Why did we move here again?

Well, illness has hit the littlest Coffey this week . . .

Last weekend we noticed Liam had a little bump on his leg, and the next day I saw two small blisters on his index finger. By Monday he had several bumps on his hands and we began to see them on his feet as well. Most of you have figured out by now that he has hand, foot, and mouth disease. Big bummer. : (  I'm not quite sure where he got it since he wasn't around other kids while we were on vacation, but it could've been on the airplane or even the plane ride Liam loved so much in Mallorca -- who knows? Besides the few small sores, he has also been coughing and sneezing, drooling like crazy, and had a low grade fever for a couple days. I could tell his throat is sore so I've been giving him a cup of water throughout the day and he guzzles down the cool water as quickly as he can, as I'm sure it soothes his throat.

Because we're heading to Georgia soon I wanted to take Liam to the doctor to confirm what we diagnosed at home and make sure it was ok for him to travel. When I called yesterday to make an appointment, I thought the receptionist told me to come in between 9:30-10:30 this morning (since I know they have open office hours in the morning) . . . so when Liam awoke I got him dressed and packed up his breakfast, walking a couple minutes down our street to the doctor. When I got there at 9:45 the waiting room was packed -- like no-empty-seats-packed. I was glad I brought his breakfast, anticipating a long wait as I approached the receptionist. She knew who I was and said she told me to call between 9:30 and 10:30 to make an appointment. Seriously? So she made me an appointment for 11:40 and sent me on my way.

I left there mad and frustrated and overly upset -- tears in my eyes, feeling for a brief moment like "Why did we move here again?!" Looking back now it's pretty comical, but at the time I was just thinking of how Liam must be feeling, and even though I wasn't expecting the doctor to tell me anything I didn't know already (after two days of reading about HFMD), I still wanted a little affirmation and hopefully a good reason to have gotten him out of the house so quickly this morning.

Instead of heading home to feed Liam, I decided to sit in the small park out our front door to feed Liam his oatmeal and banana while he watched the giant pigeons pecking in the grass (because he loves birds). Rather than feel sorry for myself, I figured that I needed a reminder of the things I love about Eindhoven -- I got to walk home from the doctor and sit in a park with birds that made Liam laugh and clap, feeding my boy breakfast outside on a beautiful morning.

After sitting quietly for a while I figured we now had some time to kill, and Liam had had his breakfast, so why not hit up the big park just a little further down the street? Liam LOVES to see the animals in the petting zoo, so we kept walking to De Splinter Park.

Mr. Peacock greeted us at the park

Right away Liam was excited because the first animal we spot was a giant peacock just hanging out on the fence. Liam waved at him and clapped and laughed as the peacock jumped down and started calling to the other peacocks at the park (a couple of which are albino peacocks -- have you ever seen one? Because I hadn't until recently!). We spent quite a bit of time talking to the goats and sheep, and also laughed at the pig, chickens, donkeys, and llamas. I think Liam could stay in there forever and be perfectly happy if I would just throw him in some blueberries and cheese every now and again.

I didn't want Liam to touch any playground equipment, so we were headed home after a few minutes of looking at the animals. Coincidentally, as we were leaving the park we ran into two friends of mine and I was able to see them and catch up for a few minutes. I shared about Liam's HFMD, to which one of my girlfriends eased my mind by telling me how awful her son had it a few years ago -- it sounds like Liam's case is very mild and it could be a lot worse.

I then left the park and headed home so that I could change Liam's diaper and get him a quick snack before heading to the doctor again . . . on my walk home I realized that God just reminded me of about a dozen reasons why we moved here and what I like about living here. As upset as I was (and albeit, silly), that mad-at-the-world and feeling-sorry-for-myself moment quickly passed and I found myself feeling too blessed to be stressed. The beautiful day, good friends, and a smiley boy made me so thankful.

Gratefully,
~Jessi