I had to look through my photo album to try and remember what all we crammed into this week!

We rocked out some therapy sessions. Levi has a hard time understanding when his therapy session is over and brother’s begins. He tends to get very jealous that they are working with Malachi instead of him and tries to join in on the fun.

We went to the apple orchard with our Chick-Fil-A buddies. We don’t get to meet up very often but it is always fun to spend time with those sweet children. Both Malachi and Levi thoroughly enjoyed the hayride through the apple orchard.

I was barely pregnant with Levi when the infamous Chick-Fil-A encounter happened which led to the viral post. So it is wild to see how much our families keep changing!

We ate chicken in parking lots in between appointments. I know that sounds like a weird sentence. But most days we have an hour or so to kill in between appointments and getting the boys out is getting more difficult now that Levi is so mobile. So we find a quiet parking lot and I let Levi join me in the front seat to get some wiggles out and get a few bites of food.

 

We all four got our flu shots! Our local pharmacy is absolutely amazing and they come out to the car for our shots so I don’t have to get Malachi’s chair out.

Levi was too young to get his at the pharmacy so we made the drive to his pediatrician in Chattanooga. This was his first ever flu shot which made me a nervous wreck- the last time he had a vaccination he went into respiratory distress and had to be put on 6 liters of oxygen. Thankfully he managed this one well.

While I am very respectful of others opinions about vaccinations, in our world it is a very black and white, life or death issue that we don’t feel like we should negotiate on. When you become a medical momma you are forced into a world where you have to choose a lesser of two evils…we have to prioritize LIFE over all else.

Levi managed to sprain his ankle on Friday morning which led to a bonus trip to the pediatrician and x-rays. He wasn’t able to put pressure on it for a bit and would fall every few attempted steps so we were concerned he had fractured his ankle but the images showed no break! He has cried several times over the last few days and held his foot so I know it is still hurting but there isn’t much you can do for a sprain other than Tylenol.

He spent a solid day and a half walking like this on the inside of his foot, which in turn caused him to fall over frequently in pain.

The weather is finally changing here in Tennessee and oh boy are we loving it! The fall days tend to be more overcast so Malachi can comfortably spend time outside without trying to dodge the sunlight. Look at all that eye contact!!! He is such a beautiful child.

 Plus now the bears seem to be in hibernation making me much less nervous about letting Levi play on the front porch and in the driveway!

Malachi’s body temperature issues have leveled out but his new wake up time has yet to be determined. We were all over the map this week, some days waking up at 3am and other days waking up at 5am. We obviously are crossing our fingers for him to settle on a late hour!

Speaking of late nights, we have had several with both boys this weekend. In addition to Levi’s sprained ankle he seems to have a slight postnasal drip. Since his airway is very sensitive any drainage back in his throat makes him immediately vomit. We run him on continuous feeds for 8 hours at night and for the last two nights he has been getting up around 4am and projectile vomiting.

On Saturday I attempted a trip to the grocery store with the boys and made it down two aisles before Levi projectile vomited all over the floor. I was trying to use the cart and Malachi’s wheelchair to block the puddle while holding a vomit covered Levi. Thankfully someone in the aisle offered to go to customer service for me and they brought some cleaning supplies. Never a dull moment!

So as a back up plan we are carrying a towel everywhere we go and only feeding Levi small amounts more often than normal. There are no other signs or symptoms in any of us or Levi other than his vomiting which leads us to confidently believe it is an airway reaction and not a virus.

Levi has started using his imagination a lot and loves pretending that everything is a phone. He always answers it “Hey Dada”and proceeds to have a pretty intense conversation. He hands the phone to me but gets very frustrated when I don’t say the right persons name who is on the “other line”. Silly boy.

Levi is developing a little attitude and it has shocked both Jake and I in a humorous way. For example, one day this week he turned to Malachi and said “I love you” then walked off. I was touched by the sweetness of the moment and said “You love Malachi?” and Levi turned around with a sassy attitude and an eye roll and replied “I just said that.”

He is also picking up some new dance moves. Here is an updated dancing video for you:

Malachi loves Levi but sometimes needs some space (totally relatable, kid). We have been putting him in his activity chair out of Levi’s reach.

I took this silly video for you and you can just see how happy Malachi is to play with a toy all by himself:

Jake is on fall break this week and we are planning to tackle some big projects around the house. We also have some fun things planned, like painting pumpkins and maybe a trip to the zoo. Malachi has been excited all weekend about extra time with daddy!

Levi is going through a mommy stage and will scream for at least 45 minutes if I leave the house. He is afraid I will leave him if I get out of his sight so he is following me everywhere I turn. I am really hoping this week will help ease that situation as Jake will be staying home with the boys when I go to work.

I’m not going to lie here- this week has been exhausting. There were days I was running on just 3 hours of sleep and trying to whittle down a to-do list that continued to grow. On days like those it is very VERY difficult to show the light of Jesus to people. It is hard to find empathy for others when my day is so chaotic and miserable. We spend hours in waiting rooms each week, hours in the car driving to and from appointments. There is so much unpredictability and when someone adds chaos to my chaos I tend to get angry.

But I have to keep reminding myself that even in these stressful moments, God is refining me. He is bringing my impurities to the surface, the ugly parts of my character, and He desires to scrape those out of my life.

When we are a child of God we need to be okay with the uncomfortable feeling of being refined. We need to be okay with God pointing out our ugly, knowing that His goal is for us to be a reflection of Him…something we can’t do well when we smear our innate ugliness on that mirror that He wants us to be.

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

I tend to forget that there is purpose in pain. I forget that in order to really, truly grow I have to develop roots that painfully work their way into the soil but concrete me into that garden of Christ. And once those roots are established I can start to bloom where He has planted me. I can start to display the beauty of the Creator.

But we also must remember that sometimes God uproots us out of our comfortable, established plot of land and tries to plant us in a new garden. Those roots have to be re-established, an uncomfortable but necessary process for us to flourish in our new God-chosen spot.

I pray that my heart always stays soft enough to be uprooted and re-planted, as many times as He requires, and count it all joy each and every time.

This momma is headed to bed! Much love to all of you.

Leah