Six Things I Learned in April

I sat with a friend celebrating my birthday a few days early at the same restaurant we met for lunch in late January for her birthday. I couldn’t believe it had been three months. Where are you going, 2014? Slow down. Pretty please? Although, yes, I’m glad May is coming. It’s my favorite.

1. Sometimes it’s OK to let a book sit. 

I’ve had “Restless” by Jennie Allen sitting here for awhile. And then she said something on an (in)courage video last week that prompted me to pick up her book. Oh, I’m so glad I did. And I’m glad I’m reading it now and not two months ago when it first arrived in the mail.

There are many good books out there, but we can’t read them all right when we discover them. And that’s OK. On the heels of “Love Idol” by Jennifer Dukes Lee and “Chasing God” by Angie Smith, my heart is ready for “Restless.” I don’t know why I continue to be surprised God is in the details.

2. Mothers react to their children in ways nobody does.

My son had a hacking cough that turned out to be bronchitis. The day before the diagnosis, we were eating out at a restaurant with my mom when Ben threw up everything he’d eaten. First he puked in his basket with leftover corn dog and corn on the cob. Not wanting to disgust the people around us, I started walking him toward the bathroom. Of course, we didn’t make it. He puked again.

And I caught it.

Seriously. 

Nobody told me about this part of motherhood. I’m almost seven years in, and I decided it would be a good idea to catch my son’s puke. So I carried him and the puke to the bathroom, where he puked more in the toilet and I washed my hands. Twice.

Yes, this needs to be noted as his first puking episode ever. At least there is a story to go along with it.

3. Strep has the strangest symptoms.

In another strange diagnosis stories about two weeks after the bronchitis episode, I took Ben back to the pediatrician because he had spent the week peeing excessively. I realize that borders on too much information being shared, but, hey, that’s sometimes what you get a momma’s blog. Anyway, I was convinced he had an urinary tract infection. Or perhaps I was just hoping for an explanation for why he peed 16 times in 12 hours on a Tuesday.

Well, by Thursday, I learned excessive peeing is a symptom of strep. Really. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. Turns out, Ben didn’t have a urinary tract infection, but he did have strep throat with no other symptoms beyond lots of pee.

And, thing is, I’ve had plenty of prior experiences with strep, even with strange symptoms. Impetigo. Two cases with just one fever. A sore throat and an unobservant mom. Lessons from a high fever. Impetigo, again. Still, this is a new one. Add excessive peeing to the list.

Of course, I was watching my friend’s kid that day and toted her to the doctor’s office with us. Hopefully Ben didn’t share his strep germs. Always an adventure, I tell you.

4. The pollen count is high around here. 

I have no scientific measurement. Just the aforementioned bronchitis and strep stories as well as Cate’s sinus infection and pneumonia. All this month. Come on May …

5. Jesus is still risen even if we don’t do everything we plan.

We read {almost} nightly from “The Jesus Storybook Bible” the week leading up to Easter. We had multiple conversations about why Easter mattered. Cate her a guest speaker portraying a disciple at school and Ben made resurrection rolls with his class.

We still haven’t talked through the Easter story using resurrection eggs or their meaningful Easter basket of candy that tells the story in chocolate money, rock candy, jelly beans and a chocolate cross. It’s all still sitting on the counter. Easter still matters.

6. Needtobreathe’s new album is really good. 

I especially love “The Heart” and “Multiplied.” Here’s a video of their performance on David Letterman. No, I didn’t stay up late enough to watch it. Isn’t that the beauty of the Internet?

How’s your April been? What did you learn?

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I love these month-end posts prompted by Emily at Chatting at the Sky. Here are previous month’s recaps from 2013: June. July. August. September. October. November. And from 2014: January. February. March. Affiliate links included.

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