Seren's Life

2010-07-30T20:35:00.002-05:00

I'm horrible about blogging, we'll see if this attempt goes any better than previous attempts.

I have thought about posting several times in the last few months, but I was in a very very very dark place. We've had some serious medical issues.

In April I noticed Sam was peeing a million times a day. It was a horribly long involved process, that ended with him having surgery to make his urethral opening wider. A super fun trip to the Children's hospital ER to learn he almost had an impacted colon. We found out the constipation we thought was better was much worse than ever. He had a biopsy to test for a disease that means you have no nerves in the large intestine. That was negative. Finally after tons of research on my own I found Celiac Disease (gluten intolerance). After we went gluten free and it helped immensely (not only Sam, but Mady, Noah, and I, too) I found out that two of my half siblings have CD. We don't have an official diagnosis for Sam and we may never. I'm not willing to take him off the diet for months to make him worse so they can do a biopsy of the small intestine. We'll just assume he has it and go from there. Gluten free is not so easy, but getting easier every day.

During all that we had a HUGE scare thinking I had a tumor in my ear that my jugular vein went through. Thank Heavens it's not, just my jugular vein ends in my ear instead of my neck.

Savanna wants to be homeschooled this year, so we decided to homeschool all of them. THe girls got accepted into k12 virtual school and Sam is on the waiting list for second grade. Hopefully he will get in, too.

Bryan has been amazing through all this. He has been my strength to get through the hard times without me falling into a deep dark depression.

Now on to the FUN adventure of potty training Noah!

I guess an update is in order

2009-10-18T18:29:00.002-05:00

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

2009-08-09T22:28:00.002-05:00

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

2009-08-08T11:41:00.002-05:00

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

2009-07-26T18:26:00.001-05:00

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!

2009-06-13T18:05:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-27T15:59:00.001-05:00

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

2009-05-14T22:34:00.001-05:00

We will see how it goes....

2009-05-14T19:02:00.000-05:00

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

2009-05-02T10:04:00.002-05:00

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!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-23T10:54:00.000-05:00

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

Going private

2009-04-20T09:54:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-04-18T17:25:00.002-05:00

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!!!!!!!!

2009-04-15T15:32:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-12T21:48:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-11T00:07:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-09T15:59:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-04-02T21:03:00.002-05:00

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

Finally

2009-04-01T22:04:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-31T18:40:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-30T18:30:00.002-05:00

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-21T18:21:00.001-05:00

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

2009-03-17T13:16:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-15T13:58:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-12T18:37:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-09T21:25:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-08T14:34:00.001-05:00

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

2009-03-02T12:28:00.002-06:00

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!

2009-02-26T21:34:00.000-06:00

Got his first tooth!!!!

Make me laugh Monday

2009-02-24T13:54:00.002-06:00

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

2009-02-22T13:11:00.000-06:00

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

2009-02-12T08:28:00.002-06:00

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?

2009-02-05T22:30:00.002-06:00

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

2009-02-03T20:15:00.002-06:00

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

2009-02-03T14:02:00.003-06:00

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

2009-02-02T12:57:00.002-06:00

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!

2009-01-31T12:47:00.002-06:00

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!

2009-01-29T22:24:00.002-06:00

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.

2009-01-28T12:58:00.003-06:00

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?

2009-01-26T12:47:00.002-06:00

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.

2009-01-25T14:29:00.001-06:00

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

2009-01-24T11:15:00.002-06:00

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

2009-01-23T16:22:00.003-06:00

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

2009-01-13T10:44:00.002-06:00

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!

2009-01-10T17:52:00.004-06:00

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

Hey!

2008-12-06T10:42:00.002-06:00

I know it's been forever since I've been back to post. Let's see. Last I posted, we thought Noah had allergies. He didn't. He had reflux, but not the throwing up kind. He basically had severe heartburn. Poor baby. We put him on some meds and he did great. Then he started solid foods and hasn't needed it since. Now he's six months old and doing wonderfully. Currently working on pushing his first two teeth in. His therapy is going really well (for those that don't remember or don't know if you go back to May or June you can find the posts about it.) He only has to go every other month now. He has full range of motion and has for some time. We're really only working on putting weight on it. In October his therapist said she thought he would crawl in a few months. He rocks on his hands and knees, but can't support his weight on his left arm for long. Getting better everyday, though. He started sitting up before he was 4 months old. He pulled himself up to stand around 5 1/2 months and still does this occassionally. Boggles my mind.

Mady Grace is doing wonderfully. She is busy being a big sister. She loves to help *handsome* or *big boy*, those are what she calls Noah.

Sam and Savanna are busy with school. Both excell in their classes. Sam is the class clown, but his teacher loves it. He was being picked on during the morning recess with the older grades, but it seems to have stopped. During this time he was very agressive and acting out at home. He's back to my loveable, energetic boy. Savanna was excited to find she had all A's again on her progress report. She's such a good help at home, I don't know what I would do without her.

I'm so way excited that Cassandra and I have been contacted by our brother, Jared, whom we have met once when he was a baby. He is our biological father's son from his second marriage. I've always wondered about him and it's nice to get to know him. Hopefully we will be meeting sometime this summer.

I think we will be getting our internet back up by Feb. I hope!

checking in

2008-09-10T13:57:00.002-05:00

Things have been crazy busy. Most of my here and there online time has been devoted to researching food allergies and breastfeeding. So no tiem to post. We think Noah is allergic to cow's milk. Right now we are doing a total elimination diet for me. It's oh so much fun. I didn't really know how much stuff I normally eat has some type of cow's milk protein in it. The hardest part is finding things with no casein or whey. It took me ten minutes of reading labels to find a dairy free butter type spread. It was grossly expensive for the amount I got. Same thing for bread. Now i think I'm not eating enough calories and it's affecting my milk supply. *sigh* It's been very stressful. Noah had finally stopped screaming at every feeding, but now he's doing it again and I haven't had anything for over a week. No eggs, either. I'm kinda at a loss for the moment.

The rest of us are wonderful. Well, except for my severe lack of sleep. Bryan is working. Kids are doing great in school. Mady is having fun. I'm beyond tired of listening to her sing Jonas Brothers songs, but what can you do?

2008-08-25T21:26:00.002-05:00

Randomness

2008-08-25T12:19:00.003-05:00

Boy, it sure starts early.

Savanna is 7 and obsessed with all things Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Camp Rock, etc. Basically all that stuff on Disney Channel. Mady is 3. I turned the speakers on when I pulled my blog page up. Jonas Brothers Burning Up was playing and she ran in from the other room screaming *JONAS BROTHERS, JONAS BROTHERS* *sigh* already. Now she wants a Jonas Brothers sandwich for lunch.

Here are some random pics from yesterday.

My kids as we were leaving for church. Sam was so excited because this was his new white shirt and tie.

Savanna and Madalyn are best friends. See the freaky glowing eyes?

Auntie Nay Nay with her nephews, Sam, Noah, and Aden.

I had to lighten this one to be able to see the boys. They were making silly faces. Aden I think is trying to Dino Up from Dino Squad.

MIA

2008-08-24T19:40:00.001-05:00

I will be MIA for awhile. Due to some financial strains we will be offline for awhile. I don't know how long, hopefully not too long.

And can you believe my baby will be 3 months on Friday?

First Day of School ~ Sam Edition

2008-08-19T09:41:00.003-05:00

Sam is at his first day of Kindergarten today. We have full day Kindergarten here. When we got there we showed him where Savanna's class was, then she went with us to his class. As we were walking to his class I got a bit teary eyed, but I kept it in. He sat at his desk and got pics, then his teacher was going to show the few kids there where to go to get to the playground. He was all excited. I told him to give me a hug and I got the fastest hug I have ever gotten. He turned around to run off and I told him to give me a kiss. He did, but barely. He just wanted to go play. He didn't even care that Savanna wouldn't go out the Kindergarten door he just ran off. So I left, I made it to the office where a friend of mine was standing. She asked how it went and I started crying because he didn't want to give me a kiss. I got her crying. I got many sympathetic looks while walking out of the school with tears running down my face. I hope he has a great day!

Here is a pic of Noah and my cousin, Connor. He was born 13 weeks early and is only 1 week younger than Noah.

Here is Connor all by himself. My mom hasn't seen him yet because he was still in the hospital when she left.

Noah giggling

2008-08-18T17:58:00.004-05:00

My mom is in Canada, so this is the only way to share with her. Here is a short video of Noah giggling. Please ignore the crappy videoing and just listen to the giggling. Some places you have to listen hard.

First Day of School ~ Savanna Edition

2008-08-18T10:26:00.004-05:00

I took Savanna to school today. I must say it was pretty uneventful. Took her in, snapped a few pics, and she kissed me and said good bye. It's such a difference from the last two years. Here are some pics of this morning and then a few pics of her. A birthday tribute.

Savanna's Birthday

2008-08-17T21:18:00.004-05:00

Yesterday Savanna turned 7! I can't believe how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday I held her for the first time. She is such a special girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family.

We got to go to Dixie Stampede in Branson. It was girl scout day so we got discounted tickets. Her friend went with is and we all had a blast. They were mesmerized by the show and enjoyed the food, but we had a ton left. Some other family members went and we sent left overs with them, too.

I left Bryan with four kids (I took the baby) and the camera to take pics of horses and kids in front of horses, while i went to get our tickets. He says the kids all took off so he didn't get to get any pictures. He conveniently forgot to tell me this until after we left, so I only have a few pics.
Here is the only picture of a horse we have

The only pic that really turned out.

And something I couldn't resist taking a picture of. Where else, but Arkansas, would you see a live bait vending machine?

Noah is not a happy man, so the photo montage of Savanna will have to wait until tomorrow. It's probably best, because then I can include first day of school pics.

Savanna's Open House

2008-08-14T21:37:00.002-05:00

We went to Savanna's open house tonight. She is kinda excited, but she's so shy. Her class is right beside the teacher she had last year and she says she plans to spend lots of time there. Her First grade teacher has moved up to teaching Second grade. Savanna was not one of the lucky 6 who had her last year to be placed in the same class. Mrs. Masingale said she told the principal she would love to *lube* (have all the same students as last year), and he said that was fine, but he had to call all the parents and ask if it was ok. She decided against that because she said it would break her heart for a parent to say no. I see where she is coming from, it would break my heart, too, but we so would have loved to have her again. I'm trying not to be paranoid and think there is some reason she didn't want Savanna in her class. She said she loves Savanna, so I don't think it's her. Hopefully it's not because I was a sucky class parent. My mom is probably rolling her eyes, but we all know that's how I think. Anyways, Sav's new teacher is very nice. She got all choked up talking about how much she loves all her students, how she gets so close to them and year later still cherishes them. Just a few more days and school starts!

A pic of my cute boy

2008-08-13T16:27:00.000-05:00

A message for Great Grandma

2008-08-13T16:04:00.002-05:00

Here is a message for my grandma from my kiddos.

Bittersweet excitement

2008-08-12T22:28:00.002-05:00

Sam had his Open House tonight. I have been so excited for days. Didn't know which of us was more excited. All of a sudden as we're driving to the school I get all choked up. I'm going to be a basket case next Tuesday. My baby is getting so big, well, they all are, but Kindergarten is such a big thing. Sam was all excited to put his pencil box in his desk, but he wanted to put all the rest of his supplies in there, too. The baby wipes and Kleenex, too. We asked him what name he wanted to go by since his desk has Samuel on it. He doesn't want Samuel, or even Sam, he wants to be called Sam Burton Chandler. I told him that was too many names and we should just stick with Sam. He likes his teacher and was excited when he saw her picture in the hall as we were leaving. I'm a bit nervous about one of the boys in his class though. Apparently he was in this class last year and he got held back. The mom of a girl in class, had her son in this class last year. The kid who was held back is a bully and has a real problem with choking other kids. One turned blue! I'm so afraid Sam will be made fun of because of his speech disorder. I don't want that for him. I'm hoping it won't be an issue, but I'm such a worrier. Seriously though, no parent wants their kid to get their feelings hurt.

My grandma

2008-08-09T19:17:00.001-05:00

My Grandma is very sick. She had a heart attack. She is having surgery Monday. My mom, aunt, and uncle have all flown to where she is. Please pray for Marrian Smith.

Scary news

2008-08-08T09:36:00.002-05:00

You know it's never fun to get a phone call asking how a member of your family is doing when you know nothing is wrong. My mom's friend called yesterday to ask how my uncle was. She saw on the news that he and his four girls were in a car accident. Mom and I heard about this accident yesterday morning. It was bad. Mom then proceeds to call every extended family member she can think of to find out how everyone is. They were very blessed. Just come cuts bruises. The police have said it was the worst crash without a fatality that they have ever seen. A head on collision caused by a 16 year old driving 65 mph (in either a 55 or 45 zone) while texting. The two things that saved my family is that they were in their big white truck and were all buckled. They are all home now resting. One a brighter note their baby is supposed to come home tomorrow. He was born a few days after Noah. He was 13 weeks early.

My grandmother is also in the hospital. She had a heart attack, but she is ok.

Oh, and Bryan has what the girls had.

A fun day

2008-08-06T19:14:00.002-05:00

Mom and I went shopping today. I got a new camera since Sam broke my old one. The older kids are at Grandma Chandler's house, so Noah got to be the solo model for the test. Here are some cute pics of him. He will be 10 weeks told tomorrow. Here are some pics of his super cute smiles. You can see his little dimples.

Give me a break

2008-08-05T09:36:00.002-05:00

WHile Bryan was at work last night he decided to log onto our bank account. Small problem. He forgets the password. Does he stop? Nope, he just keeps trying until they lock him out. Now I can't get on it. Normally this isn't an issue, but there was something I needed to check. So I call customer service and they can't reset it until Bryan tells them to. He's asleep and has a fever. It's not like I can just go give him the phone, he wouldn't be coherent enough to talk to them. *sigh* Why couldn't they just do it for me?

My husband is wonderful!

2008-08-04T10:28:00.002-05:00

I love my husband! He surprised me this morning with everything I need for a read a thon, Dr. Pepper, Peanut M&M's, and Breaking Dawn! It was so sweet of him! Now if only that had included a cook, a maid, a nanny, and a wet nurse, it would be perfect. :) I'm reading a bit, then doing something productive for a bit. I had to tell Brinae (my lil sis) that she needed to go to the library and get my copy that's on hold because it's probably going to take me a bit to read it. I have a two month old that requires lots of attention. Ok, off to read some more before the dishes get me.

Do people really think this way still? Oh and a super big YAY!!

2008-08-01T23:09:00.003-05:00

My baby can roll over from his front to his back! I can't actually witnessed it, but twice now we have laid him on his stomach and left the room to come back to him on his back. Once he was all alone in the room and the other time my other kids were in there, but they were all asleep. It's exciting, but bittersweet. He's only 2 months old.

This is a vent about my in laws, so people who do not wish to read it, don't got further. :)

Things have been pretty great with the in laws since last November. I was just telling Bryan over the Fourth of July weekend how I still am apprehensive when we go over there. 8 months of niceness doesn't negate the previous 7 years. I have enjoyed the last 8 months immensely, but at times felt I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Bryan's sister Sarah and her family are visiting from Utah. Today Sarah, Celia (Bryan's twin sister), and I ran to the store. Noah had just eaten and we weren't going to be gone long, so I left him with Bryan. The only child we took was Celia's Anna, who is just a bit older than Noah. While we were gone my mom was dropped off at my house by a co-worker. She called my in laws to see if I was there. My Father in law told her *She just ran off somewhere and I don't know where she is. If you talk to her, tell her to come back and take care of her kids.* I told her Bryan was there and she was surprised. Why would he have this reaction? Afterwards Bryan said it wasn't just me, he mumbled about *Moms needing to be home with their kids* a few times. Ummm.....My mother in law offered to watch Celia's boys and the other kids were being taken care of by their dads. Last I checked dads were just as capable as moms. Mom asked why we didn't get the ice cream we had planned on getting (one of two things Savanna can eat without being in pain) and I told her what my mom said. Apparently dad got upset because Sam asked him to put butter on a bagel while the other adults were watching kids in the pool, which he wouldn't do. I guess I just don't get it. I'm a mom yes, but I'm not the only parent. The only thing Bryan can't do that I can is breastfeed Noah. In fact, in many things he is better than I am.

Tomorrow will be better right?

It's fixed!!!!

2008-07-30T12:44:00.002-05:00

The a/c thing is fixed!!!!!!! My very best friend since high school surprised me last night with the parts to fix everything. I have lost count of the number of times she has saved my butt over the years. I am so grateful to have such awesome friends! I am also grateful for my honey. He is so incredibly tired. He worked a 12 hour shift last night, plus he's working another tonight, but he stayed up after he got home to put the new fuse block in so that I can take my kiddos and go home tonight. I am so excited to sleep in my own bed! I will have to think of something awesome to repay these special people.

UGH!

2008-07-29T08:03:00.002-05:00

It's 8 am and I am so tired I can barely see straight. The kids and I spent the night at my mom's house last night and I spent all night fighting the dogs off her bed so they wouldn't bother Noah. Why did we spend the night here when we have a perfectly nice house to sleep in? Becauase when it rains it pours. Last night Bryan was getting ready for work in the back bathroom. He usually isn't back there, so this was unusual. He smelled something burning and went into the backyard. The fuse block to our central a/c unit had caught on fire. I am so incredibly grateful it happened when he was home because he knows how to shut off the power to the thing. If it had happened 30 minutes later I wouldn't have known until the back of the house was on fire. Or if we had been sleeping. I shudder to think. ANd now we have no a/c *sigh*

Round two

2008-07-28T17:25:00.002-05:00

Savanna has what Mady has. The last week has been oh so pleasant, I just can't wait to repeat it.

And we're off

2008-07-28T10:40:00.002-05:00

to the Dr again. I swear we keep this office in business ourselves in the last year. Between Sam being sick so much before his surgery and Noah and his arm, we have spent several hundred dollars there, out of pocket. Savanna has a fever now. Lowest it's been is 101.5, highest is 102.8. Sometimes she says her tongue hurts, but usually she says her throat hurts. Strep is going around here. I told her i'm thinking about having the Dr give her an antibiotic shot if she needs antibiotics. After the drama last night just trying to get her to take a liquid or a chewable I dread doing it again. Now i am a mean mommy for wanting her to get a shot. Oh well.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN ARKANSAS IN JULY WHEN. . . .

2008-07-26T22:13:00.000-05:00

YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN ARKANSAS IN JULY WHEN. . . .

The birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.

The trees are whistling for the dogs.

The best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.

Hot water now comes out of both taps.

You can make sun tea instantly.

You learn that a seat belt buckle makes a pretty good branding iron.

The temperature drops below 95 and you feel a little chilly.

You discover that in July it only takes 2 fingers to steer your car.

You discover that you can get sunburned through your car window.

You actually burn your hand opening the car door.

You break into a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30 a.m.

Your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, 'What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death?'

You realize that asphalt has a liquid state.

The potatoes cook underground, so all you have to do is pull one out and add butter, salt and pepper.

Farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying boiled eggs.

The cows are giving evaporated milk.

Ah, what a place to call home. .

God Bless Our State of Arkansas

A funny

2008-07-26T22:07:00.002-05:00

My mom and I were at Wal-Mart this afternoon and one of their employees stopped me so she could look at Noah. Here is our conversation.

Wal-Mart employee: Boy?

Me: Yes

WE: How old?

Me: 8 weeks.

Insert astonished look here ( we get this a lot)

WE: He looks at least 1 1/2 to 2 months old to me.

Me: Just smiling and nodding thinking *Isn't that what I said?*

My poor Mady Grace

2008-07-25T18:58:00.003-05:00

She is sick and so grouchy! Of course I would be, too, if I had blisters in my mouth. This sounds so nasty, because what it is, is never what people first think of when they hear it. She has a herpes infection in her mouth. Herpes Simplex 1, Oral herpes, meaning cold sores. The primary infection either has no symptoms or blisters in the mouth. My baby girl was so lucky enough to get the blisters. She has at least 5. She can't eat, barely drink, and is so not sleeping well. She wakes up several times a night whining. There isn't much I can do for her and there isn't really anything she wants to do. She went swimming at Grandma's and spent half her time there crying. Poor baby.

Free DVD

2008-07-22T18:55:00.004-05:00

Sam loves Planet Heroes and Fisher Price is offering free DVD's. THe website says 12-14 weeks for delivery, but I don't think it takes that long. http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=5477&e=dvd

Another Noah update

2008-07-22T11:59:00.002-05:00

Are you guys tired of them yet? I just can't resist. He had pt yesterday. We are at the moment on a once a month schedule and I do the range of motion exercises at home. So we went yesterday and as I laid him on the table Miss Adele asked how we were doing. I told her I hoped she would be as excited as we were. Barely letting me finish my sentence he pulled his arm up and bent his elbow. Her eyes got HUGE and she just kept saying *OH OH OH* She was caught very off guard and very very excited!!!! She said she did not except such a big improvement in only 4 weeks. She was so excited she had tears in her eyes, as did I. It really and truly is such a miracle. Interestingly, his improvement started speeding up after his blessing (like a Christening for you non-LDS folks), where he was promised he would have full use of his arm. So now we have new exercises to do and another appointment at the end of August.

Noah's 6 week check up

2008-07-19T20:13:00.002-05:00

He is growing so quickly! He lost a bit of weight after he was born, just like all babies. His first trip to the pediatrician was the Monday after he was born. Since then he has gained exactly 4 lbs! He's grown 2 and 1/4 inches. People do double takes when I tell them he is only 7 weeks old, they all think he's at least 3 months old. He also has great head control and has since he was two weeks old, so that adds to them thinking he's older. I wonder how this will play out when he's over 6 months old. If he will still be this much bigger and not be crawling because of his arm. Hmmm....... Oh well, I think he's perfect!

I just couldn't do it

2008-07-19T20:12:00.001-05:00

The picture made me cringe every time I opened my blog. I had to take it down. I will take a new one soon to put up.

Some personalization

2008-07-13T19:24:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to add some stuff to my blog, pics and stuff. Still learning how. I just realized how incredibly awful I look in the top pic. Sadly I'm not changing it until I get a better pic of our family or one of the kiddos.

An Aden update

2008-07-12T20:54:00.002-05:00

Apparently while swimming he was running and fell. He only complained about his stomach hurting, not his head so my sister didn't think he hit his head despite the presence of a big red spot on his forehead. He has a small concussion on top of aspirating the water.

Does anyone else ever want to wrap their kids in bubble wrap just for a little while?

A very scary thing

2008-07-12T00:34:00.002-05:00

Noah and I just spend four very long hours in the ER with my sister and nephew. He almost delay drowned. You can read about it here. http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/drydrowning.asp Had he not thrown up before we got to the hospital it could have had a different ending. He's home now and fine, but so scary!

YAY!

2008-07-09T10:50:00.002-05:00

Noah is moving his elbow! Ok, so he still doesn't move it much, but he can and he does sometimes! I am so beyond excited. It's such an accomplishment for him. That means everything works exactly how it should and it's just a matter of time before he has complete mobility!

I've kinda been avoiding this lately

2008-07-07T11:40:00.002-05:00

There are a few blogs I read occasionally and a few I read quite often. I have been doing some thinking and i think I feel inadequate, but that's not exactly the right word. My blog is mostly about my kids. Others post about other things, politics, things going on in the world, stuff like that. I must be either very boring or one dimensional. I'm not into politics, I can't vote, so I mostly don't pay a whole lot of attention. The news usually ends up making me cry, so I don't know much that's going on. I guess i have my head buried in the sand. Is it a bad thing that I write about my family? They are my life, this is the time and season to be a mother. Is that the only thing my life revolves around? No. I have my knitting (which includes my doing it at home on my own, a weekly stitch n bitch I attend, and the class I am teaching at the library), I have a scrapbooking group I go to once a month. I read. I do have my own interests. Although, truthfully, they do get put on the back burner when something come up for the kids. So, I guess I feel like my blog is painfully boring, and then I wonder why it bothers me because I only know one person that really reads it and I'm not sure she does often.

My middle of the night miracle!

2008-06-29T21:32:00.000-05:00

Calling Bryan's cell phone repeatedly at 2:30 am makes for a frantic ,usband! but I could not contain my joy. Noah woke up to nurse. I fed him on one side and he was kinda asleep so I laid him on his side so I could run to the bathroom while he woke himself up enough to eat. Before I got up I watched him. His hurt arm fell behind him and I reached to put it in front of him. I didn't think he was awake enough to use his shoulder to drag it in front of him like he sometimes does. I didn't reach his arm before he did something that SHOCKED me. He pulled his arm up sideways! Like he was reaching for the ceiling. He only has about a 100 degree range of motion that direction and he got it almost up to that. I just sat there and cried I was so excited! THen I thanked Heavenly Father. I'm so excited!

2008-06-25T16:06:00.004-05:00

Noah was blessed Sunday June 22.

Noah in his blessing outfit. Both he and Sam were blessed wearing this outfit and wrapped in the blue blanket I made.
Here is a close up of Noah.
Noah, Bryan, and Serenity
Our family. Savanna, Sam, Bryan, Madalyn, Serenity, and Noah.
My family. Back row is my dad, Donnell, nephew Aden, sis Brinae, bro Josh. Second row, sis Cassandra, mom Bridgette, me, Noah, Bryan, and Mady. Front row, niece Abby, Sam, and Savanna.

Here are Noah and Anna. Anna is 6 weeks older than Noah. It looks like they are holding hands. Bryan and his twin sister Celia and their babies.

I guess we must be doing something right

2008-06-24T16:13:00.003-05:00

We were talking about Locks of Live with my bil and sil the other day. Savanna later asked more about it. Yesterday she decided she wanted to donate her hair, so today we went and did that. She is so excited and can't wait to mail it off so another child can get it. I'm so proud of her!

Before. It needs to be brushed.
Holding her ponytail.
After. She looks so grownup now!

Noah's Physical Therapy Evaluation

2008-06-20T22:33:00.002-05:00

Ok, the physical therapist is WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!! She was so nice and she showed Bryan and I several range of motion exercises to do a few times a day. She said basically right now we are providing his pt and she is tracking his progress. She was very encouraged by how well he is moving his hand and shoulder already. She said an adults range of motion is 180 degrees (to lift the arm from your side straight up in the air) she said a newborn has a bit less than that, but Noah's is about 100 degrees. She talked a bit about surgery, but said it is way too early to tell if he will need it. She's leaning towards him not needing it.

He so did not like her touching him. The first time she was moving his arm to check his range of motion and it hurt him. After he let out that hurt cry, he cried anytime she touched him. After I got him calmed down we laid him down and she had me practice the exercises. He did fine, didn't cry at all. After that she would guide my hand if she needed to so she wouldn't touch him. It was really funny.

So all in all I'm very pleased with the Kistler Center and very excited for Noah.

Who knew

2008-06-17T16:34:00.002-05:00

Who knew life as a mother of four would be so busy? Just kidding. I just don't seem to find time to get on the computer as much lately. There is always so much to do and I still haven't gotten around to doing any housework at all. I'm finally healing better and can move without being in severe pain. Noah should have an app for a physical therapy evaluation sometime this week or next. It depends upon how long the waiting list is. Savanna has decided she has found a nickname for Noah. He's Nemo because he has a *lucky fin* She's so cute! Mister man is fussy, must be time to eat. Maybe I'll get back here before another entire week has passed.

Two week check up

2008-06-10T18:06:00.003-05:00

Mr Noah is officially a piggy. We went for our two week check ups today. Last Monday he was down to 9 lbs 14 oz. Very normal to go down a few oz. He's now 10 lbs 15 oz! That's 1 lb 1 oz in 8 days!!! I don't have to worry that he's getting enough to eat! His arm is also doing much better. He's moving his shoulder kinda a lot. I'm so very grateful!

More yummy baby pics

2008-06-08T17:48:00.003-05:00

Here is my sleeping Noah Bear.

Here we are all dressed up for our first day of church. He just woke up so not such a happy boy.

It's hot out here!

2008-06-04T21:36:00.008-05:00

It's been so hot here. Around 100 with the heat index. So we broke out the kiddie pool today. Here are some pics.
Such a diva!

Noah at 6 days old! Isn't he a cutie?

Noah's birth story

2008-06-02T09:41:00.002-05:00

I spent every day of May wondering *Is this it?* *Is this it?* Starting May 2 I had contractions every single day, sometimes for hours on end. May 23 I went into labor, only to stop 36 hours later at 4 centimeters. It was all very disheartening.

Finally at 4:02 am May 29 my water broke. I was so excited I cried. Contractions started about an hour later coming every 5 minutes. The midwife, Debbie, came out around 9 am . Contractions started slowing down. I went walking around the block several times, but it didn't really do much. Debbie suggested we go driving down some bumpy roads, so my mom drove me. It was horrible. The contractions started coming two minutes apart and were very painful. Debbie checked me and I cried when she said I was only 4 1/2 centimeters. I got in the birth pool and it helped. I was able to find some sort of Zen and talk to myself through my contractions. I just kept telling myself they were almost over. It helped a lot, plus squeezing Bryan's hand was nice, too.

At around 4:30 pm things started getting really intense. Debbie checked and I was 7 1/2. We thought things would go very fast. She had to leave at 5:30 to attend her sons high school graduation. Robin, the other midwife, would stay with us. Debbie and I both talked about how sad we were that she would miss the birth. She said she would be back around 9 ish to check on us. She did not miss the birth. I had a very small part of my cervix that would not move. Debbie called it my bubble. It prevented Noah's head from coming through the cervix completely. We spent hours trying to get it to g away. I went though endless contractions fighting the urge to push hping it would help the bubble go away. It didn't. They massage it and pushed it. Nothing helped. We changed positions, nothing. Finally I pushed while Debbie pushed it back over his head. That didn't help either. Debbie finally suggested I try to use the bathroom and then we were going to try something else, but now I don't remember what it was. While I was on the toilet the bubble moved and all of a sudden his head was right there. I barely made it to the couch. I started pushing and boy it sure took longer than I remembered to push his head out. Finally I did. In reality it probably wasn't that long, but it felt like it. It turns out it was a very good thing I did not get back into the birth pool because right about then all hell broke loose. That really is the only way to describe it. Debbie looked at me and said we needed to get the baby out in the next contraction. It didn't work. I was pushing as hard as I could. I wasn't sure exactly what was going on and asked and Debbie said he was stuck on my pelvic bone. He needed out NOW. I cried that I couldn't do it and she said I had to. My mom started screaming at me that I needed to do it now. She was crying. Bryan, Debbie, and Robin were all down there (Bryan was supposed to be delivering himself before Noah got stuck). One was pushing my vagina back as far as they could while the other two pulled. My poor little Noah has perfect finger bruises. Finally we got him out. They put him on my chest and Bryan told me we had a boy. He was born at 9:46 pm. He was a bit blue. He did not start breathing or crying and got more blue. Debbie rushed for the oxygen while Robin started rubbing him trying to stimulate him. He was still attached to the cord, so still getting oxygen through it, but he needed to breathe on his own. It took four minutes for him to breathe or cry. During those four minutes I heard the word transfer whispered. Luckily we didn't have to. Noah started crying and breathing and pinked right up, but those four minutes were a bit scary.

Now we're both doing well. My pelvic bone is bruised, but other than that I feel fine. Miraculously I did not tear at all, even with all the pulling and pushing. Noah has an appointment with a pediatrician today because he has a bruised nerve in his arm from being stuck and being pulled. He moves his hand and grips, but doesn't move his arm much. Hopefully we can fix it. I feel horrible guilt over his injury and hope it isn't permanent. I have a friend whose son had the same thing, only worse, he couldn't move his hand or fingers at all. In less than a year you couldn't tell that anything had ever been wrong. I hope we have the same blessing.

Oh, and my boy got stuck because he was huge. 22 inches long, 14 5/8 inches head, and 10 lbs 6 oz!!!

He's finally here!

2008-05-30T16:06:00.013-05:00

Noah Calvin Chandler was born Thursday May 29, 2008 at 9:46 pm. He is 22 inches long and weighs in at a whopping 10 lbs 6 oz!!!!! Here are some pics. Here's my BIG boy!!!!!

Beside cousin Anna who is six weeks older!Another pic with Anna

With my big brother Sam.
With my big sister Savanna.

With my big sister Mady!
My boys are sleeping!
A close up of Noah

Random pics of the kids

2008-05-20T17:52:00.000-05:00

Mady and her best friend Kaytlyn.
Sam dancing with Koal.

Kids on the trampoline the first day we got it.
Sam on the soccer field.
My girls missing the same tooth.
Mady chillin' at the park on Easter.
Mady and Auntie Nay Nay

Kids at the park on Easter.

Sam playing soccer.
Savanna playing soccer.

Sam and Savanna warming up.

Mady in her bike gear.

Savanna being goofy on her field trip. This might have been when she was doing the cha-cha slide.

Savanna in her glasses

2008-05-20T17:43:00.000-05:00

Dear Heaven, please make the phone calls stop!

2008-05-19T18:46:00.000-05:00

I swear if I have to deal with one more phone call or e-mail asking where my baby is I will scream. I know exactly where my baby is, still inside of me. Why is s/he not here yet? Well, honestly I don't know. Apparently because it's not TIME yet. I'm officially *due* in two days. Does that mean I will automatically be induced, nope it sure does not. I won't even think about induction until at least 42 weeks. Heavenly Father has a time table and as anxious and uncomfortable as I am, it doesn't matter. I'm sick of other people bothering me about it. I can not do one single thing to make this baby make an appearance sooner. Trust me, I would love to. Of course, there is usually a bright side to everything. The bright side to not having the baby yet is that I got to go on Savanna's field trip with her today. That will be for a separate post, though. But seriously, please, make the the phone calls stop!!!!

Glasses

2008-05-14T07:34:00.000-05:00

Miss Savanna got her glasses the other day. She looks so cute in them! So grown up! My camera is still dead, I think it needs replaced, so no pics at the moment. They are hot pink wire frames. Right now she only has to wear them when doing school work. She barely needed them, you can buy her scrip in reading glasses at Wal-Mart. They, of course, don't come in kid sizes, though. We have great insurance though, so they didn't cost much. She thinks they are the coolest thing ever. The eye dr said in a few years she will need to wear glasses all the time. She already has an astigmatism. So I will post pics when I get a chance.

Still pregnant

2008-05-10T15:56:00.000-05:00

I'm still pregnant. I'm miserable. I am so past done. Mady's third birthday is Tuesday and she keeps saying she wants the baby to come out on her birthday. I personally would love a day sooner than that, but if not, Tuesday works great for me. My mom will be out of town for work on Mon, Tues, and Wed and is very sad I might have the baby while she is gone. It's probably her last grandchild until Josh and Brinae start having babies so she really doens't want to miss it.

I'm so not good at this

2008-04-27T21:14:00.000-05:00

I'm not good at keeping up with a blog at all. You would think I would be, it's not like i don't spend time on the computer everyday. I really need to try harder. Maybe I just think I'm boring, so I don't put forth the effort. I read a few blogs and they post about things, not just what their kids are doing. All I ever talk about is my family. And so here comes some more.

Yesterday we had a double birthday party for Sam and Mady. We invited the kids from nursery for Mady, a few family friends and cousins, and some kids from Sam's preschool. My friend Tonya and her kids came. She has kids the same age as mine, plus a few older. THey all play and get along really well. Two sisters from church came, my sis and her two kids, and Bry's sis and her four. Sam and Mady had a blast. Later that night, the part I had been dreading came. Sam had gotten out of bed to get a drink. I asked him if he had a good day and he said yes, but he was sad. He came and gave me a hug and said he was sad because none of his friends from school came to his party. He asked me why they didn't and I told him I didn't know. I guess I should have prepared him. None of them RSVP'd, but around here most don't. He was so sad. After he went to bed Bry came back to the living room and found me sobbing. I'm sure the pregnancy hormones make it worse, but my heart was breaking for him. He was so sad. He didn't say anything today, so I'm hoping he's over it.

I am assuming I started nesting last night. I cleaned out the boxes I have been avoiding from when we traded in our van. Not fun to go through those, plus a few other storage things that I have been neglecting. I cleaned the bathroom, folded all the laundry (it was a lot since I haven't felt great lately) and finished cleaning up the table from the leftover birthday party stuff we just dropped there when we got home. Today I had to leave church because of contractions. They stopped after awhile and I took a nap while my mother in law took the kids home with her. Bry was sleeping too, because he had to work tonight. When I got up I cleaned up the kitchen. Again, it's been sadly neglected lately and then cleaned my bedroom. Wow, that was a big task. Now I just have to finish the rest of the laundry and get the three front rooms finished. Well, I guess just two and the kitchen floor. THere really isn't a whole lot left and then everything will be ready for baby! I'm so beyond ready!

Bed rest sucks!

2008-03-26T15:31:00.000-05:00

I hate bed rest! It's worse when Bryan works at night. Thankfully he's home for the rest of the week. I'm ready for the cramps to be gone and for things to get back to normal. 5 more weeks and it will be safe to have the baby. That's not too long right?

Oh wow

2008-03-21T12:55:00.000-05:00

It's been forever. Things just seem to get away from me. Lets see if I can do a brief synopsis.

Sam had his surgery and is doing fantabulously! No problems whatsoever. It went great. He got to keep his *spot* which he delights in showing everyone. He's back to preschool and enjoys going now that he's not in pain all the time. Getting ready for Kindergarten next year. We have a meeting at the Primary school in a bit over a week to discuss his continued speech therapy.

Savanna is doing so super well. She is in the top of her first grade class. She is in one of the top 3 classes in the school. She had her 3rd nine weeks math test last week and made a 35 out of 33. I'm not entirely sure why she got extra points because there was no bonus question. I will have to ask her teacher after spring break is over.

They are both playing soccer this season. Savanna had a blast last fall and Sam is old enough this Spring. Their first game is next Saturday and they are super excited. Mady felt left out, so she had to get her own *hoccer* ball. It has Dora on it.

Madalyn is doing well, too. She likes to stay home and play with me. We've been getting together a lot with my friend Tonya, and her daughter Kaytlyn, who is Mady's best friend. We've also joined a playgroup and had a few fun playdates with them.

Bryan just started nightshift again. I hate it, but it's not as bad as the last time. He works 12 hour shifts Sunday, Monday, Tuesday nights and every other Saturday. He's ok with it, I'm the one who hates it. I hate doing bedtime by myself. This week was rough, but only because the kids were on Spring Break. It will be much easier to keep Mady quiet than it was to try to keep all three of them quiet when it was rainy outside.

I'm hanging in there. Getting more uncomfortable everyday. Only 8 more weeks left. I can't wait! We're trying to get everything all set up and ready. Bryan is doing a wonderful job helping me do the things I want done and putting up with all my complaining. Plus my horrible mood swings!!!! I'm trying to get all our supplies gathered up for our homebirth. I am so excited to be having this baby at home! It's what I've always wanted.

So that's it. Maybe now I can keep up again. *sigh* Not enough hours in the day.

Sadness

2008-01-28T08:51:00.001-06:00

Last night the beloved prophet of our church, Gordon B Hinckley, died. I'm sad because we no longer have his loving guidance. At the same time I am happy for him, he is once again reunited with his wonderful wife and his God. He will be missed!

the battered child

2008-01-21T17:30:00.000-06:00

On Saturday I was at a baby shower an hour away and Bryan called me. He said he wasn't sure, but he thought Madalyn might have bit entirely through her bottom lip. She was in the back yard and tripped walking to the step (which is actually just a cinder block) and hit her mouth on it. She bit the inside of her bottom lip and scraped the outside of it. Mostly on the left side. So while I'm on the phone he figures out that she did not bite through her lip. Afterwards I was kinda frustrated that he would call me and tell me, without making sure first, but I suppose he panicked.

Then Sunday morning we were walking down the front steps and a little girl with us accidentally pushed her down the steps. She hurt her lips again, same side. She scraped her gums and slightly pushed one of her caps up. Possibly chipped part of her eye tooth. A friend of mine at church is a dental hygenist, so she looked at Mady's mouth to see if we needed a dental visit, luckily we don't.

She's had a very rough weekend, but she's all smiles. Here are her battle scars.