Head to heels, Annalise now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn’t much more than an average rutabaga, but she’s beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she’ll start to look more and more like a newborn. She’s also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you’d now be able to discern its color and texture.
She is feeling better!
(birthday present from one of her great grandpa and grandma)
Eva is quite familiar with medical staff. I have told a few people how she will glare at you if you wear a white coat or scrubs. Well, yesterday she proved my point. I had a doctor appointment and I took Eva with while Josiah had some grandma time. Eva was happy as we were sitting and waiting until she saw a nurse walk by. Then suddenly she became somber and clingy. I held her not knowing what was wrong. I thought maybe it was her tooth coming in that was bothering her. She just stayed somber as we waited and watch nurses go by. Then it was my turn and the nurse started taking my vitals. Eva glared at her while she was working around my holding Eva. The nurse noticed. I explained that Eva doesn’t like nurses due to being at Children’s. She thought it was pretty funny that Eva would be so silly. Once she started to leave Eva was happy and smiled for her. Then the doctor came in and Eva glared at him. He also noticed the emotion on her face. I assured him it was the white coat and she will smile once he starts to leave. Sure enough, he opened the door to leave after he was done, turned around and smiled at Eva. She smiled and giggled with a look of “the one in the white coat is leaving and no one touched me. I win!”
Due to craziness, this is late.
Happy (belated) birthday Daddy!
I love it when you encourage me to get stronger.
I love it when you take me to grandma’s house.
I love that I can always ask for a hug and you gladly give one!
I love all the times that we have laughed together (even when we gang up to tease mommy)!
I love that you taught me the importance of family and how we call them EVERY weekend!
I love it when we play outside together!
I love that you try your best to make all my hard things go away!
I love that you give me all the cuddles and kisses I need!
I love making gardens with you!
I love watching football with you!
I love watching the smile on your face when I smile at you!
I love being your little princess (even though mommy had you first)!
I love the fact you always make sure that I have plenty of daddy time!
We both love catching you looking at mommy this way!
We love that you set an example to us of someone who loves Jesus!
We love you daddy! Happy birthday!
Sorry for the delay in posts. Here is what everyone has been up to:
Annalise is 24 weeks along! This was very exciting because now doctors will fight for her right to live if she is born! She is very active and strong (she reminds me more like her brother than her sister). We can’t wait to hold her. Josiah is already claiming dibs.
Eva is doing MUCH better! Her appetite is down, but she is keeping herself busy. She is pulling herself to standing and is working on the nerve/stability to be able to stand without support! She is growing up so fast!!! She is also becoming more verbal (didn’t think that was possible!). She doesn’t say anything besides mom and hi, but she is making noise. And yes, believe it or not, this girls loves to “talk”! Just ask either grandma! She will indicate that she wants to call someone and dependant on the time I choose which grandma is more likely to talk and Eva will “chat” with them for minutes! I think once she went about 8 minutes of non-stop talking! I love it though! I want my kids to feel like they can call their grandmas (and grandpas) even just to talk. There is nothing like a grandparent and I wish we could all live in the same town, but, for His purposes, God has us separated. Praise God for cell phones, skype and the internet to send photos! I can’t imagine how hard it was for grandparents when their kids would go on the Oregon trail in the 1800s and most likely never see them again!
Josiah is keeping busy with his pre-school. He is LOVING it!!! He has improved a lot in pre-writing (pencil control), scissor skills, vocabulary and shapes. He also was able to help make dinner on Saturday. He help make the sauce for a pasta! Diced tomato, fresh basil leaves, butter-garlic chicken and feta (and a few other things as well)! He also helped Jim in making dessert, homemade pumpkin pie. He was a very busy boy and enjoyed dinner immensely!
I am … well, the past week has been rough physically. Eva has her ordeal and I had mine. Anemia (I got the symptoms really bad this time) and a bad sore throat that is actually still going (it is NOT contagious, I get this a couple times every year… swollen glands in my throat). All well. I have a sweet husband who is helping me keep up with life! I am so thankful for him! Other than that, I am just keeping busy with the kids. Once the physical ailments leave Eva, Josiah and I will start going through Eva’s old clothes and find some things for “Lise.” In God’s sovereignty Eva was small for so long that her clothes should be perfect for Lise. I am thrilled that the girls will be so close in age to each other and that God, in His sovereignty, provided the clothes for Lise! That is one less thing to manage when life is already busy!
Jim has been working and helping with mommy’s chores. What a husband and daddy!!! He also has been doing a lot of theology reading too! He is studying Greek again (brushing up) and also enjoying teaching the kids at church their lessons in Children’s Truth Academy and Children’s church. We weren’t sure about him doing it when he first signed up becuase he wasn’t too sure about his teaching abilities. But he enjoys it quite a bit and the kids really seem to understand and enjoy his teaching. I have heard that he gets really animated and keeps the kids attention very well.
Josiah spent all day Monday with my family (the hospital was filled with H1N1 patients). When Brittany, my 14 year old sister, walked over with a wet washcloth to clean up Josiah from lunch, she said “Josiah, I am going to wash your face off.” This was to prepare him so he won’t throw a fit. Josiah then started showing signs of being terrified. Brittany stopped to listen to him plea “No, I want my face!”
We were not able to keep our appointment with Eva’s surgeon today. When Eva woke up from her morning nap on Sunday she woke up with a fever of 103+ degrees. We took her to the ER where they were unable to figure out what infection was causing the fever. She was sent home after the tylenol lowered her fever enough and she was still eating. Then Monday morning she woke at 12:30 am, for a bottle, but instead had a fever of 104.7 and vomiting. She was taken and admitted to Children’s by 3:00 am on Monday. She was diagnosed with linear atelectasis (a line of air sacks in her lungs were collapsed) which was caused by pneumonia. She is still at Children’s and is expected to come home relatively soon. Her surgery is now set tentatively for the week before Thanksgiving. Pray that her heart, lungs and the rest of her body will hold out for her surgery. Pray for us as we wait for God’s timing for her surgery. Praise God that Eva’s body is healing the atelectasis on it’s own (if she would use antibiotics that would effect her in causing more diaper rashes).
Josiah had his first week of preschool this past week! He was very excited to start. Most of you already know we decided to home-school. Recently Josiah seemed ready to go ahead and start his preschool material. So we did.
What did he do? Well, first there was creative skills. This is play-doh time. He made several types of animals. Then there was behavior management. He had CTA with friends his age and then 3 days of interaction with older kids, adults and great grandparents (that would be 3 days with my family). Sadly, we need to learn respect in not hitting when upset and in obeying grandma. I strongly feel it is important for him to learn not just how to be social with peers, but with people of all ages in life. Then we worked on problem solving and engineering skills. This is where Josiah was given tinker toys and told to figure out how they work… he did and then he was told to build things with them. Then there was science with daddy where Josiah helped Jim with gardening and learning to garden. He is especially fascinated with how potatoes grow. Then home economics/personal responsibility. Here he learned how to put away his laundry by himself! All of it all by himself! Here he also learned to set the table and clear his spot after dinner. Then there was the alphabet. Where we are continuing our pursuit of the alphabet. And lastly, pre-writing skills. Where he was practicing the area of pencil control by doing age appropriate mazes. We are currently waiting on his other books to come… Big workbook and Preschool scholar. Then come spring time he will start sports! He gets to start soccer!
Now, I know this doesn’t sound like school at all, but the idea behind school is to learn knowledge and skills to use as an adult and how to apply those skills. This is what Josiah did on an official basis this week and seeing he is very young and wanted to do school, therefore I had to start even further back than what I wanted, but this is along the lines of what he would do in preschool/daycare.
He is very excited to start and we have seen huge growth in maturity as a result. He knows now that he is a big kid (in one sense) and therefore is expected to stop all ‘baby’ things. He is also talking more clearly and in a more respectable manner. I am so glad to get to see him grow up!
With her sense of movement well developed by now, Annalise can feel mommy dance. And now that she’s more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), we also see her squirm underneath mommy’s clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that Annalise’s increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as a dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won’t faze her when she hears them outside the womb.
If God be glorified, does it really matter where we are? What becomes of us is of small consequence compared with bringing glory to his great name. - Spurgeon
Welcome to our blog! This blog is designed to show friends and family what God is doing in our family's life. Enjoy your stay!
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