Emma's surgery.......

As I carried my sleepy four-year-old baby down those long hospital halls  into the operating room and laid  her on the operating table, watched her go to sleep and lay there lifeless looking, and then to walk all the way back to the waiting area with out her.....this was the verse God put on my heart. Over and Over I said it in my head....."Be strong and courageous, do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
 I can't tell you how much Tim and I fully relied on God's grace yesterday morning.....we were scared and terrified, yet God calmed us with His word and gave us peace. She was in His hands and there is no better place to be!! We appreciate all of ya'll's prayers for us! We truly felt God's grace and presence yesterday!


We had talked SO much about her surgery and how Dr. Leversedge was going to help "lefty" get better. She was so excited to go!

  Here my girl is with her big cast!  The surgery went very well. He was able to transfer some of her pectoral muscle from the front to the back of the shoulder, he was able to lengthen another tendon, and released a lot of scar tissue from the original injury. Our hope and prayer is that this will be Emma's last surgery and her shoulder will not continue to turn inwards. We are told that this surgery will slow down the process of it. but, It will not totally stop it. But,  We believe that God is in control and if He desires to, He can heal her.

 She did so well after her surgery. It was four hours long...... It did take a couple of high doses of pain meds at first, but then she seemed to be comfortable. She did have an allergic reaction to the tape they used on her eyes and mouth. Her little face swelled up! After lots of Benadryl she seemed to be fine.


Emma's first cast! Her right arm was broken at birth. Her left arm is the one with Erb's Palsy....she was still pretty cute and tuff then too! : )...Leah had a head full of hair!!!
Emma's second cast! She was not too happy about it when she woke up from surgery : /....She actually complained more about the cast then she did about pain!

Emma was SO happy to go home!! She couldn't wait to see her sisters again.........and her sisters were ready to be my little nursing assistants! : ) Aren't they cute?!?!?!


So far the most difficult thing with Emma is that we are finding out all the things you can't do with one arm :) I am having to teach her how to eat with one arm, which is difficult when you think about how to pick up food with out the assistance of your other arm!!! How to hold a cup with one hand (when your hands are as little as a four-year-olds :) ), how to go to the bathroom, how to sit up and down, how to pick up things , open things, color and not have your paper move away from you!!! You never realize how much you need both of your arms till you are left with only one!!
She is handling it like a trooper though!!! God knew all that Emma would go through and gave her the personality that she has for a reason!! Nothing stops Emma. She is going to try  until she gets it done no matter how she has to do it!! VERY stubborn!! lol....but that's a good thing! : )

The other thing is.....Emma is a hyper, very active, type of child, and sitting still does NOT come easy for her! I am having to constantly tell her to sit down! I feel bad for her because she just wants to run and play, but she was put on light activity for two weeks....not sure how that is going to happen, but please pray for her.
She will go back to her Dr. in two weeks to have the cast removed and changed. : / I'm trying to explain to her that they are going to put another cast on again, that lefty will not be free just yet........she's not happy about that.
From here she will have to wear  a cast for six to eight weeks. Then they will take it off and she will start therapy three times a week for a long time : ) She will also be on light duty for three months there after. She will not be able to pull with her left arm, push with it, ect..........
Thank you all for all your prayers for our Emma Grace! We have definitely felt God's peace through all of this! I honestly don't think Emma would be doing as well as she is if it wasn't for all the prayer warriors out their!!!

Happy 100th day of school!!!
We were so excited to celebrate our 100th day of school!
We made 100 day Princess crowns....we even made a 100 day pizza with 100 slices of pepperoni for lunch! (sorry forgot to take a pic, we were hungry :) )

 We made a 100 link chain! It was so big I couldn't get all of it in the picture! They loved making their 100link "snake". : )

This is Emma's paper. If she had $100 she would buy a snake!!! I don't think so Em's!! : )




















This is one of the books we read today. Jake's 100th day of school! They loved it! It's about this little boy who was suppose to bring 100 things to school, but in a hurry that morning he rushed out the door and forgot his special 100 memory book he had made! So when he gets to school he is very sad because he had nothing to show for his 100 things! The Principle helped him find 100 books to show.....then a special guest comes in and it is his great, great aunt who is 100 years old.....good story check it out from the library if you want the rest of the story! : )      

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 What will we look like when we are 100?!?!? Well here you go! We made pictures of us. This is what we think we will look like when we are 100-years-old! Pretty cute aren't we?!??!? : )

Emma wants 100 pencils, she doesn't want 100 pieces of glue.
Emma would eat 100 happy meals ( I think she probably could too!), but she wouldn't eat 100 frogs?!?!? ...lol

Emma's favorite thing she has learned in the first 100 days of school is: How to write her name!
She has done such a good job too! Can't wait to start Kindergarten with her this fall!

 Here they are with the 100 links we made!!! It was so long! they loved it!

If Leah had $100 she would buy 100 pizza's!!! That girls sure can eat some pizza too! lol

 This one cracks me up!!In Leah's 100 days of school paper. She want's 100 pets, doesn't want 100 snakes (me either)
She would eat 100 Happy Meals, but would not eat Mommy's Chicken Divan!! lol....no wonder she always gags when we make her eat it! I love the picture she drew with her tongue sticking out! : )

Leah's favorite thing that she has learned in the first 100 days of school is : How to read!!! : )












Here is little old lady Leah at 100! : )

If Mady had $100 she would buy 100 pizzas! lol

Mady's favorite thing about school is when Mommy reads to her! This child LOVES books!! She can not wait to read! I think she may have her own library some day! : )

Here is my little Mady-Moo at 100! Love her lips!

Here are my little ladies and their future look! LOL......They'll always be cute, even when they are 100!!

All in all we had an awesome 100 day of school!!! They have all grown a lot since August 15, 2011! Now we only have 70 days left!!! Yay!!! : )...Then we will have a first grader, kindergartner, and possibly a K-4 student!! It seems like yesterday when I was changing two babies in diapers and potty training my two and a half year old!! I don't know how I survived those first few years! I love watching them grow, I love teaching them school (on most days :) ) but, I miss those day of endless diapers and bottles,...well only till I think about my 10 hours of sleep I get every night! : ).... Love my girls to the moon and back!!

Lots and Lots of different things!! : )

So my children got a Wii for Christmas and are totally addicted to Super Mario Brothers!!! Mady loves to be "egee" (Luigi)!

Leah is continueing to do well in school. She is writing a lot!! We are still working on writing her name in cursive, but she mainly writes in print. She has learned to mark her vowels (long vowel, short vowel) and read the words! I am very proud of her and what she has accomplished this month!

So after being inspired by a few of my friends...I took the plunge and did a patch work backsplash out of scrapbook paper and......I LOVE it!! It adds so much color to our kitchen! It did take Tim a little while to get use to it though! : )

Who knows what project I will come up with next! I drive Tim crazy with all of my ideas and rearranging of things....he still loves me though!! : )

So I have been looking for a good chapter book to start reading to my girls in school, and I found Junie B.!!! I love it and so do the girls!!! We just

started reading this book on Tuesday. After we read two chapters, I have Leah write a two sentence story about what happened and draw a picture. She chose to write and draw about the playground. Junie B. was the first girl in her class to have a lose tooth, and all her friends were very excited for her. Junie B. let them line up on the playground so she could let each one of them see her tooth! Her excitment goes away very quickly when one of her friends tell her that she might end up looking like his Uncle Lou who lost all of his teeth


 except for one and it is really yellow and all he can eat is an apple! LOL......that was Emma's favorite part. She drew a picture of uncle lou and his one tooth, holding an apple. She's so funny!

Love doing fun things with my girls!! I'm looking forward to this fall when Emma start's Kindergarten and Leah the 1st. Grade!!! I might even start Mady with some K4 stuff.....she wants to do school so bad, and is pretty smart! Having two older sisters to keep up with helps with that. : ) She will be four next January anyway, so I am toying with the thought of starting her in kindergarten for the fall of 2013....we'll see!!

Please continue to pray for us!! Emma's surgery is coming up in 11 days!! I have been slowly talking to Emma about what is going to happen. We have talked about the big cast she will have and that she will have to wear it for two months. She took that pretty well when I told her she could pick whatever color she wanted and we could write on it! : ) We went shopping for some special shirts to fit over her cast (since it will go over her chest too :/ ) She is excited about her new shirts!

One of the hardest things I had to do was to explain to her that her "lefty" (that's what we have always called her left arm :) ) needs help. We have always encouraged Emma to turn her lefty, and have always told her how good she could do. This time I had to actually show her what lefty really should be able to do, and what he couldn't do. Her reply to me was " Your right Mommy, lefty can't do what righty can do, I think he needs help too".........As a Mom, I am struggling with the thoughts of her going under anesthesia for four hours, being cut open her entire length of her arm pit, having muscle cut from the front of her shoulder and moved to the back. I am struggling with the worries of, what if they slip and cut a nerve and she won't have any use of her arm, what if it doesn't work, what if something goes wrong, and I can not be there with her!! Oh this weary heart of mine!!! Lord forgive me!.....If I think about it too much I literally get sick!! I am struggling with my emotions. Those that know me, know that I'm not a really emotional person, but when it comes to my girls or Tim, I lose it. :/ Please pray for Tim and I, that we will be able to keep it together. I know that God is in control, and I am VERY thankful that He is! I know with out Him I would not survive this valley in my life!

"Come to me all you who are weary and burden, and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. " ~ Matthew 11:28-30