Family Pictures

We just got our family pictures back! I'm very pleased with how they turned out considering the wild woman had been up since 0500 that morning and we all were beat. It was a very sunny day out and I know she was trying to go for a certain look, but we'll see if my Father in law can fix them up a little bit. 

I really like this one.

Had to get Beretta in one! I love Aud's face in this one!!

This just makes me giggle. Judah's eyebrows and lil' smirks are too funny! haha

My beautiful wild woman

"Really Momma, she's going to squeeze the guts right out of me"

Cardiology appointment

I've been awaiting this appointment since  I walked out the door of the previous appointment. I had a hard time sleeping the night before. It's not that I expected anything to be wrong or to have a serious change, I'm having a hard time putting it into words exactly.

When I was getting dressed for the appointment I realized I was wearing the same shirt I wore on the 26th of January when I found out that Judah had a major heart defect. The crazy part is that morning when I was getting ready to go see my baby on the ultrasound machine I remember grabbing the same shirt and thinking, if something is wrong, I'll remember every detail about the day.

Anyways, back to the appointment. Ben had off and because it was going to be an all day appointment like the last one, he stayed home with the wild woman and I took Judah to Philly. It started off with an ECHO. The last time we were there, my Judahcub slept through the whole thing. Not this time. Not even close. He was grabbing the doppler, he was kicking his chubby little leggies, he was trying to roll every which way, he was arching his back, he was absolutely wild on the table. The last time they had a hard time trying to get a good picture of his pulmonary branch and had the same trouble this time. After and hour, we got most of what they needed. Whew. I was beat.

Then we went and got the EKG and Mr. Judahcub thought they needed help with that too. He had the lady laughing so hard, it was really cute. She try and put the stickers on and he'd swipe on while I was trying to get the other on out of his other hand. She'd lean down and he'd grab her glasses- it was a mess. Finally we got it after some singing and finger snapping.

Then the docs came in and couldn't believe how big and healthy he was! I was one proud Momma. His cardiologist couldn't get over it. She came in and just scooped him up. He loved on her for a little bit and she said she probably so stop kissing him and listen to his heart. She's fantastic, we couldn't be happier with his doctors. They said at first his ECHO looked so good that he shouldn't have to come back for another year!! But, upon the second look the noticed a small regurgitation of his aorta that wasn't there the last time. Also, the pressures were up just slightly from 4months ago. They weren't as concerned with the increased pressure because  of how wild he was during the echo but didn't want to write it off either. So we're going back for another ECHO in 6months. This time they are going to use some sedation so they can get all the pictures they need and so they can get an accurate pressure reading. Praise God it's by mask and not IV sedation. I was reassured that the regurgitation was very minimual but because it wasn't there 4 months ago, they wanted to follow up.

Praise God for Judah's little heart. He is doing so well, is so healthy, and we are just so thankful. We are so blessed and just give all the Glory to God. Thank you for your prayers, Judah is a picture of what an answer to prayer looks like.

5 Months Old...1 month late

Weight: 18lbs

Wearing: 9 months mostly

Sleep: 

Judahcub is all over the place with his bedtime sleep pattern, but during the day he is pretty consistant. He naps 2-3hrs in the morning and 3hrs in the afternoon. He still demands his bath at 1730, and is usually sleeping no later than 1830. He will sometimes sleep 4-5hrs at night but for the most part it's 3 1/2.

Eating:

Biggie boy has started eating fruit and veggies. He's a Momma's boy and like's my cooking best :) He's not real found of bananas but really likes apples, all the orange veggies, and peas. He's nursing about every 3hrs round the clock.

Development:

Judah can now roll from back to belly. He hasn't put the two rolls together yet so going back and forth hasn't happened yet. His little hannies are so fast. I've tried wearing contacts again thanks to Mr. Fast Hands. He reaches for everything, especially the wild woman. He's shaking toys to se if the make noise, everything and anything goes into the mouth, and is just a gibbering away. I think one of my favorites is the way he turns his toys and bink around, like he trying to get a better look. He still loves his toes and has re-re discovered his hands. It's so funny. It was like he forgot them and then one day he was amazed again.

Favorites:

The wild woman

Beretta

toes

giving kisses

chewing on anything

music

reading books with Momma and Audrey

giggling with Audrey

getting tickled

You could call it Chaos

I can't even believe all that's happened in the last 30days! Shortly after hurricane Sandy, we got hammered with a snow storm that knocked out power out again for 4 days. Shortly after that, the kiddos and I went home for Thanksgiving. We were at my in laws for about 2 hours when Ben called and said we were moving and had a week to pack up. I said well, I can head home in the morning but he told me to stay home for the holidays and he would pack the house up. I really felt badly letting him do all the packing but in all reality- he was able to do it faster without us there. He's a good man and this makes move #2 he's done all by himself.

My Mom can back with us on black Friday and stayed 4 days to help up pack. The day we moved into the new house, Ben had to start night shift. It's been going okay, but anyone who has ever worked nights knows how tough that can be then add in kiddos, new move, cleaning the old house, and working out a plan for your dog that's not allowed on base thanks to breed restrictions.  I really don't like him working nights, but I'm thankful he didn't start until we were on base. I don't think I would have slept and both kids would have been moved into our room.

THEN we find out that the new house has fleas. Yup, fleas. I'm a very clean person, and even though our home is turned upside down and it's crazy any other time- we have a clean house. Our dog does not have fleas and was never in the new house. We came to find out the people that lived in here before was a few dogs. I was really upset about it. Everything else in the house was spotless. Ugh, anyways. We debated whether to have them come in and use the chemicals or to try and do it ourselves with Borax. After talking to the exterminator and doing some research, we decided to have the house sprayed and we stayed in a hotel for a night and returned only after airing the house out for 5 hours. We have to do this 2 more times. It could be worse and I'm so thankful its not.

Other than that, house is great and I really like it. There is a playground directly behind our house and there are no other homes behind ours. I look out the sliding glass doors in the living room and the windows in our bedroom to a huge field, walking paths, and woods. I could use a larger kitchen and more cupboards but like my Meemaw said "You'll never have enough of those" :)   Makes me really miss my kitchen in our Germany apartment, I had empty cupboards in that kitchen. Who am I kidding, I just miss Germany all together, especially this time of year. Deep sigh... Anyways, it's super nice to have our own bathroom, to use our new washer and dryer, and not paying out of pocket for everything. Praise God.

We're still working on the Beretta issue and getting her on base. Ben's parents have so graciously taken her in until we can get it sorted out. Audrey is having a hard time with Beretta being gone, the wild woman sure loves her dog.

Line Dancer

A few weeks ago, we went to a going away dinner for a guy in the kennels. It was at this place that had a restaurant, bar, and line dancing club all in one. No, we didn't PCS to the West and not tell anybody.

While we were waiting for our food, Aud noticed a line dancing class that was happening right beside us. Daddy held Judah while we watched. It wasn't long before she started to copy what they were doing, It was amazing at what she was picking up and how fast. I was one proud Momma! At first I tired to move her into the hall so she wasn't distracting the participants but the instructor hollered over " Let 'er dance!!!"  haha She also gave us two free adult tickets to a class and said to bring her back :) We haven't gone yet, things have been nuts, but we'll be having a family date there soon! Here's a little clip.

Date Night...aka Steelers Game

We were extremely blessed with tickets to the Steeler/Giants game this past Sunday! I had never been to an NFL game and was so excited about it. What I was even more excited about was getting time with  Ben. My Father in law gave us the tickets and brother in law went as well, we had a great time. Needless to say, my first NFL experience will be tough to top.

The seats were incredible, the game was so much fun, and we had a blast together. The MetLife stadium is about and hour and 45mins away. My Mom in law stayed at our house with the kiddos so we could go. I am truly blessed by having such an awesome extended family.

We got out of church a little later, and had some car switching to do so in the chaos, I forgot my Nikon. Thankfully the iphone has a good camera and my Father-in-law never leaves home without a camera.

Box seats, way too fun

A little dark but it'll do.

Isn't that beautiful? We didn't know it but it was military appreciation night. So proud of my man.

Yay for the Steelers WIN!!!!

Sandy

It blows me away at the amount of destruction wind and water can do. It's very scary.

We were very blessed in only having to be without power for a week and nothing else major.  My Mom-in-law was in for the weekend to watch the kiddos so Ben and I could go to a Paul Tripp Marriage Conference (which was outstanding, couldn't recommend it enough). I aslo had to work 12hours on Sunday so she stayed and helped Ben out.

The whole way to work I kept seeing signs about NJ in a State of Emergency and that bridges and roads could be closed at anytime. I called Ben and had him check the weather to make sure it was really okay that I was driving. It was fine but he said about checking on only working 8hrs so I wouldn't be driving in the rain, late at night.

It was a great day at work, flew by, and I only stayed 8hrs. With the radio not working in the car, and us not having cable, we really didn't know much about Sandy. haha I know, I think we were the only people in NJ that didn't know there was a hurricane coming until 2 days prior. Anyways, closer I got to home the worse it got. When I finally started counting, I  counted about 35 electric trucks from the midwest all making their way to NJ. I called Ben and if things got bad, he'd be going to base and staying until they told him it was okay to go home. He didn't want the kids and I to be alone, without power and him be on base. I got home and we talked to my Mom in law and we all agreed that the kids and I would leave with her that night.

We packed bags, cleaned out cars, and were on our way by 2100.  Before getting on the turnpike paseed 18 ambulances caravaning North. I had been up since 0300 that morning so Brenda did all the driving. I was beat but couldn't let her drive 6hrs in silence. We got back to her house about 0300. We took my van back and left her car at our house since they were coming back out to ours the following weekend for a boxing match and the Steelers/Giants game, so it worked out great. God is great at planning details.

Ben lost power the next day and it didn't come back until this past Saturday. He was at work the whole time only coming home to sleep. Beretta went with him to work in case he couldn't get back home. There was no heat, no water, and no power. He was able to shower and eat at work. Once it finally stopped raining he did make a stove outside, I love my outdoors man.

Being away from Ben in the worst, but it was the right choice. The kiddos had a great time at Oma and Poppas, and getting to see Meemim and Poppa Marty too. 

We booked the last room in the surrounding area on Friday so we'd have a place to stay over the weekend but praise God out power came back the next day and we even got our two free nights back and didn't have to pay for anything.

We lost everything in  our fridge, freezer, and deep freezer. I think what bothered me the most about it was that I had 2 enormous bags of breast milk lost. We are very thankful that's all we lost and that we have a great insurance company that compensated our food spoilage. If you don't have renters insurance GET IT.

People are still without power, water, and heat. People have lost everything and are still in danger. Please keep them in your prayers.