Concerns... wait, didn't we already do this?

Jeremiah failed to mention the rest of the events that made his birthday last week special...

Daniel had been battling an intestinal bug for ten days, and seeming to have wisdom and self control beyond his years, had decided that if nothing went in, nothing could come out and no amount of generally forbidden delicacies could tempt him otherwise. Therefore Jeremiah's birthday dinner was slightly overshadowed by the total break down of order in our kitchen, allowing three children full command of selection, presentation and delivery of their food, all in the hopes of a small portion entering our one year old's mouth.

The next morning our anxieties were confirmed as our pediatrician sent a mildly dehydrated Daniel, weighing three pounds less than when this began, to the hospital for fluids. Unfortunately, the ER Pediatrician, clearly having never encountered such a stubborn one year old, decided anti-nausea medicine and firm instructions for mommy to simply offer more fluids was all the intervention needed...

24 hours later we returned to the ER, this time to be admitted for four days while Daniel's body received the fluids necessary for it to heal and begin to process food again.

He continued to struggle with retaining his food for two days after leaving the hospital, causing fear that he might re-adopt his anti-food/fluids approach to life. Thankfully, Our fears were alleviated at 5:30 this morning, when we woke to "mammma! MLK! MLK! daaaada! Alllllll Done!" Two bowls of apple sauce, three hand fulls of gold fish, a bowl of cheerios, and some kix later daddy crashed on the couch (mommy still being asleep) and Daniel proceeded to explore all the normally forbidden aspects of the house.

Birthday Surprise

So today was my 27th birthday, a day that was going to be a relatively boring, uneventful day. We awoke this morning and had the normal routine of showering, getting dressed, feeding the kids, and getting ready to head into the church. I could hear the trash truck coming down the road and had remembered that I hadn't put the trash at the curb due to the fact that a thunderstorm had been in full force when I got back from work at 10:15 last night. As I rushed to get my shoes on and get the trash out, I turned to my neighbors driveway(the house is vacant, so I park there) and noticed what looked like a small tree on top of my car.

So it wasn't terrible.....no broken windows or major damage, just a few small(softball size) dents in the trunk. After a few moments of shock, I moved the branch and proceeded to go on with the rest of my day!

Concerns

Over a week ago I visited the midwife for a standard check up, attended by all three children due to an unfortunate miscommunication between Jeremiah and myself.

After an hour of discussing delicate female issues in front of an exceptionally inquisitive four year old, policing a particularly stubborn one year old whose powers of exploration have greatly expanded with the addition of half an inch of height, and finally coddling the would be explorer after his sister, finding my policing deficient, decided to protect her brother from unknown harm by slamming shut the heavy wooden cabinet lid... on his finger, the midwife decided the increase in frequency and intensity of my contractions to be a bit concerning.

Finding my cervix potentially prepped for pre-term labor, we left the birth center with a disgustingly swollen, black one year old thumb, a big sister feeling unjustly punished, a million four year old questions the parenting books don't tell you how to deal with, and the order to be on bed rest until tests could help clarify my bodies intentions towards this new little life.

Thankfully we were blessed with two mothers who took the yoke of motherhood upon themselves, and thus I was forced to adopt a recliner as my new home for an agonizing week. (Thank you Mom and Fay!) After the week of waiting, the Lord blessed us with a negative test result (that being a good thing), and the conclusion is that my body is simply well prepped, having done this a few times before. Although both mothers are not letting me off the hook that easily and are strongly encouraging a reunion between myself and the recliner.

Thank you to all who have prayed for us, and please continue to pray for the wise discernment of our midwives and our acceptance of our Lord's will.

Ranger's Opening Day

I started on Tuesday what I hope to be a yearly tradition with all of my children. I took the day off of work along with 48,000 of my closest Ranger fans and headed out to Ranger's Ballpark for the opening home game for our Texas Rangers. Before yesterday, the Rangers were 3-3, which is a much better start than the last 7 or so years.
We got out to the ballpark early to watch bp (batting practice for the uneducated) and to get an early start on the food. Peter ate a thing of popcorn, peanuts and most of a Dr. Pepper even before the anthem was sung. Since we got there almost 2 hours before the game started, Peter was very ready for the most exciting part of the game, (and it pretty much was the highlight of the day) the B1 Bomber fly-over.

The game soon got started and we made our first of 6 bathroom trips in the middle of the first inning. By the time the Rangers went down in order in the bottom of the 1st, I could tell Peter was bored with the game. I kept him busy during the 2nd inning by explaining the intricateness of each play and pitch, and why the white guys and the gray guys kept running in and out of the dugouts. By the 3rd, Peter was ready to move around some, and so we headed out to Vandergriff plaza near center field to play some of the kid games. We ended up just watching the games and getting a snow cone, a hot dog, and some more Dr. Pepper!

This is Peter's impression of baseball, fighter jets, food, and a little bit of cheering and booing mixed in for some unknown reason. Overall it was a great day. Beautiful weather, packed ballpark, good fans, overpriced food and drinks, and a great day that I and I hope Peter will remember for a long time.

There is just something amazing about the power of baseball to bring people together. No matter how popular other sports become, baseball will always be America's past time. It is a great sport that anyone can play, but only a few can play at such a high level. Being out at the ballpark is one of those things that every young boy should do at least once a year. The smell of the grass, the sound of the bat, the joy in my child's eye as he takes it all in; this is what baseball does, it brings together different generations to the same place and time, to cheer for their team, watch a great game of baseball, and the only thing that matters isn't the totals on the scoreboard,(which wasn't good for the Rangers) it is the time spent together!