Well, my prayer for the kids to get better while we were gone did not get answered in the way I wanted.  Both of them ended up being quite sick while we were in Virginia at Josh's brother's house.

It was hard to be away from home and trying to take care of sick little ones.  It was tiring, too.  We were all sleeping in the same room, so all the coughing, getting up for drinks, tossing and turning kept me up a lot.

Ainsley ended up with an ear infection.  She started screaming and crying on Wednesday saying her ear hurt.  Ainsley is not much of a complainer about such things, so when she starts acting like that, you know something is wrong.  We took her to an urgent care place and got her some antibiotics.

I just knew that Lorelei would wake up sick on Thanksgiving and there would be nowhere to take her.  And that's just what happened.  She woke up burning up with a fever.  Poor thing.  We gave her ibuprofen and tried to get her to eat and drink.  She would have nothing of it.  She was cuddling with her daddy and then wanted to be with her mommy.  Josh brought her to me and she promptly barfed... all over me... and her.  Nice.  The rest of the day she slept, cried and cuddled.  By that evening her fever was up to 104.  Lorelei has been a pretty healthy kid.  This was the sickest she had ever been.

She woke up on Friday better, but then the fever and crying returned.  We took her to the urgent care place, too.  The doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong with her.  She didn't have an ear infection, or strep throat, her lungs were clear, the flu test was negative.  He wanted me to get a urine sample to see if she had a bladder or urinary tract infection.  Do you know how hard it is to get a urine sample from a 2-year-old?????  Even one who is pretty much potty trained...  We even bribed her that we would go buy her a new My Little Pony if she would just go potty in the cup.  We thought the cup was freaking her out, so we tried tricking her.  Nothing.  Anyway, he ended up just writing a prescription for amoxicillin with the hope it would just kill whatever it was that she had.

We left Saturday morning with two children who were feeling better for the most part.  The New Jersey Turnpike was completely closed in one spot and our 7 hour trip turned into 9 and a half hours.  I was so happy to finally get home. 

Today we are staying home, recovering and trying to get everyone the rest of the way better.  Right now, everyone except for me is taking a nap.  I am looking forward to having a normal week and hopefully getting our house decorated for Christmas.

Shortly we'll be heading out for our trip to Virginia for Thanksgiving.  Pray for traveling mercies and for the kids.  They are both mildly sick.  Ainsley is worse than Lorelei... both have runny noses, Ainsley has a yucky sounding cough, but both are acting like they feel better than they have been.

So we're taking off, despite that.  The kids haven't been really sick in a while, so I'm praying this isn't going to turn into something really bad while we're away.

I hope all of you have a blessed Thanksgiving with family or friends.  Remember to thank the Lord for every good and perfect gift He has given you.

Now I admit I am overly sensitive to others' views of Ainsley.  I have been working on this, but it is still hard.  She was not the child I expected her to be by any stretch of the imagination, but I wouldn't trade her for the world either.  But ever since my very spirited child started to show her, well, spiritedness I have sometimes taken her behavior as an indication of my faulty mothering.  And any time anyone makes a mention of Ainsley's behavior (even when done in the right way) I have the tendency to feel that way as well.  This is something I have worked HARD on, but I am nowhere near over it.

Now, fast-forward to today with my 4 and a half year old nearly half-way through her first year of "school."  She is in a real K-4 with real academic standards and things she must learn.  And to that end, we had her first parent/teacher conference this week.  I've been mulling it over since Wednesday.  In all honesty, the teacher didn't tell us much that we didn't we already know.  She has trouble listening attentively, focusing and following directions.  It's not that she doesn't know things, she does, she just doesn't want to concentrate long enough to do what she's supposed to do correctly.  The teacher does realize this, and made everything sound as good as possible, but still the words stung a little.  On top of my already overly sensitive Ainsley views, this pregnancy is making pretty hyper-sensitive, too.

The teacher also said that I may be expecting too much of her at times.  And reminded me that she is only four.  I think this is what has me thinking the most.  Do I expect too much of her?  We do expect her to obey, to answer us sweetly, and to be kind to others.  These are all things she struggles with, but still expect her to do those things.  Is it too much? 

I've prayed over this, but my mind is still replaying it and my brain keeps thinking that I must be falling short in some sort of mommy area.  I'm thinking this will get easier with time.  Will it?  Or am I just hoping it will?

I finally have a few minutes to write about my birthday getaway weekend.

Here's how it started:

Not the best picture, but you get the idea... MY MOM CAME TO WATCH THE KIDS!!!!
It was so nice.  That was my birthday present from my parents.  By far, the most expensive I've ever received from them.  That was the longest I had ever been without my kids, and it was so nice to not have to worry about them at all.  My in-laws don't mind watching them for short periods of time, but they rarely watch them overnight and I would really nervous about making them keep them for three nights.  And I also wouldn't have wanted to put that burden on any of my friends who have their own kids to watch.

As you remember, I didn't know where we were going.  Turned out, he took me to the Adirondack mountains in Upstate New York.  It was about 3 hours away.  We were in the Lake George area.  The first night we stayed at a Six Flags resort with an indoor water park.  Let's just say we were very disappointed.

It looks fun, doesn't it?  It probably would have been if most of it wasn't shut down.  Anything that I could have done in my "current state" was closed because of some kind of chemical problem with the water.  For example, the Lazy River was shut down the entire time.  So were several other things.

And then this....

Do you see the red lights from a fire truck on the left?  Yeah, at 5:00 a.m. the fire alarm went off and we were sent out of the hotel room for TWO HOURS!!!  What exactly are you supposed to do at 5:00 a.m. when you are kicked out of your hotel room??? Well, we ended up just sitting in our vehicle until we could finally go back inside.  Fun!

This is us... trying to make the most of our situation...

The other two nights were much nicer.  This is the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at. 

It was still in the same area.  It was lovely inside and out.  Since this is the slow part of the year, we were the only ones at the inn.  It was so nice and quiet.  The owners were very nice and cooked the best breakfasts.  They were so huge that both days I didn't eat lunch and just had an early dinner.  It was totally relaxing and just what I needed.  Lake George is a tourist area, but only during the summer, so there wasn't anything to do at this time of year.  Everything in Lake George Village was shut down, EVERYTHING.  Even the McDonalds was closed.  There was another nearby town that had some outlet stores, a mall and some restaurants, so we did some Christmas shopping (didn't find much), but other than that, we just relaxed and enjoyed each other.

My mom went home last evening.  It was so nice to see her again.  And I'm so thankful that she came to watch the girls.  We'll see her again in about a month when we go out there for Christmas.

This is the cake the girls made for me with grandma's help. Can you tell they picked the frosting color and all the decorations????

Now we are back to the grind here.  I had a meeting and a story last night.  We have our first parent/teacher conference for Ainsley in just a little bit.  Ainsley has a dentist appointment tomorrow.  Friends are coming over on Friday.  Saturday we're having portraits taken.  Sunday is church.  Monday afternoon we're on the road again to visit Josh's brother for Thanksgiving. 

Life is good... busy and good. 

....to 7:30 tomorrow morning!

It was quite the ordeal.  My appointment was at 3:00 p.m. to allow for my husband to come.  The office called this morning to say that the doctor I was supposed to see canceled all of his appointments for tomorrow, so they were scrambling to reschedule everyone.  She said the earliest they could get me in was November 25.  Now, not only am I already going to be gone for Thanksgiving by that day, but that is also TWO MORE WEEKS AWAY!!!  I didn't think I would make it.

I literally started crying on the phone.  I felt so bad for the secretary, but I couldn't help it.  I said I didn't care which doctor or which office I went to, I just wanted to get in sooner rather than later.  I explained why I was so desperate and that even if they couldn't get me an actual appointment, if they could just get me in for an ultrasound, I would be happy.  The lady seemed to understand and decided to make a few calls and call me back.  A torturous half hour later, she said they could fit me in for a 7:30 a.m. appointment in a town that's pretty far away, but I said that was fine, I would work it out.  Whew!  So, anyway, pray for us at 7:30 tomorrow eastern time.  I expect all my west coast friends to be up at 4:30 a.m. 

In other news,
Ainsley did a great job singing in her duet with her grandpa today.  The program was really nice; there were between 350-400 people there!  There are more than 180 kids in Ainsley's school and they were all there, plus at least that many grandparents and parents, too.  I was nervous since I was playing the piano for them and... that was my kid singing!  Oh, and my father-in-law took way too long to pick a song. (He had been asked by the school to sing and he asked if Ainsley could sing with him.) He refused to learn a new one that Ainsley already knew and just simply couldn't be bothered with picking one on his own.  I finally got him to choose one Sunday night, after Ainsley was already in bed.  She didn't know it, and we had one day to work on it.  Thankfully, this kid is gifted musically and picks up tunes in an instant, she got the words for the most part, but she's four, not knowing the words is ok.   After I picked her up from school, I asked her if she was nervous singing in front of all those people.  She asked me what nervous meant.   So, I said were you a little scared singing in front of all the people?  Her response:  "No mommy, why would I be?"  Oh to be a 4 year old without a care in the world....
I wish I had videotaped it, but I only got pictures.

Here's an updated picture of all the tile in and grouted.  I did a final cleaning of it today.  I love it.  It looks so much better.  Josh is going to put the baseboard back up today and hopefully we can move things back in there.  My husband has been doing such a good job getting all this work done around the house.  I haven't been much help.

I'll hopefully be able to update tomorrow with pictures of our new little blessing.

I took the girls to see The Velveteen Rabbit on stage today.  It was such a wonderful time with them.  My mother-in-law came along with us.  It was a lovely girls day out.  It was a great production.  I was wondering how they were going to do it.  They did it with a combination of dressed up actors and puppets.  None of the actors spoke, it was all narration.  My girls sat there wide-eyed the whole time and were so good.  I was very proud of them. 

My energy level is in the proverbial toilet right now.  I am not only tired, but I feel like I don't have the energy to move let alone take care of children, cook, clean, etc.  I'll be 9 weeks officially tomorrow.  I am hoping I have a lot more energy this weekend.  My husband is taking me away for the weekend, and I have no idea where we are going.  It's to celebrate my 30th birthday coming up next Monday.

30.

I'm going to be 30 years old.  I'm not upset about it, I'm kind of a little shocked by it.  I can't believe that I've lived on this earth 30 years.  And now that I'm here, it sounds very.... YOUNG.  

I have a busy week in store... today was the show at the theater and trying to clean some of the house.  (The tile is finally done!!!!  Now the house needs a REALLY good cleaning to get rid of all the dust.)  Tomorrow is a combination Grandparents Day/Veterans Day celebration at Ainsley's school.  I'm playing the piano for my father-in-law and Ainsley as they sing a duet.  I'm going to have to make sure someone takes some pictures for me.  Wednesday is my doctor's appointment.  I'm hoping I'll keep myself so busy until then that I'll have little time to worry about it.  I think Thursday is free... for the moment... I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of cleaning.  I really want the house back together before we leave.  The girls will be staying with my in-laws and they'll alternate between our house and theirs.  As for leaving, we'll be going sometime Friday afternoon.  Hopefully, he'll tell me enough about where we are going to know what to pack...  Throw in wife, mom, church, work duties and that's a busy week for me.  Just the way I like it...

Aren't my Snowflake Princess and My Little Pony cute?

Lorelei's costume was adorable!  You had to see the back, too.
We went to a Harvest Party at Ainsley's school last Friday.  It was a lot of fun.  And I appreciated that it was only for kids under 12 and no scary costumes were allowed.  There were lots of games to play and two different bounce houses.

 
And there were pony rides!  Here's my little pony resting while she waits for her turn to ride her own pony.

Ainsley got to ride a big horse.

And for some fun in the backyard...

Nothing's better than going down the slide into a big pile of leaves.  Just look at Lorelei's face.

I am feeling well.  I'm just counting the days until I go to the doctor next week. 

I started my job at Ainsley's school this week.  I think it will be a great fit for me, but for the moment I am feeling overwhelmed.  They've never had anyone do any kind of PR at all, so I had a two hour meeting on Monday and took four pages of notes of ideas of things they thought I could do.  Wow!  I hope to get a lot of it accomplished, but it won't all be getting done any time soon.  I'm limited to 8-12 hours a week. 

The tile in the back room is almost completely finished.  I can't wait to get my house put back together and to give it a really good cleaning.  That's been falling by the wayside with everything everywhere.

I hear a lot noise coming from upstairs... better go check on that....

I haven't discussed this presidential election on my blog for a few reasons:

1.  I think for a Christian the choice is obvious.  If it is not, get into your Bible and read.
2.  I think it is a very personal decision that you should make on your own, through prayer, Bible reading and reading information from trusted sources, not from random blogs.

But I wanted to get on here and say this:

No matter who you plan to vote for, VOTE! 

We are so privileged in this country to have the opportunity to choose our own leaders.  Everyone has an equal say in who will lead our country.  We must, especially as Christians, vote our conscience.  I believe it is a matter of stewardship.

Isaiah 41:10
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I
will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee
with the right hand of my righteousness.

Although it is looking as though my choice for president will not be elected, I am perfectly at peace about this election.  I am not afraid.  I do not fear.  Why?

My God is Sovereign!

No matter what happens, I can rest in the fact that my God is in control.  My God has already chosen the next president.  It may not be our choice, and we may not understand why, but we must trust that God is all-powerful and all-knowing.  No matter who is president, my God is still on His throne.

Pray!!!

Our country needs prayer, especially right now.  The godly people of this country need to be down on our knees praying for God's mercy and protection.  Let's make tomorrow a day of prayer for our country and our leaders.

What kind of
difference could we make if we devoted a day to prayer for America?

Will you join me?

I got so many comments on that post.  More than any other, I believe.

I am just over 7 weeks pregnant.  I am feeling well, other than being pretty tired.  I hate to say this because some of you may be tempted to throw things at your computer, but I don't generally get sick when I am pregnant.  I may feel a little queasy every now and then, but other than that and being exhausted, pregnancies have been relatively easy for me.

We are happy and excited and SURPRISED.  Oh, yes, very surprised.  We were not planning on having another child, at least not right now.  In fact, my husband was very happy with our family just the way it was.  I thought maybe someday I would want another, but I wasn't sure about that either.  God made the decision for us and has given us another baby.  We are very blessed.  My husband actually took to the news easier than I did.  It took me about a week to wrap my head around it.

I am telling everyone this early so they can pray.  Since we have already lost one baby, the fear of it happening again is very real and very scary.  I would rather be very, very sick because then I would FEEL pregnant.  My doctor does not see patients until they are 8-9 weeks along.  I have an appointment on November 12 which still feels very far away right now.  I found out that we had lost our second baby during a routine first trimester ultrasound at nearly 11 weeks.  I had what they call a missed miscarriage.  My body had no idea the baby had died, so I fear seeing a dead baby on an ultrasound screen again.  I know that sounds morbid, but those are the thoughts I am having right now.  Please pray that I will trust in the Lord and that our baby will be healthy and perfect.  I want so badly to enjoy this very much. 

Now onto happier things...
The girls are very excited.  Well, Ainsley is anyway.  The whole idea of a baby being mommy's belly is a bit over Lorelei's head right now.  Ainsley ran around church on Sunday telling everyone she saw that her mommy has a baby in her belly.  Everyone's mouth kind of fell open at the news, especially since it was coming from a 4-year-old.

"AGAIN????"  That's what Ainsley said when we told her.  Like it's happened so many times before that she can remember.  Then she told us that she wanted one brother and three more sisters.  I think we'll just work on having one right now, thank you very much.

Ainsley has been hugging my belly and talking to the baby.  She has named it Flower if it's a girl and Leaf if it's a boy.  We'll think about it....

As for whether we want a boy or a girl.  Honestly, we really don't care.  I know that's what you're supposed to say, but no one really means it.  But we really do.  Another girl would be great.  We know what to do with girls.  We have PLENTY of girl clothes and we can fit one more girl in the room our girls share right now.   A boy would be wonderful also.  My kids are the only cousins my brother's boys have, so I would like them to have a boy cousin.  And I've been told a mommy and her son have a very special bond.  But none of that matters.  The perfect child for our family has already been chosen by God. 

I sent the picture in that last post to our family in the thank you notes for Lorelei's birthday presents.  It was fun to get the phone calls and hear their reactions.