The hand of God!

8 weeks ago, while admiring Ruthie, a girl at church noticed a small bump on above her nose. After a little research I decided to leave it alone and see if it went away. Last week while at the dr. office checking Ruthie's ears I asked the Dr. to look at the bump. She decided to send us to the hospital for an ultrasound. So on Oct. 20th we went in. On Monday the 25th we went into our Dr. to find out the results of the ultrasound. Our Dr. wasn't sure of the diagnosis so she wanted to refer us to an ENT. Ruthie had an ear infection the week before so I asked her to please check her ears to see if they had cleared up. She said that one ear was still red even after antibiotics so that was another reason to go to the ENT. I called twice on Tuesday to get the referral information. Finally it was ready. I had decided I would go pick up the paperwork after I picked up the boys at school. I decided to meet Greg for lunch, go do early voting, go look at a loveseat someone wanted to sell us and then go home to give the kids naps before picking up the boys at school. On our way home with the loveseat we realized Greg's van was at the church, so I had to take him back. When he got out of the car he said, "You need to go pick up the referral at ABC (the name of our Dr.'s office)." I decided he was right (and I was anxious to see when our appt with the ENT was). I arrived at the dr. office around 1:30pm. I asked for the referral and was handed a white envelope. I turned to walk out and glanced down at the envelope to see what was written on it. It said APPT: 11/19/10 5:25PM I immediately turned around and walked back to the desk.

Me: "I can't wait for this appt. My daughter has an ear infection now and the dr. doesn't want to give her medicine until she sees the ENT."

Nurse: Takes the envelope from me and calls the ENT's office and explains the situation to them. Then says to me, "The soonest they can get you in the 8th."

Me: "That is not acceptable. I need an appt. this week or I need medicine for my daughter."

Nurse: "I can try Dr. Nguyen's office."

Me: "That would be great. Thank you."

After talking to Dr. Nguyen's office the nurse asks me if I can be there by 2:30. Of course I can! It's now 1:50. I thank the nurse again for making the phone calls for me. Then I start making phone calls. First to Racheal to let her know I can't join her for lunch at my house, then to Greg to let him know we have an appt and I'm on my way to pick him up, then to Stacy to see if she can pick up the boys from school, then to family to let them know what is going on. It was kind of a crazy afternoon.

We arrive at the office at 2:20 and fill out all the paperwork. At 3:00 we go in to meet with the dr. I guess the reports from the radiologist gave a diagnosis of "possible glioma". That is when the bones in the head didn't fuse like they should have and some brain matter has squeezed through the hole left between the bones. The first question the Dr. asked us was who gave us that diagnosis. He thought it was odd to give that diagnosis after just an ultrasound. He said he was not convinced of that at all. He asked us some questions and then said he would like to watch the bump and see what happens. He started to go on about Ruthie's ears when I asked, "So we are just going to watch it and not do a CT scan or anything?" He thought for a minute and then said we should go ahead and do the CT scan. That makes me think he is just trying to cover himself and give me peace of mind. I would rather know for sure than to wait and see. Ruthie is scheduled for a CT scan at 9am on Friday morning the 29th.

The Dr. was very encouraging with what he told us. I am anxious to get the results of the scan so we can get on with our lives.

I was in awe as I saw God work today. Is it coincidence that I decided to go pick up the referral when I did instead of waiting? If I had waited I would not have gotten into Dr. Nguyen today and probably would have had to settle for the Nov.8th appt. Is it a coincidence that even after antibiotics her ear was still red but today when the ENT looked at her ears they looked fine? Had it not been red the day before I don't think we would have been able to get into the ENT early. Is it a coincidence that these events lead us to the better Dr. in town? I think not! All of these things are the hand of God in my life and the life of my precious daughter. What a wonderful, caring God we serve!!

I forgot...Happy 1st Birthday Ruthie!!!

I didn't forget her birthday, I just forgot to blog about it. We had a really simple party. Just a few friends, pizza, and cake. She won't remember anyway. I can't believe it's been a year. I feel like she should be 3 weeks old. Time has really flown by. I have known that she was my last baby so I have made every effort to cherish each moment of her infancy. It's just gone too fast. She took her first steps the day before her birthday. That was fun! Now she is walking everywhere! She still crawls every once in awhile, but she is definitely doing more walking than crawling. She has weaned herself too. We did make it to our breastfeeding goal of one year. Even almost made it to 13 months, but she is finished. I'm ok with that too, because she did it on her own.

Ruthie has been such a blessing to our lives. I love the connection we have as the only girls in the family. She really loves her momma! Before she was born I didn't really know how badly I wanted a daughter. She is such a joy!!! I am so looking forward to watching her grow and learn. I love you Ruthie Ann!!

Tired?...maybe a little.

It's been a rough last year sleep wise for me. Ruthie rarely sleeps through the night. I thought I was doing ok until this morning around 5am when Ruthie woke up. I went to change her diaper and found she had 2 diapers on. I vaguely remember doing this around 2:30am, but I don't remember what my reasoning was. Maybe I should take a nap today.

life and funny

Life is crazy!! Summer is over. The kids are back in school. Nate is a 3rd grader. Not sure how that happened. I feel like just yesterday I was holding him in the NICU at Freeman Hospital. His teacher is Ms.Diaz. She seems nice and he seems to like school this year. So far anyway. He is such a smart kid!! Eli is a 1st grader. He says he doesn't like school, but I think deep down he really does. His best friend Nolan is in his class. He was so excited about that. Sammy started preschool. With his personality he really needs the structure and interaction with the other kids. He is loving it. Our babysitter, Jaimie, works there too and he adores her. Ruthie and I are having fun enjoying the quietness in the house and the calmness of trips out. I love it! Ruthie is growing so fast. She'll be 1 in 2 weeks. So hard to believe.

I'm still enjoying photography. We just bought a new camera and lens. Greg and I are both able to use it for FishXpressions so it's wonderful!



Eli lost his first tooth lastnight and the tooth fairy brought him $5. This morning on our way to church I decided to get a latte from McDonalds. Eli told me he wanted pancakes. I told him that we were going to church to eat donuts. He said he didn't want donuts. I then told him I didn't have enought money for the pancakes. He said to me very serious, "Mom, why do we keep running out of money? We should stop spending and wait until all our teeth fall out." Too funny!!

6 months

It's been 6 1/2 months since Ruthie joined our family. It's been an adventure for sure! Her brothers love her so much! They take really good care of her. She is a good baby, but a very controlling baby. She doesn't like to be left alone. She is definately a momma's girl. She will pretty much cry is anyone else is holding her. She's ok with her daddy though. She doesn't have a sweet baby cry either, it's a 4 year old bloody murder scream. I just got her to start taking a bottle. I don't want her to have a bottle a lot, but when I go out with the girls or on a date with Greg. I want to be able to leave her for a few hours. We went to the dr. yesterday. She is a little peanut. She weighs 13lbs. 12oz. Her brothers were all over 16lbs. at this age. Mom looked in my baby book and the girls and even though I was a chunk the other girls weighed right around what Ruthie does at 6 months. Made me feel better. She is so much fun though. She is interacting so much. Rolling over and giving kisses. I love that she loves me so much. I'm just going to spoil her because she is my last baby. This is my last time to go through all of this.

I asked God to give me that "done" feeling when my family was complete. I didn't want to always wonder if I should have had one more. God really have given me that feeling. I love my babies, but I am ready to move to the next phase. I have my four and I am so thankful for each one of them. They are all wonderful blessings in their own way.
Eli just turned 6 on the 11th. We took a cake to school for him. I also made a cake for church. We decided not to do a big party this year. He didn't really want one. We just went as a family to Mr.Gatti's pizza and played. It was a lot of fun and Eli doesn't seem to think he missed out on a party. We did the same with Sam's 3rd birthday. They don't need anymore toys anyway. It was fun to spend the time as a family and not break the bank.
Since I wrote last the boys have started school at Hudson Elementary. They are liking it ok. Eli has good days and bad days. The last 6 weeks he got the Cody Character award which is a great accomplishment because he struggled so much at the beginning of the year.
Nate has been doing well also. He made A honor roll last 6 weeks. I love who my boys are. They all have such great hearts! I am super proud to be their momma.