Merry Christmas

Ultrasound #2

I went in for another ultrasound today. They had to check a few things and so I got to see my baby girl again (and I did make them double check this). Its amazing how much clearer everything is now that she is a little bit bigger - approx 2lbs 9oz already!

Here is a shot of her face (she is sideways with her chin on the left and the top of her head on the right) . . .


And here is a 3D one of her face. Its a little weird still cause she was folded in a "V" and both her legs and her arms were in front of her face. Much better than last time though - I wouldn't have even posted those. They were much too scary :) . . .

Man Cold

Isn't this the truth!

Monkey Bread

My mom used to make this for us occasionally when we were kids. Now Nicholas loves it when I make it for him - although it never tastes as good as when my mom made it.


When he gets a little older maybe we'll start the tradition of eating it while sitting around the dishwasher :)

Cherrios

So what happens when I let Nicholas pour his own bowl of cereal in the morning...





He certainly enjoyed himself though - I guess it makes for fun pictures to put in his album.

Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to share a few from yesterday and today - well actually more than a few :)

Nicholas carving his pumpkin yesterday...


Doing the "turtle face" in his turtle costume...


Digging for dinosaurs - one of his new favorite things :) ...




Excited to go to church and get some candy in his pumpkin!


The shell...


Chelle working her magic at the photo booth at church...


And Nicholas' pumpkin all lit up...

Grandpa's Truck & Pumpkins

Nicholas has been obsessed with any sort of transportation lately, so when Grandpa showed him his big truck today he was quite excited! We just went for a ride around the parking lot, but I think Nicholas thought he was in heaven. He even got to honk the horn! The quality isn't the greatest cause I only had my point & shoot with me, but here they are anyway.

Nicholas driving...


Nicholas & Grandpa going for a ride...


Talking on the CB radio...


Checking himself out on the fuel tank...


Later that day we went to look for pumpkins. Unfortunately the place we wanted to go was already closed. We didn't have a lot of time, so sadly we ended up getting one at Sam's Club. He enjoyed picking one out anyway :)

Well.....

The majority of you who voted were . . . wrong! And that includes me. :) We found out we are having a girl and I couldn't be more excited! I already did a little shopping in search of pink things today. I was hoping to share some ultrasound pictures, but I have to scan them from my pc and things aren't looking so good right now. But as soon as I get them on my computer I will definitely be posting them.

So the next question is - what to rename my blog??? Well maybe a baby name is a little more important right now :)

ETA - I just added some pictures. They weren't the greatest since she was moving around so much. I might even have to come back for another one if they need more detail - oh shoot :)

Profile...


The scary skeleton face...


And the feet - only one foot is clear to me though...

Robinettes

Yesterday we went to Robinettes with my Mom, Michelle, Dewey & Joy. Here are a few snapshots I took:

Nicholas helping me eat my "bap-puul"...


Joy...


Nicholas by the apple...


He almost fell asleep eating his cookie on the swing...


Dewey had to show me how he could climb the tree...


And FINALLY a little eye contact - I asked him to show me his teeth and he actually listened!!! Too bad it had to be when his face was covered with cookie :) I guess that makes it more precious.


Dewey, Nicholas and Joy (Nicholas was showing me his teeth again!)...


He was completely wiped out after an afternoon of fun...

Talking to Da-Da

Just a little video of Nicholas using the DVD player remote to call Daddy. He must be talking to someone funny :)

Vote

I was curious to see what everyone thinks I am having this time around, so I made a poll. Check it out and make a vote for fun --->

We have our ultrasound scheduled for two weeks from today and hopefully we can find out what it is . . . maybe I will even share. :) I can't wait to find out what our next little munchkin will be!

Tagged

I was tagged by both Nicole and Sara, so I figured I better do it :)
- - -
The rules.
1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog for the rules.
- - -
My middle name is Lynn:
L - I have been feeling quite LARGE lately - and I know its only going to get worse. Hopefully its starting to actually look like a bump now instead of just a big gut :)
Y - 'Y' can't I think of anything :)
N - NEED help with this - I am completely drawing blanks
N - NICHOLAS - my sweetest little boy. That counts right?

So that was probably a waste of time for you to read this. And I am pretty sure everyone who has a blog has already been tagged with this one so I am not tagging anyone else. Then again I will tag my mom since I know she would love to share her middle name with everyone! :)

And I wasn't going to even put this one on my blog since Nicholas didn't really do a whole lot of it (except for putting a piece of tape on the back), but this is his Abrakadoodle artwork from last week. He woke up extra early that morning and wanted nothing to do with being there. You can see a few of the scribbles he did on his own :)

Abrakadoodle Week 2

Here is Nicholas' art work form today. Its is a landscape inspired by Wolf Kahn - the bottom is supposed to be grass/land and the top is supposed to be the sky.


My mother-in-law came home yesterday from Brookcrest. She is glad to be back home, but we don't know yet whether she will stay there and get therapy, or if she'll go to Mary Freebed and have more intense therapy there. Before she left Brookcrest, her therapist told us that she doesn't think the Mary Freebed program will work for her because she probably won't ever recover mentally from this. This was quite hard to hear. I guess we can just keep on praying and hope for a miracle. She is doing very well physically though.

Making a Cake

Yesterday Nicholas and I made a cake. He sat on the counter and helped stir it and helped me put it into the pan. I let him lick off the spatula when we were finished and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it! My sisters and I always loved licking the spatula/beaters when we were kids - and I have to admit I had a little myself :)

The Next Paul Klee???

Well probably not. :) Nicholas had his first Abrakadoodle Twoosy Doodlers class this past Thursday. Its where kids (ages 20-36 months) learn about color, texture and more while experimenting with new and innovative materials. He's not quite 20 months yet, but I think he'll do just fine. It seems like it will be a lot of fun for both of us. This week they had to create an unusual self-portrait inspired by artist Paul Klee. Here is the one one that is supposed to inspire the kids:


And here is the one Nicholas created all by himself (well I glued the pieces on for him):


So what do ya think???

Chasing Ducks

Nicholas knows how to keep himself entertained when we go to visit my mother-in-law...



An update on how she's doing...
They met with the Brookside on Thursday and the good news is she is making progress physically. Bad news is insurance will only pay for two weeks of treatment there, so she'll have to leave next Wednesday. They are still looking into options of what do do next - if she'll stay somewhere else or if they will have someone come in a few times a week to do therapy with her at home.

Some Good News

Just wanted to update you all on my mother-in-law. She got into Brookcrest which is where she really wanted to be to do the physical therapy program. She was declined at first (something about the cost of her medication), but she was reevaluated and they accepted her. She moved in there last night and we went out there to visit her and see the place. She seems to be doing very well. In fact when we got there she wanted to take a walk around with us - and it was even her idea. She told us that the more she exercises, the stronger she will get and the sooner she can get out of there and go home. We are seeing more of a positive attitude the past couple of days, which is really encouraging for everyone! Please pray that she keeps on doing well and that she continues to have a good attitude.

Kind of a weird picture but thought I would put it out there anyway :)

Cute Chalk

I recently bought Nicholas some cute chalk - and yes I did buy it cause it was cute. Little did I know that the color on the outside is very dark and rubs off easily on skin. So you can about imagine what happened when Scott gave it to Nicholas to play with last night.




Notice the perfect Nicholas-sized hand print on his forehead...

I guess it made for some cute pictures :)

And a little bit of an update on my mother-in-law . . . they think they found a place in Hudsonville where she can stay and get the therapy she needs. She will hopefully be able to leave the hospital and get in there tomorrow to start the treatment.

Please Pray

Please keep Scott's mom in your prayers.


It was about two years ago that she was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor which spread to her lungs. They were able to remove the tumor and have been successfully treating the cancer in her lungs ever since - which seemed to be working well.

About a month ago, she began experiencing stroke-like symptoms. The doctors ran a lot of tests on her to rule out more cancer and they all came back negative. She has been working with Scott's sister, who is a physical therapist, to get her strength back on her left side of her body.

Last week she went back in to the hospital because she was having pain in her chest. The doctors found blood clots in her lungs. She has been there since so they can keep an eye on her. They want to make sure they don't get to her heart. Since she has been in bed all this time she has lost a lot more of her muscle and needs help doing nearly everything. We hoped she could get into a program for stroke victims, which would include very intense physical therapy, and even talked to her doctor about this. Other than the slow recovery from the stroke, she seemed to be doing ok.

So you can imagine our shock when the doctor told us yesterday that there wasn't anything else that he could do for her. He said the next step would be to bring hospice in to take care of her. What?!? We couldn't believe it! We just weren't sure what changed (other than the blood clots) with her health. The last time she went to see him, he told her that he expects about an 85% recovery - but it could take a year to get there. And now all of a sudden it seemed there was no more hope.

Scott's dad met with the doctor and social services this morning about all of this. They gave him some information on getting into a light physical therapy program, which they are looking in to. They aren't positive that it will work, but hopefully it will build up her strength enough to get into a regular therapy program.

Please pray that she will have the will power to go through with the therapy - which she isn't a big fan of.
Please pray for comfort while she is away from home. She will probably have to stay somewhere while she is in the therapy program and she really wants to be in her own house.
Please pray for healing - both physically and mentally.
Please pray for the entire family as everyone has a lot of very important decisions to make the next few days regarding her health and care.
Please pray for a miracle!

Exciting News!!!

Well some of you already know this, but Scott and I are expecting number two!!! I went to the doctor on Monday and got to hear the little heartbeat :) Its such an awesome thing to hear - it really makes it more real that something so amazing is growing inside of me!

Well I recorded the heartbeat on my camera and I was going to put it on here, but I got home and played it and I couldn't even hear it - I was so bummed! And no pictures cause I am actually using Michelle's mac while mine is being fixed (which will hopefully be very soon!)

Anyway, just wanted to share :)

Be Back Soon

I had to bring my computer to the doctor (aka the apple genius bar) to get a new dc chip or something. Hopefully it will be out soon so I can do a real post again shortly :)

Shiner

Just wanted to share a picture of Nicholas' first shiner. He got a little too close to his cousin who was swinging a baseball bat. It doesn't show up quite as good in the picture though.


This one looks like he is telling Joy off & she looks so sad. But really they were just blowing bubbles together...

Auntie Betsy joining in on the fun...

Joy trying to blow them - or eat them - not quite sure :) ...

And Nicholas trying too - check out the cross-eyes...