The Palmer Family Adventures: Our little pioneer

My how time sprints by when we are busy living life. Having three little ones to chase, and tend, to laugh with, comfort, scold, and snuggle, to teach and learn from, can sure make the days pass with amazing speed.

Sweet baby Garrett is now three and a half months old. Adorable. Quick to smile; just on the verge of laughing. Intentionally grabbing things. And very talkative.

(Be prepared for a lot of cute baby pictures!)

Here he is ready for church a few Sundays ago.

As you may know, his first few weeks of life had a couple bumps. But things were ironed out and he was well before long. For a couple weeks. Then we got a bit of a shock one night when we were changing his diaper. He had developed an inguinal hernia, a hernia in the lower abdomen. It was quite a scare at first, but inguinal hernias are, for the most part, pretty benign. However, if they are not repaired, they can become a very serious health issue. This is part of why we call him the pioneer. He is the third child, but the first to ride in an ambulance (which was my first ride in one as well), the first to be hospitalized and get an IV (which occurred during those first bumpy weeks). The first with a medical condition requiring major action, and so will be the first to have surgery. Yes, my sweet little baby is scheduled for surgery on Valentines Day. They had wanted to schedule it sooner, but then he came down with RSV, a particularly nasty upper respiratory virus that can be pretty dangerous for babies. He weathered the virus pretty well and did not have to be hospitalized, which we count as a major victory. But to be on the safe side, his surgery needed to be postponed, and the doctors policy is a minimum of 6 weeks for an illness such as RSV. So Jim and I will be spending Valentines Day together... in the waiting room at the Children's Hospital. No parent is comfortable with the idea of surgery for their child, especially their baby. And we definitely have some anxiety about it. But we trust in the Lord. We know our children are in his hands. And in what safer place could they be?

Baby smiles... the best.

It should be an outpatient procedure. Very non-invasive. He will not even require external stitches. After a few hours in recovery he should be allowed to go home. And he should be fully healed and back to himself in about a week. His hernia does not cause him any pain right now, but it does seem to cause him a lot of gas issues. Bubbles often get trapped in the hernia and can cause him a fair amount of discomfort. Needless to say, Jim and I will both be very relieved to be on the other side of his surgery, with a healed and healthy baby.

Enough medical chitchat.

Garrett is not only a pioneer for unpleasant things. Among other things, he is our first real passy baby. What a difference it makes for nap time and "getting the bottle ready" time! The first two only had interest in them for a few weeks.

Once upon a time, in my pre-parent days, I was determined to be anti-passy. Any time I need a good laugh, I just look back to those pre-parent days at all my ideals and the things I believed would be absolute certainties for my parenting. Oh what a picture we paint of our dreamy perfect world through those rose colored glasses. All the "I would never"s and "I will always"s. Always gives me a good chuckle. Here in my real world of mothering, that passy is a blessing. I think it is definitely a contributor in Garrett's calm demeanor, and helps me maintain mine as well. :)