Surprise!

The kids have something to tell you!

Jake and Addison are going to have a baby brother!
They are beside themselves, to say the least! They read to him every night, have named him, and are constantly touching and kissing the sweet boy.

I have been waiting for the "right" moment to announce this surprise and figured today is as good of time as any.

Yesterday we had our 20 week sonogram. It is always such fun seeing the miracle inside of you grow, wiggle, and develop.

the good news:
The baby looks great. he was a very active little one, putting on quite the show for us on the monitor. It is truly amazing and breathtaking how little he can be inside my belly and how much you can actually see from a simply sonogram...just astonishing.

I went into the appointment thinking I was 19 weeks and a couple days. However, after a very long and intense sonogram, it looks like I am 21 weeks and a couple days. So, little man should be expected to make his arrival in early June!

The bad news:
I thought the sonogram tech was simply trying to give me tons of pics of the little guy, therefore having the sonogram last about a hour. However, I soon realized that something may be wrong.

Apparently my umbilical cord only has one vein and one artery, a condition sometimes called SUA. A healthy umbilical cord should have a vein, supplying the baby with the food, nutrients and oxygen he needs, and 2 arteries taking the junk out from the placenta that the baby doesn't need. I only have one "junk drain." This can cause many problems and birth defects with the baby. Although, this is a VERY scary diagnosis, especially if you are stupid enough, like me to google it, I am optimistic that "Miracle , Oops baby" will be just perfect!

The course of action right now, is simply for more frequent trips to the doctor to measure the baby and take some pictures.

Please say a prayer for Baby Peters! We are so blessed to be given another chance to be parents!

Jake news:
Jakey boy went through an awesome seizure free patch about 2 weeks ago. He had no nocturnal tc's we caught, and besides some battered and bruised limbs, the boy has been great.

Then...we went to the doctor last week and bragged about his period without seizures. Call it a Jinx, but now he is having 3-5 tc's a night.
I called today just to inform the dr. that from my last status report things have changed. i expected nothing to happen form it, but just for it to be journaled.

I recently heard from the nurse and she said Dr. H was taken back by this news and 3-5 was DEFINITELY too many to be having every night.

Therefore, I am to tweak some medicine. If the tweaking does not bring positive results, we are back at Cook Children's for another round of steroids and oral steroids once we are released.

Seriously, does this roller coaster ever slow down? because I want to get off!:-)

Please say a prayer for Jakerdoodle as well.

A dear friend and coworker sent me a couple verses today. Although I have read and heard this one many times, it really stood out to me on this day.


11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 (New International Version)

(picture to be added later today)

Help for Haiti

We had a very fun and busy weekend. I skipped almost all of the much needed work that needed to get done around the house to hang with the kids, run errands, and go to parties. On Sunday, before Addison was to attend another party, the kids had a lemonade stand.

This wasn't any regular lemonade stand. All the funds raised are going to a Haiti relief fund.

The kids have been watching the news and, of course, the coverage from Haiti is all they have been seeing. They also caught glimpses of the huge telethon on Friday. When little minds see things like this, it is obviously very difficult for them to comprehend the magnitude of the disaster that is actually taking place.

After, what seemed like hundreds of questions about the earthquake and the effects it had on the country and its people, they, or Addison finally seemed to get it.

She explained to me what the children over there don't have, including a St. Jude!:-)
She was beside herself and wanted to help.

Not knowing how, I was reminded of a High school who posted on Face book that her kids had a lemonade stand to raise money for Haiti and to help her kids understand the magnitude of devastation.

Therefore, this is what Addison and Jake decided to do as well. Within less than 2 hours of "work" they raised 60$! I was so proud of them! They explained to all the customers where the money was going and why they felt they had to give. I have to admit watching them work so hard to to explain and sell their product certainly brought a tear, or several, to my eyes! If I said a tear, I would be lying, as it can only be described by that big lump you get in your throat caused by such pride for your little ones, and emotion because of their actions.



To learn more about what you and your children can do together to help others around the world please visit:

www.kidswithcourage.eventbrite.com

"You must love and help your neighbors just as much as you love and take care of yourself." (James 2:8)

seriously?!

I seriously need to get better about popping in and blogging. I am getting so far behind updating on the craziness that is , "The Peters household."

This weekend was certainly no exception to the crazy rule!

Matt was out of town fishing, so I enlisted some help from Babi and Papa in shuttling the twerps to and from their many activities. The kids and I grocery shopped and ran errands.

On our last errand of the day, Addi and I were unpacking goods from the kitchen, waiting for Jake to come in from the garage, as he is always the last one in, because he finds it necessary to explore the garage for hidden treasures EVERYTIME we park. It is even more fun to him now, as Matt has done an excellent job reorganizing, the pit, we call a garage.

It had been a couple minutes so Addi and I start to holler for Jake to come in. We finally hear him, and then the door slam, and then an "ouch!"

I advise the booger bear to come to me in the kitchen so I can kiss his boo-boo. he doesn't come. I then, more harshly tell Jake to come here, as it is pretty quiet now. He then yells to me..."Someone open the door!"

I am dumbfounded, as he knows exactly how to open the door and he is inside now, where he is supposed to be.

after a few seconds, i go to help him.
There he is, looking up at me with a worried look and says "puh-lease, open the door."

I look again, and his hand is completely shut in the door on the hinge side.
We open the door and get his hand out, and thankfully all parts are still attached! PHEW!

However, I couldn't get the tip of his fingers to get circulation....so I wait, and wait for the tiny tips to get pink again.

After much chaos, and many phone calls, Jake and I head off to the er once again because circulation is not coming back
.
The hand , after being xrayed, was not broken and circulation was now fine. He did however have a nail that was about to fall off, and most likely a sprain. So we are sent home with a hefty little splint and a smile.

the following day Jake had his first bowling birthday party. I urge hm to bowl with his left hand , as his right is still in a splint. Not 30 minutes into the party it happens...he hurt another finger on the other hand.

I refuse to run to any Dr. after the previous nights expeditions, so I kiss it and assure him it will be fine.

As the hours and days go by the newly injured bowling hand, gets more and more swollen, and more and more purple.

I tell myself that I will ask Dr. H about it at his routine neuro appt.on Tuesday.

The neuro appt. was great! I felt as if it was a very positive one.
When I finish rattling off a trillion questions, I nonchalantly ask Dr. H, if he thinks Jake needs an xray or if he feels it is just a sprain. He plays it safe , of course, and sends us upstairs for an xray. About ten minutes later, I was told that we need to head back down to orthopedics, as it did look like he broke his hand/finger!

so we returned downstairs to orthopedics and it is confirmed that Jake has a fracture and needs another "cast" on his other hand!

Needless to say, Jake LOVED the attention and is very proud of his "new hands!"

Tuesday was a very busy day for us, but the "one stop shopping" while at Cooks was great. Like always we were treated fantastically and I can only imagine how much worse all the dr.s and waiting could have been.

Here is a pic of the little trooper. Unfortunately I only have a fuzzy one from my phone right now.


I am soooo very thankful for everyone that helped us this weekend in the ongoing drama, that is Jake's life and to the many nurses and dr.s that helped us at Cook's. I also praise the Lord that Jake's injuries were as minor as they were. Although, he will be out of gymnastics for a couple weeks, I think he will be just fine!:-)

I can't help but look at the past couple days and how things transpired and not laugh. I grin, chuckle and sometimes even belly laugh thinking about it. Seriously?! who does this kind of stuff actually happen to?

He is so Brave! I am soo proud of him!
And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.

Joshua 10:25

sleeping is more dangerous than it sounds

Last night I had just fallen asleep, after hours of tossing and turning, and heard a humongous THUD!!

I have heard it before, so I hesitated, braced myself and then made my way to the side of the bed where the obnoxious noise rose from.

I see Jake's pretty, little, now bloody, head, wedged in between the nightstand and our bed.

His face was already a bloody mess, but I was worried about his head. After much searching, and thorough checking the head had no wounds! I now was able to work on the source of the blood.

It seems , as Jake tumbled off the bed, not only did his teeth make it almost all the way through his lip, but on the way down, I am assuming the nightstand, tore away his top layer of skin from the bottom lip.

It was a very nasty sight, BUT was not caused by a seizure. I have said it before and will say it again, Blood is sooo much easier to handle when it is not stemmed from a seizure!

The boy looks like he has been in the ring with Tyson!



Much to my surprise, because of the salt, the kid was still able to eat almost an entire jar of pickles for dinner, hence the pickle seed on the bridge of his nose.

still catching up- ICE at the Gaylord

A couple weeks before Christmas we took my dad to the Gaylord Texan for his birthday. Every year they have an amazing ICE display. This year it happened to be based on The Grinch, one of Addison and Jake's most favorite movies.

When buying tickets we were warned that the exhibit reaches a blustery temperature of only 9 degrees! Needless to say I wrapped the kids up in as many layers as I thought would fit under the provided, lovely, blue parkas!

Because with extreme changes, we may see more seizures, I was allowed to roll Jake around the exhibit in his stroller for "medical neccesity." Good thing I did, because the child did not like the cold one bit. After participating in some fun that the display had to offer,
he then retreated to the comfort of his limo, the stroller, and only seemed to show signs of life after a much needed cup of hot chocolate. Addi on the other hand could have slept in the Grinch's bed, as she thought it was fabulous and the icy temps never appeared to phase her.

This was truly such an amazing work of art it was breathtaking. I was so excited to be able to share it with the kids. They had a great time and were in awe of the wonder that is ICE.

Last Christmas, this kind of venue would have been my worst nightmare and an anxiety attack waiting to happen, as all the surfaces are rock hard. I can just picture Jake busting his chin or his head, after falling from a seizure.

Although we still have some mountains to climb, in regards to seizure control, Jake is doing a million times better. For this we are blessed.

Blessed be childhood, which brings down something of heaven into the midst of our rough earthliness.
Henri Frederic Amiel

Catch up!

It has been a long time since I have posted and you have missed out on some great events we have been involved in during this Christmas Season.
This is going to be a picture post of our many outings( changed my mind last minute...one outing at a time), so I won't feel so far behind.

Make a Wish gingerbread house making

The weekend before Christmas Make a Wish invited Jake to attend a gingerbread house making event. I never now what exactly to expect when fun things like this come up, but when it comes to MAW, I certainly, almost always underestimate the level of fun, planning and dedication that will be given to these kiddos.

The kids were given chef aprons, breakfast, gingerbread houses, and special appearences were made by some very special figures here in the Dallas area.

Rowdy, the Dallas Cowboy's mascot, calling Tony Romo, Jake's hero!

Addison was made to feel not like "the sister of a wish boy," but rather as an immediate part of the group. We had a great time! It was certainly a great way to get the Holiday season underway!

Jake loved looking at the lobsters maybe even more than he loves to eat them


I think the kids could have possibly eaten more candy than actually went on their masterpieces.




The final products!



They were so proud and had a great time! I am definitely going to make gingerbread house making a tradition in our house for Christmas time. We rae so blessed to have been surrounded by amazing people willing to give up their time for our special kids. Thank you Make a Wish! Thanks for everything.


Make a wish, have a ball, dream a dream, be it all... If you want it, you can get it, But to get it, you've got to want it. Anything you want to try, Just let go, fly high... and Make a Wish. Tom Chapin