Updates

About a month ago we had the boys 9 month appointments. At the appointment we talked about the usual song and dance, Linden being small for his gestational age and how the specialist said he is hopeful he will catch up, etc. 

The boys had been sick with a cold for most of end of August to mid September, the doctor checked their ears and found fluid in their ears, so he put them on some antibiotics. They hadn't been really talking lots so he was worried that with the fluid in their ears they couldn't hear properly and concerned that it would delay their speech development. He wanted us to come in 6 weeks later to check if there was fluid still and if there was then he would send us to OU Children's in OKC to get tubes in their ears (He felts like we should go to Oklahoma city because the boys ear canals are really small- a preemie thing). During the meeting I could see the look of fear on Brad's face, he started asking concerned questions about the tubes. I found out he was afraid that they would have huge tubes sticking out of their ears... haha. I wasn't worried because i knew it was pretty common in kids, and later I found out that Brad himself had tubes in his ears  when he was a baby.

The pediatrician then looked at Nolan's back. for those of you whom don't know Nolan and Linden have bumps in their spines. He did an x ray at the beginning of summer and found there was no tumor or scoliosis. He said he had never seen a curvature in a spine like that before but he wasn't too concerned as babies spines are still forming until they are 2 so he was hoping that it would straighten out as they develop. At the 9 month appointment we showed him his back again and he said he wasn't too concerned and had thought about sending us to a specialist but decided against it as they wouldn't operate on him or give him a brace because he was so young and it was still developing.

He then set up an appointment to see a nutritionist- I guess to make sure that i was feeding Linden enough. And another appointment with the physical therapist for their torticollus. 

Fast forward two weeks later, the sooner start lady is impressed with the boys development. they are both cruising and on track, if not ahead developmentally. Nolan's bump on his back appears to be getting worse so I ask the soonerstart lady and she agrees and encourages me that I need to get him into a specialist. I still hadn't received the first referrals I had needed for the boys so I started calling the lady who sets up referrals and leaving messages.

Another two weeks past and I have called several times more and still have not received even a call back, people have been commenting on Nolan's more and more, just adding to my concern. So I go super mom on the warren clinic. I called their pediatricians nurse and say I demand to get a referral to the specialist for Nolan's back and I need those referrals for the physical therapist and nutritionist (it has been a month by now just to get a referral!!)

That day I receive a call who makes the referral, she apologized to me profusely. Apparently the boys paperwork for the referrals got lost. I could tell the lady was sorry, she had bumped them up to the top of her priority list and had all their appointments set up within an hour of talking to me. 

Fast forward to today, we had the nutritionist and physical therapist appointments in Stillwater (about 45 mins away). The nutritionist appointment went well, she reassured me that what I was feeding and the amount I was feeding was all good. It made me feel better that Linden is not small because of anything i am doing wrong. I already feel like i am feeding them all the time, at least every 2 hours... I was thinking if this isn't enough food I don't know what to do!

We then went right from meeting the nutritionist at the hospital to the physical therapist. This meeting was 2 hours long. She checked out the boys and said that they couldn't look far enough on one side and their heads were flat on one side. The torticollus was starting to effect their skulls and hadn't effected their vision yet. She told us that their torticollus was pretty severe and that we needed to get better about doing the stretches daily. If we didn't it would start to effect their cranium, vision and they would need surgery to fix their necks. We then did the stretches in the room and the boys screamed and squirmed, and had baby melt downs. It is soo difficult to watch and listen to, never mind to stretch them myself. The physical therapist then told us that we needed to come in twice a week in addition to stretching them out at home. The physical therapist is in Stillwater and being 45 minutes away from Ponca with gas and all it is just not feasible. So we are currently looking into going to a physical therapist in Ponca twice a week, we think we may have one set up, just need the doctors orders sent. But we have an appointment at the physical therapist in Ponca on Monday. So we get to go through this all over again Monday. 

Brad and I both left feeling utterly defeated and emotionally spent. He told me when the therapist was talking he flashed back to the first two months of their life and how horrible it was. I am just sick of doctors appointments and the boys having what seems like a never ending list of medical problems. It seems like the list just gets longer and longer. Here is a sample of our upcoming scheduled appointments: 

·         This Monday- soonerstart meeting in the monring then going to the physical therapist here in Ponca .

·         Thursday the boys are meeting with their pediatrician to check the fluid in their ears

·         Every month to the pediatrician to get the RSV shot starting in November

·         Twice a week, every week to the physical therapist

·         Every other week meeting with soonerstart

·         November 2nd to OU Childrens in OKC to the specialist for Nolans back

·         February to OU Childrnes in OKC to the growth specialist for Linden

With the physical therapy twice a week, sooner start and other appointments this means every week we will have 2 and sometimes up to 4 appointments... It's just overwhelming. A couple of weeks ago I came to the realization in the boys short life here they have already been poked, had blood drawn, hospital stays, seen the doctor and specialists more times than Brad and I combined. I had read a couple of weeks ago that post traumatic stress syndrome from the NICU takes months to heal from, and if your babies have ongoing medical concerns it can take even longer. I think I am there, I am still healing and still dealing with having preemies with medical issues. 

Yes, my boys are healthy and could be way worse. But they are little guys who have a lot of medical problems and this mommy sometimes just has moments where it all takes a toll and she just needs a good cry and a why my boys pity party. That is where I am at right at this moment. 

On top of it all Brad and I are missing home terribly. I had thought that having kids would make us miss home and family less because we have our own little family here, but on the contrary it makes me miss my family more than ever. The only people who have met the boys is Brad's Mom and Dad. The boys will be a year in two months, and it breaks my heart that no one else in the family have met the boys in person. We were planning on visiting BC at the end of November but it seems like our Visas are going to take a long time to get approved once again. If you remember two years ago we renewed our visas for another two years and the paper work took 6 months to get approved (it should have only taken 3 months tops). During this stage we are not allowed to leave the country, and last time that prevented us from going home during Christmas, so brad and I sadly spent our first Christmas alone. Then last Christmas wasn't much of an improvement as the boys were in the NICU and we were stuck in OKC sad over my babies being sick and in the hospital.

We sent in the paper work for this round back in July, our lawyer said the first stage should only take a month to get approved (there are two stages total to getting approval for our green cards). Today the first stage has still not been approved. So I am not hopeful in our plans to go home in November, in fact I am starting to come to terms with another Christmas of us being stranded here and our family not being together, this will make Christmas number 3 apart. Mom and Dad have already said they would come down for Christmas if we cannot go up, but Brad's brother and sister in law may not be able to come down due to their work. So It is all unknown and up in the air when the boys will ever get to meet their family. 

I love our jobs, I love what we do, I love Oklahoma and where we live, but I am just homesick and feeling stuck. Living so far away from family is hard, but what makes it bearable is the ability to visit family every once in awhile. It has been almost 2 years since we have seen any family other then mom and dad (actually I was just pregnant at the time), so a visit is overdue and with the boys leaving the baby stage, turning 1 and heading into the toddler stage it makes it that much more urgent as they are only little once but my family has to miss it due to paperwork. It was one thing last time when these restrictions effected Brad and I but now they have effect my kids ability to even meet their family. The sacrifice of living so far away from our family is starting to take an emotional toll on me, especially when the option to see my family when it is much needed is taken away from me and there is no timeline on when those restrictions will be lifted. 

 All that to say prayers would be appreciated. Pray that our green cards get approved and fast. And please pray that the boys are fully healed and so healthy that we only have to do the checkups like any other healthy kid. The boys are twice the poop, twice the fun, twice the medical problems and twice the worries. So this mommy needs twice the prayer!

The Boys make their ACTING Debut!

Like any new mom I firmly believe that my boys are the cutest, so what better way to prove that than by getting them on TV?! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to be a stage mom, nor am I looking to give them some sort of complex by overworking them. Brad and I agreed back around May to look into casting agencies to see what was available just for the fun of it (with the idea being any monies earned would go towards the boys college fund!). Within a day of finding an agency we were comfortable with we were contacted about a commercial shoot that was casting the very next day in Oklahoma City. Usually we wouldn't have been interested in driving that far for something like this but since we were already going to the OKC Thunder's playoff game so it seemed like a win win.

When we got to the agency for the casting call we were surprised to find the audition room virtually empty. Just a few adults auditioning for a different commercial and spot. Shortly after signing in the secretary told us that we were the last audition of the day and told us that THE ENTIRE FAMILY HAD TO AUDITION. This came as a shock to both Brad and I as nothing about this had been mentioned in the original email. I could tell Brad really didn't want to audition, but he knew it meant alot to me and he agreed to play along.

The audition itself took about five minutes. They asked us a few questions, recorded us interacting with the babies and playing out a few scenario that could be part of the potential commercial. When we went to leave the head shots we had taken of the boys (just family photos we had taken earlier that week) fell out of the boys diaper bag. We weren't going to give them to the casting director since the front secretary had told us that they weren't taking head shots from potential clients because they would be taking our pictures and videoing us during the audition. When the casting director saw the head shots he said "Do you mind if I hold on to these". We knew this was a good sign.

When we got the boys all buckled into their car seats I asked Brad, "How do you think that went?" He looked at me, giggled and said, "I think we booked that stupid thing." He wasn't trying to be cocky or arogant, he just knew what I knew, that it had gone really well and that it would be kind of funny to book something on the boys very first try on a whim that only worked out because we were already headed to the city for a basketball game.

Only a few days later we received a call from the same casting director letting us know that the entire family had booked the commercial. He let us know what kind of clothes to wear and what would be expected of us and the kids. The whole shoot was expected to be anywhere from 8 to 10 hours long, food would be provided, but expect to spend the majority of our day there.

The boys were absolutely perfect on the day of the shoot, which I can only attribute to the grace of God. Both were in super friendly moods, smiling and giggling for everyone while we waited for the scenes to be ready to go. During the crib shoot Nolan wouldn't stop rolling so he was replaced with Linden who loved lying on his back and looking up at the camera. Don't feel bad though, Nolan got his time to shine later. In the scene where both Brad and I were supposed to look exhausted from working with boys all day Nolan started to scream and cry which was EXACTLY what the director wanted him to do. As soon as the scene was over Nolan's crying fit was done too, almost like he knew it was what he needed to do.

The boys were so good that the shoot only took 5 and a half hours, everyone who worked on the commercial said they'd never seen a commercial with kids go that fast and that the boys were so good to work with. All and all it was a wonderful experience and a memory captured on camera that I know I will cherish now and when the boys are all grown up.

Growth Specialist and Other Updates

On Thursday we had Linden's appointment with the growth specialist. It was out in OKC at OU children's hospital. Right away when we walked in we were met with excitement and many "awes!". The nurses instantly took to the boys and repeated several times that if we wanted anyone of them to hold the boys for us to not hesitate to ask. One of the nurses even gave Linden  a really nice bear  to keep. They measured and weighed Linden, he weighed 14.5 lbs and I think his height was 24 and 3/4. We then met with the growth specialist. He asked us many questions about our height, sickness in the family and other information. Based on Brad and I's height he said Linden will be around 5'9 as long as he gets on the growth chart. As of right now Linden is not on the height growth chart for his adjusted age (which is 6.5 months old). The doctor said he wasn't worried that he hadn't displayed a lot of catch up growth yet. Linden and Nolan are identical twins, so they shared a placenta and Linden received less of the share of the placenta and therefore less nutrients, this is why he was a pound smaller than Nolan at birth. Interestingly the doctor said that even out of utero that effects his growth outside of the womb, I always expected him to grow at the same rate as Nolan, but a slower growth in utero means a slower growth outside of utero.  The doctor also said that as of right now he isn't concerned about Linden's growth, he said 90% of babies who aren't on their growth chart usually catch up by 2 or 3. For the 10% who don't he said they can give growth hormones to help them out. By 2 they will be able to tell if Linden is behind and needs help and at that time we can choose to give him hormones or wait until he is 3 to start them, but as I said only 10% of kids don't catch up and need those and he doesn't think that will be the case with Linden. He did confirm that Linden doesn't have any dwarfism or any other serious growth problem, just hearing that made Brad and I feel reassured. We rebooked Linden's next follow up appointment for 6 months from now and headed down to get some blood drawn to rule out any thyroid or blood problems. On our way out it was awesome to run into a girl in our youth group named Nicole checking in at the same specialist! What are the odds that out in the city we see her, and at the very time we were coming out!? It was nice to see a familiar face!

Here is a picture that Nicole's mom snapped when we ran into each other! 

Linden was so smiley all day, the nurse taking his blood felt horrible because he was all smiles for her and she didn't want to make him cry. She poked him in the arm and could only get a little blood because his vein burst because it was so small. So they poked him in his hand and the same thing happened. By this point he was hysterical and the nurse felt so badly that she just left and had the male nurse in there do it by himself. The male nurse decided the best route would be to prick his fingers and squeeze out the blood, so I sat a screaming Linden on my lap while he milked his finger for all it was worth. By this point Brad heard him in the waiting room screaming and couldn't take any more of it so he came in and gave Linden some moral support. As his parent it was hard to watch, even though he screamed bloody murderer the entire time he handled it like a little champ!

Here is a picture of the sad little man and his bandages afterwards, my usually smiley boy was a little sad.

We then left the hospital and headed to the outlet mall and to wait my phone call from the BC Cancer agency. A few years ago I had met with the cancer agency about testing for the cancer gene in my family as it seems to run in my family, my mother had passed away from breast cancer when she was 41 years old (I was 11 years old), and my aunt and Grandma on my mother's side had battled with breast cancer as well. When I had met with the genetic counselor the lady had told me that based on my aunts blood we didn't carry the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes for breast cancer but there was a unknown variable or mutation found in the BRCA 1 gene that they didn't know what it meant yet. So I was told to check in every couple of years to see if any more research had been done on the mutation. The genetic counselor gave me good news that there wasn't any bad developments and said that they still didn't know what the gene meant but thanks to me calling she was having the lab do another check into it to see if there was any new research. So another piece of good news about the health of our family! 

Yesterday Linden met with his sooner start therapist, Traci. While she was playing with him she noticed that his and Nolan's top two front teeth are almost ready to pop through. That explains why they have been a bit fussy lately. For Linden that will be 5 teeth and Nolan will have 4. 

Traci was also impressed with Linden and Nolan's ability to use a straw. I was doing a smoothie diet a couple of weeks ago and they kept on seeing mommy and daddy using straws all the time and they wanted to try it so we gave them some and they loved it. Everyone has been really impressed by this, from what I understand this is a skill that tends to take a while to learn, but because it came so natural to the boys I had thought it was just something every baby could do. I guess it's all the time it took them to learn to suck in the NICU, they are now sucking pros!  We have been trying to introduce a Sippy cup with a soft nipple, but all they did was chew on it, so Traci suggested that since they are so eager to use a straw we should just get them some straw Sippy cups and let them use those instead. 

Here is a Picture I snapped of the boys today, they were being super cute.

This weekend I am getting ready to go to the Beautiful Women's Conference at Victory Church in OKC with the other wonderful ladies from my church. I am super excited to go, Lisa Braver is speaking and the Beautiful Women's Conference is always great. But part of me is kind of sad because this will be my first night away from my boys since they came home from the NICU. It's not that I am worried or nervous, I totally trust leaving them with my amazing husband and their wonderful father, it's just that I am really attached to my little men, and I am going to be missing them so much. Brad has already agreed to send me updates and pictures throughout the day to help ease any homesickness for Linden and Nolan that might arise. I am sure I will cry a few tears but it will be good for me in the end, I know I will get a lot out of this weekend.

In the previous years I would go to this convention Brad would stay home and choose a big home improvement project to do on the house while I am gone. Since this is the first year the boys are here you would think it would be enough work for him to just watch the boys by himself and hold down the fort while I am gone, but Brad is Super Dad so this year he is planning on painting our bedroom and staining the trim and closet doors! I am one lucky girl to have a partner like him! His plan is to get a bunch of the youth to come over to help watch the boys and help paint and afterwards there is some talk of movies and pizza. So although this mama is sad to leave her babies for the first time I am excited to go to a wonderful convention with some wonderful ladies and come back to Brad's handiwork when I get back! 

Here is a picture we took this week of all my little men snuggling together! This is one of my favorite pictures of the men in my life, I will defiantly keep it close while I am gone this weekend. 

So all in all the boys are doing great and I am one blessed mama!

Twice the Nightmares

I had a bad dream last night, two bad dreams actually. One that woke me up at 3am, in it we had taken the boys to the growth specialist who looked over them and noticed how their soft spots on their heads haven't closed yet. She was very concerned, and right then I woke up... ugh, I hate that when you're in the middle of the dream and you wake up at the most crucial point in the dream!!! The dream made me worried, so I got up and goggled "soft spots when they close". What I found was babies soft spots actually don't closed until they are a year. OK, I feel a bit better now, it was just a nightmare, the boys are fine so I will go back to bed. 

I then had another dream at 6am. We were taking the boys to their 9 month check up, we walked right into their doctors office and he told us we would have to life flight the boys to new Mexico (why new Mexico I have no clue!) as an emergency. When we asked the doctor why he just said it was because of the specialist appointment. Worried, I asked why, what was wrong? The doctor said the specialist found something in the boys blood... and right then I woke up. And I cried. 

I think there is two reasons I am having these nightmares. First because the boys doctors appointments are coming up, the growth specialist appointment is this Thursday and their 9 month check up is at the end of this month. Linden is going to see the growth specialist because he isn't even on the charts for his adjusted age in height. Nolan is in the 2% for his height for his adjusted age, so even though he is small they are not as concerned about him because he is at least on the chart. The boys are doing good with their weight, so the concern is more their height. Their doctor is fully expecting the growth specialist to just end up saying that it is just because they are preemies that they are just small, but it still worries me. The truth is any doctors appointment or check up gives me anxiety, it takes me back to the worries and fears I had in the NICU and how helpless I felt there. I just don't ever want to go back to the place where my babies were sick. I guess I am just still healing from the traumatic experience of the NICU.  

The second reasons for the nightmares is last night I learned that a friend, a lady who I looked up to and admired past away after her long fight with breast cancer. When I was 12 years old my mother lost her battle with breast cancer, so when I heard that Sandra had passed it kind of subconsciously just takes me back and triggers fears of sickness and now that I have babies fears of them getting sick. Brad and I had met Sandra when we started interning at Surrey Pentecostal Assembly during Bible College. Sandra was a rock in our last church back in Canada, she always radiated such joy, love and an unshakable faith despite her sickness. I will never forget the day Brad preached on a Sunday morning and mentioned how he loved country music, right after service Sandra sought him out and started asking him if he heard of this and that country music artist, many of whom Brad didn't know, she exclaimed "and you say you're a country music fan?!". Her son was in our youth group, he reflected that same type of joy that his mother had, as many pastors in the ministry know parents are a vital part of your youth ministry. As a youth pastor you are there not only there for your students but to support and be a resource to their parents too. Sandra was a wonderful parent to work with, and as a pastor she was a dream to have in your church. She was always so encouraging and loving personally to Brad and I, always telling us we were doing a good job, she made me feel like she saw our hearts and understood our love for the kids. 

On mother's day Sandra took the time to wish me a first happy mother's day to me on facebook. And on May 12th she sent me this message: 

"Hey Jamie. Blessings to you and your family my sister. Your babies are looking stronger, healthier, and more beautiful each day. I pray that the Lord, our father in heaven, will help you and Brad in every way necessary to keep up the excellent work you are doing, blessings to all of your family." 

I was so blessed by her words to me on facebook. Sandra was good at making you feel special, I know she always made me feel that way. Sandra was certainly one of those true gems in the world. There is something about those past friends who you can pick right back off where you left off at, those past church members who still root for you and send their love even though you don't go to their church anymore. So often church members can become bitter and jaded because of church politics and loose the focus of the core reason why the church exists. I am thankful for her example of love that she showed me.

Lord, my prayer is that you would help me to radiate your love and joy, help me to be someone who loves others the way you have loved me.

Don't Go Changing

This week I have been experiencing what all parents go though when their babies grow and transition from one stage to another. Part of me will always see my babies as those skinny 3 and 4 pounders in the NICU. But it hits me especially when I see new parents walking around walmart with their newborn babies in their carseats placed shopping carts. I realize that my boys are no longer newborns but are full on the move babies. As I have told my friends I cry every month they turn a month older. Their growing has been bittersweet for me, every development milestone is a victory, especially considering their start, and excitement comes with the new things that they can do. But it all just comes and goes too fast. Today I was going through the boys preemie and newborn cloths to give away to a lady who has had her baby in and out of the NICU. It made me cry, every outfit was a memory; their first doctors visit, first time to church, nights cuddling on the couch. They have grown so much and way too quickly.

While I am soo happy that the NICU, heart monitors, apnea, feeding problems and everything else is gone, I have some sort of nostalgia for those days when they are were soo tiny and helpless. Now they are energetic and on the go.

In the last 3 weeks I have seen my boys grow in leaps and bounds. Linden could barely sit up on his own 3 weeks ago, when he did he would fold over like a lawn chair and topple over. He then started to get the hang of it and learned how to go from a sitting into a crawling position, then came the getting on all fours and rocking back and forth. Now he is full on crawling and he is fast. I will put him in the living room and within seconds he in our kitchen. In addition Linden has a third tooth that is poking though.

Nolan was sitting pretty strong 3 weeks ago, but would eventually topple over too. over the last 3 weeks he has gone from army crawling, to full on crawling. Although he prefers to revert back to the army crawl because it is fastest for him.

And both boys are pulling and standing up on anything there is, even on our dog Snickers who wasnt too impressed. Brad and I have wished that our house was made out of foam because although they can stand for awhile they aren't completely stable and will eventually topple over, usually head first which freaks us out. But that doesn't them, they pull themselves up and stand up on anything around the house, even walls. Can you say Spider-babies?

I am now literally chasing after babies around the house. When I just get one back in the living room I hear crying because one has quickly made his way back to the kitchen, opened a drawer and shut his fingers in it. don't worry there is nothing dangerous in the drawers that they can reach, though Brad and I are going to do some major baby proofing with all our cabinets so there wont be any fingers getting crushed type of problems. It defiantly is a challenge watching, hovering over two fast babies who topple over in an instant.

In addition, this week the boys have started really interacting with each other, playing with each other and grabbing for the other. Today Nolan was in his jolly jumper and Linden stood up, grabbed onto it and they both started giggling and playing with each other.

Traci, the boys therapist with soonerstart is super impressed with the boys. Because the boys were almost 2 months the doctors go by their adjusted age, and right now the boys would be about 6.5 months. At this point the boys should just be getting sitting down, and on their first tooth, but the boys are way ahead and moving like two little locomotives! This week Traci taught me Sign language to teach the boys. She says languages comes after motor development, so babies can sign before they can talk. At every feeding now we do the signs for "eat", "drink", "more" and "all done".

I titled this entry as "Don't go changing" after Billy Joel's song that has been running through my head today. Here are the lyrics:

Don't go changing to try and please me
You never let me down before, mmm
And don't imagine you're too familiar
And I don't see you any more

I would not leave you in times of trouble
We never could have come this far, mmm
I took the good times, I’ll take the bad times
I’ll take you just the way you are

I said I love you and that's forever
And it’s a promise from the heart
I couldn’t love you any better
I love you just the way you are

Nolan and Linden, I will love you forever, no matter what stage you are in, just the way you are. I am just trying to enjoy every minute of every stage before it passes me by too quickly. Every moment is precious. 

Torticollus

Yesterday morning Traci, the Boys soonerstart therapist came out to the house to work with the boys. I mentioned on the phone that people were commenting on the bumps on their spines and tilted heads. The moment she came over she took a look at them and set up an appointment for Bill, soonerstarts occupational therapist to come over and take a look at the boys, and he ended up having a spot open to see them the next day! So today Bill came over looked at the boys and told us the tilt in their heads is torticollus. Torticollus basically is where you have a tight neck muscle which causes your head to tilt, he said it is not uncommon with multiples because they get so scrunched up in the womb and can't move or stretch out their neck muscles. Thankfully it is something that can be fixed. Bill showed Brad and I how to do stretches with the boys to correct the tightened muscle. To stretch out their neck muscles we have to grab their little head and shoulder and twist their head until we feel a bit of a stretch in the neck and then hold it for five seconds. We have to do 5 reps of this 4 times a day. The boys absolutely hate this, they scream and cry and are clearly uncomfortable. I am sure to them it feels a lot like when we sit down and touch our toes, and feel that uncomfortable stretching in our back legs. They don't understand why I am doing this to them. The occupational therapist said after a week or two the boys should be more used to the exercise... until then I am mean mama in their eyes. I wish I didn't have to do it, it breaks my heart when they cry because of something I am doing to them. But I am pressing reluctantly forward because i know in the end it will benefit them.

It reminds me a lot of John 15 1-2 when Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

How often do we experience times that are stressful, tiring. Times that leave us in tears and we wonder why God would allow us to go through all this pain and sadness? But after it all we come out better then when we went in and more fruitful all because he had his hand on us the entire time.

PS. As for the bump in the boys backs Bill said to just keep our eyes on it and keep on following up with the boys pediatrician on it. Bill, like the boys pediatrician is hoping it is something that will correct itself as they develop.