Another quick Eli update

We are home from the urologist. Eli checks into St Francis at 7am tomorrow for a VCUG. He is to little to be sedated so we will see how that goes. This will check to see if the urine is refluxing back from the bladder into the kidneys. Then back to the urologist at 1pm to find out what we are going to do next. The big kids are still staying with my parents, so it's just the 3 of us here tonight. We are beyond exhausted and hoping to rest a bit tonight before we head back to the hospital tomorrow. We will update more when we can.

Thank you to everyone for all the kind wishes, prayers, thoughts, food, drinks, check ins, and company!! We are soooo blessed to have so many amazing people in our lives!!! love to all!

****I keep forgetting to post this. My good friend who is an amazing photographer took some newborn photos of Mr Eli last week. Here is the direct link to her blog so you can see a few of her photos! Photos of Mr Eli

Quick Hospital Update

After almost 8 hours we are home from the hospital for the moment. Eli does not have a bowel obstruction BUT his right kidney is incredibly large, all the way down to his bladder, and he has Level 3 reflux. His kidney isn't causing the problems, BUT it is making the reflux worse potentially. His doc immediately started him on medication for the reflux, and he is back at the doc in the morning for a weight recheck and he will be going to a urologist for deeper testing on his kidney. She gave some reccomendations on different positions to nurse in, and to help him pace himself with nursing, and soooo many more instructions.
We are all exhausted and hoping to get a bit of sleep tonight. More information tomorrow.

headed to hospital

1 week out of the hospital and he's headed back. started spitting up 2 days ago, started changing colors. its so much he's gagging and choking on it. this morning it was glow in the dark yellow/green. Doc is greatly concerned. admitting him to St Joe, she thinks it's either kidney not functioning OR a bowel obstruction. labs, renal ultrasounds, upper GI's etc..steadily losing weight and she's concerned. We will update when we can.

We are Home!!!

It is soooo nice to be home! Little man is doing well. He's peeing and eating well so for now they are happy. He will have his kidney ultrasound when he's 2 weeks to get a better idea of what is going on. His weight dropped down to 5lbs 7.7oz which is nothing out of the normal for a newborn! He will go to his pediatrician next week and have his hearing and such rechecked, so we won't know more until then.
He's doing much better with the spasms, so it definitely looks like it was simply a slightly under-developed nervous system that made his nerves and muscles a bit overly jumpy. As the nerves have settled down he's able to sleep a bit more comfortably which has been good as well!
His siblings got to meet him yesterday and they were all sooo excited! Ariana's first question was why does he have hands! Over and over! LOL. Everyone got to hold him and they all thought that was great! I didn't have the digital for that so as soon as my mom gets her camera developed I will post those 1st pictures!
We will get more photos updated soon! Promise!

Annoucing the Arrival of....

Elias Richard. Born December 1st, 2009 at 4:02pm. He weighed 5 lbs 11.4oz and was 16 inches long.

We got to the hospital on the 1st at 6am. Had the amnio at 9am, and got the results around 11am. His lungs were ready and Dr J decided induction was the way to go. I was dialated enough that Dr J agreed to just break my water and not use any pitocin and see what happened. He broke my water at 12:11pm. I needed nothing more. I labored on the birthing ball at the very end to make it thru the last little bit of labor. By the time I felt the pushy feeling beginning I was 8, and a few contractions later knew I couldn't wait any longer. They paged Dr J but he didn't make it until a few minutes after Eli was born. Dr J atleast got to deliver the placenta! :) Eli was doing well and holding his own.

He did pee immediately after being born, so that gave the confirmation that his kidneys were indeed working. He is having alot of muscle spasms and they think this is from his nerves not 100% being developed. He had a cranial ultrasound this morning to check for brain bleeds and it came back good. They've also been checking his blood sugars and they have all come up well. Right now it's alot of swaddling, strong holding, and no gentle touching. That seems to help. He's nursing wonderfully so that is definitely a good thing. Here in a little bit they will be running more lab work and checking his electrolytes to make sure there is no imbalance there. He didn't pass his hearing test in either ear this morning, they are thinking it's a bit of fluid from birth, so he will be retested tomorrow morning and then they will go from there. Apparently his testicles haven't dropped and are still in his abdomen. This is something they will watch over the next month or two, and if they do not descend on their own then he will need surgery to bring them down. Time will tell on that one.
He will be sent to a pediatric urologist when he is 2 weeks old for kidney testing and ultrasounds. Since he is passing urine, they want to give his body a chance to stabilize before they do all of the testing. Obviously if he begins having problems they will do the testing sooner, so we will keep track of his wet diapers!
Lastly he had a jaundice test, and it's slight but nothing to worry about so that is also good! All in all he's doing super good!
I'm feeling great. My labor was less than 4 hours, no meds, no pit, no nothing, and the only thing on me that is sore is my danged right hand where they put the dumb IV for emergencies. :)
And I know everyone wants photos so I'll end with a few of those! :)

Home from Ultrasound and Doc

This morning was our 36 1/2 wk ultrasound and doc. It was definitely not good. Mr Eli has only gained 3 ounces in 3 weeks, which is obviously a huge problem. His kidney has also enlarged some more, now up to 2.3, and the other biggest change is my amniotic fluid has gone from 14 to 23.5, which is now way to high. Dr J thinks we are pretty much hitting the point where Eli is going to be better out than in. He wants to simply get to 37 weeks, so he called the hospital and they have me schedualed for Tuesday Dec 1st, check in at 6am. I will have an induction and assuming his lungs look OK I will be immediately induced afterwards. Nobody knows what to expect as right now Eli only weighs 4lbs 13oz. Dr J thinks the massive amount of amniotic fluid is what is causing the major pain and cramping in my back and stomach and some of the discomfort with taking deep breathes. He thinks the placenta simply isn't functioning anymore like it's supposed to.
I'm numb and freaked out all at the same time. I have so many things I still need to get done. I'm not even sure how to prepare or what to prepare for as we have no idea what to expect after his birth. It's going to be a long week and a fast week all at the same time.
I will update more as we know more, and I promise to get some new pictures up of the kids over thanksgiving.

Quick Updates

Tomorrow is 36 weeks pregnant! Thank heavens I'm nearing the end. I've been having alot of pain and discomfort the last week or so. My doc is almost positive it's from my surgery and there is nothing that can be done about fixing it but delivery. I'm just focusing on getting thru each day and getting ready for Mr Eli. Today I decided to get all of his clothes and things washed, and tomorrow I am hoping to get the last of the shopping done. I don't have much left, but I will feel better when it's all done! We have our next ultrasound and doc appt on Tuesday morning so we will know more then!

The kids are doing pretty good! Emily has decided to join TKD and they were able to get her started this coming week instead of her having to wait until the beginning of next round. She's super excited to get started. Jace is still loving it and is excited for Emily to join him so he'll have someone to practice with! Benjamin is busy with school, and is learning to write his full name. He's asking alot of questions lately including why his name has so many new and weird letters! :) Ariana is in the middle of testing for her IEP. She had her 1st round this last Tuesday and did really well. She will have more the week after Thanksgiving!

Other than that we are just getting ready for the holiday and Mr Eli. I will get new pictures up this weekend and hopefully some photos of the house! Super behind on that!

My Literal little boy

Mr Ben has always had trouble understanding meanings and hidden things and takes everything very literally. It's all taken at face value and if that's what he sees or hears then it's set in stone that this is how it is. We left our house this evening to head to my parents for dinner. I just had the little 2 with me as the older 2 were already over there for the afternoon. As we were loading up the church by us had their church bells going. Ariana stops and asks what this is. Ben looks around and informs her that it is music from Santa's workshop. She's completely happy with this answer. We get to my parents and the kids want to watch a movie. So my dad puts on the 1st Santa Clause movie with Tim Allen. Ben watches the 1st few minutes and comes into the other room with mom and I. We were discussing christmas presents and asked him to go back and watch the movie. He informs us that he doesn't need to. Santa's Dead. We attempted to explain that he needs to actually watch the whole thing and that santa isn't actually dead. He says nope santa's dead. In his mind the movie is complete and it's all over. It will be interesting to now see how the Christmas season goes and what he tells the poor unsuspecting children at school.
Oh and to finish off his christmas discussion. Mom was asking him who's birthday is at christmas, as they were talking about church and such. Benjamin looks at my mom and informs him that it's baby Eli's birthday. He keeps asking us when Eli is coming and as an easy marker for him we just tell him at Christmas Time. So apparently he is now confusing all of these things together in his mind. Poor Ben. :)

Ultrasound Today

Today we had the ultrasound/biophysical profile. Mr Eli's heartbeat was 146, so again right where it should be. My amniotic fluid dropped from 17 to 14 BUT this is a small drop and completely normal for end pregnancy so no worries there! The good news is my little man is head down now exactly where he should be. We were all a bit surprised, because the hear really was that my muscles from surgery were going to simply prevent him from flipping. The bad news is his right kidney was now 2.1, the last ultrasound he was 1.81 so again it's enlarged more. (normal is 0.7) So still watching that. We will have another ultrasound in 1 1/2 weeks. So Dr J assumes that all the cramping and discomfort the last 2 days was from Mr Eli flipping himself into the head down position! Well worth it for that! So we are back to waiting but I'm sooo much more at ease simply knowing that atleast he's head down, so that cuts the c-section out of the equation!!! YIPPPEEEE! Oh and today is 35 weeks..time if flying!

Last Minute OB appt

I ended up with a last minute appt today at the OB. I woke up this morning feeling really crampy. As the day went on the cramping got a bit worse, especially in my lower back and I had alot of pressure. Dr J had me come in. Eli's heartbeat was still good at 142, but it was located this time on my left side about halfway down my stomach, which is competely different than before. So the question is did he try to turn and got stuck so that is why I'm having so much pain and discomfort and cramping. Dr J is concerned that if his kidneys have swelled more and are having a harder time functioning that will cause my amniotic fluid to decrease which will make it harder for him to turn. So tomorrow he has schedualed a complete ultrasound and a biophysical profile. He wants a breathing score, full weight and size, full kidney assessment, amniotic fluid levels, etc...So we are hoping to get more info. In the mean time I'm supposed to relax and not do to much. Easier said than done with 4 small children, and an exhusband who refuses to stop harrassing me. :)

In other news we did hear back from Ben's school. She spoke with the social worker and she got some numbers she wants to call and see what kind of extra support we can get for him since he's struggling. We will be working with them and making some of these same phone calls as well, so hopefully we can get some answers quickly.

Jace is doing well. He had TKD again tonight and absolutely loves it. It really keeps him busy. He has his 1st round of testing coming up in December as well as a family Christmas party. He's doing well in school, and has had a slight homework break so he's really enjoying that!

Emily is doing pretty good. She's been super busy with a research project. It was a pretty large project that has taken her the last 2 weeks. It's due tomorrow and she's really glad that it's going to be all behind her! Now to go back to focusing on all of her reading projects and assignments!

Ariana is doing well! She's enjoying having her own girly room where she can play kitchen, dolls, and dress up. She begins all of her testing next week for her Transition and IEP and I'm very curious to see how she does with it! She has great workers and a great time so I'm confident she'll handle the stress of it all well!

More updates tomorrow when we are home from the ultrasound!

34 1/2 week OB appt

Had my OB appt this morning. Mr Eli's Heartbeat was 144, which is good. The bad news is his head is right up partly under my right rib still. Not where it should be. Dr J had trouble feeling the exact positioning of the rest of his body as my stomach muscles are still sooo tight from my surgery less than a year ago. With my muscles being shortened and sewn together it makes for a whole different pregnancy situation. Dr J says he doesn't think manual turning would even be possible with how my muscles are, not that he's willing to do that anyways. We don't have any more updated info on his kidneys or his weight until my next appt/ultrasound on November 24th. Dr J says if at that point he is still breech then a c-section will be schedualed. For those of you who know the M & M story, Dr J said he forgot to tell us that Peanut M & M's are the only ones that work! :) gotta love him! In other news I've shrunk 3cms in the last 4 weeks, so not sure what that is about, just soooo hoping that Eli is still gaining good week. Anxiously awaiting the next ultrasound.

In Benjamin's world. Finally got a call back from his teacher, who is putting out the word to his social workers and we are going to find who in the community is will to take on Ben's case and get some plans figured out. The only changes at school his teacher said is that they stopped using his individual TEACH scheduale and he is using the class scheduale only. She says he seems to be doing well. She is at just as much of a loss as we are, so hopefully with everyone involved we can figure out what is going on. I love him to death but I SOOOO exhausted. Yesterday was a day of questions and he obsessed about them most of the day. We spent large quantities of time yesterday discussing what bug eats paper. He wasn't happy with any of our answers and we were never able to figure out what he was wanting. He is now sleeping in the loft right outside of our bedroom where we can constantly keep an eye on him, his privacy has been completely taken away and he has very minimal things, and someone is constantly following him around. It's rough on everyone but we don't know what else to do right now. We can't have him hurting himself, or his siblings, or burning the house down.

Thank you to everyone for the kind words, emails, posts, and offers of help. I've been super slow to respond, and I know even when I have it's pretty vague. Unfortunately we don't know what we need for help. It's a constant and hard to say what would or wouldn't help. So if we don't respond it's not that we are being rude, we just have no idea right now. It's basically daily survival mode.
Love and hugs to all!!!!

Jace and Ben updates

Jace had his surgical procedure done on Thursday. He did well, and came out of anesthesia so much easier this time than in the past so that was great as well. She checked out the esophogus, stomach, and small intestines. All looked good, and she took tons of biopsy's from each area. We will obviously not have those results for a few days. His valve is finally closing on it's own so that is also very good as well, as at his last testing it wasn't. She thinks we are dealing with CVS. She is keeping him on his prevacid, but lowering it to once a day, and she is adding another new medicine to help with the CVS. Before starting his new med, he needed to have an EKG and we go those results back late Friday, and they were good. So we will start the new med tomorrow. We went down to the 1 prevacid a day and the throwing up has already restarted so we are hoping the new med will situate quickly.

Benjamin has been a disaster. He has gotten a hold of crayons, pencils, pens, emilys nail polish, lipstick, and a glue stick and completely demolished his bedroom and 2 bathrooms. He completely covered the bathrooms and 1 of Ari's toys in water. We can't figure out where he keeps finding all of these things and what to do about it. It's a constantly struggle with him and he's constantly getting everything and destroying everyone's things. Then last night he pushed Ariana down the stairs and turned the lights off on her. She of course wasn't thrilled. Today Bob and I decided we needed to AGAIN rearrange the bedrooms so Ben would have minimal things and was where he could be supervised constantly. We were upstairs getting a few things done and kept smelling something burning. We all started roaming around the house trying to figure out what was going on. Ben had taken a huge wool pom-pom and had thrown it on the 100 watt light bulb underneath the lamp shade. It of course was on fire. Luckily we found it before it was able to spread any more to the entire rest of the living room. We are going to have to be calling EVERY one of Ben's workers tomorrow, as we need help. We've got to figure out what to do. I can't keep following him around constantly, and having him hurt people and potential endanger the entire household. I'm just losing my mind dealing with the constant problems with Ben, and so is everyone else in the household.

Such a busy week

This week is HUGE. We have sooo many major things going on this week. It's a bit overwhelming.
Ariana has transition meeting tomorrow. This is where we will begin discussing her upcoming 3rd birthday. She will begin full evaluations and testing again at the end of this month to determine specifics, but we will begin discussing what we all want written in her 1st IEP. They know for sure her diagnosis of Sensory Integration Disorder will stay, and we will continue receiving speech and physical/occupational therapy. We are hoping to be able to get her into a preschool setting 2 days a week and obviously her additional therapies. I'm not looking forward to going thru the entire IEP writing process again as it is exhausting and frustrating. Hopefully it will go smoothly.
Jace has his surgery schedualed for Thursday morning. We check into the outpatient surgery center at St Francis at 9am. He's not really looking forward to it obviously. They will do all of his biopsies so we can again verify that no cancerous cells are showing up in the esophogus. In addition she is going to be checking and testing all the valves as she's considering changing his diagnosis now from GERD to CVS. So we are looking forward to the results and hopefully getting situated on some new meds that might work a bit better. Right now we are on limited dairy of all sorts again and that definitely seems to help but the stomach aches and headaches definitely haven't gone away. After dealing with this for 5 years he's pretty easy going about it all, but the older he gets some parts of it do definitely bother him way more than they used to. He will be missing TKD on thursday and isn't happy about that. He's loving it and it's kept him super busy! We will definitely be continuing it next round!
Benjamin is doing pretty good. He like always has his days. He's doing pretty well at school and really getting into the groove a bit more this year. He's working a bit more on his academics and lots on his social. They've been doing alot more in classroom speech times to really push him to talk and interact with the other kids. he's still using a full TEACH scheduale at school on the door and she's now doing a portable TEACH scheduale for centers and such. We are hoping to switch over to the portable scheduale completely by next year as we think this will make the kindergarten transition easier. We are still dealing with alot of temper issues and obsessions with him at home which are beyond exhausting. Right now the biggest obsession is hugs and kisses for the kids when people leave. This usually takes 15 to 30 minutes depending on his mood because he must see everyone give each of his siblings both a hug and kiss, which usually takes multiple tries. He also does this randomly if we take a shower, or go to the bathroom, or step outside to take out a bag of trash. Many times when company leaves he will continue screaming for 30 plus minutes claiming he didn't see Ari get a kiss, or something like that. It's exhausting and makes goodbyes very long. We are hoping he settles a bit before the new baby. He is going to be going for another round of full testing the end of November. He will be getting fully evaluated again and doing all the IQ testing etc. This is hopefully the last process for his social security application to be accepted.
Emily is doing well. She's incredibly busy with school. The farther into the year the busier she gets. She's doing her 1st little research project right now, and that's been using up alot of her free time. She's enjoying the work and the reading though so that is good. Her battle of the books program ends in a few weeks and she's definitely not thrilled about that part. Bob has been teaching her to knit so that will give her another new hobby to pick up until her next school program begins, not that she will stop reading!
Bob and I are doing well. Just trying to keep up with the kids and life. I'm super pregnant and exhausted and not sleeping that well. So that obviously doesn't help. More updates soon, especially after Jace's surgery!

33 weeks pregnant!

Today is 33 weeks already. Time is flying by so quickly. This has definitely been my fastest pregnancy and isn't slowing down. Hopefully the end stays that way. I haven't taken a picture since 21 weeks I think it is, so I had Bob take one this morning. So here it is! Since my surgery and the fact that little man is upside down my belly doesn't look super big, but I'm measuring alot higher than normal for this point. If that makes sense.

A Bit Grouchy

The past few days I've honestly been a bit grumpy. I went from a planned homebirth, to a possible planned induction at a hospital, to a possible planned c-section. I feel like everything I wanted has been taken away. And to top it all off, we have no idea what is going on with Mr Eli and what he will need immediately after birth. They can't completely test his kidneys until he's actually here, so it leaves everything up in the air right now. We can only wait. I'm not good at waiting and I'm scared about what is going on with my son. I don't like not knowing what is going on. So I've been in a bit of a grouchy funk. Then I feel guilty for feeling that way. I know there is nothing I can do about it, but it doesn't change how I feel. I need to grieve and move on. Wow that sounds a bit cold though, and that's not how I mean it. I hope it makes sense to someone. I just need to snap out of this and do whatever I can to get thru the end of this pregnancy.

The last 24 hours Mr Eli has been SUPER active, moving around, making my stomach form into weird shapes. I'm not sure if he's maybe attempting to get himself flipped back around or if he's just goofing off. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but definitely trying not to get my hopes up. He's sitting super goofy at the moment and my hips and lower back have been horrible, to the point where I've spent alot of time sitting on the couch. Hopefully that will adjust as he adjusts and situates better.
More info to come as we get more info! Thank you to everyone for all the encouraging words!

Emily's Bday Party, Night of the Living Zoo, Ultrasound

Emily's 9th birthday party was yesterday. We did crafts and they all played outside and had a great time. Cake and presents followed. So got alot of great stuff and she's super excited.
Then we ate a quick dinner and got dressed in Halloween Costumes and headed to Night of the Living Zoo. Right as the gates were opening it began to drizzle. It was beyond cold, BUT the kids did have fun.
Today was my ultrasound and next OB appt. 1 good, 2 not good from the ultrasound. Mr Eli did gain weight. 4 weeks ago he was 2lbs 8oz and was less than 10th percentile. Today he was 3lbs 11oz and was 34th percentile. So the weight gain was much better. His left kidney looked good. His right kidney was worse. His kidney should measure 0.7, but 4 weeks ago it was 1.45, and today it was 1.81. So it's actually getting larger not smaller like it's supposed to. The amniotic fluid level is still good which means either the right kidney is functioning enough, or the left is doing a good enough job working for both. The other new piece of news is Eli is now complete breech. Hopefully he will turn, but obviously no guarantees. We have no clue why he turned, it could be the scar tissue from my surgery or who knows what else. Hopefully he turns before his fluid levels potentially drop or he in general gets to big. His heartrate was good, and he actually scored very on the basic testing they do and things they look at during an ultrasound. I will see my OB again in 2 weeks and then in 4 weeks I will have another ultrasound. That will put the next one at 36 weeks. So now we have the kidney and the breech to deal with on making decisions on what happens. We are trying to stay positive, but are completely aware that at this point we will for sure be having a hospital birth.
We will keep everyone updated as we know more.
Below are a few pics from Emily's party and before we left for the zoo! Enjoy!

HairCut Day!!

The kids were horribly in need of haircuts so I took all 4 of them out and got it done all at once. Ari finally got her 1st big girl haircut. HOLY COW. She looks so big. She was all excited and I almost cried when I saw the 1st cut. I will admit it looks so much better. She still has such baby fine thin hair, that the longer it got the scragglier it looked. So it does look amazing, but WOW. Here are the photos of each of them!
Emily barely got a trim as she refuses to cut her hair right now. She also wasn't thrilled about having a photo taken at all. Go figure. :)
After haircuts, the kids went and played outside with my dad while I ran my grocery shopping. They are greatly enjoying this weather.
Now I just need to get some housework done and bake a cake. Tomorrow is Emily's birthday party and I have so much to get done before then!
More pictures to come tomorrow after Emily's party and then we are off to the Zoo for Night of the Living Zoo! A busy fun filled weekend!

It's been a busy month for us! We moved at the end of September into our own place finally!!! It's been great having our own space again and getting all of my things back. The kids are doing great. We found a place close by so we didn't have to switch schools, buses, nothing. So that has definitely helped the kids as well.
I'm 32 weeks pregnant now. We had an ultrasound almost 4 weeks ago, and they found potential kidney problems and growth problems. We have another ultrasound monday to get a better idea of what is going on. The pregnancy is going so fast though, and I can't believe that we are so close to the end.
Emily has already finished off 11 our of 64 books for her Battle of the Books and is doing great! She's loving it. Jace is doing an amazing job with Tae Kwon Do, and is really enjoying having something to focus his energy on. Benjamin is COMPLETELY potty trained and I'm loving that! :) I will be starting working with Ari on potty training next week. Ari is doing well with therapy and has her transition meeting coming up next month.
Jace will be having another surgical procedure on November 5th. They are going to do another scope and biopsies. They will check his valve and get some more detailed information. The doctor is thinking that we are dealing with something completely different than what we had originally thought. If this is the case then we will have to completely switch treatments. So hoping to have more info soon!
Last weekend we spent some much needed family time together. We went to the pumpkin patch, then the big kids carved their 1st pumpkins, and the little 2 did their Mr. Potato Head pumpkins. Everyone had a great time!
Here are some photos from our weekend!

Kids growing so fast

Time keeps flying. We've been so busy trying to keep up with all the kids activities!
Emily~ Holy Cow! She's getting old. We are hitting girl stuff and it's been way harder on me than on her I think. Taking her shopping for some firsts was very strange. She's doing well in school. She's enjoying her Battle of Books after school program and has been slowly making her way thru the books. She has homework and reading every evening for class, with her Battle of the Books homework still left. It keeps her pretty busy! She enjoys playing on the computer in her free time and spends alot of time on YouTube listening to her favorite singers and singing along!

Jace~ He's doing pretty well in school. He's catching up quickly from summer and learning quite a bit of new things quickly. He's participating in Tae Kwon Do 2 nights a week and loving it. He's one of the youngest in his class, so sometimes has a bit of trouble constantly focusing on the directions, BUT he's really trying and starting to learn it fast. He enjoys having grandpa take him each week, and loves practicing in the garage during the rest of the week. He went to a friends bday party last weekend and had a great time. He's been taking up art and has been making pretty amazing chalk drawings all over the driveway.

Benjamin~ He's probably the one making the biggest strides right now. We seem to be well on our way to potty training! We are working hard with his teachers and seem to finally be making progress at home and at school. He only wears a pullup for bedtime now and we are in underwear the rest of the day. The bad news is he will not go on his own or tell someone if he needs to go. So right now someone has to tell him to go every 30 minutes. We hope after a bit to expand that slowly to 45 minutes, then out to an hour. At some point the hope would obviously be for him to go on his own or tell us, but we don't see that in his near future. Eating and sleeping are still a huge issue for him and that makes everyones life pretty rough. He will be meeting with the pediatric neurologist before the end of the year and we are hoping to get some good solid answers at that point! Other than that he's doing well at school and enjoying having his scheduled life back.

Ariana~ She's doing pretty good. Still in OT, and now they are more consistently adding speech. There are some concerns over her obsessive behaviors in speech and in life, so she is being monitored and evaluated alot more now. She definitely has a Sensory Intergration Disorder, and they are wondering what else is going on as well. She has her transition meeting coming up in November, with her 3rd bday right around the corner. There are multiple options to what she will do next, so we shall see what happens. Preschool will be in her future one way or the other for sure.

Bob and I are doing well. Busy as ever. I'm in my 3rd trimester now and can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going. I will be 28 weeks tomorrow! The baby is doing well. He's growing fast and as active as ever. We've hit the point where you can start to see my stomach move as he plays and kicks. Always fun. I'm definitely starting to get a bit more uncomfy, and sleeping isn't going as well as it could between pregnancy and Mr Ben.
I've been spending alot of my time knitting and have enjoyed making up and altering my own patterns. I am getting ready to get my new business launched and can't wait. This is something I love so much, and can't imagine doing anything else!

Family Photos

Last night a good friend of mine did family photos for us! She does amazing work!!! Here's a direct link to her blog with our photo session! After you check out ours click the side links and you can see all of the work that she does!
Thanks C!!!
Our Family Photo Session

Running in Circles

Sometimes I feel as though I spend every day running in circles, not always sure how much actually got accomplished.
The good news is the kids are back in school. So my house is way quieter! :) I'll take a brief moment to update on each!
Emily~ She is in the 3rd grade this year. Real homework and less recess. She's doing well though. She's joined a reading program at her school called Battle of Books and it begins tomorrow. She's super excited about that, as reading is still something she loves!
Jace~ He's in the 1st grade this year. Right now has been a big kindergarten review, and somehow he's retained way more than we expected! Super happy about that. He will be starting Tae Kwon Do in a week and a half, and that will keep him busy 2 nights a week.
Benjamin~ He's in PreK this year. He's in the same autism program, same teacher, same classroom, and many of the same students. This suits him perfectly! He's still 5 afternoons a week, no full days until next year. He's enjoying being back on his stricter routine and schedule.
Ari~ She's still at home with me this year. She's starting to think about potty training and I'm super thrilled about that. She's still in OT, and doing well with that!
I'm 24 weeks pregnant now. Time is flying way faster than ever before. Everything has been going great with the pregnancy and Eli is growing and becoming more and more active.
I've been doing alot of knitting lately for myself and for other people. I've decided to finally go ahead and start my own business knitting. I'm super excited and already have alot of people wanting things made. It will keep me busy in all my free time! :)
Other than that not much new. Life continues, same old same old!

Home from Doc

Well I'm home from the doc. It's 1 of 3 things doc says. A partially collapsed right lung, a pulmonary embolism, or a virus in the chest wall around my right lung. He did lab work and we will know this afternoon which one it is. He thinks it's the virus which is good compared to the other options. He said my chance of a pulmonary embolism is apparently slightly higher being pregnant but he doesn't think that's what it is, but definitely wanted to test for it to make sure. The bad news is I'm allergic to the meds to fix the virus, and the other meds to make it more comfy are anti-inflammatories which they don't want you to take pregnant, so I will have to wait it out which takes about 2 weeks. FUN STUFF. I will update when we hear back from the doctor for sure. In the mean time the fever is down and I just feel a bit blah. As long as I don't do to much and don't have to take any deep breathes I don't feel to horrible. I have no appetite so that's pretty fun stuff, trying to make sure I eat and drink enough for babes.

Posting delays

sorry for the delay in getting up a blog and pics from this super busy weekend we had. my body decided that this was a great time to get sick, which is always soooo much fun pregnant. yesterday my chest was hurting a bit when i would take a deep breathe but i didn't think to much of it. i woke up this morning feeling blah with a low grade fever any my chest still hurts when i take a deep breathe or cough or yawn. so don't know what's going on. i've been as lazy as possible and just tried to lay around today, but no change. looks like i'll be going into the doc tomorrow.
so i promise to get updates from this weekend and photos up soon!

21 weeks

Family Photo

We went to the park this last weekend and finally got a good(well decent, as good as expected with 4 kids) photo of all of us together. I promise to blog later, just wanted to share the photo real fast!

Video Glimpse into an Autistic Meltdown

Bens teachers, therapists, and team have asked us to make some recordings of Ben so they can get a full understanding of Benjamin to help come up with ways to help him cope. So we've begun doing just that. Alot of people have asked what it's like living with an autistic child, and alot of people have said yeah well my child throws a tantrum sometimes too. So I have decided to share some of these videos to give everyone a glimpse into our journey thru autism. Preface for todays video. Ben has a wooden loft bed. Hes on the bottom, with a bookcase next to him that supports Jace's upper bunk. Ben has decided that the bottom bookshelf is an oven and he LOVES to go into this oven and hide for hours. The problem is he wants random people to do the same with him. First nobody else can fit but Ari, secondly none of us want to stuff ourselves in there for hours. Today he decided he wants Jace in there with him and that he's scared. So this video is about 30 minutes into a Ben meltdown screaming that he's scared and he wants Jace in the oven with him. The meltdown hasn't ended so no guarantees how long it will last. We all deal with these 15-20 times a day. Luckily we have 4 adults to take turns, but unfortunately normally he knows exactly who he wants each random time so nobody else can step in at that point or it makes matters even worse.
***please don't give me parenting advice or say it's horrible that my child is allowed to scream like this for hours a day. A normal toddler and an autistic 4 year old are lightyears apart and we do what has been decided on by an entire team of experts. this is being posted for educational purposes only, not to talk about my parenting***

Ultrasound and Updates

Yesterday was our sono. Babes was head down and very uncooperative for her being able to see most of the organs that they check on. She said it was however super easy to see that babes is a BOY! He weighed in at 11oz, and his HB was 170. All that she was able to see looked good! He was measuring 3 days ahead putting my due date on Dec 18th. We are almost 20 weeks, halfway done. WOW!!! His name will be Elias Richard, and we will call him Eli.

Other than that. We just got the kids enrolled in school today. Benjamin is in PreK this year, Jace 1st and Emily 3rd. They are getting so old. We met with Ben's teacher today and our big goal for the year is potty training. We'd like Ben to be in a "normal" kindergarten class with support and all agree that this would definitely help make that a bit easier. We will start working on potty every hour. They will do the same at school. Ariana will be the only one at home until the baby gets here around Christmas. I'm thinking school starting will be hardest on her, as she will lose all her playmates.

Bob has been job hunting TONS, and has had multiple interviews. He has another interview on Friday. We've expanded our search out to the entire Kansas and Missouri area, and are just hoping something comes up soon.

The basement at my parents house flooded and we are now all 8 living in 1400 sq ft, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. It's been a bit cozy but is actually not been bad. The living room has been done up beautifully and the kids have tons of play and Wii area. They've loved having so much space to play the Wii. My dad has had mold experts and contractors in and they will be starting in the next week or 2. The entire basement will be ripped out and has to be cleaned and redone, including all the foundation repair. (all but the 2 storage rooms.) Fun stuff. It will be fairly time consuming we are guessing.

Other than that not much going on. I'm off to go make some no-bake cookies! YUMMMMMY!

New Meds and a Nemo Vest

Those are the new things in our life lately.
Mr Ben has started a new meds regimin. He's taking Mag and B6. These have both been shown to be very helpful for moods with autistic children. So far we've noticed a very slight change we think but we won't know for sure for another week or so. We started at the smallest dose so we have quite a bit of room to go up if we need to, but we wanted to take it slow. He only has to take them once a day right now crushed in some applesauce and he doesn't seem to mind, which is good! Ben has 1 more week left of ESY (extended school year) and then he's on "summer break" until school starts. It'll be interesting to keep up with activities and schedules now that he won't have his daily school. He really enjoys going and he likes the routine of it. So we shall see how it goes.
Ms Ari got the Nemo vest. She had OT and speech this morning and her OT thought the vest would be good for her to try. Ari has alot of sensory issues and they've been really wanting to work on "heavy work" with her. So the weighted vest helps with those things. She will wear it right now 2 or 3 times a day for 20 to 30 minutes each. It will take a bit of time to get the weight to the right point for her, so we'll see how it goes. She wore it during therapy for 45 minutes and didn't mind it at all, although right now the weight is a bit low probably for her size.
The older 2 are doing pretty good. Darned bored with summer. They went out yesterday to a movie and enjoyed that. They are fighting constantly, right now even in fact. Tons of tatteling happening and lots of whining. They are definitely ready for school to start back up. They've both been getting some new chores around the house to earn a bit of extra money and they've been enjoying that.

Bob and I are well. He's still job hunting. The market right now is HORRIBLE. We are hoping to find something soon. I'm doing pretty good. I'm over 17wks pregnant now and our sonogram is less than 2 weeks away. We've both been doing quite a bit of knitting and reading in preparation for the new babes.
Not much else going on all in all. same old shit different day. you get how it is! :)

2 missing front teeth for Jace and 17 weeks pregnant for me

Jace lost his 2nd front tooth this morning! He's super excited to be missing both front teeth!


Also I'm 17wks today and have been a bit behind on updating photos! So here's a pic this afternoon!

Flawed System

The system is flawed. It's not that I didn't know this before, it's just that I've been dealing with it so much the last few days. To start I'll preface this so it makes sense.
Benjamin has been OUT OF CONTROL lately. He's getting really bad really fast and we can't come up with a solution at all. He's not eating again, which isn't to unusual for him. He throws his food, screams, kicks, and most of the time won't even come to the table. He is ruining everything. Most everything is covered in pen, crayon, highlighter, sharpies etc. I'm using my dads laptop because Ben colored all over our computer monitor with a sharpie marker. He takes all the clothes from the dresser and throws them everywhere multiple times a day. He broke the windows, and the screens. He stole 2 pairs of scissors and sliced his sheets up. He shreds Sams boxes full of diapers. He sneaks food and throws it all over the house. He shreds games and game pieces. He's now used 3 tubes of tooth paste to paint his bedroom, his brother and himself. He covered the basement in honey. He wrote all over the white couch. He trashed all the DVDS and CDS. Took jewelry from my moms room. Stuck a bead up his nose. Slammed doors on people. hits kicks and pushes his siblings. sleeps for MAYBE a few hours a night, yelling the rest of the time. Last night he was kicking and slamming his door so hard that he literally ripped the screws that hold the door onto the frame out and the door is now broken. if we put a baby gate up he kicks it until it comes out. He broke my dad's telescope. he runs away from us in public. he insists on wearing pj's anytime he's near his room. he obsessed over trains to the point it goes everywhere with him and he freaks out if anyone else touches them. he screams so much from sun up to sun down that the adults get headaches almost every day. we have to pause the TV in the evening every 2-10 minutes because he will scream until someone comes. he peels all the wallpaper off the walls. He repeats the same thing obsessively over and over until you either repeat it back the way he wants it, or you come up with the answer that he wants. and even then sometimes he won't stop.
these are just a FEW of the things we are dealing with on a daily basis. It's at the point where he can't be alone at all and an adult has to be with him at all times. The crappy part is when he's in freak out mode I seem to be the only one able to cuddle him and calm him down. so that makes for great fun! :)
we've spent the last week calling all the phone numbers we possibly can trying to get some additional autism testing and support. we are getting nowhere. heck the state of kansas behavioral and mental health line informed me there are NO autism resources in our area. It's been very frustrating. We've got some more calls in and waiting for phone calls back. With so many people with autistic children you would think our system would be better equipped for this. To be told there are NO resources. WOW. the good news for ben is I won't give up, the bad news for all these people is I won't give up! :) by the time I'm done nobody will be told there are no resources, because I won't drop this. It's not fair to parents and families.

in other news.
Emily~She's doing good. A bit bored with summer, but all in all well. She's been reading alot. She's participating in 2 reading programs so that keeps her busy. She's also been watching all the Harry Potter movies and is loving them. She spends quite a bit of time on her laptop playing games, and learning to type faster.

Jace~He's just Jace. All energy. He's also in the summer reading program, and has been working thru some books. His reading does seem to be improving as he is doing better reading boxes and labels and signs and such. He got a big boy bike and is going to be learning to ride that as well.

Ariana~She's doing good. She's still the little princess. Always singing and dancing and playing dress up. She's still in OT and will be having a new speech evaluation next week. She's been making some improvements with her hands and hand movements and is finally starting to get some of that down.

Me~I'm 16 1/2 weeks pregnant already. Time is flying and I have no idea if it's going to slow down at all. My sono is on the 28th of this month and we think that we will be finding out if it's a boy or a girl. I've been doing lots of knitting and that's keeping me pretty busy.

Bob~he's doing good. still job hunting. the job market around here really sucks right now, not that it's great anywhere else either. he has learned to knit and so spends some time in the evenings doing that as well! :)

Brian's Texts Revealed

Most of you know alot of what has been going on with Bri and I. Some of you know everything and have read all of the texts. some of you only know little bits and pieces. I finally had to block Brian from my cell phone to make the harrassment stop. This was done on June 23rd. He has spent most of the last few months harrassing me and threatening me and I've absolutely had enough. I've had to call the police once and file a harrassment report, and they advised then that I block him from my phone. I waited hoping it would get better. It didn't. Below I've posted 2 days of the last text messages that I received from Brian. I figured the best way to do it was simply post WORD for WORD everything that was said. I still have these on my phone for proof directly sent FROM BRIAN for anyone who doesn't believe that the below text isn't word for word unedited. It has taken me some time and thinking to decide if this is definitely what I wanted to do and I've decided that honesty is by far the best policy.
The kids haven't seen Brian since March, and Brian hasn't paid a penny for his children since February. Brian has never once called to speak to them or ask about them and has only talked to them when I've called so they can say hi. He hasn't spoken to them at all since father's day.
To preface where the 1st series begins. Fathers day. the kids call to say happy fathers day. he informs emily that he doesn't want to spend time with her. she freaks out and throws the phone. I wasn't on the phone so i can't guarantee what was said. all i can go off of is what my almost 9 year old daughter says.
Also SRS has not contacted me even though brian has been telling me he called them on me since February. So I'm pretty sure I would have heard from them by now. Brian is the only one SRS has been called on, and he was fully investigaged by DHS in Iowa for allegedly abusing Jace. I have NEVER had SRS called on me. Bri just LOVES to make threats as you will see.
The below 2 conversations are INCREDIBLY mild compared to normal, but these are the only 2 I saved. If ever needed for court I already have all the information to pull all the texts from my cell phone company.

The texts starting with a B are obviously something Bri said and the texts starting with an H are obviously something I said. Unedited. Enjoy.

June 21 8pm
H:"why the fuck did you just tell your daughter you don't want to spend time with her? she's freaking out. thanks alot."
B:"i said i want to spend time with them alone not with you and bob. i can't wait for SRS to take them in a couple weeks."
B:"i didn't tell her that. i told her i wanted to spend the with the kids not you and bob."
H:"that isn't what she says. i believe her over you. and no srs is involved. nice try."
H:"you fucked up big time. your daughter is done with you."
B:"yes they are."
H:"nope they aren't. nice try though. your an idiot adios. your oldest 2 have no interest in talking to you anymore. you fucked up big time."
B:"of course they don't their only source of info is their whore mother."
H:"she heard the words directly from you. you stepped way over the line this time. kids don't forget. no turning back now. it's out of my hands."
B:"she misheard what i said. alienation of the affection is grounds for automatic forfeiture of custody too. cool stuff you are doing."
H:"i didn't do this. you did. i can't make her talk to you."
B:"nope you just lost."
H:"nope. adios. you fucked up."
B:"i have records. you dont"
H:"you don't have shit."
B:"the fact that you still put out for bob shows what a hypocrite you are."
H:"i have no clue what you are talking about. you're an idiot."
B:"because of you the kids have no one in their regular day to day live to look up to."
H:"They have more now than ever."
B:"you and bob are both failures. your parents are nobodies who just make my custody case that much easier."
H:"bye bri"
B:"the kids would be better off being raised by a ghetto nanny than with you."
H:"bye bri"


June 23rd 7:25am
B:"You have two weeks to surrender custody or I'm having you committed."
B:"and if i hear about you posting one more bad thing about me, the one who bought you the new body you just threw away, you will have a defamation suit to"
B:"deal with on top of losing the kids."
H:"stop harrassing and threatening me. goodbye."
B:"i am not harrassing you. we can do this the easy way or the hard way"
H:"the easy way being you pay child support and visit and call your children and be a part of their lives. the hard way being you threatening harrassing and abusing me. goodbye brian."
B:"your behavior the past six months is not becoming of a fit parent, let alone a parent of children with my superior pedigree."
H:"go away brian. next text is a harrassment report filed. adios."
B:"you are brainwashing the children. that is beyond unacceptable."
B:"furthermore you are to refer to yourself as heather gray from here on out."
H:"legally i'm heather moore and you can't change that ass fuck. stop fucking texting me."
B:"we already agreed that a trust will be established for child support."
H:"no we didn't agree to shit. stop fucking texting me."
B:"silence is complicity so you agreed by default."
H:"nope. stop fucking texting me. get it thru your god damn thick skull. you are harrassing me. enough is enough. stop fucking texting me."
B:"you kidnapped and brainwashed my children and moved them to an unsafe home. that gives of the right to text you all i want."
H:"you have lost the privelege to contact me on my cell phone because of your constant abuse. your number will be blocked by the end of the day. if you need to contact me you can call (this says my home number). thank you and goodbye."
B:"it is not a privelege it is a right in exchange for every minute i allow you have to the children."
B:"you block me and the next contact from of will be srs coming to take the kids and the sheriff coming to take you to st joe."
H:"stop contacting my cell phone. you will be blocked and you have been given my home number for contact with the children. goodbye."

My 4 little people on the 4th

Here are my little people after an evening of fireworks!

Girl Name Poll... Need HELP!!

We've picked out a boys name that we like but can't seem to narrow down a girls name. We have quizzed the family already and have spent tons of time going thru things. Our top 8 (listed in no specific order) are now posted on a poll on the right side of my blog. Please vote for your top pick! :)
Thank you everyone!
Promise to update blog in the next few days with info and pics!

Child Support and Alimony are 2 different things.

did you all know that? heck I did. seems pretty logical to me. BUT apparently not everyone in the world is capable of grasping this concept. supporting your children has NOTHING to do with giving your spouse money for themself. kids have expenses. Who would have known? apparently a court has to tell you that you have to support your own children. apparently a court has to be the one to decide if a certain child ever incurs expenses that need paid for. well for only 1 parent. the parent with the children doesn't need a court to order them to provide for the children, they simply do it because that's what a parent does NO MATTER WHAT.
I've been informed that most mothers deserve child support, especially mothers that exhusbands like mine are dating, but I fall on the apparently very short list of ONE mother that doesn't deserve child support. Last time I checked the word CHILD didn't include me. the freaking money isn't to support me it's to support my children. why should i be the only parent busting my ass to support and raise my children. why should every conversation turn into a bash heather session? why does some egotistical assfuck think he can put me down as a mother and a person just because he and i didn't work out as husband and wife. GET OVER IT. i'm a DAMN good mother and NOBODY will tell me any differently, especially someone who doesn't know the first thing about being a parent.
hmmm well sorry about that everyone. i'm done with my ranting and raving. i'm just so sick of the freaking abuse.

Good Weekend

We had a great weekend. We got to spend alot of time together as a family, and Bob and I had some quiet time together without the kids! Sunday Bob and I went on a long walk at the nature center and saw tons of turtles, we took all the kids back on Monday morning! They had a great time feeding them! We saw turtles, a soft shelled turtle, frogs, crane, geese, 3 sets of mother ducks with their babies, and lots of fish. The kids loved it! Emily had a friends bday party to attend Saturday afternoon, and had a great time there! Jace went with his grandparents to see Night at the Museum 2! He loved it! We also spent some time this weekend playing games! Something I haven't done for quite a while but loved! We are definitely adding that to our do more often list! We did some shopping, and TONS of cooking! Last nights dinner was SUPER yummy. Bob and I spent about 6 hours in the kitchen but it was well worth it! Friday evening Bob and I went to dinner and a movie, and that was super nice to get out alone for a bit! We also rented the movie "The Business of Being Born". Great movie! Would definitely reccomend it to anyone!
The big kids are back at school for the next 3 days and then summer! Ben is off this week and then starts extended year on the 8th. He's already missing school and wanted to go. Thursday Emily has a field trip and Jace has a family picnic and graduation! We are all going and he's super excited!
I am officially 25% done with this pregnancy already. Time is flying by. Each pregnancy has gone a bit faster but WOW, this one seems to be flying. All is going well so that's good!
We have a busy few weekends and weeks coming up! Mr Ben's bday is coming up as well and he's super excited to be turning 4! So much happening! Everyone is happy and healthy so no complaints! :)

2 quick photos

Here is a pic of the little people tonight. they were all hanging out at the table coloring quietly together. A once in a lifetime activity! :)

Also here is a photo of me. 9wks2days. I'm getting way bigger way faster this time around. gotta love a 5th pregnancy belly! :)

More photos to come soon! promise

Busy stuff

Wow so much has happened lately. I've hardly had anytime at the computer and am now so behind on blogging.
We moved out of our home. It flooded, alot. We had to move quickly. At the moment we put all of our things in storage and are staying with my parents while we get resituated.
The kids are doing well. Ben's last day of school is this coming Friday and Emily and Jace finish up next Thursday. We had an IEP mtg today and got Ben approved for Extended Year, so he will still be getting support over the summer. We are super happy about that, no regression hopefully! Ariana is still getting her OT at home, and doing well with it.
Ben's bday is coming up, he'll be 4. HOLY COW. We are having his bday party at Pump it Up and he's invited kids from his class and such. He's hoping for a fire truck cake! :)
The kids are outside almost every waking moment, and Baxter loves having them out there to run around with him. Ben and Baxter are doing great together and Ben has accepted him into his little "circle" very well. We are super pleased!
Things are going well with the pregnancy. I'm a little over 9 weeks now and due Dec 21st. I've been having headaches quite a bit and super tired. Hopefully getting to the point where I can figure out how to make them stop.
I will try to get new photos up before the end of the week. Those of you who are on my facebook can see some new photos there already as I've already got them up.

Dealings with Brian are still out of control and it's gotten to the point where I refuse to speak to him at all. He's decided he is a busy man and doesn't have time for his kids and that it's a waste of time to drive back and forth for his sons birthday. He randomly texts me attempting to fight with me and I simply refuse. Many of his comment are out of line and hurtful. He's dating Connie (Bob's ex-wife), (I know strange. hehe) but he apparently isn't happy still because he can't seem to leave me alone. Hopefully some day he'll realize that he still has 4 kids and he needs to be a parent. I can file child support in Kansas on July 30th so he will atleast be forced to help support the kids.

slighly more detailed info

Will try to get everything in a bit clearer of detail. We were driving east on kellogg between seneca and washington. there was a huge boom explosion noise and the sliding door passenger window shattered. Pulled over. had no idea where it came from, what vehicles were around, nothing. Saw what appeared to be a bullet in the window. called police. 3 police cars came. they said it was a 22 calliber bullet. They called crime scene investigation. And grilled us and grilled us about where exactly we were, all the vehicles around us, what we saw, what we heard, etc... From the angle of the bullet it was shot up and then came downwards. So they determined that it was a stray bullet not intended for us. The bullet hit the glass and then hit the frame of the door. That's the only reason that it didn't come into the vehicle and hit anyone. if we had been going a drop faster or slower or anything different it wouldn't have hit the frame and would have come in the car, right by Ariana and Emily. the police filed aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. no suspects. we filed insurance claims to get the window fixed. right now the vehicle won't be driven as there is falling glass everywhere, not that i have any interest in leaving the house and driving.
the kids were pretty freaked out, ben kept sayng boooom over and over again to describe what happened. bob's shoulder is sore from the impact and tightening up when it happened. i'm just freaked out. i keep thinking thru all the what ifs, and how it could have been different.
that's all i feel like typing for now. will update more as we know more.

22

i'm just copying and pasting what i'm posting on facebook as i simply can't type it all twice right now.

I almost lost my family this evening in the flash of a bullet. We are home and locked inside our home now and probably never leaving again. I can't I just can't. I'm so fucking freaked out.
we were driving down kellogg and a bullet hit our car. it shattered the window and got lodge in the frame of the car. if it had been 1 hair to the side it would have hit my girls. the police have no idea how it didn't go all the way into the car and hit everyone. it was a 22. no suspects yet. crime scene investigation came out. we are home ... Read Morenow. freaked out to the point i can't think. i don't know what to do. i could have lost my family. if we had taken a different route if i had run the errand by myself. i can't stop thinking of all the ifs.....
no one hurt, just everyone really freaked out. kids are terrified and just keep repeating the booom sound over and over again.

Big News

It's been so long since I've blogged. I've been so busy lately I haven't been able to keep up.
Bob is working, alot. It's taking some time for all of us to get used to his ever changing schedule and the number of hours that he's working. The kids miss him alot and so do I. He's enjoying his job, but hating to be gone so much as well. hopefully as he gets situated the hours will slow down.
The kids are doing well. Busy with school. We went to the shrine circus last week and they had a blast. it was a new experience and they really seemed to enjoy it. Benjamin was wide eyed during a large portion of it! :) Jace is doing well with his new meds. We are hoping in the next week to really see a change. The rest of the kids are well, finishing up the end of school.
We have 2 pieces of big news right now.
1. We are moving. In Wichita, just to a new house. Our house here has 3 water leaks in the basement that they can't seem to get fixed and we are tired of constantly having water come in and always standing water on the floors. The walls are also warped, and the paint is literally chipping off because they are so wet. We are only moving about 3 miles away, to a large house and a slightly less expensive house. Also no pond!!! YIPPPEEEE!!!! We take possession of the house on May 1st.
Our 2nd piece of big news is...Our family is growing. We just found out yesterday that I'm pregnant and due Dec 23rd. We were/are in complete shock. I've been on the pill since December, so it's definitely not something we were expecting. We are excited, even though still a bit shocked. The kids are already placing their orders. Ben and Emily want a girl, Jace wants a boy, and Ari has requested a "Little Princess Boy" not quite sure what that means but that's ok! :)
Anyways that's all in the news dept. i will update more soon!

hiya everyone!!!!

Wow time just keeps flying. We are super busy with both Bob and I working full time. I graduate from training this coming thursday and I'm super excited about that. I'm then off for 4 days over Easter, and it couln't have come at a better time. Bob's schedule is busy right now. He is working alot of hours, alternating constantly from early days to late nights. He's enjoying it though and learning alot. He'll be taking over his permanent position here soon and he's definitely excited about that. We both feel so blessed to have found such great jobs so quickly upon our move to Wichita.
We have GREAT friends and family who have stepped up to help us out. My best friend has the day shift with our kids here at our home, and then my dad has the evening shift with the kids again here at our home. So nothing with the kids schedule and surroundings have changed at all. It keeps life sooo much better for our kids. It's been great to have that consistency for our kids!
The kids are doing pretty good. This last 2 weeks have been a bit hard for them since Bob started working. They are really missing having him home in the evenings but are quickly situating to the new scheduale. I think it's been harder on Bob and I to be away from the kids than it's been on them.
Emily got honors from the principal at her school for her attendance and honor roll! She got a certificate! We are so proud of her accomplishments! Jace is doing well in school, and the teacher has been adjusting his work to help him. We are hoping that really starts to help. Ben is doing well. Right now he's learning how to write his name. He's doing so good! Ari is as much of a little princess as ever. She went out today with her friend and she wore her princess dress up skirt over her clothing. :) She looked so adorable!
Other than that not much else going on. We are doing well and settling into life. Can't wait to see alot of you this coming weekend!
love to all!

Busy weekend approaching

It's my weekend and I've never been happier. Work is super busy. We have 1 week of training left and then off to the real world with our permanent teams. I've been meeting graduation requirements since the 1st day on the phones, and I'm at the top of my class on stats, so not to much to worry about there for me. I'm enjoying the job, mostly, but hating the hours. I'm missing my family, and free time in general. Hoping to find out about my reduced schedule this week.
Bob has been at work all week and he's enjoying it. He love being back at work. He's missing the family as well, as he's got some strange hours at the moment. He had some surprise news on his first day there, and so we are really excited about that. It was good news, obviously. We will find out for 100% within the next 10 days apparently!
The kids are doing pretty good. Busy with school. They had Parent Teacher conferences last week and those went pretty well. We have the autism walk tomorrow morning, and then an easter egg hunt tomorrow afternoon. They are super excited!
Tomorrow evening I'm going with a good friend of mine to Death by Chocolate and EP. We are super excited to get all dressed up and go have chocolate and drinks and dancing all night! It's a much needed relaxing break!
I've been getting emails and such asking for updates on the situation with Brian. He's a disaster on is on a rampage to try and make everyone as miserable as he is. I'm doing everything in my power to completely ignore him. He isn't paying, isn't providing insurance, isn't helping make decisions on the kids, isn't speaking to the kids, isn't job hunting, etc... He is an absolute waste of time and so I haven't given much of an update on the situation with him. He's spending his time spreading lies, and bull shit and trying to ruin everyone's lives. I simply don't have the time to deal with his childish crap. So I know that isn't much of an update but at the moment that's all I've got. There is sooo much more that needs to be said, but I'm spending the time deciding how I want to word it.
Anyways promise to post new photos after this weekends activities.
love to all.