I guess an update is in order

It's been ages since I've posted. My computer is being very weird and I have to clear my cookies several times a day just to check my email or go to a few other websites. Very weird. So it won't let me sign in here half the time.


Let's see.

We've started our homeschooling adventure. Sam was having some issues at school, not all of them with him. So we pulled him out and we are doing it at home now. It's going very well. He really likes it.

Savanna is doing excellent in school. Straight A's. She loves it and doesn't ever want to be homeschooled because she will miss her friends. Although she is intrigued by the idea she could do as much math as she pleases.

Mady hasn't had any other issues with her blood sugar, so hopefully that's all gone. She loves her preschool. She started seeing my chiropractor. She has always been pigeon toed, but it's been changing lately. One foot going straight and the other turning in more. One of her hips is rolled forward, which makes her thigh muscle really tight, which makes her foot turn in. So the chiro is helping.

Noah is a bundle of energy. He has discovered climbing and that he can move chairs around to climb wherever he wants. He is so funny. He cracks us up all the time, especially the faces he makes.

I am seriously thinking about starting online college courses this spring semester. We shall see how that turns out. Every time I thought about it before i got pregnant, but since I can't get pregnant anymore we don't have to worry about that ;)

And Bry is the same. Working and trying to get enough sleep. I will try to get some pics posted in the next few days.

A day in the ER

I took the kids to church solo today. It's Bryan's weekend to work Sat nights, so he sleeps Sunday. After we got home I made Mady a jelly sandwich. About 20 minutes later she started screaming that her stomach hurt. It kinda freaked both Bryan and I out. She was in so much pain she could hardly breathe. So we took her to the ER. They did some x-rays and a urinalysis. She has been going potty a lot more often lately, and having at least 4 accidents a day. She had a urinalysis done last Wed when we went for her well check for preschool. Both were negative, but they are doing a culture just to be sure. The x-ray showed a few large gas bubbles in her colon. Todays urinalysis showed that Mady had sugar in her urine. He ordered a finger stick blood sugar and it was normal, but it had been at least 4 hours since she had eaten anything. Mady is at a higher than average risk of having diabetes since most of my mom's family has it, Bryan's dad does, and I had it while pregnant with her. The weird thing is, that the thought has crossed my mind several times in the last few weeks. I'm going to see if I can find my testing supplies and I'll check her at home a bit and see what it says. If they are higher than normal I willc all the dr and set up an appointment. I so hope she doesn't have diabetes.

some changes

It's that time of year, school starts in a week and a half! I don't know what I'm going to do, 3 kids will be gone! Savanna will start third grade, Sam first grade, and Mady will go to preschool. It will just be me and Noah. I'm going to try to make some changes. I would love to get the house organized where it doesn't take much to clean. I'm such a clutter bug that it's hard. I'm also going to start walking again. I'll take the kids to school, then go walk while Bry stays up a bit with Noah Bear. I got a heart monitor so I stay around my target heart rate. Apparently this will help me lose weight better. I'm also going to institute a morning meditation time. Scripture reading, prayer, etc. And, of course, less time online. I won't have much time with the changes I hope to make, plus Noah. He won't have anyone to entertain him except for me. I'm looking forward to time with just him. I hope he adjusts better than Mady did when she was the only one left home.

Stupid computer

My stupid computer has not been letting me log on here to post. It's making me nuts!

Noah has officially been discharged from all therapy. The therapists are astounded. None of us thought he would be discharged when he was almost 14 months, we all thought it would be YEARS! I'm so grateful to my Father in Heaven for our miracle!

Hi!

It's been awhile. We had family visiting several times, the Loper family reunion, end of school stuff. It's just been busy. I hope to get some new pics up soon. We're all doing well. Kids have gotten way off schedule and it's been kinda chaotic around here, so we're working on that.

The boys

Sam taught Noah to sword fight. It's so cute! I'm sure one day I will be saying it's not cute at all, but for now it's cute. Here's a link to a video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-823TCW8pc

Off private

We will see how it goes....

We took Noah to physical therapy on Monday and got some fantastic news!!! He's now walking more than crawling, although still very careful with his walking. The physical therapist was trying to get him to stand up without pulling up and he started doing it on his own. She said at the rate he has been going she thinks next week might be his last session besides a few monitoring sessions, a few months apart. I am so excited, thankful, and proud. Heavenly Father has been so great! He promised Noah would be completely healed and he has. I"m so proud because we have both worked so hard for this! I cried when we left. When we first saw the therapist Noah was 4 weeks old and was not moving his arm at all, only opening and closing his hand. We were told there was a chance he might never regain full use of his arm, even if he did he might not crawl, he might need surgery. It's just amazing to me how fast he has healed. The therapist commented that she has to remind herself which arm it is, and we are the same way. I am just so so thankful and so super excited!!!

Been busy

We've been recuperating, spending time with Grandma, and getting ready for Sambo's water b-day party. Sadly the b-day party has been rained out. Still doing the cake and such, but no water stuff. Not just a little rain, tons of rain, flood warning rain. We will still be doing cake and bbq.

Bryan is currently at his parents having his dad look in Noah's ears. I'm hoping we don't need to run to the walk in clinic. I think he may have an ear infection.

We went shopping yesterday for the material for Savanna's after Baptism dress. When I was baptized my grandma made me a GORGEOUS dress to wear afterwards, so she is helping me make Savanna one while she is here. I can't wait!

Oh and here is a video Brinae took of Mady Grace http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZQ3C9fa4UM

Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!

My grandma from Canada will be here today!!!!!

Going private

There have been a few visits to my blog that have made me a bit uneasy. So for now I'm going private to protect my kids.

Sick bites!

Monday Sam came home with a fever of 103.5. When it wasn't gone on Wed I called the dr. They couldn't get him in until Thursday. By then Mady and Noah weren't feeling well either. When we got to the dr there had been a cancellation and the dr was able to see all four of them at once. Oh, Savanna has been complaining that her heart hurts, but the dr said it sounds great, she thinks she might have a bit of heartburn. So Sam has bronchitis, almost pnuemonia, and Noah and Mady have early bronchitis. It is absolitely NO FUN in this house right now. I feel like crap, too and I'm hoping it's just allergies and exhaustion, not anything else. We ended up taking Sam to the ER this morning. He was having an allergy attack (seasonal allergies) on top of everything else. I hope we all get better quickly. My grandma is coming from Canada this coming week and we won't get to spend any time with her unless we are all healthy again.

My baby boy is SIX!!!!!!!!

I can't believe my Sambo is six today! It seems like just yesterday he was born. He's not having a very good birthday. He's sick. He's had a fever since Monday. Tomorrow he has a dr appointment. Tonight he has requested spaghetti for supper and then we will have cupcakes. Happy Birthday Sam!!!

A new start

Well, the weight loss hasn't been going so well. It started when I got really stressed out with a legal matter and just went down hill from there. Since then I gained back the 6 lbs I lost, plus some. I'm trying to get back on track now. Brinae is going to come every morning and we are going to work out together. Tomorrow will be Tae Bo because it's supposed to be cold, but we will be walking a lot. I'm kinda excited and trying to be positive. I think I don't have a lot of faith in myself at the moment. Wish me luck!

A boy and his dog

This is Sam and his puppy on the way home from picking him up. His name is Bolt. Can you tell we just watched the cartoon Bolt last weekend?


Here we are when we got to grandma Chandler's house.

Sam and Bolt sleeping together.

When I went back to check this is where I found Bolt.

A boy and his dog

Wednesday is Sambo's birthday and we found a puppy on freecycle that we are trying to get him. I'm so excited! He's always wanted his own dog. He doesn't think it's fair that Savanna has her own. I have such a hard time keeping these good secrets! I'm trying though.

Oh and Noah got his third tooth on Tuesday. Here is a video of how Noah crawls.

Noah Bear is growing too fast!

He took his first steps today. He took 3-4 steps several times. I can't believe how fast he is growing.

Finally

Noah's second tooth FINALLY came in. It has been such a pain! He has been so cranky. We've been able to see and feel the little white ridge that was barely covered by a layer of his gums. It finally poked through some time today. It is directly above his bottom tooth. It's going to be cute when it's big enough to see them both, but um........OUCH when he eats!

My Sambo

am so super proud of my Sam. I had his annual IEP (individual education plan) today. Not all children have one, only those with special needs. Sam needs speech therapy so he has one. When he started this year he had a whole list of sounds he had to work on. I was to say close to 20. He now has 3 left!!!! L's (he's about 80% in conversations), s blends, and th's. His speech pathologist at the school is super wonderful. I am so grateful he got her. Now, I don't know the other one, but I just really love the one he has. Sam will be starting speech again in first grade, but she thinks he won't need it very long and will graduate pretty quickly. He has worked so hard and I'm so proud of him.

Oh, and he mastered a new skill today. He can touch his tongue to his nose. This kid has a freaky long tongue.

Make Me Laugh Monday

Today we had some errands to do before therapy so we were left with a bit of time before. There is a nice park across the street so Bry and I took Noah there. It was so fun. He LOVES to swing. He laughs and laughs. I took a video on my phone, but it's really poor quality. You can hear him laughing though. It's really cute.


I love that he gets physical therapy, I'm so very grateful to the center and the therapist, but sometimes it breaks my heart. We put shoes on Noah today to see if it would help prevent him from hitching his leg up when he crawls (I really need to post a pic of him so you can see what it looks like). He HATED IT, but IT WORKED. He totally has his daddy's feet and it's hard to find shoes that will fit him, so he not used to them at all. He got so mad because he couldn't do what he wanted to. He cried and cried. There are times during therapy that he cries because he doesn't like to do what she wants him to do. It breaks my heart, but I know it helps him. *sigh*

It's that day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My fantabulous husband bought me a present yesterday and then another one today. Yesterday he bought me a canvas Twilight bag. It's very very nice! Then today he bought me the movie! He went to pick up Brinae before he goes to work and we're having movie night after the kidlets go to bed!!!!!

Make Me Laugh Monday

Yeah, it's a day late.

Monday is Noah's pt day. So we went to therapy yesterday. He gets really tired and by the end of the 45 minutes he is cranky and frustrated. He works really hard. THe last two weeks we have been stopped at this certain stoplight and I've had to put music on to calm Noah down. Bry and I were cracking up because there is one certain song that almost ALWAYS calms him down. It's a testament to how obsessed Madalyn is. The song is Burning Up by Jonas Brothers. First few notes and Noah calms down. So funny!

I'm seeing the results

of Noah's therapy. Ok, I've been seeing results for months, but we've just started weekly therapy and I think it's going to be much better for him. He does some little things that we are working on. When he pulls himself to stand up, he only uses his left foot to push himself, so we have to practice making him use his right. I've seen him do it twice on his own. WHen he's crawling around he always sits back down to the right, sitting more on his right hip and using his right arm to push himself up. So we practice making his sit to the left and he's done it twice today, plus a few times yesterday. This is big stuff for us! I'm so glad for him. And oh so grateful for the Gregory Kistler Center. They have a quote plastered everwhere there "There are no limitations in the eyes of a child" I LOVE THIS! I'm so proud of my little man!

Nothing new

Every time I see or think of my last post I cringe. It's not a very pretty post. At least, not the beginning. Not much is going on. Noah is still getting a tooth or two. Hard to tell. He's not happy. We dropped over 30-50 degrees in two days. So the floor is cold again. He doesn't stay on the rug anymore, so he has a nasty cold. That makes him even more miserable. He can barely nurse because his nose is so stuffed up. I'm just praying this cold doesn't turn into another ear infection.

We're gearing up for another season of soccer. Bryan is coaching again, Sam is playing. Savanna has chosen not to. She said she wanted to play t-ball, but for her age it's pitching machine and she said no way. She wants to learn to knit, so I suppose we will start that soon.

Not a make me laugh monday

I'm tired. Had a long day. I HATE the time change. It messes the kids up so badly. So it started out rocky. We overslept and I had a hard time getting Sam up and ready for school. Tonya and Brinae came over and I taught Tonya to sew. She made a really cute dress for her daughter (Mady's best friend), Kaytlyn. THen we went to therapy. I LOVE Noah's physical therapist. She is so wonderful. I love when she gets excited about what he is doing. I came home and went shopping with mom, Josh, and Brinae. Bry went to work and then bedtime was a total nightmare. I finally got Noah to sleep when Mady had one of her night terrors. She wakes up screaming and is totally not awake. Some nights she fusses, or talks in her sleep, some nights are full out screaming fits. She woke Noah. Then after she woke up and calmed down she got mad because Noah and I were too loud. Now she's crying again because we aren't in there. I'm ready for bed myself. I wish Noah was.


An amendment. So I was really tired and frustrated when I wrote that. I'm still tired, but not frustrated. After I got Mady calmed down again Noah and I were playing on my bed. I was laying down and I covered my eyes to play peek a boo. He grabbed my hands and did it for me. Then he started clapping my hands. Now, ok, he's not clapping his own hands, but he's clapping mine. We thought he might not clap his hands until after most children do. And I suppose maybe a lot of kids his age already are. Anyways, I'm so amazed at his progress. I'm so proud of him. I'm also proud of myself. Not in a prideful way, but I've worked hard with him. For a long time he HATED when I would do his therapy with him. It's hard to work like that. I am so incredibly grateful for my Father in Heaven. Without Him Noah would not have healed as quickly as he did. I'm so thankful for Priesthood blessings and for a husband who can give them. And now I'm off to bed because the morning comes too early :)

My adventures in sewing

So Brinae needs a prom dress. We can't find one so I offered to sew one. I decided I might need to practice some since I haven't sewn in a long time. My wonderful husband bought me a sewing machine and I got a pattern and some fabric. Here are the results.

Make Me Laugh Monday

Well, this week is another Mady funny. Friday we were gettign ready to run some errands and she kept insisting she wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese. It took me a bit to realize that she calls it *Cut the Cheese's* I just thought it was funny.

NoahBear!

Got his first tooth!!!!

Make me laugh Monday

Yes, I know it's Tuesday. I meant to write yesterday, but I was too tired. I have seen this on other blogs and I thought it was a cute idea, so I now do Make Me Laugh Mondays.

So we had an adventure filled night last night. I got to laugh at mom's silliness and then at Mady. When mom and I got home Mady wake up awhile later and was very sad that Brinae wasn't still there. In fact, she was quite hysterical. I finally got her calmed down and was cuddling with her. She looked at me and said *I call you mom now, not mommy, just mom* Ummm....Ok. I told her she was silly and she said *I like you eyeball mommy* Me *You like my eyeball?* M- *yep, I like you eyeball, I want to marry you eyeball.* I think someone sets silly when she gets sleepy, no clue where she gets that from ;)


Before all this Mady was playing in the car when Bryan was getting the groceries. She locked the doors when the keys were in it. Not good. We NEVER lock our doors, so usually leave the keys in the car. We didn't realise the car was locked until Bry had to leave for work. So I called mom, she picked him up, but made me and Noah go. I almost left the phone for Brinae, but ended up grabbing it at the last minute. Good thing, too. Her car broke down on the way home. So here she is freaking out everytime someon drives by thinking they might stop. We had alredy caleld for help. I said, maybe it would be a cop, yeah, that's what she was afraid of. She forgot to bring her drivers license so she was afraid of a cop coming and asking for it. Meanwhile I'm worried about psychos. Everytime someone drove by she was pushing Noah into my cheast freaking they would stop. It was hilarious!

First Five Gimme Gimme

First Five Gimme Gimme

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! my choice. for you. this offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2. what I create will be just for you.

3. it’ll be done this year. {translation: you may be waiting a little while}

4. you have no clue what it’s going to be … it may be cards, a poem, a bookmark, something yummy or a complete surprise to you (and me!) … who knows? not you, that’s for sure!

5. i reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

6. most importantly, you must offer the same deal on your blog - the first 5 people to comment on your blog (or if you do not have a blog, facebook) get something made by YOU! the first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me …

Photo Tag

My wonderful sister in law, Michelle, photo tagged me. You have to go to your sixth picture folder and post your sixth picture no matter what it is. I had to upload all my pics to an online hosting when we had to redo the harddrive, so they are in kinda backwards order. This one is pretty old. Miss Mady Grace got into Savanna's play makeup. Actually all three of them did, but the pic is of Mady Grace.

I tag Jessie and Lindsey

What would you do?

Have you seen this show? It's a show on ABC on how people react in certain situations. This past Tuesday they had a segment on how people react to a baby crying all alone in a hot car. Sadly a lot of people just walked on by. Tonight my sister, Brinae, and I were faced with this. We went to Sears and as we walked in we saw an SUV. I don't know what kind it was, but the trunk was pretty small. It looked like maybe the people were traveling because the trunk was stacked with stuff. I probably wouldn't have paid any attention, but the dogs in the backseat were barking. I did a double take as we walked by. A woman was standing at the back with the window part (not the whole trunk door) open and there was a baby in an infant seat in the trunk. It just looked weird. There were two dogs on the backseat, one was fairly large. So we go int he store and I ran back out to the car about 15 minutes later. The woman is in the passenger seat and the trunk window is closed. I looked to see if I could see the car seat in the backseat, but it wasn't there. It was in the trunk. I don't know if the baby was in the lady's lap or not. It just looked really odd. So when I went back in I used the phone (my cell was home with Bry) and called the police. We left and these people were pulling out. I pulled out behind them and sure enough, car seat is still in the back window. So this time I double checked the lisence plate state and number, saw the shopping center parking lot they went to (I did try to get them to pull over by honking and flashing my lights, but they didn't. I really have no clue what I thought I was going to say to them). So I called the police again and told them where the people went and gave them the license plate info. I don't know what happened, but I hope the police found them. Obviously I didn't call because I wanted them to get in trouble, I was jsut seriously concerned for the baby. So, what would you do?

A Mady funny

My kids crack me up on a regular basis. Today's funny is from Mady. She was singing "Kiss the Girl" from little mermaid. THe lyrics say " Sha la la la la, my oh my" Mady's version is "Sha la la la la, oh my eye" It makes us giggle every time she sings it.

Some pics

We had some great weather a few weeks ago so we went tot he park to take some pics. Here they are.


Nana Rose

Sambo being himself

NoahBear and yes there is someone behind the tree.
NoahBear loves the swings. He just giggles and giggles.
This is from last summer.
Madalyn, Savanna, Noah, and Sam.
Mady Grace
Mady Grace again.
My niece and nephew and my kids. Aden, Abby, Savanna, Mady, Noah, and Sam.
More of all the kids.
And again.
Our family.

I did it and got results

I am a very shy person. Often, I just let things go by without saying anything. If I order a drink with no ice and they give me ice, I don't say anything. If I order a burger with no pickles and they give me extra pickles, I don't say anything. A few months ago I bought Noah a vibrating teething ring. THe grapes one pictured here http://www.babyant.com/vibrating-teether-infantino.html Well, the paint is chipping off the leaves. I was a bit worried that he was ingesting it, so I e-mailed the company yesterday. They responded this morning. THe lady talked about testing and how important safety was, basically saying I didn't need to worry about him eating a bit of it. Then she said that there is a newer version that doesn't have a painted overlay and she is mailing me a replacement today. I guess it does pay to speak up for yourself sometimes, or in the case, for my child.

He crawled!

THe for real kind, on two knees!!! I am so very thankful to my Father in Heaven for wonderful miracles and answered prayers!

HAPPY TEARS!

Bryan and I have been doing Noah's physical therapy with him. We've been working on getting him to crawl. It's been slow going. He has recently started using his arms to pull himself across the floor while he's sitting up. Tonight he started something new. He starts out sitting and starts to get into the crawl position, only one leg is still sideways and the other he is using the bottom of his foot rather than his knee. I don't know if I'm making a good visual or not, but it's wonderful. The farther he goes, the more his sideways leg starts to get behind him, where it should be when he crawls. This is a huge deal! I'm so excited! Such a miracle from where he was at birth!!!!

What passes for a snow day in Arkansas.

Here are some pics of our snow day today. It's worse than it was yesterday. This morning it took Bryan 45 minutes to drive what is usually 10 minutes and all on the highway. He said he was driving about 30 miles an hour and still sliding a bit on the ice.

Our front porch. A bit of snow, lots of ice.
The flower bed and sidewalk. gain, bit of snow, lot of ice.
Half of our front yard. Where the sun had been shining it's already cleared up, especially across the street. You can't really see it, but the road is still kinda icy.

Why did I do that?

I showed Mady that we can watch Jonas Brothers videos on youtube. Please someone tell me what I was thinking. Now that's all she wants to do. I have to find my camera so I can take a video of her singing along to Burnin' Up. I fear that Noah's first sentence will be *I'm hot, you're cold.* She is so funny!

That took care of itself.

I shoudl have known that if I just waited a bit, it would all be taken care of. Yesterday's post had to do with my bio father. Today it's not a worry anymore.

A melancholy day

It's Saturday. Every other Saturday is not my favorite day. Bryan has to go back to work that night and I miss him. I was having an ok day and then I got an e-mail. Now I'm conflicted. I know, I'm being crytpic, but it's a long, drawn out, emotional saga. I hate feeling so confused. I think I know what I want, but part of me doesn't. Another part of me feels guilty for wanting what I want. And I don't know who to talk to about any of it.

Ugh

It's been a crazy week here. WE had a nasty computer virus and ended up having to wipe the hard drive to get rid of it. Noah has another ear infection, with another ruptured ear drum. Both of the girls are puking today. I'm ready for a vacation.

I've been tagged

Bryan's 5 favorite things:
1. His family
2. Geocaching
3. Reading
4. Playing the guitar.
5. Camping and fishing
5 things on his to-do list:
1. Take the kids fishing
2.Figure out how to get grass to grow in our dirt patch of a back yard.
3. Lose weight
4. Play the guitar more
5. Build a desk.
5 snacks he loves:
1. Mountain Dew
2. Little Debbies, any kind.
3. Apples
4. Chips
5. cold hot dogs
5 facts you may not know about him:
1. He has sleep apnea.
2. He really wants to move to Washington or Idaho one day.
3. He's an emotional guy.
4. He has a wonderful singing voice.
5. He used to watch soap operas.
5 places he has lived:
1. North Carolina
2. Missouri
3. Texas
4. Arkansas
5. He's asleep so I can't ask if there was a fifth place.
5 quirky things about him:
1. He steals my jeans. He thinks they are comfy.
2. He's a HUGE Twilight fan.
3. He likes to read so much he sits to pee just so he can read for a few more minutes. (he is so going to kill me).
4.He likes to be adventurous in cooking. It rarely turns out, but he keeps trying.
5. He can sleep at any time, any where, no matter what is going on around him.

Aw, I just love him so much!!!!

Ok, I don't know who all reads my blog, so I'll do my best to tag some.

Mom, Jessica Crisp, Kayris, Jessica Thompson, Michelle

We're back!

Online that is. It's nice. I'm too tired to post an update right now. I have two sick little ones. Didn't get much sleep last night. It's been awhile since I posted pics, so here are a few.



Savanna at the church Christmas party.

Savanna fell asleep reading.

Sam on crazy hair day.

Sam and his friend Shawna at little league homecoming.

A happy Noah Bear

Sam with his pumpkin.

Noah

Mady Grace