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 :)

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!!!