4 months Whoops!

Here we are in the middle of summer and I haven't really updated anything for almost 4 months! Whoops!?! We have been busy to say the least.

J finished up his first year of preschool and will be going for a second year as we have opted to wait another year for school.  He had many successes and a few struggles, but it is crazy how much he has changed over the school year. He also finished his second year of Awanna and rocked it this year! He also started t-ball this spring and loved to play in the dirt.  Since the coaches are not always sure if they are left hand or right handed J batted both and hits about the same on both sides.Should be interesting to see how the sport progresses next year.

C is being 3.  Some days are great, others not so great. I would have to weigh in that 3 is much more challenging than 2. Yet, I love each stage as my children grow.  C will start Awanna this fall and is very excited because that is what the big boys do!

E is nine months and obviously has done the most changing of the 3 boys.  We have mastered the art of rolling, eating, crawling, and now he is currently standing next to things thinking he needs to move around on his feet.  Not for this momma, this momma will encourage crawling for now. We seem to get into enough things crawling, I can't imagine what he will find when he walks.

We've had a pretty laid back summer with a couple of trips to Omaha, swimming lessons, the local zoo, and local parks.

Baby E

So since it has been a while, we have been pregnant and had another little boy.  This pregnancy was a little more on the challenging side as about 14 weeks my back spasmed for about 10 days.  Not the most fun with 2 other little ones in the house.  It would spasm at almost everything I did, turning it bed, standing up, sitting down. To say the least getting to the bathroom was a bit of a challenge.  On we go to about 19 weeks when we had our ultrasound and found out that this little guy not only had one large kidney, but a matching set! Because of this we had glimpses of him regularly, a total of 5 different times I saw his little face. At 33 weeks came the shocker, they estimated him at about 6lbs (I know what you are thinking, must have gestational diabetes....but no passed that test). With all of the ultrasounds there was little that we didn't know about this little one, he had hair, he was big, and had a darling face. The only thing we didn't know was his official weight and the color of his hair.

Labor went as well as expected if not the better of the 3 boys.  October 24th we went to the Macy's test inflation day and I wasn't feeling the best.  By evening (6pm) I started noticing contractions and they hurt a little and they were getting closer together. Since, we were going to get induced the next day (at 39 weeks because of his size).  We were going to head home for the night when my mom suggested that we call and see if we could come in and they said yes.  We got to the hospital about 8:30 got settled in and hooked up to the monitors.  It ended up they were contractions and they increased in intensity, because of policy they could not help things along because I wasn't technically 39 weeks until midnight.  By 2 am I wasn't really sleeping so I was asked if I wanted them to break my bag of waters, that is what we did.  2 epidurals later and a couple of pushes little E arrived head sideways, loud, big at around 10:30 am. 9 pounds, 3 ounces of baby, crazy kid wasn't as big as they thought.

Since his birth we have had 2 more ultrasounds on his kidneys and a VCUG.  We are very happy to report that one kidney is now normal and the other has come down in size.

Summer Fun

This summer we had lots of fun.  We started with a lot of frog hunting/catching.  Daddy had to catch them at first, J is now starting to become quite the frog and toad catcher.

 

 

Sometimes it was hard to determine who enjoyed finding the frogs and toads more, the boys or Maya.

We had a short camping experience in the backyard with the boys.  Cut short after 2 hours of listening to a dog bark a few blocks away.

 

C had a incident this summer at the pool and got scared after going under the water. We are thankful he still likes to go in the water, but are hoping we can try a little deeper water next summer. J loves the water and is very excited to go under the water with his "water glasses".

 

J got a new bike, we ride it sometimes, more when the neighbor boys are out and about riding.

 The zoo, where we got to see a lot of animals and were able to feed some of them as well.

 

 

 Dinosaur eggs at the zoo.

 

 

We even tried new foods and enjoyed them!

 

 

 

We're Making Progress

As you've have probably read or been told J had his tonsil removed in January.  Oh what a difference that has made.  Prior to surgery we were gagging on food at least once a day, struggling for him to eat or want to eat. Let just say J was drinking most of his calories (from milk or the one pediasure a day). The picture below really bothers me because he is so thin, but it is a good comparison of where we came from.

January 18....2 weeks after surgery, about 28lbs.

Since that time we have struggled at times to get him to try new things and old things, foods he use to enjoy.  When eating he would say "no mom, I'll cough" (he perception of gagging).  Fortunately, he would try it again and he wouldn't cough. I think he is actually enjoying food now! Many times he will tell me "mom, I'm hungry, I need to eat" which never happened prior to surgery.

March 24th and an extra 4 lbs

After surgery J lost a few pounds, but since then has gained 2 lbs from where he was the day of surgery, plus we had to get new pants because he grew about one-half of an inch. So exciting!  Also, we only have minor colds now......none of this sick for 10-14 days anymore.

Struggle

I struggled today.

I had the opportunity to help in the 3 year Sunday School class.  I was playing and observing, and playing some more.  In this group are 3 very active, typical boys.  J is one of them.  The other two play together frequently and were playing "cops" today and had play phones that they were using as there radios.  J went to get the third play phone out of the toy bin and was going to play along with them.  After J had picked up the third phone, one of the boys took it from him and told him "M is going to use this one", referring to a different  friend.  I asked the little girl "were you playing with this while it was in the toy bin?"  She looked me straight in the eyes and nodded yes.  The three, not including J, went off and played leaving J stunned, yearning to play. My heart hurt for him.

During this the other 5 children in the class didn't really want much to do with this group of 3 and J went back to playing cars on the mat.

I was shocked.  Do cliques really developed this early?

As my children grow I pray that they will have heart to reach out to others, to include others, and to makes others feel that they matter even though they may not be friends. Through their words and their actions others will see Christ's light through them.

C is 2!

10 days ago or so we got to celebrate our little one turning two.  It is so hard to imagine 2 years have passed since I threatened him, (after 24 hours of labor I told him if you don't come out they are coming to get you! ) Sure enough a little while later he arrived!  What a whirlwind of two years. C favorites are cars, trains, books, giving huge hugs after timeouts and anything that big brother is doing. Here are a few pictures of his birthday celebration.

Opening gifts

Determining if he is going to continue opening or go back to the toys

He is really getting the hang of the unwrapping part

Blowing out the candles, he had 2 girlfriends.

Very diligent about eating only the frosting

The monster birthday cake made by mom

Visitor

This weekend we had a visitor come to our house. The boys had a wonderful time and it was very hard for J  to see him go.