pray that her situation will turn out different than mine. And I pray that no matter what the outcome, she will remember that God is good, all the time.

birthday girl

"It's my birthday!!!!!!"
She couldn't wait for us to get this unattached from the box so she could snuggle him.


The panda bear came with a Nat Geo video about pandas. She was mesmerized...for a few minutes. She's only 1, I can't expect much more than that.

We are planning to have cake and ice cream on Thursday with grandparents and aunts/uncles/cousins. I'll have more pictures from that.

An outing to the park.

Lydia has been sick. She was diagnosed with Rotavirus and if you know what that is, you know that it's a nasty virus that causes diarrhea, vomiting and fever for up to 2 weeks. Many children end up hospitalized with dehydration. Catie had a vaccine around the age of one. Lydia almost made it to the vaccine, but didn't. :( We were spared the significant dehydration since Lydia doesn't tend to puke very easily. (Catie, on the other hand, would've been spending the entire 2 weeks in the tub b/c she pukes if she thinks about it!) It's been 10 days so far and I think we are rounding a corner since she has not had a poopy diaper today (and usually would've had 2 by now). And she is beginning to eat more. I think she lost a few pounds. We have been stuck in the house b/c I'm not a mom who's willing to risk exposing other children until I KNOW that my kids are better. We did, though, venture out to the park the other day. (Don't worry... we all washed out hands really well before and after playing and no diapers were changed while there.) Here are some pictures of the fun.

She's gonna be a STAR!!!!

Who teaches kids this stuff?!

Loving Jericho

...or maybe just disturbing his sleep.

changes

A few months ago, we were doing our grocery shopping in a local chain called Tops. I noticed that they did not carry any Polly-O products. I try to buy Polly-O as opposed to other brands b/c we drive past one of their plants every day. I also think their string cheese, ricotta, and mozzarella cheeses are the best. We thought it was sad that a local grocery store did not carry local products, so when we got home James sent an email to Tops headquarters in Buffalo, NY. Shortly after that we received an email letting us know that the 7 stores in our area would not be carrying Polly-O products. Yay!!!

The day before Valentine's Day, James took his girls out to dinner at a local restaurant that we have visited before. They've always had the best service, Bruschetta, and steak that we can get in the area. Our experience that night was less than stellar. The food was slow getting to our table (and the girls were acting up out of hunger), the bruschetta was not as good as usual, but the steak was the worst part. It was gritty and tasted like liver. (and I know what liver tastes like b/c my mom used to fix it all the time when I was a child). Again, James sent an email. He got a very quick response from the owner offering us 2 free steak dinners at our next visit. We have not had an opportunity to go back yet.

Writing emails like this is not something that we have done in the past. We decided to do it these two times b/c we wondered if anything would change. It did.

The moral of the story: Send emails, call the company, etc, if something isn't right.

update...

The girls are healthy....for now. After 2 weeks of missing church (and not seeing any other children in general) they are through with sniffles, coughing, and not sleeping. I expect that this will only last about 3 more days since we were at church yesterday.

I think one of my BIGGEST pet peeves is parents who bring their child(ren) out in public when they are sick. If their nose is running....that means they are germ-carriers. I've had someone tell me that their kid just has a runny nose all the time. 2 things are possible....allergies or illness. It is not normal to "just have a runny nose". There is a reason for that mucus to build up. It is trying to wash something out.

I understand the benefits of having my children get sick from time to time. It builds up their immune system. It probably even builds character, but seriously, people!!! Don't write on your facebook status that you've been up with sick kids for days, but you're excited about church in the morning.