SPRINTING for Little Hearts!

Hard to believe it's almost May again, especially when we awoke to find fresh fallen snow on our lawn this morning.  But lo and behold, May is coming, and we're celebrating May Day this year at the American Heart Association's annual Heart Walk.  Some of you may remember our walk from last year, and several commented about Zachary's sprint to the finish line...

All year long he has talked about the "Heart Walk" and how much fun he had.  When we drive over the river past downtown he even points out "Oh, THAT's where we had our Heart Walk!  When we gonna do that again, Mommy?"  And he is so excited to know it's just one short week away!  On May 1 our family will once again be in attendance, raising money to fund research for pediatric heart disease.  Did you know...  In the United States, twice as many children die from congenital heart defects every year than from all forms of childhood cancer combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHDs.  So please visit our Team Zachary website and consider walking with us or supporting us financially to help make the lives of these children brighter!

Fortunately, Zachary has little on the health front to update.  He had a couple nasty colds over the winter, but bounced back like any healthy child.  He continues to take daily aspirin and antibiotics before dental cleanings to prevent endocarditis.  But we did have a scare a few weeks ago which landed him a hospital room for the night.  On April 1, the day after Easter, Zachy started complaining of a tummy ache.  I told him to go potty and it would be all better, which is generally the case :-)  But this time pooping didn't make it better, and before long my usually happy and energetic little guy was lethargic, clutching his abdomen and crying in pain.  By now he was running a low-grade fever and said his lower right abdomen hurt and he felt nauseous.  After an hour or so of this, I called his doctor, who asked to see him right away.  Zachy wouldn't walk or even stand up, so I carried him into the clinic.  On physical examination, the doctor was unsure what was wrong and sent us for testing.  His x-ray came back inconclusive, but revealed an enormous amount of abdominal gas.  Hmmm.... clue #1.  His white blood count was high but not extremely alarming.  "But I can't just send him home," his doctor told us.  "Not with his history.  Not with the pain so bad that he can't even walk."  So after nearly three years of evading the hospital, he was admitted.

All was well, though.  Zachy started feeling a little better once he was settled into his room.  The hospital tests came back mostly normal, and Zachy started passing gas.  LOTS of gas.  He figured out how to work the TV remote, ordered and wolfed down a big bowl of macaroni and cheese, and fell asleep.   And he slept right through his IV insertion.  The next day, the best explanation doctors could give us was gas.  And we told Zachary to enjoy the Fruit Loops he ordered for breakfast, because it was one doggone expensive bowl!

This spring Zachary is playing soccer!  He plays with his older brother Sammy on a kindergarten team, so as you can imagine, he's a bit clueless.  But he runs, he kicks the ball, and last weekend he even laid down on the field to dodge the kick-in from the sideline!  He thinks it's fun that his daddy is the assistant coach, but it's even better that he gets snacks and drinks after every game!

School is going really well for him, too!  He loves his teachers and all the fun things they do and learn.  I tell you, this boy has an incredible memory!  He comes home every day with a new story, lesson, or song, and can recount the details of his day quite vividly.  During Holy Week, his class talked about how Jesus suffered and died for us, and though he's no gospel evangelist, we think Zachy tells a fine story:


Many Easter blessings to you!

Dinosaurs for Sale

Friends, family, and esteemed readers,

I am a blogging failure.  I have high hopes of entertaining you, sharing pictures of our sweetest family moments, updating you with my boys' most important milestones, and simply giving you a glimpse into our crazy life.  I am a blogging failure.  But I WON'T be a Mommy failure, and over that past year especially, it seems the time I take to compose an update for this website is time I take away from the boys.  Why, in the past three sentences I had to tell Zachary three times to LEAVE ME ALONE FOR A MINUTE AND LET ME WRITE THIS!  And by golly, when we finally get them to sleep, well, I'm asleep too (or at least too mentally exhausted to compose.)  But lately I have been reflecting on the years with my babies that have all but vanished... and I wanted to share my thoughts.


You see, we have a room in our house that is full of toys.  Toys locked up so they won't be strewn every which way all over the house (though if you come by, you'll see toys strewn about anyway.)  Favorite toys of my oldest boys that I've held onto over the years, just in case...  trains, action figures, puzzles, and bins and bins of dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs at Christmas

Dinosaurs to love on

Dinosaurs for the baby (Joe)

Dinosaurs and dinosaur books at bedtime

But today, no one is interested in the dinosaurs. The younger boys, they have their pirates, their Spiderman shooters, their little electronics.  And the big guys, well, they are BIG.  They have outgrown their toys.  They have outgrown their dinosaurs.

Earlier this month, my firstborn, my preemie Alex

and my roly-poly second son David

had birthdays.  Suddenly and unexpectedly they are eleven

and thirteen years old!

Just like that.  All the stress and anxieties that came with their earlier years have passed...

....the uncertainty of having our first baby a month early (and, according to our "master life plan", three years early)...

...the fear of a very sick newborn and his emergency surgery...

...the seizures of our second baby...

...and then his crazy super hyper I-don't-know-how-to-control-him toddlerhood...

...the potty-training (everyone's favorite)...

...the whooping cough, the uncontrollable allergies, the childhood illnesses...

...and all those unbelievable things young children do just to test their limits...

...those concerns are all in the past.  And now, we have a TEENAGER and another on the way!  For the next twenty years, we will have teenage boys in the house.  Sometimes one, sometimes two, three, or even four.  Those problems that once seemed the end of the world will sound so easy, so trivial.  We will soon be navigating the adolescent issues of cars, girls, whiskers, grades, hormones, peer pressure, deodorant, and the like.

And though they may no longer snuggle, don't call me "Mommy" or play with dinosaurs, they are growing, maturing, and changing in ways that make me proud.  I'm eager to see what the next thirteen years has in store for us.  I'm looking forward to watching them grow into responsible, strong, and holy young men.

But still, at least for now, I won't offer those

dinosaurs for sale.

Not just yet.

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living

my baby you'll be.

--Robert Munsch

Four Amazing Years

Yesterday marked four amazing years with Zachary.  Four years ago, things were very different for our family.  Four years ago, we welcomed our dinky little boy with a special heart.  Four years ago, we questioned what the future held for him.  Four years ago, we shivered as we gazed out the hospital window at the falling snow.  Four years ago, we fervently prayed that our new baby would still be with us at Christmas.

Fast forward to yesterday.

Zachary is now FOUR AMAZING YEARS old!

He's still a little small in stature, but "dinky" by no means!  His special little heart pumps with such strength and stamina that he runs his mama ragged.  Though we still question his future health, we don't worry because there are no signs that he is slowing down.  And so we CELEBRATED!  So much for snow; yesterday my spunky little pirate ran barefoot through our yard in search of treasure!

Zachy had hoped to celebrate this year at the Ronald McDonald House.  He is learning the story of his birth and wanted to take dinner to our local RMH residents and celebrate his birthday there.  But during cold and flu season we are told children are discouraged from visiting in order to limit the germs taken back up to the hospital, which we can certainly understand!  So instead we planned a pirate party at home, complete with a map and a treasure hunt!

Our party was small... family and godmother, but still we filled the house!  Zachy, his brother, cousin, and godbrother took up their pirate maps and went in search of treasure.  It was a perfect 70 degrees outside and I think their treasure hunt was a hit!

Pirate Papa and Baby Buccaneer--the #1 reason Mommy can't seem to update our blog.

Zachy got a little excited when it came time for presents.

Even the big buccaneers got into decorate-your-own cupcakes!

Big brothers couldn't resist setting sail on the high seas!

Scallywag Sam shows off his tattoos and his pirate map!

Happy birthday, my super ornery sweet Zachary!

Half a Year Already?!!!

Funny how time flies when you're having... six boys.  Our baby Mark is--can you believe it--already six months old (more like 6 1/2)!  No doubt, we are having fun, but I wouldn't be honest if I didn't tell you that this has been the most challenging six months ever for our family.  Unlike Zachary's newborn period, we aren't dealing with the stress and uncertainty of our baby's health (thank you, God!)  We are simply dealing with the daily (and nightly) grind, and those little day-to-day responsibilities with six little boys can really add up!  So I suppose it's no wonder that my "hobbies"--one of which is updating our blog--have fallen by the wayside for now.  It just seems that every time I sit down to write about the boys is time they spend neglected, or a day dinner doesn't get made, or school uniforms sit unwashed!

But I just had to take a couple minutes, while Mark nurses to sleep and Zachy sits next to me asking me to stop blogging so he can look up Halloween costumes on the computer, to showcase the recent smiles of our six-month blue-eyed beauty!

So enjoy, because who knows when I'll get another chance to post????