Family pictures

Here are our family pictures.  Let me know if you want any printed.  And, just fyi, Annabelle refuses to smile for a camera these days.  Family, if you want a copy of any, please let me know.  I gave each picture a name above it.  Good luck choosing.  I have no idea what I'm going to print.  At least the family picture, if not others, will be in our 2016 Christmas card.

This is one is just for fun.  It made me laugh...  But if you want it printed, call it 'funny'

 Annie smiled for this one, lets call it 'smile'

 I love this one because of the golden sunset color.  Let's call it 'golden'.

 Dreamy

 Family

 Loving Annie

 Noah

 All 3 sitting

 All 3 walking

 Mama loves baby girl

Annabelle's 1 yr old pics

Annabelle turned 1 back on August 3.  We finally got her pictures taken.  It was pretty challenging because she didn't want to smile and she was so busy, as usual.  We didn't have this camera yet when Joy was one, but I remember Noah's 1 yr old pictures not being great either because he too was too busy to sit still long enough for a picture.  Anyhow, here is our big girl.  We are looking forward to family pictures and a group picture of all three being taken mid October by a friend here in Point.
Facts about Annie include...
1.  She loves her sister, a little more than her brother, who tends to pick on her a lot.
2.  She can walk, but still likes to be carried or hold a hand to walk.
3.  She still gets up at least once a night for a bottle.
4.  She says Hi, Hello (on the phone), and Peek.  And recently she started trying to sing the songs in her books.  She babbles to us all the time, so there could more words we just don't understand yet.
5.  She loves to play outside.  She is not very interested in toys.  Mom and Dad's stuff is most interesting.

A few updates

Here is the latest info on our family...

We currently have all 3 kids on antibiotics.  Joy got strep last weekend and will be finishing her meds soon.  Noah had to switch meds because his ear infection came back giving him symptoms that looked like strep, but wasn't.  Turns out, it was probably our fault his symptoms worsened.  We always left Noah's amoxicillin on the counter at room temperature, the way he likes it.  But, he got a different, stronger meds for this round of ear infection and we overlooked it was supposed to be kept in the fridge.  I asked the pharmacist if that would cause it to become ineffective and the answer was a definite, 'yes'.  Big roar, he was almost done with his 10 day course, and had to start all over again.  Annabelle also has an ear infection again so she will likely be getting ear tubes in the coming months too.

Surgery:  Noahs surgery has been reschedule for June 1 in Madison.  Marshfield is reluctantly allowing me to keep a June 16 date on the calendar too, as back-up.  His ear infection should be gone by then, but now he has started coughing, mildly, but still enough to cause concern and not proceed with the procedure.  Please join us in praying him well.  We've been staying home from church and the library gatherings and Noah hasn't been to Madison to visit the Rainbows and childcare kids in weeks.  We are all going a little stir crazy.  Also, I can't plan or schedule any summer events until the surgery happens, so life is literally on hold at the moment.

Annabelle has changed a lot in the last few weeks!  She is getting pretty good at scooting, not crawling, around a room.  She is still slow at it but can get to what she is wants in different parts of the room.  She has also started eating table food.  It took her about a full week to get used to having textures in her mouth, but she likes to eat with us now.  Her appetite has definitely grown in the last 1-2 weeks as well.  My milk supply has dropped again so we are weaning, which brings a lot of mixed feelings for me.  Sleep has been rough for her this whole month because of the ongoing ear infection that didn't fully respond to the first round of medication.  Lastly, that big girl pulled herself up to a stand in her crib this morning after I helped her sit up.

Joy, Annabelle, and I participated in the 1 mile Fun Run at her school on Saturday.  Joy, surprisingly, had very little energy and could barely run for it.  Then she could barely walk and couldn't stop eating after it was finished.  Silly girl!  Her allergies have kicked in a little more in the last few days.  Could allergies make her so tired?  She is really enjoying all the fun days in school lately.  Tomorrow she is heading downtown to the library, a park by the river, and for ice cream.  She can't wait!  And I can't believe there is only two full weeks left of school and then I have an almost 7 yr old, 1st grader in my house, yikes! 

I think that covers all the updates.  Please please help us pray Noah well for his surgery in 10 days.  I'll try to get some pictures and videos posted again soon.
Thanks for checking in!

Annabelle in the walker

First, update on Noah.  Today was supposed to be the day of his surgery, but low-and-behold, he has a double ear infection, which postponed the procedure.  Danny called to reschedule today and they booked him all the way to June 16!!  That's not acceptable, I don't really care what the anesthesia guidelines are.  There are times exceptions need to be made.  Noah has lived like this long enough.  We are going to try to schedule in Madison again in attempt to get something sooner.  Maybe we'll even have two surgery dates on the calendar, then one of them has to work, right?!

Now, here are a coupe cute videos of Annabelle.  One of her favorite things to play is peekaboo, and we found the best place to play it.  See the video below...



And, a friend borrowed us this walker and she figured out how to drive in just a couple days.  She can navigate around without a problem.  She's growing so fast!

All about Noah

Time sure is flying by and the To Do List doesn't get any shorter it seems.
Noah turned 4 back in March.  All of his cousins made the trip to visit us in Stevens Point for his birthday party on Saturday, March 26, and they all stayed overnight to celebrate Easter together on Sunday.  My very helpful and kind brother-in-laws helped Danny install a new garage door while they were here too.  It was a very needed upgrade!  Thanks again guys!
Noah had a great time at his party.  He chose to have Paw Patrol as the theme.  Sadly, it snowed earlier in the week so we were stuck inside, but he seemed to have a great time anyway.  The kids played hide-n-seek and then went on a mission as Marshall from the Paw Patrol to find Easter Eggs that were hidden around the house.  And, the whole family got in on the fun by having a Bucca contest that little cousin Logan had to have won.  Below are a few pictures of the fun.

The last picture is all of the cousins on Easter Sunday.  :)  LOVE!
Lastly, part of the what has kept us busy the last month is learning, through multiple doctor appointments, that Noah needs to have his tonsils and adenoids removed as well as get ear tubes placed.  He lost some of his hearing over the winter during one of the many colds he had.  We also noticed sleep problems about the same time.  We learned his swollen adenoids are retaining fluid in his ears and the adenoids and tonsils are causing the sleep problems.  He has surgery scheduled on May 11 in Marshfield.  Of course, Annabelle came down with the flu over the last couple days, so we are praying that Noah stays healthy so his surgery doesn't have to be postponed.
Besides all of that, the golf course opened last Saturday so the kids and I are adjusting to having Danny around less.  :(  But it helps that it is nicer outside so we can get out of the house a little more.

Annabelle's Half Birthday!

Annabelle is now 6 months old!  We had fun taking pictures of this happy girl (aka Happy Annie) over the weekend.  Believe it or not, she has suffered from croup and an ear infection all in the last week.  She is still coughing pretty bad, often waking her from naps and nighttime sleep.  Hopefully this cold will pass soon!  It's been a LONG week!  Annie can now sit well, give kisses, and only wake once at night to eat.  Her favorite toys are books she is allowed to chew on and crinkly sounding toys.  But most of all, she loves her family evident by her many smiles and snuggles throughout the day.  She is one special girl!!  {Family, please email me what pic and sizes you would like printed}
Here she is at 6 months...

                                                                 Rainbow Dress

                                                           Rainbow Dress with Twink

                                                             Black and White

                                                                  Pink Sitting

                                                                   Happy Annie

It's a new year!

It's a new year and hopefully far less eventful for our family than 2015.  Annabelle is growing a lot.  Our 5.5 month old baby is in 9 month clothes, moving into some 12 month already.  She started sitting at the end of December.  She also started eating baby food this past week.  She still eats once a night and wakes multiple times for her the pacifier - we're tired.  But, we call her our 'Happy Annie' because she rewards us with soooo many smiles.  Her snuggles are really sweet too.  Joy and Noah both adore her still.
Joy is finally in a good place again with school.  All of November and December she was a wreck, to put it lightly, every morning until she got on the bus.  A few behavior charts later, that resulted in her feeling successful, and lots of prayer, have worked their magic and she is a happy, healthy, loving life 6 yr old again.  Whew!   Her complaint was that the school day is too long and she missed us so much.  These feelings resulted in nightly wild meltdowns and severe anxiety in the mornings.  I can't say how thankful I am to be in this good place with her again.
Noah misses Joy when she is at school.  He often says he wants Joy to be home, which makes me sad for him.  I do my best to play with him and we stay busy, but I'm just not the same kind of fun as his sister.  Both Noah and Joy have joined AWANA at church (We finally found a church home in December!).  Both kids have memory work to complete each week.  I wasn't sure Noah could do it, but he surprised me.  We're hoping his speech becomes more clear with age, as you'll observe in the video, he is difficult to understand sometimes.  I blame that on the use of his thumb to soothe himself.  And, he will be turning 4 at the end of March.  He's making all kinds of birthday plans already, almost daily.
Danny is still SOOOOO happy at his job.  It is a dream come true and a huge blessing from God.  EventPro360 continues to gain success as well with appx 150 facilities using it, there are a few international facilities enrolled as well.  Danny's legacy continues, anything he touches works and is successful!
As far as I go, I'm tired but in love with my kids.  I have moments that could use improvement, usually related to the amount of patience I am lacking.  But, overall, I feel like I'm cruising through this life and am so blessed.  I look forward to things to come some days, but try to live in the moment.  I've made several new mommy friends in Stevens Point and feel accepted.  MOPS has been a huge help getting to know this community.  School has also opened many doors to meet neighbors and other friends too.
Enjoy the videos of the kiddos below...