So Very Thankful.

I decided this year that I would take a moment on Thanksgiving and create a list of things that I am Thankful for this year, so here is my list this year:

1) My Lord and Savior. I still can't understand why he chose to save me and call me His own. I am so thankful for what He did for me on the cross and am reminded everyday by my sin that I am so much in need of a Savior. Through Christ I am forgiven, washed clean, and have the gift of eternal life. That is AMAZING!

2) My family. I have had my Michael by my side for the last 5 years and we have been through so much. We have had two beautiful children and lost two. We have also experienced a death in the family and without each other I do not think we would have made it. He does so much for me. He allows me to stay home with our kids while he works every day and I love it. He lets me not clean the house if I have a crazy day at home with the kids and he does not complain. He loves me with everything that he has. I am so thankful to have him as my husband and the father of our children. Gods story put the two of us together and I can't wait to see how the rest of it will unfold. I am so very thankful that I am able to not only be a wife but also a mother. It is such a wonderful blessing to be a mother and I would not trade it in for anything. I think with my first pregnancy since I was able to get pregnant quickly and it was an easy pregnancy I took it for granted and after losing two babies I have realize what a blessing, responsibility, and miracle it is to be blessed with children. Sydney is my amazing little girl. Even though she is so strong willed and hard to handle at times she always finds a way to fills my life with so much joy. Seth is my little muffin boy. Mike and I wanted this little boy so much & on June 22 2009 he finally let us hold him and what an amazing little boy he is. Also my parents for always being willing to watch the kiddos for us to either go run errands or go out, just the two of us, without the kiddos.

3) My friends. Friends come and go but I have always had a steady few that have never gone anywhere and I am so thankful for. Jerilyn, Dani, Nicole, Kelly...you guys have been such amazing and faithful friends & even though we do not see each other all the time or just talk on the phone I love knowing that you guys are on my side. Thanks you. A little over a year ago I started talking with Lisa, Matt (her husband) and Mike have been friends for a while and I would have never guess what kind of friendship that it would turn into. Besides Michael she has been by my side through so much, the loss of a baby, 9 months of a stressful pregnancy, a death of a family member, birth of Seth and the struggles that I have had since Seth and his diagnoses of CMV. I never thought that in our first year of friendship we would have gone through so much together but God does incredible things and this is one of them.

4. New family members and family friends. In June I had a chance to meet some of Mike's uncles and aunt for the first time. It was under unfortunate circumstance but it was so nice to finally get to meet them. They are all such nice and wonderful people, I just wish that during the family dinners that we did have with them while they were out here that John would have been enjoying them with us. The MacCallums have been a huge part in our lives. They have been to hell and back with us especially through the month of June. Matt was with Michael when his dad died and if I can not be the one with my husband during the hardest moment in his life that is the man that I want with him. The arrival of Seth brought on many doctors and without them I would have had to take Sydney with me to at least 2 doctor appointments a week. Thank you! The Heisler's, The Villone's, The Brown's, The Marshall's...thank you all for the love and support you give to me and our family.

5. The Body. I for the first time saw what it was like to have the body of Christ come to you in a time of need. When John passed away we had so many people calling and asking how they can help and we were shown so much love and support. There were so many people at his funeral it was an amazing time celebrating the life of John. Also after we had Seth. Since Seth was in the NICU for 11 days I had many people offer to help and watch Sydney or make us dinner. Thank you all for your willingness to help out our family in a time of need. Also one in particular, you know who you are...thanks for calling everyday that Seth was in the NICU and asking how I was doing with everything emotionally.

6. Doctors and medicine. I normally don't like doctors at all but now that I have a little boy that needs to see them a lot I am really thankful for them. I loved my OB and was bummed that he was not the Dr to deliver Seth but the Dr that did deliver him was amazing at that moment, cause he did what I wanted at that moment. All the other doctors that we see on a regular basis I'm so thankful that they got the schooling that they needed so that they can do all they are able to do for my little muffin. Seth has been on antibiotics his whole life so far and without them he would be one very sick little boy. Also all the other medication that he is on and will be on will help him through-out his life and without them he could have a very difficult time.

7. Orange Juice. Not any kind of orange juice, it has to be "Simply Orange". Ever since Seth has been born it is something that I have to have in the house at all times. When I was nursing I had to be careful how much orange juice I drank because it would upset his tummy, but now that I am not nursing anymore I can have as much as I want. I will be at the grocery store shopping and I will see a small bottle of orange juice and get it because I want it so bad. I love it so much.

8. Music/songs. I love to listen to music. I can not sing worth anything but there is something about listening to it. I love how I could be having a hard day and finding it hard to explain to people but then I hear a song that describes what is going on exactly and I love that. I love how I could be struggling with something and I can listen to a song that sings about what I am going through or it just encourages me. Recently I have cut out a lot of Sydney's tv time and I just play music in the background and I really love just listening to it.

9. Sour Patch Watermelons. Not many people know this but I LOVE them way too much. I can eat a whole bag of them within an hour and still want more. While Seth was in the NICU I think thats all I ate. Besides the fact that I really do love them, I think they make me feel like I am a kid again. I have no idea why because I never ate them as kids but oh my goodness they are amazing!

10. Lighting. Not the natural light which I am thankful for but rather light bulbs. Besides the fact that it is the way that my husband is able to support me and his family and how I am able to stay at home with our kids, my kids love lights. Sydney loves to turn lights on and off. She loves Christmas lights on houses and of course on the Christmas tree. Seth LOVES lights all kids of lights. He will stare at lights all day long if I would let him. Whenever he is cranky and its not bath night I can put him in his swing and he will stare at the Christmas tree with all the lights on it. I have always hated going anywhere with my husband after he got his job at Voss because the first thing he would do was look up at what kind of lights & light fixtures they use and he would make me guess. It drove me insane. Now I laugh at it but I also love the fact that my son can at least see the lights and that he loves looking at them.

So there you have it, that is my list of ten and I so much more to be thankful for but I could just keep going on and on so I think I am just going to end it at 10! I hope that everyone had a wonderful and fun THANKSGIVING!

5 MONTHS & The Dentist.

5 months really? I can not believe that my little guy is already 5 months old. It seems like just yesterday at the hospital waiting for him to come into the world. He got sick last week so we still have not gotten him in for his 4 month well check but that will be next week. I know when he was 4 months he was 18.10 pounds  and 27 1/2 inches long. I finally got a little camera that I like and understand how to use it and the best part it I got it on SALE at Target! Anyways, I needed to get some pictures of Seth because he was 5 months old of course so here they are :)

He didn't want anything to do with the camera.

Loving his bath

What a muffin

I just want to eat him up he is so adorable!

In his "Thing 1" towel!

Last week we took Sydney back to the dentist and she needs some work done on her top 4 teeth. We thought that we were going to be able to wait till they fall out but they are starting to hurt her now. So next wednesday they are going to put her to sleep and crown them. We do not have dental insurance so it is going to be quite a chunk of change but its either that or pull them. I actually thought about getting them pulled but if she is anything like me I did not lose my first tooth till I was 6 and that was on the bottom, and I did not lose the top teeth until I was 7 plus waiting for them to come it...it will be almost 4 years from now so I am getting them fixed, call me crazy for spending the money but I do not want her to have all 4 teeth up top gone for 4 years, thats way too long! So if you think about it pray for her because she will be out for about an hour and she will most likely be in some pain so she could use the extra prayers!

Sydney's 3rd Birthday Party

November 14th we had a birthday party for Sydney at Makutu's Island and we all had a blast! It took her a while to get use to it but after that she had so much fun. We had all of her best little buddies there and she got some many fun new toys and things to do. I was going to have Lisa make a cake for Sydney's party but I did not order all of the stuff on time so it came on friday the 13th and we, meaning Mike, me, Lisa, and Matt had a wedding to go to which was so much fun but that made us have no time to get a cake done so we are going to use it for Seth's birthday cake. I can not believe that she is already 3 years old. I remember the day I found out I was pregnant but it doesn't seem like that long ago. Here are some pictures from the fun party!

Having some fun

My 3 year old

She would not go down the slide so I forced her to go with me

Not too happy with me

Trying to get to the slide

Almost there!

They are all so cute!

Justin with 2 of his girls...Sophie and Ashlyn

Mike and Syd

Kenzie and Drew eating some pizza

This is what Lisa thinks of Makutu's cake :)

Joe, Sydney & Topher

Getting ready to sing

Topher did not like the singing :)

Joslynn and Seth. They are 2 days apart and I think he is at least 5 pounds heavier.

Lorelai & Topher having some of the yummy cake

Oh, this little guys has a hold of my heart!

Eli really loving the cake

Sydney & Topher looking at the fish. She would have done that all day long if I let her.

Thanks everyone for coming and spending the morning celebrating my little girl. She had a great time and was so blessed to have all her little friends with her. Also thanks for all of the wonderful things that you got her!

My Baby Turns 3!

November 12, 2006 Sydney Nevaeh was born. She will always be my baby girl but it is crazy to think that she has already been apart of our lives for three years.

I never thought that I would be the type of mom that would cry or get emotional when my kids started to grow up...oh how I was wrong. Sydney is an amazing little girl with so much energy that I can hardly stand it. She is sooo very strong willed and yet at the same time can have a great heart. She is loving and caring and yet she can be totally rough and tough. She can get to my nerves and at the same time melt my heart.

Minutes old

6 months old

1 year

1 1/2 years old

2 years old

2 1/2 years old

3 years old (going to grandma's on her birthday)

I hope that you had a wonderful birthday Sydney! Next post will be her birthday party which we had at Makutu's Island on the 14th. It was so much fun and she had a blast!

Rough week!

Here is Seth trying rice cereal out for the first time. He was not the biggest fan of it but yet he still liked it. I think he enjoyed something different going into his mouth but it didn't last long.

18 weeks eatin some rice cereal.

Enough already!

Oh he is so cute...what a little muffin!

Well last Saturday I look Seth into the doctor because he had some mucus in his urine and was running a low grade fever again. On Monday they called and said that he did not have a UTI. I asked how is that possible when he has mucus in his urine, they said I needed to call the urologist. I called and asked them and they said he might be dehydrated. That was such bull crap in my eyes but I just kept an eye on Seth for the next few days. By Wednesday afternoon his fever was getting up to 102.7 so I knew that something was going on. About 4:00pm I started feeding him a bottle while talking on the phone with Lis. By 4:35pm he threw up EVERYWHERE! When I say everywhere I mean EVERYWHERE. I was totally covered and it just kept coming and coming. So I ended up having to take him to the urgent care and he in fact ended up having a UTI. Out of everything that has been wrong with this little boy his kidney reflux has caused the most problems. I can not wait until we can have the surgery to get it all fixed.

This past Tuesday Seth had another test done. This time it was an EEG which looks at his brain activity. I have been wondering about this test for a long time because the last time we saw the neurologist he mentioned seizures to me and wanted to see if Seth gets them...that was in September. So the test was about 2 hours. We got to Phoenix Children's at 9:30am and got into his own room. The nurse then proceeded to attach 24 wires to his little head and then cover his head in gauze so that he wont pull the wires off. We had to get a reading with him asleep, awake, and with a light flashing. We did the awake part first and the light and then finally he fell asleep for a good 20 min and they were able to get a reading while he was in stage 2 sleep which is what they wanted. So we finally got out of there by 12:15 and headed home. But this morning was the hard part...Dr. Bernes called with the test results.

The doctor called and said that his brain activity is definitely not normal. In the 2 hour study Seth had about 7 seizures. The test studies the brain activity and also has a camera on Seth at all times so that they can look and the paper showing activity and then also look at Seth on camera at the same time. The seizures were so short that you could not even tell Seth was having them. But there are so many different kinds of seizures so sometimes you would not know. We have no idea right now if the seizures will get worse or not but for the time being he is going to be put on anti-seizure medication called Keppra. We will just have to keep repeating these EEG's for a while to see if the brain activity gets worse or not. The seizures can get worse at any time because the brain can shift or really anything can happen and he can get one that is much worse or lasts much longer or just the type of seizure changes. Right now the seizure can be as simple as a stare but it could turn into his entire body convulsing. We will just have to wait and see what happens but hopefully the Keppra will stop them all together.

Lately we have been having a lot of test and exams done for our little muffin and I keep telling myself with each thing that comes up that is small issue that I can overcome but when you have all these little things adding up it becomes huge to me. But for some reason the seizures are the things that scare me the most. I so did not want this for my little boy...I mean no one does but I really prayed for this. I know that there is a reason but I am so not seeing it right now. So if you think about it please pray for me and that the medicine will work and we can keep the seizures away!

HALLOWEEN!

So I know its been a week since Halloween, it has been a crazy week but I finally have time to post some pictures of the fun night. Seth went as a caterpillar, it was Ezra's from last year. And Sydney went as Sandy from Grease and Topher went as Danny. They are so cute together! I can not wait until they are older so I can show them all the wonderful pictures Lisa and I have of these two crazy kids together. They both are insane when they are together. Sydney and Topher really love each other but at the same time they can fight like crazy. They really are two peas in a pod, they are so similar it is kinda scary. The other day Sydney hung out at the MacCallums and I went and picked her up and we were walking home and I asked her what she did and she told me everything she did. I said "I love you." She then says, "I love you too mom, and I love Topher." They are too funny!

Too Cute!

Danny and Sandy

My huge caterpillar!

The cutest octopus!

All the kids waiting...Sydney, Topher, Lorelai, and Drew

The cool bubble machine.

Walking to the next house. Trick-or-Treat!

My kiddos

Family shot first try, what is going on with my arm?

Second try was much better!

My little muffin.

We had a great time over at the MacCallum's. Thanks again for inviting us over we had a great time!