happy 11th anniversary to us!

because i need a little happiness and i can't write a blog post without a picture, i give you this:

today is our 11th wedding anniversary.  we said "i do" on january 11, 2003 and this scripture was in our wedding:

Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Habakuk 3:17-18

i first heard john piper preach on this verse and if i remember correctly, it was in his wedding too.  piper changed my life forever when i heard him preach on suffering and the biblical view on suffering and i knew that if i should ever get married, i wanted this verse in the service.

i feel like we are living these verses a bit in our house right now and they have been a great encouragement to my soul.

i share what has been going on mostly because it is cathartic. 

it started on tuesday at silas' 4 month well check appointment.  he is a little guy in every department except for his head.  he has a big head. all my boys have a big head probably because my husband has a big head.  it's never been alarming to me but the pediatrician was concerned with it's size in relative comparison to silas' weight and height. he suggested we have an ultrasound done on his head to make sure that he did not have any brain fluid leaking.  that sounds alarming but i had a peace that all was well.  in fact, i pulled out burrito's stats from his 4 month well check and his head was exactly the same size as salsa's, but he did weigh more.  so we had the ultrasound on thursday morning and heard from the doctor yesterday and everything is normal. i say he has a big head because he is a genius like his dad. :)

this was the appointment i had to keep on thursday (as mentioned on facebook) when i pulled a muscle in my back. i was trying to lift the infant carrier out of the car very carefully because salsa was asleep and i did not want to wake him.

i did not want to wake him because i was trying to time his eating around the ultrasound appointment and because he had been awake every 2 hours the previous night, which i will explain momentarily.  the second that muscle popped i knew i was in trouble.  it's happened a few times before and it is so intense that it is hard to breathe.  this is coming from someone who delivered a baby with no drugs.  somehow by the grace of God i was able to get him out of the car and into the house.  he stayed asleep long enough for me to pop several pain killers (the not so great kind that you have to take while breastfeeding) and eat a piece of toast.  i could barely lift the phone to call john at work, in tears.  he quickly arranged for a substitute and headed home to help me lift salsa and make that ever important appointment at 10:30.

all this happened on the heels of not sleeping the night before because salsa has suddenly decided to refuse a bottle.  i've always nursed him but my supply has always been lower in the evening so he has always had a bottle of either pumped milk or formula at bedtime after i nursed him first.  we started doing this initially when he was 4 days old to try and fatten him up a little in case he needed surgery.  i've never before been successful breastfeeding for very long and with all of salsa's medical issues i was bound and determined to do whatever it took to make it work.  i'm extremely proud to have succeeded but i am definitely not one of those "formula is evil" believers either.  everyone and every baby is different and i think we all do our best as moms who love our children.  i have loved nursing him but it was nice to get a little break at bedtime to, you know, take a shower or wash my face!   

so now that he's not taking those extra ounces at bedtime, he is getting them throughout the night by wanting to nurse every 2.5-3 hours.  it is so hard going backwards!   

so a little recap: tuesday we had the doctor's appointment that led to the ultrasound, wednesday night salsa decides he no longer likes bottles and does not sleep, thursday morning i pull the muscle in my back and john comes home to help me make the appointment for salsa, and friday afternoon we find out that salsa is fine. 

so i start thinking wow, it's been rough around here and the lack of sleep makes things seem worse than they really are, but things are looking up.  until john calls to say that they are on their way home from school and both boys are in tears saying they have headaches and feel achy and chilled.  yay us!

well, if you've turned on your television in the last few weeks, you will be inundated with countless stories of the evil flu, and their symptoms sounded just like the flu.  so i called the pediatrician's office lightning quick, you know, because it is friday afternoon of course and they won't be open over the weekend.  we manage to get an appointment and they get tested and sure enough, they both have the flu! we rush to the pharmacy to get the miracle drug tamiflu and guess what, they think it is a miracle drug too because it costs an ungodly amount.  i had no idea.  so much so that our sweet pharmacist figured out that between both boys, we really could make 3 boxes of tamiflu work instead of the 4 prescribed so that we could shave almost $100 off the total bill.

wow. so i have a bad back, we have a baby that won't sleep, and now both of the big boys have the flu.  happy anniversary to us!

but back to those verses.

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

so, so thankful to have Jesus because that really is all i need.

thankful that the boys have the flu at the same time, instead of it being passed around over days and weeks.

thankful that they are sick together and can keep each other company.

thankful that i don't have to waste time worrying about them getting the flu now that they have it.

thankful to have a husband who wants to take care of the sickies so salsa and i won't get it.

thankful it is the weekend so my husband is home to help.

thankful it is sunny and warm outside instead of rainy and dreary like it has been. 

thankful for my parents who made a late night run up here to bring us food, medicine and everything else we might need to take care of the sickies.

thankful for friends who have prayed for us this week and offered to help in tangible ways as well.

thankful that even though they have the flu, they seem like they feel okay and are generally happy. 

whew. what a week. what better way to celebrate a wedding anniversary than by doing real life with the man i love.  now if we can just stay healthy and keep baby salsa healthy too!