Haircuts, dresses, baby and appointments!

The boys got their haircut and are both looking a little less scruffy :) I love freshly cut hair on them. They always look a little bit older each time it's done. Our daughter didn't get a new do but she did get a new dress from a lady at church. Over the weekend, this lady made matching sundresses for mommy and daughter but unfortunately mine didn't quite fit or look right on me. Our daughter on the other hand looked cute as can be!!!
Today has also been a very active day for baby! I don't feel her very often ( I think because of the position of the placenta this time around) but today she seems to be poking out my right side and even gave daddy a few big kicks today for the first time.
We've also been doing really well with school. I think if we can maintain this schedule we will be done in 3 months. I'm leaning towards a 3 month break and starting back up in March with only Math review during our time off. We pretty much teach year round so I think this will be a good down time for all of us. I have most of my curriculum for our grade 3 year already so there won't be a rush come March.
Our daughter also will be going for her post-op check up on Wednesday. She's looking forward to seeing her doctor again. I'm just thankful she's back to her normal self again (with the exception of some appetite changes). I don't know if it is because now she can taste her food well or what, but we've seen some foods make the 'bad' list that she used to love! Hopefully with time her appetite will return to normal. Maybe she got too used to all that ice cream and sugar during her recovery!!! I hope not!!
Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy......

11 years of love

Today we celebrate 11 years of marriage! How quickly it has gone by and how much we have experienced together. When God is the center of your marriage....life together is wonderful despite the trails and heartaches that come our way. Our God has blessed us tremendously and we have seen his hand in all areas of our lives even from the very beginning! I love telling people how we met because it was only of the Lord that hubby and I came together. I was living in Canada and he was here in the States. His great grandfather lived in the same city as I did, and on occassion hubby's grandpa and grandma would come up to Canada to check on him. While visiting they would attend our church and we got to know this sweet couple. On one visit, hubby's grandpa asked for our (my siblings and myself) email addresses to maybe start a friendship with his grandson back home in the States. Well, the emails between his grandson and I soon became a daily thing which led to phone calls, and then the big 'meeting' :) I can still remember when hubby called asked if he could come meet me in person. We already knew there was a very strong connection between us over the months we had communicted by phone and email. We shared so many similar things especially our love for Christ. We had so many of the same convictions and desires, and when that part of your life lines up so beautifully with someone else, it's an exciting feeling!!! Our first visit together was absolutely amazing. We talked about every aspect of our lives including what we saw for our future. It didn't take long for me to feel that this was definitely of the Lord and that this could possibly be my future unfolding before me. Our next visit together was me travelling to the United States to visit him and his family. Within the year we were engaged and married the following year.

I love our story because it wasn't me seeking a mate nor hubby seeking someone....it was the Lord bringing us together. If young people are patient and wait for the Lord's leading, they will see some amazing things happen!! All too often we try to accomplish things in our own strength and marriage is definitely not on of those areas you want to be making decisions without going to God first!! I can remember those tearful prayers when it came to decisions about marrying hubby.....I wanted to be with him more than anything but I knew that I shouldn't be the one making the decision....I needed God's assurance. I didn't want to hear this may not be the right one for me but better to be in the Lord's will than make decisions on my own. What a joy it was to see that God wanted us together....and what a joy it is to see all that God has done for us and given to us over these last 11 years!!!! It's a beautiful thing :)

I love you babe.....and I thank God for you!

Prayer request

**Update** It's the gallbladder. He should be scheduled for surgery sometime soon.

I just wanted to ask prayer for hubby's dad. He probably won't like me posting about him on here *smile* but I know he would appreciate the prayers! He's at the hospital right now for testing because he was having bad chest pains through the night and this morning. Please pray the doctors will find what is wrong and be able to treat him accordingly. Thank you!
P.S. We know so far that it was NOT a heart attack...thank you Lord!

My boys

Here are a few pictures of the boys over the last couple of days doing school and just being cute :)

Check up

I had a baby checkup this morning and all went well. The heartbeat was good and I am measuring right on. Next month I get my lovely glucola drink to check for gestational diabetes. I never like that test :) The drink is really gross! My blood pressure was the same....slightly elevated. But all seems well......
Our daughter is doing well today! She had quite the appetite this morning with oatmeal, apple slices, and a granola bar all before 9:30am! She didn't have to get up through the night and there was only a little complaining this morning. The concern I had the other day seems to have corrected itself.....I'm thinking it might have been a side effect for all the medicine?? She does seem to have some kind of sore or something on her tongue or somewhere.....I can't see anything when I look in her mouth but she complains randomly when she eats about pain in her mouth. I don't think it is a toothache....so it must be some type of sore or something way back on her tongue.???
We are also starting back into school today. If we have school Monday - Saturday every week we will finish our year the end of November! That is our goal.....but things can change so we will see if we can get this accomplished before baby arrives! That would give Mommy and them a nice break as we adjust to our newest family member.
And, next week we celebrate our 11th anniversary!! I'm not sure what we are going to do to celebrate yet but it has been a wonderful 11 years.....full of excitement :)

Ooopppsss

I forgot to mention in my earlier post that it was my mom's birthday today.....so although you only have a few hours left to your day....Happy Birthday Mom!!

Our girl went the whole day without any medicine so Mommy and Daddy went to get her new bike today. She went around the block with daddy early this evening and was so excited!! She loves that it comes with a kickstand and she likes her new helmet too.

We are going to try going the whole night as well with no meds so hopefully it won't be too hard on her. If she does ok, she'll even be able to go to church tomorrow!!

Here are a few shots of her......

Day 9!!!

I think we are turning a corner here!!! Yesterday instead of her usual 6 doses of medicine, she only had 3 and none of it was the narcotic....yay :) We are going to try to see if she can go today without any medicine at all. There is still some complaining and whining but I definitely see some improvement. Her appetite is still not good right now but I think that will improve over time. Throughout the night was really good too. I gave her one dose of Motrin for the whole night and I woke her up twice for some fluids and a popsicle.....still some complaining but nothing like what the past 4 nights have been like. It's exciting to think we are nearing the end!!!!!! Looking in her throat I can see some nice pink patches forming so I think she is healing up well. We will go for her checkup with the doctor in a week and a half.
She sounds so good when she sleeps too. You can definitely tell she is now breathing through her nose and we don't hear a peep from her! The other day she says "Mommy watch this" and took in a big breath through her nose. It was exciting to see that she was excited to be able to breath so well!!
So now is catch up time for some needed rest.....*smile* Hubby was going to go to a Men's Prayer Breakfast this morning at church but I selfishly asked if he would stay home so I could sleep in and he much obliged :) I didn't have to get him up through the night to help with medicine so he was well rested this morning to watch the kids for me.
There is only one small area of concern that I need wisdom concerning her so hopefully the next few days will show itself clear for me.....other than that I think we are almost done and looking forward to her new bike :)

Day 7

Oh dear....sometimes it feels like it's never going to end :) I think I'm getting a tad cranky from lack of sleep for a week now! The days are getting rougher for her again. Nights are horrible!! At night we keep the windows open and the air conditioning off so hopefully the humidity will help her. I do fear however that if there are any neighbors lurking about late at night, they will wonder what in the world is going on in our house with loud screams that can be heard during fluid and medicine time!!! Her appetite has not been good at all today and it is constant complaining and crying about her throat despite being on her meds every 4 hours! I just keep telling myself we are over half way (I hope!!) Here is a picture of her with her teddy bear 'Andrew' she got at the hospital. I wish she could keep that smile all day long :)

With the little sleep I did get last night, I had a short dream of baby. It was a rather strange dream though...I was back working at Kellogg's (I worked there while attending university) and during my breaks I would go nurse her.... I can have some weird dreams at times :) But just the thought of holding our little one was exciting to think about. I do have a check up next week so hopefully my blood pressure won't be too high!!

Now time to feed the kiddos......

Updates

Last night was rough again for medicine and sore throat, but I think we are nearing the ending phase. Without getting too gross....I think the scabs are coming off :) We have seen and heard such an improvement with her sleeping. She sleeps very soundly with no noise!!! It's wonderful! Her appetite is good throughout the day, but still complains an awful lot about a sore throat despite being on the narcotic pretty much every 4 hours! Hopefully over the next couple days we can really wean her off the pain meds (except at night). Other than that, she's doing pretty good....thank the Lord!
In other news, hubby has had a good bit of work lately. He has several projects on the go and work scheduled through the next week. The Lord has been providing every step of the way.
I'm also really starting to feel baby kick. I'm into week 23 and will be entering the last trimester in 4 weeks....yay! Not that I want to hurry this year along, but I will sure be glad when December gets here :)
I also have a new wish list for homeschooling materials. Check out Rod and Staff curriculum for some great resources. It is biblically based and I've been checking out ebay for some good deals!
Well....supper time calls!

Day 4 has hit!

Well, the doctor has been right on so far with everything. I mentioned before how he said day 4-8 were going to be the worst. This is when the scabs are healing and falling off. Last night was ROUGH! She had her best day yesterday. Her appetite was fantastic and she even had Tylenol for a bit instead of the narcotic. Throughout the night however, she woke up crying often saying her throat was burning and sore. She would also cough which I'm thinking is the scabs starting to peel off making her throat feel funny. The worst part is when she asks "mommy, help me!" and there is nothing I can do but hug her. It can get so frustrating seeing her in pain but not being able to help. I had her up often through the night for a drink trying to keep her throat moist. Her pain meds have been every 4 hours on the dot and still she cries from pain. I remind her that although it is really rough right now, it means she is healing and almost done!!! (little comfort at this point I think) Please continue to pray for her.... I'm not looking forward to the next several days :) What a praise when this is all over!!!

P.S. Did you notice we are out of the 120's for our baby countdown! It also looks like the little floating baby has gotten bigger too :)

Great night!!!

(*picture taken on daddy's phone at the hospital when we finally got back to see her in recovery)

She had a much better night last night....praise the Lord!! She slept real well....in fact a little too well. It was hard waking her up for her fluids and medicine :) She had a good bit of energy throughout the day yesterday and her appetite is increasing. Right now she gets very hungry but nothing appeals to her. She did manage to eat about 2 eggs yesterday which made me happy! So far it has just been ice cream, popsicles and jello so I was glad she got some good nutrition in her. Hopefully today will be an even bigger improvement. We are also trying to space her pain medication out a bit more. Tomorrow we will be able to alternate the narcotic and try Tylenol every other dose. I took a peek in her throat and it looks like the tonsils are healing up really well. It's amazing what a big area it covers!! Thank you all so much for your prayers. She's coming along really well....we always know when she's feeling good throughout the day because she gets so chatty :)
Now as long as I can get rid of this headache....I think we are in store for a good day :)

Sweet sound!

It's already been more than what I expected! We will definitely need your prayers over the next week as she continues her recovery. It is so painful to see her wake up at night crying loudly because it is so painful to swallow. It makes it worse when she throws up after her medicine and I know there isn't enough in her system to get through the next 4 hours. God is so good though!! He brought her through surgery fine and I can see how she is trying so hard to be brave through it all.

Our day started very early yesterday at 3:30am. Check-in was at 7am and it was a 2 hour drive to the hospital. After dropping the boys off at Nana and Grandpa's house we set off in the dark and our chatterbox kept us smiling the whole way. This girl can talk forever with a quick breath between each thought :) She was still so excited to see her doctor and get the procedure done while I was dreading the thought of seeing her whisked away! After we were registered and she changed into her robe, she was given a teddy bear which she named 'Andrew' after a good friend :) Then they gave some 'sleepy juice' to help calm and relax her before heading to the operating room, so I was able to sit with her, stroke her hair, rub her feet and sing songs to her that I sang to her as a baby. She enjoyed that!!

The procedure itself did not take very long. The doctor came out to the waiting area with 2 thumbs up. I was glad to see him! He explained what he did and he himself was amazed....she had 'huge' adenoids as he put it....completely taking up her nasal cavitiy and her tonsils were more extensive that what he thought. He said tonsils are like belly buttons. You can have innies or outies. Our daughter has been blessed with BOTH which he said is unusual. Her 'outie' tonsils were very large taking up much of the room in the back of her throat, but her 'innie' tonsils were growing deep into her neck!!! He said there was alot of work done and she would be in alot of pain. When we were able to go back and see her, it was so pitiful.....she was curled up in a ball under some blankets sleeping and it just kicked me right into protective mode. I started talking to her and she started crying which made me want to cry!! It took awhile for her to wake up from the anesthesia and she slept for most of the day and evening. It's been a challenge to get her to drink her fluids every hour, or to get anything into her. On top of the throat pain she has stomach pain and lots of nausea. Medicine time is not fun....she hates the taste and it upsets her stomach but she's already thrown up a few times which led to a horrible 4 hours of pain.....what we do now is give her a mouthful of ice cream, some medicine, we pray and I sit holding her very still for about 20mins until the medicine has a chance to get in her system.

The best part of it all........her VOICE!!!! It is like she has been living with someone pinching her nose all these years. I can't believe how nasally she sounded. I smile everytime I hear her talk now....she has such a sweet voice. It is so different :) Last night around 3am she finally woke up for awhile and we laid in bed talking to each other. It was so special .... I just love her so much.

God is good. He protected her through surgery and just the fact that He brought this problem to our attention to get it fixed...which could have been really bad if left untreated. We would ask for continued prayer during her recovery. The worst is yet to come we have been told. Day 4-8 is suppose to be really bad when the scabbing starts to heal etc. I would also ask that you pray for her appetite/fluid intake, medicine time and especially night time. Thank you to all who have kept her in your prayers and us :) I've been really struggling with feeling faintish and nauseous with the lack of sleep but God will see us through!!

Update **will post soon about our day.....she is having a rough recovery. I know she would appreciate your prayers. She's getting sick and very nauseous....it will be a rough road ahead**

update ** surgery arrival time is now 7am **

Gettin' ready for the big day

Today we tried to finish up a lot of school before our break. Actually it was a little overload but we will have plenty of time for review :) Here is our finished lesson on the human body. She learned about the skeleton, the digestive system (brown), the circulatory system (red), the respiratory system (blue), the excretory system (yellow) and the brain (gray) *click on the pictures to enlarge*. There were a lot of new definitions but I think she has a pretty good understanding of how her body works. This is the kind of learning she loves!! If she had her way, I think all she would ever learn about is science and history.





I've got lots of work ready to go for our boy during big sister's break. I'm really tempted to start teaching him cursive writing. I've been reading alot about it lately (teaching cursive before printing) and although he already has his printed alphabet learned, I may go ahead and try it. I've read alot about children who learn printing before cursive have a harder time transitioning and sloppier writing (which I can see in my daughter!!! I'm ALWAYS on her about more legible writing) Those who learn cursive first have beautiful writing in the primary grades and then learn the printed letter about grade 3. Seems a bit strange...but many homeschool mom's say it works!!!!!
Well...we have to be at the hospital at 8:30am. We would really appreciate your prayers for tomorrow. I think mommy and daddy are having a harder time with this than she is. Ohhhh how it's going to break my heart to see her wheeled away! I did get a call for the pediatrician this morning. Alot of the tests came back good but there was something about wheat in her system that is not being digested. He wants more GI testing done on her.....I think we will just keep her off wheat till we see him again and find out more about it. She is still complaining every meal about not wanting to eat and her stomach hurting....she does consume alot of wheat...so being on a mushy liquid diet for the next several days may help the situation! (Thank goodness they don't make wheat ice cream :)

Strawberry milkshake....doctor's style

We took our daughter to the hospital today for some tests. She had an abdominal ultrasound which actually took quite awhile. I thought they spent quite a bit of time on her liver area but there was nothing said about it so I'm assuming all is well. We then went for the upper GI test where she had to drink a lovely strawberry 'milkshake' and have x-rays done. She said the doctor's milkshake wasn't as good as the regular ones ....haha. We watched the fluid go all through her and the doctor said he didn't see anything wrong. He also said the ultrasound was more than likely fine since they didn't bring anything to his attention before we came to see him...so it sounds like all is well. We are just waiting for the results of her bloodwork and such from the other day and then heading to surgery this Thursday.
I'm really looking forward to having this surgery done and over. I've been listening to her sleep at night and I can see her developing sleep apnea. She is starting to go for periods of time where she won't breath and then tries to take a deep breath. I just have to pray every night that God protects her while she sleeps..... So although it's going to break my heart to see her have to go through this, I think it's going to make a world of difference for her!!

so sleepy

I love this picture taken the other day. It's like he was saying "....soooo....sleepy....almost....there...." and falls into bed :) I don't know how kids can sleep in some of the positions they do! Last night I checked on our other son and he had his legs intertwined, sticking up in the air.

Here's our boy sitting on daddy's lap, reading a book. I can really see some developmental changes taking place in him over the past couple months. He sits down now and acts things out with toys, and he loves books!!
Well....off to see what today has in store...........

The first 90 days

We have officially reached our half way mark for school this year. Our first 90 days are complete and both kids have done so well. It's been getting harder to teach both throughout the whole day, so I've cut back on our 4 year old's schooling....which I hate to do because everyday he is constantly asking "is it my turn for school???" I can tell my energy level is just not what it used to be as I enter my 6th month of pregnancy now. I feel in a way I'm cheating our son's chances to further himself but I guess I'm not super-mom :) Right now I'm mostly concentrating on his printing, spelling and reading (short vowel words). I will have a good chance to concentrate on just him when our daughter goes for her surgery. She will get a well-deserved 2 week break.
Another goal is to be finished before baby arrives which is mid-December. With the course we're on now, we won't be done till January.....so I think we'll be playing catch-up on Saturdays and Sundays. I don't want to overload them at all....but I know I probably won't be in teaching mode for a good 2 months at least post-baby :)
So we have a full plate ahead of us till the end of the year! Now let's see if we can accomplish it *smile*

Birthday photos

We picked up our boy's 4th birthday pictures today. I always love getting their photos done every year. I LOVE pictures!!! Each of the kids have their own photo albums from birth on up, I have albums of all our professional shots, I have photos in the kids baby books and also in their school albums, and then I have scrapbooks for each (well, haven't started the littlest ones yet) of the kids and albums covering marriage on up. So I LOVE pictures!!

Speaking of pictures, I have a good one of the 3 kids so I will be changing the look of the blog again....bear with me :) As soon as I find a look I'm completely happy with I'll leave it alone!

So here's our boy....what a cutie!!

Big Brave Girl

Our daughter has been through quite a bit these last several weeks. She came down (along with the rest of the family) with some awful cold/illness/fever thing about 4 weeks ago and since then has been complaining on a daily basis about her stomach hurting. She starts eating something and complains of pain all day long....it's been going on too long now. Because she is having surgery next week to remove her adenoids and tonsils, I wanted to rule out any type of intestinal infection etc.... so off to the doctor we went today. She got a gamut of testing done. She had 3 vials of blood drawn and what a trooper! She has only had to have her finger pricked in the past so this was a first for her getting blood drawn like a grown up :) But brave as always, she just let them do it without a grimace. Then the lovely stool sample (I know...too much information!!!!) and she will be off for an upper GI and abdominal ultrasound on Monday....all before heading off for surgery on Thursday :) Doesn't seem to slow down does it........aaahhhh.

Skeleton

Our daughter is very interested in skeleton's and bones. She likes reading about it and before our year started, I found a really, really, cheap skeleton you can put together. Today we learned some new terms and she had a ball putting the skeleton together. Here is a small video of her new words :)

Muslim Population Growth

Very interesting...not long....please watch!

Layers!

I got very bold today. I scoured youtube videos this afternoon trying to figure out how to layer hair and I finally thought I knew enough to go ahead and give it a try. Our daughters hair was in need of some trimming but the split ends went up high into the hair, so I thought layering might hopefully remedy the problem. I did a quick curling iron job on it so you could hopefully see the different layers. I have yet to see it after a shampoo so we'll see how it looks tomorrow :) Now I'm off for a little 'me' time after a stressful evening event. Our son (the 4 year old...he should know better) decided to rip a few pages from big sister's study bible....after about a 15 min taped repair job (they were not straight rips...it was piece after piece - 3 pages worth!!), I have it looking fairly good! Needless to say I was NOT impressed. So, now to figure out where to head off too :)

I hate snakes

Have I mentioned before how much I hate snakes???? Last year we had a poisonous copperhead behind the house and we saw some type of snake in our front bush. It is common to see black snakes around the yard or on the road (but they are considered 'good' snakes). But when a snake is trying to enter my home.........that's it!!!!! We came home tonight from grocery shopping (thank goodness I remembered to turned the porch light on this time!) and hubby opened the screen door and out fell a snake. Ohhhhh I hate snakes! So now it is in the front yard somewhere, hopefully with the idea of nestling in my house out of his mind now. I don't know what kind it was but hubby doesn't think it was a bad one. I don't care though.....go away!!!!

A touch of femininity

There seems to be a consensus in the male population of readers that do not like my pretty blue daisies on the blog! Well gentlemen.....at least you can be happy I didn't go with pink frills!!!! The small touch of femininity may stay awhile so I hope that won't discourage you from continuing to read my blog.....I'm sure I'll change it up again in the future....stay tuned :)