Happy Anniversary!

In addition to yesterday being Thanksgiving, it was also Albert and my 4th anniversary. We were not able to do anything special yesterday, and I ruined our special meal, but the last four years have been special. I can not believe how quickly they have gone by. This last year has probably been our most difficult, and we are both hoping this new year will come with less trials. While these trials have brought us closer together, they have been very difficult. I am thankful God has blessed me with a husband who loves me, provides for me, protects me, and loves our little ones. More than that, I am thankful that he loves God and desires to bring our family closer to Him. 

Our first year of marriage we moved half way across the country and endured pilot training. Our second year of marriage we moved an hour and a half south, delivered our first baby boy and endured more pilot training. Our third year was full of deployments every other month and a lot of time apart. Our fourth year brought our second baby boy, crazy hormone swings and several more months apart. The coming year will bring our third baby, a move and more months apart. We are excited to share the next year's adventures together and with you.

Pregnant Women in the Kitchen

I think it would be safer for all involved if pregnant women were not allowed in the kitchen. Or at least this pregnant woman might need to take a bit of a break from cooking. On Wednesday I baked some oatmeal raisin cookies. I have made these cookies several times before, but this time they ran all over the stone and look a bit more like pancakes than cookies. They still taste great, though are not very soft, but they look like pancakes. 

Yesterday was even worse! I woke up early to have a little time before all of the cooking began. The 22 lb turkey was in the oven by 8:00 and I was mixing everything up. After a couple of hours I hear a lot of popping in the oven, I opened the door and everything looked fine. So, I continued with the sides. All of the sudden my eyes are watering like crazy and I can hardly breath. Let me back up a minute first. The last time I went grocery shopping I bought a couple extra gallons of milk so that we would not run out over Thanksgiving. I put the two extra gallons in the deep freezer. I took one out on Wed. for it to start defrosting. Yesterday, in the midst of mixing and cooking, I noticed that the milk jug had cracked and there was cream all over the shelf. So, Albert was outside hosing out the milk jug when I started smelling smoke. I opened the oven to find 6-8 inch flames. Yes, a grease fire started in our oven. I rushed over to the window to yell to Albert that there was a fire. He ran in and got the fire extinguisher and put it out. I was so upset! All of that work down the tubes. Albert called the base police to let them know that we had a fire and it was out. He was so shaken up that he gave them the address of our rental property in Enid. So, the police never came. We ended up taking all of our sides over to our friend's house and cooking them and eating there. We were still full without the turkey, but it just wasn't a complete meal. I think the meat on the inside of the turkey would have been fine, but it was not finished cooking, so Albert just threw it away. A 22 lb. turkey went in the trash! My stomach still turns at the thought of this. At least we all got out safely and the house did not burn down. It was a rough day though.

I'm sewing pink!

I have been looking for material for baby girl bedding for a couple of months. I already had material for a baby boy's crib bedding, so there was no need to search for that. Well, after looking at several different store's options of pre-made bedding and fabric ideas, I finally found the perfect material! Albert, the boys and I went to Hobby Lobby on Saturday to look for a couple of things and this material seemed to jump out at me. I quickly found some coordinating colors and cut the material when the little boys went to bed. Today I sewed it together and could not help but smile knowing that I do not have to give this pink away! I have sewn a few other girl blankets and burp cloths for baby gifts and I liked them and considered keeping them. But this was a project to keep in our home. The quilt is almost finished. I will probably work on it a little more tomorrow and hopefully I'll figure out how to upload pictures on my new computer. We are very excited about the dynamics of our family that await!

I will post an ultrasound pic soon!

Differences in Pregnancies

When I was pregnant with Canon, all I ever heard was that every pregnancy was different and everything was normal during pregnancy. So, here is a run down of the similarities and differences in my 2 1/2 pregnancies.

First pregnancy:

• I got sick (threw up) sporadically and only for the first 12 or 13 weeks. Then, I did not get sick at all.
• I gained about a pound a week starting at 4 weeks. :(
• My face and whole body were a little swollen.
• Canon moved a ton and I could always see him moving across the front of my belly.
• I needed a lot of sleep.
• My hair got really thick.
• I sat around a lot.
• I read every book, magazine, website available that talked about pregnancy, birth and newborns.
• Delivered two days late via Cesarean section.
• Had a 9 lb baby boy.

Second Pregnancy:

• I got sick very sporadically throughout my whole pregnancy.
• I gained 26 lbs on D-day.
• I stayed pretty small, though my face did swell a little.
• Boaz moved a lot, but he always made me feel motion sick because he was punching my organs.
• If I took a nap in the afternoon, I had a hard time falling asleep at night.
• I played with Canon a lot and sat around a little.
• My hair thickened up quite a bit.
• I tried to keep up with "Your Pregnancy week by week." But often lost track of what week I was on.
• Delivered three weeks and 2 days early with a 4 hour labor.
• Had a healthy, 7 lb 2 oz baby boy.

Third Pregnancy:

• I have not been sick at all, though hugged the toilet once for good measure.
• I've gained about a half pound a week.
• I feel like I am still pretty small, my face still looks normal and I can still see some muscles in my arms.
• I have felt the baby move for the last few weeks.
• I am functioning with about the same amount of sleep as I needed with Boaz.
• I am not sitting around much at all!
• My hair is falling out like it is summer time.
• I rarely know what week I am  on or what is going on with the baby.
• I thought my due date was 4/4, the doc moved it to 4/17, the ultrasound said it was 4/11.
• We are hoping to VBAC a baby GIRL sometime in April!

Crazy Morning

This morning was crazy! Albert went to work a little after 6:00 am. He returned home right around 8:00 am to help me finish getting the boys ready and leave for the doctor's office. We made it to the appointment about 20 minutes early to fill out paper work and wait...... and wait....... and wait. We waited until an hour past my appointment time to be called back. After the ultra-sound, which took 20 minutes, we rushed Albert back to work, rushed home to eat lunch and quickly left for Canon's doctor's appointment. Have you ever tried to rush a 2 year old or one year old to eat their lunch? This is not really a practical idea. So, I put the rest of Canon's lunch in a bag and brought Boaz's bottle with us. We made it to the doctor's office right on time and waited some more. It has been quite a tiring morning and I will shortly be enjoying a nap.

Grocery stores

The grocery store has become one of my least favorite places to visit. I enjoy having food in our home, but obtaining it is such a task. The other day I needed cubed ham and some bananas. Dilemma: Do I take the time to put the boys in a cart and gather my two items or do I let Canon walk, carry Boaz and pick up my two items. I decided on the latter. I really was hoping I would bump into a friend and ask them to wait in the van with the boys while I ran in quickly, but this did not happen. So, off we go. Canon is always excited for the opportunity to walk through the grocery store and his curiosity gets the best of him. Boaz does not hold on one little bit and is getting quite heavy. I had my I.D. card and debit card easily accessible and picked up our two items. Thankfully I did not need milk! We made it to the check out line and I went completely crazy and thought I'd try the self check-out since I only had two items....... hello and two children attached to me. What was I thinking?!? I completely forgot that I was going to have to search for the bananas on the produce page and Canon was going to notice the Tic Tacs....... I was ready to leave. We did survive and eventually made it out to the car and back home. When we got home I unpacked the bag and noticed there was more there than just my ham and bananas. Apparently the bag that I had chosen, due to it already being open, had two packages of batteries in it. I felt terrible that I had not noticed before, but have decided there is nothing I could have done. I did not see the person who checked out before me and I'm not sure there would be a way to track them down. So, we will just enjoy our free gift for surviving the grocery store and probably will not be making any trips like this when the baby arrives.

Now, today I lost my mind again! The boys have been sick for several days. Boaz's nose started to run yesterday and he has been coughing for several days and Canon has been on the illness roller-coaster. One day he has a fever, the next he is fine, coughing, runny nose, he has the works. So, Monday he stayed on the couch all day. This is the day I normally go grocery shopping. I have been wanting to switch to Thursdays, but thought I would go on Monday and Thursday to make the transition without running out of food. I had a doctor's appointment at 11:00 and was sure I could get all of my grocery shopping done before that. Until my little guy came up so sick. So, we have been scrounging for food the last few days. Albert has needed the van because he has to go to work so early and it is 40 degrees or below outside and we have stayed home to clear up this cold. This morning Albert needed a vehicle again, but planned to ride with a friend to their meeting. This left me the van for the morning. I was again hoping to get several errands done including grocery shopping and a little Christmas shopping. The curve ball came first thing this morning when Canon woke up with a fever and Boaz was ready for his morning nap at 7:30. I thought this would be another day at home without any food. OK, we do have some food, but not the meals I had planned on fixing. By mid-morning both of the boys were more playful and seemed to be feeling a little better. Boaz had taken a nap and Canon's fever had gone down. I decided we would run to Target and the Commissary. I could use our stroller to help confine the germs and get a couple of things done. I did not take into consideration the insane wind or the fact that it was 41 degrees outside. These are not exactly the best conditions for dragging out your sick kids! We made it through Target with good temperaments and Albert called just as I was buckling the boys into the van to head to the grocery store. He has been my hero this week. He said he would watch the boys while I went to the store. This never happens and it has happened twice this week! So, I brought the boys home, rushed to the grocery store, found a parking spot, went inside, and realized that I did not have my list! I have worked very hard the last few weeks to make sure my list is organized and complete. This morning I brought it with me to Target, put it in the sunshade so I could check off what I needed and what I picked up. Took the stroller out of the van to have room for the groceries and left the list at home. My grocery trip that should have been relaxing felt like I was digging for dinosaur bones in my memory. I don't think I've thought that hard to remember something in quite a while. This coupled with all of the elderly who have been retired for 50 years clogging up the aisles led to another frustrating shopping trip. I checked the list when I got home and to my surprise, I remembered almost everything. I did have my Thanksgiving list with me, thankfully! But still, very frustrating. 

Here are a couple of really funny shopping stories: LoraLynn, Kim. Hope you enjoy.

Furry friend

The boys and I spent the month of May in Colorado with my in-laws. When we returned home, my father-in-law parked their van in the neighbor's carport, no one lived there at the time. While they were here, the base lawn care service came by to mow the vacant home's yard. They were unable to mow the back yard because of my in-laws being parked there. So, my father-in-law mowed it. In the midst of mowing, he comes back to the house and tells my mother-in-law and me that we have to come see something. The grass had been pretty tall and Randy uncovered a nest of some sort of rodent. We could not tell what they were, but felt terrible for disturbing their nest. So, Becky, my sweet, farm-girl mother-in-law, thought we needed to bring them in. I was apprehensive. They were leaving in the morning and I had no desire to care for 3-4 little rodents. We collected a box and several towels and Becky took them out of the hole. Come to find out there were 7 babies. We went to Wal-mart to get some kitty milk for them and ran into a lady that is a vet-tech. She said they were probably baby bunnies and they had little to no chance of surviving in captivity. That even with the very best care, something could startle them and they would die. She also said that the mother bunny only comes back at night to feed them. So, we headed home with our kitty milk and attempted to feed the bunnies. In the morning, we put them back in their hole and laid sticks across the top to see if there was any action from the mama. Becky and I had many conversations about the bunnies. I think she thought I was just going to let them die. While I did not want to care for them, I could at least check on them. After a few days their eyes opened and I could tell they were getting fatter. It seemed that we did not bother the mama and she was still coming back to feed them. After a couple of weeks the nest was finally empty! I was so happy about this. I figured either a snake at them or they hopped away. Either way, I did not have to worry about them any more. 

We have had a few bunny sightings since then. Occasionally we'll see one dart off out of the back yard at night or something like that. Well, a little while ago I was sprinkling some old produce in my flower beds when a little cotton tale came shooting out from under a dead azalea. This happened right as my neighbor said hello, so I was quite startled! It was fun to see the little bunny though and think that possibly it was one that we looked after in June.

Blogging Brain

Lately I have not been blogging much because I have not been able to think of much to write about and when Albert is home, I try to not sit on the computer as much. Well, today I went to the grocery store by myself and actually had a little time to think. I could not think too much because I forgot my list......... yes, that was frustrating, but I did let my brain wander a little.

I don't think I've written much about my thoughts on Boaz's cat-scan. It was a precautionary measure all along. The doctor said if he was not walking along the furniture by his 12 month appointment and his head continued to stay in a higher percentile than his body, she would like to do a cat-scan to make sure there wasn't anything extra growing up there. I left the appointment feeling a bit like I had failed Boaz as a mother. He was not physically where he needed to be, was this because I had not worked with him enough? Now that I am not reading "What to expect the first year" I don't even know what he should be doing or when. I mean, I knew he was behind, but I didn't think he was that far off. Also, I have not had any concern for the size of his head. His brother and cousin both have very large brains and very big heads. A week or so after his appointment I ran the scenario by a friend from church who is a pediatrician and sees Boaz almost every week. Instantly she said that she had been concerned about the size of his head. This information coupled with the fact that my mom had a brain tumor when she was a teen made me feel a bit more urgent. I called Monday morning to set up the appointment. I also started thinking that if there was anything wrong and we did not find out until the beginning of the year, any treatment could run into a newborn baby's arrival and I am not sure if I could handle all of that at once. So, the sooner the better. Still, I was not expecting them to find anything, but I just wanted to get it over with.

The cat-scan went very smoothly. We were called on a Tuesday morning and asked if we could bring him in at 8:00 the next morning. This did not leave much time for worry, which was great. We had a little bit of a wait and the boys switched hands in the process. So, when the lady called Boaz back, Albert was holding him. Now, I completely trust Albert, but I wanted to know every detail of what they did to him and how he did and what the machine was like and if she would give me any info or indication....... well, this does not happen when you are sitting in the lobby! So, Albert took him back and I just smiled to keep from crying and felt like I was glued to my chair waiting for my baby to come back to me. Canon played nicely with the toys in the waiting room and I waited. Before I knew it, Albert and Boaz walked back in and said we were done. Ahhh, I was glad it was over. I became a little anxious and was slightly comforted by it taking so long to receive the results. I felt that if there was something on his brain, we would hear something quickly and if there was nothing extra, they would take their sweet time. Well, I was right! It was just over a week, and several calls to the Dr.'s office, before we finally heard that the scan came back and everything was normal and they would see us at his 12 month appointment.

That day Boaz seemed to start doing the things that caused the doctor to be concerned. He started sitting up on his own, crawling a little, and tries to pull up some. I'm so thankful that we have the technology and insurance to check out any concerns we have of our little ones.

Boaz Update

Boaz has been doing wonderfully. Ever since we had his cat-scan, he has been trying out more and more activities. For a couple of days I worked with him on sitting up on his own. Now, he is sitting up on his own all over the place. He has attempted crawling a few times, but still finds rolling faster. He is making a strong effort to pull up and gets up to his knees or one knee and one foot, but has not quite gotten up on both feet alone. He also has started jumping on his bottom. This is also his way of dancing. It is very funny! We have also been working with him on saying "Dada." He still has a little ways to go, but is trying very hard. Oh, and he has started to whistle a little. That is also very fun!

Canon Update

Canon has not had a ton going on the past couple of weeks. He has had a cold that has been going up and down. He has been pretty sick the last couple of days. Yesterday, he threw up right when we put the van in park at church yesterday. He has pretty much been laying around ever since. He woke up twice last night and has taken a couple of short naps today. I talked to the nurse this morning who informed me that everything they've been seeing is viral and to just treat the symptoms. I hope he wakes up refreshed in the morning and no one else gets this!

Baby Duck update

I had my fourth doctor's appointment today. I am 18 weeks and 3 days. The doctor's appointment was pretty uneventful. The boys have been sick, so Albert came home to take care of them. My doctor was running about 30 minutes, so I was thankful I did not have two sick boys with me. My blood pressure was fine and the baby's heart rate was 138. So, you have a little less than 4 days to get your guess in. Our ultra-sound is Friday morning at 9:00. I'm thinking our little one is a boy. What do you think?

Also, I've been feeling the baby move almost every day. That has really been fun.

Results finally

I received a phone call around 4:30 this afternoon that informed us that Boaz's cat-scan came back completely normal! This is such a relief. Today, Boaz sat up on his own a couple of times and has been trying very hard to stand up. This is great news as well. I guess Baby Bo is just on his own schedule and will not be rushed. It is great to know there is nothing extra growing in his brain though! Thank you for your prayers and concerns.

Boaz's cat-scan

Boaz's cat-scan went extremely well this morning. We got there right at 8 and had to wait a little while. But, once he was called back, it was over within 10 minutes! Albert took him back and I stayed with Canon. I felt like I was frozen in my seat just waiting for them to come back. Albert said Boaz did great! The lady strapped him to the table, sent him in the machine twice and that was it. Albert said he got a little agitated near the end but otherwise did great. I'm so thankful just to have it done. I'm hoping to hear results by tomorrow afternoon. I figure the longer it takes the less likely we are to have any issues. I will keep you updated as I find out more. Thank you for your prayers, Albert and I were both very relaxed and at peace this morning.

Please Pray

Hi guys, I'm not sure if anyone will read this before 8 a.m. in the morning, but I thought I'd post it anyway. Boaz's cat-scan was scheduled this morning for tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. We are having the cat-scan done to be sure nothing extra is growing on his brain. At his last doctor's appointment his head was in a much higher percentile than the rest of his body. Also, the doctor mentioned some great concern without knowing that my mom had a brain tumor when she was younger. Her tumor was not cancerous, but it was there for several years before detected. This is just a precautionary measure. But please pray that whatever the results are, they are very clear and the steps to take next are clear. Thank you in advance for your prayers.

In Christ,

The Ducks