Our first set of stitches!!

Well, it was bound to happen sometime. Frankly, with a household of four boys, I'm kind of surprised that I've been at this mom thing for over 7 years and haven't had it happen before now. Last night, we got to add head laceration to our list of injuries that have occurred in our home. Brennen was coming down the stairs and somehow tripped. Now anybody who knows Brennen would never be surprised that he's the one this happened to. Unfortunately, the poor boy got his grace from dear old Mom. :-)

I heard the repeated thuds and saw a toy fly into my bedroom. I immediately heard the crying and decided that between the repeated thuds and severity of the cry, it was probably a situation that deserved some response from me. I find Brennen sitting on the staircase about halfway down with blood pouring from a cut on his head. First off, let me just say that I despise head wounds. They make a ridiculously large mess for me! So I do what every good mom concerned with the cleanliness of her carpet, and make a cup out of my hand to catch the red mess going everywhere, while at the same time trying to usher him to either vinyl or ceramic tile flooring at once. I told him it was fine, that it was just a little cut, and miraculously, he buys this theory and stops crying. We get to the bathroom, apply a wet cloth and within a few minutes, the bleeding subsides. However, as I'm looking at it, my mom training tells me that this is not going to heal correctly without some suture assistance. So off we head to ExpressCare. Brennen did GREAT! I must admit that I was prepared for what was probably going to look like an exorcism, because Brennen does not usually do the best with pain or shots, both of which I knew he was going to experience. Apparently though, he does great with extreme pain, just not minor little aches and pains. (I guess the next time he's due for a shot, I'll ask them to shoot him first, that way the shot will go well!)

He received 6 stitches all together. One on the inside and five one the outside. What a trooper though! Here's a picture of my little wounded man and his battle scars from the encounter with the staircase!

In case you're wondering, from previous bloody encounters, I have found a fabulous way to get blood out of carpet. (I'll tell you now that there is not a carpet cleaning solution that works!) Make a mixture of half hydrogen peroxide and half water. (We just have a bottle of this concoction kept in a squirt bottle ready to go!) Take a little salt and pour it onto the blood spots. Then spray with mixture. Dab and rub until blood is gone. You may need to go over it twice to comepletely remove it, but I haven't had a blood stain left in the carpet yet.

A Date with my Son

Back in January, Caden brought home a flier from the YMCA for a Mother/Son Date Night. It included dinner at CiCi's and then a hockey game. I was completely blown away when he said that he really wanted us to do this. He repeatedly mentioned it until I looked and saw that we already had something planned that night. So I told him that some night we would go out just the two of us and do something. Well, he NEVER forgot and asked about it about once a week. We do not have the most flexible of schedules around here, so when tonight was an free Friday night, we went with it.

Caden is growing up SO FAST. That became painfully evident tonight. He will turn 7 tomorrow. When I think back to those first few days of his life, I am amazed we (meaning he and I!) made it through. He is definitely my child that I learn and practice on, and so far doesn't seem too worse for the wear!

Okay, I've gotten side-tracked. We started our evening with dinner at Olive Garden. Caden picked it because he said that he knew I loved it. (I love my husband dearly, but if given the choice of where we'll eat, I can't even say he judges it off of what I love!) Caden can be one who is pretty quiet if he doesn't really have too much to say, so I was kind of wondering how conversation was going to go at dinner. Boy was I wrong. We talked about his day, my day, his birthday tomorrow, upcoming birthday party, siblings, school work etc... You name it, we talked about it. He made sure to pull my chair out, open doors for me, and offer me a smoothie at the mall. (Now his father did not make sure he had money! I blame that on Daddy though!) After dinner we went shopping. He helped me find and try on clothes at Motherhood. Told me throughout the process that everything I tried on made me look pretty. What more could I ask for right there?! We then went to some children's stores where he helped me find clothes for himself, his brothers, and Ella. He even insisted that she had to have the bib that matched the new dress we were buying her at Gymboree, because, "Babies spit up and we don't want ours to look bad."

I am amazed at how grown up he's become. I know that as his mother I'm biased. But frankly I think that God has prepared a young girl to come into his life some day that is going to owe me big time!!

Preparing for Ella!

It's now been a little over a months since we found out that Ella was - well, Ella! In that time, I must say that I have done a little shopping around for stuff to help us get ready for her. Some clothes have been bought, but probably not near as many as everybody would have thought!

The very first thing though we purchased for her was done 6 years ago. When Discovery Furniture was moving from what is now the Hobby Lobby building, they auctioned off all of the furniture on the floor. Being sure that at some point and time we would have a girl, we bought this crib at a fabulous price:

So the next thing we knew that we needed was something for storage for her room. We went back to Discovery Furniture and luckily they still sell this line of furniture. So we went ahead and purchased this armoire for her room.:

Here is what it looks like on the inside. (I love the mirror inside!):

On Craigslist I found an awesome pink upholstered chair and ottoman for her room. It's going to look great! (Sorry, no picture of it yet, because I haven't taken one of it yet!)

Our latest purchase was crib bedding. I found a set on Target. It's the simple, yet elegant look that I was looking for. Plus, it didn't break the bank. Here's some pictures of it:

The bumper up close:

The crib sheet:

And the crib skirt:

I am really excited as to how Ella's room is coming along. In the future I really would like to still buy the matching dresser for her room, but that may have to wait for a while! I'll eventually post pictures once the room is all together. I just couldn't wait to share all of the purchases we've made!

We're having a girl!!

Today Bob and I went to Kansas City and had an ultrasound done. It was wonderful to get a glimpse at how our baby has grown since 10 weeks. We are now 17 weeks. She started doing the scan and luckily wasted now time going to the area in which we were interested in right off the bat. As she scanned I knew immediately what I was not seeing. Then she said the words that I will never forget, "Looks like you guys got your girl!" I must say that it was amazing. The scan went for about 30 minutes. We got to see her in some 3D/4D as well. We are so excited. However, now we just have the difficult task of coming up with a name for her.

We told the boys whenever we got home. We weren't quite sure what to expect as Caden recently told a friend that he DID NOT want a sister. So this was going to be interesting. Here is how it went:

Needless to say not a Norman Rockwell moment, but definitely normal for our house. There can't be a time period when everybody's happy! I'm sure some day she'll look back on this video and just feel all the flow flowing from Maddox!

What does God want for me?

I know that many of you out there will never understand this post. However, there are a few of you out there that are Moms of one gender, who will totally get this post. (I also think that it can pertain to so many aspects of our lives that we have no control over!) One day while searching online, I found this post that an expectant dad wrote about what gender he would have like for their next baby to be. I believe I was lead to it for a reason. (God works through mysterious ways, even on-line chat forums!) On my, "Why can't I have the daughter I have pictured in my mind days?," I re-read it. I think that it is so right on. Here is the post:

What do you want?

"What do you want?" I've heard that question many times in the last couple months, though not in the context I'm used to. Normally this is the kind of thing you hear at the drive-thru, but lately it's the question I get when I tell people my wife is pregnant with our third child.

We are blessed with two ridiculously cute and wiry boys, and the typical sentiment is that we are supposed to have a girl this time around. This scenario has led me to reflection on what I think is an unfortunate area of spiritual immaturity in the lives of many Christians, including my own.

With our first pregnancy, I can honestly say that I really didn't care what gender the baby was. I was so excited to be jumping into parenthood that it was not of any concern to me. Daniel was born and the excitement only escalated.

When the second pregnancy came around, everything was different. I couldn't imagine a boy being anything other than a clone of Daniel, and we still had our favorite girl name waiting to be used. I told myself (and others) I didn't care, but when the ultrasound showed that we were having a Jonathan, I had a split second of uncertainty. I pictured my mental image of "Megan" and imagined waving goodbye to her only to realized she never really existed. This was a fleeting moment that gave way to daydreams of boys playing in the yard and wrestling in the living room.

Jonathan was nothing like I expected. Light red hair and blue eyes was the first surprise. He has a timid personality yet will leap off the couch with total disregard for his safety. He's a total blessing and to imagine life without him is abominable.

That brief moment of sadness and resentment in the doctor's office was a reflection of my own will supplanting God's will in my heart. I felt I better knew what was best for my family to the point that I was temporarily blind to the blessing that God was revealing to me. I had forgotten that my God is the same God of Jeremiah 29:11." 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.' "I soon realized I had to take that moment to God in forgiveness and repent.

The other hard thing was comments from friends and church family that acted as a stumbling block to us. When we announced we were having a second boy, we heard things such as "I'm sorry", "maybe next time" or "did you cry when you found out?" It's the same immature viewpoint that our idea of what is best for our families is not based on God's will, but some kind of cultural marketing.

James 4:13-17 warns against believers becoming too wrapped up in their plans to prosper which was leading to boasting. I feel verses 14 and 15 apply to this scenario as well:"yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.' "I am still growing in this aspect, but my wife and I are striving towards hearts that put aside our earthly concept of what an "ideal family" is, and patiently wait for God to reveal what his perfect will is for our family. If that means that we are supposed to raise four or five boys to be godly leaders of their own families, then I need to be thankful and excited for the plan God has for us.

So now if someone asks me "what do you want?", I'm going to answer "whatever God wants". We're actually considering keeping the gender of this next baby to ourselves until the birth. The idea is that no one is going to entertain comments of pity when they're looking at a beautiful newborn.

So if you or your mate are pregnant, I challenge you to submit your baby's life to God and accept whatever blessing God gives you with joy. If you know someone who is pregnant, I challenge you to encourage them to do the same and to share in their joy. After all, its not what we want, but what God wants.

Our first look at Baby Bean

Today was our very first doctor's appointment. I generally look forward to these appointments. I don't necessarily enjoy all of the appointment, but I always kind of feel like it's our first chance to meet this new little being growing inside of me. Plus there's always that thought nagging me in the back of my mind where I question what I can't see. I don't see a baby. Is there really one in there?! I know, I'm so neurotic, but that's me! So we started off our ridiculously long appointment with me filling out forms regarding all of my medical/obstetrical history. Now why this is, I don't know. This is the same office I've used the last four pregnancies. It's only been 15 months since my last delivery. Why I can't just say, "Nothing has changed," I don't know. But you can't. So we fill out all of these forms, then finally 55 minutes past my scheduled appointment time, get called back. They then proceed to tell me that they're automating their system to be all computerized. So they ask me all of my medical history information while entering it into the computer system. Something here seems redundant, but I'm not in the medical field, so what do I know?! As we went on with our appointment, the nurse practitioner asked me the gender of the children that we already have. I said that we have four boys. I braced for the usual, "Oh my, you must be tired," or "So I bet you want a girl," but not this time. Instead I received the comment, "Well then you pretty much know the gender of this baby. Odds are not in your favor." Now why no medical professional told me after Preston was born that I was physically incapable of having a daughter, I have no idea, but apparently it's useless. I was pretty annoyed by this, but then I got to hear the heartbeat of Baby Bean, and let the issue go.



From there we went to the lab, had blood drawn, and then in for our first ultrasound. As I'm laying there waiting to begin, she asks us what children we already have. We told her that we have four little boys already. The technician then tells us that we can count on this one being a boy as well then. Annoyance once again swept over me, until Baby Bean popped up on the screen. Such a cutie! Moving around, but not like a maniac. It's little heart beat at 176 beats per minute. I am really excited to meet the newest member of our crazy family. We had it confirmed that this will happen sometime around August 7, 2009. Here is a picture of Baby Bean. It has a very large head and body, with tiny little arms and legs. (Kind of reminds me of Brennen!) The little circle by its head is the yolk sac. This will disappear in a couple more weeks. All in all, it was a great first appointment. One down, only about 12 more to go!!

The Marble Incident

Well today we had a marble incident. You are probably thinking, "Oh no, did Preston choke on a marble?" No. The incident didn't even involve Preston. It was my four-year-old, Maddox. He was playing downstairs while his brothers were napping. Out of nowhere I hear this horrible terrible crying. Had one of his brothers been down there with him, I'd have thought nothing of it. It's the same crying he does when someone wrongs him. However, I knew he was alone. Now Maddox is an emotional kid, but he's never gotten that mad at himself. So I went to the top of the stairs and asked him what's wrong. Through his hysterics, he manages to convey that he swallowed a marble. How does one even do this? I asked him how this happened. He said he didn't know. How does one not know? He just said it was in his mouth and then he accidentally swallowed it. When asked why it was in his mouth in the first place, he said he didn't know. So the situation, as I've gathered, went something like this: Maddox was playing nicely minding his own business. Out of nowhere, a marble jumped into his mouth. He tried to get it out of his mouth, but the muscles of his throat just sucked it right on down. Poor kid. I hate when these kinds of things happen!