Matt's 30th Birthday Party

Kevin and Jerri. I think he looks like Ducky from Pretty in Pink
Steph and I. Steph made her own dress!! I know she is awesome
Chels and IMatt getting ready to hit the Pinata
Jerri dancing to Thriller

Girls just wanna have fun!!
Nichole, Me, Steph and Jerri
A bunch of random people
Matt with his Mom and Dad and all of his brothers and sisters
Everyone doing the YMCA

We had a great time last night celebrating Matt's B-day. We had an 80's themed party. We had disco ball, lots of 80's music and some really awesome costumes. Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us. As you can see, we had the party in the unfinished new addition.

We have a Due Date

I am 5 weeks 6 days pregnant so that would make the baby due May 24th. They drew lots of blood today and did a sono. I go back in two weeks for another sono because he will be able to see the baby better by then. That is pretty much it.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Happy 30th!!! We love you. You are an amazing father and an amazing husband.

Pictures as Promised

Maddy with her daddy watching Abby's soccer game
Abby and Sarah "warming up" for the game!!
Abby was goalie at this time. You might think that she is trying to stop a ball from getting in the goal, but she is actually trying to catch bugs!! Like I said before, she is really not in to sports. She told me she just wants to be a cheerleader.

Matt working hard. We have the new addition closed in. We are ready to shingle the roof and get started on the inside.

Dan helping us out with putting up trusses. I don't know what we would do without him. Thank you Dan!!

Madison the little dare devil!!

Madison loves to take naps all snuggled up to Bella. I don't really know what Bella thinks. She looks like she wants to say "Get this kid off of me!!"
Bella enjoying sissy's soccer game.

On a side note, the assisted technology form that had checked marked Bella as Profoundly MR was actually a mistake. They were suppose to check mark neurological problem but the MR section was checked by mistake. They said they will fix it!! Good to know.

Also I go to the Dr. tomorrow. So hopefully I will have a more definite due date after the appointment.

Irritated!!

Just was my title says, I am extremely irritated right now!!! I will start with the first thing. Some people have said some things about Matt and I having another baby that have hurt my feelings a bit. I know that what they are saying is just our of concern for us because they care, but let me inform everyone of a few facts. The chances of Matt and I having another heart baby are VERY VERY VERY slim. We are excited about the baby. Yes, we are concerned to a certain degree, but we are not overly concerned. The entire time I was pregnant with Bella I felt like something was just not right. With this baby however, I feel nothing but peace. So please, I know some of you are concerned, but Matt and I are happy about this, please do not try to kill our joy with negative thoughts. We will cross all bridges as they come with the help of the Lord.
Okay, so enough with that. The second thing. Isabella's Birth to Three Program is trying to get her some assisted technology stuff like toys, kid cart, ect. Anyways, we got a form in the mail yesterday with all of her info on it and all of her diagnoses. We were suppose to look at the information and correct any mistakes. On the form (brace yourself for this) they checked that Isabella was Mentally Retarded-level-Profound!!!!!!! Excuse me????? Yes I realize my child has some level of mental disability. What that level is, we do not know at this time. Her brain injury is still continuing to heal. She has not peaked, she continues to improve everyday and figures more and more out everyday. I am so infuriated that someone would try to put that label on my child. It is no where in her medical record that she even has this diagnosis. Just this weekend, she started trying to crawl. She rolls over and gets her knees up and she even holds her head up while on her tummy. She is just about to get herself into the "rocking" position (you know how they do before they crawl). She cries when she is bored. She cries when she wants her mommy. She babbles all of the time around her trach. When I go to pick her up, I say "Up Isabella" and she raises her arms and pulls her shoulders forward because she knows I am going to pick her up. She scoots down to the bottom of her crib and kicks at her CD player until she gets it to turn on. She doesn't look blank. She is aware of her surroundings. Can anyone else feel my frustration here??? Okay, I am done venting. I know who my child is, and that is all that matters. By the way, Matt took a pen and crossed out that part of the form. He then sent it back as a revised edition!!
Isabella had an echo on Friday and as I suspected, everything looked great. We don't see cardiology again for three months.
I think I may be further along that I thought, because I am already starting to show. I think a lot of it is because this is my fourth baby and my stomach muscles are shot. I already had to drag out my maternity clothes!! I have never been wrong about the sex of my babies, and this time I am just certain it is a boy. So I guess we will know come about December when we get a sono. The morning sickness has already set in and I am sooooooo tired. Otherwise everything is great. Couldn't be happier!!
I will post some pics later. Sorry I have really been slacking!!

The Big News

I debated about whether or not to post this but decided what the heck!!! Matt and I are expecting our 4th baby. We just found out today. I am actually in shock right now. The only reason I took a test, was because of an ongoing joke between a close friend and I. The thing is, if one of us is pregnant, then it is never long before the other becomes pregnant. Our oldest girls are 4 weeks apart. Our middle children are 6 months apart and then our youngest are 6 weeks apart. So anyways, she called me earlier this week to let me know that she was pregnant!! I laughed and thought, not this time, I am not going to be pregnant with you this time!!! Boy was I wrong. I decided to go ahead and take a test because I have been more tired than usual and I had to get up 4 times last night to pee. I think I am due around the end of May. So now I will have three May babies. Not to mention that our tags and taxes and our property taxes are all due in May. Talk about an expensive month!! Maddy and Abby said it better be a boy this time. I am nervous and scared and excited. I think I am freaking out!!!!!
Oh yeah, Bella goes to the cardiologist tomorrow. I am not worried. She is doing great. No signs of heart failure. I will report tomorrow when we get home to let you all know what the echo and the Dr. says.
God Bless

One Year Ago

Septmeber 2007

On September 12, 2007, Matt and I brought Isabella home from CMH for the fifth time in her short 9 months of life. As you all know, this was the trip that was the most serious for Isabella. It was the trip that we almost lost her. She suffered brain damage, lost her hearing and her sight. They told us to take her home and see what happened. They said if she "crumps" again, then it would not be inappropriate to let her die at home. They said it would be hit and miss for her to make it to her first birthday, if she even survived that long. But look at her now!!!! Even though we went back to CMH for that short little stay to have our second open heart, I consider us to have been home for a year now. During that first nine months, she was never home for more than one month. One time we flew back in seven days, another time we flew back in 4 days. All in all, we were at CMH for 160+ days that first nine months. A lot has changed since those days of living at the Ronald McDonald house. Matt and I feel so fortunate that we get to be home as a family now with Isabella. She is the sweetest baby with the biggest smile. As her personality develops more and more I fall in love with her even more and more (I know I didn't think it was possible to love her any more than I already do!!!)

I can't believe that in just 3 1/2 months, my baby girl will be two!!!

First Time Down the Slide

This evening was a lot of firsts for Bella, Abby and I. I, by myself, loaded up all three of my girls so I could take Abby to soccer practice. So now I know I can at least get Bella in and out of the car and manage to keep the others girls out of the road while I am doing it!! Really though, since Matt and I take Isabella everywhere with us, it was no big deal. Okay, so we took Abby to soccer practice. It was her first time to play soccer. I don't really think she was into it. Abby is really more of a drama queen than a sports star. Her and my niece Sarah decided to take a break in the middle of practice to go play on the swing sets!! All of the other kids were on the field playing while Sarah and Abby were swinging. Silly girls!!
For part of the practice, my sister and I walked down to the park with Maddy and Bella. Maddy of course wanted to stop and play. So I took Bella off her vent, and she got to go down the small slipper slide. I was holding onto her from the side the whole time, but she got to do it!! I forgot my camera, but my sister took some pics on her phone. We however don't know how to get them off of her phone. So I will have to take Bella back to the park and reenact her first slipper slide experience.

I think I have mentioned a time or two the fact that we have chickens, right? Well we had twelve chickens. The one in the picture in the previous post with Maddy was named Boo. She was by far the favorite chicken. Well Wednesday a dog got into our chicken pen and killed all but one of our chickens :( It was awful. Boo was one of them that was killed. I know it sounds crazy, but Maddy and Abby treat the chickens just like any other pet. They loved their chickens. So obviously they were very sad about losing 11 of them. Today however, we went out to my mom's friend's farm to pick out new chickens. The girls had so much fun picking out their new chickens. They got two black ones, two white ones, a black one with white speckles, a red one and a white one with a yellow head. So along with our other surviving chicken, we are now back up to 8. The girls are so happy!! Bella also went to the farm with us. I took her off the vent so we could walk around and see the chickens. She loved looking at the horses, ducks and chickens. She smiled and giggled when the rooster would crow. She loved it so much, she stayed off the vent for 45 minutes!! So what can I say, I think we are all just a bunch of chicken lovers!!!
Okay, enough with the chickens....Bella is doing great. She is rolling over now without any problems. She is so happy all of the time. She is always smiling. It has been crazy busy around here with school and Matt working evenings. We are getting a lot done on the new addition. We have the walls and trusses up. Things are just moving right along!!