I continue to be suprised by how quickly I’ve forgotten about the aspects of taking care of a baby. It’s only been three years. A couple of weeks ago at a restaurant I leaned down to get something out of my bag and Ian reached for my cup and pulled it down. It fell on my legs, water and ice, brrrr! This morning I was getting ready to feed him his breakfast and deciding on what baby food to give him when I heard a crash. I turn around and he had pulled my coffee mug off the table. The Lord was watching out for him because none spilled onto Ian. When will I learn? Ethan was quite upset by the mess on the floor. “Mommy what will we do about all this mess? I don’t like it” I call Ethan my Mini Monk because of his issues with not liking messes and not liking dirty hands or clothing:)
I took Ian for a chest xray this morning. Poor thing hardly gets to enjoy a morning nap because we have to get everything done while Ethan is in school. So I took him for the xray right after I dropped Ethan off. Thankfully I went when I did because there was no one there when we got there and the waiting room was packed when we left. They had me wait outside the room while two techs took Ian and did the xrays. I could hear through the door Ian crying in anger about something and one of the techs saying something about him being wiggly. When I went in to get him I saw some strange devise they must have strapped him to. We got a call later in the day that everything came back fine.
In my quest to find books explaining the gospel for Ethan, I came across one called “The Lightlings” by R.C. Sproul, published by Reformation Trust. Dr. Sproul is a brilliant theologian who has written more books than I can count on reformed theology and the Christian life. Having read some of his books, I wasn’t sure how Dr. Sproul would be able to bring the gospel truths down to a level that a young child could understand. I was very impressed. It is an allegorical story that presents the gospel in a format that children can relate to and understand. This hardback book is beautifully illustrated and of high quality. It is a story about a boy who asks his grandfather why he is afraid of the dark and the grandfather tells him a story about the “Lightlings.” They are creatures that look somewhat like fairies that were created by the King of Light. They didn’t obey him and so they were ashamed and ran away. They lived in darkness until a baby Lightling was born that was the Son of the King of Light. At the end of the story there are questions that parents can ask their children to help them see the connection between the story and the truths about the fall and our need for a savior. I went through the story with Ethan and he really related to the boy who was afraid of the dark. I think he is a bit young yet to understand the connection between the allegory and the bible so it is a book that he will grow into. He seemed to enjoy the illustrations and asked lots of questions. So, I definitely recommend this book to anyone who may be looking for an engaging book that explains the fall and our need for a savior.
Ian had his 6 month appt. today. He is 28 1/2 inches and 20 lbs 1oz. He is slightly taller than Ethan was at 6 months and a few pounds heavier. I talked with the pediatrician about the possibility of reflux and she prescribed Zantac for him. As it turns out, Ian has a severe ear infection in both ears. I had no idea. I had read recently that a happy baby will not tell you when they aren’t well and they tend to have a high pain tolerance. George is convinced that Ian inherited the ear problem from him and that he’ll ultimately end up having tubes in his ears.
I received a call from the mold guy telling me he had his final report for us. Prior to leaving our house he had taken samples of the air quality in every room of the house. As I had previously posted, he said he didn’t find any significant mold in the house. Well the results from the air tests came back and he was suprised to find that there was mold in Ian’s room. He said he didn’t know where because all the holes he made in the walls in there came back negative, but short of taking all the drywall down, it’s difficult to find. There’s also mold in the laundrey room though that’s not suprising because we had a leak in the washer the week before he came. His recommendation is that at the very least, we replace the carpet in Ian’s room and replace the drywall in the laundrey room. We had long term plans of replacing all the bedroom carpets with wood, this may speed up those plans or we may just have to move Ian into Ethan’s room until we are ready to replace the carpet.
Today Ethan had a follow up CT scan to see if his sinus infection had cleared up. He did such a good job and stayed very still for it. Later in the day we had a follow up appointment for Ian at the allergist and I needed to get my shots. While we were there, they received the CT scan results for Ethan. It had mostly cleared up but there was still a little bacteria there. It turns out that she had wanted me to give Ethan the antibiotics for 30 days and not 20 days. I am usually so frazzled when I am at appts. there because we are all on so many medications with different dosages, I can’t keep up. I also have trouble even keeping up with what they are telling me because I am trying to entertain Ethan and usually feeding Ian during the appts. The other thing that confused me is when I had the prescription filled, the pharmacy said that I wouldn’t use up all the medicine in the bottle. I remember being confused by them saying it but when we got to the 20 days, there was some left in the bottle so I threw it out. Turns out, if I had read the doctor’s instructions thoroughly I would have done what I was supposed to do and his infection would have been totally cleared up. I felt so horrible because we have been dealing with this horrible infection that won’t go away for months now and now he has to go on the medication again. I just started crying in the office which is so embarassing but I couldn’t help it. They were so kind to me telling me I am a good mother and not to feel badly about it. My being frazzled and distracted during appts. is a lousy excuse especially because they write it all down for me. I feel like I let Ethan down and now we have to go through all the challenges that we face with him every time he is on medication all over again. So now on to Ian; he had been doing well the past month but started wheezing last night. So she wants Ian to get a chest x-ray to make sure his lungs have developed properly. She also thinks he probably has reflux that needs to be treated. She said the reflux can trigger asthma as well. I’m thinking that maybe I should have a monthly standing appointment at Radiology and Imaging Associates…
Do dead batteries go to heaven to be with Jesus? Since Ethan could talk he has been very aware of batteries and their uses. In fact, when anything breaks, whether they use batteries or not, he asks if it needs it’s battery replaced. I guess most of his toys require batteries. When a battery died in a toy this week, he asked if it was going to heaven to be with Jesus. Jesus’s death and resurrection and the facts of heaven have been on his mind since Easter. This question led to other interesting questions and rabbit trails and I found that I wasn’t explaining myself well. I learned when I was working with children that I had difficulty bringing things down to a child’s level of understanding and they were frequently left confused. So I then went on line to CBD and ordered a ton of books on the subject. I guess I went a little overboard but I always say, you can never have too many books.
This is just a post about something strange George told me about. I wondered if anyone else had heard about it. Apparently one of his captain’s at the FD, whose wife recently had given birth via hypnosis, told George that they had saved the placenta, froze it and turned it into vitamins for her to take. This is called Placentophagia. He said it was for post partum depression. Apparently this is done in some third world nations. No thanks, I’m just fine with my Wellbutrin thank you.
Some would say I am jinxing myself by saying this, but here goes…I think I have weaned Ian off the pacifier. As with Ethan, once he turned four months and was past the stage of needing to constantly suck on something, I limited the pacifier to bedtime. He would constantly loose it at night and I would have to go in and give it back to him. Once he began rolling around, I decided that he could find his own pacifier and put three in there for him. I began to notice that he did not always fall asleep with one. I started putting him to down for naps and bedtime without handing it to him at all. Then I took one out, and after a few days, took another out, leaving just one. He continued to be able to sleep without it and never seemed to look for it at night, he would wake up fussing occassionally but I ignored him and he would then fall back asleep. So then this whole week he has been without one at all and doing fine. Yay Ian!
