2011 - The first half of the year...

Here we are in June and my last post was on little Pressers birthday in January.  Anyone want to vote for me for Blogger of the year?! 

This year has been a full one so far for us indeed.   Just for memories sake I want to write the highlights of whats been going on....

~Baby Presley is a baby no more.  She is walking around like she owns the place these days and we are just more delighted with her than ever. She is simply delish!

~On Feb 28 I got a great big surprise of an appendix that ruptured and had to rush to the hospital.  After 6 hours in the ER, I was taken to the OR for an emergency appendectomy. It was the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life.  It was a pretty awful experience and I ended up in the hospital for a week. Yuck!  But I made it thru to the other side and after about a month and a half I was feeling back to my old self. 

~ In March we decided to roll up our sleeves and do some home improvements. We tore up the floor in our kitchen and living room and laid hardwood floors.  I am so proud of my hubby and what a fantastic job he did! They look beautiful!  He is getting handier with every year that passes!



~In April one of my dearest friends moved back home to Minnesota. And even though I am nothing but happy for her to be home with her family, I miss her dearly.  My life has been so enriched by her friendship and I'm so thankful that not even hundreds of miles has changed our friendship.  Love you Betty-boop!


~ Kobe has just finished up another season of baseball.  He has grown so much in his skill this year and was awesome out their on the field.  This was his first year pitching and he just improved more and more every week.  He had the world's best coach this year.  Such a great guy. I have learned that coaches really do make all the difference.

~And Miss Maddie Paddie had another great soccer season this spring! She was up and down those fields and hung with all the rest of those kids.  You would never know she had anything going on with her heart.  She did tell me that she thinks she is done with soccer though and wants to try Dance in the fall. :)

~May brought lots of doctor appointments for us.  Kobe had his ear rechecked at UVA.  They gave us great news that it looks like his eardrum is trying to heal itself and so they want to keep waiting instead of surgery!  What great news!   Maddie had her appointment with the pediatric cardiologist on May 24.  They did an EKG and echocardiogram and found that everything still looks the same as it did in September, so we will need to proceed as planned with surgery.  This has definitely been a very difficult thing for me.  I'm just taking it a day at a time. 

~June brought many great things.  Kobe and Maddie finished up school and are officially a 6th & 4th grader! My babies. How can that be?! 

~On June 11 my brother Shane got married to the lovely Angela. I have a new sissy!  The wedding was so beautiful and I'm so happy for my big brother that he has finally found the one he was meant to be with!

                     (Check out those awesome red shoes! Angie baby was simply gorg!)

~On June 13 Miss Kensi turned 4.  We had a great day celebrating our wonderful Goose doing whatever she wanted all day .  The number one thing she wanted to do was go to Martin's and fill her own bag of candy from the bulk candy aisle. ha! We fit in some swimming, riding her new bike and a cookout with family and friends.  It was the perfect day! 

~ And that brings us to yesterday, June 15th.  We went back to UVA for Maddie's pre-op appointment. She will be having open heart surgery on Monday morning.  Even though I know this surgery is necessary and what is best for her, there is a part of me (a big part!) that wants to take her far away and just hide from all this.  The doctors went over everything with me. I heard lots of things I hope to forget and am trying not to let stay in my mind.  Maddie listened as they told her what would happen.  She seems very nonchalant about the whole thing. I suppose thats just as well.  I really want to just make all this go away. But I know the only way to do that is to just walk this out. Day by day.  I know that God has us all in his hands. I know it, I do. But man is it hard to think of just turning her over to them knowing what will happen and then just waiting 6 hours.  I feel absolutely horrible about the pain she will wake up and feel. I would do anything to take that from her. But I can't. And it feels pretty helpless.  So I find myself having to choose every day, every hour and yes, sometimes every minute to place my little girl in God's hands and trust.  Sounds so simple, but something I am finding is quite difficult right now. I know His plans for her life are good.   So that is what I am clinging to right now.  He loves her more than I do. And He will never leave us.  I'm just wishing it was this time next week. :)

So that catches up to where we are now.  I hope I am better at blogging the last half of this year than I was the first half. 

Hey there, its me!

I'm back! ;) Finally got my computer back after not having it for 4 months. FOUR MONTHS!!!! Ack! That was definitely a long four months. Sorry about how sporatic my blogging is. I always have the best of intentions for this blog-o-mine, but it just doesn't always work out. Life gets in the way, and I am ok with that. But, I am gonna try and keep up a little better now that I have settled into this new life of being a mama to four. ;) I love the idea of documenting the ins and outs of our life right now in this sweet stage of babies and young children. Even though the days are crazy busy and I feel like I don't have a lot of time, I want to make this a priority because I know as time marches on, the details will become blurry.

So here's an update on what we've been up to...

As I mentioned in my last post, our little Presley Grace joined us here on the outside world in January. My pregnancy was a bit rough at the end but her birth was amazing. I will write her birth story soon. We took our time settling back into life. Aaron was able to take a month off with us. I can't say enough how wonderful and precious that time was for us. Our little family just stayed tucked away in our little bubble loving on this amazing little girl. Even as I type, I can't help but smile as I remember that time. Such a sweet time for us all. But, then we were forced to join the real world again, and let me tell ya things have gotten busy!

The transition for us has been so smooth. No major bumps. I guess it also helps that we were again blessed with an extremely calm baby. She is such a 'go with the flow' kinda girl. Just happy as a clam. I simply cannot get enough of this girl. I am overwhelmed and lost for words when I think about what I feel for her. She has such a sweet, gentle spirit. I am so thankful that God always knows best and knew our family needed this little lady. She has certainly been loved on every minute by the 5 of us since she arrived!

The kids all have so much going on in their lives too. Kobe just finished up basketball in March. He loved it! Aaron was able to help coach his team and they both enjoyed that time together so much. He is now in baseball. And holy moly is that ever a commitment. I guess I forgot how intense it can be. He has practice or a game 3 times a week. He has improved so much and again is just loving playing ball! He also has been involved with the Mini Society Club at school every Tues after school. Its an economics club where they create their own society. From the government, to the currency, to what business they want to start. Its been so good for him and he is learning so much about how the real world works. He had a 'market' last Tuesday where they all set up and the kids could come and buy from each business with their 'currency' they created. He and his business partner decided to have a kool-aid business. It was fun to see him having to think through all the aspects of what he needed to do, the different supplies he needed and make sure everything was prepared. Its so fun to see him growing and learning and trying all these new things. He is just growing up right before my eyes. And I'm not quite sure how its possible he is going to be in middle school next year. Ack! Ok enough talk like that ... on to Maddie.

Maddie has loved having a baby around. She is so much the 'second mother' around here. She is always helping me so much. Lately I have been catching her helping the little girls with different things, making sure everything is in its place. Its so sweet. She seems like she is defintily getting so much older. She is so cute with Presley. The first few weeks she would say to me, 'I just can't quit kissing her she's so cute.' It was funny to see her so overwhelmed with emotion for her. She is loving the second grade. She has been blessed again with an amazing teacher who is creative and who loves the Lord with all her heart. (and much to Maddie's delight has recently started coming to our church! ). Maddie has just finished up a term in the puppet club at her school and is now in the baton club. She is actually fantastic at twirling that thing. Who knew?! I can't do even half the stuff she does. I love watching her try all these new things. Her latest is she wants to play soccer which we are thrilled about! We think it will be the perfect thing for this, uh, girly girl of ours. :)

And the Kenser has been busier than all of us combined.;) That little lady is miss independant and always into something. She seriously might be the funniest kid we have had. Oh to get into that little mind of hers. I wondered how she would adjust to Presley. I thought we may have some jealousy issues. But amazingly enough, she was just the opposite....completely obsessed with her. Always wants to hold her and talk to her. She actually was a bit to possessive in the beginning and get mad if somebody else would want to hold her. :)And the biggest news of all on her is thanks to her dad she was potty trained in December! And that gets a big WOO HOO from this mama!

And I am doing so well now. My health has been a bit, um, dodgy all year. After I had Presley my blood pressure shot up and stayed up. I ended having to go on medicine and am still on it, however things seem to be evening out for me. I am also finally having my thyroidectomy surgery in July at UVA. So the end is in sight! What an ordeal that has been. But this I know, God is good all the time. He has walked with me thru every step this year. I have felt Him so close. And He has gently reminded me that He ALWAYS is there.

Truely life is great right now. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about how unbelievably blessed I am. My days are busy. my house is messy. I don't always know what were having for dinner. I have laundry coming outta my ears. I get frustrated. My kids fight. My kids make me laugh. Sometimes I feel like I'm hanging on by a thread. And I wouldn't change a thing. This crazy life of ours is one amazing journey.

So thats us in a nutshell right now! I really do plan to be more frequent on here. Just don't hold your breath... ;)

Memories of '09...Part I

I wanted to catch up on some special memories and pictures from this year that I don't want to forget. Since this is our famly scrapbook I thought I better do it before it gets even busier around here. So while I am having this burst of energy and am actually blogging, I thought I would get it done.

Our Family on Easter morning...




Grandma (Aaron's mom) always does a pretty awesome Easter egg hunt for the grand kids. The kids look forward to it every year. She is so creative and fills the eggs with special gifts for each one. Including a golden egg with $10 and a silver one with $5! The race is always on to see who can find the golden egg. I wish I could play. :) I am sure the kids will have sweet memories of this fun tradition for years.

At the end of April, Maddie had her very first dance recital. She L.O.V.E.D. it! She did such a great job and it was so fun to see our sweet girl up there dancing away!

Pretty wild outfit! But of course my girlie girl loved it!

Maddie and her buddy Kimberly before the show.
Maddie's cheering section!

Maddie is on the far right.

Maddie, Jaiden and Kya

What a beautiful ballerina!

She loved her dance class and enjoyed the recital so much. But it made me laugh when
we were on our way to the car after the recital she let me know that next year she was going to play soccer. :)

In July, Aaron and I took Kobe and Maddie to Kings Dominion. We all had a blast. Maddie wasn't really into the rides. At all. :) She rode the carousel and that was it for the main park. But we had fun doing other things in the park and spent a lot of time in the water park. Aaron and Kobe went off to ride roller coasters for a while...so it worked out perfectly.

Here is the ONLY other ride Maddie would ride. It was in the "Kiddie Zone." I love the look on Kobe's face....thrilling. :) He was a good sport and rode with her.

Over July 4th weekend, we all went to Lake Anna with some friends. It was such a fun, relaxing weekend on the water. We stayed in this cute little cabin...

Look how nice and clean the water is....Mmmmm! :)

We split our time playing on the beach and going out on the boat. Aaron was the only one of us that went tubing. I figured since I was preg it probably wansn't a good idea :) , poor Kobe couldn't because of his ear and Maddi just plain scared of the boat so there was no way she was tubing. :)

That evening they were setting fireworks off in the lake and we all decided it would be fun to go.

Our friends, Matt & Kristen and Maddie waiting for the big show.

Kobe has gone out for a couple summers on the boat and loves it! He was bummed out he couldn't tube and get in the water, but he got to drive the boat so I think that made up for it. :)

This was Maddie's very first time out on the boat. She was SO nervous before we got on and kept saying she didn't want to do it . She was almost in tears. When we got out there, she L.O.V.E.D. it! It was so funny. And I was laughing because it was a CRAZY ride due to the wake of all the other boats also headed out to see the fireworks. It was, uh, a very rough ride to say the least. :)

And this is how little Kensi-roo stayed the whole time. She was literally scared stiff. :( Poor girl. She layed on aaron like that the whole time and didn't move or make a sound. Hopefully next summer she will like it more.

We obviously didn't think the situation thru. Ha! We got out in the middle of this lake with probably close to a thousnad other boats. It was so scary! All these boats were headed to the same place at the same time. The wake was out. of. control. while the boat was racing across them. I was literally scared to death. I think we all were except for Aaron, Matt and Maddie. Maddie thought this was how a boat ride was and was just grinning ear to ear. ha! The fireworks were great, but I couldn't hardly enjoy them because I was so nervous about the ride back. I didn't even think about it because we are normally out in the day, but it was crazy going back because its so dark with no 'street lights' or boat head lights and its a free for all. I tell you what I was praying like crazy that we would just make it back in one piece!

This is the face of one already nautious mama who was a whole lot more sick after that ride. Doesn't Maddie look thrilled though?!

Matt did an amazing job of driving and got us back safe and sound. It was definitely a 4th of July we will not forget and definitely a memorable trip!

More to come...

Catching Up on 2009

This year has been such a crazy year for me. It has been a roller coaster ride for sure with peaks and valleys. A time where I was challenged to rest in my faith. Many times when I didn't rest in that faith and was a wreck. :) I want to go back and just hit the highlights for my own memory...

Around April my thyroid started acting up again. I have had thyroid problems for about 3 years and have been on medication. But in April, suddenly it went crazy again and this time it swelled really large on both sides of my neck. You couldn't really see it on the outside (unless you knew and then you kind of could tell), but it was extremely uncomfortable for me. When I swallowed it felt crazy, like it was going around a huge lump. I went to the doctor to have it re-looked at and they came to the conclusion that I had Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. That means that my body doesn't recognize my thyroid as part of my body and creates antibodies to attack it to kill it off. This can be controlled with medication (the one i was already on), but in 40% of people the swelling in the thyroid never goes back down. I was one of those lucky 40% -ers. :) So they said basically my option was surgery to have a thyroidectomy where they completely remove the thyroid. Ack! I was not excited about this option at all as it is major surgery and you are in the hospital for a few days and as with all surgery there are risks.

I asked to be referred to an Endocrinologist in Charlottsville in the hopes of maybe there was something else we could do. In the end, it turns out surgery is truely the best option for me. Thru all of this, I really suffered from extreme anxiety. Anxiety like I have never ever experienced before. It was so scary. It was also so incredibly frustrating for me that I was suffering so badly from it and that I wasn't just completely trusting the Lord. My mind was such a battleground for those months. In my heart I knew the Lord was with me, I knew the promises of His Word. But my mind was another story. It was exhausting. I had 3 times where I had true 'panic attacks' and literally felt like I was having a heart attack. I guess the thing I haven't mentioned yet is that until they did surgery they wouldn't know for sure whether it was cancer or not. That little detail plagued my mind every minute of every day. My faith was challenged sometimes on an hourly basis. I also felt challenged as to what I was going to let my mind think on. I wrote down Scriptures on a paper to read just to speak truth to my mind and spirit in those moments I just couldn't get my mind to go along with my heart.

It truely was one of the scariest times I have gone thru. So I scheduled an appointment with the surgeon at UVA to do pre-op appointment. There was about a 3 week period in between my appointment with the endocrinologist and the surgeon. And during that time is when we got thrown a curve ball.....I found out I was pregnant!!!!! I am smiling just remembering the night I found out. Imgaine me already a nervous wreck about things, and my imagination going crazy about whether I would be here in a year. I would tear up when I put the kids to bed at night just wanting so badly to not die. Isn't that crazy? The thoughts that I had in those weeks were horrible. Certainly not from God. Ones I had to choose to take captive. And in the midst of all that I found out I was pregnant. Almost comical. Almost. Not quite. :) Of course I then had a whole new set of worries that presented themselves. Would the baby be ok? What would happen with the surgery now? Was it cancer or not and how would that be handled now that I was pregnant. It was such a crazy mix of emotions with the worries of it all, but just the excitement of knowing inside me another one of our children was growing, that we had been blessed yet again!!!

I immediatly called the endocronologist to let him know about the new turn in events (to which he laughed! ). He assured me that if it was cancerous, they could safely do the surgery in my second trimester. The new plan we came up with was for me to go have biopsies done on the different nodules in my neck to see if it was cancer or not. So I had that done (EXTREMELY uncomfortable to say the least.....ugh!), and we waited 3 days for the results. Talk about getting some practice on choosing what you let your mind dwell on and choosing to rest in the Lord. It was such a time of stretching and growing for me.

By Friday at 4pm they still hadn't called, so I couldnt' take it any longer and told them I had been going crazy and begged them to get the results before the weekend. This dear nurse was so compassionate and did some extra work calling around to the hospital and labs and called me back 30 min later to let me know that EVERYTHING was non-cancerous!!! I literally felt a weight fall off of me. I can't quite explain the feeling of relief I felt. Because it wasn't cancer, both my endocrinologist and OB said it would be fine to wait until after the pregnancy to proceed with surgery. It was like a party in my brain! The best news i could have gotten and I felt like I could finally fully embrace and fully focus on the excitement of being pregnant.

I feel like I can't accurately put in words the range of emotions I went thru in those months. But what I do know is that God was so faithful to me. He carried me thru that time. He used it as a time for me to grow. A chance to challenge my faith. The way I think. A testimony of His goodness in my life not only in the good times, but in the rough times as well.

With that part of things behind us, it was so great to be able to focus on the blessing that was dropped in our lap in the midst of it all. We decided to go ahead and tell the kids when I was around 8 weeks along. They were so excited. Especially Maddie. She was so cute. The next day she came home from school with a card she had made and had her whole class, all her teachers and some random neighbors sign. hahaha! What a precious girl.

First trimester was a bit rough with feeling sick. Fast forward to around 15 weeks and I came back to life! Its amazing how much energy the 2nd trimester brings with it. I struggled a bit with some anxiety again around 17 weeks or so. I have had 2 miscarriages. And as hard as I try, it always creeps to the back of my mind. I hate it that it does, but I wouldn't be truthful if I didn't say so. There were 2 doctor appointments around this time where the couldn't find a heartbeat right away. They took me and did an ultrasound right away and discovered I have an anterior placenta (that means its attached down the center of my stomach). It just makes it a bit more difficult to feel movement early on as well as a heartbeat, but everything looked great with the baby. I also had a very close friend (who was 2 weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy) miscarry at 17 weeks. All of that sent me into a bit of a tailspin, where once again I was in a situation where I had to choose to not let me mind dwell on negative things. I experienced another panic attack at the doctors office, sending my blood pressure THRU THE ROOF. My doctor was very alarmed to say the least. I explained to her how I had been having some anxiety issues and I thought it was just all related to that. We did some other procedures just to make sure everything else was ok and I wasn't having high blood pressure all the time. Sure enough, as soon as they listened for a heartbeat, it came right down. So now my chart has a little note to let the nurses know to take my blood pressure AFTER the appointment. :) FINALLY around 23 weeks I have been feeling constant, strong kicks from my little baby! Such a sweet reminder that everything is indeed fine inside of me and calming this mama down.

As I look back on this year, I see how each thing has been a building block for me. Growing me a little more. Maturing me a little more. I have just felt like things are so out of my control, that that actually comforts me. I guess I am a little hard headed and it takes me a while to catch on. :) More than anything, I know that I know Jesus has walked with me in a way I haven't felt before. He is so good. So faithful. I still struggle from time to time with worrying, but am a work in progress.

Wow. That was a long post. So thats where I have been. The reason for the lack of posts all year. :) Things are going so well now. And I am just enjoying this precious time in life. The feeling of new life inside of me. I am so blessed.

Whats Been Going on Around Here

(No. Your eyes are not decieving you. This really is another post from me so soon. I am on a roll! )

In between all the sickness and hoopla, we managed to have a little fun! Here are some recent pics of random things. ;)

For Valentine's Day this year, Maddie wanted to make all her cards for the kids in her class instead of buying them. She made 18 homemade V-day cards....what a girl! She is so creative and drew the greatest pics and was so thoughtful with each card she made. They were so cute I just had to snap a pic of some...

Precious, right?! Kobe on the other hand stuck with the trusty, ole' generic store bought cards...shocking, I know.

For the month of February, Kobe joined up for the city's wrestling clinic. He has been asking for the past 2 years to do this, and I really didn't want him too, but this year I caved. And it ended up being a great time for him, where he learned so much about the sport of wrestling. He loved going to the practices, learning the different moves and holds (and he was actually pretty good at it! ) He also did it with his best buddy Nick, so that was an added bonus!

Kobe is in the blue pants...

Nice move, Kobester.
Kensi and Brianna cheering for their big brothers! (Doesn't Kensi look like an adult next to Bri?) Reecey-Roo doing her cheers.

It really was a fun time for Kobe and he is already looking forward to the next clinic. (I still secretly hope this is not the sport he gets really into. Shhhhh!;) ).

Another exciting thing that happened around here was the arrival of new bunk beds. The kids were so excited. Back when we finished the basement in 2007 , we built a bedroom for Kobe. Its a great room and he loves it, but the thing is I didn't realize how NOT ok I would be with him sleeping 2 floors below where we are. When he started sleeping down there, I would get up two and three times a night and run down 2 flights of stairs to check on him. It was exhausting. He also was a bit nervous about it too. So I ended up moving a matress up here that slid underneath Maddie's bed and that is where he has been sleeping. So his room is still downstairs, but when its time for bedtime, he sleeps up here and I sleep so much better knowing that all my little chiclets are ten steps away. Anyway, all that to say, the kids were super excited to get new bunkbeds. (as soon as Kensi gets out of her crib, we will move her in with Maddie and move Kobe's room back upstairs. Aaron still doesn't understand why I didn't figure this out before he did all that work on the basement! :p)

This was a family affair I tell ya....they were all so excited to help.

The goose was the mastermind behind the project....picking out what screws went where and barking out orders.

Almost there! What a team!

The finished product....and three happy little faces!!

To say they love them is an understatement. The first week we had to bribe them to come out. They even set up a pulley system with a plastic box where they could write notes back and forth and send them in the box. SO CUTE! And Kensi loves it too and considers Maddie's bed her personal play area.

And to finish up (and just for you Windsor:)), here are some cute pics of my goosey girl. She has been so funny lately and just says and does the funniest things. She is changing and growing up so fast. She loves dressing up and carrying bags. She continues to be such entertainment and a pure delight for us. I will do a more detailed update on her soon and all the new things she is doing.

She has recently figured out how to open the pantry doors and I am having such a time trying to keep her out. One day it was a little too quiet, so I went in search of her and found her hiding in a corner eating cereal out of the box as fast as she could. It was so funny, I had to grab the camera. Doesn't she look like a deer caught in headlights?!

Alright thats all for now. More to come, but I have to pace myself. :) To much blogging so suddenly might send me over the edge. :)