A little family update

Been a while since I posted.

We've had a rough couple of weeks in the Benallick household. Started on Halloween night, as Aidan threw up in bed. This evolved into a chest cold with recurring fevers and he was diagnosed two weeks ago with bronchial pneumonia. He's getting better, but I suspect we may have to keep a supply of puffers around to help him clear out his lungs.

Then, Christine noticed a few oddities with Aaron (namely, acting like he's "backed up" and crying after eating or when she touched his tummy) and called the pediatrician. The pediatrician said "To the hospital with you" and Aaron was diagnosed with proctocolitis, which is basically an infant allergy to protein. To combat this, we have to switch to a new formula and Christine has to cut ALL dairy out of her diet until she finishes nursing. On the plus side, Aaron loves the new formula.

So, it's been a week. Add in a disagreement with a close relative that has me a bit stressed, a very challenging week at work and the fact that I had to cancel a get-together with my brother at the last minute (who I haven't seen one-on-one in forever) and it's been a tough stretch.

At times like this, I remember a few things. First, God promises in the Bible to never give us more than we can handle. I do not recall the verse where that promise is made, but I have found myself clinging to it more and more in the past few years. I also remind myself how fortunate I am to have so many blessings to worry about. In the book of Job, God allows Job (a loyal follower) to have all of his earthly blessings stripped away (cattle killed, house destroyed, family dies) and he is left horribly disfigured by disease. Despite all of this, Job never turns away from God. While I have challenges to face in this life, I know that my Saviour remains beside me and carries me during the times I cannot carry myself.

Thank you God, for your Son and your never-ending love for us.

More later.

This 'n' That

This'll probably take all day to do, so I may as well get started.

10:27 AM.

Had a GREAT time yesterday as Aidan and I went with my sister Leigh and her three kids to go see The Wiggles at the SkyDome. The kids had lots of fun and The Wiggles put on an excellent show. Here's a shot of the stage:

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This was during one of Aidan's favorite songs, "Eagle Rock". The Wiggles are in the bird suits and Captain Feathersword is flying through the air. Here's one of the whole group during "Fruit Salad":

First break. Aaron's up. Back later.

1:07 PM


There you go.

So we're readjusting to life on Aaron time. In short, Aaron likes to sleep all day, party all night. In order to try to give Christine a bit of a break, I'm sleeping downstairs with Aaron, who is sleeping in his bassinet/playpen combo. I take the midnight feed and then Christine gets up to do 3 and 6 AM. We'll see how things go when I'm working again. Hopefully Aaron will be back on a normal schedule. Just to add to things, Aidan's been sick all week. The trip to T.O. was pretty taxing on him and he came home with a major fever and aches. He's better today, but we gotta watch it.

So, of course, the world's been spinning while we've been cocooning. Here's a few things I wanted to comment on:

Bush Wins

Kudos to GW for his victory. Prayers to John Edwards that his wife will bounce back from her upcoming battle with breast cancer.

So, 4 more years. Although I wouldn't exactly call it an overwhelming mandate from the electorate, it's still a mandate. If I'm the Dems, however, I do a MUCH better job selecting the next Presidential candidate (coughHillarycough). I mean, here's a situation where the country was totally divided with hardly any middle ground. You were either strongly for or against Bush and his very clearly stated platform. If the Dems had put out anyone who could do a job of strongly

Monday, 9:20 AM

defining any sort of a platform that appealed to voters (or even been appealing on a PERSONALITY level), things might have been different. Having said that, if the Dems had put out anyone other than Wonder Waffler and the Kissing Bandit, the GOP would have probably used different strategy (i.e. made Karl Rove earn his money). One of the things I caught myself thinking at times was how things might have turned out if Edwards was the candidate and Kerry was the veep.

Now I would like to ruminate on the hockey strike, which I Will do in a separate, lengthy post.

Buh-bye

AARON'S HOME

nuff said.