flood!

Whew is all I have to say after last weekend.

The fun began on Friday afternoon.  I drove the kids to Bloomington to meet my parents at a McDonald’s.  We ate and played in the nice (seriously one of the nicer Mickey D’s I’ve been to) kid area.  We switched cars and then I drove home with just this guy:Saturday morning I was enjoying my coffee that hadn’t been warmed up several times, cuddling with Miles, and reading a book.  It was pouring outside and even when our phones went off with a flood alert, I wasn’t too worried.  Until William disappeared in the basement and then came up to say he needed help.  The sump pump was starting to not keep up with the amount of water that was coming in.  So we started shoveling buckets across the room into the shower.

We realized the storm drain where it pumps to was flooded by many feet of water, so the water we were pumping out had no where to go. I drove as fast as I could to Awesome Machines down the road and we rented a pump with a hose that we put out the window. By the time I got back, our storage area and William's tiled office were covered in water. But with the pump and towels I think we saved our new carpet. It's wet all the way around the edge of the room but we have fans going and rented a wet vac that we used several times.  With the dehumidifier as well, I think we’re all good now.  It was SO not how we wanted to spend kid-free time, but at the same time I'm glad they were out of the way.

We were also excited that it opened some doors with our neighbors.  Many lost a lot more than we did.  The couple across the street asked William to help move furniture and they let us borrow their dehumidifier until ours arrived.  They were super thankful and I hope that through the bad stuff we can chat more often!
We did get a pre-anniversary dinner out and also went out to breakfast the next morning.  Miles slept through both so it was super nice.  We drove back to Bloomington and met at Avanti’s (yum)!  Despite the basement craziness it was refreshing having a short break from the big kids.

I obviously didn’t take any pictures of the middle of the flooding, but here’s some aftermath pics:

the hose going out the window that saved it

ok, so you can't really even see the water, but it's there

Our day in Peoria

After we got such wonderful news about Miles, we decided to make the most of our day in Peoria with my parents.  We had never checked out the Peoria Zoo, so after letting Ellie get up from a failed nap, off we went.  I like zoos in 70 degree weather as opposed to full on summer heat so today was perfect for it!
There were these (well-loved) animal statues all over and they might have been Owen’s favorite part. One of the highlights was this little bird aviary.  For $1 you could buy a stick with some bird treats on it.  The birds would land right on your stick.  I was pretty shocked that both kids LOVED it and weren’t scared at all.  I, on the other hand, didn’t mind letting William and Grandpa stay in there with all the birds.This little girl is all sass these days and loves to put her hands on her hips. :) She also loves these two guys: While the zoo is small (and a tad overpriced) the Africa exhibit is nice.  The kids lasted way longer than I thought they would and walked the whole way.       Grandma had baby duty:We headed back to their house and after a great grilled burger dinner, we celebrated Owen’s birthday a few days early.  My Grandma and Grandpa Hoerr came over to celebrate with us.  He requested vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting. He opened a new duplo set (a pirate ship) and was so excited.  “This is the best present ever.”But then he opened the next present which was a pair of pajamas (requested by me) and said “aww man.”  I’m taking it that pj’s weren’t really on his list.  haha We enjoyed chatting and eating dessert while my mom gave the big kids baths before hitting the road.  My grandma got in some great Miles’ snuggles.I really had no idea how this day was going to turn out.  I had prepared myself for the worst and at many times throughout the day, found myself in disbelief that we were just getting to enjoy an awesome family fun day with 3 healthy kiddos in tow!

Miles is healthy!

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! ~ Psalm 107:1a

This morning, we got everyone finally loaded up and made the short trek to Peoria.  If you’re wondering, Frozen is the exact length you need to get you from our door to my parents house.  We pretty much drove in silence as I whispered prayers over and over.

We are so so thankful that my parents rearranged their schedules and took time off to watch Owen and Ellison.  Not having to worry about them was wonderful.  When we arrived, they rushed immediately to the basement where the toys are. :)  I nursed Miles, grabbed some food, and William and I headed out to downtown Peoria.  OSF Saint Francis Medical Center and the Children’s Hospital of Illinois is just about 15 minutes from my parent’s house.  We filled out paperwork and got in pretty quickly.  A nurse took the standard length, weight, and head circumference measurements.  I was thrilled to see that he was already up to 10lbs, 1oz.We waited for awhile in a small exam room and then met the super nice Jen Tarpinian who is a genetic counselor.  Here’s her staff picture more so I remember. :)She started by asking a ton of questions about the pregnancy, birth, and our family history.  All while making little genetic looking diagrams on her paper. :)  When she paused and asked how Miles was doing, I said that he was great, I was the one who was a mess.  She immediately put down her paper and said “while I still need to confer with Dr. Hoganson, the blood work I’ve seen looks fine.”   And cue the Kleenex.  We talked a bit more and she said she would be back in shortly after looking over the last round of blood work results with Dr. Hoganson.

Then the long wait began.  She popped her head back in to ask if we had gotten an urine sample and it was “pending” or we needed to do one today.  I told her how we had done it a say later as the lab hadn’t realized they needed it.  Then a bit later, she came back and said they were doing a large blood draw on a baby next door (hence the screaming we heard) and when it got quiet we could expect to be next.

Dr. George Hoganson came in with Jen and while quirky, he was very kind, knowledge, and easy to understand.  He started by telling us a little more about the newborn screening.  He said that because thousands of infants are screened in the state, there are bound to be cases that pick up borderline kids like Miles.  His metabolism was definitely not all the way matured, as witnessed by his jaundice. This was likely why he had elevated C3 acylcarnitine.  (don’t you like all these fancy new words I’m learning to use?)  He said a lot more big word things too, but I basically tuned as I understood that he was almost “apologizing” for our trip.  Miles was ok.  I tried to hold it together.

I did quickly tune back in when he said that all of Mile's’ blood work had come back in normal ranges and they had tested his urine for ketones and it too, was fine.  He had to do a physical exam while we were there.  We mentioned the cleft palate so while Miles was screaming and giving us a good look, Dr. Hoganson checked it out.  And guess what, more good news.  He said he wouldn’t even classify what Miles has as a cleft palate as he thinks the entire palate is intact.  He threw out a few other suggestions like maybe bifid uvula (although this doesn’t look anything like what I see) or just an indentation in the soft palate, but definitely wouldn’t call it a cleft palate.  He said to follow up with our pediatrician and watch it as he grows.  I’m pretty sure I told him that I wanted to hug him at that point.  At that point, he said Miles looked great and he would be closing Miles’ file with the state.  cue: more tissues.I asked Jen to take a picture of us before we headed out.  She did and then said she couldn’t be happier to close a file and never see us back here.We packed everything up, hugged, called William’s parents and drove in silent happiness back to my folk’s house.  I walked in and simply said “he’s fine” to my dad who burst into tears.  Followed by more tears from my mom.

Thank you Jesus.   It was a good day.

Happy Easter!

Easter was such a fun weekend this year.  Along with celebrating Ellie’s birthday, we of course had to do the classic egg hunt.  My mom went totally overboard and the kids bags were stuffed! Inside lots of the eggs were pictures of bigger gifts that wouldn’t fit.  They got so spoiled with sidewalk chalk, playdoh, and lots of other goodies!No pictures of our afternoon, but we broke tradition and ate dinner together on Saturday!  It made it so much easier on our schedule because we didn’t have to get home late on Sunday evening.

Sunday morning was the usual chaos of getting two kiddos ready for church and trying to squeeze in some pictures before they ruin their clothes. :)  Here’s a close up of Ellison’s outfit.  My mom bought her dress and of course I had to go a little more over-the-top with her bow. My gorgeous little girl.Getting these two crazies to look at the camera is next to impossible these days! Aww, a rare sweet hug.And it’s time to run.The best shot we could get of our (almost) family of 5.And an adorable picture of my brother and sister-in-law Kara!Even though we missed Casey and Jenna, it was a great little weekend with our awesome family.

Christmas {part 2}

This year, most everyone (minus Jenna) was able to gather for Christmas at my parents house, just a bit earlier than on the “real” day.  On Friday, December 20th, William took the afternoon off for our gender ultrasound.  We took the kids with us since we would be leaving from there to head to Peoria. After getting the exciting news (more on that in another post), we headed to my parent’s house.  They opted for a non-traditional tree this year and last and I love it! We have a yearly tradition in our family to do a fondue dinner every Christmas Eve.  So on Saturday we got out everything ready. Check out these vintage fondue pots: The kiddos only lasted for a few minutes into dinner, but the adults had a lovely time.  Blurry picture, but the flash one was terrible.After a very yummy dinner, my dad did his traditional telling of the Christmas story.  He also gives each of us the next chapter in his book “Thing I Wish My Father Had Told Me.”  He reads it to us and we all cry. Then we go around and share something we are thankful for this year and something we’re looking forward to in the next year.
Finally, the kiddos got to do what they were itching to do – open gifts!  My mom spoiled them rotten! Sunday morning, we got to go the Peoria Vineyard which is always a fabulous time! My cutie: I could not love this picture anymore of Ellie and her Grandpa. It was such a wonderful weekend with our family!