Tomorrow is Emily's Growth Stimulation Hormone Test to check to see if her pituitary glad is working. We refer to this as her "Big Test". She can't have anything to eat after midnight and we will have to be at the hospital at 8:30. They will place a port in her arm that has a three system valve on it. They will draw baseline blood work. They will then inject a series of different hormones into her system and periodically draw blood to check the blood levels and see how her pituitary gland is handling those hormone fluctuations. The blood work has to be sent off to California to be tested. We won't have the results for 3 to 4 weeks. The test should take no more than 3 hours to complete. Emily broke down tonight and cried herself to sleep because she didn't want to have the test. I had to snuggle with her and rub her head. My heart was just breaking for her. I wish that I could take her place.
This morning while she and Ethan were eating breakfast, I had to break the news to her that she wouldn't be able to eat breakfast tomorrow before her test. I wanted to be sure and warn her now and not wait and spring it on her tomorrow morning when she is hungry. And then to make her morning get a little bit worse, she had a big "OH NO" realization. Last night when Rob got home from his Army drill, he came in bringing a lot of gear for a special training mission that he will be going on in a few months. This included some items like a kevlar helmet, ammo pouches, canteens, vests, backpack, knee pads, elbow pads, etc. Ethan had been trying on all of the gear and playing around with it and asking what it was all used for.
He was full of excitement about it all and loving every minute of it. Well, this morning on the way to school Emily suddenly had that "OH NO" moment that I was talking about. She suddenly realized that her daddy was a part of THE Army, you know the one that is at war. And we spent the drive to school talking about if he could ever be sent to THAT war. It was a very thin line I was on at that moment. How could I talk to her truthfully, but without worrying her unnecessarily? I explained to her that what she doesn't realize is that even though her daddy is a part of the same army that is at war, they need more soldiers here at home to keep our home country safe than what they send over there to go fight in a war that is far away. And we talked about how Daddy will go to do training at times, but that just like the few times he has gone out of town for other reasons, we all get by just fine and we will continue to do so. Well, believe it or not, this complete conversation took place just in the time it took to drive to school. We were still talking it over as I was pulling up to drop them off. I literally pulled up as we were talking and then had to say, "Okay, have a good day!" and just shoo them out of the car. I worried all day long on whether or not Emily had a good day or not.
Ethan started basketball practice this evening. He has been so excited about this and couldn't wait for it to start. I was so proud of him tonight in practice. He was running around there dribbling the ball and making those baskets. He was all smiles when we left the gym tonight. It made me feel good for him.
This past weekend was the Christmas in the Park celebrations in the city park. And it was SOOOOO COLD outside, too. We went up there on Friday night and walked through the Santa's Village and saw everything all lit up and the kids mailed their Santa letters. We rode the train around the park. We drank some hot chocolate and ate popcorn. We saw the big tree lighting ceremony. And then the kids sat on Santa's lap and told him what they waned for Christmas. Although this is the fist year that Emily asked me why they had to mail a letter to Santa if they were going to tell him personally what they wanted, too. Smart girl. I told her that mailing the letter ensured that he would remember since so many kids sit on his lap.
On Saturday, we went back to the park for the Let It Snow celebrations. Rob couldn't go with us because he had Army drill, and we were bummed about that, but I got lots of pictures. The kids had a blast playing in the "snow". They had their big snow blowing ice machine thing that creates the snow. It actually looks like a huge snow cone maker and they blow it into a fenced in area. The kids then get to run around and throw snow at each other. It's the best you can get when you live in South Alabama. Overall, the weekend was a blast!
This morning while she and Ethan were eating breakfast, I had to break the news to her that she wouldn't be able to eat breakfast tomorrow before her test. I wanted to be sure and warn her now and not wait and spring it on her tomorrow morning when she is hungry. And then to make her morning get a little bit worse, she had a big "OH NO" realization. Last night when Rob got home from his Army drill, he came in bringing a lot of gear for a special training mission that he will be going on in a few months. This included some items like a kevlar helmet, ammo pouches, canteens, vests, backpack, knee pads, elbow pads, etc. Ethan had been trying on all of the gear and playing around with it and asking what it was all used for.
He was full of excitement about it all and loving every minute of it. Well, this morning on the way to school Emily suddenly had that "OH NO" moment that I was talking about. She suddenly realized that her daddy was a part of THE Army, you know the one that is at war. And we spent the drive to school talking about if he could ever be sent to THAT war. It was a very thin line I was on at that moment. How could I talk to her truthfully, but without worrying her unnecessarily? I explained to her that what she doesn't realize is that even though her daddy is a part of the same army that is at war, they need more soldiers here at home to keep our home country safe than what they send over there to go fight in a war that is far away. And we talked about how Daddy will go to do training at times, but that just like the few times he has gone out of town for other reasons, we all get by just fine and we will continue to do so. Well, believe it or not, this complete conversation took place just in the time it took to drive to school. We were still talking it over as I was pulling up to drop them off. I literally pulled up as we were talking and then had to say, "Okay, have a good day!" and just shoo them out of the car. I worried all day long on whether or not Emily had a good day or not.Ethan started basketball practice this evening. He has been so excited about this and couldn't wait for it to start. I was so proud of him tonight in practice. He was running around there dribbling the ball and making those baskets. He was all smiles when we left the gym tonight. It made me feel good for him.
This past weekend was the Christmas in the Park celebrations in the city park. And it was SOOOOO COLD outside, too. We went up there on Friday night and walked through the Santa's Village and saw everything all lit up and the kids mailed their Santa letters. We rode the train around the park. We drank some hot chocolate and ate popcorn. We saw the big tree lighting ceremony. And then the kids sat on Santa's lap and told him what they waned for Christmas. Although this is the fist year that Emily asked me why they had to mail a letter to Santa if they were going to tell him personally what they wanted, too. Smart girl. I told her that mailing the letter ensured that he would remember since so many kids sit on his lap.
On Saturday, we went back to the park for the Let It Snow celebrations. Rob couldn't go with us because he had Army drill, and we were bummed about that, but I got lots of pictures. The kids had a blast playing in the "snow". They had their big snow blowing ice machine thing that creates the snow. It actually looks like a huge snow cone maker and they blow it into a fenced in area. The kids then get to run around and throw snow at each other. It's the best you can get when you live in South Alabama. Overall, the weekend was a blast!
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