June 2008 Update

It's been an ETERNITY since I last posted on here. I thought I better find the time to update it or the blog will disappear before my eyes if I'm not careful :)

Our little Jakey was born on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, and our days fly by in the blink of an eye. He is turning 12 weeks old in a few days and Lord help me I have no idea where the time has gone. He smiles and coos all the time now, it is the best. Sydney is 3 1/2 years old now and doing wonderful as always. That girl is just amazing. She adjusted so well to having a baby in the house it was almost scary. She loves EVERYTHING in life and that is not an understatement. She is happy, curious, extremely active, affectionate, strong-willed, independent, and loves to help and really, really loves to please. My teenager (Brandon) is about to turn 14 and is a great help with the kids. He has grown so much and is about to graduate from 8th grade! I can't believe it. Well, wouldn't you know, my little baby boy is "requesting" my assistance at this time so I must go......hopefully I will be able to keep up with my blog a little more and keep the pictures coming for your enjoyment.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone

We had a wonderful Christmas this year in our new home and with our new daughter. We were sad to see Brandon leave early on Christmas morning to travel to California with his grandpa to visit my sister and her kids, but I forced my pregnancy tears and hormones aside (not very well) and put on a happy face. Brandon was so excited to go so that made it more than worth it. We did our usual visit to Hortonville for Christmas Eve to spend with Paul's family. We had a wonderful night there, excellent meal, as always, church, and opening gifts. We had a very quiet Christmas day at home, just Paul, me, and Sydney. It was strange not to have my dad and Brandon with us.

We have been very busy getting settled into the new house. Still trying to figure what to put where, hang pictures, and decide on the curtain/window treatment situation in the rooms. Next up is working on the baby's room. Actually there isn't a whole lot to do, mostly just painting it and setting up the crib. If it were up to me we would paint most rooms in the house but that's when I have to tell myself to slow down and relax..........it will all get done.

My pregnancy has gone incredibly well. I am 26 weeks now. We have 3 months to go until we can meet our little guy. Many days I feel like that seems like a long time from now, but most days it seems to be going very fast. I treasure every single moment and day of this pregnancy. He sure is an active little bugger! It's hard to imagine what our lives will be like once he is here. Very different from now, that's for sure!

When I think back to just one year ago it hits me how much has changed. Brandon is a teenager now and even though he pushes every single one of my "mom of a teenager" buttons on a daily basis I can't seem to hug him enough and want to just BE with him. Even sitting down and watching him play his brand new X-box 360 makes me happy.....what?? I know, weird. I just see him growing up so fast and slowly pulling away and I just want to stop time. Also, one year ago we did not have a 3 year old daughter, or a new home, or a baby growing in my belly......the blessings are overwhelming to me. How could I possibly deserve this much? God has blessed me with an incredibly helpful and supportive husband, and He has blessed us with amazing family that are always there for us. Our thanks goes out to all our family and also to our friends. We love you all!

Happy Birthday Sydney!!!!!!

21 weeks pregnant and lookie, lookie at our little boy!

Nice shot of the moon....and the "stars" in the last picture. OMG! Do you all see what we are seeing??

Pictures of our "soon to be" new home

November update

With time comes change, and with change come crazy times! A lot has happened since I last posted on here. We found out that Sydney is going to be a big sister in early April and Brandon is going to become a big brother for the second time in less than a year. I am almost halfway through our "miracle" pregnancy already and I can't get over how fast the time is going. Wish I could slow it down a bit. We also just put an offer in on a beautiful house and it was accepted! We close on Dec. 6th and will be in the house completely by this Christmas. We will be in the house 4 months before Baby "G" comes so hopefully that will give Sydney some time to adjust and transition to a new home. We all have a lot of changes to adjust to but we feel so blessed for all of the exciting, and exhausting, days ahead of us.

The pictures are of Aunt Rita with Sydney, pumpkin picking, Halloween, and my two sweeties.

Time for an update

Hello Everyone.
Surgery is done and Sydney is back to her little happy self again! (Thank God). Sydney had a rough go of it but who wouldn't?? I can't imagine having surgery on my mouth and then only able to eat liquids through a scary-looking syringe for 10 days and then having to wear silly contraptions on my arms so I could not bend my elbows. She has been a real trooper through it all but poor little thing....it wasn't easy.

We had a scare 5 days post-op where we woke to discover Sydney crying in her crib while horribly covered in blood everywhere..and I mean EVERYWHERE! It looked like a scene out of a horror movie and a massacre had taken place. Anyway, one ER visit and two Docs examining her later she was OK and her palate had not reopened up. We were very thankful for that. They were not sure what could have happened but thought that maybe a few stitches had ripped open, although with all the blood there was it really looked as if all stitches had opened and her surgery was all for nothing. She is 2 weeks post-surgery now and all is just great! She is happy again and loving life. So are we :)

The pictures I have posted are from the last 2 weeks. The first one you see is from getting a mosquito bite right smack next to her right eye just 2 days before her surgery. She woke up with the whole right side of her face swollen and you could barely see her beautiful little eye. Sydney has terrible reactions to mosquito bites but this one was really bad! The swelling didn't go down for at least 3 days. The rest of the pictures are in succession from oldest to most recent. As you can see in the last photos she is back to herself and loved posing for the camera for Momma. I thought I better get some pictures of her in one of the Asian styled dresses we bought for her in China before she grows out of it. The umbrella was also purchased in China.

Speech therapy will start up again and we should start to see some major improvements in Sydney's speech. We also are continuing our Wiggles 'N Giggles class at the Y on Wed. mornings. We really enjoy our playdates with little Miss Emily and her mommy Jamie too.

More updates to follow soon!