The Instigator

Lilah spent the last week in Tulsa, OK with her grandma and Josh's sister, Vanessa, and cousin Victoria. She had a blast and I hope she was well-behaved. Seth was supposed to go along for the trip, but did not get to because of his hospitalization and hip situation. So I had a week with just my boys. Isaac is at a kind of challenging age right now because he's just into everything. But he did well for the week and had fun with Seth. It was a really quiet week. Seth and Isaac played really well together. Everything was so calm. It was calm getting the boys dressed and ready to go places. I was able to keep up on housework easily. I read a book. Seth and I played games and watched movies and cuddled and talked and Josh and I took the boys out several times for some fun activities to help pass the time without Lilah. (We were trying to soothe the sting of missing a fun roadtrip to see cousins and stay in hotels, etc). It was all very relaxing. Now, let me preface my next paragraph by saying that we adore Lilah and are so happy to have our girl back home. Seth really missed her and the kids were thrilled to be back together. We all love Lilah and, overall, she is a sweetheart. But I learned something important this week...

Lilah is The Instigator. (sound effects, bum bum....) The kids played great together last night on her first night home. But then today started. I have been watching the kids and their interactions more closely today because I was trying to figure out why the stress level jumped about 5 notches overnight. Lilah instigates. She's sweet and angelic to your face. And then when she thinks you've stopped looking, she goes to work quietly and stealthily to manipulate everything around her for her benefit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be mean about Lilah. If anything, I'm impressed with her execution of such advanced manipulative techniques and this makes me adore and admire her even more. =) But it does make my job harder. She just picks and picks and prods and pokes and says the things or does the things that she knows will aggravate her target the most. Whether it's Isaac and taking his favorite toy in some caniving way or hiding Seth's Buzz Lightyear and mispronouncing words on purpose (a special irritant for OCD Seth), or even pushing mine and Josh's buttons on purpose... Lilah instigates. And her propensity for creating drama is making our lives more stressful. I'm not quite sure what to do about it all just yet. I need to think about it and watch her more. But for now, she has earned the title of The Instigator and we give it to her fondly. Our lives might be a little more relaxing without our Lilah Ann, but it sure is more interesting with her! We love our girl!

Little updates

First Snowman this year. The snow wasn't packing really well, so it's a little squatty. but Seth was thrilled!

Isaac's first haircut! I put off cutting his hair because it was long and curly. Really cute. But he really couldn't see through his bangs anymore, so I gave in and had it cut. It's still a little long so that I can keep his curls, but at least now he can also see. =)

I often find the kids in Isaac's crib after naps or first thing in the morning. I probably should stop them, but once they get in they can't get out and I have all 3 of my kids contained... even if it is for just a few minutes. Glorious. =)

We did not get to celebrate Valentine's Day much because we were in the hospital with Seth. But, we did manage to make Valentine's cupcakes that weekend before he got sick.

Josh found these matching outfits for the boys at target on clearance. We couldn't resist the opportunity to dress them up all matching and nerdy. =) So cute!

Isaac can now climb out of EVERYTHING! I cannot contain him in anything safely. This makes showers and going to the bathroom very stressful. (because we have two flights of open stairs that cannot be completely blocked) My only safe option right now is to gate him into the playroom and hope he doesn't learn to climb the gate soon. This is a picture of us catching him red-handed.

Health update on Seth

I am posting an update on Seth because I know a lot of our friends and family were aware that he was taken to Children's hospital yesterday and I don't want people to be worrying about him. For those of you who did know that he was in bad shape yesterday and have been praying for him, we sincerely appreciate your prayers and words of encouragement and support. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the lowdown. =) Seth woke up screaming in pain yesterday morning at 6am and we found that his pain was loacted in his left hip. He could not move his leg or bend his hip at all and upon examination, Josh discoverd some swollen lymph nodes in his groin area. We decided immediately to take him to Children's, but could not even get him into a car seat because he could not bend. I have never seen a child in so much pain. We had to transport him in an ambulance so that he could lay flat. To complicate matters, Josh was on call all weekend and Vicki was working. But Vicki was able to sit at the house with Lilah and Isaac until my friend, Liz, could get here. I definitely pulled the "friend" card when I called Liz at 6am out of a dead sleep on Valentine's Day to ask her to come babysit for the day while I went to the hospital. Liz was awesome and rushed from 45 minutes away to help with the kids and then she even unloaded my dishwasher, took out the trash, folded laundry, and packed Lilah for a week in Tulsa and Isaac for 5 days with my parents. Seriously, THANK GOD for amazing friends like this!

So, we arrived at the hospital where they immediately started an IV, took blood for a CBC and other signs of infection. They took x-rays of the hip and did an ultrasound as well. All of Seth's blood work came back normal and his x-rays were normal (for the most part). The ultrasound showed fluid on the hip and there was some speculation that his hip joint looked "rough" like there might be a lack of blood flow causing vascular necrosis. So they admitted Seth and kept us overnight to make sure that his joint was not becoming septic and to make sure that nothing progressed. They also kept us to manage his pain because he had to be on morphine just to lay comfortably and even then he was spasming. I am usually pretty relaxed about things when the kids get hurt and don't stress too much. But I have to admit that my stomach was in a knot until we got normal blood work back. Seth's symptoms could have been indicative of something pathologic (primarily cancer) and possibly a septic hip, which can also be life-threatening. That moment we found lymph nodes on Seth's hip brought Josh and me to our knees. I have never been that scared in my life.

We ended up with a VERY good report when we got a diagnosis of toxic synovitus. Toxic synovitus can occur in children when they have recently fought off a viral infection. Their immune system attacks the virus and then overreacts and causes inflammation in the inner lining of the hip joint. The only real treatment is anti-inflammatory medication to reduce inflammation and then rest so that the joint is not exacerbated. It can take about 1-3 weeks to completely recover. So, Seth is at home now and is resting and doing much much better. We are praising God for a healthy little boy and a good report (and for good insurance to cover all the tests and an overnight hospital stay)! =) We are also so thankful for family and friends who rushed in to help us out. It was kind of a rough Valentine's Day for everyone involved... but another great reminder to cherish the ones you love so dearly and that friends and family who are there for you in your most stessful moments are truly precious. We love you all! Happy belated Valentine's Day!

Museum trips and kid updates

Note: Josh and I went to the Henry Ford during our honey moon on our way to Canada. We took a picture just the two of us in this exact same spot in front of Reagan's presidential car. Almost 9 years later in the same spot. How life has changed! =)

Time for a quick update! We've been pretty busy the past couple of weeks. We've gotten out a little bit and explored some of the fun things to do up here in Michigan. Of course, we took a trip to the Henry Ford museum. Now that we're living in the hub of the auto industry, we had to go to the Henry Ford. And I highly recommend it for anyone who can make it to the Detroit area. It's truly a piece of Americana and history. It was fun. Last weekend we made a trip to the Hands On Museum in Ann Arbor which was a lot of fun for the kids. For those from Ohio, it was kind of like a mini Cosi. The kids had a blast and our ORU friends, Nathan and Liz and little Katie joined us. Afterward we came back to our house for dinner and put the kids to bed so we could watch our old Bill Cosby Himself comedy video. Nathan and Liz hadn't seen it and it's a must for anyone who is a parent. =)

The kids are doing well and getting bigger every day, I swear! Isaac is huge and has started really getting around. He's walking, unsteadily, but walking nonetheless. And last week he learned how to climb on the furniture. He climbs up on the couch, sits there proudly, and then tries to get down (usually unsuccessfully). He just laughs maniacly the whole time that he climbs up and down, up and down, up and down. Two days ago I found him on top of the coffee table, dancing. He is going to crack his head open one of these days and I'm not sure what to do about it because he's very fast and I have to go pee sometime during the day. I can't watch him every single second and that is what it will take to keep this daredevil safe I think.  Seth is still feeling very grown up going to preschool and is loving his gym and swim class that he does. He has officially been diagnosed with MILD cerebral palsey and we are still working on getting some kind of physical and occupational therapy options approved for him. We excersize at home and Josh has been working on stretching out his legs (thank you DO/OMT training!) Lilah's big news is that she asked Jesus into her heart last week. She watched a video of my family's ministry The Masterpiece: A Toymaker's Dream (a dance and performing arts stage production) that is a theatrical allegory of the salvation story. Lilah LOVES the show and has watched it every day since she first saw it. The dancing and fun costumes caught her attention, but when she saw the scene where Jesus died on the cross she really became effected. She started asking lots of questions and wanted to talk about Jesus every day. The show gave her a visual to a rather abstract concept of how our sins separate us from God and how Jesus died on the cross to make a way through the barrier of sin so that we can have a relationship with God. So after several weeks of talking about it, Lilah insisted on asking Jesus to come live in her heart. Her spiritual birthday is 1/26/2010. She has told everyone we've seen since. She got her very own Bible and announced that she will read it all the time and especially when she's watching TV. odd... but whatever. =) Lilah's been practicing praying (as we've been discussing how prayer is just talking to God all the time) and when I didn't do what she wanted the other day she told me that she was going to pray that God changes my crazy heart. I'm not so sure I like how she's choosing to use her newfound power in Christ, but whatever. =) haha...

Along the same lines, Seth was talking about his own prayer life the other day. I was explaining to him that God talks to us through the Holy Spirit, Who is with us all the time. So Seth said, "I know mom, Jesus lives in my heart and when He wants to talk to me He just pushes a button in my heart and then I can hear Him in my ears." I did not correct this because I'm not entirely sure that's NOT how the Holy Spirit works! lol...