Surgery It Is

A few weeks ago, while cousin Erika was tickling Philip, she noticed a red bump under his chin. We initially thought nothing of it, until the following evening when we actually felt it. Whatever it was, it did not seem totally normal and so we made an appointment with the Doctor to find out more. We were given a tentative diagnosis, and then referred over to an Ear Nose and Throat Doctor.

Today, we were seen by the ENT and told the lump could be one of two things, both cyst like in form. It is nothing serious, but nonetheless Philip will be going in for surgery next Thursday morning to have the lump removed. We should only need to be at the hospital for the day, but in the rare case it could be an overnight stay.

Your prayers would be coveted as we approach this situation, knowing that this is all in the Lord's hands.

But he was being so nice and quiet

Levin spent much of this morning reading books quietly to himself. The result, besides a quiet house and time for me to get a few things done, is shown in the pictures above.

Ouch!

Here is my attempt at showing you the result of Philip's smashed finger. The last picture is only there to show you the bear the hospital gave him. Not too bad really, but trust me it looked awful when it first happened.

Two Boys, Nearly Three Years, and.....

......we only just experienced our first Emergency Room visit. Last night we spent a few hours in the ER with Philip, who had his fingers smashed in our bedroom door. I will not fill you in on too much detail, but will just say that one of his fingers was pretty smashed in two places. I remember the very thing happening to my brother at around this age, and also remembered that my parents had taken him into the doctor. After consulting with my mom and Aunt Carol (a.k.a. nurse Carol), we all headed out the door for the E.R, with the screaming child.

We made a quick stop by Jason's parents to leave off Levin, and then went on our way to the hospital. We went to Allenmore, becasue you never have to wait for as long, which was the case last night. Everything moved along pretty quickly, meaning we were in and out of the hospital in only two hours. They did x-rays to confirm that nothing was broken, and thankfully nothing was. He just has some swelling of the soft tissue and some bruising. I will take pictures when he wakes up.

I must close by sharing a Levinism that came from this whole ordeal. While at Grandma Ann's he was sharing that Philip got his fingers smashed in a door by someone.....maybe daddy, or Levin....or....., which he knew full well was done by him. None the less he felt horrible for his poor brother as it was not done on purpose-this time.

Let's hope it's sometime before we visit the ER again.

Look Out!

Well, it's official, Philip is finally walking. Three weeks ago he took a series of four or five steps at a time several times in one day, but then only a step or two every few days. This was all very new to us, seeing as when Levin walked for the first time, he never stopped from that day on. I might add, Levin walked at a couple of months earlier than this.

Philip decided the best time to make this big step to toddlervile was at Grandma and Grandpa German's house, last Tuesday evening. He just took off walking all over their house. Both Grandparents seemed quite proud to be witnessing history.

The next morning, I expected Philip to wake up and take off walking again, but boy was I wrong. Nothing all day long. In fact, he did not do any more walking until Thursday evening when Grandma Ann and Papa were over for dinner. He has not stopped walking since that night, which is a good thing as he could afford to loose a few rolls of chub.

Please don't think I'm impatient with his pace in learning to walk. Thirteen and a half months is more normal for children to learn to walk and he has an extra bit of heft to lug around everywhere.

He also likes to think things through before doing them. In this case he decided that toddling with your feet spread wide apart, is a much safer mode of travel. I'm sure he's wondering why everyone else hasn't figured that out yet.

Sorry we don't have pictures yet, but just visualize a bowling pin toddling around while being chased by a 34 pound bowling ball named Levin.

Its Been Awhile

...since I shared a Levinism with you all, so here goes:

Yesterday morning Levin was helping me unload the dishwasher, which he often loves to do. Generally we have him organize the silverware, but yesterday he had pulled out all of his plastic bowls and was climbing up to put them all away on a top shelf. He quickly realized it was going to be too high for him, so I jumped in to help. As I was putting them up, he said to himself "If I be a mommy, I could reach". It sure is great to feel needed.

Well, hope you all enjoy your weekend

All Dressed Up

Here are a few pictures of the boys from last night. We went to see all the grandparents, and ended up stopping in at the church harvest party for a few minutes, so Aunt Jen could see the boys. Levin was no too confident in his little costume, but who can blame him.