Swim Lessons!

 

 

Ready for his very first swim lesson.  He was really excited.

 

And then it was time to get in.  He actually got in but then panicked.  He started crying and trying to get out of the pool.  He ended up just sitting on the edge the rest of the lesson but he actually sat quietly and watched.

 

This was when the panic set in.  Seconds after this picture he started crying.

 

The head swim instructor came over and tried to talk to him but he was not getting back in the water.  He just sat and watched.  I felt bad for him.  He was scared.

 

The second day was the complete opposite though!  We just told him he had to get in the water and stand there.  I didn't expect him to do anything but get in the water.  He did it willingly and even did all the things his instructor asked him to do.  We were so proud of him!  He has loved swim lessons since!

 

Heading to the diving board for the first time.  He did it!  He had to be dropped in but he was willing to do it.  Just too afraid to actually jump himself. 

 

He has now done three weeks of lessons doing the same beginner class.  We are going to do three or four private lessons this summer too.  We figured out that the private lesson thing is actually cheaper for the amount of time that he gets one on one instruction.  We have done one class so far and it went great.  Carter was a little more resistant because he was actually being "forced" to do stuff where in his big classes if he didn't want to they didn't really push him.  We are hoping a couple more private lessons will teach him a lot and help him be more comfortable in the water.

 

The Real Deal

I read blogs every once in a while and the ones I just appreciate so much are those written by women who are so honest and real with all of us.  I find it difficult to be super honest and open on my blog because I don't want people to know my shortcomings.  I was just reading a blog about a mom who said one of her biggest struggles is spending too much time worrying about the bazillion things that need to get done (i.e. cleaning, her part time job from home, running errands, church responsibilities, etc.).  She felt like those things were becoming more important then spending time with her kids.  This is something that is showing itself in my life so intensely right now.  I am finding myself telling Carter to hold on a minute so that I can check facebook.  Tonight Carter called me from his bed and said he wanted to show me something.  I told him no basically because I just wanted him to go to sleep and I wanted my alone time.  I find myself cleaning my house for two hours (not that it looks like it) and not spending even one of those minutes playing with my kids.  I hate this about me.  Why do I make other things more important then my kids when my kids truly are the most important part of my life?  I rush Carter through washing his hands and beg him not to play or mess around because I just want to get back to what I was doing.  I hurry him along constantly so that I am not late to something when I was already running late and it was completely my own fault.  I look at Madelynn and wonder what happened to my baby.  I honestly can't even remember all that many details of her as an infant.  It amazes me how quickly those memories start to fade away.  I do not want to miss out on my kids' lives.  It breaks my heart to think that someday they will not need me anymore.  Someday they will move out of my house, find a spouse to spend their lives with, and their childhood will forever be a distant memory in my mind.  Why am I not living in the moment, every moment, with them right now?  And how do I fix this flaw in myself?

As I wrote the top portion of this blog, I was sitting on the couch in a quiet house.  As I finished that last sentence, "And how do I fix this flaw in myself?" I heard Carter scream "mama."  This was the kind of scream that can only mean one thing.  He is puking. I through the laptop off my lap and rushed to his bedroom to find him throwing up all over himself and his bed.  It was awful.  That was Thursday night and now it is Sunday and I am finally finishing this blog post.  Thankfully that was the only time Carter threw up and he has been healthy and acting normal since.  I was quite worried that we were going into another bad bout of sickness.  When Carter had it in December it lasted eight days and when Madelynn had it last month it lasted six days.  I am so thankful we didn't have to deal with that this time.  And so far no one else in our family has caught it!

I'm not really sure where this blog post is going but I know that I have had a lot of things on my mind lately.  Sometimes life feels a little overwhelming, and today at church proved that yet again for me.  I am so blessed in so many different areas of my life so I do not want to come across as complaining.  Sometimes things just start to pile up and it feels like I can't break free from them.  I love my church and feel very blessed to be a part of a great church family.  Sometimes church is hard though because I am involved in children's ministries and I do the wedding coordinating.  Today was one of those days where church was all about those two things and not about worship, fellowship, spiritual growth, or support.  Those Sunday's can be hard.  Then to top it off, Carter had to go to the bathroom and I let him use the little one in the nursery (which is notorious for overflowing) and it overflowed...everywhere!  Literally the bathroom was a lake and it was seeping into the nursery carpet.  Awesome.  And that leads me to one of the hardest parts about church.  My sweet, hard working husband has to work every Sunday which leaves me to doing church alone.  I go weeks without it bothering me too much (I still don't like it but I have learned to deal with it most weeks) and then I have a week like this and I just wish I had help at church.  It sucks being a single mom on Sundays.  There it is...the brutal honest truth. 

I have been going to a women's Sunday school class every once in a while at church led by a sweet and wonderful woman, Ellen.  Ellen is one of the two ladies who came to the hospital with me in the middle of the night at the coast while we were at ladies retreat when Madelynn had the bulging soft spot.  She was my rock that night and I am forever grateful for her.  We have been watching a wonderful DVD series led by a an amazing lady who I could listen to for hours at a time.  I love the way she speaks and how she brilliantly combines humor, emotion, and real life.  She is a mom of three and just has a way of speaking straight to my heart.  Last week she was talking about the trials or battles that we face and have to fight.  She said that before any battle is fought we must start by falling to our knees.  We should be praying about everything we go through in our lives.  This is sometimes the last thing I think about doing when I have something going on in my life that is hard.  I have many mini "battles" going on right now as I'm sure most young moms do and I must start coming to the Lord, on my knees, praying before I do anything.  I have control freak tendencies and it is easy for me to try to control every situation.  Trust me, from experience it doesn't work very well.  I know these are things I have heard since I was a kid but it is just something that stood out to me last week and I need to work on that more than anything. 

The kids were gone all day on Friday, Carter with Jay's mom to Enchanted Forest and Madelynn with my mom at her house, and I was able to clean most of my house.  This is the cleanest my house has ever been besides when we are about to have a bunch of people over for a party.  I had nothing to get ready for that I wanted a clean house.  I was just tired in living in a mess.  We are working really hard to keep it clean and get Carter more involved in helping pick up his toys.  I do not expect a perfect house ever but I do know a clean house helps my mood drastically! 

Jay and I got to go to the American Idol concert last weekend.  It was so much fun!  We love American Idol and it is so fun being able to see all of those contestants in real life.  We had really good seats and got to go out to dinner in Portland before hand.  It was a great evening with my husband and I am very thankful we took some of our tax money and splurged a bit. 

Well, I suppose this is enough for today.  Sometimes it is just nice to pour my heart out.  And I don't think too many people read my blog so at least I'm not telling tons of people all the things going on in my life :)  Now for some cute pictures of three of my biggest blessings. 

 

Many more blog posts to come!  Swim lessons, first dentist appointment, 4th of July, the big carseat switcheroo, and Madelynn's 16 month blog.

  

A Hospital Stay

So here's the quick run through...

Madelynn first threw up on a Wednesday night while she slept.  She was fine all day Thursday.  She threw up again in her sleep Thursday night.  Friday morning she threw up again.  All the way to La Grande she threw up.  Friday night was okay but she wouldn't eat anything.  Saturday she almost acted as if she was never sick.  She was happy and ate a great lunch.  Saturday night she stopped eating again.  Then in the night she threw up a lot.  Sunday she threw up multiple times.  I finally called the doctor Sunday afternoon and talked to an advice nurse.  She gave me lots of things to watch for and lots of things to try.  Monday she threw up a few times and couldn't keep anything down.  I call the doctor again and talked to an advice nurse.  She basically told me all the same old stuff but wasn't concerned enough to have us come in.  Tuesday morning she woke up with a fever, a little more throwing up, and now very lethargic.  I called the doctor for the third time and spoke to another advice nurse who finally made us an appointment for 1:30 that afternoon.  I went in with a very sick baby, saw a doctor we had never been to before and got told to head on down to the hospital.  My mom watches Carter, I head down to the hospital, and Jay meets us down there shortly after that.  Thank goodness!  I was beyond ready to do something that would help my girl feel better.  I knew she had to be dehydrated but I really didn't know how bad she was.

 

Carter and Grandma came down to visit after we got settled and they got her IV started.  The IV process went fairly smoothly but it is torture watching your baby girl screeming and being poked with a needle.  Thankfully it all worked the first time!  They were even able to get some blood for her blood work while doing the IV.  After that they put a bag in her diaper to catch her pee and then we were able to just snuggle with her.  She was so miserable!  She snoozed on and off on us in the rocking chair.  I was so glad to know that fluids were finally getting in her and she seemed to be done throwing up finally. 

 

Snuggling with daddy.  This melted me.

 

She hated her arm being all wrapped up.  They had to do this so that she wouldn't pull the IV out.  It was so sad!  She was a trooper though.  She slept through the night in the crib and even completely slept through the nurse checking on her three times.  I couldn't believe it.  I was assuming we would be up all night.

 

Carter let her have his puppy (after much persuasion) and she did not want to let him go.

 

They had this tricycle in the hall and Carter had a great time riding around the halls.

 

Her sugar level was low so they gave her popsicles to bring that number up a bit.  She was okay with that. 

 

She slept through the night even with being bugged by nurses three times in the night.  She woke up the next morning soaked in pee!  Praise the Lord.  It's like she peed everything that she should have peed over the last five days.  She literally woke up a different girl.  She wanted food, she was sitting up and happy.  Her smile started coming back.  I was one relieved mama.  Grandpa (my dad) came and visiting in the morning and she got to snuggle with him.  She was doing her normal shoulder shrug with her head tilt and big smile.  We had our girl back! 

We just got told we could go home!  Woohoo!  Our stay in the hospital was beyond worth it!  Dr. Wilson came in in the morning and checked her out.  He went over her lab work with us and told us that some of her levels were very off.  One of them he said that he sends kids to the hospital when it gets to a 19 and hers was 15.  She was one sick little girl.  I am beyond thankful for my mama instincts.  The doctor at the pediatricians office gave me the choice to go down to the hospital or to do lab work at their office.  I said I wanted to take her to the hospital because I just felt like all she needed was some fluids.  Dr. Wilson told me that morning that we made the right decision.  She would have been sent to the hospital no matter what.  We were able to just check right in instead of going through the ER and I am thankful for that.  Everything went smoothly and she made a quick recovery after that!