Summer time, Summer time

The summer time is a really busy place around here. Our two nieces stay here for the better part of the summer so now we have 5 kids here at all times instead of just our 3. They are such a blessing to us. We praise God all the time that we can be such a big part of their lives. Lately we have had a few illnesses. We went to the Ear, Nose, and Throat Dr. last week for Emma and he told us that her adenoids and her tonsils are enlarged and the put her on a nose spray for 6 weeks to see if the go down and if not then the will have to be removed. They also asked if she has had a hearing test because of her speech and I told him I was unsure of this. So he ordered a hearing test for her to see if her speech is because of her hearing and if so we will go from there and if not then atleast we will know that is not the problem. So when we came home I looked it all up and it said that usually you can look in there mouth and see the restricted airway but the next day I decided to try and see anyways and sure enough she opens up her mouth and it is so swollen in the back of her throat it was sorta scary. It really did explain alot. So now in the month of August we have to make trips to Rochester once a week for the last 3 weeks in August. We have also been dealing with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. First Emma got it but I didn't know what it was because all she had was a sore in her mouth and I thought that maybe she just cut it on something and it was bothering her. Well the a few days later and Izzy got it but of course she got it alot worse. She had the fever and the rash with the blisters on her hands feet and diaper area. I felt so bad for her. She even had it on our big day at church for the 4th of July. Then our niece Alura got it but not bad at all. Then just when we thought things were getting better the baby started getting pretty sick. She was coughing and sounding really junky when she was breathing I was having to give her breathing treatments. When her home nurse came her and I agreed we thought she needed to be seen by her Dr. So we did and come to find out she had Aspiration Pneumonia. We are always worried about that with her medical condition and we hate to hear when she has it. So it has been just one thing after another. But even though God has been so good to us because we have not had to be admitted in the hospital and it could be so much worse. Our niece Ashlee also came down with something, she has a terrible cough and this morning I woke up not feeling the best. So needless to say I went through the house today and totally disinfected the entire house.

Besides all the illnesses there has been some 0ther things going on. The baby actually wore her backpack today while she was crawling around. That would make things so much better if she will wear it all the time because then we won't have to worry about her tube so much. She is also getting 4 new teeth in. We are also getting ready to go to Knobels Amusement park coming up. I am so excited about going this year because my hubby is going for the first time. I just love to spend time with my family. Even when it is a little crazy or complete Chaos I still love it. It should be exciting.

Tomorrow my little man goes back to the dentist to get the rest of the work done on his teeth. He did such a great job while getting his 2 front teeth pulled I am praying he does just as good this time but I am afraid that now he knows what to expect that it might not be as easy. We will see.

Giving daddy some love.

I think one of the most precious things is seeing children running to the door with pure delight when they hear daddy coming. Everyday as soon as they even hear his truck coming down the road it begins and now even the baby has joined in with her excited squeals. It is such a blessing to see the love in their eyes for their daddy. The baby has really been wanting to spend more and more time with daddy. There was a time when she would get upset if he would take her from me and now she reaches for him when he comes into the room. She also saves a bunch of kisses for him and is now saying da da and daddy and directing it to him and he just glows. Our children are such a blessing to us. We praise God every day for our children.

Enjoying life.

Well we have had alot going on lately (as always) so that is why I have not been posting on here lately but I plan to try to do more. I took the kids to the fireworks last night and first we had to go to target to get some much needed accessories and they were so good. Then we found a cozy little corner at the end of Targets parking lot and it was a great spot. There was plenty of room for them to play and not get in anyone's way and it was a good view to. Not to close to the fireworks where the booms scared them but close enough for a good view. It was so cute because I was a little worried about the baby because last year she was only a couple months old and had no idea what was going on but this year she was sitting on my lap when they started and she just loved them. She clapped and clapped. It was so cute. The older ones loved them to. I am just so thankful for my family and I just LOVE making the memories. I hope to get pictures on here soon but I seem to be having a problem with doing that.

We have Crawling

Look out world here she comes!!!!! Two days ago our baby made her first few steps to crawling and it was so precious. She is getting the idea but she still is having problems getting into the crawling position but she is getting it. She is also trying to pull herself up on things as well. We are getting so much progress. It is so exciting. So now instead of sitting in the living room and screaming or crying for me she will be able to follow me around screaming and crying lol. Just Kidding. This is going to be so nice because she is so ready to go.

We also went to the Orthopedics specialist about her trigger thumb. He said that we don't need to be in a hurry for surgery. Because there are studies that came out in the last year that by waiting it does not do any harm and some have actually corrected themselves. As long as it is not hurting or hindering her then there is no reason for us not to wait. So the Dr. left the decision up to us and we decided to wait and not have the surgery for awhile unless it starts bothering her.

Our next appt. is on the 8th and that is for a swallow study to see how much she is still aspirating and that will decide on how much we can push her to eat. I am very excited about this appt. because I am really praying that she is not aspirating as much and we can work on getting her off this machine. She is really starting to like new foods so everytime we eat she wants some. We also bought her some new finger foods for babies. They are like baby cheese puffs and she loves them. So we will see.

What a wonderful memorial day

On the Sunday before Memorial Day my hubby had to work so I had our three kids and my two nieces the whole day all to myself. So we got up and got ready and went to church like usual. Usually after church the four older ones go with my hubby on the church bus and I usually take the baby. Her and I go with my great friend Brenda to Wal-mart or if we need to go to a different store we do but usually it is Wal-mart. Well this week they all had to come with me and they did not get to go on the bus which they all look so forward to. I wanted to make it a special day and just enjoy my children. I also wanted to help them understand just how important our Soldiers are and seeings how it was Memorial weekend I decided to take them up to my Dads, Uncles, and Granddads grave. (I also have a sister buried there as well) So we went to the store and bought some American flags and some flowers for my sisters grave. We went to the cemetery and we walked around it and I showed them where they all were buried and we walked around and looked at all the veterans headstones and read them to the younger ones. After a bit we went back to my daddy's grave and we put the American flag up and put the flowers on my sisters grave. Then we prayed. I prayed first and if anyone knows me they know I am emotional and I have a VERY soft spot for anything to do with the military. So of course I got a little choked up but I wasn't sad I was thankful for them and their service. Well if anyone knows my niece Ashlee they know she completely feeds off of me and she is very much my Drama Queen. Well she got to crying and I told her I wasn't crying because I was sad. I was thankful and I just love them so much. So then she said well I am crying because you are crying because you are thankful so I am thankful. Boy oh boy is she gonna be a handful the older she gets but I love her soft heart. Well then the rest of them prayed and I just love to listen to them pray it is so sweet. So then we finished up there and we were all so hungry by then so we decided to go to our favorite place as they call it. (Lin Buffet) We had a good time there they were all so good. Our next thing we needed to do was we needed some shirts for the Parade on Monday. So we ran over to Old Navy because they had some shirts with flags on them and they were only 5 dollars buy one get one free. I was really thankful they had exactly what we wanted and we could get in and out of there in no time because our last class for Sign Language class was Sunday and I really didn't want to miss it. Well we made it. Yippy. So over all we had a great Sunday.

We had to get up early Monday AM because we were all going to be in all 3 of the parades here. I was a little worried because you never know how it's going to go and what kind of meltdowns we are going to have but for the most part they all were awesome. Even the baby was great the entire day. We got there I think a little after 9am and the Elmira one was supposed to start at 9:30 So we got everything situated and decided to put the 4 older ones on the bus throwing candy and I would walk with the baby in the double stroller with a box of tracks in the front seat of the stroller for everyone to grab from. The float that our church did was absolutely AWESOME. Everyone did such a great job with it and I really think it made a big impact with alot of people. So in the front we had a couple people carrying our church banner then there was two people carrying the Christian flag and the American flag then the float then a bunch of us to hand out tracts then it was the bus and on the bus were a bunch of posters with all of our church ministries then on the back of the bus was a lighthouse then behind the bus was a couple more people carrying another church banner. I have NEVER been more moved at a parade than I was this year. To walk up to a Veteran and look them in the eye and to tell them thank you for serving our country from the bottom of my heart and to see them stand and salute their fallen brothers I was so thankful for my sunglasses and sweat that way they couldn't see my crying. It was just so awesome. Well then after the first parade we went to the heights one. That one was pretty quick then we ended up at the height legion for their BBQ chicken yummy. Then onto the HHDS parade. This time Livie and Ashlee were gonna walk the parade and Aries was gonna stay on the bus to throw candy. Well at the very last minute Livie decided she was to tired to walk and wanted to get back on the bus to throw candy. Truth be known she really wanted to get on there to eat the candy. So Ashlee walked with me and she was such a hoot. She was so cute handing out tracts. It was like she was hand picking everyone she wanted to give one to. She was just a skipping it was super cute and my Izzy was holding strong. Well after the parades were all finished up and we all got back to our cars we had a little cookout with the Norton's at our house. We turned the sprinkler on and they got to cool off and had a good time. By 8pm we were all so tired there was no problems getting anyone to bed. It was such a great day. Over 6000 tracts were handed out and praying that some souls will be saved. We love our children to see us serving the Lord and they love to serve the Lord as well. There was some great memories made. Oh I forgot to mention that while we were waiting for the Heights parade to start my hubby took Aries over to the firetruck behind us and the fireman let him get up in the truck and Aries had the biggest smile on his face. He absolutely LOVES firetrucks. He also let him step on the button for the siren. His eyes were as big as saucers. It was great and I am sure he will remember that for a long long time.

We are making progress

Well we have been working with the baby with her rolling over and helping her getting up onto her knees then to sitting. Well she wasn't having too hard of a time rolling from her belly to her back but it was from her back to her belly that was giving her problems. She doesn't seem to have the hip control. So what we have been doing is for the most part whenever I put her down to play on the floor I lay her on her back. I was having to help her roll over. Not alot of help but some. Well after a couple days of that she now has that. But then she gets backing up on her belly but she can't seem to get her legs under her to get up on her knees. So I just put my hand behind her foot and I give her something to push on and most of that time that is enough to help her to get her up onto her knees. Then from there she is becoming a pro to getting into the sitting position. She also is skooching too. So she is getting around the living room a little. Well today I was sitting on the couch folding laundry and she had made her way over to me. She was transitioning like she was going to go into the crawling position and the next thing I knew she had pulled herself up onto her knees to me. I was so excited. Then she saw my cup on the coffee table and she pulled herself up to the table on her knees too. I love to see these new things....

To Re-name or not to Re-name, that is the question.....

Well we are really struggling with if we want to change Olivia's name or not. I have had a couple talks with her about it explaining that if we change her name it is forever and we would not be calling her Olivia any longer and she keeps telling me she does not want Olivia any longer. We really want to give her the choice if she wants to change it or not. So it is looking like we are going to do it possibly. I know this will take alot of getting used to not only for her and us but for everyone that knows her. But we want her to have this choice. Like giving her a fresh start. So we will see.