MITTELSCHOOL DAYS

Days 3 and 4 of Creation: The Foundation

2011-10-10T01:31:00.001-05:00

For this whole week of Creation, we really do the same basic concepts each day, just change them up a little bit by learning about the different things God created on that specific day!
So, for day 3, we did our circle time(pray, put day 3 poster up, review days 1 and 2, read Genesis 1:9-13, review signs and add night and flower, verses 1-3 of The Creation Song)
Then we did our number 3(color, cut and paste to poster) and an alphabet review. Today I had some puzzles that you matched up the upper and lowercase of each letter. Again, Gage did really good at this and it was total review, but I think since it was something new, he liked it! (They were from Targets dollar section this year)

Then, for Gage and Malia's favorite part of each day...snack time! We made dirtcups to show how God made the land and filled it with trees, plants, and flowers! After that we went outside to play for awhile. We had done more this morning than any other morning so far before snack and playtime, so, I felt like we were improving a little bit!
Then we made our page for our Creation book of day three. And for the first time, we actually listened to the song, "This is My Father's World"! I have to admit that I feel a little bad that it's the first time we got to it since MFW says we should do it daily, but it never seemed to fit in where I still had Gage's attention. We watched/listened to the song on youtube.com. I found a version by Amy Grant, that I liked! Gage then told me all the things in the video that God made! It is a beautiful video.

Later in the afternoon we made rainsticks from yesterdays study, but we didn't get to them. The kids seemed to like them. I basically had them made and they decorated them.
For storytime we read in our Bible again, reading days 1-3. Then at bedtime my mom came over to read them a story and she read them The Berenstain Bears Discover God's Creation.

Day 4 went pretty good as well! We did our circle time(pray, review days 1-3, put up our day 4 poster, read Genesis 1:14-19, reviewed our sing language we've been learning, and sang verses 1-4 of our Creation song.-while we sing, I let them get some wiggles out by dancing around and then when I say,"On day__ they hold up that number on their fingers!)
We sang the Alphabet song, the way we normally do since Gage does not like the way MFW has us sing it. He keeps telling me I'm singing it wrong! Ha!

Then we worked on our number 4 for our Creation Poster, more coloring, pasting, and cutting.
For snack time, I found fish crackers at Target that were spaced themed! When I saw them, I thought what perfect timing for these to come out! The kids liked to find the star, moon, and spaceshuttle shapes! We also had some star shaped marshmellows, just because I had bought them first and then saw the fish crackers, so we had both!

After this we had a longer play time than usual just because it was beautiful outside and I know that all too soon, Winter will be here! So, I'm trying to let the kids enjoy God's beautiful Earth He made for us!
Then we did our page for our Creation Book. The kids drew the sun and moon and I had some star stickers for them to add to the night sky!
Then I found another video on youtube.com of "This is My Father's World"-today Gage just listened.
At dinner time, we read our Bible for day 4 of God's Creation.

And that wrapped up our first week of Creation...we skipped one day and just played as mommy did not feel good...but I guess when you are homeschooling and studying God's Creation, it's OK, to take an entire day to just play in His Creation!)

the "MittelMommy" behind "MittelSchool"

Day 2 of Creation: The Foundation

2011-10-04T23:08:00.000-05:00

What we are using for the Creation Unit

Wow, this is so long overdue! A few times I have sat down to type up our first week only to have something come up! Hopefully, tonight, with everyone in bed, I will get to write about our first week in Kindergarten using My Father's World!

Being that I was really nervous to start, I decided that we would start on September 5th, that's right, Labor Day! This way my husband was home to both help me with Malia and more importantly, see/be there for Gage's first day of Kindergarten! The day went NOTHING like I had planned in my head! Ha! Go figure-it usually never does! But(and this is big for me!) I stayed calm, just went with the flow, and gave it to God trusting He knew the plans and they would work out His way....which is exactly what happened! It was probably good for me, because the rest of the week really didn't go on the schedule I had so thought out and planned either!

So, I already shared about our first day, but I wanted to share what the rest of our first week was like! Our second day, which was without Daddy, actually went much faster! We did our circle time first(pray, reviewed day 1, put a poster of day 2 up, read Genesis 1:6-8, did signs for day, good, and the numbers 1 and 2, sang verse one and two of "The Days of Creation" song, and added in the song, "Do you know who made the world?").

Then we worked on the number 2 for our Creation Posters. They colored them and Gage cut his out all by himself and Malia cut almost half of hers out by herself! I was so impressed with both of them! This part of our day does not interest Gage at all. He could careless about coloring, but he does seem to like the cutting part of it!

To get it 'fun' again, I thought we'd do snack time a little early and then go out to play. We had marshmellows and water to represent how God split the waters in two(marshmellows-clouds, and water-water)

My mother-in-law gave me two white pillowcases, which I cut out arms and a head for the night before. The kids were rather confused at what exactly their mother was doing, but they hung in there with me until I was done. With the pillowcases on, we opened the stuffing and filled the pillowcases up to make them clouds! Then I told them to run all around! I am most certain Gage thought I was crazy! Ha! They loved it though! They were running and bumping into each other and trying to see what they could all do as clouds...roll down the backyard "hill"(very small roll off our patio), ride their bikes, shoot basketballs, swing on the swingset, go down the slide, etc., but the most fun really was rolling down the hill!

We played outside until lunch time and then worked on our Creation Book. They each got a piece of blue paper and then we spread cotton over it to make clouds. Then we did an alphabet puzzle to review our letters. Actually, this was Malia's idea...she dumped all the puzzles, so, while we picked them up, I had Gage do the alphabet one...so, he had to find the letters in the pile of 10 or more puzzles and find each letters home! After that we sat down to read in our Read and Share Bible day 2 of Creation and then put the kids down for their naps!

It felt so good to have completed two days, not on my schedule, but none-the-less, we did it and had fun!

When I started this post I titled it, "Week 1 of Creation: The Foundation"...but my eyes have been getting heavy since the third paragraph, so, I changed it to "Day 2 of Creation: The Foundation"! Hopefully, I will get to the rest of the week and week two much sooner!

the "MittelMommy" behind "MittelSchool"!

so much to write...so little time!

2011-09-11T22:56:00.000-05:00

The title pretty much sums it up! We FINISHED our first week of homeschooling!!! I do want to blog about it and hopefully, I will soon. Our first week was a lot of changes...getting back to a routine after being on vacation for a little over two weeks(naps, bedtimes...fun!), not having Daddy home all day with us, starting school, starting AWANA, and Daddy's bowling league started up! It felt like a crazy week for this Mama who has been struggling to begin with! But...we made it!!! God truly was my strength! So, I hope that sometime this week I will be able to catch up a little on our first week! I got to blog it before I forget about it!

We Survived!!!

2011-09-05T20:57:00.001-05:00

Dry Erase Board welcoming the kids with their verse!

We did it! Our very first day of homeschooling is done and we are all still alive and no one lost any hair! (Although at one point, I did think that maybe throwing in the towel looked sounded good! Ha!) So, I love to plan, but am not good at staying on schedule! Nothing ever seems to take the amount of time I think it will! Does anyone else have this problem? I had our day totally planned out (to like where I was planning things taking 3-5 minutes past the hour! -You can tell already where this story is going!) and although not a single thing happened at the time I planned for it, it all still worked out! I guess all the 'off timing' was just God's timing!
The kids got up a little later than usual which normally would be nice, but today I had big plans of doing this on the normal schedule. I was dead tired and didn't wake up before them to do my Bible time, but was still determined that this would be a good day and we will still go on! The kids crawled in bed with Nathan and I for a few minutes and then I got up and put the cinnamon rolls in the oven. I wanted to do a little special breakfast for the first day and since Nathan was home and he loves these I thought I'd do something special! It's only special at our house because normally we have cereal or toast with sprinkles(cinnamon and sugar)! So, we prayed, ate, read our Bible, closed in prayer, and started school!

Malia and Gage on their mats

I got the kids special mats to sit on during our morning 'circle/calendar' time. I had the kids close their eyes, told them what to look for, and then they turned around and ran to find their mat with their names! They thought this was fun! Gage got a frog mat since he seems to be all into frogs, turtles, and bugs lately(yuck...yuck...and yuck! but I know I have to watch my words and actions as I want him to see they are cool because God created them for some reason!) We call Malia either Cupcake or Bug(Ladybug) so the same store had a ladybug mat! These mats are really mats for kneeling on when you garden! Then I blind folded the kids and asked them what they could see...Nothing..although Gage tried to tell me where everything in the livingroom was by memory! We talked about how before anything was created there was nothing, the world was empty and dark. Then we read Genesis 1:1-5, where God spoke light into being and made the first day and night. This is where Malia was the handful I thought she'd be and took a few minutes of telling her to stop bothering her brother or to sit down. (Thankfully Daddy was home today to help, so, we'll see how Mommy does on her own-almost like another first day!) I think for being 2 though, she did really really good! I could tell they both needed to move so we got some wiggles out and danced while we sang a Creation song to the tune of "This old Man"! (We just sang day one's verse...we'll add to it each day!) After that I asked a few questions to see what Gage got from what we talked about and read. We learned the sign for "Day"...which they both did...it was cute!

Malia with her bin

Then we moved to the kitchen table where our curriculum as a number to color, cut, and paste for each day of creation. I am not a good mommy when it comes to using scissors, so, I have to admit I was a little impressed at how well Gage did! He chose to color his one in yellow which I thought was great since it was for "light" and Malia colored hers blue! At this time they also got to have their special homeschool bin with their new binders and filled pencil boxes...these were a surprise to them as well!

Gage and his bin

The next few steps in our curriculum were to work on learning the ABC's, but Gage already knows and can recognized them so we kinda just skipped over that part and did a little review for him and a start for Malia. I gave them each a bingo card and some little c-thru circle things to cover the letters as I said and showed them to them. I would say a letter, let's say "g" Gage would find it and say, "I'm done!" and Malia would look at it and then Daddy helped her find it on her sheet..she found a few of them on her own! Then I'd ramble off a few words that started with that letter until our boards were filled up! We sang the clean up song, put things away, and they ran outside to play!

the butterfly...it was huge!

As I was making lunch, my mom called and said to come over that there was a big butterfly that had been sitting for over a half over, so we ran there(I left the food on the counters) and then came home to lunch..sandwiches with oreo cookies and milk for light and dark...day one of God's creation!
We played some more, read the book, The Seven Days of Creation(sung to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas) and then tried to do nap time! After our little rest time, we did paper mache to make a globe! They are rather wet so I think my idea of waiting more than 48 hours to the 8th day of this unit might have been a great idea! The kids took a bath and I made BLT pizza with tomatoes out of our garden...yummy!

Gage's 1st day of Kindergarten picture!

So, I know we started later than I thought, but how do people do all of this in an hour/hour and a half? It took us pretty much the entire day! I think the kids did amazing though! I feel so good that we did it and am so excited for this new adventure! Praise the Lord!
Now I am off to do the dishes and cut my pillowcases for tomorrow!

Malia with her Daddy for her 1st day of tot school! Really she just had to climb the tree like her brother...we are pretty sure she's part monkey!

Our First Day of Kindergarten is Today!

2011-09-05T01:40:00.001-05:00

The last few days I have been a little nervous about us finally actually starting school(you know after over a year of just drooling over My Father's World catalog!)... and then yesterday I felt totally at peace and really super exciting! One, it just seems soooooo unreal that my baby boy is old enough to be starting KINDERGARTEN! How can this be?! It's a humongous change in our lives...he will forever be in school until he is an adult now! This just seems so crazy to me that it's here already, it's now! Second, I am so excited and feel so blessed God has chose ME, his "Mama" to be his teacher! I don't have to send him away in this new adventure and I get to see his growth right in front of these teaching eyes! Amazing!
Well, our day ended up being about 4 hours later than planned and now I'm on here so it's even later for this teacher, who should get a good nights rest before the first day of class! Praying we are all rested and our hearts and mind are ready to absorb what God has for us in learning all about His Creation!

Curriculum...curriculum...curriculum... Oh, How I Love Curriculum!

2011-08-12T01:41:00.003-05:00

What we'll be using...
Opening "My" Box!

Before I ever even started thinking about homeschooling, my friend already knew she would be homeschooling and started her search for what curriculum she would be using with her oldest daughter. Once she found one she liked, she bought it and then showed it to me! I instantly was like in love with it! I was so super excited for her and just wanted it for myself! Especially that teacher's manual! (Remember I always wanted to be a teacher?!) What I really loved was how it was all based on God's Word and His Truth! Suddenly, I started thinking about what I wanted in an education for my children. I just figured they go to public school and turn out fine like I did. But now, having my own children, their education and "what" exactly they would be being taught became serious to me. I totally loved the idea of Gage and Malia seeing how God had made everything and how amazing His works are, and how He made this beautiful Earth for them! Something that I wish I would have taught at a much younger age...like right from the start! I can't change how I was taught, I'm just thankful God chose to show this Light to me, and so very thankful that I CAN educate my children this way!

So, when my friend showed me her wonderful Kindergarten package from My Father's World I was swept off my feet! Many months later when we felt that we were going to be homeschooling, I just looked up My Father's World and kept falling more and more in love with it (and each grade as I started reading more...a timeline...heart is melting!)! I didn't really feel much need to shop around anymore until it started getting closer to the time that I would actually be ordering it, but all I found was some great books or lessons here and there, and that My Father's World was still calling my name! I love how Kindergarten is all about showing how God made everything and teaching great Godly characteristics for my children and myself to soak up!
When I was doing a little shopping around, I mentioned I did find a few other things I liked, so, I did buy Christian Liberty Press' The World God Made.

I really liked this book. I didn't really think I'd add anything, but when I saw this book, I loved how simple, but rich it is in sharing how God made it all! I plan to use a page or two with several of our units. The first two weeks of MFW-K are Creation and we have a lot of Bible story books, but believe it or not, not really much just on creation...so, this will be our main reading book/information book for creation! I like how it explains what God did on each day and gives a craft type idea to go along with it!

Our other additions are from Carisa, from 1+1+1=1, and Jolanthe, at Homeschool Creations, two blogs I found about a month or so ago...they have tons and tons of great ideas and FREE printables that go along with our units! I have gone threw two things of ink and 3 packages of paper since finding these sites! Needless to say, I've printed just about everything they have!

And last but not least....Homeschool Creations shared on facebook a sale on Little Passports and I thought it sounded like so much fun and a nice way to introduce Gage to "the world" outside of our little town! I also thought it might be nice to go back to when we study the Continents and Countries later on!

This is what Gage will be doing and I hope to include Malia in as much as possible! I printed off a lot of things for her to do more at her level that are the same theme as what Gage will be doing along with some extra Princess stuff, since she's all into Princesses right now(I so love it!) Miss Malia is one of the reasons I am so nervous. She is a very busy active girl and it worries me, but I'm praying that it will work out and she'll do some stuff with us, some special stuff of her own, and play!

I am so excited(and totally nervous) for our first year homeschooling! It looks like we'll be having a lot of fun adding into our learning! I think this will be great for Gage as well! I'm praying that we have a wonderful year learning together(another thing I am so stoked about..I will be learning so much Bible history that I don't(sadly) know already! Plus, I'm way more interested in science and geography now than I ever was in school!). I'm praying that it really draws us closer as a family and that we all have a new appreciation for all God has made and done for us as well as more Christ-like heart attitudes that shine for Jesus!!!

the MittelMommy teaching MittelSchool

Starting MittelSchool soon!

2011-08-10T23:36:00.001-05:00

Well, I totally failed at blogging just about our daily life! Twice now I have said that I was going to start doing it again...and well, it never went past that post saying I was going to do it or at least try! But now I am so super excited(and honestly nervous) about us praying, deciding and now starting to homeschool Gage and Malia that I could shout it off a roof top(!!!!!!), but since both sides of my family are not for it, I just keep quiet about it to not stir more issues up....so, that's where this blog comes back in! I'm really hoping to blog about our weeks and have a little online 'scrapbook' of our new adventure!
Like so many others say, we, too, did not plan to homeschool our children. I really feel it was God's leading and I am so excited to be spending this precious time with my children and to be able to show them just how amazing our God is in everything they will be learning! My husband was homeschooled and for all six of our dating years and just about two years into our marriage we both felt that we would not homeschool due to somethings that my husband felt and I agreed upon. Then a friend starting searching into what she would be using her first year of school and my heart struggled with, "wow that seems so exciting!" and "well, you can't get excited b/c one, you are not doing this and two, how stupid are you going to look when you've made it clear you would not be homeschooling"...and I really think that's when God starting working in my heart and leading us towards homeschooling. I have always wanted to be a teacher, I was always playing school with my brother and Granny when I was little, so my desire to teach has always been here, but when it came time to go to college for an education in teaching, I honestly just didn't go because I was scared of the student teaching in front of a teacher(I've always been scared to talk in front of people...guess out goes the "you'll be able to socialize if you go to public school theory"!). So what better teaching position is there than teaching the two(at least for now!) most precious children in the world to me, whom, I truly care about their education and what exactly they are being taught, than to get to BE THEIR teacher!?!? So, I started getting excited about this...but then there was my husband, who still felt the way I was starting to 'use' to feel. Clearly God was in control and already working in my husband's heart...When I just 'mentioned' homeschooling a little...like a tad little hint of it, making sure he knew I still wasn't thinking about it of course...his reply was, "If you are feeling like we should homeschool, then I'm in this with you and I think it's what we are suppose to do" ...What?! I thought we had agreed we weren't doing this and so quickly he is "yeah, if you feel God leading us, then let's do it"...only God can soften a heart like that! And now here we are a little over a year later, our curriculum bought, organized and ready to go on our start date! So there you have it, my "I wasn't planning to homeschool story"!

Going to (TRY) to start blogging again...can you believe it?!?!

2010-07-27T09:37:00.006-05:00

I have been thinking about starting to blog again for awhile now, so, I'm not promising I'll be any better at it than I was, but thanks to a sweet blogger, who always comments on my blog or when I sign her blog, who has said a few times that she misses my posts, I thought I'd try again! It really isn't that I haven't wanted to, because, I have, it's kinda fun and nice to write/get things out, but ever since having Malia 15 months ago(I know, I never even did a one year post for her! And my header is still her birth pictures from the hospital!!) I just never seem to get on the computer as much as I use to! I don't know exactly why that is because she is a really good and content little girl! She isn't as demanding of attention as Gage always was, but still very active! She goes from one thing to the next! So, here's my little post to hopefully get me started on blogging a little bit again! I think it said that my last post was in January, making it 6 months -almost 7 since I've blogged! Not sure how you mommies do it several times a week!

And just because it's been so long, I'll go add a picture or two of my (cute) kiddos!

Where are you Christmas?

2010-01-29T07:50:00.004-06:00

so, i had planned to post a few little things that i made this christmas season, and clearly i never got to them! so before it's valentine's day, i'll post a few pictures. i made a few gifts for my friend, amanda's kids and after i wrapped them i realized i never took pictures of them, so maybe she'll read this and take a pic for me...hint hint...i made my mom a plate sign for in her kitchen that i see i did not take a pic of either! guess i'll have to do that next time we are over! anyway, so, here are the pictures...

i have yet to find stockings for the kids that i really like to have up every year and since this year was tight on money, i found these stockings and decorated them a little for the kids!

then i got this idea from another blogger and thought they were cute and probably easy to do so i'd try it...making the ornaments overall was easy, but getting the tinsel in the tiny opening of the bulb...not the easiest and the glass is not smooth! but they did turn out cute! i might make more for next year! i made one for each nathan and i as well, but only took pictures of the kids'...the theme was the same though, girls got more red and boys got more green!

and this is the ornament that malia made for everyone in the family for christmas. i got this idea from amanda, as she did it with amelya when she was a baby! it's her little hand print with a poem about four snowmen! very cute! i did it for gage's first christmas too on a blue ornament. and every year since gage has made an ornament, except this year. i was really kinda out of ideas and stressed out this year. so i do feel bad about that. maybe we'll think of something for next year!

that's about all i took pictures of this year! actually, i only made a few more things and they were all gifts, but normally, i like to take pictures of everything, so, hopefully, i'll get pictures of those items too sometime soon!

So, where are you Christmas? Just about finally packed up and in a box until next Christmas! praying everyone keeps the reason for the season in your hearts all year not just Dec. 25th!

THREE YEARS and NINE MONTHS...how can that be?!?!

2010-01-21T17:19:00.003-06:00

I started blogging when i was pregnant with malia and now she is already 9 months old! time is just flying by her first year! i feel like she's almost one already. i keep having to remind myself that i have three months to go yet. lol it's true though! she is such a happy girl! not a great sleeper, but happy, content and all smiles! she started crawling the other week and within a few days of that started pulling herself up into a standing position against things! gage did not do all that in one week...he was much more content being able to crawl and explore for awhile! she just wants to walk. stand up on everything and try to move from there! with help, she's starting to take a few steps. she got herself up last weekend behind a doll stroller and took three steps across the living! i'm so not ready for this...i want her to be little yet! i'm excited her hair is growing back in finally! we had to do without clips for awhile and just do headbands, but the hair is coming in and although the clips slide out easily, i can get them in! as much as i kinda wanted her to be a little girl, i think she's a big girl. i know she's a little over 20 pounds and this past week i started putting her in 12-18 month clothes...not because they were so cute i just had to, but because they really fit her...not she'll grow into them..they fit! crazy. gage was always a size behind his age so i thought malia would be about that or equal to her age. so i bought a few dresses and outfits on sale last year for spring and summer that are 12 months, i'm starting to think they may not fit come summer...maybe she just had a big growth spurt now though( since in november she was still wearing 6 month clothes) and won't grow so much and will be able to wear those cute outfits come spring and summer after all!

and i don't think it's possible that a week ago gage turned THREE whole years old! how could it have been three years already that i gave birth to my first born? how could it be three years ago in a few days that he underwent almost a 7 hour open heart surgery? and that he survived it? that nathan and i survived it?! all god! praise the lord he has done amazing in these three years, but it still just seems crazy that it's been that long! he's such a cutie and a little smartie! he is just a sponge wanting to soak up everything he can! we are working on potty-training and except for two accidents yesterday we have gone 4 days without any accidents and then today has been great again! so nice to save on diapers!

i am so thankful for these very special gifts from god! he has so blessed me! but i don't know where all that time has gone!

speaking of time...i'm behind on laundry and i gave myself a goal to catch up today...and it's been about 30 minutes now so i need to go fold the towels, put the other load of towels in the dryer, then put another load in the washer! i just might actually catch up by bedtime tonight! yay!

ps-i'm posting without reading over this...so ignore the errors! =)

little miss cupcake

2009-12-31T00:16:00.009-06:00

other than the fact that miss malia is a little chubby and has a lot of cute outfits with cupcakes on them, i'm not sure how her nickname has become 'cupcake'! but it's cute and fun!

i didn't realize this until after my groovy granny started calling her cupcake that cupcakes seem to be an 'in' thing right now! malia has about 5 outfits with a cupcake or cupcakes on them and i just bought a shirt at kohls for when she is a little older...since it was on sale, why not, right?!

anyway, so, i was at target, and looking through their dollar section and found several cupcake things! it was fun to find stuff for only a buck! lol

anyway, i found scrapbook paper and embellishments...which are so perfect because of course i'll have to scrapbook how we call her 'cupcake' and all of her cupcake things she is starting to get!

then although i am not ready for this, but it got me thinking about her first birthday and how i can use the cupcake stamp i got on her invitations and my mother-in-law makes cakes and she just did one of those big cupcake things, which i have to admit, i thought was a little odd when i first saw them, but now i'm thinking how cute it could be for malia's cupcake theme!

then i found kitchen towels, oven mitt, and hot pad all with a cupcake on them so i figured she had to have them for her little kitchen set when she is older! yeah, it was so much fun shopping the other day! i also saw an adorable cupcake theme bedroom set, and i would consider doing it, but right now, i just did a room for her that i love and i'm not ready to start over and i think it will make a nice room for her now and through the toddler young child stage. who knows, maybe if the name sticks, we'll be ready for something fun around elementary school age! hopefully we'll be able to find cupcake stuff by then!

my dear groovy granny has been so in love with malia. she's always been a great granny to all of us, i'm the first and only girl and then came four boys, and then a great grandson, and now i think it's just fun to finally have a little girl around again! anyway, she's the one like i said who started the whole cupcake thing and she must have it on her brain all the time because now tonight she called and said she felt like baking...cupcakes...today, which she hardly bakes anymore! but she just baked them and brought them over! i guess it was a good excuse to visit!

(this was her tag on her christmas gift!)

i can't believe my little cupcake is going to be 9 months old already in two days!

merry christmas!

2009-12-25T23:52:00.015-06:00

wow. it's just about a week shy of 3 months since my last post! i have wanted to get on here and do a post several times and i just never get to it! not that anyone really cares, but it is kind of fun to do!

life has been so crazy lately. i guess it probably always is though! it seems like i hardly have time to get online and read everyones blogs like i used to...but i still skim them! life at home has been crazy good!

gage is getting so close to 3 years old! i can't believe it. i don't know how he can be turning three years old. he has been through so much, but is still such a stinker at times and loads of fun! he just loves to soak up everything he can! he's so smart. (if you ask my brother or even if you don't ask-my brother will tell you gage takes after him! ha!) and he's so cute! (that my dad claims is after him..lol...actually he does look a lot like my dad with nathan's (my husband)smile! gage is still obsessed with thomas, but likes superwhy, clifford, and elmo too. i am pretty sure we are going to do a thomas birthday party. i'm sort of torn on to invite friends or wait yet. i think it'd be fun and he loves to play with his little friends, but he's only turning 3. but i also know he loves to play with them and it would probably make a great day super fun to him! what do you guys do? even if he doesn't remember it, it'll still make cute pictures for the scrapbook! his birthday always comes up so fast after christmas. i feel like i need to start on his birthday stuff either while doing all the christmas stuff or the day after. i like to make my own invites, but i found some cute thomas ones that might just make it easier on me, plus they are personalized! and they'd be cute in the scrapbook! lol always thinking on that level..as if you couldn't tell!

my sweet malia is almost 9 months old! sitting up, starting to pull herself up and getting so close to crawling! didn't amanda just hack my blog and announce she was born?!?!?!?! i'm positive that could not have been 9 months ago! she's such a sweet happy girl. she doesn't cry much, but when she does, it's a scream. no crying here! she is so much fun to dress and do her hair. it's finally growing back in and i can just barely get her clippies in again!! that was an exciting day for me when i noticed that hair seemed long suddenly and the idea of a clip maybe fitting in again! i know, i might be a dork. but it's so cute! and she's such a doll! or we call her 'cupcake' actually, so a lot of her stuff is starting to become a cupcake theme! she was a lot of fun for her first christmas! gage was the most fun he's been this year too! he didn't care too much about gifts and opening them his first christmas and he was 11 months old. but this year they were both fun! it was exciting telling them all about the meaning of christmas...reading books, watching the christmas story movie, acting it out with the little people nativity scene, making the cake and singing 'happy birthday jesus'...i'm so glad god has drawn both my husband and i to him and that we get to teach our little gifts all about the ultimate gift...Jesus!

i'm going to go add some pictures and then sign off since it's late and my 3rd night in a row going to bed after midnight and we have a breakfast with the family in the morning at my groovy granny's house!

another update or two...from gage's site

2009-10-05T22:31:00.002-05:00

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2009 10:00 PM, CDT

A few weeks has once again passed, so I have a few updates on Gage's blood pressure checks.
After Gage's blood pressure check of 108/56 on Sept. 10th, I got a surprise call the next Monday from Kris, at Strasburger's office saying we were going up on the Enalipril. I was very upset, as I was told they were giving him two weeks. So we went from .7 mls to 1ml twice a day. Then he had another check on Sept. 24th. This appointment too, was very discouraging as we moved up on the medicine so did his blood pressure. His first check was 110/48 and the second check was 106/50. There are some slight factors like Gage was sick and a little congested so that makes it go up, but either way, it is still too high. So, the next day Kris called again to increase his medicine to 1.3 mls twice a day.
Then on the 28th Gage got into the fridge and into his medicine. I came in to see most if not all of it on the floor, but I could not be sure he didn't swallow any of it. I called Kris, who told me to take him to the ER to get a blood pressure check, to make sure it wasn't dropping too low. It was at about 94 over something. Strasburger was contacted and had an IV put in incase they would need to give him a counteracting medicine right away and then ordered him to be transfered to the Children's Hospital at Theda Clark to monitor him for about 6 hours, since that is when the medicine would have peaked by. Gage did really good the entire time! They had a Thomas movie for him to watch! The entire time he was there his blood pressure was anywhere in the low 90's to low 100's, which Strasburger was happy to see, but of course we didn't know if this is where he's been running on the new dose or if he actually did swallow some! The whole thing just made me freak out, but God was watching over him and knew the outcome!
This past Friday, the 2nd we had another blood pressure check. We went in really praying that he didn't swallow a little extra Enalipril and that he would still be in the range Strasbuger said is safe for his heart. Stephanie, came to get him and he acted a little odd, not wanting to go. Normally he runs along and plays with her once we are in the room. Friday...not so. He kept telling her "no" and even hid under the chair saying he wanted to take a nap! We think there might have been a little 'white coat or in this case nurse scrubs syndrome' going on from the ER visit and the several pokes to get a blood draw. Once we got him out she took his blood pressure and it was 108/48...once again high. I stated that he was lower in the ER the other day and that Strasburger thought he'd be lower b/c the tests they did didn't show much change in anything else, so they felt he didn't swallow much if any. So, Dr. Hunt said to wait a few minutes and take it again. Stephanie got back on the floor and asked all about Thomas while Gage started to warm back up to her! This blood pressure was better at 98/46! "Thank you Lord...Thank You Lord" just kept running through my head. I have prayed several times daily for a good blood pressure check for weeks and last week was the week God had for it! I expect to get a call from Kris tomorrow, but I'm not sure of what the results are going to be. Strasburger said that if he was 100 or lower, we would not be changing his medicine, but if it was higher we'd need to increase it yet. So, the first check was higher, but he was very unsure of what was going to happen, and then the second check was just what she was wanting, so, if she'll look more at the 108 or 98 I'm not sure. Stephanie thought she'd take the circumstances into consideration, so, Lord willing, she will. If he needs to go up, then that's what we'll do, but it'd be really great to not need a big dose. Please be in prayer for continued good blood pressure checks and peace for Nathan and I(I guess mostly me, as I'm the one who gets upset after each call from Kris)! I have had a hard time dealing/talking with Kris, but after our ER visit and a talk with Dr. Strasburger, I have calmed down and I'm not so upset with her. So, I'm thankful for that peace as well...I'm sure Kris is too! Ha! I will find out when Kris calls if we will need to do another check or not. If the medicine goes up then we will and if not, then we'll be able to wait a little while!
I'd like to get a post out about the walk we have coming up, in less than a week, but I think since this is getting long, I'll leave it for (hopefully) tomorrow! Please be in prayer about where and if you feel led to donate. The cause truly has blessed us and means so much to our family and all the other children, like Gage, that is helps to save their lives as well!
Love,
Nathan, Chantae, Gage, and Malia

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I don't really know how to start with something like this and it's really not me to ask for money, so, I will just say, please pray and do what you feel led to do! We have a team of walkers, Heart Hikers 4 Gage, going down to Milwaukee this Saturday the 10th to "hike" in the Brigg's and Al's Run and Walk for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. All the money raised goes directly to the hospital in return benefiting the children, like Gage, who are always in need of the care CHW provides! A lot of the money raised last year as well as this year goes to the new building that finished up this Spring. Although, I hope it's a long while before we have to see it for ourselves, I'm kind of 'excited' to see just how nice it is! The building has a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, which will directly affect and bless Gage in the future. The rooms are a little nicer for the doctors and nurses to work as well as a little room for the parents! I'm so glad that there is a little nook for the parents in the rooms now! I hated leaving Gage at night during his first surgery and the last surgery, I slept in a chair throwing up at about 5 months pregnant with miss Malia..not fun nor comfortable, but Gage came first! So, I just think the area for family is really nice and I heard they have t.v.'s in the rooms, which might give us parents a little something to do while our children sleep most of the time! So, as you can see, the money raised does so much and truly blesses the children and families who need Children's Hospital. All of you who read Gage's story know how priceless the hospital, doctors and nurses are to our family! So please consider making a (tax-deductable) donation to support our team, Gage, and the many other children this will bless!
Donations can be made to me personally or we have set up a fundraising page you can donate online with: www.firstgiving.com/hearthikers4gage
If by any chance you'd like to still join in on our team, please do so at : www.register.alsrun.com (Team: Heart Hikers 4 Gage Password: gagehiker or contact me at taemittel@gmail.com) -we'd love to have you! Thank you too, to those of you who are walking! Your time and love you put into this to show your love and support to Gage and our family means so much to us! We are touched and feel blessed by it all!
Love,
Nathan, Chantae, Gage, Malia and the Heart Hikers 4 Gage Team

update on gage's caringbridge site

2009-09-11T00:41:00.000-05:00

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2009 12:21 AM, CDT

Gage has had a few more blood pressure checks since my last post. On 8/27 he was 122/64. Since this was so high, the nurse waited a few minutes and checked it again. This time she got 112/58, lower, but still too high. Honestly it was a shock and discouraging. His blood pressure checks have been good, so, I really was not that concerned. Dr. Strasburger decided to start him back on Enalipril. He is on a very low dosage of .7 mls twice a day. She said she was not sure he fully needs it right now, but she's hoping it helps in the long run. If his blood pressure is high it means that his heart is working harder and will result in wearing out and causing his valves to leak. So, the hope is that starting the medicine will cause the valves not to have to work so hard so that leakage he does have does not get worse at a fast rate. Again, it was very hard going back on a medicine after being off 9 months. I know that at the same time, we are thankful for the 9 months and that some children never go off, but the enalipril is like a daily reminder and I don't miss that! But Lord willing, it will help Gage in the long run!
So, today he had his first check being on the Enalipril. It was 108/56, so it's come down, but still high. He's been on the medicine since last Tuesday, and the nurse today said it takes a good week or two to take full effect. So it might help out a little more, but Dr. Strasburger said she'd start low and go up from there as to not shock his body with a big dose right off the bat. So going up won't surprise me, but staying as low as we can would be nice too!
On some other news-we signed up today, as Heart Hikers 4 Gage, to "hike' in the Brigg's & Al's Run & Walk for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin again! Obviously you all know how much CHW means to our family. God has done miracles through the doctors and nurses to give Gage the life he has today! We are forever praising God and thankful for the team of Doctors and Nurses who have taken care of Gage through both his surgies. If you would like to join our team and support us, please visit www.register.alsrun.com -we would love to have you join us! And either way, if you feel led to make a tax deductable donation, please visit, www.firstgiving.com/hearthikers4gage -we really appreciate your donation to help with awesome cause!
Gage goes back for a blood pressure check next week. I'm not sure exactly how long we'll be doing this, but probably at least a few more weeks until we know how much medicine he needs.
A little Sister update-She's getting so big and she's so cute! (Okay, I know, I'm her mom...so I might be a tiny bit biased!) She is rolling over a little bit, but not very often since her big brother just pushes her over as soon as she gets mad. Which is within the first few seconds of being put on her belly! But at least she can and does do it when she gets the chance! She is starting to play so much with hanging toys and she loves to hold her feet or push toys away with her feet. And yesterday she starting giggling outloud-so adorable! Gage just loves her to pieces and is quite the helper and well, Malia, she just loves that big brother of hers...she lights up every time he comes near!
Again, thank you for your prayers!
Love,

Nathan, Chantae, Gage and Malia

our room...and some other crafts i've been up to!

2009-08-31T19:20:00.008-05:00

here is what i did above our bed...i dont' know if you remember when i showed you what our room looks like, but i've added the 'hawaiian' theme to the walls to match our comforter. so i added the branches and the hibiscus to the ribbons holding the picture frames.

this is to the left of our bed...added the flowers and the branches and the little gecko...

and here is to the left 0f that window...basically added the same thing!

here is a close up of one of our little friends in our room...

and above our closets...

and another little tropic friend, a turtle by the light switch...

here is some writing i did in our bathroom. i've always wanted to do something in the big empty space above the shower, but everything i had was too short or too tall.

and i did a few lil things in malia's room. i added the pic and her headband holders to this wall that was very empty...

and on the wall i made the plaque, i finally got some frames up and a few pictures. she turns six, yes, six months in october, so i hate to say it but the two empy frames will probably stay that way until i get those pictures taken and fill up the two frames...

and in gage's room, if you remember, he has the jungle/giraffe theme going on the walls, so on the ceiling we put the glow in the dark stars up for the sky, which gage just loves to look at the stars in real life and now in his room! then on his ceiling fan, i added the clouds for the day time up in the sky...

and there was a couple on our block who just had a little boy with a big brother, so i made some name signs for their room as well. it worked out good. the week before she had her baby boy, she showed me the boys room!

so, besides being super busy being a mommy, doing tons of cleaning and gardening, yes, we ended up doing another big project before the summer was over! lord willing, we are DONE, and next summer we are JUST enjoying it, you know, between pulling weeds...anyway, my daughters dedication, and church, that's what i've been up to!

gage's caringbridge site

2009-08-21T00:06:00.003-05:00

opps...this is a week late! i saved it instead of publishing it and just noticed! oh well! either way, last week or this week, please pray for my little guy! thanks! This is the update on my sons caringbridge site (www.caringbridge.org/visit/mittelstaedt) :

When I left off with my last post, Gage needed to start having blood pressure checks and Malia was about to turn 4 months old! Before I give the update on the kids, I wanted to share a ‘post that has been running through my head’ that I never got out.

Two weeks ago, shortly after finding out about Gage’s blood pressure, our pastors wife got up at the end of church and spoke about how God had put ‘complaining…or not complaining really’ on her heart. Many topics bring me to Gage even if it’s not exactly what we are talking about. Like songs about healing, two years later, I still can’t get through them at church. Not totally because Gage was not healed the way I had hoped, but for All God has done for Gage. Well this one brought me to Gage as well. Now, I know this goes for a lot more than just Gage’s blood pressure, but the message was clear and really spoke to me this week! It got me thinking that if Gage’s blood pressure checks are good, then, he is doing good, we are medicine free and totally praise God! It also got me thinking that if these checks show that Gage does have some high blood pressure issues, then I should not complain, but be thankful that it’s being caught right away, God is still watching out for him, that there ‘is’ medicine for him to take and not just complain he has to take it. Gods word tells us, ‘in All things give God the glory, not just when it turns out how ‘we’ want’. All week, this just ran through my head how, I need to give it to God…the worry of the blood pressure checks to all the glory no matter what plan God has! What great peace this also brought me all week!

With that being said, I am happy to report that Gage has had two blood pressure checks, 100/60 and 102/58! Praise the Lord!!! These are just fine numbers for him! His cardiologist would like him to be at about 100, little lower would be great, but she’ll take a little higher as well! It felt so good to go in for his check yesterday and have peace about it either way. Sure my heart would have been saddened, but I still would have more to praise God about than to complain about!

Malia is now 4 months old already and getting closer to 5! She had her 4 month check up and weighed in at 14lbs 8 oz(71%), 23.5 in for height(23%), and 40.5 cm(37%) head circumference. I’m always looking back to see where her and Gage were at – at the same age. I don’t know if it makes the difference that ones a boy and ones a girl or if small differences really make that big of a difference. Gage was 13lbs 9oz, only a pound less, but took him down to the 14th percentile, he was 24 inches tall(18%), and his head measured at 40cm(6%).Not big differences in numbers, but it sure changes the percentiles. My conclusion though, it looks like my kids will just always be short!

Well, I just got my husband off to work, so, I should try to go get a few more hours of sleep before my children are up!

Thanks for praying and praising God with us! We will continue to monitor Gage’s blood pressure in the next month or two just to make sure we find a good average range to go by. I will update after the checks, so please keep them in prayer!

Thanks!

Nathan, Chantae, Gage, and Malia

my 4 year anniversary!

2009-08-06T08:51:00.012-05:00

worshiping
reception...cake area
i loved my bridesmaids flowers

our programs
nathan and i at the reception
my mom and dad walking me down the aisle

our vows

four years ago today, nathan and i were up and getting ready for our beautiful wedding day by this time! god has truly blessed me with a wonderful husband! i am forever thankful! but i'm short on time, so, i will just add a few pictures of our special day! my mom is watching our two kiddos for us tonight and then as a surprise i booked us a couples message! i'm excited and i think nathan will love it! his back is always sore from bending over at work welding.

in other news, i have our bedroom almost done! as soon as i get the tree done i will take pictures and post them on here. we have been busy doing more yard work, yes, i know, i said we were done for this year, but then another big idea popped in my head so poor nathan is landscaping again see, isn't he wonderful?
ok. like always i add my pics last and ever since we had to start using different browsers something is always not working right! very annoying! i got it last time so i could add the pictures again and now it won't let me move the pictures where i want them or in any type of order. so i guess they will just have to stay above the writing and all mixed up! and i don't have any good pictures of nathan and i on the computer...they are all on cds. just what i needed to print where on the computer. so there isn't a good/cute one of us either! oh well. enjoy and have a great day!

prayer request

2009-07-28T01:04:00.003-05:00

just asking those who follow my blog to please pray for my son. his blood pressure is up a little so the cardiologist wants to monitor this for the next few weeks and see if this high is where gage 'normally hangs out' at or if he was just high from playing or something that day. i updated his caring bridge site tonight with a little more information at www.caringbridge.org/visit/mittelstaedt

thanks!

also, i talked to another mom today who is expecting a little girl in august who is diagnosed with having the same heart defect as gage, truncus arteriosis. please keep them in prayer as it's very stressful and nerve wrecking and beyond emotional to be preparing for the greatest gift to be born, but with so much unknown and to put your little one under the knife for open heart surgery in hopes to save their life. i was blessed to be able to talk to this mom and try to answer her questions b/c i would have loved this, but at the same time, it's hard going down memory lane. so please lift them up during this time and the baby, who is doing well right now, but her stomach is measuring a few weeks smaller than the rest of her body.

again, thanks!

2009-07-25T22:44:00.005-05:00

we had malia's 3 month pictures taken today, so, i thought before i turn in for the night that i would share a few of them. it was a very long and stressful time getting pictures, but we finally have some! i have been very busy decorating my bedroom. so as soon as i get it done, then i'll take some pictures to post! i just love decorating with my cricut machine! i wish i had more rooms...i'm thinking of more ideas that i'd love to do! ha! maybe my husband will have to finish our basement just so i have something to decorate! lol truthfully, we really need the room. we like our little house, but we have outgrown it very fast! alright, that's another story...night!

our trip!

2009-07-15T13:21:00.007-05:00

hello! well, we are back from our family vacation! we went to go visit my dad and his side of the family in washington and oregon! as always we had a super great time and it was too short! we spent all but three days camping near the oregon coast with some family and friends!
we cousin got married the first weekend we were there so we drove over to her beautiful outside wedding for the day and visited with my granny. it was so cool to watch my dad and gage's relationship totally bloom on this trip. my dad is not a big kid person and didnt' want grandkids, so, it was so awesome to see my dad so in love with him! he talked and held malia a little, about what he did the first time gage was out, so, i think once she is talking and moving, he'll be more into her as well! it was hard to leave though. it was the saddest i've seen my dad since my brother and i were little! i think he loves those grandbabies more than he thought he would! =)

gage was so good on our trip. he was such a little charmer and impressed everyone with his manners and knowing the alphabet and recognizing his letters! he had tons of fun playing in the sand and was a great little camper! my dad told him that just like in baseball there is no crying in camping. lol he must have listened b/c he was such a good boy! it was a blessing and a joy to have the best behaved kid out of the other kids and it be the one in the 'terrible twos'!

lol gage is in his crib down for a nap and just yelled out, "mommy, i'm not sleeping!" lol he's so stinking cute!
malia was a little doll as well. she loved the west coast. as soon as we got there she started sleeping until 6-7 am instead of 4 am for her first feeding! then she'd go back to sleep until 9! the second week we were there she started to wake up more during the day. she had still been a rather sleepy girl. she was rather content most of the time and loved being held! she has started to really look at you more rather than a blank look. and smiling. i love it. she's looking right at you and starting to coo back to you and then gets a big grin! so adorable!

since we've been home it has for the most part been relaxing, which is so nice! i did a major cleaning job before we left and what i didn't get done my sweet mom came and did for me! it was such a surprise to come home and for it to be done! what a treat it was! so the house has been staying clean, i'm trying to stay on top of it better. it just makes me more relaxed and i spend more time with the kids than cleaning every time they don't 'need' me. so it's been a blessing!
my granny is come from oregon next week to visit us! so that is another good reason to stay on top of my cleaning! lol

i just wanted to get a lil post up while i had some time. i am doing another craft in malia's room and one outside for the backyard, so while both kids are sleeping, well, gage is still telling me he's not sleeping, but he's in his bed and will eventually crash, i'm going to go work on those projects!
have a great god-given day!
chantae

finally keeping my promise!

2009-06-23T00:26:00.018-05:00

malia's room...can you believe it?!?!
alright, i don't know why i once again can not add pictures. i thought the problem was fixed, but apparently it's not, which is very irritating since i'm still up at almost 1 a.m. trying to do this and my daughter will be up in 3 hours to eat and as you see, i'm just starting this! argh! oh, praise the lord! i got it to work! -without calling my brother even! ha! wouldn't he be so proud of me!(that puts the bumble bee song in my head, you know, "won't my mommy be so proud of me, i'm throwing up a baby bumble bee!") okay, on to the tour...of malia's room! (finally, i know!)
~this is looking into her room from the door. as you can see my theme, was purple and the song, "jesus loves me..."(which i cut out of vinyl using my cricut-love it!) i have had this idea since i was like in 9th grade and i finally got to do it! i had intended to do it in gage's room, but know about the cricut yet and didn't know a way to put the wording up since i could not free hand it and i don't care for the look of stencils. anyway, here it is!

~here's a close up of her dresser, which is totally full of newborn and 0-3 month clothing! i had the knobs, outlets, and light switch plate painted to match her crib set, sugar plum by CoCaLo:
~here is a close up of her crib set: i had my mother in law make the matching pillows out of the extra crib sheet i bought for her to make a regular size pillowcase for when malia is older and then the other one is from the diaper holder thing that came with:
~this is the wall art i did to put her name into her room. i got this idea from the blog, a sister for the bean, which is now private. i copied her idea of the wooden circles and hanging them by ribbon, which i had done in my own room as well awhile back, but then the colors, lettering and details i made to be more 'me' and to fit malia's room. i really liked how it turned out, so, thanks, asisterforthebean, for the great idea! it was a fun project to do while my husband painted the room! it's kind of hard to see, but the butterflies are wall stickers that go with the bedroom set and then my husband and i painted the dashed lines to look like they were flying:~next is the changing table, here are the baskets i made for on the shelves to store stuff, which is why i didn't need the diaper stacker thing:
~okay, now looking to the right, from standing at the door, is the start of her collection of hair clippies(got them off etsy from briar.claire-love them, very cute and for a great cause-helping to raise money for the adoption of little miss claire!) and her closet:

~here is just a small wall area next to the closet with the rest of the verse. i haven't put a decoration above the lyrics yet, just b/c i am not sure what i want, if anything, maybe a family picture while pregnant with her. this picture also shows up close another butterfly we painted. we did a few of them around the room for little touches of the butterflies flying around:
~now, still standing at the door, looking to the left is really just her big window and another butterfly:
~and last but not least, here is the wall that the door is in. it's not finished yet, under the sign i made, i bought pictures frames to put pictures in, now i just need to print the pictures and get them up! hopefully before she's a year old would be nice! ha! then due to a small house and no where else to go with my scrapbooking stuff, it's all along this wall for now. then above her door is another butterfly:
i know it's a mess, but i've been using all my stuff lately(did more vinyl work in my living room!) and i just plain don't have enough room!and that's the tour of miss malia's room! i hope it was worth the wait! i will sign off with a few more pictures of the kiddos, i know, there's already been enough pictures, but a few more won't hurt, and because we are leaving on vacation to visit my dad and have my relatives meet malia and see gage again, i will be gone for a least two weeks on vacation and then however long it takes for me to get back on here!
he's so stinkin' cute!

tonight we did pictures of malia in the baptism dress my granny made for me. we set the background up to look just like the pictures of me, this picture however is not one of them, but a snapshot i took of her laying on my nursing cover afterwards, and i just liked how her eyes were actually open!
this is what nathan and malia did on father's day! priceless! nathan got an emergency tooth pulled on saturday afternoon so he couldn't eat much for lunch and was still a little uncomfortable and well, malia just loves to be snuggled up to her daddy so i think it perfect afternoon for both!
and this one really is for my friend, who recently cut off her little guys blond curls...here's gage at 18 months! i hated to cut the sweaty dirty curls off this adorable little guy as well...
okay, well, i think i am finally finished and it is 2:12 so i better get my biscuits in bed! g'night!
-i just read my post and found several errors, so because it's so late and i'm so over tired, please just ignore them! thanks! =)

~update: i just read a comment that took me back to the pictures of my house, where i realized i did not have my mailbox done yet and i mentioned it in the above post, so here is what i did to my mailbox:

i know that no one else is going to notice this who walks past or drives past my house, but because i usually have a meaning behind things, i'll share this one with you so that someone at least knows all my thinking that went into this mailbox! lol okay, so, the dark brown flowers are on the outer sides so that there wouldn't be so much dark brown and the house number would still stick out. and looking at the picture, the one on the left is the tallest flower to represent nathan, and then on the right the dark brown flower is a lil smaller to be me, and then back over by nathan is a lil smaller flower than 'me' that is tan to be gage, and then by her mama is an even smaller one to represent malia! ...and here you thought it was JUST a mailbox design! =) i did not seal the mailbox so that if i get around to it, i can change the design with each season! okay, that was, i was going to say last vinyl project, but that isn't true, i did a lil bit more in my living room the other night. when i get that all done and to my liking, i'll share it with you all! hopefully you guys don't get too sick of my house projects! okay, off to get some breakfast! have a wonderful god-given day...it's beautiful(and hot)!

malia 2 months old

2009-06-18T16:19:00.007-05:00

just a quick picture post of my little malia! i had fun playing mommy photographer the other day with her and this purple boa i found at target...just love her...she is such a sweetie...enjoy!

what were we doing on a rainy day?

2009-06-07T14:15:00.010-05:00

okay, so let me tell you what we did this past rainy saturday! our plans were to take the kids to the zoo, but since it was going to rain we decided to do it another day. and because we had two barberry shrubs die this past winter, i had bought some new shrubs and thought we could get them in the ground before the rain and then when it rained it would water them for me! well like always my small projects end up being big! good thing my husband is such a good sport and loves me! lol so the above picture is of the front of our house where the landscaping project started...
here is the right side of our house...last fall we redid the rock area and took out some stones that were uneven and full of weeds. so this year i did my normal flower pots, ending up buying a sand cherry bush and added seven groups of lilies and between them are sedums...i think sand cherries are really pretty especially when they bloom and if you know me, you'll know i love lilies! i got the lilies from my mom and granny who each had several different colors, and did not label them when they dug them out so i'm curious what colors i have...things have to be in a certain order for me, so hopefully once they bloom i (who am i kidding? nathan)) won't be changing too many around!here is the right side of our front door. we had this (ugly) bush where i now have a flower pot in a wheelbarrow, then the spirea was there, we pulled out this ugly ground cover thing and put in the sedum(plain, but for some reason i really like them since they give color in the fall), added another sand cherryl, sedum, and then an emerald gold(two tone) and my usual flower pot. once they start growing the sand cherry will give some height between the two windows.and this is the left side of the front door. from the door to the left...it's hard to see because gage is standing there...but we put in a sedum, my normal pot is there, and then my husband put in a mailbox for me! we had one on the house and most ppl think it's so nice, but i can't decorate it, so we put in a $70 mailbox(with wood and all that) for me to decorate! lol see, my husband totally loves me and puts up with me! ha! then is the emerald gold, a sedum, a new barberry(you know the whole reason we started this, was to just replace the two that died, that were in the spots where the emerald golds are and the emerald golds where in the middle), then another sedum, spirea, and it got cut off, but after the spirea is another sand cherry. once it all gets bigger, i think it will look really nice, at least i hope so for all the work we did in the rain!here is a close up of the mailbox that i have to decorate yet, but it just got put in last night. oh and there is the sedum you couldn't see in the picture above!i might have posted this before, i don't remember, but i only made it a few weeks ago so it might not be in a post yet. here is the sign i made of our family name for outside. more vinyl using my cricut expression...i love creating on it! i thought it would go good above the mailbox so that i can decorate the mailbox and just have our house number on it. our long name would take up too much decorating room! lol the little 'dots' are rhinestones. i think i might do another one for the fall and winter seasons since this one is sealed to hopefully withstand the weather.so after the sandcherry in the front going around to the left side of the house is a big purple lilac bush, i think you can see a tiny bit of it. this part was actually last falls project, but this is the first time we're getting to see it...so then are some more lilies, a sedum, a puprle thing my neighbor gave me that i thought was so pretty last year, then a yellow potentilla, more lilies, sedum, a bleeding heart, and yet another sand cherry!
this is our patio we put in last year! we thought it was huge at the time, now that gage's toys are out, it's seeming very small! lol it's actually wider than our two and a half car garage. i skipped the other half of the landscaping in the back just because it's mainly hostas that will be on there way out so that i can add in some lilies and yellow potentilas!it's not up in the pic above since it got windy i took it down last night, but it's a sign (yes, more vinyl) i made for the patio. this is one of the sides of the patio. they are the same on both sides so i'll just bore you with one. but so far starting from the house forward, i have lilies, a sand cherry(incase you haven't notice there is one on every 'corner' of the yard) then is a sedum, area for a yellow potentilla(the store was out so i have to go back) another sedum and i'm not sure if i'm going to leave the 'triangle' area or put in some red flowers that i'll have to plant each year. then lastly all around the house i have tulips planted to show up early next spring before everything else starts!
so THAT is what my husband and i, but mostly my husband were doing on a rainy day. thankfully, it was just a drizzle, a very cold one for this time of year though. and my sweet granny wanted to hold malia so i just ran to her house at feeding times (she lives about 9 houses down the street from us) and my mom took gage for the day! it worked out really nice! now i can't wait to see everything grow and in bloom...and get at that mailbox! ha!

Miss Malia

2009-06-06T19:46:00.011-05:00

well, it has been a really long while and i've promised a tour of malia's room a few times, and i've got the thing (barely) started. i will get it done sooner or later! for now i thought i would do a little update though...

I can't believe my baby girl is already two months old! the time is flying by, i tell ya! she is still a very sleepy girl. she just barely wakes up enough every 3 hours to eat and once during the night. i can't complain about that since she's been doing it for over a month now! ptl! every few days she wakes up enough to have some awake time and stretch aroun d. i was shocked this past week at her two month check up. my little peanut who was 6lbs 5oz at birth, went down to 5lbs 12.8oz and by two weeks old was only at 6lbs 1oz was 10 whole poun ds an d 13 oz!!!! i guess not so little anymore. my mom is always telling me that my milk is pure fat, i guess she is right! lol she does pretty good at tummy time though, holding her head up pretty good for someone who can barely open her eyes enou gh to know what's going on! and today, she s miled a true smile at her daddy! she has been doing little smiles at me while nursing the last two weeks, but today it was for sure a real smile and it was adorable!
we are really enjoying and loving on her! gage is doing really good with her as well! he is always wanting to give her hugs and kisses. he will only call her 'sister' ...it's cute! and now we are all pretty much calling her just that, sister. i have to think to say her name to ppl and not call her sister! lol he also likes to hold her, but that lasts for about maybe two seconds and then he's done. when he is done he likes to just push her off, so, i could not let her go for even a split second! i need to go make a very late dinner now, but before i do, i will post a few more pictures of my precious kiddos...just love them!!!

and just for kicks, here's one of my good-looking husband! love him too!

Malia's Room..finally!!!

2009-06-03T12:32:00.002-05:00

opps...i was just starting this post when i had to go feed malia and i must have hit post instead of save. anyway, i will try to get it finished soon!

they fit!

2009-05-12T12:10:00.002-05:00

i have yet to really try on my prepregnancy clothes, well because i'll probably cry when they dont' fit! i did try on a shirt that felt kinda tight, but my boobs are bigger and my stomach is still mushy. i've been told my baby is only 5 weeks old i need to give myself a break, which i know and what i would tell others because it's true, but i still feel fat and not cute like when i was pregnant with little miss malia! anyway, this morning i braved trying on a pair of capris...and they fit! i was totally surprised. i have to admit though that they are tighter than they were last summer, but hey, i got them on!!! Trying my jeans on is another story. I think I will wait to attempt those for another brave moment!
okay, so i have no idea why all that was underlined and now this line is not. i just finished adding pictures on facebook for my dad ,who lives in another state to see, his grandchildren and i finally got some pictures of malia's room up as well. hopefully sooner rather than later i can get that post up on her room, but my daughter is letting me know that it is time for her to eat, maybe i can get working on it today yet!

so i didn't fall off the face of the earth afterall...

2009-05-05T22:57:00.007-05:00

I'm going to try to get a post out...can you believe it!?!? I know, it's been almost a month. We have been so busy with doctor appointments, trying to get Malia's room done, other house work, and just adjusting to having little miss Malia around! I honestly have hardly spent any time on the computer, that's weird for me! Every once in awhile I get on and try to read a few blog posts and catch up a little, but every time I think I'll do a post, I never end up with the free time I thought I'd get.(Speaking of getting to read-I got to catch up on my friend, Amanda's blog, and I'm excited to announce that I WON her 1 year blogiversary giveaway!!! Exciting-my first time winning something! It's a delicious smelling partylite candle! Thanks Amanda!) But tonight now, I'm awake and for some reason, even though I will be the one to get up with Malia, having my husband home makes me feel like I can stay up -as if he'll help me by nursing her or something! LOL okay, I guess that won't be happening!
Both Gage and Malia are doing good! Gage is doing pretty good with his little sister, but has had a few jealousy moments. He loves to give her kisses thought-it's so sweet! Malia is definitely growing-starting to get some fat on her skinny self! She may as well do it now since it'll be the only time in her life where chubby thighs are going to be cute!
My husbands Grandpa passed away yesterday and although that is not something fun to go through, I am excited to have him home the next three days! Isn't that nice of his work to give him three days paid off! I think so! So, I am looking forward to having him home and to go to story time at the library again with us! Actually, I am so proud of my husband with this loss. It's totally fine and expected for him to cry and grieve, which he hasn't done yet, but I'm sure it will come, but his attitude has totally blessed me to God in this time. He has been so positive about his grandpa's passing because he KNOWS he is with Jesus! As if for us it is a loss, but rejoicing for his grandpa that he is in heaven-it's a celebration! I think it brings him comfort too knowing his grandpa isn't suffering anymore, which gives us more to be thankful for. I just love the attitude my husband has had and it's really made me think that when I die, I really don't want my funeral to be super sad, but instead a celebration for all my loved ones of me going to heaven to be with my Jesus forever! Even tonight when we were praying at dinner, he thanked God that his grandpa loved Him and that he was with Him for all eternity! It just amazes me to see where my husband is at with his walk and how God is giving him this comfort!
I suppose I should get going to bed though. Hopefully, I will get Malia's room finished soon and then I'll add pictures. I've been waiting to show it all finished instead of at stages! So far I am really happy with how it's turning out! Hopefully she will like it for a long time as well!
Good night!
Chantae
ps-I tried to add pictures of the kids, but I can't figure it out! We had some problems with Internet Explorer so we had to get FireFox and ever since we did that I am having problems adding pictures on Facebook and now on here...can anyone help me with this?

Oh and before I actually sign off-I have to tell you that my friend, Amanda, is having another giveaway...a planet wise wet bag! now for all you cloth diapering mommies, you probably know what this is...a bag for dirty cloth diapers! I don't cloth diaper, but I've seen Amanda's bag and it looks nice and can be used for more than just cloth diapers, so even though I'd probably feel guilty winning two things, I do think this bag would be cool! If you want to know more about it or try to win it yourself(but if not-it's okay-then i have a better chance at getting it!) go over to proudmommyof4.blogspot.com and check it out! Okay, I'm going now...

2009-04-10T18:07:00.003-05:00

What a surprise-thank you again, Amanda, for hijacking my blog!!! I have not posted in awhile and truthfully, I have a lot to share, but not the time...how does Amanda do it?!?! =) Anyway, since she posted and asked for prayer, I wanted to put the update from Gage's caringbridge site (www.caringbridge.org/visit/mittelstaedt) up for those of you who have been in prayer for him! (Thank you!!!)

Before I paste the post, if you haven't already, go read Amanda's blog(www.aproudmommyof4.blogspot.com), wish her a Happy Birthday, and check out the gifts she's giving for 'her' birthday, especially the last one, it's truly the best gift you could ever receive!

Happy Easter!

Now for Gage's update...

It's amazing how God works...I poured out how nervous and not at peace I was about todays appt. for Gage and at 4 a.m. Malia woke up hungry. So I fed her and finished off by pumping(aren't you all glad to know that!). My friend, Amanda, gave me this book to read, Every Now and Then, which I've been reading at night while I pump. Well, last night the chapter I was reading was on John 16:33...how we can have peace in Him. I'm not sure it totally made me feel at peace, but it was comforting how when I needed peace and was praying for it that God 'just so happen' to have me in that chapter of the book!

With that I'd like to just shout out a "Praise God" for todays report! I was still nervous, but calmed way down by the time of the appt. We had a nurse check Gage over first. She listened to his heart(113-119 bpm), checked his oxygen level(97%), and his blood pressure(85/52), and his liver was where it should be! These are all great numbers! Then the nurse practitioner came in and she felt all was good as well. After she came in Dr. Strasburger herself came in and felt that heart wise Gage is doing great and we don't need to come back until his follow up this summer unless we have any more concerns! Dr. Strasburger felt that the faster heart rate and heavy breathing are due to his cold as he is very congested. She also said not to be alarmed if he turns a little blue from this and to expect it for about another two weeks, that seems to be how long this horrible cough is lasting.

So, we just want to thank everyone again for praying and ask that you praise God for the awesome report and for all He is continuing to do in Gage's heart!

In more good news, Malia's levels were down as I mentioned yesterday and Dr. Hunt called this morning and said she did not feel that she needed another check! PTL! Now maybe her bruised and cut up heels can start to heal!

Happy Easter!

Love,

Nathan, Chantae, Gage, and Malia

prayer request.

2009-04-10T07:42:00.002-05:00

hey. it's amanda again. i just want to let you all in on a prayer request. i've just copy and pasted this from gage's caringbridge site that chantae posted last night. so gage's appt is today. :0)

Just a small post to ask for prayer. I noticed a few days ago that Gage's heart seemed like it was pounding and then seemed better. I mentioned it to the pediatrician at Malia's appt yesterday and she felt that Gage's murmur was louder, his heart rate was up, and his liver has started to descend. This has me totally freaked out and I'm really scared for tomorrows appt. Dr. Hunt felt that Gage needed to be seen by his cardiologist this week yet so she called and got him in for tomorrow. When I talked to the nurse practitioner in Strasburgers office she thought these could possibly just be from the horrible cold he has, but that he needed to be checked out by Dr. Strasburger. She made me feel a little better with it maybe being his cold, but then when Malia was in for her follow up appt today, Dr. Hunt said that she felt it was more than just his cold. I'm struggling to find God's peace for tomorrows appointment, but trusting Him with Gage. Please be in prayer for Gage's appointment tomorrow as well as healing for this nasty cold.

By the way, Malia's levels for jaundice were down a little today and she was up to 6lbs 3 oz, so hopefully her numbers continue the way they are going and no treatment is needed!

Thank You,
Nathan and Chantae

so there you have it. please continue to pray and thanks all you prayer warriors!! God is SOO SOO good!!
amanda posing as...

BABY MALIA!!!

2009-04-02T17:57:00.003-05:00

it's amanda again!! here are some cute pictures of baby malia. i have loaded just a few. but here is a link to my facebook album of more. so is so super cute. and tiny. and i totally called my hubby on the way home and said...i want another baby. ((for those of you who don't know me...my youngest is only five months old...oh dear!!)) but she has a head full of beautiful hair. she is keeping her temps 'borderline' low. so they put her in a warmer when we were leaving to help keep her temps up. other than that she is doing super great!! and as long as things continue this way they'll be set to go home saturday. and as you can see in the pictures you can not even tell chantae JUST had a baby this morning and hasn't gotten much sleep since!! here is a few...and don't forget to go check out the facebook ones for MORE!!

...well really Amanda.. :0)

more baby updates.

2009-04-02T07:33:00.002-05:00

hey all. this is amanda. i asked chantae if i could update you all on baby news.

SHE HAD HER BABY!!!

yesterday i was with chantae at story time. i noticed her stop and stand still and hold her belly. i noted it and kept on with the day. ((something about having seven kids and three adults)) then around nine pm she called me and told me she couldn't come with me today, because she was on the way to the hospital!

she had been having consistent contractions since three pm and her doctor told her to come in because she hadn't felt the baby move and they wanted to do a stress test on her.

well around 5:30 AM on Thursday APRIL 2nd

Malia Rose
was born weighing in at
6 pounds 5 ounces
and
18 3/4 inches long

baby malia and chantae are doing great!! malia made her arrival a few weeks ahead of schedule, but as we all know our plans are not gods plans. and i joked with chantae this morning that god was probably giggling because chantae is such a HUGE planner. :0)

i plan on visiting later today and have been given permission to take pictures and post them up here later. feel free to share the love and leave some comments for our sweet friend chantae!!

doctors report

2009-03-27T08:32:00.002-05:00

as you know on monday i had my ob appt. i measured at 40 weeks, but i am only 35 weeks! so, i'm still measuring big, but only fives weeks instead of 8 weeks! my doctor said that at next weeks appt he might set up another ultrasound and then decide if he wants to take baby girl in about 3-4 weeks! so that would be about a week or two early. which doesn't sound that early, until i think she could be here in 3 weeks and i still have A LOT to do!!! but i am excited that i just might get to see her again!!! i don't know for sure so i'm not going to go expecting the ultrasound. dr. kaldas once again mentioned that he didn't want me to join the 10 pound club, to which i replied, not the 9 pound either...he smiled and said okay. but i still don't know if he's serious since he has mentioned at almost every appt or just kidding since my last ultrasound showed that baby would be about 8 1/2 pounds at birth.
other than that everything went well...except i gained a little again...but i guess that is to be expected! baby's heart rate was the lowest either of my children have been at 131 bpm-dr. said baby seems very happy!
feel crazy that i am already starting weekly appointments! 9 months seems like a long time in the begining, but sure flies by!
i started to pack the new diaper bag for the hospital with baby's stuff in it and realized that i don't have an outfit to bring her home in! i've bought some stuff but b/c dr. keeps saying she is going to be big, i haven't bought anything newborn or 0-3 months, it's all 3-6 mo or bigger that i found on sale! good thing i didn't decide to look the night before. lol so now i guess i will have to go shopping...i looked at our local walmart and there was one outfit i kind of liked. it was white and pink, but the mitts, receiving blanket, hat and onesie are all light purple! so, i need to keep looking, but as a last resort, i might have to go back and get the pink outfit. actually it was so soft and sweet looking that i may just get it anyway, b/c i'll need more than one 0-3 month sleeper/outfit!
gage and i are going over by my friend amanda's house today so we should start getting ready. gage saw her daughter, breigh in a picture of amanda's new haircut and wanted breigh-breigh last night! so it was nice to say that we were going to play with them tomorrow!
tonight i am scrapbooking again! i just might beat my goal and have the month of feb. done before this baby arrives! and if not done, still further than i thought i'd be! nathan and i have some big plans to work on baby girls room this weekend since we could only have a few more weekends left, so i don't know if i'll be back at all this weekend, so...have a great weekend!

2009-03-23T09:46:00.004-05:00

It's Monday Already! Actually, we had a very busy/productive weekend and today doesn't really feel like a Monday since Nathan is home and we are not going to Moms group! I will miss moms group though, but we have to leave before it's over. Which I 'should' be getting ready for and instead I'm blogging!
If you don't know about Mckmama, please pray for her little boy, Stellan. He is in the hospital with a heart issue. Now on to my version of Mckmama's Not Me Monday...
I did not find myself laughing last week when Gage peed on the sofa! It truthfully was not funny b/c I had to clean it and I don't want him to think it's okay to pee on the sofa, but when I asked where he was suppose to go 'the bath' was kind of a funny reply! But not so funny in that this past week I really think that's where he thinks he can go to the bathroom!

I did not have a hard week as a little heart baby that has been a dear friend to another heart family member passed away. In the last year I have watched/read about 4 heart babies passing away and each time I cry, but this time, it was a little boy I actually met in person and that just hit harder I guess. I did not remind me how we never know anything. I was difficult knowing that at his last check up in January he was doing awesome with nothing to worry about and in March he was gone. It can happen to anyone, but knowing my son also has a unique heart and is doing so good made it scary that at anytime his heart too could change. It's been very hard and several times this week I've had to ask God for his peace and to watch over Gage as he is His son. It has helped, but that devil keeps trying to bring it up. My heart did not totally go out to this wonderful family all week. Alright, you KNOW it did. Please pray for them, I can't imagine losing my son. Only God is going to be able to bring them through this with his love and prepare them to be excited and ready for the new baby coming in a few months.

I did not accomplish tons of projects I have going on this week in Gage's room, baby girls room, outside, and in the basement! I don't know if I've ever got so much done in one weekend before! It did not feel great to get so much done! I do not think that I might be in that nesting phase!

I did not and have not got all into Gage being into Thomas and Friends and buy him more trains and an expansion track pack while at Toys R Us to pick up something for the car, which they did not have! It's not so much fun watching Gage light up over his love for Thomas!

I was not happy that I went with my husband to visit his sick Grandpa. I really didn't feel up to the drive or sitting in the hospital, but God was so good to us during out visit and gave us his Grandpa's best day he's had in weeks! I hope it's not the last time Nathan sees his Grandpa here on earth, but if it is, it was a good last visit! I'm not so thankful for that b/c I've been praying for Nathan as this has been hard on Nathan as he's always been close to this Grandpa.

I did not fully rely on God this past week with an issue that has been going on...and I'm not happy to report that I did not blow up and instead have been at peace and calm about the entire thing-that's so not me! Praise God!

So, I guess that should be it for this week. I really need to go get ready as I have to leave in minutes and my hair is not done! Have a great Monday!

Our Maternity Session...

2009-03-22T07:20:00.001-05:00

...and here are a few of our maternity pictures! they pretty much explain themselves so i won't add a title to each one. enjoy!

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(i love this family one even though no one is looking at the camera)

ps-i dont' know what i keep doing to get that 'link' thing above the pictures...sorry!

Gage's 2 year pictures

2009-03-21T06:01:00.001-05:00

i know that i am late on getting my son's pictures taken, but in january he wasn't really suppose to go places with tons of germs yet and with the weather freezing and snowy, i didn't feel much up to it soon after that. then it was february and i got to thinking that i was going to do my maternity pictures in march that i should just wait and do them together instead of going to the mall twice. so that is what we did! since it would just be a ton of pictures, i will upload Gage's pictures now and do the maternity ones for the next post!
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gage with his bear

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my little stud miffin

gage with his 'raffe...my mom got him this in the nicu, it's almost as good as bear, but not quite!

he had to have all his trains with him!

looks rather proud to be TWO!

Das Not Funny Friday

2009-03-20T14:19:00.007-05:00

So, I know I already did a post for today, but my friend, Amanda, did this and I thought it was a fun idea and I'd play along...

It’s finally Friday! How many times this week did you hear or see something and think… “Das Not Funny!” but then realize that it actually was pretty funny? Well, such is the purpose of this blogapolooza known as Das Not Funny! Friday.
Check out this blog to see what else is not funny. Plus, by going over here you can see who else has seen or heard something and thought Das Not Funny! then stifled a giggle or even laughed out loud! Come on, you know you wanna…

I don't have a great one, but it was so not funny this week when Gage climbed on the table sliding across it on his back and then yelled 'poop!' which most of the time just means he went pee...no, big deal, he's got his diaper on, right? So, I walk over to him and he's pointing to a round piece of poop on the table! The back of his diaper was below his biscuits from sliding. I grab a diaper and wipes, to which he says he wants to take a bath so he climbs down and I throw the dirty diaper away, walk to the living room to say, "come on, let's take a bath.." and there is Gage standing on the sofa peeing! Wide eyed thinking oh what a day this is going to be, I say, "Gage you know you are not suppose to pee on the sofa, where are you suppose to go potty?" To which he replies, "the bath!" with a smirk! Das so not funny!

ultrasound

2009-03-20T07:40:00.009-05:00

well, my ultrasound last week, yes, i know, i'm way late, went very well. the nurse who took me back looked at me first thing and said, "woah, there is no denying you are all baby, is there?" lol i didn't know what to say so i think i just said something like, "nope, not really!" lol
anyway, my appt went very well. we got to watch baby move around for a little over an hour again! i just love it! she always has her face up tight against the placenta. that is the only thing i don't like. i wish she would let me see her whole face! i still think she looks just like her big brother right now though! i was totally thrilled to get SEVENTEEN ultrasound pictures! that's the most i have ever gotten! it will take up a few pages in the scrapbook, that's for sure!

(hard to see, but this was a picture showing baby's hair moving in the fluid on the back of her head)

let's see...baby measured 7 days big instead of 8 like last time...she weighed in at 4lbs 14 oz...that's exactly two pounds less than my son weighed at birth and she had 7 weeks to go! but they can be off a pound either way...hopefully on the smaller end! we figured out that if she gained the average half a pound a week from that point that baby would be about 8lbs 6oz, which the doctor did not think would be big so my doctor will probably not induce me unless something changes later on. i see him next monday. so, i will find out what he thinks then!
while the ultrasound tech and i were talking she said something and i replied with the fact that i knew i was big and she replied, 'oh no, i see pregnant woman all day-you are not that big!" and i said, "yeah, but are they only carrying one baby?" and she replied, "yes" wasn't that so nice of her? she's the only person to say that i am not huge!

then because my father-in-law is always teasing that he is sure this baby is going to be another boy, my husband asked if she still thought it was a girl since he started painting the baby's room a girl color. she replied that at least fifty times during the ultrasound that baby girl proved she was a girl and that she would personally come repaint the room if it is indeed a boy!
so unless my doctor decides to do another ultrasound, that was our last time seeing baby girl before she arrives! i can't believe how close it is getting! in some ways, i don't feel all ready here at home, but in other ways, i just can't wait to meet her and she what she really looks like!

where i've been

2009-03-09T08:10:00.007-05:00

wow. it's been awhile again. my only excuses are that one, i haven't felt up to it and two, i've been busy and not spending as much time on the internet. the last couple of weeks something has been bothering me and at church we talked about forgiving. so although my feelings have been a little hurt, i am trying to have a more forgiving heart as christ would want me to and get past these feelings. i'm sure being pregnant probably has me a little more emotional about it than i'd normally be.
so, here's what i've been up to so far...watching, playing, reading, dreaming, eating with, taking a bath with thomas...i mean gage! well it feels more like thomas, gordon, emily, toby, and percy are ALL gage does these days therefore it's ALL that i see and hear about!
i read on this blog about a couple who did a devotional together and there was some thing in it about doing something nice for your spouse and then leaving a little note with it that says, 'SHMILY'(See How Much I Love You). I thought this was kind of cute. Nathan and i do things, but don't leave a note or a note that just says love you. so, i decided i would do this when making his lunch the next day. nathan loves getting notes so i thought this would be a fun one for him to try to figure out what the heck i was talking about! i have a wonderful husband and very smart and handy in many areas but spelling is not his strongest point, so i thought this would take him a little bit, well, was i totally wrong! actually i was shocked he figured it out so fast..i thought for sure this would be a game of me teasing him with little hints for days! for some reason he happened to look in his lunch box that night and asked what that was and i told him he had to figure it out. later that night i gave him a hint that 's' was 'see' thinking this totally would not give it away. when he got up for work he asked what it meant thinking i'd spill in my sleep or something, which i replied, 'h' means 'how'. so as smart as my husband may be, i still did not think he'd get it yet...but to my suprise there was a note that said, See How Much I Love You(Too)! I told him where I found it...well, that it was on a blog, to which he said he'd read all the blogs i read, i said go ahead, but i found it on amanda's and she reads like 50 so it might take awhile. lol so i don't think he cheated since he only has 45 minutes to get ready in the morning! so since then we've been going back and forth leaving this little note! it's been kinda fun!
nathan has been working on baby girls room big time this past week! we bought paint that said it would only take one coat to cover...well, three coats later all four walls are covered. it's a good thing i only had him do half the walls with the plum or we would have run out of paint. i really did not want to run out b/c it was a color i had matched from the bed set and it took the lady awhile to get a color that looked pretty close and of course she did not write down all the white and magenta she added to it after the machine came up with a mixture! now i just pray there is just enough left for my mother in law to come and do the trim! then yesterday he said he would paint one of the walls or at least get a start b/c it was already 9 pm, well, i went in a little later to take a picture and he was just finishing up the fourth wall! so maybe tonight if he gets a chance to work on it he'll have the second coat of the lighter purple done on top! i think this color will only take two coats. i too have been busy with a craft for her room. this other blogger that amanda reads(a sister for the bean) made these decorative wooden circles with her daughters name. i was going to either just get wood letters like i did for gage's room or use vinyl. then i saw this other idea at a craft store that was like the wooden circles but foam, and only in certain colors which were not the colors i needed, but they were cute. then i read a sister for the bean blog and she had the wooden circles and a post on how to do them and how easy and inexpensive they were! so i gave it a try and when gage was napping, nathan was painting, i was working on the circles for baby girls name! i am very happy with how they turned out! nathan liked them too. now i can't wait for the painting to be all done so i can get the curtains up, her name, the crib! it's feeling very soon, and after today may feel even sooner!
i have a growth ultrasound this afternoon. i am once again very excited to see baby and what she looks like! i thought the last one would be my last, but i am thinking since they decided to do a growth ultrasound that today is probably the last time we see baby girl before she arrives. the ultrasound today is not to see if they can find anything wrong, so lord willing, they won't...it's to measure how big she is to decide if i should be induced a little early. i have mixed feelings on this. in some ways it'd be nice to experience a go into labor yourself labor since i was induced with gage(due to his heart not his size), and that was really scary knowing the day you'd be in pain, but at the same time if i am induced then i can totally plan everything and have everything set up with gage and all that. so i don't know. i really need to pray for peace about either option, which ever one is god's plan that He will bring me peace about it!
so, it is now hours later...and i have to say the change of attitude in my heart seemed to help some! i don't know if i feel like my feelings are totally over it, but the change of heart as helped me to move on rather than soak in the upsetness of it all.
i was going to add pictures to this post of baby's room, but i'm running out of time so i need to go get ready for my ultrasound since i didn't get ready before moms group. i will probably try to get a post out about my ultrasound later on tonight. it will probably be full of pictures to make up for this post and the ultrasound! just a warning...it might not happen...but it might!

update

2009-02-24T09:13:00.011-06:00

you may or may not have noticed that i have been away the past week. in some ways it's been a long week and i just have not felt up to writing or reading much. maybe it would have been an outlet though since i had no one to talk to about this past week, but like i said, i just didn't feel like i had any energy to think to write! i'm not sure it's totally back actually. i thought i would start a post, but now i feel as if i have nothing to say. so, i will just share about my two precious kiddos...

gage's hand is healing so nice! he's had the wrap off for a few days now and the blisters are pretty much gone. they did not pop like we were told. in some ways i hope this is fine, i'd think it would be since we had to watch carefully for infection once they popped, but they just seem to be dissolving back into his skin. he's totally in love with thomas the tank engine, well, more like gordon and emily from thomas. it's kind of fun having him into something now and getting all excited everytime thomas is on or he sees something thomas in the store!

i had my 31 week dr. appts yesterday. that went well. dr. said baby seems very happy! i had a 2.2 lb gain. so now i've gained 18 pounds this pregnancy. i am still a little behind average, which is 21-25, which i like, but i'm not too far behind. my dr. told me to start eating at dairy queen, i don't like dq, but still wouldn't you think he'd want me to eat healthy and gain weight not junk?! lol baby's heart rate was about 141-142. my son never got that low, so, i think the high heartrate being a girl and a low one meaning it's a boy is not so true. and i have carried both kids low, so carrying high or low meaning a girl or boy doesn't seem to be true either! but i guess they are fun to see!

i measured in at 34 cm, so still a little big, but not 8 cm big like two weeks ago! maybe this means that i'm not producing so much amniotic fluid and it won't be something we'll have to worry about at my next ultrasound! i'm not sure what changed his mind, maybe that i'm not measuring so big, but he(dr) now thinks that baby will be about 8 pounds instead of 9 pounds!
i took some more pictures of my belly last night, so, i will go load them on here and sign off with that!

prayer with a gift raiser

2009-02-16T13:12:00.007-06:00

First of all, I'd like to ask for prayer for my little boy. He burned his hand this weekend on the church's pellet stove. I think all the time that it should have some type of fence around it and well, now I feel even stronger about that, but accidents happen, I'm not mad, but I think it's better to be safe than wish we would have been b/c although Gage's hand is not severe, it could have been much much worse. So, we are thankful that it is not worse, and would just like prayer for healing and comfort for Gage. We took him to the ER where they did some things and wrapped his hand and now we have to go in to his pediatrician to have her check it out and rewrap it later today. The picture is of Gage sleeping in the ER with the first wrap on his hand with a gel that numbed his hand. They gave him some good medicine which knocked him right out. It was kinda nice since he would have just been upset and this way he slept through the wrappings! I'm praying that it looks good today and any infections stay far away. The dr. said it would heal up nice as long as he didn't get an infection. He is doing so good with the bandage on. He definately wants it off, but I can't believe how well he's doing with it on.

So, I've been meaning to get a post up about a give away thing my friend, Amanda, over at www.aproudmommyof4.blogspot.com is doing...so, here it finally is! She found this nurse who goes over to Haiti and helps the children. Amanda donated some cloth diapers to her to take over when she leaves next. After that Amanda felt this little tug on her heart from God to try and bless this nurse with more donations! So, she is looking for anyone else who wants to join in by blessing this lady with these donations. Here are some things she is in need of: cloth diapers(I'd think regular ones would be fine as well, but check with Amanda on her site to make sure), vitamins for infants and/or children, peanut butter, and formula were some things on the small list the nurse gave to Amanda. Amanda also thought about shipping costs and thought you could email her personally about gift cards for Amanda to go do the shopping so you wouldn't have to pay to ship the items. Please pray about this and if you feel led head over to proudmommyof4 and make your donation!
Amanda has asked for her 'followers' to post about this on her blog to get the word out, so please feel free to post about this on your blog to help get the word out as well!
And there is more...Amanda thought she'd make this fun by having a little 'prize' involved! Here is what you need to do to get your name in for the prize:
1.)Let Amanda know that you wrote up a post about this(1 entry)
2.)Donate to the cause(2 entries)
So, here is what you could just possibly win...

It is a devotional book for couples!
Here is what amazon.com had to say about it:
Ladies are tired of trying to engage their man in something he is reluctant to do... like devotional time. Guys are feeling like the term "devotional" is code for "boring". Plus, husbands and wives have different views on what intimacy is all about.

For those who are wondering if they're living more with their "roommate" than their "soulmate," then this devotional can help them meet on common ground and discover each other in new ways. Men won't even need an alarm clock to wake them when "devotional time" is finished!

Filled with insights from a real couple on real issues, Songs in the Key of Solomon will get spouses laughing, thinking, sharing, touching, and praying possibly all during the same reading. Each offering in this devotional is designed to spark connections around issues that matter, so couples deepen their emotional, spiritual, and physical unity and ignite new levels of intimacy. (One devotional even involves a bathtub and some candles!)

Here is an invitation to discover the music in marriage maybe for the first time... or maybe once again.

Now doesn't that just intrigue you to run out and go get it?! Well, before you do see if you can win it for free first! Free is always better!
Amanda has been doing this devotional with her husband and got Nathan and I one just a few weeks ago. The first week we just read the intro and then decided that one day a week we would do the devotional together. Well, my husband is always willing to do anything with me, but I have to admit that sometimes I feel like it's me 'wanting' to and him just being the sweetie he is and doing it with me. Well, after reading just the intro, this is what I came home to the night that we were to do our first devotional...

...so, I think this time around my husband is pretty excited to be doing this devotional together and not just me! Maybe it has something to do with the title, "In the Word...in the Mood!"

Did YOU know?

2009-02-14T08:47:00.017-06:00

Somewhere…someplace… today…
A family is waiting to hear…
Is something wrong with their baby?
The answers aren’t quite clear…
This family has entered an unwanted world…
And they just don’t know what to expect…

Somewhere…someplace… today
They first heard the words: heart defect.
And how they hoped this was not true…
And thought… this cannot be…
I too… know just how this feels…
For one day…this was me.

Somewhere…someplace…today…
A man and a woman embrace…
Their baby is in surgery…
They long to see her face…
They haven’t got to hold her yet…
Without…a cord or line…
They pace the room awaiting news…
And hope she’ll be just fine.
Prayers fill this busy waiting room…
And mom and dad are scared…
Somewhere…someplace..today…
The tiniest hearts are repaired.

Somewhere…someplace…today…
A child’s growing fast…
Smiling,laughing,thriving…
His mom thinks…can this last?
It’s almost easy…to forget…
That anything is wrong…
Somewhere…someplace..today…
Her child seems so strong.

Somewhere…someplace… today…
A little boy fights…just to live
A father holds his tiny hand…
His love…all he can give…
The doctor’s are all baffled…
They fear that he might die…
Somewhere…someplace…today…
A family says goodbye…

Somewhere…someplace…each year..
More than 40,000 families will see…
What it means…when something’s wrong…
They’ll face a Congenital Heart Defect.
Today…for just a moment…
Stop…remember…reflect…
Make time to tell someone you know…
“I’ve been changed by a heart defect”.

I found that poem last year and shared it on Gage's caringbridge site because it all too well touched my heart and gives a glimpse of what us heart parents go through.
Now, I know that you all know it's Valentine's day, but did you also know that it's National Congenital Hearts Awareness Day?!?! Sadly, you probably did not and I would not know myself if it wouldn't have hit me personally. That is really the point of this day, most people don't know about CHDs and we need to get the word out more to raise the awareness that more research needs to be done to prevent heart defects as well as better research for the surgeons during surgery. My prayer is one day Gage will only have to have one more surgery to fix his heart where the valve they put in will grow with him as he grows and not contiueing every few years to replace the valve that doesn't grow with him. Here are some facts about Congenital Heart Defects, still two years later, some of these facts shock me:

~It is estimated that 40,000 babies with Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) are born in the United States each year. More than 1 million American children and adults with Congenital Heart Defects and Childhood Onset Heart Disease are alive today

~CHD is the most frequently occurring birth defect, and is the leading cause of birth-defect related deaths.(crazy how it's the leading cause, but we know so little about it!)

~According to the March of Dimes, congenital heart defects are the #1 birth defect.(yet there is not a screening done after babies are born) ~In the US alone, over 25,000 babies are born each year with a congenital heart defect. That translates to 1 out of every 115 to 150 births. (To put those numbers into perspective, only 1 in every 800 to 1,000 babies is born with Downs Syndrome.)

~Although some babies will be diagnosed at birth, sometimes the diagnosis is not made until days, weeks, months, or even years after. In some cases, CHDs are not detected until adolescence or adulthood.

~Some CHDs may not require treatment other than periodic visits to a Pediatric Cardiologist. Others can be treated with medications or repaired with surgery and/or procedures. Complex defects may require several surgeries and are never really "cured".

~Many cases of sudden cardiac death in young athletes are caused by undiagnosed CHDs and Childhood Onset Heart Disease.

Those are just some facts I pulled off a site, there are more, but then this could get extremely longer than it already is! If you would like to pray about a donation, here are some sites you could look into(www.kidswithheart.org, www.chw.org, www.americanheart.org, www.tchin.org), and if a donation is not something you could do at this time, please just pray for the research, the children and families who deal with this every day!

Happy Hearts Day!!!

US Survery

2009-02-12T09:22:00.001-06:00

Okay, I started the Husband Meme last week and still have yet to finish it, so, I don't know why I'm starting this one, other than maybe b/c it's shorter. I thought this one too was fun, so enjoy learning a little bit about my husband and I!

Rules: If you have been married less than 1 year -double the ammount of months you have been married and write that many random things about you and your Spouse - if you have been married for more than 1 year write 24 random things about you and your mate. Tag 10 people to fill this out!

1. We've dating since May 6th 2000-prom

2. We got married August 6th 2005

3. I made my friend Amanda go to youth group with me to 'check him out!'

4. She forced me into asking him to prom since he was home-schooled he wasn't going to ask me! (I guess now I have to thank her for that, huh!?!)

5. We took Swing dance lessons together, and loved it! We used to practice all the way up and down the street I lived on! Ha! Now that'd be embarassing if our neighbors saw us do that, well, I might still find it romantic, but the neighbors would think we were nuts!

6. We were married 9 months when we found out we were expecting Gage

7. We love to spend time together doing things either together or seperately(like he watches a movie and i sit next to him scrapbooking-we're just together)

8. I especially love going on walks b/c that is when Nathan pours out his heart and starts talking!

9. God has been so good to us since we have been together, with many blessings and has carried us through the tough times with Gage

10. I praise God that the tough times have only made Nathan and I stronger as a couple, it's sad to think tradgedies in families often times result in divorce.

11. We are expecting our second miracle, a baby girl, in april

12. We are a PDA type of couple, but not overboard, which I love b/c it makes me feel loved and special.

13. We both enjoyed the book/video of the 5 love languages, and do ask each other every so often how their 'love tank' is doing

14. We both love going to Washington and camping

15. Nathan asked me to marry him on the sand dunes of the Pacific Ocean

16. B/c he knew I would want to scrapbook our actual engagement he had my aunt hiding in the tall grass taking pictures!

17. We go back to that spot every time we are in Oregon and talk about how we got engaged

18. We both love taco bell right now...he must be having sympathy pregnancy cravings!

19. We both do the house work together(he often times is a sweetheart and does more though!)

20. Our first babies, were two cats, brothers, Oliver and Winston

21. We both want to go to Hawaii or some other tropical island someday

22. We are both romantic people

23. We love to snuggle up

24. We both love the Lord and pray our children will walk with the Lord as well

If you want to join in and share about you and your husband copy my post and let me know that you did the survery on your site so I can learn some more about you!

my doctors appt

2009-02-09T19:35:00.000-06:00

random facts about my doctors appt today...

-i had my 30 week talk with the nurse about the signs and what to do if labor were to start before 36 weeks.

-my blood pressure was good like usual

-i gained almost 7 lbs in 3 weeks! so now i am not behind in my weight gain, but right where i should be. truthfully, i kinda like being behind. lol

-my doctor does not seem concerned at all with my perinatologist appt. from last week, so that is good!

-he does agree with the perinatologist though that i should have another scan on the baby in about 4 weeks, to check baby's growth this time and not her heart. so i get to have another ultrasound and see baby again! i'm excited about this!

-he said my dull pain and numbness on the right side of my stomach is normal, that the baby is pushing in that spot and that can happen when baby hits a nerve and your stomach is streching all at the same time.

-i measured in at 38 cm!!! i am almost 29 weeks so that means i am now measuring 7.5 weeks big!!!!! my doc said considering baby is on the big side and i have a little higher amout of fluid is what is causing me to measure big since i really haven't gained too much weight. but still almost 8 weeks big!?!? i mean if that told you when you were having a baby that would mean about now!!! good thing that's not what it means, huh.

-he did not feel the need to recheck my gluclose test right now. yay!

-he said this with a straight face so i have no clue if he was serious or kidding, but he said, and i pretty much quote, " don't worry...if it's a ten pound baby we offer the option of a c-section." hello! 10 lbs and a c-section...those were not in my plans in having another baby. lol actually it freaks me out and makes me even more scared. i wish he would have laughed when i did so i felt he was kidding.

-he did say that he would be around for babies delivery since his family (wife and son) is coming home from austria for easter so he will be going to austria six weeks before easter and then six weeks after easter. isn't that whole thing just weird if you think about it? i know! but thankfully, he should be around when i need him!

-another crazy thing is that i am now seeing him every two weeks and in just a little over a month, i start going to the doctor weekly...talk about making the pregnancy seem like it's flying by!

-and the last thing, i just noticed that i am down to 79 days!

alright, i think that sums up my doctors appt today!

Not Me Monday

2009-02-09T09:34:00.001-06:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. And here is what I most certainly have not done this week...
i did not totally enjoy my ultrasound of baby girl and wish i could lay there and watch her move around for even longer...a little over an hour was just not enough!

i did not notice that baby girl has my dad's nose and hope that it isn't as big as all the other ppl in my family with the 'bogan nose' is b/c they are all boys and she's a girl and shouldn't have a huge nose...but i'll love her anyway!

then knowing my son has the 'bogan nose' i did not hope that his would stay normal looking and not take up a chunk of his face when he gets older...that's just so vain...who cares...it's just a nose, right?!

i did not praise god again that everything looked good on her ultrasound!

i did not look up what a big baby and amniotic fluid being high could mean. yeah, i did and i had to stop b/c it just started to make me worry, but...

i did not just give it to god and ask for his peace about the whole thing and thankfully, i haven't worried about it since!

i did not praise god again when my son's cardiologist appt went well and his cardiologist was beyond pleased with his surgery!

i did not have a good time on thursday with my mommy/play date this week with my best friend, amandaroo and her family!

i did not get a call from our tax account on what we would be getting back this year and start making a list of all the things we should do with that money! i don't even have it yet, so i can't spend it!

and speaking of money i don't have yet, i was not happy to buy 3 plane tickets to visit my dad after the baby is born for under a $1000...when last year it was just that amount for only two tickets! good thing my visa bill isn't due for a few weeks, my refund should be here in a week! praise the lord for working that out like that.

i did not make last minute plans to take my family to blue harbor water resort this past weekend! i am a planner and need more time to get ready than a few hours!

i did not wish i could go down the slide at the water park since i loved it last year, guess that will just have to wait until next year's trip!

i did not love the fact that i was clearly pregnant in 'my' swimsuit instead of just chubby!

i did not go to kohls on the way home and spend way too much money on clothes for baby girl and gage! i'm not a big shopper when it comes to clothes and since i already did a big splurge last month, i would not think of doing it again the next month!

i did not feel bad when i found out my neighbor was getting a baby girl when she really really wanted a boy...and i most certainly was not thrilled to hear today that she had her baby BOY on friday!

i did not then think, what if my ultrasound is wrong and we are getting another boy when i have spent so much money on this little girl already! i think with the extra ultrasounds i have had and all the doctors saying it's a girl, that they are right though!

i guess that's all...nothing too major this week i guess! i am off to get ready for my doctors appt. this afternoon and to hear what my doctor has to say about the report from the parinatologist from last week!

fun survey!

2009-02-04T20:38:00.000-06:00

Here you go mommies- a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! I normally don't do these, but I thought this one might be kind of fun! If you want to join in, just copy and paste it!

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes, we talked about starting a family and then for Easter I got a willow tree figurine with a note saying nathan wanted to celebrate soon that we were expecting...by mother's day...we were!

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes for about 9 months

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? We were both very excited!!!

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 25

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? My brother...I was too nervous to look and he was visiting and bought the test while Nathan was at work and i peed on the stick and ran out of the bathroom and my brother looked with a big smile and said it's positive!

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Nathan

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Yes we did...i'm too much of a planner not to!

9. DUE DATE? January 24th, 2007

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Did i ever! I lost 20 lbs and had to take zofran

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? fruit and chocolate milk

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Dr. Strasburger(cardiologist) was always negative before Gage was born-i need positivity to make me feel like things will be okay

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? a boy!

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? at first i wanted a girl, actually, i just thought i'd only have girls, but now, no way would i ever trade him!

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN? 10!...well, 30 really, but you only have to count from your prepregnancy weight! so, yes, i gained a lot rather quickly at the end.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? yes

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? i knew...infact i did some of the planning b/c i'm sort of picky on invites and such b/c i wanted to make sure i liked them for the scrapbook! lol

18.DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? being very sic, an infection that caused me to end up in the ER, and then gage having a heart defect

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? froedert hosp/children's hosp. of milwaukee, wi

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? exactly two hours and 20 minutes from when they broke my water to gage being born! (thank you lord!)

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Nathan and my mom came with us

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Nathan, my mom, the nurse, the doctor, and about 20 other specialists!

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? natural! (ptl)

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? i asked for nubain, but i was already too far to take it, which made me cry, so she got me some and in my head it worked, but about 10 minutes after he was born...it kicked in, i could hardly stay awake.

25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 6lbs 14oz

26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? January 16th, 2007

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME YOUR CHILD? Gage Loran Mittelstaedt

28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? just turned 2

ultrasound pictures!

2009-02-02T20:55:00.000-06:00

nathan and i got to watch baby girl move for a little over an hour today! it was a lot of fun. she was very active and not very photogenic again, but we did get a few better pictures than what we got last time! i don't know what i thought she'd look like, but she looked a little different than whatever it is i thought! but then gage looked different too and we had it all decided who he looked like and then when he was born he actually looked more like my husband than my brother...so, who knows how she will actually look when she is born! at first i didn't think she looked at all like gage, but then the more i looked at the pictures toinght, the more i can see gage's eyes and nose combination he has now more than his ultrasound pictures. everything looked good, but she did measure big and my fluid is in normal range, but on the high side, so they are going to be doing another ultrasound in a month to recheck everything and if it's still high they might recheck me for diabetes, which i just had my test at my last doctors appt. and it came back just fine, but those two things can be signs of it i guess. i'm not too worried though. so i am 27 weeks and 5 days and baby measured in at 28 weeks and 6 days. so, we just might get to see her another time. maybe even more as the parinatalogist said she would recommend every 3-4 weeks. i guess it will depend on what my dr. thinks and i will see him next monday. i love that both the ultrasound tech and the dr. both scrapbook b/c they have given me 10 pictures both times! love that, but not sure if i'll get them squeezed into two page layouts or need more! probably more! so, here are a few pictures from today's appointment...

profile picture

face shot

4D face shot and hand

another 4D face shot with her hand up by her sweet little face

here's me getting the ultrasound done...ppl tell me i'm big, but until this picture, i never realized just how huge i really am!!!

me pointing to baby on the screen...

...and the proud daddy pointing to his little girl!

not me monday

2009-02-02T12:16:00.000-06:00

well, it's monday again and although i'll get my post in later in the day, i thought i'd try mckmama's(www.mycharmingkids.net) not me monday...so, here goes!

i did not think how proud i was of my son for being so good at moms group this past week and at the library's story time! we haven't been out much since september so i have been a little nervous how he will act in public, but praise the lord he was so good and god helped me to be the mommy i needed to be!

i did not have a fun time with my friend sherry at scrapbooking! and i didn't talk too much with her so i got a lot done...actually, the first hour we just talked, but i still ended up getting 8 birthday cards made! and i certianly did not talk about personal bath tub stories with her! that would embarasse me way too much!

i did not also have a fun time with my friend and her family on friday! and i did not enjoy the mexican food so much that i ended up eating 3 burritos! nope, not me. i am way too stuffed with just baby the way it is to try and get 3 burritos down!

i did not enjoy a lazy saturday with my husband and son! that is just something that never seems to happen! and i really did not enjoy the foot rub i got while watching tv!

i have given birth once already, so, while filling out my personal birth plan, i did not start getting all nervous about the labor and delivery. and i did not feel a little sigh of relief, telling myself that maybe it was from god, when my husband called at lunch today to tell me the guy he works with has 3 kids and the first one was a little over 2 hours(gage was 2hrs and 20 minutes) and the next two were under an hour! i don't know if this is a 'sign', but i do believe in them. i was beyond scared to death about giving brith to my son and i had this dream where all was well and it wasn't that bad and since that day i felt so much more at peace about it and look, god so blessed me during gage's delivery!

i was not excited to find a thomas the train dvd at wal*mart with 14 short episodes on it for only $7.50 since it's only on once a day that i know of and my son wants to watch 'choo choos' several times a day now!

i did not find my friends story about her daughter noticing her sons 'difference' when changing his diaper and say, 'Gage has that!" (must be a boy thing!) LOL but really i've never even noticed her paying any attention when i'm changing gage's diaper...guess she has a wandering eye that i don't see! =)(they have always had a thing for each other!)

and i did not cry at church when we sang a song about healing. okay, so i don't know exactly why i always cry when we sing those types of songs. i always am thinking in my head partly b/c of gage not being totally healed the way i wanted but at the same time in praise of how well gage has done and all the healing that god has done in gage. i can never get through a song about god healing, i start crying every time.

and i am not excited to see baby girl in a little over an hour! okay, i am!! it might be the last time until she arrives that i get to see her! so, if i have time tonight, i will probably post some pictures!

okay, that is all, like i said my appt is in a little over an hour so i need to get my shoes on and get out the door!

something cute gage said today...

2009-01-29T13:10:00.000-06:00

(see...second post today)
gage has started to watch thomas the train the last few mornings and each time it comes on he yells, "choo choos" well this morning it came on and he yelled "thomas!"(i didn't even know he knew his name yet) and then they showed james to which he yelled 'thomas' and i said, 'the red trains name is james' (my godson was in a thomas stage for about 6 years so i'm pretty fluent with all the trains) to which gage looked at me like he totally caught on and said, "OH! jammies!" LOL ahh, it cracked me up! Okay, hope that brought a little smile to your face as well!
tonight i am having a little scrapnight with a friend, maybe two. we usually meet once a month on a friday night but we wanted to do it again this month so we planned for tomorrow night, but my best friend has a doctors appt. tomorrow so i changed it to tonight so that i(and maybe her too if she's up to it) could still scrap and then tomorrow night go to her house to hang out with her family for dinner and a game night!
i know that you all pretty much know my friend, amanda(www.aproudmommyof4.blogspot.com), and i know she has asked for prayer, but i too would just like to ask for prayer for her and her family. she is doing really well with all of this, but i'm sure it's still hard, and god has been so awesome at filling her up with his peace! so please be lifting her up!
well, since gage is down for his nap, i should go get my stuff done and get showered and ready for tonight!

90 DAYS

2009-01-29T09:24:00.000-06:00

wow i was just at 100 days and now we are already down to about 90 days until baby is here...only 3 months to go! scary and exciting all at the same time! somtimes it seems really soon and other moments it still seems like a long time until we get to meet her and see what she looks like! i love feeling her move inside my belly right now though!
i was telling my husband that i felt bad that at this point in gage's pregnancy i had wrote him a few letters and this baby i have only wrote the one when i first found out i was pregnant. then i reminded him that he too had wrote gage more and that i thought we should write baby girl another letter. he responded with, 'what do you mean? i've wrote her a few times...don't check the computer?" well, actually i hadn't thought of checking to see if he wrote a letter when i hadn't done it myself, i surely thought he forgot then! so yeah, my wonderful husband is doing better than me...but then he's not the one who was sick, tired, taking care of a toddler, doing all the house stuff, etc. (okay, truthfully, he does a lot, but i'm still more tired and worn out!) so this morning on the desk were his letters all printed out for me to put in babys scrapbook box! i love reading his letters-they are so sweet and cute...and a little funny! but something i treasure and something when the kids are older(which is not going to happen to my kids) they too will enjoy!
so this isn't much, but i need to get gage-maybe if i get my stuff ready for scrapbooking tonight and myself then i'll post again later. it seems to be my theme...post a few times in one day and then be gone for a few days and back for another day with a couple of posts! oh well. =)

measuring...my bag

2009-01-26T21:12:00.000-06:00

my friend, amanda, did this tag on her site, which i don't know how to do yet so she will have to show me, but i thought i would still do the tag without the linking part. almost everyone i know is from her blog but just incase you are not, here is her blog so you can go check hers out...www.aproudmommyof4.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-bag
okay, so the rules are:
1) Post a picture of whatever bag you are carrying as of late. No, you cannot go up to your closet and pull out that cute little purse you used back before you had kids. I want to know what you carried today.

2) I want to know how much it cost:) And this is not to judge, because I’m honestly telling you I was ready to put down some cash; I just got lucky. This is for entertainment purposes only. So spill it. And if there is a story to go along with how you obtained it, I’d love to hear it.

3) Link back to this post so people know why the heck you’re showing everyone your diaper bag/non-diaper bag. (but i don't know how to do this part)

okay, so here is my current diaper bag:

i just got it a few days ago at target. so far i really like it. my favorite color is purple so that got me right there! i am tired of carrying a purse and a full size diaper bag and when i found this i thought it could pass as a purse, but also big enough for a few diapers, wipes, milk, snack, and a toy...which is does! it was on clearance for $9.98, so i did a good job since i bought another bigger one for when the baby arrives and i need to fit more in it again. i saw it earlier when i was at target but wanted to show my husband a dresser when he came back so i told myself if it was still there when nathan came back and he said it was okay to get since i bought the other diaper bag two days before, then i'd get it. so, when nathan came back i showed it to him and asked if it was okay and he responded with, 'when have i ever said no to you?" so i took that as a yes and got it!

i didn't think about this when i was pregnant with my son until i was in the hospital to deliver him and then i did take a picture of me measuring my belly, but my camera was stolen so i don't have a picture and as much as i try i can not remember how big it was(i know you'd think i wouldn't want to remember a number that big!) i 'think' i was about 56-57 inches, but i'm not sure. i didn't think to do this earlier with this pregnancy, but thought of it today so i am going to start late and every so often measure how big my belly is to see how much baby and i have grown! so here are a few shots my husband took tonight.

i can't believe that i am 49 inches already! oh, well, they will be fun pages to scrapbook!
two posts in one day...wow...so, i don't know if i'll get one in tomorrow. i have to go to my groovy granny's house to help her get her favorites back. lol she cracks me up!
off to make my husbands lunch and then head to bed...night!

Not Me Monday

2009-01-26T12:50:00.000-06:00

so, i thought i would give this a try. i was hoping to get a start on it earlier, but that just didn't happen! i'm not sure how you do all the linking stuff yet and most of it know it's from mckmama's blog anyway, but i will just 'link' her blog this way... www.mycharmingkids.net-if you haven't already-go visit it!
i have not enjoyed the comments on my blog that i have got from you guys because really i don't know you people so it's not a big deal if you comment, right? okay, so maybe i enjoyed them even if i don't really know all of you!
i did not totally enjoy my first massage this past week even though i was nervous to go and had no idea what to expect. it was not awkward getting on the bed b/c i climb up on tall beds with no step that i can barely get my leg up high enough to get over it all the time with a big 26 week pregnant belly to lay on my stomach!
speaking of that-i did not enjoy laying on my stomach since we all know you are not supposed to and i am normally a stomach sleeper, ahh, maybe i should get one of those pregnancy pillows that she had!
i have not loved feeling and watching baby girl move around this week and i did not think it was perfect of my husband while watching tv (b/c it's hard for him to even blink when the tv is on) to reply, "i'm always interested" when i told him that if he was interested to feel his daughter was moving around again. (i love how with both pregnancies he loves to feel the baby and wraps his arms around my belly every night!)
i did not find it funny at all this week while my son and i took a bath together and he stood up to pee then stopped to move closer to me and proceed with aim to pee on my arm! that is really gross and i would not laugh in front of him b/c i would not want him to think it's funny and that he should do such a thing again! (ok, how could you not laugh? even my husband laughed and then told me that i had officially been pissed on..yeah, thanks, babe!)
and speaking of pee-i totally did not pee my pants when my husband was playing the wii fit and totally sucked. b/c that's not funny that he couldn't ski very well on there when in real life he loves to snowboard and i certainly have control over my bladder even if this baby is laying right on it!
i did not have a crazy idea to eat at chuckEcheeses on a saturday so that i could have the pizza and so that gage could play since he loved it last week when we were there for his 2nd birthday and i would never think to invite my best friend and her family with us on such a crazy night. there were way too many kids, parents and birthday parties going on...the table next to us had a party of 25 kids alone! but the kids were all really good and still had fun so it was worth it, but next time a wednesday night!
i was not happy that my husband got his car fixed this weekend and that in the end fixing his car earned us $2.00! not many times you get a car fixed and come out ahead a few bucks! but the reason i was not happy about this is b/c i have not had my truck since my sons surgery in november and since he couldn't go places before that i have had not driven until today to go to moms group again in FOUR months!!! can you imagine not driving in that long and being stuck at home most of that time? not me! and during that time i was not grateful at all for the couple of times my sweet friend, amanda, picked us up so that we could get out and go to moms group!
and finally i did not just sit here and type of this not me monday post while letting my son eat mac-n-cheese in the living room so that he could watch superwhy and then when he was done continued with this post instead of cleaning him up before he starting playing and got him down for his already late nap today, b/c i know how important keeping him on his schedule is to him...and me!
so that is what i did not do this past week! this was kinda fun! maybe i'll try to do it again.

nursing cover

2009-01-21T21:21:00.001-06:00

alright, well, there are two nursing covers that i like, and well my darling husband has tried to be helpful, but just isn't. so, i said i'd solve this huge problem by asking ppl to tell me their vote on my blog...all four of you! so please tell me which one you like better and just maybe it will help me decide! thanks!
the flower one...

and here is the dots one...

sinful.

2009-01-20T20:51:00.000-06:00

my wonderful husband and i each just finished a bowl of vanilla ice cream with brownie chunks and chocolate syrup drizzled over the whole thing...while watching biggest loser! now if that doesn't make you feel guilty nothin' will!

less than 100 days!

2009-01-19T20:26:00.000-06:00

wow! i just realized that we only have 99 days until baby girl's due date! and it could be less and well i guess it could be more too. lol that just makes me feel like it is coming up really fast! i know it's still 3 months away, but down to two digits just suddenly makes it feel soon! now i will really want nathan to jump into getting her room done...well, even started would be good! i know he's been busy making the toy boxes so i'm not complaining, just getting excited to start working on her room!
i guess that's all for now, we just got home from eatting out at Red Robin (yuuuum!) for my friend, Amanda's husband, Shaun's birthday! Thanks for inviting us! ;) so, i'm off to finish the dinner i was making so nathan has lunch for work tomorrow and then it's off to bed!
only 99 days...=)
ps-amanda, if you are reading this-did you stop at target?!? i almost called you, but thought i better not!

random stuff for this week...

2009-01-19T10:03:00.000-06:00

it's monday...already! the weekends go by so fast. as you know friday we took gage to chuck-e-cheeses and saturday was his birthday, and then sunday we had a brunch thing at my mom's house before my brother went back to school. and now it's monday, but last night was actually relaxing for us on a sunday night. usually i try to get a million things done before nathan's work week starts again, but since there wasn't much to do, nathan and i actually sat down with a bowl of icecream (just what i need, but i didn't have heartburn last night!) and watched a movie together! then last we both got to feel baby kicking! i feel her from the inside all day everyday it seems like and i felt her kicking while in the hospital, but nathan has only lightly felt her move around once before. last night it was definately her and i think nathan knew it was for sure her this time too b/c his face lit up more! last time he was just kinda like, "i think i felt her". so, that was special! he loved feeling gage move which didn't start until 28 weeks so maybe this time he'll get to feel baby girl move around more since it's started a little earlier! i know i'd love that too!
today we sign the papers to refinance our home. it's 1.5% lower rate than what we currently have so that will be nice to save some money each month on our payment and a few thousand in the end! which all sounds good to me! my mom was nice enough to switch her lunch break so that she could come watch gage for us.
i think gage is teething again. he is chewing on everything including his bear, which i don't like when i go to pick it up and the entire corner i grab is soaked in slobber! and he's started wanting theething rings again. so, i think all that is left are the two hear molars to come in so maybe that's what it is. he started getting teeth on the late end and now he's almost got a full mouth already!
thursday gage goes in for his 2 year check up! i remember thinking it'd be a long time before he came in for a two year check up and now here it is in three days! i need to set up his two year pictures too. i've slacked on that, usually i do it a month or so before i need the picture taken. i guess i just forgot about it since i didn't set it up at his 18 month pics b/c i wasn't sure where he'd be at after surgery or for that matter when for sure surgery was going to be. then my husband got hurt at work and has a bruise on his face and i was going to do family pictures like i did at gage's one year. but now i am thinking that i will just wait and do the family pic in march when we do the pregnancy photos. so i should call and get him in i guess!
alright, well, mommyhood is calling...until next time!

back to decorating

2009-01-17T16:28:00.000-06:00

well, i have still had the urge to get gage's room done and my living room. so that's what i did after we took gage out to chuck-e-cheese's for his birthday! which he loved! it was funny to see him running through the tubes and a few seconds later nathan following behind pointing that his knees were killing him! what a daddy wouldn't do for his baby! here are a few pictures of them...

here is gage trying to give kisses through the window...

and now today, everyone has left and gage is sleeping after his party! which brings me back to decorating...i have a few minutes to upload some pictures so here they are... (well the first one is gage's cake that his grandma ellen made for him)

here is the living room wording i put up-i took a few pictures so it'd be easier to see-it reads "Share Faith...Offer Prayer...Spread Love...Gather Hope"

i still have a little bit to do on it yet, but here is gage's wall so far...

alright, i guess that is all for now. i need to get some things put away from the party before gage's nap is over!

24 week OB appt and my baby's 2nd birthday!

2009-01-14T09:55:00.001-06:00

on monday i had my 24 week 5 days OB appt. if you look at the sheet the doctor had, which obviously i did not do! anyway, the begining of my pregnancy i lost 13 lbs, which is totally fine with me except throwing up is not fun at all! my doctor told me before christmas that i needed to have a gain at my next appt. well, to everyone i have asked to pray about this, stop! i gained almost 10 pounds-off by only .6! my doctor seemed happy and said that it was good since i had some catching up to do, but in no way do i see 10 pounds in three weeks as a good thing. i was thinking more like slowly, but surely! but it's a sign that both baby and i are indeed growing! then he measured me and i know that from everyone asking me if i'm having twins or even triplets, that i am big, but i was a little shocked when i measured 6cm bigger than what i should! that night i checked in my sons pregnancy scrapbook and at this week, i measured 4cm big and then evened out after that, so, maybe that's just how i am and this baby won't really be that big. he scared me a little when he said he thought baby would be about 8-8.5 lbs, but if she got up to around 10 he'd take her early! 10?!?! how about anytime after 8.5?! i guess i was just expecting her to be around the same weight as gage, who was 6lbs 14oz. but i guess we will just see when she arrives!
today, i can't believe that my baby is TWO full years old!!! well, not actually for another 22 minutes! it just doesn't seem possible that two years has gone by already. he has endured so much already with his unique heart, but god has carried us all through and each time has performed many miracles in gage that even the doctors did not expect and he has not been in the 'normal of what to expect' once starting the day of his birth, which all totally blesses this mother's heart what god has done in his(and my) precious boy! so, i could totally go on and on about everything i absolutely love about gage and all the adorable things he does, but then this could get really long and since he's done with his snack i should get off of here and go play.
we are taking him to chuck-e-cheeses for the first time today! thought it would be something we could do on this cold cold day and something fun for gage since he hasn't been able to go and do a whole lot since september to keep him healthy before surgery. i'm looking forward to this first with him and enjoying him playing!
anyone who reads my blog is most likely from aproudmommyof4.blogspot, so you already know this, but please keep amanda and her family in your prayers as they go through what could be a tough time. i'm thankful that i know that our god will be with them every step of the way, he's never left us during our rough times with gage even if it's felt like he has, and i know that he will be with them every second of the way as well!
okay, off to play with my two year old...officially for two minutes now...ahh, two years ago on this day, i hadn't even got to see him yet, just the massive number of doctors surrounding him!
happy 2nd birthday, my little miracle, gage! i love you!

kitchen

2009-01-10T11:36:00.000-06:00

well my wonderful husband got the touch up painting done last night while i scrapbooked! so, first thing this morning i got my vinyl up and thought i would share my kitchen with you. it's not totally finished with the circle paintings yet, but so far, i really like it!
here is the verse i did above my kitchen sink:

this is the area above the cabinets that are right after the verse above:

and this is the only full wall in the kitchen:

so, that's my kitchen so far!
as i said before i like seeing what others do in their house and scrapbooks so i think i will try to see how taking a picture of my scrapbooks turns out since i don't have a big enough scanner. again, please feel free to leave a comment with links you have for decorating or scrapping!
chantae

decorating...what i've done so far

2009-01-09T14:00:00.000-06:00

well, i am not sure about gage's room yet, but thanks for all the comments and ideas! i love looking at what other people have done in their scrapbooks and now with having a cricut and some vinyl, i love seeing what others have done in their house with vinyl to decorate. i have not done much yet, just kind of starting. i have two more projects in mind and cut out, but not quite ready to put up. my husband, nathan is going to be doing some touch up painting in the kitchen tonight after gage goes to bed and i'm scrapbooking, so you can probably bet, that as soon as that paint is dry, i'll be getting that verse up in the kitchen! so, since i love seeing what others have done, i will go take some pictures and post them on here for you guys to see what i have done! (remember it's not much!) if any of you want to share what you have done or have already done posts on them, please leave me a comment with a link, i'd love to see what you've done!
here is my bedroom...i have only started in here...i have some matching hibiscus flowers to put up yet that match the flowers in our bedding, but here is the wording...

here is a sign i did as a wedding gift this past year...

and here is a plate i made for myself...

alright, i guess that is all i have for now...as soon as i get my kitchen verse up and the one in my living room, which will all be hopefully soon, i'll be sure to share them too! gage is now down for his nap so i better get my journals done for scrapbooking tonight or i won't get too many pages completed!
chantae

gage's room

2009-01-08T15:14:00.000-06:00

okay, so maybe i'll get more into this blogging thing than i thought! lol anyway-
i mentioned yesterday that i like to decorate. right now i am trying to finish my sons room and work on baby girls room! too much at once, but i'd like to get gage's at least done before his party next saturday. everyone will see girlies room later. but secretly, i wish i'd wake up and my husband just had it all done as a big surprise. okay, that won't happen b/c he's making toy boxes right now too and i haven't picked out the paint colors yet, but it's a nice thought. anyway, i know there aren't many ppl out there who read this little blog of mine, but i thought i would ask your opinion since i'm not sure. i bought the green vinyl for the grass and vines online and the picture online made the green seem a little lighter, like normal green grass. so, i got it all cut out last night and put it up with wall gum to see where i wanted things placed and if i even liked the green. so it's up temporarily, but i feel it's too dark. it makes the small room feel smaller and dark. i liked the not bright, but cheerful colors the room is painted. what do you guys think...keep it or get a lighter green? i tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to this type of stuff if that helps your decision, but please be truthful on your thoughts! here is a picture of what i did...

and here is a pic of gage's room before to give you an idea of what the colors are...

and then here is one of his new bedroom set that i am doing the wall mural after...

alright, hopefully these help you with this very hard decision i am asking you to make!
chantae

dreams...dreams...go away!

2009-01-08T10:14:00.000-06:00

i am so tired of having the same dream over and over again! i am ready for it to go away and never come back. the timing is weird as well. almost every night since gage's surgery i have dreamt about him going into surgery, but this time it's not planned. each night how we get to the hospital is different, but each time i see him for the first time, he looks the same, which is nothing like he's ever actually looked-his body is suddenly the size of a newborn, there is no meat on his bones, he's breathing really hard, and he's blue. each night the ending is the same, the doctor comes in and says he's sorry, but we got him there too late so there is nothing they can do for him. it's horrible because the dream feels so real until i wake up. i don't know why i am dreaming this now, i mean, i could see maybe before gage's surgery being scared, especially after you sign the papers telling you it's "okay" your child only has this percent chance of living and this % of this damage or that damage, but it's over a month later and he is doing amazingly well! so, i've never really shared this reoccuring dream, but for whatever reason, i shared it on here. maybe it will be out of my system now! it will be nice to sleep through the night and not have that dream. okay, sleep through the night might not happen as this pregnant body is having back issues and hip problems every night, but just not having that dream will be a much better night!
chantae

a little bit about me!

2009-01-07T11:26:00.000-06:00

i don't know how much i will get into blogging as i've never really had a desire, but i had to start my own blog to be able to leave comments on my best friends blog since someone left her a mean comment she no longer accepts nonbloggers. so, that's why i now have a blog! my name is chantae. i am married to a wonderful, sweet, caring, christian man, nathan. as you can see, i am truly blessed to be married to this wonderful guy god chose for me! we got married aug. 5th 2005! it was a beautiful hot day! jan 16th 2007 we had our first child. a little boy, gage loran-bogan, born with a heart defect. we were aware of this but still very hard and heartbreaking to watch him go through open heart surgery at 7 days old. this past nov. he had his second open heart surgery and truthfully, i think this one was even harder to go through b/c we know and love gage so much and he now has so much personality, but god has carried us through both of the surgeries and each time we have come out of surgery with so much to praise god for! both surgeries have had better outcomes than the doctors expected and we know that it was god at work!
we are now expecting our second child, a little girl, in april! we are very excited to add another precious gift to our family.
i am blessed to be able to stay at home with gage! some days we get a little stir crazy since right before and after surgery gage can't go anywhere, so, we are looking forward to spring when we can get outside more and play in the fresh air!
i enjoy spending time with my family, in God's word, decorating, and i love to scrapbook! i just wish i had more time and was a faster scrapper!
well, i guess that's all on me for now as it's almost time for our playdate to be here and for us to have lunch!
chantae