HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TRUETT!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Truett!

It's hard to believe it has been a whole year already! It has been a busy year, since Truett's birth we have moved, Dillon had major surgery, we went to Va a few times to see my Grandparents, we went to Va for my Grandpa's Homegoing service, we have been approved for a new wheelchair for Dillon, etc. Times flies!

Josiah left last Friday for Texas for his brother's law school graduation. Congrats Ezra! So that meant a whole weekend alone with all three kids! We did good, we all went to Walmart (Dillon in his wheelchair, Truett strapped to me, and Jay being my helper with a bag on the back of Dillon's chair to hold our groceries.) Then we walked to a flee market and had hot dogs. We did well even going to the early service at church (starts at 8:30), but we were missing Daddy!!!

Today we started off with a night nurse needing to call off last night (it was the first time this nurse has called off) so we had a new nurse that we had never met. She seemed to do well with Dillon. The only problem was Dillon hasn't had a bowel movement in over 5 days! I saw this yesterday and had tried to do something for it, but nothing worked. I was starting to think we might need to take a trip to CHOP but I asked this new nurse to run to CVS before the end of her shift and get me some stuff and THANKFULLY it worked (just a little, but it did work)!

Through out the night I heard Truett cry a little off and on. He doesn't normally do this so I was thinking "Oh no, is she going to be sick for his birthday?!" At 6:30 when he cried and didn't stop I went into the room and he had his leg stuck in the crib. Based on the red mark I would guess it had been there for a while. So he was up and had milk and cereal, and of course the Jay was up and eating too. WAY too early! Truett went back to bed till noon so that gave Jay, Dillon and I time to prepare for his birthday.

(I don't know why a few of these pictures are flipped - it is blogger changing them for some reason.)

Dillon wrapping his gift for Truett

Jay wrapping his hand picked gift for Truett

Truett loved the balloons we blew up for him! He played with them ALL day!

Of course Dillon had to get in on the fun too!

Jay and I actually did the cake around 8 am but it ended up being an all day project... you'll see why

Enjoying the butter cream frosting we made...

Iced cake with butter cream frosting

I bought fondant on Friday so we would have it. I have never used it before so I didn't know how hard it should be. As I opened the package I saw it had a whole in it. Sure enough it was ROCK SOLID! We ended up having to run back to the store, thankfully they let me exchange it for a new one that was not rock solid. Jay is helping to roll it out.

covering the cake with the fondant

all trimmed up

Then we took the left over fondant and colored them 4 different colors with food dye. This took the longest. Jay helped me cut all the stars out and I put them on after he was napping.

Truett's cake with the candles! I am pleased with how it turned out since it was my first time working with fondant. I am excited to keep practicing (don't worry I will have TONS of birthdays over the next 18 years to perfect my skills!!)

Truett's presents! Daddy finally got home from Texas, too! It wasn't until almost 6pm, but he would have been at work all that time anyways. I am so thankful he was able to get home for all the fun!

Family picture

I think Truett thought the candles were the food!

The three boys!

Mommy and the boys

Daddy and the boys

Eating his cake and ice cream too.

YUMMY!

Why doesn't Mommy normally let me eat with my hands?

Think he liked it?!

A present from Dillon's nurse

Dillon and his baby brother

Can you guess who picked this one out?

Other than the balloons, this was his favorite present...

A basketball from Dillon!

I love this little man so much!

Adorable!

I really think the balloons were his favorite!

Mommy and the One Year Old!

Happy birthday boy!

How nice of Daddy to give Truett a phone for his birthday...

Happy Birthday Truett!!!!!

Click HERE to watch Truett with his balloons
Click HERE to watch Truett playing with the basketball
Click HERE to watch us singing to Truett
Click HERE to watch Truett eating his cake and ice cream

Mother's Day!

Mother's Day 2011!

Mother's Day this year was a good day. Josiah and Jay got up early and made me chocolate chocolate chip muffins. (I pre-heated the oven, set out the box, bowl, measuring spoon, egg, muffin tin, cooking spray...but THEY made them!) And oh were they YUMMY!! While they made the muffins I got the stew in the crock pot.

We went to church then came home and had stew. I told Josiah I didn't want him to take me out because the restaurants are always so busy! The kids had a nap and Josiah and I soaked up some sun. Then after evening church Josiah took us out to Olive Garden.

He also bought me some chocolates, starbucks drinks, and potted flowers.

He is a sweet heart!

Some cute Jay sayings:

The night before...
Daddy: Jay do you know what tomorrow is?
Jay: Yes, Mommy told me - Mother's day.
Daddy: That's right, so we have to show Mommy how special she is.
Jay: Why?

After morning church... Jay brought Mommy a Chocolate bar
Mommy: Thank you Jay!
Jay: Thank you Mommy for....ummm... I don't know. Ummm Thank you for washing my clothes!

(Daddy had told him to say thank you to Mommy for something nice I do for him and he thought of it all on his own. At first I thought he just forgot the exact words Daddy told him to say so that was even more sweet!)

I can't believe this was my 6th Mother's day! I include the one where I was 8 months pregnant with Dillon - so 6 years now! I love my boys with all my heart. I can't wait - next year will be a Mother's Day with our whole family in the picture.

Teen Activity

Josiah helped with a teen activity last Saturday. He was a chauffeur for 5 teens. He took them into Philly to a nice restaurant and brought them home. The church also bought all the drivers a wonderful meal. But I just HAD to post these pictures because he looks so funny!

Isn't he adorable?! He looks like a secret service agent!

Due date

Acupuncture

After two years of letting Dillon be a pin cushion, and me being terrified of needles I finally let the acupuncturist put 2 needles in me! Remember now, I am the one who has had 3 children naturally because the thought of a needle in my back is worse than labor! I passed out when I was in labor with Jay because they had to put an IV in my hand. I DON'T do needles!

And guess what....

...it didn't hurt at all!!!

Really, it didn't! I just gave blood yesterday for a life insurance physical and that hurt! But this did not. And yes that is my 3 year old in the background with one in his head, eating an apple. He has had it several times, but this was my first.


:o)

another day outside

A day outside enjoying the sun.

Dillon resting under his tent so he doesn't burn like a crispy critter...


JayDonn riding his bike down the sidewalk, a first for him! Yes, I bribed him by going to the corner with M&Ms and when he rode to me I gave him 2. But it showed him he CAN do it!
Truett riding his bike, in his very messy clothes. He also had a M&M so the beautiful colored drool is decorating his clothes.


Click HERE to watch Truett riding his bike.



Truett's first fat lip! If you watched the video you saw he got a little too excited to keep up with big brother and fell at the end - his little tooth cut his lip.


Mommy enjoyed the sun too! I love the warm weather - I just wish there was a way to clean the house while being outside....

What did everyone else do today with the beautiful weather?

Enjoying the Day!

Look at those big eyes!

Dillon enjoying the evening in the back yard with the family




Truett's first time riding his bike - 11.5 months old. I think it is just the picture that makes him look fat b/c he really is NOT fat! :o)

I don't know why the picture won't turn right but a sleeping baby is a beautiful thing!

Is there anything more precious than this?!

Click HERE to watch Truett riding his "bike".

Blessing!

Ever since he was born, Truett has vomited. Jay did it too, but when he went to table food is stopped. With Truett it didn't stop at all. He weight gain was so slow, he fell way off the charts. He was about 2 pounds UNDER the 5%. I know some 3-4 month old babies that are bigger than him at almost a year.

After the doctor appointment where we saw just how small he was I started counting calories. He gets more than he needs in a day, most days. So the only other thing I could think of was the vomiting. I took him off cow's milk and put him on goat's milk. It only got a little better. After talking with my sister about allergies, I took her suggestion. I started making his goat milk pretty hot. Presto! He has nearly stopped vomiting! Sometimes he still does a little, but NOTHING like what he used to do. He also gained more weight during the time of trying this.

I showed the doctor a list of family allergies and told him what I had found with the hot milk. He suggested we see an allergist to be sure he isn't allergic to milk, soy, etc.

Today was our appointment...

BLESSING: Truett is not "allergic" to milk or any of the other 7 main things (soy, peanuts, etc.) He must just have a GI intolerance, probably to one of the proteins in milk. They did the scratch test on his back. They poked him with 10 little tiny needles and it was so quick he stopped drinking looked at the nurse then went right back to his cup. I think a blood draw would have been more traumatic because he would not have liked the tourniquet, or them holding his arm still.

The doctor said this was the best answer possible! All we have to do is avoid anything that makes him vomit for 3 months then try again slowly. He will probably out grow it by 2-3 years old! Thank you Lord!!

She also gave me a few formulas she recommends for milk intolerant kids as they all need a little extra nutrients since they can't process the milk themselves. As long as we avoid certain things and he continues to gain weight we are fine. If he were to not gain enough weight she suggested seeing a nutritionist then maybe a GI doctor. But I think he will gain enough as long as we avoid the things that make him vomit non-stop!

Thank you Lord for answering another prayer!

Missions Conference 2011

Josiah in his white China shirt and me in one of my dresses. And of course you can see baby popping out - at 21 weeks he/she is making him/herself known!

Missions Conference was so good, wonderful missionary that God has used to start many church in the jungle. So many AWESOME stories of him trusting God and his life being spared and people (including chefs and witchdoctors) being saved! He has had malaria over 40 times! Including cerebral malaria 4 times!! To God be the Glory!

Since tonight was the last night, some people dressed in international attire. We all wore our China clothes. Here is Dillon in one of the hats.

Hard to believe Truett wasn't even around when we were in China almost 2 years ago!!

Now Jay is wearing the outfit I got for Dillon and Truett is wearing Jay's old outfit.

Sweet little man!

Wow, Mission's conference was a blessing. If you haven't been to one, you need to! It was great - there were 7 (I think) different missionary families there. We had a brunch on Saturday where the ladies listened to the ladies give their testimony and the ment he men. Then we had brunch and got to sit with one of the missionary ladies and talk with her a little more. So encouraging!

Dillon's sleep study

Dillon had a sleep study last night. The night nurse met us down there and took over so I could come home and sleep. I got a call about 11PM saying the doctor wanted the nurse to take Dillon down to the ER and that they were aborting the sleep study! Huh? He was fine when I left him!

His heart rate went high (which was still within the range I told them were cleared by cardiology). And keep in mind it started going up while they were attaching wire after wire after wire (that left nasty red marks all over his face, neck and chest... hum I wonder why he didn't like it!?)

Then because his heart rate was up from being mad he got a fever! Oh no - 99. No hospital considers 99, one degree higher than the patients norm, a fever.

Oh and let's not forget the Tylenol didn't work. When I asked the doctor how long ago it was given her answer was 20-30 minutes. I informed the doctor Tylenol usually takes 45 minutes or so to kick in and she needed to wait.

She said he was coughing up green stuff. My nurse said he never saw anything green.

And and let's not forget the increased secretions - which he is in between robinul doses at the time and I warned them he would have more in between doses.

And my favorite reason why he needed to go to the ER was "He is gagging on secretions and coughing." I informed the doctor that Dillon cannot swallow which is why we have a suction machine and he HAS to cough those secretions up.

She was convinced the study should be stopped because he was so ill and needed to go to the ER. I spoke on the phone with my nurse and he said Dillon was already starting to calm down, he also had told them Dillon did not need to go to the ER and that he was fine to continue the study once he calmed down from all the wires being placed.

They finally called me back at midnight to tell me they would continue. Then he must have done great because they never even put him on CPAP... during the whole night! If he would have needed it they would have put him on a low number and worked it up to where he needed - so I think he may not need CPAP anymore.... I can't wait for the results!

I really don't understand these CHOP doctors who don't understand special kids. How do they work at CHOP and be afraid of special kids? I told the doctor she clearly had not read his history if she didn't know that he can't swallow (which is kind of important when you are doing a sleep study to see how well a child is breathing) and that he is so sensitive to temp that a warm room can make his temp go up to 104. I think next time I go to a sleep study I will try to schedule on a night Dr. Shaw is not there!

Spring pictures and videos

Jay was so afraid to ride his blue bike with brakes anywhere except the back patio. yesterday we tried riding in the driveway and we were not getting anywhere. So I took a chocolate chip cookie down tot he end, put it beside the light and told him he had to ride down to get it. Can you guess who rode down the driveway? And can you guess who isn't afraid anymore? I guess all it takes is enough, of the proper, motivation! He is now doing great on the bike! In the next week we will try the sidewalk! Oh no! :o)

Truett's and Mommy's hands












I know they are so close to the same picture, but I love them all! :o) Couldn't decide which ones were the best so I put them all in. That's a Mommy for you!

Click HERE to see Jay riding his bike in the drive way
Click HERE to see Truett crawling and standing in the grass.


Hope you are enjoying the spring weather as much as we have been this week!

Baby Kuenzi #4

Monday April 25th we went for our ultrasound. I decided I did not want to find out what the baby is. I like to be surprised, I think it is better for several reasons. One being they guessed wrong with Truett and I don't want to have them be wrong again. Another is I don't want people to be "sad" for me if we don't get a girl, if we have 4 boys we will be thrilled to raise 4 boys for the Lord. Of course I would like a girl, but I don't want to EVER be sad over my precious gift from God and I don't want anyone else to be either!

Josiah decided that if I was going to be surprised, so is he! Yes! It is so much for to be surprised together!

The baby looks good, everything looks healthy. I tried to eat very little sugar/carbs that day so the baby wouldn't be too active for them but instead it was napping! They had to keep poking my belly with the ultrasound probe to get him/her to move. The doctor came in and said everything looked great. He even turned on the #D and gave us a few 3D pictures! This is an answer to prayer for me - silly as it is! I had wanted to do this so bad but it normally cost a few hundred dollars and I just couldn't do it right now - so God allowed us to get to see it a little and get a few pictures - FOR FREE! Awesome! Isn't it neat how our God cares about the little things our heart desires!
We didn't get too good of 2D pictures because the baby was looking at us and we couldn't get the profile, but here is the 3D. I think he/she has my nose! :o)

Happy Resurrection Sunday

First an "old" picture. This was baby Kuenzi #4 at about 17 weeks.





I'm a few days late, but Happy Resurrection Sunday! We went to church in the morning and a quick lunch and little nap for the boys (Daddy and Mommy were mowing the grass) then back to church early to practice and do mic checks. Josiah sang in a men's group then the two of us were asked to give a short testimony about Dillon and how we are a "picture of Grace" because of him. I was nervous, of course, but I think it went well. Josiah spoke more about how it hit him when we got our first bill in the mail for 1.1 million and "Please pay in full." We saw we had to totally trust God for it. I spoke more about getting over my anger towards God and looked instead to see HOW it could be used for good as he promised. Praise the Lord!

Our family!

Click HERE to see Jay in his 3 year old march at church. They have the 3 year olds walk across the platform - just because they are too cute in their Easter clothes!

Fixing the sink

Daddy and his boys fixing the kitchen sink. They changed the leaking facet to a new, wonderful, non-leaking one. Of course they all had to help Daddy!

Grandpa Schnarr's Homegoing

My Grandpa has always been a big part of my life. At times, my family lived with my grandparents, other times we lived within 1 mile of them. All in all I think 13 of my 17 years at home were spent within a short distance to Grampa and Gramma.

Several years ago Grandpa started his fight with cancer. Recently, the battle was getting worse. As a family we went to visit them both in August and in November. I am so thankful for the time we had with them.


Sunday April 3 we got word that the hospice nurses thought Grandpa would pass within 24 hours. Every time my phone rang, I held my breath thinking it was THE call. The next few days were so hard. My Grandpa preached at my wedding, he was the one we would always go to with Bible questions, he knew everything! My first job was working with Grandpa and Dad with the painting and paperhanging business and then in rehabbing homes. I used to have to pick scraps of pasted coated wall paper from my hair because "somehow" it always seemed to fall on my head. I was the "gopher" for Grandpa for a long time until I was finally a painter/paperhanger as well. When I stopped to think of my memories with Grampa and Gramma I realized I have way to many to even write down. I have nothing but memories with them. They were always around and always a part of my life. They went to my choir events, church things, any awards ceremonies from school, they were there. If I tried to list them all the list would just go on and on. I can't say I remember any particular "gift" they gave me, because any of the tangible gifts they gave me were not as important to me as what they did give... they gave me their time, their prayers, their love, and a Godly heritage!

Grampa was saved (saw himself as a sinner and knew that only God could save him through Jesus' shed blood and resurrection from the dead) around 17 years old, went to Bible college and served God in full time ministry for over 40 years. He started a few churches, pastored a few others, was a missionary, etc. Grampa and Gramma spent their lives serving God and touching thousands of lives. Other men are still in the ministry today that Grampa mentored. One of Grampa's worse pain days ever his Pastor asked him what he was looking forward to about Heaven. His Pastor thought he would answer "No more pain." But not Grampa. His answer was that he is looking forward to not sinning ever again! He knew in his pain he had said hurtful things to people he loved and was tired of a sinful world, looking forward to never sinning again! There is no doubt, Grampa knew Heaven was his home based on the Bible promise that "Whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Praise the Lord! Sunday night Gramma made sure we all got to skype with Grampa. Even though he couldn't talk she said he could hear and understand still.

Later that night, based on my understanding of his vitals, he slipped into a coma. He didn't wake up again. Late on the 5th and into the 6th my aunt, cousins, and other family were there with him and started singing hymns. They then played the song that became his favorite in the last few months, "I can only imagine". After the song my aunt told Grampa that everyone was alright, that if he was at peace with God stop imagining and make it reality. When he was ready go, make Heaven a reality. A few breaths later Grampa no longer had to imagine what Heaven is like. He was there!

We left on Thursday for the services. Friday morning was the viewing then the grave side. The memorial service was later that night. Praise the Lord one of our nurses was willing to go with us and help take care of Dillon so we could sleep at night. It was a huge blessing.

The services were hard for me, not because I don't know where he is, but because I will miss him. JayDonn kept reminding me that I will talk with him again and see him again - when I get to Heaven one day. Thank you Jay! I needed to be reminded of that! Josiah sang "Celebrate Me Home" at the memorial service. You can watch that by CLICKING HERE.

We will miss you Grampa, but we are celebrating you home! Not "good bye", but "we'll see you later!"

New due date

This baby is doing well, I am finally not sick every single night! I am getting some energy back! yippee! They did move the due date from Sept 12 to Sept 10, not a big change but still. I reminded the doctor that I have fast labors and she said it is noted in my chart already! :o) They didn't seem to take me too serious when I warned them with Truett but when I only arrived 20 minutes before his birth I think they understand I wasn't joking! heehee


Dillon has been doing great. He is not on oxygen during the day and some nights he doesn't even need it now. Instead of my giant oxygen tank being filled every single week we are getting it filled every 3+ weeks! Thank you to everyone who prays for him, God has been helping him every single day. We are working on finding a place to take Dillon to get him fitted for contacts instead of glasses since it is impossible to keep glasses on him.

Nothing else has changed really... Have a good weekend everyone!

Announcing...

Baby Kuenzi #4!

Due to arrive Sept 12. At 10 weeks old and about 1.5 inches I could see him/her stretching out his/her legs, flipping around and even holding and pulling on the umbilical cord! We were surprised Jan 31 when we found out that we were having another baby, but we are excited. This little one has made me more sick than any (or all 3 of the others combined!). I have lost about 5 pounds so far b/c I have not felt like eating. It is getting a little better as time goes on. I thought I was only 4-5 weeks but I was actually 8, now I am 10. We plan to find out if it is a boy or girl this time.