Mary loses her first tooth- literally!

Probably the biggest news of this week is that Mary lost her first tooth! Mary has had 2 loose teeth since before Christmas. I thought for sure they would both be out by mid January but nope she just lost the first one this week. The second one is hanging by a thread but Mary won't pull it out. In fact, I'm not sure if the first one would be out were it not for Philip's, errrr, "assistance." We were at Walmart after naps around 5pm, (why do I do this to myself?) and the kids were pretty hyper. They were being good but just being a little silly in the checkout line with each other (in nobody's way). They were cracking up the checkout lady, and then all of sudden the checkout lady said to me, "Uh oh, she's going to cry." I thought she meant Thomas, so I was looking at Thomas when all of a sudden Mary started crying Mary-style, which means screaming. In the midst of their silliness, Philip wacked Mary's mouth and one of her loose tooth came out. It was lost- literally. I spent some time looking on the floor, as did the customers behind me in line and the checkout lady as best as she could by her register. It could not be found, which of course added insult to injury for poor Mary. So, I would have a picture of Mary with her first lost tooth, except it was literally lost and cannot be found. The second tooth should be out, but Mary's fixed on keeping that one in her mouth as long as possible. Hopefully I will be able to get a picture of her with her second lost tooth soon... very soon... Gah! As I was writing this post, Mary wiggled out her second tooth!!!
Here are some pics:

This week was a hard week for me emotionally and very humbling. It has been very tiring and trying for me to take care of Thomas. God has really been showing me how selfish and impatient I am. It is a hard lesson to learn and I am certainly stumbling a lot, but I hope that through these difficult times, by God's grace, I will grow in virtue and charity. I was very blessed to have a good friend come over and talk with me and encourage me. She has been through a lot of suffering this past year so having her to talk with really was so encouraging and helpful. She offered to help watch the kids so I can get out and recharge emotionally/physically. I know she really means that and she says she'll be ticked if I don't take her up on it. :) Another friend came yesterday, to help me out with house cleaning. Another friend is planning to bring us a meal this week. I have to tell you. The local homeschooling community has been so supportive through prayers, kind words and action since the birth of Thomas and throughout these past difficult months with repeated hospitalizations with Thomas. I am so thankful for their friendship and kindness.

Thomas had several appointments with his specialists this week. It seems like the infections aren't really getting better. His diaper rash got worse and is yeast-y again. His urine sample looked pretty bad and looked it it had yeast in it. His specialists said they were going to call yesterday or today, but we haven't heard from them yet. They have to decide what to do with Thomas. The infectious disease doctors have discussed the possibility of Thomas being seen by specialists at Boston Children's Hospital or Syracuse or NYC's Children's hospital. They were going to bring it up with Thomas' urologist so we'll see what they decide to do. Thomas has been spitting up a lot and gagging on his medicine and throwing up a lot so that has been very trying. He is on a lot of medicines now and it is very stressful to give him medicine and hope that he keeps it down without spitting or throwing it up.  One piece of good news is that Thomas' blood pressure has been very good and they are trialing him off the blood pressure medicine.

Thomas' rash seems to come and go without any rhyme or reason, in my opinion. We do know that he is allergic to polyester. Would you believe that there are no cotton socks made for babies??? I spent no less than 1 hour online trying to find 100% cotton socks on top of time in the stores looking for some to no avail. So, I made these little cotton socks for him. He likes to play with them. hahah!

Thomas really loves his brother and sister. Philip and Mary love to make Thomas laugh. They love to try to cheer him up when he's sad (which he's been more of lately). Thomas likes to give Philip and Mary hugs when they are close enough. I got some really cute pictures of them this week. I love these pics.

Thomas thinks he can crawl, but he can't so he ends up doing a lot of tummy time. HAHA. This pictures sort of captures what he does.

Not sure where he thinks he's going...

Anyway, that's it for this week! I hope you enjoy the pictures!