The pregnancy that never ends!

Scott and I were so excited when Adelyn finally entered our world so that I could feel well again and get back to taking care of our family. However, that is not what happened. 3 days after I got home I started having very bad body aches which I thought was just from a lack of sleep and engorgement. After 10 days of body aches I started to have severe pain from my abdomen on down. By the third day of this pain I couldnt even stand up for more than 2 min before I was almost in tears. So I finally called the dr which is something Scott had wanted me to do since the simple body aches started. My Dr saw me immediately because he was seriously concerned. After seeing him he put me on two very strong antibiotics and scheduled me an ultrasound for the following monday. He didnt want to do the ultrasound until I had some time on the antibiotics to clear the infection some. He figured I had some left over placenta stuck in the uterus. After 3 days on antibiotics I was finally able to stand up again! Just in time for Bekah's bday party. I then went in for my ultrasound and the dr found that my uterus was full of blood and fluid. Not good! He sent me home to be very careful and scheduled surgery for this last thurs to perform a D&C. He told me that the D&C would hopefully work but if he couldnt stop the bleeding he would have to perform a hysterectomy. So basically I was going in to surgery not knowing if I would have a uterus when I woke up! I was a bit nervous! Those are two very different recoveries! I was worried about how this would effect nursing Adelyn as we were already having trouble because I have been so sick. The procedure was to take 20-30 min but actually took an hour and a half. The Dr talked to Scott but Scott is not good at asking questions. I do know that I lost a lot of fluid and blood, but everything turned out okay. I still have a uterus that I hope to never use again! haha. The dr hopes that this procedure fixes the infection that I had. I will admit that Im a little scared that the pain is going to come back as soon as the antibiotics are finished. As of today Im still having the body aches but hopefully in a day or two that will go away! Im so thankful for a great doctor and a very patient husband and a servant like Mother in law! Maybe now this pregnancy is over!!!

It's a Girl!!

Adelyn Mae Moon

November 30, 2011

8lbs 13 oz 21 in 5:27am

Well just in case you live under a rock I thought I would let you know that our 4th "little Moon" finally arrived! Adelyn Mae is well loved in this house. So far this has been one of the easiest transitions for all of us. I can only hope that this continues! On Tues Nov 29th I started having more contractions that I had had in a couple weeks. Of course I would not get my hopes up that labor was actually going to happen because this was not abnormal for this pregnancy. So I went to bed as usual and throughout the night I got up to potty and noticed the contractions had stopped yet again. So I figured I would be seeing my OB for my check up the next morning. However, at 3:45 am I woke up with my first painful contraction. I still would not get excited and told myself it was nothing yet again. But after the 5th contraction 3 min apart I changed my mind and started the phone calls to the Dr and Scott's parents. I knew from my past not to mess around and get to the hospital as quickly as possible. Scott's Mom and Dad took what seemed like forever to get here (30 min) and I couldnt get ahold of the Dr. At 4:30am the contractions were now unbearable so we decided to go ahead to the hospital with the Dr calling back because I knew this was labor. I didnt need him to confirm it. He did finally call back on our way and apparently he thought he had plenty of time and went back to bed. At 4:45am I was in the triage room where they checked me and I was 7cm already. The next contraction I told them I needed to push. They quickly checked me again and found I was now 8cm. Let me tell you that these laid back nurses got moving after that! They quickly wheeled my bed down the hall to the delivery room and I said I want to push it out now! So they checked me again and I was 10 cm at 5am! Unfortunately my water had not broken yet so they wanted me to wait on my doctor. I asked for some nuvaine but they would not let me have any. I was not happy they were making me wait but wouldnt ease the pain slightly! They said the baby would be too sleepy to which I responded, "I dont care!" They quickly got my IV in and got me admitted. They called in 2 resident doctors and an OB who happened to be on the floor and 4 nurses were already present. Then at 5:25am "little Moon" was waiting no longer and broke through my water! I was so relieved because at that point they gave up waiting for my doctor. They told me to roll over and push at the next contraction. I was so relieved that I was one contraction from being done! After one push at 5:27am our 3rd little girl was born to which I responded, "yay! It is over!" (All of the nurses laughed, but I still dont know why.) No more pain and I was finally holding the baby who made for one of the longest pregnancies ever. I will say though that she was totally worth it! We were going to name a girl Kaelyn Mae, but three weeks ago we had changed our mind when hearing the name Adelyn since Kaelyn was so much like Ryan's middle name Kaley. We are so excited that Adelyn has joined our family! She is such a sweet girl! She is not the best newborn I have had, but she is pretty quiet if fed every 2 hours and snuggled with her mama as much as possible! I actually purchased a Mobi carrier so that I have free hands to do more with the other kids. Ryan was much like Adelyn but she was my only one so it wasnt as much of a big deal. Other than being pretty exhausted and starving all of the time Im recovering pretty well. Tomorrow Adelyn will be one week old and it will also mark the first full day I will be on my own with 4 kids! My goal is to survive without breaking down at the end of the day. Im pretty sure I will succeed if I get 2 or 3 two hour stretches of sleep at a time tonight! I know it is wishful thinking, but crazier things have happened! I look around the house at all of the craziness and I cannot believe how truly blessed Scott and I are!!

Our Toothless Lady

Our "little lady" is getting too big too fast. On Tuesday night Ryan was eating her dinner and her first bottom tooth fell out. She was so excited to finally loose a tooth. However, by the time she was in her bed she got scared. She decided that we should just hide the tooth in the living room somewhere so that the tooth fairy wouldnt go into her room or in the house at all because she wouldnt be able to find it. Scott and I teach the kids that Santa is pretend just like the princesses and fairies and easter bunny so once we realized how scared she was of the tooth fairy we decided to go ahead and tell her that we were the tooth fairy. She was instantly relieved to hear that some strange lady would not be entering her home or her bedroom touching her pillow. She quickly asked for her tooth back and put it under her pillow. For her first lost tooth we gave her some new colored pencils because she informed us that money isnt something she really cares for. She was excited to recieve her new colored pencils the next morning. Then today Sunday she lost her second bottom tooth! The thing was barely hanging on since Tues! It was so crooked. She looks so much better with both out rather than only one. Now tonight we are trying to come up with something else. We would get her candy but Halloween ruined that! Such a bad time for her to loose teeth! With our budget of $1 for lost teeth it takes some creativity when there is not time to run to the target $1 bins! I think we may get her some animal cookies from McDonalds as she loves those and let her eat them for breakfast even! I cant believe I have a child loosing teeth already! Time flies.

2 Cm and counting!

I saw my Dr on Wednesday where I learnded that my contractions were finally making me dialate. Actually 2cm in one week! Im only 35 1/2 weeks but am truly tired of contractions and am so ready for them to mean something. I didnt call the dr for any of the contractions because I figured it was the same as every other time. I also did not want to be put on magnesium again. That stuff was miserable the 3 days I was in the hospital last month. My Dr doesnt really want me to go into labor yet, but understands my side of being done with all of it. So we agreed that we will not stop labor any more at this point and hopefully it will all be over soon. My contractions are consistenly no more than 20 min apart at this point. At times they are 3 min apart up to an hour at a time. Im simply just waiting until they are unbearable and at that point I will call the Dr. and go to the hospital. Im simply just hoping that I dont contract like this until 40 weeks like I did Caleb. They are pretty strong and after a while my stomach hurts as one could imagine if theyve ever had contractions before. We are all excited to meet our newest little Moon soon!

Perspective Change

After being on bed rest for 18 weeks I must say that I appreciate some of the mundane tasks of being a mom so much more than before! Of course Im writing this so that in a month or two when Im complaining about such mundane tasks I can read this and being thanful for my job as Mom. Since Saturday I have been doing a little more because on Sunday I hit the 35 week mark. Knowing our baby is big enough, has steriods for its lungs, I still hadnt dialated as of last Wed along with the fact that the kids, Scott, and I are just done with bedrest brought Scott and I to a point of let's just let happen what God allows at this point. We have peace that the baby will be okay and I can just see me carrying the baby to 40 weeks with constant contractions. I sure hope not, but I really would like 2 weeks with my current three kiddos. I feel like I have missed out on so much with them these last 18 weeks. So some of the exciting things I have done so far are that I cleaned the van, linen closet, and one of our messy kitchen cabinets with vitamins and kids dishes. On Sunday I baked for the first time in 18 weeks! I made Scott 2 homemade pumpkin pies. The kids and I had a blast! The kids were covered in flour and played with the extra raw pie crust for 2 hours! That morning I went back to church too! It was awesome to be able to worship in a group again and hear a great sermon! On Monday afternoon, I was finally alone with the kids and got to cook dinner!! It was delicious and Scott declared that Im a better cook than his mother and he is glad Im back in the kitchen! On Tues I went back to BSF and had no one come over in the afternoon! I took care of my kids all by myself all day! It was so nice and Im looking forward to it again tomorrow! Even after Caleb threw food all over the kitchen while bathing Ryan Im still glad I was alone. There is something wrong with that. Bekah has been having a very difficult time this last month and has become stuck to me and very disobedient. So right now Im really working to basically re teach her to do it the first time she is told because that was not how it worked with Grandma. She became more and more in charge but I couldnt do a whole lot about it without causing a lot of other problems. Discipline has become a constant with her around here. Not fun but Im just happy to finally be able to do it again! I pray that we are able to get through to her quickly. Homeschooling with Ryan had become miserable this last month, but the last two days with Grandma gone has been awesome again. Im so glad that was all that it was. Ive been able to push Caleb on his tricycle back and forth over and over the last two days too! I will say that by the end of each day Ive been pretty sore which is so pathetic, but I guess that is expected after doing very little for 18 weeks. Im so thankful to be getting my life back again!

32 weeks down!

Well here I am 32 1/2 weeks pregnant! That means I have been on strict bedrest for 15 weeks now. I know those who have never been on bedrest think that it sounds like fun, but I promise you it is not. Im so tired of relying on other people to take care of my kids, feed all of us, and take care of my home. Dont get me wrong, Im am more than thankful for all of the help we have recieved! After asking my Dr on Wednesday if I could get off of bedrest he actually started laughing and said, "You mean after you deliver?" Now dont think my doctor isnt very sensitive because he really is. I actually asked him at a time we were joking about other things. However, his response made me realize two things. First, he obviously doesnt expect me to keep this baby in me until the 37 week mark. Secondly, Im almost done, but about to go insane! I only have 5 weeks at the most to go, but Im ready to be free again. Two weeks ago my doctor did a fetile fibronectin test which showed that my body is starting to begin early labor too early. This test says that I have a 50% chance of delivering any day after the test was taken. 3 days after the test I did indeed start to have very strong contractions close together. The Doctor sent me to the hospital and I was definitely beginning labor. He was able to give me procardia and tons of fluids which helped stop everything. He then sent me home with a giant bottle of medicine to take every 8 hours to hopefully keep everything calm. After about 4 hours from taking the medicine the contractions always begin, but nothing as strong or close as the day I was hospitalized. I have been to the office twice since that night and the doctor said Im still not dialiated on the inside but the outside is opening more and more and my cervix is softening more and more as well. This just means that the contractions are real, not just braxton hicks. The doctor thinks that once I start to dialate I will go quickly, so his goal is to keep that from happening by taking medicine and bed rest. I honestly just hope that I do make it to 37 weeks and go into labor immediately once off of bedrest. I pray that I dont contract non stop until 39 1/2 weeks like I did with Caleb (although I didnt actually have pre term labor with him just an over active uterus). My stomach is already so tired! Anyway, I am getting so excited to meet our newest addition!! It is very very strong and active! Ryan is very excited to hold the baby and take a bath with it. Bekah wants me to keep it in my belly forever, but get off of bedrest so that she can go back to the children's museum. Caleb just loves to hug and kiss my belly not understanding anything Im sure. My prediction is that Ryan and Caleb will love the baby, but will show jealousy and be extremely needy. Bekah will tell us to take the baby back and will act out without remorse and down play how she feels. Im not so sure Im ready for the adjustments, but we will be okay! We are praising God for taking care of our baby for the past 32 1/2 weeks!!

My Husband!

Happy Birthday to my most wonderful husband!! I sure hope my husband knows how much I love and appreciate him! Sometimes with little kids it feels like you take those great spouses for granted. An hour after he has left in the mornings I cant remember if I gave him a kiss goodbye or if I did was it even heartfelt? Scott is such a humble man who is always serving his family. I sure wish I could be more like him sometimes. For his birthday I got him some new pants for church, 2 pairs of work shorts, and work socks. How boring! The kids though saw a big hammer balloon at Kroger and have been wanting to get it for him for 3 weeks. They even kept it a secret! Pretty awesome present! We made frosted sugar cookies of course with the help of Grandma Moon and I had her make him Baked chicken, glazed Carrots, and rice pilaf. Some of his favorites. It is so hard not to be able to show my love by making everything for him, but hopefully he knows my heart was in all of it!! I hope you have another great year Mr Scott Moon!!

Could it be?!

Like I said we may change our minds on the boy name as we werent 100%. So after still discussing many thousands of names maybe just maybe we found one we BOTH like! Let me just say Scott is horribly picky when it comes to boy names. So when he chose Koy I was so happy he actually liked a name and I didnt think it was too bad. As for the Whitford as the middle name I wasnt so sure either because I really do like to use our kids middle names on their beds and on other decorative things in their rooms. But with a family last name I didnt feel like whitford would be a name Id use too much. However Scott's Grandpa is one amazing man so I understood why he'd want to use it. So we decided that would be the name if we didnt come up with something we both really liked. But here is our newest agreed upon name!

Kaeson Luke Moon
Kaelyn Mae Moon (still the girl name!)

Ill let you know if we change our minds again next week! haha!

What they are up to!

My cute little Moon's are changing so much so quickly. So for myself Im going to make record of what is happening with each one of them! Go ahead and read if you dare!
Ryan Kaley my eldest is so sweet! Now that she is 5 an age that Ive dreaded ever since working in children's ministry I must admit I love this age. She was great at 4 as well, but at 5 she is still sweet and mostly obedient, however she can do so much more. As the first day of public school was approaching, I will tell you that I really prayed and talked with Scott over and over again to make sure that homeschooling was what God was really calling us to do rather than us just wanting to do it. Just because I love to teach and want to homeschool doesnt necessarily mean that God wants that for our children. Having been in school I was worried that Ryan would miss out on so much, but Scott never having been in a school setting just didnt understand that. So at times it can be difficult talking to him about the subject. But when I do pray diligently on the subject God places me in situations and conversations that light my fire for homeschooling, which I think is His way to encourage me in His leading. That first week of seeing first day of school pics for many first time Kindergartners was hard for me with second guessing, however 2 weeks later when posts and pics on facebook discussed worn out, weepy, and cranky 5 year olds I felt better. My big girl has loved homeschooling this year. We have been into it 3 months now and she is moving very quickly reading, writing, and adding very well! It is so neat to hear her gain confidence in her reading knowing that Im the one that taught her. We have moved school to the afternoons as Ive found she does much better concentrating then. Since then I have had hardly any resistance. Ryan is also a great big sister to Bekah and Caleb. She is always taking care of them and always trying to please them. She is still glued to me and would never leave my side if she didnt have to. I love her hugs and kisses and her encouragment.
Bekah Jael my 2nd is finally calming down! At 3 1/2 it is happening! I figured Bekah would always be fidgety, but she can sit through a half hour program now, a book that is not a board book, and at the table through a meal! She is still wild mostly when appropriate, but she is less wiggly. She is definitely the one who teaches Ryan and Caleb everything acrobatic. It has been so enjoyable being on bedrest because of all the time I have to read her books since she finally likes them. Bekah is still dealing with the terrible 3's as she has many tantrums throughout the day, but that is easily diminished if she sleeps during rest time. Bekah has been doing preschool 2 days a week in the mornings and is pretty bored with preschool stuff so has begun Saxon K Math (which should really be for 4 yr olds!) and wants to do more writting. I never thought this before but Bekah may be our more naturally smart one. Unlike Ryan who has to taught things several time before actually understanding Bekah just seems to "get it." She adds and subtracts without even realizing it and after watching Ryan read to us the other day, Ryan didnt know a word that had been repeated earlier and Bekah told her what it was acting irratated! haha. Bekah is good at everything she does the first time she learns it whether it is physical or mental. Bekah is also our boss! Watch out she will tell you what she thinks and how you should do it. The thing with Bekah is that she will not back down no matter what. No matter what you do or say she will get in the last word. Bekah does not like it when a sibling is hurt or sad. Her way of dealing with it is to leave the room, but not console them. It makes her extremely uncomfortable. She also does not like to be complimented as it embarrasses her. Of course we do it anyway bc with her being 3 we feel like instead we are constantly correcting her. Bekah still loves her yellow baby and water cup which both are always with her. Bekah is definitely going to be a strong leader someday!
Caleb Ezra my "little man" is almost 2! I cannot believe it! How? Maybe Im just biased or because he does not talk yet, but this little guy is way too smart. He understands way too much! It is bizarre to have the conversations with him that we do considering he cannot talk (or wont talk Im not sure which). Caleb's favorite activities include reading train magazines, train books, watching train documentaries, playing trains, watching trains on the utube, running into the wall and falling backwards on his bottom, jumping off of anything onto toys or into bushes, swinging, playing blocks or with a ball, wrestling, and eating fruit all day long! If Caleb wants something he basically helps himself to what he wants or needs. If you tell Caleb "no" he gets very mad. He can now babble some b's, m's, w's, and d's. He has a few words being bubble, grandma (last week) and whoo whoo for a train. Otherwise Caleb has made up his own gestures and "mmm" fluctuations to communicate. My only goal for Caleb's speech is for him to refer to me as mama by his 2nd birthday! We shall see!!
This fall the kids will be busy with BSF (if dr will let me), girls are doing Ballet once a week, Wed night church for the girls with Grandma, church sunday mornings with Daddy (I cant wait until I can go back again), Bekah has speech on Monday mornings, Caleb has speech Friday afternoons, and homeschooling 4 days for Ryan and 2 days for Bekah! Should be a fun season even while on bedrest (at least for the kids that is!).

Welcome 3rd Trimester!!

Well I will have reached my first goal since being placed on bedrest, which was to make it to 27 weeks. I didnt make it without some ups and downs, but here I am. The latest update happend on Wed when my doctor sent me back to the hospital to be monitored, take a fetal fibronectin test, and have another ultrasound because of ongoing cramps for 2 weeks. The FF came back negative which basically says Im unlikey to go into labor within the next two weeks. That was great news considering that same test came back positive for Bekah at 27 weeks. I also was not dialated even with all of the cramping and contractions. The only concerning thing found was that when they did register a contraction the baby's heart rate dropped significantly. Therefore, my Dr ordered me to be watched an extra hour and to take my medicine every 4 hrs around the clock instead of waiting for cramping and contractions to start. Since I was not actually having many contractions it was hard to tell if the baby's heart rate was dropping every time I have them so to prevent that he wants me to prevent the contractions as much as possible. So of course 24 hrs later (6 pills) I developed my first horrible migraine. Then 24 hrs after that migraine I recieved my 2nd even worse migraine. Now I normally have many migraines during pregnancy but this pregnancy hadnt been too bad by just taking magnesium oxide, but Im extremely sensitive to medicines. For example, I cannot take birth control with estrogen, every time I recieve novacaine for dental work I get 2-3 migraines afterwards, many pain relievers for migraines cause me to have more migraines. Basically if a medicine has a risk for headaches, even if only 1 % of the population suffer this side effect, I will indeed get migraines! Good times!! I am hoping that my body will adjust to this medicine and I do not have to go on another medicine to prevent migraines. I have been handling bedrest much better than 2 months ago, but I do have a bad day here and there. Since Im not dialated Im allowed to sit up still and get up once and a while to get things or help the kids with something. That does make it a little more manageable. The hardest part is on the weekends when Scott is on his own cooking, cleaning, caring for kids, and working on paper work and never ending phone calls. I will say we have eaten out more than ever recently! I hate spending the money on eating out, but it is so difficult otherwise! We are so thankful for the friends that have brought us meals on occasion!! That is always such a blessing!! Im starting to get very excited to meet my active little lollipop soon, but hopefully not for another 11 weeks!! I sure wish we could make up our minds! Now on to reach my next goal of 30 weeks!!

Bekah has Christ in her heart!!

Last Friday, August 12, my "little" Bekah asked Jesus into her heart. Bekah has talked about doing it many times but at the end of every discussion always let us know that she didnt want to ask for forgiveness and ask Jesus in her heart. That was fine with us as she is still young, but last Friday she brought up the subject 3 different times before finally asking if she could ask him to live in her heart. She was actually playing outside with Grandma and her siblings when she stopped to ask me if I would help her do it. That is when I realized she was serious about this decision. She wanted to go inside and do it privately. I wanted her to wait until Daddy was home too but she insisted only I could help her. She was so excited after asking Jesus in her heart but she did not want me to tell everyone or make any deal out of it. Bekah does not enjoy being praised in front of anyone other than the praiser so that is why she didnt want to tell everyone. She is so excited though that she will get to go to heaven someday. Everyday since she wakes up and asks if Jesus is coming back that day. She cannot wait to see heaven because there will be sandboxes without stray cat poop and a giant fair with all of her favorite rides that do not cost any tickets. At first, she was a little scared about Jesus taking her to heaven because she was afraid he would take her by airplane, but then she realized that he will fly her himself without squishing her. I will say that having my little girl talking about Jesus returning has helped me think about it more too. It is amazing how I could forget about something that could happen any day any minute! I even realized that I doubted it would ever happen in my lifetime or my children's lifetime. But Bekah is right it could be today!! Faith of a child can teach us so much!!

Announcing Names!

Well because we never find out whether we are having a boy or a girl and that drives people crazy we are kind enough instead to share the names we decide on. We have had more trouble with this being the 4th, but I do believe we are settled. But just because I post these names does not mean we dont have the right to change them! Also, if you do not like them well keep that to yourself because honestly we dont really care. However, if you do like them you are allowed to voice your acceptance.

Girl:
Kaelyn Mae Moon

Boy:
Koy Whitford Moon (Whitford is in honor of Scott's Grandfather whom he admires so much.)

It may be a boy because Im carrying the baby very low like I did with Caleb. It may be a girl though because the first trimester was similar to both girls. All of that to say...I dont know what we are having!!! I just love the excitement!!

Changing Caleb!

Well I seriously didnt think that Caleb would ever say anything besides "mmmm." However in the last two weeks he has proven me wrong! I must say Im okay with that. We recieved a video by Leapster that sings an annoying song over and over doing letter sounds and the kids love it! Apparently Caleb learns through music becuase after one week of watching it once a day he started babbling all kinds of sounds constantly! He is know our little comedian with all of his new sounds he is quite funny and he cracks himself up too. He is also in speech therapy once a week which he loves, but I really dont think that is where he learned all of these new sounds. After a few weeks of speech he started saying "bah" which was great improvement, but that is it. She hasnt worked with him on anything besides "ma" and "bah." Im so thankful to our friends for giving us the most annoying video ever! I dont think Caleb will ever be our "quiet wanderer" again!!! Maybe the tantrums will even become less and less. Let's hope!

Ryan Turned 5!!!

My Ry Ry Bean turned 5 on July 5th!! I do believe she had a great purple and yellow lady bug party that she wont forget for a while! Even though I was on bedrest I did make and decorate her cake which is always the best part of birthdays for me! I still cant believe Ryan is 5 already. Seriously a Kindergartner!! I never thought she'd be old enough to make sure we were really going to homeschool. I loved having a 4 yr old and I must say that so far I love having a 5 yr old as much. She is becoming such a big helper around here and enjoys it! That will be huge when there is a new baby in this house. This is the first time we have had a child excited about us having a new baby. She is constantly giving her oppinion on names, gender of, and nursery themes. Of course she wants a girl but knows that a brother wouldnt be so bad. At the age of 5, Ryan is learning to read short sentences, write correctly on the lines, and add single digits. In the spring, she kept saying she wanted to go to a school for kindergarten but after 2 days of VBS without myself or her sister she realized she wanted to stay home. Not that we were going to let her choose but it is a little easier to have her on the same page as us. We started her kindergarten in June instead of Aug that way we can take time off once the baby comes. It was a bit of a tough transition for her but now she loves it. She didnt understand why Bekah didnt have to do the same stuff but now she brags to Bekah that she can do more. Of course Bekah now doesnt want to do her preschool work and wants to do Ryan's! Why is it that one child doesnt want to grow up and all the other one can think about is growing up faster? We did Ryan's 5 yr checkup and it was as terrible as I expected recieving 3 shots. However, she checked out great in the 90% for height and a BMI at 13. Tall and lean as always but healthy! Her favorite activities havent changed much compared to age 4. She is still one active, sweet, and happy little girl!! I look forward to another year with my girl!

Too Long!

You'd think while being on bedrest for 4 or 5 weeks I'd have plenty of time to update my blog! But the truth is when you lay on a couch all day you start to loose interest in doing anything at all. First of all, Im not supposed to get up too much so when I think of something to do it usually requires getting up to get something. That added to the fact that I hate constantly asking people to do things for me. So I continue laying here wishing I had something to do. About a month ago I was put on bedrest because of contractions. After a week or two of calming the contractions the dr let me continue taking meds and get up half of the day to see what would happen. Of course I only made it 2 weeks or so before I ended up back in the hospital with contractions 2-3 mins apart! The biggest problem with all of this is that my uterus at 21 weeks is still far to small for the dr to monitor my contractions. Therefore, we cannot really tell how serious they are. All we know is that Im not dialating inside, but the outside has opened up. The baby is growing and getting stronger every day. Ive switched my medication and am back to strict bedrest all day and night. This will most likely continue until 37 weeks. For those of you calculating, that will put me to the week of Thanksgiving. Most havent even thought about Thanksgiving yet, but I will say Im counting down the days! At this point Im trying to take my meds as little as possible since Im still in the 2nd trimester and it could be dangerous for the baby. But being born at 22 weeks would be more than dangerous so that is why Im taking it at all! The first couple days I was going as long as 24 hrs but today Ive had to take it at 4 hr intervals. Which is the most I can take it. Im hoping this is just a bad day and everything slows down again tomorrow. This trial in our family has been difficult on all of us. Scott is swamped with work, Caleb hates strangers (which we need to help us), Bekah is 3 1/2 (which is hard enough without drama in the family), Ryan wants her Mommy all to herself without someone interupting us to help out, and myself who hates not being able to take care of my family! It is so hard when you see your family struggling and there is little you can do but find more people to help out which isnt really what they want. There are days I stay positive and think I can do this and then out of nowhere I loose hope and dont know how I will survive one more minute on this couch! (I know my life could be so much worse and that makes me feel more guilty!) More than anything I wish I knew someone who understood me. I will say my husband is a great listener, but I know he doesnt understand so I try not to make him suffer through my emotions. Each time I read my devotion Im amazed at how God uses it to lift me up. Today when I couldnt stop the tears I got on the computer to read my devotion about how God will give us every bit of strength we need through the hardest times to keep going (Wow) then I checked my facebook to find that someone offered to bring us dinner tonight. My spirits were lifted so much! God provided exactly the way we needed today. We had 2 different people helping play with the kids today but there was no way Scott was going to have time to cook dinner. So eventhough I feel like no one understands me right now I know that God does care and will provide. Maybe one day at a time but he will provide what we need. I honestly dont know how one can live in this world without God in their life! He is truly what keeps me going! I know God wants me to have peace and joy even doing nothing which is so hard for someone who loves to go all of the time! So all of this to say, if you have a moment pray for my family! We will be fine but a little extra strength for each of us would definitely be accepted!

Today is the Day!

Well Ive been going back and forth on whether I want to make my newest announcement. I always struggle with telling the "Big News." I guess for fear of judgement or fear that most people really dont care about the exciting things in other people's lives. But here it goes....Im pregnant! Yep #4! I know we are crazy but we couldnt be any other way! No I dont know that we are really ready for our 4th but were we really ready for any of them? To answer many of you, yes this our last (well according to our plans that is)! So dont worry! I will say after being pregnant only 10 weeks I have no desire to do this again. I never thought I would feel this way, but I do! Im so glad too because I was worried Id be one of those who'd want 12 kids! Im excited to meet another Moon December 3, 2011 (or hopefully earlier)! I can only imagine what kind of child Scott and I made (with God's help) this time! The girls cannot wait (or at least that is what they think) for the baby to enter the world. Caleb could care less, but oh will his world change!! So far Ive been very nauseated and exhausted! I cannot go through an entire day without a nap and I barely stay up past 9pm! The pregnancy so far is much like Caleb's but also like Bekah's. So I guess I wont know if it is a boy or girl until December! I have had a few good days lately already at 10 weeks which did not ever happen with either of the girls. So today Im gonna predict a boy, but I cant promise I wont change my prediction on my next post. For those wondering which I prefer...Boy because then I dont have to go through the hords of girls clothes and can just have a huge garage sale, have 2 boys/2 girls which means in 2 years we'd have room for an office for Scott's businss for a lifetime (instead of in our bedroom where it is now), Caleb could have a buddy, and Caleb is so cute!! Girl because Caleb has been such a challenge simply because he is a boy rough, into everything, also because I love girl clothes and hair accessories when they are under 2, my girls are so sweet!!! So I guess this all means that I want God to choose what he thinks is best for our family and the day I meet our newest little one I just wont care if it is a boy or girl!! Oh I love waiting! The suprise is so Awesome!!! (Please do not congratulate me on facebook as Im not ready for EVERYONE to know yet! I know Im weird!)

Keeping up!

Our goal these days in our home is to just keep up! Much more than that seems impossible. Even keeping up has been difficult. I feel like every time I turn aound one of THE 3 have either broken, spilled, or are into something they shouldnt be. It is not unusual to change Caleb's clothes 3 times in one hour because he has found a way to soak himself with water. Whether he climbs on top of the counters in the bathroom ri brushes his teeth, he climbs in the bathtub and turns the water on himself, empties a water bottle he can easily unscrew himself these days, or just playing in the toilet. This week alone one door was broken off the toy box, one door was broken off the play kitchen, the blinds in the family room were completely pulled down to the floor, the screen on the back door was ripped open, and Bekah's dress was torn. Now either everything in our home is getting old or my children are CRAZY!! If you happen to walk by my home you will hear me saying, "stop that" "go to time out" "say your sorry" "go to your room" "do to others what you want them to do to you" "just obey" "No, No, No" "Urrrrgggg!" My children used to be so tame but Im telling you once we added a BOY to the mix things have gotten crazy! I love my boy, but he drives me crazy and he drives his sisters crazy which causes a lot of problems. He has certainly learned to fend for himself and let us know what he wants even if he cant use the english language. He much prefers grunting, moaning, and screaming along with throwing of self to the floor over and over and pointing or shoving. It is quite impressive how much a child can say without actually saying anything! I really need to learn a few things from that boy. If it is nice enough to be outside he is an angel. The only problem is when he has to come in. With all the constant rain this spring Caleb has spent many hours throwing tantrums. He will literally cry an hour straight after his nap if we cannot go straight outside. Much like he does in nursery on Sunday mornings!! haha. But one thing I can say is that he is so cute and if you dont see that in my little man I feel sorry for you!! Ryan was having a great streak during the age of 4, but Im telling you the closer she gets to her 5th birthday the harder it is getting again. She is an emotional mess! She is also struggling trying to decide if she wants to be big or stay a little girl. One minute she hollers at us that she will do it herself and the next minute she is crying because we wont dress her! How am I supposed to know when to help!? If I ask she freaks out too. I just cant win with her these days. She is also becoming extremely attatched to me. She wants me to hold her for very long intervals. I am shocked by the things she is learning to say already too! I always hated teaching Pre K and Kindergarten when I worked in children's ministry and now Im remembering why. Wow such a hard age! We made it through her terrible year at age 3 we can do it again! Bekah has actually been our tame one lately at least in comparison to the other two. She has her tantrum moments but I will say she has much less than the other two. She is still wild as can be but the girl loves life! That is something I hope she never looses! On top of the craziness of being home Ryan is playing softball and Bekah is playing soccer which I am coaching. With the two overlapping at times it has been a bit crazy but after today they wont have anything the same day again. It is so much fun watching the girls play and interact with the others kids. We will see if they like it and ever play again, but at least for this season it gave them something special to do. Tomorrow is Mother's Day and Im only hoping for a few less tantrums and simple nap! That would be the perfect day!

Unlimited Home Construction

Business is booming!! Last Fall Scott changed his business name from Unlimited Home and Yard Repair to Unlimited Home Construction hoping to attract bigger jobs. He was afraid his other business name made him sound too much like a fix it man and people wouldnt think he did remodels or room additions. (This came from talking with several customers.) When in reality that is what he prefers! There is more money in that type of job and he simply enjoys the challenge. He also changed his business cards to colored business cards and I cannot believe the difference it has made. Scott has a relationship with Menards (his favorite place in the world next to home of course!); and they have business cards laying out for people to grab when they purchase products so they can find a contractor to do the work. The guys at Menards have said that his business cards is usually one of the first cards the customers pick up. He has recieved so many calls since then from these customers. It was perfect timing as he was running out of work to do for previous customers and new customers just werent coming in. Between Menards and a room addition in January Scott was able to keep busy all winter except 3 slow weeks. At that time, we were praying God would just supply enough work to pay the bills and then for the first time in these last 4 yrs we felt God laying on BOTH of our hearts to hire someone full time through hopefully fall and maybe have someone working for him forever. Scott was at a point in his business where he was going to have to turn jobs away or trust God to supply enough work for 2 of them. He has had some guys work for him on and off last spring, summer, and fall , but not consistently. So this would be a huge leap of faith! Once we both said, "ok" the work has been coming in like never before! Scott asked his cousin Josiah to start us off. We dont know how long he will stay with Scott, but we are excited to start off with him. Scott has been swamped with estimates, phone calls, billing, and actually trying to complete some jobs that we are excited that Josiah is finally starting next week. We are praying and excited to see God provide for both of our families these next few seasons! God has been more than faithful these last 4 years and I dont expect anything less!

Winter 2010/2011

What have we done this winter? Anything fun? My answer to that would be the same things we always do. You know...the children's museum, preschool at home, speech therapy, church, BSF, and Grandma Moon's house. We havent gone anywhere especially special or done anything of that sort, but we have had a great time being together. I will say this winter I have been more content than in past winters. It may be because it is simply too much work to go anywhere therefore I have no desire to leave the house. So having nothing to do doesnt bother me all that much. After Bekah's recent scare I pretty much locked the kids up! I only took them to church, which is 3 times a week. The girls actually got to go to the grocery store for the first time since before Dec 17, 2010. They were so excited!! They were mad it was only for a few items and not a full trip. See if you dont do anything, they will love the simple things. haha. We also decided to quit story time at our local library bc of the green noses that always seem to attend such a wonderful FREE event! We will join back in the summer program but not before then! For filling the girls sticker charts we did take them to Incredible Pizza Company one day last month. They did love that! We of course tried to enjoy the large amounts of snow this year. But once again that was a lot of work to get 3 kids bundled up so Scott had to be home in order to enjoy this activity. Caleb was quite inthralled by the white stuff, Ryan would play too long everytime coming in crying from frozen fingers, and Bekah never seemed to enjoy the sledding but loved playing on the playgrounds. Scott kept busy at work with a room addition that just recently ended. Now he is taking one day at a time rejoicing even when someone calls about an ice damn on their roof! This is always a slow time of year, but God has never left us without so we will trust and rejoice until it picks back up usually in April or May. I have spent a lot of time baking and cooking since no one wants to play with me anymore. I was also blessed with a new mixer that is AMAZING! Not such a bad thing to have extra goodies around. Ive spent more time in God's word than I have since having kids and that has been more rewarding than I could ever explain! I have been sleeping all night for the first time in 16 months! Man does it feel amazing! I actually have been staying up until 11pm bc if I go to bed at 10 anymore I dont sleep well. I never thought I wouldnt be fighting the urge to nap anymore. Although this winter I have spent many hours picking up toys (so that I can sleep at night), breaking up sibling fights, and eating much more sugar than I usually allow myself I can honestly say it has been GOOD!! The kids have been healthier this year than last or perhaps our perspective has changed bc Caleb has had 4 sinus infections since Halloween, surgery, and 2 weeks of diahrea. Bekah besides last month only one sinus infection, one ear infection, 2 stubborn coughs with those, and one month of diarrhea. Ryan has only had 2 maybe 3 colds that barely bothered her and required no antibiotics. Scott and I havent been since since Thanksgiving. After typing that I think maybe our perspective has changed. After Bekah's recent scare I will tell you that Caleb soon got one of his sinus infections and we were so excited that it was something so simple. Whereas before we wouldve been frustrated to have yet another cold invade our home. Instead we thought hey what is a little green snot caked on my little guy's nose with some night time crying!! So as you can see we have had a great winter! I will not lie though. Im anxiously waiting for spring and feel like it may never come! I cant wait to take the kids somewhere with only a jacket!! But until then we will continue to make memories doing the same things we always do. Man I love my job!!

Bekah's health.

Wanted to update on Bekah's recent health scare. She continued to have pain and low fevers all through January and into February. After consulting her rhuematologist he suggested further testing which we didnt want to do. However, we decided after the doctor convinced us to go ahead. After a rough blood draw and chest xray Bekah was glad once it was over and so was I! It was so hard to put her through again with the fear that they would learn nothing once again from her tests. But we were so thankful when they called us to tell us that her blood work looked great and definitely better than it had the month previously. This meant that her body was getting better which shouldnt happen with rheumatoid arthritis. Of course a post viral infection shouldnt have lasted this long either. So our course of action at this point is to see what happens. If she still has persistent pain by march we see the dr again and see what he can come up with. But Im happy to report that she has had no pains in one full week! This is a record so we are praying we have gotten through this and we will never relive it again with our Beks! But we do know that it could flare back up if it is a rare case of rheumatoid arthritis. Until then we are going to put it behind us and move on! Praise the Lord!

My Tribute to Bekah!

Wow what do I say about a little girl who knows how to drive her mommy CRAZY and SOFTEN her heart within moments of each other! To enrole Bekah into speech thereapy a few weeks ago they asked me what I enjoyed most about Bekah and to my surprise I said her bounciness (if that is a word). When I think over a day with Bekah it seems that her bounciness is what drives me to many breaking points with her. Ironic! I guess it is the smile, the joy in her, the laughter, and the joy she brings others through her bounciness that I love. You cannot spend time with Bekah without smiling or even laughing or sitting still for that matter. Sitting still is not how she enjoys doing anything. While reading books she is standing on her head, spinning on her head, kicking her legs, or even bouncing. Why does she even ask to read a book? I dont get it. But I tell myself that she is listening in her own way (haha!). Now I will say that she does like to do worksheets (for the most part) for school at this point but I figure that will soon change as she realizes it is work! I dont think she actually learns anything doing them, however hands on activities are definitely productive in her learning. She loves to play games and puzzles. But dont worry she goes from one to another very quickly! I am determined that she will one day recognize all of her letters! She does recognize all of her numbers 0-12 and can count to at least 30. She learned numbers very early where Ryan learned letters very early. Maybe that just means Bekah will do more with numbers. So anyway, right now Bekah is working very hard these days to learn her letters while I work really hard to be patient! She has started giving up her naps only taking 2-3 a week. If I lay with her for 10 min she would take a nap everyday but then she doesnt go to sleep at night until 10-11pm! So we quit doing that and only have her sleep if she falls asleep on her own within 30 min of resting in her bed. So far that is working pretty well although on days with no nap she is pretty tired by dinner, but that means easy to sleep at bedtime of 8pm! One of Bekah's "great" qualities is that she never quits! Scott and I joke that she will be a great saleswoman someday. She will ask us the same question over and over if she wants something. When we say no it never dampens her spirit. I actually think it lights her up and she just asks a different way. If Ryan will not play the way she wants she simply says, "ok" and restates it another way. This sometimes goes on until Ryan explodes with frustration as Bekah has a nice smile on her face waiting. It is quite humorous thinking about it but I must say she has brought me to explosion many times as well! But I love this quality as well because she is not afraid to try new things and do them on her own. She is very independent at times. She loves doing something herself which explains potty trained at 2nd bday on her own! Or dressing herself most mornings!! Jumping off the top of the couch as far as she can! Doing summersaults (which Ryan still cant do)! Bekah loves to take care of her "yellow baby." She goes everywhere with her and she kisses her constantly. I counted over 100 kisses one night as I layed with her at bedtime. I always know when she is nervous or scared bc the kisses begin much more intensly. She will ONLY play church, house, or Doctor. She must always be the teacher, Mommy, or the doctor. She always states the scenario and rules. If someone is hurt or sad she will always be there with hugs and kisses. She loves her big sister Ryan more than anyone else in the world! Daddy and Grandma Moon 2nd and Mommy 3rd! That is okay bc I know that Daddys always rule at the age of 2 and 3. Ill move up soon enough! She would do anything to help her little brother Caleb whom she calls "little boy." Actually this girl has a servants heart! If we ask her to do anything she will jump right to it with a huge smile. She cannot wait to play soccer this spring bc she loves to run. She will start speech therapy soon for articulation just as Ryan did this last year. Her favorite color is pink. Favorite food is beans and rice. Her favorite question is "can I have a treat!" She would eat sugar over anything else all day long if I would let her. Her favorite activity is the museum or chinese (bc of the ice cream). She loves to throw tantrums these days and does it quite well at the same time everyday. I think her and I would both agree that the best time of the day is when I lay in her bed 10-15 minutes at night talking, praying, and focusing to keep her eyes closed. I honestly feel like it is the only time I can get the girl to sit still and I get so many hugs, kisses, and what is running through that girl's mind! She has the softest little heart that I have to be so careful not to hurt. Although Bekah would rather bounce while she walks and I would rather drag my feet she is truly a blessing from God! She is so special and I love her very much and even more because she is different from me! I have learned so much from these short 3 years together!