Dancing in the Minefields

Dancing in the Minefields
Song by Andrew Peterson

I was nineteen, you were twenty-one
The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway

We bought our rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We made our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen years ago

We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

"I do" are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I've heard
Is a good place to begin

'Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it's an easy price
For the life that we have found

And we're dancing in the minefields
We're sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

So when I lose my way, find me
When I loose love's chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me

'Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there's nothing left to fear
So I'll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear

'Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby,
I can dance with you

[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/a/andrew_peterson/dancing_in_the_minefields.html ]

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. I really love this song by Andrew Peterson because I think it captures the struggles and joys of young married life (or just married life) so well. Tommy actually proposed on my 20th birthday and he was 21. We did spend a little more on our rings. :-) My favorite line in the song is in the bridge... "When I forget my name, remind me."
We have known others that got married young and then later, if things fell apart, they would say things like, "we were too young" and "we grew up in different directions, we are not the same people we were when we got married." I think that is kind of the point. You are never going to be exactly the same people you were when you got married, no matter how old you were, because we are all constantly growing and changing. The challenge of marriage is to keep your connection to each other and, I think, remind each other who you are and who you can be. I feel like Tommy and I are better people than we were 7 years ago. Every day has its' challenges, but, like the song says, "That's what the promise is for."

Tommy is still my best friend and my partner in life. I am so grateful to have a wonderful man to share my life with and raise a child with. God has blessed us tremendously! I can't wait to see what the next 7 years and beyond hold for us!

With Love,

Crystal

Cousin Time

Uncle Craig, Aunt Fallon, and Lylah (17 mos) came for a little visit to Arlington this weekend. Zane has been having so much fun with Lylah. She is truly one of his favorite people!
Here are some pictures and a video of them playing at Cracker Barrell tonight.

It is so good to see them! I am so glad that he is already close to his cousins.

With love,

Crystal

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Summer Fun

We have been having so much fun already this summer!

We are learning the cool way to wear a baseball hat.



We have played with our friends a lot.


Zane with friend Casey (or "Cakey" as Zane calls him)

I caught that picture right before they started trying to push each other out of the car! :-)

We have also been swimming a couple of times.

This was Zane's first time back in the pool but it was still pretty cold in the water. When we got all the way in yesterday, Zane was a little apprehensive and clingy. I think he has learned some fear since last year. I wonder if the accidental plunge he took in April had anything to do with that. :-) I am fine with some healthy fear as long as he can still have fun!

Today we went to the church picnic. This picture will be great bribe material in about 15 years!




I am liking this blogging app but I can only post with pictures and videos that are on my phone. Maybe soon I will get a chance to do some more from my actual camera!

Hope you are enjoying your summer too!

With love,

Crystal

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Zane Breaks it Down!

Zane LOVES to dance and will start grooving whenever he hears music. Here is one of my favorite videos of him:

He started dancing to the Tejano music as we were leaving On the Border that day and entertained everyone waiting outside. I think he picked up some moves from his Uncle Craig!

I found a blogging app for my phone that some of my fellow blogging friends like. If this works out, I might be able to post more often! These days, pictures are a challenge with such an active boy but we have some great videos! Hopefully we can share more of them.

With love,

Crystal

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Halfway to 2

It was time to update! This is our most recent family picture taken about a month ago, right before Zane turned 18 months old. Look at that mop head! I forgot how badly he needed a haircut. (We buzzed it pretty short soon after that!)

18 months was such a big milestone for me. I just can't believe we are halfway through the second year already. I still want to look at him as barely 1, but now we are closer to 2! He is walking, running, dancing, talking, and playing like the BUSY toddler boy he is!

We have said bye-bye to the paci now completely. This was a big step of faith for all of us! We had cut back significantly earlier in the year, but relapsed when Zane had the flu in February. We essentially had to start from scratch to wean him off, but did it completely this time, just after he turned 18 months. He has been such a big boy about it! He barely cried the first night, cried a bit more the next couple of nights, but now he doesn't even ask about it. He did find one in the house the other day and we caused a major meltdown when we took it away. I feel like the only things we have left of "baby days" now are diapers and the crib. Everything else is completely different already!

Zane is so busy! He is earning the nickname "Hurricane Zane" because you can walk through our house and see exactly where he has been, leaving a path of destruction in his wake. He would much rather play with the keys or wallet he can barely reach on the dresser than the zillions of toys he has on the ground. He has learned how to open the doors in our house now, including the front, back, and door to the garage! This is scary! We are learning to always, ALWAYS lock the outside doors.

Zane LOVES to be outside! It doesn't matter what he is doing there, he just wants to be outside.
We have been trying to take advantage of the nice weather and spend time in the backyard every evening and go to the park as often as we can. Zane loves the slides, but he makes it very clear that he does not want to get on the swing.

Zane is very opinionated, particularly about the things that he does not want or like. "Zane, do you want more chicken?" "No, no" in a very cute, but determined voice while he shakes his head.

His favorite phrase is "Oh NO!" He thinks it is what you say when something hits the floor. He often throws things down and then looks up and says "Oh No!" He will keep repeating it until you say it back. We haven't gotten through to them that it's not "oh no" when you do it on purpose. :-)

He is very silly. He loves to put buckets on his head and gets to belly laughing at silly things that Daddy (or occasionally Mommy) will do. Tonight he got to laughing about the 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed. He kept hitting his head with his hand and saying "Ow" and then belly laughing! He is so funny!

His health has been okay. We have continued to struggle with sinus infections and wheezing that just doesn't want to clear for days and weeks. His pediatrician told me that he just has a bad respiratory system and we just have to hope that it gets better as he grows. His doctors have decided to keep him on antibiotics through the end of April to try to clear up and prevent those stubborn sinus infections. He started with a runny nose and cough again earlier this week but he has seemed to keep it from getting worse or getting too wheezy with it so far. Maybe the antibiotics and nasal spray are helping this time! Keep praying for his respiratory system. He is such a happy guy when he does feel well!

I can't believe how fast he is growing! He will be 2 before we know it!

With love,

Crystal

PARENTING a toddler!

I am so excited to get a quick moment to blog! Hopefully I can make it through a whole post without being interrupted but we will see. Zane and life in general keep me super busy these days and sitting down in front of the computer to write just does not happen very often.
Zane is a toddler in every definition of the word now. He really started walking the week before Christmas and that has changed EVERYTHING! It is like he is completely blossoming into his own little independent person more and more each day. It has been so much fun to watch him learn new things and beam in pride when he accomplishes something new. He loves that he can walk on his own to get to all kinds of places and he is already starting to try running. He loves carrying things around the house and taking them wherever he wants. He loves music these days and is even starting to try to sing!
Toddlerhood is also very challenging. I was talking to another mom the other day about how the first year, motherhood is really just caring for an infant. Now we are in full-fledged, no turning back PARENTING all day long. "Zane, no touch..... Zane,use your spoon.... Great job getting off the couch!.... No, you can't have your paci until bedtime." You get the picture. This is definitely a challenging stage as our communication is still fairly limited. It is so difficult for him to understand why we do things sometimes. We have cut the paci out to just bedtime and I think it broke his little heart for a few days that he would cry and cry at naptime but we just wouldn't give it to him. He is doing much better about that now, although he still usually cries a little. I think we have decided to give him until February to cut it out completely. We are not terribly worried about it causing permanent teeth damage or whatever right now, but I just know the longer we wait the more attached to it he becomes and the harder it will be to break it. Before we cut it to only night time, he was getting to a point where he wanted it all day long and would totally melt down if we took it away. I am not okay with that.
Zane's health continues to be a bit of a struggle. I have just become resigned to the fact that we will continue this cycle at least until respiratory season ends. I am just continually praying that we won't have any major illnesses or asthma flare-ups that we cannot get under control at home. After 3 months of pretty constant sinus infections, Zane had to have his adenoids removed in December. We were hopeful that this would fix everything but he has still been on antibiotics and steroids 3 times since the surgery. He has seemed to clear up the infection every time but we will get about one great week in before he starts all over again. I am just waiting for the day that immune system of steel that everyone says he is going to develop will kick in. We sure do enjoy those good weeks in between! Thankfully, each time he has only had minor sinus or ear infections and his asthma has never gotten to the point that we can't manage it with his nebulizer at home, although he has made me nervous a few times. I am also very thankful that he has a pulmonologist now and they are more than willing to call in medications for him over the phone just by talking to me about his symptoms. We have not had to miss work very much at all. We can also contact the on-call physician after hours and that has saved us at least one or two trips to the E.R.
We are excited about a new year. I know it is already the 22nd of January, but I never really got to reflect on last year and what we are excited about for the coming year. Honestly, when I have thought about 2010 as a whole, most of what comes to mind is medical. I guess it has just been that kind of year for us. Lots of doctor's visits (and doctor's bills), not only for Zane, but for myself and even Tommy. But I also see how God has been so faithful to us. It has been a really fun year of watching Zane grow and learn, getting together with his cousins and our friends, and relying on God's grace to get through each day. God has taken care of us and taught us much about his faithfulness.
So here it is, a year in review:

January 2010- We welcomed cousin Lylah to the Curry family!

We celebrated a late Christmas with the Currys after she arrived.

February brought the most snow we have ever seen in Texas in our lifetimes!

In March, we got to play with cousin Lylah.....

and Zane enjoyed playing with Daddy at home while Daddy was looking for a job.

April- We celebrated Easter....

and hung out with cousin Noah.

In May, we enjoyed the nice weather....

and had Zane's baby dedication.

June- We played with some friends....

And Mommy got to go to Austria for a week!

In July, Zane got tubes in his ears.

It was kind of a rough month, but cousins Foster and Emma came and played for a week and we had a blast with them!

In August, Little Man turned 1!

September brought us to a weekend trip to Dripping Springs to play with cousin Lylah.

And we had an early birthday celebration for cousin Noah (1st birthday in October).

In October, we had a great time with all the Curry cousins when we all went to the zoo....

and we took a trip to Abilene for Hardin-Simmons Homecoming!

Zane was a very cute dragon for Halloween, too.

In November, we celebrated Thanksgiving with Daddy's family...

and then had a late celebration with Gigi & Pops, Uncle Craig, Aunt Fallon, & Lylah!

December was, of course, a wonderful Christmas...... but this is the only December pic that I have access to at the moment!

I can't believe how much Zane grew through those pictures. It's hard to remember him looking so little! It's been a fun and crazy year. We are looking forward to 2011 to see what God will have for us. Every day is an adventure with a toddler in the house!

We love you all!

Crystal

Allergies, Infections, & Asthma, Oh My!!

Zane enduring a breathing treatment at Lylah's house

Many of our friends and family know that Zane has not been the healthiest of little boys! Basically since he started day care we have had one issue after another. For several months, our basic cycle was: stuffy nose becomes cough, cough becomes wheeze, wheeze gets worse, ear infection, repeat every 2-4 weeks. After about 6 ear infections, Zane got tubes in his ears in July. We were very hopeful that this would really clear up everything. It did cut out the ear infections, but the rest of the cycle pretty much stayed the same.
He also kept getting flares of eczema that we attributed to food allergies and broke out in hives one day after eating food off my tray at Genghis Grill. Because of that, combined with the wheezing, we saw an Allergy & Asthma specialist at the end of July. Turns out, Zane's allergic to eggs (and has skin irritation with certain citrusy fruits). This doctor also added another maintenance med to Zane's wheezing treatments.
At the end of August, Zane's wheezing flared up, probably because of Orange O-zone days when it was so hot. We got it back under control in just a few days, in time for Zane's birthday. The next week, Zane's birthday week, we started him on whole milk. Within days, his asthma was the worst I have ever seen it. We had one horrible night where he woke up every 4 hours or less, short of breath, crying, and coughing until we did a breathing treatment that subsided the symptoms long enough for him to get back to sleep. At that point, we switched to soy milk immediately. Since that week, we have yet to get Zane's asthma completely under control again. Runny noses have come and gone but the wheezing and coughing stick around. Last week, we took him back to the pediatrician and they doubled one of his maintenance meds, put him on 5 days of oral steroids, and referred us to see a pediatric pulmonologist (lung specialist) the very next day. Luckily, the pulmonologist is at Cook Children's, where I work, so I feel pretty comfortable there and it is quite convenient for us.
The pulmonologist took Zane's history and a chest x-ray and said that he would call this asthma (or an asthma-like condition :-)). He believes that Zane most likely has intermittent asthma that is triggered primarily by respiratory viruses and infections and he is hopeful that eventually we will be able to cut the maintenance meds out completely and just treat flare-ups. He gave us a new plan and an after-hours number for the pulmonologist on-call (this may eliminate some ER time!) and told us to continue the 5 days of steroids unless he cleared up before then. When we completed the steroids and Zane didn't seem to be better than he was to begin with, I called the pulmonologist back. They had me take him for a sinus x-ray and, sure enough, the poor little guy had a sinus infection. I am pretty sure he had that for at least a week and a half prior because he had little yellow goop draining from his eyes but no runny nose for at least that long. They put him on antibiotics for 3 weeks! Since starting them, he had a lot of drainage for the first few days and that has slowed down now but he still has a horrible cough and his wheezing has been worse than before. I just want to get my little boy well! I am pretty sure it has been at least a month since he has really felt good.
It doesn't slow him down much though! We are still chasing our little guy all over the house, whether he is wheezing or not. He is about to eat us out of house and home too! Yesterday, I heated up 3 frozen burritos for lunch. Zane ate 1 3/4 and I only got 1 1/4. He also ate some apple slices and drank most of his milk. I'm telling you the kid can eat! I am just glad that he has been more willing to try new foods lately.
We are hopeful for better, healthier days to come. Respiratory season makes me nervous but it does look like he can probably get the flu shot so that helps! We are trusting God to take care of our little boy. Thank you to all our friends and family for the prayers, support and helpful suggestions.

With love,

Crystal