Bad News...

My doctor called me this morning with some news about our ultrasound.  I was so engrossed in getting the ultrasound so that the baby could have that full evaluation, that I never thought or worried about anything actually being wrong.  It turns out that the baby has some extra fluid in the ventricles of the brain.  She called it Intercranial Ventriclomagley.  She told me not to worry and that she thought maybe the ultrasound tech was just distracted or mismeasured the fluid.  We all know from my post about our ultrasound that she was definitely distracted so I dismissed her call and tried not to worry.  After talking to Brian about it and not getting enough information for his liking, I called her back.  I had a lot more questions after Brian and I read up on some stuff online.  I asked her what the size of the fluid was and she told me 16mm.  I actually wrote down the name of it too since I didn't in our previous conversation,  along with the specialist she wanted me to see and what kind of specialist he was.  His name is Dr. Hwang and he comes from Des Moines twice a month to Mason City to see patients.  He is a Perinatologist.  According to everything I have read online there really isn't any way the tech 'mismeasured'.  16 mm is A LOT more then the normal range of 2-5mm.  There aren't enough distractions in the world to measure that much off if you ask me!  The doctor also mentioned to me that the didn't like that they couldn't see the lower lumbar spine (as I mentioned in my post about our ultrasound).  She threw the words spina bifida out there but quickly took it back as she said there are MANY possibilities that can come from this.  For now we wait to hear back about an apt. with the specialist.  They will call and tell us when to be in Mason City.  I am scared, but I know God has a plan.  We are going to love this little baby no matter what, I just worry about how she is feeling and what her life will be like.  God knows though and already has her life planned out, we just have to trust.  He loves her way more than I could ever understand.  A friend of mine sent me this verse that she just happened to read in her devotions this morning:  When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. . . This I know, that God is for me" (Psalm 56:3-4, 9b).  We have such a tremendous amount of support from our family and friends that I can't imagine we aren't going to be able to get through whatever God has planned for us!  Please pray for us as we start this unknown journey.

Adah is 22 Months!!

I have a quirky almost 2 year old.  It's hard to believe!  She has such a secretive funny personality.  I will often catch her making funny faces by herself.  And her expressions are almost always to make someone laugh!  She likes to look at you out of the corner of her eyes to see if you are paying attention!  She continues to copy EVERYTHING everyone else does and it is teaching her so much.  She is literally a sponge!  She is catching onto the idea of an alphabet and will recite many letters in various orders, she will do the same with counting.  She hasn't really ever gotten three numbers in a row but she will sometimes tell you what's coming next if you are the one counting.  If she is counting something in a book or something in front of her she will sometimes even repeat the same number over and over as if she is counting.  Adah is also learning her colors also.  She has been getting most of them right but gets in a habit of calling everything green.  I know she knows them better than that so I'm not sure why she does that.  It might be her secretive goofiness coming out because sometimes she smirks about it!

I thought maybe Adah was going to escape the whole rash problem we went through with Keziah on her face, but she didn't.  It just came a little later!  It turns out Adah has just as sensitive of skin as Keziah.  In fact, I think it is probably even more so because Adah actually itches hers where as Kez was never bothered by it.  I do have to put Elidel around Adah's mouth every few days.  Some days it is much worse then others.  She will itch it and say it hurts too.  I feel bad for her.  The elidel really seems to help though so that is a good thing.  And I know there will be an end to it if she is like Kezzie because Kezzie doesn't have too many problems with her skin anymore.

Life is so good!  Adah is such a great sleeper.  She takes a 2-3 hour nap every day and still sleeps close to 12 hours at night.  She isn't the greatest eater but that makes it easy to tell when she is growing because she will eat a ton more when she is having a growth spurt.  And this month Adah actually placed the boppy pillow on my lap upstairs in her room while I was sitting waiting to read her a book.  She climbed up on my lap and laid down on it and asked for some milk.  It was just weird.  We had a little talk about how there isn't any milk in there anymore and that when there is, it will be for the baby in mommy's belly!  She still insisted but I just got a book and put the boppy away.  She was fine with that!  I am so blessed every day by this girl.  She makes me feel loved with her hugs and kisses and I wuv yous!  She is precious and amazing.  I thank God for her every day!!

Almost 26 Weeks Prego!

And I finally got an ultrasound!!!  Here's how it happened with probably too much information...just ignore this post if you want to be spared the details!I called the doctor last week sometime thinking I might be leaking amniotic fluid.  It turned out they were going to squeeze me in that day and just have me come do a quick test to see if I was.  I got a call about 15 minutes before I was supposed to be there and they said my doctor was about to deliver somebody in labor (who happened to be my other women doctor) so I was going to need to come in the next day.  They said they had an actual appointment available at 8:45 that next morning so I took it.  I told her I felt better about having an appointment rather then taking up time they didn't have anyway so I was happy about that.  So, the next morning I got there and they said they decided to just go ahead and do a regular OB visit.  I did the urine test, weight and then came the fun part, she tested me to see if I was leaking and she also tested me for a yeast infection just to rule that out in the process (which required a full exam).  It turns out I was NOT leaking fluid but she thought I had enough symptoms to go ahead and treat me for a yeast infection even though it wasn't really positive (not a strong positive).  She also listened to the heart beat and measured my uterus...and that's what did it.  Last week, when I was 24 weeks pregnant, I mentioned I was measuring at 23 weeks.  This week my uterus measured at 27.5 weeks.  I grew 4.5 weeks worth in one week!  She said she didn't even have to check with the insurance company, she knew that would be approved!  So here it is!  We went this morning for our ultrasound (26 weeks tomorrow)! 

And that is a story in itself...we decided to take the girls so they could see the baby too!  Brian was in charge of keeping them occupied since I was laying on the table occupied and I remember looking over at him and I could tell he was pretty frustrated with them (they were far from on their best behavior) and a little bit later I looked over again and he was white as a ghost.  He got up and walked out, moments after that Kezzie said she needed to pee so the ultrasound tech had to take her!  At the same time she was trying to make sure Brian wasn't going to pass out in the hall!  I was just laying there on the table with gel all over my belly and trying to keep Adah contained while the door was wide open!  After the appointment Brian said he couldn't remember much from the whole hour we were there.  He never came down with the flu so I don't know what the deal was.  He doesn't get weirded out easily by stuff like that either.  It was just strange!  But we got through it and I have some cute pictures to prove it!!  I feel so good knowing everything has been measured and looked at.  She couldn't tell us if anything looked odd, but at least I know the baby has been evaluated and the doctor will look at the pictures soon.  She will be calling if anything looks concerning to her.  The tech still didn't want to tell us that we were having a girl for sure because the cord was between the legs and they were crossed, but she thought she was right in saying it was a girl!  There were a couple things she couldn't get a good angle on (the lower spine and bridge of nose) and that was frustrating but she thought she got enough!  With Brian not doing so hot, I was ready to call it good!  Here is our sweet baby 'girl' (I don't know if I will believe that until I see her!).

River Take 4!!

Well this was last and final call for the river...we have officially pulled our camper home for the winter :(  It doesn't seem possible that we have only gotten to the river four times, but it has been so much fun while it lasted!  This weekend we actually even got to spend it with Ethan and Bennett.  Mom decided that before the summer was over she wanted to get the two of them up to the river to do some fishing.  She didn't know how it would go with them since they aren't away from home very often so she only committed to one night.  I wanted to be in church tomorrow so we decided to do the same.  I felt really bad that Austin wasn't here with us on our last weekend but he might get to come up again with my mom and dad.  I guess the ride here wasn't too great with the two boys.  Ethan gets really car sick so he kept saying how he was never going fishing again.  Bennett kept asking to go home.  My mom wasn't sure if they were going to be ok but when it was time to go home today they were really ready to stay longer! 

Here is some explanation of the pictures:
Adah is the first one; then Bennett, Kez and Adah sitting on my parents' step; Bennett taking a walk; Kezzie, Ethan and Bennett burning sticks by the fire (we had a fire going pretty much the whole time we were there because it was pretty chilly); Leora, Ethan and Kezzie playing in Perry's boat; below that one is my Grandma Smith fishing with three of her great-grand kids (Ethan, Bennett and Kez); next row is Adah hanging with my uncle Perry; Kezzie on her bike (I brought enough bikes so all the kids could have one to ride if we went on a walk); Bennett in Perry's boat; Arianna sitting snug in a little lawn chair; Bennett, Kezzie and Ethan 'playing' with the fire and having so much fun; my little fishing girl Kez; next row is my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Perry kayaking with their new kayaks; my Grandma Smith fishing with Ethan off the dock; Rylan hanging out on his bike; Ethan with all of the fish he caught when Uncle Gary took him out in the boat fishing (his smallest was just a couple inches but he had some pretty big keepers too); Adah hanging out on her bike; and the last one is Gary and Ethan going out fishing in the boat!

I mentioned going on a walk with bikes.  When we got there yesterday it was pretty cold and we were already looking for something to do with all the kids.  I got out all our bikes and we decided to go on a short walk/ride.  We didn't get very far and Ethan got stuck on the bike he was riding so he got frustrated and abandoned the bike, Bennett decided he didn't want to ride since Ethan wasn't so my mom was trying to push/carry two bikes!  We weren't sure we were every doing that again!  We did end up trying it again today and they did great (aside from Keziah's chain coming off her bike).  We took a much longer walk and Ethan decided from the start that he was just going to walk.  Today the weather was much more manageable.  But both yesterday and today we had a fire going pretty much all the time.  It was super relaxing and the kids enjoyed gathering sticks to help keep it going.  Last night Ethan and Bennett and Keziah all snuggled in the living room of mom and dad's camper and watched The Bee Movie.  I tried to get a picture but my camera was completely dead.  Ethan was on the couch and Bennett and Kez were all snuggled in blankets on a cot on the floor.  It was so sweet!  After we got the three of them to bed we sat by the fire some more.  I am going to miss the river this year!  It was just too short!  I guess I will be more than ready when next year comes!!

There is a funny story to go with these pictures before I go...this isn't the first time Adah has done this so I had to share!  The picture to the right is a toy my mom got at a garage sale in a baggie with a bunch of other little toys.  Adah plays with it like it's a toy but has twice now all of the sudden set it on the floor, opened it up and started pulling her pants down as if she is actually going to use it as a potty.  This picture to the left is her urgently needing to pee and thinking she is going to go in this toy!  Silly silly girl!  I guess camping with porter-potties has made her think anything with a lid can hold pee!

Keziah is 46 months!!

Here is my Kezzie...so sweet and silly!
Keziah's current favorite color is back to blue and her favorite tv show is Wild Kratts.  Kezzie loves making silly faces (can you tell?)!  She loves to make her sister laugh.  She has a teaching personality so anytime she can tell Adah is learning something from her, it makes her do it more (sometimes good, sometimes not-so-good!).  I am sure I have said this before but Keziah really likes to organize/categorize things.  Recently we bought some beads that you can snap together to make jewelry.  There are several of each type of bead.  The container holds 500 beads and she sorted them all out by color and shape, etc.  We also recently got out a memory game we have.  She has had fun categorizing the different pictures into animals, food, etc.  She does this with her kitchen food also!  She puts them into fruits and veggies and sweets (she's not always right with this!).
Keziah is still doing a great job with her chores.  I have seen some great improvement with remembering to do them herself without being asked.  One of the chores she has trouble remembering is to make her bed.  It's hard when she is sleepy when she wakes up and is focused on coming downstairs to find me.  She gets two chances a day though since she still takes naps.  If she doesn't get it done in the morning then she can still do it after her nap is over.  I don't know if this is a good, bad or doesn't really matter idea!  It's working for now and I think that little bit of leniency is helping her work into that responsibility!  She gets it done on most days!  And those are the days she gets stickers!
As for the calendar I told you to hold me to...I haven't gotten that done.  I guess she heard me talking about it because she doesn't do it as bad anymore.  Either that or I am getting better at giving her a heads up of what is coming.  I think it helps that we are in a pretty good routine now with Austin in school too.
One personality problem we are having with Keziah is she secretly thinks she is the boss (pretty typical, I'm sure). Although if you ask her she will correctly respond saying, "mommy and daddy are the bosses", she thinks she can tell us 'no' when she doesn't want to do something we tell her to do. This gets her in so much trouble lately.  Usually she gets sent to time out to which she typically responds yelling 'NO' and then she has to go directly to her room.  I don't know how to better handle a child who is flat out choosing to disrespect/disobey by saying no.  Any pointers would be strongly considered!!
I went through a bunch of clothes, that used to be Austin's, for my nephew and found a few that were too small for him but actually would fit Keziah.  I didn't think she would care too much for all the boy clothes I found but when I showed them to her, she was ecstatic.  They are all pretty boyish.  Mostly just jammies.  But she loves them all.  She of course had to try everything on!  There is one pair in particular that has a bunch of different sports balls all over it.  She came running to me saying, 'look mom, this one has a pocket even.'  She was so excited.  When she got over to me she had her hand in the little boy hole in the FRONT of the pants!  Pretty funny stuff!!  I didn't know what else to tell her except the truth!

Well, not much else to write. It won't be too long and I will be planning a duel birthday party! My girls are getting so big!

'Painting' and playing!

The girls have a really good time doing this! I am not a huge fan of actual paint but these paint cups are also really good for water! Adah will pretty much do anything Keziah does so Kezzie is the brains behind this idea! They will often make it their goal to get the whole aquadoodle board wet before it starts to dry!  If they work as a team they are usually successful!

The girls love it when I clean my sheets...I don't know what it is about this white mattress cover but it must scream 'come play on me and roll around!'  They love it!  They like to sit on the foot board with the blankets draped over it and then push off for a nice somersault!  So sweet!

A day at Cattle Congress

It was a good day to not sit around the house and be bored so we decided to head to Waterloo and go to Cattle Congress!  We even had the pleasure of having Austin's company!  I always love it when we can do things like this as a family!  It was a little chilly but the sun was shinning!  We walked through the different barns that hold award winning cows, horses and pigs.  There were calves and foals and a batch of baby chicks that just hatched the day before.  Kezzie enjoyed letting one of the calves suck on her finger.  And she thought the baby chicks were adorable but they wouldn't let her hold one since they were so brand new!  We also checked out the petting zoo that is there all summer and is free.  The girls LOVED this since they were able to get up and close with the animals.  There were bunnies, guinea pigs, kittens, ducks, donkeys, a cow and a few others!  We got to feed the goats and that was interesting!  They pretty much attacked us trying to get the food.  They were pretty funny!  We took the kids back to mom and dad's house for lunch and a nap and then headed back to Cattle Congress for some more fun!  We made it in time for The Great Bear Show.  It was a long wait for it to get started but it was pretty neat!   I just felt bad for the bears but I guess they are rescued bears!  The guy had them doing different tricks like balancing on a board, a ball and moving around on a scooter.  He had three that did the different tricks and while the other two were waiting for their turn he had them sit in their chair.  There's a picture of two of the bears sitting and one of them has his tongue sticking way out.  The bear guy said he does that when there are smells in the air like all the food cooking around the cattle grounds.  I thought that was really funny!  That last picture is of a guy that was walking around in a tree costume.  He was up on stilts so he was super tall and walked really funny!  We ended the day with some Sub Sandwiches and then went home for bed.  It was a great day spent as a family!

Austin's Plants!

We got this awesome Carnivorous Planetarium for Austin for Christmas this last year and we have enjoyed watching everything grow.  We waited until spring to get them started just so they would have more sunlight and warmer temps.  Some of them we were able to plant right away, but there were several that we had to put in a baggie with some water and refrigerate for 6 weeks before planting.  They are all there now and doing really well.  They grow SUPER slow!  I have no idea what we will do with them when they are big enough to actually eat insects, etc. but for now we are just enjoying watching them grow and form into plants that we can recognize (ie: the Venus Fly Trap)!

24 weeks prego!

And still no ultrasound :(

I'm feeling kind of frustrated because we haven't been approved by the insurance to have another ultrasound.  I called and the nurse called and they said there has to be a medical reason for it.  At my apt. today there weren't any reasons.  In fact, everything was pretty perfect.  I measured at 23 weeks (just a week behind) and the heart rate was perfect.  I guess I will just have to suck it up and accept the fact that we won't have another ultrasound!  I wouldn't want there to be a medical reason anyway!  I feel worried that the baby won't have the proper measurements done on the heart and limbs and brain, but my doctor said that she would take a look and do the best she could if we couldn't 'make up' a reason to pass through the insurance!  She said she is capable of doing it but that she would be more comfortable having somebody else looking at the ventricles of the brain, etc. because she isn't confident in those areas.  It's frustrating that it wouldn't be normal to have that mid-pregnancy full ultrasound deal.  I have only had one ultrasound at 12 weeks.  It's just weird to me!

I am feeling really good.  Not having too many problems with my back but periodically it acts up.  I have noticed that sitting on hard surfaces makes it especially bad (ie: sitting on the floor to do laundry or read books with the girls, etc.).  I am very thank-ful for the health of myself and the health of the baby.  I can't wait until next month to do it all over again!

Visiting old and good friends!

Yesterday we left around 4 and headed to Cedar Rapids to visit some much missed friends!  I don't have any pictures...I don't know what happened that I didn't once get out my camera, but I don't want to forget that I got to visit them!  I got to Kristin's house just in time for pigs in a blanket.  My other friend (Jami and her daughter whom I hadn't even gotten to meet yet) that I used to work with was there too.  It was so great to see them both!  The last time I saw either of them was when Jami was very pregnant at her baby shower in February!  And Kristin was just a few weeks pregnant!  Now Kristin has a brand new sweet baby named Cohen.  It was such a blessing to meet this little guy!  Keziah had a lot of fun playing with Cohen's older brother Hunter and Adah just had fun playing!  We stayed overnight and left earlier today after nap time!  On our way home I couldn't resist stopping to see another old friend I used to work with when we lived in Marion.  Her name is Angie and she has three kids that I miss so much!  She fed my kids leftovers (so I wouldn't have to stop anywhere) and we headed for home.  We walked in the door in time for a few minutes of play and then bed.  It was such a great time and I look forward to the next time I get to see them all!!

A"maze"d by Grace Corn Maze!

We had a really good time today with some great friends.  I recently heard about a corn maze in Charles City that is in the shape of Noah's Ark.  Click here for their website if you are interested.  They had a petting zoo too!  It was pretty pricey for our family to get it ($8 each for Austin, Brian and myself) but would have been more worth that money if we had more time to stay.  There were three different mazes you could choose from and they gave you a map to help you find your way.  One maze took 1/2 hour, another 1.5 hours, and the other took 2 hours.  One of the longer ones actually had a 'farm scene investigation' that looked really cool.  We only did the half hour one since we had other plans later that evening.  The petting zoo wasn't to die for, but the girls liked it well enough!  There were a couple llamas, a horse, a mean turkey, a couple bunnies, and some mature baby chicks-none of which you could really even pet.  On our maze we let the kids lead mostly!  We were there with our friends the Epperlys and McQuillens.  Kezzie has friends from both families so she was in heaven!  Along the path of the maze the three kids (Beau, Abby and Kez) pretended they were on a lion hunt searching for a lion.  They actually thought they were going to find a lion because the maze we were in was in the shape of a lion!  They kept stopping along the path and pointing out lion prints.  It was really sweet!  Abby carried around a map as if she knew where to go!  The kids all had a blast with the exception of Austin as his allergies were going very crazy.  I think we spent the time we wanted to there and headed home after a long 2 hours!!! It was a good thing we were in the company of friends or else I think we all would have been miserable!

The last of the HOT days!

Today was such a blast.  We spent most of our day outside doing this!  I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner.  The girls just flew off the bottom of the slide with the water running down it.  I couldn't believe how much they both loved it and weren't afraid!  Check out the videos...Adah is fearless!  She seriously would not let me hold her hand and was really good about getting up as soon as she hit the pool.  These are the good times!  I am so blessed to share it with these two beautiful girls!

Happy Birthday Brian!

I don't have any pictures as proof but I can't just not post about how we celebrated!!  About a month before his birthday I received a brochure in the mail for some upcoming events at the GBPAC.  It got me thinking and looking online for anything that was around his birthday.  It turned out that The Blue Man Group had been rescheduled from earlier in the year and one of the performing nights was on his birthday.  It was supposed to be a surprise until the tickets came in the mail on a day I was out of town.  When I returned home Brian asked me what the tickets were for.  I was completely caught off guard and told him to open it and find out.  It was still totally worth it as he was still really surprised and super excited.  It was priceless.  Brian's mom and dad agreed to take care of the kids and get them all in bed for us.  We left our house around 4:45 for some reservations at Bourbon Street in Cedar Falls (we had a gift card for there thanks to Emily and Adam).  The performance started at 7:30.  We were kind of far away from the stage but still really really enjoyed it all.  It was such a great evening out with Brian.  It's been a really long time and it made us realize how much we needed it!  God has blessed me so much by putting Brian in my life.  I love him to death and pray for many more years ahead for him!  Happy Birthday, Honey!

Labor Day Weekend!

 
What a great weekend with family.  It was chilly at times but so much fun!  I will explain the pictures a bit starting at top left: Leora and Keziah made a tree house for their animals, mom and Adah sitting by the fire, all of us sitting around the cement table having a meal together (pretty much everyone in the entire Smith family was there-even Kevin Donald, Owen and Anastasia came!), Adah standing with the shovel, Arianna cute and warm, Joshua and Austin in Dad's boat: dad said they could take it out fishing with the trolling motor!, Adah sleeping sweetly in her pack-n-play, Keziah eating a late supper (not my finest moment as we were sitting around the campfire to have s'moores, I realized she didn't even have supper yet), Adah holding her hands over her ears as 'the boys' (Josh, Austin and Johnathan) light off fireworks, Keith helping Rylan fish for the big ones, Kezzie and Leora anxious to eat lunch, Kezzie, Leora and Colyn swinging by the edge of the water and the last picture is Adah having fun sitting in Mom's camper (she likes to stay close to me and I am glad about that!).