just a page turning

Decking our Halls!

2011-12-01T11:40:00.001-05:00

As I was reading through my devotional...I was remembering all our memories from the holidays. I was reading a devotional about God always being present in our lives through the thick and the thin....and oh how he has been in our lives. I always think about where we have come over the last 4 years. Quite constantly actually. I see Jack doing things the doctors never said he would do and I immediately have a smile stretch acrossed my face. As I am sure God does too...as his power and might are once again shining through to our world. THere are a few things about Christmas that make me think about how far God has brought us too. My fav Christmas ornament was given to us as a wedding present from my Spiritual mentor at the time. IT is Gorgeous just to hold...but absolutely Gorgeous in this picture...love how the lights are shining through. We have given each of our kids Christmas ornament each year too...so decorating the tree was extra special to see them all again. I now know why my mom started this tradition...I think it was more for her than for us.

There have been a few times over the last six years of our family...that I have felt incredibly blessed and This picture is of things I hold most dear....even with all the projects I have done recently...all the "things" I have collected over the last few months to make my home a bit homier, the only "thing" I couldn't live without...is my family. They are very dear to my heart and I do all the things I do to try and make their life better.

This year at our women's retreat we chose a word/phrase to focus on over the new year. I had many that popped into my mind...but I chose a "clean slate"...something I believe Mary probably wanted when she found out she was going to be pregnant as a virgin in a world that looked at such a thing as impossible. I can't imagine the ridicule that that young lady must have had to deal with in her time...and the lies people must have told....but what miracle that came out of her hardship. There is alot that can happen over a year in life, relationships and in space...if we just allow for a clean slate.

I don't have near the rejection to deal with that Mary did...so I am guessing that mine should be a bit easier....but peopel desearve forgiveness (actually God demands it for us to be forgiven) and I will be more free in my spirit if I can get rid of some of the ugliness that has come out of hurt. this clean slate thing...also includes giving myself a clean slate for all the hurt I may have caused or the critisism that I had towards myself and my parenting. Although it was all in trying to be better...we are going to start the year with a clean slate...for myself, my kids, my friends, and my family. Let us see where God can take us.

There is such beauty in allowing God to lead and we just follow where he wants to take us. Like I said I could have picked many words...such as surrender, reliquishing control...get the similarity. haha.

All in all the Christmas season...brings about a great anticipation of what is to come. There is such Joy in my children's eyes as we talk about the coming of Jesus's birthday...and we deck our home with fabulous Goodwill finds and our Christmas decorations from years past. I look forward to the meaning and memories that will come out of this season...as we await the best Gift we have been Given....the birth of our Savior!! What kind of decorations do you have up this year? .link your post below if you feel like sharing...

2011-11-30T00:09:00.001-05:00

wow it has been a while since we have updated....we have had a busy fall with Jack starting his second year of preschool. He started at a new school this year, mainstreamed....and he is loving it!! He loves his teacher and he has made many new friends. Some think of him a bit like their little brothers, tho....so he has had to learn to be a bit assertive. Which is good...he is going to have to learn to say no thank you I can do that...when everyone trys to do things for him. We have already had a field trip, a thanksgiving dinner and met the firemen. SO I have many pictures I have to show you soon. Healthwise Jack has been doing Great. WE have continued to have stable numbers and look forward to many more years of this. We have some big decisions to make over the next year...I will share that in another blog. We discussed it at our yearly appt with Dr Billmire backin September and I feel I have processed it enough to share...I think. I am sure a few tears will be shed while I type...but when doesn't that happen.

Avenlea is growing like a weed and also leaps and bounds in her personality. Which at times has challenged us all..but it is also what we love most about her. She is a spitfire!! there is never a dull moment in our day and if i think I have found peace...it usually means they are in trouble or sleeping. But really if they got along wonderfully I think I would think there was something wrong then too. WE have decided though that the little munchkin is ready to head off to preschool. She is going to start early this coming spring and join her brother...well sort of. She will be in the 3 year old class and then will continue with the same teacher next fall. This will allow her to be in the pre k class for half a year before she would start Kindergarten at 5. She is so bored and so jealous of her big brother...we said why not and I am sure I can find things to fill my time on those two mornings a week. :) I will however miss our mama/Avenlea time!

I have been up to no good...or you could say alot of home projects, I have in the works the start to a photography bussiness...(never thought I could enjoy working so much) and then also getting crafty with the crochet needles and sewing machine for orders I am assuming for Christmas as everyone had a time limit on when things needed to get done. House projects will have their own showcase coming up here...I have been snapping some pictures and once I get caught up with everything...I will post about them...I have had some requests on how the process works. But there have been total room make overs to furniture redos. So stay tune.

well my pictures are done uploading....so it is time to wrap this up and head off to bed...hope you all have a happy beginning of december and enjoy the snow that showed up just in time to welcome us into the month!!

Hours of Powerspraying and painting in 112 degree direct sun.....

2011-07-09T19:20:00.001-05:00

after hours of using this power sprayer...we finally got the 6 year old cobwebs we had ignored...you know the ones that the broom doesn't take down cuz they are too bloomin' sticky. THey were clung so hard to our house and our deck that it took not 1, not 2 but 3 separate sprays with the power washer. I was super excited at the start of this project and after three powersprays and two days painting in the sun.. during the heat of the day cuz you know that is when the kiddos take naps. IT is OFFICIAL---I am AN INDOOR PAINTER!!

I also know that my husband is quite handy...he unplugged some drains in our walk out...hopefully this will help it drain better when it rains...He also took the entire roof off of our deck and rebuilt the railing and repaired our roof...all by himself...I would have looked at it and never thought it could happen.

Due to the lack of time...(cuz I have a hubby that is still working til 7 pm every night...yep 12 hour days) and the fact that it costs money...I need you to imagine our home painted this middle color. It will happen someday in the next 5 years...so at least before I have to repaint this deck. haha!! Do you have it...can you see it...

Pretty Granite color with white trim around the windows and door, and our big white garage door.....yep it is pretty isn't it. and now...you can see the color we painted out deck...

yep it is a light grayish brown...if I was to give it my own name it would be putty. ON the paint chip it is called Autum Sand. it looks so nice to have it freshly painted....I am working on some outdoor cushions for our deck furniture too. I gotta say the part that makes my minor heat stroke worth it today is that we turned in our aluminum for scrap and paid for the whole deal....plus I think I have half of what I need to finish the furniture...LOVE IT!! I will let you know if we decide to paint the house, I am thinking we might need to hire a painting crew...anybody want to volunteer....the pay will be pizza and beer. :) til then I will enjoy my morning coffee and a book on our pretty deck.

happenings of June....

2011-07-05T14:03:00.001-05:00

Well since I feel like my life is flying by as I sit and watch....I decided I will do a highlights of june post. So here goes...the

the beginning of june we had our baby girl turn 2. She is growing up too fast. She talks a mile a minute...still mainly gibber gabber and then out of the blue she will have a totaly clear sentence to surprise you. She has surpassed her bro in weight and height. Loves having her fingernails painted, her hair done and about the minute you think She is a girly girl. She will come in from outside covered in sand or mud from head to toe. Her new discovery this month has been the raspberries in the back of our yard. She can't ever sneak them as she ends up with them on her fingers and her face from ear to ear. She is all about her shoes and accessories lately. She loves wearing bracelets and picking out her own shoes.

then that same week we headed down to Riley for Jack's surgery. this was a wake up call to what is going to continue to happen as he gets older. He is definitely understanding what is happening to him more and more. We get lots more questions and are having to rely more and more on the man upstairs to give us the answers. He did very well despite being a bit upset when they carried him off. He healed quickly and was ready to run far before he had permission too.

We returned home just in time to celebrate father's day. We had a cookout with family and attempted to make some pavers for Adrian to put in his landscaping...unfortunately...they dry really quickly and we didn't really make anything that even resembled a paver...so we decided to redo our porch/deck instead. Not that that was a father's day gift as it has been a lot of work for Adrian...but it is looking very nice now that it is in the last stages of being finished.

I got to spend a weekend away in Fort Wayne with my friend Crystal, shopping our little hearts out and getting many new ideas for sewing. We got to take in the Matilda Jane Art Fair and meet some of their staff at the preparty. What wonderful ladies and a fabulous company.

Then I returned home to a sick kid and a sore throat for myself. We cleaned for a day and then welcomed my mom and niece for the week. We entertained them, with raspberry picking, swimming, a trip to shipshe, a train ride to shed's aquarium, some shopping and a trip to Long Lake for more swimming, a boat ride and fireworks. HOpe they enjoyed their time with us as much as we enjoyed having them. praying they stay healthy and aren't affected by this nasty cold I still have.

Daddy also made the kids day, by building them a super huge sandbox in the backyard. Lot of fun and enjoyment yet to come in this for the rest of the summer...hoping this will reduce the fights and sand throwing at least.

Well I guess that was a recap of June and the beginning of July as well. Hope this summer is treating you all well...and you are enjoying yours as much as we are. We look forward to accomplishing more of our projects and sharing them with you....

Blessings by Laura Story

2011-04-26T16:42:00.000-05:00

I promise that this is my last super serious post for a while...but every now and again I have things I wrestle with...and some are just important enough to share....

Blessings:

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near?

What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near?

And what if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near?

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can't satisfy?

And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?

Credits :
songwriters: story, laura mixon
© new spring publishing;new spring publishing

what an amazing way to look at trials, the long road that we have ahead of us in our journey. I think sometimes to where I would be without the trials in my life. Some have moved me away from God and then brought me back even closer..others have just pushed me to Cling to Christ.

I have had a song that I have clung too for each little step of our journey. Recently this is the one I am clung too. I think about all that i have gone through in my 33 years of life. I think about where I would be with out my Father in Heaven. Alot of the trials have taught me huge life lessons, but mostly I think about the spiritual side. I have learned so much about my father through the trials. I find myself thanking God for the trials some days, cuz without them would I be on the same walk I am with Him today or would my focus be way off track.

the words that stick out to me most recently

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can't satisfy?

what if it is just to make us want the new world more....what if it is to have us desire to know Christ even more....what if all that we go through is just the Lord being merciful to us and helping us to cling to what is really worth clinging too. Reminding our hearts and minds that this is NOT OUR HOME!
I have never thought of trials this way....I have never thought of the betrayals and the struggles in the light of it being God's way of teaching me not to get comfortable with something that is not His best for me. Instead thinking of it as His way of making us hunger for our true Home with Him.

2011-04-18T12:46:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone...I know we have been absent for a long time...we are going to change that a little. it is hard to keep up with life, facebook, a blog, a caringbridge page and all the new found hobbies that we all have going on around here. Seriously, I thought adding child was the problem...nope not really cuz that is almost a year ago...and she is really not the issue. hang with me folks, cuz I am sitting here by myself in a quiet house...and YES I am choosing to write this in my free time...YEPPERS it is that important to me.
   I am still wheeling from our message at church yesterday. Ever have those...Well yesterday was a doosy...we were digging into the place in where Jesus calls out the pharasees' for putting their traditions before worshiping God and following him (Mark 7) If I was a good blogger I would go find it for you and post it so you knew exactly what I was talking about...but come on...if you are really interested I want you to dig out your bible. ok...here it is:
Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
⁷ Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’^[d]
⁸ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”
(don't worry you are going to want your bible...you are going to want to mark this part:

Then He goes on to talk about our hearts:
Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. ¹⁵ It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.^[h]”
¹⁷ Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. ¹⁸ “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? ¹⁹ Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)
²⁰ And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. ²¹ For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. ²³ All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

I know that in my life when things are not going my way, or I am being challenged by something it is so easy to fall into these things that defile you. Don't worry, I have not committed murder, or slept with another man other than my husband. Crazy though that those are the frist things to come to mind like they are in someway worse than the ones that follow. When in fact the ones that follow really do more harm to the body of Christ.  I thought about how easy it is to talk about a situation to a friend about another friend. most of the time I say I am just getting advice...or correct me if I am crazy, but this isn't right is it. That in all ways is Slander. I can't tell you how many times i have walked into someone's home or looked at someone and been envious of something they have. I also know that I lust after things...no not other men...things!  Especially when I want to finish a project I have started or I feel, let me repeat that I FEEL we need it. These things get in the way of God if they are taking up your thought process obsessively. I know they get in the way of what God is teaching me.

I also thought how healthy the church would be if we all confessed these things and then forgave each other they way God calls us too. I know you are all thinking I am crazy, but seriously if we really forgave and didn't hold a grudge, there would be no fear of confession. In my world I fear confessing things I have done, because of the judgement of man, not the fear of God. I have made the stupidest mistakes already and God accepted me back.  It is the people of God who have taught me that they are not always as forgiving. Me included....I have a very hard time forgiving people when i have felt taken advantage of. I also have a very hard time trusting them again. but this damage can never be restored unless their is full forgiveness. Unfortunately when others move forward and don't feel the same damage from a situation this can be hard to accomplish. So we need to do our part and leave the rest up to God.

Someone also brought up Paul calling to not associate with people like this. I agree with this in the case of unrepentant sinners...but someone needs to love on even the unrepentive sinner. Everyone can't abandon them, or where will we find them. Yep that is right. We will find them accepting something else, another belief that will lead them to a different place and not to the best place....HEAVEN! Sometimes I have been accused of being to Gracious. I have been accused of hanging with the wrong crowd. I have been accused of sticking up for someone with a different belief. I am ok with this...keep accusing me...I believe that my relationship with them will have far more power that anyone spitting out scripture at them. I know it was that way for me!! Thank you to all those people that didn't cast me out when I was letting sin control my life, instead you were loving and gracious and stuck by me.

I was challenged by how many of us, myself included, participate...and if not participate say nothing to our friends as they speak about others, as they knowingly write off too many things on their taxes, as they are envious or others and things, and as we watch people be greedy or we are greedy ourselves. I know it might sting at the beginning but I would much rather be called out than continue to be buried in this negativity. What a great safe place the body of Christ would be to reside!

I am challenged by this message and what a great time to focus on it. We are entering a week of reflection. A time to remember the sacrifice and the gift that was given to us, to celebrate the person who was not afraid to go against the norm, to speak out when His words were not going to be recieved well, and was always willing to have lunch with someone who had done something horrible without judgement.

I know...not something any of us want to hear....but really think about how much safer of a place it would be to reside. also this is what God will be looking at when we enter heaven: Not how much we did, but how much we learned to become more like him. How many of us don't want to hear: Well done good a faithful servant. I know I do and my actions are not dersearving in the last few months.

on busy season that flies by so quickly.....

2010-12-29T11:26:00.000-05:00

Christmas with four children 3 and under is definitely different than what it was with newborns or even just with adults. They add such a different feel and the time together really becomes all about them. As I have shared earlier and on Jackson's caringbridge site...he was so excited to give others their presents before the holidays. He could hardly wait. However I have to say, once he learned that he got presents from people the joy of giving to others slightly was minimized and the joy of receiving became a much bigger priority. All in all he did great...even when his sister tried to steal his present.

Christmas pj picture #125...oh the joys of three toddlers and an infant when trying to get a posed picture.

The joy was high and in full swing with all the kiddos even with very few naps. Sleeping was not a high priority for any of them.

it will be so much fun next year when all four are running around and full of energy. I think we might need to hire a sitter if we think that the traditions of games and puzzles are going to continue...but we did get one more year in. We accomplished a 1000 piece puzzle and a 1/4 maybe a 1/3 of another.

Jackson even decided he was big enough to play the adult games....fast scrabble involves spelling little man...maybe in a few more years.

All in all the Schrock Christmas was a great time and we look forward to many more in the future. We even seemed to make it through this one with no sickness....Tims' family Christmas to come.....waiting on the pictures...

2010-12-14T21:42:00.000-05:00

Christmas preparation. We have finally gotten our systems rebooted around here and I think we are on the mend. We will see what the traveling gets us. Usually we come back with one of us at least not feeling well.
We have been doing lots this year to get prepared for christmas. It has been so different this year having two little ones who want to help and be a part of everything. When I say different, sometimes that is good different and sometimes it, well just takes alot longer. Which I guess isnt' a bad thing.

The other day Jackson and I wrapped presents. He helped hold the paper and then he carried all the no breakable presents to the tree. He was so cute....he got so excited when he found out who each gift was for. It is great that he hasn't asked one time, if there are presents under the tree for him...he is much more excited about the ones he is giving to others. Trust me this is not something that he got honestly from his mama...I was always curious about which present was for me.... My mom usually had to hide the presents and wrap them just before...because we were to nosey. The hunt was always so much fun.

We recieved a gingerbread house from one of Jackson's doctors at Riley. WE are keeping it in the garage until next week when we are going to put it together...everytime he sees it...he gets all sweet and says: mama, my gingerbread house, awe. He is so stinking funny sometimes. I think I am mainly waiting for a time with some help. I can't imagine...frosting, trying not to break pieces and an 18 month old weapon of mass destruction running around that = wait for a weekend with Daddy.

I gotta say all in all this year has been the best so far with Christmas preparations...it has been fun having the kids participate in things and get so excited about everything: the tree, santa, singing happy birthday to Jesus, singing christmas songs, watching christmas movies and making lefsa with Nana Corrine. There is not one thing that has topped anything else...but it has been a joy watching the two of them enjoy the season with us. WE are So BLESSED!!!

A big week.....

2010-12-08T16:13:00.001-05:00

This week started with news of Grandpa Cross' passing. He was a very humble man. He loved his family and would do anything for them. I am blessed to have met him. Jackson was named after him. I have always wanted a name continued through my kids middle names. Even though we have been harassed by many do to its similarity to Jack Daniels, I am glad we chose Daniel, when we were naming Jackson. I spoke with a young woman in the nursery during the funeral on Tuesday. She was a member of their church and sat near them on Sunday mornings. She didn't even now Grandpa as personally as those of us in his family, however his kind heart shown through to her, just in the way he handled himself sitting next to her and her family. She said he never got upset even when her kids were loud. My response was that he probably enjoyed it more than it bothered him. We took the kids with to the funeral, we spent most of our time in the nursery, however we took them out to the grave site mainly for Avenlea to get a nap as we drove. Jackson and I were talking as we waited for Adrian to return to the car. We were talking about how Grandpa was sledding with Jesus in heaven in all the great snow. He then asked where Daddy was and I said he was in that big green tent saying Goodbye to Grandpa. Jackson responded: Jesus is there too. Some days I am sure this kid is connected in such a powerful way with our Lord and Savior. I am certainly Glad Jackson has another Guardian Angel in heaven. This holiday season will be a bit tougher not having Grandpa smiling at us and playing games with us, but we know he is in a much better place and God's timing is just right.

During this weeks events, we were also all taken down with the stomach flu. It was a great reminder to me that Jackson's immune system just isn't what everyone else's is. All the rest of us have been hit for about 12-24 hours. Jackson has been down for the count for about over 48 hours. He has been able to continue drinking through this one and tylenol seems to give him some relief, but it reminds me how fragile he really is. Sometimes I get annoyed when our plans have to change due to him or someone in the home we are going to getting sick, but It is for his good. I need to remind myself of this when I am being scoffed at by people who just don't get what we are doing when we hunker in during the flu season. But I am reminded this week how fragile life is and how much we need to take advantage of the time we have, living a life that is speaking to those around us with our actions. I guess if I go out being someone who overly protected her family, I am ok with that.

Thank you Grandpa Cross for the incredible life you lived and I feel greatly blessed to have been able to be a part of your family for the last 6 1/2 years.

christmas 2010

2010-12-08T15:56:00.002-05:00

What A Year Christmas Card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Happy 18 months Sweet Avenlea!!

2010-12-02T16:20:00.000-05:00

Happy 18 months Baby Girl!!!! Wow how time does fly. This saturday marks Avenlea's 18 month birthday. She is such a different kid that Jackson. I can't even tell you. IF I had one word to describe her: SPUNKY. There is never a dull moment in our lives since she entered the our world. I love every minute of it. Even on the rough days I can usually find some funny moments in our day.

She is very curious about everything. She loves to explore and has to do everything herself. ON her own without any help. Her funniest thing to do by herself is walk up the steps. It is so funny. Most of the time she tries to take the steps like an adult alternating her steps with each foot. if we are not bracing her from behind she would fall straight backwards. She would be a great model for a V8 commercial. Her feet get so far ahead of the rest of her. Anyway the independence is great and a struggle at the same time. LIke I said she loves to explore. This also means their has been about a hundred percent increase in the mischief and discipline around here too.

We have started with time outs and they are surprisingly going really well. as long as you don't get too far away from her. This was actually quite funny. These are all the typical things that I have seen other kids do but they are new to this house.

I gotta say this is cute. most of the things she does are cute...just don't tell her. My friend Laura said to me today that she is too cute to be a trouble maker...that is exactly what is going to keep her in the trouble maker world. Everyone is going to let her get away with it, because she is cute. So far this mama is immune for now.

She is jibberjabbing as well. THere are some words , more, ma, dada, grandma even came out today. But the funniest part is the jibberjabbering actually sounds like a conversation. The intonations go up and down and she waits for me to reply. Sometimes I try, but to be honest...most of the time I have no idea what she is trying to tell me. She also can tell you what a couple different animals say. My favs are the puppy and the lion. When it comes to toys. She is still into carrying everything around, but for the most part her favorite toy is whatever her brother is trying to play with or her kitchen. She loves slamming the doors and dumping all the dishes out on the floor. (she does very well helping to clean up too). They are so cute when they sit and read books and play together. it is moments like these that make me happy they are close in age.

She is taller than Jackson now and weighs a bit more too, however she is still in her 12-24 month clothing range. She just seems to be getting taller and thinner. She is cutting two molars which has caused some drastic changes in eating habits. So much so that they did some blood work on her last month to make sure everything was ok. she was drinking over 64 ounces of milk, juice and water and pretty much not eating anything through out the day. But we are happy to report all is well. She has started to eat things again and still drinks on the high side...but we have made the move to a little additional water...which doesn't taste as good so she doesn't drink as much.

She has started hiding and she usually has her pants filled when she comes back out, so we have started working a little on potty training. THe other day we found her banging on the bathroom door and then a diaper filled with poop. I think she might have been trying to tell us something. This mama is in a new world so we will see how this goes. the ease of no public restrooms is going to soon be in our past. SCARY!!!

I hope you all enjoy the holiday's!!! hopefully we find my camera soon so we can share ours with you.

Ok...I'm a little OCD about my Christmas Cards

2010-11-24T15:02:00.000-05:00

I have always loved all the different cards I receive in the mail over the holiday season, but I have to be honest, my favorite are the photo card. Before I had kids I always spent time deciding weather to include the dog in the family photo, use an old snap shot, or take a new picture. Now that I have kids I make sure I have a decent picture on the kids that I can upload soon before Christmas and I spend all kinds of needless time deciding on weather the colors of my picture go well with the color of the card. I know I am completely OCD, when it comes to matching my pictures. just ask the girls I scrap with, they get a good laugh every couple of months. However since it would bother me everywhere I saw our card, I take the time. Over the last 5 years I have ordered my cards every year from Shutterfly. Sure there are other places out there that offer deals, but I have never been disappointed in the quality or the timing of my order through Shutterfly and in my opinion they have the best options. Link here to their photo cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery
Here are some of my favorites:

who doesn't love the subway art card....

for more options you can follow this link. http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards.....

not only have I at the last minute been able to get my Christmas cards on time...but I also struggle at times for gifts for Grandparents and other significant people in my children's lives. what better thing to give them than a Photo book: recapping the kiddos lives for the past year or a calendar for the next year with all the important dates already written in.

personalized calendars to http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

Photo books as well.

they even recently have added my favorite section. the home decor section. if you are like me you are always looking for great ways to add a new flavor to the pictures you hang on you walls. They have wall canvases. Which are fabulous and totally on sale right now. HEad over and check them out. You don't want to miss this sale...cuz most of the time they are on the spendy end. home decor: http://www.shutterfly.com/home-decor .
I am sure you will all have no problem finding all your holiday gifts. At least enjoy browsing. I know I am pumped about this years selection...I just have to find the right picture to match the right card...and of course write a little update on the Schrock clan. Happy Shopping Everyone!!!

Random Updates:

2010-11-09T13:48:00.000-05:00

(Apologies in advance our camera is again MIA so no pictures with this post)

We have had a busy day today. I gotta say I think sometimes I MAKE my life busy, just so I don't have to sit and mull over all the stressors and things that could be cluttering my mind. I have made a decision though. My busy life is costing us way too much moola. So I am going to make a decision that for the Month of December I am going to Hunker in. We are going to get the projects done around the house that need to get finished and we are going to get back in the mindset of doing anything I can to save money. I watched a lady at the grocery store the other day save 50 bucks on her grocery bill. I want to be able to do this too. But I need to get organized.

I started yesterday. I got my groceries to make a set group of meals and I only spent 75 dollars. That even included toilet paper, paper towel and new mascara!!! Last night was chicken chili and I saved a buttload of money rehydrating my own beans. However after eating it I think they might have needed a little longer. But practice makes perfect people and this is only time number one. I am so excited to get a new recipe for black beans too. I would love to make my own and save the money. I am back into making my own bread too. Love this and Jackson loves to help. It ususally requires more clean up, ok maybe not alot more, cuz I am one of the messiest bakers you have ever seen. It is so much fun to do it with him too, as long as Avie is sleeping.

I am happy to report that Jackson is doing well. We have started him on a new medicine ( not my first choice, but better than cathing him) to get his bladder to empty. It has also been decided that we need to go ahead and prep him urology wise for his transplant. This means we need to correct his urninary reflux. Good thing things are moving forward, but disappointing that it is another surgery. WE are making sure there are not any other things that can be done at the same time. We hate to see him go under the knife too many more times. IT is heart wrenching to see him after and after doing it 10 times I don't really care to see it many more. So far so good he is not complaining of any pain with urination, so that is a good sign.

on a lighter note...he still enjoys his cartoons, he is consistently sleeping through the night and is ready immediately to help fix anything around the house. In his mind I think he believes himself to be Handy Manny (a disney cartoon character for those of you not in the kids cartoon loop). Avenlea and he get along for the most part and fight like pros when they want too. It is so cute to watch him with her. She is now bigger than he, however when she gets hurt he is the first to report it and the first to comfort her all the time. He is one super sweet little boy. As I said he has been surpassed by his sister. The flu hit our house about a month ago and it hit Adrian and Jackson the hardest. Both of them lost significant amounts of weight and haven't been able to gain it back. Jackson dropped over a pound which is not so good in his case. he is now at 23 lbs which he was up to 24 lbs 6 ounces. (31 and 1/2 inches) So we are attempting to get back up there, cuz they prefer him at 11 kilos for transplant. He should gain faster now that he is in love with eating. Well in love is only the case if it is TURKEY and GRAPES!!! WE are working on expanding our love of food.

Avenlea, well she keeps us on our toes. She is great at playing by herself, however you gotta now what she is playing with, to make sure she is safe. She enjoys to usual little sister stuff. She wants and destroys anything Jackson has or is working on and acts so innocent when she gets caught. Usually starts giving hugs and kisses immediately. She is now 23 lbs 13 1/2 ounces and 31 and a 1/2 inches tall. She is a climber and likes to stand on top of everything. She doesn't stand by our little play table she tries to sit on top of it to play. Wish I could share pictures. ARGGGG!!! So frustrating. She loves her kitchen and to scribble, so far just on paper and her magnadoodle.

WE are preparing to enter Adrian's busy season right after the holidays too. I give a big hats off to those mom's out there that deal with their hubbies being gone year round. I dread this season and the lack of a break I get. I no longer get to look forward to 5:30 and count the minutes til we get there. This year I think we will be taking a long trip to MN to help use up some of the time. I just pray the weather and Jackson's health allow us to go. WE will see. For now we are just looking forward to the holiday and great memories made with family and friends.

We have made it!!!!

2010-10-15T11:53:00.000-05:00

I remember about a year ago thinking...this kid is going to be in highschool and still drinking his bottle. However I am so PROUD to say we don't have bottles anymore. Two nights ago we decided to go cold turkey. I just told Jackson that I gave his bottles away. I remembered a mom telling me that she did this with a baby blanket or a pacifier and it worked, so hence I had a moment of pure genius when I remembered that. Whoever you were, THANK YOU!!!

It must be me, but pictures are so much cuter with the sippy cup than the bottle. I am packing them away tonight when he goes to bed. (oh that is kidda sad to think about. Packing them away possibly for good. This is the first moment that having no more kiddos has really hit me. I guess we will see. )

Jackson, we are so happy that you decided not to be pigheaded and decided to drink your first night. Now that you got the hang of it, you love it. THanks for trying something new buddy. You have been through alot and I know that your bottle was always your crutch. Thanks for trusting us and growing up just a little bit more. We love you buddy.

And of course we send a big thank you out to this crazy girl and all of Jackson's little peeps at Preschool. with out you guys and the Lord above, for giving mama peace about dehydrating her baby boy. This wouldn't have been possible. THanks for the peer pressure kiddos!!

Plus she is so stinkin' cute...who could leave her out!!!

WELCOME OCTOBER!!!

2010-10-08T09:05:00.000-05:00

I couldn't love a season more than I LOVE FALL!!! Driving around makes me so happy. Love the trees changing colors and the beauty of God's creation all around us.

I have been doing crazy stuff too. I had this fabulous Idea to start to make the things that I see in stores that look cool for fall decorations out of our scraps. THis has meant in the past three days I have used power tools I said I would never touch and tried out things like hand writing painting. I have had my fingers in dirt, wax, hot glue and many other mediums and I still don't have a picture to show you the final product. Some things I will admit....I gave in and bought them...not because I didn't think by next march I would figure out how to make them...but because at 50% off it was cheaper to buy them and it is time to move on to Christmas if I am going to have a handmade Christmas!!! WHich is totally the plan. From Gifts to decorations I want them to be handmade. We will see what happens. This might be a year to year addition kind of thing.

love this garland and I want to see if I can remember how to knit and make this hat pattern into a stocking pattern...we will see...I am not very good with knitting needles. but I love the colors...

We have been so homemade this year. I sense a tide turning. We decided last spring to plant a Garden and it did well...not as well as we wanted in all aspects but well.

We have plans for doubling it next year. Heck after next week when our whole yard gets torn up...we could plant our whole back yard...but i am sure I am not up for weeding that. :) But I have become a canner and a freezer of all sorts of things and let me tell you making your own tastes so good. The vegetables have so much more flavor out of the garden and something about doing it yourself gives it all so much more satisfaction when you get ready to make a meal. WE canned all sorts of tomatoes too....we have sauce, salsa and a bunch of diced and a few whole tomatoes.

I Even began making my own bread again....I still can't master how those baker out there make their stuff so soft. Mine dries out so fast. I will keep researching and trying though. I have made some uber delicious rolls and I am working on trying out some bagels and english muffins in the next couple of weeks. I will let you know how it goes. I have found that the budget is so much easier to keep...when all I am buying at the store is meat and fruit. We might need to look into fruit trees in the backyard. if any of you have good recipes for breads, bagels, and muffins....please, please share. I would love to try.

This fall we have also been making apple stuff like it is going out of style. We froze some chunky applesauce and we made some apple pie filling. of course there were set backs like over flowing pie filling in the canner and air pockets...but we made it work. We still have superbly delicious pie filling that for me makes warm amazing apple crisp. Thank you Anne and her mom for picking them with me and letting me bring them all home for free!!! Apple's coming out of our ears but oh so much yumminess!!! We even used them in some stuffing recipes.

LOVE Squash another thing that makes me think of fall. My friend colleen has this delicious stuffed acorn squash recipe too...sausage, apple and mushroom absotutely delicious!!! but this year we tried out some new varieties too. I have made a speghetti squash and how cool how it comes out. I still have butternut squash upstairs to try yet. We will see, still haven't found a great recipe. If you have one, please share...love it when it comes highly reccomended.

All in all this fall is starting out fabulously.....Jackson is loving school and Avie and I are enjoying our time with just the two of us. We are finding time to play together and get some things done.

WISHING YOU ALL A FABULOUS FALL SEASON!!!

What a blessing you could be?

2010-09-30T08:36:00.000-05:00

we are so blessed by our church. i have never met a group of people so dedicated to discovering what a community truly is or leaders that guide us to it no matter how difficult the path is to get there. God left us the bible as a guide & here we attempt to apply it to every facet of life whether it seems impossible or not, because the bible is absolute truth. this has been my experience anyways. we're far from perfect, totally broken, but we are truly blessed to be a part of this family.

this friday night there is a benefit for one special little boy from our church.
meet joshua:

isn't he the cutest?? this sweetie was diagnosed with autism late last year. his family is trying to raise funds for an assistance dog through 4 Paws for Ability. this is a great organization that trains dogs specifically for each child with a particular need. their careful process comes with a pretty big price tag.
that's where the rest of us come in!

so come on down!!

Friday October 1st
Goshen Theater, Downtown Goshen
Silent Auction & Dessert
Event Starts at 5:00pm, Auction Winners Announced by 8:30pm

Some items up for Auction:
Hand made/painted Guitar
Colts Tickets
Manni/Peddi
Original Art
Photography Session
Catering From The Brew
Ecuadorian Jewelry
Furniture
Stamped Concrete
& More!!

Along with the Auction there will be a ton of decadent
homemade desserts that will drift
you off into a euphoric sugar coma!
Sugar coma for a cause!

If you can't make it out you can still donate!
Click here for online

Or mail checks to:
Downtown 808
216 S Main
Goshen, IN 46526
C/O Joshua's Dog

AND, the benfit is taking place during Goshen's First Fridays.
So there's tons of stuff to see & do downtown that evening!
yay!

couldn't write this better so i stole it from Rachel. thanks chica!!! see you all on friday!!!

2010-09-13T09:24:00.000-05:00

So as I look back I see that we started this kitchen in July. OH my....it was built in a day, but the painting became difficult with the heat. Then the dreaded Basement flooded and we had to move the thing back to the garage with everything else that we own....so here it is. In a few stages. Jackson and Avenlea loved it at Jack's party last night!!! I am sure this might be the best 85 dollars we ever spent. This will get used for years by both of our children.

certain parts were a little tricky....the oven door has a chance to be dangerous.. but it has proved quite sturdy. As there have been many children standing on it.

many hours were spent to get it to look like this. i have such a handy hubby. I have always wanted the Pottery Barn kitchen for my kids...but I refuse to have a pink kitchen first and then second...seriously spending that much money is ridiculous (sorry if I am offending anyone who has purchased it for there kids). But ours was just as cute and it cost us less than 100 dollars for everything.

As you can see he loves it. Can't wait to get our felt food from Mariah...but I am supporting her business by letting her use it for display at her craft bazaar in October. Can't wait to get to play with it all. I went through so many ideas of how to create or build our own kitchen and I am super happy that we made this one. It turned out (in Jackson's words); perfect mama, my kitchen perfect!!!

basement pictures...take 1

2010-09-12T07:53:00.001-05:00

our upstairs stairs got recovered...for those of you that remember
you are probably saying wow....those look so clean

then Avenlea's room. She will have some additions

coming in the future as we add her twin bed in

when she is ready but here it is until then

these letters will get covered here in the future...

one of the many little projects left to do. Super excited...

Playroom....

A reading nook back in the new corner...toys neatly organized in baskets on the painted shelves, and a hint of the kitchen...that I am not ready to show you yet...it will be revealed in Jackson's party pictures.

then Jackson's room:

Love how his room turned out. Even the letters and shelf on his wall. I have had his intials since we first decorated the nursery and they have never been displayed. Love it. There is a sweet picture that will be on his wall when the hanging system gets delivered and I have a story to tell with that too. So till we have pictures of the family room and the kitchen reveal...we will see you all later..

2010-09-12T07:36:00.000-05:00

Good morning!!! I can finally say this...we have had two nights of our children sleeping a floor away from us. Let me say it is good to finally get some good sleep. For the most part uninterrupted. Wow it has been a few years since I had two nights in a row. I am sure it won't last...but we are enjoying it while it does.

Three years ago on Friday September 7th, 2007, we got to finally bring our baby home from the hospital. After almost a month in the NICU, four hours away from home and family and friends, we were able to start our life with our baby boy. Who has continued to brighten our lives and keep us on our toes ever since. Can't wait to celebrate his birthday tonight with our friends and some of our family. He has been so patient since we had to cancel his party in August due to his high fever and then our house falling apart. He woke up this morning and said mama I awake and my party today. Super cute. Hope we are able to get a nap today with him so excited for his Handy Manny party.

Update on the Basement: We have carpet, the kids rooms are set up, playroom set up, a chair to sit on (the couches are still awaiting recovering haven't had time), so we are moving along. We even had our first spill and our first dings on the walls. That didn't take long right? Touched up and dried up and we are moving along. That is why we went with the stain guard pad right? I will have pictures soon. Spent yesterday at the hardware store and good thing we did. I got 7 fabric baskets for my craft storage for 26 dollars...quite the steal for the size. Regular price they would have been close 60 dollars. So happy with that. Big Shout out to Diann for helping me organize it all. It is so nice to have everything have its own place. We are gaining so much storage that we didn't have before. I have loved using things in new places too. IT has been so much fun and I am super excited to show you all how it turned out. Just a few minor adjustments to be made before we show you. My favorite is how we got lined curtain panels for our one big window downstairs for 8.50 a panel...and then adjusted them to work for what we wanted. They turned out great. Pictures soon I promise.

Thank you to all our friends and family for there help and support as we went through this process. Without the encouragement from afar, the physical help and the massive amounts of questions answered and advice, this all would have been difficult. So Big hugs and Thanks to everyone.

We are ready to kick back and party tonight with Jackson!!! It is long overdue for all of us.

On the home front

2010-09-03T13:30:00.000-05:00

ok after much deliberation...with my self...I decided to go with my original idea in Avenlea's room. I fell in love with some fabric a long time ago and I have been pondering making her a quilt...I gave in a decided to make her some curtains. GOT and absolute steal on the fabric....so this changed the whole decor of her room. I have witnessed too many of my mommy friends not having much of a say in there kiddo's rooms once they are a little older so I decided to take advantage early. I have been loving all the owl stuff here recently...so I am in the process of making a couple of owl pillows...fashioned after a few I found on etsy and in the anthropologie and pottery barn links. Plus I had to take advantage of my friend Diann and her amazing freehand I might add, paintings. isn't she fabulous.

just a few more butterflies to go. I tried my hand at one last night...it is pretty good, if I say so myself. We are working hard on saving money on all of these decorating things...cuz you know....we just paid for basically a new basement. So I am proud to say with Diann's help...we spent nothing on paint...used up some of the nursery colors by making our own. It definitely got frustrating at times and down right funny others. especially when I attempted to make a primary color out of non primaries. I know, I know, you already now it didn't work...but it was a nice attempt right?

The rest of our basement is coming along nicely. We got the trim up last week and we are now doing some touch up painting. on the trim and painting one of our built ins too, which is going to be toy storage. Got some baskets today for a grand total of yes let me say it 15 dollars. four of them!!! and wait to you see them...they will just be perfect in the spot. Already started sorting the toys into them. I am also taking pictures so that Jackson can help put the toys away in there appropriate baskets.

We also made the decision to carpet the stairs, after a very informative conversation with my sister in law. I decided it was to risky to put wood in the entry. The risk of just someones shoe with a stone destroying it made all the work not worth it. So we are carpeting both flights. We remembered we had a remnant from when we moved in for the upstairs ones...and yes wait for it...it was JUST THE RIGHT SIZE!!! GOtta love that when it happens. I am starting to feel the tides shifting, we might be in for less gloomy times ahead. So as the lists start to get smaller and smaller...we scheduled the rest of the carpet to be put in next Thursday.

On the preschool front....HE LOVES IT!!! he gets excited to go and he has been doing so much. HE is clearer when he talks, and he has started eating alot of things. I am going to cry when I write this...but he ate Chicken last night with no gagging and even asked for more. WE have eaten up to 10 grapes at a time and he is always wanting what everyone else is having. I am thinking we might not have to wait until his graduation Grandma Corrine, before you get to fix him one of his favorite meals. HE has even started to try to drink out of a cup. Preschool, all though not really extremely challenging to Jack in the normal school stuff....has been an amazing motivation in the speech therapy realm. I don't think I could have asked for anything better!!! The unfortunately news is that Jackson is going to have to have another surgery. HE has had bone growing over the plates in his legs for about 6 months now and the Doc's say we can't wait any longer. We got a second opinion and both docs agree...So on September 29th we will be headed down for yet another surgery. WE are happy to share this one will NOT include a cast. only a few days of no jumping or falling in Jackson's case. Low key activities for a couple of weeks.

That is about it. Looking forward to unloading the garage and setting up our new basement family/play rooms and we will get pictures up as soon as it is ready.

2010-08-26T16:50:00.000-05:00

I am so happy to say that progress is being made and we are approaching d day for the unexpected basement remodel. BOY has the last week or so flown by. I guess when you days are busy from 7 am to 1 am, it is easy for time to fly. Tile isdown, wallpaper removed, ceiling is back up...and partially mudded. Can you picture it...two kiddo and all this chaos. Gotta admit I am looking forward to it all being done. I do not envy those who build houses with small children. I don't think I will ever build a house. I didn't even enjoy picking out carpet and tile. I think My decorating will stick to coordinating curtains, bedding and paint. I like that part of decorating. The other things are way to expensive to change if you make a mistake. I think the carpet guy got a good laugh when I asked what happened if we ordered it and it wasn't what we wanted. He very gently told me that it was mine to keep. Big time scary in my book.

Now that carpet buying and tile laying are finished. I get to continue to check things off the task list. This whole processes is a bit overwhelming. you definitely wouldn't feel as defeated if every tasked didn't have three to five steps before you got to cross it off. Pictures will come of the whole process when we are done.

I just keep remembering that I am going to enjoy the clean and fresh space for my kiddos to play when we are all done.

That is the update for now. Avenlea is climbing on everything lately and experiencing a bit of separation anxiety again. Which she is for the most part with me all the time...but seriously. She has also gone back to not taking a good nap. All in all though she is the funniest little girl to watch and has been talking all the time. the best is how she walks around the house.

She has to have something in each had and then she will randomly drop those and pick up something new if she thinks it is best. Makes for a messy house, but it is fun to watch her just play on her own. pretty sure she is going to keep us on our toes well into her young adult life. Gotta love her.

Jackson started preschool a couple weeks ago and it is going much better. HE still cries when I leave him, but he stops and trots to class as soon as they get inside. IT is crazy to say this but we have noticed a difference in his vocab and clarity already. Plus who can knock the place the boy first decided to drink from a cup. So far I love his preschool. I will have to admit, this whole process has been super hard on mom. Giving up the control I have had for three years has been more than difficult. Not seeing what he is doing all day and especially in his therapy sessions is really hard. I am sure I too, with time, will get used to this.

HE also has been asking to eat more and more. We have loved the summer fruit seasons. He has enjoyed watermelon, musk melon, honeydew, cheese (thank goodness with all that fruit), popcorn, crackers, chips, cucumbers, green beans, and M&M's. Can you tell in the above pic? WE are always trying more. He loves to do arts and crafts,

play with his kitchen (he makes wonderful crispy bacon and coffee for his mama), and he also has been totally in to Handy manny, so he likes to think he is helping us fix the basement too. We are incouraged by his increased mobility and we also have begun Potty training. Crazy I know....it is amazing how much this little guy as done in his brief three years that those Doctors said he might not do. That will teach you to always listen to Doctors, right? He is a joy still even with his little three year old attitude. HE is the sweetest little boy in my house. :)

Prepping again for the wakie resale....

2010-08-22T18:46:00.000-05:00

Man I love this time of year. I have been spending the last two weeks pricing gently used toys and clothes for the Wakarusa Children's resale. I love that this sale provides an amazing place for our community to find gently used, in great condition children's clothes, and every other accessory your child may need. My favorite items for the fall sale are the shoes and winter coat selection. Last spring I got fall I got shoes coats, and half the winter clothes I needed (only because I had no idea how a normal child grew) for 120 dollars. that also included a few toys for each too.

you can click on the this or wakie resale link on the right side bar on my blog to see pictures through out this week of what they are offering this year.

Can't wait to see the great finds This year.

Chaos Part One

2010-08-18T16:11:00.000-05:00

We had just moved all of our stuff to our basement to start a family room playroom minor remodel. A little paint some recovered couches and some new storage for the kids toys. We also had planned on moving the kids into their own rooms this fall. We were all super excited when this happened. Adrian had found some water in our basement carpet one night by finding both kids with wet butts....we cleaned it up and didn't think much of it until the next day when I was trying to clean up a mess about 10x as big. Adrian spent the afternoon (yes I called him home from work) and evening investigating and cleaning up the mess. However we were not able to get the water out of the carpet even with a shop vac. So we called our insurance and made a claim. They came out in just a few hours to investigate and decided that we needed to have the concrete dried out and the carpet removed. They on that friday afternoon....brought in 5 industrial fans, a dehumidifier and an air scrubber. Lets just say WIND TUNNEL....I felt as though we were living in one. WE had the tv maxed out on volume that night and we still couldn't really hear it. So instead of watching tv we decided to start a project that we were going to avoid, but since we were getting rid of the carpet anyway...why not right? So we shipped the kiddos to grandmas and started this:

it started one by one

and turned into this....unfortunately I forgot that my scrapping room and glass jars were on the other side of this wall. Oh well...I can recycle a few more in the new craft room/office that will be upstairs.

I enjoyed the swinging of the sledge hammer....I didn't enjoy the 50 5 gallon bucket loads of bricks that I carried or the war wound I now have...but I gotta say it looks so much better and we don't have an external wall in our family room/playroom anymore. Which I would like to exclaim with elation that I LOVE!!!

and we did gain about two feet of room too. and the fireplace actually looks more like a focal point. I would show you a picture of it drywalled...but I kinda did something before Adrian was ready for me to do it...so that will have to wait. But we are in full painting mode...well that was until we (the weather) broke our air conditioner. we had a 90 degree house with about 200 % humidity for the last two weeks. this is not ideal for painting.....the walls were tacky still last friday when we got back from Indy and we had painted them on wednesday. So we are in stand still mode until the furnace/air conditioner/vent work all gets done.

I keep trying to focus on the room that we will have and not the drastic amount of money it is going to cost.

Trauma on the school front

2010-08-18T09:36:00.000-05:00

Today marked a monumental moment in my baby boys life. His true first day of pre-school. The day started off slowly and pretty shakey. when he woke up all he could do was cry. Not sure what was wrong we got some breakfast, watched an episode of Handy Manny and began to talk more about where he got to go today. We talked about singing songs, playdough, circle time, the kitchen that his teacher has in his room....all prepping the little guy for what definitely wouldn't be the most traumatizing experience in his life, but something mommy will remember as being a not so happy one.

I have done some challenging things in my life so far with Jackson. I have watched him leave me after only being with him for a few hours, carried him off to surgery at a couple days old and continue to do so as is needed, but today. Today was a different type of difficult. Today was optional. Not something I have dealt with before. HE was so excited to get out of the car and put on his backpack. So excited for everything, until the teachers came out to get him and he grasped my leg and began to scream as I told him I loved him and he would have so much fun with Miss Charlene. As I grabbed Avenlea and walked away the screams were so loud....I am sure louder to me than to anyone else in the parking lot. As Avenlea and I began to drive away, I started to question our decision for sending him to preschool this year. But then I remembered his excitement about going to school for the past three months and that today was only the realization that he had to do it by himself. I am sure this week, and possibly next week too, are going to be a little emotional and difficult. But when I look at how far he has come and what he has been through, I find total Joy in thinking about what he will be continuing to share with me as he learns more and more at school.

Happy Birthday to The toughest guy I know.....

2010-08-09T19:27:00.000-05:00

So today, August 10th, my baby boy turns three!!! HE has accomplished so much in his three years. I actually thought through it all today.

28 Days in the Riley NICU
3 GI (butthole) surgeries

a gaping hole in his abdomen from the nastiest infection I have every seen
3 hip surgeries

1 back surgery
failure to thrive
Multiple tests from CT scans, xrays, MRI, EKG, EEG, Cinta scans...too many for one little boy.

one urinary tract infection resistant to three antibiotics
two hospital stays due to the flu ( and during everyone he keeps those nurses on there toes. that is his heart monitor lead in his hand as he is laughing)

three blood transfusions (not including ones used during surgery)

G-tube surgery
a set of SMO braces

circumcision and reconstruction down there
-6 vision in both eyes requiring glasses
two cases of the HIVES
one dentist visit

and what can he do:
swings a bat like a pro
eats some food....even says he is hungry. WOW I need to just sit with that one for a moment. What a HUGE accomplishment.

loves to fix things and make things with daddy especially when it includes tools

loves on his baby sister

walks up and down the stairs
climbs in and out of his own bed
stands up in the middle of a room
can walk acrossed our backyard and pick veggies from our garden
loves to pick up his feet and giggle as he races down our drive way on his big trike
yells at the TV with daddy when there is a good hit or play during a white sox game
touches gooey thing and play dough and has a good time
loves to color and paint pictures for our frig
enjoys cooking
loves when he gets to feed his dog Macy. or as he calls her "My MaeMae"
these are just a few of the many things he does.

As I thought through everything that the doctors said he might never do, I am so proud at what he has accomplished by the young age of three. My baby boy is who he is because he has fought through what was given to him. He is one tough and resilient little boy. We are so sad to be exiting First Steps and we will dearly miss all of Jackson's therapist that have really become part of our daily life over the last three years. Man, he wouldn't be where he is with out all of you. Thank you Cathy, Wendy, Christy and Susan for the amazing work that you have done working with Jackson. His quality of life has improved so much since we first started with each of you. As he exits First steps, he also gets to enter a new and exciting new adventure....PreSchool. ON August 18th, I feel like I loose all control. Jackson will get on the BUS, yes you heard it right, the BUS and will be off to school. He will now get three different therapies at school and one maybe two at an outpatient therapy center. He is super excited for school and to ride the bus. It will be quite strange in a house with just one again...but it is so cool to see Jackson heading off to school. Although he still has alot ahead of him when I look at this list I remember just how far he has come so far.

We will have pictures soon of him in his glasses...I am sure it will only up his cuteness factor and of course this craft mom will have off to preschool pics as well.

2010-08-05T07:07:00.000-05:00

ok...after starting probably 5 posts and never finishing them. I am actually going to right a new one to update on our summer. We have been busy busy busy. WE started of June with Avenlea's bday party!!! had a lot of fun and I can say Life is very busy with a three year old and a one year old in my house. Jackson and avenlea are kinda learning to do some stuff at the same time. She is talking up a storm and climbing on everything. The good thing (or bad depending on how you see it) is she doesn't seem to be upset when she falls. She is quite the character. Or Bulldozer as we like to call her. She knows what she wants and will be very persistent at getting it. I know I know...she gets that honestly too.

I can't believe my baby boy is turning three in a few days....he is up to know good. Typical three year old stuff. THinking mom and dad know nothing and that NO should be his response to everything. WE have accomplished graduating from first steps, climbing stairs and in two weeks we start preschool. HE talks a big talk about being excited for going to school. WE will see on the 18th what really happens. he is looking and acting more grow up everyday, even though he hasn't changed his size of clothes in a year or more. I guess that is cheaper...or you start to get sick of all your everyday pictures being in the same clothes. we did a little test to see how tall he would be when he is 18....he is 31 inches now...anybody want to take a guess?

Our summer was going so well, we had survived 5 weddings, a break out of the HIVES On the fourth of July and we had decided it was time to get a few projects done. That is when our air conditioner decided to mal function...well not really the air as much as the drain decided to clog. Needless to say we had water in our basement right after we moved the family room downstairs. WE were totally blessed in this minor catastrophe. nothing but our carpet was ruined and our insurance covers it. So we are in a whirlwind trying to get the other projects finished before we lay new carpet. I think I have talked to 6 different heating and cooling people in the last week and three plumbers. The sad part is the one plumber that has done a bunch of investigating can't seem to find our problem. That is never a cheap fix. So all in all we are going to get some new carpet and get a very cozy family room out of the deal. plus a lot of projects that have been put on the back burner for a long time are now getting done very quickly.

Then tomorrow I get to celebrate 5 years with my best friend. 5 very full years and some could say difficult, yet I would say we love each other more than ever and we are both better people for what we have been through. I could imagine spending my life with anyone else!!! Happy Anniversary Babe!!

Stay tune for progression pics and final pics of the kids kitchen too. Turned out super cute.....:)

Happy Birthday my sweetie Avenlea

2010-06-03T22:23:00.000-05:00

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!!!

2010-06-02T14:46:00.000-05:00

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.

30 day Gratitude Challenge

2010-05-05T14:35:00.000-05:00

I have found myself sulking lately. Letting everything that could bring me down. So I decided to take a 30 day challenge. My friend Stace gave me a website this morning called "Revive our Hearts". This is exactly what I needed to do. I decided to take her 30-day Gratitude Challenge. So today I have spent my day thinking of all the ways I am blessed and I need to give a few shout outs to those who have blessed me and thought I would share with you all the ways I have found that I am blessed today.

1. I have two beautiful children. Even though they are a handful "most" of the time....they are a huge blessing to my life and a challenge. I am blessed to have them both in good health at the present time and I owe all that to God. He has protected our family and our home from all sorts of illness and destruction that could have brought us much pain and for that we thank him today.

2. I have a wonderful home that we live in. WE live in a beautiful neighborhood with wonderful neighbors, who watch out for us. When we are gone they help us out. This winter we came home from Riley to a plowed driveway after a big snow storm. Our home...this year and the past couple of years we have done some major overhauling on our landscaping. WE have had great people....Erin and Andy, and Colleen, and Sarah that have given us free perennials to help us complete our project. This year we were able to fill stage two and three with plants and so far all we have paid for is dirt and mulch...(I think I have found a place I can get these for free this year too. If it pans out I will share.) Although I have a list a mile long of renovations and refurbishing that I would like to do. WE are blessed and grateful for the home we live in and the people that have helped us make it safe for our children and for us over the past year with our mold removal and bathroom renovation. IT is beyond words how grateful we are too all of you that donated your time and money to help us out. *it is also beyond words in beauty* .

3. My husband: I have the worlds most patient and supportive husband. I am not easy to get along with...I am stubborn, hard headed and when I think something should be done I want it done and my oh my don't even think of doing it your own way...I usually have that figured out for you as well. ON the other hand there are times when I want things done and I don't have a plan and then there is no part of me that will ever want to make a decision. Now put yourself in my husband shoes....the one who never knows which one it is, yet I expect him to read my mind and figure it out....and get the job done all at the same time. hehe.....it makes for great entertainment if you are a fly on our walls that is for sure. Regardless of my behavior, my husband and I have taken on many tasks together and separate and have manage to actually get things accomplished in our home. WE will see how the summer goes with my big ol' to do list and our lack of expertise in any area....I am sure we will get it done. Along the way we always learn about each other and how we work and I think that is the blessing that God gives us. WE have come along way in our 5 years of marriage...been through some tough times, some challenging times and some GREAT times...and through it all we have become stronger for it. SO I Thank my husband and God for the wonderful marriage I have.

4. he is also a super dad!!! he is much better at playing than I. HE cherishes his time with his children and goes the extra mile all the time. He loves playing outside, walking and wrestling with them whenever he can. Even when he is tired from a long day at the office. I could go on...but God thank you for blessing me with a husband that is great with his children.

5. I was once again reminded that my blessings are not mearly things as much as experiences. Last night...Adrian and I got to experience Avenlea's first steps together. It is not often when one parent works that these milestones happen in the presence of both parents. I am awestruck at times watching my children as they learn something new. They are so persistent. Where does this go when we become adults...how quickly we give up on things as an adult. God has blessed me more and more through the experiences I have had. I love when He gives me the opportunity to share these lessens and experiences with others, so it makes the way easier for them.

6. Friendship: I have some Phenomenal friends...most of whom it doesn't matter how often we see each other..we can pick up right where we left off. WE hit the great and the ugly in our conversations...I have many friends struggling with infertility right now, I have many without jobs, struggling to make ends meet, friends who have amazing transitions happening in there lives: new jobs, new homes, new additions. All of these things you experience with them. You loose something with your friends and hurt for them in times of loss and struggle as much and sometimes more than you celebrate with them in times of excitement and celebration. TO all of this i am grateful the good and the bad. For I have God to praise in the good times and God to look to for support, peace and strength in the ugly times.

8. Jack's health: This one gets a BIG OLD WOMPEN "PRAISE JESUS"!!! if anyone questioned the modern day miracle...I have a story to tell them. No One believes me these days when I tell them Jackson is sick. Cuz he is a beacon of God's light. He has been more of a testimony to Gods work in the brief two years of his life than I have been in my 32. He is my ~~little~~ BIG miracle!!!

9. I started my day today....with a cheery voice babbling from the other room, birds singing outside my window and a kiss from my husband. I had my morning devotion while Avenlea played on the floor...IT is a blessing that I have all of these. There are millions of people out there that aren't allowed to freely express there love for there Savior, many that don't have the joys of little voices waking them up at all hours of the night and I am sure there are some that don't get to enjoy the nature around them the simple beauties of God's creation.

10. Family: I don't say this enough but we are totally blessed to have the support we do from our families. I spent time on the phone with my mom today, hashing out my frustrations with the school system and preschool. (So frustrating,....but this is a positive post and I am only being grateful). I am so grateful to have my mom to chat with about these things. Someday we will live close enough to each other again to meet for the occasional lunch date. We are also grateful and most likely indebted to Adrian's family for all the free babysitting help we get...sometimes on very last minute notice. (ok...most of the time).

God is good to us...we have a ton to be Grateful for. We are blessed beyond measure. I have a better attitude today, since I have put my focus on the good. I have been more patient with my children and I have accomplished a ton while I have been at it. Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store. Gotta go my daughter is walking across the living room... time to find the camera.

Avenlea's Got Skills!!!

2010-04-24T11:11:00.001-05:00

I am so pumped that i found the video uploader again. How cool is it that I find it just before this happens and I can share it with you all. Avenlea has been pulling up on things for quite a while as I shared in the last post. However she has been really wobbley. So we have had lots of bruises, big red welts, smashed fingers, pokes in the eyes, tears and all the other things that go along with learning to do new things.

we also have been very curious about everything and we are exploring it all by putting it in our mouth. I have been so careful inside about vaccuming and picking up little things that Jackson leaves on the floor. (WE are so not use to this stage. I know i have said that alot, but this one we NEVER experienced with Jackson) Yesterday we were outside, (I have AWESOME FRIENDS that have given us more plants for our landscaping) and planting some new plants. Sides NOTE: can't wait to see all the lilies and see what colors we have. I am sure I will have to do some rearranging, cuz I still have burgundy ones to plant too. ANYHOO! Back to the real story....I left her alone for a second to walk around the corner and find this...

I removed the twig and she just went right back to it. I moved her away from the landscaping about seven times before Adrian arrived home to hold her. I am happy to say that she has no texture aversion...she loves getting dirty and the girl likes her fiber. We laughed really hard when we got inside and she had a poopy diaper within an hour. I am sure the two were not related, but still very funny.

Jackson is recovering very well, kids are so darn resilent!!! this was the day after surgery.

He slept alot, which was good for mom and for him. I was going to vaccum and he wanted to help, but I convinced him to hold his vaccum and watch me instead. He was so tired, he fell asleep in a matter of minutes. He was so cute.

we have had alot of moments like these...followed by oooohhhh!!! mommy hurts!! we expected this...but we have also gotten alot of moments like these...

who could ask for anything more. All in all he has had a great recovery and we have all survived really well. Thanks to our friends that helped with distraction and the many prayers that have been said. I am not sure we could have made it with out all of it. THANKS A BUNCH!!! We have GREAT FRIENDS!!!

Avenlea at 10 months

2010-04-18T10:44:00.001-05:00

there is nothing stopping our baby from growing up....she is a mover and shaker. I know i have said this many times, but she is going to give us a run for our money. This weekend she was pulling up on EVERYTHING!!

whether sturdy or not - - her brother, her mommy's pants, the exersaucer, window sill, tv stand, vaccum, tool table, grocery cart, the recycling containers (and then she began to empty them one paper at a time) and then on Saturday evening April 2nd she began to Crawl. My baby girl is on the move..not sure yet how I feel about it. She has been on the move for a month now, just on her butt. she still believes that is faster and continues to do it. She is one speedy child. WE have started really having to keep an eye on where she is.

Avenlea got a hold of a pen the other day.
WE are going to assume it came from her brother, but who knows. the girl finds ways to get to things that no one would expect at her age. She had pen all over her face. She was trying to eat it and I am not sure she really new she was making a masterpiece on her face in the process. I am pretty sure we were all a little stir crazy at the time and ready to get outside and have spring weather.

it didn't take long, I think it was the next week we started our trips to the park. We have gotten to get out multiple times a week to go on walks. Some days have been a little windy, but we just bundle up. the fresh air is so good for fighting off these horid colds.

Avenlea loves the wagon, however she has broken the straps (aka seat belts). on both sides. So much for wagon rides til we get them fixed. She also loves being outside. it is so cute to watch her blink in the breeze, inspect the grass, or scoot acrossed the grass. :) Jackson has also been making huge progress with his sensory issues. HE has joined us outside and even crawled in the grass too. However he prefers to walk, so he doesn't have to touch the grass. While we are talking about what Avenlea loves. I couldn't get by without talking about Macy. I am not sure if this is a mutual love. Macy does great, but she gets this look when she sees her coming. :)

Avenlea love Macy...she loves her fur and to grab her ears. Macy is so even tempered she just moves away or moves a limb, all to protect the baby. No one can argue that she is a good dog. Poor macy gets so neglected these days. Even though Jackson always asks "where Macy go" when we get in the car and on occoasion he asks if "Maymay go too?", while he is scooting down the stairs.

She is growing up fast. it is hard to believe that she is already 10 months. just two short months (or by now like 6 weeks) before she is going to be one. oh how time flies. She weighed in the other day at 22 2.9ounces and 29 inches long. She is still my baby and she is totally a mama' s girl right now. She likes to be held, fed and put to bed by her mama. She loves her big brother and likes to do what he is doing, whether she is ready or not. She has started to mimic us with everything we do, she enjoys blowing rasberries (or as we like to call it blowing her trumpet), wrestle with her brother (aka play according to Avenlea), she has started to babble, and feed herself some finger foods. She continues to annoy her brother as she tries to play with his toys, but he still loves her and just says: "Avie you funny." I pray that they continue to get along as well as they do.

Wakarusa Children's Resale....

2010-03-23T10:16:00.000-05:00

THE WAKIE CHILDREN'S RESALE.......would you like to know how I outfit my children in such adorable clothes and I don't break the bank or our BUDGET!!! Here is how I do it... and I am telling you you can outfit your children in the most adorable clothes....for super cheap...you want proof here you go:

seriously....could you get any cuter...now imagine that I spent 150 dollars last fall and I outfitted Jackson for the entire winter and Avenlea for half of it...only cuz I had no idea how fast a baby really can grow. Actually Jackson is still in mostly the same size and since I mainly by short sleeves...and he is wearing the same shorts from last year...I get to toy shop this year. I have bought all sorts of things...there are double strollers, exersaucers, highchairs, bouncy seats, bumbo seats, bath tubs, cribs, dressers, bedding, maternity clothes, books, videos, train tables, infant toys, infant walkers, bikes, sandboxes, tool tables, booster seats, grocery carts, lawn mowers (the toy kind) and much more.....YOU NAME IT and it is probably at the RESALE...it is Saturday Morning from 8-noon at Wakarusa Missionary Church. Come early (like really early), bring your coffee, our checkbook and ID and a chair and enjoy a great Sale!!!

For directions google Wakarusa Missionary Church...or go to the website

Do you really think she looks like me?

2010-03-09T09:55:00.000-05:00

So lately there are alot of people that have been telling me that my kiddos look like me So here we go. this is Avenlea at around 8 and a 1/2 months and me at around 6 1/2 which is about the same size I think. Same dress anyway. What do you think? I will save my personal ideas for a later post.

Happy 9 months baby girl. I have to say taking pictures of Jackson was lot easier. He didn't move at this age. She is all about moving and shakin. She doesn't sit still...she either is rolling, or scooting on her butt. As you can see in these pictures. this all happened in about a two minute period of time. We gave up, so I am going to have to get some other shots for her one month page soon, before she is 10 months old. Time flys around here.

we have been busy her of late. I wish daily we just simply had more time in the day. We have all been sick, got better, welcomed our new baby cousin into the world...Brooklyn Noelle, (I don't have a picture yet but I will soon) Made it half way through busy season and so far we have survived, I have been blessed with consistent orders in my bussiness, (I Just completed my 10th purchase the other day and I have four orders I am working on right now, So God has blessed us with just enough to keep me busy but not overwhelmed. I am learning so much. It has been alot of fun creating. I have missed that outlet), We are totally enjoying the beautiful weather. We have been out of the house everyday since the weather got in the forties and we love it. I am sure we will be out for a walk today too. Gotta get our sun vitamins while this lasts. I have a feeling that it is going to disappoint and not stay this way. (I am hoping it won't, but not getting my hopes up). So to say the least...we are doing alot these days. Avenlea is attempting to pull herself up on things, which I am not ready for, and Jackson is moving faster than ever. So it will be soon that I won't sit down much. it will be a good day once I am ready.

We have no progress with Jackson's health, which is good. We have his hip follow up coming up this month. It is a big one, because we meet a new doc and find out what they are thinking about the progress of his slower developing hip. I am praying for no surgery, but ultimately that we can make the little man pain free.

that is about all we have to share right now. hope you have a great week in this beautiful weather. :)

Avenlea at 8 months...I know I am behind.

2010-02-28T13:38:00.000-05:00

Ok....so I am incredibly late with this post....like a month. This week she will be 9 months old...but this way I can tell you everything she began doing in her 8 month right. Plus we have been fighting a severe head cold in all of us and our furnace decided to stop running, perfect timing. Great way to get your kids healthy. Freeze them out. Anywho...without further ado...Avenlea's 8 month pictures by Darcy Holsopple Photography.

these are the pillowcase dresses that I have been making with some flowers and headbands from Brittney's Bowtique.. You gotta love all of us trying to help make ends meet by coming up with crafty, creative ways to make some money.

then we got this awesome shot....I keep telling people she is screaming look at my chub. Cuz seriously look at those arms. Not many people can pull off those arm creases but Avenlea sports them amazingly well. She was so interested in the furry rug...we had a hard time getting a picture without having her pulling it everywhere. Then we had to have a hat....(which we also sell online)

then we got this one...absolutely love it. who knew that my house would be so coordinated to these pictures. love how her hat worked so purfectly with the outfit. on a side note...we learned last night the best way to market our hats for J. Lea Designs and that i need bussiness cards. Take your adorable children out shoppong and bowling in theur cute hats. we had four random strangers ask where i got it or if i made it. two asked for the site. Not bad.

the tutu pictures were something i was looking forward to for quite a while and i gotta say they were cute but not my favs. She was not willing to pose the way I was thinking in my head. that will teach me. Seriously what mom thinks their 8 month old is going to pose in a certain position. she is not having her senior pictures taken. Regardless I am absolutely elated about how they turned out.

Of course...as a mom with one child that has a developmental delay...I am very aware of watching for development in Avenlea. She is doing great and for the most part we don't have any worries. However we pretty much skipped rolling over. So i decided to ask Jackson's phyiscal therapist if she could check her out for me. Completely not what is suppose to happen, but it doesn't hurt to ask right? So she watched her for a while during Jackson's therapy. She was thinking that there were a few things not in the right order and some protective reactions that she doesn't have yet, but all in all she didn't think she was delayed enough for therapy. So fast forward a day to morning nap time. I laid her down on her back and an hour later went in to get her and she was on her tummy. I was shocked but happy. Fast forward again to afternoon nap time and I had laid her on our bed do to having a big evening and not wanting the screaming to interfer with Jackson's nap or tramatize him (this is another story for another day). I was shocked when over an hour and a half went by and there was still no noise from back there. SO I decided to go check it out. she was in a new place with not much near her...but if she was rolling she could roll off (even though I know that would have caused a lot of screaming). I peaked through the door to find her propped up on her belly, happy as can be, just looking around. I was so happy. I went in with her and she rolled right over in front of me. She still won't roll over on the floor and hates her belly on the floor, but likes to sleep on her tummy and loves laying on the bed on her tummy. From what I have been told rolling on a soft service is harder, so I am no longer worried. She will get it in her time.

here is her list of likes:
loves books, watching her brother, her exersaucer, her highchair, throwing things on the floor, grabbing anything in site and she will find a way to get to things that you think are out of reach, pulled herself up in a laundry basket once Conrad and Jenna's, giggles while Jackson pushes her in the laundry basket, chews on everything and everything goes in her mouth, loves every food we have tried except Sweet potatoes. She is DEFINITELY not a fan. I have made most of my own baby food and she is still not a big fan of the baby mill stuff. She started meats this month and loves them. She has had her first ear infection and a nasty cold that has lasted about three months now. She sits up by herself and does this but scooting thing to get what she wants to get. Has started saying things like nanana, bababa, dada, I am sure the noise level will increase around her soon. I have also learned that it is so true that all kids are different. WE now understand. Nap time has been a struggle...but we are working on it. WE have a really good schedule she sleeps great at night, but 30 minutes isn't good for her or mama for a nap all day. She has also started exploring how much she can annoy Macy before she gets up and moves. she is facinated when Macy licks her and with her fur. (the fur thing could be dangerous, but Macy is great with it). Loves to cuddle, with mama, dada, or her hippo blanket. usually still like things over her face when she sleeps. Loves music, bounces to dance and will try to stand all the time. I am sure there are more things that I can't remember right now. But we can always add to the list when we scrap the pictures. WE have thoroughly enjoyed Avenlea's first 8 months.

Our Purdue babies.....

2010-02-13T11:56:00.000-05:00

We have been having a blast this year watching Purdue basketball...and I was at Meijer in indy on our trip getting diapers for Jackson, cuz in a period of two hours we went through 7 diapers, but that is another story. I don't shop at Meijer all that often because we don't have one close....but when I do I love that they have super duper sales on their kids clothes. And this time I scored.

I got a purdue cheerleader outfit for avenlea next fall-4.00, a purdue sweatshirt- 3.00, two t-shirts for 6.00 (that was a splurge but they are matching, and two pairs of pj's for the kids for 4.00 a piece. So if you do the math 21.00 oh I I missed the sweatshirt for Jackson for 4.00 too. That is 25.00 and 7 items. that is an average cost of 3.50 . Not bad if I do say so myself.

Not only that but College stuff is usually a lot more expensive. who could pass us these two adorable Purdue babies!!!

The latest of the Schrock's and the J. Lea Design Drawing...

2010-02-05T12:59:00.001-05:00

I absolutely love that my kiddos play together well. Jackson simply adores his sister and Avenlea just cracks up with Jackson does anything. I tried to post a video but of course blogger has eliminated my video upload button so I don't know how to do it anymore. that is what I get for updating...oh well. I am sure there is a way and I just can't figure it out. It was so funny and half way through Jackson just chuckles and looks up at the camera and says, " Abie...funny mama" too stinkin' cute.

Last night to of my friends went out with me for my birthday...we ate a quick dinner at DQ, saw a movie and went for a Margarita at Hacienda. I gotta tell you I had a really great night. I was reminded of how good it is to just get out, relax and laugh. WE even made it to the end of the evening before we talked about our kiddos...now that is impressive. :)

When I got home I couldn't sleep so I started watching Private Practice on my DVR. Yeah not what this mama needed. I did not need to watch an episode where parents were deciding between two children which one to save. To make a long story short..Jackson woke up during the show and I decided to go back and lay down with him...(ridicule me later) i just rubbed his head and said I love you buddy and he whispered back....half asleep...."I lub ewe mommy". That was totally worth me laying down with him last night. I will do it as long as he needs me too. There will come a time way to soon, when he won't want anything to do with me. Until then I will love on him anytime of the day. this was a priceless moment and I would have missed it if I would chosen to walk away.

I am not sure that either of my children will ever be able to where sun glasses...I got these the other day for Avenela I thought they would be cute for the summer...but neither of them had a nose big enough...oh well. it was cute to try them on.

Oh well, maybe if I got some that were not quite so Jackie O...but seriously these were funny. I should have known by the way I look in these kind that Chubby cheeked people just can' t pull them off.

Jackson has also been in to playing with his syringes of late. He has been giving himself shots and know it has expanded to the DOG...so I am not sure people Surgeon or Veterinarian? Either way he would love it. That is off course if Professional Baseball player doesn't pan out.

He has just been through too much...I make fun of these events, but they do really make me sad.

Adrian has been gone. So you ask, how do you do it? Well, We invite over our close friends...

It is wonderful to me that Jackson has two friends that care about him as much as these two. He couldn't ask for better boys to hang with.. It is fun to watch how their very different personalities blend.

Avenlea is here too...She is just as much of a highlight when they get together. Cole gives her hugs and kisses. She is sitting independantly now...so watch out boys...there is soon going to be an invasion headed your way.
One that will take, destroy and want to be in on everything you do.

that is about all we have for now. We have some good stuff coming up I am sure I will get pictures and share them too. ;)

On to the Give Away!!!
I decided to give away a boy or girl beanie hat....you choose the colors. you tell me the size. Please email me @ nschrock@gmail.com with you addresses and you choices for your hat...You all of a 25 % chance with this random generator...since there were only 4 comments.

wait for it.......

Random number was 2...ERIN.. What a great time to come check out my blog and leave a comment!!!

Introducing J. Lea Designs....

2010-01-30T09:36:00.001-05:00

I am proud to to announce the opening of my online shop at Etsy. I began pondering the idea of what I could do to help support our family soon after I found out I was pregnant with baby number two. It wasn't until after our Sweet baby girl was born, that an idea sprouted out of trying to make do with what we had.

I had to try and figure out how to reuse my burp clothes from my son Jackson who had severe reflux. Those of you that know us, know when I say severe I am not joking. So most of them had a few stains and others were almost not salvagable. So, I got the idea to use fabric to cover at least one side of my burp clothes, from a gift that was given. This at least made one side for the cloth clean and also trendy. This was absolutely a fun idea especially when I new I was having a girl.

My darling daughter brought about another idea that I have in my shop as well. We all know that there are some super cute receiving blankets on the market, however even I who is a mom of two preemie babies, think they are way to small. Avenlea was a pretty cranky child for the first three to five months of her life. We won't say the C word but you all know what I am talking about. So I learned from a family member, the burrito wrap. I am telling you it is a miracle done with a blanket. This was great until we had a normal size baby and you couldn't get a blanket big enough to work. So I decided with the help of my mother in law to make a few. She went with me and helped me with the amount of fabric I would need and we went on the adventure of matching fabrics and trying different combinations. This is what we have come up with. I personally have four of them and I can't tell you how fun it was to get some sleep.

The next thing we carry came from a gift I got was from my dear friend Kara...she introduced me to the pillowcase dress. I can't tell you how much fun these are to accessorize and make. The coordinating of fabrics and acessories never ends. They are adorable as a dress, but common how cute is it with a pair of jeans and a crocheted hat. I also had a great time adding leggings, jean jackets, and many other cute combos I am sure we will show you in the near future.

The great thing about these dresses is that you can make them work year round and to top it off if you wear them a little wide when they are young, they work great as a top later on. So it is the gift that keeps on giving. I have found them to be a stylish addition to Avenlea's closet. Oh and speaking of accessories....we thought we would offer you some.

WE, my sister in law, and I are crocheting hats. We have been working on some boy hats, these adorable little girl ones, this newsgirl one, and some others we have in the works as well. We have all kinds of options for color combos, you just have to ask and we can probably due it for you...so if you have a favorite team you want to support or just a favorite color combo...let us know. We would be happy to make one for you. Don't let these fool you, they aren't just for the fall and winter.

I had another idea after I began making outfits for my daughter and the ideas just keep on coming. So continue to check back for more ideas at our website. We are working on cloth diaper bags, crocheted blankets, ruffle pants, a variety of different tops and baby bundles for your next baby shower. Whether you have a friend who is expecting or a mom that could just use a little something to brighten her day I am sure we have something that would work.

We have been blessed in Fall of 2009 by some of our close friend that found out about what I was working on through word of mouth and it has since found its way to an etsy site. Etsy is a great place for individuals like myself. Most are stay at home moms, individuals who have had a life altering experience whether it be medical or otherwise and all of us are there to try and make a living. I can't tell you how excited I am to see where this goes. COME CHECK IT OUT!!! J. Lea Design at Etsy.com

2010-01-20T09:07:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to me. I got admit. I thought each of the birthday's in the thirties would be rough but it has been smooth sailin'. Or maybe I just have other, more important, things to stress about. So it doesn't really bother me.

this year i have no real big plans for my birthday. Do we ever really after about the age of 12? I am looking forward to hangin out with some friends and getting my kiddos to bed early, so I can enjoy some me time.

Here are a few of my surprises so far:

Adrian brought home flowers last night and had Jackson walk them over and give them to me. I wish I could have captured Jackson's delivery for you all. It was the SWEETEST site you have ever seen. I also got to enjoy a delicious yogurt and Brew Granola for Breakfast with some of My left over Chai Latte. SO far it is a great day. Oh and How could I forget the best gift ever: ................wait......................wait ..........wait for it.

MY Daughter slept from 8:30 to 6am this morning and then my wonderful hubby got up with her to feed her and she is still sleeping now at 9 am. :) I can't tell you how sweet this is. It is also nice to give Jack some one on one time. HE also gave me a Great Big Birthday Hug this morning. I have such sweet kids.

7 months a couple weeks late!!

2010-01-13T18:56:00.000-05:00

ok so pardon the bad pictures but these are all I have. I guess when you spend the first week of your babies 7th month in the hospital with her brother there is little chance for new pictures of her. She is growing like a weed. She was weighed the week after christmas and she weighed in at 19 lbs 2ounces. Holy Guacomole!!! She is also like 27 and a half inches tall. Holy Cow Batman. After my first preemie child I never would have believed at 7 months my second would be in 12 month clothes. Her closet is looking pretty full of dresses, but not much else. I wouldn't complain if we were made of money, cuz this girl loves to shop, but unfortunately it will have to be a little at a time to fit in the budget. She did get some adorable clothes from Grandma Tims for Christmas.

Jackson is still totally loving his sister. He even talked to her while we were gone...Saying: wub oo abenee...translation: Love you Avenlea.

So we have accomplished a few things in the last month:
- rolled over
-started baby foods-loves them...
- began assisted sitting
- started to chew on everything
- started grabbing things and reaching in front of her on tummy time
- still hates to be on her tummy, who would have guessed she use to ONLY sleep on her tummy
- out grew 6 month and most 9 month clothes
- grew to 19 lbs and 27 1/2 inches
-eats a ton
- loves to watch her brother run around
- eats her hands whole
- loves to be read and sung to
- kicks and splashes in the tub
- attempts at all times to eat her feet and hates socks and shoes (makes living in the winter difficult)
-seems to permenantly have contracted abs as she is always trying to sit up
- we found who she looks like....proof to come later
- she is still happy, content and loves to be independant...just started holding her own bottle some of the time to eat.
-did I say she liked to eat
- smiley, as the most hilarious laugh
- plays peek-a-boo
- has this high pitched scream and it means she is happy. totally funny when Jackson screams back like they are having a conversation

I am so looking forward to seeing what this months brings. Can't wait to have her pictures taken again at 8 months. I know strange to have them at 8 months...but it is when she would be about 6 months old. since she was 6 weeks early. Following are own schedule. plus I have some ideas. I am sure I will take some 7 month ones too. We will see.

Happy 7 month birthday Sweet Pea!!!

Who says you can't ride a tricycle in the winter?

2010-01-02T22:09:00.000-05:00

So daddy and Jackson decided to head out in the fluffy snow today. I suggested making a snowman, but Jackson wasn't keen on being in the snow. being the great dad that Adrian is he figured out a way to make a sled out of his tricycle. Jackson loved it. He didn't want to come in when we said it was time. I don't think his little cheeks could get much more red.

They made a track in the back yard...if you stayed in the track it went pretty well. Adrian said they took a few spills but Jackson took them like a champ and got back on wanting more.

I am pretty sure Macy had just as much fun bounding around in the snow too.

Well I had a video but It doesn't seem to be letting me upload it. Since I upgraded this blogger thing...I lost my video loader button...if anyone knows how to get it back or how to upload with the upgraded blogger let me know. Thanks...Enjoy the pictures for now.

Christmas 09 X4

2009-12-30T12:00:00.002-05:00

ok. So this year we started Christmas the weekend before with Christmas at the Schrocks. we had a glimpse into life with three kiddos. This year our time was spent eating, entertaining kids, eating some more and sleeping whenever we can. It was a drastic difference from years past when we spent time doing puzzles and playing games. I think it is only the beginning. next year we will have three getting into everything.

we then got home and spent the evening doing Christmas with the kids. Each of them got to open there present or should we say Jackson opened there presents. Avenlea got her first Baby Doll and Jackson got his train set. Have to say I think Jackson likes there two gifts equally. We then took the Christmas tree down and put away the decorations. Don't worry we really aren't scrooges. We just had plans to leave town. We were headed to MN on wednesday and this was the last chance I had to have help. plus we had therapy and packing to do the rest of the week.

My mom called Monday and weather was not looking promising for our trip to MN. She basically said we shouldn't come. I decided to wait and call on Wednesday morning. However the outlook was still BAD!! my dad said don't come. Adrian decided if we got on the road by 10 we would be ok. So we headed out. We had great travels, good kiddos, and then we hit MN. My older brother made it through white out conditions the next day, but we MISSED My younger brother greatly. We will have to see him next time we are in MN. Hopefully in february

to give you an idea of the amount of snow, here are some pics of the kids outside. there was a good foot almost two everywhere.

we had hopes of a snow man but it was so crusted with ice, there was no moving it. we did find out one thing, that is Jackson is not a fan of being bundled up..We had a great time with my immediate family and we opened gifts from Grandma. Jackson got an Allis Chalmers D45 tractor the same tractor that Grandpa drives in his tractor pulls. One of these days we will be home in the summer and he will get to ride on the real thing. but till then this is what he will have.

He Loves it. Avenlea got another babydoll and some adorable outfits from Nana and Papa
(see the sweater below). We got an updated picture of the grandkids and Nana and Papa. it is amazing how often we have to do this with little ones. They are all growing up too fast.

we all headed north to the twin cities for our fourth celebration with the Christensen Clan. My mom side on Saturday. It was great to see everyone. this was the first time for Avenlea to meet everyone and even the first for some to meet Jackson. My cousin Jason has been serving as a pilot and said this is the first year in 7 he has been home for all of Christmas. It was great to see him and have him there. We did miss those that couldn't make it too. These days we take who we can get. Thanks Judy for hosting.

the greatest Christmas present this year (after the birth of Christ off course) is seeing all these people and having a great time and coming home with two healthy kids. God is good!!

Happy New Year everyone!!! not sure where the last one went, hope all is as great in the next decade of 2010.

happenings in the Schrock house....

2009-12-15T08:49:00.004-05:00

lots has been happening in the schrock home over the past few months. So I will try and give a quick update. Jackson trasitioned into his big boy bed. he looks so tiny in it. Eventually he will fill it up. then on Thanksgiving weekend Avenlea was dedicated. It was great to have my Mom and Dad out here and we took advantage. It is kinda neat that both our kiddos were dedicated on the same weekend, two years apart, on the first Sunday of Advent each year. It is the Sunday of Hope. Every since Jackson was born, Hope is something we have alot of and it is because our our Savior that we have it. So pretty special.

Jackson has become quite the mover and shaker. Which has added a new level of supervision to our daily activities. he is into everything. although frustrating, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I smile everytime I see him do something new. he has started to climb, sit on his own, and he can even touch his toes while sitting. He is bending over and and picking things up off the floor in the middle of a room. You probably think these are normal things, and they are. However for Jackson they are developmental things that we have skipped over or struggled with due to his medical complications. He also is talking a mile a minute and most of it you can't understand. But he has about 200 words that we can get. Including McDonalds and French Fries. Odd for a kid that doesn't eat it. HAHA!!

Speaking of eating. We about two month ago agreed with our Nutritionist that Jackson was getting a bit ROTUND!! he had increased to the 95% again and he was finally to a good weight so we said we would like to decrease the calories in his diet. So we did. in November we started to notice a correlation with this and his throwing up. We are happy to report that since mid November, so about a month, we have thrown up maybe four times. This is crazy exciting when you think that since birth he use to urp almost 9 times a day.

We have also noticed since this started he has been asking for and tasting different foods. He asks for cereal, crackers, he went to town on some pizza sauce the other day, and overall if you let HIM DO IT, he will try most things. We still get a little freaked out when it gets in his mouth and he doesn't know what to do with it. so that will be a little bit challenging. We have Drs behind us too for the first time in a long time. They have planned some testing and are going to do a feeding evaluation of him in Feb. So we look forward to some outside opinions and ideas.

Speaking of Eating. Little Miss Avenlea is eating too. She started Cereal about four weeks ago, but only in the past two weeks have we decided to start on a schedule. this is new to me...so if you have any advice on best times to try it that would be great. we have been mega frustrated. I think she is too hungry when we are trying, so she is impatient. Also we don't have a clue what we are doing. But we are working on it. I think I am also frustrated, because we thought it would help with sleeping and it seems to have made it worse rather than better.

well that is an update in the Schrock home. A few frustrations, but lots of excitement this holiday season. it is so much fun when you can do baking with your kids and get to find special things for them.

We have so much to be thankful for and SO MUCH TO THANK OUR SAVIOR FOR. Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

update:

2009-12-07T14:32:00.003-05:00

So 6 month visit went well.
For new news: we found out that Avenlea has a growth on her head. I thought it was just a mole, but Adrian has said that it has been bigger some days than others, so we decided to ask about it today. The doc says that it is a .............i can't spell it, say it or pronounce it. So it will continue growing until she is about the age of one and then should start to disappear or fall off. He said hers is in a good place it won't get in the way of breathing or sight which some of them do. Could get in the way once we have to come her hair, but for now we are ok. He said we will monitor it, but for now it is fine.

She weighed in at 17 lbs 10 ounces and is 26 1/4 inches long. So much for being a preemie...she is in the 75th percentile on the big girl chart in both categories. WOWSA!!! I am not use to hearing these numbers. Way to GO GIRL!! They are also very pleased that her head has caught up too. she is average now. Avenlea is growing well and he said everything else is on track we just need to work on some more tummy time. She is loving sitting with a boppy but falls over quick and she hasn't rolled over since her tummy sleeping at two months. So we need to get her moving. Last time we had her on her tummy though she said forget the rolling, pushed her knees under her and I thought she was going to say bye mom and take off. I am happy I have a little more time before this happens.

Update on Jackson....

he got his flu booster today. It was quick he pulled down his pants got the shot and pulled them back up, with some help. But he was a trooper, very few tears and he even gave his sister kisses and told her she would be ok. I am not sure if I should be proud of him or if this should make me cry. HE has been through so much shots are minor too him.

We head to Riley tonight. We have appointments at 8 am tomorrow, blood work and some x-rays. We also see Dr Lubicky, our Ortho doc for the last time. He is moving south to take a position as the head of ortho surgery somewhere down there. We will be sad to see him go and we are incredibly thankful to him for what he has done so far. We have the joy of seeing him walk today, because of his talent in combo with the determination of our little man.

We are going to stop in and see the Younghans' while we are down there. We have been praying for Barrett that he gets well. Barrett was in my youth group when I first moved out here. He was like 12 then, and he is now 17 and was diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy, an enlargening of the heart. Please pray for his quick recovery and peace for their family in all the decisions that have to be made in the hospital.

That is the update around here. have a happy monday.

Happy 6th Month Babygirl

2009-12-04T09:26:00.005-05:00

I can't believe my baby is a half a year old. (Since it is too cold outside for pictures and she can't sit up quite yet on her own you are going to have to enjoy these. ) I can't believe how big she is. WOW!! We haven't had her check up so I will have to tell you next week after her doc visit. She is so full of life. She spends her awake time, chewing mostly on her fists. You would think that she was going to eat them whole by how far in her mouth she gets them. She is sleeping or was sleeping through the night about 8 to 7. Now however has started the last couple of weeks waking up once to twice a night. We started Cereal to see if this would help, we saw an improvement at first but it has slacked off recently. She is still getting use to the cereal and the little bits of fruits we have tried. I am new at this so I am not sure what I am doing. So any advice you have on starting food is more than welcome. this is my second kid but the first one that wants to eat.

All in all she is a content little girl. She is happy as a lark even in the middle of the night. She is smiling and laughing all the time. More and more she is starting to look like her big brother. Speaking of Jackson, he loves talking back or should we say shrieking back at her. We call it talking. It is fun to watch them interact. She is pushing up on her knees when on her tummy and still hates to be there. She doesn't last long. She absolutely is in love with bath time or just being naked. She kicks around, smiles and laughs through the whole thing. She loves to splash and tends to make her way down the tub from one end to the other.

She loves to stand, not to interested in laying around anymore. She trys to sit up every chance she gets. She love looking at books and sing songs with her big brother and watchs every move he makes. Even the bad ones *hopefully she is not taking notes*

I gotta say I am having a blast with a little girl. It is ALOT harder to pass up all the cute clothes in the stores and not want to start buying her dolls and kitchens and all that girly stuff I remember having so much fun with as a kid. I don't want her to grow up too fast, but I can't wait for tea parties and playing with her when she is a little older.

the first 6 months have been great!! Can't wait to watch her grow for the next 6months too.

And our home is now beautified....

2009-11-13T12:02:00.003-05:00

About a year ago our episodes with the garage door began.

#1 Adrian was backing out of the garage and the garage door spring broke and fell on top of his car. Not doing much damage to his car because of the rack on top, but definitely doing damage to the door. It cracked almost all the way acrossed the door and the bottom corner was bent outward. You wouldn't know this if you look at it, because we were able to bend it back and get it to work by just replacing the spring. #2..over the last few months we have been having the garage door slip...I don't really know any other way to put it. You would push the button for it to go up and it would go all the way up and then begin to slip back down. #3..About a month ago...I went to open the garage door to take one of my kids to the doctor. Running late to begin with and when I pushed the button the door went up about 6 inches. Yes 6 inches. Definitely not enough room to get my car out. Me being the smart lady I am did now you could lift it and I was able to lift it over the hump and the opener helped me the rest of the way. But when I got home...the door wouldn't move.

We decided the third time is the charm and we began researching the cost of Garage Doors. You might think they are cheap if you look in the Sunday Ads...but when you add taxes and installment you are looking at a pretty penny. Then we looked at door companies and this is what we got....Jackson is such a boy...He would have loved to be outside just watching the guy for the whole two hours... And this is our final Product...pretty sweet not to have to get out of the car to open the garage door and lift it over the hump. We are one step closer to the end of the beautification project on our house.

Avenlea's Four Month Photos:

2009-10-27T14:05:00.002-05:00

Miss Avenlea Gayle....a true speical Delivery...Our big girl sitting up....wow how she is growing and SOOOOO Fast!!Mama and her sweet pea...
then the smiles started to come....
We got a few but not too many...when she is outside her environment... it is harder...

But she did great...once we got the pukes out of her system...she started in Purple...for our family pics and puked after the first three photos...so we switched clothes and got the rest.. I think she puked right before the above pictures...gotta love it.. Darcy really did a great job...Thanks soo much.

Darcy Holsopple Photography

2009-10-27T13:51:00.007-05:00

Our Beautiful Family:

the day was great...after rain for two days...we got lucky and it was like 50's and partly cloudy. We got some really good ones.. Daddy and his sweat kiddos

jackson and his dada

Mama... and her sweet babies.. Jackson has recently started this..grabbing us and laying one on. it is to stinkin' cute...glad we got to capture the moment..and the bestest part is it is with me...he usually does it with Adrian.
our precious baby girl...she wasn't much into smiling but we wasn't screaming...she was a trooper.. and how cute is she in her fur collared sweater... if only it wouldn't have been so cold you could have seen her dress...maybe at Christmas if it still fits...

then the show stealer...
he didn't stop hammin' it up...there are too many cute pics to choose from. Like always and really it wasn't a photoshoot for him. Oh well...we will take the cuteness.

A bunch of SICKOS!!!

2009-10-16T08:40:00.005-05:00

We are all down and out around here. All of us except Adrian. HE is drink tons of OJ and taking his vitamins to try and stay healthy. But we were up at least four times last night. Oh my. One time All four of us were up and I think all wanted to scream. But one was doing it enough for all of us. We are doing vapor baths twice a day and trying to push fluids into the kiddos. Jackson is throwing up due to snot. It is quite the zoo around here. Avenlea is finally peacefully sleeping out here in her swing while Jack and I cuddle on the couch. I am sure we are quite the site.

Got some cute pictures of the kiddos the other day. First we have avenlea Smiling....it has been a real joy watching her develop her little personality.then we caught her laughing too. to bad i am not qick enough with the video switch over. she has begun cooing alot and even making some noises with her tougue. she is groowing so fast. as you can she she is holding her head up really well too. we got the bumbo out this week. we tried it once, but it was alot of work and her Big bro wasn't very nice. he snatched every toy from her tray before she could play. so far our best playtime...is Jackson's nap time. Avenlea loves her big brother and is really entertained just watching him play. Jackson and daddy played outside this past weekend. daddy says its a golf club...but mommy says hockey stick. either way he was pretty good....once he stopped swinging it like a baseball bat. to him everything is "bayball".

I have once again swallowed something I said about parenting before I was a parent and I am sure it is not the last time.

2009-10-09T10:56:00.006-05:00

before becoming a parent I really had only had a few criticism of parents. in the top 5 was watching cartoons at a young age. Yeah to say the least I have failed in that category. We have restrictions on how long we do it..but we watch them. Jackson is intrigued with Sid the science kid, Mickey mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny and the imagination movers. I however held strong to one criticism. I never understood who or why anyone in there right mind would introduce Barney into their children's lives. Still don't and I can honestly say it was the therapists fault...but this is what I found the other day when I didn't get to the tv fast enough to change the channel.
yep in that blurry image you aren't seeing things. It is Barney. A purple dinosaur.
And to top it off he was pointing. Saying barney, barney.. As clear as can be. I prefer Elmo (and for those that know me well, even this is hard for me to say) at least he is educational on Sesame Street.

An update from the schrock home....

2009-10-07T20:50:00.005-05:00

Happy four month birthday baby girl. She is growing sooooo fast. She is already 24 inches long and 12 lbs 14 ounces.. She has made the big girl chart...no more preemie ones, and she is in the 20th percentile. She seems so much bigger to me.

This week Jackson and I headed to indy just the two of us. I left my baby for two days and one night. She was in great hands. thank you Ashley and Gloria for watching her.
Jackson and I got to meet his transplant doc and we have a new perspective as to why we need to wait. The unfortunate part is he needs him to Grow. vertically that is. which we have not ever had success with. He has two strikes against him in this category. One are his lack of functioning kidneys and the second is when your hips aren't in the sockets there is no pressure on the growth plates. So we are starting our growing late in the game when it has already slowed down.

We got to celebrate while we were there. We got to say BYE BYE to this tube...not completely, don't get ahead of the game. But he no longer has the tube hanging off. He had his button placed. Which means that we now attatch the tube when we need to use it and when we don't we take it off. it is so much better. His clothes fit right again, he doesn't get it caught on things or end up crawling on it. It is wonderful....or as wonderful as foreign objects can be in your body.

We are happy to say that Avenlea and daddy survived us being gone with flying colors...our sweet baby girl even started sleeping for 10 hours...two nights in a row. I made a deal with her and I think she will continue this habit and in the meantime try to help her brother catch on too. we will see what happens.

Finally another BOY!!!

2009-09-21T15:44:00.002-05:00

So on friday night we welcomed our newest edition to the Schrock Family. Not our Schrock family but the extended one. Brayden Jeffrey was born at 6 something in the evening on Friday Evening. He was 21 inches long and 8 lbs 8 ounces. He seemed so light, that is when I realized that he was the same size as Avenlea was at two months. I got out her card from the Doc when we got home on Sunday and

Date: 8/10/09
Height 21 inches
weight: 8 lbs 6.6 ounces
Head 37 cm

My baby is so much bigger now. We will find out tomorrow how much she weighs. Anybody want to venture a guess. Here is a recent picture to help you out?

these will come back to haunt them someday....

2009-09-11T17:40:00.005-05:00

check out that tushie...haha. I realized after I took these. I have never let my child run around naked. I think I am the only one of my friends with no pictures of this. He was having so much fun placing his numbers on the wall of the tub. I think for everyone he said three.
to cute...I tell ya. then he would take them all down and put them in the boat. then proceed to put them all back up again. HE was even generous to take a bath with his sister. THis one will for sure come out at their graduations. I love it. He kept pointing saying baby and she just happily kicked and enjoyed the water and the entertainment. I love how much jackson loves his sister..and she just watches him contently enjoying everything he does. I hope this continues later in life.

Jackson hammin' it up and an attempt of pictures of the two of them.

2009-09-03T19:19:00.006-05:00

Jackson has become quite the ham lately. Of course it is on his terms. If he doesn't want to do it he doesn't do it.

Like tonight when we tried to get a couple pictures of our kids together. He decided he would rather try to push Avenlea out of the wagon instead. So we got this one picture of the two of them that is half way decent...she is trying to smile and her eyes are closed but it is a documentation of the moment right.

I was able to get a couple great pictures of my adorable 3month old baby girl. My how time flys, even with all the struggles we have had with her constipation, and colic. I am not sure now that we have been supplementing that she really was colicky or if she was just really hungry. But we will say a little of both. I have to keep doing what I did for Jackson and document on here what she is doing at three months or I won't remember when I scrapbook her three month pictures. So here goes:

She began smiling about a week ago, she is finally content to lay on the floor or in her bouncy seat. Up until this point she was a big fan of being held. Don't get me wrong, if the girl had her way, she would still be held all the time. She loves having baths and has since the first one. She just lays in the tub and kicks her legs happily. She has developed gorgeous blue eyes, with long full eyelashes. I feel she is going to be a heart breaker in her future. She loves to watch her brother entertain her. She is ok with tummy time and has been pulling her head off our shoulders for a few weeks now. She can hold it up for about a minute..then she lays it back down.

Schrock family update

2009-09-02T08:50:00.005-05:00

enjoying our cool weather with the windows open. Jackson loves to greet the neighborhood as they walk by. didn't know if anyone ever heard him, until adrian came home from a walk with the kids to inform me that a lady stopped to say hi. She new jackson as the kid from the window. haha!!

we got our SMO's yesterday and we are getting use to them. he is not used to wearing sox and shoes all the time. it definitely increases his temperature. he screams as we put them on..but he doesn't seem to mind them once they are on and man do they make a difference. he balances so much better and his feet point straight ahead. i never realized how little his feet were until they brought out these tiny braces. too cute.
we were happy when the shoes we had for him already fit too. and will for a while. he is letting go of things still, but it is very different to have to pick your feet up with shoes on. So he is not taking a whole lot of steps away from anything. right now he is walking with his back against his table not hanging on. he is quite the ham.

On friday we went to the doctor for our two year check up...everything went well. he weighed in at 24 lbs 5 ounces, which is down a little depending on who's scale you believe. and he was up to 30 inches tall. which was an inch and a half growth since they last saw him. good news.
we discussed his kidney transplant and what kind of protection he could get while we enter flu season to keep him healthy. HE suggested the flu shot and the new swine flu shot that will be out later. we will see...it all depends on surgery date. which we have good news about too. Adrian passed round two of his testing. so he has appointments next wednesday to meet with the doctor, have his psych exam (please pray for him lol), and he will need a ct scan of his kidneys. Once he has these tests read, and he passes. we will be able to schedule a date. Exciting!!

Avenlea is doing well. She was quite fussy for a while, but we figured out she was not getting enough to eat. So we have fed her more frequently and started supplementing..which has helped alot. she is sleeping better and her awake time is content. Thank you Lord.. She has started to smile, which is so sweet.

that is an update on the happenings in our house. Have a great labor day weekend.

who says you can't have fun at a hospital.

2009-08-17T14:14:00.003-05:00

my baby in the hospital on August 13th after g-tube surgery. Everything went quite well. I will be very happy when we can get the button g-tube put in in three months. dealing with a tube hanging off him again is not what we call fun. I constantly have to thing before I pick him up and we really can't leave him anywhere that someone isn't trained to put it in. Unless we are with in 5minutes away and can get there quick to put it in ourselves...I guess for a few months we will not be going on any dates. Oh well.

WE definitely had a harder time entertaining a mobile child this time around....but dad did a great job. It was harder to have two children too...quite the different experience. I had numerous volunteers ask if I wanted them to take the baby for a break. Ok...people the toddler is the one in the hospital. Not the baby. Ok I admit..this was the second day. but come on look what fun we are having. He was having a blast trying to escape out the door. It was great to work on walking but trying for dad trying to contain him and keep him entertained.
we gave up on trying to keep him off the floor...it was just too hard. We are adjusting and Jackson is not quite as swollen today so we slept better. (it always helps when his sister sleeps too.) Thank you all for your prayers for surgery...we always feel better knowing God is protecting him while he is under the care of another surgeon.

I got ahold of the kidney coordinator finally today. Jackson is scheduled for the rest of his tests on the 9th of September. yipppeee!!! he will be done and ready after those. Adrian was working on scheduling his things today as well. So our hope is to have all completed by the 9th and be able to schedule surgery at that time. Please say prayers that this works out. WE would really like to have a plan and a date to start preparing. Especially for Adrian and work stuff.

that is all we have for now...

my kids have been captured

2009-08-15T10:13:00.004-05:00

Darcy did a beautiful job photographing my kids last week. You would never believe that Avenlea wasn't cooperating. They turned out gorgeous.
Jackson's personality was captured to a tee. He was a ham as usual. We did purdue pics and white sox pics for daddy. and then we got created. Due to the little man not having a neck we had to go with t-shirts. but who says you can't have a tie with a tshirt.
Can't wait to get our family pics done too. She does an amazing job. if you want to check them out...got to darcy holsopple photography

LOOK WHO'S TWO

2009-08-10T15:23:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday Jackson!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe that two years have passed since the day you were born. With all the trials you have had I am so proud of what you have accomplished by two. Here is a list of the accomplishments you have made.

you have at least a 25 word vocabulary,
you say please for the things you want (actually it is more like peeezzzz),
you have taken your first steps
you have 11 teeth in your mouth
you say cheeeeese every time there is a camera or a cell phone around
you have learned peoples names
you know how to color match with some toys
you know animal sounds and some body parts
you love to push buttons, including mommy's
you have quite the attitude at two
you throw fits when you don't get your way
you have a mind of your own and you are not afraid to use it
you are still not a big fan of eating solid foods, but you have been willing to try some,
you have reached 24 lbs, which was the goal weight for your transplant
we found out that your daddy is a match and can give you his kidney
you have been a trooper through two hip surgeries this year and 14 weeks in a full body cast
you have learned to play the drums
you love to dance to the music while mommy watches: so you think you can dance
you say eey like a pirate for yes
but the answer to every question we ask you is usually no
you like to watch sport center with daddy and love the baseball highlight
you love to help your daddy when he has his tools out
you like to tell us that elmo is on your diaper
you say "uh oh" when you drop something
you love to cuddle with mommy and read books
you are a great big brother and love to find Avenlea's paci whenever she is upset
you give her kisses and tell her you love her too.

I am sure there are many more things you do....but these are the highlights that stick out in my head today. You are a courageous, loving and fantastic two year old! I can't wait to see what you accomplish in the next year. I am so blessed that God entrusted me to be your mom.

Happy Birthday Baby boy!!

Four years

2009-08-06T18:09:00.003-05:00

We sat pondering how crazy it is to us in the car today that we have been married only four years and have two beautiful kids. When it feels like it has only been a short time.

it has been four great years and even though there have been trials and many ups and downs. it has only made us closer to each other and our creator. I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

Jackson had his appointment today with Dr Billmire, and we are on our way forward with the first step towards transplant. His G-tube is scheduled to be placed next thursday. We were all kind of shell shocked when they said they could do it that soon. It will be great. it gives him plenty of time to heal before we are ready for the actual transplant.

ladies and gentlemen....I am pleased to announce.

2009-08-03T12:00:00.003-05:00

we have a walker on our hands. God has an incredible way of turning a really bad day into a fantastic one. Last wednesday afternoon we got news that Adrian's grandfather had passed. He had been struggling with health for quite a while. So as we were packing and getting things ready to take off on our first long trip with two kiddos, Adrian happened to let go of Jackson's hand while he was standing expecting him to just stand there and he instead decided to take a step forward. I can't tell you the joy that was exclaimed in our house that first time. I know the volume was definitely maxed out. We were really loud. Jackson continued to get more confident each time he made another attempt. The only problem we are having is he still falls over like a tree backwards when he is done trying. we have hit our head many times even with daddy trying his best to catch him before he hits the floor.

Still no news on the transplant front. I have attempted to call today, to see if anyone has the results of the tissue matching. We know it is done, because we got the bill in the mail for it. 7300 dollars just to put two peoples blood together in a test tube and see what it does. Crazy I tell you. crazy.

We are resting and recouping for just a couple days and then we are back to doctors visits...we see the developmental pediatrician on wednesday. then we are headed to Riley on thursday to meet with jackson's surgeon and discuss G-tube surgery. then we will see his urologist and have the regular gamet of testing done on friday as well.

that is our update for now. hope you enjoy the video as much as we did. I never would have guessed the little man would be accomplishing such a milestone before his second birthday. Way to Go Jackson!!!

One sweet big brother and a precious little girl....

2009-07-25T21:00:00.004-05:00

we spent a lazy saturday today. well I should say some of us did. I was doing laundry and scrapping while my family was napping on the couch. I have to say the alone and quiet time was much appreciated.
Jackson has been very cute lately with the baby...he will crawl over when she is on the floor and whisper...hey baby...and if she is crying he trys to give her kisses or will find her paci and try and put it in for her. here he is giving her kisses. He is a ham for the most part...but when it comes to his little sister he is all heart.
we spent some time tonight...getting some pictures of Avenlea...she finally was sleeping soundly enough that we could position her. well all of her but her hands...those she still controled.. I think they turned out pretty cute. the last one is my favorite. She is so precious. I never thought my daughter would bring out the girly part of me ....but oh how she has.

I even bought ribbon today to make bows for her hair. Oh and after someone asked me how my baby boy was...I think I am going to make some headbands too. Since obviously they didn't see the purple and pink polka dot blanket with the pink, green and blue flowered sleeper. Either that or they dress their boys way different than this mom does.

Avenlea has been doing ok. I have to apologize to everyone that I hung out with last week...for my crabbiness. We haven't been getting a whole lot of sleep around here. Between Jackson's teething of his slowly moving two year molars, plus a couple and Avenlea being completely uncomfortable and discontent at night. It is hard to believe a baby can calm thy self simply by being held. She is extremely gassy too. So I have been trying to watch what I eat as well. Someone told me that all the things I couldn't eat while I was prego could be hard for her to digest now with breast milk...if that is the case we are in trouble..because I pretty much could only eat cereal while i was prego. Someone also mentioned the C word...but I am still praying against Colic. I was gently reminded by my mother that I was a great baby for the first 5 weeks of my life and then for the next few months, I was a little too much to handle. I would like to think that with what we have been through with Jackson, God would pardon me from the pay back for being colicy myself, but who knows. Right now we have both children in bed and I should head that way myself. If all goes well...the whole family could get two good nights of sleep in a row.

Jackson's buddy Lauren

2009-07-12T18:09:00.008-05:00

wow...what a week. I am not sure what we are going to do with ourselves this next week. Jackson and I had visitors from mn for 12 whole days. My niece lauren and my mom came out on July 3rd via the train and they just left today. Lauren was such a big help...if she wasn't entertaining and playing with Jackson, she wanted to hold Avenlea, or play SKIPBO. It was so much fun to have her and to see what an incredible little lady she is becoming. Avenlea rested very nicely, as you can see in her cousins arms... When lauren wasn't helping with the kids we were coming up with things to do. She got to pick raspberries right in our backyard. This summer we found we have wild black raspberries in our easement. delicious. We made raspberry cream pie and raspberry syrup for pancakes. YUMO!!
She got a lesson from Adrian and then she was on her own. They had a contest on who could pick more. however Adrian stole hers and put them in his bowl so he could win. right lauren? We also entertained ourselves with a trip to the zoo in south bend for Jackson's therapy.
lauren pulled him around in a wagon and told him who all the animals were. We fed the fish and went in the petting zoo...to brush the goats. It was a great day that was a perfect temperature.
then we had play time in the pool.....cold at first but jack got use to it...he wanted to be like lauren. as i am typing this he is saying hi to lauren and waving at the screen. this boy is going to miss her. we also went to the park and took macy on walks...her and macy became quite good buddies too. on thursday we headed to amish country. to eat at the Essenhaus. Lauren enjoyed homemade chicken noodle soup and of course peanut butter...amish style. Then we headed to shipshe...to the carousel and the little stores. Jackson wasn't sure of the carousel...,but lauren enjoyed. Lauren taught Jackson so many things...the cutest was how to play the drums...she showed him how to tap them together and say 5, 6, 7, 8...then drumming. it is adorable. I think we have a future musician on our hands.

On Saturday the rest of the crew joined us as Jeremy and Sara came out to see Avenlea and to pick up their little girl that I think they missed a great deal. It was great to be able to take a pciture of all the grandkids. Here is the five of them. Jackson is quite outnumbered.
to say the least we had a very busy week...and thanks to my mom i have a very clean house with my laundry all caught up and clean window. So I am feeling pretty good.

on a Jackson note: we are cutting a massive amount of teeth..and so far he is not a drooler...and really isn't except on certain occasions....like tonight. we have three molars, two eye teeth and the tooth right next to the front two...all coming in at the same time...poor kiddo.

before we know it he is going to be running....

2009-06-30T18:27:00.004-05:00

we are so proud of our little man...for the first time tonight he let go of our finger and stood alone. We have been working on this for a while and it has been more of a how fast can you catch me dad, type exercise. But lately he has for a couple seconds balanced on his own and then fallen over. However tonight he stood for a couple minutes...it was so exciting...if you doubt me turn up your volume. We were all clapping and hooting and hollaring. WHen I think of everything he has gone through it is bringing tears to my eyes to think that my baby is going to be walking soon. Praise the Lord for all of our answered prayers.

Jackson had blood work done today at Elkhart General to send to his kidney doc...normal routine stuff. they are just having us do it hear, to allow me another month before having to drive with two to indy. Since I wasn't suppose to birth her until next tuesday and that was even a week before her due date.

on an Avenlea note. we are struggling with the difference between day and night. She is definitely on a different schedule than mom and dad. We are open to any advice on how to reverse this. Today she slept for 5 hours straight from 11:30 am -3:30pm. I know I should have woke her up but I decided a nap was more important, after being up til 11 pm then from 3-5 with her and sleeping in the chair in order to get any sleep at all. Adrian took a shift from 1:30 to 3 too. You would think I would be able to sleep when she fell asleep around 6:30 and I did until Jackson woke up at 7am. Good thing I got them both back to sleep around 8 am and then they slept til around 9am. then I had them both wanting food at the same time. I am telling you this two child thing is rough. It is alot easier to deal with one child's schedule and lack of sleep, cuz you can nap when they nap. about the time you get one to nap the other wakes up or needs food. it is nuts.

I will leave you with my new favorite pic of my two kiddos.. Jackson loves his little sis.
Have a great fourth of July weekend. We will be enjoying company from South Dakota. Jackson and Avenlea's cousin Lauren is bringing the train with Grandma to visit. We are so excited and can't wait for them to get here on Friday.

this big brother loves his little sis....

2009-06-24T11:59:00.004-05:00

We really couldn't ask for things to be going better. Jackson is all about helping with his little sis. Although you gotta keep your eye on him. He loves holding her hand, watching her sleep, and giving her kisses.
oh and you can't forget the Hiya bebe...that comes out of his mouth almost every other word.
Too cute. the bottom picture is of this: I ask jackson where's the baby and he did this and said baby. We have also, well Jackson has, learned to say please. He signs it...by rubbing his belly and saying peezzz. So adorable. It could melt the hardest heart. he had a meeting with the nutritionalist the other week and we have evened out his height to weight ratio. We are now in the 75 % instead of the 95 %. So much better. He is up to 29 and a 1/4. We have grown 2 inches since we got out of the cast...which is amazing. We have started cutting molars...yipppppeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Let's just say Dad and Jackson aren't getting much sleep these days. I think we have found at least three teeth that are coming in all at once. He even started drooling last night. Adrian said he carried a kleenex with him, because it freaked him out when the drool would land on his hand as he was crawling. Wish I could have seen this, because it is hard to believe just hearing it...and I think i would have laughed my head off. your proabably wondering how in the world, with a kid who doesn't let anything in his mouth, we know he has teeth coming in. Well we went to Orland and met Kara and Delaney on Father's day for another Myofacial therapy treatment. It went really well. they were able to get in his mouth to do some therapy. He wasn't quite resistant at first, but once he let them...things went very well. I can't explain this therapy very well. But I can say it has made a big difference in Jackson and that is all that counts at this point. We see great things happening after every visit.

As for Avenlea...she is up to 5lbs 1.5 ounces, which was a 7 ounce weight gain in 6 days....we couldn't be happier. We are working well into complete breast feeding. I have to say mom's that have to pump all the time, should be given a grand prize..they are super moms. I can't do it. Hats off you all you mom's that go back to work and pump to keep your kids on breast milk...
She has also grown a little over an inch and a half. Which means bye, bye to all the preemie clothes. She still swims in newborn sleepers but the little newborn outfits are mighty cute.
I will leave you with this picture of my three favorite people...taken on father's day. THis is one happy father. We are so blessed to have two great kids and who knew...he would be celebrating father's day this year with two kids. :)

Avenlea comes home.....

2009-06-15T15:33:00.003-05:00

June 14th was a great day...we headed up to the hospital hoping and praying that Avenlea had done really well overnight and we would bring her home. Even though we had high hopes, we knew in reality it was very unlikely that we would be walking out of the hospital today with our baby girl. We were up early to feed her before church and we wanted to talk to the doctor to plead our case. Come on....really with our experience with a newborn, who wouldn't trust us to take a baby home with a few complications. We waited and waited...it really seemed like forever til we saw the doctor, and in reality it was only about an hour after we had gotten there that we were talking to her.

We knew she had gained weight consistently over the last two days, she had held her temp for 24 hours, and she had breast fed for 30 minutes that morning. All things that were positives for her. The doctor was very happy with her progress...and seemed to like the fact that I was willing to bring her in to the clinic everyday if I had to for her to come home. She laughed and asked if she could assess her and then we got the news...the best news we could here. News that seriously was worth missing church for. We decided to wait to call our parents...and surprise my mom and dad when we got home and walked in with her. We didn't think it would take so long to be discharged...when it got past 9:30 they figured it out. Oh well. it was still exciting to bring her home. Jackson was pretty interested in his little sis when she came in too. He just kept saying Hi Bebe...constantly at different volumes...we had to quiet it down when it was right in her ear at max volume...so we tried getting him to whisper...I am sure you all know how that went. He also gave her kisses...not blown ones...he wanted to grab her head, bring it to him and kiss her cheek. We are slowly working on the fingers not heading straight for her face...gets a little scary. I am sure it will all take time... Everytime Avenlea has a bottle Jackson thinks it is his baba...and gets mad...but also wants to eat so we won't complain if we can get him to eat, right? He is also a little bit testy when mom is holding the baby and he wants something. I am sure this will only get worse instead of better as she starts to invade his stuff more. Only time will tell.

first meetings

2009-06-07T15:00:00.005-05:00

Welcome to our Family.....here are a few more pictures. Our first pic after recovery. Avenlea all content and decked out in her yellow knit hat accessory. Jackson's first meeting with his little sister. he wasn't sure at first. but they started waving hi....once she cried. We will see what happens when she comes home.

Welcome to the Family

2009-06-05T10:09:00.005-05:00

Well June 4, 2009 was quite the day. We welcomed Avenlea Gayle into the world at 3:00 pm only 34 weeks along. She weighed 4 lbs 11 oz and was 17 inches long. She is just as cute as the first one was. We are very thankful that she seems to be a healthy baby. Normally I would say she is a happy baby too but she seems to cry quite a bit so far. Cuddling with her mama seems to be the sure fire solution to calming her down. For those of you who are scratching your head on how to pronounce her name, I will do my best to help. a-ven-lee the "a" is the short sound like in apple or astronaut.

Nichole had an OB appointment in the morning. She had been having some leaking over the past day or so and the OB told her that she should have me come in as well. We were very afraid that they were going to keep her at the hospital on bed rest. Who knows how life was going to work if that happened. When I got to the hospital Nichole was waiting by the elevators to let me know that instead of bed rest we would be having a baby around 2 pm. Quite the mind blowing news. Completely unexpected and nowhere close to prepared we are the proud parents of this beautiful little girl. It is amazing how your plans can change so fast and so drastically.

Nichole should be discharged on Sunday. She has started to get up and move around over short distances. She hasn't gotten much sleep and is still feeling some discomfort from the surgery and the different drugs she has been on. As of right now we are guessing that Avenlea's stay in the hospital will be a little bit longer than Nichole's. She hasn't shown much interest in eating which is very normal for babies born this early. They have put her on an IV to help her stay hydrated and have put in an NG tube to get food directly to her stomach. She is also in an incubator to help her keep her body temperature up. The purpose for all of this is to help reduce the amount of energy that she has to use for these things so that she can rest and grow. We're not sure yet how long they will keep her here but it will probably be a couple of weeks. It's really just a matter of when she is ready to take on these things by herself. Like her big brother she will be a fighter.

Although we hated to see the NG tube go in we know that it is the best for her. It was also funny how much it brought back memories of what Jackson looked like early on. When Avenlea was born it was hard to say she looked like any of us but now we can see how much she looks like Jackson as a new born. As before we will deal with anything that we have to, and although we may not want to, we know that we are capable of doing it.

Thanks to all for your help, prayer, and support. It is very much appreciated.

tools, dirt and excavators= projects finished

2009-05-29T06:48:00.005-05:00

Jackson was so intrigued by the mini excavator. he never stopped watching and his eyes got huge the closer it got to him. I have to say this whole adventure was so exciting for me. this is such a beautiful site below. Adrian and I have talked about how much these evergreen bushes bothered us and how over grown they were...so we are so happy to be able to now see our home and decide on something to put in that we like better. Now we just have the mess to clean up and find out where to dispose of it...since Colby was nice enough to do this as a favor for us. Good thing he is a pro too...cuz we had a gas line and electrical for him to avoid and he did all the above. Nice job buddy.

we also fixed our planter box around the mailboxes...it was rotted through. so gross and so full of bugs. I was happy to find out that Jackson wasn't a big fan of the bugs and spiders either. I am sure that will change later on. Unless he has his Uncle Jeremy's fear of getting dirty. as you can see he is not playing in the dirt. He is just watching.

we also got another in house job completed....I got a closet organizer for the kids room and Adrian put it in. it was so worth it. however it is expensive to find organization stuff. but I am telling you since i started this purging thing months ago. it is alot easier since i have organized and put the time and money into having a place for everything to keep it all clean and picked up. Don't Jackson's little clothes look so tiny? We wanted it to be effective even after the kids moved out, so we set it up for adult clothes. I love it. I am so excited to be ready for baby number two. I feel so much more ready this time than I was with Jackson. All of us mom's know that if you don't get it done before they arrive it is while before you get to any projects after...so I am happy to be accomplishing so much.

Nesting is in full swing

2009-05-18T07:08:00.006-05:00

I am experiencing new things this time around. Nesting is one of them. I have never wanted or needed my house to be so picked up, organized, and clean. Macy's hair is bothering me beyond all comprehension so I vaccum like daily. I have sorted out junk in every room of the house (only to collect it in the basement), rearranged furniture in most, and repainted a few. (Adrian surprised me with picking stuff out on mother's day. He did a good job we both like the colors.) Our master bedroom actually got pictures hung and rearranged. It is strange to see the dining room with pictures too. It took me four years to get things on the walls that i am happy with. I also never thought we would ever reach the point of being done with the upstairs and ready to move to the basement. We would like to create a family room and toy room down there. plus the kids bedrooms will eventually be down there. right now we have some heating issues. So we have to check into new doors and carpet to make those rooms functional. For now the kids will share the nursery...which we rearranged and set up another crib in. Thank you King family for letting us borrow the crib.
I am actually feeling prepared this time around for the baby. In ways I didn't with Jackson being on bedrest for the last 5 weeks. But in other ways I am feeling really nervous and anxious about how everything will work when our little girl arrives. Jackson is making huge head way in the world of moving around, but I don't see him walking anytime soon.

I so can't imagine...trying to carry a 24 lb little boy and a car carrier with a baby. I guess they may balance things out. but wow, how do mom's do it that have babies 9 month a part? We are praying Jackson continues to improve in his gross motor skills over the next seven weeks. We see the doctor next week and we will then start Physical therapy again.

On to more nesting...this time outside.
We have gotten out to do a few things outside too.. We planted flowers in our baskets on the deck, and have an amazing pot on the front porch...the question is can I keep them alive. Our landscaping from last summer is weeded and looking great. I can't believe, but am so excited that everything we transplanted from our friends backyard last year has come up and is looking great. Even some of my late plants in the front are coming back. So we are trying to keep up outside too...but the rain is not helping us stay on top of our grass. Last week I think Adrian mowed like three times. and then we needed to mow almost twice yesterday to get it cut low enough.
Jackson experienced the grass again this past friday. It was the one day it wasn't raining, so I thought we would go outside. He didn't like it at first, then it was ok...but he didn't move. he was frozen in one place on hands and knees...yelling Ha daddy to everyone that past by. didn't matter if on foot, in car or on a bike. the minute they said hi back he was all bashful. Too cute I tell you. Well I should rap this up...I am sure there will be more nesting happening...in the next seven weeks. If I had my way, the entry would be stripped of wall paper, the basement would be painted, new floors would be put in, unfortunately you need money for all of this and time. When you get the time there is usually no money and when you have the money you don't have the time. So I will settle for the things we can do and continue to dream about the rest.

Til next time. Enjoy your week and the sunshine today.

having a blast

2009-05-11T13:43:00.003-05:00

Jackson's therapist brought us this table last week. It is amazing. just the right height for the little man, (which by the way, is nearly impossible to find). Mom is so happy to have an upright position to put him in.
we stack blocks and knock them over, we did some scribbling, we have even tried a little food at this table. Here he is below...checking out a dumb, dumb sucker.. notice we play with it a little more than it goes in our mouth...but at least we are curious. right?
He loves the new bubble blowing dog that Cathy brought too. it is easy to make go too, so Jackson can do it himself. which is spectacular. On mother's day afternoon, Jackson was sitting at his table with the little key board you can see in the backround. Boppin back and forth in his seat playing the keyboard. It was the cutest thing ever. (bad mom...didn't have the camera or get a video) Then later that night he proceeded to stand up from his bench and try to walk along the table. The boy remembers...and is so frustrated that his lil' body won't cooperate. it won't be long....and we will be chasin him around.

update on the schrock household.....

2009-05-07T02:07:00.004-05:00

jackson is movin and shakin again. He is working on bending his legs and then he will even go up on them like he is going to crawl and then he goes back to army crawling...but oh well...he'll get there. This morning i heard him coming down the hall as I was getting dressed in the bed room. it sounded like thump, thump swoosh. Kinda horor movieish...but I knew exactly what it was. He beats his arms so hard into the floor to move... needless to say none of this keeps him out of mischeif. He is into everything already...I just have a little more time to get to him, before he gets there. He still loves the dogs water and food dishes...what is it about these things.

in the past weekend we *adrian and I * accomplished the big task of painting our bedroom. It had to be repainted do to the door we closed in from our bedroom to the bathroom. I know i know. you all have the advice that we shouldn't have done that...but just wait til you visit someday and I will explain where the door went...and you won't ask anymore questions. It was rediculous. Anyway...I let my hubby help pic the decor this time and he went for pale blues with our already brown comforter. I wanted him to have a relaxing space in our house...suited for him. now I just have to keep it clean and picked up...that is his biggest thing that helps him relax. Gotta say at the beginning...neither of us was a big fan of the color we chose for the walls. Wanted a light nuetral color. (this way I can change the color scheme easily if I want to in a couple of years) but I am telling you there are so many types of nuetral...brown neutrals, yellow tinted nuetrals, green tinted neutrals. and you never know for sure what the light in your house is going to do. So we decided to hang all the curtains before we made a rash decision, cuz after a full day and a half of painting, neither of us wanted to do it again...plus we were camping on the living room floor on our matress while the work was being done and Adrian was done picking up the matress every morning to put it back in the hallway. I gotta say it was fun for like a night...but getting up to get jackson and go to the bathroom was not so easy 30 weeks prego.

Anyhoo...by the time we hung the curtains and put the furniture back in the room, it doesn't look bad. Not exactly the look I was going for but we will deal. it is calming. Still have to add the decor and then we will show you pictures. maybe....or maybe you will have to come see it in person.

baby number two is doing well. we had an appointment on Monday. HR is around 140. Way lower than Jackson's was. but the doctor says still healthy and normal. So we will go with it. Got some information on VBAC's. I was all about it until I had a dream tonight about me having a ruptured uterus in the middle of labor. Talk about scary. I am sure it is just my mind playing tricks on me. but we will see. Adrian and I have to way our options. I would definitely love the shorter recovery time, with a toddler and a newborn needing care. If anyone has advice please let me know.

I think that is it for now. Have a great weekend.

progressing everyday

2009-04-29T09:43:00.003-05:00

Well we are progressing more everyday: crawling and putting his legs closer together more and more. He is even back up to his mischief. TOday he has all the DVD's back out of the cabinet. He likes the shiny dvd's.

WE have had a busy weekend and week. We finished our bathroom, well the stuff we can do. We are still waiting on the cabinet in the closet...but it is fully functional with sinks, shower and toilet. We absolutely love it. I took my first Shower in it today. then went to get out and realized unless I want to give the neighbors a show, We need window treatments. at least till the leaves are on the trees again. probably TMI..sorry. I felt as though I was at a hotel showering...I absolutely love my spa retreat in my own home. WE will happily share with you who did the work, they are absolutely talented folks and all have their own bussinesses. THey do superb jobs. Check out this countertop....it is made out of concrete...they then color the concrete and they did it to match our tile. it is simply amazing and so much more than we would have done if we did this on our own. We have been blessed by everyone who has contributed to our bathroom. I am so excited to have my children bathing in an area that is mold free. It is probably better that I am showering in a place that is mold free with the baby too. I can't express what it means to us, all that you all have donated and done for us with this project and all the thoughts and prayers and financial support. It has been incredible and amazing.

This all happened just in time too. The downstairs bathroom has tiles falling off the wall because of mold and moisture. God's timing is so good. I think Adrian is excited to start demo on the downstairs one. Once I clean it out. I would say demo will begin. Thanks again to EVERONE!!

D-day #2 has come and gone

2009-04-25T07:32:00.004-05:00

We had a good time in Indy...it got really long waiting from getting his cast off at 8 am til his next appointment @ 1pm. but mom learned how to work the system and check in early. So we cut an hour off our trip. I gotta give a shout out to all that were praying for Jackson and the cast removal...he was a tropper. the actual cast cutter made him laugh. which was a hundred times better than the girl next door that screamed the entire time. I promise the above picture is him laughing. the saddest part was that he had gained so much weight in the cast and it had gotten so tight that it started rubbing on his legs..so he has a few marks of rubbed off skin. They said they would heal quickly. speaking of gaining weight...we are up to 22lbs 10 ounces yesterday. that would be a 2 lb 10 ounce weight gain since surgery 7 weeks ago, including two weeks with the flu...how does he do this. the next one is the scar and dead skin...a little gross but the worst thing is we had dead skin falling off on us all day, out through the bottom of his pants. When we got home we hung out for a while and he started crawling around already. Army crawling of course, dragging his legs behind us. Before bed we took a bath....
he really enjoyed splashing and playing around with a few of his cups. He still can't sit up in the tub, so we had to prop his head up to keep the water out of his tubes. We got some of the dead skin off and we will soak again today a couple of times to help the process. He was so cute all bundled up in his frog towel.
thank you to all who prayed for him yesterday I know you were heard. We will have a rough few days as we become unstiff, but we are on the upswing. With all he is doing already, I can't wait to see what he is doing by next friday. Who knows we might be walking.

our past few days

2009-04-21T19:24:00.008-05:00

I will start out by apologizing because this is sideways. I was trying to film him sitting next to me in our recliner. It was to funny not to share...You can all just flip your monitor sideways.

This past few weeks has been jammed full of stuff. We have been out and about and busy. I can't wait til the next time we go shopping...when Jackson can once again ride in the front of a cart. That's right folks....we have D-day number 2 in 60 hours..I am so excited to see what Jackson is going to do when both of his hips are in place and he is up and moving around again. I see big things happening soon.

We also took some pictures around our house...we can't wait to get out and play in the warm weather. Mom has some landscape clean up to do. We are so excited that all but one of our transplanted plants is coming up so far. I have a few weeds that have made it through and need to be taken out, but other than than things are looking pretty good. we want to get to the front of the house, but I am not sure I am up to all the digging...it might have to wait for next spring.

I was also tagged by Shelly, ok a while ago and I just got to it now.
Here were the rules:
1. Take a picture of yourself right now. No primping or preparing. Just snap a picture.
2. Load the picture onto your blog.
3. Tag three people to play. Remember, if you are tagged on another blog, we will all be heading to yours to see if you played along.

so here is our picture. Jackson and I were playing on the floor with some toys, when I got a phone call to check and email from Adrian...I checked some blogs to while I was online and ran acrossed this tag, so I just resumed our play position and snapped a picture.

I tag Natalie, Gretchen, and Kara

then last weekend I spent saturday helping Gretchen and Luke make close to 1500 tamales for their fundraiser for their adaption. it was fun to hang out and learn how to make them. I now understand why most people only make these for special occasions. I hope that this fundraiser was profitable. We had a blast putting them together. then I spent the afternoon and evening scrapping at Darcy's. We had a blast there too and I got about 7 pages done. I finished the journaling today...so here are a couple of those pages too.
this is J and Katy's fall party last october.. fun night of carving pumkins, firepits, and apple cider. All things fall. Then the this one is about Jackson's weight gain over the past four months. I had a lot of fun and it is so nice to feel caught up on pictures for a while. I am sure once baby number two comes i will not be on top of it as fast. There is more that has happened over the weekend. But I won't bore you with any more. Can't wait to share with you pics of Jackson no longer in the cast moving and shakin again. Until then we say bye bye.

scrapping update.....

2009-04-16T13:10:00.007-05:00

It has been a while since I first did these pages...but I just finished the journaling on all of them the other day. So I thought I would share. Had a blast doing my first two baby girl pages too. can't wait to do a few more this weekend at Darcy's crop. I will have to find something to do...cuz I think I can actually say I am caught up on Jackson's pages. I can't believe I am saying this...

here we go...we will start with Jackson's pages...

These are pictures from last summer's first steps sessions. We learned the boy loves water...We can't wait to fill the bigger pool up this summer and see him go to town in it
then we hav a pic from my friend carrie's wedding of daddy and Jackson showing off.
jackson is quite the silent instigator too...really delaney didn't want her picture takin next to him...but it looks like he is up to no good. `in the last few months Jackson has really started to babble...the funniest part is he usually babbles in what sounds like complete sentences and then looks at us like "what you don't understand me" and then says stuff again...and points..it is hillarious. very hard to capture on a scrap page...this doesn't even come close but this is what I got.
since a very early age Jackson has loved books...but recently he has started to read them. or at least babble about them to himself while laying on the floor...sometimes he even turns them around like he is reading them to us or macy. it is soooo funny. It is wonderful that he likes books so well.

now for our sweet, soon to be born baby girl....
first I did a page about my bleeding in this pregnancy and the scare that we lost her...it was actually a time that I felt very peaceful...that is one thing about this pregnancy that I have had that is very different from Jackson's. I had a fear that things were wrong with Jackson and with this one even through out the bleeding I have felt at peace for the most part that everything was ok. I very good feeling I have to say.
then we have the day we found out she was a she....and our feelings that the health of our little girl overwhelmed us so much that finding out she was a girl just didn't match up to the excitement about the levels of fluid and the healthy organs.

this is all I got for now...This was about three weeks ago now...so we will see how long it takes me to share the new layouts from this weekend. But enjoy these. I am happy to have had some inspiration and be sort of out of my rut.

I will be back soon...we got a hillarious new video of Jackson dancing...I gotta share soon.

Fun filled festivities....

2009-04-13T07:26:00.002-05:00

well I missed......Happy 20 month birthday, Jackson. it was the tenth. we have been so busy lately. it has really been fun.

Morgan and Charlie are in the process of buying a house and for the meantime they are renting it. It took us three days to clean it and then move them in. but Jackson and I had a blast helping. Jackson even took good naps in the middle of all of it. first time in a long time he has taken a nap where there is action going on.

then dad had a boys night out and went to the white sox vs the twins.....and we are happy to say the twins WON!! unfortunately the guys were routing for the wrong team. the sox won the rest of the series, but i am happy with the win we got.

the saturday brought bathroom stuff-fan installation and trim. the fan caused Adrian to have to crawl in the attic, not fun to mess in insallation, but we are moving forward. Our countertop is in process too. Can't wait to see the final product. If anyone has any ideas on where to find rod-iron mirrors please send me a link...I am having extreme difficulty finding the mirrors we need for the bathroom and pretty soon that will be all we are missing.

Sunday was Easter, as you all probably already knew. We spend the morning going to church and had a wonderful service. Great music and a wonderful message reminding us to put our hope in Christ. Not a bad reminder in these tough times. Then we were off to have easter lunch with Adrian's family and my what a spread we had. I am pretty sure there was enough leftovers to feed a small army. Too bad there wasn't a way to share it with more people. Then we headed home for nap time and more bathroom work. We ended the night with an intalled fan and light and trim up almost everywhere in the bathroom. Not sure what happened after that, cuz Adrian put Jackson to sleep and I fell asleep in the chair almost immediately or at least I don't remember anything after that.

Hope you all had a wonderful easter too. Unfortunately I can't find the camera lately, *we will blame the prego brain* so no new pictures. I will work on finding it today. It is around here somewhere. Have a great week.

2009-04-06T07:58:00.005-05:00

can you believe that we are 27 weeks along today.
hard to believe that I was on bed rest last time in 3 weeks and
hard to believe that I would be delivering in 8 weeks.

Good thing this pregnancy is not going the same way as last time. Thought I would share some of the mommy excitement I have had with this one.

-Due to low fluid levels last time there was alot of the fun pregnancy things that I missed out on. I rarely felt Jackson move, this little girl is a gymnast inside my tummy at all hours of the day. The other fluid thing is that I never really had the prego belly. I have had more people talking to be about my belly in the last week or so. I didn't know how I would do with this...but I think it is cool to actually have a hard prego belly.

- with jackson i was already going to two doctors a week by now. I gotta say this is one of the best parts. I am just starting every two weeks. Which is a little earlier than normal, but we are just being careful. No reason to not be cautious.

- we already had a gammet of testing done on Jackson and this one shows no signs of any problems at this point. Praise the Lord!! I would have a difficult time having to watch another child go through the stuff Jackson has had to endure. Even though I think he will be a stronger person because of it.

- Let me restate....we are not planning or talking bedrest for now or the future.

- I was a crazy woman when it came to wanting to get things done with the first. I want to get the things we needed and know everything was in its place. with this one there are logistics but they have nothing to do with nurseries, bottles, blankets and things like that. I will use my boy colored stuff and be ok with it. It is logistics on how to raise two children at once with one going through his biggest opperation yet, when the baby is only a few months old. I know God has a plan, but seriously, how much can one woman handle.

- I have had fun looking at the little girl side of the store, with Jackson the boys clothes depressed me until the fun colors of last summer came around with the funky plaid shorts and bright shirts.

- Adrian refused to even think about names with Jackson until i was on bedrest and he was doing anything to distract me from thinking about being cooped up in that little room. With this one I got name options and feedback from him all the way back in January. Maybe he understands after Jackson, sometimes you don't have the full 40 weeks to get these things done.

Although there are very different things with this pregnacy, there is a peace that has come with both that I can only thank God for. He has blessed me with his peace that goes beyond everything in both pregnancies which I have to say is what has gotten me through.

Jackson also turned 20 months a couple of days ago. Who can believe that all this is happening so fast. WOW!! my baby isn't going to be my baby much longer. Happy Easter Everyone...hope you all get to enjoy your time with Family. We have two more weeks in this cast and I gotta tell you both Jackson and I are ready for the day to come.

WE'RE BACK!!!

2009-04-03T08:52:00.003-05:00

Our personality, energy and appetite is back to normal. It is amazing!!! I can't even express how much I am happy to have these things back. It was so hard playing the guessing game on how to help the little man while he was sick. We still have some diarrhea, but all in all we are definitely on the mend and I look forward to having him back to a 100% soon.

on another note we are three weeks away from cast removal. I gotta say after catching puke and runny poop in this cast I am amazed that it still looks as good as it does. Not the ideal time for the flu if I do say so myself. not that there is an ideal time.

we are back to our normal schedule of eating and sleeping so I have been able to get a few things done. Cleaning really needs to happen and I can disinfect at the same time. Normally I wouldn't be so excited...but I am so ready for this flu to be out of my house...I will wipe everything down.

Got some organizing and cleaning done in jackson's room. he has officially out grown his 6-12 month tops, so we put them all away yesterday. I gotta say the 12-18 month ones look huge, but better to cover the budda belly than to let it hang out, right? It doesn't help that the cast goes up higher this time either, but you do what you need to.

Thanks to the resale last weekend, I was able to start the baby girls wardrobe for only a few dollars...I think I spent 15 on her. and I have about 8 outfits and to start her out. even a couple of sleepers that have never been worn. can you believe it? the resale was a huge success. They earned over 60K and they had a couple thousand people attend. It is amazing that we have something like this that helps us all out when times are tight. WEll that is all for now. Sorry there are no pictures. I promise I will take some now that we are back to normal around here. It is hard to catch puke and take pictures.

thanks again everyone for all your prayers for healing and health for the little man. a

out of the hospital and still not doing so hot

2009-04-01T07:34:00.002-05:00

we were discharged Monday night. We thought he was doing 100 times better. He was on the fluids, but since we got home we are slowly getting better, and slowly taking more fluids. We slept well the first night and I think the cat naps got the better of us last night. he was awake every few hours wanting food. It sucks to deprive your child of food for his own good.

thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and offers to help. We are doing ok. Lacking some sleep, but overall we are on the mend and taking more fluids a little at a time. The cast and mom, would love the diarrhea to go away, but other than that we can handle it. God is good. He hears our crys for healing.

We are headed to the doctor today for a check up and follow-up to see if we have lost a significant amount of weight or anything else we need to be greatly concerned about. Gotta go, we have to be there in 15 minutes.

thanks again for the prayers.

IN THE HOSPITAL

2009-03-29T19:54:00.004-05:00

Jackson has the flu, which has sent us to the ER. they then admitted him for observation and fluids overnight. The problem with Jackson is when you can't hold down milk, we are screwed. When he gets dehydrated it can hurt his kidney. So far we are being rehydrated. WE just ALL need sleep. So please pray for sleep for all three and a half of us.

2009-03-25T08:04:00.003-05:00

we headed out last week to the library for story time. Jackson was quite the ham. we propped him up in the chair and while Toby was taking pictures..he kept signing up. This boy, wants to be carried all the time. *he is too heavy for this* then he started reading his book and playing peek a boo. Two of his favorite things at 19 months.
he loves reading them to you too. he was babbling while flipping pages the other day and I tried to get it on video and he wasn't having it. he would stop intantly. This is the only pic I have out of 15 of him not cheesing the camera. I wanted a pic of him reading.
I gotta say I could be in a worse state...He could not love books...but he does. We had a great visit with my parents and sad thing...we were so distracted by little boy in cast...I didn't take any pictures...I will have to get some from my mom's camera. It was so nice having there help during the day to entertain. Jackson is a lot more frustrated this time around. But if you play with him it seems to turn around. last time he entertained himself alot. Cartoons have been our friend in the morning. Giving me time for things like this, and email. Then after a hour or so we have to do something different. Like right now. So that is it for now...

don't forget the children's resale this weekend....225 sellers...a top notch sale that is well worth everything you do to get in. I am excited this year to help volunteer. But for less than a 100 dollars I can dress my child in style for the entire summer...a definite help in this economy. plus with baby number two on the way we will get a chance to find some things we are in need of for her as well. I can't wait. check out the website...resale. There is everything from toys, strollers, swings, monitors, clothes, books and anything else you can think of when you think baby or kids. See you all there. Saturday March 28th: 8am to noon !!!

Bathroom Remodel Part 1

2009-03-16T08:05:00.002-05:00

For all of you that were apart of Jackson's benefit last fall......here are some updates. We had a horrific mold problem in our bathrooms. YEs both bathrooms so Jackson had been getting baths in the kitchen sink. NO big deal until he got too big to fit. One of the projects was a bathroom remodel. Over the last 6 months wonderful volunteers have come in to our home to help with the project. It is making amazing progress. At first I thought the best part was picking out the supplies...but I am telling you seeing it all come together has been

Amazing. Seriously isn't this awesome. Don't be surprised if the next time you visit us at our house, we eagerly want to show you our bathroom. It will be the best room in the house.

oh and do you see that beautiful white thing in the backround...yes, you are not crazy, I am talking about the toilet. It was heavenly not having to walk to the basement when I got up last night in the middle of the night. Heavenly I tell you.

We are so thankful to everyone who has put in time, labor and money to have this bathroom come together. It has become far more than we imagined. This will not only help us in the present to get rid of the mold but in the future in the value of our home. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I feel like I have a spa getaway emerging in my own home. Can't wait o get to use it.

A cast jam session

2009-03-11T08:21:00.003-05:00

this was too funny not to post. Jackson was delirious last night when Aunt Morgan decided to play all the phone ringers on her phone to get him to laugh....but instead he started dancing. We like to call it cast dancing. it is too cute and too funny. I think my boy has some rhythem.

Jackson's Recovery

2009-03-10T08:46:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone. We are getting into a routine around here. I am not sure if my memory is failing me or if this time around it is harder than the first time. We have been dodging, cleaning and catching puke for about 36 hours. However long it has been since we left the hospital. Don't get too worried. This is normal. See without poop we are constipated, which in turn means we can't hold anything we eat down. It is a wicked cycle. Hungry all the time is what it turns out to mean CRABBY. Between pain and hunger who blames the little guy. Oh yeah that brings me to the other difference. HOLY HEAVY. I swear the cast adds 5 lbs, literally, this is no tv thing.the above picture should have been our first sign that things were going to be different this time around. Usually he has no clue what is coming next when we check in at surgery waiting. But this time he definitely knew what was coming next.
Check out this look of timidness. This gown confused everyone. Dr Lubicky said all the nurses kept calling him a girl. All thanks to a surgical gown. We should have sent him back there with his jacket...come on people...he has male parts.

All and all the recovery is going well. We are all just very tired. We got poop yesterday and this morning, so I believe we are on our way to being able to eat. Last night, when daddy got home they played. Dad got giggles and smiles. So good to hear. I think the sound of your childs giggles or voice is the best especially after surgery or a time when they haven't been themselves. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I was a little more concerned this time, so I didn't get as many pics as normal. Thank you all for your continued recovery prayers and of course prayers for poop.

Jackson's hip surgery and Heart Scare.

2009-03-07T15:21:00.001-05:00

Ok, so last night didn't go so hot. Jackson has a fever and his heart rate started to spike. He was in the 200's. The nurse had no luck calming him down and we were called in at 4 am after they called the cardiac emergency team. Both Adrian and I were more interested in his renal labs in reference to his heart than we were about the things they were. Then we found out the poor boy hadn't eaten since 10 pm...due to him throwing up his food. So we fed him a bottle and moma held him, and all was good in the calm sector. As for the HR it has taken most of today to get that under 200. So we are going to stay the night with him tonight to help monitor him and his feedings and so on.

the other thing is his pain with this surgery has been higher than in previous. He has needed more narcotics, which in turn means that his intestinal tract is working even slower than it normally does. I have to ask one more time to pray for poop. We need him to pass gas and poop to get him less bloated and more comfortable.

for now they are keeping us overnight and we will discuss discharge in the morning based on how the night goes. Dr Lubicky was quite concerned about his night and it takes alot to get him concerned. So we took it to heart and agreed to stay over night. Not worth getting all the way home and having to drive back to Indy.

Dr Lubicky did however confirm that the CT scan looked good surgery wise and he is in good shape as far as the hip. It is in the right place and should do well in the healing process.

thank you everyone for your prayers and messages. they definitely help get through the day.

IT'S A..............

2009-03-02T12:18:00.004-05:00

Well we are happy to announce that we have a healthy baby. We have more fluid this time around than what we ever had with Jackson. The baby is a mover and a shaker. It took over and hour to have the ultrasound done. We are measuring right on with 21 weeks.....and 3 days. It is looking as though our due date will be right on schedule. The baby weighs about a pound.

It is a GIRL....congratulations all of you were right in some way. She was definitely open to showing us too, but I have some concern about this.

Though you all would enjoy watching her move and shake...since we didn't get a good profile pic.

chunky monkey

2009-02-28T10:04:00.003-05:00

I didn't really understand how much weight jackson had gained until today. I was looking back at these pictures and found these to compare too. This one was two or three weeks after his hip surgery. So about mid November. Look at that Skinny face.

then we have the following. Chunky monkey pictures. He has gained about 5 lbs by this picture. I can't imagine how heavy he is going to be in that cast this time around. I think he was about 4.5 lbs heavier in the cast last time. So we will see. I will be picking the ultralight cast materials. Good thing it isn't heavy stuff anymore.

isn't it amazing how different he looks just in a few months. Maybe it is a mom thing.

Dissapointment R US

2009-02-27T08:31:00.002-05:00

we drove 3 hours yesterday to hear.

"I think I told you this all last May in the hospital. THere is really nothing we can do other than adjust the meds to help with the puking."

gotta say not what I was wanting, but completely what I expected from this doc. He is very arrogant and is refusing to try to look at anything else. I for the first time am considering a second opinion. No one should write off my kid so quickly. :) We did find out that his renal failure is partly to blame, or at least could be for some of the slow motility. that is how fast your food moves through your digestive tract. He has two strikes against him, so there is a chance that after transplant it might increase a little and slow or eliminate the puking.

He was 20 lbs yesterday and still has not grown at all. That is my update. We head back down next tuesday for Urology and then again on Thursday night for Surgery on Friday.

DOn't forget to guess what we are having on an earlier post. We find out on MONDAY!!!