T is for Thankful

If it’s not one thing, it’s another.  Yet through it all God is faithful. 

Sadly, Jasper got sick on Thanksgiving day.  After not wanting much to eat for breakfast and then almost rejecting lunch, I was quite sure we were in for something bad as Jasper headed off for his nap.  Unfortunately I was right, and he didn’t even stay asleep an hour before he started throwing up.  He continued doing that every 45 minutes to an hour for the next 7-8 hours. 

He barely slept the entire time.  He complained about being thirsty and wanting water.  He was miserable.  Finally at 10pm it had been over an hour without any vomit, so we started dosing pedialyte in 1 teaspoon amounts every 5 minutes.  He was doing fine until 11:20pm when it all came back up.  Poor thing.  He was terribly upset and sick.  Thankfully he fell asleep on the floor after that, and Drew and I stayed up with him until 1am at which point we finally put him in his toddler bed in our room and went to sleep.  That was disrupted at 5am when he was awake and complaining about being thirsty, so we started the whole pedialyte process again.  He fell asleep on the floor again and at 7am when he woke up was allowed to have a little something to eat. 

At this point I don’t know what he had.  I had to go to bed.  While Drew slept with Jasper from 6-7am, I was up with Benjamin.  Drew and I had had virtually nothing to eat on Thanksgiving day since breakfast.  We had all kind of skipped lunch in anticipation of an early dinner.  Then Drew and I were very busy taking care of Jasper and Benjamin, not wanting to eat in front of Jasper and then were kind of not interested in eating with Jasper being sick.  I was in rough shape by Friday morning, but my sweet husband let me take a morning nap and I recovered. 

Before all that went down, Jasper had been having a fun time.  He finished his art piece with Kate, hung out in the kitchen with grandma and grandpa and went for a walk in the wagon with Benjamin, Jon, Kate, dad and mom.  It was a beautiful Thanksgiving day with actual sunshine – a rare occurrence in Akron, and mild temperatures.  Benjamin had a great incident-free holiday.  He loved spending time with Kate and exploring grandma and grandpa Gant’s house.  He took to climbing the stairs like a champ, too!  He was great!

Jasper is practicing his pastry skills with grandma – rolling out his own crust. 

Benjamin took to climbing the stairs like a duck to water.  I had to show him how to go down once, and then after that it was nothing!  He had major incentive to climb upstairs a few times – to reach Miss Kate!

Jasper and Benjamin are both big fans of Miss Kate.  We think uncle Jon made a good choice! 

As of Friday, Jasper made a slow but steady improvement.  His appetite and his color improved throughout the day, and he got to celebrate his 3rd birthday with family members from near and far.  Nana and Papa Jasper came from Kalamazoo to have lunch with us before Jon and Kate headed back to Columbus.  Lou, Kathleen, uncle Tom, cousin Judy and great grandpa and grandma all came over to grandpa and grandma Gant’s house for cake and pizza at dinner!  Drew and I decorated a cake to match a scene from the Cars movie, and Jasper thought it was great! 

This is a depiction of the scene from Cars just after McQueen has wrecked the road in Radiator Springs.  Sheriff drives up to him angry and tired from chasing him and says, “Boy, you’re in a heap a trouble.”  Jasper was able to tell everyone that, and everyone thought that was great!

As of this third birthday, Jasper now knows what presents are all about.  For weeks he’s been telling people (including our music teacher out of the blue) that he’s going to be 3 on December 1st and that he’ll get an assortment of trucks: a blue flatbed, a blue tow truck with the yellow things, two Doc Hudsons and Fillmore without the fuel tanks.  I don’t know why those 5, but it has been consistent for weeks!  Nana and Papa delivered on the blue tow truck with the yellow things, and Kate and Jon got him another Doc.  He was pleased!  We gave him this little stool right in front of the fire place as a seat of honor from which to open his presents.  It was great, and he was actually really super – he waited patiently for everyone to come into the room before he started opening his gifts. 

Here you can see he’s really wanting to dive into this gift!  He’s checking out the first of many trucks.

 

Grandpa and Grandma Gant got him an excavator and dump truck set.  I mistakenly called this a loader at first glance, and he quickly corrected me.  “ah, no mom, it’s an excavator.”  Thankfully this was the last gift he opened before nap, because it was very enticing and had all his attention once it was open.

Jasper posed for his pictures and then did an excellent job blowing out his candle.  Then he wanted to use his snow plow to scoop up some frosting to eat (his favorite part!).

 

Due to sickness, we did not get the Christmas card worthy photo we hoped to get over Thanksgiving.  These are two of only a few photos of us all.  It’s late at this point and time for Benjamin to head off to bed – hence the pacifier.  He’s looking sleepy, isn’t he. 

To our great relief and thankfulness, none of the rest of us got sick on our return trip to Austin Saturday morning.  It was nice to return to the warmth and sunshine of Texas to regain our strength.  Benjamin napped on our Cleveland to Houston flight, and Jasper fell asleep on our flight from Houston to Austin.  Even though it was a quick flight, that was it for a nap for Jasper.  Once we got home, the boys just played outside.  We were grateful to have the rest of the weekend to recover from sickness and travel. 

We are so thankful for all the blessings we have.  We are blessed to be a blessing, and we hope and strive to do this for God’s glory every day.