Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Today's Dentist Appt.

Right now i'm laying on the couch with my sweet little guy listening to his heavy breathing. Today he had some pretty extensive work done in his mouth. The dentist removed two teeth and put a space maintainer in where he took out one of the teeth. Also replaced the space maintainer he had already had in with a safer kind. And then (the part we didn't know was going to happen) he put an appliance in the roof of his mouth to expand it. I knew at some point this was going to have to happen I just didn't know that was going to be today.

It can always be pretty hard to have unexpected things happen when your at a Dr's office with your little one. At least for me that has been a hard reality that seems to happen often. I go to these Dr. appointments with Andon prepared for what I had expected and when things change I start to get a sick feeling. My nerves get messed up and my emotions start but I have no other choice than to hold it together. That sweet little person is watching me and Jared to see how we feel about it all. He is so brave and trust's us so much.

He did great today, as he almost always does. His mouth is swollen and he is talking a little different but they said that should only last about 3 days. They gave him this medicine to make him sort of drunk. He was so sweet when they called us back to get him. He was telling Jared and I that we were the best! :)

We have to put a little key into the appliance every night and turn it for forty days. Then we'll go back and see if it's wide enough. The hard part is that this could possibly tear open his palate. We'll just have to wait and see.

Please pray for my sweet guy. He has been through more in his short 5 years than I have in all my 29. And there is quite a bit more to go. After the forty days are over the Dr. talked about attaching another appliance to this one while he sleeps at night to help correct his jaw. Also, the time has come to get ready for the bone graft to his gum line. They will take bone from his hip for that procedure.

Let me tell you though. God has given Jared and I exactly what He knew we could handle. We absolutely LOVE this boy of ours!

Oh, he just woke up and asked me to watch Wall-E with him. Nevermind, he passed out again.. Sweet thing! :)

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Busy couple of weeks!

I know, I know I have been a terrible blogger lately. I have been so busy and life just kind of took over. We have so many things coming to an end right now that I had to put a post together about all of it.

First i'll start with my sister Jamie's graduation. She never graduated from high school so when she got here to TN part of her "Life Plan" that Jared and I put together was to continue her education. Last week she did just that! She got her GED and the county we live in put together a graduation for all the students. I am very proud of her and so happy she got to experience this! Now, off to college girl! :)

Last weekend was Andon's last soccer game of the season. We have had so much fun watching him play! I am almost positive we'll be signing him up for the Fall and maybe Jared will be coaching the team! Andon has never received a trophy before so he was pretty excited to go to the pizza party/trophy presentation even though he had a pretty nasty cold. Here we are at the party and him with his first trophy!


Then Jared and I went to Andon's school for his graduation/end of year program. It was so fun watching all the kids sing and dance. They called out each kid and said what they wanted to be when they grow up. Andon said he wanted to be a fireman. What little boy doesn't I guess. :) After the graduation we had a big ice cream party with all the classes. I am happy but sad that this has come to an end. He starts Kindergarten in the Fall and I will be homeschooling! I am really excited about this new venture but will miss my 10 hours of alone time each week. :) Here is a funny pic of him during the program. All the kids hands are down but my sweet boys are up! He goes to his own tune people. I LOVE him! :)

And here he is at the ice cream party..

And today is his last day of school. They are having a beach party so he got to wear his swimming trunks and flip flops. I took a lot of pictures and some video with my little flip so maybe i'll try to upload that later. Here he is with a few of his "sons" before school this morning. He always takes two to three of them to school, I think this is very cute! He gets so upset if you don't call him a "big boy" but you better believe he'll be crying his eyes out if we forget to take a son to school! :)


Here he is with his sweet teacher, Mrs. Evers. He loves her so much and will really miss her!

Other than all of this fun stuff. We have almost been here in Tennessee a year now! I got a notice from the apartment saying our lease is coming up for renewal and was so surprised at how fast time flies. I have to say that I am really starting to enjoy it here! I still have things I go through like missing all of my sweet friends and family and having accessibility to the beach! But I feel changed. I sense growth in myself and my husband. It is very exciting when you can see it, feel it and just know that God is doing some amazing things in you! I am looking forward to the future for wherever He has us!

Love to you all,

Jen

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Who's out of shape?

So i decided it was time to stop "hanging out" and start WORKING OUT. I am used to doing so many different things I decided a change was in order. Before bed I announce to Jen that I want to run. Jen springs to life and says "are you serious" to which I respond "yes" but the crazed look in her eyes makes me start wondering if that announcement was a good idea. Jen says "we will get up at 5:00 / 5:30 and run a mile". I agree and think that doesn't sound bad, after all a mile isn't that far.
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ the alarm clock goes off and I am up and getting ready. Jen follows and within minutes we are outside stretching. Jen mapped out a mile run in the complex early on so we knew where we were going. On a side note, this is TN so hills every 50 yards or so! We start off and within 100 steps or so I am trying to control my breath. Jen casually asks "is everything ok?" and I respond "Yes (breath, breath) my legs are fine (breath, breath) but I am trying to control my breathing". After about 200 more steps Jen asks again "how are you" and at this point I have switched, it's no longer my breathing that is the major issue (still an issue though) but now it's my legs! I explain this to Jen in as little words as possible. I figure by the end of the run I will be down to grunts and hand signals at this rate. Jen responds with "your doing great, keep on going". After what seems a lifetime Jen says "Halfway there"... HALFWAY my mind screams. She's gotta be joking. I would have swore we passed halfway a while ago. At this point I am running and breathing so hard I am spitting and the nagging voice in my head that is trying to convince me to stop is very loud and laughing at me. Jen on the other hand is talking most of the way. It seems effortless to her, like we are out for a Sunday stroll or something. A few hours later (seemed like it anyway) Jen announces "THREE QUARTERS DOWN, We are in the home stretch". She explains that we are going to go down a hill and I should conserve energy, let the hill just take me. I on the other hand am losing control of an arm, parts of my facial muscles and a leg. We get to the bottom of the hill and I realize that I did get a small rest, I feel a bit better. Two seconds later I realize the final part of our run is UP HILL! Jen says "Get on the balls of your feet and push off, attack the hill" or something like that. I am so starved of oxygen that my hearing is about twenty percent and I think she said "Your feet are like balls and the hill will attack you". In addition, my vision is being clouded by darkness (I think it's death coming to take me!) Up the hill we go and WOW I am on fire. I can see the house now so needless to say my body is rationalizing that if I stopped now it's all good, the finish line isn't the house after all. All I need to do is get close...
We finish (at the house) and I am sure I suffered a mild heart attack or something. I look up at Jen and she is stretching her legs. I am bent over, hands on knees wondering if laying on the pavement and taking a nap is acceptable. I take a moment, catch my breath and head in to get ready for work. All in all I was a complete mess but I FINISHED. Since then we have run three more times and it is already getting so much better. We are actually going to extend the run tomorrow to a mile and a half so stay tuned and pray often.