And Then There Was Joy.

Here is my second attempt at sewing a button up shirt from scratch. The pattern probably needs a little more tweaking, especially in the sleeves, but overall it turned out very well.

My first attempt, pictured below, was a long sleeve shirt, which was good as I learned the process of inserting a sleeve placket, something I’d never done. On this short-sleeved version for Seth, I learned some new techniques that helped to make this shirt look a whole lot more finished and professional, all things I will use when I am making shirts to sell this fall.

According to my shirt-making book, all seams should be hidden, so that you have no raw edges. In order to accomplish this I had to learn to do flat-felled seams. Both by hand for curved seams like the shoulder seam and with a felling foot for straighter seams like the side seams. The result is a double seam that hides all raw edges and lies flat so that it doesn’t add any extra bulk.

In my quest to make the process faster, easier and more professional, I not only invested in the felling foot for my machine, but also bought a hemmer foot, which double rolls the fabric while sewing for the hem. It makes the hem easy to do in one step without ironing, and results in a pretty professional looking hemline. I had a bit of trouble learning to use this foot, if you are working with thin cotton fabric like I was, make sure you have a pretty small needle, mine was making too big of holes in the fabric and once punched it down into the machine so that I had to take part of the machine apart in order to release it without ruining my whole shirt. But with a smaller needle and a slower sewing pace, I was able to complete the hem. With practice I think this will become much easier.

Elise Logic
Elise found a turtle the other day. She played with it all day and begged me to let her keep it in a box. I told her no, and warned her that it would probably be gone by morning. As expected, the next morning she ran out early and searched the whole yard, even checking the road and came back disappointed. “Well, she probably found a new home,” I said. “Mom,” she replied. “It is not a girl.” “How do you know?” I asked. “It is not a girl,” Elise said. “Because we named it Brandy.”

Will and Seth Antics
The other day I went to take a shower after breakfast, leaving the two boys alone in the kitchen. I knew this was asking for trouble, but I didn’t really think about it as I enjoyed my shower and got dressed. When I returned I found Seth sitting on the floor with John’s rice cereal box, eating cereal out of the bag. Will was nowhere in sight. Well, that’s not too bad, I thought, and put the cereal away. It wasn’t until a few moments later that I caught sight of the brownies without their lid. Careful inspection revealed a trail of brown chocolate crumbs from the kitchen all the way to Will’s room. I found him there hiding under his play table munching on as many brownies as he could carry in his hands, which thankfully, because they are really crumbly brownies, wasn’t very many.

Of course the brownies were nothing compared to this morning’s antics. Seth transitioned to a big boy bed yesterday and so this morning he didn’t have to wait for someone to get him up to start his day. Elise and I snuck out early to go on a walk (and even though I heard the boys up and moving around in their room we successfully made it out the door without them noticing). Partway through our walk, and a decent distance from home, Elise informed me she needed to go to the bathroom. So we cut the walk short and headed back home. Once there we discovered that the boys had decided not to wait on breakfast. Under their play table (apparently the place to hide food) there was the food processor (which I mostly use to shred cheese) plugged into the wall, a large block of cheddar cheese, and a tub of sour cream. All three items were quite messy, and the floor was decently bathed in sour cream and cheese chunks. I guess I should just be glad they didn’t cut their fingers on the food processor.

Elise’s question of the day
“Why do we have pictures on our panties when we can’t see them under our clothes?”

A lesson in Williamese
Will doesn’t believe in using negatives. At least not when making statements. He’ll say no quite readily when asked to do something or when asked a question. But if he were to say that he doesn’t like something, he phrases it like this: “Me like this.” The important thing is that he shakes his head while saying it and to him that is enough to show the negative on the statement. It gets a little confusing if you aren’t looking at him when he speaks.

I thought I’d treat you to a tidbit of family conversation:

Will – “Wash gone? Wash gone?”
Me – “Will I don’t understand the words you are saying?”
Will – “Wash gone? Wash gone?”
Me – “Oh, you mean the wasp is gone?”
Will – “Yes” (after a closer look, I guess it wasn’t gone, because a few minutes later the conversation continues.)
Will to Elise – “You mash wash?”
Elise – “No, I would never do that!”
Will, picks up my flip flop that I had used minutes before to smash a spider with – “You mash Mom’s shoe. You mash wash please?”
Elise – “No, I wouldn’t do that, and your mom and dad won’t either”
Will – “Me mash wash?”
Elise – I didn’t hear her response, but I’m sure it was something discouraging his getting anywhere near a wasp.
Will – “You scare wash away?”
Elise – “No, I’m not getting anywhere near that wasp.”
Will – “Fine.”
Elise – “I don’t see the wasp anymore, I think it is safe to go outside now. Go ahead, I’m right behind you.” (as she gently pushes him first out the door).

No matter how much I tried to convince myself that I would be just as good at writing things down with my 4th child as I was with my 1st, it hasn’t happened. In fact, I currently am missing the calendar that I wrote down Seth’s accomplishments of the 1st year, or perhaps it is Will’s I am missing and I never got one for Seth. So much for trying to remember the things until I have a place to write them down. I can’t even remember what I wrote down and what I didn’t.

So recently I decided that I would try to record some of the things that happen daily here, so that I would have them whenever I get around to making baby books for each of the boys. Elise and Emma both have photo albums from the beginning of their lives, so hey, I’m half way there right?

Elise: Elise is a girl. And that is putting it mildly. She likes dresses and curled hair and makeup and cries when something doesn’t go her way. She even likes to chat with her friends. She can spend half an hour, if not more, talking to her new neighbor over the fence. She has some attributes from her father though, number one of which is that she likes to read. She is quick too. Ever since she surprised me by discovering how to read in her head all on her own, she has been reading through chapter books at an alarming speed. She likes to read aloud too though. She’ll read to anyone willing to listen, including me, her brothers, and my employees as they work on embroidery.

Will: Will has now decided to talk. People warned me that once he did figure it out, he’d talk my ear off, and some days that is definitely true. I love to hear him voice his thoughts though. He does still hold to the theory that words should not be wasted, he tends to leave out all insignificant words in his sentences like the, a, from, etc. His speech has now revealed that he is more observant than I ever knew. We’ll pass a place on the road where our car broke down and Will pipes up: “Dad’s car break down.” He remembers. I guess it is true that at his age every little event is so much more significant and worthy of remembering, but it is still amazing to me. He still doesn’t have a good concept of time though. “Go Nana’s house?” he’ll ask in the morning. “No, Will, not today,” I’ll answer. “Night?” he asks hopefully. “No, Will, not tonight either.” Which is then followed by a frown. He loves babies right now too. His little cousin Vesper, who he has only seen 3 times already holds a special place in his heart. Speaking of hearts, he has started to use the word “love” now for special people. I have still yet to hear him use it for me, but so far he has pronounced that he loves Uncle Ben, Pop, Daddy, and Tio. Perhaps his interpretation of what love is only applies to men. Here are some of my favorite Willisms:
-up up high (used for anything a little high to very high, though if it is unbelievably high, then it is “up up up high”)
-bump down (in place of break down)
-glup (finish up, for example: Me glup grapes?)
-you up me? (cover me up with my blanket)
-Eth (for Seth)
-E’Ese (for Elise)

Seth: Seth is not shy about finding his own special place in our family. Being the youngest he does get bossed around a lot, but he has discovered he has his own little ways of dominating his older brother and sister. He can make them both run all through the house screaming just by chasing them with a stick. “Mom, mom! Seth is going to hit us!” He thinks it’s funny. He and Will will play together quite happily when Elise isn’t around (when Elise shows up, Will will more likely choose to play with her and leave Seth alone). When they are together though, Will takes the lead and I often find them getting into trouble. Although, Seth doesn’t need Will’s encouragement to cause trouble. He loves little zippered pockets with things to pull out (i.e. my purse and my make-up bag). At first he was just content to empty the contents on the floor one by one, but recently I found him with make-up smeared all over his face. I guess I should be happy he is observant enough to know what it is for. He copies a lot of things I do, washing with a rag, talking on the phone (or any other convenient phone shaped object), and using keys. He has slowly started adding a few words to his vocabulary. His three newest are: wawa, juice, and choo-choo. I think that I have gotten so used to little boys not talking that it still takes me a bit to realize when he has actually said a real word. Seth turns 18 months old tomorrow. It is bittersweet to see that he is not a baby anymore, but most definitely a little boy.

Life is fun and exciting right now, though sometimes I do lose sight of that in the routine that is as busy as it is repetitive. Someday I’ll look back and wonder where all the time went, but I’m hoping I won’t wonder why I didn’t use it more wisely.

We officially moved in to our rental house on Saturday. It will take many weeks I am sure to unpack the piles of boxes that line the walls, but it is live-able at least. Each time now we head back home after errands or other short trips Will asks: “new house?” Everyone seems to be adjusting well to our new living arrangements. As far as I can tell here are everyone’s thoughts on the matter:

John
John has mentioned the quiet atmosphere of our new neighborhood. Though we are on the same street we were before, we are on the quieter end of town. Occasionally we get a noisy vehicle go by, or hear the train behind us, or can listen to excited kids as they arrive home from school. But overall, it is a quieter house than we are used to. He and I both have also mentioned that we enjoy the more compact living arrangement. Instead of being so spread out and compartmentalized, this house has one large living area and then bedrooms. It is still pretty big, but the layout makes it feel much more manageable. John has also shown great excitement over his garage. He’s already added some move-able shelving and started making plans for his work table.
Miriam
I am loving my new office. Since John has moved to a downtown office for his work, I have the 4th bedroom for my work space. I have plenty of room for my sewing and computer work, all next to a great big window. The light is excellent, and the space is secluded enough to be quiet, yet close enough to kids that I can work while still keeping an ear out for trouble. I am also loving my upgraded refrigerator and my dining room that sits right next to the kitchen instead of around the corner.
Elise
Elise couldn’t be happier about her pink room. She instantly claimed it for herself and it was the only bedroom we didn’t need to repaint. She is thrilled to be able to disappear into her room to have some alone time, and she is convinced that she will sleep so much better now that she doesn’t have to share. She did actually fall asleep during naptime today, so maybe there is something to that theory.
Will
Will is adjusting better than I expected, at least for now. He seems excited about his “woom,” which is painted “bue.” Both the big kids were thrilled to find out that the owners left the playhouse and trampoline in the back yard and they have been making good use of them. Will likes the garage too, as it has enough room to ride his tricycle around in.
Seth
As I expected, Seth hasn’t shown much preference to where he is. He is sleeping in the bue woom with Will. John’s making them a mini-bunk bed, but for now, Seth is in a play pen. He was extra grumpy today, but I think that had more to do with the busy weekend than with the new house.
Pooka
Our cat is the perhaps who I worried about most with the move. I wasn’t sure she would survive, but even she seems to be adjusting quickly to her new living arrangements. We moved her litter box and food into the garage and she seems fine with that arrangement. She splits her time between the garage and the house quite happily and has actually even seemed more carefree, playful, and affectionate since the move. We are keeping her from the outside for now, until I can be sure she won’t take off for home, but I think she is going to be fine.

I’m sure we will all have times we will miss something about the “old house,” but I am not feeling as melancholy as I expected. I do still have to go over there to clean up our mess before we officially turn it over to the new owners, but it doesn’t really feel like home anymore with all the furniture and people here.

Thanks to everyone who helped us move. It was greatly appreciated!

I am trying to come to terms with moving from this house we have lived at now for almost 9 years. Despite the fact that we’ve been trying to sell it for several of those years, it still doesn’t seem real that I will be leaving here. You see, after years of trying to sell our house, we finally have an offer. We don’t know yet if everything will go through as planned, but we are moving forward as if it will. Because we are a little particular about what type of rental we want, we went ahead and started the process to sign up for one, even though we don’t really need to move out until May. As it stands right now, we will be moving out April 17th.

We are moving down the street, well quite a way down the street, to the other end of town. We have looked at many rentals and after each one we would ask Elise if she liked it and she would say “yes.” We’d ask her which was her favorite and for quite some time it was whichever one we had looked at most recently. Her reasons for liking a house were sometimes as simple as “there are stars on the bedroom ceiling,” or “I like the closet that you can run through.” At least we know she isn’t picky. Will on the other hand, would always answer “no” when asked whether or not he liked a house. Though he has been quite excited about looking at them. Now whenever I show him a picture of a house, he says “House, in?” His own version of Elise’s question: “Do we get to go in this one?” (Sometimes we just drive by first to check it out.) I wonder how hard his transition will be to actually moving out of our house and “in”to another one. Seth is too young to really be too strongly affected I think, and Elise is excited about something new. But Will, he is just at that age where I wonder if he will be homesick, if he will wonder when we will be going back “home.”

There are a lot of benefits of moving. We have started to sort through and reduce the number of toys, clothes, kitchen items, books, etc. We are taking the opportunity to sell some of our furniture and invest in some pieces that will fit us better. We get to experience the adventure of change.

But there are some things I don’t like about moving. I really like this house. It has served us well, and even though I have failed at my attempts to keep it clean because it is so big, most of the spaces are well-used. I will always remember this house as the house where we began our parenting adventure. From Elise to Seth, each child has been welcomed into this home. Emma, especially, who breathed her first breath in this house, and 7 months later breathed her last just one room away from where she was born. Saying good-bye to this house doesn’t mean I’ll lose those memories, but in some way, it feels like I am having to let something go.

I know I tend to hold too tightly to earthly things sometimes. As we have started to pack and sort to get ready to move out, I pulled out all the bins of baby clothes I had kept. Sorting through box after box of clothes I forced myself to let go of most of the items. Why should I pack them away in a box, when someone else could be wearing them? I did keep many of the ones I had made, and the ones that were Emma’s that she never wore, and others that were extra-special. These will be passed down to my grandchildren someday. But letting go of the rest of the clothes is hard, as letting go doesn’t come naturally to me. I know it is just the start, though, a start down the path of letting go. Perhaps when my hands cling less tightly to the things that surround me, they will cling more tightly to my God.

This last Friday we went to the Fire Station here in town to do a tour with our Mothering Matters group. Our group does this every year and this is the first year that we have actually made it. Will was so excited that morning. I really didn’t think he knew where we were going until he ran upstairs and came back down with his fire truck toy. “Woo-woo,” he said. OK, I guess he is a smart kid. He just fools us all by not talking.

Our half of the group toured the upstairs of the fire station first. We saw the firemen’s living area, kitchen, and screened in porch for barbecue. Unfortunately when they do use it for cooking, they often get 911 calls from people afraid that the fire station is on fire because of the smoke. Our paramedic tour guide explained to us how the 24 hour shifts worked and how they really get to know the men they work with since they spend every 3rd day with them. Many of the things in the fire station come in threes, one for each shift. This even includes the refrigerators, which get locked when it is not their shift. Apparently firemen are protective of their own food. He then showed us the work out room, the bedrooms, and the pole.

We didn’t get to go down the pole, which disappointed Will, but we did get to watch a firefighter come down while we stood below in the red-lighted gear room. If I understood the explanation right, they use red lighting to keep it from breaking down their reflective gear.

Then we headed out and took a look at the ambulance, the rescue truck, the ladder truck, and the firetruck that carries a huge tank of water. The paramedic showed them all sorts of equipment, explained lots of stuff and demonstrated their new air-powered stretcher. Most of it went over the kids heads. I learned why when my parents had someone set their hay on fire three different fire stations sent trucks. He said that it was routine on any out of town fire calls to send three of the tanker trucks so that they’d have enough water. All Will really wanted to do was climb in the truck, which he did get to do.

Seth perked up at this point too. He’d been looking pretty tired and was content to let me carry him around. But once everyone started climbing and touching the trucks, he decided he needed to be included as well. He climbed through the ladder truck just like the other kids and then checked out the huge tires.

The paramedic was finally able to grab everyone’s attention when he showed them how he would get ready for a fire. As he pulled on his protective clothing, all the way up to his air mask and helmet, the kids all watched speechless. He then explained to the kids that if they saw someone dressed like that when they needed help in a fire, not to be scared, but to come to them. After seeing what they look like, I can see why many kids would be scared to death, thinking some weird monster was coming after them out of the smoke and flames. He then demonstrated the alarm that goes off if a firefighter stays still too long to let his team-mates know he needs help. This made an impression on Elise, who asked several questions about it later.

After that, everyone got a free fireman hat and we headed home. It was a fun day. I really should think about what other field trips we could do this year in homeschooling.

The day began at 5:30, a little earlier than I had planned on rising to begin a day of reflection. Will came to my bedside seeming a bit disoriented. Finally he decided that a drink of water was what he really wanted, and I sent him back to bed. It wasn’t until after 7, when I did get up to find him looking still just as miserable, that I thought to check his temperature. 102.9! I had planned on dropping the kids off at 9 at a friend’s house so that I could have some alone time to reflect and pray on this day that marked Emma’s 4th anniversary in heaven. I guess I would have at least one little one with me to keep me company.

After normal morning routines, I dropped Elise and Seth off at nine and headed home hoping for some time alone with God. But of course I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, so I started with that, and then since Will was happily watching a movie I decided to try to start with quieting my mind, since I wasn’t feeling particularly reflective. I sat still for awhile, but try as I might I found it impossible to completely empty my head of thoughts. And they weren’t deep thoughts either, just the normal shallow ones that fill my waking moments. Once I reached the realization that the only way I was going to shut down my mind was to fall asleep, which my body was threatening to do at that point, I gave up. I got up and did a couple of the chores that had been on my mental to do list. At least I could get those out of my head.

After a short burst of housework, I pulled out Emma’s photo album deciding I should have some time alone looking through it before sitting down with the kids later in the day. At that very moment, Will decided he was done watching his video and he came to join me. So we sat together, me remembering, he discovering for the first time. At first he just went through naming each face he recognized. Elise, Mom, Dad, Nana, Pop, even Emma when prompted. But then we reached the page describing Emma’s open heart surgery and his sensitive eyes caught sight of the photos of Emma after surgery during recovery. Tubes, wires, and blood covered her tiny little body and I could see the worry in his eyes. I tried to encourage him by showing the pictures from just a few days later when she looked so much better, but he kept coming back to those pictures. When Dad walked in to see how we were doing, Will had to turn the pages back once again to make sure Dad saw them too. This is going to be hard, I am realizing. I want my boys to know the story of Emma’s short life, but until now I guess I didn’t really see how much pain and hardship I would have to explain that went along with it. I’ve taken it for granted with Elise, who grew up knowing these things. She lived through them with us, albeit somewhat at a distance. But she’s seen the pictures over and over, and has developed for herself a somewhat simplified explanation for the troubling parts of the story. Though even Elise has come up with some harder questions this year as her mind tries to piece together the parts of the story she doesn’t know. She was not here the day Emma died, and up to this point, she has accepted our simple explanation that Emma stopped breathing and went to heaven. I remember when she finally put two and two together and realized this meant Emma “died,” since we hadn’t used that word. But just a few weeks ago Elise asked me how I knew that Emma died. Was she just gone that morning? What did I find when I woke the morning of her death? I hadn’t realized that even that simple thing was still bothering her little mind. So I explained how we don’t need our bodies anymore in heaven because we get new ones, and so that is what I found that morning. Emma was gone, but her body was still there. Later I went further, thinking maybe she was ready for some more of the details, explaining how we called 911 and I tried to breathe for her to save her life, but that it didn’t work because she was already gone.

I had to leave off Will’s and my exploration of the photo album as I needed to go get the kids to drop them off at their next play-date. I had some urgent errands to run as well, so I was gone probably about half an hour. When I returned, Will was sound asleep on the couch. John said he’d wandered in there by himself and fell asleep. I left him there and he ended up sleeping about 3 hours straight. With the house now quiet again, I went to my bedroom and did some journaling and Bible reading, realizing that reflection is not forced. The most reflection I got out of that time was more on simple changes I want to make in my daily life and a renewed desire to spend more time in Bible study and prayer. Perhaps that is all God wanted to say to me on that day. I’ve had more reflection pertaining specifically to Emma today as I have planned out this blog post than I did yesterday, but I started the day wanting to be open to what God had for me, and I am content in that.

I had lunch, went to pick up Elise and Seth, and then had a little nap. Then Elise and I spent some one on one time together as we went grocery shopping. We finished out our Wal-Mart excursion with picking out flowers for the cemetery. Elise chose the brightest bouquet she could find because she said: “It is almost Spring and these flowers look like Spring flowers.” She was very positive that Emma would like them. Again she asked me the question she has asked me many times: “Does Emma come and get them? Does she get to see them?” “No,” I answered, then paused. “Well, maybe God lets her see them, I don’t know.” Truth be told, I guess we put flowers on the grave more for our own comfort than for anything else. Elise then asked why some of the flowers on the graves never get old, and we had a discussion on fake vs real flowers. I told her I preferred putting real flowers on the grave, and she decided that must be so we could change them.

We went home and everyone got dressed for the cold so we could all go to the cemetery. On the way Elise voiced something I don’t hear her say often. “I wish Emma didn’t go to heaven. Because if she were here now, I would get to play with her.” I sympathized and tried to comfort her as I always do, saying how when we go to heaven, we’ll get plenty of time to play, but Elise is worried that she and Emma will be all grown up by then and not really interested in playing. “Well,” I offered, “I think that heaven will be a lot of fun for everyone, no matter how old they are.” We placed the flowers in the vase at the grave, and I praised Elise for making such a great choice. The bright colors shown bright in the brownness of the winter cemetery. We got some pictures and then gathered close for a quick prayer before bundling back in the car. You can tell by the picture we got that Will was pretty miserable as fevers and cold biting winds don’t mix well. We decided to all go out to eat as a family, which was a lot of fun.

After we got back and Seth went to bed, I sat on the couch with Elise and Will and we looked at Emma’s book. I read portions of it, but mostly we just looked at pictures. I tried to remind Elise of little things she did during that time. We pulled out the card she had made for Emma and sent to the hospital so she could read it. I took time to read several of the most important things to them, though I know much of it still goes over their heads. The book ended in tears for me and I think I noticed a few in Elise’s eyes as well. She announced loudly her dislike of listening to me cry and covered her ears, which kind of ruined the moment, but oh well. I don’t know how much Will understood from our day, but I am sort of glad that he got to stay home with me as this is the first year I would expect him to start to piece any of it together.

Today at dance I overheard Elise mentioning to one of her friends about her sister in heaven. To me that is the real sign of the day being a success. It was meant as a reminder, a reminder to me to teach my children of the grace of God as it was shown through our little Emma, a reminder for the children to remember their sister and to speak proudly of her to others, and a reminder as well for me to remember that Emma is not all of who I am, but just one page in this adventure God has called us to.

It snowed today!

It snowed all day. The kids begged and begged, so we finally made a short excursion out into it. It was still coming down pretty heavy. John was cleaning off the car in an attempt to run some errands. Thankfully he was able to get out and do everything we needed.

It was the first time I’d let Seth stay out in the snow and he loved it. Of course he was probably dressed the best for it. Elise was ready to go in after a few minutes. Will, on the other hand (who I might mention had already snuck outside once today) was very upset when I dragged him inside. We all came back in after probably 15 minutes and enjoyed hot chocolate.

Seth

Will

Elise

The secret to why I discourage outside snow excursions.

We had the boy’s cardiology appointments this morning. We were there from 8:45 – 12:00 and the consensus is that they are both healthy and normal.

We started with blood pressure checks on arms and legs, pulse ox on their fingers, height and weight measurements, heart rate, and respiratory rate. Will went first through this procedure and acted quite grown up. He refused to say one word to anyone that talked to him, but cooperated quite nicely. Seth was not so cooperative, but we got through those tests fine.

Then we went to get EKG tests, which consists of many stickers stuck to their chest and tummy and then wires hooked to each one. This time when the man that was doing the test asked who wanted to go first, Will was quick to volunteer Seth. I had to hold Seth’s hands the whole time because all he wanted to do was pull all the stickers off, but he laid pretty still the whole time. Will got up next even though he still seemed nervous, but he lay perfectly still the entire time and was done much quicker.

After this, I had a conversation with the doctor via his assistant. They wanted us to go ahead and get the echocardiograms. After a few messages sent back and forth the agreement was that the doctor really would prefer the echos done since he wouldn’t be able to rule everything out without them. He did agree to do a reduced rate on them though. Unfortunately, the rate that I was given before I agreed to the echos turned out to be too low after the echos were done, but the doctor assured me he would see what he could do about lowering the bill.

Will did great with the echo. They turned on a cartoon for him and he was mesmerized the whole time. Seth, on the other hand, hated the whole thing. By this time we were well past naptime and he was quite tired and irritable. He squirmed and wriggled through most of the test and by the end was downright mad. You would have thought they were torturing him. But they were able to get all the angles they needed and we finally got to actually talk to the doctor in person.

The conversation with the doctor was quite short, as all he had to say was that everything was quite normal. It was interesting though, because the first thing he said when he saw Seth was: “He reminds me of Emma.” I agreed that he does look the most like Emma. He then took a look at Will and said, “Now, he looks like his Dad.” I am appreciative that he obviously kept the family picture I sent him awhile back. The detailed results are that Seth’s heart murmur is completely normal – a functional murmur that doesn’t signify any actual physical abnormality of the heart. His heart just sounds that way. Will actually did have a slight opening in one of the valves that is supposed to close after birth, but he said that also is considered completely normal.

Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray that the doctor will be successful in his negotiations with the hospital in getting our bill lowered, as he admitted that he had the echos done mainly for his satisfaction. And by the way, my attitude is quite improved since my post yesterday, in case you were wondering. :)