Jimmy John's Grand Opening!!!

Thomas along with his brother and two friends have been working on opening a franchise - Jimmy John's for almost two years now. Finally the grand opening was on Tuesday October 20!!!  It was a good first day open.  If you are local (Houston), come visit this Jimmy John's.  Its located at 12124 Greenspoint Dr.  Houston, TX 77060.

Front of the store

Opening day crew

Hard at work

Kayla visiting the store on opening day.  Rachel and Haley were at school.

Three of the owners taking a break and eating lunch

Mommy and Daddy getaway!

So after getting the devestating news about baby boy and his spina bifida diagnosis, we planned and took a mommy and daddy getaway to get a break from it all.  The last week in August, Thomas and I took a trip to the Texas Hill country in Wimberly.  We stayed in a secluded log cabin that had amazing views for a couple of nights and then we drove to San Antonio and stayed at a nice hotel for a couple of nights.  We had a nice relaxing time doing whatever we wanted to do with no kids and just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  We thank Grandma and Grandpa Stansel for watching the kids all week while we got away.   We probably won't get to go on a vacation just the two of us for a long, long time after baby boy is born.  So we are glad we got this vacation in before his birth.  Here are some pictures of the log cabin in Wimberely.  I didn't take a lot of pictures of any thing else of our trip, but this log cabin was a beautiful location.

Outside of the log cabin

Living room in cabin

Kitchen/living room

Bedroom

Back deck

View from the back deck

The pregnancy update

So lots of stuff has been going on the past several months.  I just hadn't had a lot of time to update this blog.  Believe me I have been wanting to write.  Back in mid June I took pictures for my friends dance show and have been working at getting all 900+ pictures edited.  Plus I had all 3 girls home for the Summer which was stressful and busy.  September has been crazy busy as well.  Kayla started preschool on September 14 and I have been juggling lots of doctors appointments for me and this pregnancy.  I have been putting off on writing this blog post regarding my pregnancy and baby boy since late July.  We unfortunately got some unexpected and troubling news regarding baby boy on July 29 (17 weeks along).  We found out on ultrasound that he has spina bifida.  I have been having a hard time taking it all in and understanding why it had to happen since the diagnosis.  My heart just hurts that we have to endure another trial and challenge like this in regard to another one of our children.  My baby boy will have disabilities, mostly physically.  His spine is open approximately at L3 or L4 which means he will have issues with walking in the future.  He also has enlarged ventricles in his brain due to the open hole in his back.  He will most likely need a shunt after he is born.  He will also have to endure surgery to close the hole in his back when he is born.  Other than that he is doing good.  He is growing well and his other organs look great.  I never thought we would get a diagnosis like this when I got pregnant with him.  I was just hoping for another healthy baby born close to full term to join our family.  I am trying my hardest to keep the faith that all will be ok.  I have lots of fears and worries for baby boy and am hoping for the best outcome we can get.  I love this sweet picture of his profile.

21 weeks, 5 days ultrasound

He is a strong fighter already.  He moves and kicks me a lot.  I really enjoy feeling those movements inside my womb and am soaking it all in as this will be our last baby.


The good news is that I am 28 weeks.  We have past that point of when I had the sextuplets (22 weeks, 6 days) and have gotten past the point of viability (24 weeks).  I do have extra amniotic fluid and look much further along than I am.  I am hoping my uterus will hold out despite the extra fluid and I will make it to 37 weeks.  I am getting the weekly progesterone shots to keep my uterus calm and so far those seem to be helping.  I have not been put on bedrest and so far the doctors have not talked about that at all so I really am hoping and praying all continues to go well.

27 weeks

So Rachel and Haley don't seem to notice the pregnancy or understand, but Kayla is very excited to be a big sister and have a little brother.

We are excited to meet him too despite his diagnosis.  We are praying all will be well despite the spina bifida.  We are relying on the Lord to help us through this unexpected trial along our journey.  We have made it this far and will continue the best we can and continue to endure.

Again sorry for the long break in my blog.  I really do want to continue this blog and I will, I just have been having a hard time making the time plus I have been more tired lately due to this pregnancy.  Stay tuned for more though!  Thanks for thinking of us!        

Back to school for Rachel and Haley!

Rachel and Haley's first day of 1st grade was August 24, 2015.  They love school and were happy to go back as was daddy and I.  The girls do so much better (behavior wise) when they go to school.  The girls are in separate special education life skills classes, but they go to breakfast and lunch together as well as recess.  They both have new teachers who seem really great and each have two other students in their classes.  Rachel and Haley will both get therapies from several therapist at school and will be getting the help they need to progress  We are much happier with everything at their school this year.

The girls enjoy riding the bus to and from school.

Waiting for the bus

Rachel and Haley's 6 year old pictures and update

Rachel and Haley turned 6 on August 4th!  I'm so behind in doing this update, but here is the update and their pictures none the less.

Rachel:
Rachel is growing well.  She is 50%ile BMI and average size for a 6 year old.  Rachel is still fed 100% via her g-button.  Rachel is interested in foods.  We give her food to taste and chew, but she just chews it and spits it out.  She is doing much better at swallowing water so we are hopefully heading in the right direction, but the process of her learning to swallow foods is going to be very long.  We just don't know when she will start swallowing food.
She is still learning to use the potty.  She is wearing pull ups and we have her help pull them up and down.
Rachel is doing well with her cochlear implant.  She wears it well and seems to like it.  We know she is hearing, but she is still not talking though she has made some progress in speech therapy.  She tries to say "I".  She is slowly learning sign language though she mostly uses the sign language she has already learned.
Rachel loves to use the iPad and watch TV.  She loves going out and about (shopping, car rides, etc.).  Rachel is a very curious girl and likes to explore new things.  She is not shy and will go up to almost anybody.  She loves going to church because she gets to do fun things.  She has some great teachers at church.  We are blessed with the love and support our church members provide to us. Rachel is a daddy's girl and loves to snuggle and cuddle with him.  

Rachel.  She wasn't wanting to smile for me.

Haley:
Haley is still a petite girl.  She is below the 5%ile for weight and height, but she is 50%ile BMI.  This girl loves to eat so I'm not sure where she puts it all.  Haley is a picky eater too so its a challenge, but when we give her something she really likes she eats it well.
Haley is also working on potty training and is wearing pull ups too.  Its such a long process with these girls, but still very hopeful that they will both be able to get potty trained.
Haley is not talking yet either but she sure does make a lot of noises and sounds.  Haley knows three signs and uses them frequently.  She really likes to wear her hearing aids and gets really upset if we take them out before the usual time they are taken out.
Haley loves to play with her toys especially toys that play music or make noise.  She loves to listen to music.  Haley is fearless and loves to be tossed (safely, of course) in the air.  She also likes dogs, but we are not ready to get one yet.  Haley is also liking TV more.  She doesn't have the attention span to watch it for very long at all, but she gets happy and excited when we turn it on.  Haley is also not shy.  She goes up to people all the time and loves to be held and give/get hugs.  She is a snuggle bunny.

Haley.  Love when she smiles!

Both Rachel and Haley are still behind developmentally and they will always be behind, but that doesn't change our love for them and doesn't change the fact that they are precious, miracle girls.  We do hope that they will make more progress and get past some of the challenges they have.  Only time will tell and we just have to keep going and moving forward the best we can.  These girls are ours forever and we love them.

     

Rachel

Haley

Rachel and Haley are 6 years old!!!

Trying to catch up on my blog.  Have taken a break from my blog for some reasons and I will update all about that as soon as I can, but I will start with posting about Rachel and Haley's 6th birthday.   None the less here is Rachel and Haley's little birthday celebration.  They turned 6 years old on August 4th!!  Can't believe that it has been 6 years already since they arrived so early.  We had a small party for them.  Just us and one set of grandparents.  The girls enjoyed it.

Rachel and Haley's update and 6 year old pictures coming up in next blog post.  Will also update on my pregnancy soon too.

Kayla turned 3 1/2 years!

This post is late, but on June 9th Kayla turned 3 1/2 years old!  She is growing up so fast.  Also she is going to be a BIG sister to a little brother come December.  She is is so excited to be a big sister!  She will be a great big sister along with her big sisters Rachel and Haley.

On May 26th, she finished her first year of preschool.  It was a fun year and she enjoyed the fun stuff that her preschool did.  We look forward to the next year of preschool.  She made some new friends and enjoys playing with those friends.  Kayla is a very social girl and loves to talk to people.  She will talk to just about anyone.  She's a sweet, fun loving girl!  

To this date we are still working on the potty training.  She is being resistant to potty training and I just don't know what to do anymore to get her to do it.  I guess it will just take more time..... or maybe I should stop trying to train her.  Not sure anymore.  This has been a struggle.

Kayla loves to watch cartoons.  Her favorites are Sophia the first, Barbie, anything princess and most Disney movies.  We do limit how much she watches, but she would be happy to watch a lot of cartoons if we let her. 

Kayla is a petite girl.  She can still wear 2T clothing and she weighs about 28 pounds.  Not sure of her height.  She is a cute little girl with a big attitude!  She likes to play dress up in princess clothes or her favorite dresses.  She would rather wear dresses and skirts than shorts or pants.  She is definitely a girly girl!  Sweet princess!

We are so very thankful for this little girl in our family.  She brings much joy, laughter and love.  She loves her sisters and enjoys playing with them.  She is so very loving!