A little girl named Madelynn has been on my heart. She passed on to Heaven after a battle with neuroblastoma this month. She was three. Madelynn is the niece of my high school friends, Blair and Jacob. Jacob was my high school homecoming escort. Blair was my roommate freshman year of college; we were also in each other's weddings. I followed Madelynn's story through a facebook page checking for updates, pictures, and any signs of hope or a miracle. I found myself angry at God, in tears many nights, and cherishing moments with my children that I would normally not celebrate. Grace and I talked about Madelynn and prayed for her daily. While I never met this little girl, her story has spoken volumes to many people and this beautiful little girl has left quite a legacy in the short time she spent on earth. Please pray for the Nelson family and be reminded how precious the gift of life is. Here is an article about this princess: http://coladaily.com/2015/01/22/obits-remembering-madelynn-curtis-nelson-3-fought-stage-4-cancer-with-pookie-her-beloved-owl-by-her-side/
Our monthly family update:
Chick-Fil-A with the O family. Thanks for sharing, Rachel!
What do you do when school is cancelled due to winter weather conditions? You go to the Children's museum. Okay, I checked my phone this morning and school had not be cancelled, so I went about business as usual. When we got to school, I realized I never checked my phone a second time and probably should have because NOBODY was there. And nobody was coming because school was cancelled. Since we had already been out on the roads, I felt safe enough driving to the Children's museum and we were extra careful as there were some accidents near bridges and other places.
This will be a classic! What little boy hasn't been dressed up by his little sister?
Grace's second dentist check-up. Mrs. Lisa is the best! Grace kept asking if Mrs. Lisa was going to show her Mr. Thirsty (the water).
Jimmy has spent most of mornings off studying for his next ITE (in-training exam). Wesley thinks it's funny to write with pens :)
If we forget to close our bedroom door, you can almost guarantee that Wesley will make his way to the guitar or to play in the toilet.
We have this weekly schedule of activities mainly for accountability for me to be intentional with Grace. One of the days is "puzzle day" and I was proud that Grace could do these puzzles mostly independently. We'll have to add to her puzzle collection soon!
Grace's first day of dance class!
One of my dance recitals (age 5)!
Grace and Maddie, her buddy from pre-school. Grace has four classmates in her dance class.
This is Hannah. Hannah is Maddie's sister. She dressed herself and is just hilarious! Love this girl.
Sissy was sick for a few days this month (just a cough and low grade fever) so Wesley and I took some trips outside to get some fresh air even though it was very cold.
Here's how Grace spent her sick days :) Ipad, books, honey, and lots of rest! Gotta love some Curious George.
Believe it or not this picture was taken at Grace's doctor appointment the week she was sick. She had a fever and was coughing pretty badly, so I took her in just to make sure she didn't have the flu. Jimmy said that if she did have the flu, she needed to get the medicine in her system within 48 hours of showing symptoms in order for it to work. The flu test came back negative although I'm sure the picture was all we needed to know the results!
Sibling fun
Wesley made his first piece of art work with markers :) He was really into it! He even cried when we took them away because he started taste testing the colors...poor baby!
Grace and I have been working on letters and numbers. I made up this math game where one player has to cover their eyes while the other player takes a number away. Then, player 1 has to figure out which number was taken...she thinks it's hilarious. I think it's educational!
Playing in boxes are way fun!
Especially when daddy shakes you around
This is Titus. He's adorable. He is Derek and Holly's third baby boy. We have been through medical school and residency with the Kunz family. We are going to miss them a lot when they move to D.C. this summer.
The three stooges :)
Playground fun
This would be a good time to mention that Grace is going on almost a week and a half with no nap! I am thankful she has napped so well up to this point, honestly. She will fall asleep in the car sometimes and I couldn't resist sharing this picture. Instead of sleeping she usually reads books for an hour and then plays quietly in her room. Grace's rest time and Wesley's nap times line up nicely so I can still get work done.
I texted this picture to Jimmy saying, "laid back". He responded with "sippin on gin and juice". Of course I replied, "with my mind on my mommy and mommy on my mind". Yep, we're cool like that :) Oh, Wesley decided to eliminate his morning nap so instead of doing work from home while he sleeps on Friday (Grace goes to pre-school) mornings, Wesley will be my little errand helper.
We made a spontaneous trip to the Greensboro Science Center thanks to an invite from Leslie.
The last picture I took before my phone cut off...sugar! This is Leslie with her kiddos Wade and Ansley.
Our family met up with the Kittner family one spontaneous Friday at Bad Daddy burgers. As you'll read below, Grace has stopped napping so it must have caught up with her because she slept in Jimmy's arms through dinner.
The Kittner family! It was both of our first times taking our kiddos to Chuckie Cheese's.
Harper and Grace
Every now and then Wesley will find something just hilarious about his sissy. Today it was her reaction to holding frozen blueberries.
I knew my hard work with Grace would pay off...now I don't have to do anything with Wesley, teacher Grace will take care of it from here :)
Wesley is 15 months old now! He is in the 99% for his head, 90% for his weight, and the 50% for height. I can't get over his curly hair. He thinks it's funny not to listen. He likes to play hide and go seek in the closet, is very sensitive, strums his daddy's guitar for fun, LOVES his sissy, prefers to be outdoors, and is adorable when attempting to say words. He is becoming such a little man and we love learning more about him.
Grace has been pushing her "threenager" limit this past month. She does this every several months or so where she goes into full sassy mode. Part of the reason it came about this time is that she has gone over a week without a nap. Grace has consistently napped 2-3 hours a day since she went to one nap a day around 15 months old. One day she decided to skip a nap (which happens from time to time) and she hasn't looked back! She still has rest time each day and loves to read her books, but her sassy mode is especially present in the afternoons. There is a balance between disciplining her for being sassy (we call it being disrespectful) and being understanding of this new transition in her life and we are working on it.
I (Kristen) have started my third graduate school class and it's about multiculturalism and diversity in the work place. Work picked up for me this month as I had a training session out of town that I ran by myself for the first time. It was about 45 minutes away. There were two days in a row where I was gone all day. Thank you Kelsey, aunt Cindy, and Rachel for helping with childcare! It sure helped knowing Grace and Wesley were in good hands while I was working all day. I was plum exhausted those days...phew! However, it was a good reminder of what life will be like in over a year when I go back to work full-time hopefully as an assistant principal.
Jimmy had a much better work schedule this month! Praise the Lord! He is on regional right now and it's actually a specialty in which he's considered doing a fellowship. The call shifts have all been from home, which is usually a good thing (unless he gets paged every hour and has to return calls...not peaceful sleep for either of us). On his home call days he works a full day and gets home late. Then, he gets called for various reasons throughout the night (a few times on a good night) and has to go back in the next day for a few hours. After these few hours, he is off the rest of the day. Sometimes he needs a nap and sometimes we get to enjoy his company! Jimmy is also studying for his next ITE (in training exam) that will be in February. While he has had some weekends off, he usually has to study half the day to prepare for this exam. You can pray for guidance for Jimmy right now as he decides whether or not to do a fellowship. A fellowship is basically specializing in a specific field of anesthesia for various reasons. They are usually an additional year of training.
No comments:
Post a Comment