Family Time | Amy Scott's Thoughts

Family Pictures! October 17, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:47 pm

Thank you to Kelly Pea at Wildwood Photography for the wonderful family pictures!

I got the link today to download our family pictures. I love that we took the pictures in October because the fall landscape makes my heart happy. Little kids and leaves are a perfect combination for cute pictures. Below are a few pictures I wanted to share with you.

On a more personal note, tomorrow we start our first week of counseling. I’m nervous. About the actual counseling, about having Graham with us, about Owen being away from us. I know that God is in control and I can just respond the best I can to each moment as it comes. I think part of the reason I’m nervous is my emotions are bit on the heavy side right now. Today was been a full day of packing for both our trip and our house. We will come home Thursday evening and then we will spend the weekend moving. Today was the last day I’ll clean my house with furniture in it. So weird. When you add counseling, moving, health questions, a baby with a birthday in just a few days, you get an emotional Mama. I haven’t broken down yet. I guess I can save that for counselors office. Just a lot to process and a lot to prepare for in one week. As I type, I am taking a deep breath and trusting God to be in all it. Please say a prayer for us. The rest of October will be extremely busy. In fact, I’m not sure when I’ll get to blog again. Hopefully before we move I can post my 12 month Graham update. We’ll see. After that it might be November before you hear from me again. However, I always seem to make time for blogging therapy.

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Owen is Three! October 9, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 10:21 pm

I had a long and lovely blog written about my fantastic three year old and then my computer glitched and I lost it all. I almost cried. Nothing like pouring your heart into a piece capturing your growing boy at this moment in time and then having it disappear into nothing. It’s a very defeating feeling. While I am game to try again, this post might be shorter than the first. This might be in your favor since you didn’t want to spend hours of your day reading a novel about Owen.

Owen’s birthday was Saturday. We spent the morning visiting a model train show at the fairgrounds. It was more of a swap meet for train parts than a train show. They had about three tracks with trains running. It didn’t matter to Owen that it was small. He had a blast watching those three trains. A part of the train show was free admission to the Lewis County Historical Museum. The museum is in an old train station and the whole backroom is set up with a model train track that travels through Lewis County. It was a super cool set up and really completed the model train morning. The best part was a freight train went right by while we were there and Owen ran outside out and excitedly watched it. After all the model train fun, we went to lunch at Peking House and Owen had fried rice. It was the perfect Owen outing. Owen came home from our adventures and went down for a nap because even birthday boys need naps. When he got up, Jeremy and Owen went into town to get pizza. The birthday boy promptly asked for a piece of brownie cake when he was finished with his pizza. We sang happy birthday and Owen got to blow out the candle (twice because he loves it so much). This kid loves and appreciates chocolate. The brownie quickly disappeared and we were on to presents. Owen got a set of Christmas storybooks and a railroad crossing for his wooden railway. The rest of the evening was spent taking a very messy bubble bath thanks to Daddy and then playing with trains until bedtime.

Owen loves all things trains. We drive over the train tracks in Napavine on the way to church. Owen calls this “train way.” We go the train way a lot. He loves books about trains and loves to watch videos of trains on YouTube (I die of boredom). He is also into trucks and construction. He loves things that move and go. Right now, he is blissfully happy to have a bunch of new toys to play with. He was blessed with many awesome birthday presents. We have amazing friends and family who have loved on him well (Graham too). When Owen isn’t playing (with trains), he likes to color and play with Play Doh. We love to read together. He is enjoying his Phonics Readers from Usborne and his Bible. His favorite Bible story is the story of the two builders where one man builds a house on the sand and the other builds on the rock. We sing the same song I sang as a kid and do all the motions. He likes singing about how the house on the sand goes splat. Owen loves to sing these days. He joined us for worship this morning at church and attempted to sing along even though he didn’t know the words. He later told me that they were singing to us at church and I got to explain that the singing was called worship and that we were all singing to God to say thank you and honor him. I love moments like this and I am excited for many more as he continues to grow. These God moments are my favorite!

Owen loves his stuffed animal, Lamby. He is Owen’s security blanket and best buddy. Our household is in a big Daniel Tiger phase right now. We love the songs and I’m contemplating having Owen be Daniel Tiger for Halloween, but the jury is still out there. Owen is growing out of the terrible twos and I have high hopes that three will be an improvement in attitude. Owen now says “I love you” throughout the day. It melts my heart. I tell him that I love him often and it’s so special to hear him say it now. He gives kisses on the cheek upon request. He is fairly good at saying please and thank you. He also knows to say excuse me when he burps. I’m praying those manners continue to stick as he grows up. If you ask him what his favorite color is he will most likely say green. His favorite food is rice. He loves chocolate milk. He is goofy and creative and says the best things. I could listen to him talk for hours. He now comments on when things are fun. The other day he told Jeremy, “I love eating food with you, Daddy.” Anything that takes place in the past is yesterday – could have been yesterday, last week or a month ago. I’m loving the fact that he is potty trained. He is even dry through the night. The transition to a big boy bed as been amazingly smooth. He stays in bed and doesn’t get up until Jeremy or I come into the room and tell him it’s okay. I am so grateful for that! He has grown up so much this year!

His well check isn’t until November so I don’t have any official stats on him yet. I can tell you that he has been consistently weighing in at 29lbs for some time. I love that he didn’t break 30lbs by age 3. Little lightweight. He is now wearing 4T shirts and 3T (with the waistband cinched up tight). He would prefer to wear pajamas more than anything else. I have taught him well! I love that he still loves footie pajamas. They are his top choice.

There a million small things that make Owen so amazing. I could go on forever about how wonderful he is. He can be strong-willed and zany, but he is equally sweet and kind. I am so glad that God gave him to Jeremy and I. Owen has changed my world and I now can’t imagine my life without him. He is a miracle. I love watching him grow and become himself more and more each day. He is truly a fantastic kid and I am blessed to be his mom! This season of his childhood is the best. I love it!

PS… I don’t think this retry was any shorter than the first! So sorry. I tried. Sort of. Maybe not. The end.

Baby Owen

1 year old!

2 years old!

Good morning birthday boy! Someone special is officially 3!

At the model train show

The model train room at the Historical Museum

Little Train Lover

A leaf!

A quick spin with the bubble mower

Yummy pizza

Make a wish!

Love that smile!

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Pumpkins, Teddy Bears and the Big Haircut October 7, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 5:42 pm

We had a bit of fun yesterday. We drove down south to go to a pumpkin patch. My sister-in-law invited us to join her moms’ group. Owen and I joined them last year and we had a fantastic time. I was excited to go again. Owen loved spending time with his cousin, Nolan. When I asked Owen what he liked most about the pumpkin patch, his response was seeing Nolan. We got to go on a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch where we picked two pumpkins. Then we went through the hay maze, visited the petting zoo and climbed the straw pyramid. It was a wonderful fall outing. I love pumpkins. Jeremy joked that a pumpkin patch is my ideal garden and I totally agree. The more pumpkins the better in my book! It was fun to have Graham experience the pumpkin patch as well. He did a decent job walking around in shoes (something new to him since he usually roams around bare foot). October is my favorite month of the year and activities like this are the reason why.

After getting some lunch, we took off for the mall. My aunt had given the boys gift cards to Build-A-Bear for their birthdays. While Build-A-Bear isn’t something I would normally spend the money on, I was excited for them to have this experience. Owen really enjoyed it even though he was super tired. Owen picked out a bear for himself and for Graham. He helped the employee fill the bears by stepping on the pedal. He gave his bear a good brush before we got them all dressed up. Owen’s bear got a full Seahawks jersey outfit with helmet included. Graham’s bear got a Sehawks hoodie. A part of the process is naming the bears and printing their birth certificates. Jeremy named Owen’s bear “Blitz” and Graham’s bear “Graham Bear.” Owen walked away proudly carrying the signature Build-A-Bear box. Both boys took long naps with their bears on the ride home from the big day.

Today was a milestone day for Graham. He got his first haircut. I’m lazy and cheap so I hold off on the first haircut until the first birthday. Plus, this is the only time of life where crazy baby hair is cute and makes sense. Owen did really well for his first haircut, so I was hopeful for Graham. However, Graham hated it. It cried and couldn’t be distracted. This could be his first and last salon cut… At least for a while. Part of me thinks we’ll give it another try and see if the results change. If not, then it’s buzz cuts at home like his brother!

My boys are getting bigger and growing up. Tomorrow is Owen’s 3rd birthday!!! I can’t believe it! We have a fun outing to a model train show planned for him. He knows that is his birthday activity and he tells anyone who listen that is going to the model train show. He might never want to leave. My next post will be all about my big 3 year old and his special day. Exciting times!

Fun with the bubble mower

When big brother is away, little brother can play with all the toys!

Apparently this is how Owen visits Papa in the hospital. He just moves on in. Glad that Papa’s knee surgery went well and that he is home recovering now.

Pumpkin Patch

Build-A-Bear

A happy, quiet ride home!

Before

After – He was a total crank. No smiles.

Something for the memory box

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Birthday Party Weekend with a Health & Home Update October 4, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:41 pm

My last post ended with Jeremy’s upcoming appointment with our family doctor. At that appointment, Jeremy asked to get a referral to a new cardiologist. We wanted to get a second opinion since his first cardiologist couldn’t explain the chest pain Jeremy was having and didn’t seem too concerned with figuring it out. To our surprise, we had an appointment with the new cardiologist in just a few days of asking for the referral.

Friday was a busy day. We found out on Thursday that we would be having our appraisal on Friday. I’m glad we had a little more notice this time. Last time they told us on the day of which wasn’t my favorite thing. We already had plans to be gone on Friday morning to go shopping for the boys’ birthday parties so it worked out well for the appraisal to happen at that time. We thought he would be gone by noon and we arrived home at 12:15pm hoping to put the boys’ down for a nap, but the appraiser was still there! We went and dropped food off at Jeremy’s parent’s house and came back home. The appraiser was still there. Then we ran into Napavine to get lunch and arrived back home at 1:15pm. Thankfully, he was gone at that point, but it threw off our nap plans.

Jeremy’s parents spent Friday afternoon with the boys so we could go down to Vancouver for Jeremy’s second opinion appointment. The doctor was saw was young. He is only a year older than me. He listened to Jeremy’s story and symptoms. He agreed to do an echocardiogram. Jeremy had one a few years ago, but those can be subjective, so the doctor wants to look over one with his own eyes. He is also thinking of doing a CT scan on Jeremy’s chest to see something might be causing the feeling Jeremy has. He is also concerned about Jeremy’s heart rhythm and suggested maybe a long term implanted heart monitor instead of the 30 days monitor that Jeremy is currently wearing (he is almost finished with his 30 days and can mail it back this weekend). While Jeremy wasn’t jazzed about the implanted heart monitor idea, we are thankful for another set of eyes looking things over. October will more tests and follow up appointments. His medical appointments will most likely continue into November, but we are hoping that Jeremy can go back to work at that point (after our two weeks in Kirkland for counseling).

More appointments & a new doctor for the health update, we’ve had our appraisal and are awaiting the results for the home update. Now for the fun stuff! This weekend we celebrated the boys’ upcoming birthdays. October is full of birthdays in our family, so we wanted to do a combined party for Owen & Graham. I also wanted to do it early in the month so it wouldn’t conflict with other birthdays. It was fun to celebrate our almost 3 year old and almost 1 year old. Graham wasn’t too interested in opening presents. Owen assumed all the presents were for him which is kind of true. These boys share everything at this point. No toy is off limits to either of them. The boys got tons of new toys. Our days have been spent playing, playing, playing. Graham loved the frosting on his birthday cupcake, but didn’t get too into the cake part. Owen loved his Thomas cake and Thomas themed party. For one of the parties, we played pin the funnel on Thomas and gave out Thomas tattoos. I love themed parties!

This Saturday is Owen’s actual birthday. We will attend a model train show at our local fairgrounds and go to lunch at Owen’s favorite Chinese restaurant for fried rice. I will make brownies with frosting for his birthday cake. Owen loves to blow out birthday candles so he’ll get another chance at that. He’ll also get a few birthday presents from Jeremy and I. It should be a really fun day.

Now we wait to hear back on the results of our appraisal. I’m praying for better numbers than last time. Once we have the appraisal officially behind us, we should be closing in 7-10 business days. Jeremy & his dad cleared out the 3 rooms we will be moving into. My father-in-law, Bill, has knee surgery tomorrow. I feel bad that we will be moving into his house when he is recovering. Hopefully our crazy family doesn’t slow down his recovery process. However, I have been holding a very tentative view of moving. Ideally our new closing date will be around Friday, October 28^th and possibly moving the weekend of the 22^nd. Obviously nothing is set in stone at this moment. I will admit that I’m not quite sure how all the dates will pan out with counseling out of the area, more doctors’ appointments, moving and closing. Things might pile on top of each other bit… I know that God is in control of all these dates and details. I don’t need to know right now. I just need to focus on today and what is immediately ahead of me. The rest will come in time.

Even in this strange season, I have so much to be thankful for. I am blessed by our family and friends who showed up and loved on our boys this weekend. I am thankful for all the time we’ve gotten to spend as a family of four. I’ve loved having Jeremy home and so have the boys. They have no clue what is going on with Jeremy’s health so all they see is the positive of having their dad around all the time. Jeremy and I have always been a great team. We worked together well professionally and now that translates into parenting together. Some women have told me they could never work with their spouse, that they need that time apart during the day. I, however, can spend almost every waking minute with Jeremy and never grow tired of him. I love him so much. I love our life together. That is why figuring out his health is so important to me. I want him to be healthy so our family has decades upon decades with him. He means so much to me and the boys. We couldn’t ask for a better husband and father. While this medical leave and time away from work hasn’t been an easy one for our family, I am grateful for the time we’ve spent together. I will look back on this season and know that we faced it together as a family, full of love, full of hope. There is so much good in the midst of the hard. God is in all of it and we are thankful.

This kid is too cute!

Making hot dogs and smores on the burn pile at the property

Party shopping

The birthday boys

3&1

Party #1

Party #2

Hitting Toy’R’Us for the birthday balloon and a car seat upgrade for Graham

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A Week of Meetings September 16, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Selling, Building, Moving,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 5:00 pm

This week has been full of meetings. On Sunday, we got to meet our newest nephew, Colton. He slept through most of the experience which is fine by me. A sleeping baby is a happy baby in my book. He was super cuddly and won our hearts instantly. Owen was the sweetest when it was his turn to hold the baby. He gave him kisses on the top of his head and it melted my heart.

Tuesday, Jeremy and the boys went up to the property with my parents to meet with the man who would be clearing the land and the lady that will be designing the septic. After that, they all went down to the courthouse to put the land officially in our name. We now own 6 acres of property! That is certainly something to celebrate! My parents have been so generous to us. We are excited for this next season of life. Clearing has begun and we can start to envision where our houses will go and what the future will look like. I’m thrilled to see progress being made. The only once piece of news that I haven’t mentioned is our closing on current house has pushed back to the middle of October. Appraisers in our area are super slammed and we can’t get an appraisal in time for our closing date at the end of September. This means our moving date is again TBD. I’m not loving that, but I am grateful that the we are still under contract even if things are moving slowly.

Wednesday was Jeremy’s treadmill. Since this wasn’t his first rodeo with a treadmill, I expected the results to be much the same as before. And they were. The doctor wasn’t too concerned by what he saw. He thinks the meds are working and that is good enough. Unfortunately, the doctor doesn’t have a good explanation for the discomfort Jeremy feels in his chest (he feels it even with the meds). We are seriously considering getting a second opinion to make sure that nothing has been overlooked.

Thursday we drove up to Kirkland to meet with a ministry resource group. We believe that stress is a key factor in the incident that Jeremy had at the end of August. His heart issues combined with stress have created the situation we are in now. The hope is this ministry group will be able to help give Jeremy the skills to deal with the stress in his life. Truthfully, most of stress in our lives comes from ministry, but when you are pastors there are very few people you can be open and honest with about work related stress. Our prayer is that this organization will add another level to Jeremy’s healing. The one downside to this group is they prefer to meet in an intensive week of 4 full days of meeting (usually two weeks of Monday-Thursday, so most likely 8 days total). Since the group is located at a distance and Graham is still nursing, this will make it tricky for me to accompany Jeremy. We will call the scheduler on Monday and talk through what our options are. Right now with a young family, I can’t do the intensive week. We will see what other options we can come up with.

This week has had so many ups and downs for me. Meeting Colton was a high point, for sure. Now that Jeremy has been on his meds for two weeks, he is driving again, which I really appreciate. I hate driving so I’m glad that he is healthy enough to be back behind the wheel. While, I didn’t want Jeremy’s treadmill to show something horribly wrong, I also don’t feel like we got sufficient answers from Jeremy’s current cardiologist. And the ministry group… While I am grateful for this opportunity to work with them, it’s been stressful for me as I try to figure out how we will blend their preferences with our current season of life. At times I find myself mentally chanting “lean not on our own understanding” over and over again. It’s in my nature to figure things out and make sure all the pieces fall into place. However, right now I feel like a lot of things are still up in the air and I need to live that. God is in control. When I trust him, he will make our way straight. It’s a relief to know that I am not responsible for figuring this all out. I’m doing the best I can to do the right thing and that has to be good enough. I know that God will honor our diligence as move forward.

Our Usborne box arrived with all these books! Birthdays and Christmas are going to be good this year!

Meeting Colton

Owen loves his new bed and a new books!

Looking at bugs

Exploring the property and checking out the clearing

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Taking A Break September 3, 2016

Filed under: Bible,Family Time,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 10:23 am

This last week has taken an unexpected turn for our family. On Monday, the buyer of our house wanted to see it again. Jeremy and I were driving the truck and the van down to the church. We were going to drop off the truck and go run some errands together in the van. When Jeremy arrived at the church a few minutes behind me, he was shaken up. He had gotten dizzy while driving and drove off the road. Thankfully, there was no damage to him, his truck or the yard he drove into. Over the last couple of years, Jeremy has seen a cardiologist. He has an irregular heartbeat and recently he has been struggling with his blood pressure and a racing pulse. He has pushed through so much. He kept on going and living life and doing it all and holding it together. Until Monday… We realize that things could have been a lot worse (I have to stop myself from thinking through all the things that could have happened. It’s too scary). His condition is serious and we need more answers than the ones we’ve been given. Jeremy went back on a beta-blocker that has regulated his heart well this week. Because it takes a week or so for the body to adjust to this medication, I have been driving Jeremy around just to be safe. Jeremy will also wear an event monitor for a month so the doctor can more closely record what is going with his heart and how often it happens. Getting this event monitor has been a challenge. We thought we would get one yesterday, but now it looks like it will be next Thursday. I am disappointed. Waiting has been hard for me. I feel sorry for my hubby, that he will have to be wired up for a month, but at the same time, I hope it brings more clarity and a plan for moving forward.

The other big piece of this medical puzzle is that Jeremy will be taking at least 30 days off from work to get his health back in order. Our lead pastor graciously offered this time to Jeremy. It was strange to accept such an offer, but at the same time, we have high hopes that taking a layer of stress off of Jeremy’s life will help. Our lives revolve around our family and Bethel Church. It will be very odd to have a month away from ministry. I am thankful for this opportunity and the chance to make Jeremy’s health our top priority. I also know that we have a great team at Bethel Church. We have fantastic leaders and teachers who will make this period of time a success. I am thankful and grateful to those who are covering for us. We are truly blessed.

We’ve spent a bit of time getting things in a good place for our absence. This week, I went into the church and put up my class bulletin board. This Wednesday will be the first week with my new class. My mom plans on covering the class while our family is away, but I plan on going down for the first class so I can introduce myself and get the year started off. September is full of so many traditions, things I always do to get the ball rolling. I love this time and it means a lot to me. I am grateful for a chance to start things off.

We’ve had a very quiet week. There has been lots of resting. Jeremy is doing a great job of laying low. The boys are also getting over colds. We’ve made the most of nap time and early bedtimes. I’m not sure what the next month looks like. Our life is very day to day right now. This afternoon we will go to my in-laws for dinner. I’m sure the boys will enjoy getting out and seeing Nana & Papa. They have been out of town taking care of our family over the mountains while the newest little Scott arrived! This week I became an auntie again to my new nephew, Colton. I am bummed that I haven’t gotten to snuggle him yet, but I have gone shopping for him so that helped my feelings. Anyway, back to small plans, our apple trees are full of apples that ready to be picked. I think we will pick a few apples and maybe make an apple pie. Jeremy went from going full throttle to snail speed. It’s been a weird switch, but we are believing this will make a difference for the future.

Oh, random Graham update, he taking steps daily and often. He isn’t “walking” per say but he can take about 3-4 steps before grabbing onto something. His preferred method of travel is walking while holding furniture. He only crawls as a last resort. He is up and moving. It’s not long with practice like this that he will be officially walking. Crazy kid. He is only 10 months old!!!!

Please be praying for our family. We have high hopes. We are believing that none of this caught God by surprise. He is in all of it. I keep thinking of Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” The hardest part for me is to not lean on my own understanding. In a season where I would like more answers, it’s hard to not try to fill in the blanks myself. I’m obviously not a doctor, so my mind goes down many paths wondering what is happening, what will happen, what could happen… But my understand of this situation is limited and it won’t get me anywhere productive. I am trusting that God is leading our family. He will make our path straight. I don’t have to figure this out. God’s got it handled. I just need to trust. And right now, that means taking things one day at a time and living intentionally slow and restful. It’s counter-intuitive, but I’m praying that it will bring life and health to Jeremy (and our family).

Trying to keep Graham from destroying the train tracks

Thankful for dark mornings, clouds and rain. I love this time of year!

Little models!

The bulletin board is ready for another fun year full of memories!

Quiet nights at home = Family Feud on the big screen.

This was my candy corn bowl. Graham is enjoying the leftover essence.

When you want to go outside but don’t want to change out of your pajamas…

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What Day Is It? August 27, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 11:53 am

It’s been a strange week. All three of my boys have been under the weather at various times. Jeremy has been working in the evenings and I had to miss church on Wednesday night, plus Jeremy is working all weekend as well. My normal markers for where we are in the week are all gone. We’ve managed to stay occupied, but we’ve also had a far amount of resting and laying low. Jeremy’s been trying to be good about resting when he is home. Graham had a cold that he has now passed on to Owen. I have a bug bite on my leg that makes my whole leg ache. We seem to have our fair share of ailments these days. Tuesday, I got to have a phone date with my lovely friend, Maggie. An hour on the phone with a good friend is a breath of fresh air and we really need for my sanity! Wednesday, we got to run errands with Jeremy. Thursday, we went down to visit my sister. We played in the park, got lunch and spent some time at her house in the AC. Thursday night, Jeremy took Owen to work with him for some Daddy time. Owen really appreciated it! He keeps telling me that he got to go to summer camp.Yesterday, Jeremy switched from summer camp mode into kid zone mode. He is it Chehalis Garlic Fest this weekend running inflatables for the kids. I could go into detail about all the drama we’ve had a night and the lack of sleep I am getting, but I figure that is sad story that I’ve told one too many times on this blog. Just a say little prayer for Owen. The last two nights he has woken up in the middle of the night very unhappy. The first night after two hours of trying to get him back to sleep, we finally let him sleep in our bed. Last night we brought a nightlight in and that seemed to help. Not quite sure what’s up, but I don’t like the idea of being up with both Owen and Graham in the middle of the night. One sleepless kiddo is enough… So that is the update. Here are some pictures from our adventures this week.

Owen requested to wear matching jammies with Graham. I’m a big fan of matching!

Graham did not approve of Jeremy’s decision to leave him to go shower.

Exploring the Rainer City Park with Auntie! We will be visiting here again!

Auntie is passing on her love of video games to the next generation.

Having a little fun at Graham’s expense

Up with Graham while Jeremy and Owen sleep in after a rough night. Because I was tired, I let Graham watch TV in my lap so I could sit like a blob. Parenting at it’s finest!

Since I’ve been dreaming of fall and I had a can of pumpkin I needed to use, I decided to make pumpkin pancakes yesterday! Yum!

Chowing down on rice at Grandpa & Grandma’s last night!

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Not So Healthy August 22, 2016

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Family Time,Parenthood,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 9:01 pm

My post from yesterday was actually written on Saturday and scheduled to post on Sunday. I had ended my last entry by saying that I was thankful for healthy and happy boys. As it turns out, they aren’t quite as healthy as I thought. Sunday turned into a sick day at our house. Jeremy called me saying that the new meds he had started taking for his heart were making him dizzy and he needed to come home. It was great to get a call saying that he was dizzy and driving. Awesome. I spent the next 15 minutes wondering if he was going to end up in a ditch on the side of the road… Owen woke up sounding hoarse. Graham woke up with snot and developed a random rash that came and went quickly (thankfully). Jeremy spent the whole day laying down and the boys just kind of play around him and enjoyed his presence. Not the Sunday I had planned.

The last week has been full of lots of things that wouldn’t headline their own blog post, but have definitely kept me busy. We’ve had a couple of cooler days. I have been able to bake (which is just as good as therapy). I’ve been loving doing laundry during the day and not worrying about how hot it is to run the dishwasher. I’ve been in party planning mode of the boys birthday parties. I ordered their supplies online yesterday and I have their birthday invites ready to throw in the mail next week.

I’ve also been planning for the fall with my Wednesday night class at church. Today I purchased the supplies for my bulletin board. I also ordered new curriculum and crafts. I am now set for the new school year. I have two weeks left with my current class, but those two weeks will be spent visiting our youth ministry and preparing for them the transition. Last Wednesday, we did ice cream sundaes and took down all the artwork that decorated our room throughout the year. We passed around pieces of paper and signed them like yearbooks. I love getting one last chance to tell them how much they matter to me and Jesus. I almost cry every year as I tell them how I loved teaching them and that our friendship doesn’t end when they leave the classroom. These girls mean so much me. Most of them have been regulars for the last two years. We’ve gotten close. Every year it’s hard to see another class move up. But the size of the classroom I teach in won’t let me keep all of my students forever (I’d be tempted to if I could).

In the midst of home showings, getting an offer on the house and major illnesses, I threw an Usborne book party last week. It was a major success! I got WAY more hostess rewards than I had expected. I got the boys books for their birthdays, books for Christmas, book just for fun. The topics range from dinosaurs to bugs to space to trains to machines. I got Christmas stories, a phonics reader set and wipe clean learning books for preschool. I am so excited to add these books to our home library. They are a great quality and educational. Such a blessing. Since Usborne has had a boom in popularity recently, it takes a while for their books to ship. Being patient is hard!!! I can’t wait for the amazing box to arrive!

A lot of my life is out of my control (okay, almost all of it). There are a lot of things that weigh on me and worry me. I have to keep reminding myself that worry doesn’t change anything. I find myself clinging to the goodness in ordinary moments. Folding laundry, using the oven, baking, watching my kiddos play, making snacks, making meals. These things keep me grounded. They keep me centered on reality. I often feel like my life should be a fairy tale. When I tell my story, it should be nothing short of perfection, as if angels sing in hallowed voices in the background. But life is not a fairy tale. We’ve certainly had our share of concerns and discouragements and uncertainties. I like security and in a lot of ways, my security has been shaken over the last year. While I might not be sure of a lot of things, I am sure of Jesus and I am sure of the blessings in this moment. My current blessing is that Owen has stopped screaming. He gets real dramatic at bedtime. The toddler phase of one more drink, one more hug, where is my toy, turn my heater on, I have to go pee… It’s real folks. And Owen screams about it every night for about 20-30 minutes. Jeremy has evening commitments all this week which means I have a week of bedtimes all by myself. It’s hard. But now both my boys are sleeping and since my hubby is away, I am having some personal time to blog. When I’m done here, I will hop on to Shutterfly.com and put on my family historian hat. I’ve been working on the boys’ photo books for this last year. I find that if I work on them slowly a month or two at a time, the project isn’t a big deal. These are good moments. Looking through happy pictures of my kids is a wonderful thing when I am feeling tired and worn out and cranky (because I was up three times with Graham and once with Owen last night). Oh sleep… I miss you!

The end of the summer is a hard time to catch everyone. Missing a few of our regulars (and April). Wrapping up another awesome year with the 5th/6th grade girls at church.

What a joy it was to use the oven to make frozen pizza! Family dinner time is a blessing especially with piles of trains on the table and trucks on the floor!

Homemade banana bread! Yum!

Graham really liked my banana bread

Owen was not so into it…

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Owen’s Mystery Illness August 21, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Parenthood,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 8:00 am

Thursday started off like any other day. I was tired. Owen was whiny. Graham was Graham… Around nap time, Owen started acting funny. He was just laying around. At one point he was just starting at the TV with the “Are you still watching?” screen on. No show, just a blank screen and a blank stare from Owen. I took his temperature and he had a low grade fever. He was starting to breathe a bit weird (he had made the same sounds the night before and I thought sleep would help). His nap didn’t last long and he ended up in bed with me. His fever had gotten to 102 and he was consistently breathing strange – short breaths that seemed uncomfortable. Since he didn’t have any cold/flu symptoms, I started thinking of things like appendicitis or meningitis… He told me his tummy and back hurt, but that he didn’t feel like throwing up. I gave him some Tylenol and moved him to the couch where he laid like a blob for the rest of the afternoon.

I had talked with a Jeremy a few times throughout the afternoon and expressed my concern that was acting strange. When Jeremy got home, he thought Owen’s breathing was weird enough that we needed to go to the doctor. Our doctor’s office has an after hours walk-in clinic. We were quickly taken back to a room. The doctor had him take a breathing treatment which Owen hated. He screamed and cried through most of it. The breathing treatment didn’t change anything so the doctor sent us over to the hospital for a chest x-ray. She wanted to make sure that Owen didn’t have pneumonia.

When we had originally taken off for the doctor’s, we had no clue that our night would land us in the hospital. The whole ordeal took a lot longer than we had expected. I had left Graham with my parents thinking that we would be back soon. The poor kid (and my poor parents) had more time together than we had planned. Nothing like having a tired baby at bedtime without his mom for a good time.

We got back to the doctor’s office right before the clinic closed with the results of the chest x-ray for the doctor to look at. Owen was still breathing weird at this point, but the x-ray showed that his chest was clear. It was a total mystery. The doctor told us to keep an eye on Owen and be back for a follow-up the next morning. We went to get Graham and took home two tired boys. Jeremy got up and checked on Owen a couple times in the night to make sure he was breathing okay. By the time Owen got up on Friday, he was occasionally breathing weird, but for the most part he was breathing normally and he had no fever. By the time we got the doctor’s office, he was a totally different kid than the 12 hours before.

The doctor gave us the all clear. Owen was fine. Random and unexplainable. Our Thursday night plans had been to go to the fair before the mystery illness hit. We decided to go to the fair after our doctor’s appointment since the doctor had given us the green light. It was a hot day so our time at the fair was brief. We also didn’t want to push Owen too much. Owen found every train at the fair. We even stopped to look at the model trains twice. Kids got a free ride ticket with their entrance so Jeremy used Graham’s ticket to go on a train ride with Owen. It was Graham’s nap time so he slept through most of his first fair experience. I was a bit disappointed that Owen wasn’t more interested in the animals. The heat was really slowing him down…(and all he wanted to do was look for trains). We got Owen a hand squeezed lemonade (he is really into lemonade right now). Jeremy and I got hand dipped corn dogs and split an elephant ear. For me, the fair is all about the food. I had been excited about going to the fair this year, but with the heat and the mystery illness, it turned into a quick and hot experience. I’m still glad we did it. Owen loved the trains, I loved the food, Graham got a nap… Not too bad over all.

I know that life is never dull, but wow. Thursday turned out way more dramatic than I could have ever imagined. I’m glad my big boy is doing good now and back to his normal self. Sick kids are heartbreaking. I’m grateful today for my healthy, happy boys!

Waiting for a train to come by at the local spray park on Tuesday

Spray park fun

Poor boy

Being silly at the doctor’s office

Walking into the hospital

Checked into the ER

Waiting for the x-ray results with his cool stickers!

Owen and his love of trains at the SWW Fair

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These Days August 15, 2016

Filed under: Family Time,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 6:54 pm

These days are a mix. Busy and slow moments. Right now I have a few quiet moments. I am pondering things and my mind rambles on. I’ve been reading. It feels good. But at the same time, the two books I purchased are intense. They are the kind of books that make you think, make you evaluate life. I was reading Sarah Bessey’s latest blog post about how her “tinies” are no longer tiny. She has big kids now. It made me think of my “littles” and I spent a majority of the post misty eyed over growing babies. My emotions are on the surface right now. They come up quickly and easily.

I’m doing a lot of things for comfort right now. I’ve eaten a lot pasta (mostly in the form of mac and cheese), I’ve inhaled chocolate whenever I have a chance, I am reading in quiet moments, I’m planning baking projects for when the heat dies down (which at this moment it seems like it never will) and Jeremy & I have started watching Parks and Recreation on Netflix. Books, TV, food… All good things.

To keep busy, we’ve worked on the house. We had a showing on Saturday and a showing today. We’ve taken the boys to the park numerous times. Owen loves parks. This is what childhood summers are all about. I love watching my big boy explore and amaze me. He is such a great climber. It blows my mind what he is capable of now. In less than 2 months, he’ll be 3. I realized that I’m going to have to plan one last zoo trip while is he still gets free admission! Graham, of course, is trying to keep up with Owen and is such a busy baby. He just doesn’t get that he is little. I could share more about Graham but I’ll save it for his 10 month update at the end of this week.

Today I went up to visit my friend, Kaly, and got to hold her newborn little girl, Citlaly. She’s only 8lbs. So tiny! It seems like forever since Graham was that small. It was great to get newborn snuggles in while Owen ran wild with Citlaly’s older brothers.

These are the things that make up life – good books, good food, funny television, multiple trips to the park, hanging with friends and newborn babies. This weekend, Jeremy’s parents watched the boys so we could go on a date during our home showing. It was nice to be with Jeremy and have him all to myself. We agreed that we wouldn’t do anything house related. We went to Olive Garden (pasta and bread sticks, YES). We got Jeremy an Apple watch so he can monitor his heart rate and health better. He hasn’t been feeling the best lately and his cardiologist recommended he get it. I joked with Jeremy that he is a expensive date!

Life is full of layers. I could list off all the layers that I am less than pleased with. My mind mulls them over more than I would like. I am equally trying to look for the good, finding grace and goodness in the ordinary moments. I’ve been thinking a lot about the season I spent reading 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp and making endless list of gifts throughout the day. I want to feel light like that again. I want to find joy in gratitude and contentment. I’m trying to be intentional with my thoughts and my actions. While my emotions might go up and down throughout the day, I’m choosing to look at the layers of my life as a unique creation. Some are bitter, some are sweet. They ebb and flow. I’m making the most of the moments, both good and bad. Trying my best to see God in it all. When I look, I find him and that makes all the difference.