I could write a book

Ok, so I could probably write a book about our lives since the very day Lauren was born. :) So much has happened that I wonder when our life will return to normal, or the "new normal" with a new baby in the house. So here it goes...I brought baby girl home the day after she was born only to find out that my kids were sick with some sort of cold. That cold (or whatever it was) ended up lasting (at least for Kara) for 4 weeks. I took Kara to the dr and they said she didn't have an ear infection or a sinus infection and just said to keep giving her cough medicine. Her nose was running like crazy. I think we went through about 7 or 8 boxes of kleenex {no joke}. Jared's mom got a sinus infection. Then I noticed something didn't look quite right when I changed Grant's diaper oneday. Of course, with all my hormones trying to return to normal, I about freaked out and started crying. :( Jared reassured me that things "down there" on Grant were probably normal, so I relaxed and didn't think about it for about a week. A week later, he woke up screaming in the middle of the  night and then the next morning when I changed his diaper he was super swollen and then started acting like he couldn't walk. Ok...NOW I was freaking out for sure! I tried to take him to the minute clinic since it was a weekend and didn't want to have to go to the ER. Of course, the clinic said, "we don't deal with that sort of stuff" and referred us to the ER {at least the clinic was able to tell us his ears looked good...no infection}. We immediately took him over to the ER and the dr looked at him and they did an ultrasound and said he was fine. Suddenly grant was able to walk again and was back to his happy self. OH MY GOODNESS! So we walked out of there with no answers, a perfectly fine little boy and a big ER bill! We were so thankful that nothing was wrong with him though.

Oh, and did I mention that we noticed that we now had fleas in the house! Ahhh!!! We don't even have any pets and we have never had them before...so where did they come from? We noticed they had bitten Grant around the ankles and I noticed one in his hair and one jumping on me! Not cool AT ALL! So the very same day we had to take Grant to the ER, we had to get the house and yard treated for fleas. We had to get most of the stuff off the floors and vacuum and get out of the house for at least 3 hours {so we decided to take the trip to the ER}. I was still trying to get everything off the floor and put away when the bug guy got here and I was still in my pj pants. I had some other pants laid out to wear when we went out but the guy started spraying {with my baby girl still in the house} so I booked it out the door to get her away from any fumes and so, needless to say, I went to the ER in my PJ's. LOL. We couldn't even imagine where the fleas had come from until we noticed and remembered that there are quite a few stray cats that hop the fence or come in through a few holes we have in our fences. Now we had a different problem to take care of and are still trying to get taken care of. Grrrr....maybe soon the buddies will be able to go play in the backyard again. ;)

With all that stress and running around {literally like crazy} I wasn't able to have the ideal relaxing time to nurse Lauren so one thing led to another and I ended up with Mastitis and had to go to the Dr for antibiotics. I had it with the buddies too so I knew immediately what the problem was as soon as I had a fever. I came home that night and tried to nurse so the blockage would clear but she wasn't interested. I decided to take a shower and while I was showering I blacked out for a few seconds and the next thing I knew I was on the floor outside of the shower. Scary! I was sick to my stomach and just all together felt yucky. I decided to stop trying to nurse because I could tell the stress of it was wearing me down in a big way and FAST! I just felt like Lauren was being pushed to the side a lot those first few weeks and that I was being pushed away from her no matter how much I tried and desired to be the comforting mommy I wanted to be.

A few weeks later we got the follow up treatment on our house for fleas and we haven't had a problem at all inside but they are still outside...but like I said, we're not giving up! Those fleas {and cats} don't stand a chance!
I went to the dr that next Friday because I started to feel like I was sick and could possibly have an ear infection. I went to an ENT specialist and he said I have a deviated septum {in my nose for those of you who are wondering} and enlarged adenoids. He said he could do surgery on Monday! I have NEVER had surgery before so I was completely nervous. I read about all the risks, etc...I went in to the pre op appt and after talking with the nurse about all the risks etc... I opted not to do anything about it. It wasn't too bad and doesn't really bother me so I chose not to. I may regret that someday, but not today. ;)

Jared's mom was going to leave Feb 4 but on Feb 1 she got a phone call the her mother had passed away so we took an unexpected trip to the airport a few days early. I was very sad to see her go. She was such a blessing the whole time she was here. She did alot to help us with the house and kids, but more than that it was a blessing to be able to spend time with her and for the kids to get to know their nana better. Grant asked me the other day, "Where Nana?" I said, "At home." and then he looked up at the stairs because she slept upstairs while she was here. We miss her!

Now that things are starting to slow down...guess what? Kara's is sick again! She has a runny nose and a cough and I can tell she really doesn't feel well. When will all this yuckiness subside?? :)

All that craziness was no fun to go through (especially while trying to recover after having a baby) but the Lord was with us and is still with us to help us have the strength we need to get through it. The Lord brought many people along our path to encourage, help, and do things for us at just the right time! We are so blessed! I am even able to just hold and cuddle my new baby girl more now and the buddies are doing well in their new toddler beds {which we switched them to during all this madness}.  I'll probably write more about that and post pictures soon.
The Lord is good and I am personally blessed to have the best husband in the world. He works hard all day long and then comes home to help me alot with the kids.

So....I know this blog post was long, but thank you for taking the time to read it. We would really appreciate your prayers for the next few months as we try to establish a routine for Lauren and the twins. We are going to attempt potty training the buddies once they turn 2 {if they're ready} so that will be a whole new adventure...just around the corner :). Please also pray for improved and continued health in our home too. If you have kids, you know that it is difficult to keep everyone healthy once one gets sick, but we pray the Lord gives our children {and us} strong immune systems.