A Parents Prayer

I came across this prayer today while I was cleaning out the closet. My mom gave this to me when I was pregnant with Curtis. I must not have read it because it has been in a box ever since. This prayer made me cry because I fall so short as a person and a parent, but God and my kids still love me. I want to strive to be this kind of parent, and only with God can this happen.

A Parents Prayer

O Heavenly Father, make me a better parent.

Teach me to understand my children,

to listen patiently to what they have to say,

and answer all their questions kindly.

Keep me from interrupting them or contradicting them.

Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.

Forbid that I should ever laugh at their mistakes,

or resort to shame or ridicule when they displease me.

May I never punish them for my own selfish satisfaction or to show my power.

Let me not tempt my child to lie or steal.

And quide me hour by our that I may demonstrate by

all I say and do that honesty produces happiness.

Reduce, I pray, the meaness in me.

And when I am out of sorts, help me, O Lord, to hold my tongue.

May I ever be mindful that my children are children

and I should not expect of them the judgement of adults.

Let me not rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves

and to make decisions.

Bless me with the bigness to grant them all their

reasonable requests and the courage to deny them

privileges I know will do them harm.

Make me fair and just and kind.

And fit me, O Lord, to be loved

and respected and imitated by my children.

Appointment Time

So today was appointment day and I'm sure you are all waiting to hear what's going on with my body, but I will make you wait a few minutes while I share with you how Claire's appointment went...So our sweet baby girl is four months old now, can you believe it!?! She can roll from her tummy to her back and from her back to her tummy. She loves to grab her toes and roll from side to side. She is getting very vocal (I'm hoping that she isn't going to be another 20 questions about everything kid like Curtis). She loves to grab her play keys and chomp/drool all over them. She has graduated from size 2 diapers to size 3, and she is starting to wear 6-9 month clothes! She's our big girl. Her appointment went well, and she weighs 16 1/2 lbs. and is 24 3/4 in. tall. We now have permission to start her on rice cereal, so we shall see what happens...Now for my news (drum roll please)...My blood work came out normal, but I have two small cysts on my thyroid (one on the left and one on the right). The one on the left is the size of a grain of rice and the one on the right is 1 1/2 cm. The good news is that they aren't cancerous and too small to do any kind of biopsy on. I do have to have another ultrasound in three months to see if they have shrunk, grown, or stayed the same. We are praying for them to shrink. The doctor was very sure that there is nothing to be concerned about, but she just wants to check to see what they are going to do. I can't tell you how relieved I am that 1) I don't have cancer, and 2) that I don't need to be on medication. What an answer to prayer! So thank you for praying, we really appreciate it.

On a side note, we still haven't heard the results of Kevin's bloodwork. His doctor's office is right next door to mine, so I went over there after my appointment to find out why we haven't heard anything yet. The doctor is on vacation this week and the receptionist couldn't find the medical assistant, so we have no idea what's going on with his lab results. I will keep you posted...

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Today we went to an Angels game courtesy of one of Kevin's vendors. What an awesome time we had. We were able to take the kids (we left Claire with my grandmother). The tickets we were given were on the club level, so we got free up front parking and a personal waiter to take our food order (sweet!!). The kids had a blast and after the game, the kids were able to run the bases. That was so cool! I wish we had a video of that, it was priceless. So without further ado, here are pictures from today's game.

Here we are at our seats. Are we baseball fans or what!?!

Angels win 3-2 against the Chicago White Sox. Light the Halo!!

Here are the kids running the bases. Curtis is on the grass and Lauren is by the kid in the brown shirt. We weren't allowed on the field, so the kids had to run alone.

Here's Lauren crossing Home Plate. Kevin and I can't believe that she ran the bases by herself.

Here is Claire in here Angels outfit. Go, Angels, go!

Another Prayer Request

Boy, we sure have been asking for a lot of prayer lately. This time it's for Kevin and I. Some of you that were at Curtis' party know about Kevin, so for the rest of you when Kevin went in for his physical a couple of weeks ago, the doctor noticed a nodule on Kevin's prostate. Kevin had to go get his PSA levels checked out to see if he has cancer. We are still waiting for those results. Well on Saturday, my neck starting hurting like I had been hit. On Tuesday, my neck started swelling, so we went to urgent care to get it looked at. The doctor told me that I have a lump on my thyroid, so I will be going in tomorrow to have my TSH levels checked out and on Wednesday the 16th, I will my having an ultrasound. Surprisingly I am at peace, but I am concerned about the kids. Curtis cried all the way to urgent care because he thought that I was going to die (he is so sensitive about things). We had a talk about death and what was going to happen. If this turns out to be a cyst or a tumor it will need to be removed and I want to make sure that the kids are going to be okay. Thank you all for praying, we really appreciate it.

Curtis Turns Four

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Curtis,

Happy Birthday to you.

I still can't believe that our sweet Curtis is four. Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday we were driving to the hospital to have him. Looking at Claire brings back lots of memories of Curtis' infancy. Curtis had a big celebration this year as we went to Disneyland on Saturday to celebrate and had his party on Sunday. Disneyland was so much fun. It was very, very hot! It reached 103 degrees which I think scared people away, so we walked on just about every single ride. The only ride we had to wait for was the Nemo ride and we waited in line for 15 min. We were planning on staying only a few hours, but since it wasn't crowded, we stayed all day! The kids had a blast, and Curtis has been asking when he can go back! The birthday party turned out nice. The cake came out okay. (I'm always very critical of myself). I know what I can do better next time. Curtis loved it and that is all that matters. So without further ado, here are some pictures from our fun-filled weekend.

These are from Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters ride. Curtis had a lot of fun on this ride, especially trying to shoot Zurg. Lauren had fun spinning our car in circles.

Here we are in front of the invitation on Main Street.

Here is Lauren dancing during the parade.

On Nemo's Submarine Voyage, waiting for the ride to begin.

This is Curtis' Buzz Lightyear bear from Build-A-Bear Workshop

Curtis' apple cake.

Lauren Update

I just wanted to update you on Lauren's gastro appointment yesterday. Lauren hasn't had any bleeding for six weeks now. She still has to be on the Miralax for the next three months. We go back at the end of November and if Lauren still hasn't had any bleeding, then we don't need to see the GI anymore. So now we have to wait even longer to get back to Minnesota. I'm still trying to get ahold of the supervisor out there to let her know the news, so that we can come up with a game plan. I will keep you posted...

3 Months

Can you believe our sweet Claire Bear has been with us for three months now!?! She is getting so big. She is now in 3-6 month clothes, with an emphasis on 6 months. I weighed her last night and she is 14 lbs. She loves to smile and started laughing two weeks ago. She has also started getting into a regular sleep pattern, which makes life a little easier. She sleeps for 3-4 hours in the afternoon, and goes to bed at 9 p.m. and wakes up around 3 a.m. for a feeding, then sleeps for a few more hours. She takes little 20-30 minute cat naps the rest of the time. She loves bath time, which is my favorite time with her. She has started splashing, so I end up getting soaked. She looks exactly like Curtis when he was a baby and she even makes the same faces. She needs constant stimulation just like Curtis, which makes me wonder if she is going to be asking a million questions like Curtis. Only time will tell...

In other news, Lauren had her two year check up on Friday and she now weighs 24 lbs. and is 33 inches tall. Her favorite words are naughty and sorry(sawry). She loves to dance and enjoys bossing Curtis around. She also goes back to the gastroenterologist on Wednesday, so we are hoping to be able to take her off of the Miralax. I will keep you posted.

Curtis turns four on Saturday and we will be taking him to Disneyland to celebrate. For those of you in other states, you get in to Disneyland for free on your birthday. On Sunday we will be having his birthday party and the theme this year is once again, Buzz Lightyear. I have a feeling he will be asking for another Buzz birthday next year with the release of Toy Story 3 coming out in June. When I told him that we were going to take him to Disneyland for his birthday, he started crying and said,"But I wanted a Buzz birthday at G.G.'s house." (G.G. is my grandmother). He was much better when I told him that he will still be getting a Buzz birthday party at G.G.'s.

We also got the kids' pictures taken on Saturday. They turned out okay. Curtis didn't want to smile and Lauren just wanted to run around, but the photographer did manage to take a couple good ones. Well, I hope you all have a good week.