?!?

What? You're still here?!? Well, I declare (read that in a Scarlett O'Hare type voice)! I can't believe you're still checkin' on me with all the neglect and all. Thanks so much for your faithful patience.

HA! Patience! That's something that hasn't been seen much around these parts lately! It's been rough around here. Let me tell 'ya! It's been rough. However, I am immediately humbled by those around me dealing with much more than I am in my whiney little world and I thank God...THANK GOD for his providence over my children and my family. I have a friends dealing with very difficult parenting issues with the truest grace and faith imaginable (KT). I have friends dealing with metastatic melanoma. I have loved ones who are very sick. My brother and his wife are in the process of trying to move with 3 young kids...the weekend of Easter. There is so much to be thankful for...to be praying diligently for...to be praising God for. I find it infuriating that I am such a complainer.

We have all had our share of sickness for the past 2 to 2.5 months. The most recent being Mark and Conrey with head/sinus junk and myself with an UTI or bladder infection. The med I have to take for it is A) Drowsy medicine and B) Makes me really, really sick for 5-6 hours after taking it. It's not fun.

Here is what makes me write above about the providence of God: I am still feeling extremely guilty about it, so please...no awful posts about how irresponsible I was...

Conrey fell down the stairs and Derin and Mandy's house Saturday while we were there helping them pack. Like 12 stairs or something...almost all the way down to the basement. It was humbling. It was devastating. It was gut-wrenching. It was nauseating. It was horrifying. It was a miracle from our great God that he was not seriously hurt. He is sore if you try to pick him up under his arms (like you generally pick up a 10-month-old 500 times a day!). He has no bumps or bruises. He has nothing besides the sore ribs. I just cannot get over this happening.

Let me tell you the story. D and M had removed their baby gate since they are moving next weekend. They needed to patch and paint the walls. Well, having discovered that the moment we arrived at their house, we set up a blockade between the livingroom and the stairs. We mostly had him in the basement just for precaution's sake. However, he was brought upstairs and I decided that I would just play with him up there while everyone else packed. At some point, the blockade was moved for Cassie to get through and then put back in place. I am NOT pointing blame at anyone, as it doesn't matter. I should have checked it thoroughly before leaving Conrey. Anyway, it had a huge gap at the bottom that allowed him to try to follow me. I walked back to the nursery because my sis-in-law was going through clothes that their daughter had outgrown and was asking me if a particular onsies was mine or not. We hear this awful series of thuds and then moaning/crying. My heart stopped and I rushed to the stairs. Someone said, "What was that???" I remember saying, "My baby falling down the stairs!!!!!!!" If you have ever seen me under pressure, I am typically very calm, cool, and collected. I supressed the urge to panick and ran down the stairs scooping Conrey up (which now was probably a bad idea...but he's fine, so I just, again, thank God for that). I brought him upstairs and snuggled him close. He only cried until I got him his paci and then calmed down. I began stripping his clothes to look for signs of injury. All I found was some rug-burned knees. I had my sis-in-law fix him a bottle and he was really anxious for it. I noticed that it wasn't shaken well enough, so I took it to shake it more and he was FURIOUS! He was way more mad about that than about falling down the stairs. By the time I redressed him an hour and a half later, the rug-burns were pretty much gone and he seemed fine. Now, he only has the sore ribs.

I just cannot believe that I let such a thing happen. It is in the past and it happened, regrettably. It gave me a wake-up call to be more involved, more observant, and more cautious.

Thank you, dear Lord, that my baby is alright.