Just needed her big brother

A week ago Gracie woke up at 12:30am crying.  So I went in to check on her and, when I picked her up, she was shaking badly and burning up.  So we took her temperature and discovered it was 102.4.  So we called our neighbor who came over to stay at the house with Isaac (who was snoozing away) while we took Gracie to the emergency room.

We walked in the emergency room and were instantly relieved to find our favorite ER doc on duty.  He's the father-in-law of a friend of ours and visits our church when he's in town working at the hospital (he lives an hour away).  So he checked everything over and found she had a massive ear infection in her right ear.  So they gave her some pain killer and a starter dose of antibiotic and we were back home in less than an hour -- that's the beauty, we're learning, of a small town hospital.

The next few days were quite challenging though.  She's never had such a high temperature before and it didn't break until Sunday evening.  So for nearly three full days she was burning up as soon as the Tylenol wore off.  Not to mention cranky due to pain and lack of sleep.

When Sunday rolled around and she still had fever, we decided that I would stay home with Gracie and Matt would go ahead and take Isaac to the church-wide camp we were all planning to attend this week.  Good bonding time for the boys anyway!

So they left Sunday afternoon and Gracie's fever finally went down Sunday evening.  So the next couple of days she had no fever, but still fussed quite a bit and on Tuesday morning, she woke up with a rash all over her forehead, tummy, and back.  So off to the doctor we went that afternoon and, through process of elimination, made an educated guess that her medicine was causing a reaction.  So we left with a prescription for another medicine, and finished our errands for the day.

Fast forward to Wednesday and our little princess seemed to be feeling much better, but still had some sleep to catch up on which left her very cranky.  Thanks to Benadryl (for the allergic reaction), she took two good long naps that day.  But in between naps, Big Brother and Daddy came home from camp and Little Miss Fancy Pants perked right up!  Forget about sleep!  She literally laughed and kicked her legs in excitement when she saw her big brother.

She missed him so much!  Even during the moments she was feeling better (or the Motrin was well in her system), she seemed absolutely discontent with toys she plays with all the time.  Isaac wasn't here to play with.  Then as soon as he returns, she's all smiles and playful again.  :)

Thankfully, she seems to be over the worst part of this ear infection and she has Isaac around.  So things are rosey again in her little world.  Now maybe I can catch up on my sleep!  

3 Years Old

My little boy turned 3 years old today and I've decided that it's absolutely not possible that he is already this old!  Of course, he is still the sweetest, funniest, smartest little boy I know and I am so thankful for the blessing he is to our family.

At three years old he...
-loves CARS.  Still.  Now we're on to Francesco and the CARS 2 cast.
-stands tall at 3 foot 1 1/2 inches.
-loves his baby sister and loves to play/share with her.
-loves cinnamon toast for breakfast.
-can brush his teeth pretty well himself.  He gets to brush by himself in the morning; mommy or daddy brushes at night (just to be sure his teeth get a good brushing each day).
-loves to swim in the "big pool" in his "Pool Patrol" car floatie.
-swings on the "big" swings...not in the baby swing.
-is fascinated by diggers, dumpers, bull dozers, and cement trucks.
-is getting quite creative in his play time.  He provides the voices for his cars or trains.  I also love his sweet invites to play..."Mommy, wanna play with me?" in the cutest little voice ever!
-loves to take pictures with the iPhone.
-likes to wash his hands.
-loves to play trains on his train table.
-loves to wash the cars.  Or play water fight with the water hose --  mostly when mommy is on the losing end. :)
-could live off graham crackers if allowed.
-likes to read his favorite book about diggers and bulldozers every night before bed.
-tries to stall before bedtime by anything that seems amusing -- playing in the sink while brushing teeth, rinsing the toothpaste out about 10 times (while spitting water down the hole in the back of the sink), reading a gazillion books, giving 100 kisses....
-recently saw his first movie.  CARS 2.  What else would it be??
-can't sit still when he eats.
-loves strawberries, blueberries, and plums.
-eats only the top part of the bun on a cheeseburger.
-still isn't potty trained.  (*Sigh*)
-likes to color and paint.
-loves to "fix" things.  Even if it has to be slightly taken apart to fix.  He'll take the tires off of a toy car to "fix" them.  He'll get a twig and pretend to fix the tires on his outside toy cars.  When a toy needed new batteries, he brought me his play screwdriver so I could change them -- in his mind it was a real screwdriver.
-will periodically stop mid-tracks while playing and through a frozen smile, without lips moving, he'll say "I'm not working." And mommy will have to "change his batteries" so he can start playing again.
-likes to go to Super Target.
-is starting to phase out naps.  Many days he lays in his bed for an hour and a half without going to sleep.
-likes to play with his friends, more so than just playing along side them.

Here's the birthday boy about to open presents today...complete with his "new" smile.  This is the forced smile you get when you say "Smile!" so he doesn't say "Cheese" and look like he's mid sentence.  :)

Birthday Boy!

"Smile!"

Happy Birthday sweet boy!  We love you!

Joy

Last Saturday we made a shopping trip to the "Big Town", despite the fact I was feeling horrible.  A stomach bug of some sort had been making its way around town and it seemed that I hadn't escaped its path.  But nonetheless, we desperately needed to do some shopping, so we decided to go anyway.

While shopping, somewhere around mid-afternoon I was feeling horrible.  And Isaac was his usual talkative self.  "Look, Mommy!"  "Hey Mommy, watch this!"  We had to make a stop at Best Buy, and at one point, I was trying to decide on something and he was very eager to show me something of his own.  I guess I wasn't responding as swiftly as he would have liked, which made the "Hey Mommy"s more frequent.  So I mustered up strength to kneel down in front of him...

Me: "Mommy isn't feeling very good today, so you're going to have to be a little more patient, okay?"
Isaac: "Mommy not feel good?"
Me: (Shaking my head) "No." 
Isaac: "Mommy need go doctor?"
Me: (Shaking my head yes) "I might need to go to the doctor.  Can you give me a hug to make me feel better?"

Isaac gives me a big squeeze and while hugging me he says, "I'll pray for Mommy.  'Help Mommy feel better.  Jesus name, Amen.'" 

It took me a second to register that my 2 year old had just prayed for me!  Without Mommy or Daddy encouraging it.  He did it on his own!  And it's not even bedtime!  That's the first time he's taken it upon himself to pray at the moment he knew there was a need to petition to God...not just at bedtime prayer.  And that's the first time I heard him pray for someone about something specifically.  His prayers typically consist of "Thank you for Mommy and Daddy and Gracie..." (*Since then, he's prayed for God to help Gracie sleep good and for some of his friends to not get sick.)

My heart was so overwhelmed with joy that I immediately went and found Matt (who was pushing Gracie in the cart) and told him what Isaac had done.  And by golly, I sure enough felt better after that!!  The joy in my heart overcame any bug in my stomach.  I told Isaac I was so proud of him for praying for Mommy to get better, whereby he flashed us one of his priceless, big happy smiles. 

The next morning he came and climbed in bed with us after he woke up.  After a little while (and after he was well awake) he turned towards me and said, "I pray for Mommy" and said another little prayer for me.

I think I have a small glimpse of what Christian parents feel when their child chooses to follow Christ.  You pray for them every day.  You tell them about Christ and you teach them about God.  And you put your trust in God that He hears your prayers and you hope that He will answer them.  So when your children start to display fruit of what they've been taught, it blesses your heart greater than you would have ever imagined.  

I continue to pray that both my children will come to know Christ at an early age and live a life in pursuit of holiness.  Any work of salvation is purely a gift of God.  What a joyous gift it is when God chooses to bring salvation to a child!  I eagerly wait in hopeful anticipation.  

"Train up a child in the way he should go;
   even when he is old he will not depart from it." --Proverbs 22:6

Ice Cream Man!

We finally caught him!  We have been waiting for the ice cream man to get back from "vacation."  He first started visiting our little town a few months ago, but hasn't been around for several weeks and Isaac randomly comments about the ice cream man and how he is "on vacation."  But tonight we were on another double-stroller walk and we heard it -- the carnival-like music radiating from loud speakers.  Then we spotted the white van with pictures of ice cream plastered across the side.  But then he turned.  So we darted up a few streets determined to catch him.  And it just so happened I had a few bucks cash in my pocket.   

Success!  Isaac was finally able to buy ice cream from the ice cream man!  When I asked him what kind he wanted, he said "I want white ice cream."  We have a Dairy Queen in town and their "white ice cream" has become his favorite.  So I explained that he could pick from any of the pictures and he chose a Blue Bell chocolate fudge bar.  Good stuff!

Every kid loves the ice cream man.

Trucks

One good thing about small towns is the opportunities you encounter.  I took the kids on a walk yesterday morning in the double stroller.  While on our walk, we walked right past a backhoe loader-- what Isaac refers to as a "digger and a bulldozer!" 

Isaac's current fascination is trucks.  Anything trucks.  Big trucks (semi-trucks).  Diggers.  Dumpers.  Car transporters.  We have books about trucks that are currently his favorite picks to read before bedtime. 

So he got out of the stroller, looked at it for a few minutes, and then we continued on our walk.  And about two minutes later, we spotted a cement truck across the street spinning its mixer.  Because it was at it's "home base" (for lack of a better word) rather than on a work site, I figured we'd journey over and see if we could get an up-close look at it.

Roy, its operator, was more than happy to let us check it out, so he pulled it out from underneath the "cement loading carport" thing and Isaac had a chance to point out all the parts of the truck that he's learned from one of his books. 

So I snapped a picture and we were on our way.  Since the backhoe loader was so close, we went back and I attempted to get his picture with it as well, but he thought I was trying to sit him on it rather than stand by it.  For some reason, the boy loves to look at these things, but he will not sit on them -- never mind the fact I wasn't even trying to sit him on it.  So he would have nothing to do with taking a picture.  But nonetheless, he had a great adventure story to tell Daddy.

Cookies!

Isaac is my little helper these days.  He especially loves shopping with Mommy since I bought him a little miniature shopping cart at a consignment sale.  But yesterday, I cleaned out my "pantry" and found a package of cookie mix that expired in  February.  Figuring it was still good, I decided we'd whip up some cookies and test them out.  So I asked Isaac is he wanted to help Mommy make some cookies. 

"Please!" he exclaimed as he darted for his chair that he is constantly pulling and pushing around the kitchen, depending on what section of counter he needs to access. 

So we started mixing our ingredients before adding the cookie mix.  At first he wanted to stick his finger in the raw egg, but then I explained it wasn't good to eat eggs that weren't cooked.  So then I added the butter.  That was another temptation.  The boy LOVES butter!  If his finger wasn't in the mixing bowl, it was in the tub of butter directly.  So we were doing good to have any butter left when adding in the cookie mix. 

Once we had the cookie dough prepared, we had to taste it.  And taste it again.  AND...taste it again.  Nothing like cookie dough. 

So I managed to get some cookie dough onto the cookie sheets and we waited anxiously for our cookies, which turned out great.  Isaac was enthusiastic about the entire cookie making process.  He waited in front of the oven door for the entire 10 minutes, counting down the minutes with the oven timer.  He found it especially interesting that the cookies "fall down" -- which in "Isaac talk" means the spoonfuls of dough flatten out into cookies.  While watching the cookies bake, he already had his eye on the cookie he wanted.  "I like this one!"

Here are some cute pics of his first time baking cookies. 

Tasting the cookie dough

Eating more cookie dough

"I like this one!"  Eagerly anticipating the baked cookies! 

Between me, Isaac, and Daddy, we already ate half a dozen cookies before I snapped a pic of the finished product. 

Toys

I mentioned yesterday how Isaac sleeps with toys as his "security blanket" and makes sure that Gracie has what she needs as well.  Today I caught a picture of the toys Isaac gave Gracie to sleep with while she took a nap in the swing.  Most of the time he gives her some of her own baby toys, but today he gave her a couple of his own current favorites...football helmet and baseball glove. 

What a thoughtful brother!  I'm sure she fell asleep much easier knowing she had such comforts within reach.