ENT visit

We took our daughter to the Ear, Nose, Throat doctor today and guess what we'll be doing in 2 weeks?? SURGERY! The poor girl has a very small airway. Her adnoids in the nose are very large blocking her nasal passage which is why she has not been breathing through her nose. We were pretty much sure that that is what we would be told, but......her tonsils are also large taking up most of her throat airway too. She has a small opening in the back to breath through. Yikes! She was also tested for allergies and came back allergic to some trees, grass and dust mites.
We will be taking her in for surgery mid August to remove the adnoids and tonsils. Recovery will be hard we are told for about 10 days. BUT she gets unlimited ice cream which she is excited about (she does not get sweet things on a regular basis :) and she gets a nice break from school too!
We were so proud of her today during her appointment. She is such a trooper when it comes to stuff like that (I think she has her mama's pain tolerance!) Her arms were so itchy after the allergy test, and they stuck the tube with the camera down her nose and throat and she didn't even flinch!
So we are thankful we have figured out what is going on and although I'm NOT looking forward to my baby having surgery, I know she is going to feel a world of difference afterward!!

Itty bitty pink clothes

Today hubby brought down our bin of girls' clothing 0-9 months out of the attic :) I know it is early to be getting them washed up and preparing.....but it gets me excited and it will be one less thing to do once I start getting immobile (I get very big!!!) I have forgotten all the cute clothes our daughter had!! ....and the shoes!!! So far the clothes look pretty good but some of the Sunday dresses have spots on them from being in a closed bin for almost 6 years! Hopefully they will be wearable cause they're soooo cute! The clothing sizes will work out absolutely perfect since our daughter was born the beginning of January, and this one is due mid December. The problem I'm running into though is space :) All the drawers and closets are full of the kids clothes. I have managed to clear out a little space in one of our dressers to put some of her clothes. Since she will be in our room for the first couple months in the bassinet, this will work out well. After that....I think we'll have to get another dresser :) I've been going through the bigger kids clothing and packing up all the clothes that will be too small this winter. It's amazing how quickly they grow out of the clothing!!! Pants we bought our boy last winter and already beginning to look short on him. Oooohhh it's getting exciting thinking about her arrival. I don't know how I'll get through the next 4 months!

changing it up

You may see me playing around with the 'look' of the blog. I'm changing it up a bit :) What do you think??
Some updates for the week: Our daughter has an ENT visit on Friday. Hopefully we will find out what is up with her nasal issues. Hopefully nothing serious!
I'm starting to feel baby move around...more than just flutters. I'm surprised that I'm actually not feeling MORE than what I do since she is #4. Maybe because I'm a little 'thicker' through the belly this time *grin*
Hubby has very little work for the next 3-4 weeks. Nothing scheduled right now. There may be a few prospects coming but nothing definite yet. We would appreciate your prayers that the Lord would continue to bring in work for him! Our God has been so good!

Our family....divided!

We went for our ultrasound today! Our family is officially divided :)
God has graciously given us a baby girl....expected arrival, Mid-December.
Our daughter has not stopped jumping and smiling since she found out! Everything looks well with baby, my blood pressure came down some...still slightly elevated but better than last month! I am also off the baby aspirin now...no blood clot was found.
We are praising God for his goodness....I thank God for answering the desires of my heart. I was tearing up in the office during the ultrasound just thinking about how God CONTINUES to bless and give us our desires although we are so undeserving!
Thank you Lord for your awesome goodness....and for this precious little one!

A new week...

I had a cake order over the weekend. I ended up doing roses but I tried and tried practicing apple bloosoms before hand. I had a beautiful picture of what I WANTED to do....I just could not get the apple bloosom flower to look right! I guess I'll have to make a practice cake one of these days and try it again!!! Hope you have a wonderful birthday tomorrow Clara :)

This morning we had a few minutes extra before we had to leave for church so I was able to get a few photos. Our daughter looked sooooo grown up this morning!! The boys did a good job with pictures too....gotta love when everyone cooperates!!!! Here are a few to enjoy :)
Tomorrow we head for our ultrasound....during Sunday School this morning I felt a few good kicks!! It was more than just the flutters I've been feeling so it was quite exciting. Just praying all goes well tomorrow!

Neti pot

Our poor girl has suffered with nasal issues since she was 3 years old. I don't know if it is allergies or a sensitive nose (like Grandpa S) but she has a horrible time breathing through her nose. She wakes up sneezing winter, summer, spring and fall, she always sounds nasally and the past few nights I have gone in her room during the night to listen to her sleep.....she doesn't breath through her nose!!! It sounds like she is always trying to get air through her mouth....and I'm wondering if that has something to do with the dark circles under her eyes since she was a baby. We went out today and got the Neti pot which is a sinus rinse. It goes in through one nostril and out the other cleaning your passages real good! WELL.....poor girl couldn't get any solution coming through the other side!!!!! We stood there tilting her head more and more trying to get this stuff to pass through and NOTHING!! She must be really clogged!! I'm hoping this won't turn into an ENT visit (she says 'can I go to daddy's doctor!!') We have sinus problems in the family....so we will have to bring it up at her next pediatrician appointment. We're going to try the squirt bottle to see if it makes a difference over the neti pot....but either way she was such a brave girl today. I thought it would be a fight to get her to cooperate but she did wonderful!!

Animal control

Today's phone call to animal control was a big dud!! They didn't even take down our neighbors address or anything! They have all MY information.... so animal control isn't going to do much, the police won't do much (since we have a sheriff living in the subdivision who called last month) so I'm left trying to figure out what options are left? We are going to contact our realtor and get the 'rules' of the subdivision to see if he is breaking any laws that way.....but other than that...I don't know how to get rid of this tiger!!!! If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. I even thought of calling News channel 7....they 'get things done'....but we realized they were over at the house last week with cameras (not sure if it was the same issue or not...didn't watch the news)....so what left???? Moving??? *smile*

The continuing Tiger saga...

So today I drove around the block before heading to teach piano and guess what I saw in the neighbor's driveway.....yep, the truck with the cage!! It was turned sideways so I couldn't tell if the tiger was in there or not. When I got home we tried calling our neighbor who happens to be a sheriff! Couldn't get through....BUT there was a knock at the door....guess who!!! Our sheriff's wife :) (she is the one who has been giving our son the bags of clothing and was there to drop off another bag!!) We talked to her about what we saw and her reply was 'so the tigers back'......BACK!!!! I guess it has been coming during the night for about 2 months now. She called animal control last month on them. Apparently from what we know, he has a permit for the tiger in a neighboring town.....he transports this animal everywhere. Well....I do not want it bunking in our subdivision so tomorrow I will make the call to animal control (they close at 5pm). Needless to say, we won't be going for our walk around the block either!! :)

Do you know your neighbors??

A very freakish thing happened as we came home from church tonight. It was around 9:30pm (we made a small detour). I pulled up behind a pickup truck at the light. As my eyes adjusted in the darkness I realized they had a live tiger in a cage! Ok, so that freaked me out a bit. Who drives a tiger around....there is no zoo close by....no vet's equipped for a tiger in this area!!! We all thought it was pretty neat to see something like that! BUT.........it turned down our road.......it turned into our subdivision......it turned into one of the neighbors driveway!!!!!! This was not amusing anymore. Isn't it against the law to keep those kind of animals in your home??? Have I been taking walks around the block with wild animals living in this neighbors house????? I think I got a little toooooo excitable in the car because now the kids don't want to go to bed for fear that the tiger will come get them. Aaarrrggg...so now to calm those fears and try and get these sleepy eyed children to bed, while I keep one eye and ear open tonight :)

Growing up!

Our boy is really getting the hang of using utensils. He loves eating his eggs in the morning with a fork and 80% of the food gets in his mouth :) We are still working on things like corn etc....they seems to just roll off the spoon before entry.....but more solid foods he is really doing well with!! He not only is out of the crib now but completely out of the highchair too. He loves sitting at the table with us. He is also starting to say prayers at night during devotion time....which was a task!!! He did not take to that very well in the beginning :) His vocabulary is pretty limited right now....but if I at least get some sort of a grunt or word repeated after Mommy, I am happy!! At church now we are gradually moving him from the nursery, to training him to sit in service with us. He's going through quite a transition right now as he approaches 2 years old!! I'm going through this reminising process right now as I catch up all the photo albums etc. I can't believe all the changes in the kids from just one year ago. My babies are growing up!!!! Actually one thing I discovered was the similarities between our daughter and our youngest which really surprised me. When our youngest was born he very much looked like his brother.....but as he is changing I see much of his sister in him. I'll have to post those pictures for comparison!!

Party fun

We had a successful birthday party. Our boy loved his cake and looking at this picture makes him look so grown up....aaahhh!!!! He got some G.I Joe toys, a Diego dinosaur set, and some clothes. He was a very content boy tonight :)

Party time

We are finally going to celebrate a birthday tonight! I started the cake last night at 8pm and finished at 11pm. I wasn't able to do all that I wanted to it, but it was enough and our son was excited when he saw it this morning!! The 'rocks' and milk chocolate rocks....I was so excited when I found them at Walmart! Thomas the train is a candle. I will post birthday pictures tomorrow. Now off to get the house cleaned up for company :)

P.S Hubby's appointment went well today. His throat was a little inflammed from the cold and sinus 'thing' he went through. He was also showing some acid reflux which we think was from the antibiotics. Over all it was a good appointment and the doctor was happy!

Finally having a party!

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day! We are all finally well enough to go to church after missing last week. Everyone still has their cough but those tend to linger for awhile afterward. We are going to be celebrate our boys' 4th birthday on Monday so I need to get as much done on the cake tomorrow as possible. I kind of forgot about hubby's check up from his surgery which is going to take most of the day Monday since it is a 2 hour drive there and back! But it should work out well, and I know there is a very anxious boy wanting his Thomas the train cake :)
In other news.... I'm now working on 2008 photos for the photo album. It is quite the task getting caught up for 2 years worth! I'm also back into the swing of cloth diapering. I took a small sabbatical for the first few months of pregnancy. I just couldn't spend all that energy on changing frequently and washing, washing, washing diapers during the queasy months :) We are also moving our little guy into a big boy bed. He is 22 months now and it's time to break free of the bars!

In the year 2007...

I've been trying to get things in order and caught up before baby #4 arrives. One big task is the photo albums!! I didn't realize I hadn't updated them since 2007! My day has been sorting through pictures, picking the best ones, printing them from the computer, writing dates on the back..... but I have 2 years to catch up on! I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures from the last half of 2007. My how they grow!!!

Stretching the dollar

Today we needed to go buy some bulletins (we do the bulletins at church) because our stock had run out, so we headed to the Christian book store. The lowest price we ever get bulletins for is $7.50 - $8.00. We got up to the counter and it rung up for $1.80!!!! The cashier was surprised because items will usually have a sticker on it for clearance. So that was a nice surprise!!!
Then we went to check out our new Dollar Tree that has just opened up close to home. I loved it!!! We picked up 2-1 shampoo, hand soap, toothbrushes, and some school supplies all for $1.00 each. Our daughter has just finished learning about Noah Webster (we were studying Connecticut where he was from) and we needed to get a dictionary. We picked up a dictionary for $1.00!!! The nice part is it is right beside our Wal-Mart so we will be able to visit there often and save on the necessities!!
And we are thankful today because hubby received his first paycheck since the end of May. I think that made him feel good :) He said he was really enjoying working from home and I have been enjoying him being around to help when I need him! He has been such a sweetheart these last few days. He helped me catch up with all the laundry, he's vacuumed and tidied and organized, and yesterday he was on his hands and knees washing the hardwood floor!! OOOOHHHH what a man! (Side note: I didn't ask him to do any of it!!) Thank you babe! I love you!

Praising Him

I woke up this morning congested....couldn't breath....listening to the sounds of hacking coughs through the house....and I am praising God!! I don't know if I'm speaking too early yet or not but God has protected me and 'baby' from this fever. Everyone in our household at one time or another through this horrible 'virus/bacteria' thing has had a fever of at least 102. I have been coughed and sneezed upon, I have rocked and cuddled with little ones who could not sleep through the night during their fever....there was no way of escaping this thing that was running through the household. BUT I know God heard every one of your prayers and ours and has seen fit to protect me and 'baby' by only being hit with this nasty cold. I thank each and every one of you who so diligently prayed for our family and continues to hold us in your prayers. It is so uplifting and encouraging when you 'see' answers to prayer. Knowing that our loving God hears us and answers, grants our pleas to Him, although we are undeserving. Oh how He loves us!!!! Every answer to prayer just gets me more and more giddy. What an affirmation to my weak spirit, that God is so very real. Thank you Lord for your constant protection, love, and goodness you continue to give. I am so grateful and so humbled. I love you Lord!

For your listening pleasure

I thought I'd share the musical talents of our youngest with you. He enjoys listening to big sister play the piano and he gets in on it too.

An update on the family.....hubby still needs his ears to pop and I think he will be pretty much back to his good 'ol self. Our daughter still has a low appetite but otherwise just a bad cough. Our son's eyes look much better. I've read that it is only contagious the first 2 days so I think he can start playing with the kids now. I received a handy trick about how to apply eyedrops from hubby's grandma so I'm thankful that at least goes pretty well. (There is still some crying involved!) He still has the cold but is starting to sleep much better at night. Our littlest one (at the piano) is doing a whole lot better. I think he is almost through with whatever this is! I am right in the thick of it right now. I have thankfully had no signs of a fever yet and pray that continues!! God is good....the medicines are working....and hopefully I'll be up and at 'em soon so we can celebrate a 4th birthday party!!!!

Music to my ears

I started teaching our daughter piano last year but it did not go well. She didn't have an interest in it and I was getting very frustrated. I had to get on her daily to sit down and practice. As I said in an earlier post, I am learning that if the kids do not pick up something right away just drop it!!! Come back later!!! I was disappointed to say the least since I want our kids to learn the piano but I knew I shouldn't push it right now. Maybe next year.
So....about a month ago or so our daughter sat down at the piano all on her own. She got out some old songs we had worked on last year and started playing. She wanted Mommy to teach her about the next song. I was excited but didn't want to get my hopes up yet. She has sat down everyday and practice without me saying a word. It is the first thing she does when she wakes up in the morning. Ok....so I'm getting excited now!! She wanted to get a book with hymns in it so she could play offeratory like her friend at church (who is one of my students). We went and bought her a book and she has sat down and learned every song on her own! It gives me such joy to see her sit and play and have the desire to learn! She continues to tell me that what she really wants to learn is the violin but I want piano as the foundation before tackling any other instrument.
Here is a sample of 2 songs she is working on right now for offeratory.

Whisper a Prayer in the morning

Praise Him, Praise Him all ye little children

The results are in....

drum roll please.....haha

So hubby went to the clinic yesterday after he spit up blood :( He was checked for pneumonia and bronchitis which he didn't have either.....BUT he has a horrible sinus infection. Both ears, sinus cavity, all the way to his throat. He can't hear a thing and is still feeing pretty miserable. He's on antibiotics for 7 days. With that said, my darling sweetheart cleaned as much of the house as he could while I took 2 of the kids to the doctor today. Now that's love huh!

I took the 2 oldest to the pediatrician today. Our daughter has a touch of bronchitis and is being put on antibiotics. Our son has pink eye in both eyes, and fluid in the ear. He will be on antibiotics and eye drops. Let's pause for a moment.....This little boy will not let me come near him with a warm washcloth to soothe his eyes so how in the world am I suppose to apply eye drops 5 times a day!!!!! *smile* This will be quite the adventure!

Our littlest one seems to be improving somewhat. The doctor said if his cough has not improved by Thursday or he starts pulling at his ears etc....to bring him in.

So hopefully by this time next week we will all be relaxing and enjoying our days. Here is a picture of our darling but pitiful looking boy. The picture does not do justice at all....it's quite a sight.

Woe is me

Am I complaining alot??? It sure feels like I am. We are a pitiful household at the moment. So here's the breakdown.....our daughter is on day 5 of a fever. It must be bacterial. I am very suspicious of pneumonia and am making her an appointment early Monday morning. Our 4 year old is now heading into the worst stage the cough. Not sure if another fever will strike him or not. Our little one has been sick for a week now and not improving. His cough is very deep in the chest....making an appointment for him Monday morning. Hubby is still all clogged up in the ears and can't hear, bad cough, sweating all the time, he is still on steroids from his surgery and is at a high risk for pneumonia. He is making an appointment Monday. Me....the cold has now hit. Deep in the chest and it hurts! Praying, praying, and praying I won't get a fever!!!!!
Needless to say we didn't go to church today. Tomorrow will be a busy day for us.
Like I said....pitiful huh?!?!!

Your cheque is in the mail

Hubby went out to get the mail and we were delighted to see that he WAS approved for unemployment and was paid for the weeks he was out of work! What an answer to prayer!! That will certainly help with the surgery bills coming soon :)

A quick update on all the sick ones here....our daughter still had a high fever last night of 103. This was the 3rd night but we think it has finally broke. I checked on her through the night and she was pretty sweaty. It is low grade throughout the day so I'm hoping this is the end for her. Hubby is starting to feel better but has had an awful sinus infection and earache. He seems to be improving today. All of them are sounding like barking seals though. This cough is deep in the chest and they sound pitiful. I feel very anxious right now and am checking my temperature throughout the day. My head is starting to feel a little weird but I'm wondering if it is more from worry than anything else :) I am praying that God will protect me from this fever.

Here is something for you music lovers! I've watched this several times and just love it. I love how he really gets into the music and you can see the emotion coming through him while he is playing the piano. I love that feeling when I'm playing a piece at the piano. You can check out his website at Jon Schmidt

Prayer Request

Seems like I have need of a lot of prayer requests these days :)
I called my OB/GYN today for some information. I feel like I am starting to get the symptoms hubby and all the kids have had. They are still suffering from bad colds and our daughters fever seems to be hanging on a little longer than the rest. Everyone has had a fever of 101 - 102. I called my OB today to find out what I need to do if I should get a fever and what meds I can take. They told me how to control a low grade fever but as soon as it hits 101 I need to head to the ER.....uuugggg. Baby can run into complications with such a hot environment and they take fevers seriously in pregnant women. PLEASE pray that by some miracle *smile* I do not get a fever!!!!! I feel the sore throat and the cough coming (had no voice this morning!) so the next few days we need to watch out for the fever. I know God is in control and He knows what is about to happen. I want baby to be healthy and safe :)
Thank you for your prayers in advance!

Happy 4th Birthday

Our boy is 4 today!! Happy Birthday Sweetheart :) It's crazy how time flies by so quickly with children. We unfortunately will have to postpone his party with all the kids being sick with a cold right now (I think mommy and daddy are now getting it too!) but Mommy is going to take him for his free ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery today....he is excited!! We have been so very blessed with all our children. I thank God for them all. They are all such precious gifts. I love you babe :)

Sick kids

You know our kids are sick when they sleep in till almost 9AM!!!!! Our children are very early risers....anywhere from 6:30 - 7 each morning. All of them are suffering from a bad cold. Our youngest I think has some bronchial issues going on too, poor thing. He looks so pitiful with the watery eyes, and fever. We finally had to give him a dose of medicine and he slept like a log through the night! They all have low appetites, runny (disgusting!) noses, deep chest coughs.....and of course a birthday is approaching :) I guess that one will have to be postponed later in the week.

Onto other news, hubby started his part time position yesterday. I think he is enjoying being busy again :) He did meet with the owner yesterday who said he is looking for only 1 - 2 months worth of full time work, so please pray that other opportunities will arise. We have run into some issues with unemployment as well on some technical issue. They have not sent any unemployment cheques and hubby may be uneligible to collect any. He runs an accountablility software that is mostly donation based (he uses it as a ministry) and brings in very little money, but because it is classified as a home business, we haven't received any unemployment. But again, our God has been so good in providing for us and I know He will continue to do so. It would be nice if a full time position came along so we could get off the roller coaster of emotion *smile*

Well, off to wipe some noses ......

Family

Families come in many different forms. We have our immediate family, spouse and children....we have our extended family - parents, siblings, in laws, grandparents......and if you have the priveldge of being apart of a loving group of fellow believers - you have a church family. Our church family was used to provide us a most special blessing tonight.
We had a fellowship after the evening service tonight, something that is not unusual. It was like all other socials where we eat and have fellowship with one another. But then....everyone started gathering in the auditorium which was a little unusual. Did I miss that there was a meeting or something tonight???? I thought I'd go grab a few more bites to keep our littlest one occupied while 'whatever' was about to happen.....but before I could sit down our pastor called hubby and I up to the front. My eyes just bugged open!! Gulp....what was going on??? Our church family has known about our need and wanted to extended us their love and support. We received several bags of groceries, gift cards to grocery stores and financial gifts. OOOOHHHH I cried :)
Why does my Heavenly Father love me so?? He knows me inside out and yet He still loves me, He still blesses me, and He continues to give me the desires of my heart. I don't deserve it!!! I know I don't deserve it....and He knows I'm going to fail Him again in some shape or form tomorrow and yet He lovingly blesses me so tremendously today despite that fact. I cry just thinking about it.

It's hard to put in words....I don't know what to say except 'Thank you God!' All glory belongs to you!

P.S. As we left tonight, some joked with us and said 'Now you can turn on the air conditioning!!!" The pregnant woman will be happy once more :)

July 4th

We had a great fourth of July! We spent the afternoon with church family for a cookout and some water fun :) I wish I had packed my camera (but I had a mountain of other things to carry along!!).....we would have had some great pictures to post. There was a long slip and slide in the backyard and the kids (and men folk!) had a blast on it! It was hilarious watching our son go down....his facial expressions were priceless. Our daughter caught on very quickly and enjoyed every minute of it. Our littlest one, who does not like water, FINALLY started to get comfortable in the kiddie pool and would squeal when he splashed. I think there were about 13 kids altogether, some of whom haven't seen each other in awhile, and enjoyed their day with their friends :)
Now that the kids are in bed, hubby and I are going to watch some fireworks from the front porch. Our neighbors usually put on a small show which we enjoy every year.
Happy 4th everyone!

Special people

We are blessed with very special people in our lives. God continues to use these special people to meet our needs. Again, we praise God for the blessings He has sent our way. We have received groceries, a financial gift, and even a membership to Price Costco (something I have wanted!) We have had our tank filled with gas on many occassions, our meals taken care of while we were away (for surgery, etc)......and I have to praise God and thank Him for taking care of us - not only during this difficult time, but all during my Christian walk with Him.
Hubby and I have become very aware of some particular things. It helps so much to understand a persons situation when you've gone through it. Hubby can relate to many people about physical trials since he has gone through his ordeal for 3 years now. It's more than just saying "I'll pray for you and your healing.' It's an understanding (or close to it) of the anxieties, fears, nervousness, that one may encounter when facing a surgery or doctors visit. Going through this layoff has shown us how we can better relate to someone who may encounter financial needs or live on a very tight budget. When the opportunity arises, and God lays it on your heart, we can pick up a few extra items at the store, or send a gift card along with a note of encouragement that our God will provide!!
Yes, we have been very blessed with special people who love us and have serving hearts for our Lord. I have been very humbled through this process, very thankful for God's continuous provision, have developed a deeper love and appreciation for those who want to serve God by helping others (even when they themselves are on a strict budget!!), and have had my faith increased. It makes me want to please my Lord all the more.