A horse is a horse...or is it?

So, Abigail was my first child to go to preschool. The teachers there thought it might be quicker and easier to break the children into groups with an animal name, so they could release an entire group of kids at one time to go to lunch, or circle or wherever. Abigail was put in the horse group. The teachers were releasing the kids and called the horses to go to lunch. The other children in her group got up and left, but Abigail just sat there. The teacher called for horses a second and third time, then finally said "Abigail, it's your turn to go, you are a horse." At which Abigail replied sternly "I am NOT a horse, I am a PRINCESS!"

Esther's check up went great!

Saw Dr. Maher today and got the results from the Ultrasound and the bloodwork, and Esther is doing great. Everything is perfect. He had a little trouble getting her heartbeat, because she wouldn't stay still (a little reminiscent of when I was pregnant with Emmie).

Questions answered!!

OK - so here are some answers for some of the questions coming through from my last posts. I am due on 11/09/09 - so I am halfway done. I added a countdown at the bottom of my blog for those who are as forgetful as I am! I am doing ok. I don't enjoy being pregnant - LOVE the baby, cool concept, but miserable pregancies. Probably doesn't help that I work two jobs, volunteer at the kids' school, swim practice daily and meets every Saturday, I am Primary President at church (in charge of the children ages 18 months to 12 years old), chase four kids, a dog and a cat, errands, budgeting, dishes, laundry (which NEVER ends), picking up several times a day, and if I'm lucky, I get to squeeze in some actual cleaning. I need to get the sign that says "If you came to see me, come on in. If you came to see my house, make an appointment."

Sad news for Lucybug

So, some of you already know, and some do not - but Lucy was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1). It is actually quite common (1 in 3,500 people have it), and most of the time it is very mild, with little complications. There are multiple websites that explain it - but one of the best is http://www.ctf.org/. In a nutshell - it can happen two ways: 1. Hereditary, so Lucy will have a 50% chance of passing it onto her kids. 2. Spontaneous Mutation - which is how Lucy got it.

In a nutshell, the neurologist started out not worried. Then after an MRI showed multiple brain tumors, he was very worried and started saying they would do all they could for her, and we should try to stay positive. He was putting her in the 3-5% of children with NF1 who don't live past 21. He referred us to a brain surgeon (who is supposed to be amazing) to track her and let us know what to do. While waiting for the appointment with the neurosurgeon, she had a second MRI (three months after the first), and the neurologist was excited and told us that the tumors were not really growing as he had worried, and we didn't have to have another MRI for 6 months.

We didn't want people to treat Lucy differently, and didn't want her to change from this - so we are staying very "matter of fact" and positive. She knows she has the tumors, and that we are watching them. She knows that it means it is harder for her brain to talk to itself, so school is more difficult, but that just means she has to work a little harder.

We finally had the appointment with the neurosurgeon, and he said that most of the tumors were consistent with NF1 and not a worry - except for one in particular that had him very worried. He is ordering a PET scan, to determine if we need to biopsy, do surgery, or if we can wait - how long. So now we are waiting for that test to happen (everything has to wait on approval from insurance).

It is a huge waiting game, and there isn't anything that we can do. There is no cure for NF1, they can only treat the symptoms as they occur. I will keep you all updated as soon as we have the PET scan and get the results.

It's another girl!

OK - so I decided to take this blog catch up thing one bite at a time. So here is another bite! We had our ultrasound last week - and it's another girl. Her name is Esther Jolee. We don't have any other results until I see my OB on Thursday. Ryan, Lucy and I were hoping for a boy - and Emmie and Abigial wanted a girl. It would have been nice for Nathan to have a brother, and to share rooms it would have been nicer for two boys and 3 girls. But we thought Lucy was a boy, and wouldn't trade her for anything! So Esther will be the same - loved abundantly!

Fertility doesn't get you pregnant - birth control does!

Ok - so I am trying to catch up this blog - which isn't an easy task, since this has been a crazy and unusual year. One of the surprises this year was that despite having decided we were done having children after Nathan - and having a 10 year IUD in for the last 2 years, I got pregnant! The real kicker to this, is that we had such trouble getting pregnant with each of our children. We even tried fertility before we had Emmie, and it didn't work! Then it took three years in between each kidling to have another. After spending the first week in shock - the next month or two crying and depressed, I have come to accept that we have another sweet little spirit joining our family. Don't get me wrong, I adore all of my children. However, I was counting the days 'till Nathan would be in school, and I could have a half a day to clean or fold laundry without someone undoing it faster than I could do it. Or maybe being able to go for a walk or go to the gym. Or maybe having time to pick back up scrapbooking. Or maybe being able to get my two jobs done without feeling guilty that I should be playing with the kids. I was so excited to be getting rid of everything (babies use a LOT of stuff - the smaller the person, the bigger their stuff, and more of it). And I was excited to be getting my body back. I had started working out the previous year, and lost 40 lbs. I was looking and feeling great! And pregnancy is hard on me physically - and even harder trying to have another baby at 38! I'll qualify for AARP before my kids are even out of the house! Anyhow, I am coming around and will love this baby as much as my other children! Guess sanity, a clean house, and 5 seconds of free time will have to wait a little longer.

Let them be girls!

So last night, Emmie and Lucy came into our room to snuggle (which means find an excuse to stay up later), and we were all chatting together. When I told Emmie that Ryan and I had been married for over 14 years, Ryan quickly said "Fart-teen years". The girls giggled and started copying him. Then they proceeded to change other words (which I can't recall at this time) - talking like a bunch of boys!