Thursday, June 03, 2010

Happy Birthday my sweetie Avenlea

OH my to think last year at this time I was hanging out in triage at the hospital.  I had been leaking fluid all day with no contraction and feeling embarrassed like I had pee'd my pants....continuously.  Especially when the doctor sent me home saying that it wasn't fluid that I was leaking.  It wasn't too hard to figure out that I must have been peeing my pants, right? 

 Well I had a previously scheduled doctor's appointment that I awoke for the next morning and the leakage continued.  I went through two outfits and four heavy duty pads just getting ready that morning.  Either something was very wrong or I was loosing my mind.  ok...even more than you normally do while prego.  Within minutes of meeting with Dr Weaver....I was being scheduled to be admitted.  Sure enough I wasn't loosing my mind, instead we were going to be having a baby.  WE didn't even have a car seat to bring her home in.  Seriously people we had 6 weeks left!!!  Plenty of time for normal people, but not for the Schrock's.  The nurse was at the house watching Jackson, so we sent strangers to her, Ashley and Erin, to our house with their kiddos to distract Jackson and we began the waiting process.  If only I wouldn't have drank that glass of OJ that morning, you would have been born at around 10am...but oh no...we had to wait til the afternoon.  Good thing too.  If any of this would have been an emergency, things would have gotten life changing for this mama.  God had a plan that once again I didn't understand, but I trusted.  Our sweet baby girl was born 2:59.  Weighing in at 4 lbs 11oz and measuring 17 inches long.  She had a little trouble learning to eat.  But she was breathing great and had all necessary organs and orifices.  She was beautiful and healthy.


 We were shocked at how quickly she caught on to breathing, eating and holding up her temp.  She spent exactly 14 days in the NICU.  Even though we were not happy to be back here, we can't tell you how much better it was to be local and around friends and family.  Recovery was so much smoother and it was a heavenly to recover in my own bed. 




 it was enjoyable to watch her grow and develop.  I won't lie, it took a lot to get used to two.  Everything was much more complicated, especially when Jackson wasn't walking or even standing on his own.  I know see why all of you wait until they are developmentally two years apart.  However now I wouldn't change it.  they are so adorable to watch play together. 






 at about 8 months....the above picture we started to see personality and it has never stopped.  She is such a ham.  WE get looks like the below one, even when she is being disciplined.  *for those of you that thought I got a way easy with the first one behavior wise, watch out Avenlea is going to give us a run for our money*




 I am pretty sure we wouldn't change her.  Her personality is what makes her so special to us.  you may have to remind me of this when she is in her teenage rebellion.  She began walking about a month ago.  She is still pretty unsteady at times...but she easily is able to follow her brother around the house, to his dismay at times.  She even decided one day that she could tackle the stairs.  It isn't on odd occasion to see her standing on something in a second.  She is much quicker than Jackson was and is very quickly catching up to his physical development.  HOwever it is fun to watch him step in up a notch when she shows she can do what he can do.  In this case a little sibling rivalry is a good thing. 


 WE have made it to one.  The other day we went in for Avenlea's wicked cough...found out she had a sinus infection...didn't know lil' ones could get these.  However....for those of us, yes I am including myself, that thought she was slimming out...Sorry folks...she is 22 lbs 12 ounces and 30 inches tall.  (Jackson 24 lbs 2 ounces and 31 and a 1/4 inches tall)  We are still in the 75 percentile for both height and weight.  She still has her rolls and wheres them well.  She is jibbering and jabbering.  Occasionally, we hear words that sound like something we have said but no distinct or identifiable words yet, however we know she has alot to say.  She is still sporting just the two teeth and is developing a curly mullet, (thank you Grandma Gloria for the curl).  

We are so delighted to watch our baby girl grow.  She is a delight more often than a terror and come on...with that face she is a delight even as a terror.  Hope you enjoyed our trip down memory lane.  Happy Birthday Avenlea Gayle. 

We love you!!!

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Well I realized I have a bunch of posts that i have partially written and never posted.  Oh well...maybe they will be come important again...WE have to do a May wrap-up do to my lack of blogging this month.  So here goes. 
the beginning of May we started out with a rainy and cold weekend...but we began working our garden this weekend.  Due to starting it from scratch, we had to get compost and other things to spice up the soil.  SO far so good.  We also had our first night out to dinner with the kiddos.  Gotta say this isn't so enjoyable.  Adrian and I got to say one sentence to each other the entire time we were there.  I guess you could say it was father son time and mother daughter time.  However i think we decided the take-out route is the way to go.  (No pictures of this we were simply too busy).

the next week we had Jackson's preschool evaluation.  We met with the schools speech therapist, physical therapist, occupational therapist and his teacher.  IT was great to meet the people he will be working with over the next year.  By sending him to the PACE program, he will get to focus on his therapies at the same time as going to school.  This way we will have a better Idea of what he will need to be successful in school.  This was an agonizing decision.  Tears were shed and lots of discussions were had over what we believed to be the least restrictive environment.  I do know from my time working with the Goshen schools that things can be adjusted at all times.  So we will keep our eyes on what is going on and keep in contact with the teacher, to see where we go as the school year progresses.  It is strange to think that I will now be scheduling things around my kiddo going to school.  CRAZY!!  as if we weren't busy enough.  ;)
the weekend of the 15th we planted our garden.  We planted seeds for everything in short rows.  We have a very different looking garden, but those of you that know my hubby, know it was very planned out and researched.  It was nice to finally have a plan and start planting.  WE planted zucchini, cucumbers, yellow squash and two types of peas....all trellised.  THen we planted four rows of beans, onions, beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes and peppers.  We are watching it grow with great anticipation.  WE are also learning things about bugs and all sorts of bird predators along the way.  Hoping and praying we will have some results after all of out hard work.  Time will tell. 


Then the 21st and 22nd we participated in our communities garage sales.  We had some bigger things we wanted to get rid of in order to have space to redo the kids rooms and the basement.  We have a very long to do list for the summer, however we are being patient and trying to accomplish everything on a budget.  Which I say it is successful....we got rid of junk and made money.  that too me = success. 

Then this past weekend we took a trip to Illinois.  We went to see Adrian's grandma.  WE had alot of fun.  Jackson walked for the first time last year at her house, so he had come along way since she had last seen him.  Avenlea was two months old when she was last there...so she was night and day different.  It was fun to watch them interact with her and explore the new terrain.  WE helped her with some things around the house.  She even gave me a huge plastic bag full of thread for my sewing projects.  I couldn't thank her enough.  Some of these threads I don't think I will ever have to buy again.  They are ginormous and much better quality than I would be able to afford.  Can't wait to have time to sit down and use them.  Our trip was a bit of a challenge.  Avenlea was still facing backwards and so everytime we were driving away from the sun it was directed straight into her eyes.  So she screamed the entire time.  So we decided it was time to switch her around thinking that she was 20 lbs and only four days away from being one.   We never had any issue with Jackson, however Avenlea was so tired by the time we left she just wouldn't give up.  She cried for an hour and a half of our trip home.  Since however we have been doing great.  She loves being able to interact with Jackson and with mommy while we are moving.  WE will have to see if this continues on our trip to MN in a couple weeks. 
We really did have a good time.....looking forward to the next visit. 
this brings us to today.  we are finalizing our plans for Avenlea's birthday and prepping for our trip to Riley on friday.  hope you all had a fun month of May.