A Change in Plans

Okay, my doc office called last night....Wayne will be here Monday if he does not come on his own! I am a bit nervous because I had the mind set of Weds. and now I have 2 less days to prepare my house and family but I can't wait to see his beautiful face....and my feet!

It's been awhile....

Okay so it's been a long time and this will not be long. We have moved and are settled. Everyone is happy and I love all the room.
If Wayne does not decide to appear on his own, I will be induced Weds. Nov. 26th at 7:30am. I know this is the day before Thanksgiving but it was much more important to me to be home for Ryan's birthday which is the 29th. Also, the hospitals policy is to let you go home 24 hours after baby's 1st feed so i should be home Thanksgiving evening anyway.
We are putting up our Christmas tree Saturday so I do not have to worry about it after Wayne is born. The next few days will be spent preparing all that needs to be done for Wayne's arrival. A friend, Erin, is throwing a brunch in celebration of the new baby which will be Saturday morning at 10am. This I am looking forward to, food and girl talk...FUN!!! Especially since all I get is boys boys boys!
I have many many pics to show so i will most likely wait until I post pics of Wayne. So, until then, please pray for a healthy delivery and baby.

CF Husband/Tricia update

For those of you familiar with the blog, you must read the newest post and for those of you who have not read it, you must, from beginning to end if you can. This blog is a treasure. It is a living testimony to our Lord's grace and His love. However, the newest post is sad and this beautiful family is in much need of prayer. You can find a link on the right side of my blog and I encourage you to please take the time to read it and lift this family up in prayers.

Wayne Update

It seems as though Wayne's kidneys are just fine. My amniotic fluid is normal so my doc really doubts a blockage as most of our amniotic fluid is made up of baby's urine. We are not going to worry about it but mention it to his pediatrician on his 1st visit and go from there.
My OB said most babies take 30 mins. to see them take a breath on a ultrasound, Wayne was breathing like he just ran a marathon! I asked if that was okay since he said he had never seen it before and he said it was great, Wayne also would not stop moving around, so the doc and I agreed we have a lively one on our hands! Everything looked real good so I am pleased and although I was not worrying myself to death about it, I can now have more peace of mind.

On another note, we are fixing to move (yea!) but we are moving to a location that only allows me dial-up (unless I want to pay $100/month for high speed). So, my blogging will be limited if at all:( I know I do not have a league of followers, but I do enjoy doing it so I am a bit disappointed. This should all take place in approx. 3-4 weeks.

Ryan really enjoyed his field trip to the pumpkin patch. Kolton goes tomorrow to the Democratic and Republican headquarters downtown for a Alpha field trip. And, Jacob goes next Friday to a pumpkin patch as well which I am really hoping to be able to attend.

My front tooth has chipped and cracked:( I am going Tuesday for a cleaning and consultation to see what we can do to fix it and the one beside it since it is half "fake" from a childhood accident. I am very very nervous about the Novocaine needle as I can not have the funny gas 1st because of pregnancy. So pray for me and my nerves.

And on a final note, we took the kids to the zoo Saturday afternoon and we all had a great time. I got some good pics and a video I will post asap.

Quick Update

Not much new really. The kids are doing great with school. Kolton had a few adjustments to make this year but is now thriving. Ryan gets to go to a pumpkin patch in Greenbriar for his very 1st field trip this Friday. He will be able to bring home his own little pumpkin which is good because that is one less for us to get. We usually end up with 6, 3 big, 3 small. This year we will add 1 more for James. Jacob will also get to go to a pumpkin patch with his class in about 2 weeks, he is also very excited. Jacob will start to receive speech therapy twice a week at school which is good. He has not had it in about 6 months and although his speech has improved tremendously, he still needs some help, especially with clarity.
My belly is growing alot. I don't know how I still have 8 weeks left when I look at how big it is! Wayne seems to be doing great, moving around all the time. My weight guess is 8lbs. 14 oz but we'll see, James was 9lbs even but Wayne doesn't feel as big as James did when he moves inside me (even though my belly is tremendous).
Other than that, not much else going on within our little family. I will have some exciting updates here soon.

Humpty Dumpty a.k.a. Ryan

So this morning we went to the kids school for the annual kindergarten Mother Goose nursery rhyme recital. Ryan did Humpty Dumpty. last night when I told him we needed to get a costume together he started crying saying he didn't want to dress like Humpty Dumpty. I calmed him down and told him to at least try and then see what he thought. So, we put together a costume and I let him look in the mirror and he was so happy with himself. I asked him why he was upset before and he said because he thought if he dressed up like Humpty dumpty, he would fall down and crack like Humpty Dumpty! LOL! Kids really say the darnedest things. He did a great job and obviously we were so proud of him. Here are pics of our Humpty Dumpty.

Baby Wayne and other things...

We found out today that Wayne has an abnormal amount of fluid in his little kidney's. This is common in boys due to their "plumbing". It could possibly be caused by an obstruction and in that case, he would need surgery when he was born. We are praying that the latter is not the issue. I will have another ultrasound in a month and see if the amount of fluid has increased, decreased or is the same and go from there. We are praying that it will be a non issue or at the worst a small issue easily fixed.
John seems to still be doing good and is back to work, not physically but driving around doing his thing...surprise surprise right? NOT!!! We are still praying that this surgery will be more successful than the previous ones.
We lost our power due to Ike. Went out Sunday at midnight and came back on Maonday morning at around 9am. I was so very thankful that John and Hazel had an extra generator for us to use so we had 2 TV's, a fridge and a fan. God is good! Gustav was much more devastating to Little Rock, but Ike affected us more personally due to the power outage.
Not much else new here, will update again soon.

John

For those of you who read my blog and know my dad in law, John, he came out of surgery well today. Apparently, it went well, they put a cast on too, which if you know him, that is a great thing!
He went into surgery at 10:30 am and Jeremy called to tell me John and Hazel were on their way home at a little after 2:00 pm. This is also great news!
Continue to keep him in your prayers, I imagine we will know more as he starts to heal.

School Update

God has answered many prayers for me as far as the school issues go. Jacob is still not allowed to take his lunch but this was a answered prayer even though I didn't like the answer...at first. He has been making do with what is served to him and eats at least 1 thing everyday (plus 2 snacks). It might not sound great but to me it's awesome. It has got him eating new things at home too. A couple of days ago he ate a few slices of hard salami! (mommy had a preggo craving). I am so proud of him, words can not explain. He has seemed to resolve any issues he had with his friend Issac and this also makes me happy. Every moring he says 1st thing that he doesn't want to go to school but he still gets up and eats breakfast without much of a fight (which is also new since school started) and gets dressed and puts on his shoes and off he goes.
Ryan is still doing awesome and loving every minute of it. He is adjusting to his new schedule and we no longer have evenings full of crying, another prayer answered!
Kolton got a different teacher, he was upset at first but he likes the new one, although I am not liking that he doesn't get homework or daily/weekly reports. The homework I feel is important to challenge his very smart mind and to get him ready for middle school which will be here before he knows it, but I'm sure he will have some now and again. We got his benchmark scores from last April today. In Math he scored over 200 points more than the school and state average, and for literacy he scored over 100 points over the average for the school and state. This is not surprising to us, we know that he is very smart and he was proud of himself, which he should be! Go Kolton!!!
Anyway, I just wanted to share how God has worked in my life lately. To others, these issues may seem trivial, but to me it was heart breaking and God took care of it for me.

And the Baby's Name is......

Wayne Edward Redd. Wayne is Jeremy's middle name, and his uncles name is Dewayne. Edward is John's middle name. So there we go. The last time we have to give a boy a name. This one was hard to do but we are both happy with what we have chosen.

Tears

We had tears this morning from Jacob:( Yesterday I finally found out one name from each kid of their "friends". Ryan's friend is Gavin and although Ryan says he gets in trouble a lot, he's still his friend. I told him that's fine but not to get into trouble with him! But, that I was glad he is learning names of other students.
Jacob said his friends name is Issac. I was so proud of him for being able to say the boys name. As we know, Jacob does have some speech delays, and this worries me to no end about how he is getting along in school. My prayer is that school helps him progress with it, not revert backwards due to frustration.
Anyway, later last night, we found out that Issac tried to steal his chips, pushed him and hit him in the face...great friend. However, I suppose this can be categorized as "kid stuff" but it hurts a mommy's heart. Now, I know that it is very very possible that Jacob contributed to these situations in some form, I'm not blind to my children. Regardless, we told him to try his best to still be nice and if this boy doesn't stop to tell the teacher. This to me is a sticky situation. If Jacob tells, I really don't want him to grow into a tattle tell, however, if Jacob deals with it his self, he will also get in trouble and will not be any better of than the other kid.
Anyway, last night awhile after the Issac revelation, Jacob told me he didn't want to go to school. He loved me and wanted to stay home with me and he missed me. Well you must know that at that point I wanted to snatch him up and tell him he never had to go to school again! Is that what I did, no. I know that I can't do that. So we talked for a minute then I told him to get some sleep and we'd talk about it again in the morning, praying he was just tired and had a long week.
No such luck.....this morning that was the first thing he said to me, he's not going to school. After a lot of discussion (and a small bribe of renting a movie after school for being such a big boy), loads of tears, and taking an hour to eat and get dressed, he was still crying when Hazel got here with Kolton (who spent the night at his mom's). As Hazel and I started talking, Jacob made a transformation! He got out of the chair, got his bag and started talking to his brothers and opening the door to leave! It was seriously like nothing had ever happened, none of the tears had ever fell! He was happy. I was happy.
I was 100% prepared to send Jacob off to school crying and not wanting to go. Yes, it would have torn me into a million pieces. Jeremy and I have decided that we need to give it a few weeks to see if he just needs adjusting and not be so tired, get used to his new routine (he's had the same routine for over 3 years now, it has to be hard to change). Or, if maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. His speech therapist had suggested awhile back that we may want to consider holding him back 1 year for kindergarten and we went off and put him in pre-k, a year before kindergarten is supposed to even start. Our thinking was he was ready and that instead of hindering his speech (not being able to communicate like the rest or even enough to be understood may cause frustration and cause him to clam up and withdraw), this would actually help it. Now, we'll have to wait and see.
I am glad for now this has a good ending. I have already prayed for him twice today and am sure that will not be the last time. I have looked to the Lord a lot these past few days for help with sending my babies off to school. It has affected me in ways I didn't think it would, I am crushed by it. Ryan is doing well, I am almost positive he is enjoying himself and is getting into a routine and knows school is a permanent thing now, with 2 days off after many days of school. And Kolton is a pro and he knows everyone in his class. He knows his teacher fairly well, more than any other he's had. He is also getting to do things this year that he hasn't been able to do before, like play the recorder (a plastic flute like instrument). And he is starting the Alpha program this year which is a special class once a week for kids who do well academically plus have shown themselves to be creative and imaginative in their work. We are so proud of him, and he is proud of himself with that (though not in a boasting way at all) and I think that is great. I pray for him that he will continue to enjoying learning and do well.
Please, if you read this, pray for me and Jacob. Pray that I will know if God is telling me what to do with Jacob and not just a mother's heart telling her what to do.

James

I realized that I have not posted pics of James lately, so I though it would be good to do that.

It's funny how much time I have on my hands now with all the boys at school. James still needs me obviously, but he naps and when he naps, I have to find stuff to do.

So, these pics above James has just woken from a nap. He goes to sleep very well and wakes up in a great mood instantly. The other boys were not like that. I am hoping the new baby will take a bit more after his brother James when it comes to sleeping habits:)

It is rare that I don't get a picture like this one. He is very interested in the camera, as you can see.

School update.....yesterday was good. Ryan got to eat his lunch and Jacob ate a snack and some of his school lunch. Jacob was in a great mood last night, I believe he is actually taking a nap at school. Ryan still had some crying sprees but they were better than the previous night. Adjustment will come with some time.

The Last Few Days.....

Let us start with Sunday. Sunday, Ryan got baptised. He was nervous about the water situation. For the past few summers, anytime he has had an opportunity to go swimming (which is often since Mamaw and Papaw have had a pool for awhile), in the beginning he always wants to sit on the stairs, then as summer starts coming to a close, he feels comfortable going out into the pool. Even though I love my husband dearly I think he has had a part in this because Jeremy used to throw him around in the pool even though Ryan didn't want him too and has caused Ryan to be scared:(

But, back to Sunday. You will see in the pics below that Ryan looks a bit scared, it looked worse in person but he was brave and he wanted to do it, he was just nervous about the water. I am so proud of him that even though he had that fear, he overcame it to be baptised.

Ryan, getting into the water..........

Here, John is asking Ryan if he wants to be baptised, Ryan is at a loss for words anticipating being "dunked".

About to go into the water.....

And up he comes.....a baptised Ryan. I am so glad that John got to do this. It is nice for our family and I am sure made Ryan feel a bit more secure. He trusts his Papaw very much, as he should:)

After all was said and done, we stood as a family for all to come and give Ryan a hug and I was able to give him a hug and kiss on the head and tell him how proud of him I was. After Ryan got out of the water, Jeremy was waiting for him on the stairs to help him get dry and dressed. Jeremy told him how proud he was of him and Ryan said that he was so proud of himself that daddy was proud of him. Too cute.

Now, on to Monday...the first day of school. We all went together for the 1st day. After a quick hug and subtle kiss on the head, we got Kolton off to his class, where he had got the teacher he was hoping for and that we know personally, Jeremy more than I. He was ready and set like an old pro.

We then took Ryan to his class. I got him set up with a few supplies at his desk as requested by his teacher whom I also was hoping he would get:) He pretty much had the attitude of okay mom, you can go now. I told him I loved him, gave a hug and off we went across the hall to drop off Jacob. We walked him in. Got him sat down and although he seemed a bit nervous (you could tell because he was quite, a very rare occurrence), he was happy to be there. I also gave him a hug goodbye and walked out. I stood in the hall for about 30 seconds then peeked in first on Ryan who was sitting there coloring the picture that had been waiting for him at his table. Then Jacob who was just sitting there, taking everything in. No tears, not even for mommy (I did that all day Sunday).

When they got home I was bombarded with look at this and let me tell you about this. I had had a plan to start with one kid, sit down with them, let them tell me about their day and look through their stuff with them...yeah right mom, what were you thinking? Eventually I was able to talk to each of them individually and go through their stuff. Kolton is going to get to play a recorder this year that he can practice at home...yea, so excited about that. He had a great day and got to sit between to girls! He didn't really want to talk about that:)

Ryan also had a great day, he had fun and played with many kids and said he made friends. No one was mean to him and he said he was nice too. This has been my biggest fear with the 2 small ones. No one to play with, no one to eat lunch with, no one to talk too. I guess I can get over that! However, there was some lunch time confusion and even though I had packed a made to order lunch, he didn't get to eat it. It was a miscommunication and Jeremy sorted that out with his teacher this morning, so today he should be able to eat lunch.

Jacob also had a good day, his teacher said he was quite and good. Thank the Lord!!! You understand if you know Jacob! When he got home, he was so proud of his empty take home folder. Again, too cute:) We also had lunch issues here. When we signed Jacob up for this pre-k class, we didn't have a bunch of info for it but decided he needed to go to learn, gain some extra social skills and hopefully help with his speech even more than I am doing. We were not aware of the fact that even though breakfast and lunch is provided for them for free, he CAN'T take his own lunch. This I do not like. As I stated above, I had reason for enrolling him in this class, and one of them was NOT so someone could tell me what my child can and can not eat! When Jeremy talked to his teacher this morning about it, she said she had several questions for the director of the program and she would add this to her list. Well, okay but what if he ends up not being able to take his lunch. i have browsed the lunch menu for the next 5-6 weeks. He will end up only eating 1-2 things only 2-3 days a week! I know my child, especially Jacob can be picky, but this should not mean he can't eat. He needs to eat to have energy and have a good day, I think of all people, school personnel should know this. So, we'll see the outcome of this soon, and worse case scenario, I tell Jacob he can't take his lunch and he needs to try food on his try and eat what he can. This will not go over well with him, but I think he wants to be at school so badly that he will get over it. At least he does have snacks and drinks through out the day.

Last night was tough. Ryan and Jacob were both so very tired. They cried about everything and bed time was earlier than normal and they hated that but obviously need good sleep. I am hoping they will get adjusted soon so we don't have to go through evenings like last night for too much longer.

I will try to post at the end of the week about how the rest of the school weeks went.

And the baby is a .......

Boy. Yes yes, another boy:) We are good with that and have decided that God wants us to raise 5 great husbands and then maybe we'll get our girls:)
He looks really good, everything is growing well. Now, we just need a name. We are at a standstill with this as we seem to have run out of names we like. We are staying away from anything starting with a "J" due to the fact that we have in this house...Jeremy, Jacob, James and one day we know Kolton is going to want to go by his 1st name, John.
He is due December 3rd still but we all know how that goes..they come when they want to or have to be "forced" out when the doc decides.
The boys were a tad upset but I just told them that this was what God gave us and they'll love him just as much as they love each other and they got over it when we watched the ultrasound video together.
I will post Monday eveing about the 1st day of school and Ryans baptism.

Not much new here

Like the title says, not much new here. We are getting ready for school to start. Friday we go to open house so we can show Ryan and Jacob around and find out who has what teacher, Kolton is holding out for a particular teacher that has been there since Jeremy attended.
We are counting down the days to find out if God has blessed us with another boy or a girl, this will happen friday morning, I will post that afternoon.
The main reason I am posting today is I read a post on Confessions of a CF Husband and was just inspired by it. This family is a wonderful testimony of God's love and the true love of a husband and wife. Again, I encourage you to read it if you haven't already.
Oh, Ryan is being baptized Sunday evening! We have been talking to him about this on and off since the beginning of the year. I have been telling him that he does not need to be baptised to go to heaven but that it would make God smile if he would do it. Sunday morning Jeremy asked him if he had thought about it any more and if he thought he might be ready and he said yes. Well, actually he said, "sure, I don't care, that's fine". So, during invitation Sunday morning, he went down and talked to Bro. Joe (our pastor) about it and it is set for Sunday evening. As far as I know Papaw (John) is going to do it with Bro. Joe in there with them. John is associated pastor ( I think that is what the title is) so this allows him to do to the baptism. It seems that any fear Ryan has had of the water, God has given him peace about it and he is ready. I am so proud of him and am glad that our "do not push it" approach worked for him. i will obviously post w/ pics about this asap.
Until Friday.....

What Is New With The New Baby.....

I went to the doc today, for the baby. Not my regular obgyn as I am still waiting for medicaid, but an obgyn none the less. The baby's heart sounds great although the baby kept moving aropund so we didn't hear it but for a few seconds at a time but hey, movement is good:)
Everything else was normal and I am scheduled there for an ultrasound and more lab work in 2 weeks. Unless I get my medicaid early this week, I will keep this appointment and finally find out the much anticipated answer to the question of...boy, or girl?
I have been calling the baby "he" because well, I guess that is what I am used to, but it will be nice to finally put a proper name to this sweet pea.
Not much else new here. Boys are doing great, getting ready for school. We found out Jacob can not ride the bus (which really is sort of all right with me), so one way or another, all 3 boys will be getting a ride to and from school. This broke Jacob's heart into tiny pieces but once I finally put it to him that he either took the car or didn't go...he was okay. He is excited. Ryan is excited, mommy is not.
I will post again asap.

Interesting BBQ Facts for Calorie Counters

Okay, so I saw this article and was a bit shocked at a few of the helpful tips on calorie counting and BBQ. Thought I would share.
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/10435/the-best-and-worst-summer-barbeque-foods/

Please pray

I have talked from time to time about another blog called Confessions of a CF Husband. For those of you who have checked it out, Tricia needs your prayers now, maybe more than ever. For those of you who haven't read it yet, you should, I feel your missing a blessing from God by not doing so. Their story is full of ups and downs but I truly feel blessed to have read it and that they have allowed, us, the rest of the world, in their lives in this way. So, look over at my blog list and click and read then pray.

Also, poor baby James is sick again or still...he has been running a pretty high fever for almost 24 hrs. now and has had a cough for about 10 days and is still playing with his ears, I am thinking the "fluid" has turned into a infection. We go to the doc tomorrow afternoon, so please pray he will get to feeling better, it is tough on my heart when the little ones don't feel well and there isn't much you can do besides comfort them.

Happy Birthday Jacob...again

Okay, so I forgot to take my camera, so I have no pics:( But, Saturday was a nice afternoon with the family. We had a great BBQ, thanks to Uncle David. The kids went swimming with Jeremy and that was funny...5 kids yelling, Uncle Jeremy (or Daddy), throw me, throw me! He had his hands full but had a good time. James even got into the pool and had a fun time in his baby floatie splashing his little hand in the water.
The kids then of course had to open their presents and Katie and Jacob got lots of fun toys from Mamaw and Papaw and Aunt Mandy and Uncle David. Jacob got this learn to be spider man dvd that teaches him spidey "moves"...thanks Mamaw...LOL, just kidding:)
Then we all dug into an awesome Baskin and Robbins ice cream cake, yummy. We had a #4 candle on it for Jacob and a #5 candle for Katie, it was funny because when you looked at the cake, it looked like someone was turning 45!
I am so happy for Mandy and the kids that they have moved somewhere farther away they needed to be for personal reasons, but it is hard because all my boys just adore Mandy's kids.
So, Jacob turned 4 and when all was said and done, he ended up having had 4 cakes this past week ( Ms. Loretta, his Sunday School teacher was so sweet to get him a cake and each kid a gift, she loves her class like they were her own and tends to spoil them).
So, this draws an end to Jacob's birthday (thank goodness!). Next is mine...I am trying to organize a night out with some friends from church, which would really great.

More about medicaid....called again this morning and with little improvement. They found my case worker and when I talked to her, she seemed like she could care less, took my phone number then hung up. I have made a appointment with a local community womans clinic that costs very little per visit, but I have gone that route before and it is really not what I want to do, but at the same time I need the prenatal care, so now my prayer is that medicaid will give me some answers before this appointment so I can go back to my original obgyn. He is just to good of a doc to not fight for my baby to be in his care. So, again please keep praying that what is best for our baby will be in God's will and that it'll all work out.

Happy Birthday Jacob....Your 4!!!

Yesterday was Jacob's 4th birthday. He woke up literally thinking he was bigger. I played along and told him he had grown and showed him about an inch measured out with my fingers. He was happy. All day long he would stop and tell me to look at how big he was.

This past Friday, we played putt putt with some friends, Brent and Bradley and their dad for Jacob and Bradley's birthdays.

Bradley and Jacob ready to blow out the candles, they each had their own side.

here is Jacob with Brent and Bradley. They all had fun, but Bradley won...go Bradley:)

Last night we had a simple evening at home with presents and cake. Jacob is really into Batman and Superman right now so he requested a Superman cake, which even though I knew he wouldn't eat it (he doesn't really like cake), he got. He also got Batman walkie talkies and a batman mask that has light up eyes.

I think the above pics are self explanatory, however, the following may need some explanation....

Okay, so the above is a constant going on in our home with Ryan and Jacob. I don't know if it is because they are so close in age or what, but they are always play fighting like this. I almost always stop it, but there is the rare time it is just too funny ( I am not sure if that makes me a bad mom, but I don't feel like it does). The Batman mask added fuel to the fire. Jacob feels that when he wears something like this, he actual is the "superhero". Anyway, I had to take the picture.

Saturday holds another "party" for Jacob and cousin Katie. We will have cake and swimming at mamaw and papaw's. I will post (with pics) about this asap.

On another quick note...I called medicaid again and they can not seem to find my 2nd application...you've GOT to be kidding me right? They transferred me to the person in charge of handing off the applications to case workers, she wasn't at her desk and I left her a message, with no response. Please keep praying as I keep praying and trying to keep my cool about this situation:)