Mother's Day and other challenges

So Mother's Day was not the celebration it was intended to be. Trey got sick on Friday night with a cold, which lasted through Saturday, when he developed a fever. Other than for one of his vaccinations, this was his first sustained fever. It was pretty scary for me, and Trey was understandably pretty upset. We were up through much of two nights with him, which exhausted us to the point of missing church on Sunday. And Sunday found me getting sick as well. So we have no dressed-up pictures of the family to show. But Daddy, Aunt Whitney, and the grandparents have taken very good care of us, and everyone seems to be feeling better now.

We're experiencing some growing pains, I guess you could say. Trey seems to be going through an angry or unhappy phase. I know he's been sick, and that has contributed to it. And he is working on some teeth. But for over a week now, at least around me, he has been whining or crying more often than not. The books say separation anxiety, teething, that he feels like he can express himself around those he feels most comfortable with... Whatever, I hate for my baby to be sad! And large amounts of crying will quickly exhaust you.

Maybe it's made worse because he has pretty much always been such a jolly boy. Folks have commented that Trey smiles for all his pictures. Yes, and that is easy to do because he used to smile all the time! I miss my smiley guy and hope he comes back soon.

Another frustration has appeared at bedtime. The problem is displayed below. We have been blessed that, for the last 4 months or so, we could give Trey a bottle, put him in bed, and he would sing himself to sleep. Now that he has learned how to stand up (and hasn't learned to get back down), that's out the window. He will get stuck standing up and scream to the top of his lungs until he gags. So bedtime routine has increased from 15 minutes to almost 2 hours.

Nevertheless, by the grace of God, we press on. Mother's Day was not a celebration on the outside, but every day I praise the Lord for the privilege of being Trey's mom. It is the hardest, most rewarding work I have ever done. I never knew I could love a creature as much as I love Trey, even when he is whiny all day or standing up in his bed at night screaming. As difficult as they may be, these are times I know I will miss later. Thank you, Jesus, for the joy of motherhood. Every day is mother's day!!