A Season Of Calm

The next year of life was calm compared to what we had endured up to that point. Lexi got a lot of ear infections and was sick often with regular kid stuff but there was no medical crisis. Our whole family settled into our routine. Weekends were a joyful time because that was when we were all together. Daniel struggled being away from Lexi more than I did because I went to visit her every day she was at the ladies. I still had daily time with her.

I do remember feeling like we always had to give Lexi back when she was doing well and we had her at her worst. This was due to the fact that we brought her home anytime she was sick. It was part of the difficulty of letting go and also knowing that her needs increase to a crazy level when she's not feeling well. If hard decisions have to be made Daniel and I want to be the ones to make them. I also needed to know that she was as good as she can be when she was away from me in order to have peace of mind in my life without her. The worst phone calls from the ladies had Lexi crying in the background because they couldn't calm her. I was thankful to be 5 minutes away when things were hard.

Can I just say that being a police officer is the BEST JOB EVER if you have a child with medical issues?!? Daniel gets made fun of for having no sick time compared to everyone else who stores up hundreds of hours but I'm incredibly grateful for all the times that he is there for Lexi. He has always been available when we needed him since becoming a cop. I was mostly alone before that so I don't take it for granted.

We were coming out of the fog of just surviving and starting to live. It wasn't with the same carefree naivete that I had before Lexi but with the sober wisdom of knowing we would be OK no matter what life brought because God was with us. I had time and energy to help others again and serve at church rather than being only self and family focused. Caden was lots of fun for both Daniel and I and we started talking about having another baby while we had the help of the ladies. We definitely were of the opinion that people who thought regular kids were hard didn't know what they were talking about. It turns out we had some growing to do regarding that attitude...