Circus

We took Cayson and Carly to Barnum and Bailey's Circus tonight and it was a blast. Carly was amazing through the whole show and actually enjoyed watching it. Cayson loved it and wants to go again....next year my crazy child, next year. The whole show was awesome and so entertaining!

milestones

While I was sitting on the couch, typing my last post, Carly took her FIRST steps!!! She took 5 steps all on her own!!! Let it be official that at 15 months and 2 days old, Carly started walking...a month sooner than expected too!

Baby Boy

I had an ultrasound today and everything looked great! Baby is estimated at 3lbs, 7oz and is 5 days ahead in growth. He's going to be a BIG boy! He was being a very active boy so we are lucky we actually got good pictures of him. As of my last visit my Dr is planning on inducing a week early since I want a VBAC and to lessen the risk of a uterine rupture, so 9 weeks to go! I think he fits the name we have picked which to those who we haven't told will be a surprise. I'm scared to have 3 kids but excited and anxious to see him and hold him all at the same time. He's looking great!

3

3

Happy 3rd Anniversary, Thad!

I have been married for 3 years to my favorite person.

He can make me laugh.

He can make me mad.

He can make me crazy.

But in the end he makes me happy!

We have had so much fun in 3 years.

We have grown from a family of 3 to a family of 5 in 3 years.

That's 3 kids in 3 years for me!

What a blessing our kids have been.

From boring weekends to fun family trips,

we have a great time laughing and being together.

3 years down and many more to go.

I am looking foreward to the many adventures to come!

Cute Carly

This little girl can make me CRAZY, but she sure is cute!

Perfect night

Chicago Tribune has an article about the April Rose blog hoax. I'm not really sure how much of it is true. I've been reading other blogs that say the whole interview is a lie and another one which states that parts of it are lies. I can say I caught one lie straight out...It says ''By Sunday night, when "April's Mom" claimed to have given birth to her "miracle baby" -- blogging that April Rose had survived a home birth only to die hours later--" There was never any reference to the baby passing away. The last post was at 9:36pm on sunday and said that she was stable.

Anyways, I am done! I can't handle one blog saying this and the other blog saying that. I'll still follow and see if there is anything new that comes of this.

Misuse of a blog

A few months back a friend of mine posted a blog asking for prayers for Baby Stellan. Curious, I went to her blog and clicked the link and read about this sweet boy. This started my addiction to following Stellan and other children. I have enjoyed being a part of the journey and prayer for a few babies that I have been following. While I have felt saddness from the loss of two little baby girls I followed, I have gained much, much more by seeing the strength of their families and hearing their testimony of their faith in God. There are also many triumphant moments when they overcome obstacles with their health. Seeing the words "Today is the day" will bring a smile to your face when that day means a new heart for a little child.

The mom's and dad's that keep up these blogs are always GREAT about remembering other children or families that are in need of blessings and often ask to remember them in our prayers too. Stellan's mom, McMamma, did just that a couple of months ago. She asked us to prayer for a young, single woman that was pregnant and had recently found out her daughter would be born with Trisomy 13 and Holoprosencephaly, both fatal syndromes, and would possibly not survive birth. I began to follow this person and read about her journey. She wrote beautifully and her thoughts were very touching. She even began something called "His Will Wednesday" where she would take email requests for people that needed prayer in their lives. Her pregnancy progressed and her followers watched and waited for news about her baby. It seemed nothing short of a miracle that her baby had not passed yet and was actually growing. Because of her choice to have a home birth with no medical intervention to keep the baby alive, questions started and doubt began to surface. I wondered about it but couldn't allow myself to think that anyone would create a hoax about a baby. So I kept on believing. This past sunday she went into labor and had her baby. Updates and photos of the baby were posted on her blog and I figured there was no questioning it anymore. To make a long story short, things weren't adding up. The timeline, no medical intervention, photos not matching and a LOT of time being spent tending the blog began to raise questions again.

Through research it has been confirmed that the blog was indeed a hoax and one that the girl(s) have profited greatly from. Although she did not accept money from the blog readers, she did ask for donations from companies that wished to advertise on her blog. Between that and advertising for a company, it looks like her profits are over $18,000. Besides hurting the many people that have remembered her and her baby in their prayers, she took advantage of a young mother that lost her baby 6 months ago to the same diagnosis. I don't really feel hurt, its the mothers that have felt loss firsthand that are now feeling it again because of her that I feel bad for. Not everyone believes that this is a hoax, it was a hard thing for me to stomach so I understand. But the evidence is overwhelming and I know this was a hoax for her own gain. So what was the purpose of "His Will Wednesday"? Gain trust...multiply readers-multiply profits...start the next hoax? Regardless, many people were hurt by the misuse of a blog.

I felt stupid at first because I did have doubts but I was not the only one that fell for it. I couldn't imagine that anyone would use the sickness of a baby as a means of monitary gain and therefore wouldn't allow myself to believe this was a hoax. It may take a while to get over but that does not mean that I wont continue to pray for those that need it. There are many little children that are sick and that need blessings and I still intend on remembering them. Its sad that trusting isn't so easy anymore. Its sad that someone is so desperate for attention that they would go through such great lenghts to make themselves a somebody. I really have no moral to the story, just a way to vent.

Summer Fun

Carly is mischevious. Yesterday I was cleaning the kitchen and Cayson was watching tv and playing with Carly. It seemed pretty quiet after a while so I asked Cayson, "What is Carly doing?" He answered, "I don't know, she isn't in here." SERIOUSLY!!! After momentary panic I realized that there was no way she could have gotten outside so I just needed to look a little. Carly's new thing is to close all doors, unfortunately she tends to be on the wrong side of the door after its closed. I found her in the bathroom (door closed of course) sitting by the trash can sucking on a tube of toothpaste. Yesterday she also emptied and shreaded a whole tub of wipies all while I was doing laundry. Today she tore up a book cover and unrolled a whole roll of toilet paper then proceeded to shread and eat it. This girl is a handfull!

She's starting to talk a lot more. I get yelled at a LOT! For such a sweet looking girl she can make "Mama" sound like a bad word. Her vocabulary now consists of Mama, Daddy, Thank You, Table, Doggy (often confused for Daddy) and What's that. Although I work with her on sign she still only knows more, all done and hat. She is also obsessed with giving kisses now. Very cute but also very wet. We tell her tongue is acceptable now but she better not use it again until she is 21. Wish us luck with that!

Cayson just started a kindergarten jumpstart summer school program and loves it so far. He is looking foreward to going to elementary school. I'm not sure if that's because he relates starting school to the baby coming and moving into the new house or if its because he really wants to go to school. He is very excited for his baby brother to come and to move to the new house. He asks at least once a week if its time for one or the other to come yet.

We had our first walk through with the contractor today. Its coming along really well and quite quickly. He was putting together a time line and projected completion date today so tomorrow we should find out right about when it will be done. Cross your fingers that it is BEFORE Sept. 3rd. We are so excited for it to be done and to get settled. Life will be HECTIC for a while but it will be great when all is said and done.

Obviously I have not made it to making the blog private yet. This will happen, perhaps someday. There are just some things that I will want to share in the future and there may be a reader of my blog that I do not wish to know certain things. So when the time comes that I have information to share, I have kept a list of those that want to be invited to the blog and I will make it private at that time.