Back in the Saddle…sortof

Oh my, I hope I haven’t lost some of you sweet readers.  So, I had an excuse all lined up as to why the lack of posts.  Let me introduce you to that excuse…

Before I delve too far into Luke world, I’ll get you up to speed on life at home.

I felt like the quarterback’s girlfriend last Friday night.  All giddy, because for the first time, I got to see Will play flag football.  He had a great block the last few seconds of the game which cost the other team a TD.  And, he got the defensive player of the game card.  John Paul tagged along and I’m pretty sure he only took a five-second break from talking…the entire game.

The girls are, well, girly.  Exhibits A and B.  Evidently lunchtime is way more delish when you wear your princess earrings.  Gotta remember that.

All in all, the kids are faring pretty well considering the high level of craziness here at Casa Whitaker.  We’re starting to normalize, at least in their eyes, and that’s a good thing.  It’s a reminder to Scott and I that life does indeed, go on.

On the Luke front, if you’re just joining us here during regularly scheduled programming, you might want to click here or here, to get all caught up.  Luke has a big week, tomorrow we visit his pediatrician for a weight check and Thursday we visit his cardiologist.  They’ll be doing an echo (ultrasound of the heart) to see how his hole is faring (techno-speak, it’s a VSD).  Obviously, we’re hoping that it’s on its way to closing all by its lonesome, but we’ll see what Dr. Johnson has to say ’bout that.

We’re tackling weight gain and ticker this week.  Next up for the following week?  His gut and the next surgery (probably in 2-3 weeks), along with his brain.  Yep, Luke believes in the motto:  Go big.  Or go home.  No small, insignificant organs here.  He goes for the gusto.

Oh?  Scott and I?  We’re hanging in there.  Yes, we’re parents of five and for the most part have it all figured out.  Or, at least we thought so until we had Luke.  Navigating the waters of doctor visits, follow-ups, developmental assessments (yes, we’ve learned that due to Luke’s semi-prematurity and his super low birth weight, he’s at risk for a litany ‘o delays) is dizzying.  And exhausting.

I looked in the mirror today and thought, “Dang, I need to get better eye concealer.”

It’s also extraordinarily difficult to reacclimate to the life you people have been living.  Yes, you 🙂  We see the world differently, we don’t respond to situations the same way we did before Luke.  It’s difficult to describe, but just understand that if we don’t have the same conversations with you like we used to, or if we take a while to respond to emails, phone calls and the like, we still love you.  We’re just trying to figure this all out.  This experience, this new tilt on our snowglobe has permanently altered who we are.  I like to think that’s in a good way.

There is no substitute for life experience.

We’ve found that we connect on a deeper level with those of you that have experienced a life-changing event/s.  And, for those of you still waiting on yours, don’t worry.  God has yours all ready.  He just hasn’t given you a delivery date yet 🙂

I’m back at it.  So, keep us on your bookmarks and check back.  I might even make you laugh more than cry this week.