Overwhelmed

I have been feeling slightly overwhelmed lately. So I apologize to those of you who actually read this and wonder where I have been. :) There has just been so much going on that sitting down to write it out seems like a gigantic chore... and I don't need any more 'chores' around here.

The main deterrent, in my mind, is that I don't have easy access to my photos! Which is super frustrating to me, since I am so visual I rely on photos to tell my story, not my words. My desktop is having issues with the new wireless router we have, grr. Then, last week after finally locating my card reader from the move, I realized that it was broken! So there is no easy way for me to transfer photos to the desktop or the laptop (the one that actually works on the internet). I have photos in my camera from March that I haven't shared, or edited, or even gone through! I feel like I am falling so far behind in this area :(

May:

-Ami pulled herself up for the first time in early May!

-Moving and unpacking boxes in May, workmen, painters, carpet all happening before that. Oh yeah, and the moving company 'lost' one of our crates initially, but found it and sent it out to us a week after the main move in day.

-We visited a fantastic friend of mine, my college roommate, for a baby shower celebrating her first baby! YAY friends!

-Jeff officially graduated from Tepper with his MBA, and was the only one to wear shorts during the ceremony, you could see the flash of red shorts as he walked across the stage... whoops! But on the good side, he did not pass out from the heat like others were about to.

-My cousins visited and we went garage sale-ing all weekend, I got a BUNCH of great kid toys all for under $100!

June:

-Visited my friend again who is pregnant, just to spend some quality time with her before she has a baby and gets busy with life :) It really was great just to spend time talking and hanging out and getting things ready for baby to come!

-In other news, I turned 30... I know right? 30 feels weird to say.

-Father's day we went on a family bike ride, and I survived! We really didn't go far, but it was nice to do a fun activity as a family.

Then, as some of you who are on Facebook might know, Chase had a seizure three weeks ago. It was the scariest thing that has happened to me since having the kids. We still don't know 'why' it happened, initial ER tests came back normal, blood work on a 2 1/2 year old should be avoided at all costs FYI. Chase actually sat very well for the CAT scan though, and was acting more like himself about 3 hours after it happened. The ER Doc said Chase had an ear infection and was put on Amoxicillin. We have an EEG scheduled to check out his brain next week to make sure he doesn't have any type of Epileptic condition.

Then after the scare of that wore off a bit, 6 days later, he spiked a 102 temp, we were told his ear infection was back, asked how many ear infections this would make... I said this was his first one, and got a strange look. Upped the drugs to a more powerful one and were sent home. A day and a half later Chase broke out in a rash all over his face, legs and arms. We went BACK in to the Peditrician's office, and he got diagnosed with the Hand, Foot, Mouth virus and told not to be around other kids... which was G-R-E-A-T since we already had wonderful company in town with their two kids... FANTASTIC. Welcome to the plague friends!

Luckily our friends were pretty cool about it, considering their kids ended up catching it :( Bad fever for their boy, and slight rashes for both those kiddos... now don't I feel like worlds worst host in the world :( But the quality time we were able to spend together on the worlds longest play date was so amazing!

July:

We celebrated the 4th of July weekend with our friends from out of town and my parents. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful country where we have the freedoms we do. To marry who we wish, to blog our thoughts as we wish, to travel as we wish. Thank you to all those who have served our country and for the families of those who have served. Those people and their family have sacrificed so much for us... Thank you.

Jeff and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary with our friends, my parents and all the kids. Eating crab from the shell, and grilling out on our brand new grill. It was our first 'party' at our house, and the fact that we were casually celebrating the fact that 5 years ago, about 5 miles from our new house we were married. And look how much has happened since then, and how much stronger we are as a couple, and how blessed we are to have two healthy kids. Jeff went all out and got me presents, and even researched that the traditional 5 year anniversary gift is wood. So he searched all over to get me a square wooden bowl.. LOVE IT. And then even went so far as to get me a Bonsai tree! He claims he has no recollection of me saying that I love Bonsai trees and have always wanted one, but it must have stuck in there somewhere, because now I have a gorgeous little tree on my counter :) I seriously need to learn how to care for it though, since it is dropping leaves every day, but I think that might just be from the transplant in to the cool hand made bowl it is planted in... Jeff hand picked the bowl for me too :)

Then last weekend we spent some quality time with old friends from Western Illinois, some of my brother's friends that I knew and got to hang out with in college that now have families, and one of my sisters best friends from college who knows this group of people and also has a family. These people have been getting together for at least three years now, that I know of, every summer at my parents place to catch up. And last year I got to attend since we were living with my parents, and then this year we got a formal invite ;) 11 kids, 12 adults and lots of fun was had last weekend.

As I am sitting here writing, there is just so much to tell and not enough time to write it down... and probably too much information that would bore most people that read this. But here is a little more break down:

Ami is crawling F-A-S-T, and I mean booking it! She could walk if she wanted to, but does not feel steady when she lets go of things and sits to the floor. She will do almost anything to be held, played with and loved on... but will squirm like the dickens to get out of a diaper change, or outfit change... which is why she is just in diapers a lot ;) Ami will eat ANYTHING I put in front of her! She just loves to eat! :) I gave her pieces of homemade organic chicken today and she had two chicken tenders and probably would have eaten more if I had given it to her. At least one of my two kids is a good eater... this certainly will make life a bit easier, and diversify our fridge items! She has this deep belly laugh, but then will screech like a pterodactyl.. not kidding. Ami finally got her two bottom teeth about a month ago. And when she gives her big, squinty-eyed, smile she shows off those two little teeth and a LOT of gums. I just have to get a photo of it before she changes again :) She is 11 months now, oh my... how did she get this old? My baby will be 1 year old in less than a month, and I haven't started planning a party... poor second child. :( But I will make sure she has a yummy smash cake to dive in to... which I imagine she will, the way she likes food.

Chase is acting 100% himself, you would never know he had a seizure. He loves to run, jump off things, climb things and throw things. We have been working on 'learning letters' this past week and he really gets interested now, we will spend about 20min on it before he gets distracted and wants to play something else, which really is a good amount of time for him. We have got most the shapes and colors down for him, but numbers and letters are still a bit confusing. He does often ask, 'What dis say, Mama?' when he notices that a package, book or sign will have writing. His vocabulary is growing every day, and it seems like he keeps dropping those babyish words all the time. I miss how he used to say 'Doing-o?' for 'What are you doing?' and other little things, I try not to correct his speech because I want to hear those cute things for as long as possible... he is growing up too fast. Chase will turn 3 in September... where did the yearS(!!!) go?

Oh well, enough of my writing, this is going on forever. At least I was able to get down most of what has been happening these last few months, and with that I feel better... since I consider this my 'journal' and don't keep a hard copy one, it is like I am allowing myself to forget unless I write these things down.

So Thankful

There are just some days that being thankful impresses itself on me more than others. Today is one of those days.

I am thankful for warmth on a very cold, snowy day.

I am thankful for my husband, who is home now and starting his new job in February. I am thankful that he has a job that can support me staying at home with our two kiddos, thankful that it helps fund my photography hobby, my attempts at being an artist and designer. And thankful that he supports me in pursuing those passions.

I am thankful that his job can provide any one of these beautiful house we are looking at where we can grow into as a family, and be near to my parents.

I am thankful for two healthy and happy children that give us so much joy and so much love.

I am thankful for Christmas music that reminds me where my heart and head should be, and also reminds me to be joyful and childlike.

I am thankful for the photographer across the street that, when her shop lights up with a strobe, it is like a reminder to be creative and to go do something. I am then thankful for crafty blogs that give me so many ideas...

I am thankful for my baby girl who is 4 months old already, and who brings my heart so much joy... and brings happiness to others too!

I am thankful for my 'big' boy, who is a little over 2, who gives me reasons each day to laugh, smile, give and receive hugs.

I am thankful for friends, who come to help, come to play and come to say 'Goodbye' but somehow that word is never mentioned... it is more like a 'we will just pretend you are not leaving, and make some excuse to come visit you' or a 'see you soon.'

I am thankful that no one threw us a surprise going away party, because honestly, I hate surprise parties. I have only had surprise parties when I was moving away as a child, so really, those parties were no fun at all. :(

So instead of saying "Goodbye" I am going to say that I am so thankful for all our friends that we have met while living in this beautiful city. Thankful for our time together, that we have hopefully all made each other better for knowing each other.

See you soon.

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For those friends that are not pictured, please don't feel left out! I have been so busy experiencing this last week with friends that I keep forgetting to document it :(

I shall try harder this last week!

A BUSY Summer

Life has been pretty busy lately, with:

1) Jeff's internship with Deloitte in Chicago this summer

2) Jeff, Chase and I moving in with my parents for 8 weeks

3) Family functions GALORE!

4) Being Pregnant

5) Having an active toddler ;)

6) Losing a good friend

So basically I have not blogged for QUITE a while... Which makes it difficult to sit down and try to share all that has been going on. First off, there have been some 'scares' in this pregnancy, which I have not wanted to publicly share since it was not until recently that baby and I were 'cleared' and approved for a normal pregnancy/birth. They basically thought there was an aneurysm on the umbilical artery, which is VERY rare, and in most cases, the outcome for the baby is, shall we say, not good. They have kept track of it, via ultrasounds, over the months, and the last appointment I had basically showed that there was no growth of this 'thing' and that it was so insignificant that if they had not seen it in the first place, they wouldn't have noticed it now! Can we say "THANK YOU JESUS!" Prayer has become a much more regular thing with this pregnancy, and for that I am glad, trust is such a big thing, especially in the face of the very scary unknown.

The next thing that has been going on with this pregnancy is that, with all these ultrasounds, we have been able to keep track of the baby's growth rate. And when first 'scored' she was in the 50th percentile, more recently she was between 26-28%. For the midwives and the MFMs (high risk OBGYNs, for those of you not familiar with the term... I had no idea they existed before this pregnancy), it is something to note, but not necessarily something to be overly concerned about. Since 1) I am small and most of Jeff's family is small and 2) Chase was only 6lbs at birth, which means that I might just make small babies (good for birthing, mind you!).

The only thing is, that with Chase, my fluid levels were shockingly low (2cm), and I was going to have to be induced with him. But by the grace of God, I went into labor spontaneously the night before they were to induce me, and I didn't have to take any drugs. (I had planned a Birth Center birth from the beginning, and never dreamed I would have to get induced!)

Because of this history with Chase, they have been monitoring my fluid levels as well with all these ultrasounds. Two weeks ago, the day after I traveled back to Pittsburgh from my parents house in IL, I went in for an ultrasound and my fluid levels were at 8.7-8.9cm. (For those of you not familiar, a typical range of fluid levels go from 5cm-25cm. Anything between 5 and 10cm is on the low side, and usually needs to be monitored.) I went in for a follow up ultrasound 4 days later, and my fluid level had rose to 11.1cm. Which convinced us that I had been dehydrated, probably because of the move back to Pittsburgh, the packing/unpacking and the intense heat we were having that week.

Just today, at my now weekly check up with my Midwives, I measured small again :(

That could mean a couple of things, 1) I am dehydrated, which I am almost positive I am, and have been thinking it since the weekend, or 2) I just get low fluid levels at the end of my pregnancies, but which would have to be addressed. I am supposed to schedule an ultrasound for as soon as I can... but I think I am going to try to schedule it on Saturday or after, that way Jeff will be done with his Internship program and if anything comes of the ultrasound results, then he will be here.

Me: 38.5 weeks pregnant:

On another note, we suddenly lost a good friend of our family, Roark. He has basically been an uncle to me my entire life. My parents were friends with him in High School, and he is the only person to have actually visited us in every city we have lived in. He has been such a big part of our lives that to loose him so suddenly by pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the heart) was a huge shock. The worst part of it for me was that there really was no practical way for me to get to Milwaukee, where the Memorial Service and Mass were held. While the Midwives couldn't have stopped me, they couldn't promise that I wouldn't have this baby somewhere along the road while driving there. At 38.5 weeks pregnant, it was just a bit too much to do. Plus, I gave birth to Chase at 38.5 weeks, and had already been dehydrated from one long car drive. Not to mention the emotional stress that I know would come about from being there. It hurt me a lot to have to stay here, but I know Roark would have been the first person to step up and tell me not to risk such a thing. He was such a giving and generous person with such a big heart for everyone. He was greatly loved and will be sorely missed. I love you so much Roark, it is just too hard to say good-bye.

Chase and Asher - Best Buds

Chase and Asher (the son of our friend's Sarah and Micah) have been hanging out a lot lately and are really having a great time together! Here is a collage of some of their adventures together:

1. Throwing balls off the deck 2. Visiting the Zoo, and seeing the lions 3. Wondering how to get all those balls they just threw off the deck! 4. Chase in his Chinese outfit for International Festival at Tepper 5. Chase and Asher wanting to sit together in their PJs :) 6. Watching the Elephants together at the Zoo 7. Fitting under the table together, just because it seemed like a fun thing to do! 8. Asher in his Chinese outfit for Int'l Festival at Tepper 9. The boys again sitting together in the chair 10. Before crawling under the table, they were picking at leaves stuck between the deck boards :)

Ahh... Young Love ;)

We watched Chase's girlfriend Lydia the other day... and OH MY did they have a BLAST together.... no kidding, these kiddos didn't want to be apart for one minute!

Here they are chasing each other up and down the hallway, from room to room! :)

Even though it was SUPER cold, I walked them to the park since they were starting to get stir crazy being inside all day...

Hey Mama, I'M HAVIN' FUN!

Lydia didn't know what to do with the leaves at first, but then really liked the way they made noise when she smacked them :)

Here they are in action!

Awww, what a beautiful little girl...

Here we are, packing up to go... and what does Chase do?

He goes in for a KISS!!!

Lydia gets a little shy... :)

Here is the little cutie pie having fun with me (and watching the traffic go by) as Chase took a nap...

What a sweet little girl... makes me want to have one ;)

I must say though, having two kids (the same age) on rotating nap schedules was challenging... but wow, did we have tons of fun (and tons of GIGGLES!)!

Talyor 5 Year Reunion

Has it seriously been that long?!? or... has it ONLY been 5 years?!? I don't know which describes it better... but it seems weird that chapter of our lives is now being marked by '5 year' increments.

Here are two of my lovely roommates... who are two of my closest friends (sorry I never call you guys)

Here is a pic I just found from our college days! Sorry Shan, I can't find a digital one of you :( I guess I will have to scan all my negatives in one of these days (wasn't life before digital so, so... stone age?!?) But here is our other roomie Jen :) YAY JEN!

(oh my goodness! Do I actually have some color?? aka - days before the dermatologist)

Chase met up with Lucas, who is a month(?) younger and like 110th Percentile... ahh, Chase, you are destined to be tall someday, I just know it... at least taller than your Mama! :)

Of course, they both wouldn't look at the camera at the same time (ANY TIME) but they were super cute playing together among the college students who watched them like they were a rare species... which I guess you COULD consider babies a rarity on a campus ;)

Lucas' mom texting in the background, as she and I 'herd' the boys away from the non-baby-proofed bulletin boards where brightly colored tacks were conveniently placed at child level... thanks college students! ;)

I didn't get to take any other photos of the weekend, as I was busy running after our little guy... but it was fun to see old friends and professors :)