Random Funnies

Thankfully today I am not having a whatever kind of day, because frankly my hormones cannot handle another one of those again for a while:) I just had to share some precious and funny things that have happened recently:)

Well, here it is-Little Princess' coming home outfit!! Kyle under Mike's leadership scoured Pigeon Forge and came up with this. It is so precious that it brings tears to my eyes even though I would have definitely picked out something way different:) It is simply a precious onesie that says Little Lady and of course he splurged for the matching hat:) He grinned from ear to ear while we waited in line at Carter's to pay for it. Kyle also picked out the blanket to match and it says Welcome Home on it. This nameless baby is so dear to us all already:)


I was talking to my brother on the phone just today about my Dad's birthday. I told him that I had already bought him two shirts from Under Armour and I have already given it to him. (remember that was the sale that was big enough to make me forsake my online shopping restriction for lent-that kind of sale!) Anyway, my brother reminded me of the most hilarious thing and I am using my blog as a public forum to personally apologize to my brother. I know it is hard to believe, but friends, I truly did make a grave mistake about 4-5 years ago that I must confess about.

You see, about 4 or 5 years ago, my brother Chad was laying in the floor playing with some boy (mine or his it really doesn't matter) but I noticed that he had on this tight fitting slicky kind of shirt on under a tshirt. I questioned him about what he had on and he tried to explain to me that it was this special kind of shirt that whisk heat away from the body to keep you cool?! I died laughing HYSTERICALLY at my brother and kidded him that he looked like he had on an ice skating costume!!!! Come to find out that my brother was way ahead of times because he was wearing Under Armour back then ahead of the trend, and I accused him of looking like an ice skater. So Chad, I apologize profusely-will you forgive me?

Also, I know I totally just posted about my new favorite song just last week, but let me tell you I am blown away with another song that I just had to share. It is Chris Tomlin's new song, I Will Rise, and frankly it brings me to tears. I watched this Godtube video of him talking about the song and his whole reason for writing it was to provide a song that acknowledges that we will all face hard and difficult times here on Earth. The bible tells us that very bluntly, but we have the hope that God will never leave us in that horrible place-that he will walk with us through the difficult times if we rely on him and that we will rise! I LOVE this song so much and I just had to share this video:) Enjoy!

Whatever

Today is one of those days that I just feel like saying WHATEVER. I know this blog typically shows my sweeter side, but today I just feel a little annoyed. Before you start wondering if something bad has happened to me, just know that I am simply annoyed at trivial things that I have no control over and I just have to vent:) Perhaps my hormonal side is catching up to me today:)

1) I broke down at the grocery store last night and bought high end hairspray because I love the smell. I did not spend $15 on hairspray for the quality of the hairspray, just because it smells darn good. This morning I was so excited to use my hairspray and guess what-the top was broken and it did not spray and it ran down my arm-WHATEVER!

2) This morning at preschool I opened my soda and it spewed all over me to the point it soaked through my shirt and made my bra stick to me-WHATEVER!

3) I love that my blog has readers from all over and I truly feel blessed that people react positively to what I say in my blog, but I had a comment this morning that perhaps it was not wise to skip the AFP blood test with my "history" and maybe I should reconsider. The great thing is that I simply did not publish that comment and chose to say WHATEVER!

4) The sun is shining and it is beautiful looking here today, but the temperature is only in the 40's-WHATEVER!

5) Kyle sneezed a million times this morning which means that perhaps his asthma could kick in again despite vigilantly taking his Advair-WHATEVER!

Okay, that just about does it. Thank for letting me vent about things that I have no control over. Thankfully I have a great husband, precious children, and great friends that are okay with my venting every once in a while. Please feel free to vent on this cold Monday as well. I would love to hear if you are having a whatever day also:)

Weekend of fun

We are on the road this weekend in Pigeon Forge. We are staying at the Wilderness at the Smokies which is an awesome indoor/outdoor waterpark place. The boys have had a ball and David is sleeping soundly as I write this and Mike and Kyle are snuggling and watching sports.

We have another day of swimming tomorrow and then we must head back to the real world:) Tonight we ventured out for some dinner and during dinner Kyle announced that his Mom was half woman and half cow because she can make her own milk for the baby! We then were forced to have a spontaneous discussion on breast feeding right there at the dinner table. It is definitely an interesting challenge to go through pregnancy and prepare for having a newborn in the house with a big, curious seven year old!!

On a fun note, Kyle finally chose the special outfit to bring little Princess home from the hospital in. My Mom tried so hard to persuade him towards the frilly dresses, but Kyle wanted nothing to do with it! We gave him total control of the situation and what he came up with is precious...I will post a picture when we get home:)

Educating the world

I know-it is a hard job but someone must do it. I feel compelled whenever the situation arises to educate the world one person at a time. Today I had to educate a professional regarding prenatal testing. I took David for a specific evaluation to see if additional services in one particular area were warranted and I had to end up educating another person:)

David performed quite well for the professional and she even commented that he was "way higher functioning than she anticipated." I should have known right then and there where this was headed:)

The next step was to do a brief history of David including his family biography. I informed her that he has a brother and that he has a sister due in June. She looked up at me (guess she couldn't guess I was pregnant which is shocking considering I am 28 weeks along) and said "well, I am sure you have done an amnio this time around." I looked at her with total shock on my face because if ANYONE knows me well they know that I am totally and utterly afraid of needles and why I would choose to allow one to penetrate my womb is beyond me.

But, I asked her why she was curious about an amnio and she said "well, of course to rule out Down's again!" Oh my, here we go again. I then broke out my tried and true lecture that Mike and I are Christians and we do not believe in prenatal testing which would allow us to have "options." We believe that David is a gift from the Lord and that we were chosen specifically to parent this awesome child (that is very high functioning thank you very much!)

She totally did not get what I was saying and went on to ask about my AFP results. (AFP is the blood test taken at 16 weeks of pregnancy to rule out DS and other various disabilities). Her mouth dropped when I told her that we did not do an AFP for our big boys and we did not this go around with sweet Princess. Then I heard her say the biggest "oh." God love her, she had no idea what to say beyond that. She then totally shocked me and said that David needs no additional services and that we were free to go!!!

Well, I tried to educate one more person today-I am not sure if I succeeded, but she at least got true words from my heart. I love my strong-willed, hilarious, little red head and hopefully we can tag team to teach the world one person at a time the true meaning of perfection. I think that professional today failed to see David's perfection-thankfully his Creator is not offended in the least:) Isaiah 43:7 states that every one that is called by my name; for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him, I have made him. Nope, God is not the least bit surprised that David has an extra chromosome and I am sure He delights that a child can remind us of the true meaning of perfection. Thankfully, it does not take an amniocentesis or a blood test to test for true perfection:)

Storytime

Sometimes in life you have those moments that are spontaneous and precious when you have children in the house. David's class had a special reading program last week where the children brought home a new book. David showed off his new book and then proceeded to make the chairs look like storytime and directed everyone where they should sit. He read his new book to Mike and Kyle and then he "allowed" Mike to read it to him. It was precious-he showed all the pictures just like his guest reader did:)

Mike was allowed to read it after David did!


Listening to David "read" is priceless-he even holds the pictures up for you to see!

I needed that vision of sweetness tonight-it has been somewhat of a long two days around here. Mike would politely call it "Mommy's hormonal imbalance"! My emotions have been a little on the edge today-you can even ask my friend Lynn who was the recipient of an email that I rattled on and poured out my heart! We also had a meeting about David today with all his service providers at school-God love them they are awesome people. I know it is not always easy to come to a meeting with hormonal Mommy and superintedent Daddy. Basically any of the meetings we have we must focus on David's deficits so we can help fill in the gaps. It gets a little frustrating to hear over and over what he is NOT doing. Thankfully, though, he has made some great gains this year that we got to celebrate as well:)

We are so blessed with the people that God has put in his life. Sometimes it gets overwhelming keeping up with all that we need to with David in terms of appointments, therapy, IEP paperwork, etc.. but when I get overwhelmed with it all I TRY to remember that God gave us this sweet angel and has walked with us every moment of raising him. I love this life that we get to live with David and I am so thankful for how David has changed us ALL for the better. You cannot be around David or any of his buddies with DS and NOT be changed-it just isn't possible:)

Go Kyle Go!

Tonight was Kyle's first soccer game! He was so excited and ready to play. Sometimes it worries me how competitive this kid really is. I just keep praying that God will use his competitive spirit for good one day:)

His team did well considering assistant coach Mike had to be across the street at a school board meeting:( Kyle did score a goal for his team! We took lots of pictures for Daddy-it kills Mike when he has to miss one of the kids' activities. I just had to share some pictures from the game.

Freedom of Choice Act

I rarely use this blog as a political sounding board, but I just had to post about the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). I have heard much about it, but today at church we were given more information about it and even little postcards to send to our Congressmen to speak out against this bill.

Basically, this bill would go way beyond Roe vs. Wade in the debate on abortion and become an entitlement that the government must fund and promote. Basically FOCA would (if passed)

* Eliminate regulations that protect women from unsafe clinics

* Force American taxpayers to fund abortions

* Force every state to allow partial-birth abortions

* Run roughshod over the conscience rights of physicians, nurses, and hospitals that oppose abortions.

* Strip parents of their right and responsibility to be involved in their MINOR daughter's abortion decision.

Quite frankly FOCA is without a doubt the most radical abortion legislation ever considered in the US. President Obama has already said he WILL sign sign the FOCA bill if it gets to his desk. Fortunately there is still time to voice our opinion about this bill to our local Congressmen. All three of our Congressmen here in VA (Boucher, Webb, and Warner) are democrats that are moderates and might listen to our opposition to this bill. Go to the website http://www.fightfoca.com/ to sign this petition!

While researching FOCA today after church I ran across this amazing video by Nick Cannon. This is a true story of his own mother's story of choosing life. His mother changed her mind at the abortion clinic and here is his real story. (At the end of the video you see Nick hugging his real Mom and it brought me to tears). Don't forget to pause play list music at the bottom to hear this video.



"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.
Jeremiah 1:5

New Fave Song

I have temporarily found a new favorite song and I just had to share it on this blog. Lately when you open our blog, you hear the song One Life To Love by 33 Miles and I still totally dig that song and yes, David can sing it word for word. But, I heard a song the other day that stopped me dead in my tracks-not really because I was driving, but you get the idea:)

The song is called Dearly Loved by Jimmy Needham. I hope you enjoy it when you open our blog. It talks about how God dearly loves us and I think we all need a fresh reminder of that! There are days that I do not feel super lovable due to a bad attitude, or I am having a bad hair day, or I am just feeling a tad righteous. But God loves me and he loves you and we truly are Dearly Loved by our Maker. What wonderful news-how can I be snarly with my loved ones when the hand that made me dearly loves me?!

The song also reminds us that there is no greater joy, peace, and love from giving ourselves to God and letting him dearly love us. Unfortunately people let us down all the time because we are all human. We try to be the perfect spouse, mother, friend, etc.. but we just cannot cut it. God is truly the only one that will never let us down. I know if God would have been bandaging Mike's knee last weekend, then he would not have laughed hysterically at him like I did. I am just too darn human sometimes. The great news is that God knows that about me, and thankfully still dearly loves me anyway:) Enjoy the song-let me know if you love it as well!

Hokie Game

Today Virginia Tech played in the second round of the NIT tournament in Blacksburg. The plan was for us to take the boys while Mike taught today. My parents' church was hosting a 3-on-3 basketball tournament called National Hoops. After visiting that for a while, Kyle decided to stay at the church and help Pops keep the clock instead of going to the VT game. David was still desperate to go to the Hokie game, so Mom and I took him to the basketball game:) We tried to talk him into going shopping instead of the game, but we were unsuccessful! The things we do for our boys!!!:)

David loved his chocolate milk shake.

David and GG waiting for the game to start!

David had a ball at the game. He cheered every cheer and when the Hokies missed a basket, he would say "oh man!" Unfortunately they missed a lot of baskets, hence the reason they lost the game:( David did not care a bit, though. He loved it all-even the High Tech dancers!!!!

On the Road

I am posting this from my parent's house. The boys and I are staying here tonight while Mike is teaching for UVA again tonight and tomorrow morning. It baffles me that he loves to do this, but he is an educator in his heart and he loves to help train the next generation of school administrators. I will brag on him that he always gets great evaluations from his "students" and even when he is teaching a boring topic (school finance) he always seems to make is relevant and engaging.

Today my Mom and I braved the eye doctor with David. We waited almost two solid hours to see the doctor and when it was all said and done he gave David a glowing report. Children with DS often have vision issues, so we have been once before for a full exam, but recently at school he failed a school-based vision screening and we thought it was time to go back for another exam. He was such a trooper and we enjoyed our day with wild man. Kyle stayed home for some March Madness fun with Pops.

On another note, when I picked up David from school early today for the appointment, every child in his class hugged him before he left:) Even though we were on a tight time schedule, I was touched that he loves his classmates that much and that they love him! What a wonderful inclusion moment and I was certainly touched!:)

Silliness

This week has been a silly one around here. Yesterday David came home from school and insisted to wear his choo choo hat while playing outside?! I could not resist a picture of this precious boy on his red jeep:) He has learned how to make it go fast, but his steering skills are not quite there yet!:)



This is one of those moments that just make you laugh. Most of you know that I am married to a tree hugger. Mike is one of those people that believes we as Christians should protect God's beautiful Earth (and I agree also, but I just lack the discipline to recycle all the time)! The joke in our house is that if you stand still too long Daddy will recycle you:) Anyway, I am so thankful that Mike sets this example for our children. Yesterday I took off to the grocery store for a few items for lunch packing. I finally remembered to take my organic, reusable grocery bag to the store with me. I felt so good walking through the store with that thing. As I was checking out I smugly gave the bagger my handy bag and he proceeded to STILL use the plastic bag and then put the items and plastic bag inside my earth-friendly green bag. I just had to share a picture of this hilarious thing! Mike, I really did try to use one less plastic bag yesterday but obviously the sweet bagger man has not received the memo yet on plastic bags being harmful to the environment! Hope you have a great day!



By the way, I am trying to prove my eagerness for being more earth friendly so Mike does not broach the subject of cloth diapers for little Princess. I just can't go there yet:) I know how bad diapers are for the environment, but I just cannot picture me rinsing something out in the toilet. I will breastfeed-isn't that tree hugger enough???!!! Think of the cans of formula that WONT go in the landfill due to nursing!!!

The Pinata

David and I went to a big birthday party on Sunday. It was tons of fun and David saw lots of friends and of course made many more friends. He ate two big pieces of cake and drank who knows how many juice boxes. He can sweet talk anyone into giving him whatever he wants!

Of course at the end of the party there was a big pinata. It was thankfully one of those string kind and of course it was full to the brim of candy. Once the candy came pouring out the mass of children swarmed grabbing candy as fast as their little sticky fingers could muster. David reached down to grab some candy and got bumped.

His reaction totally surprised me. He cried for just a second and then walked away from all that candy. (I know I was totally shocked as well). The little boy bumped him on accident and was NOT one of those aggressive, survival of the fittest type of children. At first I encouraged David to get back in the mix and get some candy but he was not the least bit interested. I was mystified that a little four year old boy with a disability got it more than some adult people can.

David just figured out the candy was not worth the fight. He does not have a sweet tooth and he is not an aggressive, go after it kind of kid. (Shocking I know considering who his parents are!!) How often do we as adults fight for something that truly is not worth it! My judgmental radar often rises for stuff that truly does not matter! I get so bent out of shape sometimes and waste valuable energy on silly stuff that does not directly affect my family or our well-being! David could have cared less that he did not fight for any candy and did not have a bag to take home.

(I must add that this ADORABLE AND SUPER SWEET big boy named Charlie brought him a baggie of candy!!!)

I am often totally mystified and humbled that my preschooler with Down Syndrome continues to show me first hand life lessons that this 30 something year old mother is still trying to grasp! That pinata incident was not a big deal to David so why should I worry that my child is not scouring the floor for candy?! He was much to concerned with scoring his next juice box and dancing to the beat of his own drum:)

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did NOT shop online once again after I decided that I was going to cut it out for Lent. Under Armour sent me this great email proclaiming major sales and my Dad's birthday is coming up soon. I only did it to make my Dad smile on his birthday because he loves Under Armour stuff, too! While I was on that site I just happen to find some great deals for Kyle. I mean, he can't go to school naked:)

I did NOT squeal with delight when I won $2 on a scratcher lottery ticket. I do not believe in the lottery and I would NEVER buy a ticket on a total whim.

I did NOT pitch a fit over the weekend at poor Mike when he had to go to speak at a Saturday afternoon school event. The event unfortunately kept me from taking my needed nap because Mike did not think it would be a good idea to let a four and seven year old "wing it" while Mommy snoozed.

I did NOT allow David to eat a second piece of birthday cake at a birthday party yesterday.

Mike really hurt his knee over the weekend (banged it on our hope chest) and I really did NOT hysterically laugh at him while I was bandaging it. The sight of my husband rolling around in pain would NEVER warrant a laughing response from me-I am a sweet, Christian wife!!!!!:) (By the way, Kyle was laughing as well!)

That is all I am willing to admit that I did NOT do this past week-how about you?!!

Twitter anyone?

I love my husband, but I have always been infuriated that he is never behind the technology trend too far, unlike me. I think when I started this blog unassisted way back in August 2008, he was mystified that I could pull it off since he has always been the nerd in our family!:)

Since starting this blog and loving it so, I have tried to expand my knowledge to make it more fun and user-friendly. I love to add pictures, text, and scan the kids stuff into my posts. I have seen this new Twitter trend and needless to say I wanted in on the action.

So, this morning while on the treadmill one of the cable networks did a little piece about twittering and now ladies and gentleman I am officially twittering! Basically, it is a way to keep up with what we are doing on our blog in between posts. I think my mother will love this since I am infamous for being hard to reach via telephone and my cell is often dead.

All you do, is click on our blog and read the twitter updates on the side. They will be little random chunks of information about what is going on in our daily life. I hope this will be fun, now I just need to get my phone upgraded where I can twitter on the go!! Oh what fun:) By the way, Kyle is so into blogging and such that he asked me this morning if he could start a kyle.com. I told him Mommy could only keep up with one family blog:)

Slam Dunk Competitions and Rap Music

This weekend it is super cold and rainy here-spring is definitely playing tricks on us. Last weekend we worked and played outside, and now this weekend we are inside freezing!:) The boys are obsessed with basketball right now and the ACC tournament on tv is fueling that fire. Unfortunately the Hokies did not get past UNC:(

Anyway, the boys have had a ball this weekend playing inside slam dunk competition on our goals. We have multiple goals set up around the house over doors and the boys spend hours shooting. Kyle even made up a slam dunk competition that he is playing. Not only does he keep track of what countries are in the comeptition (nice link to his obsession with country flags), but he insists to play his CD's from his uncle Chad. My brother made two CD's for my boys made up of rap songs for tender ears. He was courteous enough to screen the songs and get the clean version.

The boys love this music and they play is loudly when they have their slam dunk competitions and and play hoops. Our poor little girl, she does not have a chance in this household! :)

David slam dunking it on our "little goal" hooked to our pantry. He loves to play:)

Kyle slam dunking it inside on our "big goal!" He is on his second goal in that spot since he has already broken one playing slam dunk.

Life is Funny

After the seriousness of the last few weeks or so, I just had to share some really funny things that have happened to me over the past few weeks. I have been too stressed to totally appreciate them until now:)

In my preschool room there is a large "kidney" shaped table where the kids and I sit for snack. I sit in the little opening so in theory I can reach everyone. The other day I was handing out cups of milk and one of my preschoolers spoke up so candidly and said "Mrs. Laura if your belly gets any bigger we will need to find another preschool teacher!" Thanks so much sweetie:)

Yesterday I took Kyle and David to the gym so Kyle could do his dryland training for swimming. I put David in childcare and went upstairs to walk. I was walking at a pretty fast pace, but the guy that was walking in front of me kept passing gas, so I had to up my pace significantly to get around him which then left me huffing and puffing around the track-I almost needed oxygen!! I even kept coughing a little bit so that poor gassy guy would know that someone was indeed behind him!!!

Last Friday I stopped at our local bread store to buy some 100% juice fruit snacks to take to Kyle's class. The bread store was full of old farmer men coming in to buy feed from the day old section. I was leaving the store after making my purchase and climbed into the car. I get totally nervous about the whole seatbelt on the belly thing and was adjusting the seatbelt to under my belly like the books say to. Well, I got carried away and the next thing i know I had beeped the horn very loudly while doing my adjustment. Those sweet farmers must have thought I was beeping at them?! I just have no pride left.....

Lab Results Finally

Whew-after a long morning of seeing both my regular doctor and my OB, the news is somewhat good. I tested negative for the flu which is wonderful, but my regular doctor wants to redo that flu swab tomorrow because some people test negative early in the illness. The OB shared those much-anticipated blood results with me showing that I have been exposed to Fifth disease in the past which means my body has antibodies against it. This is sweet relief for little Princess, but he wants to redo the blood work again on the 19th just to be sure. I feel relieved because he assured me he was not worried.

Little Princess was quite active this morning while being poked and prodded and her heartbeat was around 150 which is good. Please just pray that the next round of blood work on the 19th is just as glowing and that we can put this behind us:) David still looks like a speckled pup when he gets out in the sun:)

I am off to enjoy this last bit of beautiful weather before the rain comes tomorrow:) Thanks for all the phone calls, prayers, and love during this crazy time. I cannot tell you how appreciative we are.

Needin' lots of patience now

I am trying so hard to have faith and patience considering it is Monday afternoon (12:54) to be exact and I have heard nothing from my lab work. UGGH. I called and spoke with the sweet lab lady and they still have not gotten the results from the hospital. UGGH.

It is a beautiful spring day here and I just feel weary. I am tired of stressing about medical stuff and frankly I just feel yucky today. I pray I am not coming down with the flu. I am too weary to even admit and post my Not Me Mondays! I am going to bed until I have to pick up the boys but with my phone by my side in case my lab work shows up.

I know the bible says "come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest." I am all over that today. I just want to cuddle up and soak in those reassuring words from God. He is bigger than any lab work that has gone missing, asthma, or even Fifth disease! He is in control and I am so thankful for that today, as I am just too weary to worry. I will let God be God today and go rest my weary body.

Needin' some patience

I am still needin' some prayer, but now I need patience as the OB office has closed for the weekend before the hospital could process my lab work from yesterday and get the results to my doctor. UGGH. I know this is a good test in patience and faith for me, but I am a gal that likes a little closure. It would have been nice not to have to worry about lab work over the weekend, but everything is perfect in God's timing.

Speaking of the weekend, we are off to Salem to watch one of our high school basketball teams play in the state tournament!! There are certain parts of mike's job that are fun and watching various high school sports teams is a fun time for our family. The boys have t-shirts to wear for the game tomorrow and they love going! I love to see the community rally for this underdog team and we should have a good turnout tomorrow. Go Hurricanes!

Needin' some prayer

I know we have worn the medical community out lately with all three of my boys' various illnesses, and we have asked for lots of prayer lately, but here we are asking again. Today the school called me and said that David had a rash all over his arms and legs accompanied by a fever. Mike happen to come home for lunch as I took the call. The school nurse thought maybe Fifth disease which I do not know much about, but I do remember that it can affect pregnant women and babies in the womb.

Mike then decided that I needed to stay home and he would pick up David from school and take him to the doctor. The diagnosis sure enough was Fifth disease and our doctor told Mike to have me call my OB.

I called the OB and he called me right back and told me that I needed to come for some bloodwork to see if I have the antibodies against this. I just went in for the bloodwork and we should know something tomorrow. This is one time in my life I pray I am positive for something! Pray that I do test positive for the antibodies and we are in the clear and little Princess is okay. If I am negative for the antibodies then we have to consult with a perintologist. (I think I spelled that wrong!) Hopefully my days of teaching preschool and having young children in the house will pay off and I have a nice strong immunity built up against this particular virus.

We appreciate all your love and concern for us. This has been a long few weeks in our house, but the weather here is gorgeous today giving us a wonderful reminder that spring is right around the corner:)

Wow

I have recently had some lower back pain that has made it necessary for me to lay on my left side several times a day. Hopefully this back pain is just a minor temporary setback and I will be better in a few days. I headed to the library to get some new books to read while I am resting my back. I LOVE the section in our library that shows off all the new books. I have always loved to read and really devour books when I have the time. Since I am in a bible study right now my reading time is limited, but I just love christian fiction books.

Anyway, have you all watched a show on TLC called "17 and Counting?" It is about the Duggar family from Arkansas that just welcomed their 18th child to the mix. Since I am a tad bit nervous about just adding our third to our hectic mix, I was drawn to their new book just released. (Check out their website http://www.duggarfamily.com) for further information about them and their new book).

This family amazes me as they truly take the bible verse about training up your child literally which involves daily scripture memorization, homeschooling around the kitchen table and service projects. I did learn some organizational tricks from the book and some cool new recipes, but the book also inspired me to be purposeful in my teaching of character traits with my own children.

Mike and I are tough on our children in terms of discipline-okay, let me clarify that statement. Mike holds our children to a high standard and is our main disciplinarian and I often state that if I were a single Mom, my children would probably end up in juvie (juvenile detention). I try to discipline consistently, but it is harder on a tender Momma's heart.

Even though the Duggar's lifestyle is not for us totally-homeschooling is not an option due to Mike's job and my mental health, this book reminded me that Godly children that truly possess a servant's heart do not happen by chance. I need to be more purposeful in training up my children to have the character traits that we value-kindness, empathy, helpfulness, and selflessness.

I guess I have some work to do on this character stuff. Kyle and David are having a major standoff over a basketball right this second. Kyle does not want David to have the ball, so he took it with him into the bathroom to do his business so David would not "steal" it. Ahem, where do I start??!

Doctors everywhere!

Yesterday our afternoon was spent at the doctor's office. Kyle got another glowing report from his doctor as his lungs are back to functioning about 80-90%, but there is still some wheezing which means his activity is still limited this week. I jokingly told the doctor that that was cruel and unusual punishment for us all because he is HYPED up on all these steroids and has no outlet to unleash them! Praise God he can go back to school today!:) Hopefully next week he can resume some normalcy with sports and activity.

Also all four of us went to my doctor for my monthly checkup. I sweetly asked the doctor if he could do an ultrasound so the boys could see little Princess. She is still a little girl and looks beautiful on the ultrasound. Kyle really enjoyed seeing her move and wiggle and the doctor was wonderful about pointing out all her body parts. He did comment that she has long legs which I know Mike was already picturing her in a basketball uniform!!:)

We are so thankful that Kyle is on the mend after that long week of watching him cough and gasp for breath. Asthma really stinks but we pray that this Advair will be the trick to keeping him from EVER having an attack this bad. We have always been reluctant to put him on maintenance medicine for his asthma but frankly his doctor feels that that choice is no longer an option for us. We have seen how ugly it can really get and we need to do whatever we can to not go down that path again:)

I am off to the grocery store this morning-Kyle's appetite is back in full force and I need to restock for this steroid pumped-up boy!!:)

Amazing

I love the blogging world so much that I cannot resist passing along this resource. I rarely post twice in one day, but a friend of mine passed this along to me and I could not resist posting about it. This is an adoption agency that ONLY facilitates adoptions for children with Down Syndrome. Do you know how pumped I am about his??!!

Not that Mike and I at this stage of our life (me 6 months pregnant with the unexpected blessing of baby girl) are able to research this for our family, but this is an awesome answer to the terrible news that 80-90% of people that find out they are having a baby with Down Syndrome choose to terminate the pregnancy. What an amazing ministry that says to these children that they are important and valued enough to find loving and Christian homes for them to thrive in. Only God could have birthed this awesome ministry. The website is full of awesome success stories, resources, etc.. and I honestly have not even read it all yet. I was just so EXCITED about it that I could not contain myself:)



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Not Me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Last week was such a fog as we tenderly nursed our sweet Kyle back to health. The week was a blur of breathing treatments, trips to the doctor, and cat naps. But, I do remember specifically NOT doing the following things!

I really did NOT eat a medium blizzard for dinner Friday night. I must think of quality nutrition at all times for little Princess and a cookie dough blizzard did not cut it.

I did NOT wear my pajama bottoms to the doctor two days in a row. Just because I had a very sick child and the King is enthralled with my beauty does not mean that my pajama bottoms resemble my yoga pants!

I did NOT think for one minute last week that it would have been easier for Kyle to have been hospitalized with all their glorious monitors versus watching his chest all week to check for breathing.

I did NOT reprimand my husband in front of Kyle's doctor and two nurses for just trying to keep Kyle safe during that awful steroid shot! (Yes, I did apologize but it was just so awful to watch that mike was an easy target!!!)

I did NOT just threaten my children just five minutes ago that I would take them to the gym daycare if they did not chill out! I am a nurturing parent that would never throw out empty promises that I could never make good on. Just because we have had 10 million snow days this winter does not mean that my patience is a little thin:)

That is all I am willing to admit that I really did NOT do last week-how about you?!

Weekend Highlight

Kyle is definately feeling much better, but he still has very little stamina and wears out quickly. Today during the praise and worship time at church, he asked if he could sit down?! It is awesome to see him pink and healthy looking again, but his exhaustion is a reminder of how sick he was this time last week. We go back to the doctor tomorrow to check in with him since we have tapered off all the steroids and started the maintenance medicine (Advair).

Kyle woke up Saturday morning with a mission in his mind to name his baby sister. We are all getting excited and Kyle is determined to name her!! I want a name just so I can start calling her by name and quite honestly, I would love to start the monogramming!!!

Kyle sat at the table Saturday morning with his NEW smelly markers and proceeded to make a list of his favorite names for this baby. I helped him some, but quite honestly I was doing a million loads of laundry and did not fully grasp his complete and serious devotion to this project. I have no idea if we will use any of these names (probably because I love them all) but I will forever cherish his little body hunched over his new smelly markers lovingly writing names out for his sister. I just had to share his precious list! I wrote the names that he was not comfortable spelling. I cannot wait in a few years to share this list with little Princess so she can understand how she was loved and anticipated! I also love the precious picture of her drawn at the bottom and do not miss the skirt that he drew on her!:)