I may be biased...

I joke that I have this need to rid the world of ignorance. I seem to be a magnet for ignorant comments. Some come from well-meaning people, but most come from complete strangers. You would not believe the things I have been told about Little Man from people who don't even know him. A few months ago we were told that we were being "lazy" teaching Little Man sign language. Apparently, we were supposed to "force" him to talk. I feel the need to educate this person and others like them!

I know I am a very proud mommy. I may be a little biased, but Little Man is such a smart litte boy! He is constantly amazing me with the things he picks up. He has a very large signing vocabulary, but doesn't talk. If you take the time to play with him and get to know him, you will also be amazed by him. I promise! Unfortunately, we are already running into people who treat him like he is "slow" because he does not talk. Others seem to be bothered by him because it takes a little more effort to work with him. I am terrified of what he is going to face in life when he begins school. I worry that he will be treated like he is stupid because he does not talk. I worry that the teachers will not want him in their class because of the extra effort that will be required.

So again, I feel the need to educate the world. Do not judge my son because he does not talk! Get to know him and he may just teach you a thing or two.

Meet the family

Let me introduce you to the family. We have 4 kids. Yes, 4 kids and 3 angels!!

KJ (11 years old), Sport (6 years old), Little Man (2 years old) and Princess (4 months old).

KJ is your typical first born. He likes to try to parent his brothers and sister. He is such a great big brother to Little Man and Princess. (He and Sport like to fight!) KJ is extremely tender-hearted.

Sport is all boy! He is into every sport imaginable and likes to play rough.

Little Man is as sweet of a boy as there can be. He is a former 32 week preemie and a twin. His twin, our Precious Angel's heart stopped at 13 weeks. We carried them both until delivery, which was early because of the placenta rupturing.

Princess is just that, our Princess! With 3 big brothers, she is being treated like a princess already! In a few years we may have to change her name to Tomboy! She is a precious little girl that loves to smile.

John and I are truly blessed. 12 years ago when we got married, we did not dream of having 4 kids. But, God has blessed us and we are thankful. They sure do keep life interesting!!

Scary Times

It is amazing how quickly things can change. It only took a matter of minutes to take me from thankful to scared.

 

Tuesday morning I was working up at the school getting ready for our first day. Princess had fallen asleep in the swing and Little Man was playing with his toys while I was cutting out lamination. Little Man curled up on the floor next to me and fell asleep. It made my day! Both of my little ones were sleeping peacefully and I could get a lot of work done without chasing Little Man around keeping him out of trouble. I was incredibly thankful! An hour later Little Man woke up with his eyelid swollen.

 

 

 

I will admit I am a paranoid mommy. Okay, I am an extremely paranoid mommy. So I quickly called the pediatrician (whose phone # I have memorized by now and we are on a first name basis). "Give him benadryl and bring him in to be checked out." Off to the dr. we went. I think my car would know the way to the pediatrician's office if I ever fell asleep on the drive. It appeared to be a reaction to a bite, even though it was too swollen to find the bite. Back home we went to keep an eye on it.

 

12 hours later Little Man wakes up and his eye was swollen shut.

 

 

He is such a happy boy. He is still smiling! And we were off to the pediatrician's office again. Just in the time it took to drive to their office, the redness began spreading further away from his eye. I was a little worried about what was going on with my Little Man, but once the doctor saw it, I became scared. It is not a good feeling when the doctor is worried about your child. She sent us down the street to the emergency room. She was convinced that it was cellulitis and it was going to require him to be admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics. So, off to the ER we went.

 

I can not even begin to write the things that were going through my head. I was worried he would lose his vision. I was terrified I would lose my precious boy. We had to sit in the lobby waiting to be seen for 4 hours. The redness continued to spread and I grew more scared. Finally he was called back to a room to be checked out. He was still happy and wanting to run around. 7 drs. came to check him out. It is cellulitis, but they were trying to determine if it was just in the skin or if it had gotten into the muscle. Little Man has seen a lot of doctors and been through a lot of poking in his short little life so far. He did not like the doctors coming in to look at him. One doctor sat on the bed next to him and colored with him. When Little Man was calmed down and enjoying playing with the him, the doctor said "Okay, I played your game, now you have to play ours." Little Man reached up and grabbed the doctor's stethoscope and wrapped it around his own neck just like all of the other doctors. I wish we had taken a picture. It was the funniest thing!

 

I did take a picture of him watching his sign language videos to pass the time.

 

 





 

It is cellulitis and it has not gotten into the muscle. So, we get to go home on antibiotics. Of course it has to be the worst tasting antibiotics that they could only flavor with lemon-lime. Yuck! We are bribing him with candy to take his medicine and still having to force it down him. 4 doses down, 17 more to go!! 24 hours later, he looks so much better! If you look closely, you can now see the bite that started this all.

I am not as scared, but I am still worried. We need this to go completely away quickly. Please add Little Man to your prayers. Pray for complete healing and that he can willing take all of his medicine so it will go away!

Little Man is such an amazing boy! Through all of this, he kept on smiling. It did not phase him a bit to have to watch tv with only one eye open. I wish I could be more like him. He has a lot to teach the world!

Back to School and Back to Life

About 2 1/2 years ago we found out we were pregnant with twins (Little Man and Our Angel) and it felt like our life began spinning slowly out of control with each new medical issue that popped up. We have been living in survival mode ever since. Who would have thought that the surprise addition of a 4th child to our family would get us back on track?! Last week was back to school for our two oldest boys and back to real life for the Craigs! It has felt incredible sitting down to dinner together every single night, working through homework with both boys right after school, and eating breakfast with the 3 boys every morning before school. No longer living in survival mode is exhausting, though! But, it is a good type of exhaustion.

There is a lot going on in our family that I would love to share, but tonight is a school night! Early to bed.