SO…yeah…went garage sale-ing yesterday on a whim. Picked up my buddy Jenny, and we traversed to Granger seeking some good deals at neighborhood sales. We found a couple of decent sales, but were disappointed for the most part by the lack of sales in most of the neighborhoods. After quite a few disappointments, we stumbled upon the single best item that Jenny was hunting for all spring–a bike trailer! We dashed out of the van and Jenny staked her claim on a trailer worth 325 dollars…for 100 bucks. She was elated. I was tired. We hadn’t thought we would be out that long, and the dashboard clock in the van read 2:39 as we pulled away. After a long drive, we finally returned to our house at 3:30…Brielle (who usually goes to bed around 1), went down for a nap at 3:45. One down. But Bryce seemed to think he had caught enough of a catnap during our garage saleing that he refused to even be set down in his bed. <sigh> So much for my nap… (yeah right- I don’t take naps…haha)

At least I got to relax for awhile!

My sister Jessica just started her cosmetology training this week, and from Tuesday-Saturday she has “class”. I feel kinda bad for her cuz she has to drive an hour each way from Warsaw to South Bend, and that makes quite a long week. So, we offered to let her stay with us whenever she needs to, so she doesn’t have to drive so far-or spend as much money on gas. So right now she plans on spending Friday nights with us. I am already considering all the great things I can have her do while she’s here…like clean my house (for extra gas/spending money of course), or babysit while Joel and I go out, organize my junk in the basement, bake me delicious cinnamon rolls, “practice” her manicure and pedicure training skills on me, the list and possibilities are endless. But, I have decided to take it slow, the first night, I took it easy on her. I made her take a walk with Brielle and I (she pushed the stroller), and she helped me give the kids baths. Oh, and she helped us make Brielle eat a tomato…this was THE BIG ONE.

My daughter somehow thought that the tomatoes on her gordita taco were “yucky”. We explained that they were very yummy and that they even helped to make one of her favorite food groups…KETCHUP! But she refused to let even one small piece come near her mouth. For over a half an hour we tried it all, yelling, asking, pleading, bargaining, disguising, mixing it in with bites of strawberries, all to no avail. She would not try even one little piece of tomato. SO…Aunt “Ca” stepped in and said, “OK, if you won’t eat the tomato, I am going to leave. Bye!” and then she walked out the front door. Brielle started crying then, but still refused to eat a tomato. I then went into a panic, thinking she is calling our bluff, so I kinda forced a bite into her mouth while she screamed on the floor, and it happened to slide right down her throat. SUCCESS! She wasn’t happy, but we cheered for her and made a big deal about her eating the tomato. She climbed up in her chair and started eating her prize for trying the tomato-an Oreo cookie. When it was gone, she kept eating the rest of her food, including several more bites of tomato. We were all surprised-who knew she would eat more after the pain and suffering we all had just gone through. OH the joys of parenting a two year old.

Brielle also got to practice riding her tricycle in the driveway and street. She was so proud of herself- saying “bike! fun!” I told Jessica to go in and get the video camera from Joel to record her on her tricycle, and then we heard it. The somewhat happy-yet incredibly creepy at the same time-music of the ice cream truck. OH BOY. There was NO possible way for me to hide or usher my child into the house quickly without looking stupid. So I just stood there…and watched as the truck creeped up to where we stood at the side of the road, and STOPPED. And I kid you not-the guy driving looked exactly like the hunchback of Notre Dame…I am dead serious. He seemed nice and all-but every preconceived notion you have ever had about ice cream truck drivers was true in this guy. Thankfully, a lady came to the window, and asked us what we wanted, and Brielle quickly picked out a Spongebob Squarepants ice cream bar (it even had black gumball eyes). After shelling out the $2.25 we adventured back into the house, and I silently vowed to never get caught like a deer in the headlights by the ice cream man ever again…

Due to the graphic nature of this post, viewer discretion is advised. You may want to remove small children from the room, and those without a stomach for the vile things in life should abort their reading right about,…now.

So today has been a day of poo. Oh the woes of poo!

With one child potty training, and the other experiencing some mild constipation (treated, of course, with several over the counter laxatives) we had an interesting day.

Bryce had not had a decent poop since Wednesday. That all changed today. He had pooped a couple little turdlets throughout the morning, and in the afternoon produced a medium-sized, quite acceptable poop for the day (or so I thought!). I placed him on the floor to play, with his Boppy pillow around the back of him in case he fell backwards. Brielle wanted me to read her a book, and so I started in. About ten minutes later, I thought I smelled something. I asked Brielle if she had pooped, and she told me no. I checked her anyways, as two year olds are not always the most truthful of citizens. She was clean. That left only one other option. The boy. I crouched down beside him and took a whiff. Death. Oh yes, it was him. Brielle even checked, and her diagnosis was, “kinky!” I agreed, and went to pick him up.

Bad move. My fingers went down underneath his rear to lift him up (can’t lift underneath the arms because of his surgery)…and instead of baby legs, I felt goo. Warm oozy goo. Nasty…smelly….poop. It had literally poured from the side of his diaper into a pile on the blanket where he had been sitting. And here is the picture: (YES, I TOOK A PICTURE! AND DARN IT YOU WILL AT LEAST LOOK AT IT, I HAD MY FINGERS COATED IN IT, THE LEAST YOU CAN DO IS LOOK!)—but if you really don’t want to look, just imagine that I spilled some brownie batter on the floor:

And yeah, as bad as this looks, can you imagine, this is only about HALF of the poop. The rest was smeared all over his clothes and through his diaper. I spent the next 15 minutes frantically trying to clean poop off of everything, including me. Not an easy job-especially when Brielle wanted to “help” mommy clean up the mess. See that orange chew toy in the picture? Part of Brielle’s helping meant covering up the pile of poop with toys, including that one (it is in the dishwasher as we speak…er…type…whatever). The smell was everywhere, the poop was everywhere, I wished I could have been ANYWHERE else. One poop=one full load of laundry!

So…after the poop…all was well! At least Bryce was happy, see?

Look how great he looks! His incision is healing nicely too! He was thrilled to have all that poop out of his intestines I’m sure!

Well, not even an half hour later, Brielle (who usually tells us when she needs to go poop in the potty) decides to “hide” behind the couch, and do her “business”. And, having dealt with enough poop for the day-I did not want to deal with more. I ran her into the bathroom and told her she needed to finish going on the potty. She yelled, screamed, and kicked…but she finished pooping on the potty.  Thank goodness. Enough for the day.

Well, you made it to the end. Good for you. If you were looking forward to eating that chocolate doughnut, and now it just doesn’t seem appetizing, send it my way…

Today was quite a full day for us! It was my first day back in the saddle, so to speak. I am once again taking care of two kids by myself. I stayed surprisingly sane, and even managed to take not one, but TWO walks with the kids in the new double stroller (I LOVE it!!!) I even listed a couple of things on Ebay (to make money to support my garage sale habit).

Bryce is doing really well. I let him play on the floor today and even let Brielle play with him a little. It was the first time he let her come close and play with him. Every other time he has let out a high pitched, girl-ish sounding squeal if she gets within 12 inches of his body. I was happy to see them playing together again. His last steri-strip fell off of his incision today. It looks pretty good, but we go to the pediatrician tomorrow for a quick check to make sure everything looks and sounds ok. He is a bottomless pit when it comes to food. He scarfs down Cheerios as fast as I can dish them out.

Brielle had an interesting day today as well. She pooped on the polly (potty) after lunch, and it happened to be right before her nap. Her “prize” for going was two sour gummy worms. I gave them to her, and I sent her straight to bed with them (thinking she would eat them and then go to sleep). I have sent her to bed with jellybeans and she has always eaten them then gone to bed. When I went in to get her up, I found this:

Yes…the gummy worms had not quite made it down the gullet…they had been lubricated with just enough spit to create a super strong adhesive bond to her shirt. I couldn’t do anything but laugh (and take pictures). The worms WOULD NOT come off!!! We finally got them to come off with some good yanking, and Brielle thought it was just great how her treats stuck to her for later snacking.

There is still gummy worm residue on her shirt…

Let’s hope it all comes off in the wash!

On another side note, Brielle went poopy again (on the polly) tonight and we decided to reward with M and M’s this time (which then got smeared on the carpet–you just can’t win with this candy stuff!!!)

Brielle also did something today for the first time. She came up to me without any prompting, gave me a hug and said, “Love you, Mommy.” Just a sweet little innocent I love you…but it came from the heart, not from a command. It is such an eye-opening thing to finally have that love expressed back to you as a parent. I begin to see through our heavenly Father’s eyes when we say “I love you” to Him who first loved us—even when we acted waaaaaay worse than two-year-olds with temper tantrums…he still loved us first. Makes me want to say “I love you, Lord” so much more, because I know how He feels when he hears it, for the first, or even the millionth time- it feels just as good each time.

Well, once again it has been some time since I did a post. I have not fallen off the face of the Earth, (not yet at least) but I have been busy trying to readjust to having a house and two kids to take care of again. That’s where “Namaw” has come in handy! I have had my mom here helping with the kids, along with my great-aunt for most of the weekend. It wouldn’t be that bad if things were just “normal”, but Bryce is still healing, which requires extra care and supervision. I can’t leave him with Brielle in a room with Bryce by themselves, since big sister could easily clobber her little bro. Ugg…

I am so happy that Bryce is doing so well, and I cannot thank all of you enough for the prayers and support that has been given to us over the past few weeks. We have been immensely blessed by so many. Bryce continues to heal, and we have to be very careful about how we pick him up and where he sits to play, but otherwise he is acting completely normal. Praise the Lord! We are just thrilled with his progress.

I went garage sale-ing again this past weekend (sorry I didn’t call you Dana!-I just saw your post yesterday!). It was quite cold for garage sales, but we found some good deals. Got a double stroller that looks practically new. It will be nice for taking the kids on walks and more garage sale-ing…oh the addiction…

Well, it has been awhile since I posted a blog…it has been a long week…good, but long!

As my last post described, Bryce underwent open heart surgery this past Thursday to repair a hole in his heart down at Riley’s Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. We were incredibly blessed by the prayers and support we received throughout the day on Thursday, and Bryce came through everything perfectly. God is good! We have had several days of living at the hospital, and each day Bryce gets a little better. He went from surgery, to sedated, to recognizing us, to playing with toys, and even sitting up in bed in a 24 hour time frame. He is such a trooper. I have been amazed by how fast he is recovering and returning to his old self. He had a hole the size of a dime…a DIME…in his little baby heart. His heart is about the size of his closed fist…think size of a golf ball (maybe a little bigger, but not much!) He is even on just Tylenol for pain. Amazing! Praise God!

My trust in God and the strength of prayer support for us has just amazed me. I thought surely I would break down and be a complete mess about Bryce and his surgery (at some point). It hasn’t happened…and I am so encouraged and thankful for the support, prayers, and help of everyone around me.  I have found a strength and determination to seek God throughout this situation, and He has met me. It is so awesome to just be held in His embrace of love, and know He is in control of all my life. I have been at peace, with very little fear or worry, and full of a confidence that I can make it through this, and praise God through the whole thing. It is just such a wonderful feeling…the only way you feel it is by going through a trial with God by your side. All of us will…you are guaranteed it….knowing and preparing for it will make a huge difference in your attitude going through it. God won’t EVER let you down—He will never leave you, or forsake you—He promised. Just trust Him fully!

What I did NOT prepare for is the food. The massive quantities available to us while we are here has baffled me. I didn’t eat much when we first were here, since it has the most hectic and stressful at the beginning. But now, we know our way around and food just pours into our room, and straight to my waistline. People bring us cake (thanks, Jenny!), cinnabons and godiva chocolate (thanks Wes and Kendra!), cheesecake brownie cupcakes (thanks Sharon!), and many a homemade casserole (thanks Ronald McDonald house!). I know I have put on a few pounds just by looking at these delicious treats…and it doesn’t help that there is a 24 hour McDonald’s in the Hospital (how’s that for a long term job security…eat our food…get fat…stay here to get better!!!) I still think it’s a crazy thing! It does leave much fewer choices whenever you just get a sudden food craving. Guess I will be doing some extra workouts when I get home to work off these “Lellow M” pounds (Brielle calls McDonald’s Lellow M) It is what you eat and what you do (haha…)

The good news is that all is going well, and God is showing His grace, love, and power each and every minute we are here. Thanks for your prayers-they mean a lot- and we do appreciate them. God bless.

Well, the week is here…now that it’s Monday, it’s only a couple of days until we head to Indy for Bryce’s surgery.  I can’t believe it’s almost here. I really try not to worry or think about it, but it kinda is always stuck in the back of my mind. I have an inner peace about everything (thank the Lord!), but there are moments of doubt and worry that the enemy hurls at me. I think above all things I am sad about the whole thing. Sad for Bryce, knowing that he will be in pain, and unable to tell us about what he needs. All the things he has learned to do (roll, sit up, wiggle around on the floor, etc) will be put on hold for weeks while he recovers. I know God will be with us and take good care of my little guy. I cannot tell you how much we appreciate all the prayers and support from those around us. God has blessed us with a network of precious believers that are standing in as intercessors on our behalf. We are thankful and eternally grateful for you all. I am holding fast to God’s promises, and I know He will be faithful!

For those of you that are wondering details of the surgery, here is what we are expecting. We are going down to Riley Children’s Hospital on Wednesday for paperwork and blood tests. We have to be there at 3, and I am not sure how long it will take. Then, we stay all night in Indy, and keep Bryce with us. His surgery will be sometime during the day Thursday. We are unsure of the time it will begin, since the doctor performing the surgery is assisting another doctor that morning with a different case. So, we will be waiting for that doctor to finish before Bryce’s surgery. Pray that the first surgery goes quickly, since we probably won’t be able to give Bryce any food before the surgery (no milk or formula included!), and he might get fairly irritable just drinking water or apple juice. Pray for our sanity! Bryce will be prepped for the open heart surgery, and I know it takes awhile for them to just hook him up to all the proper machines and tubes. Once the surgery process begins, I don’t know how long he will be in the OR.  It looks like it will be anywhere from 3-6 hours, but it could vary even from that. The risks associated with repairing a VSD are almost nil (praise Him!). If it would require more repairs (like Tetralogy of Fallot…which is what he was diagnosed with having) the risks go up a little, but are still under 5%. Right now, we have been told that Bryce has symptoms more consistent with a VSD, and the symptoms of  Tetralogy have not developed.  So, hopefully, that means the surgery will be simple and with fewer repairs. The surgery will be the second most difficult part for me, the first being having to give my baby over to the doctors knowing where he is headed. I like having things planned-knowing what will happen and when, which is why this is hard for me. So many things are unknown, it’s like getting married or having your first baby…you have no idea what to do or expect when the time comes, you just go through the process as it comes. After the surgery, Bryce will be in recovery, then intensive care for at least the night, possibly the next day as well. From there, we spend the weekend and a few more days in the hospital waiting for recovery. Then hopefully we come home Tuesday or Wednesday. I noticed on one website that he will probably only have Tylenol and Ibuprofen for pain! They said infants have much less chest muscle, which means less irritation and pain (Yay!). So hopefully he won’t need any additional painkillers.

So that’s the plan… please pray for all to go as planned. Brielle will also be apart from us most of the time, so she may have a rough time missing us. Pray that she will not be too upset about not seeing us much.

Speaking of Brielle, I happened to look over at her just now, and she was supposed to be sitting in her chair eating. I discovered she decided to smear the oatmeal (once again) all over her arms, tray, shirt, and even her hair. She was licking her arms with gusto when I first saw her. I did take pictures (for Matt!) so once those are uploaded I will attach them to this post… What side of the family does she get this from? ugg…need to go clean up my kid!

Here I am again, trying to think of what to write…but the only thing I can think about are all the cinnamon rolls sitting on the counter calling my name. Jessica, my sister, came to visit today, and our focus was solely on making sweet, fattening treats for our dieting bodies to absorb like sponges. Haha. So…we made a bunch of cinnamon rolls…and ate some…ok, a lot of some…ahhh the cinnamony, gooey goodness..so much to drool over. I love when Jessica, or “aunt ca” comes to visit. There is always so much for us to giggle about for some reason. We just find humor in the stupidest things. I love having and being a sister! Funny that we were laughing over some pictures our other sister took of a Segway next to a tree…oh the randomness.

Joel and I recently made the decision to go off birth control pills, due to the fact they can abort fertilized eggs that are released in “breakthrough” ovulations. (If you are wondering what in the heck I just typed, google it and research—haha, it’s funny, people used to say, go look it up in the dictionary or encyclopedia, and now it is “Google it!” …oh how times have changed!!!) So today we received The Art of Natural Family Planning book. It’s basically the textbook on how to control making babies (for catholics, I might add). Anyways…I am finding the book a little difficult to read. I always seem to have a hard time when I feel people are trying to control my life, and I guess I feel like this book is telling me what I better do, or else! Maybe it’s just Satan trying to tell me this book is a bad idea or I just am resistant to change. Either way, it’s really the only way we are going to be able to plan our family in the future. I guess I just need to get over my pride/anger/frustration. It really is a massive book…so whenever I get done reading it and get it all figured out, maybe my heart will have a change in attitude. For now, I will pray that God changes my mind and heart towards the ideas presented. I really want my family to represent the holiness of God, and not my selfish desires.

Last thoughts of the day…Brielle said “miss you” randomly today to her blanket when she couldn’t find it. I thought it was cute and funny..and slightly out of place (the blanket wasn’t really gone, just misplaced), but then, when Daddy walked through the door at 8:15 (he was out helping some friends of ours move) she said, “Hi! Daddy! Miss you!” And my heart just melted. Such a sweet little girl, adores her daddy, and misses him. I love it when she makes my heart smile. Heck…forget all these family planning books…I will have seventeen babies in a heartbeat if they all turned out as nice as her! Hee hee, don’t tell my husband…

Matthew 18:3 And he said, ” I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 18:10 ” See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”

Matthew 19:13-14(and a little bit of personal insight from me) Then the little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them (perhaps childcare was not being provided, or parents didn’t supervise their ADD children running loose in the crowds…:) Jesus said, ” Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Wow.

Jesus wanted to touch those children. All the children. And we are to be like Jesus, and follow his example. I am so privileged to be a MOM! I get to spend all day watching my kids grow and take in the awesome world around them. Jesus was never too busy for children. He welcomed them and loved them just like everyone else. Just a thought for you today…think about how you treat children, and try looking through their eyes sometime, you’ll be amazed by what you see.

Speaking of children, mine were very cute today. Bryce tried Cheerios for the first time. Hee hee. He liked them, but had a hard time trying to gum them to death. They would usually fall out of his mouth before they could completely dissolve into mush, and then he’d have soggy Cheerios all over his tray. We also sing the song “My God is so Big, so strong, and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do…for you!” and when you say the part “so big” Bryce moves his hands around like he’s trying to do the same motion as me. Then, when you get to the part “there’s nothing my God cannot do” you shake your head no…and Bryce does it too! He will even start doing the no head shake before I say the words. It is really cute.

Brielle just amazes me by how much she is talking now. She is truly thankful for everything I do for her. It is so cute to hear, “kank you, mom!” in a genuine voice 500 times a day. Like for dinner, she saw her plate of food, right. And she was like, “Oh wow! Bread! Kank you mom! Grapes! Yum! Kank you! Mom, look,noo-noos (noodles)! wow! Kank you!” and on and on she went. I just love the fact that her heart is always fully in what she does.

Well, I better get to bed soon, Kanks for reading!

So, this morning, I decided to give Bryce a little juice after I fed him. He was thrilled with the idea of a bottle…but seemed disappointed by its contents. He took a few sips, but his tummy was already full and he was “all done”. I have been showing him the “all done” sign in sign language every time I feed him. When we get to the last bite, we say “all done” and wave both of our hands in the air. Well…when he decided he was done, he waved his little arms and did the all done sign—-BY HIMSELF! I was a little skeptical at first, not quite sure if he knew what he did, so I tested it a couple minutes later. I told him we were “all done” changing his diaper, and….the little hands went up and started flapping!!!! What a smart boy!!!! I know G’pa Wes claims to be the genius in the family, but I guess he passed on a little of his smarts to his grandson. Not even 8 months old and Bryce knows sign language! (ok, 1 sign doesn’t really count as a full language, I know)

On a more serious note, I read Psalms 32 today- a great pick me up, and God really spoke to me. I am trying to sort through all my feelings about Bryce’s upcoming surgery on the 17th. It is such a difficult thing to imagine happening, but I know God is giving me peace about the whole situation, and I know his promises will hold true in our lives. I really know God is using (and will continue to use) Bryce to grow our family in a deeper relationship with each other and with our Lord. I look over at my little guy happily bouncing in the exersaucer, and he has no idea how his life is impacting ours. Someday, he will have quite a story to hear about how God used him to strengthen our family.

Also, wanted to get a shout out to Howard and Mabel (err..Wes and Kendra) (Joel’s parents) celebrating their 28th anniversary (yesterday, April 5th officially). You guys are a true testament to God’s grace in relationships, and we admire your love for Him and for each other. Your children (I feel I can speak on their behalf…even as an out-law) admire you and love you both dearly for the love you show for them and for each other. Ok, don’t want to get too sappy on you guys, love you both!

Today is just a gorgeous day…need to go spend more time in the sunshine!

There is no other morning quite like Saturday morning. I love waking up knowing that the day will be spent with my family, with no schedule or agenda. The only thing better is a vacation…aaahhh…vacation. That sounds sooooo nice right now. I really need a good vacation this year, something kid friendly, warm, and fairly inexpensive. Any ideas? I think I could use some suggestions. So, today, give me some input…where Joel and I can go for our summer vacation. Let me know in your post where you are going, or places you have been and really liked. We have thought of a couple of places, but sometimes the best ideas come from others. Leave me a post, and a link for a site if you’re up to it…Thanks! (And if you want to join us on our vacation, pack your bags…just be prepared to help as a part-time nanny…)