Poor Little Evan

Today we had an ear re-check for Cailyn's earaches and Evan's earaches. Evan had an earache about 2 months ago. When we had it checked last month his ears were still dull, so we had to come back again today. Of course, Cailyn's ears were fine (she's our healthy child!), but poor Evan had 2 full-blown earaches, and one of his ears was bulging. It is so discouraging to go back to the doctor and hear that the medicines haven't worked and your child is even sicker than the last time you visited. I had a feeling that he wasn't feeling better. He hadn't been sleeping well and was pretty cranky over the weekend. I was just waiting for her to tell me that something else was ailing him.

When I look back at the last 7 months with Evan, it is no wonder that he has been so fussy. We started off the first week of life with jaundice, and then we moved on to at least 4 months of colic. Following his colicky stage, he had RSV, then had a staph/herpes infection on his head, and then he had a 10-day cold. After the cold, Evan started teething and then got an earache. Then he had a short bout of allergies, and now we have 2 earaches. I just can't imagine being miserable and sick for nearly 7 months. Yet, he still wakes up and smiles everyday and giggles when we play with him. He still loves playing with toys, and hasn't been behind developmentally. He has done everything at the same time Cailyn did (she was pretty early on most things), and he just started crawling at 7 months.

My prayer for Evan is that he passes this sickly phase soon and continues to develop the way he is supposed to both physically and mentally. My prayer for Caleb and I is that we would continue to have patience for this time, and to enjoy and remember the good stuff going on in Evan's life. For me it is easy to remember the hard times, and even easier to forget the good times. Evan has such a sweet disposition and spirit. He loves to smile and loves seeing others smile. He is such a blessing, but that is so easily clouded by tribulation. I pray that these earaches would finally clear up this time, and we would have a break! Oh, how we need a break!