Summer fun!

Time has escaped me and zipped by since my last post, as as I considered all the fun milestones and events we've experienced since mid-March, it's a little overwhelming to figure out a way to record everything I want to remember!

Luke celebrated his first birthday, has learned to eat with utensils and drink from a cup by himself, is starting to take steps on his own, and just today, pushed himself to standing from a crawling position.  He vocalizes several words, including: that, apple, dada, all done, outside, up, nigh-nigh (night night) car, mama, and nuh (no).  He also has started shaking his head "yes" and saying "yeah" anytime we ask a question.  I constantly ask him things about our activities and am often amused at his enthusiastic agreement, especially when it's in response to questions like, "Are you ready to take a nap?"  He loves to be outside and play with his push-walker on the sidewalk, and is fascinated with any animal.  We've gotten big grins and giggles in response to seeing anything from a neighbor's dog to a lamb at the farm to a wiggly caterpillar on the sidewalk.  He even played with a fish that we had caught at the farm and put in a bucket, squealing with delight every time he reached in to grab it and got splashed.  Luke loves to watch the action around him and get wrapped right up in it - if the bigger boys are making a racket and being noisy, he squeals and laughs and claps or bangs the table.  Or like tonight, when Daniel said something in a soft whispering voice, he brought his voice down to a whisper as well.

Isaac had his fourth birthday, which we celebrated with a trip to the zoo with Grammy, Papa, and Kayla.  He has learned to ride his balance bike, and is getting ready to start pre-k.  He constantly brings smiles to our faces, sometimes intentionally but often just by doing and saying whatever comes to his mind.  For example, in a recent moment of deep thinking he asked me, "What do you think Jesus' decycles looked like?"  And whenever Luke is sleeping and I tell the big boys that I need to check on him, Isaac will suggest I just "check the baby thermonitor!"  

Isaac posing with his projects at his end-of-school art show

He has shown us such a tender, sweet side, often thinking about what others need and jumping in to help out before being asked.  Sometimes he'll bring a cup of water to someone else or share a snack or special treat, and he loves to get to help with Luke.  Though there's no doubt he is all boy and has some very dramatic and intense moments, his caring nature is a precious thing to see.

I tend to try to use this blog to record our fun, sweet memories, but certainly there are many trials along the way as well.  I try to remember that we see God at work in both the joys and the struggles, and a recent breakthrough in an ongoing challenge we've been dealing with has been an awesome reminder of His power at work in our lives as well as a source of much praising on our part.

Our sweet Isaac has had increasingly strong reactions to many foods for some time now, and when we would take him to our pediatrician or allergist, the only answers we got were bottles and tubes of antihistamines and creams to try to combat his symptoms.  Unwilling to dump drugs into his system to just cover up the reactions, we made some major changes in our diet to try to help his body heal and get back into balance so he could overcome those sensitivities, and covered it all with prayer for direction and healing.  

We saw many positive changes and improvement in the year that we changed our eating habits but he was still having reactions to some things, so we began working with a naturopath in March.  She told us upfront that her goal was to get his body balanced so that it could heal itself - music to our ears!  Through some more blood tests we learned that his immune system was so flared up that it was reacting to many more foods than we realized - including beef, chicken, pork, carrots, green beans, citrus fruits, and others that came as quite a surprise, along with dairy and eggs.  So we began a process of detoxing his system and eliminating those foods from our diet for a time - a challenge for all of us, as we were not accustomed to centering our meals around fish, but we tried to maintain a grateful attitude and proceed with much prayer.

A follow-up blood test after 45 days of this new diet brought some amazing news - most of Isaac's levels of reactivity had dropped significantly, some by 50-60%.  There are still some things that we're avoiding, but all fruits and vegetables are well-tolerated by his system now, as well as chicken, pork, and lamb.  We feel like we've seen a positive change in him, too...his stuffy nose is clear and his itchiness is calmed down significantly.

I give all the credit for his progress to the Lord.  Through this process we've learned what a delicate and perfect balance was put into place by our Creator - one that only He can truly understand and restore.  We have been faced with a problem that we couldn't fix with our efforts, but had to pray through and trust God's sovereignty over the situation.  I was definitely stretched as the purchaser and preparer of food with the drastic changes in our diets, but now feel like we have learned so much about eating more healthfully and have all benefitted.  We have eaten out significantly less and the variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables, that I have prepared for our meals has expanded drastically.  So we are looking ahead with anticipation, praying expectantly for complete restoration of his body's balance and trusting the Lord's care in his plan for Isaac.

We finally celebrated Caedmon's birthday with a fun trip to the zoo in April; he got to invite a friend along and I made a "creature power suit" for each child, fashioned after the special suits worn by their favorite cartoon heroes on the PBS show "Wild Kratts."  They had quite an adventure!  The next month he finished up pre-k, learned to ride a bike without training wheels, and is now excited about starting kindergarten.  

It's an amazing thing to see glimpses of a developing faith in your child, and I was touched recently when I overheard Caedmon praying out loud in his room.  He had a scrape from a fall off his bike and was praying that it would be healed, and then also prayed for Isaac's body to be healed.  And even though he typically has strong feelings about doing things his own way and in his own time, he has blessed my heart several times recently by taking the initiative to help out, cleaning up his room or the playroom, or vacuuming without being asked.

We (along with the rest of the worshippers in our service) got a chuckle out of Caedmon during the children's message this past Sunday.  The children's ministry director was talking about the kids' favorite super heroes and super powers and asked if anyone knew what Spiderman could do.  My sweet child, who has evidently led a much more sheltered life than the other kids when it comes to these characters, piped up enthusiastically, "He kills spiders!!"  That's just fine with me; the things he has stored away in his mind are so fascinating and I hope increase his awe for our amazing Creator, as he loves learning and talking about animals (especially ocean dwellers) and their habitats, life cycles, and if they're carnivores or herbivores, predators or prey, mammal or reptile, if they serve as a pollinator, if they're nocturnal...his vocabulary and understanding amazes me.  One afternoon we were looking at a bird in the backyard so I got out my college bird identification guide, which he sat and flipped through for some time, searching out and correctly identifying several species of birds that he'd learned about previously.

Caedmon with his art at his school art show

The Overflow

I blog in my head all the time, probably daily.  There are so many things that I want to record, to remember, and be able to look back on and laugh, or sometimes shake my head.  But these boys, they keep us busy!  Of course wouldn't trade our active days for anything but there is certainly less room for other things.

So much has happened since my last entry right after Christmas.  Luke has two more monthly progress photos, though by his 10-month I had given up trying to get him to stay still on the bed for a posed shot.  He is in constant motion, crawling on all fours and pulling up on just about anything.

Just past 8 months in his little Christmas outfit

9 months

10 months

He is still such a jolly, content little guy, and we're so grateful for that.  He loves, loves music - he began "dancing" by shaking his head months ago, later added a little sideways bob to the shake, then recently learned to clap his hands.  He figured out where the guitar is kept and will sometimes go missing during the day, usually ending up hidden away in the closet, batting away at his favorite instrument.  One evening Daniel was practicing for church and Luke made his way down the hall into the playroom to join his dad.  Conveniently, one of his brothers had emptied their "music toy" box onto the floor so he made a beeline for the tambourine and snatched it up, tapping it and clearly feeling very much a part of the band.

Luke also has quite an adventurous spirit outside.  He crawls all around the backyard on his own, usually making his way first to the sandbox.  For a while he would just rest his belly on the top of the wall and lean in to scratch at the sand with his hands, but now he heaves himself over and in, crawls all around, and makes his exit whenever there is more interesting action in a different part of the yard.  He doesn't really try to eat the sand anymore, just enjoys experiencing it.  

We broke up a new square of the yard to use as a vegetable garden and he loves getting to crawl through that freshly turned dirt.  We dumped several bags of compost to work into that soil and he was eager to crawl up one of the piles, have a seat, and rake the compost into his lap with his hands until his legs were completely covered.  He picked it up and let it fall through his hands, sometimes even on his head.  Ahh...what more could a little bitty boy ask for?

Though playing in dirt would likely be his first choice, our Luke does enjoy checking out plants and leaves too.  He has inspected our just-emerging daylilies and vinca, as well as irises and grass.  For some reason, the dianthus in one of my flower pots seem to beckon to him and he feels a strong need to free them from their terra cotta enclosure.  I let the boys each choose a new flower this week when we went to the nursery for vegetable seeds and put Caedmon's pretty orange-blossomed plant in one of the beds in the backyard.  Luke saw the large, showy petals and headed right over to check it out.  From thirty feet away where I was hanging up diapers, I watched him get really close, then look at me to see what I'd say.  "No, sir, we don't touch the flowers."  He shook his head "no" as he looked at me, then back at the flowers.  He sat for a moment and I could see the wheels spinning in his little mind.  He shook his head again as he looked at the plant.  Then he looked back at me one more time - would he get the same response?  "No sir, we don't touch.  Good job, Luke."  He shook his head again.  Looked at the flowers, shook his head.  Then he turned and crawled off to the sandbox without touching.  Sweet boy!

Isaac has also shown me lately what a sweet-hearted helper he can be!  We've been working so hard on having good attitudes and learning how they can take care of themselves as well as contribute to our household.  Just in the last week, I have caught Isaac in the act of picking up Caedmon's clothes off the floor and putting them in his dresser, starting to unload the dishwasher by himself, and making my bed.  He has always been generous with his things and seems to truly take joy in sharing, even when asked to share something that would be a special treat for him.

He has such a delightful sense of humor and imagination.  We are constantly hearing about what his friend, "Big John," is doing - which could be anything from playing in a baseball game to feeding his cows to traveling around the world (which he referred to recently as a "continent ball." A globe.)  His favorite stuffed toy, a polar bear named Poley, also has all sorts of needs that require his attention, from being hungry to having frequent birthday celebrations to needing a new home (usually blocks or a cardboard box).

Isaac also has a lion costume that makes regular appearances, often outside and sometimes even to friends' homes.  The brown suit usually transforms him into a ferocious big cat but it occasionally doubles as a wetsuit for scuba diving or coveralls for other sorts of "work."  One day the furry "paw" gloves that came with the costume went with us on a shopping trip to Costco - the other shoppers were quite amused.

This child is probably the first of the three to want to be outdoors and seems to mind cold weather the least.  He has loved digging up earthworms and catching grasshoppers and putting them in containers to watch, and hunting for snails or any other creature he can capture.  We will frequently have rolly-pollies accompany us on walks and if they happen to fall out of his hand, he insists on stopping and searching for them.  They almost always have a name right away.

Isaac also loves playing his toy guitar.  He will sing praise songs over the prerecorded music on his instrument and dance his little heart out.  His favorite bedtime songs are "The Lord Reigns," "Silent Night," and "Jesus Loves Me, Hallelujah."

Caedmon seems to have gone through such a major period of growth and maturity - maybe it was turning 5 years old.  He loves laying out plans for the day, often drawing them out on paper so we can check throughout the day and cross things off once they're completed.  He's such a social little guy and has no hesitation in interacting with other kids; kindergarten is going to be such a great time for him.  And he is registered - I can't believe we're already preparing to send him to big-kid school!  Isaac is trying hard to remember which school Caedmon will attend next year - "Is it the Mama-sori school?"  Caedmon is quick to correct, "No, MONTEssori!" 

Like his younger brother, he can also be quite a hard little worker, especially outside.  I always know I can count on him when a job calls for a rake, shovel, hoe, yard bag, or nippers, and he really makes a significant dent in whatever we're trying to accomplish.  When the job is done, though, he still loves his diggers and lately has preferred dirt to the sandbox, so there's a good patch on the side of our front yard that has been totally crumbled and "worked."

Caedmon has a wonderful imagination and loves creating scenarios and stories, but he also is quick to memorize facts and figures.  He learned a song at school that lists the 50 states alphabetically, and is going through a phase of particular interest in ocean animals, which has been really fun.  He and Isaac both ask a lot of questions about life and heaven, and one day while talking about the latter, he very poetically stated that he thinks "it will be even sparklier than a polished bowling ball.  Or princess dress."

He has also become quite the finagler, thinking up creative ways to gratify his desires.  From working out who says the meal prayer or sits in the middle seat in the car to trying to go to Grammy and Papa's without Mom and Dad along, he rationalizes, justifies, and sets out prospective "deals" for our consideration.  "Okay, here's the deal.  If I let you sit in the middle seat THIS time, then I get to sit in the middle the next TEN times!"  Who could resist such offers?