conversation

N came into my room yesterday crying and holding the side of her head.

I asked what had happened.

She told me she had hit her head on the clock in the dining room.

I asked her how she managed to hit the clock because it was fairly high up on the wall.

N's answer... "Mommy. I'm tall."

Overheard

Last night as I peeled oranges for my girls to eat, A approached me with 2 orange slices.

When she told me I had forgotten to take them apart, I told her I thought I had gotten all of the slices separated.

Her response..."You surely did not!"

What fun things have you overheard lately?

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving.

I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Fall and girls...what else?

Fall is in full swing. And yet we still are using our a/c on occasion. The leaves are changing and dropping at a rapid pace.

She may not be a thumb sucker, but she sure likes her fingers! Miss E was sleeping when I walked in the first time with her 2 fingers firmly in her mouth. Of course, when I came back with the camera, she was waking up.

A likes to pose for the camera.

N did fairly well too. But she was much farther away so the flash did not really reach her. But thanks to the brightness tool on our photo software... we can now see her instead of a lighter spot in a dark picture.

Photos are up!

I'm getting some photos up on the new blog.

Some of them are repeats, but I did get up a few from when Michael's group performed at the Harley dealership.

I tried the CD again and there is absolutely nothing on it. I am hoping that I have another one around here with the same label and pictures!

Enjoy.

Update to the update

Michael and A seem to be just fine. We are tapering back on A's breathing treatment and her cough is almost completely gone. Michael was sent home on Monday to rest and it seems to have been good for him. I don't remember him coughing at all last night, but I could be wrong.

N is still having a bit of trouble getting over the cough. I am hoping that in the next few days that she will be much better. She has already improved from last week.

I am still miserable. I think the cough will be with me for a little while longer since I was the last to start. I was able to breathe through my nose this morning. We are taking each day at a time and being thankful for the small things.

And now for Miss E...

I spoke with E's doctor yesterday and he told me to keep doing what we are doing. Breathing treatements every 4 hours and pushing fluids. She has been coughing a lot over the last couple of days and spitting up a lot of mucous. When she first came home from the hospital after she was born, Michael made the observation that she seemed to have a few different levels of crying. The first being a soft cry that gradually became more insistent and loud. When she got sick, her cry was at about Level point 5. Now she is up to about Level 5 at her loudest. We think her previous high level was Level 11. The increase in her volume combined with the increase in her appetite has been quite encouraging.

Thank you for all of your prayers over the last week.

Happy birthday to my big 5 year old!

You have grown so much since we moved here. From playing your "guitar" to going to school. I am so very glad that you are my daughter!

Update on all of us

We are all still sick. N & A are showing the most improvement.

E was diagnosed with RSV which can be very serious in a young infant. Praise God that while her appetite is down, she is still eating. And even though she appears to dislike a bottle, she is also taking a couple ounces of Pedialyte every few hours. E has an appointment this morning to see how she is doing. Last night I would not have said there was much improvement but this morning she was alert and played for a few minutes. We will see how the day goes. I am praying that she does not end up needing to be admitted to the hospital, but I do know that God will have us where He wants us. Even if it is not my plan.

Michael is going to the doctor this morning. He thinks that he might have strep. If that is the case, I will be asking my doctor for a strep test as well since I kiss Michael once in a while.

Praying all is well with your families.

Love you!

Sick, sick, sick

N & A have had a bad cough for about a month now. I took both of them to the doctor earlier in the week. A needed Albuterol and Benedryl. N just needed Benedryl since her lungs were clear but it appeared that the seasonal allergies were acting up.

And tomorrow, I will be taking E in to see the doctor because she started coughing on Wednesday.

This week I have found out that we have potentially been exposed to strep as well as a secondhand exposure to H1N1. (one of N's friends is in a class with a confirmed case)

And now I have a sore throat...

Please pray for my family.

****UPDATE****
We now have been directly exposed to a strain of the flu. N's friend & her brother both have the flu.

Branching Out

I recently sent a flyer into A's preschool class to go home with the kids. I offered my services as a photographer. Though I have yet to hear anything from that, I want to have a site that is separate from my family site. Therefore, I have a new blog. Julie Daniher Photography will be up and running soon. Right now I am having some difficulties retrieving the pictures from my 2 actual photo shoots. The pictures were loaded onto Michael's computer which has since died. We did copy the pictures to a CD but my computer is not even recognizing that I have put a disc into the drive. I can view the other discs we made at the same time but not the one I need.

So, I am asking that you pray that I will hear something from the flyers, even if it is only one or two families and that I can recover the pictures I want. Thanks!

More pics!

The littlest one. She would smile really big and then stop just as soon as I took her picture. But these were the best 3.

Sleeping Beauty at her finest.

Note to Mom: I am going to try to get some good pictures of N & A for you this weekend. We've had some good weather and I think we can get some really good shots if they will cooperate.

Miss E

One thing we have learned about our youngest is that she will only tolerate being on her stomach for a few minutes at a time. N & A both loved being on their stomach. In fact as soon as they could roll over, they refused to sleep any other way. E, on the other hand, would rather be on her back. But only if she can't be in someone's arms.

"I think this is okay for now."

"...but I'm not so sure."

"Would you quit taking my picture?"

"I don't think I like this any more!"

"No more tummy time, please!"

PS "I really like the blanket that Mr & Mrs McQueary gave me. It is so soft and warm."

I think I might be sick...

I took this when we went to the beach one last time before N's friend moved to Alaska. A looked as though she was going to be sick when she got out of this little bowl shaped spinning thing. But she had a smile on her face while she twirled around!

Weekend trip

We went to Wilmington this weekend to look for motorcycle gloves for Michael and a Moby wrap for me. I took these along the way.

I thought the cloud shape and color was interesting.

My first thought when I saw this was that it was quite appropriate for a tree shaped like a cross to be standing outside of the door to the church.

I liked the "traffic circle" fountain. The circle was more of a veer a bit to the right to get around the fountain, but N called it a traffic circle. The steeple in the background above the trees is the church in the picture above.

We were stopped at a red light when I saw these in the median. I thought their brilliant color was beautiful for such a cool fall day.

This gate has always amused me. When I first saw it, I wondered why anyone would put up a gate, with a padlock and chain, but not have it connected to anything. And to make it even more confusing, it appears that there used to be traffic in this area that simply drove around the gate.

marking her territory and playtime with Daddy

A has finally learned how to write her name and she has begun marking her territory. I am finding the letter A everywhere. She has written on the walls, N's desk and dresser and on pretty much every piece of paper she can get her hands on.

If you look closely, there is an upside down A on the wall.

And finally, playtime with Daddy. Michael did not get to hold E at all yesterday so he took some time this morning to play. Her response to his tickling was great!

What are you thankful for?

Some recent praises in our home:

Going outside to play.

No school.

Sleeping in.

Playing cards with N.

Washing the motorcycle.

Watching a movie with N & A (while Mama napped!!)

No homework.

So, what are you thankful for this week?

Pictures

Night sky.
The hungry caterpillar...

... turned into a beautiful butterfly.

Michael takes good pictures too...

Stormy evening.

More girls...

Enjoy!

What is your perspective?

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son.

"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered:
"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added,
"Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."

Isn't perspective a wonderful thing?
Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.

Randomness

Our little Miss Piggy weighed in at a whopping 8 pounds 12 ounces this morning. She has grown 3 and a half inches as well. Her doctor was quite impressed. (so was I!)

Something I've been meaning to share for about 19 days or so...

Overheard:
A: Daddy, I love when you pray. In cars, in vans, in trucks, on motorcycles, in houses. Everywhere! It makes me happy. And I LOVE JESUS!!!

We are starting a 4 Praise Club. The 4 is for Michael, N, A & me. We will add E when she is old enough. Each night we will share with each other one thing we want to thank God for.

Tonight's praises were family, friends, a new Webkinz (when A turns 5), and Miss Cari. A actually had several things she is thankful for, but I can't remember all of them.

We will be buying a piece of poster board that we will hang on the wall to write our praises on. I have been impressed that at this point I need to be teaching my children thankfulness. We may not have the latest and greatest toys or the coolest fashions, but we have more than enough. And we need to be thankful for what we do have. The poster will be a visible reminder of how we have been richly blessed. I will be posting our praises on occasion so if you want to join us with our Praise Club, please feel free to chime in.

Baby girl!

Nothing beats a satisfying meal!

Drying off after her 1st bath at home. Taking a bath is such hard work. She slept for about 4 hours after this one.

I don't think she liked it very much though.

Daddy kisses are the best!

Oh the drama!

Our smallest girl has arrived! She was born on August 26th at 5:08am. She was 7 pounds 13 ounces and 18.5 inches long.



The story of her birth actually begins on Friday, August 21st. Michael, the girls, & I had gone into town to pick up the last of N's school supplies and to go to Michael's drum lesson. As we wandered through a couple of stores, I noticed that the contractions that had started earlier in the evening were not going away. They were staying consistent at 10 minutes apart. Until we left for the lesson. As we drove toward the music school, I realized that the contractions were getting farther apart. Again.



On Monday, the 24th, I had a doctor's appointment. My doctor said that for some reason labor will stop and start for some women. That was not the news I really wanted to hear. Especially since Friday's contractions had actually caused some progress. I was dilated 4cm.



Tuesday morning, the contractions started again. Since Michael had to be at work about 45 minutes after they started, we made the decision for him to go but stay close to a phone. It was also N's first day of school. We made it through the day with contractions that came and went at random intervals.



Then Tuesday evening the contractions started becoming consistent again. Finally about 9:30pm, I had one contraction and the conviction that we needed to head for the hospital NOW. We took the older girls to a friend's house and started on the 30 minute drive.



We arrived at the hospital around 10:30pm. I was hooked up to the monitors for about an hour before the doctor came to see if these contractions were making any progress. The verdict... still 4cm. We were given 2 options. We could go home & come back later or we could walk around for about 2 hours and be checked again. Considering the length of the drive, we opted to walk.



Michael and I walked around the hospital and parking lot until about 2:30am. Nervous, but excited, we headed back to the Labor & Delivery unit. Fully anticipating that I would be admitted, it was a HUGE surprise to learn that I was still only 4cm dilated. The only option given to us at that point was to return home and come back when the contractions were about 2 minutes apart.



We arrived back at the house around 3:30 am. Since neither of us had slept, we both tried to lay down. I soon found the only comfortable position for a contraction was to kneel on the floor with my upper body leaning on the side of the bathtub. It worked out well as the only thing I could manage was to pray. LOUDLY.



Suddenly, about 4:45am, I had a contraction. I yelled to Michael that I had to push. His response was "DON'T PUSH!!!" He managed to get me into the truck and we headed for the hospital. As we drove, I told Michael that I wanted an epidural when we got there.



A couple of minutes later, I told Michael that he needed to pull over and call someone. Thank God that there was a parking lot right there! Michael parked and called 911. As the operator walked through things with Michael, I struggled not to push.



Finally, the ambulance arrived. One contraction later, I told them that if I was going in the ambulance, the time to move me over there was now. Once inside, one of the paramedics began to prep my hand for an IV as the other was hooking me up to the monitors. As they were working, I had another contraction. I tried to breathe through it but instead I yelled that she was coming!

Sure enough, in one push, our little one was born. In the back of an ambulance on the side of the road.

The paramedics had told Michael that they would be driving with lights and sirens but if they pulled off the road it was because he was going to be a dad. Michael had gotten back into our truck ready to follow us. Apparently he heard me scream and he ran over to the ambulance just in time to see her birth.

It was definitely an interesting experience that I hope NEVER to repeat. Yet, it was and is such a blessing the way God orchestrated everything.

I hope to post pictures here in a day or two. If you want you can go to my sister- in- law's blog and see some that Michael sent her in a text message. Just scroll to the bottom of her post.

Birthday fun!

I forgot to grab the camera until N was ready for her cake. So, these are the only 2 pictures I have from her actual birthday.

We had a very good time. With our little one due to make an appearance soon, we did not want to cancel a large party. So, we invited one of N's friends and her family to join us for cake & ice cream. And of course a few presents.

I love N's smile as she looked at the cake waiting to blow out the candles.

I have to admit that I almost caved and bought a cake instead of making one. But I had made a promise and I followed through. N wanted a sunflower cake so I did my best. The icing turned out a bit soft and I thought it would end up sliding off onto the cake tray. I had enough yellow to go around each of the petals and ran out just as I finished the last one. The brown was certainly a challenge. I used brown, copper, black and red to get the right shade. Even at that, when I put it on the cake at midnight, the brown icing resembled an army green color. But in the daylight, it was just right. I think God caused some changes to occur while I slept.

N's official party will be on Sept 5th, so I will make sure to remember the camera next time.

Happy birthday sweet girl! We love you and are so blessed to have you in our lives!

More sunflowers

This picture with the girls was taken just a few days after the one in my post here.

It has been amazing to see these plants bloom.

I used to be in labor...

I had my 39 week appointment today.

Turns out that all the contractions I had last Friday were the real deal. Unfortunately, for some women, labor will start and then stop.

I am now 4 cm & 75% effaced. My doctor does not anticipate that I will make my next appointment on Friday of this week.

I am so glad to know that I will soon be holding our little one, but at the same time I am sad that I may end up missing out on N's 1st day of school and my closest friend's birthday dinner.

That is the latest on me & baby. I have more posts to come including some pictures from N's very small birthday party.

38 weeks and counting

And of course, no changes from 2 weeks ago. Still 1cm & 50% or maybe a bit more effaced.

My doctor told me at my last appointment that I couldn't give birth this week because she is at Disney World with her kids until Friday.

The way my contractions have been going, birth won't be happening any time soon. I am so frustrated with my body. I start timing contractions because they are getting more intense & take longer to get through. Once I time a few, the contractions get further apart or stop altogether.

I am so ready to be holding our little one. I am scared that the longer I go, the more she will weigh. When I had the extra u/s done at 27 weeks, they guesstimated that she was already about 12-14 ounces more than what the average baby is about that point. I love Michael, but I really hope he is wrong about a 10lb baby!

Silent debate

Silent Battle With The Pope

Several centuries ago, the Pope decreed that all the Jews had to leave Italy. There was, of course, a huge outcry from the Jewish community, so the Pope offered a deal.

He would have a religious debate with a leader of the Jewish community. If the Jewish leader won the debate, the Jews would be permitted to stay in Italy. If the Pope won, the Jews would have to leave.

The Jewish community met and picked an aged Rabbi, Moishe, to represent them in the debate. Rabbi Moishe, however, could not speak Latin and the Pope could not speak Yiddish. So it was decided that this would be a "silent" debate.

On the day of the great debate, the Pope and Rabbi Moishe sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers.

Rabbi Moishe looked back and raised one finger.

Next, the Pope waved his finger around his head.

Rabbi Moishe pointed to the ground where he sat.

The Pope then brought out a communion wafer and chalice of wine.Rabbi Moishe pulled out an apple.

With that, the Pope stood up and said, "I concede the debate. This man has bested me. The Jews can stay."

Later, the Cardinals gathered around the Pope, asking him what had happened.

The Pope said, "First I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions. Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground to show that God was also right here with us. I pulled out the wine and the wafer to show that God absolves us of our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?"

Meanwhile, the Jewish community crowded around Rabbi Moishe, asking what happened.

"Well," said Moishe, "first he said to me, 'You Jews have three days to get out of here.' So I said to him, 'Up yours'. Then he tells me the whole city would be cleared of Jews. So I said to him, 'Listen here Mr. Pope, the Jews ... we stay right here!"

"And then?" asked a woman.

"Who knows?" said Rabbi Moishe. "We broke for lunch."

38 week appointment

Oh... the time is getting closer for our little one to make her appearance.

I have had fairly regular contractions recently but every time I try to see how far apart they are they stop.

My 38 week appointment is this afternoon so I will be updating after that. Especially if there is any significant news to share.

Sunflower

From this:

To this: (and please forgive the weird expressions the girls are making)

And soon, the smaller of the two plants will be blooming. We can see the flower, but it has not opened quite yet. I do believe that this is quite possibly my first success with NOT killing the plant in the first few weeks of its life! All the credit must go to God because, believe me, we have gone days without watering it. And God has provided us with LOTS of rain!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Hope today is a wonderful day for you!

I love you!

lots of posts

I finally had the opportunity to publish several posts that I had been working on. Keep scrolling down to read them all!

Baby and girls

Today is my first due date. I still have 4 weeks to go. Baby is looking good though she does like to lay sideways instead of being head down. I like this as well because the contractions I have experienced since March are greatly reduced. I wonder if this is any sort of record for the longest labor ever... My next appointment is for August 5th.

I told Michael on Sunday that with all of the contractions I had experienced, I wasn't really looking forward to going through labor because it meant more contractions. His response was that my body should be well prepared for giving birth. I think I threw a pillow at him.

N is doing well. She planted some sunflower seeds just before Andrew & Shery came to visit. One plant is now as tall as she is and the other is about as tall as A. We have had several rainy days so I have not been able to get out with the camera to compare heights between the girls and the plants but today looks promising.

A was accepted into the preschool program run by the school system. I am both glad and not so glad about this. I think it was easier for me to send N to school because N had been in daycare for several years before I was able to stay home with her. A, on the other hand, has been home with me since she was born. I am not sure I am ready to let A grow up like that quite yet.

With the new one coming soon, I know there will be all sorts of adjustments and routine changes for everybody. I am just hoping that the little one comes sooner so we can get a few of those adjustments out of the way before school starts.

Wednesday Night Dinner

My good friend Cari is now in charge of providing a family dinner on Wednesday nights at Salem. I help her with what I can.

The response has been incredible! We were initially anticipating 30-40 people the first few weeks. Instead, each week the number has gone up. Last week we served about 75 people. And the amazing thing is that God has allowed us to feed that many people on a budget of $100 a week.

Not to say that everything has run smoothly.

One of the men in the church who was in on the initial discussion about the dinners decided on a suggested donation for each person and a maximum donation per family. His pricing did not quite line up with Cari's.

The kitchen closest to where we serve the dinner is in need of a serious remodel. So we fix the dinner in the building across the parking lot and bring it over to the other kitchen.

On another occasion, Cari did not receive the money to purchase the food until Wednesday afternoon.

And there has been some conflict about the fact that Cari has a set menu for the rest of the year.

Still, with all of that, the dinners have been a huge blessing. For me, I don't have to worry about rushing to feed my family before praise team practice or eating at 8:30 when we got home. For others, there are some children that used to come to church only with their grandparents. Now, their parents are coming to the dinner and I have seen them in the service the past couple of Sundays as well. More and more people are showing up for the dinner. I do not know how many are actually staying for the service, but it seems as though our attendance at the service on Wednesday has grown.

Helping with the dinner is hard & exhausting work. But I am so glad that our church is reaching out to bring families together.

Over $1,400

And mostly pennies at that!

That is how much money the kids gave the week of VBS. The boys won the contest by bringing in 162 pounds of change. The girls were close with 142 pounds of change.

We sorted, rolled, and counted change for at least 3 hours each day. I worked with a wonderful lady whose name is also Julie. Her son Tyler helped much of the time as well. The duties ended up being fairly evenly split. I sorted as Julie & Tyler lifted the bags of money. Then they started rolling pennies as I finished the sorting. Once the sorting was done, I tackled the dimes. Julie mentioned the first day we worked together that she despised rolling dimes. I would much rather roll dimes than pennies, so it worked well for everyone.

I never realized though that 3 hours of handling money would be so exhausting!

Then Friday night, the kids put on a play for the parents. There were 5 main actors and in between each scene, the classes would come up and sing one of the songs they learned during the week. N & A did very well. Michael had to leave early for his drum lesson, but he was able to stay through most of the show.

The only problem is that in the rush to get out the door, I completely forgot to bring my camera. Please don't shoot me???

One day down, 4 to go

VBS is here! We got up bright and early to be to the church by 8:30. We were actually 15 minutes late because breakfast was served at 8:15.

Then the craziness began. I was helping with the office side of things. There was only one problem. I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing and the person who could tell me was no where to be found!

Finally we got down to business. Attendance. One word to describe it would be nightmare. Another word would be chaos. My sweet daughter A was enrolled in the wrong age group. Another child had 2 registration forms filled out. Several had used one form for more than one child. In all, we counted 150 registration forms and some how ended up with 147 being listed in the computer.

The absolutely worst part of all of this for me was that nothing was in any form of order. I will probably be sneaking in tonight to alphabetize the forms because I can't stand how they were just shoved into the folders.

So, one day down, four to go!

Heard

I was listening to the radio yesterday. This is not an exact quote, but will be as close as I can remember.

The DJ was speaking about another person. The person stated that today (July 4th) he would be celebrating Independence Day. And then on Sunday, he would be celebrating Dependence Day. Dependence on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Is today a day of dependence? Will tomorrow be one of dependence as well?

My prayer is that every day we will learn to be dependent on the author & creator of life.

I can't count

Well... I am 30 weeks not the 31 weeks I thought I was... Which means I have to add a whole week back in to how long I have left.

Funny things at the appointment:

~ Found out that I can't count.
~ Found out that the lady at the front desk had printed out the sheet for my 36 week appt leading to some minor confusion among the staff.
~ While listening to the baby's heartbeat, she gave a kick. When N asked about it, the doctor said she'd let N hear the baby kick again. Baby didn't move. (stubborn girl!!)
~Totally forgot to ask half the questions I had because of laughing about the fact that I can't count. (And because A was walking out of the room) So, I need to call and ask the rest of my questions.

It went well considering that I felt as though I'd been punched in the face. I'd been to the dentist in the morning and had 2 fillings done. Fortunately, I had a sitter for the dental appointment!

And if anyone missed it... we found out that we are having girl #3. So... any girl name suggestions will be welcomed for consideration!

Anyway, that's what is going on here!

Visitors from the West...

Andrew & Shery came to visit us this weekend. We have had a great time hanging out and seeing some new places in our area.

They arrived Saturday evening. Sunday morning, we all managed to drag ourselves out of bed in enough time to make it to church. The rest of the day was fairly lazy. I went grocery shopping. N entertained Shery as she rested in N's room. A took a very long nap. Michael and Andrew watched several shows on Netflix. I did go to the church again in the evening for Celebrate Recovery, but once again, no one showed up.

Monday, we got up bright and early to go visit the USS North Carolina. Actually... we got up around 9am, decided where we were going to go by around 10am and actually got on the road around 11am.

We had a great time wandering the ship. I do have to confess between the camera bag and the belly, there were a few places that were difficult to get through. A did well this time and went up and down the stairs with out a fuss.

N's favorite part about seeing the ship again was the lower deck tour. A's favorite part about the ship was having fun going down the steps without getting scared. My favorite part was when A said that she needed the bathroom. I took her off the ship and sat in the area with the vending machines after the bathroom stop. By the time the rest of the crew finished the tour, I had almost stopped sweating. Even with all the fans and air vents below the decks, it was still extremely hot. I can not imagine being assigned to a ship like that in the heat of summer!

Tuesday, we browsed a book and the computer for some good activities since the original plan to visit Ft Macon was being rained out. We finally settled on the Wilmington Rail Road Museum. It was a small museum, but it was lots of fun. I think a few boys in particular would enjoy seeing it. Afterward, we went over to the Cotton Exchange. I am not sure what the original buildings were used for, but there were 8 buildings that had been restored and turned into shops and restaurants. It was fun to wander around, but unfortunately, we left the Rail Road Museum about 4:30 and the Cotton Exchange closed at 5:30. So, definitely a trip we will have to make again.

We had a great time with Andrew & Shery. I know all of us wish they could have stayed a few days longer though.

Pictures to come later...

Overheard

A: (while hugging me and patting my belly) "I love you baby." (looking up at me) "Not you. The baby in your belly."

A: "I don't want to look cute in shorts! I want to look cute in a dress!!"


(In the truck) Me: "We are going to go to a museum and then we are going to go see some shops."
A: "I don't like shots!"
Me: "We're going to go shopping. Not to get shots."
Laughter all around...

Seen

Driver carries no cash.
He's married.

Sounds like a conversation that A & I had a while back about me having all of Daddy's money...

Time for an update....

First off, happy birthday to my wonderful husband, Michael.


Then on a sad note, N's best friend & her family move today. They are leaving us for a much colder part of the US. Think summertime highs in the 60s.... Please pray for the Pike family as they travel.

N is looking forward to getting out of school soon. Just a few more days! She continues to grow and is just learning so much. I took her out early so that she could say good bye to her friend. If you have ever seen the movie "Ever After" with Drew Barrymore, let's just say that N was crying like the Spanish princess. It was sad but hilarious at the same time.


A is getting bigger all the time. We have somewhat moved her out of her toddler bed into a twin bed. I say somewhat because she slept in the twin for one night before we had a guest. N shared the room with A while our guest slept in N's room. The night our guest headed home, N went into her room to close the blinds and they promptly broke. So, N & A are currently sharing a room until we measure her window and buy another set of blinds. The girls are doing fairly well with sharing. We have not had too many fights over the twin bed.


Our smallest one is trying to keep the doctors on their toes. At my OB appointment on May 11th, the doctor measured the fundal height. I measured a week behind. At my appointment this past Wednesday, I measured 4 weeks ahead. So, I get another ultrasound next Wednesday, June 3rd, to try to find out what is going on. But the baby's heart rate looks really good.


On Wednesday night I ended up making a quick trip to Labor & Delivery. I was leaking some sort of fluid and with the few contractions I was having, I figured it would be best to check things out. It turned out to be a false alarm. The doctor who checked me also looked at the baby's heart rate. He said he would have expected a much more mature baby just from the heart rate and the variations in the rate. His guess was 32 weeks. Right now I am only 26 weeks. So his thought about the baby being more mature also lines up with my thoughts for where I should be.

Michael is doing well. He is back to work and as of Wednesday was given a clean bill of health to return to full duty. We are still in the process of looking for another motorcycle to replace the other one. Please pray for us as we decide what to do.

And Sarah... This is my 100th post as well.

the gang's all here!

A with N's friend S. A had to come with me to this photo shoot, so I included A in some of the pictures because she loves S as well.

N & S. S is a year older than N and as you can see, N is a little bit taller. In fact, at S's birthday party, there were 4 girls there. N was the youngest and the tallest and the rest of the girls were shorter and older. The shortest was also the oldest.

The whole gang! This was the 1st picture I took and the girls were a bit nervous about sitting on ropes. But I thought they did well and instead of the standard "Cheese!" to get everyone to smile I told them to say "AAAAHHHHH!!!!!" I think they did well since they started laughing after everyone yelled. It made for some cute expressions.

And I couldn't leave you without another picture of N & A together. N had just gotten home from school and A had just woken up from her nap. A was so excited to see N that she jumped up on the chair and gave N a huge hug!