Happy Halloween!!!

Today was Halloween!!!  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
The kids and Brian and I had a really good time going out trick-or-treating.  We met up with some friends to walk around and that always makes it more fun.  It was chilly outside but very tolerable.  We went door to door for about an hour and then headed over to the church's trunk or treat.  After that we walked across the street to the nursing home where Brian's grandpa Troyna lives.  He had just gotten back from a hip repair at the hospital so we didn't get to see him.  We got home in time for the girls to have a piece of candy and then go to bed.  Austin came home from school with a couple friends and I made a couple pizzas for us all.  The boys all dug in our costume box and found some masks then went out to get some candy!  It was a great night but I don't know if Adah would agree!  She was not a fan of anything that had a mask on.  It didn't matter if it was a nice mask or not.  She was shaking and just plain terrified.  We had a stroller and she wanted in it all the time.  It made her feel secure.  Daddy started carrying her and that made her even more happy!  Kezzie is already asking me if tomorrow is Halloween again!!

Adah is 23 MONTHS!!

Look at that sweet smile!  The pictures of her in the red are when I took Keziah's month pictures (four days ago).  Adah just can't resist having her picture taken when big sis is and I can't resist using them in her month pictures!  Kezzie snuck her way into some of Adah's pictures also!  They are just so cute together!

Adah has had some problems with sleep this month.  Something in her room has scared her or so it seems.  She will lay in her bed and cry and cry until one of us comforts her.  She is definitely scared.  For four nights in a row we (mostly Brian) would go up to her room and rock her or stand holding her for a little while until she calmed down.  She would usually do fine after that and go to sleep.  But the fifth night I think both Brian and I had decided that it couldn't continue and we needed to do something about it. Aside from rocking her I tried several different things over the course of that five days...I spent time in her room with her with the door closed, looking around and talking about the different shadows, etc. I talked to her about leaving the door open and she didn't want to. I talked to her about no night light so there weren't any shadows and she didn't like that and lastly, we moved her night light to a different outlet that created less shadows.  We were spending a good half hour calming her down.  So I decided to try something that I remember worked on Keziah (you will think I am harsh) when she went through this.  I just put her to bed as lovingly as usual, when she started crying I didn't wait more then a couple minutes and then I went in there and told her in a stern voice there was nothing to cry about and that she needed to go to sleep.  She said, 'okayy' in a whiny voice, but when I closed the door again she was quiet.  It worked.  I was worried it wouldn't because Adah's personality is a lot more sensitive then Kezzie's and I didn't want to make things worse, but she was a big girl about it.  For a couple nights she still whimpered after the initial closing of her door, but I would just peek my head in and remind her that she was alright and didn't have any reason to cry.  She would sweetly respond by saying, 'okayyy'.  It was around that same time that I discovered her two bottom 2 yr. molars coming in (October 7).  I felt bad because I am sure that was part of what was going on with her when she was having trouble sleeping.  I put orajel on for a couple nights but for the most part she was done having her crying spells so I just didn't worry about it.  She is so tough!

Adah really loves her daddy!  She loves to lay in our bed with us/him and cuddle.  She will rub his head, give him kisses and scoot as close to him as she can.  She will also continually say, 'Hi dad'.  It's the sweetest thing ever and I am so glad that they share those moments!

Adah also loves to color, count as best as she can saying, 'two, two. Two, two, twee'.  She loves playing independently too.  We will often find her off somewhere with a toy, sitting on the floor with her legs out-stretched, just playing contently.  It is fun to watch her enjoy being by herself sometimes! 

Adah and Austin also have a bond.  He loves to make her laugh and teach her things.  She loves to cuddle him and watch him do things that she can learn!

Adah does seem to have sensitive skin like Keziah.  Her skin around her mouth gets very irritated and red sometimes and although she is potty trained, she still wears a diaper at nap and bed which causes some redness on her bottom too.

My baby girl isn't such a baby anymore.  She talks so well and I can easily have a conversation with her.  I am amazed at how fast time has gone this year...she will be two next month!!!

Pumkin Carving Time!!!

Tonight we carved pumpkins.  Grandma Uglum got us a couple pumpkins from her sister so we didn't have to purchase any this year!  Keziah told me exactly what she wanted it to look like, Adah colored on the other side and Austin got to have a huge one to himself.  The girls had so much fun digging into all the gooey stuff and picking out the pumpkin seeds for baking.  Our pumpkin was green and very hard to carve, almost like a gourd but it still turned out nice.  Austin picked a ghost with some bats flying overhead.  I thought he did an awesome job.  I cut the top off but otherwise he got to do everything else!  I just love this time of year!

Happy 2nd Birthday Henry!

Mat and Steph's (Brian's sister) youngest, Henry turned two today!  They were in town for the weekend so we got to celebrate with them all weekend.  It was beautiful weather while they were here so we spent some time outside too.  The pictures are pretty self explanatory...the dog is Brian's parents' golden doodle.  There are a couple of all the kids hanging out together doing different things.  The one of Brady and Adah is Adah watching over Brady's shoulder while he plays a game.  I caught her rubbing his back a few times!  I love the golf cart picture with Mat.  They did a lot of golf rides over the course of the weekend.  It was actually better they were all crammed on there because it kept them all in place and from falling out.  He took them out on the course and rode around too.  Henry really likes cookies so we had a giant cookie to share and Steph made some caramel brownies too!  Grandma Uglum bought enough balloons so that we could take a couple home but right before we were going to leave, they got loose and floated to the ceiling of their really high living room ceiling.  Bummer.  We did manage to reach one of them which will bring great entertainment in this house for at least a week!  It's hard to believe it has been two years since Henry was born!  Happy Happy Birthday Henry!  We love  you to pieces! 

Keziah is 47 MONTHS!!

My sweet Keziah!!!  What else could you expect but a lot of silly faces?!  She is a character!  She will often make Adah laugh at the dinner table with all her silliness!
Keziah has become increasingly interested in letters.  She tries to put letters together and then ask me what it spells.  After supper Austin will sometimes ask if he can have a t-r-e-a-t.  She knows what he is asking so she tries to do the same.  She has caught on to the first three letters but everything after that doesn't make sense.  I love that she is trying though.  She is so smart!  We have a workbook that we do when I think about it and she loves to identify words that start with different letters but hates to try to write her letters.  I have successfully gotten her to write A!  That is seriously as far as we've gotten. A lot of times though she will be coloring/drawing and she will bring me her paper with excitement of a letter she has written.  She's funny!
We got her a new hat and belts this month.  She is pretty happy about both!  She wears her hat everywhere but the convenience of not wearing a belt (and letting her pants fall) takes priority over the style of it.  She wore one that coordinated with every outfit for about 2 weeks and then decided it wasn't worth it!  I agreed since she is so good about taking herself potty and a belt requires help!  Keziah has gotten really good about putting her hair behind her ears by herself.  This might seem silly to take note of, but as a girl who refuses to most of the time let me put anything in her hair to keep it out of her face, this is a big deal!
At night Keziah continues to suck her paci (oh the shame) and still needs a pull up.  She will wake dry some mornings but we wouldn't want to chance going without it.  We used to wake her at night and take her potty and she would have more dry pull-ups that way but it just wasn't worth waking her and it didn't seem like it was really training her to do it herself.  She will get there on her own someday!  She also requires quite the array of animals/blankies in her bed.  She has a row of small stuffed animals that sleep head to toe in a row down the side of her bed (opposite of the wall) and then they get covered up by a blanket so they don't fall out...then she has two little square taggie blankets.  One goes under her head (it is pink/green) and the other she rubs (red/blue).  She also has a chick and a horse (both small stuffed animals) that she holds onto while she sleeps.  She has the whole corner of her bed that is against the wall covered in other animals.  I have to clean it out every so often because she sneaks other ones in there.  When we go stay other places like in a hotel or at my parents or friends, she doesn't require all of that though (thank goodness).  She is happy to have the basics: her red blankie, pink blankie, horse and chick!  Another thing Keziah requires at night is pants.  She has several nightgowns that she loves but she refuses to wear them without pants.
I love my big girl so much and can't wait to see what this next month and year are going to bring for her.  Soon she will be a big FOUR years old!!!

Fall is Here!!

October 6, 2011  A great opportunity to get some fun fall shots.  The weather was beautiful so it was a nice day to spend outside.  Who can resist these sweeties?!  Can you find them in all those leaves?

October 16, 2011  Another great day!  It was a bit more chilly but we had to get outside while we can because it's going to get a lot colder then this!  The girls were thrilled to have their big brother outside with them!  He always comes up with fun ideas!  Like this first picture...he built a nest for them all to sit in like little birds!  He also put a huge pile at the end of our slide, which the girls thought was really fun!  Austin went and got his sled out too and used it to scoop up leaves and throw them into the air.  It looked pretty cool when they were coming down around us!  What great pictures of three of my favorite people!  We are incredibly blessed!!

And fall isn't complete without a very delicious squash pie!

Amniocentisis Results!

All good news!!  The tests were all normal.  It's nothing viral and nothing genetic.  God is so good!  The lady who called did want me to be aware that there is still such a wide spectrum of things that can be wrong because of this fluid in the brain.  She wanted me to rejoice, but also wanted me to be cautious.  I am thankful for that call today.  It came almost a week early!  Praise God for that in itself!  Keep praying, please!

28 Weeks Prego!

I had my 28 week check up today.  It's pretty uneventful when you compare it to the visits I have had lately!  Doc measured my uterus and it was measuring just a little over 28 weeks.  So that means my uterus slowed down a bit as I had grown a lot the last time I was in to see the doctor.  Here is the post about that if you missed it.  I didn't gain any weight either.  The baby's heart rate was where it usually is around 150/160.  I talked to the doctor about my hands being swollen in the morning when I get up.  She said that was from my wrists being bent all night.  It's really been a problem for me in the mornings!  I wake up and my hands feel like they are going to explode!  I guess I will try to keep my wrists straight more!  I also talked to her about the symptoms of RLS (restless leg syndrome).  I guess this is pretty common in pregnancy.  It sounds like I may be dealing with this some.  I always feel like there is something crawling on my legs!  I feel like I am constantly swiping at them to get something off.  Doc said it will go away after pregnancy!  Phew! 
My two women doctors that I see, one is on maternity leave and the other is about to go on maternity leave.  I start to see the doctor every two weeks now so time should really start flying!!  However, because of this I had to schedule my next apt. with a male doctor whom I have never met. I should only have to see him once and then the one women doctor who is on maternity leave will be back!  I definitely prefer a women!!  I'm sure if I have to deliver somewhere other than here with my regular doctors, I am going to have to get over this!  We will see! 
I never do a full body shot or ones from the front so I thought I would try to get that this month too.  Keziah did a really good job taking that middle picture of me.  Although it is at an angle, I kind of like it like that!!

It's been a week now since my Mason City apt., but I just want to make note of what it was like the days following my amnio.  I just never would have imagined such after effects.  They told me to take it easy for 24 hours after I had that done, but it was more like 48 hours before I even began to feel like doing anything.  All I can figure out is that the whole time I was laying on the table for both my ultrasounds (one with the tech and one with the doc.) and then again for the amnio, I must have been incredibly tense the whole time.  I tried to conciously relax my body but the way I felt over the next 48 hours was terrible.  I was incredibly crampy and my lower abdomin muscles were super weak all the way around to my lower back.  My legs were even sore.  And my neck was sore from being turned to see the monitor.  I get that my lower abs would be a little sore from the amnio, but I never imagined it would be that bad.  I couldn't do anything.  I felt like I had a horrible flu.  I especially felt like I couldn't do anything with my lower ab muscles.  I felt like I had a c-section...OK enough complaining...did I mention how thankful I was to have my husband by my side?!!  I love that man!  God blessed me when he gave me him!

Football Season!!

Now that Austin is in 7th grade, the football season doesn't last quite as long.  He only had 5 weeks of games!  He played every Tuesday for five weeks and his team would play one of two games on that day.  I didn't even realize it until it was all over and Brian explained to me that the 7th grade is split into two teams.  Austin's team always played the second game.  They only won 2 this year, but had a really good time.  We had a rough start to the season with  Austin's Osgood/Schlatter's Disease acting up, but after a couple weeks (during practice time, before games started) rest he didn't have anymore trouble.  We actually had an apt. set for him to start physical therapy and then he was feeling much better so we canceled it!  Praise the Lord!  I was really worried he was going to have to quit.  He even said several times that he wasn't sure he was going to be able to finish out the season!  It was so much fun watching him play.  He is getting better and better.  The girls enjoy watching him too.  I just tell Kezzie what number he is and she looks for him.  She gets excited when she finds it and tries to yell for him!  The girls have caught on from the crowd to yell, 'Go Red' so they yell that quite often!  They also spend a lot of time running the stands and bugging other spectators and playing with their kids!  The weather was absolutely awesome too!  Today was his last game :(  We will miss it but look forward to basketball in the winter months!

Sweet Baby Reid!

Here she is the day after delivering...he doesn't look very happy!  I think it's time for some milk!

A friend of mine (my OB doctor whom I have talked about before) just had her baby Sept. 21st!  They named him Reid Matthew.  He was a whopping 8 lbs. 14 oz.!  Big brother Beau and big sister Gracie are very proud of him and call him 'peanut'.  He is such a sweet addition to their clan!
Here he is about 3 weeks old:

Reid came down with pneumonia and had to be taken to Mason City to stay in the ICU for five days.  He is doing great now but they still need to try to keep him contained from people as much as possible.  He is such a sweetie!  I can't wait to meet our little bundle!

Keziah's drawings!

I was slightly impressed with this first photo.  Keziah brought it to me and declared that she had drawn a sea horse.  I haven't seen her draw much more than a circle child so this was pretty good!  Then she said, 'on the other side, I drew a pizza!'  I didn't get a picture of it, but she also recently drew a picture of a shark on her doodle pad.  It looked a lot like a shark!  I think she might be entering the artistic phase of her childhood!!  I love it!

 

A Before and After!

Earlier this week I went to Menards (a dangerous place to go by myself) to get some padding to put around our fireplace.  This has been something that has been on my mind since Keziah went face first into the stone.  It's been really hard for me to relax in our living room which is our main play area.  I am thankful to say that I was able to get some pipe insulation for really cheap and in the color black.  I had previously been looking at some actual fireplace padding on Amazon and it only came in white and cost much more.  It looks really nice.  That wasn't my only purchase that day though.  We have been in much need for some new lighting fixtures so I thought I would 'just look'.  I found the most perfect chandelier and it was on clearance!  It fits nicely in our house and matches our ceiling fans that hang in our living room which is right next to our dining area.  I was feeling much better this afternoon after my apt. wed. and I couldn't wait to get it up.  It took me about 2-3 hours to do by myself.  I could do it again in much less time but because this was my first time hanging something like this it took me a while.  Plus, by the time I got it up I realized I wanted it shorter so I had to take some links out of the chain and then that required me to rewire in the ceiling too!  The results were totally worth it!  I love it and almost every time we sit down for a meal, Keziah tells me how much she loves it too!  We have a dimmer on that light switch which makes it look even prettier!  I love that it is so much brighter than our other one.  And that it isn't brass and that it actually has light covers!
I don't have any pictures for the outdoor lights but I did end up buying 5 new outdoor lights too.  They look amazing as well!  One of them is a motion light for above our garage doors.  The others are porch lights.  The old ones were brass too (the previous owners really liked their brass!)  Oh, and I can't forget to mention my most exciting purchase of that day...a NEW CHRISTMAS TREE!!!  Let's not forget that my tree fell over 3 times last year because it is REALLY old!  I could totally justify this purchase, but just to be sure I got Brian's approval!  He fought me on a new tree all last year, even when they were on clearance!  I am sooooo excited to set it up...right after halloween passes!!  Just kidding!

Mason City Apt.

Well we were called last Friday with our apt. date of Oct. 5th at noon.  That was the next time Dr. Hwang was going to be in Mason City.  I am so thankful we only had a week to wait.  What a LONG ride there...I don't know if Brian and I said a word the whole way there.  We were very scared at what the apt. would hold and tell.  We got called back almost right away when we got there.  We had to go back downstairs into an overflow ultrasound room because they had basically just fit us in.  I was worried this could take a while but I didn't care...I just wanted answers.  The ultrasound tech got right to it.  She did everything the lady in New Hampton did but she just focused more on some of the areas of concern.  She really looked the brain over, of course and the heart, kidneys, backbone and bridge of nose.  She didn't say much the whole time to reassure us.  She at one point finally said all those things looked very good except the brain.  I was happy to hear she could see the whole spine this time.  The brain appeared to be of the same size as the week before.  I was sad to hear it hadn't completely resolved itself!!  Wishful thinking, I know!  We were told to wait there and she would get the doctor.  We knew he was going to come in and do his own evaluating also.  She spent probably an hour and he spent probably another half hour looking at the baby and talking to us.  He kept asking me if I have had some kind of infection. No-I have not.  He also asked about our family history.  I mentioned my sister that has her two youngest kids with dwarfism.  He didn't think there was a connection there.  He felt that an amniocentesis would better help him rule some things out.  I was really hesitant and asked if it would really make a difference anyway.  I told myself I wasn't going to do this if they wanted even before getting to the apt.  I had resolved myself for knowing it wasn't going to change the diagnosis whether we knew it or not but Dr Hwang really insisted and talked to us about how helpful it would be for him now for the rest of the pregnancy and any doctors that would be there delivering  her (YES, THEY CONFIRMED 100% SURE IT'S A GIRL).  I was super scared.  I am so thankful for Brian.  He held my hand through the whole thing and stroked my hair.  I bawled.  It was really uncomfortable but mostly I was just worried about the baby and if I took a wrong breath or if I made her move too fast.  The whole time they are doing it they have the ultrasound machine on and are watching her, but it didn't make me feel any better.  It was just too much to be honest.  I was incredibly tense for the few minutes it took.  When the needle was out they watched on ultrasound to see if it would seal up again.  It had a few bubbles and then it was fine.  She watched the baby for a bit and said she looked good too.  I was instructed to take it easy for a couple days and that was it.  We had the whole ride home to sit in silence.  I was very crampy and weak.  Brian held my hand the whole way home and at some point we just cried together.  It was really comforting to have him.  I am so thankful for him!  He even stayed with me that afternoon instead of going back to work.  The girls were sleeping when we got home (thank-you grandma Kathy for watching the girls) so I laid down too.  Dr. Hwang sent it out for a few tests.  He said he was testing for a couple different viruses.  He said if the baby has some kind of viral infection then it would be really really bad.  That she would have severe brain damage.  This is why he was checking and double checking if I have had any kind of infection.  He said as an adult we can fight off viruses really easily, but as a fetus it is very deadly because their bodies aren't capable of that yet.  He also sent out the fluid for a genetic test, to test for things like down syndrome, etc.  If there were 23 chromosomes from each of us (Brian and I) then it wouldn't be anything genetic.  The tests are supposed to come back in 10-14 days.  I don't know how we will get through it!!  God is good... and for now, I am resting in that!  Dr. Hwang did say that if these tests come back normal then he thinks it is Agenesis of Corpus Callosum (part of the brain is missing).  It just means that the fluid could be shifting the brain around so it develops in the wrong way, or that part of the brain isn't developing.  He said even if these tests come back normal there is still a wide range of things that could come of it.  From the least being not even being able to notice there was ever a problem with her brain, all the way to severe developmental delay,etc.  He also gave us some hope in saying that there have been autopsies done on people who died later in life and found their brains to be enlarged like this and you would have never known it about that person.  He said this isn't likely and actually even told Brian that 'this will not resolve itself.  It can get worse, but it won't get better this late in pregnancy.'  But I know that with God, all things are possible and I am going to pray for the best!!  We go back to see Dr. Hwang on Dec. 7th at 10:30.  Until then I just keep seeing my doctor here in New Hampton for all my regular visits.