God Moments

I have no doubt that this post will make some people uncomfortable.  I know there are a lot of readers that maybe don’t “buy into” the whole spirituality thing.  But there have been so many things in this journey that stand out to me as what I call “God moments”, and I have to share a few.  First, let me tell you that I do NOT believe in coincidence.  I don’t believe that random things happen or play out in a way that seems like they’re part of a plan, but are not.  I believe that everything that happens (good and bad) is part of a plan… a plan to strengthen and prosper us - not a plan to destroy us.  Afterall, my favorite scripture comes from Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Every step of our journey with Elizabeth seems like it was laid out for us… which I know to be true.  Let’s start with her name.  We chose the name Elizabeth Kate long before we knew we were having a baby girl.  Actually, I think we picked it out in 2012 when we were expecting Kaleb.  Kate was my great grandmother’s name (well, it was Katherine).  Elizabeth is biblically based.  Like our boys, we chose names based on biblical text.  We gave Lance the middle name Joshua and even started Kaleb with a “K” because it was closer to the Hebrew “Kalev”.  This makes us odd, I know.  In 2010, I went on an Emmaus walk and sat at the table of Elizabeth.  [My Emmaus friends will appreciate this: My name is Jackie Ward and I attended the Greater Sidney Area Women’s Emmaus Walk #51 and sat at the table of Elizabeth (clap).]  Anyhow, I really believe that God had started to work on my heart and prepare me for the journey ahead at this time.  The scripture above from Jeremiah was actually the scripture that was posted on all of our materials for this walk. 

In a Bible study based on women of the old testament, I remember the day we studied Elizabeth.  For those of you who maybe aren’t familiar, Elizabeth was a relative of Mary (mother of Jesus) and was the mother of John the Baptist.  Elizabeth was pretty advanced in age when she found out she was pregnant.  She was also told ahead of time that her son would be different than others, that he would serve a great purpose and that he would prepare a way for the savior.  In this study, we talked about the turmoil that Elizabeth must have felt with this.  Complete joy for her pregnancy, of course… but inner turmoil as a mother knowing that her child would be different and would maybe lead a difficult life.  We talked about how none of us want our children to be different, really, and how that knowledge is hard to swallow as a parent.  None of us want our children to struggle or suffer physically or socially.  As we sat in the car after our Down syndrome diagnosis… this all came flooding back to me.  Of course our baby was supposed to be named Elizabeth… that name had been on our minds 4 years before she was born.  Two years before she’d arrive, I’d sat in that Bible study with tears streaming down my face thinking about what Elizabeth must have felt knowing her child would be different.  Here I sat, in my van, with the same emotions running through my veins for our own child.  Of course she’s Elizabeth!!

Now that I’ve laid the groundwork on her name… I need to tell you about 2 more God moments that I’ve had in this journey that CANNOT be coincidence (because, remember, there is no such thing in my world).  On Christmas day 2013, I came down the hallway holding my first positive pregnancy test for this pregnancy.  After months of tears over negative tests, I couldn’t have been more excited to hold a positive one.  And what better day than Christmas, right?  Just 4 days later, I sat through church service and felt compelled to come forward to the altars and surrender my pregnancy over to God.  I did this with the boys, too… but I never felt like I had to hit the altar for it.  I was 5 weeks along.  Months and months went by before I looked back at my journal and read about this surrender.  In the same journal entry, I had written about the development of the baby.  I said that we were 5 weeks along and during this week, the baby’s heart would divide into 4 chambers and start to beat.  WHOA!!  Hold up.  The baby’s heart would divide into 4 chambers and start to beat?  By the time I re-read my journal entry that I had so innocently penned, I knew that Ellie’s heart didn’t divide into 4 chambers at all.  It did start to beat, but it was missing a whole lot of what would have made it a typical heart.  Psalm 139: 13-14 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”  There is not a doubt in my mind that God was knitting Ellie together and knew that her heart would be different than mine… her heart would cause me a lot of stress.  Even still, Ellie was His child and she was, indeed, fearfully and wonderfully made.  God drug me to the altar that morning… again, there is no doubt in my mind about this.  He saw what was happening with my child and He knew that I’d need Him more in this journey that I’d ever needed Him in the past.  As always, He was right!

The goose bumps didn’t end there for me, though.  Last week, we finally heard back from Cincinnati Children’s about scheduling Ellie’s surgery.  First, let me tell you that a month ago, Dr. Luby told us that she was going to request that Dr. Morales perform the surgery.  She said that this wasn’t guaranteed.  Dr. Morales is the head of cardiac surgery in Cincinnati, and it wasn’t easy to get a surgery scheduled with him, but Dr. Luby would try her best.  When Cincinnati called, they called from Dr. Morales’ office – Ellie has the surgeon that we wanted!  He’s the absolute best (I know the others are amazing as well) in a hospital that is one of the top in the nation.  Celebrations!  So we started laying out plans for an echo (which is today, Wednesday, November 26^th), a surgery consult (which is December 3^rd) and a surgery date (which is December 29^th).  I wrote all of this down and called B to give him the scoop.  Just this week, I started thinking about our surgery date and also started thinking about those prayers said at the altar last year.  It was then that I realized that my surrender at the altar was on December 29, 2013.  I surrendered the health and development of my baby to God exactly one year (To. The. Day.) before I will surrender her again, into the hands of surgeons who God will guide in repairing that broken little heart.  Ugh!  I can’t even handle how much God is showing off here.  So in the midst of my anxiety and fear… I have to look to Him. 

When I feel alone:  “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” – Deuteronomy 31:8

When I’m anxious:  “Be still, and know that I am God…” – Psalm 46:10

When my heart is in turmoil:  “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let you requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6

And terrified:  “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10

And when I just feel like giving up:  “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles.” – Psalm 34:17

… I could go on for days.  I'll update with some pictures later, too.  Thank you, again, for following along.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

About to punch a nurse...

Haha – if that isn’t a strong title, right?  Before my medical buddies get defensive… I am trying to be understanding, here. 

So here’s a little back story to what’s going on with Ellie bug right now.  On Monday night, Ellie starting having a fit around 2am again.  Dang it – we were hoping that we were on the other side of those.  Brandon and I took turns trying to soothe her.  We made sure her diaper was clean and dry and that she wasn’t too cold/too warm… and that her feed pump was set up fine.  Still cranky.  Dr. Luby said that after they’d ruled out all other things, this was probably just colic.  “Just colic” is funny to me.  I know we do not have a fraction of the colic experience that other parents have had or are having… but it’s terrible.  I think I have a lot of patience most days… but this colic deal is not fun – for Ellie, for me or for Brandon.  Anyhow, the worst part of this fit was over around 6:30am.  She was restless, though, for several more hours.  Around 9:30am, I went over to her crib and she was drenched in sweat.  I took her out of her cozy sleeper and took her temp – 103.8F.  Yikes!  I called B and gave her Tylenol.  I know that we have strict instructions from the cardiologist and from our pediatrician that if she’s running a fever of 100.4 or greater, that she needs to go to the ER.  We had the same rules for our boys when they were less than six months old.  Dang it.  I’m not trying to sound selfish here, but I had a very busy day and a meeting at 12:30pm that had already been moved when she was in Children’s before.  So Brandon came home and picked Ellie up to take her to Dayton again.  They arrived around noon.

 Ellie bug in the ER.  She was tired... and extra wiggly.

 Tracy sent me this picture of our boys hanging out with Uncle Josh at work Tuesday afternoon.

She was in the middle of testing when I came down around 2pm.  She wasn’t allowed to eat until after she had the testing done, so she was a hungry little monster by the time I could feed her.  She was pretty cranky still, so it took over and hour to gavage this time.  Her urine and blood tests for viruses came back negative.  They did not check mucus because she wasn’t congested at all.  Around dinner time, the ER doc came in and said we’d start getting ready for discharge.  She stepped out to write the discharge orders while a nurse came in to take one last set of vitals.  When he hooked Ellie up to see her oxygen saturation, it was lower.  It was in the low 80s.  I told him that her baseline was the low 90s, but that she’d dipped into the 80s in other hospital stays.  Then Ellie decided to play games.  Her pulse ox dropped into the 70s.  At that time, the nurse plugged her into oxygen.  I told him right away that our cardiologist didn’t want her on any oxygen.  Cardiology came in and took her off of oxygen.  The nurse came back in, spazzed out that she was low again, and again started oxygen.  For the third (or 5^th or 7^th) time, I told him that Ellie wasn’t supposed to be on oxygen.  We went back and forth like this several times… and I was pretty darn frustrated (to say the least).  I know he was just doing his job and I know that he was following a typical protocol.  I know that he probably deals with bossy parents all day long.  I’m sorry for this.  But every time he hooked her up to oxygen, my blood boiled a bit.  I knew that cardiology didn’t want Ellie on oxygen because it would only make matters worse.  She has pulmonary hypertension and oxygen dilates the blood vessels in her lungs – exaggerating what was already making her work so hard to counteract.  When her pulse ox was really low (it went as low as 58% at one point) she turned a dusty blue color.  I’m not going to lie, it was pretty darn scary… but the nurse was a lot more panicked than I was… which is why I wanted to punch him.  Seriously, dude… you work in the ER at a children’s hospital… THIS cannot be the worst thing you’ve seen today, right?  End rant.

Needless to say, we weren’t going home after those shenanigans.  The ER doc started the admission process, instead.  Dang it – a full 180.  They suctioned Ellie's nose to test for viruses there.  She came back in (the ER doc, that is) and said that she’d talked with cardiology again and also talked with the ICU.  Both said, “I don’t care if she dips into the 40s, DO NOT put her on oxygen”.  They were okay with her being on room air, but not more than 1 Liter.  They were originally getting us a room in the Almost Home unit on the 4^th floor, but the respiratory team suggested we go to the 3^rd floor where the staff used air more regularly.  Sounded good to me – the third floor had been our home the last two times we’d stayed.  When we found out we were headed to room 358, I said, “Hey, that’s the same room we were in before.  Those nurses are going to be excited to see how much bigger Ellie is”.  And they were.  When we were in 358 last time, it was when Ellie was a month old and was admitted for failure to thrive.  She weighed a lousy 6 pounds 7 point some odd ounces.  She’d gained three whole pounds since then and (while she’s still very much a peanut) she’s so much bigger and chunkier than before.

 After bath picture of the boys with Makayla and Zandria.

Ellie was given Tylenol at 3:30am, but around 4:30am, her fever spiked again.  Since they couldn't give her anything, they stripped her down to her onesie, turned our thermostat way down and put her on a cooling pad.  This picture makes me shiver just looking at it.

The viral tests (from her mucus) came back negative, thank goodness.  So we’re waiting on cardiology to tell us if they think this is some kind of infection or if this is just going to be our new norm as we get closer and closer to surgery.  The cardiologist who was with us in the ER did say that we had to keep a close eye on her breathing and congestion.  She is all clear now, but if she does catch a cold that settles into her lungs, surgery would have to be moved back 4-6 weeks.  We don’t want that.  We want to get through surgery and get this NG tube out as soon as the surgical team is comfortable with everything.

Long story short:  she likes to make us panic and we’re still waiting on a surgery date.  Oh, and she’s a rotten little turkey… no surprise there.

---- update as of 4:00pm 11/12 ----

At about 2:30 today, there was going to be a concert in the lounge on our floor.  Since Ellie isn’t in any kind of isolation, we decided to venture out and enjoy some music.  The performers were awesome.  We saw Raelynn (who I remember from watching the voice a few seasons ago) and Maddie and Tae… all country singers.  There were only a few people in the lounge, so it was really cool to be so up close and personal.  And our sweet Ellie bug got her picture taken with these beautiful young ladies. I wasn't familiar with them, since I rarely listen to country music, but click on their names above to listen to one of the songs they sang for us.

Ellie meeting these pretty girls.

Shortly after we were back in our room, Dr. Luby walked in to chat.  She said that Ellie looked great and that all of her test results were negative, but to just watch her.  She said her fever is what was causing her fussiness and not the other way around.  She said there was no amount of fussiness that could raise her body temperature that much.  We talked about how Ellie seemed to be so hungry all the time and she said it was because of the continuous feeds.  She made a good point that because she’s getting 30 ccs an hour (instead of 85 to 90 at a sitting), she never gets a chance to fill her belly.  This causes 2 things.  1 – she never feels full and will always feel hungry – not ideal, but not terrible.  2 – this can actually shrink her stomach if she’s ALWAYS eating this way.  So we need to make sure she’s just getting this during the night.  Good to know!  She also said that she talked to the surgical team in Cincinnati and that they should be in contact with us to set up a consultation and surgery timeline in the next week or two.  So I’ll be waiting for that call.  Otherwise, we’re good to go.  Well, except that as I write this, they’re taking her vitals and she has a fever of 102.4 again.  Really, Ellie?  Really??

---- update as of 9:00pm 11/12 ----

The doctor did end up discharging us, praise God!  She was concerned about the fever, but asked that I keep an eye on it and make sure that we’re in contact with our pediatrician within 48 hours of discharge.  I can do that!  So we brought our baby girl home and our house is full, once again! 

Thank you for your prayers and for following along.  Much love!

Good news all around!

Monday Ellie had an appointment at the Synagis clinic (where she gets a shot to prevent RSV).  This was her first time getting this, but she did fabulous.  Later on Monday we had a family chiropractic appointment and we all left feeling much better than when we arrived.  Ellie seems to prefer looking to the left when she’s laying down… so we’re trying to see what Dr. Josh can do to help her here.  Andrea, the physical therapist, said that if she continues to show preference to one side, Ellie may need to wear a “cap”.  Noooooo… not the helmet!  We’re trying to be diligent at turning her head right when she’s laying, but that little booger makes up her own mind most times. 

Tuesday was an awful day at home.  I logged on to my work computer at 5am and everything went into turtle mode.  When I did a restart on it, my computer did all kinds of techy mumbo jumbo and then froze on the “starting windows” screen.  I called our help desk and the IT guys said, “yeah, your hard drive is in the process of crashing”.  Excellent!  So I was stressing because I had several things that I needed to get out the door… like, yesterday… and now had no way of doing them.  Totally my fault for procrastinating… but some of the reports were in progress… and now needed to be handed off to get them to clients on time.  I know – this means nothing to you… haha… but it was NOT a fun way to start my day and I felt awful for handing tasks over to my coworkers (who were willing to take on last-minute tasks ever so graciously).  

Tuesday afternoon, we saw Deb, our Home Health nurse.  The boys are crazy about her.  They always greet her at the door and talk her ears off the whole time she’s at oour house.  She usually lets them wear her stethoscope and listen to their own heartbeats and tummies with it.  No wonder they love her so much.

I was only supposed to work a half day Wednesday morning, but couldn’t do much more than field emails from my phone while I waited for my new laptop to arrive.  It was delivered just before I had to jet out the door to head to Dayton.  We had 3 appointments at Children’s that day and I was sweating the audiology appointment pretty seriously.  

First stop: GI.  This was the first time we got a chance to meet our gastroenterologist.  He was great, but he said he wasn’t happy at all.  This made me nervous, but he was mostly just concerned that we were making things much harder than they had to be.  First, he wanted to get us set up with a continuous feed pump to use at night and while I was working.  Bonus!  He was also concerned that we didn’t have a plan to do much with the NG tube yet.  I didn’t know that NG tubes should only be in for a few weeks.  He said that after 6 weeks, you can run the risk of doing permanent damage to the nose/nasal cavity because of the tube.  You can also start seeing permanent damage to the esophagus (because the sphincter at the top of the stomach is always open to accommodate the tube and can let stomach acid bubble up into the esophagus).  Since Ellie has already had her NG tube for 4 weeks, he wanted to get her scheduled to put in a G tube (or G button) as soon as possible.  He said we’d have to check with cardiology before we could make any real surgery plans, but this was the route he’d suggested.  He also prescribed Prilosec for Ellie after I told him about her daily crying episodes.  They were no longer at night (praise God), but they were still during the day.  He said we could try that and see if maybe the crying is related to reflux… which could be the case, even though it didn’t happen after every feeding.

Second appointment: Audiology.  Ellie was sleeping when we arrived in audiology – which was great because she HAD to be sleeping for the test.  Of course, once we were back in the testing room, she wanted nothing to do with sleep.  Nichole, the sweet lady who was running the test, just kept saying, “I’ll let you try to get her to sleep and I’ll be back in a few minutes”.  She did this 4 or 5 times in the hour we were down there… to no avail.  Ellie refused to sleep.  Nichole set us up for another appointment next week, but on the way out let me know that she’d be in the office until 5pm, so if I was able to get Ellie to sleep at some point, I could try bringing her back to do the test.  By the time I got out of the elevator on my way up to cardiology, Ellie was sound asleep.  Little turkey.

On the scales in cardiology, Ellie weighed 3.855 kg (or 8 pounds, 8 ounces).  Dr. Luby was thrilled with her weight gain and was amazed at how relaxed Ellie looked in her breathing.  I was excited to tell her how alert Ellie had been lately and that she was now rolling over and showing off.  I also told her how Ellie didn’t want to cooperate in audiology.  We had to laugh.  We talked about our GI appointment and discussed the pros/cons of the NG tube vs. the G tube.  Dr. Luby agreed that we didn’t want to risk permanent damage to the nose and esophagus with the NG tube and she thought a G tube would be a good idea… but not before heart surgery.  She explained that the placement of the G button (on a torso as small as Ellie’s) would be just a centimeter or two away from where her incision would be for open heart surgery.  The risk of infection trumps the risk of damage from the NG tube.  However, because Ellie was looking so healthy and doing so well a t this point, Dr. Luby thought it was a good idea to bump up surgery so that we didn’t keep the NG tube in for a ridiculous amount of time.  She suggested surgery in a month.  (gulp… a month?)  That’s scary… but it’s scary no matter when it happens and if I’ve learned anything along this journey, it’s that this woman knows what she’s talking about!  If Dr. Luby says that Ellie is strong enough and will do well in surgery, then Ellie is strong enough and will do well in surgery.  Dr. Luby was contacting the surgery team at Cincinnati Children’s and told me that they’d be in touch with us soon.  I don’t know how soon is “soon”, but we haven’t heard from them yet.  It looks like she’ll be having surgery before the end of the year, though, as long as the surgeon concurs with what Dr. Luby suggests.  Dr. Luby would also contact GI and let them know that we’re holding off on the G tube placement.  She said, “they may think I’m a Prima donna, but I’m okay with that.  They always have to fold to what the cardiologist says in this kind of a situation”.  Excellent!  If she needs a G tube after surgery, that’s not a problem at all.

Now… as for this hearing situation that I’d been sweating for a few weeks:  I was able to get Ellie to sleep again as we left cardiology and I asked the nurse to call down to audiology and see if Nichole would take us back.  It worked out and we headed straight down.  Ellie woke up as the ear muff things and electrodes were placed on her head, but went back to sleep shortly thereafter.  Nichole was able to run the test and hallelujah, Ellie passed on both ears.  My heart was jumping for joy.  Nichole said that they couldn’t really test behavioral responses until Ellie was 8 or 9 months old (and the issues I saw were behavioral), but she said, “Ellie has the ability to hear… there is nothing indicating that she cannot hear”.  YAY!!  My concern in this whole matter wasn’t with how this could impact our family.  I’d have no problem learning sign language and interpreting for her the rest of my life if that was what I needed to do.  I know our family would learn with us and it would have been just fine there.  My concern was for our little bug when she entered school.  There are few things that make you an island quite like a language barrier… and I didn’t want Ellie to have to deal with that on top of anything else that she might already find as a barrier.  Can you tell that I prepare myself for the worst when I go in for testing and such?  That may sound awful, but I figure that if I mentally prepare for the worst, then anything less than the worst case scenario is means for celebration, right?  So we’ll see later if her behavioral responses to sound are different than what we’d expect… or maybe we’ll just find out that she’s incredibly laid back and doesn’t really startle.  Bonus!  For now I’ll celebrate the fact that she IS able to hear.  Good stuff.

After a very long day bouncing all over the hospital, it was finally time to head towards home and pick up my boys.  We had dinner with good friends and I tried to catch up on some work when I got home.  I was ready for a calmer day on Thursday.  Around 8:30pm, the medical supply company had a delivery truck driver at our door to deliver the feed pump and equipment to us.  As I unpacked it, I saw that we had an IV stand that went with it that could be wheeled around the house.  Brandon said, “aww, man… I was hoping to keep IV bags out of our house until we were like 90.”  So, we’re feeling extra old with all of the random medical stuff around our house, but I have to say that the pump is pretty amazing!  I know it makes me sound totally lazy, but now I only have to wake up at night if Ellie needs her diaper changed.  Score!  This momma can sleep… and sleep is priceless.

Thursday morning, just before going into a meeting with my supervisor, Ellie wiggled one little finger out of her mitten and managed to pull her feeding tube out again.  What a turkey!  So, in my meeting, I told my supervisor that I’d need to leave work a little early to make it back down to GI in time for an open appointment.  Silly Ellie!  She either likes the attention she gets at Children’s or she likes the car rides to Dayton.  The boys went with me on this trip and Lance said, “Where are we going, Mommy?”  “To GI”, I said.  So the whole time he was asking where we were going and then repeating everything I said.  It was adorable listening to him try to say “Orthopedics” (the closest x-ray area to GI).  And I’m endlessly amazed at how accommodating the staff members are of the boys.  I love that they make it an adventure for them to come along.  The guy who did the x-ray [each time they place a new tube, they have to do an x-ray to make sure it’s in her stomach] brought the boys into the office with him while I held Ellie for the x-ray and let them pick out stickers.  The front desk greeters gave the boys a puppet show and more stickers.  And of course, there are those little bus wagons that they get to ride in.  Adventures all around!  We stayed with the Skinner kids for a while that afternoon, then the boys were off to Tracy & Josh’s house for the night to hang out with their “friends” (cousins), who were all off school on Friday.

 I'm a rotten turkey who rips her tube out - in her jammies and sleep sack here :) 

[sorry this is so out of focus]

 Kaleb loves to ride the rocking horse in the waiting room for the GI clinic

On Friday morning, Ellie had her 2 month well child visit with Dr. Taylor.  She weighed 9 pounds even on that scale (she always weighs quite a bit more at this office than at the cardiologist).  Big girl!  This puts her at the 66^th percentile on the chart for girls with Down syndrome (and the 3^rd percentile for typical girls).  So, she’s still very much a peanut… but she’s growing beautifully.  I mean, for every kid that’s always above the 90^th percentile (Kaleb), there’s another out there that has to occupy the lighter end of the spectrum, right?  After work, I went to pick up those rotten boys of ours from Tracy’s.  A quick dinner at home and we were off again – me to visit with a good friend Cindy and the kiddos with Daddy to go to Grandma and Grandpa Maier’s house.  The boys would be spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa so that I could spend my Saturday morning at Girls of Grace at church with family and friends. 

 Holy rainbow colors, batman!  I love it.  Our pretty girl in ruffles on Friday.

After Brandon got off work on Saturday, we went up to Cridersville to scoop up the boys, then to Lima to meet with the Beech family for dinner, then to Chuck E. Cheese’s for the kiddos.  The kids were beyond tuckered out by the time we made it to church this morning and took amazing naps for us this afternoon.  Ellie bug was super grumpy today – just letting us know that she rules the household, I guess.  Looking forward to next week where we only have Home Health and therapy appointments (four appointments are much more manageable than 9 in a week)!  I think I’m going to go to bed early tonight (can I tell you how awesome that continuous feed pump is again??).  G’night friends – thank you, again, for following along.  All the prayers you lifted for Ellie’s hearing were surely answered this week!

 Snuggling with Mommy and giving ornery smiles.  I finally caught one... 

she's sticking her tongue out w/ it... but I'll take it.

Halloween + Crazy week

Okay, so making costumes from a hospital room 2 weeks ago wasn't entirely fruitless.  I was able to make all of Kaleb’s costume and sketch out how I was going to make Lance’s.  I was able to pop out of there and get supplies for everything while the sweet nurses held Ellie at the nurses’ station.  I worked on Lance’s a little on Friday the 24^th (and made Ellie’s hat) since Trunk or Treat would be Saturday, the 25^th.  But that left me rushing through the rest of his costume and all of Ellie’s costume on Saturday morning right before Trunk or Treat.  

I was running late to meet B in Covington by 2 pm… was leaving the house at 2, actually, so I’d be 20+ minutes late (and pretty darn frazzled).  I got the boys out to the van, then loaded up my arms with all the other stuff we’d need plus Ellie in her car seat.  I didn't have a free hand to grab my keys, so I locked the door and thought, “I’ll leave the door open and come back to make sure everything is off and grab my keys”.  Well, wouldn't you know it, as I grabbed a wig off the piano and turned to get out of the door, the handle of the diaper bag snagged the doorknob and shut it behind me.  So, I was late… and now locked out without car keys.  Thank goodness I’d gotten Ellie out in this trip.  We keep the house tightened up, so there wasn’t a window or back door that was unlocked at all… and Brandon was picking up lunch in Piqua for us.  Dang it!  I had to sit in the van and wait for him to come all the way home to unlock the house before I could go anywhere.  He had gone to church straight from work, then I called to tell him I didn’t have time to pick up lunch for everyone… so he had already gone out of his way to get us lunch.  Now this.  I felt awful!  I told him on the way there that I was NEVER working on costumes the day we needed them – EVER AGAIN… and that I was sorry (I know how much he HATES being late)!  Ha! 

It all worked out just fine in the end.  And who knew that showing up an hour after Trunk or Treat started meant that we didn’t have to wait in any lines?  We could just walk through and enjoy being social… of course.  Here are the costumes (for those of you who did not already see them on FB).  Lance is Beetlejuice, Kaleb is an Oompa Loompa, and Ellie is popcorn.  I do kind of let the kids pick out their costumes.  I find things that I think are cute throughout the year and dump the pictures into a folder on my laptop.  When fall approaches, I let the boys pick out what character they’d like to be and then try to figure out how to make it.  I sheepishly also have to admit that the folder is still full and growing of other ideas to maybe use next year (I’ve had the popcorn idea stashed since 2012… lol). 

Trunk or Treat in Covington 10/25

(it was really windy and did a number on the wigs)

Beetlejuice

Oompa Loompa

Popcorn

The whole family

Brandon decided to be a little scarier for our last party (11/1)... 

he did all of this on his own.  I'm quite impressed!

So Trunk or Treat was Saturday the 25^th.  We had a Halloween costume party at mom & dad’s on Sunday the 26^th where we also celebrated Jake & my birthdays.  We decided against Trick or Treat since it was chilly and the costumes needed repaired.  Finally, we rounded out our Halloween celebrations at a big party in Pleasant Hill on Saturday, November 1^st.  Whew – it was wonderful.  I love Halloween and I get excited about the costumes and such.  I’m thankful that the boys were excited to be their characters and let me do their make-up each time.  I do spend a lot of time on them (at least thinking about them, they only take a few days to make)… but this is one of the few things that I feel like I’m good at as a mom.  I’m not the mom that’s always on time (in fact, I’m rarely on time)… I’m not the one who thinks of adorable snack ideas for pre-school or who brings beautiful side dishes to family meals; I’m not the one who has the patience to teach children’s church or who organizes awesome hands-on learning activities at home… I’m not a lot of things that I wish I was as a mom.  But hey, I can make costumes!!  That has to count for something, right?

In other news, Miss Ellie is very popular this week.  I think she has a total of 8 or 9 appointments altogether.  No worries – it’s not normally this crazy, this week is just extra special.  This update is really short – just asking for prayers for our Wednesday appointments.  That’s when we’ll meet with audiology (and cardiology and gastroenterology).  But audiology is the one that has me a little anxious right now.  Thank you in advance… I’ll keep you posted.  And did I tell you yet that she started rolling over?  Such a big girl!  Unrelated:  fewer oral feedings means that her mouth coordination is waning a bit, now.  Our speech therapists won’t be too thrilled with this, but I had to send Brandon this video because I thought it was too cute.