What's happening here

We've had a few things happening here lately.  I'll try not to spend too much time rambling on though, as I have a lot to do today.

First, last week we finally found a new to us vehicle.  We traded in my minivan for a Ford Excursion, it is older and has high high miles (2000 with 163,000 miles on it) but it runs beautifully and is a great fit for our family.  There is enough room for even the new baby coming in the spring.

Isn't it a pretty piece of machinery?  I love driving it, and have gotten a few funny looks from people when they see this short little girl get out of this huge truck (the mirrors are at eye level to me).

Saturday night we took it for our first drive out of town, going to church.  Remember what I said about the extra space this gives us?  Well here's what I mean (I'm later going to move Preston's seat to the 3rd row where the empty spot is so that we can put the baby in the middle row where he is now)

Like I said, a LOT more space, and I got cargo room too so we can go grocery shopping on weekends as a family again.  I can't wait until next payday in 2 weeks so that we can do this (nobody wanted to go over the weekend with me for the short trip so I did it alone).  It also is allowing us to be able to go on a vacation, we're talking about going to the beach next summer at some point (likely when public school starts up again for next school year).

The other fun thing is a pregnancy update.  I had my first ultrasound and labwork done this morning at *yawn* 7am.  This is thankfully only 1 baby, this is a concern we had based on my symptoms and history (I miscarried triplets before having our oldest, and our second had a vanished twin).

As you can see, we have a perfectly formed baby there as far as we can tell.  The little booger is already incredibly active, the tech had trouble taking measurements because he (we'll call it a he until we get a gender, then we'll start using our chosen name, yes we have names already picked and no we aren't sharing until we know who this baby is) was waving, kicking, and bouncing so much all over in there.  We also changed my due date.  Based on my cycle I was due May 25th, and now according to the scan I'm due May 19th. Lydia's birthday is May 10th, and she is not amused by the change in due date.  His heart rate clocked in at 170bpm, which is excellent.  Now I have seen who it is exactly that's made me so sick I can barely function some days.  Zofran is my friend right now.....

That about covers it I think, for now at least.  Hope you enjoyed the pictures I had to go with today's update.

lots happening lately here

It has been a crazy month here in my family.  Lots of fun stuff, I tell ya!

I know not everyone has facebook so I'm going to put all the stuff we've been up to here.

First, we've not found our new van yet.  Every time we think we had, it gets sold before we can make the trip to check it out. *sigh*  Oh well, no big deal as we do have an 8 passenger van at this point and it will work for now with our family.  Eventually we will find the right van for our family, and we already know what we qualify for in a vehicle loan (and what we can afford in a payment) so we have a budget already set.  That makes it a LOT easier for when we do find our new van.

Second, we've had a lot of issues with Lydia.  She's had stomach problems her entire life, but this year has been especially difficult for her.  We've put her on medication for reflux, which has changed twice so far with not a lot of improvement.  We have her on a daily dose of colace to try and manage the bowel issues.  She is just miserable and lives in pain and vomiting regularly (at least 2-3 times a day).  We got a referral to the GI clinic at Nationwide Children's Hospital and she saw the doctor last week, then yesterday went in for an upper GI.  It came back 100% normal, so the doctor ordered blood tests that she went and did today after school.  I should know by the end of the week what the results of the labs are, and she goes back to GI clinic in 3 months (at this point in time, could be sooner depending).  We are also working with a dietician because earlier blood tests showed elevated cholesterol and triglycerides.  Lots has gone on there just with her. *whew*

Third, Lydia and Kimmy started public school in August by their choice and are doing VERY well.  I encourage each child to take ownership of their educations because it isn't something I can do for them, and the two of them felt that it was the best option for this year.  We discussed it several days before enrollment, and they are doing pretty well.  At least, they are doing well when they are there.  Lydia has already missed 5 days for her GI appointments, and Kimmy has missed 2 days for being sick.  I am trying not to worry about it, but if Lydia misses too much work I'll likely discuss moving her to a virtual academy for the remainder of the year while we get all the GI stuff taken care of.

Now, let's finish off with an adorable picture of my little man.  Preston is such a happy proud boy!

(yes his shirt means we're expecting #6.  Please say a prayer for us as this pregnancy is NOT being kind to me so far, I'm so sick Zofran isn't always doing much to help and it is affecting my parenting right now, the home learning kids are on a school break until I can get it under control again)