live simple, laugh tons, and love unconditionally

"Sauly Saul"

2009-08-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some photo's of our sweet Saul! The girls call him "Sauly Saul" it is soo cute. They are sooo in love with their baby brother. The girls love to hold him and especially kiss on him, to the point where I have to tell them to give him some space. They run to give him his pacifier whenever he cries or tell me he's hungry. They are both such great big sisters! I just love what our family of five is! Saul has just blessed our lives so much! He is such a good baby! Very content, he cries when he's hungry, tired or uncomfortable, he's such a cuddler (which I LOVE!!) and is just so sweet. He sleeps really well at night, wakes up about every 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Not to mention it's nice not having to get up every 2 1/2 to 3 hrs, walk and go up 3 flights just to feed him and leave him in his NICU crib and go back down 3flights to go to sleep and do it over again. Those were the good nights cause it meant I had a bed. I really didn't mind any of those nights at Riley, I was happy to be the only mom who had the privilege of nursing my son when he was hungry. So we've been home for a week and are doing well! He had his 1 month "well baby" visit and the Dr. was really impressed with how well he is developing ( he's at a "normal" rate) despite 'what he's been through". The Dr's at Riley really wanted to make sure that this "well baby" appt went well, it was a concern for everyone just cause it hasn't been a "normal" first month for him. So he was born at 8 lbs even and 191/2 in long. He is now 9.6 lbs and 21 1/2 inches long! He's thriving and doing wonderfully. I can't thank God enough for this amazing gift, but also for all the people who have been here for us and supported us through it all. LOVE YOU!!

The first 3weeks of Saul's life.

2009-08-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

Hey there! I can't believe our wonderful Saul is here!! He is such sweet baby boy! I'm soo excited to have added him to the family! The past 3 weeks have been nuts. I can' t believe it's already been 3weeks that we've been here @ Riley Hospital! Soo I'll tell the story the shortest way I can without leaving out details, cause if nothing else I want to remember this time of our lives. So 2days before Saul's arrival Si got us a hotel room at the Shereton to just have a couple days to ourselves and kind of prepare for what was ahead of us. It was so nice to have that time, the first day we had the girls for a few hours just to spend some last moments together as a family of 4, that to was awesome. So the August 28th came and I went "under" in the O.R and woke up to the nurses saying that Saul was just fine, they didn't see or feel the cyst in his neck and he was doing great!! Pretty awesome way to wake up! Well they decided they would take an ultrasound of his neck just to make sure, even though at the time he was breathing on his own and doing so pretty well. By the second day though poor Saul was having a SUPER hard time breathing, every time he took a breath his chest caved in as if he were hiccuping. So the Dr.s decided to intubate him ( a breathing tube) so he could breathe easier, and also put a feeding tube down his mouth all the way to his stomach. When the results of the ultrasound came back they saw that the cyst(which was actually a enlarged lymph node) was indeed still there, it was just under the muscles in his neck and behind his trachea. So they decided they were going to do this thing called Sclero therapy. Basically an Intervention Radiologist puts a drain tube in the cyst (using ultrasound) drains the cyst, inserts alcohol and some other solutions, drain the solutions out and leave a suction on the tube to continue to suck out any accumulating fluids. Usually they do this therapy 3times in a week and they only had to do it 2 times with Saul because it was working so well and he didn't have much more draining out of the cyst. So after 2days of they therapy they took the drain out and extubated him (took his breathing tube out),let me start nursing to see how he would breathe while doing so. Saul knew just what to do! He latched right on and chugged for a good half hour the first time he ate, and kept doing well so they then took his feeding tube out. I just have to say our little sweet heart was known for being fiesty and trying to pull his tubes out of his mouth when they were in, the nurses just loved him but he would scare them to death when he would get a hold of those tubes! haha! He just knew they didn't belong in him! I also praise God for "hiding" the cyst when Saul was born , because he didn't have to have surgery and was able to have a much less invasive procedure done, the tube was basically the size of a needle and so you can barely even see where it was done. Thank you Lord for keeping our baby safe! If they would have gone in for surgery it would have been significantly more dangerous then they originally thought because the cyst was just beyond the Aorta and surrounded by a lot of important vessels, and organs, that it would have been super risky to do, so again, PRAISE GOD!!! So after a few days of nursing and doing well they let us take him home at 9on Monday night. OH MY you should have seen the girls faces when they saw their little brother! it was priceless! and of course i immediately started bawling just having our family of 5 finally together after 13 long days was awesome (the girls were not allowed in the NICU to see him). The whole ride home the girls were just falling head over heels in love with their little brother, his little hands were holding his fingers and their conversation about him was just precious!! they would say things like " i bet he really likes riding in the car" followed by " he's like what's a car, he doesn't even know what a car is" everything they said was followed by the " he's like whats__" SOOOO CUTE!! We got home and the girls got to hold him assisted by the boppy and adult supervision, Nadya couldn't get enough of him, she just wanted to be with him and was soooo distraught when she had to go to bed, Bella fell asleep in the car and so she didn't get to hold him the first night home. the next 2 days were bliss, the girls just loved him, they wouldn't leave his side, they came and talked to us while i nursed him they came and helped w diaper changes, they even helped with a bath and they both washed one of his legs, he even peed on both of them! HAHAHAHAHA! that was hilarious and they just thought it was the funniest thing! He is such a good baby, his doesn't cry too much , and most importantly he would have slept through the night if I let him! I had to wake him up every 4hrs to eat!!He also smiles a lot, mostly when he's asleep but his smile looks just like his 3D ultrasound photo of him smiling. That smile is going to be the end of me, I'll let everyone know that right now! Then on Thursday he had an ultra sound appointment, so we came back to Riley , the IR Dr. (Dr. Marsheleck) came and said the cyst hadn't grown much and would not affect his breathing, however he still wanted to do the Sclero therapy a gain to kind of "kill off" the cyst so that it wouldn't become a problem cause you never know how much it will fill up and didn't want us to come home and have an emergency situation on our hands. So he gave me the option of doing it on Thursday or doing it next week. Bella starts Kindergarten next week and I really wanted to be home for that so i said to go ahead and start the therapy that day. Well Dr. was really pleased when the procedure was over, he had drained 21cc out of the cyst the first time he drained it and on Thursday he only got 3cc!! So he only did the therapy once and now we are just waiting to go home after having an ultrasound on Monday, I'm really hoping that the ultrasound shows that the cyst has no fluid in it, or is at least so little that they are comfortable w sending us home. So tomorrow will be 21days of being here @ Riley, minus the 2 days we got to be home. Saul has been doing great, in fact they would have sent him home Friday but because he has the ultra sound tomorrow they wanted to keep him because when he goes out into the real world and comes back in he may carry outside diseases in with him. so we are keeping the other babies safe. I am tired! I'm ready to be home, I've spent some nights in the lounge, and some nights they are able to get me a room in the Ronald McDonald house. I'm just so ready for this to be a memory and be home with my family! I miss Simon and the girls sooo much and am ready to be all together again. After we go home , we'll still have to have weekly ultrasounds and then monthly and so on just to keep an eye on the cyst until they are for sure it's dead. Please continue to pray for our family and for our sweet Saul. He is soo precious and I can't wait for all of you to meet him! Only one more day!! Then I will post some photo's up of our handsome little boy.

A little update..

2009-06-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I had an ultrasound today.. It was AWESOME! My amniotic fluid went from measuring 29cm to 22cm!!! Still on the high side of normal the Dr. warned but hey at least I'm in normal range!! YAY!! Last week when they did a cervical ultrasound they found what they call "funneling" , basically your not supposed to have that until your about to go into labor, and there was NONE at all today!!! I went from being high risk to just at risk in one week!! Thank the Lord!! I guess resting and laying around really did work! I have to keep it up though to prevent from going back into that risky place! It is still hard because again being in our new home wanting to get as much of the basic unpacking and decorating done, I have to count on Simon A LOT to help and I can do some but I have to be sure to put my feet up and rest every few minutes. That's hard for me to do , it's also hard for me to boss Simon around. I know I know I should be loving it, but I'm "that person" that has to do it myself, cause only I do it right. ha ha! I guess through this whole thing the lessons I'm learning are that it's ok to and I SHOULD ask for help (very hard for me to do) and that i need to count on others and its perfectly fine if it's not exactly the way I would do it, and most of all to DEPEND on God, I don't have to hard of a time trusting in His will and in Him, but depending on Him for some reason falls into a different category, it's more like the asking for help... So God is good , He always is, always has been and always will be.. OH!! We also got some more 3D photos and Saul is totally smiling in one! He's already got me wrapped around his little fingers.

Lots going on

2009-06-09T06:20:00.000-07:00

OK!!! Since the last blog, we moved into our new house!! yay!!! All our stuff is here anyway, just have to unpack the boxes. The girls are in NC with their in-laws for 2 weeks!! 1 week down 1 more to go. I miss them, and definitely cried when they left, but it's been nice to be able to get stuff done around the house and go to Dr. appts w/o having to worry about them. They are having a blast out there. It's been really great to spend time with just Simon. We haven't had this much time, just the 2 of us since Bella was born , that was about 6months after we got married!! It's been really nice to have some quality time with him.

Now for the not as good news....

I had a Dr.s appt last Wednesday. I had gained 7 lbs in 2 wks and my belly measurement jumped from 30 cm to 34cm!! The Dr. was definitely concerned with that because she had just gotten my glucose test and thyroid results and found that I have borderline gestational diabetes and my thyroid is still on the "under active" side. Luckily i had an ultrasound already set up for the next day to try to figure out what was going on in this belly of mine. She was concerned about the size of the baby ( women w diabetes have larger babies). Thursday comes and I go in for my ultrasound. The cyst on Sauls neck had doubled in size from 2 wks ago, it hasn't grown that fast this whole time and even stopped growing for a little bit, and I have to much amniotic fluid, the highest your supposed to be is 24 and I had 29! I had gone from 17 to 29 in 2 wks!! That explained the rapid growth. They aren't sure if all that extra amniotic fluid is from the diabetes ( that would make Saul pee a lot) or if Saul isn't swallowing as much or isn't able to swallow enough due to the cyst. Saul is weighing about 3.9 Lbs which is normal and comforting (he's actually measuring about a wk ahead but still in the very normal range). I also found out that they have had my due date as August 8th instead of the 16th so that made me feel a little better. They put me on the monitor to monitor my contractions because I'd been having a lot more Braxton hicks contractions. All that to say, I'm on a diabetic diet even though it's not fully diabetes ( but we want to prevent it ) and I'm on slight bed rest. Basically that means I can do my normal things just have to take a lot more breaks to rest, and if anything I do makes me have a contraction, I have to stop and can't do that thing anymore.. The concern right now is that I could go into preterm labor since my uterus thinks it's further along (because of all the amniotic fluid) than it really is. So they told me to count and time my Braxton hicks contraction , if I have more than 6 in an hr I have to go in and also if my water breaks, obviously I have to go in. Which is scary, I've never been told @ 30 wks " if your water breaks..." So, continue to keep us in your prayers. It's been difficult trying to rest when we just moved into our first home,the girls are gone,i could be getting sooo much done! I want to unpack and make the home truly ours but I guess I have to do it slowly slowly. My next appt is this Friday and I have the MRI on Monday, we also have to meet with the pediatric surgeon Monday.. Crazy. Love you all. Thanks for your support, thoughts and prayers.

Good News!!

2009-05-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a looong time since I've said anything on here about Saul. First off I want to thank ALL of you for your love,support and prayers! We have truly felt Gods love and presence through all of you and we can't Thank you enough for that!. So Saul had his echo cardio a while ago and his heart is perfect, that was the main concern with only having the 2 vessel cord. PRAISE GOD! We've had a few more ultrasounds since then and the cyst is still there, it's measuring about 2cm by 1cm, for a while it was growing with him but at today 's ultrasound they said it was the same size and that it wasn't growing!!! PRAISE GOD!! So the cyst is still there, however he's growing and it's staying the same size!! The doctors are very impressed by how active he is, and he's growing at a great rate. He's starting to grow more and faster now the Dr.s assured me, but I'm pretty sure my belly and weight gain have assured me of that! ha ha! He weighs a little over 2Lbs right now, and they said that's normal so he's not a small baby which was another concern... OK I think I've got all that I know out... Thanks again for your prayers, we appreciate them and still need them! ALSO.... Tomorrow we have the inspection on our house in Pendleton, praying that goes well and if so we'll close between Friday(the 22nd) and Tuesday the 26th!! YAY!! Our very first house! We're so excited, and a little afraid.

Baby Saul.

2009-03-27T06:33:00.001-07:00

So for those of you who don't know we named our precious baby boy Saul. It means 'wanted or wished for". That's why we decided on the name because we wanted and wished for him sooo much and are so happy that we get to have a son! Simon is hoping that Saul will help him earn some of his "man card " back. We are feeling a lot better today after a lot of prayer and just letting all the information settle in. I just have a sense of peace and KNOW that it's all in Gods hands and that he is taking care of baby Saul and will provide us with whatever it is we need to handle whatever the situation or outcome may be. We know that He is the healer and that what we know is only a fraction of what He knows. So we are trusting in Him and still praying for continued peace and healing. I can't thank God enough for having such an AMAZING group pf family and friends that are here to support us, and be here for us! THANK YOU sooooo much! I'll keep everyone updated on how things are going, right now it's just kind of a waiting game. I also wanted to share that the girls have just been sooo sweet, we told them yesterday that Saul can hear them now and they just kept talking to my belly saying things like " this is Bella/Nadya , I love you Saul!! we can't wait for you to get here, we're your big sisters....." It was soo cute.. So thank you all again! We love and appreciate you sooo much!

We're having a BOY!!

2009-03-26T08:02:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it! I'm posting again! hahaha! We just found out yesterday, more like confirmed, that we are having a baby boy! We're all really excited! The girls even said that they wanted a baby boy before a baby girl so i think everyone is pleased with the outcome. We haven't picked a name yet, for some reason it seems harder this time! I feel like there's a lot more thought going into it, maybe too much thought, but we'll let you know when we come up with our son's name. Our son!!Sounds weird, but awesome... So here is the part where we NEED everyone's prayers.. During the ultra sound the found a "moderate" size cyst on his neck that is twice the size of his stomach, and also his umbilical cord only has 2 blood vessels instead of 3 which is called single umbilical artery and only 1% of single births have it( heart issues, urinarytract issues, and other abnormalities can come from this)... Otherwise everything is completely normal, he's growing, all his other organs appear normal, he doesn't have any physical deformities, other than the cyst and the umbilical cord... So they sent us straight away to a specialist who took another ultrasound with more powerful equipment and pretty much confirmed what the first ultrasound discovered. Then the Dr. started talking what sounded like gibberish to me and basically told us all the things that it could be (none of which sounded good). The ones she talked most about were that it could be a tracheoesopageal festula, (look it up, don't feel like explaining) or just a cyst in his neck (could also be chromosomal or genetic defects). Either one of the 2 "main focuses" will need immediate surgery after he is born. We are to say the least very scared and really concerned for our precious baby. There is a lot of unknowns and"could be this or that" and it's all really overwhelming. So this is what we're doing, instead of doing an amniocentesis we are just going to monitor it, which means getting ultrasounds every couple weeks. The next ultra sound is going to be an EKG on the baby's heart, and then I will have to get an MRI, so they can maybe better tell whats going on. We are praying for our son and hoping he's not in any pain or discomfort. It was encouraging and even the Dr. said that because he was soooo active that it was a good sign. He was all over the place... So just keep our family in your prayers the girls know that the baby may be sick when he gets here and they are still more than willing to help mama take care of him. We're trying to stay as positive as we can and just praying.

Morning Sickness

2008-12-18T11:36:00.000-08:00

It has begun. UGH!! Not sure why they call it morning sickness cause for me it hits at night... And it pretty much sucks.. But all worth it in the end.

I got knocked up!!

2008-12-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

So there it is you guys!! 3 tests all positive, for baby # 3!!! AGHHHHHH!! I can't believe it!! right now I'm soo excited, and I haven't started feeling like crap either so that's really nice!!! I've been having a few anxiety moments with the thoughts of how challenging it's going to be with 3 and not having and extra hand... But I'm sure you may or may not hare about more of those excitements and anxieties later on.. but For now I'm just praising God and grateful for the blessing and opportunity. For now I think I'm about 6 weeks along, which means it'll be an August /September babe, I have my first appointment the first week in January, so I guess I'll "know" more specifics then!!! YAY!!! We're having another baby!! Lord Please be with us!! Love you guys!!

Flashbacks

2008-12-05T14:55:00.000-08:00

So I had a horrible flashback of when I was 8 or 9... My sisters used to tell me as a "tease" that I was "adopted" from the "Philippines" because I had "almond" shaped eyes or that the were"slanted" and because I had loads of freckles...)please notice all the "s, you may say "That makes no sense" but I was 8 or 9 people!!! And trust me I already thought something was weird because i was a different "shade" than my mom... At that time I wasn't smart enough to put 2 &2 together, if I had considered my Dad I had come to that " somewhere in between", it might have made more sense to me... Any how the reason for the story is....... Nadya and I were hanging out, being cuddly and giggly and she looked up at me and said "mommy why do your eye's look like this??", she took her little fingers and pulled her little eyes as far apart as she could.... making them as small and as slanted as she could....... After coming to terms that my sisters were"just teasing me".. I found myself self conscious again, I guess I didn't realize it was that obvious!! .. I should have known that when I did the "Celebrity-look-a-like" and all the people were Asian celebrities, that maybe my eyes are more slanted than I thought.... Well y'all that's the way God made me!! It's kinda funny because after that happened prior to me telling anyone I went to a Japanese restaurant to meet with friends and when I walked in they thought I was one of the owners!!... NICE!!! Love you guys Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, in case I don't get on here before!! May God Bless you by the tons!!

High School Musical.......

2008-11-18T13:21:00.000-08:00

Sadly our girls are into High School Musical ... Sadly, I say, but secretly I say "YES".. for those of you that were in Show Choir ( and yes I capitalized it) you may appreciate it because it makes me re-live the days of show choir...It's the only thing I can get Nadya to sit still and watch.. she doesn't like cartoons... only musicals,(I've rented "South Pacific, and "Rent"...for her purposes ONLY of course) and live performance... She loves the "Singers" videos (not even in DVD.. VHS.. You old folk will know what I'm talking about..) Thank God for music and musicals!! God knew what He was doing when He made music a universal language... Or at least a means for my sanity......

BELLA CAN READ!!!!

2008-11-18T12:59:00.000-08:00

So Bella read her first word this weekend... the word was ZOOM.. I asked her " how do you know that it is ZOOM".. She said "It looked like ZOO BUT HAS AN "m" on the end so that means it's ZOOM!!" Apparently she's been able to read longer than I've Known... I didn't even know she knew how to spell or read Zoo.. Although I did Know that she could spell the letter "B"... b-e-e is what she says, she can also spell the letter "c" s-e-e.... she wants to know how to spell every letter in the alphabet... ummmm I don't even know that... she's so smart!!

SURPRISE!!!! WE'RE BACK!!

2008-11-06T06:42:00.000-08:00

Well hello there!!
If you are reading this I'm so grateful that you were patient enough to wait on us!! Sorry it has been to long!! For me it was a great, stressful, emotional summer for me and so I was a little overwhelmed you could say and I tend to withdraw when I am feeling that way! So that's the long/short of it, Thank you for understanding!! SO!! A lot has happened since the last post.. not sure if I'll remember it all but I'll give you a briefing.
~Went to San Fran to visit Joel and Jeanne Norsworthy! First vacation together (Si and I) without the girls! It was sooo awesome and incredible!!
~moved into house (love the space!)
~Sister and her wonderful family came to visit for a few days (about a week after getting into the house) Oh how I miss them!
~both girls got strep within 2 week of moving into house!
~Nadya had her tonsils taken out about 2weeks after that (lets just say she was on antibiotics for about a month) That was really trying! Seeing my baby in so much pain for 2 weeks and not being able to do anything about it, plus the pain meds she was on made here REALLY crazy and mean!! (when she was in her crazy mode Simon would call her Anna Nicole Smith if that paints a better image for you) when she was mean she was mean, not looking forward to teenage yrs!
~ Si started a new job at Roche, the same day the girls started school! That was tough for me! Just the transition of having the girls all to myself, to them being in school. Trusting other people with them and trusting that I've done enough for them to be ok.. Our life is official revolved and scheduled around school!! They have an actual school sched. 9-2pm every day, and all the breaks that regular schools have. The girls go alternate days so I get to have one on one time with them and on Wednesday's they are both in school, so I get to have that time to myself!!
~ Went off my ADD meds, and off birth control.... that's been a hard adjustment for me! It was like I finally figured out "what was wrong with me" and it's almost more frustrating now than before cause I know what it's like to be able to complete thoughts and not have anxiety, not being all jumbled and stuff like that, so being like that again almost feels worse, but I'm coping and finally starting to accept it.. As for the birth control, we're just seeing if God wants to bless us with more prescious ones....
~ Went to NC for my Mother-in-law's 50th birthday.. that was fun.
Alrighty this is long I know and there were more things that happed but those were the highlights... thanks for taking the time to read it!
I'll leave you with a photo from Halloween and will start posting hopefully at least once a week! Miss all of you! Thanks again for your patience with me, you are virtuous!!

We went with Samamra, the witch, we've gone trick or treating with her every yr for the last 3 yrs! She lives in a small (yet rich) neighborhood and we're usually the only kids that ever come so we ( I mean the girls) get loads of candy!! Nadya and Bella picked their costumes, Bella was a mouse ( kept telling her she was a good mouse beacause she was being quiet like a mouse) and Nadya was a butterfly.. Guess who the "girly" one is!! Ha ha!! Love you guys!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!

2008-07-08T09:08:00.001-07:00

Patience is a virtue... I'll finish this up soon! hee hee!

this is what I've been up to..

2008-05-27T06:19:00.000-07:00

So, we have been getting our house ready to move into this weekend.. sorry haven't even posted photo's from vacation.. will do maybe from our new house.. Hope everyone is well, this is what we've been doing..and this is only the down stairs but I am happy to say we don't have one white room in the house!! except for closets and laundry rm... the house was all white and nasty smelly carpet..(the people who lived there before had 6 kids under the age of 9 and 4 dogs, all of which were not taken care of...) whew, it's been alot of work!! i'm glad it's almost over and soon we can get settled into our new house and have a party!! yay!! can't wait to have you guys over!
the paint looks better dry.. i love it!!
Rachel painting...

claeaning the tops of the cupboards, ugh, that was gross..
They took out the yucky carpet down stairs and put in wood flooring..yay!! love it!
> Miss the days of dancing in the vineyards in Nappa Valley...... more of those later, gotta pack some boxes.... Love and miss you all!

hahaha! one more funny story...

2008-04-28T15:04:00.000-07:00

So Bella has had a lot of "gas" today. She has just been toot'n' all over the place.. so i said "wow your really gassy today!" then I thought it was a perfect opportunity to teach her some science.. So I said: "do you know what that means when your gassy?
Bella:"what does it mean??"
Me:" it means that you have air in your belly and when you toot you let that air out"
In total disregard of my science lesson she replies: " yeah there are people in my belly walking around putting gas in me!! I'm their car and they think I'm thirsty so they are putting gas in me!!"
hahahaha!
Meanwhile Nadya is walking around pretty upset saying: " that doesn't smell good mommy! It doesn't smell good in here!!"
Bella starts laughing and says "it's just me Nadya!"
Ahhh! The joys of children! They crack me up every day!

April showers..

2008-04-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it's been WAY to long since my last post..But after much convincing from a beautiful young woman whose name will remain anonymous, I decided to buckle down and post a blog. Sooo let's catch you up here.
#1. We are going on vacation!!! YAY!! Next weekend we will be driving to North Carolina and dropping the girls off at my in laws and then Si and I are flying to San Francisco!!!! WHEW HOOOO!!! We will be in CA for 5days!! This is the longest we've ever been with out the girls and the longest time Si and I have had our very own vacation!! It'll be interesting leaving the girls! I'm excited, sad, nervous and ready for it all at the same time!! There will definitely be some fun postings after that!
#2. We are moving into a house!!! YAY!! When we get back from our fun filled vacation the family and I will be moving into a house! We are still going to be renting, which is good, we get to try the house out for size and if we love it we'll buy it, or if we hate it there is no attachment to it. I'm just really excited to be in a house and have a separate area for all the girls toys and "stuff" and have another place that we can relax, and not always be in the same room as them cause right now if you are in the living room, kitchen, dinning or computer room your still in just one big room. Now I know the girls stuff will make it's way from the loft to the the living room but at least I know where it goes..It is a 3 bed room 2 1/2 bath has a loft and garage... yay!!
#3. Nadya had an ENT Dr.s appointment today and we have found that she NEEDS her tonsils and adenoids taken out and may need tubes put in her ears to maybe improve her hearing, I say maybe because they did a hearing test on her and they couldn't tell if it was her just being scared and shy or if she couldn't if in deed she has lost some hearing (which was a concern of mine because it's been a obvious loss of hearing that I have noticed , but know it's because of her adenoids... they did a few tests and we're going to do a retest in a few weeks.. so I'll let you know more on that, when i do, her surgery will be in the end of June beginning of July.. that is a scary and stressful thing, please pray for her and us as we go through that with her...
I think that's it as far as major events that have happened to us in the last couple weeks.. So here are some photo's of Bella playing dress up.. she's gone from the princess thing to dogs, which led into angry teenager and the hippie child.. hahahahah! there you go Hillary! I told you I would post one!!! (love you) May a storm of blessings fall on all of you! We love you!!

I just threw this one in for the "aww" factor.. I love it! so peaceful!

Easter!

2008-03-27T16:33:00.001-07:00

My friend Rachel decided that she wanted to have a little photo shoot with the girls in their easter dresses, I must say i have the prettiest little girls in the world (I'm not bias at all! hahaha) so here are some photo's of rachel taking photo's! hahaha!

how prescious is that!! oh man i"m so blessed/cursed! hahaha! cursed meaning when they are older and they have all theese boys calling for them! wow! I can' twait to see what kind of dad Simon will be then! hahaha!

a photo of the photo shoot, she did a great job!! we even got little Tommy in on a few!! those will show up again soon I'm sure!

The Girls"BIG" Birthday Party

2008-03-21T06:47:00.000-07:00

hey all ! The girls had a blast at their birthday party!! Thanks to everyone who came, we all loved having you there! and for those that couldn't we missed you! The girls especially missed having their cousins Eva, Alastor, and Owen there (miss you soo much) Gonna have a bunch of photo's and explain if needed. It was held at The Little Gym. Enjoy!!

Gage got started right away!
These 4 are trouble!! JK, those were my regular boys that I watched but now Josh (beside Bella) is in school and Kingston (beside Nadya) just had a baby sister (Hayden) so he's staying home with Mommy. Miss those boys.
going around saying their names and ages
walking around in a circle to some song, as you can see it turned into running around pretty quickly!
rolling around

Camden even got into it! Ata boy Cam! way to follow directions!
pause for a photo with papa
ball time!!!
look Gage even got a ball among all the "big kids"
this is where they were knocking down the "big cheese wedge". The kids would (one at a time) stand on the green dot then run and knock over this huge foam wedge over. The kids really liked that!

Cam's turn! Go get it!
Birthday cake
waiting for some cake
Papa and his big Girls
Family shot.

getting ready to open gifts.
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ALL THE GIFTS! THEY LOVED ALL OF THEM!!
when we got home of course all the kids got all the new toys out.
the girls IMMEDIATELY got into their princess outfits, they looked so cute and beautiful, they wear them everyday, all day.
after being princesses the wanted to put on some of their new African outfits that Koko Mwasi (Si's mom) brought back from Africa

we got some African dresses to!! that Gilda, my sis-in-law, Bo's wife.
us in our African outfits.

It was an awesome day!@ people stayed over and more came to house had some snacks and just hung out and celebrated our girls, the whole weekend was fun (I'm still trying to recover! haha) Thank you all again for everything! have a great Easter!!

My new 3yr old!

2008-03-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

Nadya turned 3!! March 12th was her third birthday and she's been asking about her birthday since Bella had hers, and to my dismay it came sooner than later! She is sooo precious! I love my baby girl! she is sooo funny, sweet, loving, and entertaining.. It's soo funny cause we had her all wrong! You see when she was younger she was VERY aggressive, so we just knew that she was going to be our tom boy... NOT!! (hahaha! yes i just said not! , and yes i crack myself up!) She is the girliest girl ever! She loves pink, and sparkles and all that girlie stuff! When we would ask her what she wanted for her birthday she would say " umm.... a sparkly,shirt, sparkly dress, sparkly pants, and a sparkly hat , I already have sparkly shoes so I don't need sparkly shoes!!" hahahha! She still likes to play rough,pick her nose (and crack up cause she knows its supposed to be yucky), antagonize her sister,and best of all her cackle of a laugh when she thinks she is soo funny ( she usually is), but through all that she just wants pink sparkly "stuff". so here she is our beautiful 3 year old! Love you Nadi!

We woke her up super early (ok , it was 7, but si had to get to work!!) and gave her her Barbie Mariposa out fit. for those of you not fluent in spanish mariposa means butterfly, i learned that from Dora the Explorer.

still has no idea whats going on, although when we asked her if she knew how old she was she did hold up 3 fingers!

Ahhh! she's more awake and just blew out her candle.

she doesn't lie about her age.

Happy birthday sis!

P.s I cut my hair, here is the jist of it not that it looks much different when it's "done" . Have a great week can't wait to see alot of you this weekend!

My Most Favoritest Man.

2008-02-23T06:13:00.000-08:00

I just want to say I have the most amazing husband in the world! He has been a strong force in our family.. Not only is he working a very stressful job (not to mention taking on 3 different jobs), He's in school getting his MBA, he's getting awesome grades, and even searching for other jobs so he can grow even more and dealing well with the stress that comes with that. On top of all that He still finds time to send me e-mails everyday with words of encouragement (or whatever he feels like), he helps around the house, make me laugh, makes sure we stay on top of things spiritually, and loves me in the most perfect way. He's the most fantastic father, and even more comes home to other kids I'm watching and has fun with them to! He's is such a wonderful man! God really showed me favor when he blessed me with this man! THANK YOU LORD!!!!

I'm the luckiest girl in the world, isn't he soooo dreamy! hahahaha!

He is handsome even with a "dirty 'stache" !

My man is a model! Nice hat!

I love you "more than I can promise" Simon! Thank you for all you are and all you do!

Izabella is 4 today!!

2008-02-04T18:03:00.000-08:00

Wow, I'm not really sure how to start this blog or what to say. My first born is no longer a toddler! She's a preschooler!! She's like a real kid!! It seems like yesterday I held her in my arms for the first time, nursed her for the first time, cried cause i couldn't get her to stop crying for the first time, became overly protective for the first time, loved like I'd never loved for the first time....saw her reach, sit, crawl, stand, cruise, walk, fall, first time she bled and how instead of being panicked I was calm, first tooth, word, and the most blessed thing , the first time she said "I love you." I know all of you who have children remember all those "first times", how could you ever forget them, they are the most beautiful, prescious, magical moments you have "for the first time" with your first child! It is so emotional for me to know that she is no longer a toddler but is a preschooler, a real kid!! Don't get me wrong it is sad but it is also amazing to see her growing up into the little girl (not young lady yet, that comes ALOT later, baby steps you guys c'mon!)that God wants and has created her to be. My prayer is that I can be the mother that she needs me to be to prepare her for this world, to have self confidence, and most of all to continue in the path that God has started her on. I'm aware later on in life she may get off the path a wee bit, but I hope that God can and will use me during those times to get her back on the path and right back to where God wants her. I love her soo much and the person she is becoming, and even admire some traits she has that let me know she'll get by and survive this crazy life just fine. So I guess all in all I am soooo grateful for the incredible gift God has given me with my first born, and am soooo humbled that God would grant me this honor not only once but twice and hopefully more to come... I love you Izabella Lobunza Kratzat! My Bellarina princess.
Bella's "little birthday" as she calls it, her "Big Birthday" is coming later,

She got her first real digital camera..Our way of getting her to stop using ours before she breaks it!

She was sooo excited and has been taking pictures non stop, and uploading them onto the computer. She's actually had some really good photos!! (Watch out Jeanne! Actually you can be her mentor..)

She got an Angelina Ballerina movie from Gramma Nili and Babu, for my little Bellarina...

There she is, my gorgeous 4 year old first born daughter.

My girls crack me up!!

2008-01-26T11:24:00.000-08:00

OK, not much to say but that the girls looove to dress themselves , more like insist on it so here are a few photo's of their out fits! enjoy!!

Nadya(Cinderella) and friend Samara(Belle?)
Bella as Snow white
Love this outfit yellow shirt, white frilly dress that is way tooo small, it wouldn't even zip up in the back, pink shorts, green tights with navy deer on them and multi colored crocs to tie it all together.!!! hahahah! love it my little fasioneesta
midnight service they were only going to wear their p.j's but insisted on wearing dresses over them, you gotta let them express themselves right??
these boots were made for walking and they look sooo much better on her than they do on me!

the girls looove putting on Uncle BoBo's clothes on when we go visit them, it's sort of become tradition! every time we go there the first thing they want to do is put his

this is a funky scarf that I have, they loooove wearing it! this time they decided to attach themselves by the head.
You remember this one, undies,headband, necklaces, yeah, I think she's all about the accessories not so much the outfit!! hahhaa

Feeling the Love

2008-01-22T04:12:00.000-08:00

I just had the best weekend!! Simon was gone all week on a spiritual retreat, so I got to have even more one on one time with my girls.. So the nights he was gone, the girls and I would do a "special thing since papa is gone ". They got to fall asleep with me on the couch, and then I would take them to bed. So on Thursday night Simon calls and is just telling me about how much he misses me and doesn't think he's gonna be able to make it the rest of the weekend, I thought "Awww! he misses me! " (He's gone on several business trips but has always been so busy that he didn't get the chance to REALLY miss me, or atleast mean it when he told me, hahaha!). So i thought that was just awesome that he was miserable because he missed me soo much. ;-). That night the girls were falling asleep on the couch while I held them and they tell each other they "I love you", grab hold of each others hands and fall asleep! (awww) and then simultaneously in their sleep they let go of each others hands and each of them grab my hand!! (tear, tear!! sooo beautiful!!) so I waited a little longer before I took them to bed that night! So Friday comes along and Simon calls and says "I'm on my way home, pack you and the girls up we're gonna go somewhere!!!" WHAT!!! AWESOME!! So he takes us to Cincinnati, we drop the girls off at my brother-in-law's(and his wife) place and we go and stay at the HILTON!!! It was amazing! and then on Saturday night we decided to have the girls with us and that to was just incredible! just the boost I needed!! I can't thank God enough for having such an amazing family!! Simon didn't have to take me on a weekend get away, I was happy enough with him going crazy cause he missed me so much! hahah! I love you Simon! I love you Izabella and Nadya!! Thanks you Lord, from the bottom of my heart I am eternally grateful, and owe you BIG time for this awesome family and life you have given me!
The Family enjoying our stay in the hotel! It was soo much fun, relaxing and just getting out of the house was a bonus! hahaha!

Please pray for Kenya

2008-01-01T16:23:00.000-08:00

My parents have been up here in Indiana for about a month and a half, and we have the pleasure of having them stay with us for 3 weeks... They were supposed to leave to go back to Kenya on the 7th of Jan. However that has had to be postponed because things are REALLY horrible in Kenya right now. They just had elections and it was apparently a really shady election so there is a lot of fighting, looting, killings the death count as of now is almost 300, this has just happened in the last week.Roads are closed, airports have cancelled flights and people can't even go to the grocery store safely.. It's really sad because Kenya is normally a very peaceful country and has just progressed wonderfully, and this is going to set them back like 20 years. I have my whole dads side of the family there, friends , many loved ones. Please pray for the safety of all the innocent, the children,our families and just the country as a whole. I'm so glad that mom and dad aren't there right now in the midst of this and that they are safely here with us. They have been a tremendous help for us with watching the kids, financially,doing dishes, and Simon and I have had more time to spend together to ! That's always great! Thanks mom and dad for all your help! We love you and are enjoying our time with you.

This is going to be a loooong one! merry christmas!

2007-12-28T11:40:00.001-08:00

Merry late Christmas and Happy New year to everyone! We had a wonderful Christmas season this year! The girls really were getting into everything! From the snow, christmas songs, decorating christmas cookies,learning about Jesus's birthday, all the way to Santa and their favorite, Rudolph!! hahahaha! So here are alot of photo's of the holiday! I hope you all had as wonderful a time as we did with our family! Love you all!

Uncle Manny and the girls making cookies for Santa.

The girls dancing around waiting to go to the midnight service, it was so cute, they wanted to wear dresses so they put dresses on over their pajama's! haha!
The girls watching childrens choirs sing christmas songs. They loved it! They were clapping singing and dancing!
I just love this photo of Bella ! Isn't she adorable with those big brown eyes!

This is Christmas a.m.I had to wake them up! hahaha! They wanted to sleep in the living room to wait for Santa, and in the morning when they woke up Nadya was so upset cause she didn't see santa, she didn't even want to open her stocking or gifts! hahahaha! We kept telling her Santa only comes when you are asleep. Finally we got her to open up her stuff, but even after all was said and done she said " hey! but i didn't see santa!" Oh my!
opening gifts..

Bella loved the guitar! She kept "rocking out" and everytime she was done she would say ( and still does) "That was good rocking!!" or "that was good Rock and roll!" hahhaha!
Here is Nadya buried in all the blankets, gifts, and wrapping paper. I think the whole thing was a bit overwhelming for her, (I'm sure all of you with little ones understand completely!) but she enjoyed herself to!

I cooked my first christmas meal ever!!! It was sooo much fun! I really did enjoy it! I made 2 roasted chickens, roasted turkey and a pot roast ,sides, and 2 cheesecakes! I have to mention that it was also the first time I had ever made any of these things and they all turned out great! Not to brag but it all was pretty darn good, and my cheesecakes were amazing!! hahahaha!It was fun, I really didn't stress about it and everything went pretty smoothly, must be beginers luck! hahaha!
Simon slaving over the hot stove all day long! (hahaha yeah right) He did do a great job keeping the girls entertained so I didn't have to worry about them all day. Thanks for your help Si!

It looks good! and it's finally done!

Here is the end result, I felt like i cooked alot more than what it looks like but it was good and i can say we were all stuffed and had plenty of left overs! Hope everyone is recovering from the food and craziness of Christ mas! I can't believe a new year is already upon us! I hope everyone had a great 2007 and that 2008 will bring many more blessings and stories! Love you all! Thanks for reading this! hahahah

Ode to our cousins aka neice and nephews (and the parents to)

2007-12-11T11:44:00.000-08:00

So my sister Elaine and her family just moved out to Seattle Washington!! sniff ! It was sooo hard to see them go , of course we know it was better for their family and at least it's not as far as Kenya so it'll be easier to go see them.While they were here our girls just connected with their kids right away and had a blast with them every time they got together.. Bella and Nadya really look up to their cousin Eva, she's 5. Since they've been gone the girls have been having "pretend Eva, Alastor and Owen" around, whether it's them pretending they are them or having their stuffed animals be them. They miss them and so do we!!! I love you Elaine, Matt and the kids! I miss having you close by, knowing that you were a just 20 minutes away! I know you have to do what you have to do (especially for the fam) . I thank God soo much for having such an awesome family and friends in our lives! Thank you for always being there to support us! WE LOVE AND MISS YOU SOOO MUCH!

Owen double fisting it.
Alastor, Nadya, Eva, and Bella

Bella and Alastor hugging bye... and sticking their tongues out. They are literally 2 months apart, Alastor just turned 4 this pas t weekend, that means Bella is going to be 4 in 2 months!! OH MY!!!!!

ok it's late, but here it is..

2007-12-10T18:45:00.000-08:00

Here are some photo's of our time in NC. It was AWESOME!!

Helping Aunt Gilda cook
wearing uncle Bo Bo's soccer jerseys,
Si and Bella making sandcastles, on the swings with Koko "Bali"

Listening to koko Bali
they were fascinated with what he had to say, ( i think he was asking them about colors and stuff)

walking back to the house, it was down that road in the back ground
.

The most beautiful bathtub ever! Its so big i can lay down all the way without bending my legs!!

Bella and Uncle G!! He and koko Deano built the house (even that bathtub!!)
Joshua, their cousin was amazing with the girls! They really miss him and hs a wonderful time with him.

The coldest night we were there, girls with koko mwasi, they looove bonfires! The biggest bonfire I've ever been to!

It was Uncle G's b-day! Happy Birthday Uncle Godar!!We had a blast! Thank you for having us ! It was wonderful! Love you! give Thanks!

Nadya's turn

2007-12-05T05:51:00.000-08:00

I know i said I'd post stuff about NC this time, but your just going to have to wait!. So, I've been feeling the pressure of having another baby, not just from friends (you know who you are!!)hahaha! but mostly from my very own precious daughters!!! My own kids are putting the pressure on! Besides asking if i have a baby in my belly, whenever we look at toys ( supposed to be for them for Christmas ) they always pick out stuff for their baby brother and sister! WHICH THEY DO NOT HAVE!!!! They really want a baby around, don't know if they know exactly what that means. I mean they have named their baby brother and sister (different names every time) talk about all they things they want to do with them... Yadda yadda yadda! EVERYDAY!! It does make me happy to know that when/if it happens someday, they will be very excited, so that's a good thing. Any way the reason for this is to show you that Nadya is a funny girl to! I've explained to the girls that pregnancy is like a baby hiding in their mommy's belly and when they are ready, they come out . So here is Nadya with her baby "hiding in her belly..

I think baby was kicking!
Re-adjusting baby, she must have been uncomfortable, Gosh don't you mamas wish we could have "re-adjusted" baby when they were making us uncomfortable!

I think she's about to pop! It was cute cause even though baby was "hiding in her belly" she kept rubbing it's face with hers and telling it "it's o.k" hahaha! sooo cute! love her! Don't worry when the time comes I'll teach her about the birds and the bee's and hopefully I'll gross her out enough ( even though it is a beautiful thing) that this won't happen for at least 40 years! hahaha!

we're back!!

2007-11-30T06:36:00.000-08:00

O.K... This is just a short blog because i thought this was hilarious and had to post it right away.. So Bella said she needed to go potty before her bath. "O.K go" I said.. 10 minutes later. "Bella what are you doing in there?" Bella's response "going potty!!". Knowing my children i decide to go in and check on her just knowing I'm going to catch her getting into stuff she's not supposed to. I walk into the bathroom and sure enough she's sitting on the potty reading a magazine!!! hahahahahhahahahha! i just cracked up!! I wonder who she learned that from... hhmmm!! hahahha! Man i wish i had taken a photo! It was sooo cute seeing her on the potty, pants down to her ankles, reading a magazine, knowing she thought she was sooo "adult" for doing that! hahahah OK more about NC next time plenty of photo's to!

check this out~

2007-11-15T06:18:00.000-08:00

Bella can write her name, all by herself, with out any help!!!!!
Here are a few of her name writtings,
She even did it with a "baby" b! (that photo wouldn't upload)
This is all very exciting but I'm thinking about slowing down in the learning-how-to-write stage cause first off,it's crazy (sorta sad really exciting) and it also means she's that much closer to forging my signature.
So this week we are going to North Carolina for Thanks giving and we leave tomorrow!! Yay!! Thank God for the invention of those mini DVD players that you put in the car! Hahaha! Love you all and hope you have a Wonderful Thanks giving! I have sooo much to be thankful for i don't even know where to start. Of course my handsome, incredibly loving hubby, and the best father ever!
my wonderful children, and my amazing friends! love you!!

quotes of friday..

2007-11-12T04:10:00.000-08:00

Bella: "mama, why is your belly so big." hmmmm. I guess it's time to get back to the gym, but I'm quite happy with my life of eating and sitting..hahahha!
Nadya: " you have to hold hands and have sweets or you get sick!!".... yeah, I'll let you ponder that one.
Yesterday i got to witness Camden and Gage getting dedicated. I feel so privileged to be a part of their support system! LOVE YOU BOYS!!! ( and your wonderful parents to!!) . Just a short one more later! Have a great week!!

my little grown up.

2007-11-08T15:38:00.000-08:00

Bella is growing up.:-( She is really starting to try to make sense out of things like words, feelings and those kinds of things. For instance she said "barbecue is called barbecue cause it's full of Qs!". So yesterday when it was nap time she didn't want to go take a nap (of course) and she says "Mama your hurting my feelings!". Usually my automatic response to hearing someones feelings are hurt is to feel bad, but i actually wanted to crack up(cause she was trying so hard to get out of taking a nap). I kept it serious (cause she was) and said " I'm sorry your feelings are hurt, but you still have to take a nap" and then when she was in bed she said " my feelings don't look so good cause they are hurting". AWWW!! So then last night she wakes up at 3 in the a.m (cause Nadya woke up @ 2) and wanted to come sleep out on the couch, i was like whatever as long as you go to sleep, ( i was barely awake). She then she started talking REALLY loud so i started to shush her in the middle of her sentence and she stopped and and looked at me and said in a quiet voice "Mommy that wasn't very nice." hahahha! Then today on the way home from MOPS, she started to fall asleep and said "Mommy I'm just resting my eyes." Hahahaha! It's just nuts how much they are growing up! We went to the mall yesterday to let them play in the little play area and it was so cute cause Bella kept bringing her friends over that she had just made and would say " this is my mama and my papa" and at the same time i would hear Nadya looking at kids saying "do you want to be my friend".. I 'm still trying to get over the fact that I am a mother!! I know i should be over it by now but I feel like they are growing up so fast that it just catches up to me every once in a while! i love them sooo much! I am so blessed!

first dental appointment and the backyardigans

2007-11-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

The girls had their first dentist appointment!!! I thought it was only best to have it before trick or treating, that way they definitly wouldn't have cavaties!! hahahaha! They did amazing!! I have to say the dental office we went to was AWESOME!!!! Seriously! They made the girls feel (and me cause I'm scared of the dentist!) very comfortable with the whole experience. In the waiting room they had video games!!! It made me want to go hang out there!! (date nite Si??) hahaha! Their hygenist was incredible and sooooo good with the girls. First she took the tools she was going to be using on them and let them feel them on their nails, so it wouldn't be so scary. For instance with the toothbrush she "made their nails sparkley" and then she wanted to "make their teeth sparkle". I looove Fishers Pediatric Dentistry!!

Halloween was so fun! The photo's speak for themselves, they are adorable! Bella was Pablo ( we called her Petey Pab all night) and Nadya was Uniqua (reminds me of when Jess used to call me Shaniques! hahaha!). We went with their "best friend " Samara. She's the white tiger, and she had a mean ROAR! They cleaned house! We trick or treated in Samamra's nieghborhood ( there was like 10 houses). No one ever goes trick or treating in that nighborhood (they are huge houses off Giest lake). Soo everyone was super excited to see us and put handfuls and handfuls of candy in their bags!! Yay, more for me!! hahah! We had a contest going of which one of the kids could yell "TRICK OR TREAT!" the loudest, Bella won a few, and Samara did to, Nadya was to interested on getting to the candy bowls! hahaha! .. Their prize?? Candy of course! Hope everyone had a great halloween! I can't wait to see all the photo's!!

Our little helpers...

2007-10-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

here are a few photo's ( i hope, if i can figure it out..) of our little helpers.. first we carved 4 pumpkins!! we actually started out with 1 and they had so much fun with it that we decided to get one for each of us!! hahaha! they had a blast!! and then they helped us with the chore of cleaning the kitchen!! i can't tell you how awesome it is to have kids that are not only at the right age to help around the house but they are soo eager and excited to help to!! i looooove it!! Bella the other day was trying to "help" with one of her flashlights. the lightbulb "wouldn't work" (i'm sure the batteries were dead) but she thought she would take it apart, the whole thing, to try to figure out why it wasn't working, she said " the flashlight wasn't working , so i took it apart and the light bulb doesn't work"... She takes after her mom! she's an every day bob villa!! hahahha! hope you enjoy the photo's, bella decided to dress up when she was helping mop the kitchen! hahahha!

sooo..how does this work??

2007-10-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

So i've never done this before, but with alot of convincing I've decided to give this a go. This is my trial post and then we'll go from there. love you all! hope all is well!