Tooth Surgery

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I will be having a tooth pulled. I have a root canal that has gone bad and I have to have a tooth implant. Unfortunately I have to wait at least three months after the surgery for it to heal before I can have a fake tooth put in. I am a little nervous about the hole showing when I smile. Let's hope for the best! You might see me these next couple months doing a half smile. I just pray that everything goes smoothly and I recover quickly.

Surgery Update

Dan and I took a trip to the Cleveland Clinic in Strongsville to see the vein specialist on Tuesday. First I had an ultra sound of my left leg and they found out that a valve in my groin area is not functioning. When a valve isn't working the blood doesn't flow correctly through the vein and this causes varicose veins. After the ultra sound I met with the vein specialist and then with the vein surgeon. Basically they want to do a surgery where I would have to be put to sleep. They put a catheter in my leg and up through the groin area to pull the vein out. Then they laser the bad vein. The surgery would take a couple hours, but it is outpatient. We decided to put a hold on the surgery due to Sara's inability to take a bottle at this point. I wouldn't be able to feed her much on the day of the surgery because of the medication and timing of the procedure. So we are going to wait until she is eating food and taking a sippy cup with milk. The surgery is necessary at some point, but not an emergency.

Next Wednesday I have a surgery to have a tooth removed. Then once it heals I need to have a tooth implant and a crown. Please pray that everything goes smooth with that. Pray that the baby doesn't get too hungry during the surgery too.

First Day of Preschool

We started preschool today. This is my class! Aren't they cute? We had a fun time learning about Jonah and the whale. We also learned how to move our finger from left to right on our papers. The kids did great adjusting to having me as a teacher and I enjoyed providing new material for them.

I had to include a picture of Sara too.

Home Schooling

I have decided to embark on a new adventure. I have seen how much Mya and Hannah want to learn and feel like they need more resources available to gain knowledge. So in response to that I have decided to try home schooling them with a preschool curriculum. My nephew Reid is going to join us too. We are going to have school three mornings a week in our attic that was fixed up recently. I am very excited about this. I just ordered a christian based curriculum tonight and a calendar for circle time. I will eagerly be looking out for the UPS guy to come this week! I am excited about this decision because I was turned off from teaching when I left my teaching job a couple years ago. My confidence level was way down because I was burnt out. I thought I would never go into teaching again. And I may not go back to teaching when the kids are in school, but I am glad that I have the desire to teach these little toddlers. I am glad that there is still some fire in me to want to educate and put the time and energy into this job. I just have to continue to trust God as he develops me and molds me while I am a stay at home mom.

Shoes, shoes, and more shoes.....

I would like to spend some time talking about Mya because she is quite the character and such a gift from God. The other day I said to Dan, "How is it that Mya can do such funny things and remain so darn cute!" Sometimes we get frustrated with her repetitive behaviors like saying the same things over and over and over and over again or running away from us when we say "no." The other day I overhead Dan say, "Mya, what is it about the word no that you don't understand?" I had to chuckle at that one. And yet when we tuck her in for the night we feel so blessed with the little girl that she is becoming. It is amazing to me that two introverted people produced an extrovert. How does that happen? I love it, though, because she keeps our house lively and entertaining. From her dancing skills to her long, long sentences that we can't understand, we are always reminded of God's gifts that he gives us here on Earth. We know that Mya and Sara are not ours, but they are God's and we have been given an incredible job to raise these girls and teach them about our Lord and Savior. (as I'm typing this Mya is demanding to sit on my lap and hold her with my arm, which doesn't allow me the chance to type with two hands, but "you gotta love her") Her smile is contagious and if you haven't talked on the phone with her before, give her a call. You are in for a hilarious conversation. The picture below prompted this blog entry because it is SO like Mya to go to my closet everyday and put on my high heeled shoes. As soon as I hear the clump, clump, clump across the wood floors I know that Mya found my shoes again. And if we are at someone elses house she will no doubt find a pair of shoes to try on. I have the feeling that her closet will be filled with shoes when she is a teenager.

Sleeping In

I just have to report that aside from a 5:30 AM feeding for Sara, everyone slept in until 7:45 this morning. Yeah!

Sweet Slumber

Today I caught Sara and Dan taking a sweet nap together so I had to include that in the blog. These moments are precious and do not last forever so its nice to have a way to remember them. Thank you Jesus for peaceful times like this!

We had a very full day and it went so fast. It was our first day back to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) at Grace Brethren Church. It took from 7:00 AM-8:45 AM to get all three girls fed and ready as well as getting a shower for myself. On days like this I take the time to put on make up and do my hair so that takes more time. But we made it out the door and to the church on time. It was a miracle that everyone was happy when we arrived there. I dropped Hannah and Mya off in the nursery and neither one cried. After MOPS we came home, I made lunch for the girls, and we put everyone down for a nap by 1:00. Dan was home for the afternoon so I left and went to the coffee shop with my mom. It was wonderful to sit, relax, and drink an iced drink. After the girls woke up from their naps (for Mya this was a typical 45 minute nap) we went for a walk. Sara and Hannah were in the stroller and Mya was on my back (in the Ergo backpack, which I love!). Halfway through the walk we switched and Hannah rode on my back while Mya sat in the stroller. Just imagine the looks that I get with a kid on my back and two kids in a stroller. Hannah wanted me to sing songs while I pushed the double stroller up hills. It was quite a workout! After our walk I made dinner, we ate dinner, ate popsicles outside, gave the girls baths, watched the Little Mermaid, and ate popcorn. To conclude the evening we brushed teeth, read the bible, said a prayer, and to bed they went. I put them to bed about 2 minutes ago and the room is completely quiet. Praise God! All three girls are out for the night by 8:25. Pretty impressive, huh? I give God all the glory for an evening like this. Now I just pray that everyone sleeps in a little bit tomorrow morning. The photo below is of Mya and Hannah watching their movie tonight. They were completely focused on the movie....it was pretty cute.

Updates

Today was an interesting day with the girls. They had some difficulty with sharing in the morning so after their naps I decided that I would create opportunities for them to practice sharing. So how did I do that? I used food, of course. Food is a great reinforcer so I gave them their snack in one bowl and had them sit in the living room so I could prompt them and monitor their sharing skills. Low and behold, they were kind to each other and practiced saying "please" and "thank you." The biggest skill that we are working on is not grabbing things from each other's hands. That causes some problems when they do that. Now I know that all of this is normal developmental stuff at this age, but I try to teach new skills when problems arise so they continue to work together and play together well. Its like I have my very own tiny classroom in my house. Fun, fun! Today the girls were really into playing dress up so I had them pose in the midst of their pretend play time. Hannah was proud to dress up with only her Ariel underwear on.


Of course I had to include a cute picture of Sara after her bath. She is growing so fast and cooing and smiling constantly. In fact, she doesn't always want to eat during the day because she would rather flirt with me so that I smile at her. She looks up at me with those big blue eyes and I can't help but smile and talk to her. It is pretty cute! The other picture is of Mya eating her Daddy's favorite cookie. She had it all over her mouth, but boy did she enjoy that cookie.

I don't have very much to report about our lives. Things are going along smoothly. Dan is enjoying his job. He loves to be at home with all of us in the evening and helps out so much with the girls and with household chores. Although right now he is trying really hard to beat his video game on "Master Ninja" mode. But he keeps dying. He is all boy when it comes to his video games. He did wash all the dishes tonight so I guess he deserves a little play time tonight=) I am enjoying motherhood constantly. I find myself feeling scatter brained lately so I have to work on taking time to just sit down and relax a little more often. I tend to get in busy mode and go all day like that. This blog is nice because I can sit down and collect my thoughts in the evenings. I have been trying to do things for myself lately like going to the coffee shop, buying make-up, shopping, walking, and taking baths and that helps keep me energized. I praise God everyday for a husband who encourages me to do things for myself. What a blessing!

Tooth Update

I drove to Medina today all prepared to have a procedure done on my root canal from 6 years ago, but I found out that my tooth needs to be pulled. Now I have to make an appointment with another doctor who will pull the tooth and implant a fake tooth. I am okay with having this procedure done, but the cost is quite stressful. We will be able to afford everything okay, but it sets us back from our plan of paying off the car within the next couple months. I think the best way to look at this situation is to be thankful for what I do have. I have a beautiful family and we have our health and a nice place to live. We really do have a lot!

Playtime

I was cleaning the house today and noticed that the girls were quiet. When I came around the corner I found them playing with Sara's toys. Very cute!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a fun filled three day weekend! On Saturday Dan took me to lunch and then shopping. Sara was an angel and we had a great time. On Sunday we went to two picnics. The second picnic was a birthday party for our nephew Bradey. It was his one year birthday. Mya had a busy day full of swimming and playing with her cousins at Brookside park. Then on Monday I went to breakfast with my friends Jen and Jaimi. It was so nice to eat and chat with the girls and just relax while we caught up on Jen's new adventures. She has a new job as a christian counselor at Cedarville University. We are very proud of her and I can tell she is loving her new job. Its awesome to see what God has done in her life. After breakfast I took Sara to Old Navy to shop their sales. I got a cute dress, which is a little risky for me because I rarely wear dresses. I am always trying to stay trendy since I am a mother now. Finally, we went to my Dad's pool for the evening and had dinner with them. All in all, it was a fun weekend. Please pray for my root canal surgery on Wednesday at 11:45 am.