Goodbyes Are The Worst

Oh, how I hate saying bye to these two. They hold a special piece of my heart. 

At Grandma's

Brett gave Layla is old electric guitar. The kids were all pretty fascinated with it. It made Layla quiet the popular one with it.  Jack has learned how to get around with his splints. It is pretty pitiful but very hilarious to watch him drag himself across the floor. Poor guy.

"There's a Bunch of Bones Inside Me..."

Jack was procrastinating nap time eating his lunch, I was putting dishes away, and Will was climbing into bed, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jack starting to fall from his chair at the table. As I quickly tried to get to him, I thought that he was going to fall right on his head.  Seconds later, I realized I never heard a thump and that his right foot was stuck in the slats of the chair. As I pulled it out, I thought for sure it was broken. It just looked so contorted. He was screaming in pain and just sounded so pitiful. I quickly gave him some Motrin and told him we needed to go to the doctor. Oh my did that terrify him! He really started crying then and saying he was scared. I carefully carried him to his room and laid him on the floor so I could change his diaper and shirt. The shirt was soaking wet from a cup of water that spilled on him when he fell. While he was laying there crying, I asked, "Does your foot hurt really bad?" He said, "And my arm." That confused me because I didn't see him bump it. He let out a loud scream when I changed his diaper and paranoia set in that his hip was dislocated. I called the doctor and they told me to come right on. When I told Will he needed to change clothes so we could take Jack, he wasn't very sympathetic. He said,"But it's my nap time!" What can I say? The kid loves his naps. While I was gathering up our things to go, Jack was laying in his floor crying and not moving, and begging for me to hold him. It was pretty sad. I couldn't help but get teared up a few times. I tried to reassure him that the doctor would make it all better.

With all the emergency hospital visits we've had to make, one of the most important things I've learned is never forget their blankets or favorite sleeping buddy. I can't stress how necessary these items are!! I didn't grab them the first time we had an ER visit, but I've always remembered since. When we got to his office, I carefully unbuckled Jack and made sure to take his bear and blanket in with us. As we were walking in Jack through his tears mustered some courage and said, " I have my bayer and banket. I'm gonna be so brave. I'll be allll right." He is such a sweet, tender hearted little boy!

After a few X-rays it was determined that Jack's tibia was broken. The arm X-rays weren't showing any visible breaks but he was still not using it. They sent us to an orthopedic doctor who took a few more Xrays of Jack's arm. He saw fluid around the elbow in the growth plate. He thought it best to go ahead and splint it along with the leg just in case. When we come back in a week, the Xray should give us more information.

Jack was a pretty good sport through the whole ordeal but started feeling pretty sorry for himself when we got home, and he realized he couldn't drink his milkshake without help from Mama. He was so sad that he almost didn't drink it at all. After dinner, he was ready for bed. I laid him on our bed and turned on Bubble Guppies for him. There is an episode "Call a Clambulance" about a fish that breaks his tail bone. Jack has a new imaginary bosom buddy! But when the first catchy song came on. "A Bunch of Bones," and Will jumped up to dance, Jack got big tears in is eyes and said, "I can't dance! Mommy take it off. My boo boos all better." It was pretty pitiful.

Say "Cheese!"

Will has taken an interest in taking pictures lately. I often find him with my apparently not very well hidden camera. I was uploading my pictures today to the computer, and as I was scanning through the many pictures that were obviously taken by him, I was a tad mortified when I came to one that had me sitting on the toilet! I couldn't help but laugh, but sheesh! The toilet?!? Just another reminder that a.) when you are a Mom of little children, no matter how many times you may say, "I need some privacy please" you're not gonna get it (good for you for trying though!), b.) expect the unexpected (never coulda seen this one comin'),  and c.) be extra careful about the things you say and do in front of them, because you better believe they're gonna tell everybody they know, and some they don't, all about your business.

Dr. Will and Dr. Jack

We were able to go see Grandma Miller on Saturday evening. She will be 95 in March. Her eyesight has gotten really bad, so she asked the boys if they'd let her hold them since she couldn't see them very well. They let her hold them which I was so grateful for. After that they decided her slippers looked pretty interesting. They decided to start checking them out. This quickly changed over to them being doctors as they pretended to fix her leg. Grandma really enjoyed all the attention she got from them, despite the look of alarm in one of the pictures (she got a kick out of it). They told her she did a "good job," and for that she was awarded several imaginary suckers. Before we left she told the boys that she couldn't wait for her next doctor appointment with them. It was a sweet visit.

2011

As I have been thinking over the year that was 2011, I've had a lot of emotions flood through me. I remembered tonight, as we rung in the new year at Julee's last year, someone saying something along the lines of "good riddance to 2010. " Many of those that were present and heard the comment agreed. Some made comments about what difficult times they or someone they loved or knew had been having. 2010 wasn't particularly horrible for us, but it certainly wasn't any picnic. Don't get me wrong there was plenty to be grateful for, but it still had been tough.

Enter 2011...pretty sure the hardest yet. So many nights I cried myself to sleep. So many prayers for more faith, patience, and reprieve I uttered. So many times I fought back emotions as I tried to explain, answer questions, and make sense of what I didn't understand. I hate remembering those really hard days. It's just so hard to go back there. To think about how scared we were nearly every minute of the day. How unfair it was! How when things would start to get better they almost always got way worse. Sometimes life is just h.a.r.d. and really unfair. Period. And it's ok to acknowledge that. It's not our job to "fix"it and try to reason the pain away.  I try to focus on the incredible progress that Will has made, and how much we love being together and going and doing things.

So it is that I'm a little weary to send this year off with a  "good riddance." I hope I have learned what I needed up to this point, and pray that next year won't be a refresher course or an advanced level class. I am sad to see it go. It has ended on such a high, high note with so many hopes and expectations of all the good that awaits our family. I feel like we are living again and not just surviving. And while things are not perfectly perfect if there is such a thing, we are together.

Real Quick

I just wanted to make a quick note before I go to bed of a couple things I am thankful for.

1. Something that was wonderful today was watching Will and Jack play together and love each other. They truly enjoyed being brothers today. I am so thankful I got to see that, and hear them laugh together at each other's silliness.

2. Again I am amazed at the good man I married. He is certainly not perfect, but he is one incredibly patient, loving husband and father, who puts up with me, a certainly imperfect woman.

Today has been good.

Christmas Morning

Will woke us up around the usual 6:30 a.m. time. He was very excited to go see if Santa had eaten the cookies and milk, and to see if he'd left anything for him. Santa doesn't wrap the presents he leaves at our house so Will was pretty excited and content to look through his stocking and play with the 2 toys that were left for him, and the two for Jack.

Jack hadn't been feeling that well so we just let him sleep while we got ready for church. Will exercised some pretty incredible patience for a 4 year old since we didn't want to open up the presents from us until Jack was awake. Jack finally woke up a little before 10 with a fever and pretty runny nose. Great. He was definitely not feeling the Christmas spirit even though Will was trying his hardest to get Jack excited about it finally being Christmas.

He cheered up a tad to open his presents, but soon relented to just being pouty and really hard to get along with despite all our efforts. He just felt pretty rotten most of the day, poor guy, but the rest of us enjoyed being together. Due to the fever, we weren't able to make it to church, so we spent the day working on puzzles, watching some Christmas movies, and just playing.

Will's been wanting one of these for a long time. He was so excited. It was so much fun to watch him unwrap this.

Jack's trusty steed, "Cracker Barrel."

Probably Broccoli

While shopping at Wal Mart, we went to pick up some broccoli. Will and Jack eagerly grabbed a crown to place in the bag I was holding. An older couple walked by admiring them and started to ask if they liked broccoli. Will shook his head yes, while Jack stared at them looking very bored. The older lady said to Jack, "I think broccoli looks like little trees. Don't you think it looks like a tree?" Jack replied matter-of-factly, "uh, et's pro-blee broc lee." I don't think she heard him, but I thought it was funny.

Spoon Anyone?

Will was getting ready to eat soup when Patrick asked if he wanted a big spoon or little (children's) spoon. Will said, " I want a man spoon!"

Patrick's Birthday

 Thanks to Patrick's very kind and generous boss, we celebrated Patrick's birthday with tickets to watch the Predators play the Red Wings, and thanks to my very kind and generous Mom we were able to go. We were 2 rows from the ice, right behind the Predators bench. It was a very exciting game with the Predators scoring with only 2 minutes left. It was so fun to be together. Happy birthday, Honey!

All Tuckered Out

Our Thankful Tree

I saw the idea to make a "Thankful Tree" on Pinterest and knew that was something that I wanted to do. So for family home evening, Patrick gathered up the branches (in the rain), while I cut out circles (in the warm dry house). The boys loved this, and so did I! So for the week leading up to Thanksgiving, I thought it would be good to add something we were thankful for each night before family prayer. That happened maybe once, but I'm planning to do better next year. Here is a few of our blessings in no particular order:

Patrick:   To have a job, Lori, William's Neurologists and modern medicine/technology.

Lori:  Electricity, Family, To be home and healthy, and Watching Will and Jack play together.

Will:  "My daddy who plays with me," Peppa Pig, "Not going to the hospital"/Healthy, Chocolate Milk, the Sacrament.

Jack:  Crayons, Drawing, Blanket and Bear, and "Thankful William's not in the hospital."

4 Years Old

Apparently the ride on Thomas made a big impression on Will's idea of what a birthday party needs to consist of. He insisted on another train ride. So we headed down to Chattanooga for a ride on the Chattanooga Choo Choo. It was a beautiful fall day to drive through that part of Tennessee, and through the woods on the train. Gorgeous colors everywhere! We were able to explore lots of train cars before and after our ride. The train station was also really neat, old-timey, and decorated for Christmas.

Later that evening we had cake and ice cream and Will opened up a few presents.

Some of Will's Favorites

Songs: If You're Happy and You Know It, Big Green Tractor, and Fire Truck

Colors: Blue and Yellow

Shows/Movies: Peppa Pig, Fireman Sam, and The Incredibles.

Things to do: Playing outside, ride bike, and dig in the dirt.

Places: Train Station, Nonna and Pa's, Rocky River, Home Depot, Zoo, and Publix.

Foods: oatmeal and blueberries, grandma Hitchcock's butter rolls, pizza, any type of soup as long as there are oyster crackers, brownies, and mommy's chocolate oatmeal cookies.


William also really likes to dance and read books. He loves going to the library. If you ask him what his name is he'll tell you "Weeyum Patrick Benton Jones" which is mostly correct. He prefers being called Weeyum instead of Will but doesn't mind if you call him Will. He and Jack have started playing more together now that his seizures are more under control. It has been so good to see them playing together again. I know Jack has really missed playing with his big brother. Their favorite thing to play together is firefighters.

William,

We love you so much and are amazed at how resilient you have been through all the ups and downs this year. Being 3 has been tough and rough on you! You have helped teach us so much more about patience, faith, gratitude, and enjoying the not so little everyday moments that are all too often and too easily taken for granted. We now feel the need to celebrate (in some way) every "good" day that the Lord gives us. We are so proud of you little man.

Love you so much,
Mom and Dad

In the tunnel

Waiting for the train

Tickets!

Red Caboose