| Tag Archive | Motherhood

Tag Archive - Motherhood

School Projects

October 11, 2010 in Chance, Faith, Family, Home, Motherhood, Paxton with 10 Comments

Chance has been bringing home all his work from school. And of course, like every other Mother, I’ve been filing the really good ones away in his childhood mementos box that I plan on giving his future wife on their first anniversary together.

I love how some of his paperwork comes back saying “Cha” instead of “Chance” because he just didn’t have time to bother writing his WHOLE name, or his name is written backwards, or how his stick figure people look more like big bodied bugs with little legs and hair. Chance is LEARNING… and he’s loving it.

Their class had hung this up recently. The project was to design a plain white pre-outlined “person” as yourself:

Every child had their own creativity displayed (some had their parents artistic talent displayed too… come on! this is kindergarten!) but to me, Chance’s stuck out.

As he was creating “himself”, he told me:

“Mama… I’m gonna draw a lot of teeth because I love snacks. I think it’s really silly that my paper person doesn’t have hands because I’m totally drawing him with my hands right NOW! And he’s gonna have green shoes cuz shoes help me run fast… and green means ‘GO’! Hey! I’m gonna draw green on where my hands should be too so they know next time to put hands there. And I’m gonna draw my heart cuz that’s where Jesus lives. And my smile is gonna be the biggest thing because I’m so happy!”

I didn’t help him with his project at all… though I sat with him the whole time he worked on it (btw… this is a good example of what kindergarten homework looks like). As you can see, he also stuck smiley stickers all over his paper person too… including his EYES. And either he’s bleeding into his leg or Jesus flows down into there. I’m not sure. Whichever way, the REAL Chance got bored with this project at about 10 minutes and decided this would be how he’d turn it in.

Another day, he came home with this project and gave it to Paxton to wear:

I laughed first… then my heart overspilled with joy.

You see… Chance LOVES Jesus. I know he thinks about him often because he TALKS about him often. And because he’s the big brother, it’s trickling down to his little brother. And on the days I feel like a failure of a mother… I think about these days and remember I got one thing right…

… they know Jesus.

My kids teach me more about the love of God than any seminary class ever could. And for that… I’m thankful.

First Day of Kindergarten

September 8, 2010 in Chance, Family, Home, Life Experience, Motherhood with 13 Comments

Chance is in half day Kindergarten.

Granted… it’s not full day school yet, but it’s still school… E.V.E.R.Y.D.A.Y.

He is no longer by my side Monday’s through Friday’s from 8:50am to 11:50am. This just makes me anticipate what it will be like with him gone ALL day next year. That means he’ll be in school more of his days than with me.

My baby is growing up.

Chance has homework every day. He has take home reading (flash cards and all) he’s to do with us as well as a coloring/cutting/art page. It’s definitely a new kind of life for Brian and me. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t remember having homework in Kindergarten. Whichever way… I think it’s great. It’s more intentional time for me and my boy.

I don’t know when we’re gonna find time to do his homework. I’d much rather goof off and be silly with him.

When do you have your kids do their homework?
No kids? When did YOU do your homework?

Paxton at 18 Months

May 10, 2010 in Family, Motherhood, Paxton with 17 Comments

Here’s just a bit of my sweetpea, Paxton, before bedtime the other night.

He makes my heart sing.

This kid is a clown.

Wonder where he got THAT from…

Music is in the Blood

May 1, 2010 in Chance, Family, Home, Motherhood, Music, Paxton with 1 Comment

Sorry I haven’t posted since Exponential. Once I came home, I just wanted to breathe in being home with my family.

I’ll be back soon… especially since God’s been stirring up quite a bit in my heart as of late… but for now, I’ll just leave you with a cute video of my boys.

This video is a few weeks old. I FINALLY got around to loading it onto YouTube. Better late than never, right?

What is YOUR family “thing”?

Update on Paxton

March 29, 2010 in Family, Motherhood, Paxton with 31 Comments

Brian and I have been pretty active on Twitter and Facebook from our little trip to the ER yesterday that seems to be seeping into today. But sometimes, 140 characters just isn’t enough… so here’s a more wordy update.

First… THANK YOU for all your prayers. We were humbly surprised and SO blessed when we saw all the replies, comments, direct messages, texts and emails. You have no clue how much we that really carried us through. Thank you!

So… let’s start at the beginning:

Paxton has always had G.I. issues. I wrote about his newfound allergies HERE. With that said, though it’s not “normal” to see blood in stool, it was somewhat “normal” for us to see it in Paxton’s. That’s why they wanted to go in with a Flex Sig a few months ago.

The health of the human race relies so much on our G.I. health. Paxton’s G.I. tract is compromised by who knows what, he actually gets sick a lot easier than most kids. Chance may get a little cold from school that lasts him 4 days… but Paxton will spike a fever and hold that cold for 2 weeks. Sometimes, that cold will transform into Croup or other viruses that just make my poor little man miserable.

Well, 10 days ago, Paxton’s began showing even more irregular issues with his bowel movements. He had diarrhea and a LOT of blood in his stool. And when I say “a LOT”, I mean it was way beyond little clots or faint trails of red. My sister, Helen, was here and I actually screamed out for her help when I saw it. We called into the pediatricians office. No fever. No change in Paxton’s appearance or mood. It was later in the evening time. So, though the amount of blood was alarming, the on-call doctor said it was okay to post-pone and see him the next day.

The next day, they did some tests and found nothing conclusive. Said they thought it was a virus and he’d be over it in a few days.

Fast forward to Friday night a week later (few days ago). Paxton was still having loose stools… but that night, a fever was added to the equation. It was about 100* so it wasn’t anything to freak out over. Babies teeth and get warm… and he still seemed pretty happy. I called into the advice nurse anyway. Pax was taking in liquids so she told me to treat him with babies tylenol and motrin if he got uncomfortable or if the temp went up more.

Saturday: Pax’s fever rose to 102*. We treated him at home. He took in Pedialyte and water like a champ so we thought he’d be fine the next day. However… Pax never got comfortable and he ended up not really sleeping all day OR all night.

Sunday: Pax was still pretty toasty, so Brian stayed home with him while the rest of us went to church. We all met up for lunch after church… but Paxton didn’t seem happy at all. In fact, he seemed miserable. Nothing would soothe him. He wouldn’t take food. He wouldn’t take drinks. He cried or whimpered the whole time, which if you know him at all is VERY strange. He was super hot to the kiss (my guess was 103*-ish) and he would freak out every time we touched his tummy. I told Brian… “I think it’s time to go to the ER.” So, we did.

At OHSU Doernbecher’s (they have an ER JUST for kids), they marked his temp at 104* plus. His poor little brain was cookin’. They immediately gave him meds to lower his fever. Then they did just about everything under the sun to him (in this order):

catheter
rectal thermometer
followed up a stool culture sample (while you’re up there, right?)
IV plug
blood draws (3 vials full)
IV drip of 500 ml of liquids
x-ray of his mid-section
ultrasound (after all THOSE tests came back “normal”)

We checked in at around 2pm and left there at 10pm.

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Good news: we know what this sickness is NOT caused by.
Bad news: no one knows WHAT’S wrong.

They sent us home after they had an extensive talk with Paxton’s pediatrician AND G.I. doctor. We had to go in again today for a follow-up.

Follow-up was inconclusive. Surprised? I’m not. However… ALL doctors involved (ER Pediatrician, GI Specialist, Pediatrician AND Naturopath) all believe it’s time to do the Flex Sig. This sucks because we have a ridiculously HIGH deductible and though this will most likely benefit Paxton… it will take forever to pay it off. Our ends don’t meet now… so this only stresses me out more. However… knowing that we’ll me a step closer to knowing how to treat Paxton makes it all worth it.

Anyway… that’s the update for now. Our next step is to schedule the Flex Sig… and mountains of paperwork.

Thank you for your prayers… and if it’s not too much to ask, please keep praying.