Remember, Mom

In the past week or so I've had to say that to myself a lot.  I now realize how much I'd forgotten about Bryton's 'training' process, that now makes him such an easy kid.  Granted, he's not potty trained yet, and he's not sleeping in his toddler bed (which we've not even initiated that yet), but he's SO easy to put to bed, to play independently, etc. 
Getting back into the bouncing, patting, shhshing, swaying thing has my back tired (it's amazingly how familiar that pain is now that it's back) and my mind racing (as I really don't want to start any 'bad' habits now that have to be broken later... really want to get this sleeping thing figured out before 8 months this time, all while trying to get sleep myself and make all of the right decisions as far as formula, naptime lengths, waketime lengths, bathing, etc.  Everything seems so 'new' again, yet so familiar at the same time.  It's really confusing.)
Which makes me have to say this to myself daily:

• Remember, mom, formula only lasts 12 months, one down, 11 to go... and see how fast the first one went?

• Remember, mom, kids do sleep through the night, eventually, regardless of what you do to 'train' them.  Bryton was swaddled, bounced, patted, paci'd and everything else in the book before you could ever just lay him down.  You're starting sooner with this one... that in itself is a good step. 

• Remember, mom, how much you missed the gummy grins and the opportunity just to hold Bryton before he ran off?  You have that again... savor it while it's there. 

• Remember, mom, the stress of all of the decisions just left you with stress.  Sure you made some good ones and some not so good ones with Bryton, but really, what sticks out in your mind that you really regret?  Exactly.  Trying a new formula and how to best soothe Ansley will one day just be decisions that you made... period.

• Remember, mom, these moments really do come and go more quickly than anyone can ever imagine... even those of us who have been through them before.  I think that's why God gives us so many sleepless nights with babies... the time is so short before they get big, that He knew that we'd want as many memories with them at that age as possible... so when you are frustrated, try to enjoy it... It's really not like this for long...

• Remember, mom, a year from now this little girl will be walking and playing and starting to talk.  You'll miss this then. 

• Remember, mom, you know her better than anyone else on this planet.  You carried her, got her here, and spend more time with her than anyone else.  God has equipped you for all of this decision making... mom really does know best, stick to your gut. 

• Remember, mom, don't forget dad.  You're more tired than ever... and at times more frustrated, but so is he... and he still needs you. 

• Remember, mom, she really won't be eating steak one day and spitting up at the table.  This too shall pass. 

• Remember, mom, in the haze of your exhaustion, that this is the beginning of your little girl... and you'll never get this back... 

Good Ole Days

These are those.  You know, the good ole days?  The days you hear people talk about when they are normally referring to high school.  (You all have heard my spill on that before.  Throw your family under the bus, why don't you?  Unless, of course, you married your High School sweetheart, then you are allowed to include high school in your good ole days.  Anyway...) I'm plenty glad to be out of high school... and plenty glad to be enjoying my life with my family. 

And Skate Zone - is ultimately - where my family started.  Sad, isn't it? :)  Back in high school (still not my 'good ole days') a good mutual friend introduced Aaron and I.  Fast forward through some church specials and a Florida mission trip, and Aaron and I were ICQing quite a bit.  (Yep, all of you youth kids have no idea what that even is.)  There was never 'that' kind of connection in the early years of our friendship.  In fact, he moved from friend, to employer, to youth pastor fairly quickly.  So - with 'employer' being mentioned... Aaron and I spent a lot of time at good ole Skate Zone. 

There is SO much I remember from that place:

I remember Aaron and Lance taping me to the pole in the middle of the skating floor.

I remember hanging out with Rachel, and the guys playing washers in the aisle. 

I remember watching hockey, and then attempting to play hockey.

I remember the cherry vanilla fruitopias we sold... *cough cough* stole... before we went swimming at the Morris'.

I remember Carrie B. getting down to 'Wobble wobble, shaky shaky' :)

And stealing Aaron's Chinese food from his office.

I remember Jason Reid jumping the skate counter. 

And late night trips to Steak n Shake after work.

I can remember the way it smelled, the games we played, how my work shirt 'fit', and the combination to the moneybox.  (Duh, that one's easy.)

And trolli burgers / dogs... yeah, Aaron just bought those for us.

I can even hear the 'tap tap tapping' of quarters on the snack bar counter and the squealing of Zeke's boxing glove before it went bouncing across the rink with Zeke scooting after it trying to stop on the floor.  

We had the best dj's ever - Mabel, Radar, Aaron.

Then I can remember Aaron skating with Jayden when he was little bitty, shooting pucks into little bitty goals.  I can remember watching Aaron during sessions trying to teach someone to skate, or, at the beginning, helping me skate.  (What a great excuse to hold his hand ;)

And then we blinked, the rink got yanked from under him (turned out to be a God thing), we were married, and now we have two kids.  (It really just happened that fast!) 

And Tuesday we had the opportunity to take our first born skating, in that same rink, for the first time. 

Now I must say - for me to have not been hormonal at all during or after my pregnancy with Bryton - I've been completely the opposite with Ansley.   The only saving grace has been that I realize how emotional I've been.  That being said, even just walking in the door and smelling the familiar smell, but the feel being so 'different' brought tears to my eyes.  Even the 'creak' of the door felt familiar.  It was a 'good' familiar. 

So walking up to the skate counter, getting Bryton skates, and putting them on my son's feet to go skate with his daddy was kind of a wonderfully bitter sweet moment. 

I'm thankful for the reminder of my and Aaron's 'beginning'.  I'm glad the carpet and the back wall are the same.  I'm thankful, even, for the smell being the same.  I'm thankful for some of the same games played, for some of the same music played, etc. 

But more than anything, I'm thankful for the little boy that got to skate with the same person who was the reason that I loved the rink, and even more thankful that person happens to be his daddy. 

Sure - those were the 'good ole days', because they led me to these days... the days of interrupted sleep, strict budgets, and just the greatest blessings God has ever given.  These are the great days...

For that reason, Skate Zone will always have a special place in my heart. 

Pray for Wyatt William!

Hello blog readers!  Today is a special post that I hope you all will lend your hearts and ears to.  This particular blog post is a plea for prayer for a friend of mine and her little boy.  In an effort to get it all right, I'm copying and pasting her own words for you to read. 

If you conduct your own blog I'd ask that you would copy and paste this into your own blog today, as Wyatt William has a big day and a big doctor's appointment tomorrow.  My friend Rachel is asking for all of the prayers she can get! 

From Rachel:

On March 4, 2011 while teaching a 4th grade social studies class I received a phone call from my mother saying that 911 had just been called for my 16 month old little boy, Wyatt William. He was seizing and had stopped breathing. She wasn’t really sure what had happened. The 20 minute drive to the hospital seemed like an eternity. I kept imagining that I would get there and this would all be a big mistake. It would be someone else’s Wyatt or he would have just been teasing and acting silly. I would get to the hospital and everything would be just fine. But instead, I ran into an emergency triage room where my little boy was unconscious on a bed. He had tubes and needles and oxygen attached to him. He was only wearing a diaper and an arm band. I have never been so scared in my life. My husband was already there holding Wyatt’s little hand and looked terrified. After hours of assessment and tests and waiting it was ruled that my son had a febrile, or fever induced, seizure. Because we live in a small, rural town in Southern Illinois, we were sent to St. Louis Chidren’s Hospital to have Wyatt evaluated by a neurologist and monitored overnight.

Everything seemed fine, even the neurologist thought so. She said this is actually more common than we realize and that it most likely wouldn’t ever happen again. She reassured me that febrile seizures only looked scary but that they didn’t cause any type of long term damage. We were happy, the doctors were happy. They moved us out of our room to do the whole discharge thing and then, it happened. Three doctors, one of which was our neurologist, approached us and directed us to a private, single room. They were dressed in NICU attire as I call it…gloves, yellow coats, masks…we were scared. They told us that the last blood test has come back and that what they had originally thought was a lab error turned out to be confirmed. My son, my 16 month old perfect little boy had no neutrophils. Now, if you are like me, I had never even heard the word neutrophil before that minute but it turns out those little guys are pretty important seeing as how they make up more than half of our immune systems. A healthy person has no less than 1,500 of them. In a matter of 5 minutes, our lives were flipped upside down. Because his white count was so low, we would be staying in the hospital on total isolation. We could not leave our room. And, because his white count was so low they were looking at a few of different things…anything from a simple viral infection to leukemia. Seriously? All I kept thinking was, “Did they just say that? Did they just tell me that my son, this precious little boy whom I had grown in my body, might have cancer?” I was sick. I was in shock. The days that have followed have been a nightmare. We were eventually discharged with strict orders of isolation. Wyatt can’t have any visitors. And for doctor visits or blood draws, he has to ‘suit up’ in his gloves, coat and mask. His twin sister, Paisley is pretty jealous. We have to let her have a mask, too to keep the calm in our house at this point. We have been praying feverently and hoping that Wyatt’s white blood count and neutrophils would go up but to no avail. He has gotten up to 200 and then bounced around back to 84 I think was the lowest. The fact that his numbers aren’t getting back to normal really has the doctors concerned. And us, too. We feel afraid. We feel helpless.

Now during our time of need, we are calling all our friends and family, all Christians really to pray with us during this rough patch. We are praying for Wyatt to be touched by the hand of our Almighty God and to be healed. God made his perfect little body and he has the power to heal him and make him whole once again. There is nothing too big for our Lord to fix. I ask you please, dear friends, join my husband Will, my daughter Paisley and I as we pray for good news for Wyatt as we meet with the Hematologist/Oncologist at St. Louis Children’s this Friday. Please pray Wyatt’s full recovery, for answers and for peace. Please pray that it is the Lord’s will that Wyatt does not have cancer in his little body, of any form. Please pray for the healing of my entire family. Pray that the Lord will show us all a miracle very soon, through Wyatt. Thank you in advance friends for taking the time to pray for my family, for my son. May the Lord bless us, each and every one. I pray that very soon I will have a testimony of God’s unyielding mercy to share with you all. I pray that I will be able to share the story of a true miracle.



Thank you, for everything.

Rachel

Again, please copy and paste into your own blogs or relay this information on to your prayer warriors.  All of the prayers are greatly appreciated!  

Can't Believe the Similarities

Ok - so ever since the hospital put us in birthing room 2, the birthing room that Bryton was born in, to deliver Ansley, we've been finding crazy similarities about their births, etc.  So, we just have to share a few:

• Both were born in birthing room 2 at the same hospital.
• Both were born on the 3rd day of the month in which they were born. 
• Bryton's birthday is 11/3/(08) - Ansley's is 3/3/11.
• Bryton's birthday is within a week of another family member's, so is Ansley's.

And the one we just realized...

• Bryton's birthday is within days of the end of daylight savings time, Ansley's is within days of the beginning of daylight savings time.

I don't think we could have planned those things if we wanted to!