June days and nights

I was thinking we should be doing something more fun last night, in celebration of Father’s Day, since Ryan has to work all weekend long. Then I realized that Ryan was having fun, sitting there watching National Geographic specials on underwater caves and the Redwoods with his sweet daughter curled up contentedly in his lap.

He was in his happy place. :-)

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For the last four or five weeks, Ryley has been struggling with bedtime. Every night, when it’s time for bed, we hear, “I don’t feel good,” or “my tummy hurts.” Then, “what if I throw up?” and “will you please stay up here with me?” This is inevitably followed by tears and tantrum-like behavior when we say, “Sleep is the best medicine; go to sleep,” and walk away. Then this is followed by a little girl traipsing up and down the stairs all evening to complain (even after being warned against it) while Mommy and Daddy get very angry by the disobedience and shell out discipline accordingly until the whole evening is ruined and we’re all on the verge of tears. It has not been fun.

Well, as parents, there are so many conflicting emotions with this.  First of all, she has seemed fine all day long. Bouncy, chipper, energetic, etc. Normal. So the fact that it was happening at bedtime made us feel like she was making it up. Second of all, why was she having trouble with going to bed? She’s seven, almost eight, and we’ve not had this problem since she was a toddler. So we began to question whether or not there’s a reason she doesn’t want to go to sleep -- emotional, spiritual, or otherwise. So we prayed with her and we talked with her in depth about her fears and we had her quote the scriptures she knows. We prayed over her room and anointed her doorposts with oil. Nothing seemed to help. We were beyond understanding, and bedtime had become dreaded on all counts.

We were getting so angry with her at night. Yet in the mornings, she was so sweet and happy, and all was forgotten. Just like God’s are for us, we realized our mercies for her were new every morning. :-) That scripture took on new meaning for me.

Two weeks ago or more, we finally decided we needed to have Ryley checked out  by the doctor just to make sure it wasn’t an actual illness. We made an appointment with the pediatrician, and she was diagnosed as having a UTI and was put on antibiotics. But nothing changed regarding bedtime. We tried bribery, and that was the first little bit of progress we made. We promised her candy the next morning if she stayed in bed at night. She did, and we followed through, but the problem wasn’t solved permanently.

It was a mystery to us. I started googling things like “child stomach pain when lying down.” When we had finished the course of the medicine, we made another appointment with the doctor. This time she was diagnosed as having acid reflux and was put on two medications. It’s been almost a week, and she still complains every night, though it’s not the battle it used to be. Sometimes it’s so hard to walk that line of discipline and know when your child is telling you the truth. I guess a UTI and acid reflux combined would make one feel pretty yucky, but I wouldn’t generally associate stomach pain with either of those things. We’re just praying that as we’re consistent with this medicine, it does the trick and she’s feeling better soon!

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Other than all that, it’s continued to be a good summer, and we have participated in a few more fun free events!

Last weekend was a free day at Delaney Farm, which is right up the street from us. We got to tour the oldest home in Aurora, which was timely with all the Little House reading and watching we’ve been doing:

Then, on Thursday we attended a free big band/swing concert in the park. We brought a picnic of fried chicken and had an extremely lovely evening!!!! It was lots of fun.

Can you tell we were some of the younger people in the crowd? But Ryan and I both love “big band” music.

We loved this couple!!!! They danced to every song!

And we danced too!!! Mid-twirl:

Ryley learned how to finger-weave a few weeks ago, so she’s been doing a lot of that recently when hanging out at home. She’s constantly making headbands, bracelets, belts, necklaces, etc.

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This week I attended two funerals. My dear friend Kathy lost her mom to cancer, and that mass/wake was on Wednesday. Then our high school friend Alethea lost her husband in a motorcycle accident, and we went to that funeral yesterday, though we couldn’t stay for the whole thing.  Very sad for both families, and our prayers are with them all!

My company is moving in just 10 days, so things are starting to get busy at work. And Ryan is in the midst of being promoted at his job, so he has been super busy as well!!! I’m so proud of him.

So that’s the update from our neck of the woods. I read a blog consistently that makes me sick to my stomach every time I read it. I can’t quite put my finger on why it bothers me so much, but Ryan tells me to stop reading it, and I just can’t stop! I feel myself getting sucked in every time, and then I read it aloud to him, and he hates it more than I do. Ha! Anyhow, it makes me blog-shy because it makes me self-conscious about my own writing, and I hope nobody feels that way about my own blog. :-)  Oh, well. Thank goodness for freedom of speech.

Happy Father’s Day. I know I am so blessed to have a wonderful, godly daddy myself and to have married one for my little girl. God is so good. Love to you both!!