From there, we drove to Timberline High School, where our church was putting on a Glow-in-the-Dark Easter Egg Hunt. Guy was working the sound, and I was set to work at the Face Painting table. We helped set up and then people slowly started to arrive. I realized after a time that between me and Guy, there was no one to watch Nico. It wasn't a big deal when it was just our church there setting up, he could run around the huge field and everyone knew him. But as thousands of people started arriving, I realized I may need to figure this out. The line for face painting was long and I had no visual of the field. Nico would run over every once in a while for water, which made me happy. I told him to keep checking in and then prayed that God would take care of him. The next time he checked in, he had Lexie with him! The next time after that he told me he was going to be with Jonny and Alanna and Lexie. I looked up and Jonny was waving at me. HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF. The crowd was really packed now. I didn't know they were going to be there, but I am so grateful they were!
The face painting line went to ZERO as soon as Pastor Tim got on the mic and started preparing everyone for the countdown. We started cleaning up and I was able to catch a video of the countdown and field rush. (check out video at end of entry)
Thank you to Alanna for taking these pictures!! They estimated 4,000-6,500 people showed up!
Sunday was a relaxing day. We decided to have pizza that night since we weren't able to on Saturday. It was Nico's turn to choose the show, and he chose Garfield.
Monday came along and it was back to school for Nico!
Tuesday was an interesting day! In the morning Nico lifted his shirt up and asked me why there was a painful lump on his stomach right above his belly button. It was about the size of peanut and painful to the touch. I calmly said we would go to a doctor that day to figure it out. I called the office at the stroke of 8, and got Nico in at 9:30. The doc said it wasn't a hernia, but was definitely a lump, she could move it around with her finger (ouch!). The next step would be an ultrasound to determine whether it was "vascular" or just an easily removable cyst. I didn't know what vascular meant, when I asked her she said that if it was vascular it meant that the lump had blood vessels involved with it and it would be harder to remove and could possibly continue growing. The outcome we should hope for would be the cyst. They could them remove it right in their office instead of doing surgery at the hospital. She told me the imaging center would call soon to schedule the ultrasound.
I dropped Nico off at school and then called up my prayer team. My mom and Guy's mom, then texted Aunt Mary and Ellen Gray. I did this from the school parking lot. When I was done, I started driving home. As I was turning onto our street my phone rang. I thought it was the ultrasound place to schedule the appointment but instead it was the doctor's office. She said she consulted with Dr Eck (the main doctor at the office) and he said it sounded like a "liquefied hematoma", which is much less scary and much more common (especially in active children). I don't know much about it, but I understand it to be like an internal bruise where blood is collected in a spot and can produce a lump. The fact that it was very painful was a good sign. She told me to watch it over the next few days and if it became less painful and the slight bruising started turning yellow, that means it's healing and it's not a cyst or other kind of lump. PHEW.
I gave all my prayer team the update. Apparently they're goooood at what they do! I didn't even have time to worry about it before it was resolved. I went back to Nico's school to tell him the news. The doctor had told him all about ultrasounds and said "It might hurt because they'll have to press the spot, BUT, there won't be any needles!" So I'm sure he was relieved at the news.
On Wednesday morning he woke up and I asked him how it felt. Still painful but not as bad... and look it's starting to turn yellow!
I learned that my cousin Rick (Aunt Mary's son) and my Uncle Jerry both had similar lumps like this when they were younger, and they both went away! Not sure if they were the same thing, but it was still reassuring to hear stories of disappearing lumps :)
Wednesday was Nico's first baseball practice. The doc had given us the OK to continue normal physical activity, since it wasn't a hernia. Nico got to wear his new cleats and made sure that I brought the towel that Dick's Sporting Goods gave him, "in case I sweat!" Hehe.
We found the practice field, and once practice started his team huddled up. The coach talked about the 3 things to remember about baseball:
1 - Have Fun
2 - Work Hard
3 - ?
Hmmm.... Oh well.
The coach showed them how to hold the ball, and they practiced the "creeper stance", while you're in the outfield waiting for the batter to hit the ball.
Video down below with more baseball stuff!
Tonight we had Evelyn over for dinner even though her family was home. Avery felt a little bad about it, I'll have to figure out a way to make it up to him. We had mandarin chicken and fried rice. I don't think I could ever make those two dishes again at the same time. If Guy wouldn't have been home early tonight I would have ruined both dishes!! It requires two people and a few more burners, and a few more dishes.
BUT, it was REALLY tasty and everyone loved it. In the future I could probably make the rice ahead of time so I won't be doing both dishes at once.
Afterwards they did some rough housing. One of their favorite things to do.
Without further ado... Video!
