Attitude check!

When I was in high school, I was in a group called FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). If you know me personally, this is highly entertaining, as I am soooooooo not athletic!! Why was I in the group? Well, because it was the only Christian group at school, and well, ahem... there was this... boy. Ahem.

Anyway.

When we would see each other in the hallway, especially if we saw each other looking grumpy, we yelled, "ATTITUDE CHECK!"

To which the person would have to respond, "PRAISE THE LORD!" Loudly. In a hall full of teenagers. In a public school. Funny stuff.

I've decided to do it with my kids. Minus the screaming at the top of our lungs, of course. (wink) This will be good for them and good for Mommy, too.

We already have memorized Phil. 2:14, "Do all things without murmurings or disputings." (Which we talk regularly about what those "big" words mean.) And it works. But I think we'll add something fun, something silly to get those smiles back.

So, what is going on today that has you bent outta shape? ATTITUDE CHECK!

Thank You, Lord

For little chubby cheeks

For little chubby smiles

For beautiful sparkly eyes

For the sound of tiny voices saying "mommy"

For tiny toes feeling the grass

For giggles when being pushed in a swing

For moments to talk about You

For little clothes to fold in the laundry

For those little eyes peeking up over the edge of the bed

For cuddles

For the sound of sucking thumbs

For long eyelashes resting on cheeks

For that silly game of "Drop It and See How Many Times Mommy Will Pick It Up Again"

Little Hoppy didn't make it

Poor little Hoppy (the rabbit we found in the back) died yesterday afternoon. I wonder if he didn't have internal injuries of some sort (remember, Dad had been working in the yard and forgotten they were there), as he was eating and peeing/pooping just fine.

I went to get him out of the nest we had made for him to give him another feeding, when I found him cold. Poor little guy.

Thankfully, I had prepared the girls for the idea that he just might not make it. They were a bit sad, but mostly disappointed in general that we don't have a pet. We had to put down the cat earlier this year, so now they've lost two animals.

Perhaps when we get to the new house we'll get a guinea pig or something.

Got a pet by accident, literally!

(And we need help with a name!)

A week or so ago, my dad found a nest of rabbits in the backyard. The kids oohed and ahhed over them and were obsessed about rabbits for a few days.

Then today we went outside to play. Sunshine went to check on the babies, then came running over to me. "Mom, one of the baby rabbits is out of its nest and its not moving." So I went to look.

Originally, there were 6 babies. We found 5 of them, 4 of which were dead. But one little one was hiding under something nearby. The best we can figure out is that when Dad was working in the yard, he accidently killed the babies. He totally forgot they were there, poor little things. I wonder where #6 went?

I have made up a wee box for the rabbit to sleep in, complete with the grasses and fur from the nest its mama made. I tried to feed the baby rabbit with a dropper, but it refuses it so far. I think I saw it swallow twice (watching the tongue through tiny slits between its teeth, lol), but I can't be sure. I stroked its wee throat to encourage swallowing, but I am not sure how much good that did.

So what do we name this wee rabbit? It fits in my palm, and is a normal rabbit color - various shades of dark and light brown. We need something that can go either way with gender, as we have no clue what sex it is.

Also, assuming this baby will eventually eat and not die in our care, what do we do with the baby when it is able to eat on its own? Let it go outside? Will it know what to do for itself? Guess I need to do a search on baby rabbit care.

Moving again - that's military life, y'know

We finally got dh's orders, so we know where we are going and for how long.

The good news: moving just 3 hours away! I'll still be near my family, so the kids will have a slow withdrawal from the grandparents.

The other news: we'll only be there a year. The entire unit will be relocating together to another military location. Military reorganizing and such. So then we'll move... again.

Like I mentioned, we'll still be decently close to family, so we won't have to go months and months without seeing my parents. By the time we move, we will have lived with my parents for 13 months. Sweetheart doesn't remember our old house, I'm sure, so to his little mind this is the only home he's known. What will he do without his "Papa?" He barely remembers Daddy. And I'm sure that if it weren't for Daddy's occasional visits, then he'd not remember Daddy at all. But I'm sure my parents will have the worst time: they've been with Shortcake from her birth, and they loved it. Mom already cries at the thought.

So I'm working on getting our stuff put back into storage so we will only have to take the moving truck to one location. This kind of moving will be a bit easier. By far, most of our things are still in boxes in the storage unit, so that is easier on me. I can handle this small amount of packing!

I am very eager to get into our own space again. I've been very blessed to have such a great situation with my parents. Truthfully, I anticipated difficulties, but things turned out rather nice. Not bad, especially considering my parents went from a household of 2 to 7.

I think my dad will really miss my cooking, though. LOL He and Mom work so many hours that Mom rarely cooks, so they will go back to sandwiches and snacking, mostly. Dad says he gained weight after I arrived, and since I won't be cooking for him anymore, he figures he'll lose that weight. Guess they'll have to come visit us now and again, eh?

I will be closer to my own grandparents, which is going to present some challenges. Pray for that, if you think of it. We ran into the issues a bit while living this close to them where we are now, so with being closer, I expect the situation to be more intense. Hopefully, though, that won't happen.

Whew - close call with Shortcake

Last night she started choking on something small that we really don't know how she got... anyway, she started choking and couldn't breathe. She was doing one of those high-pitched wheeze things. It felt like my heart stopped for a few seconds. Time felt kinda surreal while we were trying to get it out. Looking back, it was only maybe 10 seconds, but it felt long.

I'm so thankful God allowed us to get it out so quickly. That gal is such a joy! Life around here would NOT be the same. She makes us all giggle and adore her.

Did I tell you she is crawling now? Anywhere she wants to go, she goes. And she's been pulling up on things, too, as well as experimenting with holding on with only one hand. Where does the time go?

God's provision saved my son

In the last few days of March two years ago, something was very wrong with my (then) almost-four-month-old baby boy, Sweetheart. I'd taken him to two different ERs in 24 hours, and each set of docs and nurses passed his symptoms off as multiple infections that would pass in a matter of days. All I knew was that he was very sick and not at all like himself. I was instructed to follow up with his doctor in a couple days. I did, but when I arrived at the office, I was told the doctor had moved on to his new assignment (military doc), and we would be seeing his replacement. My heart sank, because even though the doc and I had trouble communicating (he had a thick accent and I often misunderstood him), at least he knew my son.

Our new pediatrician was an "older" doctor, in her fifties. She looked Sweetheart over, took detailed notes as I relayed the events of the last few days, even noting what day certain newer symptoms appeared. She sat and thought and thought, and started pulling out her huge medical books. I had very mixed feelings... I felt like I was finally being seriously listened to, and it was nice to see she had an idea what it could be, but it was also intimidating to see her flip through the pages, muttering names of diseases.

She found the page she wanted, and let me read it with her. She mentioned the onset of different symptoms my son had and how they had progressed... she gave me a name: Kawasaki disease. Yup, just like the motorcycles. Basically, it's the inflammation of the blood vessels, and it can result in death, especially if untreated. But if caught in enough time, the child will have no lasting damage to the heart.

She made a few calls, and very quickly, we had an appointment at a nearby hospital with a team of doctors. They looked him over, had a conference, and decided our son had to be hospitalized. He stayed a total of four days, during which he was given an IVIG, which is an intravenous dose of immunoglobin. He had a whole team of doctors that regularly had conferences during those four days to discuss his progress and to see if we had any concerns or questions.

Over the next year, Sweetheart had to have periodic exams of his heart to watch one particular artery. He was also put on lose doses of aspirin for 3 months. We got really chummy with the pediatric cardiologist. And Sweetheart hated those ultrasounds and EKGs.

God had His hand alllll over that whole situation. He gave us the perfect doctor who didn't dismiss the symptoms. The team of doctors at the hospital was also military, and several of them had just returned from assignments in Hawaii in the weeks prior, where KD is much more prevalent. These men were quite experienced, and they, too, arrived at just the right time.

Sweetheart was given a huge green light a year ago: the artery that was affected by the KD is fine now, and you cannot tell that it ever was.

So today I hug him a bit tighter and praise God that my fella is so healthy! I could have easily lost my little boy, but God took care of him. Even by moving military doctors around the world to be at the right clinics and hospitals at the exactly right time. Isn't God wonderful?