February 25, 2015

Last post for February!

Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law Chris. He turns 29 (for the first time) today. My niece Abby had her 4th birthday on Monday. She is such a joyous beam of light, and I pray she grows into the Godly young woman that I know she can be.

We spent Saturday making a day trip to celebrate these two birthday kids. My sister-in-law threw them a joint Disney Princess/ Marvel Superhero birthday bash. It was super cute and I could tell she put in a lot of work. All had a good time. William wore his Captain America costume and had a blast pretending to be a hero. He also got a dragon painted on his arm by the face painter. He was so proud. Robert ran around with the big kids and had a blast. So fun!

The only sad part of the day was that I touched my face at one point and realized it was swollen. Also, touching in made it hurt super bad. As the afternoon wore on, the swelling worsened. By the time I looked in a mirror at dinner, I looked like I had the mumps on my left side. I could barely eat dinner because opening my mouth put pressure on the swollen area. We headed home after dinner and I waited overnight, but the next morning showed no improvement. While the rest of the family went to church, I headed to the after hours clinic. The doctor came in and literally went, "Holy Cow! How did this happen?" When I told him I didn't know and answered his questions, he shrugged and said, "That's bizarre! I'll be right back." He was gone for a few minutes, where I assume he was doing some research, because he came back and told me he thinks my salivary gland is infected which is why my lymph node is nearly the size of a grapefruit. I got antibiotics and have sense begun the slow healing process. I no longer feel like my jaw is wired shut, but I do hope I am back to normal by Saturday when we leave!

The rest of the week has mostly been spent packing and cleaning the house. My mom came in Sunday night in order to watch the boys on Monday so Francis and I could go to the anatomy scan for baby #3. The baby is perfect. 10 fingers and toes, and everything is where it should be. Heart rate and blood flow were healthy. Yes, we found out what we are having, but as I am still in the process of telling family and close friends, I will not reveal that yet on here. You'll just have to wait.

I feel mean saying this, but you'll likely have to wait a couple weeks to see the answer on this blog as we will be more or less "off the grid" next week while on board our cruise. Till next time!

February 18, 2015

This past week has flown by. Not sure what I did with it, but life here is never dull.

I met my new Dr. She's nice, young (aka only had 3.5 years experience after her residency), and I like her. She seems to be a bit intimidated by me and the fact I have already had two years. She kept deferring to me as the "expert" which was kind but also a little unnerving. Not sure how to explain it, but I do want to feel like my doctor is the expert. I'm sure she will do a great job delivering PS3 (phillips 3) here in July, so we are good to go!

Robert has yet again astounded me by his use of language only when it suits him. He has to really want it in order to speak. Otherwise he just whines or screams to get his wish. This week I have hear him say, "cookie", "chip", "popcorn", and "more more more more". I am noticing that he really likes food. He does get upset when I say, "no". He has also said, "dance" and started dancing, wanting me to join in. I love this kid. He's as cute as can be. He's becoming more independent. We went to Mt. Playmore today and he spent a good 30 minutes climbing independently around the play structure. William followed him for a bit, but found one of his friends from the Little Gym and took off. So Robert went around by himself until he made his own friend. Then she and he were inseparable even until we left. It's fun to see these kids turn into little people who interact with others. I'm so glad I'm along for the ride.

Well, it finally happened. Not sure if I should even broach this subject, but I'm going to. William has started to pee standing up. I don't even know what to do with that. He's tall enough (when did that happen!?) and he realizes it is much faster. On his half birthday last week (the 10th), he actually used a urinal for the first time. Where has my baby gone?! Ok, I'll leave it there, so I won't gross you out further, but I am having a bit of a crisis at how big he's gotten. So there you go.

Valentine's Day was a success. The boys woke up and we opened cards and each boy got a small gift. I got flowers and a blue tooth so I can now drive and legally talk on the phone. We had a special breakfast and then shot off model rockets at a local park. We had lunch at BJs, then came back for a rest. We then went and had the cars washed and detailed before coming back to cook some delicious steak and have a family movie (The Lion King). It was so fun! Francis and I had our night out last Friday at Maggiano's, so I am glad we got the day with our boys. 

Francis had Monday off. He took William skating in the afternoon, after taking all of us out for lunch at Chick-fil-a. William had greatly improved in his ability according to Francis, gaining a lot of control of his feet. William still loves skating, and Francis loves taking him. A match made in heaven. 

Monday night we did something that the planner in me thought would never happen. We booked a trip. We leave in 10 days. Why so short? We wanted to take a baby-moon, and then realized that I cannot be on a boat after 24 weeks (a date that is rapidly approaching), and so we booked a cruise for the first week of March. Crazy, but we did want to avoid the spring break crowd.  We are taking the boys. We will be going to Cozumel, Roatan, and Belize city. Three countries to add to the boy's list and two countries to add to Francis's. I am so excited! Now to get everything else ready before we leave. I panic a little when I think about it, but I know it will all work out. The timing was just too perfect (we put the room on hold just moments before the "sold out" sign came up for that cruise), and we know we just need to take a break and spend time as a family. William is so excited. He's excited about everything, but especially the desserts. Don't ask me why. He just wanted to make sure there would be dessert on board and that he could have some. If you keep us in your prayers, please pray this would be a time to relax and recuperate before everything ramps up again. 

Exterminator is here right now. He is doing another round of treatment. He opened the garage and said, "there's the smell off death" and is now checking the traps, so I'm hoping that's a good sign. We'll see! 

That's all for now.  

February 9, 2014

It's been an emotional week and a half for me. I won't go into details because a. the meltdowns were almost entirely hormone related, b. you'd think I'm a whiner about NOTHING and probably not want to read my posts again, and c. you'd get bored.

Soooo, let's instead focus on some positives, both for my sanity and yours. We have had no sickness or injuries for a week and a half now! this is the first time since a week before Christmas that this has been true. Hallelujah! To God be the glory for this.

Robert has recently become very interested in building and construction. as soon as he has finished breakfast each morning, he runs over and wants me to open the mega blocks so he can build the tallest tower possible. He does it entirely independently and the structures he creates are very impressive and somewhat Dr. Seuss-like. I also discovered he knows a bunch of sign language. I work on it with him, but he is selective on his reproduction. Well, I made brownies for the widows' valentine's luncheon at church and Robert saw them. He did ever sign he knew to try to get them, even throwing in a please and thank you. You can imagine the meltdown that occurred when he still didn't get any. If he keeps building on his tantrums like this, his "terrible twos" are going to be epic. Let's hope he's already peaked! Robert has also become very clingy as of late. He loves his mommy and daddy and doesn't want to be put down (ever!). It's cute most of the time, especially when he gives that cheesy smile and a kiss with a huge bear hug...but sometimes momma needs to do something and he does not like being put down unless wants it first.It makes for creative maneuvering.

William has taken an interest in writing again. We took a break from "school" from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and are back in the habit now that we are well. William wants to write all sorts of words, and even has taken an interest in typing. We bring the boys up to our Bible Life class on Sundays while we set up the room. This week, William goes, "Mommy, Look!" and he has typed his name in the word processor which has then been projected on the overhead screen. He was so proud and so was I. He went on to type Robert, Mom and Dad. He's getting so big! He also wrote his name on the back of his paper in class on Sunday without anyone telling him too. Even though I know he can do it, he usually tells his teachers it's too hard. But he surprised them and me this week.

I mentioned the Widow's luncheon. I served at the luncheon on Saturday and it was a joy. While I knew some of the ladies at the table I hosted, I got to know others and they warmed my heart. I am at a loss for words really. I think I got more out of it than they did. They were so gracious. Our church is blessed to have such sweet, godly women.

I will mention one of the bad things that has happened this week simply because it is an ongoing problem. We have rats...living in my car (yes in!), our garage, and (cringe) even in the house. I found the evidence on Tuesday that they were in my car (they chewed through a strap in William's car seat and pooped in the back), and then found droppings in the garage as well. We immediately placed down traps/poison, but yesterday there was rat poop in "my spot" on the couch. Yes, I have considered selling my car and house over this...and pretty much every disturbing thought you are thinking I've already had. We have an exterminator coming today. Please pray he is able to fix the problem. I've been holding up ok, but it's only a matter of time before I completely freak out and check into a hotel.

I meet my new OBGYN on wedneday. I pray she is just what I need. My other one was so awesome (but doesn't deliver babies anymore), that this one will have a lot to live up to!!!! Francis will hopefully some with me so he can get a read on her too. The advantage to this Dr is that she delivers at the same hospital as the boys were born. I'll let you know how it goes.

Well, that's it for now! Thanks for reading!