Little Entrepreneur

I love the creative games my kids come up with.  Today Jake decided to open a toy store where “everything is free.”  Here is Jake’s first happy customer!  I think that is the assistant manager testing one of the products in the background.

July 4

We attended the small-town USA style parade in Pegram.  It turned out to be a little boys’ dream with lots of fire engines, tractors, motorcycles and four wheelers.  We also ventured in the the realm of very tame home fireworks for the first time with a few sparklers, Snaps, and little tanks that sparked and popped.  Each child responded in their own very age appropriate way- Sam cried because it was too loud, Ben cautiously observed and Jake was ecstatic and can’t wait to do it again, bigger and louder.  Little Sam came down with a fever so we had to depart celebrating with our friends early.  After putting the littlest two to bed we were able to catch a front row seat of the neighbor’s big fireworks out on the street with Jake and Ben. 

Priceless

This is Sam’s precious little friend Paige.  At the boat ramp today, Paige was handing Sam rocks to throw one at a time, and each time Sam responded “Tanks!”  It was one of those moments when you wish you had the big camera and the portrait lens and the video camera all handy despite the fact you would be precariously dangling them at the river’s edge while trying to keep up with many small children.

Hiding place

 

One substance, many forms

One of little Sam’s favorite foods is turkey meatloaf.  My cooking life is one of angst in the season of life with many little ones and Sam’s special diet.  So when its time to cook lets do bulk quantities and get it over with.   I made mini meatloaves in muffin tins and meatballs in mini muffin tins all out of the same mix.  Marvelous!

 

Are you a caboose or an engine?

My sweet friend Stephanie and I talk almost daily even though we have lived in different states for the last 8 years.  As a mom of 3 little ones and a woman who loves God and His word, she is always a great source of encouragement to me in our parallel struggles and adventures of family life.  Lately she has been asking, “Are you a caboose or an engine today?”  - Did you get up early, spend time with the Lord, and prepare yourself for the day with careful planning and intention?  Are you ready to lead or are you just trying to catch up to a runaway train?  This analogy has helped me focus and define my goals for being effective in my role as a homemaker. 

Despite my best laid plans and efforts for more productive and educational activities this morning, we ended up on the back porch blowing bubbles in our pajamas.  The train went on a detour but not completely off track.  Maybe every once in awhile that’s not such a bad thing.

Summer moments.

Happy boys.  They sure do love to eat-  Sam has been doing great so far since coming back from Cincinnati.

Ben and Sam doing some “school” together.  Using glue is always a very popular activity.  Note that Puppy and Elephant are also present in class today.

The Reagan and Pereira boys watching the monkeys at the zoo.

Abby’s first haircut

I did not anticipate needing to cut my infant’s hair at only 5 months old, but with the bald spots and mullet she had going I decided it was time.  The ring of crazy hair around the sides of her head reminded me of Crusty the Clown. Once the bald spots fill in and catch up with the rest of her hair, we’ll let it grow longer!  Abby started crying and flopping around in the seat so I never did get an after picture. 

Matching “Puppies”

Sam has a special blanket that he is completely attached to.  “Puppy” as he is affectionately called has endured many illnesses and hardships with Sam, including the 8 day hospitalization and he even went into the endoscopy.  It is a sad hygiene situation when you only have one lone Puppy-the hour it takes for the washer and dryer to finish Puppy’s bath feel like an eternity when you are having a bad day and you are only 2 years old.    We finally got wise to the security object situation and purchased “A pair and a spare” pink version of Puppy for Abby- identical triplets, so there is always a backup available in crisis.  Sam was delighted to bestow these precious items on his sister.  “JUST LIKE MINE!!!!” he declared with triumph.

Surprisingly, pink Puppy seems to be just as comforting as original Puppy.  So pink Puppy is loved on by Sam and then handed over to Abby occasionally throughout the day.  I wonder how long Abby will tolerate this kind of “sharing.”

The Pereira Swim Team

Trip to Cincinnati

We finally took Sam to his long anticipated appointments with the doctors at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.  He underwent an extensive evaluation to see if they could determine the cause of his poor weight gain and problems with food intolerances.  It was a hard week for us and him to endure these procedures, but we are thankful to have the opportunity to get this level of care.

The main finding was an abnormally high number of eosinophils in Sam’s colon, which sometimes causes chronic abdominal pain.  The cause may be foods or may be an abnormal immune response to his normal intestinal flora.  We will keep him on his restricted diet and try a new medicine that helps reduce colon inflammation.  The doctor said often kids will eventually outgrow this condition.  We are still do not have a definitive diagnosis, but this is “a target to shoot at” as the doctor put it.  Sam’s symptoms go in cycles, so if he goes into a sick cycle again we can come back to this new GI doctor for another evaluation while he is having problems.

Sam about to rock his upper GI series.

It ended up taking 3 people to hold him down for an hour to get all the images needed.

 

We were so blessed to stay with Jason’s family in Cincinnati.  The boys had so much fun playing with their cousins.

 

We are relieved the week is over and pray that Sam will do well with his new medicine.  I always remind myself that God did not make mistakes when he made Sam, and he will use this to His glory.  Sam, like all of our children, belongs to the Lord!

Heeeeere we go!

Our big trip is finally here.  We are taking Sam to the Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.  This opportunity is a huge blessing for Sam and we are hopeful they will be able to secure a diagnosis for us and help manage his problems better.  Here is a summary of our week-

Sunday- clear liquids only all day, laxatives and 3 enemas before bed

Monday- meet with GI doctor at 8:30, undergo upper and lower endoscopy under anesthesia at 12:30.  After that he can eat!

Tuesday- meet with allergist, undergo prick testing and have food patches placed on his back

Wednesday- no medical appointments

Thursday- Follow up with GI doctor to review pathology results

Friday- Follow up with allergist and nutritionist on patch test results

 

This is a huge undertaking for us to bring our whole family on this trip.  Thankfully Jason’s brother has very graciously invited us to stay with them- I hope they won’t regret it as we are quite the family circus.  Please pray for Sam’s safety to undergo the procedure and that he will be consolable through all of this testing.  Please pray that the doctors will have wisdom to help Sam be able to eat and grow and be a happy, healthy little boy!

Making progress

Happy Birthday to Jake!

 

Jake’s 5th birthday party was at Bounce U, or “The Jump-Jump-Slide” as Jake and Ben have coined it.  We had the best time.

Now for the big visit to the pediatrician tomorrow, where two of my children will receive a grand total of 10 vaccinations.  Just a small downer on an otherwise fabulous turning 5 celebration. Lord help us.

The Aftermath

It has been 2 weeks since the flood.  God’s grace and goodness to spare our home is overwhelming.   We are surrounded by constant reminders of the monstrous murky brown waters that rose so quickly to overtake our community.  They have left devastation that will never be fully repaired.  The reality of what has happened is sinking in in new ways for us- it is surreal to be inside your house where everything is the same, but all around us our peaceful street and our world has changed.   Looking out the front door, going to the grocery store… there is debris piled everywhere.  Physical signs of homes and businesses destroyed.  Each day there are five or six search and rescue vehicles parked in front of my house from dawn till dark.  Dump trucks and excavators working on the once quiet riverside trail.  Boats and cadaver dogs.  All signs of life lost, one body not yet recovered.  Red cross relief vans.  Helicopters circling overhead.  Police cars patrolling up and down the street.  Today a couple drove by and said some things had just been stolen from their house. 

The kids are different too.  We could pretend we weren’t scared while the rain kept coming and the water was rising, we told them we are having a rainy day party, with lots of friends over, and Mommy is just organizing some things to pack in the car!  But in the aftermath we cannot pretend that people aren’t hurting, homes aren’t wrecked.  They see it everywhere we go.  And they ask so many questions that are hard to answer without getting into some pretty heavy theology.  Their play is different- lots of narrative about natural disasters, a lot of rescues.  I pray for wisdom that we will make the most of every opportunity to teach them through this experience.  Every night Ben prays, “And thank you God for protecting our house.” 

I am not complaining- we are not suffering.  But we are hurting for the many people whose lives have been turned upside down by this flood.  We are trying to help where we can.  None of us will ever be the same.

USA today article about my neighborhood!

Here

Flood

For all my friends who live other places!

Our house was not damaged, but many homes in our neighborhood were destroyed.  There is so much need it is overwhelming.  I have a few pictures of my own I may post later, but this is a great summary….

 

Suffering

Sam has been so sick lately.  He is not eating.  When one child suffers, the whole family suffers.  I have cried my eyes out over this child a hundred times.

One new conviction today was, if I would really behold and believe how big God is, and recognize even a fraction of His glorious power, this issue with Sam would seem so small.  It is a problem of unbelief, a problem of being unable to release him to God.  My vision of God is far too small, my vision of earth far too big.  How can I rest if I do not trust?  I can only believe with the faith that He gives, and so I ask, please Lord, give me more faith, help my unbelief. 

I certainly love comfort more than Jesus, and suffering will definitely help remedy that!  And that is a blessing!  Thank you Lord for not leaving me cold and lifeless in my comfort, and my small vision of You.

My prayer must change from “ take away this pain!” to, “MORE of You Jesus, give me more of Yourself.”

                                  Not feeling so great.

Happy Easter!

We even made it to church on time.  The spit up all over Abby and I dried before we got there.  It was a beautiful service and a beautiful day.  I am so thankful that we have LIFE and I pray that God will draw these children unto Himself by His grace and awaken them to saving faith one day soon.

Wash and wear

No more scrubbing to get the sand and dirt out of their scalp, no more bed head, no more crying while mommy combs the tangles out of your mop.   Ben saw Jake’s new do and said, “I want a buzz, Mommy.”

Now I have to look twice to see who is who.  A bit scary isn’t it?

Gardening part 2

So after the sad outcome of our little seedlings starts, we did a different kind of gardening project.  This was no-fail and really fun!

I love to look at seed catalogs.  Then I realized how fun it would be for the boys to look at them too, and incorporate a scissors and glue activity along with it.  The boys had a great time planting their own gardens (after adding brown crayon garden soil of course) .  Not sure what’s happening in the center of Jake’s plot.

Gardening

The boys enjoyed popping seeds into this starting tray in anticipation of our spring garden.  Tomatoes, broccoli, and some summer flowering annuals were started.  Everything was sprouting and looking great.  I put the trays out one afternoon to harden off the little seedlings.  Then I forgot them outside overnight and they all wilted.  Then I forgot them again during a hard rain, and one tray fell off its perch and the pods were scattered and soaked.  Whoops!  The lesson here is, this spring I have too many babies to be caring for baby plants too.  Hopefully the seeds we put directly in the ground will fare better than this!

Mystery blob

This morning while I was making lunch I handed Sam a piece of dried mango.  He took it and went back over to the couch.  A minute later, he brought it back- a common Sam practice.  “Here, Mommy.”  He hands me this squishy brown blob.  Its a little too squishy.  I pause and look over at Sam, who is now walking funny and has a wet spot on his jeans.  Yes, it was a piece of poop that had fallen out of his pants, not a piece of dried mango.  Nice.

This is not my best poop story however.  No, the best one was about a year ago when I was trying to potty train Ben, and 3 or 4 of us were in the bathroom as a group (as we so often are!) and I was putting him on the potty, and suddenly Sam starts crying.  I look over and he is standing there with a log of poop in his hand that had apparently fallen out of Ben’s pants in the potty transfer process.  And he had taken a bite out of it. 

Self Explanatory

Discovery

I just figured out how to use Windows Live Writer to create blog posts.  The things you can accomplish when you get up at 5 am!  This is going to inject new life into this neglected blog I think.  The old blogger posting interface was too frustrating for me to use, so this is going to make it easier and a lot more fun!

Reading

The pediatrician asked if I was reading to Abby.  The answer is yes, yes.  She’s following right along in our Sonlight Curriculum.  Thanks doc.

Irony

I thought they could play outside while I cleaned the house inside.  This is often how it goes with the three boys.  The treadmill effect is still happening- work really hard, but you get nowhere.  I’m happy they had fun though.  Charlotte Mason would be proud I suppose.

 

Abigail Grace

My due date was January 6... so being 2 days POST DATE was mental agony for a mom who has always had early babies. Had a few contractions yesterday evening and was anxious about the road conditions so we decided to "take a little drive to Vanderbilt" just in case... but the contractions subsided when we arrived. I ran 20 flights of stairs outside of L&D with Jason but they still didn't pick up again... didn't want to be one of those anxious women who come in false labor, so we went and got a bite to eat and came home. Went to bed. Was having the most bizarre dream... woke up and realized I was having contractions and that my water was broken. It was 12:15. We threw on clothes and jumped in the car before Papaw even arrived at our house to stay with the sleeping boys. Had a few intense contractions in the car. Rolled into the ER and right up to L&D where the midwife was already waiting to deliver another patient. Everything felt so relaxed and calm. She helped me on the bed, checked me and said, "well you're complete! Do you feel like you need to push?" I said lets wait for Daddy to park the car. Dad got there a couple minutes later, threw on a gown and gloves, a contraction started, we pushed a couple times, and she was out at 12:56! Dad got to catch her. It was AWESOME! Thank you Lord for the gift of this precious healthy baby and a safe, easy delivery. What a blessing. She is just perfect.

Sam's Adventure

Sam's illness adventure started Saturday December 12 when he woke up with noticably swollen lymph nodes in his neck. The following Tuesday he went to the ED on the recommendation of our pediatrician after his neck swelling and high fevers failed to improve with oral antibiotics or IM rocephin.



Sam in the ED on admission. One very sick little boy!

Day after admission, checking out the view from our 8th floor hospital room.

Sam has spent the last 8 days at Children's Hospital recovering from a somewhat mysterious illness that we have yet to fully diagnose. We think that a virus or bacteria caused him to get sick, but no specific organism has been identified in spite of many tests and cultures. Saturday night he was started on a different, stronger IV antibiotic and his high fever finally began to subside after 8 days. His case was followed closely by pediatric otolaryngology, infectious disease, and general pediatric medicine teams.

Jake and Ben doing "doctor play" provided by the child life specialist. This really helped them cope with Sam's hospitalization (and incidentally their own recent trauma of the 2 step H1N1 vaccination experience!)

Thankfully, we have not experienced the hospitalization of any of our children up till now. I had no idea how physically exhausting it would be to care for one sick little boy in the hospital. Being 37 weeks pregnant made it hard for me to care for him alone for very long. For the first few days it was impossible to even go to the bathroom without having someone there to take over for a few minutes. He had to be constantly supervised to prevent him from pulling out his IV or jumping out of the bed. In all of his misery, he slept very little and needed constant holding and comforting which ended up looking like wrestling much of the time. Jason's parents were so helpful to be with Jake and Ben or stay with one of us while we helped Sam. Jason or I have been with him constantly since he went to the hospital. Several friends and relatives also came to offer support or stay with us.

We spent a lot of time in the crib like this in order to help him get some rest.


It has been hard on our family to be so divided this week. It is hard for Jake and Ben to understand what is happening, but overall they are coping really well. Jason and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on hospital day #7. He has demonstrated amazing endurance in the setting of terrible sleep deprivation as he has been with Sam nearly every night in the hospital and then spent his afternoons with the big brothers trying to perserve some sense of normalcy for them at home. What a blessing to be married to such a loving and self sacrificing man! I am certainly not complaining about a lack of romantic date for our anniversary.

Sam and Daddy with Sam's primary doctor who is also a friend of Daddy's from medical school.

It is hard to be a "medical parent" and we struggled to find the right balance of being appropriately involved and advocate for our child but to trust his doctors to make the final decisions for his care in the setting of debate and uncertainty about his diagnosis and treatment.
Over and over God showed us how he has protected Sam through this hospitalization, not only because he is getting better, but also through his orchestration of events to prevent Sam from undergoing certain tests and procedures that in hindsight would not have been necessary or helpful.
This experience has been a big perspective adjuster for us. We have been guilty of complaining about things being "hard" and "busy" as we anticipate the birth of our 4th child. Having a sick child in the hospital has been just a small glimpse and healthy reminder of how blessed we are. I know that many familes suffer far worse things. I want to have an attitude of joy in all circumstances and need God's grace to do this.

Gingerbread Houses

We had a fun time making gingerbread houses with our cousins this weekend. The boys stayed interested in the activity much longer than I expected and did are really good job with the decorating! It is fun to watch the kids (all 10 of them) grow up together and enjoy their visits more and more as they get older.