Prenatal 36 week check-up

Okay, so I had a bad prenatal check-up today. I went in thinking every thing was fine except for a little swelling. Well, my weight jumped up 5 pounds, my blood pressure was high, and I was swollen. SO, my Doc told me----NO salt, drink a GALLON of H2o every day, put my feet up for 6-8 HOURS a day, and at night. Uh, does the sentence-I-Have-four-children-at-home-who-are-home schooled-mean anything? This is going to be a challenge since I live 1,300+/- miles from any family. He said if I don't do this he expects me to have pre-eclampsia by next week. Lovely.

Ava-isms

Well, Ava is at is again. She always has something funny or cute to say. A few weeks ago, Ava was looking closely at my skin. She saw the beautiful stretch marks I have acquired through five pregnancies and she said, "Mommy!! You are stripped!." Yes, in the eyes of a four year old I have stripes. Last night as we were sitting in church, Ava reaches over and starts to stroke my stomach. She looks up with her big blue eyes and says, "Mommy, I am petting the baby."

Can we change the subject, Mom?

We are in the process of potty training Sterling. I have been letting him just be in cloth training pants. When I was in the kitchen making dinner, Sterling comes out and says, "Dry." I look at his pants and it is obvious that he is wet and not dry. I say,"Sterling! You are wet. Where are your pee-pees supposed to go? In the potty, Sterling. You need to go pee in your potty." He looks up at me and says, "Hug." Then he wraps his little arms around my leg. Either he was sorry for wetting his pants, or he wanted me to change the subject to something nicer--like hugs!

Vacation to MN 2009

Grandma May with the kids

Biking with family

Sterling loves to swing

Josh, Azalea, and Michael

Shawn and Henry

Dan and Jack

Gabe and Caleb

Lily 10

Ava 4

Isabel 7

Sterling 21 months

My parent's 40th SURPRISE Anniversary party!

Lily, Ava, and cousin Elijah hanging out...

Caleb and my dad

Cheesy little smile from Sterling

Great Grandpa and Grandma Enga with the kids

Michael and Azalea

Michael and Naomi

Lily, Ava, and Isabel "fishing"

Shannon, Tolo, and Bela

Jonah, Jen, and Logan on the pontoon

Reno lake in the canoe...

Sterling resting with Dad after a long day in the car...

How many kids can you put in one hotel room before you get kicked out?

Well, we have been back home for nearly a week, and we miss all our family in MN so much! We had such a great time. We had fun swimming and fishing in Grandma and Papa Ron's lake. We had fun taming the wild kittens and swimming at Pelican beach with Grandma and Papa Barry. It was great to see the new nieces and nephews we hadn't met before. We had Henry, Logan, Tolo, and Naomi to meet. They were all very special. We miss you all!

Baby #5 Ultrasound 26 weeks

On Monday I had an ultrasound. Everything looks good according to my doctor. Josh was able to come with for the first time. Every other time that I have had an ultrasound, Josh had been unable to come due to work constraints. It was fun to watch him see the baby. The baby was active during the procedure. We saw the baby moving his/her arm up to his/her face and he/she started to suck their thumb. It was so fun! We, once again, chose not to find out the gender of our baby. We only have 3+/- months till the arrival of this little one. Baby May #5....

Fourth of July Weekend

We had a VERY busy Fourth of July weekend. It started out with Ava running a high temperature. Her temperature was between 103-104. That is normal when Ava has a fever--she tends to run hot. Well, I was going about my business cleaning out her dresser, and was hoping she'd feel better after some Motrin. However, she kept looking sicker. Josh decided to take her up to the ER. I told him to go ahead, but I was busy and was going to continue with my chores. I wanted to finish up so I'd feel good about going to the fireworks in the evening. Well, about three hours later, Josh calls me from the ER and said our pediatrician (thankfully he was in the ER that day----I really like him) wanted to admit her to the hospital overnight. I was shocked and I felt real bad that I hadn't taken her up there myself. It was Josh's first time to take any of our kids to the Er. I usually am the one who does all the doctor stuff. Well after a lot of needle pokes and peeing in cups, Ava had a severe UTI. They hooked her up to an IV with antibiotics. Around 6:30 that evening I changed shifts with Josh. (They had gone up to the ER at 11am) When I arrived she looked terrible! It was so sad to see her as white as the sheets she was lying on. I spent the night on an awful fold out chair. It is hard enough for me to be comfortable in my own bed with this pregnancy--let alone on that awful "bed." We were not discharged until the night of the 5th around 10pm. Ava was so sad that she missed the fireworks. She kept saying, "I want to go home now." Also, every time a nurse would come into the room she would say, "What are you going to do to me?" She wanted to know if she would be getting any more "pokes."

On Monday Sterling also had some X-rays of his ankle/foot. He is still limping after 10 days. I am still waiting to hear the final verdict on what needs to be done for him. He still will cry if he bears too much weight on his foot. I am starting to get upset with the nurse who is SUPPOSED to call me back. I have called up to the clinic four times and I still haven't been able to talk with the nurse.

Sterling's Sprained Ankle

Sterling sprained his ankle on Sunday. While we were in church service, our number for the nursery came up. So, I went back to see what was up. My friend, Paula, was rocking a very vocal Sterling. He had slipped on a thin paper back book and had fallen just right---or I should say just wrong. Anyway, his little ankle was swollen, and he couldn't place any weight on it. It was so sad. On Monday he wouldn't crawl. I guess he was too good to crawl, but he had to be carried everywhere he wanted to go. On Tuesday he decided that crawling would be better than being parked on the couch all day. Finally, on Wednesday he could put a little bit of weight on his ankle and was limping around. He was a pitiful sight. He had his ankle in an Ace bandage and looked like he had been hobbled. He is still limping today, but it appears to be healing well.