Still Bleeding

I'm sure this is gross to some people, but it's a big moment when you loose your very first tooth! He was so brave and so proud when it was done. (His cousin Faith, who is 9 months younger than him, was mad just after this picture was taken because Anthony wouldn't pull or show her how to pull one of her teeth out! Luckily one of the adults around overhead this and intervened.)

"Lost" Tooth

So this past weekend we were all over at Jon's parents just relaxing outside and enjoying the weather, when Anthony comes around the house and informs me he can't eat anymore of his apple because his tooth was coming out. Sure enough right there on the bottom left--his little tooth was barely haning on. We assured him it was ready to come out and all it needed was a little tug. After much coaxing and encouraging from all of us he got it out...he did it all by himself and didn't want anyone touching or helping...even Aunt Susie who works in a dental office!:)

So losing your first baby tooth is a big deal right? The kid made out like a bandit before we ever got home! With all the aunts, uncles and grandma and papa. So that was all great now here is where the story gets interesting and eventually down right funny. We quickly put it in an envelope to keep it safe and it was safe all afternoon. However Sunday evening my parents came by and I do not know what possessed me to let Anthony take the tooth out of the envelope and hold it in his hand, but not twenty seconds after I said, "don't drop that or we will never find it out here in the YARD! (what was I thinking?) he dropped it!!!!!!!!!!!!! We immediately began to search and I continued to search way past my parents and Jon had to give up. I searched with a drop light until 9:30 and then I was back out there Monday morning. Needless to say we have a very bare spot with no grass right in front of our porch. I finally gave up and we decided to put a "substitute" tooth in an envelope. Anthony had us write "Dear Toothfairy, Sorry about my tooth...it's somewhere in the front yard." Anthony already asked us straightout about the toothfairy and we couldn't lie, but he still thought it would be cool to pretend. The "Toothfairy" wrote back..."Dear Anthony, I'll let it slide this time. Be more careful next time. Congratulations!" Anthony had a dollar under his pillow...I of couse saved both envelopes for the baby book and we were on to other things. Then, today WEDNESDAY--I got out of the van and just thought I would walk over and take a look now that it has rained, and Jon has mowed and used the weedeater in front of the porch. Would you believe I bent over and picked up that tooth right off the top of the ground! No kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do not know why God's timing involved me waiting three days to find that thing, but He knew right where it was all the time!

Here's a picture of Anthony right after "the extraction" (Sorry about that...that picture is on Jack and Wanda's camera...I'll have to get it and post it later) and also a picture of a wedding cake I did this past weekend. Not too shabby for an amateur. I was pleased when it was all done.

Here's a picture of us from Easter Sunday. The more of us there are the harder it seems to get a picture. I'm not sure why Gideon wouldn't smile--he has a gut laugh that would make anyone smile--and I don't know what Evie is doing either. It looks like she is hiking part of her dress up. Life is always lively and full around here. We truly don't feel worthy of the many blessings we experience everyday. Let me quickly share one recent blessing. We have not really put any emphasis on Easter Egg hunts ever. We have just tried to really stress the real meaning of Easter. We aren't anti-Easter Egg hunt though--so this year I thought I would take the kids to one on Saturday. With the weather the way it has been this winter we have had to really watch our spending because we have missed quite a few days of work. Anyway--I decided I would go ahead and buy three of those cheap ice cream bucket type Easter baskets Wal-Mart has. (They are a whole whoppin' $1.00, but they REALLY weren't a necessity. ) My Aunt came to visit last week and she came by on Friday with something for our kiddos...guess what? That's right Easter Baskets... and nice Hallmark Easter buckets that are tin and decorated and will last for many years. So, do you think it was coincidence or is God concerned even with the little things of life that I often treat as too small for Him to be bothered with? I'm afraid I often overlook these "little" everyday blessings from him!

Here is some of what else has been going on lately. We decided to throw a surprise 60th birthday party for Jon's mom, in Februay. I enjoy making cakes, but wanted to do something special for the occasion. After a little research, I decided to try my hand at fondant. This was the first cake we (I say we because somehow Jon got right into it with me) made. This was a practice run. The next week we made another one for practice for a baby shower for twins.

As I already said, Jon really got into this stuff. It's kind of like playdough for adults. Anyway, he decided we needed to do something with a bow, so he is really the one who made the bow happen. (He had out his tape measure and everything.) We were pretty pleased with ourselves when it was all done. Here are the finished cakes.

Here we are having some snow fun. This wasn't last week's ice,
but the snow from a few weeks ago. When Evie falls down in
that snowsuit, even inside, she can't get back up. It makes her very irritated.


Here is Evie doing her favorite past time. She will stand on the step stool and brush her teeth forever!!!! She is learning not to throw a fit when it is finally time to put the toothbrush away.

So, here is my once a month post...First a few pictures from the Princess Party! Evie jumped into her little cake, well bit into her cake and really went after it. She didn't mind messy hands at all!

Okay--one from before the party in her Christmas dress.

She was showing the crowd what she got:)

We had to work to get this...she HATED the Princess tiara! That hand is on its way up to yank the tiara off again!!!

Enjoying her cake..

Finally here is one of all three kiddos. The boys usually are saying "cheeeeeese" and recently Evie has started going ahhhhhhhhh during pictures because she knows they make a sound she just isn't sure how to make their sound so she makes her own.

I just realized my "blog" is more of a picture site than anything. I just don't seem to have the time right now to get my thoughts typed or written very often. We had a wonderful Christmas day here at home. We had Christmas with Jon's family the same weekend as Evie's party. So, after the kids opened their presents, Jon's parents came by to have birthday cake for Jesus with us and then my parents and grandma came for lunch and spent the rest of the day here so the boys especially could play with their stuff (they got a huge amount of add ons for their Geo Track train set). Once Jon realized it wasn't going to physically fit on the living room floor they moved to the basement and that's where the boys spent the biggest part of the day! (Even the "Big" boys. Papa Herb came to get a yardstick to make his job of track switcher a little easier on his back:)

As I think to the New Year...I've been thinking how blessed we are and so thankful to God for His greatest Gift to us--Jesus. He's what makes this and every day of the year truly special!

What a whirl

The past few weeks have went by in a flash. I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone.

I don't have but a few minutes so I'll be quick.

Evie's broncoscopy went as well as could be expected. She is a little "scrub/labcoat" shy at this point, but that is to be expected. The worst part of the whole thing was getting the i.v. going. I had to basically lay on top of her while two nurses worked to get it in. The poor little thing was wringing with sweat by the time it was in and she has said mamamama and no, no, no, no about a hundred times. Anyway--from the procedure they were able to rule out surgery. Her airway is just fine and not obstructed at all. (Praise the Lord!!!!!) They took some samples and grew some cultures from those and have discovered that she has a staff infection (the doctor assured me it wasn't the dangerous kind you are hearing about in the news) and also that her "gamma globulins"--they the numbers they check to see how your immune system is fuctioning--anyway the one number for the lower part of her lungs is low. So basically her immune system is not fighting off things in that area. We are in the process of waiting on some more blood tests to get back to see where to go from here. I believe they are checking to see how her immune system has responded to the regular immunizations she has received and then we will go to an immunizologist (that may not be the right word--anyway an immunization specialist) to see what can be done to boost her immune system in the lower lung area. Whew--for now we are just having to do two breathing treatments a day with a mask. The boys say she look likes a fire breathing dragon because we have these cute little dinosaur masks and the vapor comes out two little holes. I'll have to post a picture. She is tolerating it better, but still looks so pitiful when we sit there holding her hands so she doesn't yank the whole thing off.

On a more happy note--Evie started walking around the 17th of November. Now she is really into everything with the boys!

Here are a few recent pictures and I have to go.

Here is Evie sporting the same hunting outfit her brothers have worn (plus the orange socks...a girl's got to accesorize:)

Look at what we get to enjoy all of the time...here are our "cowboys" taking a rest before hitting the trail. (We think they are so cute!)

Finally, a quick update on the Surprise party...this is the death look I got from my hubby when he realized we weren't going to a movie and that all of what he saw was for him...notice how pleased Jon's brother Josh (behind him) and sister-in-law Jennifer (to the left) are with the situation? I have to say a HUGE thanks to both of them because without their help and everyone else in the Littlejohn family, we wouldn't have pulled off the surprise. He was TOTALLY surprised...can you tell? He did get a litte more happy after a few minutes:)

Update on Evie

Many of you already know that Evie has been having some sort of breathing problem since mid-May. We thought maybe seasonal allergies (but the medical community seems to think babies can't have allergies) Anyway our doctor kept an eye on it all summer and really believed it was RAD (Reactive Airway Disease)--in an adult this would be Asthma, but so many babies grow out of it that they don't want to label them as having "asthma"--long story short (and vaguely I feel like maybe I've posted about this already) anyway--we have tried inhalers, a nebulizer, I've tried not eating dairy products, keeping her from eating any wheat etc., etc.

Since she is still having problems our doctor thought we should see a pediatric pulmonologist. We did last Wednesday and after quite a while of examining her, listening to her, and asking us questions he told us he really doesn't think it is asthma. Instead he thinks she may have an artery that should be laying beside her wind pipe actually laying across it and causing it to flatten instead of stay round and open. He said it has probably been this way since she was born, but she caught her first cold/virus in May and it basically got trapped down below where she can't cough it up. Most of us have a little mucus/secretion in our airway that a good cough clears out. Evie's just sort of stays trapped and moves up and down. (This is how we get the sound Jon likes to call "Darth Vadar") They went ahead and send us somewhere else and did a test Wednesday to check her swallowing and didn't see any obstruction as things went down to her stomach--which is good--if they did that would have meant the artery was actually wrapped around both airway and esophagus--but it's not, so now we have a "procedure" scheduled at Cox South in Sprinfield on the day before Thanksgiving. They will actually put a camera up through her nose and down her throat to check if her airway is open or looks flattened. She will have an I.V. and be sedated so she is more comfortable. It will be done in the NICU because the beds are nice and open all the way around and they have all the monitoring equipment--for keeping a close eye on her during it. We can stay with her right up until they put the camera in and then they will record everything so the doctor can go over the video with us when he is done. If it doesn't' look flattened he will still take some cultures to try and figure out what is going on. If it is flattened like he thinks it is he told us it will just require a "simple sugery" to move the artery over off of her airway. (No surgery near the heart/lung area sounds simple to me...he did say we would need to be at a Children's Hospital to have that done if that is what they find.) So please keep us in your prayers next Wednesday. They said after a breathing treatment or two for inflamation she should be ready to go--sometime between noon and 2:00 p.m.

Jon and I are still not sure if I am going to go this one alone...he will already be missing work on Thursday because of Thanksgiving...so he may have to be here on Wednesday. (Being self-employed has its perks and its "not so perky" parts. :)

Anyway--that updates everyone on what is going on with the breathing stuff. Other wise we are just racing along to the holidays it seems.

(Had to edit here because Jon just happened to check our e-mail and I forgot when anyone leaves a comment it notifies us in our e-mail. I am turning that little feature off--and hopefully he will forget how wierd I acted when he tried to click on the comments e-mails. Oh well--if you're reading this and it makes no sense whatsoever, give me a call and I'll explain.)