A mom day - Sara

You moms will laugh and appreicate what a day I had today:

After sleeping (rather, laying) on the couch all last night with Isaiah, I decided to call his dr this morning to see what was up. It was the start of a very adventurous day for us - I loaded all 3 kids into the van and headed out to the dr's office for a 10am appt. Turns out, Isaiah has pneumonia, and the other two are infected by the same bug, but likely won't get it as bad as a baby does. So we did a nebulizer treatment for 5 min ("Breathing smelly mist in this mask will be much more fun than crawling around! Let's try it!") but that didn't help much. Thankfully, G&O were interested and talked to Isaiah while I clamped the mask to his face. It worked.

Next dr. said we should go across the street and have chest X-rays done. Great. I wasn't planning on this - no toys, books, etc for kids to occupy themselves with. We paraded as a small preschool class into the radiation lab and had an impromptu lesson about x-rays and lead aprons and all kinds of cool stuff. I thought it'd be awful, especially since the kids already had waited over an hour at the dr's office. But the tech was a sweetie and worked with G&O really well while I pinned Isaiah into uncomfortable positions for the camera to shoot.

After all that, we had to drive all the way out to the south side of town to buy a special mask that allows babies to use an inhaler. It looks like a duck sucking a tube. Cute. How much will this duck cost me, I wonder? Did I mention I couldn't find this little shop and had to stop and ask directions? All the while the kids are being incredibly patient and didn't complain once, although Grace felt the need to remind me not to go into the ditch (NO, I haven't been there recently!) So we bought our duck on a tube and proceeded to drive the 45 min home. I couldn't believe the kids were being so good. And it was past lunch time. Owen is usually starving and reminding me we need to eat way before now.

Chicken nuggets sounded like a good reward for such wonderful patience, but I had no cash. So we drove around, found an ATM, then headed to BK. I was way too exhausted by this point to haul 3 little ones into a fast food restaurant during lunch hour, so instead we had a "picnic" in the van. They thought it was a pretty cool idea. I laughed so hard at myself - here we are, sitting in the backseat of the van eating fries and nuggets while Isaiah sleeps (please don't wake up b/c I forgot to pack a bottle!) all while parked in the back corner of Yntema Funeral Home's parking lot. There are trees there. We thought it seemed more "outdoorsy" and picnic like.

So, if you think having three very young kids means you can't get out and "do stuff," think again. I would NEVER have planned a day like this one - but I learned a lot about myself, my kids, and literally what trusting God step by step feels like. I attribute two things to the "success" of our outing: God's providence (Xray tech, prizes at dr's office, etc) and the three kids entertaining each other to pass time. I'm amazed at how an 8 month old and 2-yr old can capture each other's attention for so long, or how a case of the giggles in one can relax a nervous baby better than Mama's words and hugs. I'm so proud of my kids for learning how to make allowances for each other and figuring out how to operate as a family. I see the benefits of closely spaced children more and more. Of course it's not peaches and cream all the time, but they are little blessings, and I thank God for each one.