ONE

He came and he conquered and we now have a toddler on our hands.  Severan turned ONE YEAR OLD on 1/13/14.  I'll just sit here with my box of tissues while I cry through the next year of his (going too fast) life!  Oh, not to mention my first baby is going to be SEVEN next month.  That just might put me over the edge...

We had a small gathering (with our friend Ali and her daughter) where we watched Sev stare at his cake, eat a little frosting, and then it was over.  I had invitations ready to go out to 8 other families but before hitting "send" on the E-vite I had this feeling of dread and I just couldn't take on one. more. thing.  I knew I could put my SuperMom cape on and make it happen but I decided that it wasn't worth it and since Sev didn't care I deleted the invitation and called it a night.  I think I'm getting a little wise in my "old" age. =)

Severan is pretty much doing everything that other 1-year old
kiddos are doing.  He can walk (he took his first steps several weeks ago
but is pretty confident now) and point and say a handful of words.  He
loves opening cabinets and the microwave and has a thing for light switches.
He also loves to dance and sing and if he can find an object to bang - he
will do it.  He loves taking a bath and most importantly... cuddling with
his Mama.  

The spots on his head are not better but
they're not worse either.  Well, we don't think so.  In fact, they're
just different this week :(  They appear to be darker in color now - which
may be blood, or not - we just won't know until Wednesday when we go in to see
his surgeons again.  The spots are very sensitive and if they are even
grazed in the slightest he screams in pain.  It breaks my heart.

A happy happy birthday to our sweet baby boy.

Your head may not have been perfect

but you are beautiful and perfect for us!

 

Dear Mom, Dear Sev

Dear Mom,

     I was just reading through the posts that you did back in 2007 through 2010 and I noticed that there were a LOT of posts about HG and Blaine.  In fact, I noticed that you did monthly posts for them and the last monthly post you did for me was on my 6-month birthday and here I am 8 months old and, well, there is nothing about me.  I demand an explanation.

Love, Severan

P.S. I love you, Mom!

Dear Severan,

     My sweet, handsome boy.  I may not be spending the time here noting your every move but I am spending a significant amount of time WITH you - playing, holding, and loving on you.  When your older brother was born I spent a lot of time figuring out what the he!! I was supposed to be doing with a baby, working, and vacuuming (yes, vacuuming.)

     You have grown a lot in the last three months since my last post.  In fact, you turned 8 months old yesterday and you are crawling around like a BOSS!

     You came out of your Craniosynostosis repair surgery like a champ and have brought nothing but joy into our home (well, except for your sleeping habits - those aren't quite as joyful as your smile.) Several weeks ago we saw your Neurosurgeon and Plastic surgeon and they both agreed that your skull could use a little more support so we had you fitted for a molding helmet which you will wear for 23 hours a day for 6 months (and we hope not a day longer!)  You've been a good sport though getting it on is not a fun task and you have shed some tears in the process.  We can't believe how strong and resilient and amazing you are already.

      We had some family pictures taken just after your 6 month birthday.  Your older siblings actually look like they like each other.  (But you know the truth!)

     I love you sweet one.  I love your chunky legs, your precious smile, your perfect head, your funny laugh, your determined crawl, your big beautiful blue eyes, your tiny hands, your first two bottom teeth, and the way you light up the room when you see someone you love.

     You are loved and treasured and I thank God for you every day.

Love, Mom

Changes

Time is not stopping for us over here so we're making the most of it.

Severan is consistently sleeping 8 hours at night now (Thank you Jesus and my fulfilling milk :) so I guess it is time to move him to his own room.  (If you could only hear me sobbing over this, you'd feel really bad for me!)  He is just growing up too fast.

Blaine and Hannah are on Spring Break this week and much to Blaine's disappointment we are not on the beautiful island of Maui.  Instead we are here in "boring Colorado."

Several weeks ago (when I was many, many, many weeks post-partum) I was still wearing maternity pants and feeling very uncomfortable and, well, fat and discouraged.  I had only lost about 20 pounds with breastfeeding alone so I knew that in order to lose the last 30 (yes, I gained 50+ pounds with this pregnancy) I would need to actually make an effort but I had several problems:

1. I now live in CO and running outside with a new baby and two other children is not really feasible.  It's cold and who knows when it will actually stop threatening to snow.

2. With Blaine in school full-time, HG only part-time and Severan practically attached to me I don't have the option of heading to the gym for an hour or more.

3. I felt overwhelmed when I thought about the weight I have to lose and seeing no good options for me.  (Cue the "Poor me" music.)

However, when I was three months pregnant I found several women on Instagram who were not only really fit but they were inspiring, motivational, and were interested in helping others achieve greatness - both physically and spiritually (Traci Morrow was one of these people.)  I followed them through my pregnancy and so as I pulled those maternity pants on several weeks ago, feeling utterly defeated, I knew what I had to do.

And I did it!  I signed up to be a Beachbody Coach so I would have some accountability in my own fitness journey and eventually I hope to support others as they pursue their fitness goals.  What attracted me, ultimately, were the results I saw from those that went before me and the program I started is only 30 minutes a day for 90 days so that was a huge selling point.  I mean, come on - who doesn't have 30 minutes a day!?!  I don't feel good - mentally, physically, or emotionally - when I am not physically fit and if I am going to have my best life, then I need to have my best body.  David and I started 17 days ago and I LOVE IT!  Blaine even enjoys doing the workouts, so that's an added bonus.

And I am happy to report that I'm not wearing those maternity pants anymore :)  Thanks to Kelly Holton (aka: Colorado Fit Mom) for helping me get started.

So, look out for some posts about fitness as well as the good ol' posts about our awesome family and the faith that holds us together.

Andrea's First Post

Tomorrow (July 22nd) marks six months since Keith has gone on to a more glorious place.  I think about him everyday - missing his sense of humor, kindness, love, care, and wisdom. 

Andrea has posted her first blog post and I think it is wonderful!  Keith loved writing on his blog and every week when someone would respond with kind words or questions he would say, "I can't believe people actually read that!?!"  He was so humble and grateful for the gifts God had given him.

I am delighted that Andrea will continue to post some of Keith's work and more importantly write about her own experiences - it is just what Keith encouraged us all to do: write! 

Fast Forward

Hello, my name is Jessica and sometimes I post random information here at this blog about our family but I've been a bad blogger lately.  Because of the length of time that has past I've decided to just fast forward through all the junk that has happened and get to the fun and happy stuff.

Just kidding, you know me better than that!  I've got to write about some of the "junk!"  The moving company continues to cause us problems and stress.  David had to help them move our items into the house (on Sunday the 1st) for almost 9 hours because they sent two small men (one who was on his first day of the job) to move all of our stuff in.  They damaged nearly all of our good furniture and many irreplaceable items (you know, the stuff from Pottery Barn, Ashley Furniture, our TempurPedic box spring, the Dyson vacuum, handmade decorative glass crosses, etc...) yet none of our cheap stuff.  The claims department is asking us to provide color pictures of the items, the boxes they came in, original sales receipts, weight of item, etc... for everything damaged and nothing can be emailed in - it has to be typed or handwritten and color copies of the photos have to be sent in.  What a mess. We're trying to get our credit card company to help dispute/recover the $3000 in overage charges and seek justice for the horrible customer service problems we've had.  The saga continues.

Another, more important, challenge we have faced is that the therapy that Blaine had started to receive this last week ended up not being covered by our insurance company.  For almost three months we've been working through the details of this and several weeks ago it was confirmed on two different occasions that these particular therapy benefits would be covered but when it came down to getting pre-authorization, benefits were denied.  Our next steps are complicated and expensive but we're not going to stop at anything to get Blaine what he needs.  So even though insurance has denied these benefits now, we're not going to stop pushing.

Okay, now the fun stuff!

My mom (aka: GG) came and helped me get the house totally unpacked and put together last week.  She was an indispensable, calm and loving presence and just a huge help as we moved and settled in.  She came in before our actual move date to help with the kids and on moving day basically took the childcare reigns while we dealt with the BS that was our move.  Then we tag-teamed and managed to get every box unpacked by Wednesday.  By Friday the whole house was completely set up.  GG was on a mission and she accomplished.  We don't know what we would've done without her.  Thanks for your help, Mom. 

Walking into the kitchen from dining room.

Mister in the backyard

Out the front door

Mister getting the mail.  He loves doing this.



We got to bring our washer and dryer!  Me=Happy

Sister being silly in the main level bathroom.

Kitchen

Front room

Upstairs "Reading room"

Kids' bath

Hanny's room (we had to put her crib back together because she
fell out of big girl bed every night.)  Big girl bed is coming next...

Our unfurnished bedroom (getting new furniture soon.)

Toy room! :)

Mister's room.

Basement (we like to call it the "Guest Quarters" :)

A random little room I'm calling the "Office."  I'll keep bills
in here... Out of sight, out of mind? :)

Basement bathroom

Guest Quarters

This was after another "I'm not tired!  I'm not sleeping!" day.
Yes, this is in the dining room.

Sister in the TV room.

She likes getting dressed by herself now.  Those are actually shorts.

We went to the Denver Zoo with GG.  Mister liked the Carousel.

Aunt Ann sent Hanny this skirt (she made it.) 
Hanny calls it her "Annie."

Loving it!

TV room

TV room from the kitchen

Kitchen from the TV room

Dining room

Today we went on our first family hike at Chautauqua Park.  What a beautiful place we've moved to!  Hannah rode on D's back and Blaine hiked like a superstar.  We were out there exploring for nearly three hours today and Blaine ran most of it.  He wants to summit the Flatirons... maybe another day :)

HG using the "Knockers"

We also went to a new church today.  Yesterday while I was running errands I saw this bumper sticker (below) on several cars (minus the "flatirons community church") and wondered what it was.  I had a hunch that it was the Flatirons, but had no idea what it meant.  I thought maybe these people just liked hiking or something.  Saturday night I spent some time looking for a church for us to go to and came across this very logo... discovering that it was Flatirons Community Church.  The church is less than six miles from our house and was just what we needed.  When we walked in it reminded us a little bit of Gateway, (people dressed very casually, coffee and food available, even the signage and vibe was similar but with a special Colorado feel) and after checking the kids into their respective rooms (which, by the way, they have a smaller, quieter room with one on one care for kids just like Mister!) we headed to the auditorium.  The band looked young but as soon as they began playing we were excited.  And the best part... The God Moment... The this-is-where-you-belong-right-now moment...  The first song they played was our wedding song: Rascall Flatts' "Bless the Broken Road."  I looked at David within two seconds of the song starting and started crying.  What a special song for us and what an awesome way for God to show us that He is with us.  The service was great and we look forward to many more Sunday's at FCC.

David is enjoying his job very much and went on his first mountain climbing adventure on Wednesday.  He is in hog-heaven here in Colorado - he can't stop talking about how perfect the weather is, how he loves the views and the opportunity for adventure.  I would have to agree :) 

Tomorrow will begin my first full week here in Colorado as a stay-at-home mom.  (That should read: Pray for me!) Ha!