What a week!

So much for the frequent updates on my blog! I had big plans for a new post about Laura's new favorite thing to do: catch fireflies. I'll probably do that soon, but I thought I'd put an update on how our little ones are doing. You probably can tell that the photo is a hospital bracelet for Lindy Grace. It has been a busy week taking care of sick children in our family life. We were so blessed to get to go to Knoxville just for the night Sunday night to be part of an anniversary celebration for our dear friends, Rosemary and Bill Pryor. They have been married 45 years, and their children had a surprise party for them with people from our Laurel church family. It was so wonderful to get to be with the precious people whom we love so much! Anyway, we woke up Monday morning to go and play with Will and Sam Taylor and I could tell that Laura was a little "off" and not quite herself. She felt a little warm to me, but I wasn't too worried about her. By the time we got over to the Taylors' house, she was very clingy and acting tired and complaining of a tummy ache. So we didn't stay too long (I'm sure Cindy is grateful!) and Cindy sent us home with an old towel in case Laura threw up in the car on the long ride home. Bless her heart, I could really tell she didn't feel at all well because she cried a lot of the way and kept complaining of a tummy ache. We even stopped once to let her throw up, but she didn't. She told me she wanted to wait until she got to Grandma's house. I have to say that was the LONGEST ride from Knoxville to Nashville I think I've ever driven. I had visions of a full blown stomach virus overtaking Laura, and you can imagine what a mess I really didn't want to deal with. Let alone a very sick little girl who I couldn't help since I was driving. Thankfully we got home safely and soundly, and she was running a temp. of 101. Tuesday I called the pediatrician to see if she should be seen and they told me yes since we have a newborn in the house so they could treat whatever Laura had. By the time we got to the doctor, her temp. was 102.5! The doctor said she just had a childhood virus and really there wasn't anything to do for it but help her be comfortable with Tylenol and ibuprofen. Meanwhile, Tuesday night I noticed that Lindy Grace was becoming more fussy and harder to settle. Oh, and all this time Kevin was traveling through Mississippi (that is really fun to type) and Illinois. We were staying with his parents, which was a marvelous help. Wednesday the girls and I came up to our house to play and to get some things done. Unfortunately Lindy was VERY fussy and I couldn't put her down, so we really didn't clean much, but at least Laura got to play. Kevin's mom noticed that she was having a hard time consoling her when she was upset. By Thursday morning, after a long night Wednesday, Lindy was still acting very fussy and I was really concerned. I brought her in to the doctor, who said to watch her and that we might have to go to Vanderbilt Children's if she didn't calm down. When we got home from the doctor Lindy started throwing up and having diarrhea (sp?), and was still very unsettled. Poor little thing, she couldn't even move without wimpering because she felt so bad. By 9:00 last night the doctor called my cell phone to check on her and told us to go ahead and bring her in so that they could just make sure it wasn't anything more than a stomach virus that was making her feel bad and fussy. Kevin came in from his travels at 7:30 last night completely exhausted, only to make a trip to the ER at 9:30. They were fabulous at the ER. They took blood and urine to run tests on, and they even checked her eyes for corneal abrasions, which apparently babies can get from their own tiny fingernails. Sure enough, Lindy has a scratch on her left cornea. Thankfully all her labs came back normal and she wasn't running a fever (very alarming in a baby that small) and she was able to keep down a little Pedialyte. She was a little dehydrated, but we didn't have to do IV fluids since she was able to drink the Pedialyte. We were dismissed with some ointment for her little eye at 3:00 am. Kevin was so tired that I sent him to the van to sleep a bit while we waited for the ER people to do their thing. So he got a little sleep anyway. We got back to his parents' house at about 3:30 am, exhausted but grateful that they didn't have to keep Lindy. She is MUCH better today, and able to keep more down, and she is more quiet and not so fussy. We went in for a follow up with the pediatrician this morning and he said that she should be a lot better by the end of the weekend. I asked them if they have a frequent flyer program there. You know, after two visits the third one is free? Or if they have stock options since we seem to be there so often.

As I sat there last night, all I could do was thank God for His care for us. I am so grateful that we have such magnificent medical care available to us, and that we are able to afford it, and that we have such good insurance. I was also grateful that, although both children had been very ill, they had illnesses that will get better. I am sure that in that same hospital there are children who are dying of cancer and other serious health conditions. I am thankful that at this point in our lives we are not facing anything like that, and that we have two basically healthy, beautiful children. I am praying now, though, that Laura will not pick up the stomach virus that Lindy has so that we don't have her sick again. She really just got better yesterday, even though she had been free of fever for a day and a half.

We are looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home since Kevin has been out of town so much lately. We're also looking forward to July 4th when my dad and stepmother will be here to share the holiday with us. We have some serious clutter control to do before they come! I've heard it said that cleaning house while children are growing is like shoveling snow while it is still snowing. And with that thought I will start my cleaning, counting our many, many blessings. And I'd also like to congratulate my grandparents, Wayne and Annile Hemingway, on their 66th wedding anniversary, which was yesterday, June 26. They are about my favorite people on the planet, save Kevin and our girls, and I am unspeakably thankful for the many ways they have influenced our lives. Happy anniversary, Mamama and Dadada. Thank you for all you do, and for the love you share with our family!