Homeowners!

That's right! We've acquired a mortgage! Merry Christmas to us!

This was our big project that's been in the works this last month. We were able to meet the realtor, look at a crazy number of houses, research our top options, and make an offer in under a week! It was intentionally fast so that John would be able to do the house-hunting with me before starting work. Then we closed a few weeks later.

I'll post pictures as soon as I remember to take some. These next few weeks will involve lots of cleaning, painting, packing and unpacking. We plan to be completely moved in to have Christmas in our new house.

The details? It's in a great town with a fabulous school system just a few minutes north of where we are now. The house is large, with enough rooms for a guest bedroom, a playroom, and an office. We're across the street from a park with several playscapes, a stream, a wooded area, and lots of open space to run. Also a pool! And as an extra bonus, the elementary school is on the other side of the park. We'll be able to walk there in less than 10 minutes.

So for Thanksgiving this year, I am grateful that we've come out on the other side of this year, not only stronger, but much better off than when the year began.

Round Two

Ethan was discharged from the hospital Thursday morning. With the meds, he was (and is) doing just fine. Still has the cold, but can breathe easy. So I went to make an appearance at work.

When I came home around 11:30 that night, John said that Edward was having a really hard time sleeping. He's had the same cold and was coughing and tossing and turning. I was pretty confident that I knew what it was. Unfortunately, I was right. The boy was wheezing and sucking hard to get air in. Not nearly as hard as Ethan had been, but hard enough.

Back to the ER we went. We weren't rushed right back this time, but ulitimately the experience was the same. Nurses, drs, and respiratory therapists. Breathing treatments and an x-ray. Our nurse from two nights before did a double take when she walked by and saw me. It was nice to be remembered. The respiratory therapist was one of the ones who treated Ethan as well.

After a few hours we were able to go home. New nebulizer and prescriptions in hand. (Now we have the full set of asthma treatments at home!)

Edward's diagnosis wasn't asthma, mearly a tightening as a reaction to a virus, called bronchiolitis. But it could be a sign of things to come.

This virus has been a nasty one for our boys, so if you don't see us around until it's gone, it's because we're trying not to share!

Hospital Stay

Two nights ago, Ethan had a cold. Not really a bad one, but oh did his body react. Ethan started to have trouble breathing, so we took him to the ER where he was diagnosed as having a major asthma attack. We'd hoped a breathing treatment or two would ease things and we'd be home. We weren't so lucky.

By that first morning, Ethan had figured out where everything in the ER was. (He was in the ER for 12 hours. First the PICU didn't have room, then they downgraded him and they didn't have a room in intermediate care, and finally they downgraded him again and we got a regular room.) Ethan was fine with it. He'd been introduced to the game cabinets in the ER and was happily playing away.

When we moved to his room, we hung out for a while to give the numerous drs, nurses, and respiratory therapists do their assessments. (Mom, your bag of fun was a big help during room-time.) Then Ethan asked where the hospital's toys were. So we spent much of the day in the Child Life playroom. Only popping out every hour or to be checked by the nurse and get his breathing treatments. We also discovered some garden areas that had fun things to climb on and walk around.

Honestly, if he didn't have to be woken up in the middle of the night, Ethan would love to live at the hospital. All the attention! All the places to explore!

He'll be coming home today, but the treatments and steroids will continue for a while. And we might avoid you if you're sick :)

We'd like to thank the friends who stepped in to make things easier. One who came over late at night so that we wouldn't have to take Edward with us. Another who took Edward all the next day so that mom and dad could take turns being with Ethan and sleeping. And yet another, with plenty of asthma experience, who volunteered to take both boys this afternoon if John and I need to make appearances at work. And of course, to all who expressed their concerned and offered prayers for our guy. THANK YOU!

Becoming a Smooth Stone

Things are looking up around here. (Very, very up. But more on that in the coming weeks.)

As we are finishing up this tough year and beginning new things, I've been particularly impressed to pay close attention to what we've been through. To see how each tough thing, no matter how small, polished off a rough edge.

Ethan asks me about the crosses on other churches on a regular basis. We always talk about how we don't celebrate the crucifixion, but the atonement and resurrection. Last week, it struck me exactly how different that makes us from other religions. We know that the plan we agreed to doesn't allow for the Lord to snap his fingers and make everything easy. The plan requires sacrifice, in many different ways.

Heavenly Father had to sacrifice his son to give us all the chance for eternal life.

Eve had to eat the fruit, sacrificing life in the garden of Eden so that the Lord's other commandment could be obeyed and we could all come to earth.

We've all chosen to sacrifice an easy life for the freedom of choice. To become the wondrous person the Lord sees inside, we have a lot of learning to do. And we all know that lessons stick when you've learned them the hard way.

So here we are. Coming out of a rough year. Feeling a little smoother. A little less rough.

On my mind

1. Ethan can sound out and write all of his letters now. So instead of "spelling" by yelling out a stream of random letters, he's working hard to hear each of the letters in the correct order. I love that he works so hard! He's even managing to read a few short words by sounding out the letters!

2. Edward backed off on wanting to use the potty for a while. But the interest seems to be back. He saw a potty at Target last week and fell in love. (It's frog shaped.) He's been sitting on it multiple times every day. No success yet, but the dry diapers all day and the overfull ones at night indicate that he's learning some control. We'll get there.

3. Please don't tell me how thin I look. I'm very aware. My pants are hanging off of me and all the baby weight has disappeared. (Wish the extra skin would too!) Even my face is thinner. This was not an intentional weight loss. It was achieved by a combination of stress, too little sleep, frequently eating only one real meal a day, and lots of Dr. Pepper to keep the blood sugar up and the headaches at bay. I am looking forward to gaining some weight back in Dec. Then losing it in a much more healthy manner.

4. So happy for John. He's loving his new job. It's exactly the type of growth opportunity he was looking for, and they need him there so badly. He jumped right in, meeting with people to figure out what he needed to learn, interviewing someone to do their SEO, and scheduling a business trip to get some hands on experience. Nine months was worth the wait!

5. Think I might attempt to fold the many, many loads of laundry and clean a bathroom or two before having to go to work. Better get started...