Sammy is 6 months old today. I can't believe how fast my babies are growing up. He is starting to sit up on his own and give kisses. He is a Mommy's boy when he's hungry, but a Daddy's boy when he's sleepy. He LOVES his brother and sisters! And he thinks they are the funniest things to watch. I have been so incredibly blessed by how well my kids have welcomed Samuel into our family. There has been NO jealousy at all. They absolutely adore him and can't get enough of him. Let's just hope they feel that way when he's 2! :-) As scared as I was to go through all of the baby stuff again, it has been so incredible and I barely remember what life was like without him and it has been so fun to watch the older kids with a baby. I'm so in love with my kids! (Even when they make me crazy!)

A few cute things from today...

Sierra's prayer tonight: Thank you God for letting Mommy and Daddy meet so we could be alive. Sierra and Summer both prayed that Grandpa Fred is having a good time in Heaven. (Which they do a lot)

Parenting Fail:
Me: Summer, go play with Sammy so Mommy and Daddy can go talk.
Summer: NO! You guys aren't gonna go talk!
Me: Then what are we gonna do???
Summer: You guys are gonna go KISS!! I know you two!!

Hahaha....Oops! ;-)

Father's Day

So, yesterday was Father's Day. We had a really nice day with Nana Neener and Papa John. Went to breakfast and to wonderland with the kids. I am so lucky to have married a man who LOVES his kids and his family SO SO SO much!

When we came home as I was making dinner, I checked my Facebook, and I was hit by some comments from a friend about missing my Dad. I had held it together all day! Not anymore! As I stood at the sink crying, Sierra came to me and asked if I was okay. I said that I just missed my Daddy and that it was hard to not be able to tell him Happy Father's Day. She took my hand and softly said, "I miss him too." and just stood there with me. After a few minutes she let go of my hand, and went over to the stove and started stirring the dinner for me. How blessed am I to have kids who just let me cry and take care of my responsibilities when I am hurting!

I sure Miss you Daddy. I wish you were here to see how great your Grandbabies are turning out. I know you are looking down on them, but it doesn't feel the same. Happy Father's Day.

Sierra looks on the bright side

As I was looking at some pictures today Seth reminded me of something that Sierra said that I just had to share. On December 9th we took a ride on the Polar Express with a group of our friends. While we were there Sierra was telling her best friend Maliya, who is 6 months older than her, "Mia, you will be 5 before me. Then you will be 8 before me." Seth then informs her, "Sierra, she will be everything before you, because she was born before you. She will always be older than you." Sierra turns to Maliya and says, with a total straight face and quite matter of fact, "Mia, you will be dead before me." Ahhh, the way kids minds work! :-)

Sierra and Mia on the Polar Express

Long week

This week Summer has been a pretty sick little girl. She wasn't feeling great on Tuesday and that night she kept waking up for water and to go pee. (Or just pee in our bed!) She threw up during the night and had a fever all night. I took her in Wednesday morning to the doctor. I assumed she had a UTI, so they had me take her to the lab 1st to give a urine sample. When the doctor came in she sat down and said, "I think what we are looking at here is diabetes. I'm gonna give you a few minutes to process this." I think I just stared at her. My 2 year old can NOT have diabetes! She had us go do a blood draw to confirm this. Her blood sugar level was 249. Her doctor was so great. She stayed with me in the room a good majority of the time while they waited for a bed for her at the hospital and for Summer's nausea to pass. I then called Seth to meet me at Doernbecher Children's hospital where they admitted her.

After we got all settled into the hospital they checked her blood sugar level and it was at 148. Hmm? That's high, but not so high they will diagnose her with diabetes. When they checked her urine at the hospital they also found no ketones, whick was what concerned her doctor in the first place. After more pokes for poor baby Summer and more tests, they decided it could just have been stress induced hyperglycemia or very very early diabetes. Oh ya, and a UTI. (Mommy knows best!) They sent us home that night with antibiotics for the UTI.

That night she was up all night again with a fever and throwing up. The next morning we decided to take her back in to see her doctor. She couldn't even take a sip of water without throwing it back up immediately. By the time my mom and I got to the doctor's office with her she was running around like usual, being crazy. The doctor said if she got sick or feverish again to bring her back in for an injection of the antibiotic. Of course, we get home, she takes a nap, and as soon as she gets up her fever goes up to 102.8. Go figure. Back to the doctor we go. (And I'm sure you can all guess how she was by the time we got there huh?!?) Oh, well. She had to get the shot anyway. 2 actually. One in each leg. It was horrible. The nurses even said this was a very painful injection. But, after some ice packs and some Princess stickers she seemed to be feeling a little better.

Then back to the doctor this morning to pick up a diabetes testing kit. They want me to check her glucose level 2x a day for a few weeks just to make sure this is not diabetes. And she has to have her blood drawn again for them to run 4 more tests. After talking with the doctor we decided to wait until she is feeling better to start poking at her again. So, on Tuesday I meet with a diabetes specialist to learn how to use the test kit and I will probably take her into the lab that day as well to have her blood drawn again. I will post again when I have any more info.

As of right now they are leaning more towards her NOT having diabetes, but please be praying for her. And ME!! Thanks!



Summer in her hospital crib up at Doernbecher.

Highs and Lows

Today I think I had some of my highest highs and lowest lows. The whole day seemed to be one big roller coaster. I started out my day fine then it got bad, then better, then worse, then great.

This afternoon, I had my first counseling session with a new counselor. She was great. We mostly talked about my Dad. Lately, I have been having a really hard time shutting down my thoughts. I just want to know, when will I quit replaying those few days in my head? I think I am going to write it all down. Every single detail I can remember. As awful as it sounds, I think the reason I replay it all so much is that I'm so scared of forgetting. Though, I don't want to remember it either. Maybe if I know I have it in writing, I won't have to think about it so much?

After I left there, I headed out to Summer's for a pajama party with my girlfriends. I didn't want to go, but I never miss a girl's get-together. I really just wanted to go home, curl up in bed, and cry. I'm glad I didn't. I think I spent the entire evening laughing. My girlfriends have a way of cheering you up like nobody else. Thank God for them.

Now as I sit here at 1am, I don't know how to feel. I feel drained. I could go either way. Maybe I should just go to bed?

Halloween

This year Halloween seemed to come and go very quickly. It feels like every year seems to go by faster and faster. Also, this year costumes seemed to be very simple. Usually, I stress about costumes the most, but I really didn't think twice about them this year. Gage chose to be Hulk which was easy to find. Brooke wanted to be an Angel again this year, for a very sweet reason which I didn't find out until today. Sierra picked out a butterfly costume at goodwill with Grandma Catherine a few weeks prior. And Summer was the octopus that she was last year. I was so excited, because that is my favorite costume and none of them will fit into it next year. Everything just seemed to fall into place.

The weekend before Halloween we went to Howloween at the zoo. The kids got to wear their costumes and go on a scavenger hunt kind of thing. That was lots of fun. Then on Halloween night we had Grandma Sheri and some friends come over for dinner and trick-or-treating. We were out for so long that the kids were finally asking to go home! They got lots of candy for Mom and Dad though!

During the trick-or-treating Brooke told Grandma Sheri, "Grandma, do you know why I am an Angel? Because that is what Grandpa always called me and he's an angel now. So now we both are." Wow. Then, at another point during the evening, Sierra said, "listen, if you be really quiet and close your eyes, you can see Grandpa Fred." Again, Wow. They understand things so much more than people give them credit for. My kids never fail to amaze me every single day.

Howloween at the zoo.

The crazy family.

Our group

Pumpkin Patch

So a few weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch. As most of you probably know this is something we always did with my Dad. We decided to go to one of my Dad's favorite Pumpkin Patches this year. As hard as it is to continue on traditions, we know we have to for the kids. And to keep the memory of my Dad alive.

So, we went to Fir Point Farms in the middle of the week. We hadn't thought about the fact that because it wasn't a weekend a lot of the attractions would be closed. However, those that they can't necessarily close were free! And there were NO LINES! Woo Hoo! We thought about going to a different one down the road, but the kids were having so much fun we decided to stay. It was nice to not deal with crowds and kinda let the kids stray a little farther than we would have been able to otherwise. It was a beautiful fall day. My Dad would have loved it.

As we were taking some last pictures of Grandma Sheri with all the kids, Gage kept trying to run off to go "make Grandpa Fred". We were all confused as to what he was talking about, but when we were done he ran off and started kicking up dirt. Everybody kept telling him to stop, until he said, "But look. I'm making Grandpa Fred." Gage has his own way of dealing with this and I love that he wanted to feel that Grandpa was there with us. I know I could feel him there.

Grandma sheri and her grandbabies.



My little family. Unfortunately, Seth had to work.