Women of Faith

I went to Women of Faith again this year - after a two year break. It was awesome!! We made a whole weekend of it and it was fantastic to get a break from our everyday chaos. Poor Dad had to deal with three sick kids, but still had a good weekend. I did not get a lot of pictures (I know, shocking) because Hannah finally discovered the camera and has decided she loves to play with it.

Friday night we enjoyed a Steven Curtis Chapman concert. Now, as a rule, I am not a huge fan of SCC. I do enjoy him, but prior to Friday night, he never would have been someone I would have paid to see. (Why does that sound so sacrilegious???) I have always loved him as a person, though. After seeing him live, I would pay to see him again and again. Loved it.


I was absolutely thrilled to see that Mandisa was coming to Iowa - I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Mandisa. I didn't get many pictures of her, just because of where she was. Here she is - the backside of her. She sang both Friday and Saturday.

Lisa Welchel!!! Yep - Blair from the Facts of Life! Her talk was wonderful. It is fascinating to hear the "other side" of what was really going on in her life at the time of Facts of Life and how her childhood was - plus her life after the show.

Katie (left) - who so graciously opened her home for us and was an awesome hostess - and Tiffany enjoying a break Saturday.

Erica and Ali - we all had so much fun!
And, yes, as much as I really don't want to post this, a picture of Tiff and me...Hannah loved her first Women of Faith conference. She was riveted by the music and the speakers and all the lights. She was a very good little girl. Hannah was very tuckered out by the time we came home Sunday afternoon and slept almost the entire way home!

Seven Months!!

I cannot believe that Hannah is seven months old! I'm actually a tad late in this one, because she was seven months old a couple of weeks ago. I was trying to get the perfect picture of her, and it wasn't working, so I'm going with this one. I actually love this picture of her - just don't particularly care for the background! Oh, well...

Hannah now sits up all on her own and talks, talks, talks nonstop (hmmmm....wonder where she got that from???). She adores her brothers and cannot get enough of them. I believe if she would stay on her tummy for any period of time (she hates it), she would be crawling. She can get up on all fours and she scoots around in circles and scoots backwards. She is starting to inch forward - army style - also. Wow - not too sure I really want her mobile just yet!!

She is a very happy baby. She loves to smile at people, be held, and she loves to giggle. She is so much fun and adds so much joy to our family!

Hannah is now on Prevacid and is on a slightly higher dose right now to help her, but will go back down to regular dose next week. We have also put her crib mattress at a 30 degree incline. This seems to be helping a bit in the beginning of the night and she if finally sleeping a tad better. She now goes down for the night around 8:00 - 8:30 and stays there until about 12:30 - 1. Then she's up every two hours, but I'm happy she has one longer stretch. She absolutely refuses to take a nap during the day still. I wish she would sleep just a little more.

Her weight gain is still slow. She was weighed again on Monday and she weighed 12 pounds, 5 ounces. So she gained five ounces in a month. She seems like she gained much more than that, but she didn't. Dr. B said that she needed to weigh 13 1/2 pounds to be at the 3rd percentile and she is nowhere near that. I am supposed to take her in again in two weeks for another weight check and then I guess we go from there...I don't really know. With her labs all being well within normal ranges and doing well developmentally, I honestly am not at all concerned. She is petite and I really think she's just going to remain tiny. Some children just simply are smaller.

Hannah and I are going away this weekend for the whole weekend. We are going to Women of Faith. I am so excited!! I haven't been since I was pregnant with the triplets and it will be so nice for a break from everything at home. Please keep Steve in prayer for a smooth weekend - poor guy even has to brave church alone on Sunday! He will do great - he is an awesome dad and already spends a lot of time with them alone. I just know that by 5 (and sometimes sooner!), I am soooo ready for a break I cannot wait for him to get home. I am so thankful he recognizes how much I need this time to "recharge" and that he is willing and brave enough to do this for me!!

Random Picture Challenge

2002 July

or

8th folder - closest to July

25th picture

This is July, but definitely not 2002 (Aidan, Emma, and Cael would be missing!). My pictures don't go back that far, so I went back to the farthest July, which is 2007. We were at the Madison Zoo with Chris, Shawna, and their kids, and Dad and Pam. It was a great day and a lot of fun! This was taken near the end of the day, so everyone was tired.

Praying for Stellan

Today we are wearing orange for Stellan as we remember him in our prayers. Please remember to say many prayers for Stellan today as he endures heart surgery for SVT.

Random Picture Challenge

April 2008

42nd Picture

This is why I love these challenges. I had almost completely forgotten about this - already! (Another reason why I even keep this blog in the first place...) I think this is Nathanial. I studied the pictures around it and I am pretty sure it is, but not 100% positive. In other pictures, it sure looks like his expressions. But in this picture, it looks a lot like Ethan. I'm assuming it's Nathanial, though. They were so funny. They had a love/hate relationship with the pickles. They wanted to love them, but they really didn't. All three continued to suck on them, but not a single one ate it!