Philip's Triple Whammy of a Week!

This has been a pretty rough week for little Philip. Monday when Matthew was home for lunch (thank the Lord he was), Philip was walking through the diningroom, carrying all his favorite stuffed animals. Somehow he lost his balance and fell into the leg of one the chairs. Matthew was picking him up when I came back into the room and at the same time, we saw a huge bump protruding from Philip's forehead. I never knew your forehead could swell that bad. After 5 minutes of crying on Daddy's shoulder, Philip was ready to get up and run around again. I did call his doctor and proceeded with another head trauma regiment (sleep in his room, wake him every four hours). The bump went down by that night, but now he has a really yucky yellow smudge on his forehead.

Wednesday, Philip woke up cranky but I thought it was from not sleeping well (we kept each other awake by tossing and turning, him in the crib and me in the twin bed in his room). He also had a runny nose, but we were excited to watch his friend Emma while her mommy Jo Ellen had a check-up (she's having another girl within the next few weeks!). Philip and Emma played pretty well together. It made me envision my house if I had been blessed with twins (right, Carrie?). Unfortunately, Emma only stayed for an hour but that was probably a blessing in disguise. After Emma left, I took Philip's temperature and it was 100.4. High enough for me to give him Tylenol and put him to bed. The boy slept from noon until 4:30pm!

He seemed better upon waking but by 6:45pm, he was asleep on the couch with Matthew. By 8:00pm, his fever had shot up to 103.3 so we put him in a cool bath, gave him Motrin and then to bed at 9:00pm. The night was long as he woke up crying at 11:30pm. I gave him Tylenol, we watched an episode of Boz (Philip is crazy about Boz!), read 6 books and settled back in to bed at 12:30am.

Thursday morning I went ahead and called his doctor because I thought he might have an ear infection. The actual diagnosis... a virus in the family of Hand and Mouth Disease. Sounds scary but Dr. John said it's common among children and shouldn't last too long. Ulcers in the mouth, fever, headache and a body rash. Yuck!!

Well there's two whammies so far (head bump and virus). His third was an awful looking diaper rash that wouldn't go away all week. I thought it was from changing ointments, but Dr. John diagnosed that too... a yeast infection! He told me to buy some anti-fungal medicine and it would go away within 5 days. My baby boy is not even two years old and he gets jock itch!! How sad! I've now had many friends say their kids have had this too which makes me feel better. Guess playing in the hot sun in a wet diaper will do that to a boy! I pray we'll get through this one and not face it again for a long while.

Philip is a tough little man! I love him more each day!

Philip and his chalk

Sorry for the absence of new posts recently. I've been swamped between volunteering at our church in the absence of the secretary (they've been interviewing so hopefully I won't have to help out much longer; I really want to be there but it just swallows up my time to be doing other things), attending to my duties as Publicity chair for our new MOPS group and our women's ministry Ladies Celebration, taking care of Matthew, Philip and our home, and whatever else God allows to pop up into my day! I really am enjoying life these days, but I cherish my moments of stopping to breathe.

One of my newest favorite breaks would be watching Philip walk around the driveway and front yard. Mollie gave him a bucket of chalk which we can't go outside without!

Here's a few photos of my "big boy" just taking it easy himself. I say "big boy" because that's our latest tactic with him. Whenever Philip is on the verge of a temper tantrum, we say, "Philip can you calm down and be a big boy?" He nods and says "biboy". It works most of the time. Thank you Lord for our sweet biboy!






Yes, the chalk gets everywhere, but we have a good time.

Update on Mom's recovery

My mom, Patty, is getting better from the two surgeries to remove her colo-rectal cancer tumor, but it is still a slow process. She did receive excellent news two weeks ago (I should have posted it sooner). After having the ileostomy bag reversed, she was told she would have blood drawn every three months for a year to make sure she was still cancer-free. Her tests came back wonderfully! The nurse said her tumor level was a number 2. For reference sake, 0-5 is considered normal (scary as it sounds we all have free radicals floating around in our bodies; if triggered just the right way, these particles mutate into cancer cells). To compare, her bloodwork taken last December (before the tumor was removed from her rectum) showed her tumor level was 52! We are praising the Lord that even though the treatments and surgeries were very traumatic, Mom is now cancer-free.

On the downside, she is still fighting to regain control of her bowels. She has severe burning and irritation from using the bathroom more often than normal. I am proud of her as she is trying her hardest to reclaim her life. Monday, she went to Lowe's by herself and unfortunately had to rush to the bathroom and remained there for 20 minutes. She was so discouraged and said she would never go out alone again. Mom's stubborn-nature worked for the good and Tuesday, she ventured out to Walgreen's. Thankfully, it was a normal bathroom-free errand run.

I just covet your prayers that her body would continually (and rapidly if it be God's will) heal and allow her confidence to grow as she returns to having normal bowel movements. Also pray that her test results will come back just as clear as this last one did. Thanks.

Philip's Stats

Yesterday, Philip had his 18-month well baby check-up! The results are that he is a healthy, lively 18-month-old boy. I thought he was being much too fussy and wiggly, but both the nurse and his pediatrician, Dr. Shelly, said this is usually the hardest visit and that he was displaying typical 18-month-old behavior. Other than him being a little difficult to work with, Philip had a great a check-up. Dr. Shelly said she is very impressed with how he was acting (moving his sippy cup and my drink bottle back and forth between diaper bag pockets and the pull-out shelf on the examination table, touching his belly upon request, running/walking to me when she took him to the opposite corner of the room). She was even lucky enough to get a blown kiss from Philip... just as she was leaving the room!

His measurements:

Head: 19 inches (70%)
Height: 31.5 inches (25%)
Weight: 23.31 lbs. (17%)

Philip was born weighing 8 lbs. 4 oz. (big in my mind), but he has remainded always on the small end of the weight scale. He actually even fell below the chart for a little while, but Dr. Shelly was not too concerned because his height and weight were at a good ratio. Just before logging in to Blogger, I saw an article on MSN which proves my thoughts all along! American babies are just getting too big these days and the percentage scale is skewed. Babies at 50-75% are as big as babies should be so it's actually healthier to be below 50%. My baby is not below average in health, but probably really better off. I'm not stating this to make anyone else feel bad (however if it causes a correct concern, you're welcome), but mainly to validate my own feelings. No mother wants to think her baby is not measuring up (literally this time). Philip, you are doing just fine and Mommy loves you soooo much!!

Does Anybody Really Do That?

Before I tell you the question, let me give you the answer: yes, me! Now the question: Does anybody really let the tub fill to the point of overflowing and flooding the bathroom?

I had started the water to take a bath (I rarely take baths but I had just cleaned the shower), and thought I had time to throw our mattress cover in the washer. I did have time for that, but stupidly let my internet-addiction sidetrack me. I just wanted to check a few things. Yeah right, I'm at the point of needing counseling. Well, my undiagnosed ADD let me totally forget about the tub. After about 15 minutes I remembered the tub, but also thought I remembered turning off the water. After another 15 minutes, I thought I better take that bath because surely the water was barely lukewarm by now.

If you've never overflowed your tub (I'm sure I'm in the minority here), let me give you directions on how to proceed lest the situation ever arise.

Step 1: Enter the bathroom and scream, "I can't believe I did this!"

Step 2: Ask yourself, "What do I do?"

Step 3: Regain composure, turn off the water, and let out the drain.

Step 4: Run for the mop and bucket.

Step 5: Begin mopping but realize that would take two days to get all the water out.

Step 6: Think, "I wish my bathroom had a drain like fast food bathrooms."

Step 7: Run through the house gathering all towels; don't forget the beach towels!!

Step 8: Remove everything from bathroom and place towels all over the floor.

Step 9: Begin jumping all over towels.

Step 10: Carry heavy dripping towels to the other bathroom and throw in that tub.

Step 11: Place towels on carpet outside of bathroom and jump as in Step 9.

Step 12: Pray that floor under carpet won't be permanently damaged and husband won't be too mad.

Step 13: Realize you still have to take a shower (no time for a bath now) and be glad that overflow rinsed any remaining SoftScrub out of tub.

Step 14: Thank the Lord that your 18-month-old son slept through the whole event.

Step 15: Consider banning yourself from the internet for a week, but then realize you couldn't give your family and friends a good laugh by posting it on your blog.

Flashback to Paul and Kellie's Wedding

Many of us who attended Paul and Kellie's wedding (Paul is Matthew's cousin)on July 15 said it was by far the most fun reception we'd been to in a long time. The DJ was great and really made sure everyone had a fun time. He had no problem putting the wedding party on the spot. You can see here that Paul and all the guys in the wedding did the chorus line dance. The Twist was played and Arden decided to cut loose with Mollie!! Click here for a replay. I suppose marrying off your two children in a six week time frame will do that to you. If you missed my post with photos from the wedding, click here.

My Baby Has A Tan Line!!

After all that water fun, what should you expect!

Water, Water Everywhere!

Last summer we took Philip swimming several times hoping he wouldn't be afraid of the water. Well, this summer we've done the same thing and after a little warming up, he loves the water and wants to get wet at every chance he has!!

A few weeks ago, we went to a water park in Greenville. It was a scheduled MOPS summer event (more to come on MOPS, but I am so excited about being a part of it; in short, it's a Christ-centered moms group which will meet the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month at our church -- moms in the Fellowship Hall for a speaker, craft, fellowship and refreshments and kids, a.k.a. Mopettes, down the hall with a circulum all of their own! I'm the publicity chairperson for our MOPS group.), but turned out to be a little over Philip's head (no pun intended, ok maybe a little!!).

Philip had a blast in the zero depth area, but older kids were running right through and I was afraid for him to be knocked down. We did enjoy a few turns around the lazy river. We'll probably go back in about 3 years when he can get more out of it.


While a water park is fun for some, the back porch is plenty fun for Philip!




Matthew lets Philip get fully soaked before coming in for his bath. He's usually wearing a regular diaper at these times and it ends up weighing about 5 pounds!! Philip loves playing with Daddy.

Yesterday, we spent the day at Ruth Ann's house priming Matthew and Jonathan's old bedrooms. Goodbye Tar Heel blue walls!! After Philip's nap, we all took a break to enjoy his water ring which we had bought the night before.




I always want to remember this sweet age. His little squeals of excitement are precious.

The water ring provided lots of fun... all 20 minutes of fun before a big hole burst in one side of it. We're going to try to exchange it as this was the first time we had used it. Philip wasn't too upset and as you can see was plenty happy just holding his sunscreen bottle.

Waiting and Resting

Matthew and his brother Jonathan are just over two years apart. My brother Mike and I are just under two years apart. I just assumed Matthew and I would have two children, two years apart. Well, Philip is now 18 months old and I am not pregnant. It seems like "my plan" is not working out. However, I am at a point spiritually where I am much more interested in God's plan for me than any plans I make for myself. After waiting one year and three months to get pregnant with Philip, Matthew and I gave all glory to God when it did happen. I want that to be the case again if He does choose to bless us with a second child. I have been taking my temperature each morning for the last 4 weeks, but today I stopped. It was more of a frustration in my life and attempt at making something happen which is totally in God's hands. Yes there is a science in getting pregnant, but also I whole-heartedly believe that each baby is a miracle from the Lord. Why do so many teenagers get pregnant when so many loving Christian couples are unable to conceive? That is something known only in the mind of God.

I thank Christ for Philip daily. He more than graciously blessed Matthew and I and our families with him. If it be His will that I only give birth once, there is still the possibility that a child would be out there who will come to our family by adoption. I would love to raise another child to grow in Christ and especially for Philip to have a sibling all of his own. There is something special about growing up with someone.

Simply put, what I want more than trying to figure things out and plan out things beyond my control is to just rest in the knowledge that my God is able!! Able to do whatever He has planned for me and I will wait until He reveals what that is.

"Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.... Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him...." Psalm 37:3-5,7

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path." Proverbs 3:5-6