I forgot to post this earlier.
I talked to my sister today and my niece Ankica, fell out of bed and broke her collarbone. They are waiting to see the orthepedic doctor to see what they want to do. My sister thought they would just put her in a sling.
Her blog is MontgomeryMusings.
Thanks again and take care
Jodi
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Prayer Request
I have a prayer request for Emma. She has had some issues with pooping recently and we will hopefully be going for an x-ray tomorrow to see what is up.
Thank you and we will keep you posted.
Take care and God Bless,
Jodi
Thank you and we will keep you posted.
Take care and God Bless,
Jodi
Monday, January 26, 2009
Happy Birthday!
I did not get a chance to post this on Saturday.
It was my dad's birthday and we went to my parents for a yummy dinner and some super yummy cake, Brown-Eyed Susan Cake. Two of my sisters and their families were able to come. We are praying that my older sister and her family will be moving to be closer to us soon.
My mom got my dad a fooseball(sp?)table so I am sure that there will may games played when we get together.
Happy Birthday Dad!
Love Jo
It was my dad's birthday and we went to my parents for a yummy dinner and some super yummy cake, Brown-Eyed Susan Cake. Two of my sisters and their families were able to come. We are praying that my older sister and her family will be moving to be closer to us soon.
My mom got my dad a fooseball(sp?)table so I am sure that there will may games played when we get together.
Happy Birthday Dad!
Love Jo
Fun Quiz to take!
I got this quiz from work and thought it would be fun to pass it along to you.
Jodi
Jodi
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Sitting Pretty
Imagine my surprise when I went to go get Emma up from her nap and I found her like this..
Now, it may not seem like a big deal to see her sitting in her crib, however for Emma, it is a huge milestone.
This is the first time EVER that she has gone from laying down to sitting up, all by herself. It is something we have been working on, but like many other things, I felt like it would never come. She is apparently getting the hang of it because she did it two other times tonight. Go Emma! Mommy is so very proud of you!!
We had a very nice time at the Hotel Ruby Marie. It is a cute bed and breakfast close to the capitol. It used to be a hotel that has been renovated. There is some history to the building and it has beautiful woodwork.
I would have liked to go to the capitol at night to snap some pictures, but I did get these pictures.
We also went to Mad City Church. Our friends who live in Madison go there and we decided it would be a great opportunity to meet up with them and check out the church. It was a great time with awesome praise and worship and a good guest speaker.
Sam continues to be a joy to have around. I am almost convinced that he could probably start speaking in full sentences if he wants to. While I was giving him a bath, Emma was standing up by the tub and trying to get my attention and I said "Can I help you?" and he repeated what I said, not quite as clear, but clear enough so I knew what he had said. What is up with that? I try and try to get him to say stuff and he just looks at me like I am crazy and then when I am not even talking to him, he spits stuff out like that!
We are also working on the alphabet. I had gotten a set of flashcards at Walmart and now he is getting more into the pictures. Some days all of the letters are "A" some days everything is "E" and other days he will say the letters pretty good. And he is getting better at the pictures too. He is at a great age. Thankfully, he has not had any "terrible two" moments. Though someone told me that they thought that 3 was worse that 2, so we will see.
It is supposed to be in the 30's tomorrow, Praise the Lord! Unfortunately, that really won't hang around. They are calling for temps in the single digits again this weekend:( Oh well, spring will come eventually!
God Bless!
Jodi
Now, it may not seem like a big deal to see her sitting in her crib, however for Emma, it is a huge milestone.
This is the first time EVER that she has gone from laying down to sitting up, all by herself. It is something we have been working on, but like many other things, I felt like it would never come. She is apparently getting the hang of it because she did it two other times tonight. Go Emma! Mommy is so very proud of you!!
We had a very nice time at the Hotel Ruby Marie. It is a cute bed and breakfast close to the capitol. It used to be a hotel that has been renovated. There is some history to the building and it has beautiful woodwork.
I would have liked to go to the capitol at night to snap some pictures, but I did get these pictures.
We also went to Mad City Church. Our friends who live in Madison go there and we decided it would be a great opportunity to meet up with them and check out the church. It was a great time with awesome praise and worship and a good guest speaker.
Sam continues to be a joy to have around. I am almost convinced that he could probably start speaking in full sentences if he wants to. While I was giving him a bath, Emma was standing up by the tub and trying to get my attention and I said "Can I help you?" and he repeated what I said, not quite as clear, but clear enough so I knew what he had said. What is up with that? I try and try to get him to say stuff and he just looks at me like I am crazy and then when I am not even talking to him, he spits stuff out like that!
We are also working on the alphabet. I had gotten a set of flashcards at Walmart and now he is getting more into the pictures. Some days all of the letters are "A" some days everything is "E" and other days he will say the letters pretty good. And he is getting better at the pictures too. He is at a great age. Thankfully, he has not had any "terrible two" moments. Though someone told me that they thought that 3 was worse that 2, so we will see.
It is supposed to be in the 30's tomorrow, Praise the Lord! Unfortunately, that really won't hang around. They are calling for temps in the single digits again this weekend:( Oh well, spring will come eventually!
God Bless!
Jodi
Friday, January 16, 2009
You have heard of Crazy Horse...
Let me introduce.... Crazy Hair
Her hair usually does this after a bath and it is still like that today. Right now her hair is still pretty fine and I am praying that she will have thicker hair like her daddy. But the poor girl will probably end up with fine thin hair like me:(
Sam, dressing up like Mr. Potato Head...
The next James Dean maybe...
And this one...
needs a caption. Anyone care to write one? No prizes to giveaway, just a little acknowledgement from yours truly:)
Take care
Jodi
Her hair usually does this after a bath and it is still like that today. Right now her hair is still pretty fine and I am praying that she will have thicker hair like her daddy. But the poor girl will probably end up with fine thin hair like me:(
Sam, dressing up like Mr. Potato Head...
The next James Dean maybe...
And this one...
needs a caption. Anyone care to write one? No prizes to giveaway, just a little acknowledgement from yours truly:)
Take care
Jodi
Coffe for the Troops!
I found this website where you can send coffee to our troops overseas. Check out the website here. And the BEST part is, the coffee shop pays for the shipping! How cool is that? It is only $7.99 per bag. I think that is a great deal and a small price to pay for the service that they are doing for our country. Please consider sending Coffee2Troops!
Click here to send Coffee2Troops
Please take a moment to send our troops one of the many luxuries they go without while serving our country!
God Bless
Jodi
Click here to send Coffee2Troops
Please take a moment to send our troops one of the many luxuries they go without while serving our country!
God Bless
Jodi
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Time Flies...
When you are chasing small ones, changing diapers, wiping noses and what not. I thought I would get to the computer sooner than this to blog but the days just run together sometimes!
Emma is continuing to move more. She can pretty much turn herself all the way around in a circle while she is sitting up. Unless of course, Sam comes up to here and pushes her backward. Then she is flat on her back screaming bloody murder. Sometimes, he tries to help her up, which is cute to see, but she usually ends up crying more. Sam is crying by this time too because he gets in trouble for pushing her over. I feel sorry for the people who live below us sometimes!
Sam's language skills have really exploded just in the last two weeks or so. Today, I heard a lot of "Peek, I see you!" which I think he got from the activity table. I also heard "thank you" and even a faint, "love you" tossed in the mix. He had said "I love you" to me back in the fall, but I have not been able to get him to say it since.
We have our 4th anniversary coming up this week. And it is no big surprise that it is almost as cold now as it was the day we got married. I think it was -6 degrees that day! Hard to believe it has been that long already. I told him the other day that the first year went slower than the last 3 years. Sam was born shortly before our 2nd anniversary and Emma before our 3rd and here we are already at our 4th. Do the years go by quicker the longer you are married or is it just because we have had 2 kids close together?
We are planning on going out of town and my mother-in-law will be watching the kids. Should be a great time. We are going to go to Red Robin , courtesey of a gift card from somebody at church. Dennis is very excited about this because he is a BIG fan of BIG burgers and they do have some huge burgers.
I would like to talk him into the Melting Pot, but I think it might be a wiser choice to go the Red Robin seeing as we do have the gift card. Maybe for my birthday...
Pray for Sam as he is sick again. Nothing to serious, just a cough and a runny nose. Pray that he does not pass it onto Emma.
I tried to post a video of them blowing kisses, but it did not work. I was planning on posting some pictures, but I have a sick little boy waiting for his mamma, so I must go.
Take Care,
Jodi
Emma is continuing to move more. She can pretty much turn herself all the way around in a circle while she is sitting up. Unless of course, Sam comes up to here and pushes her backward. Then she is flat on her back screaming bloody murder. Sometimes, he tries to help her up, which is cute to see, but she usually ends up crying more. Sam is crying by this time too because he gets in trouble for pushing her over. I feel sorry for the people who live below us sometimes!
Sam's language skills have really exploded just in the last two weeks or so. Today, I heard a lot of "Peek, I see you!" which I think he got from the activity table. I also heard "thank you" and even a faint, "love you" tossed in the mix. He had said "I love you" to me back in the fall, but I have not been able to get him to say it since.
We have our 4th anniversary coming up this week. And it is no big surprise that it is almost as cold now as it was the day we got married. I think it was -6 degrees that day! Hard to believe it has been that long already. I told him the other day that the first year went slower than the last 3 years. Sam was born shortly before our 2nd anniversary and Emma before our 3rd and here we are already at our 4th. Do the years go by quicker the longer you are married or is it just because we have had 2 kids close together?
We are planning on going out of town and my mother-in-law will be watching the kids. Should be a great time. We are going to go to Red Robin , courtesey of a gift card from somebody at church. Dennis is very excited about this because he is a BIG fan of BIG burgers and they do have some huge burgers.
I would like to talk him into the Melting Pot, but I think it might be a wiser choice to go the Red Robin seeing as we do have the gift card. Maybe for my birthday...
Pray for Sam as he is sick again. Nothing to serious, just a cough and a runny nose. Pray that he does not pass it onto Emma.
I tried to post a video of them blowing kisses, but it did not work. I was planning on posting some pictures, but I have a sick little boy waiting for his mamma, so I must go.
Take Care,
Jodi
Friday, January 9, 2009
Picture Keeper Giveaway!
Head on over to Deal Seeking Mom to enter her great giveaway. Enter by January 13th at 11:59pm.(Eastern time)
A great day to keep all of your photos in one safe place.
Good Luck!
Jodi
A great day to keep all of your photos in one safe place.
Good Luck!
Jodi
Children's Place Gift Card Giveaway!
Check it out! Go to FromDatestoDiapers.com and leave a comment on her blog to enter to win a $30 gift card from Children's Place. The hardest part is trying to pick a favorite item!
Good Luck!
Remember to enter by January 17th at 9:00pm to qualify!
Jodi
Good Luck!
Remember to enter by January 17th at 9:00pm to qualify!
Jodi
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Potty Training and Blowing Kisses
That is what is new around here lately.
The potty training, well let's just say it going. We have been at it for a little over a month and he goes at least once a day but we usually give him a big glass of water or milk to get him to go. Is that wrong? This is our first attempt at potty training and I have heard that training boys is harder than girls. So any suggestions would be appreciated!
My husband worked with a guy who was having a hard time training his daughter. She had this stuffed bear that was her favorite toy. So they ended up putting Mountain Dew and Baby Ruth candy bars in her little toliet and put the bear on there and told her the bear "went" on the toliet and from that day on, she wanted to go on the toliet. We may have to implement that someday with Sam's cow if we don't get anywhere!
I had just gotten Emma up from her nap when Dennis came home and she just blew him a kiss! It is not something we had worked on with her, but Sam is always blowing kisses when it is time to go somewhere. It was super sweet, just like her. Well most of the time anyway! She is starting to move a little more now. At least she has started to roll over and pull her one arm out from under her. And just a little while ago, she actually rolled over from her back to her tummy to her back again, which I have not seen her do in months!(Unless I help her do it, which usually does not make her happy!)
She will have her therapy again on Friday so hopefully she will do some of her new tricks for the therapist.
We took our tree down today and I was vacuuming up the needles with our smaller vacuum which I let Sam play with after I was done. He played with it for 2 hours, pushing it around the apartment, up and down the hall, happy as a lark. At least it kept him busy while I did the dishes and whatnot.
I will try to get Emma on video blowing her kisses and Sam also has a special talent that I will try to get him on video as well, though that is not going very well because every time I get camera ready, he won't do it. So we will see how that goes!
A few Christmas pictures, of course we could not get them to look at the camera and smile at the same time.
Have a great night!
God Bless, Jodi
The potty training, well let's just say it going. We have been at it for a little over a month and he goes at least once a day but we usually give him a big glass of water or milk to get him to go. Is that wrong? This is our first attempt at potty training and I have heard that training boys is harder than girls. So any suggestions would be appreciated!
My husband worked with a guy who was having a hard time training his daughter. She had this stuffed bear that was her favorite toy. So they ended up putting Mountain Dew and Baby Ruth candy bars in her little toliet and put the bear on there and told her the bear "went" on the toliet and from that day on, she wanted to go on the toliet. We may have to implement that someday with Sam's cow if we don't get anywhere!
I had just gotten Emma up from her nap when Dennis came home and she just blew him a kiss! It is not something we had worked on with her, but Sam is always blowing kisses when it is time to go somewhere. It was super sweet, just like her. Well most of the time anyway! She is starting to move a little more now. At least she has started to roll over and pull her one arm out from under her. And just a little while ago, she actually rolled over from her back to her tummy to her back again, which I have not seen her do in months!(Unless I help her do it, which usually does not make her happy!)
She will have her therapy again on Friday so hopefully she will do some of her new tricks for the therapist.
We took our tree down today and I was vacuuming up the needles with our smaller vacuum which I let Sam play with after I was done. He played with it for 2 hours, pushing it around the apartment, up and down the hall, happy as a lark. At least it kept him busy while I did the dishes and whatnot.
I will try to get Emma on video blowing her kisses and Sam also has a special talent that I will try to get him on video as well, though that is not going very well because every time I get camera ready, he won't do it. So we will see how that goes!
A few Christmas pictures, of course we could not get them to look at the camera and smile at the same time.
Have a great night!
God Bless, Jodi
Saturday, January 3, 2009
One Year Ago..
One year ago we were with Emma in the NICU going thru all sorts of x-rays and blood work and even more emotions. Just a few days before we were ringing in the New Year with her, thinking that we would be bringing her home by her due date for sure.
We had called that Saturday morning to see how her night had been and there was some concern because it seemed like she was taking a turn. She had blood in her stool, she was lethargic and her belly was distended. They were keeping a close eye on things to determine what the next course of action would be.
Because her belly was distended, she was having a hard time breathing so they decided to put her back on the ventilator. The next moments were some of the most terrifying moments of our time in the NICU and definitely in my life.
Dennis and I figured it would be no big deal to watch them do this and they did not seem to mind us being in there. Now we had seen them put an IV in her head and that was no picnic, nobody wants to see one of those sticking out of your babies head.
I do remember when Sam was in the NICU, the nurse mentioned that they sometimes have to do that if they can find a good vein and I thought how horrible that would be, never imagined I would have to see it in my daughter a year later.
So anyway, we were in her pod and they started to attempt to put her back on the vent and she resisted in a big way. She was going to have nothing to do with them putting that tube back down her throat. After a while, I noticed she was turning blue. That is when I lost it and had to leave. I was out in the hall crying and a nurse had led me to a room so I could sit down and have some privacy. Shortly after that, I heard a buzzer or something. It turns out that they had called a mini code blue for her and Dennis said it was pretty crazy. Just like that, there were a bunch of nurses and doctors in there to assist them. They had to paralyze her to be able to get her back on the vent. I can still picture her lying on the table all blue. It is something I would like to forget, but likely never will.
After everything settled back down, I went back in there to see where things were at. They were still taking x-rays a couple hours or so to keep an eye on her stomach. There was a perforation in her stomach wall or intestines and they needed to make sure that it did not get any bigger or we would be in trouble. They were trying to treat it with medicine but it did not seem to be working.
The next morning held many emotions as well. She was not getting any better and a decision would have to be made soon about whether to do surgery. It was agonizing to wait for the doctors to decide and there are no words to describe my relief when they went ahead and decided to do the surgery.
The surgery went very well and was over quicker than expected. The surgeon had said that sometimes there are areas that are questionable and they need to go back in and see if they need to remove more of the intestines, but that was not the case with Emma. Everything was either pink(meaning it was good) or black(meaning it had died) so they knew what they needed to remove.
They had given her an ostomy to give her intestines a chance to rest and heal. The down side to this was that she would need 4-6 weeks to heal and then they would reconnect things and see how things would be working. So being home by her due date was a no-go, but this ended up being a blessing in a way because shortly before her surgery to reconnect things, we ended up meeting a couple from Madison who had a baby on Valentine's Day and she needed to have surgery on her heart at 8 days old.
(Check out her story at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nevaehw.)
God always has a way of working things out. It had seemed that whenever Emma had something going on with her, she always had her 3 primary nurses working with her. That was always such a huge blessing because they knew her and what was normal for her. If we had been able to go home by her due date, we never would have meet the couple from Madison.
Matthew 17:20 Jesus says to the disciples..."I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain,'Move from here to there' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."
Faith is one of the things that got us thru nearly 6 months in the NICU. The faith that He will be there by our side no matter what happens. Faith that He knows what is best for us. Faith that He loves us no matter what.
God hears all of our prayers, even the smallest ones. He is by our side, we just have to reach up and let Him take our hand and He will walk by our side through every moment of everyday.
We had called that Saturday morning to see how her night had been and there was some concern because it seemed like she was taking a turn. She had blood in her stool, she was lethargic and her belly was distended. They were keeping a close eye on things to determine what the next course of action would be.
Because her belly was distended, she was having a hard time breathing so they decided to put her back on the ventilator. The next moments were some of the most terrifying moments of our time in the NICU and definitely in my life.
Dennis and I figured it would be no big deal to watch them do this and they did not seem to mind us being in there. Now we had seen them put an IV in her head and that was no picnic, nobody wants to see one of those sticking out of your babies head.
I do remember when Sam was in the NICU, the nurse mentioned that they sometimes have to do that if they can find a good vein and I thought how horrible that would be, never imagined I would have to see it in my daughter a year later.
So anyway, we were in her pod and they started to attempt to put her back on the vent and she resisted in a big way. She was going to have nothing to do with them putting that tube back down her throat. After a while, I noticed she was turning blue. That is when I lost it and had to leave. I was out in the hall crying and a nurse had led me to a room so I could sit down and have some privacy. Shortly after that, I heard a buzzer or something. It turns out that they had called a mini code blue for her and Dennis said it was pretty crazy. Just like that, there were a bunch of nurses and doctors in there to assist them. They had to paralyze her to be able to get her back on the vent. I can still picture her lying on the table all blue. It is something I would like to forget, but likely never will.
After everything settled back down, I went back in there to see where things were at. They were still taking x-rays a couple hours or so to keep an eye on her stomach. There was a perforation in her stomach wall or intestines and they needed to make sure that it did not get any bigger or we would be in trouble. They were trying to treat it with medicine but it did not seem to be working.
The next morning held many emotions as well. She was not getting any better and a decision would have to be made soon about whether to do surgery. It was agonizing to wait for the doctors to decide and there are no words to describe my relief when they went ahead and decided to do the surgery.
The surgery went very well and was over quicker than expected. The surgeon had said that sometimes there are areas that are questionable and they need to go back in and see if they need to remove more of the intestines, but that was not the case with Emma. Everything was either pink(meaning it was good) or black(meaning it had died) so they knew what they needed to remove.
They had given her an ostomy to give her intestines a chance to rest and heal. The down side to this was that she would need 4-6 weeks to heal and then they would reconnect things and see how things would be working. So being home by her due date was a no-go, but this ended up being a blessing in a way because shortly before her surgery to reconnect things, we ended up meeting a couple from Madison who had a baby on Valentine's Day and she needed to have surgery on her heart at 8 days old.
(Check out her story at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nevaehw.)
God always has a way of working things out. It had seemed that whenever Emma had something going on with her, she always had her 3 primary nurses working with her. That was always such a huge blessing because they knew her and what was normal for her. If we had been able to go home by her due date, we never would have meet the couple from Madison.
Matthew 17:20 Jesus says to the disciples..."I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain,'Move from here to there' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."
Faith is one of the things that got us thru nearly 6 months in the NICU. The faith that He will be there by our side no matter what happens. Faith that He knows what is best for us. Faith that He loves us no matter what.
God hears all of our prayers, even the smallest ones. He is by our side, we just have to reach up and let Him take our hand and He will walk by our side through every moment of everyday.
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