Category: Life

2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 1 husband – life isn’t perfect, but it is what we make it

From our Family to Yours

Published by dee on December 25, 2011

Stopping in from the craziness to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful morning watching the kids open and enjoy their gifts and are finally finding some time to relax. We have been very blessed this year and can’t wait to see what is around the corner in 2012!

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Gender Revealed

Published by dee on October 11, 2011

Yesterday was the day that I feel like I’ve been waiting a million years for – the 20 week ultrasound! Since we’re only allowed 2 extra people in the room, and I couldn’t choose between my 2 kids, I invited my mom to come along and take a look as baby got checked out.

The sonographer asked if we wanted to know the gender, to which I replied, “YES!!! TELL ME NOW!!!” (or something like that).

Then I sat back and waited patiently while she checked out and measured all the vital stuff and made sure we have a healthy baby in there.

Finally, she took a peek and there was absolutely no denying that we are having a baby BOY!

The little guy is measuring about a week and 2 days ahead of my original due date, so I’m anxious to see if my doc decides to change the date or if she thinks I’m just having a ginormous baby (which would not be at all surprising). The original due date was set by an early ultrasound, so it may be that he’s just a big baby. I’m all for having this baby a week earlier though!

Hubby made me promise not to tell the kids until we were all home, which nearly killed me, but I kept my mouth shut. When we finally told them, they were very excited. Evie, who has wanted a baby sister all along said, “Yay! I wanted a baby brother!” Zach was thrilled as well since he’s been hoping for a boy the whole time.

And now I get to start digging through my basement and getting rid of all of the pink/purple girlie stuff…

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Anxious

Published by dee on October 5, 2011

I’m getting ridiculously anxious for my ultrasound next week (Monday, 3:00!). I absolutely can not wait to find out whether this baby is a he or a she. We’re pretty settled on both a girl and a boy name already, which is kind of amazing considering how long (and how many disagreements) it took us the first time around.

I’m just so ready to start preparing things. I’ve got the nesting bug in a serious way right now, I just don’t have the energy or the time to do the work required. I would just really like to know whether to start pulling out the purple girl stuff or the blue boy stuff (sorry, but kid #3 gets the hand-me-downs!). Plus, whichever I don’t need? I can finally get rid of FOR GOOD. We are definitely done after this one and my basement could use a good cleaning out!

So little one dancing around in my belly – this is your warning. Do not cross your legs on Monday or I’ll be poking you until you uncross them!

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Processing

Published by dee on October 4, 2011

Those of you who follow along on Facebook already know that we had a bit of excitement in our weekend. We headed out to Zach’s school carnival on Friday night and ended up with Hubby in the ER. Let’s just say it was quite the spectacle to watch a 260-pound man plow through a crowd of people while semi-unconscious. I’m still not exactly sure what happened as I was completely frozen until I saw him fall to the ground. He went about 10-15 feet, then fell. By the time I got to him, he was alert but couldn’t remember what had happened the few seconds before. People around us thought he was crazy, I was in shock, and the kids were about 100% freaked out.

My immediate reaction was to take him to the hospital, but he refused saying he felt okay. We let him sit for a while, but when he decided to go out and sit in the car I called my mom and told her I needed to take him to the ER. Fortunately, she wasn’t too far away and was able to come meet us. She agreed to drive him to the hospital so I could stay with the kids and let them enjoy the carnival a little bit. After a few games and some turns in the bounce houses, we went and met them at the hospital. The kids were very worried about Daddy, so they went in so they could see him for a few minutes before Grandma took them back to the house.

Once they got him back into a room and hooked him up to a bunch of monitors, we finally learned what was going on. The official diagnosis was SVT, or supraventricular tachycardia. Basically, he has an irregular heartbeat that occasionally speeds up really fast. This has been happening for a while, but it generally only lasts a few minutes and then goes back to normal. He has discussed it with his doctor before, but was simply told to drink lots of water and cut back on caffeine as dehydration can make this happen more frequently. He wasn’t overly concerned about it at the time, but after he blacked out and fell down it became a bit more of a concern.

While we were in the ER, his heartbeat continued to go up and down for several hours. He was given medication to help slow it down and once that kicked in it seemed to stabilize. His reward was being admitted for overnight observation. He met with the cardiologist Saturday morning, who gave him a prescription for heart medication (and a baby aspirin) and told him to follow up with a stress test within the next week or so. Shortly after that he was released and sent home.

We took it pretty easy the rest of the weekend, napping and taking care of some things around the house. We did venture out to go to church, but that’s about it. The kids were amazingly well behaved. I think the events Friday night really had them scared and they loved on Daddy a lot when he got home. To be honest it had me scared as well. I never imagined I would be taking my husband to the hospital for heart problems just days after his 35th birthday.

Sunday afternoon I felt the need to get outside for a little bit, so I bribed the kids with chocolate to let me take some photos of them. I’ve been trying to get to know a new lens and it was beautiful and sunny outside. They grumbled a bit, but I did end up with some great shots in the end. I decided to play around with some black and white processing on a few of them and I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. (The rest are on Flickr.)

And, if you aren’t already exhausted after reading all of that, go check out my latest session on the photo blog! I had a wonderful time photographing Cagey’s beautiful kiddos!

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Just Good

Published by dee on September 29, 2011

I have so very little to say here these days. I think it is a mix of being completely busy, but also? Completely content. I am just so happy in this little life I have built for myself right now. That’s not to say that there isn’t room for improvement. There are plenty of things that could be better, but I think I’ve just come to accept those things for what they are. You know, if a million dollars suddenly fell into my lap I’d be thrilled, but I’m not going to sit around and be mad because there isn’t a money tree growing in my back yard. In the grand scheme of things, this life I’ve got is just pretty darn good.

Speaking of good, my newest little nephew, Carter, made his way into the world on September 13th. He’s such a sweet little guy and if I had it my way, I’d sit around snuggling on him every day. Evie would be happy to do the same. She absolutely loves her new little cousin!

My oldest nephew, Dylan, has been kicking some butt out on the football field with his 5th-6th grade team. I’ve managed to make it out to three of his games so far and they are so fun to watch. It throws me back to my jr. high and high school days when I really loved watching football. Of course, back then it might have been a little more about watching the hot boys in tight pants run around the field. It’s a little different now. Still, I’m so proud of him.

Everything else is just good right now. My belly is growing and I’m anxiously awaiting my gender ultrasound next month. I’m ready to start digging out either the girl stuff or the boy stuff. I’m only 18 weeks along, but I’m already starting to have the urge to get things ready. If it weren’t ridiculously early for it, I’d have the crib set up already. Unfortunately, I have a lot of re-organizing to do before I can get to that point.

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Catching Up

Published by dee on August 30, 2011

Feeling a bit scatter-brained this week, but I’m trying to do better at updating things so here are a bunch of random updates to fill you in.

In pregnancy news, I’m now 14 weeks and into the second trimester. I’m feeling much, much better when it comes to the queasy, nauseated mess that I was a few weeks ago. However, I’m still ridiculously tired the majority of the time. I have managed to force myself out of my comfy chair and gotten a few things accomplished around the house. I would feel better about that if there weren’t so much more that needed to be done. I’m at least getting the laundry washed. It just may not be folded and put away.
Things seem to be going really well for Zach at school this year. There have been a couple of complaints, but they have been minimal. I mean, what kid wants to do homework? I think it has made a big difference this year that we were better prepared and had supports in place for his sensory issues from the beginning. We’re currently exploring what other services may be available for him during the school day, but there is a chance he won’t qualify for anything. Apparently in Missouri, SPD does not qualify him for services as a primary diagnosis.
Both Zach and Evie are signed up for Tumbling classes at the Y this year. I was really hoping to put them in dance, but we are really trying to watch costs right now and it was just a bit more than we wanted to spend. The tumbling classes go for two months at a time (and are much cheaper), so they can try it out and it isn’t a huge loss if they decide to drop it. The first session is Monday night and they are both really excited about it. The best part is that they are in the same class and they are excited about getting to do it together.
Zach also is wanting to join Boy Scouts (Tiger Cubs) this year. They are having a meeting about it tonight and he asked me if he could go so I guess we are going to. Honestly, I’m glad he is interested in it but I’m a little hesitant about the time commitment. Our evenings are so jam-packed already during the week, but I know it will be a good experience for him. I’m also hoping that maybe he will build some closer friendships with kids in his school.
I’m really getting excited for our annual Labor Day weekend trip to the lake, but praying my sister-in-law doesn’t go into labor while we’re gone. She’s about two weeks out from her scheduled c-section date, but could go into labor at any time. I would really like for her to hold off until I’m back in town to greet my new little nephew!
Exciting things are happening for our little church that we’ve been a part of the last couple years. As a new church start, we’ve been meeting in various locations but we have finally purchased and are moving into our own building this week. It will be a huge deal for us to have our own space in a permanent location. In preparation for our Grand Opening at the new building on September 25th, I’ve been working on overhauling our web site. Finding time to work on it has a been a challenge, but it is going to look great when it is finally done. The church’s band (which hubby plays Bass in) is also going to be playing a show at Zona Rosa on the 10th, which we’re hoping will pull in a few new people. It will be his first time playing in front of people (other than at church) and he’s really excited about it.
My calendar is starting to fill up with Fall photo sessions and I’m getting really excited to get out and shoot! Between early pregnancy sickness and the incredible heat we’ve been going through this summer, I haven’t felt like doing much of anything. Now that it is finally starting to cool down (at least a little bit) and I’m feeling better, I’m ready to get my finger clicking again!

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