Thursday, April 30, 2009

His Word and Trust

As my little "peach" grows inside me I pray daily for God to show me a full-term pregnancy. A pregnancy that goes to 40 weeks, a birth that would allow our baby to be in a little bassinett and stay in our hospital room with me, a birth that would allow me to nurse my own baby without having to pump and have it fed to him/her through a tube into his/her stomach, a birth that would allow me to hold my baby as long as I wanted without worrying about his/her breathing, if they are too cold, if their monitors are going to ring and I will have to put him back in his isolette. I pray I will be able to take our baby home when my hospital stay from the mandatory c-section is over. These all would be brand new experiences for me and my husband.

In a daily devotion we get into our home email David Wilkerson writes how we need to read God's word and trust in it. He write out some scriptures knowing that one would speak to every person who reads it. This is what spoke to me today, this moment:

“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

With Asher's birthday being yesterday, it stirred up some emotions in my that don't surface often and that has to do with the boys and their premature births and hospital stays. Today, after reading His word I feel a peace that He will give me those new experiences, because only He can. Thank you Lord!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Asher is 2!


Happy birthday to our dear sweet baby boy! Our littlest guy (so far) turns 2 year old today! All I can think about today is how fast time goes by. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago when I was taken by ambulance to give birth to this little 31 week gestation baby. I get tears in my eyes now as I think of him when he was born, or rather how long it took me to actually open a place in my heart for him. It took me exactly 1 week to feel any kind of connection with him. I remember the Sunday I went over to my mom's and her cigarette package was sitting on the counter. On the package it had a photo of premature baby and the warning that smoking during pregnancy may cause premature birth and something about infant death. I didn't smoke when I was pregnant but all I could see was how Asher looked like that laying in the hospital up in Edmonton, still hooked up to machines to help him breathe on his own. I started crying and told my mom I had to go to Edmonton to see him. Aidan came with me in the van. I remember crying all the way to Edmonton. I didn't call the hospital that morning like I usually did, so when I got there, it broght me to more tears to see that during the night he had to go back on the ventilator to help him breathe. There are so many of these little set backs as they go through their NICU journey, but each one still makes me cry and you would think I would be prepared but I never am. So, almost the whole visit with him I cried..and almost the whole way home I cried. I don't know what it was about that day, but I remember it well because my heart was so broken because of what he was going through to survive that I finally felt something for my baby. I was mad that he had to be in the hospital. All a mom wants to do is hold, cuddle, smell, feed and love on her own little baby when they are finally out of the womb and I couldn't do that...again...for the 3rd time and I was hurt. I know there is a reason that he came early, and that God has had him under his loving protection since the minute he was conceived but I still wanted to do all those things that "normal" moms get to do. I am embarassed to admit that, but I think it is time to deal with that. Now, Asher has a most special place in my heart. I always rocked him longer, held him longer...because he was my baby and I didn't know if I would ever have a baby to do that with again so I was not going to miss out on a minute of it. I didn't get to do that with Addison because I was pregnant so soon after his birth with Asher and with all the pregnancy complications I couldn't even lift Addison and he was barely walking yet at that stage.

Wow, I had a bit to share there. Well...just so you know...how very special this little guy is and how the time flies by. I think I might just have to give him a special little mommy time in the rocking chair before bed tonight :)

We had a little birthday party for him on Sunday and spent some time with both of our families. Asher's favorite character right now is Blue's Clue as he absolutely becomes overjoyed when I put the movie on for him. It was watching that movie that he said some of his first words "go, go, go" when a train would go on the screen and "wwhhheeee" when Blue and his friends slid down a rainbow. Man, he is cute!! I wish you could have heard his little voice when Wes brought out our gift to him of a firetruck...he goes "wwoooow" and got in it right away...little sweetheart!



Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Wow!

Well I have been waking up in amazement the last two mornings. Why? Because our three year old, who we were having major issues with his sleeping, has now decided that he is not going to cry/scream and is going to stay in his "big bed" all night long. It was a little bit of a process for sure (God gave me some amazing amounts of patience for this), but the last 2 nights he did not even come into our room. His bedroom light was on this morning when we woke up, which makes me think that he woke during the night, got up and turned his light on and then went back to his bed all by himself. Way to go Addison!! This has made the whole bedtime experience fun...we came up with a routine and we do the exact same thing every night...pee on the toilet, 1 story in bed, prayers, hug, kiss, reinforce light will stay on and door will stay open, and he is good to go. He will often ask me what I will do downstairs, and I usually say "laundry." So, last night he hollers out to me as I was walking down the hall..."go fold the laundry mom." Haha...what a little character he is. Thank you to all who gave us advice on how to deal with this situation.

Tyler, you might want to start contracting your parenting services out :) See her blog (Titus2:3-5) and how she lives her life with 5 kids...yes you heard me 5 KIDS! (And I know Tyler you showed me how to post a link and I can't remember because I haven't done it since you showed me....uggh!)

Monday, April 27, 2009

Baby Eli

I was able to cuddle our newest nephew again this past weekend. He is 1 month old now. He seems to be a very content baby and is pretty darn adorable if you ask me.



Monday, April 20, 2009

Parenting Advice...anyone anyone?

Hi All! OK, so I am in desperate need. Desperate need of a 3 year old to go to bed in a decent manner. So far tonight, it has been 45 minutes of screaming and crying. This is every single night. I dread bed time. I seriously cannot handle this and have no clue what to do. Here is the story...

Addison used to go to bed good. Then there came a time when he asked us to lay with him in bed for 5 minutes. So we did that...5 minutes then we were ok to leave and he would go to sleep. Over time the 5 minutes turned to us laying with him til he fell asleep otherwise he would scream and cry and keep coming out of bed. So, I figured I could lay with him for 10-15 minutes to have the rest of the night in peace and quiet. Well that 10-15 minutes starting turning into 20-30 minutes and longer and I couldn't do that. We have 2 other kids that need attending to as well and when Wes is working nights I have to get all 3 of them to bed on my own. Then he started coming into our bedroom in the middle of the night, and as per Wes' moms suggestion we made him a "little bed" on the floor beside our bed. This worked super for a while...he would wake up, then bring his pillow to the floor in our room and lay down. Easy breezy, I didn't even have to get out of bed and he was back to sleep. Then a few weeks ago, instead of wanting to fight with him to go to bed in his room, we let him go straight to bed in the "little bed." Wow, this was so easy...goodnight, kisses, hugs and asleep. And now....now we put him to bed there...he wants us to lay with him on our bed when he goes to sleep. When we don't...he screams, cries, gets out of bed, says he has to pee, says he has to poop, goes and sits on the toilet...anything but go to sleep. He now has requested all the lights on in all the rooms near him...so in the bedroom, in our bathroom and in the hallway. If we do not leave them on he gets up and turns them on. We have threatened him with going back to his "McQueen bed" and have put him back in there several nights with him only to be quiet and sneak back to sleep on the floor in our room, and we leave him because he has put himself to sleep. We have even tried to lock the door so he can't come out of his room, but I can't keep the door locked for too long without feeling terrible.

I seriously don't know what to do, as I still hear him screaming upstairs. I have never ever been so frustrated as I am at this point. I recognize that I have let him push us and we give in and he just takes and takes. But I can't handle it anymore. He sometimes says "he is scared." Is he scared to be alone? We have tried to put a night light in his room and he just pulls it out and tosses it. Then, there is the whole nap issue...I know if he has a nap in the afternoon he does NOT go to bed well at all, or else he ends up going to bed at 10pm. But he did not have a nap today, and he is still up freaking out and it has been over an hour.

So, any advice?

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Mini Album











Hi there...I did a little workshop for our church ladies scrapbooking group yesterday titled "Faithbooking." Doing this little project really opened my eyes into how I can, and should, incorporate God's work/word into our albums to be passed on for generations. We already want to share our memories with others, why wouldn't we want to share our faith at the same time?? So, here are some pics of the mini album I made. I could add pages and pages to this book as there are so many gifts from God that I receive. In hindsight, I think I would have done a bigger album so I would be able to write more about each "gift."

Saturday, April 18, 2009

So Proud...

Today our oldest boy had a taekwondo tournament here in Red Deer at another school. He did so well! He won his first two sparring matches and really dominated his opponents. The way the tournament ran they had him have a third fight for the gold medal, and Aidan fought against the guy he fought the first time and beat. Aidan started the match off with full force...so aggressive going after the other guy kick after kick, the other kid must have felt overwhelmed as he started crying as he was trying to retaliate (which we saw a lot of today...kids starting to cry when one of the kids seems to come at them full force.)So, there was a little bit of an "incident" during the match where the other coach took it upon herself to stop the match and actually tell Aidan, in front of everyone, that he was kicking too high and that he needed to lower his kicks. This was so inappropriate for a coach to do, as there is a referee in the ring and that is his job. I totally saw Aidan's spirit get crushed before my eyes. What is a mom to do? So, I jumped her...hahah...no I didn't...I am kidding. (She has a black belt in taekwondo and I am carrying a little peach in my belly so I sat back and continue to snap away with my camera). I was soooo ticked...I don't remember being that upset in a long time. So, after that incident Aidan ended up losing the match...I don't know how the match would have turned out in the end had that coach kept her opinions to herself, but I do know that Aidan was crushed. I could see it in his eyes as he walked off the mats and he did those fast long blinks so that he won't cry. What is a mom to do? So, he ended up getting a silver medal and we are so very proud of him! He really loves taekwondo and is improving more and more all the time. It is nice that he had the opportunity to spar against some kids other then the same ones in his school which he sees every week.

Please pray for Aidan as on Tuesday he gets tested for his next belt...and this is a big deal for him as he has been practicing and working so hard for months for this....post and pictures to follow :)

I thank God for Aidan everyday and his gentle and sensitive heart.




Monday, April 6, 2009

Two Lips



Bought these at Save-On yesterday...

$2.98 for 5...

Absolutely beautiful...

Photography classes now complete...

Shot the flowers in M - Manual...I now know how to use it :)

But don't ask me about shooting anything with any amount of motion...still need practice with that one...

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Baptism

Today was an exciting day! When I first woke up this morning I was sure I wouldn't pack the kids up and take them to chuch by myself (as Wes had to sleep just coming off of night shift). I thought in my head "they are just doing a mass baptism, which is cool, but I won't get much out of it." Then, at about 10:15 I decided to go...my mom said she would watch the little guys for me and Aidan and I headed to church. What an amazing service! Over 100 people were baptized over the 2 services. I didn't realize how emotional it was going to be...how wonderful to see all those people announce that Jesus died so they could be forgiven!! Such a public declaration of faith...it was so awesome.

It made me reflect on the day I was baptized...June 26, 2005 at CrossRoads Church. On that day we had to give a testimony, and were baptized with the going down and up from the water, a cleansed soul. I knew on that day that was a big step I was taking...now I think about that day and would love to do it again....not to have more of my sins washed away but to just publicly declare that Jesus is King and Lord of Lords. I know so much more today about my faith then I did when I stepped into that water tank almost 4 years ago, and it has been such a wonderful progression in learning about our Lord. I knew so little back then, all I knew is that I wanted to follow Jesus..I wanted to be married to a man and raise a family with Jesus at the head. (Wes was also baptized on that day as well). That was a great place for us to start as a newly engaged couple...God has definitely had and will continue to have an everlasting place in our marriage and in our hearts!

I am so excited for every single person who came forward today to make such a public declaration! There are so many exciting times for you ahead with our Lord and Saviour!

Here are some photos from when I was baptized:





Thursday, April 2, 2009

4 Generations




My baba came down to Red Deer to visit last week and my mom was excited and asked me to take some 4 generation photos. Of course, because I don't have a girl, I was not in the photos...just the ladies. Why is that anyways? Anyhoo...I will get over it at some point :) Here is my baba, my mom, my sister and my newest little niece Shaelynn.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

New Nephew

I have been waiting to be able to post photos of my newest nephew Eli Colin who was born on March 30. This is our third nephew and just look at how precious he is! Hearing of his birth and seeing him had made me excited about our baby...although it is a few months away before we meet him or her. Congratulations Jennifer, Colin, Zachary and Rachel on the newest member of your family!!