A little worried about Gideon....

Gideon has been saying for a week or two now that his throat/shoulder hurt. It has been weird because he has been complaining about his throat hurting but usually it is when he is suppose to be eating something he doesn't like. It has gotten confusing as to wether it is his throat or his shoulder that is the problem. Ryan was asking him the other day and he couldn't really pin point things. Yesterday though, our neighbor pick him up and he started crying saying she hurt his shoulder. So, I stripped him down and gave him a thorough look over. He pinpointed his pain to his shoulder and I was looking, I noticed a good sized knot on his clavicle bone. Leah broke her clavicle during birth and it felt similar to that, but bigger.

I got him in to the doctor that day. The doctor looked at his throat and his shoulder. He felt pretty sure that Gideon at some point had broke his collarbone and the nodule we were feeling was the break trying to heal. He said it was not uncommon in little boys. He wanted an xray to be sure. Well, I got a call this morning from the nurse saying that they saw no break in the bone but they did see a thickening/spot of concern. The questionable spot accompanied by Gee's pain and babying of his arm led our Dr. to send him to a bone specialist.

Gee's appointment was suppose to be today but it had to be moved to tomorrow at 2:40 in Marysville. The Dr. doesn't seem concerned that it is something like cancer related or anything (that was a relief for me to hear), but there is something weird going on and it needs to be figured out. I think our biggest concern at this point would be some sort of bone disease or something although I know that anything is possible. Please say a little prayer for my boy. Hopefully we will get there and the Dr. will be unconcerned and that will be that. That is what I am praying for.

Julie

Updating on life.

Things are pretty much just bopping around here like normal. It is a good thing really. We have no regular piano or gymnastics this week due to spring break so that will be nice. Now personally, our kids are not on spring break from their school work, just from some of their extracurricular stuff. If we want to get through everything any time in the next 2 or 3 months, that kids need to stick to it. We took quite a bit of time off around the holidays/Ehtiopia/being sick.

Our little chicks are doing well and already getting big. The amount of food they eat is really obscene. They are already outgrowing brooder box #2. 1 week down, like 7 more to go.

This Thursday night we are going to a Casting Crowns concert. Yeah us! This is one of my favorite singers/groups and the concert should be great. I am seriously debating whether or not to bring Asher. We have yet to leave him and I am not sure it is time yet. I am pretty cautious when it comes to my adopted kiddos getting fully attached before I leave them. I know it was months before I left Anna or Gideon. I think Asher would do fine, but I am just not sure. It would help if Leah and Logan were going to be here, but they will be at the concert with us. Hmmm, something to think and pray about. Hey, maybe Asher would like to hear Casting Crowns also!?

Leah was gone all weekend and she was missed. She went to a quizzing invitational about 2 1/2 hours away. She isn't quite old enough to be on the team but she has a couple friend who are and she wanted to check things out. I see quizzing in Leah's future next year. Oh and "quizzing" is bible quizzing. You know like 5 to a team, buzzing in answers to bible questions.

Logan, Ryan and my nephews Ethan, Bryce and Tyler went to Dave and Busters Saturday afternoon for Logan's birthday. They claim to have had a really good time and they even got some yummy Graeter's when they were done (this is the best ice cream on earth).

So, there's our measly little update. I know, pretty boring, but such is life right now.

Julie

Chicks, an Adorable baby and more birthdays!

Since yesterday was Logan's actual birthday, we had a little celebration for him. I love getting my kids' birthdays to ourself. Celebrating with the extended family is lots of fun too but there is something special about celebrating with just our 8. Logan got to go to work with daddy yesterday and get anything he wanted from McDonald's for breakfast. He picked steak and potatoes for dinner and angel food cake with berries and whipped cream for dessert. Sounds yummy to me!

Here is present time!

He really like his present from Leah (note the new haircut).

The middle three all made him cards.

Asher was really cute and funny last night. He was totally dancing around and quite proud of himself.

These are just cute pictures of him playing with Leah and rolling around. I was trying to get a shot of him "almost" crawling, but I couldn't quite get it. He is so close though and he even gets on his hands and then all the way up on his toes.

How adorable is he?!?

I love his gorgeous eyes!!

Our day old chicken nuggets arrived first thing Monday morning. One was DOA (poor thing), but the rest were good. We got jipped a couple though. Here are some pics while they are still cute. These are meat birds so they will be butchered in 7 to 8 weeks.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy.....

Logan is 10 today. Really, where did the last ten years go? I remember so clearly the day Logan was born. I remember thinking he was so beautiful (and bald). When I first saw him I thought that surely he was bigger than Leah, but he was over a pound smaller at 8 lbs 14 oz. He was just so solid. Still is.

Logan is such a precious gift to my life. He has a heart of gold and I only wish I could be as gracious as he is. He is patient and so incredibly loving. He is going to make an amazing husband and daddy some day (if I can ever let him go).

Happy 10th birthday Logan. Never forget that you are a blessing straight from God and God has great things for you!

Julie

Birthdays and Heave-ho.

Logan does most the daily chores when it come to chickens these days. Most days he rotates the 3 little ones and lets them help. It is really very cute and Logan is so patient and sweet with them. It makes me pretty proud of him. Also, the little kids are learning to do a pretty good job. Today was Madeline's turn and I snapped this shot.

Ok, so I thought this was a typical diva shot of Madeline. In the small picture I see before I upload it to Blogspot it looked cute. Now it just looks a little weird. I think she has chocolate syrup around her mouth, I don't know. Just not her best shot, but I guess I would rather keep it and explain it than try and delete it. She's still beautiful though! :)

Most of these shots in this post are from this past Tuesday evening and a birthday celebration we had at our house. Asher was kind of not impressed. He did ok, but really didn't flash many smiles until everyone left. I think he is starting to get a little leery of big crowds. Plus he can be really hit and miss when it comes to attitude. Sometimes he is honestly one of the funniest kids ever and is super engaging. Other times though he seems to just be tolerating life.

Here we are getting some snuggles in. I don't so much mind him being a little leery. He just sticks that much closer to mama.

Leah and Logan showing just how much they truly love one another!

Logie and his goodies!

Leah and her goodies!

Seriously, Anna could not get any cuter! Madeline and her wanted to wear their gymnastics outfits for everyone. It was funny because they pranced around all day in them.

Yummy ice cream sundaes!

Singing "Happy Birthday." We celebrated Leah's, Logan's, our cousin Jaren and Ryan and I's birthdays.

The cookie birthday cake. Can you read it? Look harder........ Yeah, pretty bad eh? It does say "Happy Birthday" in M & M's. I just told the kids it was in "code."

Ok, this was so funny. The other day Anna, Madeline and Gee pushed Asher around the kitchen for like 20 minutes say "Heave-Ho, Heave-Ho." It cracked me up and Asher just sat back and enjoyed the ride!

Thanks need to go out Bryce (my nephew) who took most of the birthday pics!

Julie

March in Ohio.......

http://www.whiotv.com/5dayforecast/index.html

Some baking and enjoying the weather.

First off, Grandma is doing much better. I am so very happy! She was pretty much back to her normal self today and they are thinking of transferring her back to her nursing home today or tomorrow! Yeah!

I have done some different baking over the last few days. Here are the English muffins I made. They were easy, whole wheat and tasted really good! It doesn't get much better than that. Some fluffed up nicer than others, but besides that I was very impressed!

All nice and fluffy and ready for our griddle.

Whole Wheat honey bagels (well, only like 2/3rd whole wheat). Again, these were very easy and tasty. Plus with the recipe I used you can do whatever add ins you want. Next time cinnamon sugar ones!

Boiling the bagels.

These were the most delicious home made brownies ever. They were extremely fudgie, which I LOVE.

Logan has co-op on Thursdays and I have 2 hours to kill. We have a great bulk food/country store about 10 minutes from his co-op. They have this incredible play are that the kids love. It was finally warm enough to let them play outside (even though there was still snow on the ground).

Madeline took this shot. Not too bad......

Asher was loving the swing!

Julie

Small Update

Grandma is still in the hospital. Medically speaking she is doing ok. They have decided that she doesn't need surgery, so that is a very big praise! However, mentally she is a mess. Grandma has had spells where mentally she is like this but medicine and routine seems to have it under control. Well, her meds have been off due to everything that has happened and she is pretty much out of her mind. Please continue to pray for her and for those caring for her. It is pretty rough emotionally to see her like this..........

Mom is home and it doing pretty good.

Julie

Update from today.

Grandma is still stable an that is good. We are still in a "wait and see" pattern with her, but the doctors are happy with how she is doing right now. I just keep praying she makes a full recovery.

Mom is doing about the same. I think they are doing another CAT scan tomorrow to see if the blood clots are gone. She is ready to go home.

Asher's appointment went pretty good today. We had good news and bad news. Good news.....neurologically Asher seems to be doing great. He actually is testing out developmentally in the 8 to 9 months (except one area). This is great because just a little over a month ago he was testing out in the 5 to 6 month range in everything. I was so happy with that. Dr. Staat said that his reflexes we a little off. She said that just told her that neurologically he is still recovering. She wasn't worried at all though. She (and the nurses) just kept going on and on at how wonderful he was doing. Dr. Staat use to work in infectious disease and she knows tons about it (how fortunate are we that she is our IA Dr.?). She said she was around before vaccines for meningitis were around. She saw lots of kids with the disease. She reiterated how serious it can be. She has certainly seen kids die from it. It was just confirmed to me over and over again at the miracle God performed on our son. I am still just so humbled.

Ok, so for the bad news. Asher is testing out with a moderate hearing loss (it goes "mild, moderate, severe, profound). I was not shocked. There is some good news here though also. The ENT Dr. believes the hearing deficit is due at this point to the fluid that is still in his ears. He doesn't believe at this point that meningitis is the cause of his hearing problems. Now, if Asher gets his tubes in and still has a deficit, his opinion might change. So, yes, tubes were a no brainer. They recommend tubes for kids that have recurrent fluid in the ears or recurrent infections (like 3 to 4 in a 4 to 6 month period). Asher in his 2 short months with us has already met his quota. Poor dude. Right now his tube surgery is scheduled for April 8th but that might change if we can correlate that surgery with another surgery he needs to have done.

Thanks for your prayers so far. Really, you don't know how much I appreciate it!

Julie

Life here lately and some prayers requests.

Prayer requests first because they weigh heavy on my heart....... My grandma (whom I love dearly) is in the hospital tonight. She may have to have emergency surgery. Praise God, she is doing better than we thought she was when we initially heard the news. Grandma has crummy lungs and only normally operates at about 40% lung capacity. Well, now she is dealing with a bowel perforation. Surgery isn't a great option because of her lung issues (and other things). Anyways, she is holding her own right now and is stable enough to watch and see for a bit. We are hoping surgery will not be necessary, but that is a very real possibility. Please lift her up to God if you think about her.

Also, my mom is in the hospital because she has pneumonia and a blood clot on her lungs. She is doing well and will hopefully be out of the hospital in a few days, but we are obviously praying that she completely heals from this.

Finally, Asher has his follow up appointment in Cincinnati tomorrow. I am not really nervous per say, but I am a little anxious. They will check his hearing and re-assess his developmental status. I feel like Asher is doing so well, but I do worry about a couple things and it will be good to talk to the Dr. tomorrow.

On to some pictures......

Truly, these two seriously love each other...

We are whipping those 3 and 4 yr olds into shape! They are doing sit ups if you can't tell.

Asher just being cute. He looks really gangly in this picture to me.

Linny and Ming Ming have this weird wheel thing going where they do it together. It is really funny when they get a little "off" and the top hamster goes through the crack (TeeHee, that is funny to me just recalling it....I know, it doesn't take much).

Two of my sweet boys! Check out Gee's mowhawk!

So, Asher loves biter biscuits......

Asher playing with the now "big kids." They were very gentle and sweet that he was interrupting their play time (yes, I realize Madeline looks like a ragamuffin....just keeping it real).

Asher wedged until the end table after his backwards crawl. He does this All The Time.

Where's the baby?

Home made wheat hamburger buns. Seriously, I am about done buying bread product. I love the home made stuff. The kids do also. And with my Kitchen Aid, it is super easy. The only bread I really still buy is whole wheat sandwich bread and that isn't all the time. Sometimes I make loaves of bread but it can be a pain to "have" to have it all the time. Next I am going to make bagels and english muffins!

Home made wheat donuts. You bake these, not fry them. They were yummy, but certainly not the same as a Krispy Kream. I nice treat though!

Canned chicken. Two of our birds yielded 6 pints of shredded chicken and 5 quarts of condensed broth. I plan to do more of this!!

Julie