It feels so good to be back home, in the AC, out of the rain, with a warm bed to sleep in and dry clothes to put on! Don’t get me wrong, we had a blast out in the wilderness “roughin’ it” with our friends….but there is no place like home. Especially when you have this silly guy waiting to show off his new dance moves:
And waiting to share french fries and cookies with you!
The view from my window:
And from the middle of the Shenandoah River:
Like I said, Home Sweet Home!!
I think I’ll take a little break from the One Word Wednesday’s and start bringing you some Flashback Friday’s…sounds fun, right?!
Today’s flashback will take us back to exactly one year ago today, we were getting all packed up and ready to leave our baby for the first time overnight to go on our annual camping trip. This was really hard for me, but luckily he gave us the best memory ever to replay in our minds (and on my cell phone 500 times during the trip), his first laugh! Enjoy :)
~Everything rides on Hope now; Everything rides on Faith somehow.
And when the world has broken me down…Your love sets me free.~
I saw a quote one time that said “Music is what feelings sound like” and that is exactly what this song is for me. On days like today when I have so many feelings and emotions and frustrations hitting me at once, it’s so nice to be able to put a song on repeat that can capture those feelings and give me peace about them.
I try to not to bring too much negativity out in this blog, but there are days that are consumed with it and it would be near impossible not to atleast mention that this situation can be hard at times. My blog readers always leave the sweetest comments that leave me in tears, telling us how strong we are as parents…the truth is that there are days when the world breaks me down and I feel so weak. I don’t like conflict in my life, so to be in the midst of arguments with insurance companies and doctors and therapists and the state and work is so uneasy and unsettling for me. On days like today, the only thing I know to do is cry to my husband, get pep talks from my amazing friend, blog about how frustrating life can be at times, and squeeze my precious little boy so tight and whisper in his ear that I will never stop fighting for him to get the care that he needs because he is so worth it. Oh, and listen to this song for the 15 millionth time, because everything really does ride on hope and faith for us right now. There are so many doors being slammed in our faces and so many factors that are up in the air right now. I just need to keep having faith that God is going to work this situation out for us. His love really does set us free from having to worry about the people of this world trying to make things so hard.
**Baseball**
{Don’t forget to let me know how many tickets you want to the game on August 12th! They’re only $6 each}
Wow, we have been so busy during this long weekend that I haven’t even had a chance to sit down and blog about any of it. So, here goes…
Saturday Me & Ryder went to a baby shower for a very special little baby boy who we can’t wait to meet! The Mommy-to-be Kim is my best friend Kristen’s older sister, and has been like a sister to me too over all these years. I love this family so much and am so excited for them as they welcome Baby Aiden into this world! Of course I didn’t take many pictures at the shower (not even one of Kim, oops!), but here are the few I got:
Kristen & Ryder (she’s SO ready to become an Aunt!)
Momma Linda & Ryder (and she’s SO ready to become a Grandma!)
Mommy-To-Be!!
The diaper cake we made for Kim (Not that Ryder was much help, I think I remember shutting him out of his own bedroom at one point in the process!)
Next, the party animals (aka me & ryder) were off to our next shindig – a Birthday party for our cousin Michael. Daddy met us there and we had so much fun hanging out with the family! No pictures to prove it. That evening, we left that party and went down the street to another party at Alan’s Uncle’s house. We were only going to stop by and say Hi, then get on the road because it was already past Ryder’s bedtime…but…we were having so much fun (no pictures to prove that either!) that we decided to bring Ryder back to Aunt Dee’s since she had been begging us to let him stay the night anyway. So that worked out well, Ryder finally got to go to bed and Mommy & Daddy got to stay up way too late and sleep in way too long the next day!
Onto the next day, the 4th of July! We met back up with Ryder at Grandma’s house and enjoyed some yummy food and crabs. Ryder didn’t get crabs, but he did get a special treat from Uncle G when the ice cream man came:
Carter got some ice cream too, and was festive with his red, white, and blue choice :)
We hung out for the rest of the day and waited for it to get dark so the guys could start lighting the fireworks off the dock. Ryder had a blast playing outside with his cousins, and kept taking a break to lay down on Kamrie.
Every year we all go to Grandma’s and have our own fireworks show on the water. It’s pretty neat because there are about 3 other houses that do the same thing so we all get to watch each others! So when it finally got dark, the shows began. I was worried (imagine that) that Ryder wouldn’t like the noise, but he loved it! He kept saying “fire-ferr” (translation: fireworks) and then he would say “BOOM!” and when there was a break he would ask for “More!”
I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! We are all so blessed to live in this country, the land of the free, where we can enjoy moments just like this!
My nerves can finally be put to rest (over this anyway), the Doctor called yesterday evening and said that everything that we tested for came back normal. His platelets were finally back down in the normal range (HUGE answered prayer!) and his Growth Hormone level was fine too! She said that we’ll just keep an eye on his growth and hopefully it will get back to a normal pattern. If it continues to be irregular there are more tests that will need to be done…but we’ll cross that bridge when IF we get there.
Why does there always have to be a BUT?! Wouldn’t you all just be jumping for joy if this post ended right there. I know I would! Okay, ready, here it comes…BUTTTT…she did find out from the blood work that he has an IgA (Immunoglobulin A) Deficiency. I guess this means that he’s missing one of the antibodies that helps fight off infections. The way she explained it is that it weakens his immune system so if he’s around someone that has a cold, he’s going to get the cold. I was surprised to hear this because I thought we’ve been pretty lucky with him not getting sick too much. I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have him in daycare! This definitely worries me for the future when he goes to school and is around a lot of other kids, but, again, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there!
Other than that, his white blood cell count was elevated which she didn’t seem too concerned about, so neither am I.
For Mommy, no more waiting on results. For Ryder, waiting is his new favorite thing to do!
Curveball
Knuckleball
Change-Up
Why is Ryder working so hard practicing his pitch?! Because…he might have the opportunity to throw the First Pitch at an upcoming Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball game! We need YOUR help to make that possible.
The National Kidney Foundation is selling $6 tickets to the game on August 12th and if they sell 200 tickets, Ryder gets to go out on the field and throw the First Pitch!!
So…what do you say?? Email me if you’re interested in purchasing tickets and let me know how many you want! BAM126@Gmail.com
Hopefully, if he does get to go out on the field, he doesn’t do this:
This:
Or This!:
Email me! Lets make it happen!
