The Quiet Club

There's a really large club out there that has no membership roles nor meetings. It has no club motto, nor does it have by-laws. Its only dues are paid in tears and heartache. It's a club with lots of members, and not a one of them asked to be in the club.

It's the club of parents who have dealt with the pain of miscarriage. And, inside the club, there is a unique sorority of women who carried those babies.

Jmk and I regret so much to have to say that we are now members of that life-altering club.

For reasons that we don't need to know, our baby left us very early in its life. I began serious spotting Tuesday night, and as it was still ongoing Wednesday morning, we went to the OB's office. They tried to find a heartbeat, but there was none. The baby was measuring about 8Weeks and 3days, which means that he left around Thursday of last week, at best guess. The doctor says it isn't as common after having had such a strong heartbeat already, but that it's likely due to a chromosomal issue that simply caused a cessation of organ development.

I was scheduled for a D&C surgery this Friday morning - but it appears that I have begun the process of a natural miscarriage already. So, after discussing it all with the OB's office, as of right now, the surgery is off. It will likely make for a long weekend, but being able to avoid the surgery is actually a good thing. We would still really appreciate your prayers for Jmk and myself - for healing and comfort.

As we have heard from the pulpit, God does not give us trials to test us, because He does not need to do that. He already knows what we are capable of. However, the trials in our life can serve to show US the lessons we need to learn, whatever they may be. We don't need to know the reasons for any of this. And it may be years before we can look back and see a purpose behind the trial. But we know that God is in control, and His will is perfect. We need not question when we are following Jesus Christ.

So many who I have talked with have shared their own similar experiences - some I knew about, some I didn't. It is seemingly so common for this to happen. While that doesn't change the hurt involved, it does bring a sense of life-goes-on to the whole situation. And, being home with little children is also a great boost and distraction - they keep my focus on the miracles that we have already been given.

Thank you all for your prayers. I am sure those prayers are what are keeping us together right now.

Verbal progress

Thought I might give a little update on Toot's flowering language skills.

First, when I went to pick the kids up from MooMoo and GaGa's house on Saturday pm, I really think I heard him say "MaMa!" and then come to me. But, I wasn't sure, because there was a lot of talking and noise. But, I'm SURE that I heard him say that when I came home from Junior Miss practice, Sunday evening. What a lovely sound!

He's starting to use DaDa more regularly, and MaMa is beginning to be used from time to time. He's actually showing an interest in trying to say things now. Of course, you can't really understand what he's saying, unless you see it in context, but just the fact that he's trying is new progress. He even tried to say "juice" for the first time yesterday!

We still haven't heard back from the Early Intervention program folks, even though I did call the pediatrician and ask again about the referral. So, would he have made even better progress had the speech therapy been started? I don't know. Could have been just the same. As Jmk has been saying all along, he started talking when he was ready. We're certainly not having conversations or anything, but I suspect we'll have a lot easier time communicating with him by the time wee one arrives at the end of the summer.

This has been a good, and much needed, lesson for me. I knew I had a bad habit of comparing my kids to others - and relying too heavily on the "standard" or the average milestones to judge their progress. But until this experience, I didn't realize JUST how much I did. I'm definitely going to be adjusting my outlook from this point on.

And I'm very grateful to hear "mama"...... Even though I'm sure that within a few months or so, "Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy" is probably going to drive me bonkers. ha!

Happy Birthday......

To Legos!

Play Well, everyone!

As Time Goes By...

Then
(12-4-05)













Now
(1-1-08)

Answered Prayers!

And Lord willing, brother's gonna be a PhD!

Just heard from David, and he passed his exams!

He wanted to me to send a heartfelt thank you to all those who offered prayers on his behalf - and that comes from me as well. Thank you for thinking of him. He says he knows that those prayers are what got him through the difficult week last week.

He is beyond elated, and is SO glad to be able to focus on what he really enjoys. He'll spend the next 2 to 3 years with research and programming and presentations and publishing - and then he'll write and defend a dissertation. Then, presto! He'll be done. I think a lot of wonderful things will happen for him between now and then..... thank you again for your prayers on his behalf.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye...

announcement from the Head Zookeepers....

::ahem::

Our Christmas Surprise Cometh
(Lord willing)

Scheduled to arrive at the Zoo sometime around the second of September.
Full details below.





Details to answer all the WHAT'S?????

I know, I know..... How in the world could two overplanning, detail-people get surprised by something like a baby???

Well, I didn't think it was possible, but it is!

Before anybody thinks that this one is a total oops - he/she isn't! Jmk and I were talking about discussing the possibility of getting pregnant this summer. Especially because if we had another one, I sort of wanted to have a Spring baby, mostly so as not to be pregnant during the worst of the summer. But.... hey - at least I have all the maternity clothes already. The timing of the wee one is a surprise, but the baby is welcome, expected, and is causing a great deal of excitement already!

Poodle is, of course, seriously hoping for a girl. And is VERY excited. Tooter, who just learned to say "baby" hasn't exactly expressed an opinion yet.



Jmk was quite surprised at his Christmas eve present which was this picture of the family that was taken before he and I left for his office Christmas party. I took it, used the Paint program (which explains the, um, high-tech drawing) to draw the little swaddled bundle in his arms. Jmk's poor eyes got bigger than I thought they could get, he said "are you really", and then I think his face turned white. Needless to say, after less than a week of processing it all, he was ready to go. (I had already had my week of processing time when I first started feeling pregnant about a week and a half before I could even test).

Telling the family was SO much fun. We let Poodle do it. We'd put her on the phone, and she'd say "so-and-so, I have a surprise for you! It's a picture of such-and-such." (she really was drawing pictures for people). They would say "oh, that's so nice, thank you". Then she'd say "And today, it's all about the baby in Mommy's tummy!" (we didn't tell her what to say - just to tell the person on the phone about the baby).

And pretty much to a person, her statement was followed by a "WHAT?" (We had everyone on speaker phone). SueSue quickly followed her "what" with a "let me talk to your mother!" lol......
There was a lot of "what did you say? Poodle, say that again". My mom got squeal-y in octaves I didn't know she could hit. :-)

Yes - this was a surprise for everyone, but at the end of the day, we're all excited. As for me, I have been feeling good - almost no nausea this time. Some food aversion, some iffy stomach, and quite a bit of exhaustion. But practically no nausea. Of course, I have to keep telling myself that I don't have to be nauseous to have a healthy baby. And just because I was with the first two doesn't mean that I have to be with this one. I'll be very glad to have the Junior Miss season finished - it's wearing me out!

I'll be making some changes, of course. I'm putting the transcription work aside, because I need my free time to rest. And, when #3 gets here, I'm going to need any and all precious free time to not be filled with work. Plus, I'm not giving up my MK business, although it will remain very part-time, like it is now.

As always, I would so appreciate being remembered in your prayers - especially during the understandably tricky first trimester. And, since my precious father reads this blog, I won't go into the details regarding charting that some of you must be wondering about. But feel free to send me an email, if you're thinking that all this must mean charting doesn't work. lol.... I'll explain.

Last Day!

His last round of tests are this morning - in addition to the previous requests, please pray for an extra measure of perseverance and focus to finish strongly.

It will be awhile before the final scores are back in, but I'll try to remember to keep everyone posted. Thank you so much for your prayers and good thoughts for him!

Prayers Again

His next round of exams begins tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 9:00AM. Please pray again for his success!

Late Prayer Request

My youngest brother is currently in a PhD program in Computer Science and is taking his "Level One" exams this week. This morning is the first of three days of exams. These mandatory exams will determine for him whether or not he continues in the program - please pray for him to have a clear mind, a calm spirit, and God-given confidence.

He'll be in the one this morning until noon, and then will take the 2nd round on Wednesday morning. Friday morning is the third and last round.

Thank you for your prayers!

Finis!

The kids just took their last dose of the antibiotics for the ear infections. 10 days of antibiotics - blugh. I can see now why parents whose children are very susceptible to these things get tubes put in as soon as they can. This 10 days of medicine thing is a pain in the tookus. Especially for the kids - Toot has had his share of tummy problems with the medicine, and Poodle has slept terribly while on it.

On the upside, Toot's skin has seen some improvement. The problem with eczema is that it creates tiny fissures in the skin that can become infected because they are so hard to protect and close up. These antibiotics have taken quite a bit of red out of his skin, which is nice! I have a topical antibiotic cream to use on him, but as it is with all medicines, overuse of that can cause other problems down the road.

Anyway, for a short time, his normally red'ish skin has a more normal appearance. It's nice.

And the kids are done!!!

Working on words

As you know, our second little bundle of monkiness isn't a big talker yet. This is the most recent post about all that. The word explosion that you hear about hasn't happened yet, nor do I really expect it any more.

But, he IS slowly starting to add words to his world. Most of them I probably wouldn't understand if I didn't know the situation at hand. But, at least he's starting to use them!

Here are a few of what I can remember at the moment:
Eh-mo (Elmo) This actually takes some prompting. His first attempt at Elmo isn't as clear.
Coohkie (cookie) Pretty clear!
Sooes (shoes)
Up (asking to be picked up) Finally! We've been working on this one for forEVer.

There are more - I know there are. It's just what I remember immediately. But, it's more than he had, and he isn't completely verbally stagnant. And, as with most new tricks he picks up, he's only mildly impressed with himself. I'm telling you - this kid is a dude. But, as it has been for awhile, he can follow multiple commands in a sentence. So the talking, as Jmk has always said, will come when it comes. If I could just find that blasted worry switch in my head, I would turn it right off. It has never been useful, and it's turning into quite the albatross!

Cat?

lol.....

Jmk caught this picture of our dear cat GiGi a day or two before Christmas. She has golden'ish eyes, and they caught the flash of the camera at quite a moment!

We thought it was kind of funny.

Be warned, dear friends, that if I get lax for the next month, it isn't because of severe nothingness happeningus around here! Quite the contrary, unfortunately. Somehow scrunched in among my regular days, January demands me to start gathering info for taxes (including the home business), finish an essay for a Junior Miss publication, the actual Junior Miss show which is upcoming in February for which I am choreographer and production person, and a handful of other "things" that really aren't necessary to be listed right now.

Whine, whine, whine - and that's why I should be given complete absolution for not posting much, if that ends up being the case this month. It won't be because the kids aren't going and doing as usual. It's because my poor brain is too tired to remember to post everything. Or anything. Or, I won't have the time to post said things. You know how it goes.

I'll do my best - but thank you for checking in with us often anyway!!!

A wonderful book from Aunt Julie

I really hesitated to specifically mention just one of the gifts that the children got over Christmas, because they got SO many wonderful things from family. BUT, I got a chance to really look at this beautiful book today, and wanted to share it. It's a great book, full of lovely pictures and great Scripture - King James Version! This would make a fantastic addition to your kids' library!

The author and illustrator, Laurie Parker, lives in Starkville, MS. Homegirl done good! Here's one link to a bookstore who sells it. A for Angels - A Bible Alphabet. Enjoy!

Finally some Christmas morning pictures!

Because I know you were just waiting with breath much baited for these!
;-)

This is one of only two things that Poodle wanted from Santa Claus. A Snow White dress. And, actually, the closer we got to Christmas morning, this is THE only thing she wanted. I told myself so many times to remember the feeling of how precious it was to hear "it's the only thing I want for Christmas!". The simplicity of the desire. The sweetness of it.









Here, we have Poodle modeling said dress (and matching shoes!) for SueSue and Amy, who got up early and drove all the way to our house to visit with the kids for a bit on Christmas morning. It was so special to have them there!











This is the other thing that she wanted for Christmas. It's a fabric tea set. Durndest thing, this. But unbreakable by little brothers! Even has a little piece of cake and a cupcake with it. Along with fabric spoons and fabric tea bags.

Just adorable. Santa Claus brought her a few more things, of course. But she was most thrilled to have BOTH things that she really, really wanted!





Now. Tooter. As you can see, here, ole Santa did well with the Elmo doll. But, mostly, Toot really didn't get into the Christmas thing. Didn't understand, didn't care about opening presents, wasn't aware of what was going on. He's just our little dude!








Santa also scored with a t-ball type thingy (which you barely see here) and with the basketball goal.

Toot enjoys it, but you should see Poodle hit the net! She's something else. Does NOT get it from me. I assure you that. Never was any good at basketball.

Always worried about breaking my nails. ::ahem::

Christmas morning was wonderful!


Health update:
We are already starting to see improvement with the kids this morning, so I expect full bundles of energy very soon, just as everyone has been "warning" me. :-) Maybe we'll practice a little couch b-ball this afternoon.

Drat.

Two sets of double-ear infections. This is our first bout of ear infections with the kids, and both of them came down at the same time. Joy! CAB, we had no idea Tooter had any problem at all - same situation that y'all had!

I would guess that they picked up a little bug at a birthday party play yard last Saturday that, combined with the sniffles and congestion they already had, turned the whole mess into a... well, a mess. To quote the folks at The Beehive: Woo and indeed Hoo.

$135 left at the pharmacy (groooaaaan), and we'll start the mending process tonight. But, it could be worse. So, it's movies and couchtime all day for the next couple of days. And there is very little wrong with that!

HAPPY 2008!!!

We all hope for many blessings and much happiness for you in this beautiful year!

Jmk went back to work today (he takes off a lot of time around Christmas), and as soon as we get through moping because Daddy isn't here to play, we'll all try to get ourselves back in the swing of things. I may even attend to all my unanswered emails and even keep the blog updated! (Don't anyone faint, now).

Unfortunately, we are going to have to start the New Year with a trip to the doctor's office. Seems Poodle has picked up something that has settled in her right ear. She's never had an ear infection before, so I can't tell if this is one, or if she just has congestion in her ear. Since she's running fever this morning, we're going to have things checked out. But, Lord willing, we'll all get over all the sniffles, etc. that comes with this time of year and get ready to have a GREAT 2008!!!

Belated Christmas Updates

I'm so impressed with those who have already gotten some Christmas update pictures on their blogs! I won't try to do Christmas morning pictures yet - just share some family time gatherings before Christmas.

I'll start with a picture of much darlingness - Audrey girl. Or, as Poodle says, "my cousin Baby Audrey". The stars aligned, and all of my siblings were able to be at my mom and dad's house on Christmas Eve Eve. (Dec. 23, for the numerical sort). We're quite a crowd!



Back row standing - Jmk
Next row - David, Jerra, Robert, Leslie, Granny, Poodle, Mom, Dad
Seated row - Jaime, Audrey, me, Tooter

I was "that person". Made everyone gather in a spot, and then kept using the timer feature on the camera to get a group shot. Yep - I kept hopping up and down like crazed person in order to get myself in the shot. So sad! ha!




On Christmas Eve, we all went over to SueSue's house. And by all, I mean ALL!!! I got this picture taken towards the end of the evening, but here's a list of those who were there, but had already left at the time of the photoshoot: Chuck, Stephini (okay, they weren't gone. They were taking the pictures!), Amy, Jay, Ken, GrandCandy, Brennan, Robert, Megan, and Maggie Belle! (MB would be R&M's cute little bulldog puppy).

This picture shows SueSue, Poodle, Toot, me, and Jmk. If we look stuffed, it's because we were. MAN, SueSue had a full-on spread of the yummiest party food!




Grandmother was also there, so I was able to nab a shot of her with Poodle, Jmk, and Tooter. I have to give a BIG thank you to all who came to SueSue's, because they were doing it so as to see the kids, since we weren't going to be going to Grandmother's house the next day. THANK YOU, y'all, for going out of your way to make us feel so special.


Thankfully, we were able to stay home all day on Christmas day. (And I say thankfully, because, unfortunately, both kids were sick by then. Not sick enough to not be able to enjoy the day, but pretty low on energy. Chest cold junk).

SueSue and Amy were able to come by and see the kids bright and early on Christmas morning, and my folks and sister came by later on Christmas Day. It was a wonderful, wonderful day. I'll post pictures as soon as I can!

Merry Merry and Happy Happy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

And all of our best wishes for 2008!!!

Catching up with the times

I have finally attended my first Cookie Swap party! First, I need to say that any party that sends you home with 5 or 6 dozen different kinds of cookies is a good thing. :-) It was last Saturday, at my friend Amy's house, and kids were invited and welcome. In fact, Amy even had cookies ready for the kids to decorate. They had a blast. I got to meet some sweet women, and we had loads of cookies at the end of it. (All with some kind of chocolate involved. Woohoo!)






This is a picture of Toot and my godson, John David, playing in Amy's front yard. John David was pouring leaves on Tooter's head, and the latter thought it was High-larious. The crunch crunch crunch of the leaves made for some inspired jumping around!

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

A little Christmas music for those who need some creativity for the last big weekend before Christmas Day! Big hat tip to Jerra for this one. It is a HOOT!!!