take that cow down

thursday night is 'kids eat free' night at chick-fil-a. so we thought we'd try it out this past week. it was packed and we saw several friends there that night. because it was family night they thought it would be fantastic to have the chick-fil-a cow there walking around. we were talking with friends when the cow came around the corner.

suddenly alaythia was shaking and clinging to my leg. she was so afraid she couldn't even cry. i looked down and told her it would be okay and she said in a shaky voice, 'noooooo.' i could see and feel that she was beyond reasoning so i picked her up, said goodbye and walked to go order our food in the opposite direction of the cow. alaythia was quiet and watching the cow's every move. we circled around it, stood between her and the cow and finally got to our seat. as we were eating alaythia kept a close eye on where the cow was and made sure it came no where near us.

all of the sudden the cow started toward our table. alaythia started to shake in fear and matt said, 'alaythia, don't you worry. i can take that cow down!' 'what?!' she says in her cute little voice. 'i'll take the cow down, it won't hurt you.'

and then it was over. she was no longer afraid of the cow. instead she spent the rest of our dinner standing in the booth and yelling repeatedly, 'daddy, you take that cow down!' while pointing her finger and swinging her arm. matt would nod and reassure her that she had it right.

that was last thursday. every day since, no less than three times a day, alaythia will say to matt, 'daddy, you take the cow down?' 'yes, alaythia, i'll take that cow down!' but in reality, it's much more than a funny story. matt and alaythia have had a break through. it's like, she's finally got it - daddy has her back. in fact, today she said, 'daddy, you take the cow down...i no be afraid.'

oh sweet girl, it's a whole new world. you understand in a new way that your dad is on your side. and there is no need to be afraid.

tu-tu

there is so much to write about. about the date night that matt and i went on last night (with sophia) to cheesecake factory...on a gift card from our community group from church. how the gift card came with babysitting...and a group of women who came and cleaned my house while i was away. amazing huh?

or the red umbrella. that is going to go get it's own post. the neighborhood women who gather around the red umbrella every day, and who have been and continue to be a huge support to me. how i had no idea the community i was moving into when i arrived here.

but those things will take a backseat to nicknames. that's right nicknames. we seem to be obsessed with them lately. alaythia especially.

in typical mom fashion, when one of my kids is in trouble their middle name is used. isaiah martin has been said a lot lately. alaythia now thinks when there is something serious to be said, you add 'martin' to it. tonight i heard her say 'daddy martin!' i'm sorry martin family, i know when we named isaiah you were afraid your name might get used this way. but be encouraged, you're a part of our everyday life!

we have been adamant from the beginning that our kids are named what they are because we like those names. you inevitably get asked when you tell your child's name, 'what are you going to call them?' our answer has always been their full name. that's why we were naming them that. sophia was no different. before her arrival we would say, it is not sophie or soph...even though we have zay man and layth. you'd think we would have learned.

alaythia has started the downward slippery slop of a nickname for sophia, the sibling-given names are the ones that stick i'm afraid. 'hi sophia tunia!' at first i didn't know if i heard it right, but she's repeated it several times. i'm sure one day we'll be calling sophia 'tu-tu' and someone will ask us how in the world we got to 'tu-tu' from sophia. we'll trace each nickname in order until we come back to the beginning. it's a lot like how you get 'beej' from maddie, or 'budge' from laura.

matt's even joined in. sopherific (which comes from soporific - which means sleep inducing).

particular princess

well, it looks like our particular princess isn't so particular and just in pain. yesterday the doctors confirmed what we had thought, that sophia has refulx. basically never ending heartburn. that would make me scream all the time too. so we'll see after a few days of medication if it makes a difference.

good signs

it's been a little rough around here lately. our little sophia is a doll, but she is...as her father said tonight to someone...particular. she likes things a certain way and will let you know if it's not to her liking. it could be other things, things that are bothering her, and we're going to the doctor tomorrow to check it out. but for now, we'll say, there has been a lot of crying. (as i type, daddy is taking a turn, cause mommy's been going all day and can't seem to make it stop).

despite our little particular princess, her siblings seems unaffected. tonight as we were preparing to leave our small group alaythia walked me over to the person holding sophia and said, 'mommy, we have to get sophia!' the person joked that she was going to take sophia home for the week and alaythia quickly responded, 'no! she goes with us.' i was oh-so-very encouraged. at two and half, when your little sister doesn't do much but eat, sleep and cry, when your mommy's arms are always full with someone besides you, i bet it would be tempting to say 'okay'. but despite it all, alaythia still wanted sophia to come home with her. she still wants to hold her and kiss her. i'm so thankful.

isaiah, in his astute observations popped off last night (after trying to hold sophia only to give up after she started screaming) with, 'mom, why does sophia hate everyone but you?' i tried to explain that she is more used to me because she was inside me for so long. my voice, my bounce, my smell. and that she was still trying to figure things out. i explained that her body is still so new and she scares herself with all the new things that happen to her and surround her. but i assured him that one day, very soon, he will become her favorite person and she will laugh at him and beg to play with him. his face lit up with the thought.

unbelievably, there are new parts of my heart opening up. i didn't think that was possible. when i see isaiah hold sophia and see how similar they look, i stare in awe. there's a 'type' of them. matt and i together make the same looks and i see it in two faces staring back at me. when i see isaiah and alaythia love sophia, invite her in to their lives, long for her to be a part of their world...i'll admit my heart hurts. it's not pride...it's new. i can't describe it yet. but i like it.

getting to know sophia

it's four weeks today since sophia's arrival. the things i've learned about sophia so far are:

-she HATES to be naked. if you're changing a diaper, changing her clothes or giving her a bath, she screams like there's no tomorrow...the entire time.
-she loves her pacifier. that's new to me since my other two could care less. but she loves them.
-she likes to be snuggly. she gets papoosed at night and sleeps like a champ. she gets wrapped up in a soft blanket during the day and she goes out. comfort is key to sophia.

i've noticed a significant change in her today, it is her birthday after all (it is only 10:30, but hey, it was significant). she stayed awake for almost an hour today after eating, and didn't fuss. she was bright eyed and loved getting a change of scenery. even looking at the transformers that brother was playing with.

she has completed our family, bringing a sense of finality and peace. even though we're tired and still adjusting, matt and i have commented several times how nice it is to have her here and to know all the members of our family.

upswing

well, it's life almost back to normal. i'm happy to report that none of the adults have come down with the sickness, and we've had one and half days of semi-normalcy. actually, as i type, all three of my kids are napping...AT THE SAME TIME!

i know, i shouldn't be blogging, i should be sleeping. don't worry, i already did. and now maybe i can catch up on a few things.

isaiah is not 100%, but he's much better. he wants to run and play and be his normal self. i let him do that yesterday, but by the end of the day he was pretty exhausted. so today we've tried to take it a little more slowly. not easy for a 4 year old who has been sick the past few days.

thanks for your prayers and well wishes. i think we're on the upswing.

p.s. i just had to include this picture. we weren't much for the picture taking those days, but when i saw this, i had to capture it. papa really stepped in when daddy was gone. for a while he read to isaiah from a new book isaiah got from grandpa the week before. i couldn't help but think of princess bride and the grandpa that comes to read to his sick grandson to pass the time.

oh we had no idea

really, alaythia was nothing. i thought it was bad then. oh no. it was only the beginning.

alaythia rallied in about 36 hours, only throwing up twice. really by sunday evening we knew she was on the mend. isaiah had shared her cup just hours before she threw up, so we knew it was coming. but saturday, nothing...sunday, nothing... we started to believe we were out of the clear.

oh no. we all woke up to screaming monday morning. and it didn't stop, he spent ALL DAY sick, sick, sick. at 6am this morning, when isaiah was still going, it was a consensus that we would call the doctor to have him seen.

daddy was flushing throw up in his shirt and tie this morning before he left for work. papa was scrubbing couches, gg was changing clothes and it wasn't even 7am yet.

we headed to the doctor where they tested and poked. isaiah didn't talk. his eyes were sunken in, vacant stares. he had not kept even a sip of water down. the doctor didn't like what she saw, and after blood tests decided that he needed to go to the local children's hospital. before my mother-in-law and i knew what was happening, we were on our way to get IV fluids and a stomach xray.

i kid you not.

isaiah and i checked in at the ER. papa, gg and girls drove to get matt from work. when matt walked through the ER doors over to isaiah and i huddled in the corner, zay man and i could not hold back the tears. but sophia was hungry and i had to go. i kissed my men and headed out.

i would get text messages to update me. 'he has strep also'. 'waiting for the IV'. 'IV in, stud'. daddy and his boy getting it done.

anti-nausea medicine, ibuprofen, a bag of fluid and a prescription for antibiotics. half way through the bag our boy reemerged. he's running, playing, fighting with his sister. and just hours ago he was lethargic and vacant looking.

apparently it's a form of strep and it was causing the throwing up. the younger you are, the better you respond to it. make sense that alaythia did better than him. and the doctor said sophia is to young to get it.

now we're not out of clear yet, there are 4 adults who have been covered and splattered, snuggled and kissed. but honestly, i'm not sure how much more we can take. i'm not sure how much more i can take. when i think about the fact that this all could have happened when i was on my own (because i haven't even gone into what matt's had to produce for school in the past few days) i shudder. really, i cry in thankfulness for papa and gg and all they have done for us in the past days.

yesterday matt said to a neighbor in passing...it can't get much worse than this. oh we had no idea what today was going to hold.

the chaos continues

here are pictures of sophia, what everyone really wants.


on the update front we just can't seem to get a break. after the bronchitis and one round of antibiotics, i found out i had another infection. i spent most of last week feeling horrible and trying to figure out what medication would be safe for me to take with sophia nursing also. frustration, confusion and lots of tears as 3 different doctors told me 3 different things.

but we're on antibiotics that are safe and i'm starting to feel better. yesterday papa and gg were set to arrive. about 2 hours before they arrived alaythia came down with the flu. i'll spare you the details, but i'll say that for the next hours matt and i just stared at each other in disbelief, not saying anything but staring in utter shock. it seems never ending.

we played musical beds last night and have just been laying low to see if anyone else comes down with it. i will say that reinforcements arrived just in time. we'll see how the next few days pan out.

new way of life

so it's our first day on our own. grandpa and grandma left yesterday. i spent the day weepy. being labor day matt has taken a little break...still studying, just not quite as much.

we're well on our way around here. my recovery from the c-section was the best and quickest so far. BUT as i was just starting to feel a very tiny bit normal, i got bronchitis. yep. imagine trying to cough, spasming your abdomen - as it tries to go back together. fire. pure fire.

so we had some set backs. i finished my antibiotics today, still coughing, but am so much stronger. it doesn't take two people and 4 hands pushing on my abdomen to make the cough bearable.

sophia is doing great. nursing like crazy, sleeping like a champ. her brother and sister fight to hold her every day. yesterday at dinner isaiah popped off with, 'i love sophia so much!' alaythia gets right up in her face and tries to tickle her. she gets so overwhelmed she just says, 'hi! hi! hi!' over and over.

me...i'm convinced that i'm screwing them all up. i'm too hard on the firstborn, the second is so content i feel bad that i'm not paying enough attention to her, and feel like i'm not holding the newborn enough. i know it's gonna take me a bit to get three figured out. i know i will, and i'm trying to give myself grace as it hasn't even been two weeks yet. :)

complete