When There's Smoke......

there's usually fire. That, of course, is a good thing for roasting marshmallows, a candlelit dinner, the fire pit on a cool fall night, but not so much when it's in one of the walls of my house. That's right folks, we haven't even been in the house for 2 months and have already had our first major incident.

The picture above is what one of the walls in our garage currently looks like. The pipe and faucet above go to an outdoor faucet in the backyard that had been dripping. This past Sat they went to work to repair it, which included welding****.

That afternoon J and I noticed that the smoke smell continued to linger in the house. He went downstairs to find a garage full of smoke, but thankfully, no flames. We have 2 smoke detectors in the garage and both had been checked 2 days before by our alarm system company, but somehow neither of them went off. He cut a small section of sheet rock away and sprayed the fire extinguisher in it, but the smoke continued, so he cut the large whole in the pic. The hardyplank (SP???) that is between the outer brick and inner sheet rock had been smoldering all afternoon. We had been in the yard most of the day with the garage door open, so nobody noticed the smoke since it was burning so slowly and just going outside. The only reason the smoke finally built up enough to notice it was because J had shut the garage doors when we came inside.

To top it off, J and I were about to go on our first date since little man's arrival. Mom had helped us with yard work all afternoon and was staying for the evening to watch the kiddos for us. So we had both just showered and dressed to go out to dinner and a movie and ended up sweaty and dirty all over again to deal with the above. By the time everything was under control and we felt (mostly) comfortable with leaving, we quickly grabbed sandwiches at Firehouse Subs(ironic, isn't it) and ate them in the movie theater. I felt sooo rude doing that, but I excused it in my mind since I think it falls in the category of "extenuating circumstances"---house on fire and first date after having a baby.

The evening made me quite teary and I felt so shaken up by all of it. I tried as much as possible to not "what if" the night.....as in what if we hadn't smelled the smoke, what if it had started burning the sheet rock and wood...during the night, what if my mother and children had been injured while I was enjoying myself at the movies.....can you see my mind reeling? It was terrifying, but I am thankful that we are all safe and there is no major damage. J and his dad will easily be able to repair it.

Moral of the story-go hug and kiss your kids and spouse, make sure your smoke detectors are working properly, and if you smell smoke-check it out IMMEDIATELY!!

****I will give the disclaimer that J and his dad are fantastic with house projects-they know how to fix everything! Nothing like this has EVER happened to either of them in the past, and I trust both of them completely to work on any part of our home.

Faithful

We decided is would be better to explain what today would be like to Av in advance and I am so thankful that we chose that route. We told her we would be seeing the doctor and he needed her tummy to be empty, so no breakfast, that she would wear a special gown so the Dr could get to her tummy, she would get some medicine that would make her sleepy so she wouldn't feel it when he checked her, and she would have to go to a special room with just the Dr. and nurses, but that we would be there waiting for her. Two of my biggest logistic concerns were keeping her without food/drink and how she would react when taken back to the OR without us. Av wants to eat breakfast immediately on wakening. But since we had told her no food until after we saw the doctor-she didn't even ask for anything to eat that morning. We got to the hospital at 10 am, and they didn't take her to the OR until around 1 pm. She mentioned that she was hungry a few times, but that was it! I am so proud of her. She had a great attitude all day, didn't complain, never seemed upset, no crying--it was incredible.

A wonderful friend of mine, J, sent Av a care package that helped keep us entertained all morning. We tried anything we could think of to keep a 3 year old occupied in the hospital! We wore our new princess slippers.

We put stickers on everythingMy "waterproof" watch isn't working after wearing it in the pool for all of 5 minutes, but Av graciously shared her watch with me.Av made me a lovely beaded necklace that matched my shirt quite well.

Let Av practice her photography skills

Once we were in the preop room Av gladly changed into her gown since it was like dress-up to her!

She snoozed peacefully after surgery. It was somewhat heart wrenching to see her with IV tubing and wires connected to her. When the nurse came to discharge us Av asked the nurse if she could take everything off herself. She unwrapped her blood pressure cuff and took all the tape of her own hand so the the nurse could remove the IV!

Av did enjoy riding in the wagon as her transportation to the car (even though it doesn't look like it in this pic-she was still a little zoned out from the anesthesia).I think what I learned from the day were 2 things that I have heard before. Kids are resilient and they can often handle more than believed they could. We are so thankful, but somewhat shocked at how smoothly the day went. I also think we definitely made the right decision to explain it to her before hand. Of course I didn't include all the details in our talk, like the fact that the Dr would be cutting her stomach open, but as much as I thought would be beneficial and understood, I shared with her.

I gave her some Tylenol yesterday afternoon and that was the only medicine she has had. Today it was as if she had already completely healed. She didn't even mention her tummy or complain of pain and it was like any other day around here! Thanks for the prayers, calls, and words of encouragement.

Home

We are home and the day went incredibly well. From the great to the small details, God was faithful, as He always is. Thanks for your prayers. I'll share more tomorrow, I'm off to bed.

Psalm 117

Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.
For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.

Anxious

Tomorrow is the big day to take Av to the hospital for her surgery. I'm quite familiar with the OR, but I'm going to be on the other side this time. We have to be there at 10 am, which surgery will hopefully start by around 11-12. I think one of the most challenging parts is going to be keeping her without food or drink all morning. Av is ready to eat breakfast IMMEDIATELY after she gets up in the morning. We have told her that she can't eat/drink anything until after she sees the doctor and she accepted it well tonight, but we'll see how that goes once the situation is actually here.

I'm trying not to be too nervous. I wanted to sleep with her in my arms tonight, but I knew that it would be better for both of us to get a good night of sleep. I have also have tried to remind myself that I am not in control, no matter how much I think I am, but that God is. She is His more than she is mine and His love for her is beyond mine, even though it's hard to comprehend anyone loving her more than I do.
He loves her more than I do
He loves her more than I do
He loves her more than I do
Please say a prayer for us and if you want to mention it on your blog to get others praying as well I would really appreciate it! Thanks, and I will let you know how everything goes once we are home.

Ephesians 3;17-19
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Observation of the Day

After I had just finished nursing and burping G, Av very excitedly announced "Good job brother!!! Mommy, brother is good at spitting up on towels!!!" She's such a proud big sis :).

Reading, Writing, and....

So last year we worked on learning the alphabet, and clearly I'm not the quickest teacher on the block, but we are finally getting to the next step. This summer Av and I have been working on sounds and early reading. My generous SIL passed her phonics program onto us and it has been a huge success!

We are using the Frontline Phonics program, but there are many other excellent programs out there. The program includes

1. Picture flashcards (ie frog with F)and upper and lower case flashcards of each letter.

2. A lesson manual. There are about 40 lessons total [each letter, 2 for vowels (short and long), and review lessons about every 5 letters]. We do one lesson a day and it takes about 10-15 minutes. We also make that lesson the "letter of the day" and try to do things like point out objects that start with that letter throughout the day. There are also suggested activities such as Licking a Lollipop on L day.

3. 6 early reading books that Av has really enjoyed and is already sounding out words in them.

4. (Her favorite part) A CD with a full alphabet song that reviews each letter and then each letter has a song that goes with it to go over the sound of the letter and a few words that start with it. I think she has the entire CD memorized and it helps her to think through the song if she is trying to think of what that letter says.

5. A workbook to practice writing the letters and it has coloring and matching activities.

I have been really impressed and surprised by how easy it has been. Av has also really loved it and is SO PROUD OF HERSELF! We have really tried to emphasize the importance of learning something new, that it is OK not to have it perfect on the first time, and we have to keep trying. It has been a joy as a parent to see her putting effort into this and growing her confidence as she learns. I highly recommend a phonics program for your young ones! You could do this on your own by making flashcards to save on the cost, but I really think we would have missed out had we not had the CD. Something about setting it to music has really her helped her pick this up quickly and made her excited about it.

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Totally unrelated, but for your viewing enjoyment

Nothing But Blue Skies

As I mentioned yesterday, the rest of our week at the beach was gorgeous! Thankfully my mom was kind enough to stay at the house with G so J, A, and I could spend some time together on the beach. It was beautiful!! The sky was clear, the water was calm and warm, and there was a huge sandbar so even A could stand in the water. The men did a little fishing and A wanted to join in on the fun. They even caught spanish mackerel.

We also caught a crab. This was as close as she would get to the crab because she wasn't too keen on that big left claw.
Strangely, she was very fond of a dead fish that J found and planned on using for bait. I guess she likes animals that aren't squirming and she knows can't bite her. I can't say that I blame her! Please excuse the very old and chipped nail polish. I've learned that instead of investing in polish remover I can just allow time, salt water, and pool water to get the job done. I think she was going in for a kiss The beach was a little more crowded than usual. We joked that we mind need to find a new spot at the beach if we have to keep dealing with crowds like this every time we go :)!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

As I mentioned yesterday, we spent last week at the beach. Av was ready to hit the water as soon as she could.

Unfortunately, we were greeted with this shortly after we left the house.

We tried to watch and wait patiently for the rain to stop.

And passed the time by catching rain drops

Watching the puddles forming around the porch
And practicing gymnastics Thankfully the rest of the week was beautiful, but that will have to wait for another day. Both the kids are now in bed and I am off to get some rest myself.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I have a couple of newly found items that have moved to the top of my list and I thought I would share! One is for me and the other for the bambino.


1. I LOVE coffee, however, J says that I love a little coffee with my creamer, milk, and sugar. He is a straight black coffee drinker and I do get quite a bit of grief from him for how light my coffee is. I am normally a vanilla/french vanilla creamer girl, but it is time for vanilla to move over! We were at the beach with my fam this past week and mom brought Coffee-Mate Italian Sweet Creme creamer. Even J agreed that it is wonderful. It smells like a pastry shop-yum! Thankfully, my mom loves me and sent the bottle home with me!



2. We are swaddlers when it comes to our kids. With Av we used blankets and it worked very well. The same blankets worked OK with G-for a little while. Even our best swaddling blankets are not working well on him since he is the size of the average 3 month old already. He squirms all over the place and kicks out of the swaddling....and then wakes up from his nap. With Av we had tried special pre-formed swaddling blankets and was very unimpressed. I received the miracle blanket as a gift and had my doubts at first, but it is fantastic!! It has a pocket for the feet, inner fabric to wrap around the arms, and 2 outer pieces of fabric to swaddle without velcro or snaps so it fits no matter what size the baby. One of the outer pieces is longer and I am able to wrap it around G twice so he is as snug when he gets up from his nap as he was when he first went to sleep. I don't use the arm wraps, but leave his arms out and start the swaddling under his arms. He fights it if I pin his arms down and sleeps better with them free. There are instructions on it here and you can order one here.


Be back soon with updates from the beach! Oh and very exciting news-G starting sleeping through the night last week!!! More on that later as well!