Benefit Concert!

Zoran & Melissa are good friends of ours in Clear Lake. Zoran is originally from Macedonia and has one sister Iva who is 28. Last fall Iva was diagnosed with a rare and very aggressive type of cancer. Macedonia did not offer the treatment program needed so they petitioned to send her elsewhere. They approved a program in Austria last winter but within a few short months the cancer progressed.

Zoran and Melissa decided that the best choice was to bring her to the US for treatment, which also meant that they would be paying for her treatment bill completely out of pocket. The cost of her chemo is around $2,000 a day. However the major costs are treatments for side effects, hospital stays and tests. They just found out that one of the tumors is still growing even with an extensive chemo regiment. They are praying she will be accepted into clinical trial at MD Anderson. Needless to say the bills are adding up faster than the money coming in from even the most generous donors.

If you would like to learn more or are not interested in the concert but would like to donate any amount click the yellow flower on the right. They would be very grateful.

www.saveiva.org

Week 7

I can't get enough of this kids hairline, I know a weird thing to obsess over, but I could just rub his head all day ;)

He is getting so big, yet still needs some time to grow into his eyes. He is now seven weeks, is holding up his head really well and loves his baths. He has started to mimic your facial expressions and with that interaction the girls love playing with him. They have already started to dress him up and put bows in his hair, is there any hope?

Recovered Loot

A few months ago I posted that Eliza had ransacked my wallet and within a few short minutes I was missing a good portion of personal documentation that made my life run smoothly. After a couple hours of searching I found my driver license, debit card and temple recommend in the garbage, dryer and toilet.

So I did what any mother would do….I spent the day canceling and reordering credit cards, passes and everything else well knowing they would never be recovered. Last week I finally replaced the last card, my Kroger’s card and was awaiting it in the mail.

Friday I decided to start packing the maternity clothes away. In the back of my closet behind a stack of boxes was a small purse of Elizas. I picked it up and it was heavier than normal, opened it and solved the case of the missing wallet…..Now if I could only find the back battery cover to all the remotes…

Most girls play with dolls....

Mine build play structures out of masonry brick and southern yellow pine #2 scraps. We got home from church on Sunday and while I was making dinner the girls were in the backyard. Eliza painstakingly carried bricks across the yard and Erin rummaged through our wood scrap pile to make their home.

Eliza ready for the poolIke Just chillin

Its all good...

We caught some really cute photos this week between the tears and meltdowns. It has got to cool off; we have been inside way too much lately. However it was an eventful week. First off, Isaac started to smile all the time and it’s precious and makes my day. He also inherited the Fenton smirk. And he slept 5 hours last night! Let’s hope it’s a pattern :)

Erin graduated from Level I swim lessons today. She did a great job and is becoming a confident swimmer. She took the preschool lessons earlier this summer and enjoyed them. We haven’t be able to go to the pool much since it’s so hot and Ike is so little, so I enrolled her in a second session and she was the youngest in her class but she lead the pack. They city pool also has a wadding pool so Eliza also got to swim with her little friend Mikey while the older sisters were at lessons.

Eliza had her ECI (early childhood intervention) assessment this week. We are concerned about her speech, its just not where it should be and her lack of communication skills is making life difficult. She is about 6-8 month behind on her speech so it shouldn’t take long to get her up to speed. She starts speech therapy next week. The good news is in every other area she is on target or advanced, and her self-reliant skills are at a 39 month old level (she is 26 months old). That explains a lot….

J-dawg has a week between classes so we are taking a few days to chill as a family and me, well one of these days I am going to break out my sewing machine and pretend I am domestic.

Ike's New Accessory

My neighbor had this made for Isaac and I think its way cute and sooo soft!

Back in the Saddle…

Well kind of. It’s more like being stuck in the stirrups hanging upside-down under a galloping horse holding on for dear life wondering which upcoming boulder is going to knock you unconscious …there are a few straps that need to be tightened.

This week I stopped feeling sorry for myself and decided to tackle life. Feeling sorry probably isn’t the right words, more like completely clueless how to start. I decided I have to figure out how to handle three in public at some point so it’s either now or later.

Isaac had his one month well check, they are pretty fast and we had the first appointment so I figured it was not worth the hassle to get a sitter. It’s a large office and we were in the back. The nurse and I were weighing Isaac and in a second Eliza was gone. I figured she just went around the corner to get a drink, but the drinking fountain stood alone. Long story short she had made it back through the maze of hallways to the waiting room and was hiding. It took me, the nurse and our pediatrician almost ten minutes to find her. Nothing says I’m a great mother like asking your pedi to join you on a manhunt in a confined space. She said she had never seen a kid so stealthy and then recommend a harness for the mall….I am not sure if that made me feel better or worse.

So I decided to try the library again, we have done it a few times. Eliza fell off the alligator book shelf and put another dent in her head and Ike pooped down the front of me… And that was the end of that idea for the week.

So we stayed home most of the week. On the bright side I got caught up on young women stuff, shopped for house and car insurance (for reference Geico was well below anyone else), got the policies switched over, dealt with Texas Windstorm, sent out dozens of emails that have been sitting in my inbox patiently waiting, planted my fall tomatoes and finally felt like I am getting back into a sudo-routine.

And while I was doing this, the girls were doing this !!?!!

Erin's thug-mug shot
wool stocking hats are great when its 100 degrees outside

Hangin' with the bro

one month check-up

Isaac had his one month well check today. He is growing like a weed. We are proud to say we have a perfectly normal boy :) I still think he has rather large eyes. But maybe he is in a constant state of fear that Eliza is going to practice her WWF moves on him again.

Weight: 10lbs - 50th%
Height: 21 3/4 - 50th%
Head: 50th%

We survived a month!

I know its a pink towel, that is what you get for hand-me-downs with two older sisters but he is such a peanut!

Eliza and her "boat"

Isaac is officially four weeks today. Talk about a month! I would write more, but pure exhausting incurs memory loss. He is already getting so big, I am curious what he weighs, I am not use to kids who actually grow; both girls were off the charts for months.

This week I built up enough courage to venture out the grocery store with all three. It seriously takes me at least an hour to get out of the front door. We got to the store and I put Isaac in his wrap and harnessed him to my chest thinking if I still had both hands free it would be just like having two kids again….WRONG! Erin and Eliza both wanted the “car” cart so we got one. The first ten minutes were great, Erin and Eliza stayed in the car and Isaac was sound asleep and then all the fury of hell broke loose. Eliza learned the art de-shelving a whole row of goods at once by sticking her hand in the shelf and running and thus clearing the contents. She also learned quickly that with Isaac tied to my chest I am fast, but can’t bend down so throwing herself on the floor was safe territory.

By the time I made it to the check out, I had six half eaten tomatoes, two mulled green peppers, a bunch of random items that Eliza had thrown in (I did put the grits back, ugh!). Eliza was having a melt down because I ran over her hand with a loaded cart and Isaac decided he was starving. And Erin acted like and angel and milked the situation for all it was worth to get a treat. The shopping venture was a complete fiasco. Jared is going to have to learn how to shop or starve.

Jared’s parents got into town late Thursday night and it good to see a relief party for a few days. They brought down 4 dozen ears of sweet sweet Iowa sweet corn. It’s been too long. There is nothing like good corn. We decided to throw an old fashion corn boil Friday night. Typically you spend the day shucking freezing corn, but we just went for the potluck dinner at the end of the day. Between adults and kids we had almost 40 people at our house. Luckily the weather held so we could be outside. I would like to say people think we throw great parties, but I am pretty sure free food was the lure. Either way it was a lot of fun and just a relaxing night.