Blessing in disguise

For those of you who do not know Riley well, he is a thumb-sucker. He used to do it only when he was sleepy, but then started doing it all day long. He liked to put his right thumb in his mouth and pull on his left ear with his other hand. In fact, sometimes he would fold the top of the ear down and walk around with it like that and it would get stuck in the folded position. A pretty funny sight no doubt!

A couple of weeks ago, Riley's hand was accidentally slammed in the back door. He had a gash on his thumb so we put on a band-aid to help it heal. That night, Riley had a ROUGH time going to sleep. He kept coming downstairs crying saying, "There's something in my mouth!" At first, I would try to look in his mouth to see what he was talking about, thinking it was a hair or something. Then I figured out it was the band-aid that made it feel different to him. He cried and cried until almost 1 am, and finally, exhausted, fell asleep without his thumb in his mouth.

The door-slamming injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise. For the next few days, we kept the band-aid on his thumb, and even bought some cool Spiderman ones that he liked. His thumb eventually healed, but Riley has not gone back to sucking his thumb, even at night! I am so proud of him! To celebrate his success, I thought I'd post a few pictures of the "baby" Riley sucking his thumb - note the ear-pulling picture in the bath tub!

Prayer request

This weekend my sister Wendy and her husband James came down to visit. We planned to have a girls night out with the four sisters to celebrate her pregnancy. Unfortunately, God had other plans and my sweet sister Wendy discovered she might have miscarried the baby. With all of the uncertainty looming over her head, she decided to go ahead and go to the emergency room to get an answer one way or the other. We were in the waiting room for nearly six hours, and when Wendy emerged we could tell instantly that the news was not good. I hurt for both of them and know they were disappointed about losing the baby they love so fiercely. So, as they begin their grieving and healing process, I humbly ask that you remember them in your prayers. Pray for healing of Wendy, pray for strength to get through this difficult period, and pray that God will show them the path that He would have them go from here.

From losing two of my own babies (1st pregnancy lost at 11 weeks and the triplet to #1 and #2 lost at 9 weeks), I know how heartbreaking it is to look at the screen of the ultrasound and see no little light blinking showing a heartbeat. It is so frustrating when you feel that your own body has somehow failed your baby and is easy to slip into a guilt mindset that somehow the miscarriage is your fault. Please pray that Wendy will feel at peace that it was not her fault.

Although I'm sad that this terrible event happened, I'm thankful that we were able to be there to support her. We had all made arrangements for our husbands or sitters to keep our kids that night, so that was a blessing to not have to make last minute arrangements so we could be with her in the ER.

Below are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs called Held by Natalie Grant, who wrote about losing her own baby:

Held

Two months is too little.

They let him go.They had no sudden healing.

To think that providence would

Take a child from his mother while she prays

Is appalling.

Who told us we’d be rescued?

What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?

We’re asking why this happens

To us who have died to live?

It’s unfair.

Chorus:

This is what it means to be held.

How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive.

This is what it is to be loved.

And to know that the promise was

When everything fell we’d be held.

This hand is bitterness.

We want to taste it, let the hatred NUMB our sorrow.

The wise hands opens slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow.

(Chorus)

This is what it means to be held.

How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive.

This is what it is to be loved.

And to know that the promise was

When everything fell we’d be held.

Bridge:If hope is born of suffering.

If this is only the beginning.

Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?

(Chorus)

This is what it means to be held.

How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive.This is what it is to be loved.

And to know that the promise was

When everything fell we’d be held.

Birthday party planning

Cade and Cole's 4th birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. I am trying to get myself into party planning mode but have stalled out. I seem to procrastinate the planning a little more each year, and then all of a sudden the day arrives and I feel like I should have prepared more. For their first birthday party, I was so grateful that they had even survived their premature birth that the party was truly a celebration of life. Both of them had stopped doing the "no breathing" episodes and the heart rate dips that made their apnea monitors go haywire, we were free of all the wires that hooked their apnea monitors to their chest to measure breathing and heart rate. Cade had finally stopped having seizures and we were able to discontinue the steriod injection medications that made him get so chunky and irritable. I think I planned that party for almost three months! It was like therapy to me to be able to plan for such a joyful occasion. I guess since they were born three months early and I hadn't had time to even set up a nursery or buy any outfits, the Type-A part of my personality was yearning to do something ahead of time.

I searched online for the perfect theme, handmade decorations, ordered special "Our First Birthday" bibs, etc. etc. etc. I also scoured the internet for the perfect birthday cake idea, and made a cake with a pool complete with edible decorations, decorated teddy grahams floating in a blue jello pool with gummy life savers for tubes, chiclet gum surrounding the pool, fruit-by-the-foot for beach towels, and even a diving board made out of a stick of gum and starburst candy. My mother-in-law graciously allowed us to have the party at her house with the pool, so the kids had fun swimming, and Nanny was able to be there.

Fast foward to today...here we are with the clock ticking before their birthday and I'm scrambling at the last minute to secure a place. Oh well... Wherever it is, no matter how big or small, I will always pause for a moment a say a special prayer of thanksgiving to God for blessing me with these two little angels.

A typical day...

Our Rock Band.

Matt bought a Guitar Hero game for our Wii using Christmas money, and boy have we put it to good use! The boys play right along with Matt. Usually, #1 is banging wildly on his toy drum, #2 is playing guitar by laying it on the ground in front of him, and #3 is either banging the other drum or dancing around. It's actually quite humorous to watch.

The other day, #1's teacher reported to me that on the bus to Northland, #1 busted out singing, "I wanna rock and roll all night...and party every day!" She said the bus driver and her assistant were cracking up. That's one of the songs they love to play with Matt on the Guitar Hero.

Rock on!

Bath time at Mimi's house with cousins R and R - silly boys!