August

Aaron is home and things are finally back to normal, phew! We have had a busy summer with lots of firsts and some lasts. Bella learned to ride her bike a couple of weeks ago, but she's not a strong rider yet. It was tough work trying to keep her steady, but it was a good work-out running beside her. She continues to amaze us with the funny things she says. This week she told me her imaginary friend had a skin condition and that all his hair was falling out! Hahahahah! Today she was asking me why some of her friends only have one parent and I had to talk to her about the reasons why families come in different packages. That prompted her to tell me that she was an accident. I about burst into tears (we have never referred to her as that). I then explained to her that God has a purpose for each and every one of us and we are all special. God does not make accidents! She then said, "I think God accidentally put me in someone else's belly for you". Realizing she just wasn't getting it, but still laughing, because it was such a cute thing to say, I gave her a huge hug. She said "that why my name is Belly, (nick name) because I was in the wrong one". What a funny girl. We are starting to get her ready for kindergarten this September. I can't believe my baby girl is going off to school on the bus! It seems like yesterday when we were bringing her home from the hospital. I included a couple of slide shows at the bottom of my blog in honor of her fifth birthday coming up in a few weeks.
Natalie still amazes me with the things she can get into. Monday she got into the fridge and unscrewed the instant coffee and dumped the whole thing on my bed, the night stand, the floor and herself. She was busy for a while with that, because when I found her, she had been making coffee angels on the floor:( All the wood floors in my house are still sticky, after mopping three times. Our house will smell like coffee forever I am sure (sigh). Tuesday she got in the pool, rolled around in the sand and went into the living room and rolled all over my clean carpet and my couch. Today she got into the fridge again and some how picked up the almost empty jug of milk and chug-a-lugged the whole thing all over her and my clean kitchen floor. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! I meant to get to the store this weekend and get a lock for the fridge after she learned how to open it and continued to chase me all over the house with the contents of all things refrigerated. After she went through the egg carton and kept handing me squashed raw eggs! Things have been busy, but you can bet I get to the store for that lock now. (sigh again) She is constantly coming to find me dripping in or covered in what ever she has gotten into and says "she Mommy?" (she talks like she has a mouth full of food when she speaks). Today after thinking she just wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, because she just doesn't get it, she proceeded to count to five all by herself! I finally realized that she gets it really well. She wants my undivided attention at all times and the only way to do that is by destroying my house. I guess I have a lot more respect for the little turkey now;) I love her to pieces even when she is the very naughtiest possible. I just wish toddler-hood was as easy as it was with Bella. I have two little characters that keep me laughing all the time and I am blessed!

The Funny Things They Say

We are doing pretty well since Aaron left and we are finally more than half way there. We have not made any trips to the E.R. yet and Natalie hasn't given me any heart attacks. I bought them a plastic pool to keep them busy, but all I did was give them more ways to keep me busy. They keep going into the pool when they don't have their suits on, so we go through lots of clean clothes in a day and then they have been playing in the pool, walking through the sand and then through my house, which keeps me sweeping up sand by the bucket-full. Bella told me the other day, "Mom - I sure am enjoying my childhood". I just laugh at her funny little sayings most of the time that seem to be wiser than her years. Last week she gave me a hug while we were playing together and then said "Mom - when I get married me and my husband are going to live with you". I told her that I didn't think her future husband would enjoy that very much and she said "Oh yes he will!". In the car today she said "Mom - the more I learn about the world, the more I want to see of it". She also told Natty, "You sure are a good sister Nat" and I laughed again. She is so precocious. Natalie on the other hand is still a hand full, but at least she is speaking in sentences that I can understand now. She has been less wild since Aaron has left and I know that it has been an answer to prayer, so thank you to all who have kept us in your prayers! She misses Aaron terribly and talks about him all day. We do video conferencing on the computer and every time I get on to check my mail she starts crying that she wants to talk to her daddy. Six weeks is a long time for a two-year old. I know it could be worse having a father in the military, so I can't complain. I just started teaching Bella to ride her bike. There aren't many kids in the neighborhood and we are never in the front yard, so I have to make a real effort to get her out there. She's a pretty cautious kid, so it hasn't been easy. My parents were up this weekend to visit, so that was a nice diversion and we had a family treasure hunt at the church this weekend and we all had a blast. Keeping busy is key when you don't have a break! I hope everyone is having a great summer!

One Looooooooooooong Night

Aaron's been gone for four days now and the girls have been pretty well behaved for me. Natalie Jane has not tried any death-defying acts yet. That always makes me breath a little easier. Last night I had my old college friend stay the night with her little guy and we all had a sleep-over. We got to bed kind of late after watching a movie and couldn't get our kids to stay in their beds until after we went to bed, so they were up late as well. Bella ended up in bed with me and then woke up with her stomach hurting, so I was up most of the night with that and half way through the night the thunderstorms started and my big baby of a dog Zoe, who is afraid of thunderstorms, jumped over the baby gate that keeps them in their bed at night and ended up in bed with me. She was shaking so hard that the bed was REALLY moving. Bella and I kept sighing and then in the dark I could hear her whisper into Zoe's ear "don't worry Zozo girl, it will be OK". It was so sweet. After about 4:30the thunderstorms stopped and I got Zoe back in her bed. My friend had to leave at 7:30, so I woke up to say good-bye to her and never really got back to sleep. Bella woke up soon after that and watched cartoons in bed. Luckily Nat slept until 9:30 so I could at least lay in bed a while. Tomorrow we are off to Joliet to see my family so please pray that I make it OK alone with them both. Long car trips were a lot easier when Natalie wasn't old enough to fight with Bella over who got to hold the DVD player. They have no idea how lucky they are to even have a TV in the Car! Back in my day............ha ha ha. Happy fathers day dads. I hope you have a good one!

Life

Hello friends and family who tune into see how we are all fairing. Spring was a difficult time for us. We suffered our third miscarriage and are trying to heal from that, as well as figure out where God wants us to be in our lives. Talking to friends lately has made me realize how much pain there is out there. To all my beloved friends who are suffering from emotional pain from circumstances beyond their control - I am praying for you all! Life is difficult. Bella, who I count on to be my rock/perfect child, has decided that bringing frogs into our house is a great idea despite how much I punish her. Yesterday when she knew I was coming in from the garden, she quick passed off the frog to Nat, who was so pleased with herself that she nearly squeezed the life out of it. Bella, by the way, took off to hide from my wrath. Urgh!!! The other day as Aaron was talking to her about it for the 100Th time she cried to him, "Daddy, I just can't take my eyes off the toads!". I'm hoping this will pass just like everything else. Natalie on the other hand, I pray that her naughtiness will pass, but it never does. In the last month I've walked into the bathroom flooded from her playing in the sink, watched as she scooped water out of the toilet with a cup and drank it, found that she colored all over the stair walls with a black permanent marker, decorated Bella's wall with that same marker, painted the white kitchen cabinets with a pink marker (don't know where this one came from - believe me, we learned our lessons from the past), learned how to climb up on the deck railing (it's a long way down), learned how to stick metal screws in the light socket(yes we have covers - she learned how to take them off at nine or ten months), learned how to unzip the safety enclosure of the trampoline and fell out on her knees(also a long way down), learned how to let Bosley out the front door so he could take hiself for a walk (our lovely neighbors have brought him home three times now)........I could go on forever. Needless to say, she keeps me hopping (no pun intended). Aaron will be heading to Washington (the state)for 5-6 weeks starting June 15Th, so I will need lots of prayers that I don't loose my sanity with a child that's so active! I hope you all survive the summer with all the kids out of school! Take care.............

Spring

Well I finally feel like spring is here for good and we have been having so much fun planting gardens and getting the yard all cleaned up. I got lots of rose bushes for mother's day and I can't wait until they are all blooming this summer! Bella graduates from preschool next week and although we are excited to end that chapter of Bella's life, we are already terribly sad to say good-bye to her teachers. What a God-send they were this year! Mrs. Sue and Mrs. Ann were the best teachers I have ever come to know and we all feel blessed to have had them be a part of Bella's life! I wanted to also take this time to wish all of our mothers and grandmothers happy mother's day! We are so thankful that we have each and every one of you to love. God is so good! What would we do without you? Thank you mom for all of your love and support this spring - I am blessed and I know it! Our dear friend Jess is scheduled for her c-section Friday the 15Th and I if you could pray for baby number five that he/she is healthy and that Jess recovers quickly, that would be great. Also if you want pray that it is a boy,that would be great too! Not that a fifth girl wouldn't be as exciting, but I'm sure they would love to experience the gifts that a little boy can bring into their lives and so would all of us friends! I pray that each and every one of you who reads this is doing well and that spring brings you lots of hope and joy! God bless!

My Birthday and Easter

Happy Easter to all of our friends and family! This has been a busy week with Bella having spring break, Aaron being gone, celebrating my birthday and Easter today. Thankfully the weather was nice all week and we were able to spend a lot of time outside. I just wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers in the last couple of weeks. We couldn't have gotten through this time without them. The Easter bunny paid us a visit this morning and Bella was very excited. Natalie Jane wasn't that into finding the eggs this year, but Bella made up for her. They are playing with their Easter goodies right now and hopefully we will spend some time with family today. We had a very nice service at church this morning and now we can relax after getting ready for this crazy weekend. Take care everyone!

Sad Hearts

Most of you know that we had another IVF procedure and got pregnant. Our blood worked looked great and right away we had large numbers. We were suppose to have our first ultra-sound on Thursday, but the doctor couldn't find the heart beat. The sack was too small for six weeks, so I had more blood work that night, but by Friday my HCG showed that my levels were dropping and that my body was going to lose this pregnancy. We were not prepared for this news at all. Everything seemed to be going according to plan and with doing an IVF, they pump you so full of hormones, you feel more confident about not miscarrying, at least we did. It's rare, but it happened, and now we have to put all of our hopes, expectations and excitement away and continue the grieving process. Bella has been asking for another little brother or sister for a while now, and so we did tell her when we felt like it was safe to. She was praying every night that the baby would be safe and strong and that it would teach Natalie how to love and how not to be naughty. She was sad at first, but now she's just praying for another little brother or sister to come along. I wish life was that simple for Aaron and I. I wish that I didn't desire a big family or to be pregnant again, but I do (we do), so we put our faith in God and understand that our days are numbered and that this baby may have only lived for six weeks, but it was loved so much and in the end, isn't that what life is suppose to be all about?