thanks Jess!

Thanks to my bloggy friend Jessica, Isabelle now has a new obsession...being carried around in this...


Well, I guess it wasn't totally her fault. I did contact her, "order" one, stalk her until she mailed it and send her a check to pay for it. But, she made me do it. Okay okay, I'm lying again. She made it sound so amazing that I figured I needed one. Honestly, at first I wasn't so sold on it. I didn't really know how it was supposed to feel versus a traditional sling and I found it to feel pretty weird. But after she posted some informative videos I played around and got it workin' pretty good for me...I mean the baby...okay, us. We both really like it and it makes grocery shopping a cinch.

THANK YOU JESSICA! We wub you.

AK's test results

Okay, so AK went in for bladder/renal ultrasound and a dye test to see if she's having urine reflux. That was sometime last week. They were going to sedate her for the dye test because it involved a catheter but they quickly learned that she'd need to be sedated for the ultrasound as well. She wouldn't be still and kept crying.

The sedation didn't involve her being completely put to sleep. It was a high anxiety medicine of some sort and just made her loopy and a little bit unaware. Once they gave her the medicine they waited 30 minutes for it to take full effect. Let me tell you, I knew the exact second it started working. It seriously was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I was laying on the stretcher bed with her watching Cars and she looked at me and said, "I'm restin" and then started moving her head from side to side. Then she would tilt her had back as far as she could, while laying on her pillow, open her mouth as wide as it would go and then FAKE LAUGH! It was HILARIOUS!!!

Eventually they came and got us to take us to the xray, dye test, catheter room. They told me to lay her down on this long skinny board where they would have to strap her down. EEKKK. Everything in me wanted to run because I just KNEW she was going to scream as soon as I even tried to put her down. BUT to my surprise, I layed her on the board and she started looking around at all the big machines ewing and awing. It was pretty funny. Then they put her arms up by her head, stuck the foam things around her arms and on her forehead and then wrapped this big velcro strap around her head. Then they put a strap around her chest and then another one around her calves. I was freaking out inside knowing this was going to send her over the edge but instead she starting yelling, "I'M STUCK! HEELLLLLLPP!!! HEEEELLLLLLLLLPP! I'M STUUUUUUUUCCKKKK!!!" She had us all laughing hysterically. It seriously was soooo funny.

From that testing we went over to ultrasound and that was a breeze. We all left happy and with a loopy two year old. I had been telling her the whole time that she was going to get to McDonald's if she did a good job but then when we went to leave they told me that she couldn't walk on her own for a few hours and she shouldn't have any fried foods until the next day. There went those McD plans as quick as they came.

So, driving on the frontage road we pass a HUGE McD's sign and she start's saying, "MR. DONALD'S! MR. DONALD'S! COME BACK. MR. DONALD'S! MOMMA, YOU HEAR ME?? MR. DONALD'S!" I was pretty much crying by this point. She was being so stinkin funny.

We ended up taking her to Cheddar's because of the huge fish tank. We requested a table right in front of it so she could watch the fishies during our lunch. She ate a bunch of carrots, some chicken (not fried), a few croutons, pieces of a yummy croissant roll with sweet butter annnnd maybe a few fries her Grandma snuck to her. She ate pretty good. Poor thing was starved because she had to be fasting for the tests...mainly for the sedation.

Anyways, it all went over well without much incident.




The doctor called today with the results. It showed that she is having some reflux of the urine on one side. It's a mild case. On a scale of 1-5, 5 being the most severe, she's a 1. They don't want to start her on any preventative antibiotics because it would kill off all the good and less harmful bacteria which would leave only the really bad ones to cause infections if she were to get one. Soooo, she said as it stands she'll need to have the test done again in a year and that if she ever runs an unexplained fever, has pain when going potty or is going more frequently than normal she needs to be brought in right away to have her urine tested. If she continues to get infections on a regular basis then they'll consider putting her on some medication.

I'm relieved that it's mild and that surgery isn't necessary. And I'm relieved that I'm really not crazy afterall. I knew something was up for her to keep getting infections like that.

I'll keep you updated as needed.

Thanks for your prayers.

passionate girl

There is something about this 2 (and three quarters) year old that has me captivated at times. She seriously is one of the most comical little girls I have ever met. Her zest for life keeps me going.

It seems she does everything with passion. She laughs with passion. Cries with passion. Plays with little hot wheels with passion. Looks for airplanes in the sky with passion. "Swims" with passion. Rubs her little sisters bald head with passion. Yells, "MOMMMMMMMMYYYY" with passion. She is full of passion. I don't think there has ever been a time that I haven't looked at her and wanted to be a better person. The girl invokes feelings in me that I never thought I had.

And oh how I love her so!

Today a little boy and McDonald's kissed her on the cheek...her "first kiss" mind you. She put her hand on the spot where he kissed her and ran over to me and climbed in my lap in what seemed like confusion...like no one but mommy and daddy are supposed to give her kisses. Later on, at least a couple of hours later, I was cleaning her hands after she had a fruit snack and she asked me to wipe off the kiss on her face. I thought that was so cute. I'm hoping that somewhere deep inside that's a spark of purity coming forth in my little two year old. Oh how I'll pray it so.

4 MONTHS OLD!!!

Isabelle Grace,

You are four months old today. FOUR MONTHS!!! Where has the time gone? When I look at you I can't believe you're here. Two little girls. How did I become so blessed?!

You are such a sweet sweet little girl. There aren't a lot of things that upset you and for the most part you are a super content baby. You love when we talk to you and you give freely of your smiles.

You are a pro at handling your toys already. When you're laying on your play mat you will grab the dangling monkey's arm and pull on it and swing it around. It's so precious. In your car seat you will spin the toys over and over again. It's so amazing to watch what you have learned to do in four short months.

You can roll over from your tummy to your back and you are inching a little closer from going back to tummy. I have a feeling it won't be much longer until you master that one.

You are nursing very well still. You don't mess around when it comes to your food. You wake up and eat around 8 AM and sometimes you stay up for an hour or so but mostly you go back to sleep until around 11. You never eat more than 10 minutes at a time and never have. You get the job done and then you take it easy :-). You are still doing great at putting yourself to sleep. You are SUCH an easy baby!

You pretty much go with the flow and I love that because you have a very high-paced sister. A lot of days you spend atleast two hours in your car seat and usually that's okay with you. Sometimes you protest but not often.

You are still a fan of your thumb but will take the paci too. Sometimes you don't want your thumb and prefer the paci instead. I haven't figured you out yet with that one.

You weigh 16 lbs and are 23.5 inches long.

You are in a size three diaper right now because the store didn't have any size twos. They are a little too big but I think I might stick with them because the twos were looking a tad bit uncomfortable on your chubby frame. And by chubby I mean super adorable. I wouldn't have it any other way!! You are wearing some 3-6 month clothing and a good handful of 6-9. I don't put shoes on you yet...it's just too dang hot for that.

You are growing so fast and I'm trying not to blink because I know I'll miss it! I love you so much Issy Grace and you make me proud!

With tons of love, hugs and kisses,

Momma

Part three

Part one
Part two

So as I was saying, Thursday was the day they were going to be making a decision about the job. I waited by hubby's phone all day while he slept. I wanted it to ring SO bad. It didn't. He woke up a little after 3 and we talked about him calling if they don't call by 3:45. He didn't know if he wanted to because they said they'd call him and he HATES when people don't do as they say and mentioned he didn't want to work for people who didn't keep their word. I had been having this nagging thought that I should ASK God for the job instead of just waiting around hoping and hoping. I said I would but kept putting it off. Finally, around 3:15 I prayed,

"Okay God, sorry I keep running off. Will you PLEASE give this job to Sean. PLEASE! If it is okay with you, of course. Here are the reasons I think it would be good for our family: he would have normal hours 7A-4P Monday through Friday which would put him home with his family every evening and every weekend. We NEED that after this past year and a half of completely opposite schedules. He'd be making more which would allow us to tackle some debt and finally get a car that we can all four fit in. And he'd be doing something he actually enjoys doing-playing with airplanes. So please, if it is Your will, give him this job."

Easy peasy, simple as that. I can't believe I waited all day to ask. I'm such a loser.

30 minutes later Sean said he was going to call and asked if I'd come get the baby and take her to another room. As I was getting up to go get her from doing something with AK his phone rang and it was THE GUY! He asked Sean if he'd take the job and then told him he'd need to start on TUESDAY JUNE 1ST!!! Um, WHOA!

So needless to say we are now frantically trying to find a place to live in San Marcos...a place we really know nothing about. What I have gathered from my search is that it's a "college town" and a lot of the apartments rent out by the room. $530 for each bedroom? Are you kidding me?? Even $400 a room would be too steep for us. We would really like to live a tad but under what we could actually afford so that we can pay off student loans and get a car. So, we'll just see how it goes. I haven't really felt a "go" on any of the places I've found so far so it might be time for me to sit down and ask again.

I guess this week Sean will commute back and forth. Without traffic it takes a little over an hour but each day he'll be going through downtown Austin so I'm sure it will atleast be two hours one way. Since he gets off at 4 and most offices and stuff close at 5 he'll have a good hour to meet with people and check out places. I pray he finds something this week. I'll be searching and setting up places for him to check and he'll go take a look. I trust he CAN and WILL make the best decision for us so I'm not really too worried about not seeing it. Plus, he can take the point & shoot and take videos for me :-).

So, here we are. Packing boxes. Playing with our babies. Trying as hard as possible to enjoy this phase even though I'm ready to fast forward to our new residence, boxes unpacked and all things put away.

God is good. I feel so stupid for not trusting a lot of the times.

{Isabelle will be FOUR months old tomorrow. FOUR!!! Oh my goodness.}
{Tuesday is the day of the ultrasounds and testing for AK. Please pray for her AND me.}