Baby Steps Through Motherhood

Today is a blizzard they say. We have had 2 snow storms this season already. I would say 6-8 inches both times. Today, it has snowed and snowed and blowed and blowed. There was to be up to 40 mph winds. All to say, I went to get an egg from a neighbor so we could make banana muffins and it went up to my knees in the driveway. It was blowing every where so I was not going to attempt to shovel, I couldn’t even see. Josh is out plowing, I am continually praying for his safety out in this but we can see God providing for us for sure.

He was asked at the beginning of snow season if he wanted to put a plow in his truck. He was given several different options but we chose the option of the company would buy the plow, he would put it on his truck and pay them back with his snow plow hours. We figured out it would take about 90 hours to pay it back and then it would be ours. We do count on the extra money from plowing in the winter so we have to sacrifice that things will be real tight and we won’t be getting the extra we are used too.. I say extra even though it isn’t really extra like we can spend it on whatever, it normally goes to our bills. Anyhow, Josh thought he may get 20 hours or so this winter but he is working as I type and we probably have just under 20 hours left to pay for it! I have prayer that God would provide 90 hours. I felt like he would through the whole time even though that is a TON of plowing. I think josh normally gets about 60 in a winter. Anyhow, I think that he will get it paid off this storm or really close to it! That is a blessing because then we will actually get paid if there is anymore snow which will be a blessing since it seems like we keep having extra financial things come up that we need to pay.

We have worked really hard to pay off our debt and not acquire anymore. It is a hard task on one income that isn’t the best. We are thankful for what we have though. All to say we discovered a few weeks ago that Preston had a hernia and a hydrocele which is a fluid filled sac in his scrotum. After going to a doctor to have it looked at, being sent directly to the ER downtown at the Children’s hospital to have possible immediate surgery, to the ER nurses making him an urgent patient and the surgeon coming and saying their was no hernia, getting a ultra sound that confirmed that, being sent home to schedule an appointment within the month for the hydrocole (how is that for a sentence, grammar doesn’t count on these posts.:) ) We went to the apointment and they told us, he does have a hydrocole, he does have a hernia and will need to have surgery. Whew! It could be a lot worse and we are thankful for our kids good health!! So we scheduled first available time. We went yesterday to have his surgery.
This is what Josh wrote when he told what happened in the day :It has been a long day. His surgery was scheduled for 9:30 this morning, but we got a call around 7:30 and they asked us to move the surgery to 9 instead. No problem getting there early, but don’t really know why we did because we waited in the pre-op room for 3 hours. Add another 1 for surgery and initial recovery phase and 45 more minutes for post-op. We left around 2 and finally got home around 3:30.

The surgery was successful, however the doctor said that his condition is chronic and has a 10-15% chance of returning. Also, the hydrocele (fluid sac) had a thicker wall than previously thought so an extra incision directly on the scrotum was necessary. Preston was pretty out of it from the recovery to a quick stop of at Walmart, but miraculously became coherent when we were in line at Taco Bell. Oh, how Taco Bell never ceases to amaze!

He is doing fine now. No sick stomach side effects yet….just really tender down there. He has to take it easy for 10 days. Thank you all for your prayers. He is a real trooper.

We also gave him a super mario brothers long sleeve t shirt today for his good spirits at his surgery and he was super excited about that.

He is doing much better today. he still waddles around a little bit and has me help him on the stairs but he is doing very good about it all.

Tonight was a bit crazy, Makenna fell from the little bar stool and landed on her wrist. She kept crying, I iced it and taped it up but we hope it feels better in the morning. I hope that it isn’t hurt too bad. We can’t go anywhere right now. Our streets are not plowed and there is 2 feet of snow! Thankfully, I think she is asleep and will continue to be and maybe it wont hurt her too bad in the night. I noticed some rash on Naomi’s arms so I am trying to figure out if she ate something or touched something that would give her that reaction, haven’t figured it out and she didn’t seem to act like it was bothering her so I just put some cream on it, Preston still is healing…all to say at times I feel like things being a little overwhelming. Hope Makenna didn’t break her wrist that would be yet another expense along with Preston’s huge ER and surgery bill. I don’t want to sound like I am complaining, I don’t think I am. I am just reminded through all of these little trials that God is bigger than these things. I am so thankful that we have him to lean on. I did have peace while Preston was in surgery, I do have peace being here with the kids while Josh is out in a blizzard plowing. I feel a bit overwhelmed but it is ok and I know tomorrow it will be too.

Anyhow, the whole reason I wanted to write this was because tonight when the kids and I were praying before bed I was reminded at how sweet the kids are. Preston says “Mom, I can help you out tonight if you need me to because I know there is 3 of us and only one of you since Daddy isn’t here. So, if you need help with the girls you can come and get me.” He is such a good boy. He kept telling me today thanks for taking care of him after his surgery. He also did say, I know daddy does it better than you sometimes so I can help if you need it too….ha ha. I had to remind him that sometimes Daddy just does it differently.

As we were praying I started to cry. Don’t know why, a bit emotional thinking about Preston’s surgery healing, what could be with Makenna’s wrist and Naomi’s weird rash while thinking about Josh, his truck, etc. So, after we prayed, I was trying not to cry but it was seeping out. Naomi looked at me and said “Mom, why is your face red?” I told her I was just a little sad that Preston and Makenna were hurting, sweet girl that she is most times says, “I am sad too” and she started bawling! ( Note to self” try not to cry around Naomi) She does have a sweet heart and didn’t like that I was sad. So, I got her calmed down and all in bed.

Love those kids. Love the things they say and their hearts. We desire to raise them with thankful hearts and are trying our best, it is a good reminder when they do things like that to remind me that they care about others and have sweet spirits.

So, that is my long random novel for the night.

I can’t believe it is the middle of October. I have neglected this blog! Sorry for those of you that actually read it.

The sad news is just over a month ago something happened to our memory card and we lost all our pics from Easter-September. When will I learn to download more often..that was Easter, Naomi’s birthday, family visiting, summer activities, fair, and so on that are only recorded on other peoples cameras or in our minds.

Preston has had glasses now since about mid July. We just ordered some for Naomi and they should be in this week. They were each blessed with astigmatisms in their right eye and the doctor wants to make sure that they are training their brains to see to their full potential so they get to wear glasses. Better soon than later I suppose. Preston does great for the most part with them and they are a part of him now. I notice when he doesn’t wear them more than when he is. Naomi, may be a different story.

We just got some new bunk beds to put up for Preston. So there was a lot changes happening. First, We put our bunk beds back together so that Naomi and Preston could sleep together while Makenna adjusted to not being in a crib, then we moved Preston out of his room in to his new room which was the girls old room and put bed rails up so that the girls can share one set of bunk beds in Preston’s old room that is now their new room. With that came changing the clothes in the closets not only for cooler weather but for rooms as well. A lot of work and a lot of shifting but I think we may be getting settled a bit except for nap time which is a daily change.

Preston’s new bunk beds have some shelves and a little desk cubbie in one side. He told me today he was going to go to his office to work on his coloring page. Ha Ha. By that he meant his desk in his room. i thought that was the cutest.

My 31st birthday is this weekend. I can’t believe it. When I did the triathlon this September, which was a fun accomplishment, it said I was 31 on the name tag and I thought that was a strange thing but they put the age you are at the end of the year. Anyhow, that was about a month to early to see that.

About the triathlon, it was 500m swimming, which I am not a good swimmer and my goal was to stay above water and finish without having to stop. I did that, it took me about 15 and a 1/2 minutes but was better than it was when I first tried it. Most good people can do it in about 8-9 minutes. Then, onto biking, I think it was 10.6 miles or something like that. My time was about 50 minutes. That was slower than I wanted but I decided to try these shoes that you clip into your pedals so they stay put and I couldn’t get them to clip in so I had to pull over in the park parking lot to get them to clip in and that took a few extra minutes. That is part of my excuse for my time…
Running, my least fav was2.6 miles. I am still amazed that I can actually “run” which is actually like a slow jog and a fast walker could probably keep up with me. I dont remember my time on that part. I finished in under 2 hours which was my goal, i think it was around 1 hour 40 min. Funny, how I already forgot those little details. It was a great way to get me motivated to exercise and i enjoyed getting to do it with a group of girls too. There was about 10 or so of us all on different levels.

This weekend is also the year anniversary of Grandma Mary’s passing. The other day I thought about calling them and then remembered I couldn’t. I do miss them both and can’t believe she has been gone for a year. I hope she is enjoying getting to see the kids whenever she wants from Heaven.

I should be reading Pilgrims Progress right now for our small group. Josh who leads our group decided that would be a challenge for us. It has been really neat to read but does take some. It is amazing to see how a story from the 1600′s is so true today with the characters in a story and in our daily walk trying to live for God and so many things come in our way or on our path.

Ok, that is all for now. Happy Fall!!

This morning Josh got the girls up from their beds and was changing Makenna’s daiper. Naomi was sitting in there and said to Makenna, “Makenna, when you get older you will not go poopy in your diaper, you will go on the toliet and then you will get to work and SKYPE….ha ha ha

Our 4th of July was not as fun as it should have been but we still enjoyed time together. josh was in bed all day with strep throat so me and and the kids made yummy red, white and blue waffles for breakfast. The rest of the day was somewhat a normal day. We took a walk around the neighbor hood to watch others shooting off their smoke balls and fountains. Then, when it was dark it started pouring rain. So, no exciting fireworks for this year. I recorded some on the TV so Monday morning I played it for the kids. They liked seeing the big fireworks even if it was on the TV. We turned off the lights and watch them on the projector. No bugs, no rain, no late nights, no loud booms. I guess it wasn’t so bad afterall.

These girls are quiet the silly characters. Makenna likes to walk around like this.

And Naomi created a way to play with the sprinkler without getting sprinkled on or wet.

Ha Ha. I think about writing then don’t because I want to post pictures and they always say they are too big of a file and need help reducing a large amount of pics instead of one at a time and now I have pictures from 6 months ago that I still want to put on here and haven’t. Ok, so you get the point.

So we will go with yet another list of things just to update since long ago.

1. We had Naomi tested for allergies. It is sad but true that she is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, cats and dogs, she has mild asthma along with her Naomi personality. She gets to have an epipen now and I get to read all labels. She had honey nut cherrios the other day at her class at church and they hurt her mouth. That is what she tells us when she has something she shouldn’t have like nuts. So, thankfully a little bit of Benadryl took care of it. They thought they were normal cherrios but realized after tasting they were Honey nut which after some research the nut in Honey nut is Almond, FYI.

2. Makenna loves giving Preston hugs and kisses and he calls it tackling. He likes it when she tackles him and kisses him. It really brings a huge smile to his face. I love watching all 3 of them interact. Naomi played tag with Nenna, that is what she calls Makenna and Makenna has been playing peek a boo with the curtains and who ever wants to join her.

3. Preston is so into sports right now and of course he has to have a play mate so I am his best friend right now since Naomi and Makenna can’t throw or catch to his satisfaction. I get to play basketball, soccer, catch, baseball and whatever other idea he comes up with in a matter of minutes.

4. I have almost finished my couch to 5 k training to run a 5k. Tomorrow is our, my friend Rachel and my, last day on the 9 week program. Our first 5 k is June 5. It is Hospital Hill. The name sounds delightful huh!!

5. Josh is making our yard look like our old yard gradually. We have some plants in and some more to go. If we didn;t have weeds it would look even better but with time it will be a beautiful yard again. He is so talented at what he does and we get the blessings of looking at it.

6. Preston has a new little friend, Luke, who lives 2 houses down. It is lots of fun for him when they are out at the same time during the day. He is about 1 month older so they are great playmates for now.

7. Makenna is finally having her baby dedication on Sunday. We are excited to finally have it since she is almost 16 months now.

8. I still need to write a post about Paw Paw and how we love him. He was such a neat man who never judged anyone. We sure miss knowing that he is around.

9. Happy Mother’s Day. It is the same day as Makenna’s dedication so we will be with some of our family. Preston has asked me what kind of cookies I likes. I told him chocolate chip, although any kind are fine with me, or brownies and he said was going to make some with Daddy for me. Then he told mom on the phone the other day he was going to make me chocolate chip pie but I dont know that (as I was sitting in the same room as him). I am sure i wont get any of those but that is ok. It is still really cute that he is thinking about it.

The kids have been very excited about today. They are starting to get to that age where they like to do special things on holidays.

I had got them a green shirt, or in Naomi’s case a green dress, to wear today. I gave them Lucky Charms this morning which I think they have only had a few other times in their life. We were suppose to go to the parade in Topkea but after looking at the weather and talking to Libby I thought we may be more miserable than having fun. It was kinda chilly, a bit drizzly and driving an hour for that didn’t sound as fun. So, after searching online trying to find something festive to do we ended up at Chick-Fil-A. Nothing festive about it except everyone had on green. It was pretty crazy there. Spring Break time around here so all the kids come out of the woodwork and go to Chick-Fil-A I guess. Anyhow, the kids had fun and Makenna was somewhat happy too. We are having our small group over tonight for a little St. Patrick’s day party. I think the kids will have fun playing with their friends and we will have fun playing with ours. We watched this little movie today on you tube and I thought it was a great perspective on who St. Patrick is and the attitude he has. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TCB5QhHVJA

Well, I broke down and we finally went to the doctor for the kids well visits. I hate going to the doctors for many reasons but we may be changing our health insurance so I thought it would be best to get them in.
Anyhow, here are the stats…..

Preston – 4 years and 3.5 months – 44 lbs, 90% on the charts; 43.4 inches, 90% (and he is old enough to have his vision checked and his blood pressure too. He was 20/40 which they said was normal at this age and his BP was 88/58)

Naomi- 2 years and 8 months- 32.2 lbs, 80%; 35 inches; 25%

Makenna- 13 months- 21 lbs, 50%; 30.5 inches; 75% head is 17 3/4 in

This just cracks me up and shows me how God has created each of our children so differently not only in personality but in physical stature too.
Some of my observations are:
Preston is a big boy but very well proportioned. Guess that is a good thing when you are the big brother of 2 sisters.
Naomi is short and stalky. So cute, but hilarious!
Makenna may be tall and skinner, but it is still hard to tell. The thing that cracks me up is she is only 5 inches shorter than little miss Naomi.

The girls sizes are working out perfectly though because Makenna is wearing all of Naomi’s clothes from last year at this time. That worked out perfectly.

Thank you God for blessing us with our children and for how you have created them. They are healthy and thriving and amongst all their little quirks they are perfect in your sight!

Preston was playing with my bamboo tongs from Pampered Chef. Don’t know what he was doing with them but they fell on the floor
He said “Oops, I broke it. I’m sorry.”
I said “Broke what”
P- “Those things”
Me- “Preston what were you doing that broke them.”
He showed me he was putting them on the top of the chair opened up. Must have opened them up to far.
Me- “I forgive you but you need to be more careful. I am going to start taking your money to pay for the things that you break that aren’t yours.”
P-”That’s fine, you can take my money because I will just get some more next year.”

Ha. Ha. Ha.