Beasleyville Update

Wow, starting the year off with a bang. One blog post a month so far. Guess this one will be March's :)

I just haven't felt like there has been anything noteworthy to blog about. Figured I'd just give an update on everyone.

We did have a bit of stress over Elizabeth. Her numbers in everything went down in January, including her weight. I don't think we would have stressed so much over it except that the doctors couldn't really tell us what was going on. That was a hard week. It's this really weird kind of stress. On the surface it was all good, it's not like she was really bad off or anything, but underneath Rob and I were seriously stressed out. We've had more doctor visits in the last 8 weeks then we had in the six months before that. We had to change the way we were doing some of her treatments, new antibiotics to try out, etc. All this requires numerous check-up visits. It's amazing to me how we can go a whole year with no more than her regular clinic visits and then BAM! we are taking her in every other week. Ug. It's getting tiring. It's hard to work her schooling around it. I get pretty anal over the schedule I try and keep and all these visits were not in the schedule :) She ends up there for most of the morning so by the time she gets home neither of us is in any mood to do school. Though I have to say I'm grateful we have that flexibility. I can't imagine trying to keep her caught up with the local school.

Anyway, after several rounds of high powered antibiotics her sinuses have cleared up and she's gaining weight again. Her PFT's (breathing test) were back to where they should be at the last visit. The frustrating part is having other kids who get sick. Elizabeth has done wonderfully but now all the boys have this cold that is, of course, in their sinuses. Just praying it passes by Elizabeth, though sadly I don't hold out much hope. She was coughing again this morning. Not bad, but it's there. Fortunately she has ANOTHER visit next week with her docs so they can get a look at her before it gets any worse. But that will probably mean more antibiotics and another visit in a couple weeks out. Sigh. The really, really frustrating part is, this is her in a "healthy" state. I constantly pray we never have to see the other side of CF.

Aside from the CF part of life Elizabeth is still happy-go-lucky. She's taking karate now at the same dojo we've been with for years, haha. She's loving it! It's fun to be teaching her the kata at home or letting her practice punches and kicks :) They have such a cute group of kids in her class there. She, along with the boys, goes bowling every Saturday. Loves that too. She's going to be old enough this year to graduate on from bumpers! Woohoo!! Except that I think she likes to use them instead of trying to bowl without touching them :) I've finally got around to teaching her a bit on the piano and she's picking that up pretty fast. She still loves school and I so enjoy being home with her during that time

The boys are all doing really well, aside from this recent cold. Nathaniel and Jonathan are doing very well in school and enjoying themselves. They both are so great about their homework. I think I've had to get after them like twice to get it done. Both boys walk in, grab a snack and immediately get on their homework!! Not so surprising with Nathaniel but it is with Jonathan. This has been a good year for him and school. He's matured a lot in that area.

I had an opportunity to go on a field trip to OMSI with the 5th graders. I got a really good group of boys and we had a really fun time :) I was able to talk to Jonathan's teacher and get to know her better and I love her even more!! You always hope your child ends up with THAT teacher. You know the one who loves her/his job and loves the kids and tries so hard to make school a great experience. There are many like that at the local elementary but I think Jonathan's 5th grade teacher is extra amazing! We were able to tell her at the beginning of the year that we have high expectations for our kids and we hoped she would too. She definitely has. We will be sad to lose her when he moves on to the middle school next year.

Nathaniel has come home and told us stories of the science dissection projects and how much he LOVES that! Crazy kid. Ewwwww. Definitely was not my favorite. He was getting a kick out of grossing out the girls :) He is an amazing young man. I don't know what I'd do without him. We can trust him with anything. It's a good feeling knowing we can depend on him like that. It's great knowing we can leave him to watch his siblings and know the house won't be destroyed in our absence :) He helps a ton in the morning as our morning schedule is a bit hectic and sometimes Rob and I are gone leaving him to make sure he gets himself ready for school and keep an eye on Seth. He is also the Deacon's quorum secretary. I just sit back in wonder as I watch him take care of all his tasks that his president assigns him without any reminders from us! My fingers are crossed that he stays this way :) I'm hearing stories from my friends with teenage boys and how they change. AAAaahhhhh! Not my Nathaniel :) LOL

Seth is just Seth. He is the happy sunbeam in our family :) Even when he's getting in trouble, he's cute. He is so loving to everyone. When any of us come home after having been gone, even if it's only been 20 mins, he comes running up to the door with his arms wide begging for a hug. When we leave we have to give him kisses. When it's time for nap he starts to cry and I give him a stern look and tell him "none of that" and he actually does stop and will walk to his room and lay down in his crib. He made progress this morning, he got out of his crib by himself! I was sitting on the couch and then all of a sudden there he was with a big grin on his face. He was so proud of himself for having figured out how to climb out on his own. Sigh. I'm going to miss the "cage" and the ability to leave him just a few minutes longer while I try and get things done. However, he is the kind of child that if I tell him to not climb out he will probably stay put. I'm going to try that today and see what happens after nap. We'll see if he can resist the urge to climb out :)

Rob and I are just busy doing our thing :) Work is going well for Rob. I'm busy as always trying to keep up with schooling Elizabeth, scouts, and being a mom. I've decided to try and sell a couple baby quilts and see how well that goes. I'm almost finished with the first one. I've thought about it in the past but have never felt like my work was good enough for someone to want to buy but after looking around on the web I think I have a pretty good chance :) I don't do the fancy quliting but I make a pretty good basic baby quilt, haha. Figured it wouldn't hurt to try, who knows what will happen.

Rob and I bowl on a league on Friday nights. We started with my dad and my brother, Shane, but Shane took off for S. America in November and he's still hanging out there :) We had a friend, Joel, join our team during this last quarter though and that has been fun. I'm not very good but it's nice to get out and spend time with these guys. If anyone is ever interested they have daytime leagues, could be fun to get out of the house in the middle of the day :)

Well, that about sums things up for now. Til next month's post... :) LOL, here is a video of Seth doing "flips".