“Call your Aunt C.; the doctor said to take him to the E.R.,” I told my husband as I held our son close.

This was following 3 sleepless nights.  The first 2 nights I thought were linked to thunderstorms that had passed through the area.  But that night?  It was like watching a caged animal fight to get out.  He would sleep for a short time and then wake, crying, quickly turning to screaming, as he tossed, turned and kicked.

The only thing I could get out of him was, “Head!  Head hurt!”

We were ready to go in record time, and when Aunt C. got here to stay with our oldest child, we headed off to the hospital.

I could write a post on how helpless I felt watching my little one suffer.  Or I could write about the questions and fears that go through your mind as you drive towards the E.R. with your little one in the back seat.

Those are topics so many of you could probably relate to.

But what really sticks in my mind is my son.

The child who freaked out when we had a different nurse one time at the doctor’s office and I hadn’t known to prep him in time.

The little boy who has run away crying when other kids sat down at the table he had been sitting alone at.

The one who doesn’t want to sit on the rug with the other kids at library story time, who refuses to sing or do the dancing/hand motions if other kids are there.

He sat on the hospital bed, cuddling what he calls his “snuggie,” and he didn’t cry.  He didn’t beg me to hold him.

He watched the nurses with his big blue eyes, and he answered their questions, quietly at first, but he answered.  Before I knew it, he was even making conversation with them!  They asked about his head, and he started talking about how you have to be careful eating ice cream because you can get “freeze brain”.   (That’s what he calls it.)

At hospitals, you have different people coming in to your room, checking temperatures, asking insurance information…

My child who hates change, he sat there and took it all in without complaint.

Not only that, but he answered the questions so well that the doctor commented on how verbal he is.

We left the hospital with a prescription for what turned out to be a pretty good ear infection.  (One reason we headed to the E.R. instead of waiting for the doctor’s office to open is because he kept saying his ear didn’t hurt, and he didn’t have any other typical ear infection symptoms.)

But, really, I left with much more than just a prescription in my hand.  I left with some hope for my little guy.  What ever keeps him from interacting with his peers, what ever struggles there have been when he’s met change, today I saw a brave little boy and a part of my son I didn’t know existed.

The post How a Trip to the E.R. Let Me See My Son in a New Light first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

This post is purely selfish on my part.

You see, I want to be able to look back on it 5 years from now and remember…

I have already told you about my son picking dandelions for me this spring.

I think my excitement at each dandelion he gave me has sparked something in him.

Today, as we walked next door to Mamaw and Papaw’s house, he was picking wild daisies.  Each one he picked during our slow walk, he quietly gave to me.  When we got next door I made sure to put them in water.

He reminded me of the flowers when it was time to go, so I gathered the small bunch up and we started walking.  Again, every few feet he was picking a flower.

The third one he gave me on the way home, he told me, “I’m picking these because I love you.”

What’s a momma to do?  I gave him a hug, and with damp eyes, I told him I loved him, too.

When we got home, he really turned on the sweetness.  “Mommy, you know something?  I think Mother’s Day should be all the time.”

Yes, words from my newly 4 year-old.

Words I want to remember and be able to look back on years from now when he slams the door and cranks up the radio too loudly.

He doesn’t know it, but that moment, it was better than any old calendar Mother’s Day could ever be.

Shared on The Better Mom, The Modest Mom Blog, Heavenly Homemakers, Growing Home, Reading List

The post Sweet Things Kids Say first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Today’s Thankful Thursday post is based on a prompt from Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop:  Tell us about the story of your birth.

With my son’s 4th birthday this week, I’m turning the prompt to the day of his birth and his entry into our family, a day I am forever thankful for.

***

“You look a lot slower today,” my mom said when she met my daughter and I outside the doctor’s office that day.  Holding the hand of my 19 month toddling little girl, I looked up as we slowly made our way toward her, and smiled.

“Yes, I have to say he is making it a little hard to walk lately,” was my breathy response as we entered into the building.  To say it was hard to walk was an understatement; that little one had been so far down for the last month or so that it wasn’t just hard to walk, it was hard to sit, or do pretty much anything.

I was scheduled for my weekly ultrasound, something we’d been doing  the last couple months.  As of yet he hadn’t let us see his face, or given us any indication if the doctor’s concerns were warranted or not.  And, at this point, I was pretty sure we wouldn’t get any answers until he entered the world.

This time around he wouldn’t do the “practice breathing” that babies are supposed to do at that stage.  The doctor assured me it was probably nothing, but she wanted me to go next door to the hospital for closer monitoring for a bit.

I sent my mom out to lunch with my daughter and headed to the hospital.

That’s when they told me I was having contractions every 3 minutes and was 4.5 cm dilated.  (I am pretty sure my doctor HAD to have known that!)

My first response?

Seriously?  This rocks!  With our first child I had been induced, and the 19 hours seemed to drag on quite painfully… If I was already 4.5 cm and didn’t even know I was in labor, this was going to be cake walk!

I called my mom and told her what was going on.  (So thankful she met me at the doctor’s that day!)  And then I waited for my husband to arrive so I could tell him the news.

I was so laid back about it all, that once we got a room, I told my husband to go get some dinner.

It was all going good, until the doctor suggested breaking my water.

“Do you want an epidural before we do this?”

I laughed.  The contractions were so mild compared to the ones I had had with Pitocin, that I figured we should just go for it.

It took about 2 contractions after that before I looked at my husband and said, “Maybe I’d like that epidural after all…”

The nurse came in, told me that the anesthesiologist was with another patient at the moment, and then she checked my progress.

“10 cm, this baby is coming, now — you don’t have time for an epidural.”

Things are pretty much a blur after that.  My original doctor had gone to deliver twins, so a doctor I’d never seen before came in and said she was going to deliver.

I closed my eyes during a contraction, opened them, and my original doctor had returned and was telling me to push.

Unlike my daughter’s entry into the world, my son was silent.  I got him on my chest for just a moment, long enough to see that he was definitely bigger than his sister’s 5.5 pounds.  Then they whisked him away to get him to take a breath.

His entry into the world was so fast, we were both in shock.

The two hours he was in the nursery being monitored and getting extra oxygen crawled by.  When they finally brought him back, I counted every finger and every toe.  “You’ve got little monkey feet!” I remember saying when I saw how far apart his little toes spread out.  (Yes, that’s how he got his nickname here on the blog!)

Life has never been the same since that day, and I am forever grateful.

***

You’re turn!

Leave a comment telling me what you are thankful for this week!

Have your own thankful post?  Or maybe a birth story you want to share?  Link it up below!

Linked up this week with Six by the Bay, Lovely Little Whimsy, The Fontenon Four, Heavenly Homemakers

The post Birth Story — Thankful Thursday first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Dandelion days.

A sea of golden yellows dots the yard; they seem to have popped up over night.  Having just learned, “April showers bring May flowers,” my son repeats the phrase to himself as he explores each flower.

For that is what they are to him:  flowers.

He hurries to bring me one, proud to be giving Mommy the flower.

And I treasure it.

As he races to collect more, I think about how fast this time will pass.

Soon the yellow flower heads will turn white, and then they will disappear.  After a while there will only be the greens left.

And, all too soon, my son will stop bringing Mommy dandelions.  He will see them as weeds, or maybe he won’t even notice them at all.

One day he will be bringing another girl flowers, forgetting all about those days long ago where Mommy was his number one to bring flowers to.

And so I treasure each and every yellow flower, carefully placing them in water, trying to make them last as long as I can.  And they are more beautiful to me than any vase of roses ever was.

***

Looking for a simple craft to celebrate all those spring flowers?  How about a cupcake flower or a toilet paper tube flower?

The post Dandelion Days first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

I’ve mentioned before that my son likes to do things his way.  If I try to tell him how to write a letter the right way, he turns me off.  Tells me I am wrong.  Gets mad.  Let’s just say it isn’t pretty.

I’ve drawn a lot of dotted letters for him to trace, gotten a few workbooks — which he loves.  But then I started seeing this great idea pop up all over Pinterest:  Writing the letters or numbers with a highlighter is a lot easier than writing them in little dots or dashes, and a lot more fun for the little guy to trace!  (Have them trace the letters/numbers using a different color marker and watch the colors change as an added bonus!)

Then there are shapes.  He can make a pretty good circle by himself, but squares, rectangles, and everything else tends to look like a circle, too.

Of course, you could draw those in highlighter, too.  But the other day, as I was putting away our Play-Doh stuff, an idea hit me.

We have a bunch of cookie cutters in various shapes with our Play-Doh stuff, and they tend to not get used much.

What if we used them another way?

It’s funny.  As soon as he saw that I had “forgotten” to put the shapes away, he was super interested in Mommy’s idea.

He practiced tracing inside the cookie cutter shapes (we turned them upside down so they were easier to trace) over and over.  His pencil lines are super hard to see, but if you look hard, he has squares and triangles all over that paper!

Suddenly, learning how to draw shapes was a lot more fun!

Shared on Lemon Drop Pie,Ladybug Blessings, Someday Crafts, Milk and Cuddles, Works for Me Wednesday, Kids Activities Blog, Cheerios and Lattes, A Vision to Remember, Saturday Show and Tell, No Time for Flashcards, Creative Jewish Mom, I Heart Naptime, Sew Can Do, Delicate Construction, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Naptime Crafters

The post Teaching How to Write and Draw Shapes first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

We all have those moments where we just need to feel like we aren’t doing so bad as a parent after all.  I’m not talking about those rare moments when someone tells you, “You’re a great mom.”  I’m talking about something the kids do or say that makes you realize you’re raising some pretty awesome kids.

This morning I was blessed with one of those moments.

I’ve mentioned before that our son is not the world’s best sleeper.  We even had a special party this fall when he finally slept in his own bed for a whole week in a row.

Unfortunately his sleep habits didn’t magically improve after that week.

I don’t know why I never thought of it before, but a week ago I made a little sleep chart for us to check off days on.  He really wanted a Hot Wheel snow plow, and so we made that the prize he’d earn if he slept in his bed for 7 nights in a row.  (I’m hoping that since Hot Wheels worked magic when he was potty training, maybe they can help again.)

Today we marked off that 7th day, and he earned his cherished snow plow.

Wanting to establish a new habit of sleeping in his bed on a regular basis, I decided we’d make another chart, this time for 10 days.

When I asked him what prize he wanted to earn, I expected to hear “another Hot Wheel.”

His surprising answer?  A princess doll for his sister.

Now it’s not unusual for my kids to ask for a second cookie or other treat so they can share with their sibling, but I never expected that he would want to earn a toy for his sister.

I am the first to admit I am far from being perfect, but today I know I’m doing at least a little something right.

The post A Surprising Answer first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.