Abuse Part 2

Remember the black eyes from about a month ago? Well, we thought our life had been a bit too quiet for a few weeks with no ER trips, so Noah decided to fix that. We were all walking out the door to run some errands and Noah's feet slipped out from under him and he wacked his head on molding on the wall by the floor. Popped the back of his head right open and bled like crazy. He whined for about 30 seconds and then was fine. We went to the ER where they recognized him from the last time we were there- said his nose looked great (see post from end of August). They numbed him up, no complaints from Noah whatsoever. He just layed there talking the whole time. Good thing the ER is not too traumatic for him. Ended up with 3 staples that you can't even see with his hair covering it up. Makes me wonder what the next trip to the ER will be for... hmmmm...

Flowers

For those of you have that been keeping up with the Hummel triplets- they're here!!!! They were born yesterday at 4:46 and 4:47 pm. They have three beautiful babies, but baby Breckin was not matured enough to survive outside the womb. JoEllen and Burke did get to rock him and be with him. He went to live with Jesus after only a half hour on this earth.

My point of this blog is to get in touch with those who may have interest in sending flowers from a group of us, both as a congratulations and to remember Breckin. Let me know if it's something you're interested in. I know this goes without saying but please remember them in your prayers. Pray for peace, clarity of mind, and joy over the two babies in the NICU, and the babies that have a long battle ahead.

Our heart ache for the Hummels yet we know God is with them and guiding them every step of the way.

The ramblings of a desperate mother...



Have you ever been so desperate to get away from your kids you thought you would do anything? Josh has been adding to our deck in our backyard and has been busy, busy, busy. Well, he came in from out of the rain because it had turned into a monsoon. He had yet to lay the weed barrier under the new deck and it was now a mud pit from all the rain. I was yearning for a break from my chillins so I decided to go and do the job. I got absolutely drenched and could hear the kids screaming at each other from outside, but was I ever satisfied. I got the barrier down, got a break, and felt rejuvenated. When I came back in the house Josh asked if it was fun. After I got over being a bit offended that he would think it was fun I was like, "Yeah, I guess it was" (said with a little giggle).

Living Room Pics


Here are a few pics of our new green wall that I promised. I couldn't love it any more. Every time I walk into our house, I get this yummy feeling like, "I love my living room!!!" Isn't it so much fun AFTER the work is done????

Noah's update

Just a little heads up to all of you who are keeping up on our busy man Noah:

The appointment went great on Thursday. Both Josh and I left feeling encouraged and less discouraged than when we walked in the door. The doctor seemed very capable and connected with Noah immediately. Noah was talking a mile a minute and telling him about his swing at home every time the doctor would give him a chance! Josh and I felt good about the fact that Noah's real personality was evident from the start and that the doctor saw that, not the shy, passive Noah. That Noah is not around very often, but sometimes he appears when he is unsure of a situation! :-) Anyway, after an hour and fifteen minute appt. the doctor decided to meet with us again next week Friday without Noah so he could get more information before deciding how to test. He says that testing Noah will be a real challenge as his attention span is so short! Duh! He went to college for 10 years to figure that one out?

As we were wrapping up on did push the doctor for his initial thoughts (me Pushy???). He did say that he was definitely leaning AWAY from autism as Noah has eye contact with others more than most other kids his age. He said at this point he is going to be looking at something called sensory integration disorder. After doing a little research on the internet it definitely seems possible. It is a disorder where you do not correctly interpret your five senses. Most of the time you shy away from sensory input or you try to get even more of it. The second would be Noah to a T.

That's all for now. We'll post later when we know more. Thanks for all your prayers and love.

Laborious Day




Happy Labor Day. Don't you just love the lack of labor that is expected of us on Labor Day? Josh and I had a very productive weekend. After going out on Friday night with some girls, I came home and got it in my head to start a painting job in our living room. I painted from 10:30 to 1:30 and then crashed for a few hours. I continued all day on Saturday- trying to wrangle your kids and keep them away from the living room walls proved to be quite a challenge. My tall husband assisted me in painting up by the crown molding. Our biggest challenge was the number of coats that this paint required. I decided to buy some more expensive paint in the hopes of not having to do too many coats. Wrong. The color is a dark green with sort of yellow undertones. In some areas it took 5 coats and no, I am not exaggerating. I am exstatic with the results. I left the other unattached walls creamy white so that the color didn't get too overbearing. We then also recovered the toy box with an orangish-reddish fabric and did some rearranging of furniture. The living room is now all put back together and the rest of my house looks like it was his by a tornado. I'll post pics later.

Noah is back to school tomorrow. He is so excited to go back to riding the bus and hanging out with Miss Judy and Miss Michelle at school. He doesn't get to ride the bus til' Friday which is a bit of a disappointment to him. He doesn't get the whole waiting thing just yet! :-)

On another note, I was not going to post this but I figure most of you who read this are Christians and can be praying for us. After some difficulties with Noah over the last few months, our doctor has suggested we get Noah in for some more substantial testing. He goes in on Thursday morning for a one hour consult with a neuro-psychiatrist that works primarily with the many forms of autism and ADHD. We are hoping that the doctor may have some answers for us that may help us with Noah. The process of figuring out what is going on can be pretty long-winded b/c it is difficult to test a 4 year old with such a short attention span. We are just praying that whatever is best for Noah and will benefit him most will be the outcome. Whether that be a label we don't like, no label and still no clue as to what is going on, or just the doctor saying we stink as parents, we are praying that God's will be done. No matter what, we know we have one of the sweetest, most kind hearted little boys on our hands. God has blessed us with a little boy that we can just not get enough of. So many people say that there is just something a little different about Noah that is so endearing to others. He has a way of watching you and almost looking into your soul. Please pray for wisdom for the doctor, understanding and acceptance for our family, joy that we have such an amazing little boy, and patience as this whole process is waded through.

Zoe continues to be a little joy. She is such a little fireball and is still mad that she is not going to preschool this year like some of her friends. After looking at the financial aspect of it and realizing that I would be home with no kids for a few afternoons a week, we decided it was a no go. She would love to get a Dora backpack and new clothes from her favorite store Baby Gap. It cracks me up when we go to the mall (we love to shop the clearance racks at Baby Gap for next years clothes) she always gets excited to find out we will be going to Baby Gap. She also loves to shop for clothes at Target and says "It's sooo cute" to almost everything we look at.

Zoe has a great little friend from church named Lily and they are like two peas in a pod. We went over to their house for a cook-out today and they played all day long. It's so neat to see her personality forming when it comes to friends and figuring out that give and take in a relationship. I love watching her notice when Lily wants a toy she has- she may not always give it to her- but her little personality continues to grow. Much of her girliness is sufficiently guided by her big cousing Emmy who has been practicing for 5+ years. She looks up to her like a big sister and also fashion extrordinaire.

Josh has taken up running over the last few weeks. He has all of a sudden decided he is tired of being out of shape and too big for his own liking. By the way, I think he looks great, but if losing some weight makes him feel better I am all for it. If he also wants to get a lean tummy in the process you'll hear no complaints from me! :-) I am so proud of him as he gets out there to go running. He has been getting up before the kids so that it's out of the way and doesn't take away from the rest of the day. Coming from this mom, that is really appreciated.

No other big changes going on. Sorry it got so long. Love to you all.