5 years

Besides being 5 years since Joshua's birth, this year was also special because his birthday fell on Thanksgiving just like the day of his birth.  My parents were in town and we went to church just like the day Joshua was born.  We went to the cemetery after church and then home to get Thanksgiving dinner ready.  Carrie and her family came over too.  I was again adamant about not traveling for Thanksgiving so that we could make Joshua's birthday part of the festivities.  We took balloons to the cemetery and released them after singing Happy Birthday.  And then we laid orange carnations on the grave.  But we forgot the camera.  I went back a few days later with Levi to put up the Christmas decoration on the grave and pick up the carnations.  Since for the last 2 years the fake flower arrangements that I bought disappeared before I could retrieve them (I probably just waiting too long to remove them), I went with a $6 small wreath from Micheal's (as shown above).  

Since it was 5 years, I decided to send an email to friends asking to help us remember Joshua through a donation to Pine Springs Camp.  I was pregnant with Joshua one summer I was there and I always think of Pine Springs as being one of those places that I can say I shared with all my children.  They are running a capital campaign for a new dining hall and will put up a plague if someone donates at least $1000.  Would be great to have a spot there to especially remember Joshua.  Friends of ours also sent us flowers again and my mom brought us 5 roses.

Being pregnant again has given me lots of opportunities to talk about Joshua since so many people ask what number child this is that I'm carrying.  I often answer that question more completely (by mentioning Joshua) than the how many kids do you have question.  I always try to be honest (even if my responses are a little cryptic - I have 3 kids "at home" and one on the way or something to that affect), but being pregnant again makes me more forthright.  I'm sure if we didn't have this baby girl, folks would just assume we had two and then an oops baby later.  But now they may wonder enough what they heck we were thinking that they may ask about the age gap and I'll get to talk more about Joshua.

Being pregnant and thinking about having an infant again also brings some of the fears again but not as much as with Levi, and even with him I was still okay.  I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to manage a baby along with all that we have going on already so I've been thinking a little about what if Joshua had lived.  It's hard to imagine him being 5 and I look at some 5 year olds in our church to think about what that would be like.  He would be starting Kindergarten next fall.  Crazy.

No real profound spiritual insights this year just plugging along in the reality of having one of our children in heaven already and how that continues to shape us now.  By next year, Levi may start to be able to understand about his brother some more and Lord willing we'll have another child on earth to share him with.  The rest of us have been talking some lately about wondering what Joshua is like and looking forward to getting to know him someday.  So that is where we are.            

20 week update

Second trimester so far has been good.  I've had some different pregnancy related health issues this time around (UTI that required 2 rounds of antibiotics, headaches related to my teeth clenching) and some old "favorites" like sciatic pain and hip pain but for the most part after the morning sickness abated, it's been relatively easy.  I started wearing maternity clothes around 14-15 weeks but with the time of year and the long shirt/sweater style that is now "in" I can get away with wearing a lot of non-maternity clothes the new outfit I bought above.  I also bought two other sweaters that aren't as long as this one but longer than the ones I have.  I bought another pair of maternity jeans and my mom bought me a maternity shirt.  I'm kinda dreading packing for our "tour de Christmas" (going to PA and FL in the same trip).  I will probably need to do some laundry before we leave my mom's to go to FL.

The 20-week sonogram was good although there were two minor issues that they need to keep an eye on (so I'm having another sonogram in 4 weeks).  One was that they saw Choroid Plexus Cysts on the baby's brain.  Sounds a hundred times worse than it is.  Most of the time these things resolve/go away and the only reason the doctor may care about these is because there is some correlation between these cysts and trisomy 18 and 13 but since we had the blood test that showed she is very low risk for those and because there weren't any other indications of that on the sonogram, they weren't concerned.  The other thing was that her stomach appeared bloated or enlarged.  It could be that she took a gulp of fluid right before the scan or it could mean that she has some sort of slow drainage issue with her stomach.  So they will look at it again in 4 weeks and we will go from there.  

I feel like this pregnancy is really long but that's probably because we don't have as much to learn/prepare for.  So far, we got a car seat that someone gave us and I have some promises of girl clothes (although I did go buy some stuff at Carter's - including a newborn Easter dress!).  I bought a car seat canopy and a new picture frame to match the other kids'.  Now I think we just need a stroller frame that I'm hoping to get on Craig's list or Vienna Virtual Yard Sale.

I have been able to go back to Jazzercise which has been good.  Hoping to continue that until the baby is born and then I will probably need to cancel my membership.  But I'm thinking I'll swim over the summer and then I'm thinking of doing this mommy boot camp class at the community center when Levi starts pre-school in the fall.  I can bring the baby with me and you only have to pay for a month or so at a time.

I was recently talking to a friend at church who grew up with 4 kids in his family.  I was lamenting about how now we won't all be able to fit in one hotel room or one sedan and he pointed out that when one of his siblings died the rest realized all the benefits of growing up with an even number of kids in the family i.e., two for one deals and even teams for board games.  Might be a few years before we see those benefits but I was glad to have some "pros" to add to my list instead of thinking about the "cons" which seem to take over now, especially when I don't have a cute baby to hold and love on yet.  What I have been thinking about mostly is all the "stuff" that not only another child brings into the house but the delay in getting rid of things I was ready to pass on (maternity clothes, girl clothes, toys, etc.)  I thought this "plan" of downsizing stuff was going to make my life happier.  I'm sure it would but I'm trying to tell myself that not only does God have better things in mind but really I need to declutter even more than just the stuff I was ready to get rid of.  That's a harder job and one that I'm not sure I have the time or energy to do and certainly won't after the baby gets here.  But I'm trying to wrap my head around what it would mean and to get over some of my ridiculous tendencies to not want to throw things away (but the landfills!) and instead find good homes/uses for them.  I have a ridiculous amount of cardboard boxes that I think I'm going to need and the kids have probably 100 coloring books with only a couple pages colored in each.  Those are the first things I want to deal with.  

Dylan at 10!

Hard to believe we've been parents for a decade.  It has been so much fun watching Dylan grow up.  He is good at so many things and gets lots of praise from teachers and other parents, which get us through the harder parenting times that come with his strong-willed personality.

On the first day of school, the teacher asked the kids to describe themselves in one word and write that word on a sticky note.  Dylan's word:  Awesome.

Dylan (like his Mommy) likes to always know what's going on and what the plan is.  He recently told me this regarding field trips, "I like to sit up front next to the teachers on bus trips so I can hear them plan what we are going to do.”

Dylan continues to play and improve at baseball.  In the spring, he was drafted onto a AAA team (the Mariners) and was one of only 2 nine-year olds on the team.  The coach said he picked Dylan despite his size because his previous coach's notes said he called him Charlie Hussle.

Dylan also swam for the Gators again this summer, learning the flip turn in no time to complete the 50 meter distance for 9-10 year olds.  He even beat me at a 50 meter freestyle race.  I think I had him at 25 though.  Then I was done.

Dylan is still big into Pokemon, playing the online game and trading cards with his friends and battling Lydia at home.  All his birthday presents from us this year are Pokemon related.

Dylan is still taking piano lessons much to his dismay and continues to excel.  He got a Superior (5 out of 5) at the music festival he competed in in March.  He is also playing the recorder again in school.

And Dylan is still in cub scouts - he is now a Webelo and Martin is his den leaders.  He (and Martin) spent a whole week at scout camp this summer and Dylan recruited his friend Danny to the den.  He also sold enough popcorn this year to pay for his dues!  The cub scout fall campout falls on Dylan's birthday so that's his sleepover party this year.  Then we will have a family party with Grandma and Grandpap at Dylan's favorite sit-down Mexican restaurant and then come home for ice cream cake.

Dylan and Levi have started bonded more by wrestling and Dylan is looking forward to Levi moving into his room next year.  Happy Birthday bug!

Levi update - 27 months

I think I stopped the every three month updates with Dylan and Lydia at 2 years old but Levi has changed so much in the last three months and is talking so much more, I just had to write another update.  (See, sometimes, the younger ones do get things the older ones didn't get.)

When we drop the big kids off at school he says "I anna go." He likes the days that I do morning supervision and we get to go inside and play games for a while.  But he doesn’t like to hold hands in the parking lot – he says, "walk, I anna walk!"  Generally, he wants to do everything the big(ger) people do – wear a backpack, slide the payment card, push the cart.  He says “payground” although sometimes it sounds like popcorn and he says "stroller" because he knows that will get him there.  He wants to go to sleep at night, and even tries to climb into his crib.  After his morning diaper change, he wants to brush his teeth – generally he loves routines. After that he says rekfast, oatmeal and wants to eat that every day.  He also says "unch" for lunch.  And he always declares if it's raining - "Wreyning!"

Levi often demands lovin' from us "Daddy hug," "Mommy hug / kiss."  He gets exciting when Martin comes home and says "Daddy home!"  He reminds us to pray at meals and bedtime and says "I anna pay (pray)."  Then he says "God, food, inks (drinks), Amen."

Everyday we talk about where everyone is, "Daddy ork, Dy-an cool (school), ee-a (Lydia) cool.  But he never says his name.  We ask him who he is and he says Mommy, Daddy, or Zak.  He often wants to “call pap! Call pap!”  The longest string of words I've heard him put together is “where’d mommy go?  Dere she is!”

Levi repeats a lot.  He even wants to do flashcards to learn new words.  We got to the card for "saw" and he went and got his toy saw.  I think he knows some colors (red, blue, green, orange).

Levi also has manners.  He says "ess you" when I sneeze and "y'elcome" when I give him something.  (He's got the thank you and you're welcome backwards.)

We can get him to do the "get excited" thing where he has a big smile and makes fists and stiffens his neck.  It's so cute.

I realized that I never blogged about the big kids saying Levi is awake and content.  They used to say that when he was a little baby.  Now they just say it for fun.  

First trimester update

I'm just now at the end of the first trimester.  I wouldn't say that I've been feeling worse than other pregnancies but the morning sickness during the first trimester (week 5.5 to about week 12.5) lasted all day - sort of that low level nauseousness.  I would eat to keep ahead of it but the only food that sounded good wasn't the healthiest food.  I would drop the kids off at school and then go with Levi out for second breakfast - usually breakfast sandwiches from whatever was close.  Levi also watched a lot of Sesame Street during those mornings.  Usually in the afternoons I kept busy enough to keep my mind off of it but I had a hard time being in the kitchen to cook dinner or do dishes (as in the breakfast and lunch ones that have been sitting around all day) so Martin would have to do that when he came home.  So it was a rough couple months for us both.  Now that I'm out of the first trimester I feel like productive member of society again.

As much as I would like to do everything I did for my first child(ren) I doubt I will blog as much about this pregnancy.  That is mostly because I just don't have as much to write about myself as I did when I was pregnant with the others.  But I will try to hit the major stuff that this baby girl may want to read about later in life.  For instance, my cravings.  I haven't really have any cravings aside from cold water which I had in other pregnancies and for some odd reason I can't drink sweet tea anymore.  Now I get unsweetened tea and sweeten it myself with one packet of sweetener.  We'll see if that sticks.

All the doctor appointments have been good so far including the sonogram at 9 weeks.  (I also was a sonogram "model" again for nurses' training at the pregnancy center our church supports.  That was at 7 weeks.)  Heard the heartbeat at the 12 week appointment on Monday.

As most folks know, I'm a planner and this baby has brought quite the change in "my" plans but was planned by God before the creation of the world.  But true to form I am now re-planning...:)  Most of the planning/thinking through implications has been about the room assignments in the house and how many years we will be making triple and quadruple tuition payments.  We won't have 4 kids at Lorien Wood at once but we will have two in college and two at Lorien Wood for one year.  I also think we are going to take the money I had put away for the CPA again and put it toward this baby's college fund so that we can front load that fund like we did for the other kids.  The catch is that we need more money now but I won't be able to increase my business or find outside employment for an additional three years or so.  I had been hoping to work a little more when Levi starts preschool in about a year but that probably won't be feasible then.  So we will need to cut spending in other areas and trust in the Lord to provide.  When I found out I was pregnant, I felt like God was saying, really Heather this mom stuff is what I want you to focus on for the time being.  And so I will.  I will roll off of the BOW in June.  I also had two work-related opportunities fall through in the last few months so this is where God has me and I hope to enjoy it.    

Baby #5

We got a joyful surprise this summer - we are expecting another baby!   We found out on August 1st although I felt my clothes not fitting even before that!  We told the kids after we found out the results of the cell free DNA test on Friday - baby is a low risk for genetic disorders like Downs and the other trisomies and we are having a girl!

Levi is 2!

Can't believe our little man is two already!  Here's Levi after his birthday party on Saturday with the new ride-on/scooter that my sister got him. He doesn't smile for the camera anymore so I had to get him in action to get a smile.

So the big news to report since the last update is that Levi broke his leg at the beginning of May.  He ran down a sliding board.  We knew right away that it was broken because he wouldn't stop crying and he wouldn't walk on it.  Levi and Mommy spent the evening and into the night at urgent care and then the ER.  And then the next day we went to the pediatrician because he had an ear infection. (This all after I spent the afternoon at a hospital waiting for my sister after she had a procedure done in DC.  It was medical week...)  Here he is a few days after the fall (still with the splint).  We had to put his mattress on the floor because we couldn't lift him out of the crib.  He got a cast a week after the fall and was in that for 3 weeks.

I was sad at first because I thought I wasn't going to see my child walk for weeks.  This was right after he starting playing with his tee ball set in the back yard and I missed that so much.  Thankfully, I didn't have to miss it for long.  

Since it was baseball season Levi was spending most of his time in a stroller watching Dylan and Lydia play ball anyway.  (And he got lots of sympathy treats...)

Then I was happy because the broken leg slowed him down enough that he started doing things he didn't do before - sitting for a long time reading books, coloring, doing puzzles, playing with duplo blocks.  It was like having a 6 month old again but one who could do so much more while sitting!  But then he learned to crawl in the cast....

And then about a week later he figured out how to stand and walk and climb and on the cast.

After 3 weeks in a cast, he wore a boot for another three weeks but we could take it off to bathe him and to go in the pool.  We were grateful for that because bathing a toddler in a cast is NO FUN!  After the three weeks in the boot we went back to the doctor and you couldn't even tell that he had broken his leg.  No mark in the x-ray or anything.

Most of the rest of the stuff is the same since last update...still won't eat veggies, imitates a lot (see pic above!), still gives great hugs!!!

In the spring Levi learned to play baseball from watching the older two and now I think he's going to learn how to swim from watching them.  Levi loves the water and goes under and kicks and even tries to move his arms to swim like the big kids!

And he's singing along with the songs that the big kids listen to on the radio.  (We're going) daaaawn (to the river).  He will also have conversations with us but we have no idea what he is saying.

Word update - added since last update:  go!, fish, feet, belly, cow, mine!, ee-a (for Lydia - she gets her own word now), dyn-saur, bird, uh-fly (butterfly), monkey, hyyyysss (for yes), dog.  Not many added as last time I guess.  There's just a lot of car! choo choo! dynsaur! pop!

Stats update:  30 lbs and 34.75 inches!  That puts him about the 75th percentile for height and weight.

Levi is a very happy, active, funny, excited kid.  He was cracking up the other day because he threw spaghetti at me and it stuck to my back.  So of course he did it again.  (I never wear good clothes to dinner.)  If he wants my attention and I'm holding him he will put his hands on either side of my face and turn my head to face him so he knows I'm paying attention.  (So he can tell me about the choo choo or whatever he is excited about.)

At his party Levi only hit or pushed about half of the "friends" we had over.  These were all boys born around the same time he was but all of them were first children.  The parents were very gracious and some of them even thought it was good for their child to be pushed around a little.  We had fun and a good laugh when I told Levi that it was time for cake and he so excited for the cake and then I stuck hot flaming things in his cake so that he can't eat it (mean mommy!) so he cried.  So we got the fire away from his cake and then he ate it and was happy.  

Levi Update - 21 months

The last 3 months for Levi have been all about learning new words.  He has now added the following words to his vocab:  no, hot (with the sign), truck, sock, fish (for shoes), towel, gulge (for water or milk), milk (sometime he says it right), book, please (with the sign), up please, help, pasta, cheese, peaches, apple sauce, car, tee (as in baseball - see below), weee (for slide), pop (for grandpap), home, school, ug (for hug), die-yee (for Dylan and Lydia or just Dylan), ba-bies (for the two stuffed animals that he sleeps with), choo choo, bus, cha cha cha (for helicopter that goes chop chop chop chop), sssss (snake), nack (for snack), uh-oh (for anytime anything ends up on the floor, accident or on purpose), and ta-dah.  He also can point to his nose as well as other simple commands (throw that away, pick up the ball, run to the base, etc.).  And he taps his knees to the beat of the music when it's "music class" time - i.e., time for Dylan and Lydia to practice piano.      

In addition to being able to throw a ball really well, Levi can now hit a ball off the tee and run to "first base."  If you can't tell, a lot of his world is keeping up with big brother and big sister.

He had a great time on our spring break trip to Florida.  Here we are at a marine science center.

The other major milestone is that Levi weaned at exactly 19 months when Mommy went on the women's retreat.  It was really easy.  I drop a feeding or two over the last two months that he nursed and then it was pretty much cold turkey for the last 2-3 feedings.  It helped that Daddy put him down at night for the first couple weeks and that I didn't hold him in the rocking chair for a while.  But now we can do that again.

I feel like he has become a pickier eater these last few months.  I haven't been able to get him to eat much meat (getting protein from eggs and yogurt) and won't eat veggies unless they are in a pouch (everything is apple sauce then!).  But he eats a lot of fruit.  Likes pasta but not bread so much.

I feel like Levi wants to imitate the other family members more than my other kids did (well, I guess there are more of us to imitate...;).  Levi likes to wipe the counters, load and start the dishwasher, sweep the floor, play the piano, play on the computer, etc.  Partly because of that and partly because he follows directions well, he is a big helper for his age.  

Levi is a happy kid who loves to give hugs too.  Sometimes we'll be in the grocery store and he'll say ug ug ug and want you to hug him right there.  Love this cutie!

Levi Update - 18 months!

Our Little Man is not so little anymore!  He weighs 25 lbs and is 32.5 inches tall.  Levi is running and climbing and rarely stops moving.  And he's always "busy."  He sits down then he gets up then he takes the book and moves it here and then moves it there and then he finds something on the ground and puts it in the trash can because that's what he sees us do and then he climbs on the chair and then to the table and clears everything off the table and then it's back down again to play with a toy for two seconds and then we start over again...

Levi is a fun-loving kid.  He often tries to make us laugh and get us to do things that he thinks are funny.  Like putting his foot in our face to do "poo-tinky" feet.  Or shaking his head back and forth so that I'll do it.  Or making silly faces.  Or dancing around when music is playing, or not when music is playing.  He laughs a lot and delights in his family, especially Dylan and Lydia.  He says Du Du and I can't tell if that's Dylan or Daddy.  He says Mom-ME and often calls for me loudly.  So word count:  Mommy, Ball, vroom vroom for car, woof woof for any animal, Bub-ble (his first two-syllable word), Du Du, sign for more, sign for pooping, sign for all done, and go-gurt for yogurt, his favorite food.

I thought Levi was going to give up the baby food for a while there but I'm still giving him some just to make sure he's getting his veggies.  He also like the apple sauce pouches, meat, soup, cold cereal and regular oatmeal (we are done with the baby oatmeal), pasta, all kinds of fruit, and any kinds of cookies.  Here he is using a fork for the first time.  He's still nursing but I'm trying to decrease the number of times each day.  The pre-nap nurse will be the last and hardest to give up.  He's getting better with the sippy cup but it's still a challenge.

Levi is a sweet kid too.  He gives us lots of hugs and he cuddles with a teddy bear at night to sleep.  When my parents were visiting he brought a Truck book to my dad and climbed up in his lap because he knew my dad would read it to him because he did so earlier that trip.  

Lydia Update - 7 years!

Lydia - the delightful girl who wanted and apple and banana on her ice cream birthday cake!

 

Lydia - the adventurous, yet wise and tenacious in trying new things girl who got ice skates for her birthday to use at her ice skating lessons.

Lydia - the loyal friend to all, who brought two friends to see the Nutcracker with her as her special birthday treat.

Lydia, the loving daughter and total family girl who comes up to us with arms open wide and says, "Hug" and then gives us one of her big hugs.

Lydia, the silly and quick-witted one who never misses a beat with a quick response to her brother's antics.

Other Lydia-isms from this year:  one time she had a scratch on her head and she said "hey mommy, I'm like Harry Potter."  She likes to make chicken sounds and many a times I have thought she was just off in her own world not paying attention when I ask her something and she's making these noises but then she says, "that's chicken for 'yes mommy.'"  

Lydia is super smart too.  Lydia is now reading chapter books and often surprises us with the big words she can read. Over the holidays Dylan said to Lydia, "I'll give you $5 if you can tell me what 11 plus a 11 is."  She surprised us all when she said 22.  Of course we made Dylan give her the $5 even though he tried to get out of it.  There have been many times when Lydia quietly says the correct answer to something that you're not expecting her to know and we say "what?" and then she gets all embarrassed and won't repeat it.  While Lydia still gets embarrassed when she realizes people are watching her, she is getting better and better about her shyness.  She is able to stand in front of the whole school and (albeit quietly) give answers to her teacher's or the head of school's questions.  Most of her friends' moms have now actually heard her talk...:)  She's never been embarrassed to talk to kids, just adults.

Lydia is super loyal to her older brother and still enjoys spending a lot of time with him.  She still likes to do art projects.  She played baseball with Vienna Little League last spring and is signed up to play softball this spring.  Lydia started taking piano lessons this year and is great about practicing.  Lydia spent 5 days at PA Grandma's house this year by herself and went to Moms and Tots with me in July.  She performed in her second dance recital but is now taking a year off from dance.

Lydia now weighs 48 lbs (she gained 4 lbs this year) and is 45.5 inches tall (over 2.5 inches over last year).  She still sucks her thumb but we are seeing improvement!

Lydia still loves penguins and says that she wants to rescue penguins when she grows up and live in Antarctica.  We ask her what she is going to save them from and she said people and seals.  WE LOVE OUR LYDIA!