Day at the Lake

Yesterday we spent the afternoon traveling the shore of Lake Huron checking out a new spot to camp for Fourth of July this year. It's gonna be a good one!

And once again, David slept through all the fun.

Ode to the Mama and the Papa

Before I am accused of plagiarism by someone whose name sounds a lot like...umm...Leaf Haxwell, I will say these words below are NOT mine. They are those of a country singer named Tracy Lawrence, if he even wrote them himself, but he sings them on his album called For the Love.

I had just recently heard this song, Find Out Who Your Friends Are, and had just told Jeff about it two weeks ago today, the day before David got sick and I called my Mom in the twilight hours of Sunday to come to our rescue. I had told him that it made me think of my parents and their friendship and ministry to us...and to the rest of their family...and to the rest of everyone they know, including many of you who read my blog and so I wanted to share the lyrics with you. If I were a little more techy I might figure out how to link it to the actual song for you to listen to, but this will have to do for now.

The words that stand out most to me are "Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?' or 'it's way too far,' they just show on up with their big old hearts".

I love them and strive to be like them in this way. I am blessed with the love and support of many friends and other family members and I mean no disrespect to them by praising my parents in this way, but I just want to recognize them and acknowledge to the world how many times they have dropped everything to be a "big blessing" to me, to my family, and to many others. My Mom came at a moment's notice to care for my children and altered her schedule to accommodate theirs for the next few days. My Dad babysat Kathryn while the older children were at school and my Mom was at work, not only for the days we were at the hospital, but one more night and another morning after we were home so I could get some rest and take David to a follow up appointment without Kathryn in tow.

So without further adieu, here are the lyrics, and for the record, I have actually run my car off the side of the road AND gotten stuck in a ditch way out in the middle of nowhere...

FIND OUT WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE

Run your car off the side of the road
Get stuck in a ditch way out in the middle of nowhere
Get yourself in a bind lose the shirt off your back
Need a floor need a couch need a bus fare

This is where the rubber meets the road
This is where the cream is gonna rise
This is what you really didn't know
This is where the truth don't lie

You find out who you're friends are
Somebody's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me' or 'it's way too far'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who you're friends are

Everybody wants to slap your back
Wants to shake your hand
When you're up on top of that mountain
But let one of those rocks give way then you slide back down look up
and see who's around then

This ain't where the road comes to an end
This ain't where the bandwagon stops
This is just one of those times when
A lot of folks jump off

When the water's high
When the weather's not so fair
When the well runs dry
Who's gonna be there

PICU

Two weeks ago David had a short, but somewhat scary stay in the local pediatric intensive care unit due to a high fever of unknown origin. After all night of screaming inconsolably, and after saying many prayers for his comfort AND for our sanity, I thought to take his temperature. It wasn't high by my veteran mother standards, but I suspected at his age it was considered a medical emergency. A 5 a.m. call to the pediatrician confirmed that we needed to get him to the emergency room STAT. We called my Mom who came right away to stay with the other children and we quickly packed up and sped off to the ER. We got to cut to the ahead of the line due to his age (and his volume) and he was admitted almost immediately after being evaluated. He had to endure a battery of tests, including a spinal tap, to rule out septic infection. Fortunately, they all came back with favorable results, though he was treated the same as if he had anthrax as a preventive measure. Not really, of course, but they did take it very seriously, as well they should have. He was in isolation for the first 36 hours and was on two IV antibiotics and fluid IVs for 48+ hours. He responded quickly, and thankfully that was the end of that. He got to come home before spending a third night. He has made a full recovery and is thriving. His weight at the time he was discharged showed a gain of just one ounce less than two pounds over his birth weight, and he had grown an inch and a half.

Lots has happened since then. I wish I had time to write more. Not only for the reading pleasure of my many, MANY (tee hee) fans, but also because the time is passing so quickly and this was supposed to be a kind of a journal to document my days of parenting for my own benefit and record...as in a journal...as in entries which are posted daily, or weekly, or even bi-weekly...yeah, I'm going to work on that along with maybe one or two other shortcomings I have.

Happy Day After Easter!

2 Weeks Today

As you can see...he loves my kisses a LOT!

10 Days Old Already