Home Improvment

Matt and Jeremy were hard at work today on the house! They did an awesome job putting in a cobblestone walkway up to the house. I'm so proud of them. Thought I'd show off their handiwork. And yes we forgot to take the before pictures...so all you get is the after! :)

Hey

Just wanted to say Hey...."Hey"...ok now that's out of my system. Not to much going on in South Texas. Another gorgeous day...sorry to all you Northeners...not trying to rub it in! Beth, sure wish Emmalee could come ride her bike down here! And teach Kaden...we haven't ventured into big bikes yet maybe it's time! And she looks so beautiful, I loved, loved the pictures even with mascarra all over her face! :) ( and yes I tried to leave a comment, but wouldn't you know it wouldn't let me...again)
Matt's on his way home (it's almost 10pm) so that's exciting. Kaden and I are planning on hitting the lake tomorrow for a bit, but not any exciting weekend plans as of yet...don't worry I'll keep you posted :). We are heading out to California in two weeks and I'm super super super excited about that. Kaden and Matt are excited for Disneyland....I'm excited for yep you guessed it Target and Starbucks and of course family! :) Oh the thrill of Target!
Well I hear Matt coming in the door so I'm off to say hello. Hope you all are doing well...oh one final thought. I was helping my dad in his garden this evening and it hit me the uniquness of how God created each one of us. How each one of us has a wonderful thing that just makes us happy...for my dad gardening, for me running, for others...fill in the blank. God is so good that even in the midst of sorrow and pain there is joy...so enjoy being unique and rest in God's love for you.

Weekend Wedding

Chris was in the wedding party...he cleans up nice doesn't he!

Sorry it's been a while but you know how the days just get busy and slip away before you're even out of bed! :) This weekend we went to a wedding (so much fun, I love weddings) so we snapped a couple ( ok a lot of pictures but I'll spare you having to see all of them!) pictures. Kaden leaned over during the ceremony and said, "Papa, are they married yet?" So funny. He had a blast at the reception as it was outside and there was lots of room to run and pretty little girls to play with! :) He even had his own place card which he carried around all afternoon showing people that it had his name on it! He was so proud. It's so cute the things that amuse them.

Comments

ok so I'm still not able to post comments on everyone's site...basically the computer is slow or I get a comment written and then it won't load up....SO FRUSTRATING...so here goes. Jody-my email...and now everyone knows it :) thanks for adding me! :) Brooke-don't worry about Hope, she'll be fine. She's a beautiful little girl that God has designed just perfect. Kaden didn't crawl until the day after he learned to walk! Go figure! :) And I'm feeling good today...some days are better then others. thanks for asking. Julie- Your house is looking so awesome, I'm so impressed! Tell Derec good job! Beth-loved talking to you yesterday...and I still need to get around to reading other peoples blogs! Joan- I love reading about your day...sounds a lot like mine usually! :)
Ok, not sure if that's everybody but that's all I can think of right now! :)

Farm Day

Kaden had farm day at school today, and they let the parents come down and play too! And of course I forgot my camera, but we had a friend take one picture for us of Kaden being a cowboy! Too cute. They had goats (a very very very common animal in Del Rio!), a bull that we got to pet, a rooster named shrimp...go figure, and a horse which Kaden didn't want to ride ( which is fine since mommy is deathly allergic to horses!) So a fun but fast 20 min!

Caleb is finally over the roto virus! Praise the Lord~ It lasted about a week, so I'm glad that's behind us. As my friend Julie was saying, when your children are ill it makes you so grateful for the health that they have. There are so many sick babies out there, and I know that the Lord is holding those families in His hands, but it does put everything into perspective when you realize that the Lord calls us all to different trials, and so far I'm grateful that ours has not been sick babies (at least not for long). Ok that was a really really bad run-on sentence...don't check this thing for grammer! :) All right, hope everyone is having a good week...chat at you all later.

7 months

Ok to be cliche yet again...where has the time gone! Ok, so since I just took pictures of Caleb like two days ago, I thought I would just snap one of him sleeping...not a very good picture but I wasn't about to risk waking him up. He doesn't sleep a whole lot so this is a rare shot! :)

The doctors yesterday...well they were doctors. Dr. Sidiqi is awesome, very people oriented, and thinks outside the box. Dr. Masters...yeah...he's a doctor. So anyways, still no definite answers, I'm to stay on the medication and go back to see Dr. Masters in three months, hopefully things will continue to improve. I have to get some more blood work done...yeah...Oh well, God is in control and the rest is just details!

The sad news being I went all the way to San Antonio and didn't get to go to Starbucks or Target :( The timing just didn't work out and then I had my dad and Jeremy with me so I felt awkward dragging them through Target since I couldn't think of one thing I absolutly needed from there...the good news is I did get to stop at this little Coffee hut in Del Rio for the first time and it was awesome...so I'll have to visit there again soon! And we're planning on going to California for Easter, and you know I'll hit Target and Starbucks there at least five or six or seven times in the seven days that we're there! :)

Hawaii Baby

I took some pictures of Caleb in his onsie from Papa Van and Grandma Shawn which they bought for him when they were in Hawaii. I just love all the different expressions on his face...you'd never know that he's still sick! We're on the upward swing but everything is just running through him. Please keep him in your prayers when you think of us...and I have two doctors appointments in San Antonio tomorrow so I'll update you on that when I can. On the plus side I'm planning on going to Starbucks! :)

Comment

Ok, I just wanted to let everyone know that I do try to comment on your blogs but either the page won't come up or it tells me the password is wrong or something else goes terribly wrong! Yes, I am almost completely computer illiterate...I'm suprised I've gotten this far! So anyways, I'll just comment this way. JODY- I'm planning on starting training for a half-marathon or marathon that is taking place in San Antonio in November. So any advice or encouragment you have would be awesome! JULIE- I love how cute Brody is getting. He is such a little man. Aren't boys a blast! All though I still want to try a little girl too~ BETH-Hope you found all the nail polish in the house before anymore painting episodes! :) I loved talking with you today, you make me happy! BROOKE-Thanks for the update on Target...and I'm insainly jealous that you even have two Targets to compare! Our closest Target is 21/2 hours away!
Ok...that's all the blogs I can remember at this point..oh, JOAN- So glad your blogging again...but I can't see the pictures? Weird huh.
All right enough commenting for now. Love you guys....sure wish I could come to a blogger party!

Yeah! I'm finally able to get my pictures up! Don't the kids look great. I'm so proud of them and Matt and I are just so blessed to be a part of their lives...I mean who wouldn't want to hang out with us on Friday nights!

We had a blast as you can see from the pictures. And of course I had to show off my brothers. Matt's looking good too! So what do you think of the $5.99 dress! I like everything but the bow (I'm not a big fan of bows) but I'm not complaining! And yes, the last picture is of all of us at Walmart...where else are you going to go in Del Rio to show off your dresses! :) Hope you all like the pictures.

Oh and as for today's update. Kaden had his first dentist appointment and did awesome, he only bit me! But Caleb is preety sick with the Roto virus so please keep him in your prayers. Thanks!

Formal Night

So I've been trying to get the pictures up but between the internet not working and our slow, old computer, and blogger not uploading pictures it's not my fault that they're not up! Just wanted to let everyone know that I am trying. We had a great night and everyone looked awesome...and as soon as I can I'll get the pictures up...I'll try again later.

Good Deal

So Matt and I are getting a Progressive Dinner together for the teens this Friday. We're making it a fomral affair since most of our teens are homeschooled and won't have a prom or anything. So I told Matt that if I could find a formal dress under $20 I'd buy one. So I'm in down town Del Rio, which looks a whole lot like Acuna (the Mexican city across the border) but I'd heard good things about one of the dress shops. So there is this sales rack outside and I pick out this really pretty floor length maroon almost wine colored dress, it's satan and fitted, very pretty. So I take it in and ask the shop owner how much it is...she's says "it's 5.99" and I say "it's how much" she says "it's 5.99" I said, "As in five dollars and ninty nine cents" and she starts laughing and says "yes". At this point I know that I'm buying the dress but I try it on for the sake of it and it fits perfect! I love good deals. Who knew that down town Del Rio would be so great today! :) Just thought I'd share my happy story...and anyone in need of a formal dress let me know!
PS. We'll take lots of pictures of the formal so that you can see the $5.99 dress for yourself!

Home Project

Well on his "time off" Matt has been hard at work redoing our back yard. (we've been inspired by Julie and Derec...ok not really there's no way we would take on a project like that! :) But we did want to finish off the back yard and so this will be a long work in project. But I wanted to give Matt some praise and show off some of his hard work. Of course we forgot to take the before picture but the first picture on here is what it kind of looked like before and then the rest are the work in progress after pictuers. The goal is a desert/garden/rock/flower/cactus look... What else are you going to do in South Texas! :)

Sleepy Boys

This is what happens when you try to push Caleb past his normal nap time, and Kaden crashes after church! ...he hasn't even had lunch yet! He got in trouble at Sunday School and knew he was coming home for a time out. He woke up briefly from his nap as we laid him down, and he said, "is it time for time-out". Matt said, "you can sleep or have time out" Kaden goes, "I'll sleep" and has been asleep for the last two hours! :) Talk about avoiding punishment! :)

Hope you all have a good Sunday.

Ok....there's got to be some blond somewhere

So I've been so frustrated with blogger cause I haven't been able to get pictures uploaded...well I finally noticed today that I was forgetting to click the acceptance button! oh well...at least I finally figured it out...so here are the "brotherly love Valentine pictures" I've been trying to get on!

Frustrated blogger times 2

Ok, so now I can't get the blog to post pictuers...any suggestions anyone? Oh well, I tried really hard to get on here yesterday to wish you all a happy Valentines day! :) So HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! :) Hope you all had a good one. Matt and I beat the crowds of Del Rio and got Chili's to go. Yummy. And best of all he let me take a long bath while he took care of the boys! That's worth huge brownie points...not to mention the purple roses and earings...so yeah, he did good. And Kaden and Caleb got me some Winnie the Pooh earings...which Kaden keeps telling me look so preety! :) I feel so blessed to have the boys in my life that I do. Especially Matt. He has been my hero, taking care of me through all the sickness. I couldn't have done it without him. I am feeling better lately so hopefully the medicine is taking effect.
But as awesome as Matt is, there is a love far greater. God's love for us continues to amaze me. That He loves me despite of me and wants to spend time with me, the God of the universe...He cares for us. Amazing. I hope you are more amazed by him everyday. Jesus loves you.

Frustrated blogger

Ok so this is just to see if the blog is actually working today...

Ahhhhhh...computers!

Ok so I've been trying to blog for like four days now, but I couldn't because I didn't have a google account, and every time I tried the page wouldn't load up. So I finally got on google tonight and signed up for their email so I could get a password to get on blogger...ahhh...sometimes I'm not a big fan of technology. On top of that, I tried to get on google and typed in goggle...yeah, don't go there! Oh well..so now I"m finally back...that is if I can remember all my new passwords! :)
So back to Friday, the x-ray test went well. I layed perfectly still for an hour and twenty minuets with an x-ray macine hovering inches above my tummy...and then since I was running late for my next doctors appointment I asked the technition if he could call my brother for me ( I wasn't cleared to drive yet) so he hands me my cell phone, while I'm still doing the x-ray! If I'd known that I could've been doing something for the hour and a half I layed there! Oh well...I got a little nap and some praying in! :) Then we went to the base where the base doctor finally got a hold of the neuro doctor and they decided to let me drive! Praise the Lord...that was one trial I didn't want to walk through. So that's about it on that front. I'm taking my medicine and not feeling much better but maybe it just needs time.
Kaden has been down with a fever the last two days...and I'm hoping he'll be all better by morning so that he can go to his Valentines party Wednesday. Caleb is doing good...still teething but so sweet to be around. He's actually turning into a cuddle bug which is nice. And Matt is doing good. He did a lot of yard work this week. We're trying to make our desert preety...we'll see how that goes, but so far it looks nice....
Ok enough catch up. For someone who didn't even want to start a blog I sure missed you all! :)
Jesus loves you!

So this is what happened...

Well, the last two days have felt like two months, and my head is a little out if it, but I wanted to keep you all in the loop. So excuse the rambling and forgive any incoherent sentences! Tuesday morning I went up to SanAntonio for the endoscopy. I did great coming out of the anesthetic and felt good enough to go out to lunch and run some errands...and of course to Traget and Starbucks! They didn't find anything bad in the test, and stuck to their original diagnosis of gastro parisis and told me to still get the x-ray done in Del Rio. So we came home, and went to have dinner at Mom and Dad's house. Ok, so this is the first full day of not nursing and I'm engorged beyond explination...yeah..it's bad..so my mom offers me nyaced or something which is just a different form of tylenol. So I take that and feel fine. An hour later we sit down to eat and I'm feeling a bit loopy and my head feels heavy. I try to eat and start to choke so I go to lay down on the couch cause I'm not feeling so hot. Within seven minuets I can't move my body. ( Picture Wesley from Princes Bride after he had the life sucked out of him and he could only flop his head! :) So we end up calling the paramedics and they rush me to the ER. Where they can't figure out what's wrong, but I'm starting to improve with the IV flushing through my body. So they decide that I need to go to San Antonio to the Methodist hospital to see a Neuroglogist. So they load me up into the ambulance and a way we go on a three hour ride back to San Antonio. We gt to (Not the funniest drive...a bit bumpy) We get to the hopsital and they start running tests...an MRI, and tuns of blood work. By the next morning, PRAISE THE LORD, I was able to fully move again and was starting to gain strength back. The MRI came back normal and so did the blood work they could do at the hospital. They released me last night at about 6 and we got home about 9:30 pm. I have to go back in a month and see the doctors and get the last results in. Tomorrow I have the x-ray here in Del Rio.
Ok so thars the short and sweet verision of it. Here are the praises, God is so good and has overwelmed us with support from family, friend, church, and military. God worked out all the timing for Matt to be away without having to worry about work, my mom had three days off so she could go with us to San Antonio, Jeremy (and Chris one night) were able to stay with the boys at our house each night and did an AMAZING job taking care of them, and he had others helping during the day. I recovered so quickly and am just supposed to take it easy (a VERY hard thing for me to do, but I'm trying to learn) And through it all God has enveloped me in His peace and strength, like I've never known before.
Thank you fzor all the prayers and as long as you don't get annoyed, I'll continue to update! :)

Bath Buddies

Caleb took the plunge into the big bathtub with brother last night! And of course we took pictures! Both boys had a blast. It's fun to see them together but it does make me sad to see my baby growing up so fast! I remember being a kid and thinking time would never go by, and now I'm lucky if I know what day it is and what year we're in! :) Hope you all have a good rest of the weekend. And GO BEARS!!!

6 Months Old!

Here's the many faces of our big boy! Time flies with two boys in the house! Caleb is one smart baby, he doesn't want baby toys...oh no, we want whatever big brother has! Just wait till he can move then I'll really be busy!

Prayer Request part 2

So we are safely back from our six hour car trip to see the doctor...and now there are more things to pray about. The doctor thinks it may be gastroparalises, simply put a paralyzed stomach, which means it's just not emptying right. So he gave me some medicine to treat the symptoms. He also scheduled an endoscopy for Tuesday (put a tube down your throat to look at your stomach) and some nuclear x-ray that thankfully I can get done in Del Rio. So, we will be making another trip to San Antonio on Tuesday. Hopefully these tests will really reveal what is going on.
Ok now for the hard part, the medications he gave me would require me to stop nursing immediatly. Something, that I knew might happen but my heart was not at all ready to hear. So this is hitting me pretty hard. I've decided not to take the medication until after the test on Tuesday anyway, not just because of the nursing, but I'm not convinced that I have gastroparalises, and I don't want to just treat symptoms, I want to treat the cause. So I'm going to start pumping as much as I can between now and Tuesday, because I won't be able to nurse for 24 hours after the procedure. I realize that our nursing days are numbered, and I'm ok with that, I just need prayer for my heart and just in letting go. And that Caleb will transition well. Please keep praying for answers and that my heart will clearly hear the Lord's leading. Thanks!