The House!

Well our house feels like a disaster right now! It is such a cluttered mess but that is because we have a million tools around plus living like we only have 2 bedrooms with 4 people! Our yard is a complete mud pit from all the excavating! We just got some seed planted in the back so hopefully we can have a full back yard again soon! We didnt dig in the backyard but we had place some much needed dirt back there where we always get a pond when it rains. So hopefully that won't happen anymore. The girls don't mind all the mud and peagravel but I'm about to go nuts from the mess. On Wed we finally were able to get some concrete poored where the new bedrooms will be. We have had a hard time getting this done because of all the rain! We hope to get the garage concrete poored this next week! Framing should begin next weekend if we get a day or two of dry weather. Scott has almost finished our new bathroom which is in Ryan's old room. He finished laying tile so hopefully the bathroom should be finished this week and in working order! The girls love all the remodeling because they love to play with all of Scott's tools. I just hope one of them don't get hurt before it is all said and done! Ryan thinks her new room is going to be outside. She doesn't understand that there will be walls up! haha! Poor girl! She seems to be excited anyway though. I hope to get some pics up this weekend so you can see the disaster it is right now. That way you'll appreciate the finished product!

My Girls!

Time flies when you are taking care of two little girls! It's hard to believe I haven't blogged in over a month! Sorry about that to those who care! It hasnt been the best month for the girls as they have been sick the whole time I think! That isn't anything new though I guess. As sad as it sounds Scott and I are getting pretty used to it and hardly bothered. When we walk into the Dr's office all the nurses and receptionists immediately recognize us and my girls have no fears like other kids at the Dr because it is all so familiar! Im getting to know a lot about our pediatrician's personal life as well as some of the nurses. It is getting kinda funny! Who knows maybe I'll start getting invited to their staff get togethers! haha! But anyway Ryan has had 4 ear infections since January and is therefore scheduled to see the ENT May 7 about getting tubes in her ears. Scott and I are definitely ready as those have saved Bekah a lot of grief until this week that is (Ill explain in a minute.). I'm not exagerating when I say the longest these girls have gone between colds is one week since after Christmas. We just feel bad for them! Right now Bekah is battling 103 fever with strep throat and an ear infection. Apparently the tube in her right ear is coming out and immediately became infected since she has a somewhat snotty nose. Bekah will see the ENT April 20 to see what to do about the tube coming out and we are going to seriously discuss her adnoids. If you ever see Bekah you will immediately notice her mouth wide open and she gasps a lot when she eats and drinks because for some reason whether snotty or not she can not breathe through her nose. This has always been a problem but just seems to be getting worse. We would really like to get this all fixed by Oct so we can have two girls with a better chance of being healthy next winter! We dont need three sick! We shall see what the ENT decides! Ryan is currently healthy and has been almost one week but of course we expect her to catch Bekah's latest, but maybe this time we will be spared. Let's just be honest when Ryan is sick she is terrible to be around. She doesn't eat or sleep and is very whinny! Bekah on the other hand sleeps all the time and never complains. She just has really sad eyes (From the Jarred side of the family!)!
Some of you know that Ryan is not the easiest to understand. Scott and I can understand her simply because we are around her all the time. Anyway, I finally asked a friend who is a speech therapist for toddlers if Ryan was behind. I waited much longer than I should have but I didn't want to be a paranoid parent! Well as I suspected Ryan is very far behind for her age. What stinks is that she is 3 months from being 3 which is when you can no longer use First Steps. Once three you have to go to the public school which stinks! But my friend has given me some pointers on how to help Ryan and is coming over sometime to show me what she would do if she were our therapist. Hopefully this way we can get Ryan moving in the right direction. Ryan is already loving working on her words. She thinks it is so fun and is quite proud of herself when she gets a word correct. She has a lot of work to do though! She is so smart I have no doubt she'll get it eventually!
Ryan is doing better at using the potty but still not going poo! I figure one day she will just do it because she wants to but not because I want her to. She can be pretty defiant like her mother! Owell I guess that means she'll grow up to be a pretty strong woman! haha!
Ryan learned this week how to ride her new big girl bike! She absolutely loves it! It only took her one day to finally get it and now that is all she wants to do! She giggles the whole time she rides!
Bekah is the cutest little girl right now! Her personality is adorable! She says so much with her eyes and the girl knows what she wants and she will figure out a way to tell you. Im amazed everyday how different she is from her sister. She has become so smart but unlike her sister she doesnt use that in a way that is hard to deal with at times. The other day Bekah actually peed in the potty after asking to get on it. She is only 15 months! I thought it was hilarious to see her sitting on that big potty going pee! Bekah doesn't want to miss out on anything. She babbles like crazy, constanly trying something new whether dangerous or not hence all the bruises on her little face, and always smiling! Anyway, Bekah is a very happy girl who rarely complains and a very good eater!!
I must say have the two greastest girls in the world. I can still take them anywhere and they think Im the best Mommy in the world (as Ryan tells me everytime we go somewhere!). Im so blessed to have such happy girls!

Pregnancy Update!

I must say that this pregnancy has been amazing compared to the past. Had this been my first pregnancy I may not think it is that great, but my perspective is different than most I guess. I had one really bad week of migraines, but since I now have a neurologist I immediately called and made an appointment. I had 6 migraines in 7 days! I cant live that way! The magnesium I used during the last pregnancy just wasn't working this time. The dr decided to put me on some blood pressure medicine even though my blood pressure is completely normal. He said it would help keep my blood vessels from dialating which would prevent migraines. He also said they recently cleared it for pregnancy. I sure hope they are right, but I have no choice. I have to take the medicine so that I can function! I trust that God will protect my baby just like He did Ryan and Bekah! After a few days I started feeling back to myself and my vision started coming back. I've now gone 1 week without a migraine and I am so thankful!! Other than that one bad week I haven't felt too terribly bad. Every evening I have cold chills and am very achy. Sometimes I have some nausea at lunch and in the evening but nothing that bad. I have not thrown up once except migraine related. This is amazing because with the girls I threw up every single night after dinner and after brushing my teeth! As long as I take a 20 minute nap everyday after lunch I feel pretty good. I only feel like I have the flu for those 2-3 hours but this I can handle in comparison to what I dealt with with Ryan and Bekah. I hope that this means we are having a boy this time around. If not we will still be happy, but I would be lying if I didnt say I would be slightly disappointed. It is hard to believe that I am already 10 weeks and I don't feel like Im never gonna make it to the 2nd trimester. Instead I feel like it is flying by! I am so thankful that God has allowed this pregnancy to be so much easier than the last so far. I pray things continue to go smoothly the rest of the way!

They really aren't sick All the time!

Sometime last week I had brought home a nasty cold. Somehow the first time I had been sick since last February! I was pretty proud to make it one full year! However, I knew it was gonna be trouble for the girls. Sure enough one week later Bekah came down with my cold. However, it was a nasty cold so she got the cough and all! After 2 days we went to the dr and she said it could be pneumonia, but we would have to wait a couple days to see if a fever develops. Sure enough the fever developed and we headed in for an x-ray. It was indeed pneumonia! Poor Bekah was pretty sick and still is trying to get over it on antibiotics. She is a trooper though and has hardly complained but has had trouble sleeping with the cough.
Ryan finally came down with it next. Of course I took Ryan in quickly to see the dr knowing she always gets ear infections. Of course she had a double ear infection. She also has a terrible cough but we are hoping that since she is already on antibiotics she won't end up with pneumonia. She could still end up with bronchitis again but that isn't as scary as pneumonia! Other than the diarrhea in the begining of winter the girls did really well this winter. This is only their second cough/cold this winter! Im happy with that! It just seems that the stuff going around this year is not simple and easy to get over. We hope that this is the last for a long time for us! If Ryan has any more trouble with the ears she may be up for tubes like Bekah. We really arent opposed to tubes simply because they have helped Bekah immensly! But Ryan usually has this problem every winter and by spring has no more problems so we shall see what happens.

Expanding

As many of you know we bought our current house with every intention of fixing it up and selling it within one year. Well after 4 1/2 years of living here we have found many reasons why this is a good place for our family. First of all, at one point we bought some land and some how found the worst possible neighbors you could find. So after much prayer we decided we couldn't move our family next to these people and therefor put the land back up for sale. We were pretty disapointed, but started looking for something else as our house began feeling smaller and smaller. We must say though that this experience immediately made us realize that the neighbors we currently have are not something to take for granted! We all watch out for one another and generally care what is happening in one another's lives. Next door is a pool at Mrs. Barbara's house which we are able to use quite often. The girls love it and their dogs! Anyway, as we kept looking for other houses we constantly were comparing them to where we are now and what we have now that we aren't willing to give up. For instance we are within walking distance to Mrs Curl (the best ice cream shop in Greenwood!), the library (which we go 2 times a week), 3 parks, the big fireworks, parade, and all greenwood events! We have a great neighborhood for walks, a great back yard, and close to the interstate. As you can see we have come up with so many reasons why we wished we could stay where we are but somehow have a bigger house! Well when we went to our realtor in January to see how much our house would sell for in this market we realized we werent leaving anytime soon. We had lost all 30,000 in equity because of the falling market. So Scott got to work to figure out a way we could add on and get everything we want in a house since we already have the location we want. Brillant Scott figured out a way we were both excited about. We are adding on to the front instead of the back in order to keep our big back yard. We will have 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 2 car garage! Plus a bigger kitchen and dinning room! With Scott being able to do all of the work we can do it cheap enough that we will get our money out of it by the time we ever decide to sell. Scott has actually already begun renovation. Ryan's room is now an extra bathroom and a hallway to lead to the new bedrooms he will add on soon. We are really excited about this which is funny because 4 years ago we would have never imagined this would be what we would want. Sometimes God changes your heart and desires! What is amazing is that we always said we wish somehow we could have a 4 bedroom house within a certain amount (which most laughed at us when we gave the number) plus not have Scott gone for 9 months to fix a cheap house, and that God did grant for us and for that we are truly thankful!! God is good!

Big Announcement!

Baby Moon #3 coming soon!!! I must say Im hoping for a boy this time around, but I would certainly take another girl. Once again we will not find out until it enters this world. I have to have some kind of excitement through all of this! Our due date is October 4. I know what many of you are thinking. Are you crazy? Why would you do this again after Bekah? Well first of all even our Dr agrees that we have no good reason why Bekah had the complications she had. He said that sometimes preterm labor happens once and never again. But we did make sure to wait one year this time and until I was finished nursing with a few healthy cycles in between to give my body a chance. I will say that Im 8 weeks now and already doing amazingly better than with the first two. So far no vomitting! A little nausea and sleepiness but a 20 minute nap everyday makes me feel almost normal again! I have more energy than I ever had with Bekah and feel like I may survive! Scott and I are very excited and and get upset when people react negatively towards our big news. As a matter of fact Ive told very few people because they always just seem to dampen the excitement. So, if you arent excited for us then just keep your mouth closed! haha! But please pray I continue to do well and this baby has no complications. I feel like God allowed us to be pregnant again because he supports us in this!

February: What a month!

The month of February just like every year has been slow, but hasn't been too bad to us. It think February is a hard month for me because Im usually done with winter, but it is the coldest month of all usually. Plus in my head it is supposed to be the shortest month of the year yet it takes forever! March 1st always brings new hope and a sense of I can make it! At the beginning of the month Bekah caught RSV again. RSV is no fun and can be scary because they can seem okay one minute and then the next minute be having trouble breathing. Plus after our experience with it last year we were a bit more nervous about it. However, Bekah came out of it alright after a few days of nebulizer (breathing) treatments. Of course we then knew Ryan was next, but to be honest she was the one we didn't worry about. But after two days I knew she had an ear infection from it so I took her into the doctor. We found out she not only had an ear infection but also strep throat with the RSV! She was miserable and wouldn't eat or drink for a few days which could have easily sent her to the ER. However the amoxicillin started to work and made her a little better. But after a week she still didnt seem right and wasnt sleeping so I took her back in thinking her ear just must not be better. However, he ear was fine but she had developed a lot of fluid in her lungs. The dr just wanted to treat her with antibiotics for pnemonia/bronchitis and hope that would work without a chest x-ray. After just two days the cough was gone and she was sleeping again! We are hoping that since she had so much at once that we are done for the winter.

Last weekend we spent some time at the lake house with the Smith's up North. We had a great time and the girls did very well! Bekah did well sleeping somewhere else for the first time. Ryan was feeling better just in time for the trip so she did great. Their favorite thing there was the stairs to the basement. We spent the majority of the time going up and down those things. Oh the things they appreciate when they dont have their own. Hahah! It was a very nice weekend away as a family. We cannot wait to go back when it is warm and swim in the lake!