North Carolina

We had a lovely trip to NC to visit old friends. My only regret is that I forgot to bring my camera. We are so thankful to the Steel family for their hospitality to us. We had the pleasure to attending our old church's family retreat, it was a pleasure to see all their beautiful faces and hug their necks.  What a special time.  I especially enjoyed seeing Shiloh and Hosea befriend little ones that they use to toddle along side before our move.  They were thrilled to share a chair with them during the services and share coloring objects, sweetness.  Hosea was so comfy at one of the meetings with his little buddy along side that he dozed off. We played hard. The 15 hour van trip was split in to two days of travel and the children did very well, better on the way home than on the way out, which is unusual.

The excess travel stirred 2 comments in the children that we never thought we would hear come out of their mouths.

Shiloh said, as we were eating french toast for breakfast the last morning prior to our departure, "that the syrup was TOO SWEET".  For Shiloh to declare anything too sweet is amazing. Sugar is her achilles heal.

Hosea reported, as we were passing through Alabama, "that I need a break from movies".  Movies are his vice and he is constantly asking for them.

I suppose they both had an unintentional lesson in excess, and how unsatisfying it is.  Christ is our only true satisfaction.

Baby Shower

A lovely friend hosted a baby shower for Salem and I.  Shiloh was also in attendance to "help" with gifts.  It was a lovely brunch, with my favorite meal breakfast foods.  I wish I had more pictures of friends, but i forgot to demand a group shot of everyone on the couch.  A big THANK YOU to everyone who came and helped!

 Yummy Food

 Drinks

 Waffel Bar; Shiloh really enjoyed this and selected big and little chocolate chips, powdered sugar with her syrup. 

 Since we were just two, and Mike had Hosea and Aggie coaching a soccer game, we were in the truck, and this was us all packed up with our goods, plus two pirate costumes I needed to return to the store on the right there, which were not for the baby shower.  I really enjoyed having my big girl with me, she was so sweet and elated to have some mommy and me time.

Here we are growing. 30 weeks. Shiloh yet again, my photographer.:)

Camping

A couple weeks ago we too a long awaited camping trip. We've postponed for two years now.  We try not to camp with babies or crawlers, but alas we've had one of those for 2.5 years, and aren't seeing a light at the end of the tunnel with Salem coming along, so we seized the moment.  We dove over to Blue Angle Park in Pensacola, a navy recreation area, set up the tent and had ourselves and adventure.  Shiloh and Hosea loved it, Aggie liked it as long as I let her eat sand and leaves and dirt.  Which i didn't , at least not on purpose. 

 Here is Aggie in her princess sand-gaurd, she has out witted the system and is still able to shovel large handfuls of sand into her mouth.  I do think it may have reduced the percentage of the incidence?

 Hosea looking for minnow, crabs, and anything else living he might be able to catch.

 The victims of Schloss family ninja skills, about 15 minnows and a crab. 

 Torture session of the little critters.  They were playing with them on this tent platform, and occasionally one would fall though the crack of the board, so Hosea would go "rescue" it. What a good Samaritan.  We did release the survivors eventually.  There were survivors, if you can imagine that?

 Campfire.

 S'mores, a must have.

 Fishing.

 Aggie, Salem and I.

The kids during a disk golf/walk though the woods. Mike plays golf and we all walk though the woods with him.

We only stayed one night, about a 24 hour camping trip, and honestly that was just about right. Long enough to say we did it and short enough to keep from getting to exhausted from managing a little one out of doors.

Aggie Progress Report

Aggie's been making some small strides lately.  She will drink juice from a cup occasionally.  She will not however drink her formula from the cup, which is her main source of calories, so weaning from the bottle is still a future activity, but that she's actually accepts it, and is holding it on her own is great! She does throw it when she is done. Naughty little girl.

She also got her new ankle braces this week, to try and help with our tight heel cords, and toe standing problem.  She loathes them.  I distract her with baby einstein to get some good stretch time, but I've been praying for wisdom to know how much to push her and when to give her a break.  They could be very key in learning to cruise/walk, so I need much discernment.  And the other treatment options for tight heel cords are very overwhelming, so I want to take it seriously, but not act in fear.  You might be wondering what a person does with old AFO's since this is Aggie's second pair, and I want ease your mind that they are presently serving a great purpose as GI Joe's cave. A perfect hideout for any army man, a purple cave with butterfly print.

Tag Hosea vs. Aggie

According to Hosea how to get his little sister to "play tag". Take the toy she is playing with, push it around on the floor while crawling and squeal and say "she's trying to get me". Sure enough, she was crawling after him. :)

The funny thing is that prior to doing all of this he declares he's going to play tag with Aggie.

Grandma and Grandpooh

We've had some visitors from OH this week.  The children and I enjoyed some time playing at the pool today with them.

Spinning plates

As usual our life, once I take a look at it, looks a bit like chaos.  I try not to take too many "good looks" and keep my eyes fixed on Christ, but alas they do wonder around at times.

Our decision to simplify the therapy schedule has been such a blessing to me and the children.  Soccer has been a real source of laughter for me, enjoying and a bit tiring for the man.  And good exercise for Shiloh and Hosea.  Shiloh scored her 1st goal last weekend, which  was a pretty big deal for her.  We had to call all the grands to tell them about it. I heard her on the phone with an uncle, and I can only assume he asked her if she had won her game, as her response was so sweet, "it's not a winning and loosing game........ it's soccer".  Thankfully they still think that, b/c we haven't won a game yet :)  Mike put it best after the 1st game, "we may have lost, but we won in fun".  That still seems to be true with each subsequent game.  Mike does a good job making it fun for them.

I've been encouraging the big kids (if 4 and 6 can be big?) to play out in the back yard a lot as the weather has been beautiful for it. I call it 'park weather'. One day Hosea came in from the great outdoors and said, "Mom..... we had a lot of dangers outside. (deep breath) We lost a 'gee joe' (aka GI Joe), and a squids head came off,(pause) that's a lot of troubles (with a sincere serious face and a head nod to confirm he just articulated the whole story)." I loved it, and assured him that was a lot of troubles, but I had a feeling things were going to be ok.

Shiloh is becoming a little reader right now, we've been working through some lazy tendencies in this area, but have found something to motivate her recently and have seen much improvement.  She loves our co-op and would tell you her favorite part is presentations and lunch.  Along with any other story she could think to tell you as long as you would listen.

Aggie is her sweet self.  We've recently had a couple of hurdles. Her heel cords are tight, so when she pulls to standing she stands on her toes, which doesn't provide good balance and she falls often. Thankfully this hasn't deterred her from continuing to try.  Her braces use to prevent her from pointing her toe, but her old therapist had that feature removed to allow her to get into a kneeling position to pull to stand, but it would seem it was a bit premature, b/c now she pulls up all wrong and stands wrong, according to the new therapist.  So she was casted for some new braces a couple weeks ago to prevent the pointing hopefully and they will also be used at night to stretch her heel cords.  I am praying for this to work, if it does not we will need to explore some alternative treatment options that are more invasive for tight heel cords like Botox injections and surgery.  As walking on ones toes is not a very practical gait.  I see tiny little improvements in Aggie lately, she has started drinking a little bit better from a sippy cup, still not well enough to get rid of the bottle, but better. I guess drinking from the cup at all is better, and well....... she is.  Also, at the park she finally understood to make the horse rock she has to hold on with her hands and move at the same time.  She didn't actually make the horse move, but that she stabilized herself with her hands was the big accomplishment.  This will likely be a key skill in the months to come if there is any sort of walking progression in her future. Additionally on the Aggie front, and a bit on the humbling side.  For a couple months now she has developed a behavior in self-gratification, specifically in her car seat.  We've been praying for God to give us wisdom in how to handle it, and for it to cease, but it has not.  The neurologist said it is common in children like Aggie, and there isn't anything to be done for it. Mike and I are concerned for this sort of a habit to form in her life.  I recently bought a baseball protective cup to "block" her while in her car seat, and the behavior has reduced significantly, but please pray for us as we learn to parent in these uncharted waters.  Helpful suggestions are welcome.

Additionally in the past 2 weeks we've had 3 family members pass away. Mike is currently in OH attending the services to an aunt, which was the closet relationship of the 3 losses. I also had an aunt pass, and a cousins baby.  I am especially grieved for my cousin, as she is my age and lost her baby and mom in the same week.  Her name is Kayla, if you think to lift her up in your prayers.  She also moved to a different state in that week, upon the discharge from the hospital with the surviving twin.  She also has a 3 year old son. Oh how I pray for the Lord to hold her right now.

Enough stories for one night, though I am certain I am forgetting something.  I put clean sheets on my bed and got to tuck in all the corners since Mike is out of town, so I am very much looking forward to that. The bed I mean, not Mike being OOT. :)