The Micah Mandate

Hymns for a Kid's Heart

2012-01-17T10:14:00.003-06:00

As part of our school day, the kids and I have been learning hymns, reading about their authors, and practicing reading music while a cd plays in the background. This has been such a fun activity for everyone including Margot who even dances and "sings" along. Whenever things are spiraling out of control, I push play and everyone piles in the big leather chair for a hymn! In fact, I think our favorite memories from this past Christmas were all centered around the Christmas hymns that we sang. The series of books we are using is called Hymns for a Kid's Heart. Our favorites right now are "A Mighty Fortress is our God" and "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing." The boys especially loved learning that Charles Wesley was one of nineteen children and was homeschooled.

O for a thousand tongues to sing

My great Redeemer’s praise,

The glories of my God and King,

The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,

Assist me to proclaim,

To spread through all the earth abroad

The honors of Thy name.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,

That bids our sorrows cease;

’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,

’Tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin,

He sets the prisoner free;

His blood can make the foulest clean,

His blood availed for me.

He speaks, and, listening to His voice,

New life the dead receive,

The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,

The humble poor believe.

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,

Your loosened tongues employ;

Ye blind, behold your Savior come,

And leap, ye lame, for joy.

Margot 15 mos

2011-12-08T06:51:00.011-06:00

Ahhh, blogging. So little time, so little brainpower, so little creativity, so little desire. However, I refuse to let time fly by at the speed of light and not take a minute to jot down a little about our growing girl.

As a side note, my mom took the boys for a few days before Christmas. I was blown away by all the free time. I wondered what on earth I did all the time when I just had Micah as a young toddler. I felt so lost. I lamented to Matt that I don't even feel like my own person anymore. Who am I? What do I like to do? It's easy to get down in the dumps when you buy into the world's mentality that we are all our own separate entities and that we need find "ourselves." I got a book for Christmas that was a really fun read, so practical, and so encouraging. If you get a chance, pick up a copy of Rachel Jankovic's Loving the Little Years. It's like she read my mind and wrote just what I needed to be reminded of right there in chapter 12. Here is an excerpt:

We are like characters in a story. Our essential self is not back in the intro, waiting to be rediscovered. Who you are is where you are. If you suddenly panic because it all happened so fast and now you don't recognize yourself, what you need is not time alone. What you need is your people. Look at the people who made you what you are- your husband and your children. Study them. They are you. If you want to know yourself, concentrate on them.
Those women who try to find themselves by stripping away the "others" will find that they are a very broken little thing. This will lead them to resent the people who they think made them that way. She may say "I used to be so energetic, but all these people take, take from me and now I have no time to just be me!" And the world gathers around and comforts her and says she needs some time to follow her dreams.
But the Christian woman needs to see, "I used to be so boring! Now my character has some depth, some people to love, some hardships to bear. Now I have some material to work with." People, people everywhere and no time for yourself. But remember, this is your calling. It belongs to you. They belong to you. If you want some quality "me time," make a date with your husband. Do something special with your children. These people are you. Your identity is supposed to be intertwined-that is the way God wrote the story, and it is the way He intends us to read it.

So encouraging and so true. Really, there is no person I'd rather be. Whoever I was before, she is gone. Now stands the tired, overextended mom to three young children and wife to one amazing man. And truth be told, I am loving it. I love these people I live with. I love that they are my story.

And the newest piece of my story is getting bigger every day. She is growing like a weed-31 3/4 in. (80%) and 22.5 lbs (50%). She is continuing to stay tall-it is so funny to hear that she is in the 80% when I'm used to hearing 25% for the boys. I'm thrilled for her that she may get some height from her daddy. She is not only walking now, but running. She wants to be a big so bad. Watching her brothers all day has taught her a lot- for better or worse! She talks so loudly despite all my efforts to get her to use a gentle lady-like voice. She wants to be heard. She makes many demands like her oldest brother did, although she is much more easily contented when things don't go her way. Even though she fights for her rights here at home, we see her introverted nature come out in public. She will get quiet or cry upon entering unfamiliar places. She does well with a babysitter at our home, but will scream until I have to pick her up if we try to leave her in the church nursery. This is a challenge because once she is back with us, she talks loudly and makes requests until one of us has to take her to the car. Alas, it is a season. We will one day all be in church together for the full hour and a half. She is so clearly a little girl with big brothers. She will often be running around playing football while wearing "so petty" necklaces, bracelets, and perfumed lotions. Or, she will be pushing her new baby in her stroller while wearing some of her big brothers shorts. She cracks us up every day. She loves to brush her teeth, dress up, read countless books, dance, eat, and sleep. She loves to tease her brothers, then ask them for multiple kisses before leaving the room. She loves her dada, and I'm pretty sure I rank pretty high on her list too. I think, since we are seasoned in this stage, we are much more apt to take it all in. We are truly enjoying watching her grow and studying her little personality. The Lord has blessed us beyond what we could have hoped in these children. We tell each other daily, even amid the struggles and exhaustion, "we love these kids!"

Here is a little video of the way she danced to this particular Christmas hymn. She even chimes in to the "gloria" refrain but it's hard to hear her.

This is How I Do It

2011-12-02T14:28:00.002-06:00

My little elf. She can whip dinner up lickety split!

Thanksgiving

2011-12-02T14:12:00.008-06:00

We traveled to Little Rock this year for Thanksgiving to visit my dad. He happens to live on multiple tree filled acres-a little boy's dream. We had a wonderful time hiking, climbing, building a campfire, riding the four wheeler, eating, visiting, watching games, and playing our own games.

Look Who's Walking!

2011-11-20T13:54:00.001-06:00

My One Year Old

2011-10-21T14:42:00.005-05:00

These photos were taken by our dear friend, Taylor Brown, while we were visiting for Labor Day. She was only 11 months, but they capture her personality so well (she always has and has had that furrowed brow!)

At one year old, sweet Margot, you:

-Continue to be such a blessing to us. I love that, with your intense personality, you have so much to keep you busy. Two older brothers definitely help keep you entertained. Maybe that was the problem with Micah at your age: he was so bored!

-Are extremely precocious. You want to do more than your body is ready for. You have so much to say and you want to know about everything. You point to things constantly and ask what they are. You drag out book after book for me to read to you so that you can point to all the pictures and practice saying new words. You talk a lot for a 12 month old. We estimate that you have 50 or more words. You don't have the best pronunciation, but we can usually figure out what you are saying. One week, you went into your brothers' room and lined up all their stuffed animals. You were not content until you mastered all the animal names and sounds. Some nights I would carry you in tears to your room. You would just get so worked up, I felt I needed to rescue you from the undue stress you were putting on yourself. Ahhh, another overachiever. I wonder where you get that from? :) You succeeded, little girl, and now proudly tell everyone what lions, monkeys, elephants, bears, and porcupines say(Dada taught you a joke and you reply "uh oh" when asked "what does a porcupine say". You think this is really funny and we are pretty sure you understand that you are being silly).

-Took your first trip to the hospital. You had a little tumble off the slide one night while having fun with Owen. We didn't think anything of it as it was not a very scary fall. You cried most of the night and next morning. When you began standing like a flamingo, I decided to take you for an x-ray. Thankfully, there was no break, and you recovered pretty quickly.

-Love food! Anything we put on your plate, you eat. Your brothers were good eaters at this age too, but there was always a few things they would spit out or gag on. I have never seen you turn away anything. I love watching you eat plates full of colors and hope you continue to love them so much.

-Are still nursing. I really don't know how long we will keep this up. You have had milk in a cup and do great. Since nursing isn't really tying me down, and I really have nowhere else to be, I think we will continue for a little while longer. I'm just not quite ready to let you go.

-Take one good 2-3 hour nap a day. You also still sleep roughly 12 hours each night. Every once in a while you sleep extra late in the morning or take a really long nap. You had been waking up once in the middle of the night. This was my fault as I let you continue with this bad habit. We have been doing some sleeping boot camp and you are responding well. You seem your same chipper self in the morning despite the tears at 3 am. Thankfully, I think this habit is already almost broken after a few nights of dada coming in instead of me.

-Stand by yourself. You have taken a step or two, mostly when no one is looking, but you are too nervous to attempt any further distances. I am very ready for you to walk and think we are about to devote some serious time to teaching you how. Your left foot still turns way in after a few steps, so it might be a challenge to learn good balance. The doctor assures me this will straighten itself out in the next few months.

-Are 21 lbs. and 30 1/4 inches long. This puts you in the 50% for weight and 80% in height. You are slimming down but keeping you length. You definitely did not get your height from me, but I think you will enjoy being taller if you stay on this track.

We love you sweet girl and are so thankful for your first year of life. May the Lord grant us many more.

Happy Birthday, Margot!

2011-10-06T21:32:00.001-05:00

A happy birthday, indeed!

Golf Tournament

2011-09-28T08:27:00.008-05:00

Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways past finding out! --Romans 11:33

This past weekend, we enjoyed Micah's third golf tournament. On the way there, we were reflecting on the past year. One year ago to the day of the tournament we were driving to Micah's first golf tournament. I was 38 weeks pregnant. We got a new car that same afternoon. It was a big day for us, and we were feeling great-excited about what was in store. We had no idea. What a gift that God doesn't give us a window into the future. I loved being at that golf tournament thinking everything was right in the world. I'm glad I didn't know I would have such a rough post-partum after Margot was born. I'm glad I didn't know how sick my first born would become just three months later. I couldn't have walked so carefree that morning, loving life, had I known.

On February 25 I drove Micah to the doctor and then to the hospital. He had been sick for a month and was taking a turn for the worst. He wouldn't come home for a month. I watched him get sicker literally by the hour and felt my life spinning out of control. I remember the day we had a turnaround and were allowed to put Micah in a wheelchair. We got to stroll him around the hospital. We bought him ice cream. I remember Matt and I thinking and saying "if this is the best we get-we are okay with that." They were telling us to expect a long recovery. Micah's inflammation was some of the most severe they had seen. No one knew if our child would walk again, let alone play golf. We were just so happy he was alive. The Lord is so good to us in that He works our trials for good. I would not be the mom I am today without this past year. I soak up every minute I can-life is fragile. I remember to be joyful even when I am so tired. I remember that one day I won't have these little people wanting my attention, and I relish in reading them one last chapter. I remember that babies get big-fast, and I relish that one last snuggle from my baby. I remember that life is hard, but life is such a gift, and I try not to take the small things for granted. His ways are not my own. I would not have chosen to walk the path I did this past year. But, I also likely would still be sulking in my own self pity of not getting enough "me time." I would not have chosen for my son to endure what he did, but I wouldn't have been able to see his faith grow, the Lord working in his little heart, the wide-eyed wonder my boys have of their Creator who heals diseases.

This weekend was amazing. Again we were loving life, walking around the golf course watching our miracle boy make one fantastic shot after another. He had a goal: shoot a 25. He made his goal and was so proud. His face was priceless when they called his name to receive his first place trophy. We had a wonderful day watching our son accomplish his goal. And you know what? I'm glad I don't have a window into the next 12 months. Oh Lord, deal gently with us.

Right before a great chip on his first hole of the tournament. This was his second shot, the video is below.

Calling his name for first place!

so proud

Owen, look what I won for us! Micah wants to keep the trophy on the dresser so they can both see it from their beds.

from Ginny Morrison on Vimeo.

/a&g

The above videos were his first two shots of the tournament. He went on to putt for par! It was a great way to start off the morning.

A Day in the Life

2011-09-13T14:59:00.007-05:00

Of an 11 month old baby girl. Last week, you turned 11 months old. I realized I needed to get out the camera and snap some photos. I don't want to let my annoyance at our outdated, fuzzy imaged camera deter me from capturing these days with you. You are one busy girl and are growing so big right before our very eyes. We are so blessed to get to be your parents and brothers, Margot!

We start the day nice and slow with breakfast and play time in our pj's. You pull up and stand most of the day.

You love to put things in this drawer and pull them out for a taste. EVERYTHING goes in your mouth. We really have to watch out for you. Thankfully, your brothers help us with this challenge.

You also spend a lot of time over by the boys' school table. You want to be all up in their business all day. They try to be patient with you as you pull down their papers and crayons. I tell them it won't be long before you are sitting there with them.

Then we head upstairs to get dressed. You love to stand and look out the boys' window. You also love to explore all their toys in their room. In this picture you are laughing at Owen. He is so good with you-very nurturing and always making you smile. You can also see your dimple under your left eye in this picture. Owen has the same one.

Now that you are adamantly opposed to taking two naps a day, we try our best to prolong the morning by taking a walk. Your new schedule is: wake up at 7:45, nap from 12-3, bed by 7:30. I actually like this better as we are not bound by two naps a day and you are asleep nice and early for me in the evenings. You still nurse 3-4 times a day. This makes me happy as your brother's were self-weaners at this age. You eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. We haven't found many foods you don't like. Asparagus is your favorite vegetable, cantaloupe and mango your favorite fruits, and salmon and tilapia your favorite meats. Breakfast is oatmeal every day and your favorite snack is yogurt.

Since I was in camera mode, I told the boys we would take some pictures of them too. Owen was willing, but too shy to look at the camera on most attempts. Micah told me he wasn't handsome and wouldn't smile for me, hence the above photo!

The boys are always having so much fun, and you always try to be a part of whatever they are doing. I am hoping this will entice you to walk soon as crawling on the concrete is not good for the knees or clothes.

Convinced Micah to give me a good smile :)

"Listen to me! I have a lot to say these days too!" You can say "dog dog" and "ball" and that is what you like to talk about most of the day. You have many other words, you just have your horn stuck right now. You also love to read books and point to the pictures in them.

Micah and Owen try to help you stay on your feet and teach you to walk!

On the way home, Owen was telling Micah a secret. It ended in a hug, and I had to snap one more! Then it was home to make lunch. We met a special surprise...

You love your Dada. Big smiles and waves make him so happy.

We'll be back so soon with a happy birthday post.

Vacation!

2011-08-27T10:38:00.005-05:00

And....one month later!

This year, we had the privilege of being invited by some wonderful friends to enjoy Dauphin Island for an entire week. This is our family's longest stretch of vacation ever! To say we enjoyed ourselves and made many lasting memories is an understatement. We were a full house with 9 adults, 9 children (Micah being the oldest), and two courageous, outstanding nannies. It was a lot to keep up with for sure: long walks to the ocean, many mouths to feed, little swimmers who were sometimes too brave, and crawlers who put everything into their mouths (that would be Miss Margot!). We couldn't have done it as enjoyably without those wonderful selfless girls helping with all our small children.

It was the hottest I ever remember being at the beach. The humidity was almost unbearable. In fact, almost every time I got my camera out to take a picture, this is what happened. Hence a post without many pictures. My friend, Raechel, did a wonderful job documenting our trip so I will send you over there to see her take and many beautiful pictures (and lovely new website too).

Thankfully, we had wonderfully breezy nights to enjoy the beach and ocean as a whole family. We didn't even attempt to take Margot to the beach during the day. She happily napped with Hazel and Rowan during the heat of the day in the nice, cool house. When the evening came and she saw her swimsuit, she would giggle. She couldn't wait to get to the ocean, gobble up handfuls of sand, and kick and splash in the waves. We have never seen a baby so happy to be in the salty, sandy atmosphere. She was in paradise. The boys loved the trip as well. They made up endless games in the waves, played countless board games with anyone who would oblige them, looked for shells on the beach with Beatrice, and made lasting silly memories with Oliver,

See Micah in the far left? He stayed in the ocean the whole time we were at the beach.
This last picture was actually the start of our trip. We decided to take a slight detour and stop at "the loveliest village on the plains." The boys loved running through campus and eating frozen yogurt, and we loved breaking the trip into two very doable drives. Micah declared that he loved Auburn, wanted to go to college there, and even wanted to move there! Matt and I dreamed about opening a satellite office and moving there ourselves. Oh, how we love and miss that place.

And because this has been so long coming, and because I just want to get this down and posted, here is a list of some of our favorite memories in no particular order.

-Watching my boys perform beautifully at our favorite restaurant in Auburn. It was a lot to ask for them to sit quietly and enjoy "adult food" after 5 hours in the car. Matt and I were silently praying they wouldn't embarrass us-we had forgotten Amsterdam wasn't the most kid friendly place. They both claimed it was their favorite restaurant while they ate their weight in smoked salmon dip. That's my boys!

-Seeing three small boys cuddled up on two twin beds to sleep. It didn't last long as my boys need their space. Owen ended up choosing the floor.

- Learning and playing many hours of cornhole.

-Hearing strange sounds one night, Matt and I quickly leaped up to save the day from the storm blowing in. As we were scrambling about collecting items, we realized that we weren't the only ones who heard. But... we were the only ones out there in our underwear!

-One night our family took a mini road trip to Gulf Shores to get Matt's and my favorite meal: a steamed seafood platter. Micah had one bite of king crab leg and declared "This is great! I think this is what we'll eat in Heaven!" "I think so too" I told him. Owen had a few bites too, but we wanted to be careful with his shrimp allergy. I packed a bottle of Benedryl and let him have a taste. Sweet boy declared his grilled chicken breast dipped in butter sauce his favorite meal ever. We followed dinner with a trip to play mini golf. Both boys made a hole in one!

-We somehow scored the master bedroom (our friends wanted to give us a nice welcome to the group vacation). The bathtub was a large garden tub. At the end of our nighttime beach trips, Matt got in the shower with all the kids. He bathed, I dried, lotioned, and clothed. Then, we would scramble to get the kiddos in bed at a decent hour, so we could enjoy some adult conversation and games.

-Watching/listening to my boys play with their sister in the car, so she wouldn't cry was one of the highlights. She isn't fond of sleeping much on car trips, and they would entertain her by tossing all their stuffed friends her way. She thinks they hung the moon.

-We played at least three full games of monopoly with Micah and Owen-including "joke monopoly" which is really the modern day version. You could buy airports for $200 million! Micah got a big kick out of that.

-On our last day at the ocean, the waters were tepid and there were rumors of jellyfish. After Owen, Margot, and I decided to call it a day, Micah held a slimy goop up in the air asking "what in the world is this?" Matt tried to stay calm as he told Micah to put it down right now and get out of the water. Micah denied for a solid hour that it was a jellyfish. We were so thankful he didn't get stung by one of the massive jellyfish that started washing ashore. He finally admitted that he held a jellyfish, but had to put in the disclaimer that it wasn't alive.

I know I'm forgetting many things, but this will suffice for now. Here's hoping for many future beach trips-definitely my favorite vacation spot!

A Visit From Friends

2011-07-29T07:53:00.003-05:00

I've written about the Costello family on this blog before. They are great friends, the kind of friends who lived down the street from us, the kind of friends whom we ate dinner with multiple times a week, the kind of friends who have the same number of children all within months of our own children, the kind of friends who have to move far away sometimes, the kind of friends who want to move close as soon as Drew finishes his time of service, the kind of friends who come when you are going through one of the hardest times in your life, the kind of friends who drive all night to come when your son is in the hospital, the kind of friends who load up the whole family (AGAIN) and drive 14 hours because we are too chicken to do it with our own brood, the kind of friends who fix your fence, your door, your toilets, etc. because we never got a lesson in simple repairs, the kind of friends whom we miss and love dearly!

Of course, when your home is full of four adults and six children (with Micah being the oldest), there is hardly time to remember to get the camera out. I did manage a few pictures one day while the oldest four were eating grape juice popsicles on the sandbox. Unfortunately, these are not very satisfying when trying to remember our fun time with this family. We were a full house indeed. Over the ten day trip, there was lots of good food, good drink, fun outings (including the science museum, neighborhood pool, bowling followed by ski ball, Mexican food, fishing, shopping and probably more that I'm forgetting), high fevers, laughter, tears, pyramid making, amazing words out of little mouths, countless pages of little artwork, fun late night adult talks, a few arguments, reminiscing about the past, dreams about the futures, and encouragement from people who love you. The Lord has blessed us richly with good friends. It was such a treat to be able to spend so much time with some of those. Twenty more months, Costellos! The countdown begins. How many of us will there be then? :)

Nine Months

2011-07-10T21:43:00.003-05:00

Oh my little M J, how are you nine months? Funny, my last post was for your brother's birthday (not much time to blog these days). I know I haven't done a post for you in a while, and I wanted to jot down some milestones for the ol' scrapbook, er... blogbook?

-You got a double ear infection a couple of weeks ago and were so fussy and sad. Lo and behold, your first two teeth broke the surface! You are feeling great now, and we are so glad that you seem to be an easier teether than your brothers, who had to fight for weeks for their stubborn teeth to break the gums.

-You can pull up! You did this yesterday for me and the boys. Your brother's were so proud of you, and this made you feel super special.

-You love your brothers. You will crawl immediately to the stairs and call for them to come down if they are not playing with you. You have amazingly sweet brothers. They dote on you, talk lovingly to you, and play with you whenever Mama asks them. Sometimes they even play with you without me asking. One night I decided to take you on a walk alone, and you were so sad the entire time. What was I thinking taking away your entertainment?

-You still army crawl even though we know you can crawl on your hands and knees. It is quite a sight. I really need to get a good video of this before you start walking.

-You wave to everyone and say "hi" and "hey" over and over until you get acknowledged. My favorite is when you see Dada in the mornings and greet him with "hey da!"

-You are mostly very serious. You have quite a thinking face-it rivals Micah's from his babyhood. You are always taking things in and figuring things out. You are curious and busy. Thankfully, you still nap twice a day to give me a break from chasing you all over the place!

-We took you last dose of reflux medicine last week and are waiting to see if we are going to need a refill. You eat only small amounts, but you like most things I have offered you. You are not much interested in pureed foods anymore so I spend a lot of time chopping things into tiny bites for you. Usually, when we try prepared baby foods (especially fruit), you spit up a lot from the extra acidity in the preservatives. You eat yogurt now and love it. I splurged and got you a bag of yogurt melts at the grocery when you were having a hard time and you are hooked. I keep those in my diaper bag for outings only. Once you see them, you are not going to eat anything else!

And that is all my distracted brain can think of right now. You are so loved, Margot-indeed, the Lord has added a treasure to our family!

Micah 6/8

2011-06-08T16:11:00.008-05:00

Oh my Micah,

It would take so much emotional energy to completely rehash the past year with you. Suffice it to say that we are so thankful to be celebrating this special day with you, 100% healthy (well, except for a mild chronic tummy ache which is presumably heartburn, and sore legs from all the running around you are doing!) Six years ago, I could hardly wait to meet you. I ached to hold my firstborn baby. You were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. You had a pensive stare from the beginning; we had no idea how precocious you would be. You made me a mama, Micah. You hold a very special place in my heart. This year, I really thought I was going to lose you to the mystery illness we later learned was ADEM. I have never been so scared in my life. I was of little faith, but the Lord our God is faithful. He heard the prayers of thousands from all over the globe for His special son, Micah, and chose to answer them with your miraculous healing (the neurologist said he really expected you to still be in a wheelchair). You acknowledge that God healed you, and we saw your own faith strengthened by this trial. You have such strength, Micah. Not once, did you complain or get angry that you were sick. You bore your trial, stayed faithful to pray for strength, and kept determination to get well. You amaze me; you always have. I love you, Micah-a million bazillion googleplex!

As for milestones, this past year you:

-Finished your last year of preschool. We rode that train as long as possible, and now we have begun to homeschool. You love to learn, and I am excited about all the things we will do together this year.

-Got your first library card. You really wanted to check out all 25 books, but I talked you into just 10

-Learned the proper technique for writing all your letters. Your handwriting is improving every week.

-Became best friends with Owen

-Played in two golf tournaments and loved it

-Went to your first pro sporting event-a Titan's game with Dada, Grammy, and Gramps

-Became a big brother for the second time

-Took your first shower

-Finally sat in a booster seat instead of your carseat

-Continue to be so tender hearted and caring

-Got very sick; became healthy agian

-Still eat slow as molasses!

"Miss Margot"

2011-05-24T16:00:00.007-05:00

My friend, Raechel, is an amazing photographer. Seriously, sometime I am going to get her to teach me everything she knows (that is when we both don't have small children and a million things to do in one 24 hour block of time!) But one day when we are reminiscing about the good old days, maybe, just maybe, she will teach me some tricks. What do you say, Rae? Until then, she so generously agrees to photograph my sweet baby for me from time to time. I tempt her out to my house with promises of good food and friends for her little ones and husband. We always have a blast with this sweet family, and this time I even have priceless pictures to treasure forever!

Back in the Game!

2011-05-20T07:31:00.008-05:00

Micah is doing amazingly well. We are so thrilled with how quickly he has made progress. If you ask Micah, he will say he is 100% better. Matt and I can still see him tire quickly, and we notice that he is not quite as fast as he used to be; but for all intents and purposes he is back to his old self again! He even competed in a golf tournament two weeks ago-and got fourth place.

After the tournament. I know it felt good for him to be able to play.

This was taken at Micah's preschool graduation. They were so kind to let him participate in the ceremony. What an exciting moment to watch him graduate with his class. Now, we are beginning the wonderful adventure of homeschooling!
Trying to get a family shot with three children is always interesting.

So, here we are back to normal-if you can ever really say that life with three small children is normal. Things are always changing as these precious ones move on way too quickly into new stages of life.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

2011-05-18T21:16:00.002-05:00

Untitled from Ginny Morrison on Vimeo.

Margot waving! She is really catching on to this talking and communicating thing. She says Mama, du (duck), dada, ni ni (night night), miiii (milk), and ah duh (all done). She loves to wave, especially at Dada.

Untitled from Ginny Morrison on Vimeo.

This is at the end of the year program at the boys' preschool. Micah is behind the microphone and is really getting into the sign language. It was so nice to see him up on stage with his class like he had never even been sick.

Untitled from Ginny Morrison on Vimeo.

Owen is to the left of the little girl in the yellow dress (who is also named Margot). He gets very shy on stage, but he did an excellent job singing. See him nervously holding the bottom of his shirt? Adorable.

Six and Seven Months

2011-05-11T08:20:00.006-05:00

Sweet baby girl:

These past few months have been busy, busy. We have been helping Micah get better and running to and fro therapies and doctors. Dada has been playing catch-up at work the past couple of Saturdays leaving me little time to do your blog posts to document your milestones. One thing is for sure: you are a trooper, and you are BUSY-such a fun mix of your brothers. You remind us so much of Micah in that, when we are home, you are into everything and always thinking (you have amazing raised and furrowed brow thinking faces). I know that I am very soon going to have to put locks on things and put up the baby gates. I am already getting you used to playing in your pack-n-play so that I will have somewhere to contain you! You remind us of Owen in the way you hang out in the car and get in and out with almost no problems. You are sweet during long therapy sessions and doctor's visits. You nap in the car when I need you to and still come home and get right back on your schedule. Here are a few other things about you at six and seven months:

-At nearly seven months you weighed 17 pounds 10 oz. and were 26 in. long. This put you in the 70 % in weight and 45% in length. What can I say? You love to eat-by far and away our best nurser. You, unfortunately were having a really hard time tolerating solids. You would cry for hours afterwards and spit up profusely. We agreed with the doctor to start you on some acid reflux medicine. You are a different baby! You are tolerating oatmeal, carrots, avocado, and zucchini very well with carrots being your favorite. You are sleeping better, and I rarely have to scrub the carpets! We are so thankful to have medicine for you to feel better.

-You love your brothers. You have learned to scream really loudly when they come in the room. I know you learned this from their very loud talking. You also are very interested in everything they are doing. I always remind them that you are watching and learning.

-You roll all over the place and can spin around in circles. This gets you pretty much anywhere you want to go. You can get your belly high off the ground and rock back and forth, so we are expecting some real crawling any time.

-You still have no teeth. This is not surprising as your brothers didn't get any till 9 months. You do have some swollen bumps on the bottom.

-You can say your first word-Dada. You say it all the time, but you also know the right time to say it: when you see your dada! You also make many other sounds. You will respond to your name, "find the baby" on your wall, wave when you see new people, shake the rattle when I ask you to, and are learning the word "no" as you grab everything you are not supposed to.

-You are sleeping from roughly 8 at night until 7 or 8 in the morning with one wake up at 2. We are trying to break this habit that you formed when your reflux was really bothering you. You take two good naps for me during the day and are mostly a very happy girl when you are awake.

-Your favorite things to do: Jump in your jumper. You squeal and bounce so high, then pick up your legs and swing back through the doorway. You also love putting anything and everything in your mouth. We have cleaned out the playroom and coach the boys often about keeping small things off the floor. You love playing in the tent, and taking long walks in your stroller. You love your sling, and it has been a life saver these past few months with all our running around. We went to the zoo one day, and I can tell you are going to love being outside. In fact, today we are cleaning up our water table for you to splash in. You love music in the car. I am working on putting a CD together for you to listen to in the house. (by that I mean waiting for a time when dada can help me!) You like books, but not sitting still to read them so much. I have learned to just give you your own book to chew while I read another one out loud.

-You love your mama, and I love you. You are such a great addition, Margot!

First Easter with Dada. We all think you look a lot like him!

There is that toe I love! You were born with it sticking out like this.

I thought you'd look so pretty in the new green grass. You hated the feel and burst into tears.
Seriously love to drink out of real cups. You can really gulp down some water. I'm thinking of adding some milk to see if you would drink it since you won't take a bottle.

Micah wanted to take your picture in your pretty purple

There are those brows (and toe!)

Some Easter Pictures

2011-05-06T07:31:00.005-05:00

Our Easter was nice and restful. My dad and stepmother joined us for the weekend. We stayed around the house, went to our Good Friday and Easter Sunday service at church, ate good food, enjoyed many jelly bellies, and hunted some eggs. Here are a few pictures of our day.

The race is on!

Sweet boy. I don't want to ever forget these big cheeks! They are quickly disappearing as the effects of the steroids are going away. This smile just makes me laugh.

Some puffs for a little girl who wants to join us for meals but gets bored quickly.

She got her own Easter basket with a couple of books, hair clips, and a rabbit. I didn't think she would even care, and I almost forgot to even give it to her. I was so glad I remembered. She watched the boys intently as they tore into theirs. When I brought out her own pink basket, she practically jumped out of my arms with excitement. So funny to watch a child so young understand what being a kid is all about.

Are these all really mine? Sometimes I have to pinch myself. Blessed indeed!

Owen's Birthday Celebrations

2011-05-04T14:21:00.005-05:00

We tried to make Owen's birthday a big deal this year. He has had a bit of a rough time adjusting to becoming the middle child and having his best friend in the hospital for a month all the while being forced to go with the flow and having no time with his parents. We have spent lots of time talking these past few weeks about our family and how we are a team. We ALL sacrifice when one member of the team needs us. We ALL learn to become more selfless when a new baby comes. After much praying, talking, and some new allergy medications, Owen seems to be much happier and glad to be a part of the Morrison team. We are so thankful as things were getting a little stressful for a while. He told me today in his sweetest, most shy voice: "I thought you didn't like me." Oh, how it broke my heart. I know Owen has many feelings of inadequacy and is very introspective, but somewhere along the way I have failed to let him know how much I like-and LOVE him! Alas, we are learning as we go, and, hopefully, our little Owen will know how much we truly "like" him. Anyway, back to the birthday. We celebrated at his preschool, at home that night with presents from just the family, on Friday night with Grammy for a joint birthday celebration, and again on Sunday afternoon for a family birthday party. I think he had a great time and really enjoyed the attention.

Family

2011-05-03T15:40:00.006-05:00

This will be the first of many posts I plan to do this week. I got a little behind taking care of the kids, ordering lots of books-more on that later, visiting doctors and therapists, going to the zoo, etc. etc., but we have had a busy and wonderful last few weeks. Here are some shots of the special times we have spent with family.

Margot with Great-grandmother, Margaret

Grammy with her grands

Nana with her grands

Margot with Great-Granddad

Great Grandmother brought Micah a special pack of cards to play

While these cousins played outside

Tyler (my brother's baby) and Margot

Tyler was stealing a few kisses!

We celebrated Sally's birthday wtih the traditional Mexican meal

Owen got to celebrate too since his birthday is just two days before!

Overheard

2011-04-22T07:48:00.002-05:00

We still have a monitor in the boys' room. Last night, they were talking way past bedtime (which by the way is a huge indication that Micah is doing tons better. We haven't had to go into the boys' room to tell them to go to sleep in months!) We turned up the monitor to hear what they were saying. They both sleep with countless things in their beds, and Owen was talking about one of his "friends."

Owen: "Micah, Sonic got ADEM. He is 100% sick, and he died."

Micah: "I was 100% sick one time, but God has healed me all the way back to 96% healthy!"

Owen: "Micah, I think you were just 99% sick when you had ADEM."

Oh, the musings of my little guys. Praise the Lord for His healing work in Micah! Praise the Lord that Micah knows full well who The Great Physician is! Praise the Lord, for He is good!

Adoption

2011-04-20T20:32:00.005-05:00

Adoption. I love adoption. I want to adopt, but now is clearly not the time for our family. It is, however, the time for a family who is very near and dear to our hearts (along with many other families we know and love who are also going on this adventure). The Comptons are selling a T-shirt to help with with some of the funds of the whole process. If you would like to support this wonderful picture of the Lord's mercy on us, help bring home the Compton's newest addition, and/or want a really great new shirt either reply here or email Katie at katiebcompton@gmail.com. Here is the design (they are $20 and come in adult, youth, and toddler sizes and are really more of a charcoal grey-darker than the proof):

Owen, Where Has the Time Gone?

2011-04-13T15:52:00.003-05:00

Taken on your 4th birthday eve

At your third birthday party

At your second birthday party

The big 1 year old!

A few weeks old: an absolute angel baby!

Mama's first glimpse

Oh my Owen, looking back on these pictures makes me smile. I cannot, cannot believe you will be four years old by the time anybody reads this. You were such a Godsend to our family. We needed you more than we even knew. You came into the world our smallest baby on an unseasonably cold day and changed us forever. You could quite possibly have been the sweetest baby ever, and we appreciated and loved you so much. You grew into a boy that would be someone's very best friend in the whole world and a child who makes his parent's so proud.

This year has been a busy one for you. You entered into your hardest stage so far as you tried to figure out your place in the world. You have always been content to be in the background but this year, you decided to fight for your right to be heard. We have always had a hunch that you would be a middle child and this year, your little sister made you just that. Knowing your sensitive nature and insecurities, we have always tried to let you know how special you are to us. You have a tender heart. You have a funny sense of humor and make me laugh, and you are such a smart little boy. We have loved watching you play with your little sister when you think no one is watching. We have loved watching you care for your big brother and best friend these past few months. One of my favorite memories will always be watching you hold Micah's hand and walking him down the halls for his physical therapy. You want him to run with you again and pray for that every night.

You talk our ears off these days, especially if it is something you are passionate about. This year you started preschool and, while you love it, you always insist that you would rather stay home than go. You were truly born into an introverted family! It is funny to see how you retreat when you get around crowds and how much you let loose at home with us. You love to help me. I loved our Wednesdays together this year as you walked around with me and helped me with my housework while I listened to you tell me stories. You can write your name, count as high as you want, surprise us with your mental math skills, and get yourself dressed complete with shoes on the wrong feet! You finally moved out of a crib this year into the top bunk of your new shared room. The memories you will make in there are bound to be immeasurable. You have a wonderful imagination and have actually awoken to fears of wasps in bubbles chasing you from your dreams! You are gaining a true sense of wonder at the Lord and all his works. You talk about all the amazing things God could do as you ponder his omnipotence. You are amazed at the promise of Heaven and have commented that "in Heaven, I can eat chicken from Chick-fil-a because I won't even be allergic to eggs!" Hopefully, it won't take that long as the numbers show your allergy to eggs is almost gone.

We love you, Owen more than you can ever know. And we pray that this upcoming year you would grow even more "in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man." Happy Birthday!

We've Come A Long Way

2011-04-11T15:41:00.002-05:00

This smile has definitely kept us smiling through the weeks. Recently, we have all had many reasons to smile. Micah is making progress every day. We literally watch him do something new every morning and see him grow stronger before our eyes. We have been told that Micah needs no speech therapy! We have finished the final dose of steroids! Our physical therapist told us that Micah is definitely ready for a full hour of PT and that her notes every week are inches long due to all the progress he makes each time! We are overjoyed at the Lord's healing in our sweet Micah. We are confident that he will continue to gain strength and physical abilities. Lately, he is playing golf outside, going on long walks with us in the evenings, pushing Margot in her swing, swinging himself, and spider crawling up the stairs alone. Last night, he shuffled his feet so quickly across the floor as he "ran" for the first time since late February. Although the past couple of months have been rough, we have been blessed to watch the way the Lord is using this trial to strengthen Micah in his faith. He prays with such passion, he asks boldly and confidently that the Lord will continue to heal him, he trusts like I only wish I did. The Lord is indeed stretching us all as we learn to walk with Him and become more like Jesus.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,

My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

-From "How Firm a Foundation"

Untitled from Ginny Morrison on Vimeo.

Up and Moving

2011-03-31T15:32:00.003-05:00

Micah is on the mend and consuming food again. We have kept him on simple starchy things as to not aggravate his belly too much, but I feel like we should be close to resuming his normal diet. His legs got very weak during the stomach sickness, but he is mostly willing to do his exercises to get better. I have had to readjust my parenting style a bit as we move from room to room (we mostly hang out on the floor or couch.) It is much different than it was with my usual rambunctious boys. I now have to come up with fun ways to get them moving instead of coming up with ways to get them to settle down! (The upside is we are playing many educational games and learning some new things-these are great for Micah's fine motor skills). Owen has rarely wanted to leave Micah's side, so we have to implement some fun running around with him too. I will make up obstacle courses for us to run, and then we will get Micah and walk them. Hopefully, the weather will turn nice again soon, and we can do some of this outside. I think a little sunshine on our faces will do us all some good! Micah will finish up his steroid very soon and hopefully, his immune system will get back up and running. This last bug caused a major setback. I don't want to be a crazy "germaphobe", but at the same time I have to try to protect my little boy right now. We went ahead and kept Owen out of school this week since we had so much family helping us, and we have all been hanging out at home. Hopefully, next week we can all stay healthy as we resume normal life, and Micah begins his therapies.

Numb

2011-03-27T08:26:00.002-05:00

So... we have suffered a major setback. This "stomach bug" has really kept Micah off his feet. Combine that with some severe muscle wasting from the steroids, and we are back where we were two weeks ago-taking a few steps and climbing a few stairs with help. It is discouraging to see and hard to stay hopeful. Micah says his tummy hurts so bad. His prayer request every night is that God will heal his tummy. It is possible that the steroids are causing an ulcer, or it could just be hurting from whatever is causing all the vomiting and diarrhea. Please pray that we could get over this hump and that his stomach would settle down. I cringe every time he has to take that steroid. I know it is what is keeping us from having rebound inflammation, but it is also what is causing all these horrible side effects.

I called in many reinforcements last week as Matt went back to work. Taking care of Micah with all the tummy issues has proven to be quite a job. Matt's family helped throughout the week, and I called my mom on Thursday to come help. We are so thankful that everyone has been so willing to sacrifice and help us. The hardest part for me is watching everything and being here by myself-my mind starts racing and I am faced with making decisions that I don't know how to make: Is it time to go to the doctor, does he need to be back in the hospital, am I feeding him the right things etc. etc. Having someone here is calming for me and frankly, just necessary.

People say "I don't know how you are doing it." It is by God's grace alone I tell you. I don't know how I am doing it either. I tend to numb myself up before I go care for Micah. If I don't, then I will breakdown and that is not helpful for anyone. I wake up in the morning, ask the Lord for help, and I care for my children-just like I did before all this. It is different in so many ways, but in so many ways it is the same. We get dressed, eat, and play-it just takes a little longer and looks a little different. We are trying to take things one day at a time. Right now, thinking about the future is painful. Scripture tells us "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."-Matthew 6:34.

Even though our souls are troubled, we will praise the Lord and wait on him.

Wait for the Lord;

Be strong, and let your heart take courage;

Yes, wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27: 14

A Spoonful Of Syrup...

2011-03-23T15:16:00.003-05:00

...helps the medicine go down. Poor Micah seems to have been battling a stomach bug the past few days. The main concern has been getting his steroids down. Steroids are funny drugs, and you can't just stop taking them without some serious things happening. We were contemplating injections but didn't want to have to give Micah painful shots on top of everything else he is going through. Thankfully, with the help of prayer and Hershey's syrup, we have kept his doses down (a very helpful pharmacist at Harris Teeter made the suggestion of masking the bitter, gagging flavor of orapred with chocolate!) To say this bug has thrown us for a loop is an understatement. We feel like we keep getting hit on all sides these days. As if adjusting to life wasn't already challenging enough, we have spent most of our time in either in the bathroom or laundry room and scrubbing carpets and sheets. I want to say a special thanks to those bringing us meals, my neighbor for saving the day yesterday with packs of pull-ups, Stanley Steamer for making me feel clean again, Aunt Maggie for helping with the other kiddos while I was helping Micah, Owen for deciding to be a sweet helper again, and Margot for taking a four hour nap this morning. The Lord has been faithful to us. Just when I really start having a pity party, He shows His face in such a tangible way and reminds me of His goodness. The amazing thing is that Micah is staying so positive through yet another trial. He amazes me with how he is handling this. I can't imagine what he must be thinking after being so sick for so long. I, on the other hand, am having a hard time staying positive for him as I watch his body become weaker again with dehydration and malnutrition. It is hard to not see improvements. We postponed our therapies until next week as we feel Micah needs to rest and build back his energy stores before we start pushing him physically. We also found out today that our insurance doesn't cover occupational therapy. It will, thankfully, cover the physical and speech therapies, but we now have to decide what to do about the other. I think I will be doing some research tonight and adding another job description under the title Mom! I really want to be able to do as much as possible for Micah at home anyway. I know it will be easier in some ways to work with Micah myself: I won't be having to drive to and fro, I already know and love him, I know what makes him tick, and I just enjoy playing with him. Time will tell if this will work or if we will explore other options. In the meantime, we will keep loving each other, working hard, and relying on the Lord's grace and strength.

What About Me?

2011-03-22T22:33:00.003-05:00

Since I practically lived in a hospital this past month and didn't even get my 5 month post, I told Mama that it was my turn!

I got a new swing, and I love it-especially when my big brother gives me pushes.
Here I am on day two of my rice cereal. I decided not to take any bites at all even though I loved it the day before. See the pretty tulips in the back? They aren't for me, but I love them and talk to them every day.
Here I am practically sitting all by myself. Mama says it should be very soon if I am anything like my brothers. I also like toys now.

This was the first day of my rice cereal. I really liked it and ate a healthy portion. I made Mama a stinky present at 2 am that night. My big brother, Owen, took this picture. He is an aspiring photographer these days.

I was a sweet girl in Atlanta and liked being pushed around in the stroller that Dylan let me borrow.

And this is the famous trick that my Dada does with all the babies. It really freaks people out, but I love showing off!

Free At Last!

2011-03-22T22:19:00.005-05:00

These photos were taken last Thursday in Atlanta after we were released from the hospital and before we headed back to Nashville.

We Are Home

2011-03-20T12:03:00.002-05:00

We made it home Friday afternoon. Our neighbors made a sign for Micah (and were all playing outside to welcome him home!) and my in-laws had their housekeeper clean our house. We walked in to a wonderful smelling home complete with balloons and tulips from Micah's great grandma! It was a wonderful homecoming. However, we weren't here long before the tears began. Micah has had a hard time being home. I think the realization that he really can't do the things he used to is hitting home, and it is hard for him. He gets frustrated that he has to rest all the time, he is getting discouraged and thinking that he will never be able to do the things he once could do physically. We are trying to encourage him and keep his spirits up, and we are praying for God's peace for him. Also, we were awakened last night to cries coming from him. He began throwing up after midnight and was still unable to keep anything down this morning. He is resting well now, and we are hoping that this is just a product of all the medicine and not another virus for him to fight. I am unsure what we are going to do about getting his medicine down, and at this point are waiting for a call from the doctor. I will continue to update as I am able. You have all been so wonderful and faithful in praying for our family. It is a challenge to raise three small children under normal circumstances, but I am sure you can imagine, this takes it to a whole new level. Computer time is scarce. I also have lots of pictures (some of a little girl who had a big day yesterday-first solids!, and many of our sweet Micah) that I am hoping to get uploaded today.

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it! -Psalm 118:24

So Sweet

2011-03-18T20:58:00.003-05:00

He loves you too! Hopefully, we can take a trip to visit soon.

(This is Micah's preschool class)

Again!

2011-03-17T13:44:00.003-05:00

We have all our children under one roof again! It feels amazing. We are staying the night here in Atlanta and will head home in the morning. Micah is so happy to be back with us, and Owen has the biggest smile on his face. Praying for a safe drive home and a restful weekend with all our babies.

Going Home!

2011-03-15T23:25:00.002-05:00

Micah is doing so well that they are ready to release him from the hospital here! There are some final evaluations etc. to do, but we are hoping to go home Friday. You can only imagine how excited we are to take our sweet Micah home. I am very curious how he will respond to being home in a comfortable, familiar environment with his siblings and Mama full time.

My mom has been here for the past few days (so helpful!), which has given Matt a chance to come be with Owen for a little while. Owen has been having a little bit of a hard time. We aren't really sure if it is nerves, but he hasn't been eating much and his tummy is upset. I'm sure he has so many emotions that are hard to process. He has lost his best friend and is generally apathetic about playing much of anything. I'm so excited for him that he will have his brother back soon!

I was able to spend a good deal of time with Micah this morning. I know everyone wants to know how he is. It is hard to explain, and I have so many mixed emotions when I am with him. He is definitely different than he was prior to the ADEM. There is no way to know if it is permanent, a product of his environment, side effects to the steroids etc. Honestly, we haven't seen any negative personality changes-just different. Sometimes I catch myself feeling sad that I may never see the old Micah again, but I also realize that circumstances shape who we are. We believe the Lord uses things in our lives to mold us into the people he wants us to be. We trust that God has a plan for Micah- one to prosper him and not to harm him and that He will work this situation for Micah's good. He looks tons different because of all the swelling. This is temporary and should go down when he stops the medicine, but it is hard to see him looking so puffy. He also is still very limited physically. While he has come leaps and bounds from where he was two weeks ago, he is far from running down the hall and jumping off the ottomans. I asked the therapist today if she thought he would do those things again, and her response was "yes, definitely." She explained that there was still so much healing that needs to happen in all the nerves and that just takes time. Although there are no guarantees, it was good to hear such a positive opinion. No one thought he would be doing this well this quickly and that is also an encouragement. We are really just so thankful and proud of our little boy, so humbled by the prayers, gifts, and help from our friends and family, so grateful for the Lord's mercy.

Look At Me Now!

2011-03-12T22:41:00.003-06:00

(On the putting green at the hospital)

Oh great merciful Lord, thank you for your faithfulness in healing our sweet Micah. We continue to pray that he may be restored fully. What a blessing to see our Micah walk, play golf, talk, and joke with us.

I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They tell of the power of your awesome works and I will proclaim your great deeds. They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

Psalm 145:1-7

Day 2

2011-03-11T23:09:00.004-06:00

We were just so thrilled to take our little boy away from Vanderbilt-in our own car. He slept most of the way and it really tired him out. I am assuming all the stimuli were overwhelming after all he has been through. The trip was uneventful. I hated dropping my son and husband at the hospital door and driving away, but we had two little ones who would not make it much longer without some milk and a stretch of the legs. We are very close with the family I am staying with. Taylor has been so kind to have food and baby gear here. Owen has a playmate, and Margot is sleeping the days away. I know she is exhausted from all this. However, I feel much farther removed here from Micah and Matt. I don't have much time to communicate with them, and I am a 30 minute drive from the hospital. If you know Atlanta, this could be up to 2 hours if I leave at the wrong time. I feel like I have deserted Micah. I know that is not true, but it is hard for me to not be by his bedside. I also think I was thinking Micah would not be in a "hospital" hospital. He is still getting vitals, blood draws, people poking in all day long, etc. I am glad they are taking good care of him, but just not what I expected. I know we will find a new groove. It just takes time to learn a new system. Everyone who saw Micah today said he looked great. They see children recovering from ADEM here, and they were impressed by how far Micah has come. Praise the Lord for his healing work. Micah is stronger still today. We have a ways to go before he will run, but he is sitting himself up in the bed, crawling in and out of the bed and chairs, eating a ridiculous amount of food, putting on tons of weight (3 pounds in a week-that is the total he gained in the whole last year of his life!) The steroids can cause swelling and hunger, so our little guy may actually catch up to most other 5 year olds out there. His talking is better too. He is still very tired. We are still getting evaluations, so this is low key compared to next week. I am curious to see how he will handle the intense therapy. We will meet with the team Wed. to discuss the exact treatment plan and to get a tentative release date. In the meantime, my mom is headed up to help out. I am looking forward to getting to spend some extra time with Micah this weekend and not having to fight rush hours. I will post as I am able, but we have no computer at the hospital this time. Please pray this will go quickly-we are really needing our family together under one roof.

Here!

2011-03-10T22:38:00.002-06:00

Quick note to let you all know that we are here safe and sound. It has been busy getting settled with the little ones here by myself, and Matt said Micah was so tuckered out by the time they got to their room. Tomorrow, Micah will have assessments, and we hear the weekends are low key. This will hopefully give him some time to ease in before the real therapy begins on Monday. I will go visit him tomorrow and let Matt spend some time with Margot and Owen. We are so glad to be together in the same city, but it is really hard for me to not be with Micah all the time. I am, again, so thankful for Matt and the relationship he has with our little boy. The nurses at the hospital said Micah is doing great. We are so proud of our little guy! Several have asked about where we are staying. I obviously don't want to post any information on the blog since it has become so public, but if you want to send me an e-mail, I would be happy to give you our address.

Funny story (well it is now anyway): We had been here less than 10 minutes when I dropped my phone in the toilet. Are you kidding me? I quickly put it in a bowl of rice and a couple of hours later, it is back up and running. Thankfully, I won't be making a trip to get a new phone tomorrow.

Packing the Car

2011-03-09T23:06:00.002-06:00

Tonight, Matt and I are both home (for the second night in a row!) Aunt Maggie (Matt's sister who is also a nurse at Vanderbilt Children's) was off this week and has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help us care for our son. She is spending the night with Micah while we get the car loaded for our trip. Funny, it is hard for us to be anything but joyful. We are just so thrilled to see our little boy talk, laugh, and walk. I seriously wondered if I would ever hear him talk again last Tuesday. We are excited to see what the next few weeks hold. Micah told me tonight that he was about 50% healed. I asked if anything hurt and he responded "no, but I want to, like, run again!" He requested that the thousand people who were praying for him continue to do so. I have no doubt you all will. I also inquired as to whether Micah was scared. He said yes because of the IV. I had good news for him: no IVs in rehab! I also asked if he knew who would be with him (I was talking about Matt), and he informed me that God and Jesus would be there. Yes, my sweet, sweet, Micah. God and Jesus will be there. I pray every night for Jesus to wrap you up in his arms since I can't. I love you and can't wait to see you run!

A Couple of Videos

2011-03-08T21:44:00.003-06:00

First walking (I think this was Sunday)

"Thank you for praying for me."

Micah sat up in a chair last night and ate spaghetti, green beans, and a cupcake!

Qualified!

2011-03-08T13:18:00.002-06:00

We are set to leave for Atlanta at 8 AM on Thursday. They are speaking with insurance now, but they are confident it will cover. We may even be able to drive Micah ourselves!

To Clarify

2011-03-08T12:07:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to clarify that Micah is not "ill" so to speak any more. We are remaining at the hospital to receive therapy, monitor his food and fluid intake (swallowing and eating have been extremely difficult), and awaiting the removal of his IV and feeding tube. The neurology team told us there is nothing else to help Micah except extensive therapy. We still have no updates on Atlanta and are so thankful that Micah is still inpatient to receive all his therapies.

I actually stayed home this morning. I washed clothes, cleaned and organized, made a healthy lunch, and spent time preparing for our trip. We have wonderful friends in Atlanta, who are going to house us while we are there. Matt will spend the nights with Micah, and I will stay at the Brown's with the other children. We will go visit Micah daily, and I have been told that Micah may even be able to leave the hospital for a couple of hours a day! These are our tentative plans as we don't know this new facility or how things work there.

My brother-in-law and his girlfriend took our car for an oil change and tire rotation today. Owen went to school, and I had a little piece of normal for the first time in two weeks. It is hard not to feel guilty taking time off to recharge when what I really want is for my little boy to be the one able to come home. Alas, I will take this blessing as Margot really needed some time in her own bed. She slept till 9 and went back down for a nap at 10. She is still asleep. Owen begged me to stay home with him for 58 days. I know the others need some time too.

I am hoping to take some pictures today to show you how great Micah is doing. Matt said he was very feisty during his morning therapy session and even threw his toothbrush. I hate that now we have to discern the fine line between defiance and inabilities. It's hard enough to parent when children are healthy, but this is sure to add a difficult dynamic. Pray that we would be encouraging to Micah and that we would be wise in parenting/disciplining him. One of the great benefits of going to an inpatient facility is that we won't also have to be the ones pushing him physically. Also, please pray that we would be able to go to Atlanta-that Micah would be a good fit and that our insurance will approve this therapy.

No Real Answers

2011-03-07T23:18:00.002-06:00

We were eagerly awaiting today as it seemed as though we were really going to get rolling with the move to Atlanta, etc. Our pediatrician is ready to release Micah over to the rehab hospital, but it seems as though these things take a while. I spoke with our case worker today and first, they have to have a representative from Atlanta come here and evaluate Micah to see if he is a good fit for their facility. Next, we have to find out about insurance, then appeal if they deny etc. I am so thankful that someone is handling all that for us! So, it is a waiting game now. Matt thinks we will be leaving Wed. but I am leaning more towards Thursday. Of course, we could leave as early as tomorrow. Now, we are busy making plans to leave for probably two weeks to a month. Matt has taken two weeks off work and will ride with Micah to Atlanta in the ambulance. I will possibly wait on my mom to come back and help me get to Atlanta with the other kids (Thursday or Friday) or leave close behind Matt and Micah-it depends on how brave I am. Please pray with us that Micah will make quick progress and that we will indeed be there two weeks or less. It will be really hard to split our family up and for me to care for an infant as well as a child in the hospital with no husband, and of course I would miss Matt and Owen like crazy. From what we have heard, the place in Atlanta has wonderful success rates and is an excellent facility. We obviously want our son to reach his maximum potential and we strongly feel that inpatient therapy is what is best for him. He is still making progress now with his therapists at Vanderbilt, but at the rehab hospital he will have this type of therapy all day. Today he looked at Where's Waldo for quite a while on his belly and up on all fours. He also took a stroll around the halls, which Matt claimed wore him out. He was eating much better today also. We are just so thrilled to see Micah progressing. He made several jokes today, laughed a few times, played with Owen this afternoon, and became very feisty in the bathtub this morning. It feels so good to see glimpses of the Micah we have raised for the past 5+ years. but I can't help but wonder if he might have some different personality traits after all this as he has been quite the joker today.

Tonight I had a mini meltdown when I got home with the kids. It was the first time I came home to an empty house with no distractions. I immediately felt the weight of packing for 5 people for an indefinite stay during a season change. I yelled at Owen because he wouldn't take a bath with Margot. Seriously, what is my deal? I guess, since Micah is recovering, I decided to have my own pity party. Matt gently reminded me that a few days ago, we were watching our son slip away. He is well now-and getting stronger every day. Praise the Lord! I apologized to Owen-he is very happy I am going to be home tomorrow. I told him we were going to pray for Micah before bed and he said "I pray for him when I am sleeping!" I'll leave you with a verse from a card I opened tonight:

Do not be afraid for I am with you.

Do not be discouraged for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you,

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Decisions

2011-03-07T06:31:00.003-06:00

We have been so busy. Among physical therapy, occupational therapy, hour long "feeding sessions," visiting with visitors, traveling to and fro with the other children- time has become a scarce resource. Sunday was another good day with baby steps of improvement. Both motor and cognitive skills are improving bit by bit with some serious effort.
Today will be a day of decisions. When will Micah be released from the hospital? What do you we next? To the inpatient rehabilitation center in Atlanta? For how long? Will our health insurance even pay for physical therapy? So, dear Saints, be in prayer for wisdom as all of these decisions will most likely be made today.

Today

2011-03-06T00:07:00.003-06:00

Today, my child walked. Even though yesterday Matt and I said it would be a long time before he would do it, he shuffled himself to the potty and even made a "pee pee." He was also awake almost the whole day. I took my longest break last night into this morning and when I got back to the hospital, I was encouraged. It's funny because after being there a couple of hours I was discouraged again. He seems to be able to talk less and less even though I can tell he has more and more to say. If only he could communicate with us, I feel like this would be tons easier on him. He seems to be able to focus on only one thing at a time as it is extremely difficult to move his body. We are hoping that as his physical movements become easier that he will begin talking a little more.

Today, Micah took his last dose of IV steroid. We are anxious to see how he does now that he doesn't get pumped full of IV Benydryl twice a day. Also, high doses of steroids have lots of side effects. There is no way to know how much the drugs are affecting him at this point so we are curious how tomorrow will be. He will continue on oral steroids for 4-6 weeks.

Today, Micah took bites of food for every meal. It still didn't amount to enough to lose the feeding tube, but we are getting closer.

Today we were also almost guaranteed a recommendation to put Micah in a rehabilitation hospital-the closest one for children is in Atlanta. We now have to make lots of decisions regarding work, finances, splitting up or sticking together. These are things we just don't have a lot of brain power left to do. Please pray for us that we would be wise. We have a case worker who will help us sort through all the insurance stuff on Monday. We don't know how soon we will be leaving but are thinking as soon as Tuesday, but possibly not till later in the week. We will keep you all updated as decisions are made and things get rolling. Right now, I must abruptly sign off due to a prematurely waking baby :) She actually got in bed by 8 and doesn't know what to think about missing that late evening feeding. Be back tomorrow!

What Day Is It?

2011-03-04T22:57:00.002-06:00

All day long, I have been trying to remember what day it is (day of the week and month). Has it really been a week since that morning when I drove my child frantically to the doctor after he collapsed? At the same time it feels like we have been in the hospital for months. I am getting used to our new routine and so is Margot. The only person that I feel like is left out of the equation is little Owen. He is truly being such a trooper. I got to read him a story, pray with him, and tuck him into bed tonight which was such a treat. He also came to the hospital today to play a little of the Wii we are borrowing. I wonder how Owen is going to change while going through this with us. I find myself contemplating how the Lord will use this circumstance to shape our family. We are noticing Owen has much more confidence. He was never the best at anything, and now he is the best at everything. We know he will be good motivation for Micah on his road to recovery. We also know that Micah was always so sweet to help Owen when he couldn't do something, and I feel very sure Owen will remember this and do the same. These boys love each other. Owen was sad last night leaving the hospital and Micah gave him a toy dinosaur that Grammy had brought for him. Owen has slept with it since then. Oh, how I long to hear my boys running around the house shooting their cap guns.

Today showed a little improvement over yesterday in alertness. Micah held his head up better today, and when I arrived at the hospital this morning he was sleeping in a much more natural/comfortable looking position. He also was awake most of the day. However, his abdomen was quite distended and hurting him a bit, his liver is swollen (the doctors told us this yesterday), and he wasn't talking/swallowing/coughing as well. It seemed as though it was harder for him to make things click. Every doctor who walked in today said he looked better so that is encouraging. It is so hard to tell when you are there non-stop if he is really making any real progress. One thing we are coming to terms with is that this truly may take a long time to recover. There is one neurologist whom I feel like has been really shooting us straight. He said he has seen worse cases of ADEM, but Micah is up there. He has been telling me all week that this will most likely be a long recovery. There has been no talk of going home, and we are waiting to see if they will try another therapy on top of the steroid, or if they will be happy with the progress he is making. He has 3 more doses of the medicine left before we start an oral steroid to taper him back down for the next month or so.

As far as the highlights of our day: Micah laughed a few time tonight. It is amazing the difference we see in Micah after 5 pm when things slow down and everyone is finished coming in and out of our room. He really relaxes and is ready to have fun. We played go-fish (albeit it was very slow and we had to pause indefinitely in the middle) and he looked at some new Where's Waldo books and was locating the characters. After I left, Matt's aunt and uncle stopped by and Matt said Aunt Wendy really had Micah laughing. His laugh is joy for our souls, and we hope to see more of it in the coming days. Micah enjoyed a few bites of chicken soup and milkshake for lunch and dinner, and we are hoping that he can eat a substantial amount tomorrow in hopes of losing the feeding tube. He is really starting to get bothered by it now that he is awake more.

And now, I must say goodnight friends. Thanks for checking on our sweet Micah, for praying, for sending gifts. We are so blessed and thankful. He is hanging in there and so are Mama and Dada. We pray for continued progress and will expectantly wait for the Lord to heal our baby.

God is Faithful

2011-03-03T21:41:00.004-06:00

Dear friends,

Today was a good day. By that, it was a little better than yesterday. We are indeed going to have a long road in recovery. Micah was much more alert today. He has an amazing occupational theraptist, Erika, who loves him dearly and has a wonderful calming presence when she is in the room. We always look forward to her time with us. Today she even got Micah to laugh twice and say part of a much loved Bible verse: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

We were able to put Micah in a regular wheel-chair and take him outside on this beautiful day, which he seemed to enjoy. And then enjoyed a couple of bites of an ice-cream treat!

And while all of these things are encouraging and we are thankful for them, the reality of what we see with our eyes is that we have lost our brilliant, energetic, althetic little boy and we are left with his incapicitated, lethargic and crippled frame.

Jeremiah tells us,"Our hearts are deceitful above all things and beyond all cure. Who can understand it." While our hearts tell us, now is the time to be fretful, now is the time to despair, now is the time to doubt; we will not! For this is no accident; from the beginning of time, God knew that Micah was going to be sick. He is control of all and he promises that He has plans to prosper Micah, not to harm him.

Which will we believe, our deceitful hearts or God's ever-faithful word? That is what our choice is at the moment. Pray we will trust in the Lord. And after Micah is restored, we will be able to look back and see how God was faithful, and we know that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness. (James 1)

We thank you, dear friends, for your prayer, support and love. What a picture of the body of Christ we have seen; for they will know we are Christians by our love. We could not handle this burden on our own, so thank you for sharing this with us. God is glorified by your faithfulness in prayer, by your generosity and self-sacrificial love. So... thank you.

I Almost Forgot

2011-03-02T23:51:00.002-06:00

Today, when occupational therapy was working with Micah, Owen was there. She was so kind and involved Owen in the therapy. He was able to straighten Micah's arm and count to 20 (front-ward and backwards.) He then stroked Micah's hand to relax him. I know it made his day to be such a great helper, and it really made ours to watch him love his brother. For about 10 minutes today, Matt and I had all our children together in one bed loving each other! It felt wonderful.

What A Day

2011-03-02T17:46:00.003-06:00

This will be somewhat brief due to the increasing tiredness I am feeling. Adrenaline will only get you so far. Micah is waking up a bit more. We have therapists coming in most of the day now, but thankfully Micah really enjoyed all of it. If you know him or have followed our blog for long, you know that Micah is a doer. He doesn't sit still; he doesn't rest; he loves to just do things especially with Mama and Dada. So having us all to himself and moving his stiff muscles got us at least two smiles today!! Matt's partner is letting us borrow his Wii and Micah loved watching Matt play today. He even got out a whole sentence "I want to play with you." He solved two math problems one of them being x squared =4 and the other was converting the mL of his feeding tube to ounces. Unbelievable! He has been the talk of the hospital because when we first got to the ER (when he was still talking well) he was converting all the IV mL to oz. and blowing everybody away. Everybody there knows Micah and loves him. He is such a special little boy. We were able to get Micah up out of the bed today. The speech therapist came to see if Micah had the ability to eat. She got the vanilla pudding within arms reach of Micah, and he grabbed it and put a big spoonful right in his mouth. He doesn't particularly care for pudding, but we could tell he was so glad to eat something. He hasn't eaten in 6 days now. When he found out she had graham crackers, he was even more eager and ate two of them. We seem to be on the right track, and we are so thankful. As our pediatrician said to me tonight "last night we were of little faith and tonight the Lord is showing us His faithfulness." Praise Him for glimmers of hope. We know that there is probably a long road ahead for Micah. He was doing these amazing things today, and we saw glimmers of our Micah whom we know and love. We know he is still in there, but most of the day he still stares into space and only tries to communicate. Normally, Micah has a lot to say, so I know it is so frustrating to not be able to get the words out. He says nothing hurts. We are thankful for that and continue to pray that he will not have any more pain. You all have been amazing. My inbox is flooded every time I check with words of encouragement, I have had helpers come and stroll/play with Margot, we have had every meal provided for us, and there are more offers than we can even accept to help. Thank you so much, you have no idea how much we appreciate you. Matt was able to have a nice time with two friends at the hospital tonight who were able to encourage him and to challenge him to make the choice to trust the Lord who is faithful instead of relying on the brokenness that his eyes see. He then called and encouraged me to do the same. May the Lord be glorified by Micah's life and may his story be a testimony to how great our God is. Continue to pray, friends. The Lord is answering, and His name is being proclaimed to hundreds for this little boy.

A light shining in the darkness

2011-03-02T07:29:00.003-06:00

Matt had a great night last night and felt what he called "a peace that didn't make any sense." And lo and behold, Micah woke up this morning! He requested to play video games and to go pee pee. Praise the Lord, for He is good! Keep praying fervently for our little Micah, all ye saints.

A Hard Day

2011-03-01T23:48:00.002-06:00

First, our dear friends, can I please tell you that your comments, e-mails, texts, messages, etc. mean the world to us. We love to hear from you! We obviously have not the time or strength to respond to most of them, but we are receiving them and they are encouraging us. Also, I know I said we are ready for visitors. We are, but please know that there is only a small part of the day that we are without doctors and that we need to care for our son first and foremost. We are pleasers by nature and it is hard for us to say no, but if we do-it is because we are looking out for Micah at that point. He is very introverted and gets stressed at home when he is well with lots of visitors. Physical therapy recommended that we keep him as soothed and calm as possible so one or two extra people in the room is plenty. He also needs time with mama and dada's full attention. He is a needy child when not sick. It might mean that one of us takes a walk with you and lets Micah rest with the other. I know you all understand.

Okay, now that I feel like I won't hurt feelings if I ask you to wait for another time :) :

Micah had a rough day. He was a worse than yesterday and that is hard to see. I saw glimpses of my Micah yesterday and today I got moans and blank stares. He looks terrified every time a doctor walks in the room. I don't want him to be scared. I long to scoop my baby into my lap and rock him and love on him. Today, I had to sit next to him most of the day and try to get him to unclench his muscles. He was extremely stiff and couldn't unclench his jaw. I only got one word the whole day and that was a "yes" to him wanting to sit up. He wants to be better so much. He can't play his game any more, so I played it for him. I am brokenhearted. I don't sleep in a bed with my husband, I don't have all my children at home with me, my sweet baby is going through hell, and I am angry. I am angry that I know God could heal him in an instant and He's not, I am angry that Satan is telling me lies that God doesn't love us anymore and that he doesn't care, and that He is hurting my baby for no reason, I'm angry that I get to see my other son for about 10 minutes a day, I'm angry that there is no improvement. Basically, today I am just angry. Please pray for perseverance. We are growing weary. Continue to clothe us in Scripture-we need it, and it is hard to find time to sit with our Bibles.

Oh, my sweet Micah,

I know one day soon you are going to be rejoicing with us in awe at your healing. You have such a mature faith for such a young boy, and I can't wait to see what the Lord does with you. We love you so much. I told many today that my love for you must have quadrupled in the last few days. I will never look at you the same again. You are such a treasure, and we love you more than you will ever know. Dr. Mukundan thinks you will write the book on ADEM one day!

Before the throne of God above

I have a strong and perfect plea.

A great high Priest whose Name is Love

Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on His hands,

My name is written on His heart.

I know that while in heaven He stands

No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair

And tells me of the guilt within,

Upward I look and see Him there

Who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died

My sinful soul is counted free.

For God the just is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,

My perfect spotless righteousness,

The great unchangeable I AM,

King of glory and of grace,

One in Himself I cannot die.

My soul is purchased by His blood,

My life is hid with Christ on high,

With Christ my Savior and my God!

Feeding Tube

2011-03-01T11:44:00.003-06:00

So we are all glad that Micah has been given a feeding tube. He was a little upset at first, but is fine now. We have to wait on the dietician to start any nourishment, but we all feel food will do him good. He was given the Benydryl last night which made him very lethargic again. Today, when I got here, I noticed he can't speak at all anymore. His jaw is also clinched making eating now impssible. It is hard to see those changes, and we are all praying that tomorrow will show some improvement. He will have ten doses total of the IV steroid and he is now taking dose 2.

Matt and I are wearing down. They have lifted any precautions about Micah being infectious so we would love visitors. Seeing familiar faces will do us all good. We are going to bring Owen up this evening and everyone thinks this will be great for both of them.

A quick word about Micah's condition. First, this is very rare. They see it here at the hospital occasionally, but our pediatrician has only seen it once before. Some people have called the doctor's office making sure that their children are safe. Please know that this rarely ever happens. Micah did have some colds before this, but this is Micah's body going haywire post infection. They are trying to find out what virus/bacteria he had-but he is testing negative for all of them meaning they were no longer infecting his body even when he started with these symptoms.

Micah Quote

2011-02-28T23:56:00.001-06:00

"We are going to have to get outside"

I said "you are right sweet boy and as soon as they lift you off restriction I am going to stroll you around the hallways!"

Not Quite Midnight!

2011-02-28T23:41:00.003-06:00

Thought you might like to peek at our super trooper. He is being so brave and sweet and I tell him multiple times a day how proud I am of him. He hasn't complained once except for saying his hand hurt after his new IV today. And you know what-that vein blew. He was trying to tell us the whole time something wasn't right-poor guy. Last I talked to Matt, they were going to try to start a new one tonight. Micah still is not eating. He was loving his pediasure until he had a bad tummy episode. We don't know if he is reacting to food on an empty stomach or all the medicine. So they will give him medicine to help with his stomach-imagine that. Seeing all this medicine go into my child is hard-I don't even like to give him Advil at home. We aren't getting good feedback when we suggest the feeding tube-apparently the children don't like it. If he doesn't have something tomorrow, we are going to have to do something. The steroids were causing a weird swelling of the face reaction so we had to stop them for a little while. We were feeling discouraged because this is the medicine that he needs, but some benydryl before seemed to do the trick and he was able to finish round 1! I am eager to see him again already. It is getting increasingly harder to walk out of that room at night. Sleep tight my bubsy tubsy-I love you a million badrillion googleplex!

New Medicine

2011-02-28T16:14:00.003-06:00

We finally got the okay to start the intravenous methylprednisolone (steroids) and praying they will help recovery!

Neurology Report

2011-02-28T10:16:00.002-06:00

Neurology stopped by. They said that Micah's condition is definitely what they would expect based on the MRI. He said that he wouldn't expect to see much improvement for a least a few days. They think we will almost for sure be here the whole week (steroids are a five day course). They think we will indeed start steroids; we are just waiting for the green lights from all parties taking care of Micah. The said we need to be prepared to be in it for the long haul. This could take extensive rehab to get Micah back to where he was-they mentioned months even years and he may possibly never fully recover. We know that Micah is one tenacious little boy and if we can get him healthy again-he will be bound and determined to run around with Owen and get his golf game back! Please pray friends that Micah will improve soon. We hate seeing our little boy like this.

Thought You Might Like To Know

2011-02-28T09:44:00.002-06:00

Micah loves this hand held video game. We got it out, and he could barely hold it or press buttons. He was bound and determined to play that game and his little persistent personality shone through as he got those thumbs to push the buttons. He is talking about the cards too!
"Come on Queen!"

Monday Morning Update

2011-02-28T08:48:00.007-06:00

I know it is confusing about what is going on with Micah. His diagnosis is still almost certainly ADEM. Overall, Micah is still losing cognitive response. He cannot communicate well, though we see him wanting to. It is as if he can't get his mouth to say what he is thinking, or he is having thoughts but can't interpret them. He did have a menu today for breakfast and read the words apple and milkshake. He didn't know if he wanted those or not (Micah hates apples and loves milkshakes). He cannot walk, sit up on his own or respond to most questions (although a request to know what time it is will almost always elicit a quick glance at the watch). He said he wanted to sit in my lap but when we got him up, he said it hurt and he vomited. He has no food whatsoever in his body so not much came up. We are trying to avoid a feeding tube but may have no choice. He is unable to swallow, so he is drooling. Our hope is that we will be able to start the steroids soon and he will be able to swallow and eat.

We have some of the brightest minds working on his case and they are still processing, researching, and making decisions. We have met with two doctors today and this is what we know: He is still testing negative for all the infectious diseases, but yes this still could be a bacterial meningitis. It is not likely, and the spinal fluid has a "viral flavor" but there is just no way to know. When we reach the 48 hour mark, and the tests are still negative we will begin steroids. Steroids are the first line treatment for ADEM but would be terrible if Micah was fighting a herpes virus. This is highly unlikely because no one has had any cold sores, but we have to be sure.
There is also no way to be able to tell if this is infectious or just post-infectious/inflammatory- hence the masks and gloves. The feeling is that it is post infectious, but we still probably shouldn't have visitors in our room. However, we are up here all day and a walk with a friend would be nice! Something that is different from our original thoughts of the MRI is that Micah does have a significant amount of inflammation along his entire spinal cord. There is also inflammation and swelling of the brain lining and along the brain stem. Basically, some kids pop right back after this and some have to have extensive therapy to learn to walk, talk, etc. There is absolutely no way to know and to be frank, I really could care less at this point. We just want our son to be healthy again. Micah's case is very rare. Our pediatrician said he spent a few hours reading up on it yesterday (so did Matt, so he can talk very candidly with the doctors which I appreciate immensely).
Everyone is asking how we are doing. I get my batteries charged every night as I sleep in my own bed and get to go home and be a mom to Owen for an hour at night, but Matt is growing increasingly weary. It is extremely hard to be up here alone with Micah as I learned yesterday. I will stay here all day and will encourage Matt to go out this afternoon. We are scared, sad, and tired, but also trying to remain positive and getting moments of peace when Micah asks a question about the mL in his IV or tells us what time it is! Some specific prayer requests: that Micah will be able to get some nourishment today in the form of protein and fat preferably not by feeding tube, that we will start the steroids soon and that they will have a positive effect, that Matt and I will keep our heads up and stay positive, that the doctors will make wise decisions regarding our son's care. Thank you all, faithful friends and family. We love you and will keep you posted as we are able.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
-Psalm 34:18

Mom's Midnight Review

2011-02-27T23:36:00.002-06:00

No matter how hard I try to get to bed earlier, I seem to always sit down at the computer around the midnight hour. Honestly, I am feeling somewhat de-stressed and don't particularly want to rehash the day before heading to bed. We don't have any new information but are expecting to hear some more news tomorrow. There is a computer in our room, and Matt or I one will update as we meet with doctors and hear more. Tomorrow, being Monday, we will meet many new faces and therefore get lots of other opinions and brilliant minds working hard to help our sweet bubs. Please feel free to comment with any questions, and we will try to answer them the best we can. Thank you all so much for loving us through prayer. It is always such a treat to open e-mail and read all the kind words. Tonight I read some to Micah as well. And as I say goodnight some things we are thankful for:

-Grandmas! They are helping so much with our other children, comforting us, and running errands and my household. What on earth would we do without them?

-A wonderful hospital

-Kind, compassionate doctors

-chocolate milkshakes (Micah actually drank about 1/4 of one today. I think we may order one for every meal tomorrow!)

-A delicious dinner from Zoe's kitchen from my brother and sister-in-law

-my nephew, "mister man" and his chubby cheeks that I got to see for the first time in two months

-a husband who loves his son and is sacrificing everything to be with him around the clock

-The Lord's peace that comes just when we think we are really going to lose it

-text messages that keep coming and reminding us that we are so loved

-Golf (The tournament today actually had Micah's attention and he would open his eyes quite frequently to watch Bubba)

-Margot's disposition (It is evident the Lord knew she would have to be content to sleep in her carseat and hang out for long hours in the hospital. She has been such a champ.)

-Owen's disposition-we have heard nothing but good reports about what a sweet boy he has been. He knows he really has to step up to the plate right now and be the best brother he can be. He had a pretty good meltdown tonight when we got home-but hey, I have had my fair share too. Once I assured him that I would be the one to put him to bed tonight, he was good to go.

-That the Lord is not surprised by this. He has Micah in his hands, He knows Micah's illness, He is the Great Physician, and He will not leave us or forsake us. Micah says "yes" to a few questions one of them being "do you want us to pray with you, Micah?" Praise the Lord for my little boy's love for Jesus!

What We Know

2011-02-27T13:18:00.002-06:00

Hi faithful friends! We are very encouraged by your prayers and are so thankful for you . I told Micah today that he must have hundreds of people praying for him even all over the country! We have been introduced to new teams of doctors today as infectious disease has joined the company. We are trying to rule out infectious diseases or pinpoint one so that we know where to go with treatment. The truth is everyone seems somewhat baffled. The good news is there is no tumor etc. The bad news is we don't know Micah's prognosis. Some kids just keep getting better and make a 100% recovery; others have lasting effects be that mental or physical. There is no way to determine what kind he will be and from my understanding there is nothing that has been shown to dramatically affect the outcome. There is talk of ADEM (he recommended mayo clinic's sight for information), mono, flu, meningitis, tick born illnesses, hand foot mouth, etc. Micah is more feisty today, and still running a fever. I sent Matt home to recoup for a while as he was growing tired having not left the hospital. He will be back soon with Margot and Owen for a visit. We are growing weary, friends. Being up here and focused on only Micah has made the severity sink in for me. He is still so sick; I am very scared. Seeing doctor after doctor look in bewilderment is frightening. Please pray for strength. They are making it seem like we may not get to the bottom of this for a little while. We are praying that is not the case, but are also preparing to be here for the long haul. They have also mentioned continued thereapies even after we leave the hospital. However, we don't even know how to prepare for the long term because there is just no way to know. We will continue to wait, trust, and pray. We have moved to a real room now-but aren't really sure on the visitor policy for Micah: I know everyone is wearing masks and gloves etc. when they come in. The facility here is wonderful and there are lots of break rooms, palyrooms, etc. and as time goes on, I am sure Matt and I might like some visitors while another family member could sit with Micah. We ask that you call/text/e-mail first. There are lots of doctors in and out and we obviously want to be very thorough with them. Thank you for lifting our family and sweet Micah before the throne. God is good all the time and we will continue to praise Him.

Update

2011-02-26T23:44:00.002-06:00

It is nearing midnight and I am exhausted. It was a long day of waiting and finally tonight we have a few answers. Our pediatrician saw Micah this morning and was just as upset about his worsening condition as we were. He was definitely even worse than yesterday, and he suggested neurology taking a look at him. The neurologists agreed that things weren't adding up and ordered a brain scan with his back scan on the MRI. Obviously we were terrified at what they might find but thankful to have more thorough testing done. He finally went back at 4 o'clock for the MRI and was there for 3 hours. Our families were with us, and we went out to dinner down the street. It felt nice to feel normal for a little while and get something good to eat. We are floating between moments of intense fear and sadness for our little boy and times of numbness where everything feels surreal. The doctors are on top of Micah's case, and our pediatrician is doing an amazing job managing Micah's care. We feel very blessed to be in such a great facility with such great doctors. Tonight the MRI showed nothing abnormal. We were relieved to have MS, tumors, etc. ruled out, but are baffled as to what is making our son crippled and lethargic. They went ahead with the spinal tap. Matt called me just now and told me his white count is elevated indicating possible encephalitis/meningitis. These are just guesses, and they are going to be continuing to get to the bottom of Micah's mystery disease. They have started an intravenous antibiotic which may or may not help. We don't know if this is viral or bacterial yet. Micah will be in the hospital for at least two more days. Thank you all so much for your prayers and kind words. I keep thinking he is just going to get up and start walking, and this will be all behind us soon. That is our prayer. I'm home again tonight to sleep with Margot and am headed back in the morning. I had some sweet time with Micah in his bed today while Margot napped. He held my hand and it felt good to snuggle my baby boy. Micah and Matt played some cards and we all enjoyed a little of the golf tournament while in and out of sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be even more restful as they have moved us to a real room and we are out of the ER.

*Memorable moment: We were having a hard time waking Micah in the recovery room after the MRI. He wouldn't open his eyes for anything-not even a coke icee. I had been wearing his watch for him during the test and I said "Micah, look I have your watch and am going to put it back on you." He immediately cracked his little eyelids to check out what time it was! For those of you that know Micah-this is so him and hilarious to see come out in this situation. Matt and I had a good laugh and agreed we would never forget the boy who wouldn't wake up for anything but a glance at his watch!

Unchartered Territory

2011-02-25T23:51:00.002-06:00

My firstborn is in the hospital. Much like all young children, he has been on and off again sick for about a month with the various viruses of the winter. The last few days he has had some disturbing symptoms, and I have been back and forth to the doctor with him. Today, when I asked him to stand up for me, he stumbled and collapsed and was slurring his speech. I scooped him up and walked him straight to the car and buckled him in. Then I frantically called Matt (he couldn't understand a word I was saying but he knew enough to leave work and start driving to the doctor). I proceeded to grab the other two and get them buckled, grab a pack of diapers, coats, etc. and rush out the door. I started driving to realize we had no gas and literally coasted into the nearest gas station. I called our pediatrician and he told us to go to the his office first (quick note: always do that if possible because when we did go to the ER it was smooth sailing with no lines because the doc. called ahead). Our doctor looked him over and agreed that we needed to go over to Vanderbilt Children's hospital. They started an IV, X-rayed his chest and back, and drew blood. We aren't really sure what he has, but have been told that his blood work is pretty normal (a few elevations that are probably due to the cold he has been fighting the past week). They are suspecting something called discitis, and he will have an MRI tomorrow to hopefully get some more answers. Micah was miserable today and in a lot of pain, but after I left tonight, the pain meds had kicked in and he played with Matt and had a snack. I will update as I can. It is so hard to have a nursing infant, a lonely and needy middle child, and a super sick big boy in the hospital. I am so torn as to where to be. Matt is with Micah overnight. Margot and I will head over first thing in the morning, and my mom is here to give Owen some TLC. We are praying for a speedy recovery, comfort for Micah, and wisdom for these doctors.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

-Psalm 18:2

4 Months!

2011-02-07T19:53:00.005-06:00

Okay, seriously Margot, slow down... please! I am pretty sure time speeds up a little more with every baby. As much as I love seeing you grow, learn, and experience the world, I just want you to stay little a little longer.

We have had quite a busy month running you and your brothers to the doctor. Owen was the first to get the bug about 3 weeks ago, followed by Micah, and then you. We did our best to keep you well, but the virus won. On our second trip to the doctor with you, we found out you had RSV which is a fancy name for a really bad cold. You had some familiar breathing difficulties, so I am guessing you will be like your brothers with these colds-croupy and wheezy. The doctor commented that at least you were a "happy wheezer." And, oh how thankful we were for that. You are finally well, and I am sure your immune system will be all the better for it. Aside from being sick here are a few other things about you at four months old:

-You love to be sung to, especially the goofy song Mama made up to the tune of "la cucaracha"

My Margarita, Sweet Senorita!

Oh my Margot, baby girl.

I love you so much, my sweet sweet baby,

Oh, my Margot baby girl, cha cha cha!

-You no longer have colic. It is so nice to have a happy girl in the evenings! You now go to sleep around 8 pm. It is still hard for you to fall asleep for the night though. I can't figure out why as you put yourself to sleep so well during the day. Sometimes we rock you bed back and forth and pat your back, and laugh at how we would have never done this for your brothers at this age. You are a bit more spoiled than they were-imagine that. Once you settle down though, you are down for the night. I don't usually hear from you until 6 am. You take two naps during the day and sometimes a cat nap in the evening. You eat roughly 5 times a day now and are getting really big. We postponed your well check until you are well, but you were in the 75% even when you were sick. I see you eyeing table food too and can't bear the thought of you soon being old enough to try solid foods.

-You are beginning to really push with your legs to a standing position. I think it is about time for an exersaucer and johnny jump up.

-You have really found your voice and squeal often-when your happy, when you are playing on your play mat, when you want attention. Your laugh is a sweet little giggle, but we don't hear it all that often. You are a pretty serious baby.

-You love when I read to you. We have a few books that we read everyday-you especially like the one with all the babies.

-You love to roll back and forth on the floor, but still need a little nudge or hand to make it all the way over.

-You aren't too interested in having toys yet. You are pretty happy with your fingers and a burp cloth or blanket to chew on.

-You are losing your hair, especially on the left side. I like to call this your "Willow Smith do". You have gained a significant amount of fuzz to replace the hair you lost, and it seems much lighter in color.

-You are fascinated by your brothers, especially Micah. Owen sometimes scares you with his loud talking. I can sympathize-we are working on our inside voices.

-You are a huge Mama's girl; and yes, that does make me pretty happy!

-You are so loved, sweet girl!

Enjoying the Weather

2011-02-07T13:25:00.004-06:00

This seems like it has been a rough winter as far as being wet and cold. So, yesterday afternoon we all headed to the park to play since it was 50 degrees and all. They say there is more snow on the way, so we wanted to get all our energy out. I am just not a winter person. I asked Matt what he thought about opening a Spectacle Shoppe in Jamaica the other day; he thinks I'm kidding.

Sickness?

2011-02-03T10:50:00.002-06:00

What sickness?

Our sweet baby girl, although being recently diagnosed with RSV and a double ear infection is such a trooper. Thankfully this little one loves the bathtub, because we have spent our fair share of time in a steamy bathroom helping her breath a little easier. But, who wouldn't love an aromatherapy soak, in a sauna, followed by a chamomile and calendula lotion massage? Unfortunately there is no magic cure for this, and we just do what we can to make her comfortable and wait the next couple of weeks for a (hopefully) full recovery. Thankfully, we can treat the ear infection and she is sure to be feeling better with at least one thing off her plate. Matt rigged her bed up on a 45 degree angle, and she slept pretty well last night. It is the mornings that are rough as she works so hard to loosen up all the phlegm that has settled through the night. We are so thankful for good doctors, good medicine, and a happy baby as we trudge through this mess. Owen said the other day "Mama, what if God healed us immediately when we asked Him?" Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful! "We are thankful that he heals us at all," I told him and "we will keep asking him every day to continue to do so."

Just Because

2011-01-27T10:22:00.002-06:00

Margot looked precious before church Sunday in the sweet dress Grammy gave her for Christmas and the adorable hat borrowed from her fashionista friend, Hazel.

Winter Time

2011-01-22T15:34:00.005-06:00

Dreaming of Spring! I had the boys draw and label (Micah) the parts of a flower.

and make some vegetable flowers!
Bath time is always a hit

Too much snow for this Mama. I did take pictures from the door.
Snuggling with brother for a rest. These two have the same nose and lips-so cute.

3 Months (and a day!)

2011-01-07T13:36:00.006-06:00

Oh sweet baby girl,

How are you three months old already, yet it feels like you have always been here? This month you celebrated your first Christmas. You were too young to remember, but we got more glimpses of your personality as we ventured away from the norm. You are very particular, and you have a temper! I don't usually see this side of you because you are usually home with me in our cocoon. I don't venture out as much with you as I did with the boys because it has been so cold. Many people have asked me if I can tell the difference yet in boys and girls. So much is hard to say if it is personality or "girliness." You love to "talk" to me. You will hold a 20 minute conversation of "ah ga's" with me if we aren't interrupted by the brothers. You love to figure things out and will get frustrated if you can't get it right. I tried to introduce a new sound for you to mimic and after a minute of trying, you burst into tears. Now you spend a lot of time with you tongue hanging out trying to get out a new sound. This is a lot like Micah was. You loved your play mat until you mastered swatting Mr. Bee and successfully grabbing and pulling him to your mouth. Now it is on to bigger and better things-the bumbo. You can grasp a teether or rattle and sometimes get it into your mouth. I can tell this is very satisfying to you. The boys love to bring you new toys to try out. Today I went to change out some laundry, and you had at least twenty things lying around you when I returned! You refuse a paci. In fact, you will scream extra loud if I try to appease you with one when you are sad. I have pretty much given up and resolved myself to the fact that you will probably just suck on your hands to soothe yourself. You now go to bed around 8:00 instead of 11. This has added back a middle of the night feeding around 4. I can't decide which is better-having you stay up late with us and getting no alone time with Dada, or waking up from precious sleep to feed you. Alas, we will work the kinks out yet. You are doing a great job sleeping just the same. You are such a treasure to us, Margot. You are already so loved, and we are loving getting to know you better. I anticipate great months ahead as I learn more about the wonderful daughter, whom the Lord has blessed me with.

Christmas: Better Late than Never!

2011-01-06T20:34:00.006-06:00

Whew! Being a mom of three, battling postpartum hormones, and trying to break away for a few minutes of blogging just don't coincide. Christmas came and went in such a hurry. I struggled this year. I wanted to do what I always do. I wanted to give nice gifts, make our home festive, teach our children about our Savior. I quickly realized that I couldn't meet my own perfect standard, and I became frustrated. Alas, looking back on December, we had a really good time. The boys loved doing "Advent Devotions" and getting a special treat at night. Micah really understood so much this year. He would make real prayer requests at night about himself and his sin (Wow! I could take a lesson from my five year old on his ability to admit his faults and ask for God's help to overcome them) We celebrated with Matt's family on the 24th, went to one of our favorite church services of the year (during which Owen fell asleep, while singing O Come All Ye Faithful), ordered Thai takeout, and came home to quickly get everyone in bed. Our Christmas morning was full of fun and smiles. The boys were so excited about their gifts. Margot slept through this, but we did manage a few pictures of her with her new teething rings before we headed to Memphis to see my family. Most of the details are a blur (as is much of my life these days) but here are a few pictures from a wonderful celebration.

Margot's Baptism

2010-12-19T16:42:00.002-06:00

We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders He has done....Then they would put their trust in God. --from Psalm 78

Trying to get a family shot!

Margot,

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19

A glorious baptism day indeed!

Two Months!

2010-12-06T15:24:00.005-06:00

(We have an ultrasound photo of you with your thumb up like this)

Baby girl,

You are two months old today. I told Dada last night that you have been here such a short time, but I cannot imagine my life without you. You have already left such an imprint in our family. You had your first holiday get together this month. You had a wonderful time at Grammy's and then got really fussy. That combined with the horrible rash on your face led me to think you did indeed have an allergy. I had suspected wheat for a couple of weeks and therefore avoided it, but I decided to have a little over the holiday. You let us know that we are going to have to forgo that grain for a while. Since we got back, and I got back on my no-wheat, low dairy diet, you are a happy baby with a clearing rash! It is no surprise that your reflux is tons better too. I am sad that you may have an allergy, but thankful that we seem to have discovered it early to avoid unnecessary suffering on your part. We will go to the doctor on Thursday, but I am pretty sure you have grown your fair share. We never saw so many rolls on the boys! We are getting glimpses of your personality now that you are awake more. You have moments where you love to smile and coo, and you have almost laughed at me a few times. You also have moments of intense seriousness and furrowed brow where you study things like Micah used to. You seem more laid back than Micah was though and more like Owen when it comes to eating and sleeping. You eat well and sleep well. You love to nurse more than either of the boys, and I love that special time I have with you. You sleep-a lot, and even put yourself to sleep with only a little fussing. Lately, you even sleep from 10-6 or 11-7, (depending on what time the last feeding is) and I am so thankful for all the rest I have been getting. You wake happy in the morning and play for an hour after eating. Then, you will lay down for a long 4 hour nap! Your brothers don't realize how nice this is for them, because they get more attention this way. You will wake up for lunch and play for a little while and head back down for a 3 hour nap. After your dinner, you like to be awake. We bathe you-you love to splash water all over the kitchen with your arms and legs. You just might be an olympic swimmer with those moves! Then, you fuss off and on unless you are getting much personal attention. We don't blame you because you have been asleep for the whole day! We talk to you, let you show us your strong neck at tummy time, rock you, walk with you, and bounce you. We enjoy our nights with just you as we watch a movie, play on the internet, or read, and are sad that they will soon be over. We love you so much, little girl, and look forward to many more months ahead.

Thanksgiving in Pictures

2010-12-06T09:24:00.003-06:00

We got our tree on Sunday after Thanksgiving as is the tradition in our house. The boys loved helping pick it out and decorate it. We also got them a small tree (with colored lights!) to use for their Jesse tree ornaments.
Nana with all her grand-babies before night night.
Tyler and Margot-getting so big.

We played lots of cards at the kitchen table. Owen has learned how to play too, which makes Micah very happy.

With Great-grandpa, Bill.

Trying to get a good shot with all the grandchildren at Matt's parents house Thanksgiving day.
Grammy with her granddaughters.

Brothers

2010-11-30T11:36:00.003-06:00

For the past month or so, family devotions have come from the Big Truths for Little Kids book by Susan Hunt and Richie Hunt. The boys have been reviewing their catechism questions that they learn at preschool. I am often feeding/changing Margot during these times, but I am usually somewhere where I can hear the conversations. The boys are really learning such meaningful truths while asking and answering great questions. The other night, Owen was saying that to be a Christian, you have to be really good. Matt and I groaned as we thought "no, you're missing it." Before Matt could even offer the gospel, Micah says "No, Owen, to be a Christian, you have to love and trust Jesus. We can never be good enough to go to Heaven. Jesus was good for us." The most amazing moment as a parent is to hear your child know, understand, and love the gospel. We often pray for Micah as a big brother, that he will help lead his siblings to know the Lord, that he would help teach them the truth of the faith the Lord has blessed him with at such a young age. Oh Lord, may you continue to grow Micah in knowledge and faith in you. May you use him as a light to his siblings that he loves so much so that they will turn and trust in you. We are so thankful for the wonderful relationship between Micah and Owen. They truly love each other more than I ever thought they would. Micah is so patient with Owen and loves to teach him. Owen helps Micah loosen up and be a kid, teaching him how to pretend with his wonderful imagination. We are blessed beyond words to have these boys!

Thankfulness

2010-11-25T09:22:00.002-06:00

Our cup runneth over!

Happy Thanksgiving

Oh!

2010-11-16T10:40:00.002-06:00

Oh, what did we ever do without you?

One Month

2010-11-06T15:18:00.005-05:00

Margot,

Happy one month baby girl! We all love you so much; you have added such a sweetness to our house. Your brothers love you and dote on you any time you are in the room with them. Today, while you were in my arms during their story time, Micah reached over and gently rubbed your back. Owen is always finding a rattle and shaking it for you. They both love to sing the Doxology and Barocha to you. Dada can't wait to get his hands on you when he walks in the door. I am sharing my role as the girl in the house, but I don't mind. You love when I hold you after you eat. You are so peaceful then and have smiled a few times at me. You make little mouse sounds off and on all day. Lately, they are turning into precious coos-music to my ears! You have a fussy time at night when you can't decide if you want to be awake or asleep. Mama and Dada take turns holding you and trying to keep you calm. Sometimes, we give you a bath to quiet you because you love the warm water and the warm washcloth on your tummy. I hate to hear you cry and see you upset. For some reason, it bothers me more than it did with your brothers. You remain very calm and still during the day time. This is why I was so surprised two days ago when I laid you down for a rest on your tummy, turned around, and saw you lying on your back! I am still not quite sure how you pulled that off and think it was probably just a fluke. You have reflux-bad reflux. You spit up all over yourself and me, sometimes soaking an entire burp cloth (and your clothes) after each feeding. I am learning how to help you drink less (hard to do when you can't measure) and keep it down by keeping you upright for 20 minutes after feedings and changing you before, not after, a meal. We go through a lot of laundry around here lately! Thankfully, you are a "happy spitter" and the doctor doesn't think we need to use medicine unless you get increasingly fussy. Despite all the food that comes out, you must be keeping your fair share in. You are growing well. At your check-up you weighed 9lbs 8oz (60%) and were 20.5 in(30%). This is how long you were when you were born, but you shrunk to 19 in. after the cone on top of your head went down. You eat for the last time around 10:30 pm. You wake at 2:22 and then again at 6:22 for a quick snack and go right back to sleep. Unfortunately, mama has to stay up for 20 minutes or so to catch your spit-ups! Mama and Dada laugh at the rigid schedule you keep for yourself. I told Dada, when I was pregnant with you, that you had yourself on a tight schedule. I always knew when to expect your little kicks and when you would be sleeping. So far, it is holding true on the outside. You get that from me; I find comfort in routine too! You are such a blessing, Margot and I love you more than you will ever know. I don't want to take a minute of my time with you for granted because, one thing I have learned from your brothers, is that this time goes by so quickly.

Favorite way to sleep #2. This is the way I find you most mornings. You are still sleeping beside me in the bassinet (on a wedge to help keep your milk down). I know I would be much too cold to go to your room in the middle of the night to get you. It is much easier to feed you in my warm bed!
Bath time-you love it!

Favorite sleeping position #1. You sleep like this most of the day. You really seem to like being on your tummy. I think it helps with the reflux.
Lifting your head so high to look at your brothers! Notice your big bib and burp cloth. Just trying to cut down on laundry!

These Boys

2010-11-04T14:39:00.005-05:00

They are funny. They are rowdy. They drive me nearly insane sometimes. They melt my heart with sweet words. They anger me when they throw fits. They are precious, and I love them.

No time for the lengthy post I was contemplating about life these days. Everyone keeps asking. In short: it is great; it is hard; I am tired!

*Do you see the boys swinging in the last picture? They taught themselves how to get started and go "super high" without an initial push from me. This has been a lifesaver the past few weeks.

10 Years!?

2010-10-28T10:45:00.002-05:00

This past Sunday was my 30th birthday. 30! 30? I just can't wrap my brain around that number. I certainly don't feel like the college girl I am going to tell you about in this post, but I also certainly don't feel a day over 25. Matt tried so hard to make my birthday special. He knew I would not want a big hullaballoo, lots of people, or lots of attention. He also knew I wanted/needed sleep. He took the boys to get me breakfast, a latte, a card, and balloons. I didn't wake up until 9:00! Margot did her part just by sleeping. We then all got ready and actually made it to church (on time!) On the way, Matt said "I want to do something special for your birthday." My response was "Oh, don't worry about it, it doesn't even feel like my birthday!" I meant it to sound reassuring, like "I don't need anything else, I'm not sad about the way the day is going." He took it as though he wasn't doing enough to make the day special. I immediately pointed out all the nice things he had done the whole week. We went on two dates, ate great food, had the boys spend the night with my in-laws, and loved and stared at our new baby (talk about a great birthday present). Most of all, he had been there to hug me when I felt like I wasn't going to make it, to step in and be super dad when I needed a bath, to come home on any break he had to give me a moments relief so that I could make it through the rest of the day. My husband is my hero! The most special thing about my birthday this year was remembering that it was our 10 year anniversary of our first date. I want to jot down some of the memories I have of the time-I know it will be something fun to show the kids one day.

I met Matt during the second quarter of our freshman year at Auburn. We ran into each other some at his fraternity house, we shared a chemistry class, and I had somehow come to find out that he was a "presbyterian!" I remember inviting him to freshman bible study with RUF (we would later lead that study together) and being so surprised/happy when he showed up and sat in my group. We learned a lot about each other just sitting in those small groups and listening to what the other had to say. We knew we shared common beliefs, and I knew that I had a BIG CRUSH! We ran into each other off and on the rest of the year and once over the summer. Matt somehow found out that I was in a music appreciation class on Tuesday nights that first semester of sophomore year, and he enrolled. I thought he just wanted to be in a class with a nice over-achiever so that he wouldn't have to do much work; he claims he enrolled because he had a bit of a crush too. We met at the library and listened to countless music recordings (way more than we needed to, but hey-we both got A's). He playfully put me down about my lack of knowledge of the instrument,; I loved that he knew something about music. My 20th birthday was quickly approaching, and it happened to be on a Tuesday night that year. I made sure Matt knew that it was my birthday (though I'm not sure how), and he suggested we ditch class during the break and get some dinner (a big deal for this rule keeper). He made it seem like he was just being nice and didn't want me sitting in class on my birthday. I didn't want to get my hopes up that it was a date. I tried to guard my heart from all the thoughts that young girls have when they have a crush on a new guy. I am pretty sure I had already pictured myself standing beside him in white, and having many of his babies! At 8:00 we left class, and I tried to keep my wits about me (and not say anything stupid) as he drove me to Noodles. We sat outside on the second floor over-looking college street by ourselves, the waitress forgot about us but we didn't care, we talked for a long time, enjoyed a dessert, and he gave me a card. The card (I have it somewhere) said something about how he was happy about our relationship. I remember thinking "what? relationship? like our friend relationship, or some other sort of relationship?" Matt would go on to confuse me for a couple of weeks before he told me how he felt. I remember feeling on top of the world the night he told me he wanted to date me. I also remember feeling like I would marry this man some day. The Lord blessed us with two great years of dating before we married in December 2002. They were no doubt some of the best times in our lives. 10 years later: I am still, truly so deeply in love. That part has not changed. Matt, you are my birthday gift from 10 years ago that keeps giving. Thank you for loving me, for all that you do for us, and for 10 years of great birthdays!

"Margot-licious"

2010-10-20T15:12:00.002-05:00

Happy two weeks, our Margot-licious baby girl! This is what your Dada likes to say about you, and I think it is hilarious. We are so in love with you, Margot and don't want to forget a minute with you. So... here goes a random stream of consciousness of life these first two weeks.

I have yet to experience real life with you and your brothers as we have had so much help since you were born. However, I am so thankful for all the bonding we have been able to share. You are the sweetest baby we have ever met. You are so calm and peaceful, you sleep all the time, and during your longest stretch of awake time (8-10 am), you try so hard to smile at me. You almost wear a half smile the whole two hours.

You are sleeping well at night-better than Micah did, not as well as Owen did, but we can't complain. You like to eat at 11, wake up at 1 for a snuggle, eat at 4 and again at 8. I often wake up at 4 with you in my arms because I fell asleep and forgot to put you back in your bassinet. I guess the real test will be when we move you to your crib!

You love to eat (sometimes not even waiting 2 hours during the evenings), so we have also given you the nickname "Miss Piggy." I have been advised to take it easy on the common allergens with you as your brothers both had allergies as babies. Because of this (and the fact that you were nearly 8 lbs at birth), I have lost over 20 pounds already! It just isn't as fun to eat when you can't have peanuts, dairy, soy, egg, etc. Of course I have a little of these, just not a big bowl of ice cream like when I was pregnant. We are praying you won't have allergies, and if sacrificing some foods may help- it is well worth it. I have to say that I am going to cheat tonight when your Dada takes me out for a sushi birthday dinner. Hopefully, we just won't pay for it tomorrow with a belly ache! You are our squishiest baby, but maybe that is a difference in boys and girls.

You love your baths, (as long as they are warm enough) and the lotion massage I give you afterwards.

You have a very strong neck and lift it very high when you are on your belly. You love being on your belly and sleep best that way. I am too nervous to let you do this at night, but during the day, you are on the floor on your belly most of the time.

We think you look most like Micah, but have more of an Owen hair style. Your chin is a little pointier than Micah's was, but your nose and lips are almost identical. We can't tell about your eyes yet, but you already sport such long lashes. Maybe your eyes will be like Owen's? So basically, you will probably look just like your Dada with your Mama's nose and hair! We love it that we recognize you and that our children have common features.

I am so looking forward to the coming weeks, months, years with you baby girl. May the Lord bless you and keep you. I can't wait to see how He will shape our family with you as a new addition.

Sweet Baby Girl

2010-10-15T21:45:00.003-05:00

Baby Tyler is Here!

2010-10-13T16:00:00.002-05:00

Tyler and Jessica

My brother and sister-in-law had their baby on the 10th, and Margot, my mom, and I dropped by for a visit yesterday. We tried to snap a few pictures, but they were having none of it. Once Nana got them all wrapped up and in her arms, they were just fine!

Time with Brother

2010-10-13T15:53:00.003-05:00

Owen and Margot watched a movie in our bed the other day. Owen is absolutely smitten with his sister. He asks about her all day, and loves to help get anything I need for Margot. I know they will have a special relationship. He commented to us "when Margot is a little bigger, she can sleep with me in my bunk bed."

So in Love

2010-10-10T15:53:00.002-05:00

There are no words.

They Say...

2010-10-10T15:47:00.001-05:00

Your other children will look enormous!

Meeting the Family and Coming Home

2010-10-09T15:59:00.007-05:00

Margot was born at 1:01. The boys were at the park eating a picnic lunch with Grammy and so were able to come around 2:30 to meet their sister. They were so precious and walked into the room smiling and looking around for Margot. They couldn't wait to hold her. Owen spent the rest of the time looking at all her features and talking about how small she was.

Really glad to be a big brother. I think these two will have a very special bond. Owen has been talking about how he will "take out anyone who tries to hurt Margot."

Margot's first bath. She loved getting her hair washed especially. Matt and I just couldn't stop staring.

Taking a rest after getting all clean.

Going home-finally!

Night night baby girl. She slept great her first night home, waking to eat at 1 and 4. At 4, we had to snuggle for a little while because she was cold, but then we all slept till 7:45. Hopefully, it will continue to got this well.

First thing this morning Micah wanted to hold his sister. We set him up with the boppy and he snuggled her before breakfast.

Margot Josephine

2010-10-07T09:56:00.003-05:00

Margot Josephine
7lbs. 15oz.
20.5 inches
Born 1:01 pm 10/06/2010

You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

That my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

Psalm 30:11-12

Margot, our precious daughter, we never knew how hard we would fall in love with you. We can't take our eyes off you; we can't stop marveling at how greatly the Lord has blessed us. We are beside ourselves with joy. Welcome to the world little one!

*These beautiful pictures are thanks to our wonderful friend Raechel, who was kind enough to capture one of the best days of our lives.

Another Milestone

2010-09-26T18:00:00.005-05:00

We had another milestone in our lives this weekend: our first sporting event. We entered Micah into a golf tournament and were all looking so forward to seeing how he did, if he liked it, and if this might be a sport we pursue in the future. He was in an age group of 4-7 year olds and was the youngest by 1.5 years and the smallest by a foot and probably 15 pounds. It was adorable to see him dressed for his big day carrying a golf club and sipping a special drink he had picked out the day before. We had no expectations. We didn't know if he would do well, if he would feel pressured, if he would be so far behind the other boys. Our little boy made us so proud. He did well in the tournament, scoring a 28 on five holes. Each hole was a par 4 for his age group, and his score put him in third place. But it wasn't his score that amazed us as we watched him on the course. He was so poised, showed such confidence without being arrogant, watched the other little boy in our group and offered encouraging words (not within earshot of Jack, but we heard him) and stayed focused and consistent. I told my mom afterwards, I just feel so humbled to have such a special little boy. We never went over how he was to act because we had no anticipation of how he would respond to the pressure of a real tournament. To see his true colors come to life on the course was such a special gift. We will always remember our sweet Micah and his first golf tournament with such fondness.

Matt was Micah's caddy. I think Micah was impressed by his name tag on the back of Matt's vest.

Vitamin water. He had to have a sip after every hole. He was very excited to have his own big drink for the tournament.

One of the best shots of the tournament. He flopped it from the rough and actually hit the cup-so close.

Very happy with that shot!

Micah had an extra "dad" there. My brother loves golf and came to watch his nephew. He offered some good advice and might even play in another tournament with him in a few weeks.

Owen enjoyed a ride on Gramp's shoulders. I know he was happy for some attention too.

Priceless!

Micah at the scoreboard. He didn't earn a trophy, but is excited to try for one next time.

My sister-in-law and me -1.5 weeks away from meeting our babies. We waddled along together, talked about our contractions, and hoped for two healthy babies to arrive quickly.

Catch-Up

2010-09-11T15:01:00.008-05:00

Sometimes, when you are very pregnant, it is about survival. So, I haven't been as diligent as I like to be about keeping the blog updated. I am really getting the itch to have everything ready as we approach the full-term mark (even though I have never had early labor, you never know!) so I want to update two big events.

The Beach

One Monday afternoon (I think I was 32 weeks pregnant and had sworn I wouldn't travel for the uncomfortableness of it) Matt said, half jokingly, "you wanna go to the beach this weekend." The beach is 8 hours away, but the beach is my favorite place to be. I said "yes, can we?" He was flabbergasted at my response, but like a wonderful husband trying to help his wife get through the agonizing last weeks of pregnancy, he came home and quickly found us a cheap place to stay. Within a few hours, we were officially taking a beach trip and leaving in less than 4 days. Thankfully, I survived the car ride with only about 15 bathroom breaks. Because the boys were so excited and we were borrowing my in-laws van, the trip flew by peacefully. We arrived at the gulf to hot temperatures and a seaweed filled ocean, but no one cared. We were together, we were at the beach, and we were so happy (seaweed filled bathing-suits and all!) We ate delicious seafood and ice cream cones, sat on the balcony in the breezy evenings, took a long beach walk (where we saw a huge blue crab, baby shark, and two sting rays) during a beautiful sunset, swam in the pool, and praised the Lord for allowing us a wonderful family vacation.

First Day of School

Last week marked a big milestone: the first day of school for both my boys. We knew that this day was coming and had been planning and anticipating its arrival. This day meant lots of things: Margot would be here in a month or less, I was going to have two full mornings a week to be alone until Margot arrived, Owen was officially old enough to go to preschool, I am officially old enough to have CHILDREN-plural, in preschool, I had made it through the long hot summer and enjoyed myself! The boys were very excited. We tried not to make too big a deal out of it because we all tend to get a little nervous with big changes. Micah sailed right through the good-byes, walked into his new classroom, put down his back-pack, and got to work. I was very thankful for this as I was rushing out the door so I could show Owen what to do. He was very nervous, had his head down, and a little bit of a quivering lip as we walked into his busy classroom. I took him to the bathroom, helped him line up and snapped a few pictures as they walked to devotions. I stayed and watched my boys worship and was so happy to see Owen participating with a big smile. I could tell when I picked them up, that this was the right decision. They were so proud to show me their work and tell me about their day. I tackled a bunch of errands that needed to get done before we have another little one in the house. By Friday, we had Owen running a high unexplained fever and two unruly, fussy boys making me doubt my initial reaction. After a bunch of hugs, tears from three of us, a patient and loving dada treat of Mexican, and a good night's sleep, we are all "back in the game!" I have to remind myself that change is hard. Here's hoping to a better next Friday!