A Busy Week and an Evil Peanut

Its been a crazy week here in Colorado.  The list of "firsts" just keeps growing.  Every experience we have without Matt is a little harder and a little easier,  all at the same time.

Caleb and Ali had their first Tae Kwon Do and Gymnastics classes.  Its so fun watching them discover new things... I don't want them to see this time as just a holding ground - a place where we are simply waiting for what is to come.  I want them to live out each day to its fullest - having new experiences and enjoying the blessings here.

Also, they look really cute in their little outfits.

We also had our first trip to the Emergency Room this week.  It was my second as a parent - my first without Matt.  Monday afternoon Caleb had an allergic reaction at the lunch table at school.  It was an unexpected and terrifying phone call to receive.  By the time I reached Tavelli the nurse had administered the Epipen and Caleb was weepy, but breathing smooth and steady.  We drove to the Emergency Room, and after a few hours and lots of sweet people checking in on him, we went home.

As scary and awful as that situation was, there were so many blessings, too.  I was 15 minutes away from the school when the call came.  My mom was 1 minute away.  She was with Caleb when the nurse administered the Epipen.  It was beyond comforting to walk into the nurses office and see Caleb not alone, but snuggled up with Gramma.

When I initially got the call, I texted Matt two words: "Call me."  I didn't know if he'd even see his phone, or if there would be any way of letting him know what was going on, but he did.  And within 15 minutes they had released him from his responsibilities and we were able to talk with him through out the afternoon.  He also had to do a little legwork on base to make sure our insurance paperwork got pushed through.  So unbelievably grateful for that...

Sweet Caleb... He got to talk to Daddy for a while at the hospital.  I wish you could have seen the way his face lit up when they were chatting.  It was like all the scary events of the day faded into the background, and it was just him and Dad talking about life and all the fun things Caleb is doing.  I wasn't home that evening when Ali got to talk to Matt, but apparently she went into my parent's room and proceeded to talk Daddy's ear off for a solid 15 minutes.

So its been quite a week.  But we're hanging in there...  And whenever a moment hits when I think, "what have we done?!?"  I look at this...

And I am flooded with excitement, and joy, and pride... and I remember exactly why we're doing it.