My little man

John Michael is growing like a weed. Besides being quite the lug he's doing a number of new things. He's beginning to stand on his own but he hasn't quite figured out the stepping part of the process. He likes to stand up and throw himself toward what he wants to go. Its really pretty amusing.

He's also using some of his signs more. He regularly uses all done and has added thank you and on occasion he'll even say please. Its really sweet.... and he loves giving kisses! When people leave he automatically leans in and opens up for a slobbery open mouthed kiss.

And his crawling is OUT OF CONTROL! You can't help but giggle when you see him travel from one spot to the next because he's so speedy! He rarely goes slowly from one spot to the next. Instead he practically runs, but on his hands and knees.

And finally he's started mooing! I loved it when Addy began making animal noises and now John Michael is too. Its so sweet to me! He doesn't get the "oooo" part but he'll say, "Mmmmm" and smile. I'm actually surprised he didn't start with a doggy bark, they are by far his favorite. Every time we see a dog he jumps up and down and beelines it toward the doggy.

But sadly, we've also discovered one more thing about John Michael. He's also allergic to mosquito bites! He got a bite near his eye last week and this is how he woke up.

"Mommy, I can't see!"


Poor little man



My little swollen boy.



The saddest part is that it got worse! I don't have pictures on my computer of it though - just on my phone. But, you can imagine!

One a prettier note, here are the rest of the pictures of those adorable girls I took a few weeks ago:

































and a couple of the little girl their mommy babysits for:

Getting ready for a play date!

Addy is getting ready for a play date. Faith is coming over tomorrow to play while Sam and I hang out. The girls are just getting old enough to really enjoy playing together. Seeing Addy with other children has been enlightening. I'm learning more about what she's like and what her strengths and weaknesses are going to be.

Here they are a couple of months ago at Faith's house with Ellen. Their "play dates" aren't exactly consistent. I thin they've had a total of five in their whole life... and a few of those doubled as babysitting on Ellen's part!

From bad to worse

Well, I hear that's the way allergic reactions go... They start off bad and then every time you react after that its worse. Well, if that's true we just experienced it. On Labor Day Adeline got bit FOUR TIMES by a mosquito in the forehead.

Here's how she looked on Tuesday morning.






So of course I started administering the Benadryl.... but in the afternoon she looked worse:




So, off to the urgent care we went. I had thrown away the steroid script the doc had given me thinking we wouldn't need it... and we had to wait 2 hours to see the doc. By the time we saw him my poor little girl looked like this:




But, armed with a steroid cream we felt assured she would be recovering by the morning..... so you can imagine my shock when I woke up to a little girl who couldn't see out of EITHER EYE!!



Off to the pediatrician we went. Luckily I had an appointment for John Michael anyway. He prescribed an oral steroid and by the time I even gave it to her it was getting better. By tonight she looks immeasurably better.... Thank you Lord for medicine. Its not the first thing we turn to, nor is it what we ultimately put our trust in but we're so grateful for it when we need it! I didn't get a post trauma picture tonight due to pregnancy symptoms :) But I'll take one in the morning.

And by the way, my little girl is a trooper. Not a complaint! (Well, except for nap time... apparently benadryl makes her hyper.)

This time next year

I'll have

A three year old
A two year old
and...

a FOUR MONTH OLD BABY!

Three babies in three years!

Addy is doing great & Business is.... well, growing :)

For those of you who have been asking, Adeline is doing great. Thank you so much for your thoughts, e-mails and prayers!

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, a few days ago (its not clear when exactly) Adeline was bitten by some type of bug (its not clear what type of bug)....(as you can imagine the doctor celebrated my observation skills). Right away I noticed the bug bites were extremely swollen on her shoulders. I remembered my Mom telling me that when we were small children that we responded in a similar way to mosquito bites so I didn't think much of it.... until Sunday morning when I woke up to this:



For those of you who can't tell Addy's face is EXTREMELY swollen! You can especially see it in her left eye (the one that appears on the right in the photo). In this next picture you can see how it was all the way over the bridge of her nose and into her right eye too (the one that appears on the left in the photo).



Here's a reminder of what she normally looks like.



So, the difference was, in my opinion, quite alarming.

By God's grace I am not prone to anxiety or panic when it comes to crisis situations... but I definitely had to actively ask for God's help in remaining calm when I woke up to my beautiful little girl resembling "Chunk" from the Goonies.




Despite the obvious deformities.... she was happy as a clam! So, after asking God to help me to relax, I fed her breakfast and called the doctor's office to speak with the on call nurse. The nurse recommended giving her Benadryl and taking her to the Urgent Care facility if it didn't go down. So, naturally, I brought her into the Urgent Care straightaway. :) After all, I wasn't going to sit around all day and stare at her face constantly wondering if it was worse or better!!

The doctor essentially told me the same thing I wrote above.... she was having an allergic reaction to a bug bite... But, he did absolve any fear that the swelling was also occuring internally. He checked her throat, ears and lungs for wheezing and checked her out as all clear! He sent us home with a prescription for a steroid to remove the swelling and a topical cream. I opted for Benadryl instead of the steriod (the doctor said this was fine, Mom :)) and the swelling is almost completely gone! She's almost back to our precious, beautiful girl!

On a more attractive note, I took some pictures of some little girls in my church today. I am trying to build a portfolio to officially start a business with price lists and all so two beautiful little girls were a welcome addition! I'll put up some more of what I took but here's an appetizer!


















This one I went back and forth on and I think I've decided I prefer it in black and white:





One of my favorites....





More soon!