This week

Sunday night we got home, rearranged the furniture and reunited Amos with his sandbox. Although I had high hopes of keeping it in the house, it was quickly moved to the front porch, Monday morning, when Amos proved he wasn't old enough to handle sand in the house!

Wow, what a week. Getting back from being gone, again; two therapy appointments and a doctor's appointment; and sad news of the passing of little Joseph Peabody.

Our therapy appointments went well. Amos did well with Hannah on Tuesday and she (thankfully) did not put up much of a fight to discharge us. She was more worried that he still needed Physical Therapy, but I felt good in saying that that therapist was the one who actually got the ball rolling for discharge. We'll have one last appointment with Hannah and then we'll be done.

Wednesday's appointment went well, too. Amos is doing great in his new orthotics and Christine was happy with his improvements. He showed off his ball-throwing and kicking skills, squatting and general gross muscle movement. We will miss seeing her but she offered to answer any questions we may have and told us to give her a call, anytime. That was a real comfort!

Wednesday was also a tough day for Amos. All day long he threw fits, anytime we needed to stop one activity and move on, or anytime he didn't get what he wanted. By bedtime that night I was so through with him and his fits and worn out from a day of fighting.

Later that night, my dad called to let me know that little Joe P. wasn't doing very well. I immediately became very sad for Joe and his family and wanted to go and hug Amos for as long and as hard as possible. Of course, I didn't, but he gave me opportunities to cuddle with him later that night. Apparently, he's inherited the talking-in-your-sleep gene from me and would speak very clearly things like "no no no" and "Mama! Mama!" Everytime I would go in there, he would be completely asleep. But it went on for awhile so we went to sleep very late.

So Amos and I slept in yesterday morning and took it easy. We had a great day together--no fighting, crying, anything. He was completely agreeable, even right up until bedtime when he happily helped me clean up his toys. I was thankful that it was a good day, as yesterday was also the day Joe P. went to heaven. As I cuddled with Amos as he woke up from his nap and found out the news, I cried and we prayed together, asking God to comfort his family. I was thankful that we had had good time together that day and that Amos is my son.

This week has probably been made weird because I am not sleeping well, because every night, we stay up too late, watching the Olympics. I love competitions and many of the games are so amazing and beautiful to watch that I am just hooked. I am thankful that they are ending on Sunday so we can go to bed early!

My sweet husband gave me my anniversary present, early. He got me a nice new coffee maker that has a timer on it so that I can use it now, to help wake up after staying up late to watch the Olympics! We've been using a french press for awhile but I am tired of all of the steps it takes to make it each morning and would love to wake up to the smell of an ready-made pot of coffee and being able to have it right away.

Also this week, we finalized arrangements to have a student come and live with us for the next four weeks. Many families in our church host a student and we are excited to extend hospitality to someone new to our country, who are here to study and become better at speaking English. After two other students canceling, we've been paired with a student named Eli (pronounced Eelee), who is from the African country of Gabon (on the west coast) and speaks french. We are so excited about meeting him and seeing what life will be like with another person in the house. We've set up the guest room upstairs so that it has a desk and extra clothing storage.

And finally, an Amos update. He continues to grow up, talk more, understand more and play really well. Lately his favorite toys are the school bus and fire truck we brought back from my parents' house, that have Little People that fit into them. Amos loves playing with them, driving them all over and even makes the beeping sound for his firetruck as it reverses!

We also decided to have him sit at the table with us for meals. I got him a little placemat with trucks, diggers and trains on it and an open cup that matches. At first, we converted his high chair into a booster seat but it hasn't worked very well as a booster. The back is very low, so much so that Amos can lean back and choke on water if he's not careful. It also sits too high and too far away from the table. So last night, I had an idea. I got out the yellow pages and put it on one of our high-backed dining chairs. It worked perfectly!

He has also done so so well with eating. He ate so much at dinner last night, eating rice, veggies and all of his chicken. Since we've started giving him salad dressing for dipping, he'll eat veggies and likes to dip other things in there as well.

Gorgeous and yummy cherry tomatoes from my parents' garden.

At his doctor's appointment today, our Pediatrician, Dr. Rose, expressed a little bit of concern for his size. She wants me to give him milk as much as possible and add calories to food when I can. I kinda gave up on fattening him up last spring, as it seemed that he was growing, but would still be small. And the kid eats alot. So I don't know how I feel. I think we're going to go see a Natropath and an Allergist and I will talk to them about the effect of milk on Amos' lungs. Since he's been drinking less milk, he's been coughing less. He's also been on the steroid, twice a day. So I think I'll add milk back in for calories and see what happens. He weighed in today at 20 lbs, 5 ozs, so he remains very small for his age. But he's tall--34 inches, so I know he's growing and is healthy.
He did so well at the appointment, too. He did not cry one bit and was so cooperative--a huge change from our visits before. We praised God, this morning, for Amos' health this spring and summer, as we have not been to see our doctor since March. Oddly enough, he wore the same t-shirt today as he did to his last appointment (I remember because it was St. Patrick's Day) and we read the 101 Dalmations book while we waited, odd because we bought the movie on the day of his last appointment. Sorry, those are twilight zone coincidences that probably only my Mom will appreciate!!

Earlier this week we went to Target and bought a pretend medical set for Amos to play doctor with. He and Nathan got it out and listened to their hearts, the hearts of Amos' stuffed animals and it worked so well. He didn't make a peep today and sat really still while she listened to his heart and lungs. It also didn't help that he didn't get any shots today. As we left the office, Amos noticed the big construction machines nearby so we sat and watched the digger fill up dump truck after dump truck while eating lunch.

Later today we will go close on a Home Equity line of credit on our house, to have in case our immediate tax bills are too big.
And I look forward to enjoying my family and my new coffee maker this weekend, as we prepare for our new house guest!