Busy, Busy, Busy

Well as you can see from all of the pictures, we have been very busy. Things never seem to calm down around here, but we're having fun.

As of tommorow, 26 MAR, I will be exactly 20 weeks. Time is really flying. We had another ultrasound done on 20 MAR and we are DEFINITLY without a doubt having another boy. I followed the news with a trip to IKEA!! Lately Gabe has been getting his leg stuck in the crib. If Greg wasn't here to lift and then pull I'm not sure I would be able to get him unstuck without calling the fire department (maybe a little extreme). We decided with new baby about four months away it was probably time to move Gabe to a BIG BOY BED. We went a little crazy in the kids department but he now has a room that is too stinken cute!! I think we are all jealous of his new bedroom "stuff", which includes, new bed, pillows, sheets, quilt, rug, stuffed dragon, dragon wall hanging as well as much more. Yesterday we spent the afternoon, cleaning, rearranging and setting up the dragon room. He loves it and has been really good (knock on wood) about staying in bed!!! We are waiting on some new curtains which will be the finishing touch for his new big boy room.

Gabe's first nap in his big boy room.

Snuggeling after his nap.

In the process of resetting his room we had to find room for all of his "baby" stuff. We have a really, really big closet at the end of our hallway perfect for a nursery!! Now Spencer baby #4 has his own room complete with crib, changing table and a bunch of linens, but I don't think he will complain. When he starts sleeping through the night we will move him in with Gabe, but for now he has his own cozy abode!

On a more serious note, Sam and I have been spending a lot of time at the doctor lately. Poor kid, he has this wee problem with vomiting. For those of you who have known us since he was a baby this isn't necessarily a shocker. He was a PROJECTILE VOMITER as a baby and spent four days in the hospital because of it when he was a toddler. We felt like we had everything under control until recently when he started vomiting in the morning. He would wake up ravishingly hungry and then throw up four or five times, rest for about thirty minutes and then be back to normal. For awhile he was doing this about every 7 to 10 days. I took him to the peditrician. He told me that he was clearly not contagious (none of the rest of us have every gotten sick) and that he could go to school after an "episode" but that he wanted him (Sam) to see a Pediatric GI. In the meantime he put Sam on Prilosec in hopes that that would calm his stomach. Unfortunatly it did not. We saw the GI on 09 MAR. She spent a LONG time with us and was VERY helpful. She has put Sam in for a TON of tests to try to figure out what is wrong and put him on some new meds. She also told me that Prilosec works best when taken in the morning (oops, nobody told me that). Before leaving the hospital Sam had a bunch of bloodwork done. He was a TROOPER, didn't even cry. So far all of that bloodwork has come back normal (YEAH!!). She was testing for Celiac, food allergies and a few other things. On Wednesday I spent the entire afternoon at Walter Reed getting Sam ready for his tests. This coming Friday, 30 MAR, he will have a Gastric Emptying done. Basically he will eat an egg sandwich that is made with some radio active material and then they will take pictures of him every 15 minutes to watch as the food goes down. On 19 APR he is going to have a scope done of his esophagus. They will also do a biopsy of the cells in his esophogus and stomach. This should definitly rule out Celiac and or food allergies AND give them a better idea of what is going on. He will also have a head MRI done that day just to make sure he doesn't have a brain tumor. He has had this done before so we aren't too worried, they just have to rule everything out. Sam will be asleep for both procedures, please keep us in your prayers during all of this as I'm sure I will be a wee bit nervous!

Other then all of that things are looking good around here! Greg and I feel like our lives and marriage have finally gotten back to "normal" since all of the deployments. The kids are doing really well. Sam loves school. Ethan and Sam love AWANA and Sam is getting ready to start T-ball. Gabe is a joy, he suprises us everyday with how big he really is getting. We are excited to see what this new season will bring. Hope everyone is doing well. I would love to hear from everyone soon.

Heather