Hello, goodbye, Baby

I was at Parker's funeral today.  He was Nick and Rachel's third child, but the first to even make it far enough along to be named.  Born at 23 weeks gestation and lived for seven minutes.  And they had a whole slide show of those minutes and his mom singing a lullaby to him and the teeny tiny crib they had ready for him and all the family members holding him and oh boy I'm crying all over again.

I cried and cried, way more than I cried at Daniel's funeral.  And I looked at his parents, not crying (much), and I thought that's what we must've looked like.  And I didn't judge them (as I feared people were judging me at Daniel's funeral), because I knew God was providing them with His supernatural support and comfort and I was glad for that.

Strange, isn't it, how my grief kind of 'lives on' through the grief of others.  I loved Daniel and definitely grieved him (and still do), but sometimes I didn't grieve as much as I thought others might expect me to.  But now, watching someone else's grief -- someone I only know as a friend of a friend -- I made up for some of that, weeping like I'd just lost part of my family.  And yes, lots of the tears were for my pain, but lots of the tears were for their pain too.  I know we are family, family in Christ, and we're all part of the great human family, but .... I don't know.  My thoughts are jumbled right now, and I'm not really sure what point I'm trying to make.  I'm emotional, forgive me ;'-)  I need to go take a nap to re-gel my emotions before going out into public this evening ...

April 2014

April 2014

(this includes a zillion pictures, which may be a problem. please let me know if it doesn't work on your computer for some reason)

Early in the month we visited with some friends, the Zales.  A is the same age as Kate, L is the same age as Anna.

They were sitting around discussing how they were going to whack Nathan with the hockey stick and tie him up with the jump rope so that they could "rescue" their suction cup arrows.  No joke!  When we left I asked Nathan if he had enjoyed his time.  "Yes!  the best part was when the girls were chasing me.  ... Because then I could defend myself."  <a good time was had by all ;-) >

Sorry, I just can't seem to stop taking pictures of him :)

Showing off the crowns they'd all made.

Making unleavened bread for our Passover dinner.  Last year we had a Passover dinner when we read through Exodus, in January, and this year the kids were very disappointed that I didn't have a random hunk of lamb in the freezer in January, so I promised them I'd have it by the "proper" time of year when the Israelites had done it.

Nathan, as the oldest, with his staff in hand and feet well shod, holding the bitter herbs he used to put the 'blood' on the door. 

"and if the household be too little for the lamb ..."  Heather, Tim, and the upstairs crowd joined us.

One plate saved for Jeff, who was working late.  Matzah, roasted potatoes, rice, oregano, and lamb.  And sparkling juice in celebration of the victory our Passover Lamb accomplished for us!

You can see an adult tooth (front left) behind her baby tooth (which fell out that night, I think)

Daniel added versions of "Daddy" and "Mommy" to his vocabulary sometime in April.

Nathan helping Daniel up the slide

Ah, this leaves my hands free to help myself climb...

Ready...

set...

Go!

Daniel absolutely loves to draw!

I am shocked by how he perfectly holds the pencil ... I certainly can't teach it at this age!

Nathan had his first orthodontist consultation.

I don't expect treatment will start for at least 6 months.

Hooray for big brothers!

And big sisters, too :)

Toward the end of the month all the kids took turns getting sick.  Anna was first -- and worst --, with a fever that lasted the better part of four days.

Daniel tripped and fell against a big stuccoed post, scraping up his chin...

and slicing the inside of his lip.  Ugh!  Poor kid couldn't eat for a day ... and that's saying a lot, for him!

Nathan also fell off his bike and sliced the corner of his lip open, but I didn't get a picture of that.  I'm sure that disappoints you all greatly ;-)

Foolishness

We were enjoying a game of Boggle with Tim a couple months ago, and got distracted by the "sch" section of the dictionary.  This is the brilliant sentence I put together:

Schmeer the schmoe that sells schlock to schlep the schmear of schmelze over here -- he's a schnooke!

So, who can interpret ... without a dictionary, of course! ;-)

Anna's 4th birthday

She had fallen recently, and managed to scrape the top of her nose.  WalMart pictures got delayed a few weeks!

She got the greatest kick out of this card from Grandpa and Babcia, the way "she" was jumping so high.

To clarify, she decorated the cake herself, with help from siblings ...  It was a train cake

her loot

High Adventure

February 14 may have been Valentine's Day for everyone else, but for Daniel it was The Day He Climbed On The Bunk Bed For The First Time.

Three days later I was sorting laundry when he started wailing ... and kept going ... and going... <sigh>  I finally left the laundry on hold, went to investigate, and there he was ...

... not enjoying his high adventure!

Sir Coughsalot goes to the doctor

How many teeth does this happy (dirty) boy have? 

So, our Pipsqueak hasn't been to a doctor much in the last year, since I haven't been bringing him in for his immunization shots.  At 16 weeks old Daniel went to Dr. Dickson where it was determined that he didn't have (even a mild case of) laryngomalcia.  I didn't how realize how thankful I was for that until, after I got home and was looking it up some more, I watched this video!  He had one final checkup with Dr. Ng at some point, when she said his heart murmur was definitely clear enough and not a concern.  Around 4 months old he mostly outgrew his squeak ... perhaps because that's when he hit 12 month size and weight.  The squeak has only been occasional since then, mostly when he gets a bit excited over something (presumably, some muscles are tensing and abnormally constricting the airway somewhat -- uneducated mother's opinion there).

See those two molars hiding out back there?

His new nickname is Sir Coughsalot.  I brought him to a doctor in the fall, but he said his lungs sounded fine, no cause for alarm.  I am accustomed to Daniel having noisy breathing/unusual coughing and didn't think much of it for a long while, but since it hasn't fully gone away in the last five months I finally decided it really ought to be looked at again.  Not that he's coughed non-stop all winter, but every cold that anybody gets, he'll start coughing and keep it up for several weeks, finally recovering about a week before the next bout of coughing starts.  There will be a couple of nights each round where he'll wake up with a coughing fit at least once in the night, and will need to be soothed back to sleep (snuggling works wonders with relaxing his breathing!).  Several times now he's coughed so hard he's thrown up.

So I brought him to a walk-in clinic on Monday.  The doctor again said his lungs sounded fine, no cause for alarm, but when she heard the back story and heard his "purring" she sent him in for a chest x-ray and arranged an appointment with a pediatrician, which was today.

Thankfully there are two more up top to provide some grinding action!

The conclusion of the matter: I can't remember the wording, but it was something to the effect of bronchitis tending to pneumonia, presumably triggered by mild asthma.  Possibly the allergies contributing to the mix, too.  So now he's on a round of antibiotics and two different puffers, and hopefully he'll outgrow his newest nickname soon! ... until next winter, at least ;-)

PS He's 27 lbs