Daniel

Well, here is is a month plus past Daniel's 14th birthday and I never got back to tell his story.  To top it all off we are two days away from Dylan's birthday. 

Daniel was our miracle.  After going on the Depo shot after being pregnant with Dakota I found myself in forced menopause.  I had stopped taking the Depo shot two years before but had not gotten pregnant.   We finally decided to try some hormones the doctor thought might put me back on track and ovulating again.  Unfortunately, I developed every stinking side effect in the little pamplet they gave me with the hormones!  It was awful and I was miserable.  The doctor decided that there was no way I could do the hormones again.  I want to say luckily, I became preganant the next month but it was not luck!  It was totally a God thing.  During the pregnancy I did not develop the same problems I had with my first preganancy but experienced a host of totally different ones.  Now that I look back on it I find it very funny but at the time I was just miserable.  First, I was tested for gestational diabetes and tested positive.  At that point I was sent to see a nutritionist and started on a new way of eating.  It must have worked because I only gained about 12 lbs. the entire pregnancy.  What I did not know at the time was that they should have retested me to make sure that I really was diabetic.  I guess we will never know and it really doesn't matter.  Eating better helped keep my weight down and I did feel better.  Because Dakota had been a c-section I began researching VBACs and talked to my doctor about it.  She was very positive about it and we decided to induce labor 2-3 weeks early to see if that would help having a smaller baby.  The decision was made and I was scheduled to have the induction on Wednesday.  And so it began....

I swear the little booger was really happy exactly where he was and I think so was my body.  We did everything to start labor.  First they decided to try ripening the cervics to see if that would start labor on it's own.  Of course, the first dose did nothing and they decided to let me sleep that night and start anew the next day.  So, onto the second round of ripening and added in a dose of "The Pit".  Things finally started moving but not at a great rate.  The contractions got going but the body didn't do much so again we slept another night in the hospital.  The night before we had gone into the hospital Kevin and I had stayed up and watched Braveheart...at this point of the procedure I really wished I was at war instead of delivering this baby, lol.  How different things would seem after he was born.  On Friday, they decided to up the pitocin levels and broke my water.  The contractions revved even higher but still my body would not do what it was supposed to do.  By late afternoon the decision was made that a c-section was once again in order.  By this time I was ready!  It was really hard and I felt like a failure but now that I look back on it I can't see why I would think that way.  Obviously, my body was not built to deliver babies the "natural" way and that was okay.  Daniel was delivered at 6:00 p.m. Friday night after 3 days of labor.  He was beautiful!  He was tiny!  The child had not one ounce of fat on his tiny little body.  He weighed in at a whopping 5lbs. 3 oz.!  The doctor's kept us in the hospital just three days.  Daniel was diagnosed with "failure to thrive"....in the womb.   After having a "true" premature child with Devin we then began to realize that Daniel was also premature and was probably delivered 7 weeks early.  Oh, what we learn and is so scary at later dates.  All praise to God, Daniel grew and thrived and did not have any health issues.  He was a beautiful baby with darker skin, dark hair and eyes.  I was and still am totally in love with this child. 

God has a plan for this miracle child and I love watching him grow and mature.  It is hard to imagine that 14 years have gone by.  He is now taller than my mom and shaving!  He has had his challenges but has beat every one and continues to grow.  

  I am really excited to see where God takes this child.  May God bless him, keep him and may Daniel follow God all the days of his life.  Amen!

Crazy Days.....Crazy Mom

Life with boys is as crazy as you imagine but lately life has gotten worse.  What did I expect with 4 boys graduating from high school, 2 finishing up middle school for the year and one super active two-year old.  Well, I obviously didn't expect what I got which was life on the Autobahn. 

I am thrilled to say though that all the boys did graduate.  It took a lot of last minute work to get Lee there but he pulled it together and did it.  I am not sure that his counselor thought we could get him there but obviously the counselor doesn't know Kevin and I very well.  We are very proud of Lee's accomplishments this year.  I am very proud to also announce that Lee and Dakota have decided to join the National Guard to help pay for the college.  Which is a relief with college being so expensive now.  So, Dakota and Lee will be heading off to boot camp in the fall and when they come back they will jump into college life at Chemeketa.  Zach and Daniel (Big) are planning on attending Chemeketa in the Fall which we are thrilled with and then Zach plans on attending The Seattle Art Institute in two years.  I just realized that I have no idea what Daniel plans to do after his 2 year stint at Chemeketa.  I guess I better ask. 

We have also been doing so apartment/house searching.  The boys would like to move out as soon as possible but they also want to be near mom while Kevin is gone.  I will enjoy having more space in the house but also having them nearby.  I am so not ready to let go!  I realized that when Dakota was gone to MEPS for his physical.  He can be pretty grumpy and have an attitude with me but he is my first born and I do so enjoy him when he is playing nice!  Daniel (little) and Devin are very excited to have the big boys move out.  They are planning on moving out of Dylan's room as quickly as possible.  Then they plan on renovating Dakota's old room into a game room.  The little wheels are moving in their heads.  Kinda scary. 

Dylan has been a lot of fun lately and is growing in so many ways.  We are dipping our toes into potty training right now.  He is SO not interested in it.  He doesn't mind dipping his buns in the toilet water (reminds me to keep the bowls super clean) but he certainly doesn't want to do his business there.  I am trying not to worry about having him potty trained by September.  Dylan started horse therapy last Wednesday.  He was very excited to start but once again his short attention span got in the way and he didn't finish the time there.  But we were able to move onto the non-horse part of the thereapy without too much of a hitch.  I am hoping that this Wednesday will go just as well. 

There are so many other things going on but I can't seem to remember them all at the moment.  But it is past midnight so I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL!  I plan on blogging his story later today.