The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I have been tossing around the idea of doing something along these lines every once in a while.

What do you think?

Think of it as being a mini-blog post?

I don't know...anyways.

The Good: Adison had a fantastic report card! My girl rocks! I went to a meeting tonight for Adison's school (SPMT committee) and won a raffle gift basket. This thing is so cool!

The Bad: My bathroom sink is leaking and Abby is on a cranky strike. I just don't know what is going on with her, more teething?

The Ugly: Abby fell last night while crawling and did a face-plant into the floor = bloody lip.

Ainsley fell today when she tripped over one of K's shoes = bloody lip.

Thoughts...maybe you guys could reply and do it too or link it up from your blog???

Or is this just a crummy idea?

Relieved

(**Disclaimer** This happened a year ago**)

Relieved.

Such a simple word with such an impact.

The feeling it evokes is pure bliss, happiness, shock, etc.

 I have felt relief many times:
passing an exam or class
not getting in trouble when I really should have (too many times to count)
getting to have a baby
my mom not having breast cancer
having a hysterectomy
my list could go on and on

The situation that pops to my mind instantly when I hear the word "relieved" is my baby girl, Abby, being able to hear.
I have written about it many times, but the beginning of my pregnancy with Abby was filled with uncertainty.
 Not just because of the multiple miscarriages, but there were bleeding issues and progesterone issues. Things that for me before had meant loss.

So when we actually made it to delivery, there was relief.
The feeling of oh my goodness, we have her!
Things were looking good after delivery, no real complications.
(Unless you want to count a botched epidural, imagine the procedure going so bad that your husband passes out and you feel most of what is going on still. Shuddering.)

Everything was going very routine until they got to the hearing test.
The lady that came in to administer the test had a child that attended Adison's school.
(Such a God incident.)
Abby passed with flying colors on her right side.
Her left just wouldn't pass.
We decided to do the test one more time, again she failed.
The lady administering the test informed us that they could only do the test three times before referring us on to Children's Mercy in Kansas City.
We could though, wait a couple of weeks, come back and do the test again.
It was thought that she just might have some fluid in her ears, she was a pretty wet baby when she was born.
We opted to wait and test again.

The weeks passed and I didn't think to much about the coming test.
The morning of, I remember praying and being at peace.
Abby and I headed up to the hospital where the lady in charge of the hearing program would be testing Abby.
Again, this lady too had a child attending Adison's school.
(Another God incident.)
We get Abby back to the room, get all the wires and such set and the test begins.
Her right ear passed within moments.
Perfect hearing.
She gets the left ear set up and right off the bat things are not looking so hot.
At this point it is showing that there was no hearing going on.
Where before she was registering some hearing/brain activity now there was none.
My heart broke.
We have a history of hearing problems on my side of the family and I have seen the struggles.
We were referred on to get the BIG hearing test done.

I headed home in shock and disbelief.
I really thought that she was going to pass, no problems.
I told K about it and he was really calm about the whole thing.
I was okay with it until I talked with my mother-in-law and I broke down and cried.
I was fearful that she would lose hearing in her other ear as her left ear had declined from "some activity" to none so quickly.
Later, Abby had an appt with her pediatrician and she mentioned things like hearing aids and therapy.
It was hard to hear, but I was at peace with things.
I just didn't want anything in this world to be any harder on my sweet baby than life was already going to be.
But, there are people that are thriving with hearing loss.
I knew that this was not something that would define her, rather something that would refine, enrich and grow her to be the beautiful girl that God had created her to be.

The time came for Abby's trip to Children's Mercy.
I was all psyched up and ready for it when a massive ice storm hit.
On top of that, the temperature had plummeted (the highs were negative numbers).
It was just not a safe situation to be traveling with a newborn.
I was forced to do the responsible thing and reschedule.
It was a hard choice to make because she was at the perfect age to get this test done and having to  reschedule the appointment for would mean that she would be older and less likely to sleep through the entire thing (which she had to).

So we waited and finally made the trek over to KC.
To say that I was nervous is such an understatement.
I had prayed about this test and knew that Abby had a bunch of people praying for her too.
I felt at peace with whatever happened and was so grateful for the prayers.
Poor Abby though, to get her to sleep through the entire thing, I was told not to feed her after her first morning feeding.
She was also not allowed to go back to sleep.
My mother-in-law did everything she could to keep Abby awake and Abby was not happy.
She screamed and screamed and screamed.

We headed back to start the exam.
Finally I was allowed to feed her.
The Dr. doing the exam was in charge of all of Children's Mercy's hearing tests.
She got everything set up and Abby drifted right off to sleep.
(Another God incident.)
The Dr. told us that she wouldn't be able to talk during the test so we would have to wait until the very end to get results.
She was going to be preforming three different tests so it would probably take a while.

Abby slept through all of the tests.
All of the poking, prodding, repositioning, having sticky things put in her ears.
She did rouse a few times, but fell back asleep quite quickly.
Finally the all the tests were done.
Time for the results...
She PASSED!
She passed everything!
Not just passed, she scored 100% on everything.

Relief, you betcha!

I was shocked, thrilled, offered up words of praise and gratitude.

It was wonderful to be able to call our prayer warriors to tell them the joyful news.

We were told to still watch her to make sure that she was reaching developmental milestones.

This tests could only tell us that her brain was registering all information, not if there was any hearing loss or not.

I'll take it!

So far, Abby has been doing wonderfully!

Relief, ahh such a beautiful word.
Such a beautiful feeling!

In hindsight, I view having to wait for her Children's Mercy tests to be a God incident too.
It gave her that much more time for whatever was going on to be healed.



Pray for baby Ella

A very sweet little baby girl named Ella is having heart surgery right now.

Would you please join with me and pray for her?

Thanks a million!

Update:
http://elladawn.blogspot.com/2011/01/surgery-is-over.html

Surgery is over, they are wheeling her down to ICU.
Praise the Lord!

A Recap and A Random

Yesterday was Day 2 of Snow Day 2011.

To say it was a rough day is a bit of an understatement.

Adison was sick of being stuck in the house (couldn't blame her).

Ainsley, well she was acting like a 3 year old (can't really complain).

Abby, well she decided it was her job to scream all day if I put her down.

It was way too cold out so we couldn't go play in the snow to burn off energy, so we were stuck in the house...all day.

I attempted to pull out games, little crafty things and even a bath with colored water.

They were all just temporary little fixes.

Today though, has been glorious.

Adison is back at school. (She is happy, I am sad though.)

Ainsley has been surprisingly compliant and chipper.

Abby has been all around happier.

Yay me!

We danced, played and watched Despicable Me.

Back to yesterday though.

We played some Candyland.

It was Ainsley's first time, I thought it went pretty well.

(Sorry for the glare.)

When Ains took a nap, Adison and I did some origami from a kit that K brought home.

From the box, it looked like fun.

The instructions were horrible, not so fun.

Then, after bath time, I did something that I swore I wouldn't do...

I cut Ainsley's "princess mermaid" hair.

It was time.

As much as she and I both loved it, but it was becoming too much.

She never wanted me to brush or wash it and she was looking like a ragamuffin.

She loves her new hair cut though.

Adison kept asking, "Does she look like a little me now?"

Okay, now for my Random.

I have a love of Fiestaware.

I love the colors and shapes of all the little pieces.

In fact, my Mom just gave me this beauty.

I have been eye-balling it for a while and she surprised me with it!

(For some reason, the color didn't come out right, it is more of a lime green.)

Now to the random, sorry I got off on a bit of a tangent.

I have to put my Fiestaware plates away in rainbow colored order.

Does anyone else have silly little things like this that they do?

Bridal party fainting

If you were to stop by our house on Sunday night at 6:00 you will find us watching America's Funniest Home Videos.

It is a family favorite and something that we look forward to every week.

I have to admit that I LOVE this show and have been known to watch it by myself and cackle like a mad woman throughout the entire thing.

This past week, they did a little video montage (don't you love those!?!) about people from the bridal party fainting.

We would all, "Ohhh, noooo! Ahhh! He's going to faint!" the entire time and I have to admit that they were really really funny.

By the way, if you were one of the people on AFV that fainted, I am so sorry.

Really, we were laughing WITH you not AT you.

It got me wondering how many weddings does this happen at?
I mean, you see these videos and hear stories about this all the time.

Then I remembered, "Hey, this happened at our wedding too!"

Now I didn't forget, but it just struck me as amusing that we had experienced this as well.

Flashback to our wedding:

There we all were, the bridal party, kneeling at the front of the church.

The priest was talking to everyone about marriage and to be honest I am not sure about specifics, I was really nervous because of all the people.

So, I am attempting to pay attention.

My maid of honor leans over to me and whispers,

"I'm starting to not feel well."

I think I whispered something encouraging along the lines of,

"The wedding will be over soon, do you think you will be okay?"

Seconds later, I look over and she is slowing slumping to the floor.

We were kneeling at the top of a couple of carpeted stairs and thankfully someone from the congregation rushed up and caught her before she fell.

I distinctly remember looking over and seeing my soon-to-be husband's wedding ring go rolling out of sight.

Luckily there were some doctors in the congregation and they quickly had my maid of honor awake and with it.

Poor thing was soooo embarrassed.

The docs decided to call an ambulance just to be on the safe side.

So there we are waiting for the ambulance to arrive and her brother shows up.

He starts walking down the aisle and made some funny comment about her stealing the show.

So the ambulance takes her to the hospital, we finish the ceremony, the limo driver threatens to leave and we headed over to the reception site.

My maid of honor shows up at the reception, everything was fine, but I just felt awful for her.

Has this happened at anyone else's wedding or a wedding that you have attended?

It's been snowing and snowing and snowing***

Update: This was originally posted on January 10th.
I am using this post today as part of:


As I type this it has been snowing now for 18 hours.

We woke up this morning to 6 inches of snow when we only were supposed to get 1.

School was cancelled, woo hoo, and I was so happy to have Adison home with me for another day.

I just love having all of my little chickadees with me.

K drove to work, but the streets were so bad and considering the fact that we are supposed to get another 4 - 8 inches today felt that it would be safer to come home with the streets being drive-able.

When K got home, he promptly started shoveling.

The girls, who can't wait to get into the snow, were very quick to join.

So, I rustled up what snow weather gear we had an sent them out.

Isn't it pretty? I love how snow sparkles.

The view from our porch.

Hubs taking a photo break from shoveling.

Adison striking a pose.

Ainsley looking like a snow princess.

It was all fun and games and then this happened...

So I got my snow gear on to go play in the snow too!

There was a really nice moment when the big girls were playing, Abby was taking a nap and K and I had a moment to sit on the porch together and just watch. It was one of those beautiful moments in life that when they happen you just have to sit there and enjoy it. Precious.

We of course had to finish with some hot cocoa.

I think we are going to head back out after nap time.

The snow is beautiful and needs to be enjoyed!

How about you, did you get snow?

Wow! What. A. Weekend.

Hello all!

This has been a crazy, whirlwind of a weekend.

As I mentioned on Friday, my mom came into town to celebrate K and I's birthdays.

My mom made it into town around 3:00 and I was so excited to see her! The little girls were so excited to see her as well. (As I was typing this I realized that not once did I take a picture!!!) My mom went with me to go pick up Adison from school. I was all excited and thinking that Adison would have one of those movie moments. You know, seeing grandma in the car, screaming and hearing "GGGRRRAAANNNDDDMMMAAA!!!" as she went racing to the car.  No, that was not even close to what happened. Instead, Adison hops in the car, says, "Hi Grandma" and proceeded to tell us about her day. We decided to head to over to Target, my mom doesn't have one in her town. It is always a necessary stop. Oh Target, how you make us women happy. We shopped, ate some popcorn and I took Ainsley to the bathroom approximately 29.37 times. I don't know what it is about the bathroom at Target, although I have a sneaking suspicion it has something to do with their bathroom smelling like Fruity Pebbles. Has anyone else noticed this? Please tell me that I am not the only one.

That night for dinner we had my Grandma's Tuna Fish and Potato Chip casserole for dinner. Yummy, talk about comfort food and reliving your childhood. We also opened up some presents. Yay for a sweet, thoughtful Mom who gets you things that you would never buy yourself. Thanks Mom!

The next day (Saturday) my mom, Adison and I headed out to do some damage. We hit up Kohl's. The sales! Oh, how I love shopping at Kohl's, I always feel like I hit the sales jackpot. I didn't buy anything though. I looked and thought about it, but seeing as it was just Christmas and my birthday I just didn't. After that we went to the mall and oh my goodness, the purses. I have such a purse weakness, it is my kryptonite. Again, looked and looked but just couldn't find THE bag. I am picky with my purses. The main thing is that is has to be BIG, I am talking a small duffel bag big. I also have a penchant for pockets and little organization thingies. (Technical word.) We pretty much looked at everything and had a wonderful time doing it. It was nice having time with my mom, to talk, laugh, ohh and ahh at things with. A big shout out to the hubs for watching Ainsley and Abby so my mom, Adison and I could enjoy the shopping! Thanks Babe, I love you!

We decided to celebrate our birthdays on Saturday night, but Abby is teething and OH MY GOODNESS is she CRANKY! I feel awful for her, but taking her anywhere in public right now is just not a good idea. She is screaming, crying and throwing major temper tantrums. You can thank me later. We decided to order some Chinese and had a picnic on the living room floor and watch The Cat in the Hat. We had so much fun!

This morning (Sunday) we hung around the house. My mom left around 11:00 and K got a text from my dad asking us if we wanted to head out to Taco Bueno. I love me some Taco Bueno, it reminds me of being a kid and going every Sunday after church. We discovered pretty quickly that 30 minutes was about all that Abby could handle. That and the fact that Ainsley was waddling like a penguin, squawking and acting all around goofy, we decided it was time to head home. Well that is, after we made a quick stop to the grocery store for some essentials. It is supposed to snow here for the next couple of days and I just don't know what the roads are going to look like. Plus, the idea of driving to the store through all the snow, dealing with all of the people and my 3 cold kiddos just does not sound at all appealing. Crazy right!?!

Now, it is Sunday afternoon, two of my three kiddos are sleeping. The house is quiet and warm, just the way it should be on a cold, winter Sunday afternoon. We were hoping to go to our Church's worship service tonight, but I just don't see how that is going to happen. Again, we've got teething going on.

How was your weekend?

Happy Sunday!