Teeth

We've got teeth falling out all over the place here.  First our girl lost another tooth a couple nights ago, then our boy comes to me last night saying his tooth is ready to come out!  I didn't even know any of them were loose!!  So we  pulled that one last night and this afternoon another one came out.  There is also a loose one on top as well so we are going to have a toothless boy soon :)

Videos - crawling, clapping, dada

At 9 1/2 months....crawling, clapping, saying dada/mama, getting into sitting position on her own

Finally!

Today it happened!  I can hear again....both ears.  How wonderful!  There is still some swelling on the right side but the fact that I can hear out of both sides is such a relief!  We even ventured out today which was nice (ended up buying a new mattress!!)  The boys are excited because they will finally get a nice comfortable bed :)  Again, thank you for all your prayers.  It was such a rough week and scary at times.  I hope I never have to go through that again!!

Update

Not too much change going on.  My left ear is definitely open now and I can hear on that side!!  The right ear is still completely closed BUT the drops are starting to make their way into the ear which tells me the swelling must be going down somewhat.  Hopefully within the next several days it will open up.  If not, I'll probably have to go for another doctors visit Monday to maybe flush the ear or something.

Nothing else going on here.  We've taken the week off of school....I just wasn't up to it at all.  The kids I think are bored!!  I have been able to get some reading in which is nice.

Baby girl is crawling now.  She made her way across the floor last night and all the kids were excited to watch.  I'll have to see if I can get a video of it.

We have started looking for houses.  We went to view one house last Saturday which turned out to be a little disappointing.  The house would need alot of work but the land was beautiful!!  I think we are off to see another house this Sat. as well.  We'll see what comes of that.  It would be so nice to move in somewhere before spring (wishful thinking??).  In His time!

Improvement!

I woke up this morning and can hear out of my left ear.  Thank you LORD!!!!  I'm not sure how much I can hear since the other side is so tightly sealed and everything still sounds very 'internal' at the moment.....but I can definitely hear a change from before.  Thank you everyone for praying for me.  Please continue to pray for the right side as well.  We can't get the drops to even go in this side so I don't know if that will delay the healing process.  The pressure is still building up as well.  I'm so thankful for this improvement, and thankful for so many who care and are praying.  It means a lot!!  Thank you Lord for your goodness!

Silence is NOT golden

Well, we can definitely rule out shingles now.  Shingles only affects one side of your body.  Last night my other ear completely sealed shut and now my lymph nodes have filled up to match the other side of my face.  How do you get swimmers ear in both ears?????  I can't hear a thing now....the pressure is unbelievable.   I feel like my head is in a vice being squeezed.  Eating is getting difficult since the lymph nodes that head towards the jaw are filling up on both sides now.  I can't tell you how much I hate this feeling.  Now, not only can I sympathize with those in chronic pain, I can now sympathize with those that have hearing loss.  It is so discouraging. Please pray for complete healing when I come to mind.

Day 3

It is day 3 of a swollen ear and face.  I can feel 2 very distinct lymph nodes or glands that are 'full' or swollen running out from the front of my ear (towards my nose) and another one running from the bottom of my ear towards my jaw.  The ear canal is still completely shut and it makes trying to get the drops in very, very difficult!!  I really dislike the whole 'internal' sounds of my voice, brushing teeth, combing hair, etc.  I have also broke down and started taking pain meds.  I really hate taking medication while nursing but I wasn't sleeping at night and the pain was getting so bad.  Still not sure what it is.....I haven't broke out in a rash yet to indicate shingles (but I am taking the antibiotics for it)....I don't have any discharge to indicate infection in the ear (sorry for too much info), so I have no idea what happened.  My lymph node behind the ear is still sore to the touch as well.

What I have realized is that I don't pray nearly enough for those I know going through physical hardships.  Being in this constant pain has brought many people to mind that I have been praying for.  Maybe that's why God has brought this into my life.

What did you say????

I can't hear.  My ear is completely closed.  I had a sore lymph node behind my ear which led to a completely swollen ear and pain/swelling down to my jaw  It is excruciatingly painful!  I told hubby I think I would rather give birth than have this!  I went to our after-hour clinic here and the doctor thinks it may be swimmer's ear.  I brought up the idea of shingles and he said it is too early to tell, but I could start antibiotics for it as a precaution.  Shingles of the ear can actually be quite dangerous leading to something similar to Belle's palsy (?) where part of your face droops and you could get permanent hearing loss.  I was given drops for my ear for swimmers ear and since the antibiotic for shingles is safe during lactation I think I may start it as well.  The last thing I want is my baby girl getting chicken pox's from her mama!!
I hate the thoughts of putting drops in my ears....freaks me out!  Here's hoping the next 10 days go by quickly and I can hear once again.

Thredup coupon

I'm going to share a little treasure I have found.  It is like a consignment shop with almost 'new' clothing for sale at discounted prices.  I have already purchased several things and have LOVED what I have received.  They even gave me a refund on a dress because of a flaw they found while shipping my order, and still sent the dress to me at no charge!  I have yet to find the flaw!!  Their customer service is fantastic and very quick to respond to any questions.  I am waiting for my next order in the mail this week :)
Below is a link for any first time buyers to save $10 off your order (shipping is $6.95). Have fun shopping! (I sure am)

http://www.thredup.com/r/HFLEMI

Current updates

Not a whole lot new going on here so I thought I would throw out a few updates on the kiddos.

Baby girl just turned 9 months.  She is still suffering with cough/congestion from the flu 2 1/2 weeks ago.  We have added Vit C and Vit D drops to her food and add a pinch of Tumeric as well.  I'm going to be adding garlic to my diet to pass that along to her as well.  There is so much sickness going around here, at church, etc....I'd like to boost the kids immune system.  In the developmental area, she is getting very close to crawling.  I think she is working on a few more teeth (she only has her bottom 2 right now).  She LOVES playing peekaboo with us, she claps alot now, she is eating more solids.  We have tried oatmeal, carrots (not a favorite) and sweet potato (loving it).

Our little girl has been potty trained for a week and half now.  She is doing fantastic!!!  She wears underwear all day (diaper at night but wakes up dry) and wears underwear out in public all the time. Now we are working on washing hands....she tends to like to play with the soap if she is alone and we find a mess in the bathroom!

Our oldest 3 are doing well.  We are currently enjoying our history lessons (their favorite part of the day).  We are going through American history and they love the lessons!  Our 5 yr old will be starting school full time soon.  Our school year (180 days) ends this month but our oldest has already moved onto some grade 5 subjects, and our boy is continuing to work on his grade 2 subjects.  

Hubby has been going into work early, early for 2 weeks now.  Tomorrow starts his regular hours again which is nice.  Still no news in the house hunt.  We are beginning to look but nothing to note as of yet.  Nothing new with me....so that's it for the updates!

Ark Encounter update

For those of you that like to keep updated with the Ark Encounter project, here is an update from Ken Ham.

Another milestone reached with the Ark project. As we continue to raise funds for the actual construction, at the end of last year we had a campaign to raise $3M for various permits and for preparatory ground work. We praise the Lord that the $3M goal was reached. We have been obtaining various permits--and as a result, yesterday the first tree came down as part of the site preparation work. We still have a way to go before we can break ground for construction--and while this ground preparation work is underway, fund raising etc continues. Here is a video of the first tree coming down--even though this is just a small step in the overall project--it is another step forward nonetheless. You can find out more about the Ark Encounter project at this link:

http://arkencounter.com/

Happy 10th birthday

Our girl is 10 today!  Double digits....wow!  Since we had a potluck to prepare for (and she didn't have a theme picked out) we decided to go with a specialty cake from Dairy Queen.  It was delicious!!!  She had a great day, spending the afternoon with her friends from church at our potluck get-together.  Our girl is becoming quite the young lady.  She loves to help around the house, loves to help with her baby sister, helps with teaching her younger siblings, loves to clean (I'm loving that!), wants to be in the kitchen, loves to laugh...write stories...and draw pictures (she is quite the artist!).  I'm so very proud of her and her desire to grow in the Lord.  We love you so very much.

Also to update on our potty trained girl.  She wanted very much to go to church in underwear and she did great the whole day!  She woke up first thing this morning and went to the potty herself (she stayed dry all night).  She asked to go potty at church all day and afternoon.  We are so proud of her accomplishment!  I can't believe we no longer need diapers......yay!

Potty trained *with update

I hate to jump the gun, but I've been so excited with our girl's progress.  After we got over our sickness, I thought we would give potty training another try (up to this point there has been no interest or effort on her part).  I put underwear on our girl in the morning, told her there are no more diapers, and just left it at that.  For the past 2 DAYS, she has been going potty ON HER OWN.  I haven't asked her to go sit at all!!!!!  It's like it all of the sudden clicked with her.  I seriously have not reminded her about it or nudged her to go potty at all for 2 days.  I'm sooooo excited!!  And there has been no accidents on top of it!   Today we are off to get a special prize for doing so well.  Mama is doing the happy dance.............

So to update, we decided to go grocery shopping....our first outing together since we've been sick.  I took our girl upstairs to say we needed to put a pullup on while we were out at the store.  No way!!!!  She wanted underwear!!  I brought a change of clothes just in case, but while we were there, she went potty!!!!  Now I'm not sure what to do tomorrow about church.  I know she'll want underwear on (and we have a potluck dinner too all afternoon)  Guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow!

Happy New Year

There have been posts I've wanted to write over the holidays, but with going away and then coming down with the flu, I just haven't been able to blog like I wanted.  A quick update on everyone one here first.  The kids are doing so much better.  They still have coughs and congestion (some more than others) but are all active and playful.  Our 5 yr old has coughing fits (mostly at night) that almost bring about vomiting each time.  He gags so much and cries because he hates to cough.  Our baby girl has a nasty cough as well, but other than that they are all doing quite well.  Hubby has had to go into work this week very early to try and get a project completed.  No vacation for him this week!  He is still trying to recover as well, so he is quite exhausted by the time he gets home.  I have only a cough to contend with, so I think we are all on the mend finally!  Now comes the task of catching up from holidays/sickness.  I still haven't unpacked since returning home!!!  I see mounds of laundry in my future :)

Some updates on baby girl.  Over the holidays she FINALLY got a tooth!!  Actually 2 teeth.  Eight and a half months is very late for teeth budding with our children, but I'm glad she finally is getting them.  She has also started clapping which is so cute.  Her smile has returned once again which makes me a happy mama!

Our oldest is also going to have a birthday on Sunday.  Hard to believe we are entering the double digits with her!!  She is turning into quite the young lady.

Other than that, it was quite the quiet household here last night as the new year rang in.  It will be exciting to see what God has in store for us this year.