What in the World?

I just want to start out by saying that I LOVE my OB Doctor. He has been my doctor for about five years, he delivered Gavin and a few of my nieces as well. If anyone is ever looking for a Doctor, I would recommend him and proudly declare that he is the best Doctor EVER!
However, I have run into a small problem. I don't think that this "problem" is exclusive with my doctor. I think that it is just a trend in our country. Anyway, here is my "problem" . . .
It all started with my first prenatal visit when I was preggo with Gavin. I was a teeny bit emotional (okay, I was crying hysterically) because I had these hormones surging through my body and I was just adjusting. I wasn't at all mad about being pregnant, it just caught me by surprise and everything was happening so quickly. Anyway, because I was acting that way in his office, he proceeded to tell me that I was a HUGE candidate for postpartum depression and that I would need to be monitored after I had the baby. At the time, I was shocked and didn't quite know what to think. I mean, I was just an emotional pregnant woman not at all nearing depression. Anyway, eight months later I had Gavin and all was well. Never got brought up again. I was happy and healthy and normal.
Well, after I had the miscarriage I was afraid that it was going to come up again. I have had to go back a couple of times to monitor the hormone levels in my body to make sure the Hcg goes back to zero again. Well, the first visit was a little interesting. Dr. told me that we needed to wait for about two more cycles before trying to get preggo again. I told him that we would most likely be waiting well beyond the two cycles. He looked at me and then went into this long ordeal about the miscarriage and explaining that it wasn't anything that i did and that there was no reason that I shouldn't go on to have a normal pregnancy again. I think that he must have thought that I was emotionally distraught and couldn't even think about getting pregnant again. When in reality, we just aren't ready, simple as that. I was just nodding my head and listening him out and agreed whole hearted in everything that he said. No big deal, I left feeling pretty good about things and just thought that the next time i go back I will just be very confident and very secure in myself and my decisions to give him no reason to monitor my emotional stability.Well, the last week or so I have felt super hormonal and really felt unable to control my inward emotions. I just feel super moody and have had to work EXTRA hard to keep myself in check and not say or do anything out of control. I knew that I needed to bring it up to make sure that it wasn't too abnormal and I just had a lot of questions about when my body would go back to normal and all of that. I thought that I was back to normal b/c physically, I feel great, but I just feel like my emotions are all over the place. Well, I go on to tell Dr. all of this and his first instinct is to pull out that pad and write me a prescription for Lepraxo - an anti depressant! I was shocked because I was just feeling a little moody, I wasn't in the depths of despair and it wasn't even affecting my actions or my functionality! He decided in a matter of minutes that I was going through postpartum depression. It was so weird and surreal. And he told me that if I start to take them I have to take them for six months and to not even think about coming off of them before that! He did say to wait a few days before I started to take them to see if I got any worse. I feel like anyone could walk in and get those pills with a small story, true or untrue! He said, I just want you to walk out of here with the prescription, weather you take them or not, I want you to have that as an option! I understand that post partum depression is a very real thing and a very serious thing that people suffer from. I have a good friend that actually suffered from it and it was very real! However, I think that it needs to be diagnosed most carefully and more extensive questions need to be asked! Because, after all, here I am happy as a lark holding a script for Lepraxo!

New Link

Today, as I was browsing topics on the internet, I found this amazing link - Facts about Miscarriage. I starting reading through the site, because when I was going through it, it seemed as if I could find no valubable information about the topic. No one would tell you exactly what, when or how. My doctor didn't even really give me any of the real, hard facts about what to expect. Anyway, I have added the link to my sidebar because I think that it is an amaizng site. A mother who lost her baby at 20 weeks started the site. It gives you tips on how to explain it to others and how to feild hurtful and stupid comments. I feel like I could write a book, or a pamphlet at the very least, on what not to say to someone during a miscarriage! She tells you what to expect before, during and after. There is even a page about coping with your feelings towards God. It really is a fabulous site and I would recommend you check it out!

http//www.pregnancyloss.info/

A Weekend of Up and Downs

We had a fun and busy weekend! We started out on Friday night with going out to dinner at Panera. It is in downtown Dearborn and it was such a beautiful night, so we just walked up there. We had a nice quiet dinner then we headed out to the mall, just to walk around. We took Gavin into the Disney store and found some things on clearance. We spent $2 and got Gavin a Buzz and Woody from Toystory. He was pretty pumped and it is so nice to treat him every now and then just because!

On Saturday morning we woke up and got ready and went downtown Detroit again and did the Eastern Market. We used to go a lot, but we haven't been since we moved to Dearborn. They have TONS of great deals on produce and meat and stuff. I got a quart of strawberries for $1. It is just fun to go and see all the different kinds of people. I wish I would have taken some pictures of it, but I felt funny snapping some shots.

Anyway, on Saturday night we decided to go to Greenfield Village - Americas Greatest History Attraction. It is about 1 minute away so we figured we should take advantage of it. We bought a years pass so now we can go anytime! Gavin had fun riding the model T and the train ( He thinks it's Thomas) and we saw quite a few people that we know, so that was fun. We got some custard and sat and listened to some RagTime band. It was a lot of fun.

Then the drama started this evening. We had Kyle and Laura over for dinner and as we were cleaning up the dishes Ryan was outside with Gavin and I heard Gavin screaming in terror! I started running towards them and Ryan ran inside with Gavin in his arms and all I saw was a face full of blood! It was horrible. I immediately panicked because I didnt know what happened and I took Gavin and sat down on the ground with him and he was just crying and crying and everyone was rushing around getting ice and cold wash clothes. Then I realized that I needed to settle down and everyone else would too! So I calmed myself and cleaned up all the blood and found all the cuts and scrapes and found nothing major so I just cuddled my boy and he let me put ice on the big bump. He calmed down completely within 10 minutes and 20 minutes after the accident he was cracking up and playing with everyone again. Ryan said that he was walking down the front steps and he just fell down the last two and did a complete face plant. I am pretty sure that he fell directly on his face. He is sleeping now, and I hope he sleeps soundly all night. Right before we put him down he was saying, boo boo hurts, boo boo hurts. I hope he doesn't wake up in the night crying. Poor little guy. This is the damage. By the time I took the pictures the bump had gone down considerable, but it is still pretty big.

Caesar Land

As you know, I havw been babysitting all summer for two, and sometimes four, kids. My mother in law also watches four of the grandchildren every Tuesday and we try and get all the kids together as much as possible. This past Tuesday we took all the kids to Caesarland. My sister Laura came with us and brought her baby Owen, my favorite little buddy, and one of her friends kids as well. We had nine kids total! We loaded all the kids up in two vans and headed out. We ended up staying there for three hours. It was a blast! It was a rainy day outside too, so it was the perfect place to take them. I didnt get any pictures of the day, but Laura took a ton and posted them on her blog - you can check them out here. Laura is new to blogger, so be sure to leave her a welcoming comment!

Pictures from my phone

I finally took the time to put the pictures from my phone onto my computer! I am so glad I did now, because they are so funny! I never thought I would like having a camera phone, but when you forget your camera, they sure do come in handy!


I took this picture last night. We walked up to the railroad tracks and put some pennies on them and then walked back later on after the train came and picked up our flattened change. Gavin loved it, he thought that it was so cool. Ryan used to do it all the time when he was little.

This was Gavin first time eating ice cream out of a cone. I know, he is two and half and has never had a cone. I didnt think that he would like it because he hates to be sticky. Well, he sure doesnt mind when ice cream is involved, obviously. By the time we got home from our walk he was asking to take a bath!

This is one of the kids that I babysit for, Margaret. We were in the car and when we stopped at a red light I looked back to see this. I had to snap a quick pic. It was so cute to see them do it all on their own. I bet Gavin was the one to initiate it, He loves Margaret.

This is our little guy helping out around the house. He alwasy likes to be just like daddy! I wish I would have gotten a picture of Ryan too, they had on the same outfit, by cooincidence of course!

This is when Gavin wrote all over his face with a pen. I was laughing so hard so he thought that it was a funny game. He would run downstairs, write on his face and then run all the way back upstairs to see his face in the mirror. It was pretty funny. I took the picture, washed his face and put the pen away. We have since had the conversation "we don't write on our faces, just on paper", but I am so glad I took the picture!

I can't really remember when this was. It is just so cute I had to throw it in there! Hope you all are having a great week!

Warning! Longest Post Ever

These last few weeks have really been a whirlwind for us. We have been quite busy and adventurous! I feel as though I have been neglecting the blog. Life is just getting so busy, a great kind of busy. We have just been having fun and spending lots of family time together!

Here are some pictures of our recent outings.

This is Gavin's new sand table. My sister bought one for Gavin and one for my nephew Jonas. It is the coolest table. Gavin LOVES it. When we go somewhere, we can get Gavin ready first and send him outside to play with it and wait for us. He absolutely loves it. It is one of the best gifts he ever got! My sister always spoils him and gets him the coolest stuff!

Yesterday we drove all the way out to my parents house to go to the Oakland County 4H Fair. I was so glad that we made the drive. We had the best time! I even took the two kids that I babysit. They all had a blast. It was toddler day there and they had some great deals. We were able to get the kids a wristband to ride all the rides. We just kept on running from ride to ride. My mom was able to take a lot more pictures than I did, so I am sure that I will post more later. I got to go on all the rides for free b/c Gavin was too small for most of them and needed a parent with him! I was surprised that he was so brave and rode all the rides. There was this little roller coaster that he went on and DID NOT have a good time. They actually stopped the ride for him because he was crying. I took a little video of it and will post it later, but it is really sad. I had to stop videoing (is that a word) it b/c I had to go and get him off. They wouldn't let me go on that one with him so he had to go it alone. It was not a good experience. He loved the Farris wheel, though and didn't seem scared at all of that one. Anyway, here are some pictures of our day.

Here is Gavin showing off the painting on his hand. He did not want his face painted so they just did it on his hand. He wiped it off with a wet wipe shortly after. He was a little creep ed out by it.

Here is Jonas on the John Deere. They had a huge tent full of John Deere tractors. Gavin is obsessed with them. He has this little video all about John Deere. I got him a little John Deere toy at Target the other week. He just thinks they are so cool. He about flipped out when he spotted them all. He likes to call them Jonny Poppers, because that is a nick name for them b/c of the sound they make. This was the highlight of Gavin's day. If you ask him about the fair, this is what he talks about. It is so cute.

" Look mom, JOHN DEERE!" (okay, so I totally make him point to it)

We had a fun fourth of July. We headed out to my parents house on Friday night. We got out there late because we stopped at Great Lakes Crossing and had some dinner. But we arrived just in time for some little fireworks at home. My dad and brother, well, really all the men in my family, are pyromaniacs. They LOVE fireworks and blowing things up. Gavin really got into it too. He was a little startled at first, but he was holding some sparklers after a few minutes and loving it! The next day we went to my sisters house and swam for a couple of hours. It turned out to be a really fun day. We were so tired, especially me, so we had to leave earlier than we would have liked. We were sitting at the pool and I felt like i could barely keep my head up. I think that I slept most of the way home.

I love the above picture. Gavin looks so goofy!
The pyro trait being passed down to yet another generation . . .



He was very excited to be holding a fire cracker!


We were amazed at Gavin the other day when he woke up from his nap and seemed to be three inches taller than before he layed down! We decided that it was time to start tracking his growth on the molding of his door. We will probably do it every year on his birthday. It will be so fun to see him grow up ( literally ) over the years!

Last Friday we drove into downtown Detroit. It is only about a 15 minute drive from where we are. They have this new thing called the River Walk. You can walk along the Detroit river and see the boats and they have fountains and fun stuff to do. They have a carousal, but we actually never found it. It was very busy down there. We didn't know it, but every Friday they have a free concert and it was packed out. We had a lot of fun though and Gavin loved running around and playing in the fountain.

The only place that wasn't super crowded was Hard Rock Cafe. So, we decided to eat there. We were a little nervous because it was so loud, but it actually worked out really well. We didn't have to worry about our noisy toddler disturbing other people around us!

notice the skyline of Canada in the reflection of the building behind us

Well, that is some of the things that we have been doing. We have had lots of play dates with family and friends too. One day my sister Laura and I had eight kids between the two of us! It was crazy, but he had so much fun. We went to the park and we were even able to give six of the kids baths! We thought it was a very successful day!

I hope that you are all enjoying your summer! It is hard to believe it is half over already! I have to say though, I am looking forward to the Fall!

Jonas

My nephew Jonas is crazy! He is so brave and will just jump right in the water without even thinking about it!

Misc. Pictures From Summer

These pictures are my new favorites. I think that they are so funny. The best part is that he would not say cheese he just yelled at the top of his lungs "eye boar" "eye boar"!

My nephew Mason at my sisters pool.

Daddy is having a great time maxin' and relaxin'

Gavin loves his new sand table from his aunt "Kimber"

What a Week

Well, it has been a trying week for our family. I am truly amazed at the amount of grace and peace that the Lord has given us. As we say at our church, "God is good, ALL THE TIME." I believe that with every thing I have in me. Although sometimes it is hard to understand the why in situations like this, I really take comfort in knowing that God does work all things together for good for those that love Him. I believe that so much good can come from this, even if it isn't until much later. We are very thankful for what we do have - Salvation, church family, a strong healthy two year old, our Godly heritage, a strong marriage rooted in God's Word, a beautiful home, monetary provision, our health, friends that hold us up in prayer and point us to Christ, this list could go on and on. My point is that we have chosen to focus on what we do have instead of what we don't. We thank you for your prayers and we ask that you continue to pray as I am sure hard days are still to come. Thank you!

Eye Boar, Nonnie and the likes

So, Gavin makes up words all the time. Either that, or they are real words and we just have no idea what they are. He always walks around saying "eyeboar" and "nonnie". We ask him all the time what is eyeboar or who is eyeboar, but we can not figure it out. I can't think of anything that it sounds like. Same with nonnie. He just says them at odd times and it is never consistent. I am almost positive he has just made it up. However, I thought I would ask you all to help us crack this case one last time. If we can't figure it out with your help, I will just make up my own definition. So, what do you think eyeboar and nonnie mean?

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Well, I feel as if we just started this new chapter in our life and now it is closing for us. I went to the Dr. today and found out that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. It has been a sad day for us but we are doing well, overall. The hardest part is yet to come in the next few days. Please keep our little family in your prayers. We are confident in the Lord's timing and in His will. I love being able to rest in His sovereignty.

News

Well, I have tried to think up a clever way to spill the beans. I even lay awake at night and think about how I will blog this. When I finally get the chance to sit down and do it, I am too tired and too brain dead to actaully remember what I wanted to write.So, I guess I will just blurt it out.

Gavin is going to be a big brother! As Ryan says, "This is 2 of 6". Gavin is excited but I dont think that he fully comrehends it yet. I am due on January 20th, so I am about nine weeks along. I am sure I have shocked you all because of my post several weeks ago about having more kids! I am very excited. I have been feeling great, which is amazing to me since i was so sick with Gavin. I think it must mean that it's a girl! We will see . . . What are your predictions? boy or girl?

Videos

The Summer Has Officially Begun

We have had a very busy weekend and start of a new week. On Saturday we went over the Jason and Katie's house and they made us dinner. It was fun. They live on a lot of property and they have a four wheeler. I thought that Gavin would be very timid of riding it, but he LOVED it. He could barely sit down to eat because he wanted to ride it so badly. He did really well. Everyone took him around the yard a few times. Gavin loves his Uncle Jason and Aunt Katie. They are so special to him.






I also started babysitting this week. It has been a very challenging couple of days. When i got home on Monday we ate dinner and ran a few errands and then I went right to bed. I was so exhausted. Tuesday was better. We had a playdate with my neices and nephews and all the kids had a really fun time. I think that we are going to make that a weekly event. Today I have them all at my house. It has gone pretty smoothly so far. I am going to try and upload some video during nap time, we'll see how that goes. In the mean time, say a prayer for us as we continue in our busy/challenging summer!

What a week!

Our week started out great. W had a fun Mmorial day at my mom and dad's house. We just hung out and relaxed and grilled some delicious burgers. Then Tuesday rolled around and we were going to get our carpet installed to complete the basement. The guys came and then went and left us with two peices of carpet that did not match. It was so weird looking. I dont know what they were thinking! Anyway, it took them a few days to come back out here, but they finally did and they fixed it today! So here is the basement, almost finished. The poles have been wrapped since this picture.




On Wednesday Laura came over and helped me price stuff for our garage sale. We had fun and Gavin played outside in the water all day. I filled up his sand box with water and he had a little pool. He had fun experimenting with different things in the pool. He even washed some of my car for me! He was so good and so cute!





On Wednesday night the drama started to unfold. We had been in the house for several hours and Gavin was really really hot still. So I took his temperature and it shot up to 103.9!! Yikes! I was a little freaked out. I called the Dr. and she told me just to give him motrine and bring him in in the a.m. He slept good all night, but I didn't. I set the alarm for 1:00 so that I could give him some more medicine. He was still flamin' hot so I was gald that I woke up to give him more. We got in to the Dr. office by 10:45, which was nice. They took his temp and it was responding to the motrine, so that was good. Gavin was really good the whole time we were there. They even pricked his finger so that they could find out if his infection was bacterial or viral and he cried a little bit, but he was a trooper. After they pricked his finger he crawled up on my lap and went to sleep. So I was sitting in the Dr.'s office waiting for his results and he was sound alseep! It was funny. I didnt even know he fell alseep until I heard him snooring. I knew he must have been feeling so icky to just fall asleep right there, that isn't like Gavin. Well, the blood test came back and they said the virus isn't bacterial, so no antibiotics ( Gavin has been fortunate enough to never have been on any antibiotic) but they did discover that he is anemic, so they gave us some perscriptions and sent us off to the lap for more blood work. There was this eight year old kid there who was FREAKING OUT when they took his blood. He was running around hysterical and was even running into walls and stuff. It was horrible. Then it was Gavin's turn. I was already freaked out b/c of the weird kid. But Gavin did so so so so good. He just sat there and cried a little bit. He even watched them the whole time. Ryan was trying to get him to look away, but he wouldn't. I didnt even watch it. I had my head turned the other way and all I could feel were Gavin's tears hitting my arm. It was so sad, but he didn't even pull away or anything. He just took it like a man. After a long day and evening yesterday, his fever finally broke sometime in the night. Ryan had to work late and Gavin's fever spiked up to 104.2 one time. My dad called me in the middle of a very dramtic tepid bath (complete with a popcicle bribe) and I was balling my eyes out b/c i felt so bad for Gavin and he wouldnt get in the bath. I think that my dad was about to drive all the way out here, but I assured him that everything was fine and I was just being overly dramatic. He gave me some good advice and told me to put him in the shower. It worked. He loved taking a shower like a big boy. Well, he liked it when the water was warm. I kept on turning it down on him and by the end of the bath we were both in the cold shower and I was singing "Jesus loves me" over and over again. It's the only song that calms him down! We finaly layed down at 10:30 and went to sleep. I set my alarm every four hours to check on him and give him more meds, but I didn't have to give him any so that was nice. I took his temp. this a.m. and it was down to 99.0 Today has been pretty uneventful, well, expect for one huge diaper blowout that resulted in throwing Gavin's bear rug in the garbage. But he is napping now. He ate a good breakfast and I think that the worst of it is over. Here is a picture of Gavin from last night. We were layng on the couch watching the wiggles togther. THis was Gavin's most comfortable position. He layed there like this almost the whole time. What a boy!!!!