David's 8th Birthday - Lego Party

Well, it has been a busy few weeks. It is actually July 4th but I wanted to back post David's Birthday before I continued blogging with our Baby News from yesterday.
David chose a Lego Movie theme this year and had a fun party with 5 friends (Joel is missing from the pictures as he had to leave early). Thank you to everyone for coming and for the special gifts!

8 isn't one of those milestone Birthdays that brings tears to a mothers eyes but I am still in awe that my Baby (my first baby that is) is 8 years old! That is only 2 years away from 10! As part of turning 8 David got to move into his own bedroom which he is going to have to share eventually when his new room mate arrives. He love, love, loves Lego as you may have guessed from his party's theme. He has also recently developed an interest in Pokemon. A new age came with a bit of new attitude but he continues to be our loving, considerate, generous & happy first born son. We love you David!

It's A...

Chinese Gender Prediction Calendar = BOY
Baking Soda / Urine = GIRL
Ring over belly = BOY
Sweet VS Spicy= BOY
Heart Rate = GIRL
Cold Feet = BOY
Belly Shape = BOY
Face Shape= BOY
SKIN = BOY
Morning Sickness = GIRL

As our ultrasound date approaches I am finding myself more and more anxious to find out the gender of our newest family member. If any of these predictions were accurate we wouldn't need an ultrasound to find out baby's gender but I thought it would be fun just the same to see what we came up with. There are a few tricks I haven't tried... like mixing urine with drano crystals or boiled water from red cabbage... and I haven't bought an at home gender prediction kit (because again none of these methods prove to be accurate) but here are some results from the few things I have tried. Do I think I am having a BOY based on these results? No! Still waiting to see what the ultrasound tech says in just less then 2 weeks. If you are curious to find out check our blog on Sunday, July 6 (it should be posted by then if not earlier... though I would like to keep it a secret so I can announce it myself at church to those who haven't found out already). We will be having a small gender reveal party on Thursday after the ultrasound.

Samara's Hospital Stay

Thank you to everyone who has been keeping Samara in their thoughts and prayers. We got home from the hospital this morning. Her heart rate was a little high before we left but she was getting more anxious about being at the hospital the longer we stayed. She also refused liquid medicine so she could only take the chewable tylenol they had rather then alternating between tylenol and advil like she is supposed to. Now that she is home we have both in chewable form so pain management should be less of an issue though it is supposed to get worse before it gets better. That being said she is doing well. She is happy to be home. She is currently playing a board game with her siblings.
After her surgery she had to stay in recovery for 2 hours which is a little bit longer then usual. There were no major complications she just had a bit of a hard time waking up, some blood in her saliva and needed some oxygen for the first little bit. Please continue to pray for her since pain tends to peak on day four and she the risk for bleeding is its highest between day seven and day ten.
We are very happy to have her home.

Samara's 1st Operation

Samara is having her tonsils and adenoids removed tomorrow. I will be spending the day and night with her at the hospital. We are pretty much ready to go bright and early Friday morning, just a few more things to pack. Not sure what time she will get discharged on Saturday but once we've settled in at home I plan to update the blog to let everyone know how she is doing. We will be checking in at 7:10am and her surgery is schedule for 9:10am. Please pray that she responds well to the anesthetic and that there are no complications. Thank you.






We spent a fun day together at Bear Creek Park and then to Menchies for frozen yogurt. I am glad it worked out that Jonathan had today off. Once Samara has recovered we will have to celebrate with another fun family adventure. Until then we wish her a speedy recovery.

16 Weeks

At 16 Weeks Pregnant "Pumpkin" is about the size of an avocado (hence the picture) and we are half way through our 4th month. The half way mark for us (19 weeks) is just around the corner. "Pumpkin" is scheduled for a growth spurt... and should be doubling his weight in the next few weeks (which means I am scheduled for another growth spurt too).
I am feeling pretty good... second trimester is everyone's favorite. I have started an iron supplement to bring my iron up and I am having some difficulty sleeping but that is mostly because I have to keep getting up to pee. Nothing truly to complain about.
In just less then 4 weeks we will be having another ultrasound and if "Pumpkin" cooperates we are planning to find out his (or her) gender.
I am beginning to wonder if this baby might be part Mexican (not seriously) because I seem to want the spicy version of anything and everything. I've been adding jalapeno's and hot sauce to most of my meals which has culminated in some very interesting and tasty discoveries.

Summer Challenges

Well... we have nearly wrapped up another year of home schooling... and so I am finding myself in need of another challenge... not that my life doesn't have enough challenges on its own but I think it might do me some good to have a project. I have several to choose from... always things on the to do list I don't have time for but I have decided to choose the challenge of Angeline's Baby Book. David's is done... though I think I may add a few things here and there. Rebekah's is done (because I did her's online... one month at a time). But Angeline's and Samara's remain. I would do theirs online too but I already have the albums, paper, stickers and pictures printed so all I need now is a little determination. I'm not setting a timed challenge because I really don't know how long it will take me to complete it. But I want to have it done by the end of summer if I can manage. The challenge really is to get started and make time to work on it. It is nice to have some uninterrupted time where I can feel like I am accomplishing something. Lately I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the "lather, rinse, repeat" duties of motherhood. To complete her album will be a big check mark off my list, a sure sense of accomplishment.
I am also hoping to host a book club for 8 weeks in July and August on Monday nights from 7:30-9:00pm. We will be discussing Kevin Leman's book, "Have a New Husband by Friday."Don't worry... I'm not actually planning to trade Jonathan in. Truth be told it has more to do with changes we can make as wives to better our marriages but if there is enough interest it should prove to be a fun and informative weekly girls night out.
When I think about challenges there has been one thing in particular on my mind lately that really challenges my heart. Samara (our 3/12 year old) is schedule for surgery to have her tonsils and adenoids removed on June 13th. It is a routine day surgery but because of her age I will be staying with her overnight and I am grateful that they will be monitoring her at the hospital for the first 24 hours. You might say I am struggling with it because she is my first child to have surgery. Or maybe it is because at the adorable age of 3 1/2 she pulls on my heart strings a little more strongly then her syblings. But I think the real reason is I'm afraid my decision could turn out to be the worst thing for her when it is meant to be the best. There is the complication of the anesthesia and the possibility of bleeding for up to 3 weeks afterwards though the odds are in her favour that she will recover quickly and be as good as new in no time. Like any parent I just can't bare the thought of having to say good-bye. Unlike most parents I have had to do it before. I know the reality is that each and every day could be any one of our lasts. I am trying to be logical and remind myself of all the ways she will benefit once she has recovered and somedays I can almost convince myself but my reality remains that sending her off into the hands of her sergeant will be the second most difficult thing I have ever had to do.