Fake Easter

Brandon has to lead worship on Easter here in Wichita, so I've been sad at the thought of missing out on Easter at the farm like usual. We decided to have a "fake" Easter last weekend instead. It was a blast! We dyed eggs, had an egg hunt, and topped it off with our traditional egg fight. Eli's aim is incredible...he was attacking everyone. We had a going away dinner for my almost "brother" Kurt, as he is headed off to the Army soon. The kids spent their time playing in the cabin, riding the 4-wheeler, playing in the secret garden fort, swinging on the tire swing and baby swing, and walking to the pond. Rica was finding snakes constantly, and the kids were thrilled to check them out. Eli and Brandon went down to the creek and caught a few snakes and bullfrogs. We had beautiful weather the whole weekend and soaked up as much fresh farm air as possible. Everything was so green and beautiful...it was a great break from the city.

31 Weeks

It's hard to believe I am actually 31 weeks along right now! The time is flying by! I have a lot more energy since I started taking iron, after finding out I was anemic. All major tests have been good and Asher's heartbeat is always around 134 when I have appointments every two weeks. I'm measuring good but am starting to feel BIG! We are having an abnormally warm Spring, which has been great for sanity and fun for the kids, but I am definitely feeling HOT a lot of the time. I have always been pregnant in the dead of Winter, so I barely have any cool clothes. I broke down and went out and bought a pair of maternity shorts to try and survive the heat. This is just 80's temperatures. I have no idea how women survive being pregnant throughout the Summer...it has got to be miserable! I am very thankful to be feeling good overall. I feel a lot better than I did with my pregnancy with Cora at this point. I am praying it stays this way!

Welcome Spring!

Exciting week!

We have had a very exciting week so far! First of all, Eli has made some huge breakthroughs in speech. He has been doing speech since last May and always works really hard and practices at home, but it is slow going. He can make so many sounds he wasn't able to before, but hasn't ever been able to make a "k" sound (it always came out as a "t"). His speech teacher at school has really been working on it to the point that she was putting on a glove every time and pushing down his tongue with her finger to force the sound to the back of the throat. Here at home he would put his own finger on his tongue to work on it. I guess all the practice has paid off! This week he can officially do a "k" sound without a finger pushing his tongue down! His speech teacher was just as excited as I was! Today she excitedly pulled me in to show me how he could do it on several words. Amazing! He got a special certificate award for doing it on his own finally. Another breakthrough was at Heartspring. One of his main issues with speech is that he substitutes an "l" sound for a lot of things (which has always baffled his speech teachers because "l" is usually a very difficult sound for kids). For example "soap" he would say "loap" or "sock" is "slock" or "yo-yo" would have been "lo-lo". His speech teacher taught him to do this sort of smile when he does his "y" sound and something just clicked with him and he can do it now! "Les" is now "yes" all of a sudden and it is awesome! We went out and celebrated tonight at Braum's because we are so proud of how hard he has worked!

Another fun thing this week was his preschool Olympic day today. He had so much fun! They got to do a parade with their torches and flags and did all sorts of games that worked on team work and sportsmanship. He asked Brandon to come several times, so I was so glad Brandon was able to get off work for a couple of hours to come. Eli did great and had a wonderful time with his classmates. At the end, they had an awards ceremony where they all got a medal and were so proud. Cora had fun playing with the other siblings and cheering Eli on!

We got Eli's lab results back today, which added to my excitement. His celiac test came back negative (which we expected because he eats gluten free), but he tested high for wheat allergy (they'll retest him next year to see where he is at)! I have never suspected that he had an allergy because his symptoms seem a little different, he has more of the intolerance symptoms. Most parents probably wouldn't be dancing a jig at this news, but I was! Just the thought that this could possibly be an allergy that most kids OUTGROW restored hope. I had a sense of doom at the thought of Celiac because it is tied to so many other cancers, autoimmune disorders and life long health problems. If it is just an allergy there is a high chance he will outgrow it by adulthood. Dear God let this be TRUE for him!

4 Year Appointment

I have been nervous for a while about Eli's 4 year checkup (knowing it was going to involve shots and a blood draw). I shouldn't have been worried at all! He loves our pediatrician and was fine with going. We've got one growing boy! At four years old, he weighs 35 lbs (50%) and is 39 1/2 inches tall (30%). He has grown 3 inches and gained 3 lbs since last year. He has really averaged out compared to the other kids at school, and blends right into the crowd (compared to when he was a baby and seemed a lot smaller than the other kids). His blood pressure was 90/54 and his pulse was 80. He's GREAT! I was shocked when we got to the shots part of the appointment. He got two shots and NEVER cried! They did an amazing job of distracting him and he was very proud of himself afterwards. He got a special toy Cobra snake afterwards for making it through. Next, we had to head to the lab for blood work. Normally it's just a finger prick, but because we decided to have several different tests done they had to do a vein draw. I was scared to death, but once again he NEVER cried! He was amazing. I was blown away. The doctor is checking the normal blood panel she always does, and then we are also having the Celiac tests run, wheat allergy test, and the B vitamins checked (since he's gluten free). I have such a huge sense of relief today getting this all over with! I'm very thankful that Eli is healthy and happy and growing and developing well. Praise God!

ABC's

Cora LOVES to sing! She knows so many songs and it's so fun to watch her sing!

22 Months

I want to freeze Cora at this age. I LOVE it! At 22 months:

1. She tells everyone how to spell her name. "C-O-R-A...CORA!" She thinks she's writing it on the sidewalk with chalk or when she's coloring. It's so cute!

2. She knows all her letters and loves to sing her "ABC's"

3. She sleeps in a big girl bed. The only glitch we've found is that once in a while she will get out of bed really early (like 5) and come to our room. I have to take her back to bed and she'll usually go back to sleep for a while longer. This has made for some grumpy mornings. She LOVES her bed, though, and plays in it throughout the day.

4. Her favorite books right now are "The Poop Book", "Clifford", and "My Daddy and I"

5. She loves the "Barney song" and "Lord's Army"

6. She loves to go with Brandon out on errands (whereas Eli has started wanting to stay home with me unless it involved biking or trains).

7. She asks to be "naked" all the time. I will let her once in a while. She will run all over the house having a blast. I always put her potty out where she is if she is naked and the other day she used it after Eli told her to! Honestly, I think he is going to potty train her because she wants his approval so badly and he keeps telling her to use it. After she went, she said, "Look Elijah, I did it!" and he gave her a high five.

8. She still cries once in a while when I leave, but is fine the second I'm gone. The other night when I got home she said, "I'm so glad you're home! I cried."

9. She fights getting in the carseat once in a while.

10. She still loves all things girly and will get our her lipgloss saying she wants, "pink or sparkly". She calls necklaces "cool" or "pretty" and actually asked if she could have "earrings" the other day :-). She wears around bracelets and carries her little purses. I love it! When she has a dress on for church she will spend a lot of time watching herself twirl in the mirror declaring herself "pretty!"

11. She asks a lot of "why" or "what is that?" questions.

12. She is my little snuggle bug! I love snuggling her and I get a ton of kisses and hugs and cuddles throughout the day.