Waking Up with Evan
waking up with Evan
Thursday, June 30, 2005
I took these pictures the other day when I went in to wake Evan up. He is so precious just after his nap, so sedated and loving. The day before this I was so tired when I went in the wake him up that instead of waking him I crawled into bed with him and accidentally fell asleep!! He was so precious when we woke up and I didn't care that it meant a later bedtime!
"Evanisms" from the past week:
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Mommy: Evan, do you want some toast, too?
Evan: No, I don't want any toast. No... no thankyou! (in a sing-songy voice, and it actually sounded more like "no-kank-you!")
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Mommy: Evan would you like some banana?
Evan: Yes, I would LOVE some banana!
------------------------------------------It's Monday morning and Shaun's putting Evan in his booster chair...
Evan: Did you have a good weekend?
Shaun: (Laughs.) Katie, did you hear that?
Katie: Did he ask how your weekend was? How does he know it's Monday?
Shaun: (Still laughing...) Evan, you are so funny, bud.
Katie: (Comes into room.) Is that so cute? You're such a doll! Are you a doll-baby, Evan?
Evan: No, I'm not a doll, I'm a boy. (Very seriously)
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Evan: Mommy can you help me find the green bowl?
Mommy: How about this one?
Evan: No, that's the blue bowl. We're looking for the green bowl, mommy.
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Evan: Evan's happy to see you!
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Evan: Madalyn's my buddy.
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Simply charming.
And it's been a fun week for him, aside from being very concerned about his sister at times and talking about whether she feels okay, and about her medicine--things like that. But Tuesday we got to see Nana and GranJack and they kept him for me while I took Madalyn to the doctor for yet another!! catheter-exam :(. But he had a great time playing with their teacup Yorkie, Brady, and putting puzzles together with them.
That evening we went to their hotel and had dinner, ice cream, and swam in the indoor pool. Even more exciting than all of that, though, we got to ride the glass elevators in the lobby up seven floors and look down to the people and waterfalls below!
I've decided I don't like elevators at all anymore...one two many rides on Disney's Tower of Terror for me, and now that I have kids "terror" is exactly what runs through my veins when I look down all those stories past Evan's fascinated profile and my stomach flops into my feet...but he LOVED it of course, and that was the main thing he reported to daddy (poor daddy who had to work) when we got home.
I should also report that his potty training is going quite well. He's finally telling me when he needs to pee pee, and never misses anymore...we can even go into public in nothing but big boy pants, well those and clothes of course! We are still working on #2. Wow. Somehow that just made me think Austin Powers. Don't go there! You'd rather not. But he sometimes makes it to the toilet in time for the big event, and sometimes doesn't, and I honestly think that's easier to clean up that over pee pee because it stays mostly within the confinement of his big boy pants.
Madalyn...
Madalyn's feeling MUCH better. We had another "special time" with her last night (Shaun covered her again.) Don't worry, I'm not stupid--I'm on to him. Waking her up seems to no longer be "an accident." ;) But it was sweet and always lasts only a number of minutes before she wants to be in her bed again like the angel that she is!! She still has to have an x-ray and finish her antibiotics, but that was expected.
I found her on the floor with my purse this morning and every piece of gum that had been in it was sprinkled around her, each wet and crinkled from her trying to get a taste, giving up on one piece and moving on to the next, until she'd pulverized the entire pack--all that goes to say she's got her appetite back and is as smiley and humorous as ever. Her pig/bunny face--the crinkling of the nose and heavy breathing through the nostrils-- "classic Madalyn"--is back full-force, and that's a great thing for a once-worried parent to behold! Evan had been praying for her at night and we are so glad she's feeling better.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
FLORIDA'S SUMMER SKIES
Summer clouds. I feel like such a cheater, taking pictures of what God made and pretending they're "art." Of course, I suppose that's the definition of art: something that imitates life. Nothing we humans do is ever really original...
But I like thinking that the pictures I take are glorifying Him, are a way of slowing down and appreciating what He made, how unique and intricate. Whether the subject is the sky or my child, I love to frame what He's given me with the lens of my camera and see it in a new way, with new light, with a different focus. There's nothing wrong with that, I don't think? I would even venture to guess that it pleases Him?
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Weekend Fun with "Boo"
My dad came to visit this weekend and unfortunately I could only give him half of my attention because I was so worried about Madalyn. But dad and I went to see "The Rock and The Rabbi" Friday night and we took Evan to the pool Saturday morning. They had a great time swimming! Evan rode around on Boo's back and showed off his swimming skills. He also loved the cool loopy-straw bottle Boo brought him.
Sorry we were a bit distracted with Madalyn being sick, dad! Thanks for the visit, and for the fresh vegetables and the towels you loaned us! Evan had a wonderful time playing!
PRAISE REPORT
I just wanted to thank you all SO very much for your prayers and emails and posts. Madalyn is doing so much better this morning!! She ate some banana and her fever has gone away on its own for the first time in DAYS! Thank you for lifting her up. It's amazing to me that no matter how small or insignificant, (in light of other people's much larger problems,) God still cares about our smaller ones. And while she still has antibiotics to finish off, and has an x-ray exam to pass, and even if He chose not to heal her overnight, we are so grateful that He is still good and cares for her deeper than even we can know. Difficult to believe, but true and real!
Thank you, again, for your prayers!
Saturday, June 25, 2005
SAY A PRAYER FOR MADALYN
Madalyn's very sick. She'd been running a fever for a few days on and off, so when it reached 103 and the vomiting began it was time to call the doctor. I took her in yesterday afternoon and told them I was concerned that she might have a UTI because this same series of events also occurred a couple of weeks ago. So they decided to put a catheter in and it took THREE tries!!! I was NOT happy and breathing down their necks and Madalyn was in pain and looking at me like "why are you just letting them torture me?!!" They said she did have a urinary tract infection and gave her a shot of antibiotics (another traumatic experience for her,) and then yet another shot this morning! She starts oral antibiotics tomorrow morning and has a third shot!! on Tuesday. We also have to schedule an x-ray then to look at her kidneys because she's young to have gotten this sort of infection.
The doctor Friday told me she might need to be monitored at the hospital if things didn't rapidly improve with the antibiotics, and the doctor this morning seemed to think we should just wait it out a bit longer, but honestly I have not been happy with this group at all so far. They are impatient and stingy with their time and don't communicate well...I feel like I don't really know what's going on with her and don't understand why the major doses of medicine aren't helping as expected.
We can't get the fever to stay down. She was just awake and it was 102. We had to wake her, though, because all she wants to do is sleep. She last vomited at midnight and ate a little bit today, but that's been the way--she won't vomit for an entire day and then she's at it again. At one point, when her Tylenol brought her fever temporarily lower, she tried to walk and couldn't stand because her legs hurt from the shots so she put her forehead on the carpet and cried. She's miserable and it's difficult to watch and especially difficult to see no improvement this far, and worrisome. Please pray for God to heal her little insides and restore her to full health. Thank you so very much in advance, as prayer's the best medicine she can receive.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Special time with Madalyn, a special little sister
Madalyn is so charming right now. Last night Shaun woke her up covering her, so he brought her into our room for a bit before putting her back down. I can't adequately express how thrilled she was to have our complete and undivided attention for those several minutes.
She's very used to divided attention and it made me sort of sad, in a way, that there's not more one-on-one time for her...for me to have with her! Evan had only that, and still has that with me when she's napping, but she's never had it except for rare occasions such as this one. I look forward to when she's older and can give her more one-on-one. But I'm digressing, so back to last night...
She smiled and buried her face in her blankie on our chests and sucked her thumb, (which she normally only does when she's in her crib,) and she jibber-jabbered up a storm with wonderful inflection and personality. Let me explain something here with an analogy: Madalyn is to blankie as Evan is to doggy. Yes, Madalyn LOVES her blankie! She will not go to sleep without it. If it's being washed, she refuses. When it comes out of the laundry basket, she will plop down on it on the floor, if that's where it is, and stick her thumb in her mouth and as far as she's then concerned, it's naptime. We've started putting it to her face before we set her in her bed and she sticks that thumb in and is ready. Not a peep. (Thank you Mrs. Camp for the beloved blankie!!)
So here I am off on a tangent again! So last night...she was repeatedly saying to us, "uh-oh, uh-oh," in this girly little voice, eyeing the remote that had fallen from the bed to the floor. She says that a lot now about anything that it will make sense with; it's amazing she understands "the uh-oh concept." And she was talking in sentences and telling us things (not in English) but I'm positive she was really telling us things and conversing with us, so animated was she! Those minutes were so sweet that it makes me sad, to think how fleeting it is! She was so soft, so "baby." She just wanted to rub foreheads with us and stare into our familiarity and smile. The innocence and sweetness was almost overwhelming. I only wished I could hit a "pause" button and savor it, soak it in a little longer so I won't ever forget the splendor of it all; of sweet baby Madalyn. She is truly spectacular to me.
On a different note, I also wanted to report that remnants of Honey and Poppy linger-on in Evan's words even though it's now been a few weeks since they were here. He told us that the woodpecker was singing a praise song, pointed out a pine tree, (that got a double-take out of both of us since we'd never taught him tree species,) and continues to tell the Holly Tree goodnight out his bedroom window. The missing finger trick is still in full-force (that Poppy taught him,) and when all of my fingers are gone because he's snatched them off he says, "Now I can't tickle you!!" (This is what I said to him once and he loves the idea and always wants me to repeat it to him.)
He's been a really sweet brother lately, too. He enjoys pushing Madalyn's umbrella stroller for me and insists on doing it unassisted, and walks around to check on her every so often and baby-talks to her in a high-pitched voice--
"Wheeeere's Madalyn? Hi-iii, Madalyn! There's Madalyn!"
(That's not something he's mimicking, either. I never do that.)
Yesterday I found him sitting on the floor trying to do a puzzle with her. It's one he can't even do without help and he was saying, "first we have to find the corners, Madalyn. Then the sides. Now we just have to do the picture!" And all of this while shuffling the pieces around aimlessly. So funny.
The two of them also love hollering and copying sounds back and forth at the table and in their carseats and catch the giggles together sometimes--over nothing! SO rewarding to see that. And if Evan notices Madalyn isn't in a room anymore he will say, "Madalyn," looking around for her, very concerned. Sometimes he even whines if I explain that she's napping because he wants to play with her. And at the pool today he got worried when he didn't see me put her into her stroller to take a bottle under the canopy and noticed she was no longer in the pool with us.
I'm sure she'll get more than tired of him guiding her every step and insisting on helping her do things the right way (he's already annoying me because he "helps" her SO often now,) but she is so fortunate to have such a tender, loving brother and I am thankful he loves her so well. I hope they continue to look out for each other and keep each other in line. I hope and pray that they are the best of friends always.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
These pictures are from when Kim and Justin Dudley came to visit. They are so good to the kids, (and very good friends of ours,) but the children idolize them! When they'd been gone a day and we were looking at pics together, Evan said, "They're coming back tomorrow..." hoping that I would say yes, they were coming back the next day.
Evan was particularly interested in the baby in Aunt Kim's tummy. He kept telling us there was a baby in his tummy, too, and asking if he could feel Kim's baby again, though nto at all bashful about it! I had to keep him from completely investigating the situation beneath her shirt! It was so cute, and a really fun visit. We went to the pool and ate out one night...nothing too exciting, but it was so good to catch up! Hope to see you guys again soon!
