Lyme disease comes to the Holler

Earlier this spring, we (and by "we" I mainly mean "Seth") removed two ticks off Cael's head at two different times. He's an active boy who enjoys running around outside and exploring down by our creek. 

After the second tick was found and dispatched, I ordered several (6) bottles of Evada-Bug Spray. It had served us well last summer, keeping most of the chiggers and ticks at bay, and I realized we were entering the season when we would need it again. 

The package arrived a week or so ago but I haven't been religious about applying it when we go outside. I've enjoyed the chigger-free spring and wanted to keep believing that chiggers wouldn't be a problem this summer. However we've all (except Kieran who refuses to go outside when it's hot -- from what I've read, some individuals with Williams syndrome react to the heat more than typically developing children) experienced a chigger bite or two lately. 

Earlier this week, Cael had been itching a few of the bites and Seth was putting a steroid cream on them to help with the itch. And then I started putting the Evada-bug spray on the one spot that he was continually itching. Later that evening, this past Tuesday, I unzipped Cael's pjs to put some more on the bite and found this. 

I texted it to Seth and asked him what he thought was going on. When he got home, he and Cael spent some time looking up ring worm (or "worm ring" as Cael calls it) symptoms on the web. Cael said, "We got to see a lot of pictures of bugs!" He finally decided that's not what he had and that he didn't know what he did have so we just let it go.

Until this morning, when my mom shared a post about Lyme disease on Facebook. We knew about Lyme disease, of course, but because I was thinking the bite had come from a chigger, it didn't cross my mind that that was what it could be. And he didn't seem to have any other symptoms. When I saw the photo, and googled more pictures of Lyme disease, and sent the picture of Cael to my mom and SIL Katy who both weighed in, I decided I needed to get Cael to the doctor right away.

I called the doctor and got an appointment for 11 this morning. When we arrived, the doctor took a look, said, "Well, that's interesting," called his colleague (our friend from church, Dr. Dan) to take a look, and they both agreed it was symptomatic of early-onset Lyme disease. He prescribed a 2-week course of antibiotics, which should take care of the infection, and Cael sipped his first dose tonight ("Can I have more tomorrow?" he said).

I'm thankful for God's grace, through a Facebook post, in helping us identify and begin treatment for this disease. I hate seeing the affects of the Curse in my little boy (check out this article on bacteria from a biblical perspective), but I'm thankful for the promise of future redemption from the Curse when God creates a new heaven and earth free from that Curse for those who have repented of their sin and believed in the salvation offered only by Jesus Christ. Do you know for certain that you'll be there with me?

Remembering Remington’s Birth Day

My sister gave birth to a baby boy (Remington) a little over a month ago. Some of you have asked me about her and her new baby, so here's the account of his birth.

Kenda was due to give birth around Cael's birthday in early May. The doctors were concerned that the baby's weight was lower than it should be and wanted to induce her a week earlier. She had pushed them off but finally scheduled it for Thursday. On Wednesday evening, I sent her a text thanking her for the rain gauge she had given me for my birthday (because the last one she had given me wasn't working anymore).

And then we spoke briefly on the phone about the labor pains she was having while at dinner at about 6. And then I didn't hear anything more from her or about her until 10 pm that night when I got a text from my mom that said "Did Nathan call?" . . . "The baby is here. Call us." 

And this is Kenda's account to Remington of what went on during those few, brief hours . . . .

Wednesday started out sunny and warm. Temperatures would climb to the upper 80s – a little warmer than usual for a Florida May. Dad was home, ready to take care of Hunter while I prepared to go to my doctor’s appointment. Dad had finished his last remodeling job just days before because he wanted to be able to get me to the hospital the next day for your birth. He and I took Hunter to his 18-month-old appointment in the morning. The doctor asked us when you were due. I replied, “Well, if he doesn’t come out tonight, he will be coming out tomorrow!”

With GrandBob just a few days after birth

The doctors had wanted to bring you into the world on Monday. But I had put off your birth because I wanted to wait until you showed signs you were ready to leave your comfortable spot in the womb. I went to the doctor’s appointment, and it was confirmed that you were still pretty comfortable. So the induction was set for the next day. We planned to get to the hospital by 6 in the morning, and the doctors would bring you into the world with some help.

Big brother Hunter with baby Remi

Grammy (Nate's Mom) had finished her job doing payroll the day before and was ready to take care of your big brother Hunter. We delivered him to her at 5:30 and headed off to have a nice, quiet dinner at one of my favorite eating places, Bonefish Grill. There were some indications you m
might be stirring but nothing that signaled you were insistent yet. All of a sudden, during the dinner, the light pain became stronger contractions. Dessert was no longer an option. All I wanted to do was get home and lie down. At 7:30 we headed home where I took a shower and went to bed. Dad started timing the contractions, which were supposed to be coming every five minutes, lasting one minute each, and for the duration of an hour.


I wasn’t the most pleasant at that time and informed Dad firmly that I wasn’t going to make it for an hour. “Throw it in the suitcase! We need to get to the hospital!” were my sentiments at that moment.
Dad was resisting, telling me that if we got there too soon, they would just send us back home. At 8:50, we were in the car headed to the hospital. Dad didn’t seem to be in any hurry, but we finally arrived at the emergency room. Dad ran in to get help to get me to the labor room. He told me later that when I was in the hallway, I was screaming, “Get me up there now! We’ve got to go!” because you were coming whether we were ready or not.


And, sure enough, you arrived soon after, 9:12 p.m. to be exact. Now that’s cutting it close. But that’s ok. We were thankful you came on your own rather than the doctor pushing you out.


You came so quickly that my recovery was quick as well. We were able to leave the hospital by Friday afternoon and start our family of four.

How to Grow a Flytrap

I mentioned yesterday that I recently acquired a Venus flytrap. Ron, my coworker who has grown them extensively, sent me the "how to care for a flytrap" illustrations he's been developing and very graciously allowed me to post them here so that I can have an easy way to refer to the care for them. These illustrations go along with the article he wrote here. If you're interested in owning a flytrap, please read his article and look through these illustrations first!

NOTE: All illustrations in this post are copyright Ron Dudek and cannot be used without his express permission. 

New Arrival

So much for blogging every day, eh? And so much for blogging even once a week! So, it's been a busy few weeks but things may be calming down just a bit for awhile, so, since you missed me so much (what? you didn't notice?), or maybe just because I enjoy writing, I'll try to jump back onto the blogging wagon. 

A coworker at the museum I work with gives workshops on carnivorous plants (from a biblical perspective). He's a carnivorous plant enthusiast and has scores of different types of them in his own greenhouse. 

Having a carnivorous plant has been on my "someday list of things to acquire" because I think they're interesting and because I thought they might be helpful in cutting down on the fly and gnat population in our house. And I'm in awe of their amazing design by our Creator. So when Ron advertised  that he was selling off some of his premium plants to make room in his greenhouse, I jumped at the chance to buy one (or six). My friend Chris facilitated the exchange, and on Friday he delivered Red Dragon Venus Flytraps to me. 

According to Ron's directions (check out his article here), I'm supposed to keep it sitting in one inch of distilled water and give it six hours of sun daily (if I want the leaves to stay purple). So I put it in my kitchen window, and it is now making friends with the succulent and the green onions that were already residing there. 

When I checked it today, I was excited to see that it had caught its first fly! It is already earning its keep. It can stay. 

Butterflies

We've had an annual tradition since 2011 of visiting the butterfly show at a local conservatory (this is from 2012). This year, Seth took of early from work and went with us.

 When we first walked in, a butterfly landed on my head and then another one on my shirt. So the boys were interested in trying to "catch" their own with the paper flowers we were given (you aren't allowed to touch them with your fingers).

Cael spent a few minutes holding out his flower and then, when none came to him, declared it was time to go.

This was the first year that I saw Kieran really interested in holding out the flower and having one land on him. He tried several times and really enjoyed walking around the exhibit.

He was the one that didn't want to leave.

He never did catch a butterfly, but it was fun trying.

And it was also fun trying to get the boys to both look at and smile for a family picture. (And I use the word "fun" very loosely here.)

Summer Sanity Saver

Last summer, Cael decided it would be appropriate to awaken every day at 6 a.m. Pretty much all summer long. No matter how late he was awake the previous day. And, when Cael wakes up, he doesn't just lay quietly in bed or play quietly by himself. He runs to our bedroom, climbs on the bed, and starts talking: narrating the events of the day before, what will happen during the coming day, how hungry he is, and what he'd like to eat for breakfast. All before I've opened my eyes. It drove me a bit crazy.

Toward the end of the summer, I bought some blackout curtains for their room, thinking that maybe the sun was waking him up. They didn't work quite like I had hoped. Over the school year, thankfully, his wake time has gotten later and he manages to stay asleep until 7:30 or so (depending on the events of the previous day).

Kieran is very sporadic in his wake time. He's never been a great sleeper and lately he's been wandering during the night. He'll move from his bed to the bed in the guest room and then to the sofa and sometimes to the blanket area beside our bed and then back to his bed and to the floor and . . . . Sometimes he's awake at 5 or 6, sometimes he sleeps until 7 or 8.

I recently decided that I didn't want a repeat of last summer and that we needed to do something about Kieran's wake times and his night wanderings. (I'm not too concerned that he'll get out of the house right now -- he doesn't know how to operate the dead bolt -- but it is on my mind.)

Enter the stoplight alarm clock. I remembered hearing about it at some point, so last week, I hopped online, found it, and bought it. It arrived Friday.

The idea is that you turn on the red light at night, and the green lights up at whatever time you set in the morning. "Red means stay in bed." And when it's green, they can get out of bed (they're allowed to go to the bathroom if they need to). The yellow serves as a night light. (It also has an actual beeping alarm that you can turn on if you need them to wake up a certain time, but I'm not currently using that function.)

Last night, I set the "alarm" for 8 a.m. and reminded the boys that "red means stay in bed." I don't know that it worked for keeping Kieran in bed during the night (I found him in a different bed than he started out in), but at 8:01, Cael came bounding into the room. I asked him if the light was green, and said, "Yep!"

I'm hopeful this means we'll all be able to enjoy the sleepiness of summer this time around. Here's to a sane summer break!