Growing Pains

Mercy spent last week eating and the majority of this week sleeping. She did 10 to 11 hour stretches four nights in a row, and still took two solid naps during the days. I often go in to get her in the morning and am shocked at how much bigger she looks than she did the night before. She's also getting quite good at rolling and looks like she might be sitting on her own in not too long.

Abraham woke up the other night practically screaming that his arms and legs hurt. I thought perhaps a limb had just fallen asleep, but he cried for a good while and yelped every time we tried moving him. He's complained a couple more times of his legs hurting him, but he's been super thirsty lately and has fallen asleep in the car a couple times, so I'm pretty sure he's just growing. In addition to his growing pains, he's also going through what I term the "contradictory tantrum" stage. He'll ask for help then totally freak out because he wanted to do it himself. Or, he'll ask for Cheerios, be given Cheerios, then totally freak out because he wanted Kix. Or, he'll pick out a pair of pants and put them on, then totally freak out because he wanted shorts. I remember when Hyrum went through this phase (his tantrums were frequently centered around what super hero was on his underwear). Matthew was in Europe and I was often frustrated to the point of tears. I soon picked up on the warning signals of an oncoming storm though and learned that if I was unable to avoid the tantrum, my best bet was to stand back and let it run it's course. It's not a fun stage, but at least I've seen it before and can rest assured my sweet boy hasn't turned into demon spawn.  

Because of his flaring temper and contradictory nature these days, potty training has been again put on the back burner. Candy, it turns out, is not the right motivator for this guy and I think we'll just have to wait until he decides on his own that sitting on the toilet is better than a diaper full of poo.

Hyrum's not in the midst of a growth spurt, but he did get stung by a bee which has to be some sort of right of passage. Poor guy. In between sobs and with tears streaming down his face he said, I thought bees were friendly (thank you so much Winnie the Pooh). I explained that usually they'll leave you alone as long as you don't bother them and that the bee that stung him probably got startled while Hyrum was playing. To this he responded, but I was just trying to pet it. So, he probably had it coming, but I still felt bad for him all the same.

Matthew's work on the house has slowed down ever so slightly and his focus and energy this past week has been at school. He's aiming for three pages a day on his dissertation in addition to attending several career fair events. He's even come home after the boys are in bed a couple times, which makes me feel like some of the other grad student wives I know. We've really been so blessed by the amount of time we've been able to spend with him during this phase in our lives.

I saw a doctor at the Purdue clinic earlier this week to discuss my gallbladder. As expected, she gave me a referral to see a gastroenterologist. She also gave me a prescription for ulcer medicine in light of some new symptoms that have cropped up since my latest attack. My next appointment is in a couple weeks.