News, News, News

Sorry for the long delay in posts, all.  I have been busy, busy with life... the usual excuse, I guess.  I have a few updates for you...

First up, we can discuss Hadley's arm... although no actual progress has been made, we have finally scheduled an appointment for an MRI on June 10.  She will need to be sedated so they can get the clearest picture possible, so that is a little scary and we will hate to see her strapped down and knocked out.  The MRI should tell us more about the lump (ie. where it is located within her arm, whether it is part of her muscles or veins, how to best reach it for biopsy, etc).  As far as we know, the only changes we have noticed are in color.  At first, it looked like a slight bruise and over time, it has gotten darker blue and now is greenish.  It's weird to see a bruise on someone's skin for over a month.  Please continue to pray that she will be healed and this is nothing too serious.

Secondly, we are heading up to MN tomorrow.  I'm pretty excited... I haven't been back to the homeland since Christmas of 2011, so I am looking forward to seeing some of my closest friends and of course, my family.  It may be the last time my family is all together there because both brothers are planning to move before year's end.  We will have to make the most of it!  The drive out and back is the only thing I am dreading... hopefully it will go smoothly.  *Update:  Since I began this post, we have completed the dreaded drive out and are enjoying all MN has to offer.  So far, that has included an Origami Owl jewelry bar hosted by my mom, cheering for my sister in law, Tishri, in the Med City Half Marathon (I hope to run this race next year while I am in operation lose baby weight), a feverish day for Hadley, a night away in the cities with Mark for our 8th anniversary, a visit to Mall of America, a trip to the library, time with cousins and lots of gloomy weather and rain.  It has rained at least once a day every day we've been here... in fact, it's raining now.  Thankfully the girls and I will be here for another week, so in that time we should get a chance to see the sun and play outside.  We will also be getting together with some dear friends and their kids, so there is a lot to look forward to before we make the trek home... seriously, if you would like to pray for that, I would love it.  Mark drove out here with us and stayed a few days, but had to get back to work, so he flew home, which leaves me to drive us home.  Normally, this wouldn't be as bad as it seems to be now because I would probably attempt to drive through the night or drink all the caffeine I wanted.  However, that is where life happening number three comes in...

If you haven't figured it out or have been hiding under a rock, I am pregnant with #3!  I am 17 weeks along and feeling pretty good, except that I am just exhausted.  Even with a good night's sleep and half a cup of coffee in the morning, by 2pm I am beat.  The mere thought of driving 11 hours home with two whiny kids makes me very anxious.  If need be, I will stop mid way and get a hotel room, but even that doesn't sound appealing because we don't do that well sleeping in the same room.  If I must, I must, though.  ANYWAY, back to the BABY!  We found out we were expecting the day before my birthday when we were down at the beach in Florida.  He or she is due November 4th.  Mark would love to have a boy, as would I, but we have a  name picked out for either and we have everything done for a girl and we would love her all the same.  I pray little Acker is healthy and strong.  I have been feeling movement for a couple weeks so that is nice reassurance for me that all is well in there.  Most of my food aversions have gone away, but I do give in to cravings the majority of the time.  I was very sick for the first trimester-- between nausea, vomiting, and migraines, I will admit that most of life's daily duties went ignored.  But now that my energy is coming back, I can tackle housework and sometimes cooking more often and make our house feel like home and not the eye of a tornado once again.

So that is my rambling update for you guys.  Sorry that took so long... you would think that with all that down time from being sick that I would have had time to write, but all I wanted to write about was the baby and we weren't sharing about the pregnancy yet!  Such a dilemma!  Until next time!