Some updates!!

Quick update:

Noah: Doing very well. Is playing Upward basketball still and loves it. Is going to be signing up for baseball again this spring (after taking a year off - his choice). He is doing very well in his lessons and says that Spelling is his favorite subject. At his well check this morning he was 83 pounds and 4' 8.5". Wow, he only has 10 and a half inches to reach my height!!! He had a wonderful birthday yesterday and is looking forward to his party Saturday. Noah has become a real sports fan just like his Dad!! During the football season he has perfected shouting at the tv and disagreeing with the refs!! He knows all the penalties and even makes judgements on the play calls of the coaches. Aaahh, the apple really doesn't fall far does it?? It's really cute though to see them sit together and watch a game!! He even chose Bengals tableware for his party.

Abby: Doing great as well. She is still doing her cheerleading. She has decided to undertake perfecting the cartwheel all on her own and this past week at her game, when they announced her name she ran out and did an absolutely perfect cartwheel with pom-poms in hand!! I teared up with love for that girl, I just couldn't help it. She has practiced and practiced the cartwheel and it paid off. Her lessons are going well too. She is learning cursive and multiplication. She delights in "decorating" me with the makeup and nail polish she got for Christmas!! I actually really love the color of nail polish she put on me!! At her well check she was 75 pounds and 4' 2.5". Her eyes and ears checked out perfectly and she's a healthy girl!

Joshua: Could not be doing any better!! He had his clinic visit last Thursday and had an x-ray done. Both the GI doctor and the surgeon agreed that this last x-ray looks much improved and we are now increasing his bottle (breastmilk) feeds more rapidly!! Now instead of moving up 5ml a week, he's moving up 15ml a week. We will meet with the surgeon this Friday, and I'm pretty sure he's going to say "no surgery!!!". Otherwise I know he wouldn't have asked us to increase the feeds so much. I can't wait to hear what he has to say. At his well check today he was 16 pounds 3 ounces and 25 inches long. He got his 4 month immunizations and looks super healthy. In fact the doctor said he couldn't find enough adjectives to describe how well he thought Joshua was doing. We have started getting him to sleep at night in his crib. We've been previously sleeping with him downstairs. He either slept in the pack'n'play or the swing and sometimes just in my arms!! He seems to be doing well in the crib. He still wakes up a lot to eat, but he goes right back to sleep after that. He is right where he's supposed to be developmentally which is such a blessing after how long he was in the hospital. He is getting less IV feeds since he's getting more and more breastmilk. He now has a 6 hour window when he's completely off the line and that is such a blessing. It's from 4pm to 10pm. We can spend that time doing normal family things and not have to worry about the pumps and lines. It is so nice!! The more he feeds by bottle, the longer the window will get until he's eventually completely off it!! I've been accused recently of spoiling him as he now has a definite preference for me. After all we've been through, I couldn't be more thrilled with him showing me "some love!!" Even if the house is a total disaster, I'll happily hold and love on my baby whenever he wants it!!

Daddy and I are doing great. We're figuring out routines and how things are going to work now that we have 3 kids! I'm trying to work out the kids school routines, Joshua's care, meals, pumping milk and cleaning. It's a lot and I'm always busy, but it's a good busy!!

Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis (the ones who run the Creation Museum) came to our church last week for a little convention. They did 5 different talks and all 5 of us attended them all. What a blessing that was. I just can't say enough about this man and his ministry. His unashamed passion for the Word of God is so inspiring. I've been reading a couple of his books since then and we got the kids some of his books and a homeschool curriculum. I just love that they are not about telling Bible "stories" but about talking about the true history that is written in the Bible and how Science continually proves the authenticity of the Word of God. We saw one talk on the the many miracles that occur in the woman's body as a baby is created. Things happen during this time that normally are opposite of what normally occurs in the body. It's just incredible. And we also saw a talk on astronomy. What they do there at Answers in Genesis is so wonderful.

Well I guess that's it for now. We're all together, we're doing well, and we're happy!! Praise God!!!