"It's like the worst of all the Chesters."

Hey girls,

Just wanted to procrastinate a little bit and say a quick hello. We're moving this weekend -- to Westchester, which is about a mile and a half from where we live now. But we will finally have a little (big emphasis on little) house, complete with a yard and an extra bedroom. We'll still only be about a mile from the beach, so any time anyone wants to pop over, just let me know. :)

We have some friends helping with the move and some other friends watching Violet for us, and I am just so thankful that we don't have to do it alone this time.

The past couple months have really turned my cold little heart into a happy place again. I feel like I finally have a great network of mom friends, as well as some couple friends with husbands that Adam can actually talk to. We have camping trips planned this summer, as well as barbeques and birthday parties. It finally feels like we belong here.

I still despise the costs of everything, as well as every single day being sunny (it's a little creepy), but overall, this is turning into a nice place to live.

We just got back from a quick visit to Ohio for Anna's bridal shower. That was a tear-jerker, let me tell you. I cannot believe she is getting married. But we had such a great trip. Neither of us were ready to leave this time. And ... we got to see Josh and Julie and their adorable kids.
We also went to Cincinnati for a little anniversary getaway. I sort of didn't think when I booked the hotel that there might be a Reds game going on, which there was. As well as about five weddings and a convention for those guys with the funny hats. So it was a little hectic. But we still managed to have a good time, despite my migraine and no water in our room. But the free babysitting made it worth it! :)

Ok, time to get back to the packing ... which I do strangely enjoy, if only I had a little more time to do it.

Love you girls and miss you!

Prayer Request

Hey girls, I'd love to post a real update since I haven't in a while, but this one is more of a prayer request for now. Last week my grandma passed away in the middle of Thurs night. She's had Parkinson's for quite a long time, and this makes it easy for her to aspirate. She ended up with pneumonia last week, but seemed ok and was ready to be released when things quickly got very bad. Anyway, it was time for her to go, as her Parkinson's has been getting worse and worse for years now. So we're peaceful with her death. The wake is today, and the funeral tomorrow.

However, my parents were scheduled to tour Europe last week and were supposed to leave on Thurs. It was a once in a lifetime trip, as they were going with people who have lived overseas and knew how to do such a trip. So this other couple was kinda their guide, and knew how to save them all a lot of money. Plus my parents have never done something like this. Their bags were packed at the front door, I had picked up their dog, and instead of getting in the limo to go to the airport (my uncle had arranged for a limo for them), they drove to the hospital. So they are really struggling with not just the loss of my mother's mom, but also the really bad timing and trying to deal with the logistics of trying to get their money back, and being depressed about missing out on the trip. It also doesn't help that it was kind of a vacation from my crazy family for my mom, and now she is dealing with them all week.

So if you could just keep my family in your prayers, I would really appreciate it. It's been a stressful time, and I just feel so awful for my parents. Please keep them especially in your prayers. Thanks girls, I really appreciate it. I'll post sometime soon with a happier update, as things are going well other than this.

Happy Mother's Day!

Just wanted to send a shout out to all the mothers - especially to Jen who is experiencing her first mother's day as a mom.
Your children are blessed to have such loving and caring mothers.
Love you girls.
Ang.

Suck it losers!

I just spent a week with Kim! hahahahahahah..... in sunny California!.. hahahahaha....I'm just kidding. Thank you girls for voting me to get to go visit Kim for her birthday. It was a lot of fun and we really missed you guys. We had a nice time and I enjoyed the break from normal life. I posted more deatil about the trip in my blog. Congrats on the new house Steph! And I hope school is going well for you. Hope you girls are all doing alright and I miss you all. Love ya!

Just a quick update

Hey chicas! Hope all is well with all of you! Things here are as busy as ever and about to get busier. We're finally buying a house! We just need to get through inspections, which are on Friday and Monday. We don't close until June 19, for various reasons, but that give us more time to prepare. I will try to post some pictures of it as soon as we know for sure. I would love it if you guys would just be praying for everything to go smoothly...so far so good. There have been a few bumps in the road, but all in all it's been a good process.

School is really hard right now, and I'm hoping I can finish the paper I'm working on soon so I can concentrate on the move. Shawn's been working a ton, so that makes things a little harder too...but at least there's been a little extra money around!

That's really all that's going on here...Just wanted to share our good news with you guys. I miss you all! Love ya!

Just a hello

Ok, I thought I'd post something just because no one has in a while and hopefully we can get the momentum built up again. Not that I really have anything much to report. We're still apartment hunting. Prices have really dropped around here (thank you, Jesus) so we'd like to find something a bit more affordable ... and maybe closer to the beach?? :)

We went down to San Diego this past weekend to stay at a house that Neal and his girlfriend are renting for the week. Neal's family was in town as well, so we had a lot of fun catching up with them. And Violet really enjoyed all of the attention. She did pretty well with the Easter egg hunting. Although I think she was more excited about the eggs themselves than about what was inside of them. Probably because I stayed away from the candy this year. We had a few different egg hunts and by the end of it, she had it pretty much down.

Adam's birthday is this coming weekend so his mom is flying in and we're going to Disneyland. I'm getting pretty excited about that.

Um ... what else ... Oh, I'm starting to send out queries for a novel I wrote. Not sure if anything will actually happen, but it's still fun to dream.

I guess other than that, we're just busy with the usual day to day stuff. I seriously don't know how the days disappear so quickly.

Hope all is well with you girls. Love you and miss you!

surgery update

Hay ladies! I had my tumor removed today and everything went really well. I was able to hear first biopsy results while i was still in the operating room, which were that there was no reason to be concerned. they are going to tear apart the tumor and give complete biopsy results when i revisit the surgeon end of this month. But truely, the doctor and we are not anticipating anything to come back serious. I have some pain but have been able to take the edge off with Motrin. Only negative side is that i really can't play with Megumi, so that just breaks my heart!
Little update on Meg... she is still in the 95th perentile for weight at 17 pounds, 8 ounces. she's 24 inches long now. She found her feet and plays with them constantly - precious. she even holds her feet while i change her diaper so i can get a good look and don't miss anything :). My brother Brian brought over their exer-saucer last weekend for us. Meg loves it and she looks like a big girl when she plays in it. I think I'm about to put the swing away as she isn't interested in it anymore. We started rice cereal on tuesday. She's not exactly sure what to do with it once it's in her mouth but she does open up for the spoon very well. And all of this growing up just makes me so sad that she's not my little newborn baby anymore! Yes, i have cried a few times watching her play. I just can't believe how time has gone by so quickly!
Love you all, miss you already!

prayer for a friend

Hey girls, I have a prayer request for a close friend of mine here in Columbus. I would really appreciate it if you guys would remember to keep Jessica in your prayers as she and her husband are really needing it right now. Jessica is about 20 weeks pregnant and went to her routine ultrasound appointment yesterday to find out the sex of the baby. She called us (all the moms at playgroup) to say that the tech saw something concerning but couldn't say what. So she was dropping Hannah (her 2 yr. old daughter) off with one of us so they could go to the doctor alone in case it was bad news. The ultrasound showed a cystic hygroma (fluid-filled sac), heart defect, and a cleft palate. They met with a specialist ysterday afternoon and had some tests done to determine exactly what the chromosomal abnormality is, we're still waiting. But it looks like it might be Trisomy 13. Long story short... Jessica's options are to induce delivery which will cause the baby to pass away early, wait for the baby to pass away in utero, or wait for delivery in which case the baby will most likely pass away within 24 hours. Needless to say, Jessica is struggling. I have posted a portion of the email she sent us last night so you can see a little more what she is dealing with. I kow this is a downer kind of post and I apologize for that. But I'm needing my girls who know and love Jesus and who believe in miracles the way I do to bring Jessica and her baby and family to the throne room of God and ask for a miracle, for peace, for strength, comfort, and ultimately, for God's will in this situation. Thank you girls.

"We found out we are having a little girl! Unfortunately, the Dr found the same abnormalities the tech found this morning. He thinks it's probably Trisomy 13, although she doesn't show text book results from any of the common problems. We did an amnio and a rapid test. We will know the rapid results on Friday. If it is one of the common conditions, we will know then. If it's not, we will wait for the amnio in 7-10 days. If it's nothing in that test, then it's genetic and there will be more testing. At this point, we are just waiting for the results. Our options seem to be inducing early (baby will definitely pass away), carrying until the baby passes in-utero then delivering, or she could go to term and would probably pass away anyway. My instinct is to just wait and let God take her when he's ready, but the thought of carrying her knowing she will die is so hard. I even hesitated taking a pain pill for my head today until I realized I can't really harm her at this point. That's a horrible feeling to have.She was very stubborn during the Ultrasound. Her head was jammed down far into my pelvis, her legs were closed, her feet and hands were by her face. At one point she grabbed her foot with her hand and tried to put both in her mouth. It was so cute, but so hard to watch at the same time. It was especially difficult to see her cleft lip. And when they were talking about her heart, I couldn't watch anymore. All I could see was a beating heart and hearing them talk about what's wrong with it was too much. I just want to hold her and tell her I'm so sorry. I can't believe this is happening. Thank you all for supporting me through this. I may not want to talk much, but writing is easier for me. Dan's mom is trying to come here to help for a little while. If she makes it in, we won't need as much support in the way of babysitting and meals, but I will let you all know when she arrives. Until then, I really appreciate everything. "

Frisco, CO - Here we come!

Here is where we are staying. I just wanted to get you more excited. :)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,490926,00.html

See you soon!

big boy

Isaac is 3 months now and is starting to get a little more of his personality. He's finally interacting more and was in an especially good mood this day. It's just so good to see my baby smiling because he's been so uncomfortable with his reflux problems that we were starting to to wonder if he could smile. Isaac still needs prevacid, but seems to be doing much better these days. yay!

3 weeks...

... till the big trip.
Just thought I would throw that in there.
Can't wait to see you all!

na, na na, na na, na.... (add mocking tone in your head)

So, I had mentioned that Josh was rotating in Michigan the past two weeks for a urology spot up there. We were officially offered the position this week and will be moving to start his new program by July 1. My mocking blog title is meant to make you all feel jealous that I get to live within 15 minutes of Nathan and Liz for the next 3 years (unless they move for some reason). =) We are very excited that Josh is getting to do the specialty he really enjoys and will have tons more time with us from July on. He'll still be working 9-12 hour days and taking call. But that is a HUGE improvement from the 16 hour days, plus 3 out of 4 weekends a month and constant call that he's doing now. We'll actually get to eat dinner together as a family most nights (and won't have to wait until 9 pm to do it.) We are obviously dreading trying to sell our house in this market and know we'll be taking a big loss financially. And moving SUCKS with 3 kids, but our quality of life will impriove dramatically. And we are very excited about being near a fellow sapphire and her beautiful family. =) So that's the update for us. We would sincerely appreciate prayers that God would provide a buyer for our house quickly and would provide for us financially during this whole moving process. Also, please pray that the kids would adjust to the changes well. Seth especially does not handle change very easily and he's old enough to have his little group of friends in Columbus that he will have to say goodbye to and that will be hard for him. (I'm not gonna lie... it'll be hard for us too). So thanks for the prayers girls. And Liz and I think you should find reasons to hit the Michigan area for a visit now that there's two of us in one spot. =)

tumor... be gone!

Hey girls!
So remember several months ago, right around when baby Meg was due, I told you all about this tumor i found in my breast? The biopsy ended up showing A-typical cells but no cancer. Well, today we made the decision to take that little tumor out! So, after the reunion i will have it removed. The surgeon really left it up to me... either we could continue to check it every 3 months or we could just take it out. And since i have no fear of removing things that don't belong in my body, i said "let's get it out of there and be done with it."
Remember to do those monthly self breast exams girls! Hopefully you don't find it annoying that i mention that... but it's really very important and i care about you all so much that i would want you to know immediately if you had a lump. I just love you all that much!

Hoping for a better 2009

Hi ladies,

I was hoping this would be a good post with some happy news. However, things went a little south on Monday. I found out I was pregnant at Thanksgiving. I was waiting to tell everyone when I had a heart beat and some more convincing pictures. We went in last Tuesday for our first ultrasound. The technician seemed a little concerned, but really didn't say much. She said that I measured 6weeks 3day. She checked with one of the doctors and they had us come back on Monday for another ultrasound. When we went in on Monday the concern seemed greater. They had us stick around to talk to a doctor - and that's when we got the sad news. After a week, I still was measuring at 6 weeks 3 days. They said that we should have had a heart beat last week, but they thought they'd give me another week. So, after a panic attack on my part and lots of tears in the office, I finally understood that my baby had stopped growing probably a few weeks ago. My body hadn't figured it out yet, so it was considered a missed-miscarriage. I went for a D&C yesterday. God has given me such a peace in my heart. I know that He has a plan for my life, at the moment, I don't understand it completely, but I know He is in charge. This pregnancy we a bit of a miracle because I had just begun taking steps to use Clomid but then my cycle never started.

So... now we are back to square one: Trusting that God has a plan for our life. I'm excited to see you all soon. I can't wait to hug you all.

A little update

So Adam and Violet and I are official for Colorado as well. We're flying in the Saturday before for some family time and then we'll leave Violet at Nana's, which will be the first time she's been anywhere overnight without us. But I think I'm ready for that. :)

We actually ended up getting our reunion tickets for free through Southwest with vouchers they sent us because of our travel issues over Christmas. Our original flight to Denver was canceled and there were all kinds of time-consuming issues to follow. We ended up getting home around 2am and having to be back at the airport the next morning at 8. But we still got to Colorado via Phoenix and Adam still got to go to his Broncos game on Sunday, so all was well.

In other news, Adam is switching departments at Demand. He's now working as a senior marketing manager, which seems to suit him great. It's more of a horizontal move, but hopefully will have a better hours than the 12 hours a day he has been working. But we will see.

We all just got over brushes with the flu and Vi is still a little snotty faced. But I think the worst is over. She got pretty sick on Christmas Eve night, which was kind of scary. But she felt well enough to tear into her Christmas presents the next day. :)

Miss you all lots!

new prayer request

Hey girls,

We have a new prayer request if you all think of it during your prayer time. It's a good thing, don't worry. =) Josh has been offered the opportunity to do a rotation in Detroit, MI in a urology program that he is applying to. He got a call out of the blue the other day from a surgical resident he had worked with in Columbus who had transferred this year to the urology program in Detroit. She said her program was looking to add a new spot and wanted to know if Josh was still interested in urology. We are and so he will be doing a 2 week rotation up there starting Jan. 12. We are wanting prayer that we just end up wherever God wants us and that if this is His will, it would work out. Urology is appealing because the hours are significantly more family friendly than general surgery and the pay is actually a lot better too once he would be practicing (which means we could pay off school loans faster, woohoo!). The move would be really rough though because we love Columbus and have a great set of friends here who offer an enormous amount of much-needed support to me and the kids. Plus, selling the house would be a nightmare I'm afraid. We would definitely have to take a loss on it (with our current U.S. economic state) and that would hurt financially. The move would only put us about 2.5 hours away from my parents, which wouldn't be too bad. And Josh's mom has already said she's moving with us if it works out. So at least I would still have some babysitting help. =) Anyways, we just want to be where we are supposed to be and need some prayer that that happens and that if we do need to move, that it would go smoothly with house selling, finances, etc. Thanks girls and Merry Christmas!

whatever

Jen, I'm currently annoyed that you are getting 7-8 hours of sleep at night. I have probably not gotten 7-8 hours of sleep in the last week total. Isaac has reflux pretty badly and I'm starting to lose my mind. Last night I left him crying in his swing at like 5am and Josh said I woke him up, told him to take care of Isaac, said something about throwing the baby out the window, and then stomped upstairs to Seth's bed. Josh calmed him down for like 20 minutes, but then he had to go to work. So I had to come back and take care of him again. Anyways, this is my first baby like this and I can't take it much longer. We got a prescription for the reflux for him. We're just waiting for the insurance to get Isaac added to our plan so that it can be covered. I just can't handle this with my 3rd kid. Because no matter how badly my night goes, I have to be up at the freaking crack of dawn with two toddlers. And Seth doesn't nap anymore, so nor do I. And unfortunately, I also lack a husband who is ever home to help. And I feel bad asking for help at night when Josh has to get up at 5am everyday and work a 16 hour shift. Well that's enough of my gripe session. I'm just tired. On a good note though, Isaac weighs 12 pounds and is in the 95 percentile for weight and the 90 percentile for height. He's a big, healthy boy. The other kids are doing well. They still love the baby and are oblivious that he is the reason for them being ignored lately. Seth seems to have developed an adorable little crush on a little girl his age that we play with a lot. Her name is Brenna. I don't know that it's really a crush, but he definitely loves playing with her. Every time we leave them, Seth talks all day about missing Brenna. And then yesterday we went to our playgroup Christmas party. Vicki came over to watch the kids while I took Isaac to a Dr. appointment. She asked Seth what he did that day and he said "I played with Brenna." So Vicki said "Do you like Brenna?" Seth said "yes, I love Brenna." Then Vicki said "What does Brenna look like?" Seth thought about it for a second and then said " a princess." It was adorable.

Well, I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday. We miss you all and are very sad that we will not be joining you in Colorado. =( Have a great weekend!

snow and ice

I'm guessing all of us are getting some effects of this storm raging across the U.S.! Last night, we got hit with freezing rain, sleet, and finally this morning, snow. Thankfully, and Praise God!, we are not without power. I've been praying about this storm since i heard it was coming knowing that Chris would be out of town and if power went out, we'd be searching for a friend with power or a fireplace. So, as i said, Praise God that we didn't loose power dispite all the ice.
Liz, so glad Katie's doctor appt went well. I'll be praying now that baby Katie takes on some of baby Megumi's eating habits. Meg's edging on 13 pounds and takes 6 ounces of formula every 3 hours during the day! I also have to brag on her, that she's sleeping 7-8 hours through the night these days! yea! Megumi is just itching to meet her aunties! Everyone stay healthy and safe out there in this storm!
oh, did you know that one inch of rain equals 12 inches of snow!!??!! I found that to be quite amazing!

White Christmas

So, we're definitely guaranteed a white Christmas this year. We've got quite a winter storm going on outside the doors of my warm, cozy house. We're expecting about a foot of snow by this afternoon in my area. Nathan had to go into work. Had there been more snow early this morning he would have worked from home. But as it is, I will be worrying this afternoon when he makes the treacherous drive home. But all the kids are enjoying an early start to their Christmas vacation. We're also expecting more snow this weekend, and again on Christmas eve. I'm all for a white Christmas, but this is a little much.

All else is well here. We're busy getting ready for the holidays next week...cleaning, wrapping, cooking, taking care of last minute things. But it's fun. Katie saw the pediatrician yesterday, and it was kinda fun to have him so pleased with her progress and development after all we've been through. However, we are finding ourselves back to having weight checks. She's only 15 pounds 0 ounces at 9 months old. SO with only a 2 ounce weight gain over the last 2 months, we're needing to be a bit more vigilant with that again. It's hard as she's so active now, and much prefers to play over eating. We're trying to supplement with some formula, although she's a bit of a breastmilk snob. But we'll manage to pack on some more pounds somehow:)

Anyway, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! And do you all realize it's only 2 months until we all meet again? Wow, that's coming fast!

Yeah and Hooray

I'm so glad to see everyone is official!!! :) I'm getting so excited. I will call you all this coming week and let you know the totals and such. Keep the pictures coming. I may need a little help with the scrapbook - there is so much that has happened. I hope you all have a wonderful day! Love you!