Another Trip to ER

When I got Josiah up from his nap today around 11:45am, he had a funny cough, very raspy. It didn't sound right to me. He would cough and kind of open his mouth partway, like he was gagging on something.

I called my pediatrician, who recommended he be seen at ER. So, off we went to Children's Hospital again. Victor stayed with a neighbor.

In the ER waiting room, Josiah seemed quite well. He didn't cough the whole time we waited, and we were taken to a room fairly soon after arriving. His breathing was clear, and he was in good spirits. The chest X-ray didn't show anything concerning. We were one room over from the ER room we stayed in with Victor two weeks ago.

We were going to give him some clear liquids and probably head home, but when we got back to the ER room, he started crying hard, kicking his legs, and writhing around. I tried nursing him, but he jerked away. For the next two and a half hours or so, he was inconsolable. I couldn't hold him in any one position. He wouldn't settle down when I laid him on the hospital bed and rubbed his bed (normally a sure thing for going to sleep).

Ben joined me, and we took turns holding him while he screamed and writhed. His little face was all red and sweaty. Finally, around 3:30, he fell alseep on my shoulder. He slept for maybe 20 minutes, until the doctor came back again. But he quickly became unhappy again when he woke up, and the doctor decided to do a swallow test. Then he changed his mind. If they didn't find anything in the swallow test, they would want a doctor to examine him through a scope. And if they did find something in the swallow test, they would need to do a scope to remove it. So he decided to skip the middle step and just do the endoscopy.

We were scheduled for surgery at 5:30pm. The nurse came in around 4:45pm to give him his IV. The Lord was so merciful, and they got it on the first poke, and Josiah didn't even cry. Actually, as soon as I was lying with him on the bed for his IV, he calmed down and turned happy and active and charming, almost like his normal self. The nurse gave him the empty syringe (needleless) from his saline, and he happily chewed on that right up til surgery time.

We carried him up to the 2nd floor for surgery, and then waited there for an hour while the surgeon drove over from St. Paul Children's. Josiah got restless and sad by that time, but he was calm when they took him for the procedure.

It was a long 20 minutes before the surgeon came back to us. Sitting in a glider in the very quiet surgery wing, so many thoughts came through my mind.

My mom and dad, waiting during surgery to have my kidney removed for cancer when I was 5.

Victor Watters's family in their days of sickness and reprieve.

Other parents who probably sat in that chair for minor and major surgeries of their little ones.

Our trip to the ER for Victor, when he was 1 and coughed so hard and long he puked.

God's mercy to freely give His own Son to purchase our redemption.

Well, at last the surgeon came to tell us things had gone smoothly. No obstructions, though he saw a place that may have been an abrasion from something that passed through. His esophagus, stomach, and small intestine all looked clear.

They brought Josiah to us, groggy but awake. He was restless and sad again, until we finally were released and heading out to the car. Then he talked to me from the backseat quite contentedly during the ride home.

"Wow," I'd say. "Wow, wow."

And it delighted my heart to hear his little, "Waw waw waw" in response.

Thank You, Jesus, for healing our diseases and our hearts. And thank You for more days with little Mr. Josiah.

One-Year Old!

Happy birthday to you, Mr. Josiah!

1 year old!

11 months old

10 months old

9 months old

 8 months old

7 months old

6 months old

5 months old

4 months old

3 months old

2 months old

1 month old

2 weeks old

(And here's a flashback to Victor's one-year birthday. :) )

Dear Josiah,

You joined our family late Friday night (11:53pm), at the end of Daddy's spring break last year. Now, as we end Daddy's spring break again, it is a delight to celebrate a full year of life together with you!

You are bubbling over with sweet spirit and fun surprises!

Just recently...

- You can crawl crazy fast whenever you see something that looks dangerous/forbidden/super fun. One of your very favorite games is tag (kinda), where you crawl somewhere super fast, and I crawl after you and grab your tummy and say, "Boogie, boogie, boogie!" And you laugh and laugh, and then crawl away and pause for a minute til I grab you again.

- You have begun helping yourself to things off the table. After taking a few snapshots on your birthday chair this morning, I was looking through photos when I realized it had become oddly quiet. I found you in the kitchen, spoon and bowl in hand, helping yourself to some cereal that was left from your breakfast.

- You love repeating words and sounds. Very often, if for some reason I say, "Wow," and you'll pause for a second, and then say, "Waw."
Then I say, "Wow."
"Waw."
"Wow."
"Waw."
On and on, for a very long time. Cracks me up.

- You make friends all over. We were at Half-Price Books (shopping for your birthday present), and you kept saying, "Yeah," to the guy stocking shelves in the kids' section and giving him big smiles.

- You are a little snuggle bug. Several times a day, you'll crawl over and just lay your head on my lap. Or put your head down on my shoulder and snuggle in. I love it. Don't ever stop doing that, okay?

- You still have the most hilarious old man chuckle. You and Victor go back and forth, chortling away, and it is one of the most delightful sounds Daddy and I have ever heard.

- You love baths and finding Victor's small toys that you don't normally get to play with and looking out the window in your room and eating food off the floor and riding in shopping carts.

- Words in your vocabulary: Mama, Dada, wow, yum, yeah, hi

- Your favorite actions: so big (arms stretched high), hurray (clapping), all done (sign language), please (sign language), hi and bye (wave)

- You still spot tiny little pieces of things on the floor and eat them. You still gag yourself when you get a spoon to play with. You still don't really like the Ergo or wearing a hat or mittens.

- You're sleeping great!  Normally you go to bed a bit before 7pm and wake up sometime around 5:30am.  Naps run about 9:30-11am and 2-3:30pm.  So thankful for this!

You are our sweet pickle, our Mr. Misty Meister Moo, Joey, or as Victor refers to you, when speaking to Mommy, "your son" (as in, "Mommy, your son is going to crawl down the stairs!").

We love you, and we pray for you each day that God will give you a heart to follow and trust in Jesus. A heart like King Josiah in the Bible, who loved the LORD with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength. May you be one of those that God finds when "the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the whole earth, that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His."

You can never earn God's favor through your own merit, my son, but you do not have to, because God gave His own cherished Son to cover your sins and give you a new heart, if you will trust in Him.

That is our chief and deepest desire and prayer for you, sweet Josiah! May you belong to Him forever! We love you!

With love and thankfulness,
Momma and Daddy

Spring Break

Last year, our spring break was spent wondering if Mr. Josiah was heading our way (and he decided to join us late Friday night, as it turned out).

This year, we vacated our premises so that some of our hardwood floors could be refinished and spent some sweet time in Iowa.

 Playing at Grammy's

Lunch at the Retreat

Kite-flying

Time for a little trim

Music makers

We've been reviewing the armor of God, and Ben is making it for Victor piece by piece!

Cousins :)

Lunch in Vinton with Grandma Vaupel and Aunt Sue

Bathtime

Early birthday celebration for Josiah, Ben, and Hudson

What is that weird stuff?

Pep Talk: Reasons to Exercise

[In case there was a question, the person I'm preaching to here is me. If someone else is helped, good.]

This morning I ran 2 miles on a treadmill. It was horrible. I forgot that running on treadmills always leaves me feeling nauseous and woozy. (I think it's because I always spit all. the. time. when I run, and on a treadmill I have to just choke on that nasty phlegm the whole time...) Anyway.

After recovering from that, here are 5 reasons why I should not and (hopefully) will not quit pushing to get some form of physical exercise in my life. 

1. Good decisions tend to beget good decisions. As witnessed by the fact that this morning I had a bowl of cereal and a fruit smoothie for breakfast. Instead of a huge cinnamon roll. Speaking very pragmatically, when I realize the amount of physical exertion required to burn 208 calories, it makes me a little more sensible about what I pop in my mouth on a whim. And getting in the habit of making wiser decisions ... that's helpful in a lot of ways.

2. You are more likely to pray, memorize, and review Scripture while you exercise. I may not have derived too much deep spiritual insight from my rough review of Colossians 1-2 this morning, since I was basically just desperate to take my mind off the horribly slow progress of blinking lights around the loop on the treadmill, but nevertheless those words are fresher in my mind than they were before. And normally when I'm outside and moving, it's a great time to pray, since I have to focus my mind anyway to keep pushing forward.

3. When you are stronger, you have more energy to love your family and others. When I'm tired, low energy, and feeling weak all over, it's an extra hurdle to putting others' interests ahead of my own and jumping into loving people around me. I've had long seasons when I just haven't gotten enough sleep at night to muster the strength to exercise during the day. But when I'm at a pretty "normal" rest level, then working to get consistent exercise has definitely been a big energy and strength booster. And even when I'm too tired for an intense workout [intense = 2 mile run, ha!], even getting some fresh air for a short walk is a good boost.

4. It's a good reminder that the flesh is a good servant and terrible master. When I'm on the homestretch in a run, often the words that come to mind are, "Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." There is something in exercise that reminds me not to coast in the rest of life.

5. If you exercise, you may live longer. As Paul says, "That will be fruitful labor for me."


And 3 points to balance the perspective:

1. Exercise can take too big a place.
2. Your body is a temple. Worship God with it, and not body image, physical victories, or acseticism.
3. All things are created by God and good, when received with gladness and prayer. Even huge cinnamon rolls, thank You Jesus.

To the Hospital and Back Again

It started fairly innocently.

Victor called me at 3am during the night on Saturday. I was going to tell him firmly that he needed to stop calling Momma and just sleep the rest of the night (we've been having quite a few wake-ups of late), but then I put my hand in something sticky on his bed.

Did you have yucky tummy, Bud?

Yes.
That's a good reason to call Mommy.

So I slept on the trundle in his room, and he had another throw up during the night. But he seemed pretty bright by morning and was taking sips of water and juice while we sent Daddy off to church and hung out together.

He even got half a piece of toast down, bite by bite, still feeling good through mid-day.

In the afternoon he threw up all the toast and juice.

I started the night on the trundle. And then realized I had my own yucky tummy. So Ben took the trundle, and I threw up five times through the night and was done with it. Rested and slept most of the day on Monday.

Victor threw up three times Sunday night ... and three times Monday morning. And then every hour in the afternoon. And then every half hour. After many calls to the pediatrician, hoping for a cancellation to bring Victor in to be seen in the evening, we decided to take Victor to the ER.

I fed Josiah and put him to bed, and then we bundled up and picked up Nana, who offered to go with me and Victor (bless her heart!). She drove so I could hold Victor's hand next to him in the back and hold the puke bucket.

The emergency room at Children's was packed. My heart just sank to see so many. But we were evaluated right away and settled in while Ben called around to the other children's hospitals to see if they might offer a shorter wait.

In the end, we gutted it out (how fitting that phrase!) until Victor was called back around 11:30pm. It was heart-wrenching, seeing him wretch and heave and then lie back and ask (in his most polite way) if he could please have a sip of juice. Over and over, he asked for juice, the poor boy, but he was throwing up too often to give him anything. He threw up 6 times in the waiting room.

By the time the doctor came he looked just terrible, pretty much the picture of all the bullet points next to the "dehydration" list on the hospital pamphlets ... eyes sunken, confused, limp, tired. He was asleep when I carried him back to our ER room and didn't wake up til we settled on the gurney together.

I was really nervous how he would do with the IV pokes. He's had a hard time the last few doctor visits where he got shots. But I prayed and sang and covered his eyes and talked about going to Grammy's house ... and he did perfect for the first poke (when they used a numbing medicine).

That vein blew. And the nurse said she couldn't numb anymore, because it made the veins more fragile. We talked about the purple popsicle he could eat after the medicine and water started going into his body.

He didn't even whimper for the second poke. That one blew too. So they called in reinforcements (a great big man who was the lead nurse in ER that night).

They thought the third poke had worked. But then when they started putting the meds in, it blew. Victor was still quiet, probably a combination of the Holy Spirit's kind intervention and his depleted condition...

For the fourth poke, they had to use Victor's hand (very painful), and I felt him wince when the needle went in. But he still didn't even wimper, and that IV held. That was when I could feel myself relaxing.

After 10 minutes, as promised, a huge purple popsicle was delivered, and Victor happily gobbled down morsel by morsel (I set my timer for 5 minutes between bites to begin). Then he asked for sips juice AND water.

At 1:30am the doctor came back and told us that Victor's blood work showed he was so far behind she was having him admitted. And she didn't know if he would even be ready to go home by the morning.

We sent Nana home then (what a gift she was to us!), and Victor and I got to ride together on a rolling bed ("It's kind of like my trundle!" he said) through the halls and up the elevator to the 7th floor. Finally Victor slept around 2am.

I was too keyed up to sleep. I talked with the doctor when he came around 3am. He recommended not bringing Josiah to the hospital so I could nurse him (since that's where all those bugs are that send people to the hospital). Victor was restless and would roll around and whimper frequently in his sleep. I had the nurse check his hand, which seemed to be bothering him, but everything was still good there.

Finally at 6am (as usual) he woke up and wanted to eat. I said we'd have to ask the nurse, and (when asked), he requested and was granted another purple popsicle.

At 7am, Ben brought Josiah to me, and I left him with Victor to feed Joey, take him home for a nap, and then figure out what to do. As it turned out, my parents headed up to help us out, so I was able to deliver Josiah to friends and re-join Victor and Ben in the early afternoon, and Grammy and Grandad picked up Josiah to put him down for his nap without me (a first for J ... the silly boy doesn't take a bottle).

The doctor was still not sure Victor was ready to go home, and then he had some major diarrhea, and it was settled that he would stay another night. Grammy kindly offered to stay overnight with him (I was pretty blitzed), and by this morning he was bouncing around the room and ready to come home.

Once again, God has been faithful and kind. We have another Ebenezer to look back on. Thanks, all who have prayed for us.

Eleven Months Old!

11 months old!

10 months old

9 months old

 8 months old

7 months old

6 months old

5 months old

4 months old

3 months old

2 months old

1 month old

2 weeks old

Dear Josiah,



Dear Josiah,

It is hard being the second-born, no? You have been 11 months for almost a week now, and (not for lack of desire) I am just now getting this update written. Don't worry, small one. Daddy and I were both third-borns, so we know what it's like. And in the end, it's not so bad. You will doubtless be eating cookies far sooner than your big brother did! :)

What a big month this has been! It seems like your little personality is unfolding so much these days.

As of this month ...

- You have six teeth (with some more coming, I think). Four on top and those two early, alert ones on the bottom. I love your new toothy smile!

- You are into everything! My full-time job is making sure you're not splashing in the toilet, going headfirst into the bathtub, pulling the baby gate over at the top of the stairs, poking your finger into outlets, or eating out of the trash can. So that makes those other part-time jobs (like cleaning, cooking, laundry, work, etc) a little tougher to squeeze in, but it is so worth it!

- You are just a ball full of delightful expression. I love getting you up from a nap, because your whole body waves and kicks with excitement, and then you lay your little head down on my shoulder--just for a moment--and then kick and wave in excitement again!

- You have picked up some very fun little interactive actions. You wave "hi" and "bye" (though it may not be quite when someone is coming or going), you clap very appreciatively (for yourself or others' fine accomplishments), you sign "all done" and a version of "more, please" at meals, and you'll stick your tongue out when someone else does. You also have a great head bob, which we call your "grooving." Nobody taught you that one; you just picked it up! :)

- You are a very fast crawler, and you pull yourself up on everything. It's a special joy to jump at the baby gate (which, as mentioned previously, isn't quite sturdy enough for your most vehement shaking) and look out the window in your bedroom.

- You are eating great ... still mostly mushy things, but also Cheerios, bits of bread, your special crackers, and (your favorite) squeezy packs of fruit.

- We just love your vocalizations. You croon and laugh and say "da da da" and "ba ba ba" and "yum yum." And you definitely know what I mean when I say, "Let's go find Daddy and big brother!"

- You love bathtime. You'll sit in the tub, kicking your little legs and rocking with happiness.

- You have thrilled and delighted me by beginning to sleep through the night. God has given us such a luxury, to be able to put you in your own bedroom now, and though it's still not perfect, you will typically sleep from about 6:45pm to 5:30 or 6am. Hurray!

- Yesterday big brother got a bonk on his head, and you crawled over making very consoling noises. You snuggled up next to Victor, and then, for just a minute, you leaned your head on his chest, and you both just quietly held each other. It was so tender, melted my heart.

Too late to catch the snuggle, but here you're still happily hanging out with Big Brother

I pray that you will grow in love for your brother, your Momma and Daddy, your friends at church and other family, and most of all, my Josiah, for Jesus. He is the one who will always be with you, and He is the one who is all that you need.

We love you, Misty Mr. Meister Moo, and we are so glad you're in our family!

Snuggles and kisses,
Mom