Reflections on a year gone by, 2010.

This last year has been a year.  I am not sure where the time has gone but many things have happened.  If you want to see our year in photos (this is just some not all - forgive me I have been terrible about taking photos of the family this year).  PHOTOS

JR- "DURABLE" is a perfect word to describe this guy.  He has grown a little, packed on a little weight and been able to hold his own with his brother and sister.  His smile and laughter can light a room.  The amount of food he can eat, I am not sure where he puts it.  His curiosity is cute and he is one smart little guy.  It has been a joy seeing his personality come out this year.

HR- "MISS INDEPENDENT" describe this girl to a 'T'.  She has been all over the place this year with emotions.  I think she is trying to figure out the world and how she fits into it.  She is her own person and isn't afraid to go against the norm.  I love that about her.  She is also embracing a gluten-free lifestyle like a person well beyond her years.  She is amazing.

JT- "GROWING" fits this little man.  He is growing in many ways this year.  He is growing physically (praise the Lord!) and he is growing developmentally.  He loves to learn, he loves to build things, he loves to play and he loves to think he is the teacher.  He has grown out of his timidity and into a boy who seems so sure of himself.  His energy (which has exponentially grown since the use of HGH) and his mind can hardly be contained.  He is ready to take on the day and the whole world if we let him.  I not only like helping guide him on his journey in life but I love seeing him find his own-self in his own-way as well.

Momma D- "AMAZED" is just one word to describe my feelings for this last year.  I am amazed by many things.  I am amazed at my children and the fact that I am still sane...lol (mommy humor).  Raising three kids so close in age isn't easy but I wouldn't trade this job for the world, they are such a blessing.  I am amazed at how much my walk with the Lord has changed/grown.  He is still working in me, bless Him for that.  I am amazed at how much our family has been blessed.  No our family isn't perfect by any means but our faith and our love have brought us so far and has seen us through many things.  There are so many other things that I can mention but I think you get the idea.

Daddy D- "DEDICATED" is just something that describes my husband this year.  He has worked so hard at work, going to school, being a husband and father and being a God fearing man.  That isn't always the easiest thing to do when you feel like you are having to do so many things but he is dedicated to his country, his family, his education, church.  I am so blessed to have him in my life.  It has been nice having him home with us this whole year.

2010 has come and gone.  I shared some words that described those in my family, no they aren't the only words that describe us, just ones that describe us for this year.  I pray that your year was blessed and that this year you will continue to be blessed.

What one word would you use to describe yourself for the year 2010?

GF, GH and Stuff.

A lot has happened in the past few months and I thought you would love an update.  From the photo above you can see the kids are all doing well.  My kids are very good eaters, makes a mama proud.

JT has been placed on Gentropin which is a growth hormone.  Since being diagnosed with ISS (idiopathic short stature) he is being placed on a six month trial of the growth hormones to see if this helps him.  He has a check-up in December and another in February or March.  If he has made significant progress as to what they feel his progress should be he will stay on the growth hormones, if he has not made enough progress he will than be started on IGF-1 or IGF-3 replacement therapy (I can't remember which one they had told me).  Thank goodness for our medical coverage because this medication is not cheap at all.  He gets an injection every night before bed and we calculated the cost and it comes out to about $20-25 a shot.  JT has had a big increase in his energy levels and his muscle tone is getting better too.  I am not sure if it is helping him grow but that is because I see him everyday.  He has been able to finally run which is something he could not do before and enjoys it.  Other than that, he is your typical four year old.

HR has stayed on a gluten-free diet and seems to be doing well.  Zach thinks she has grown some and caught up with her older brother.  Again, I am not sure because I see her everyday.  I might need to take her back in as she is complaining again of stomach pains, so I am not sure if she will need to go back on her medication for the gastritis and esophagitis.  Besides the medical, she has been enjoying riding her bike.

JR has been doing great and being a lively 16 month old.  He is walking all on his own and wants to be Mr. Independent.  He tries to do all the things his brother and sister can do which just makes us laugh because he isn't quite big enough yet to do some things like ride his brother and sisters bikes.  He is also more talkative than the other two were as JT and HR didn't talk till they were 25 months, Josiah just is a little chatterbox and says some words already which is something completely new to me.  A few days ago though he was feeling really warm and when I got home to check his temp, my thermometer didn't work and than when I stripped him down to help cool him off I saw a rash all over his body so off to the emergency room we went.  When we got there, his temp was 103.3.  The doctor came in and looked at his rash, his fever and saw what looked like blisters in the back of his mouth, so she diagnosed him with hand, foot and mouth disease.  So home we went with Tylenol, Motrin and Benedryl.  He seems to be doing better, his fever has dropped but he still has a rash all over.  Please keep him in prayer that he can quickly return to being that lively 16 month old.

As far The Mom and The Dad, we are doing good.  The Mom (me) is sick and I sound like I swallowed a frog or as The Dad (Zach) put it, I sound worse than Joan Rivers.  Gee, doesn't that sound lovely?  Other than that I am getting ready to host Bunco for our PWOC ladies and after that head to PWOC International Conference in Dallas, Texas.  Looking forward to seeing some ladies I haven't seen in awhile, Lord willing, all the kids and I are healthy by the time I leave.  The Dad is busy with work, November and December are busy months because of the holidays but after that should be a time for things to slow down.  He is currently taking two classes, one on public speaking and another on the Old Testament.  He also got told that he could possibly finish his associates before we leave Fort Sill.  Oh yeah, some of you might not know but our orders to Fort Wainwright, Alaska were canned because MEDCOM would not support us medically because of the kids so we are slated to PCS to Fort Lewis, Washington in April next year and Zach will be heading to Korea for a year without us.  After his year there he will return to Fort Lewis for at least two years if not more.

So as a family we are busy, kids being kids, mom with PWOC and dad with work and school so he can get promoted before June next year.  Keep us all in prayer.

Ordinary and Amazing Weekend

 

Where did this weekend go?  As I sit here trying to think about it, it is as if it was all a blur.  I know I am not the only one that has weekends or days like this.

The weekend wasn't too out of the ordinary.  On Saturday Zach and I cleaned house some.  I took a break to take Joshua to the swimming pool.  The last time he went swimming was about 6-7 months ago and he did great.  Well, this time around was anything but.  He was so scared and kept screaming.  His high pitched scream was not nice on the ears...I think they are still ringing.  Poor guy, took forever to get him into the water and by that time I was ready to go but he didn't want to leave.  I gave in and played with him in the water for a little bit but I started to get cold so I called it quits.  I took him trying to prepare him for his birthday party which is in a few weeks.  I plan on doing a pool party at the local YMCA for him.

We got home so I could finish organizing all the children's clothes and putting them away.  Oh, what fun...zzzzzzzz...sorry all that excitement was making me tired.  Let's just say the children's closets look amazing, now if they can only stay that way.  After the closet overhaul I decided to try and feed Josiah.  Since Josiah is breastfed he hasn't wanted to take solid foods from me so either Zach or other friends have had success at feeding him.  At last he decided to take solid food from me!  Woohoo.  This boy scarfed down two little tubs of stage 2 baby food, one of sweet potatoes and one of bananas.  This boy loves his bananas.  He is doing great at taking solid food since he started on the day of the Super Bowl, can't remember what day that was.  Now he is eating solids on a daily basis instead of every few days.  My baby is growing up:(

Sunday; today, we went to church as usual.  This Sunday Zach was singing and he was wonderful as always.  Later we went out to the lake with some others from Zach's unit to just get together.  The kids had fun playing while the rest of us threw a football and kicked a soccer ball around.  While we took a break to eat some food the wind started blowing like crazy and it got cold very quickly.  We had to call it quits and head out.  I don't know what it is with the wind in Oklahoma but it can chill you to the bone and is not nice on when you are trying to go somewhere and you want your hair looking nice.  I do appreciate the wind more so in the summer to help cut through some of the heat.  Anyways, made our weekly trip to the grocery store and home for dinner, putting kids to bed, the usual.  Through all of that, I noticed something new on Josiah tonight.  His second bottom tooth broke through his gums.  Josiah is making so much progress, especially in crawling.  You put that boy down on the floor and he is gone.  I have to keep the floor clear of anything that is small enough for him to swallow.  The vacuum cleaner is now a permanent fixture in the living room.  This little one is keeping me on my toys.  I know this will only last as long as it will take him to start walking which I think won't be too long.  I am hoping he will wait till he is 15 months old as he is almost 9 months old now; well he will be 9 months old in about 2 weeks.  One can hope!

See that photo of my little cutie Josiah up-top?  It is true, he is 100% cute and so is Joshua and Hannah.  What an ordinary and amazing weekend full of the everyday things and the milestones my children are reaching.  God has blessed me with three wonderful children who are ever changing and I love seeing those changes in them!

Stinky Fun Afternoon

Just so you know, this photo was taken awhile ago on our cell phone.  Zach was trying to have a funny face.  Well, I felt this face was so fitting to go along with the first word of the post 'stinky.'  After we had taken the kids bowling today with Zach's unit we decided to head down to Wichita Falls.  I don't think we had ever seen so many skunks on the side of the road, on the same road, for the stretch we had been on.  During that 45 minute drive I swear there were about 12-15 dead skunks.  It smelled terrible.  After the first few we just had to start laughing at the stench and the number of them.  Can someone please tell me what is the importance of skunks?  Purpose?  I would sure love to know.  I swear their smell is still lingering...ewwwww.

While in Wichita Falls, TX we went to a few stores getting some things we need.  For Hannah we got her some No Bite nail polish in hopes this will help her with her finger sucking.  She has never taken a pacifier, she just sucks on the same two fingers which drives me nuts and I know isn't any good for her fingers or her teeth.  I am hoping this No Bite polish works because I am at a loss of what to do for her to get her to stop sucking those fingers of hers.

For Joshua we went to Academy to try and find him some shin guards for soccer.  I know soccer season is right around the corner and my goodness was the store wiped out of the tiny ones for kids.  We did manage to find one pair for him to use that fit relatively okay.  We also tried finding him some cleats but they don't make them or at least this store didn't sell them in his size.  He wears a toddler size 6-7 and most won't start till size 10.  So we will just have to improvise.

We didn't need anything for Josiah until...he had another blow-out!  This boy has some talent at making messes which very few of his mess will actually be in his diaper.  Grrr.  We just happened to be at a Sam's Club which was huge (I guess the saying is true that everything is bigger in Texas...lol) so we got him some clothes there since I forgot to pack a spare set of clothes in the diaper bag.  I can't remember everything:(  Oh well, it was a good laugh.

We went a few other places but it was nice to get out of Lawton and go for a drive with my family.  It was fun, even including the skunks and a blow-out.  On the drive home Joshua just would not shut his mouth.  This kid does not know how to be quiet so he sang his ABC's and various other songs. He probably sang 'Old McDonald Had A Farm' for about 20 minutes going through every animal he could think of which was just fine with us since all we did was sit there while he sang it all by himself.  After that he decided he needed to count to 100 which he did a great job with, then counted in Spanish to ten, told us all the shapes, colors and whatever other random thought that came into that brain of his.  The drive home went quickly thank goodness, to where the children got a bath, pj's on, bedtime routine and off into lala land they all went without a peep.  Can you hear the crickets?  So peaceful!  What a good night.

So that was our stinky fun afternoon.  Hope yours was just as equally fun ;)

Oh, if you were wondering, we never did get a call back from Joshua's doctor.  Hopefully we will hear back from her on Monday.