Easter 2009

Easter was great this year. Aline and Dwight decided to join us for the weekend. They were actually here to pick up Christian's bunk bed and it happened to fall on a holiday weekend. It was so nice to have them here to enjoy Easter with. I don't think Christian would have had half as much fun if he was by himself. How boring it would have been to have just one child coloring easter eggs and doing the egg hunt! Thanks, Aline, for coming and bringing your kids. I enjoyed hanging out with you Prouses!

EGG HUNT

Early Easter morning I woke up early to find that the Easter Bunny had visited and left a bunch of eggs filled with candy in our front hard. The kids were sooo excited to see all the colorful eggs laying everywhere in our yard. They each got a basket and went hunting and came back with their baskets full.

COLORING EASTER EGGS

Saturday night, we decided to do some egg coloring. The kids had tons of fun coloring and decorating their eggs. Bella decided to use a little paint and got a little messy but she had a blast. Aline looked like she was having just as much fun as the kiddies.

Putting the Crib Together

I wanted to show off my expertise in putting furniture together. My crib came in while Aline was visiting during Easter weekend, so we picked it up and brought it home and decided to tackle the job together without the boys. The pictures make it look like I did most of the work but Aline did pitch in a hand (and arm) when needed. I think we did an awesome job and maybe should look into a day job together. What do you say, Aline? BTW, you do not look good in glasses so I hope you don't ever have to have them.

The finished product. Isn't it just BEAUTIFUL!!

Thanks Aline for lending me your arm!!!

Finding Out the Big News!!!

I saw this picture in my file and wanted to post it. This is Christian's reaction to finding out that a baby is on the way. He was very surprised and excited. Although, at this time he was hoping for a baby boy. Sorry Christian!

Family Day in Pigeon Forge

We were going stir crazy staying at home so we decided to get up one day and go to the Smoky Mountains. We got as far as Pigeon Forge. We stopped and ate lunch, then took Christian to do some Gem Mining. He had a good time mining for gems and enjoyed finding "rare" stones in his bucket. While he was gem mining, I decided to pass the time by chasing a local turkey around in the parking lot. It was quite entertaining. Afterwards, we decided to hit a miniature golf place. After doing a round of golf (Christian won), we were tired and decided to go home. We stopped by an A&W drive in and got some root beer floats then headed back home.

PREGNANT

Well, I am finally making my big announcement today. I am 17 wks pregnant and having a baby girl. My official due date is August 24. This is like a dream come true and I can't be any happier than I was this morning when the genetics counselor called with the great news. I found out that I was pregnant back in December but decided not to tell anyone until I got my amnio results back confirming that everything was okay. For those of you who don't know my story, here it is.

I have had a very difficult time trying to have a family. My husband and I have been married for almost 7 years when we finally got pregnant with our first son, Christian. We had been waiting for a baby via adoption and had finally decided to go and try IVF. I had my first appointment set up when I found out that I was pregnant. I went to my ob/gyn and got an ultrasound done and found out I was already 10wks pregnant with Christian. Christian was only 7 months old when I found out that I was pregnant again. Steve and I were ecstatic to think that we could be having another so soon. But when I was about 14 wks along they found some abnormalities. They had thought that maybe he had a syndrome that had to do with the chromosomes, but when the results of the amnio came back, it was okay. He was diagnosed with renal failure (They had used some other medical term but I can't remember what it was called) and they had no idea how long he would last. The baby made it all the way to about 34 wks and passed away before I could deliver him. We named him Samuel E. Yoder and he was born on June 21, 2001. Fast forward 6 years to January 2007 and there I was pregnant again. Things were going well until about 12 weeks when they saw some excess fluid in his head (called Cystic Hygroma) and they said that it was a sign of Down Syndrome. So, again I had an amniocentesis done and confirmed that we were having a Downs child. It took us a little bit to come to terms with this news. By this time, things were going okay. A heart speciailist from John Hopkins had come down and did a thorough heart exam when I was 24 weeks and everything was looking good. But, when I went in for an ultrasound at 29 weeks, they again saw signs of something wrong and decided that they needed to test his blood. So, I went to the hospital where they did a procedure called "Cordocentesis". It is almost like an amnio, but instead of the fluid they get, they have to poke the umbilical cord and get the blood sample from it. It took the doctor 5 times (Yes, 5 big needle pokes in my stomach) to obtain this blood sample and I had to stay overnight in the hospital. When the results came back, it was not good. The baby's WBC (I think) was eighty something thousands when it should only have been in the five thousand range. This was a sing of a huge infection, like Leukemia. There was nothing that they could do about this. They did tell us that Down's children have a higher risk of leukemia than normal children but my doctors had not experience this in the womb and did not know how to proceed from there. They decided to see me 3 times a week and keep a close eye on him. At 29 weeks, the baby started slowing down and on July 19 I went into the hospital to be induced. I wanted to try to deliver him alive but he did not make it. He passed away that very morning and I delivered him stillborn on July 20 at 2am.

So, as you can read, this raising a family has not been easy for us and we have been through some very tough road bumps. Steve and I are both very happy about this 4th pregnancy and I can't be any happier because it is a girl (Christian, of course, wanted it to be a boy and is not as excited as he anymore). I, on the other hand, can't wait to see her. I just hope that everything will go smoothly and we will be welcoming our healthy baby girl in August. Here are some pictures of my ultrasounds that I have had.

Monster Truck Rally

Well, you know you are definitely in the south when you have an opportunity to attend the "Monster Truck Rally". Steve saw an advertisement for it coming to Knoxville and decided to take Christian one saturday. Unfortunately, it was my weekend to work so I could not attend with them (Thank God!). But they seem to have had a really good time and took lots of pictures of the trucks but when it came to all the action the battery died in the camera. So, all we have are the pictures of the trucks. Christian's favorite truck was the "Destroyer". They even had a "Lawnmower Race". What fun!!!!

Spacewood Derby

This year instead of having a Pinewood Derby in Scouts, our ward decided to do a Spacewood Derby. Needless to say, Steve really got into this and made a very competetive racing rocket. You might be asking yourself how this rocket works. Well, it runs on rubber bands and a propeller in the front. What you do is attach 2 or 3 rubberbands to the inside of the propeller then twist the rubber bands around and around really tight (but not too tight). There is an anchor on the top part of the rocket where you attach it to another anchor that is on a fishing line. When you are ready to race you just let go of the propeller and let it fly. Christian is the one that decided that he wanted a bee and he helped with the painting and naming of the rocket. They named it "Stinger". Steve had a really good time with this creation and the rocket turned out really great. Yet, we were all still very surprised when Christian came in first place at the Derby!YEAH!!!