Bring Home Some Mud

I wish we’d brought swim suits, I thought to myself. Our little boys, their pants hiked up to their knees, were wading in the water.

“Let’s let them dip their toes in,” I had said to Andy just moments earlier.

“Sure, you’re all wearing sandals,” Andy said to me as I was already slipping said sandals off of my feet. Andy took Elijah for a walk along the river. And while I wished for him to dip his toes in too, he gets cold so easily and wouldn’t have enjoyed it.

Why didn’t we plan better? My inner narrative spoke as I watched the boys play. I really wish we had swimsuits.

The boys grabbed rocks and threw them in the water, watching them splash. They kicked the waves. I slowly walked through the water, feeling the sand under my feet. The summer sun was shining high in the sky, making us squint.

All the while my inner narrative kept repeating:

Why didn’t you plan better?
You should’ve brought suits so that they could actually swim. 
Ugh, why don’t we have any suits?

Meanwhile, the boys dug in the sand, pretending to be dogs. They were getting dirty. And, yes, a bit wet. And so as I stood there soaking up the last moments of summer, I told my inner narrative to shut up.

And we played and we splashed and we made memories.

Sometimes you just need bring home some mud on your pants.

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Eleven

Wooo-eeee. Eleven.

Our biggest little is 11 years old. I don't know how that is possible.

The past year has been a challenging one...

Trying to control Elijah's seizures, dealing with behaviors, living life in general.

But, currently? Life is feeling pretty great.

Elijah's had food allergies since he was 8 months old. Over the years, more allergies were added to the list (including dairy, egg, peanut, tree nuts, garlic and onion). But, a couple of weeks ago, we had some more allergy testing done. All of his allergens are now testing negative! He'll be having a peanut challenge at the clinic in November. We've added dairy into his diet and started eggs, too. It feels invigorating to be able to feed Elijah more foods.

(As a side note, both brothers have also have/had allergies. Oliver had a peanut allergy, which he has now outgrown. Theo also has allergies that we hope he also outgrows).

Elijah hasn't had a seizure in several months, which is obviously a relief. We've settled into a new normal where seizures don't consume our constant thoughts. We hope and pray that this continues.

Elijah has been super sweet lately. He likes to clap his hands and loves when we clap with him. He gives hugs, albeit rough-running-into-you-at-full-speed ones (we're working on that). He likes to get into trouble to get attention.

Basically life is pretty awesome. Challenging, yes. But awesome.

We're so thankful for our eleven-year-old.

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