Valentines Day and Other Joys

It has been a nice few weeks here, despite Wyatt and Wade having RSV (a bad cold that can cause pneumonia or bronchiolitis and ear infections in kids under two) for a couple of weeks. Wade was on antibiotics and nebulizer breathing treatments, and Wyatt was on the nebulizer too. But they’re all better now, thank the Lord!

We had a slightly cabin-feverish couple of weeks indoors during the sickness, but it was actually much better than I would have expected had I been dreading it ahead of time…I decided to make the most of it, and read some chapter books to the boys. The favorite by far was “Socks” by Beverly Cleary. G&W loved the descriptions of all the cat Socks was doing and also the funny things the baby Charles William said and did, and role-plays and imaginings of these things largely got us through the week!

One day I asked Wyatt how he was doing, and he said, "I'm feeling pretty sneeby today. Sneeby is a funny way of saying sick." :)

Well, as for me, I’ve been feeling so good lately; pretty much back to normal!! Yay! I’m SO thankful to God! I’ve been learning so much about relying on Him through this, and seeing Him working in so many ways. He is so good. I’ve been enjoying going through “Calm My Anxious Heart” by Linda Dillow with my friend Jen, and also picked up “Meeting God at Every Turn” again by Catherine Marshall…both books are so full of wisdom and insight about how to trust God, and how God provides for every situation in life.

On Valentine’s Day Garrett had a party at school, handed out valentines that he addressed himself, and made a fun hat. Wyatt and I made Snickerdoodle cookies together, him helping me roll the dough balls and press the cookies flat with sprinkles and cinnamon sugar; he loved it! I packed Garrett a heart-shaped sandwich in his school lunch and it came back uneaten when normally the sandwich is gone...he said he wanted to keep it forever and ever! And while snacking on a tangerine, Wyatt told me, "I love you. Keep that in mind all day. When the new earth comes, my love for you will never ever ever end."

For our dinner, we had a special dinner by the fireplace…just barely pulling it all together in the midst of the craziness of a 5, 3, and 8 month old. But heart-shaped SCD pancakes, Costco pre-cooked bacon, and fruit made it easy enough. It was fun to share the evening with my guys! The boys loved having a fire in the fireplace, something we don’t do often. They also loved opening all of the cards from family – thank you! And little Wade surprised us with his mobile abilities, lunging for plates and paper!

Wade is doing well with talking these days, saying “Mo!” for more meatball pieces, “Dada” around Jim, his beloved Daddy, a lot, “es” for Yes, and I think he may have said “ubba, Mom” (up, Mom) today when we wanted to get out of the highchair! Also possibly "this is" when we wants to know the name of something, Lid, and "ears" for earings. He is getting up on all fours and trying to army crawl, though a little lopsidedly due to the Torticollus. But he is getting around! Garrett and Wyatt love to hold him in their laps these days, and are delighted to hear any words or sounds he makes.

Wade’s Torticollus is a matter of prayer right now. When we had gone to the physical therapist last month she was impressed with his progress and said since his neck was aligned well, we could bump down the stretches and focus on strengthening his right side. But last time we went, she was concerned again because his neck joints (?) were again out of alignment, something that happens with only a small percentage of babies with Torticollus. So she had to do an adjustment to get them back in line, had me bump up the stretches again, and also gave me exercises for helping his right side of his body get stronger.

I’m most concerned with his tendency to do everything on his left side. With only two more months until he turns one, the window of time to correct the neck alignment and strengthen his right side is getting smaller. Could you please pray with us that we would be able to figure out what would best to help him get better quickly (chiropractor, massage, new exercises?) and also that he won’t have any lingering effects or health issues (like scoliosis, delayed walking, etc.) from the Torticollus? I’m meeting with his physical therapist on Monday and will be asking more questions about her experience with these things, recommendations, etc.

A good thing that has happened this week is that we found out Garrett has been accepted at Westgate Community School for Kindergarten next year! It's a GATE school, with a non-traditional approach to learning. Jim attended the informational meeing about it, and really liked what he heard. We also know a family from church whose boys go there and love it. They said it has a small "family" feel to it, with 400 students K-12 attending. We think it will be a good opportunity for him, and we're just going to take it a year at a time with schooling.

And one more little tidbit: The boys have been frequently telling us how much they love us. As Jim leaves in the morning sometimes they yell, "Bye, Dad! I love you! I love you as much as God does! My love for you will never end! Even when the new earth comes, I'll still love you!" So precious.

Other than that, we’re bumping right along. And looking forward to spring in just a few weeks!

Garrett and his Valentine's hat.

 

 Tackling Daddy before our Valentine's dinner.

 

Our Valentine's spread, with heart-shaped SCD pancakes, bacon, fruit, chocolate, and cards!

My boys!

 

Enjoying the $$ Grammy & Poppa sent - thank you!!

 

Little Wadey-pie is so proud of himself for sitting up on his own!

 

Wade loves to push down those little pop-ups.

Garrett & Wyatt "checking the temperature" one snowy day.

Eating "snow juice," fresh snow with some grape juice poured over the top.

Wyatt doing such a good job with his nebulizer treatment.

Wyatt loves to hold Wade in his lap!

While Garrett is at school, Wyatt has been working on learning letters and sounds with Hooked On Phonics - he's doing a great job, and often notices letter shapes around him like in the shape of food, or the parking lot lines.

Wyatt made a "speaker" which he enjoyed showing Wade.

 

Here's a video of Wade starting to get around (with a little meltdown from G at the end - 2 for 1!)

And a cute video of Wyatt playing with play doh and saying "certainly":

 

And this one is kind of fun of Garrett, because it highlights his penchant for "inventing" machinery and describing things in great detail: