Blessed Be Your Name

We heard this song by Matt Redman on our way home from the lab Wednesday.

I had to have a blood draw to check my HCG level because I was having a little spotting and passed a bit of tissue that morning. I was terrified that morning that I was having a miscarriage, but after talking to the nurse I felt as though everything was going to be OK. I wasn't bleeding or cramping, so everything would probably be fine.

The next morning, I headed to Bible study, and right when I sat down my cell phone rang. It was the nurse. She said the HCG was positive, but the numbers were a little low. She needed to talk to the doctor and would call me back. I called Geoff, told him what she said and that I would call him back when I heard more. A few minutes later the nurse called back, said to repeat the blood test on Friday (it should double it 2 days). I asked just how low the numbers were, she said they showed I would be about 4 1/2 weeks (I should have been almost 7). I knew then that we were in trouble. So I got the kids from childcare in church, and headed home. During the drive, I called Geoff. I cried most of the conversation, which Jaylen heard and prompted him to start crying. What a sweetie. I think it really scared him. If Mommy is crying, something must be really bad.

Geoff came home early again (thankfully - I was a wreck). So Friday I went to Bellingham for another blood draw and Geoff came home early to get Trevor off the bus. A couple of hours later, the nurse called with the results - the HCG went up, but only a little. I had told her earlier about some pain I'd had, so she scheduled an ultrasound at 3:30. I had about 20 minutes to figure out what to do with the boys, make some calls, pack some stuff for the boys and start drinking all that water you have to drink.

I am so thankful for my mom. She had to work on Friday (not her normal day) but she offered to help. So I called her, and we arranged for her to get Jaylen off the bus, and pick up Trevor from my sister Trischa's house where we would drop him off until my mom could get there. And she would keep the boys overnight - so nice.

Geoff and I headed in to Bellingham for the ultrasound. (Why do they have speed bumps in the parking lot at the ultrasound place? Don't they know how much water we have to drink before we get there?! )

I knew what to look for in the ultrasound, but didn't see it. The only thing we saw was a small sack (that looked empty). Next we headed to the doctor's office to talk things over with him. He explained a lot of things to us, and was very sympathetic. An ectopic pregnany was ruled out (which is what I was afraid of). Basically, what probably happened is: on day 5 of life, the cells split into 2 groups - one forms the placenta, the other forms the baby... and for whatever reason, the cells that form the baby just didn't take off. At least that's what he thinks happened.

I have to say, this made me feel a little better. Had we seen a little baby on the ultrasound, I think it would have been harder... He said the HCG levels were a bit of an anomaly, but to repeat the test on Monday. We talked over what might happen over the weekend and what to do...

Yesterday and today I've had some cramping and bleeding, and I'm assuming I'm somewhere in the middle of a miscarriage. I don't know if I'm just starting, or almost done.

Honestly, this has not been an easy week. I had no idea how hard this would be. But, my husband has been so good. And God is still great.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

And Baby Makes 5!

So we had a blast this weekend telling our families that we are going to have another baby!
We tried for a very long time, so didn't want to wait very long to let everyone know the big news...
Well, that, and we couldn't tell our kids till we told everyone else because we knew Jaylen would spill the beans! And the boys are SO excited to have a baby brother or sister... Jaylen's hoping for a girl, and Trevor's wishing for a boy. I don't think we'll find out what we are having, so it'll be a big surprise in the end!
My due date is May 27, so we've got a long ways to go... I just want to paint the nursery, set the crib back up, wash the baby clothes, find all the baby stuff and get it all organized. And then I have to tell myself I have about 34 weeks to do that!
Yep, I'm excited! :)
So far, feeling pretty good, although a little tired (what would pregnancy be without sleepiness?!). And if this pregnany is similar to my previous two, I may end up a bit nauseous in a couple of weeks... Right now praying this baby will grow stong and healthy, and we won't have any complications!

The "Shut Your Mouth" class

"The Bible has a lot to say about our mouths, our lips, our tongues, for our speech betrays us. What is down in the well will come up in the bucket." - Vance Havner

I love this quote from the book for the women's Bible study I'm in at our church. We just started and boy, is it convicting! The study description said a few things, including this: "Have you ever stuck your foot in your mouth, just to take it out and put the other foot in?" The book is called "The Power of a Woman's Words." So far (I'm only a couple of chapters in) this is great for me. What we say literally has the power to change lives, for the better or for worse! Some of the women started calling it the "shut your mouth" class, but it's really more than that. "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." (Proverbs 25:11)

My boys...

Look at these two cuties...

Aren't they the best?

I just love these little boys...

with their handsome blue eyes,

wearing their favorite Romeos - just like Daddy.

Dare I say (type) it? Trevor is potty trained... (now hopefully he won't regress because I just typed that!). He also is binky-free, and doing quite well. He still asks for one every once in a while (or asks if we can buy another one), but seems to be past it. And last night he slept in a toddler bed for the first time! I wasn't planning on moving him to a toddler bed just yet, but with the potty training, he wakes up and needs to go, so he cries and calls out for me to get him. I was leaving the rail down on the crib so he could climb out, but that didn't help because even though he COULD climb out, he wouldn't until someone went up there to tell him it was OK. :) So this morning about 1:30 he started crying and said he needed to go potty. I was really hoping he would have figured out he could go by himself, but no such luck. I'm sure he'll get it eventually! My little boy is growing up...

Happy Birthday, Trevor!

Trevor's 3rd birthday was last month... I can't believe my baby is 3! To celebrate his birthday, we had family over after church the Sunday before for Dutch soup, muffins, and birthday cake! Trevor was SO excited to blow out those candles -

probably more so than he was about opening the presents...

At 3, we are STILL working on potty training, but we're doing potty training bootcamp this week and last, so no more diapers or pullups (except at night)! And, we are making progress.

Trevor talks a lot (sometimes he doesn't stop!) and is getting a lot easier to understand, too. He loves fruit, but it's hard to get him to sit still long enough to eat a complete meal. If he had a choice, he would would graze all day long.

Kinda funny, the last week or so, he insists on climbing IN to his crib at night, but has yet to climb OUT of it! I'm not complaining, moving to a bed is one thing I don't have to worry about just yet. Probably sometime this summer we'll tackle that. He can now make it through the day without a nap, which is also nice if we need to be gone or have stuff to do...

Trevor is (generally) a pretty happy little guy, and very sweet. Every once in a while, he'll just say, "Mom, I love you." Awwww... how can I resist the little bugger!?

Brothers...

I love finding creative discipline tricks... and a new one I found recently has worked quite well! When the boys start fighting and arguing, I make them sit on the couch next to eachother and hold hands for a few minutes. While they do that, I talk to them about a time when they played nice together and how much fun it was, or some other positive or fun time to get them happy again. I don't even remember where I found this idea, but so far, it's working great!