Getting sick

Today my child is sick. He has thrown up about five times now, and I am thankful he is now asleep and praying he does not wake up sick again.

I must tell you that I find it a blessing, of sorts, that when my son threw up all over me, himself, and the Kroger aisle today I didn't even flinch. There was a brief moment when I surveyed what was happening and thought, "Is my son big enough for all of that to come out of him?"

There was a time when viewing someone's vomit would cause me to lose my appetite for a week. That's where I see all the grace. God allowed me to handle it, to not be stressed or overwhelmed. My baby is sick and I must take care of him.

Saturday is Oliver's birthday and yesterday was filled with anxiety about whether I could get it all done. Before I fell asleep last night (or was it this morning?) it occurred to me that I should have been praying all along. It was a "duh" kind of moment.

Today I am so thankful for God's peace. His Spirit has kept me sane. My sweet husband has agreed that take-out tacos will be fine for supper. My new friend has called to comfort and offer her help. My mother has listened and offered advice. I am so thankful.

My dog

Can I tell you something sad? I think my dog is homesick...for her dog sitter. We've been out of town for about five days. Seth picked her up today and brought her home. I kid you not, I'm fairly certain she is totally bummed about being back to her normal life. We, unlike her sitter, do not have another dog with whom she can play. We do not have a large yard with a fence in which she can frolic. We do not give her to expensive dog food from the vet. The dog sitter sent her back with a "report card" of sorts. She reported how Ally had been so good. There was very little barking and she loved to get her hair brushed. (What! I feel like I've been cheated on by my dog! She never lets us brush her.) I echo Charlie Brown when I say, "Good grief!"

So I feel bad for my dog. I know she doesn't care for the constant attention from Oliver. Sometimes she gives him a little attention and will play, but that's very little and strictly supervised. She still gets too rough. But he'll grow, right? But what about if we have another baby? What then? She'll be even more attention deprived.

Is it selfish to keep her now? This is what I'm wondering.

Loving Oliver

Oliver I love you so much.

I love your five teeth and your silly laugh.
I love walking in to see your big smile one sleepy morning after another. It's rejuvenating to a mama's soul.
I love the way you cling to me when I hold you. I'll keep you safe.
I love the joy you get when Daddy rough houses with you. I stand by to say, "Be careful."
I love how easy-going you are and how you let others hold you...at least for a minute.
I love knowing that God has plans for you. I want to encourage you on that path. Dream big.
I love your size and your strength. You're my big boy.
I love spending my days with you. I love nap times, too.
I love your blooming personality.
I love your hazel eyes.
I love your busyness.
I love being your mother.

Apples and Bananas

Oliver get's angry sometimes for a few reasons. He might be too hot. He might be sick and tired of being pinned down in his car seat. He might be hungry and I'm changing his diaper too slowly.

Whatever it is there is one song that makes him smile again. And oh how I wish it were just about any other song.

Apples and Bananas

You are My Sunshine

I think one really great thing about being a mom is how Oliver can make me smile. Obviously he does it all the time because of his overwhelming cuteness, his laughter, and how silly he gets when he's sleepy. But he also does it when I don't really feel like smiling.

Scratch that.

He also does it when I don't really want to smile. When I'm in a bad mood and I look at Oliver and he looks back at me...I have to smile. Sometimes because he's smiling (and there's no way you can look at his smiling face and not smile, too) and sometimes it's just because I don't want to look at him with a scowl on my face. At least not without a reason...like someday when he does something he shouldn't do.

And when I smile even when I don't feel like it, I end up smiling because I do feel like it. How can you stay grumpy with a smile on your face? It's impossible! And if somebody can do it, I don't want to see because I think it would be a little creepy.

My sad, sad lack of rhythm

I am not a good dancer.

This has not stopped me in the past, however, from dancing however I felt like it in one of two places:

1. The passenger seat of the car where it embarrasses Seth
2. The privacy of my own home

Sadly, number two on the list may cease also. It seems that any time I get remotely close to dancing in front of Oliver (just to try and make him giggle!) he looks frightened. He stops smiling and looks at me as if to say, "Please stop, Mommy. I'm scared." \

Oh well.

Drains of Fury

So since I've become a mom, even before Oliver was born, I started having these somewhat irrational but not completely unfounded fears. You have to admit, there are some horrifying news stories out there that have to do with pregnant women and babies.

I think it was sometime last year or the year before I first heard a horrible story about a little girl who had part of her intestines sucked out by a pool drain with an evidently defective cover. I found out this is called "suction entrapment."

So now I'm just a tad bit nervous (really, just a tad) about Oliver getting in the pool. But when I think about it more rationally, the odds are very small for Oliver to become a victim of suction entrapment. This begins with the fact that he can't swim and will, therefore, not be in a pool at all unless in a special little floaty device developed especially for infants.

I still have the mind to ask a maintenance worker at our apartment about the drain cover on our pool.

Suction Entrapment