Isaac David: 5 Years & 20 Questions

When Isaac turned three years old, I started interviewing him on his birthday.  I asked him the same questions again last year for his fourth birthday.  As his mom, I think it's fun to see which themes keep popping up in this answers each year:  he loves dinosaurs, he loves horses, and he hates tomatoes and cilantro.  (Isaac is the best eater ever, but he gets nearly panicky if a food contains cilantro or tomatoes! Ha!)  

Also, Isaac loved answering all these questions this year.  Even after we were finished, he came back to my bed twice and asked if we could play questions again.  :)

1.  What is your favorite color?  green 

2.  What is your favorite toy?  dinosaurs

3.  What is your favorite fruit?  every fruit but not tomatoes or cilantro 

4.  What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  hot dogs--that's what we sometimes always have at Mom-o's house for lunch 

5.  What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? pancakes

6.  What is your favorite thing to eat for supper?  meatloaf

7.  What is your favorite thing to drink?  apple cider

8.  What is your favorite snack?  cake

9.  What is your favorite show?  Blue's Clues

10.  What are your favorite clothes to wear?  dinosaur jamas 

11. What is your favorite animal?  horses 

12.  What is your favorite song? "O God is good....America...the soldiers of the king" (He started improvising words to the tune of "America, the Beautiful".)

13.  What is your favorite book?  Bible cause God is in the Bible.  That's why it is. 

14. What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?  ride on Bilbo the horse...that was a long time ago.  I wish I could ride on my favorite horse.  I miss my favorite horse.

15.  What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy?  read books 

16.  What is your favorite thing to do outside?  play pterodactyls with Landrie 

17.  What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas

18.  What is your favorite thing to take to bed with you each night? my horse

19.  Where is your favorite place to go?  to the beach

20.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  a scuba diver

Isaac started PreK two days a week in September.  I had been working with him at home, but enrolling him in PreK was the best decision since I've been on bedrest.  We were shocked at how much he absolutely loves school!  (He's very disappointed he doesn't get to go this week due to Thanksgiving break.)  Isaac knows that Dave and I are praying about where he'll attend kindergarten, and he's asked me if he can just keep going to his same school (which is a wonderful option).  We're so thankful he has adjusted so quickly during this time of transition. 

first day of PreK at Messiah Lutheran Classical Academy

His favorite things about school are recess, the turtles in his classroom, music class with Mrs. Dam, and playing with his friends Abbey and Larsen.  His teacher came to our house so I could participate in Isaac's conference.  She told me that when she passes out worksheets Isaac usually says, "I'll just do these at home with my mom.  I'm going to go play now."  Of course, it doesn't work that way.  :)  Since I enjoy working with Isaac so much on his learning, it's fun to talk about what he learned each day at school.  I may have teared up when I saw how he wrote his name at the top of this paper--how can my baby boy now do this?

Isaac and I have spent many, many hours snuggled up and reading together since I've been on bedrest.  He has many questions about the baby--how big baby is this week, whether or not the baby will have hair at birth, and how baby will come out of me/  He asked, "Is your tummy like a dino egg that will crack open so the baby can get out?"  He often kisses me and says, "I love you" and then gives the baby a kiss with a peck on my stomach and says, "And I love you, too."  Isaac felt the baby kicking for the first time this week, and his smile couldn't have been brighter!   

The two funniest things Isaac has said lately:

Isaac: Why aren't we going to Colorado for Thanksgiving?  (This was our Thanksgiving to go to Steamboat to be with Nana & Papa, and we'd all been looking forward to it until I was put on bedrest.) 

Mom:  Because I have to be laying down because of the baby, and so Papa and Nana came here.

Isaac: We could still go, and you could stay here by yourself.

Mom:  But then I'd be alone, and that would be pretty sad.Isaac:  Nah, you wouldn't be alone.  Remember, Jesus is always with you.

And, one night Isaac did something wrong to Emma (I don't even remember what).  It had been one of those days where I'd been training, retraining, and encouraging constantly (which is much harder when you're on bedrest), so I asked Isaac to please go upstairs and talk with Daddy (who was working on the bathroom remodel) about what he'd done.  Isaac went upstairs--or so I thought--but was soon back downstairs.  Isaac said, "Well, I started to go upstairs and talk with Daddy like you said, but I just really don't want to disturb him in his work on the bathroom."  It was very hard for me to keep a straight face that time!

What a difference a year makes!  We love this smiley, talkative, curious, energetic boy!

20 Weeks

 

Yes, we are shivering in this picture!  It has been cold in North Texas this week!

 

Last Tuesday, Dave and I went to the doctor for an ultrasound.  We thought we’d have another ultrasound this week when I was 20 weeks, but instead the sonographer did baby’s full anatomy scan last Tuesday.  Again, it was so fun to see baby in action on the screen!  Our favorite part was when baby put his hand behind his head, as if he were relaxing.  Through this pregnancy, we’ve been in awe of how God creates each little part of our bodies.  I know I've read all the facts of a baby's development in books, but to know that it is occurring in my body is incredible.  I’ve looked at Isaac and Emma’s little bodies in a new light (ok, Isaac is 59 pounds, so not quite little) and thanked God over and over for creating them perfectly in their birth mother’s wombs.  Dave and I didn’t move as we watched each of baby’s four heart chambers beating.  We were also amazed to see oxygenated and deyxegenated blood flowing to/from the umbilical cord.  The sonographer showed us every organ, measured bones, and said baby weighed 9 ounces.  We had warned the sonographer repeatedly that we didn’t want to know baby’s gender, and I laughed when she asked us to turn away for a moment while she looked in that region—we both whipped our heads to the side so quickly.  We are really, really excited about this surprise!   

After the ultrasound, we had an appointment with Dr. Bradford.  She was so pleased with the results of the sonogram and said, “Our baby is looking perfect today!”  My bleed is now measuring 8cm x 4cm and is sitting right on top of my cervix.  Since there’s still no way to know the cause of my bleeding, I will remain on bedrest until I deliver our baby.  I am able to be up 1 to 2 hours a day. I usually use this time to eat meals with my family, though Isaac often tells me, “Mommy!  Go lay down!  You’re not supposed to be up!”  As Dave was getting dinner on the table a few nights ago, Emma pulled my chair out from the table and said, “I help you.  You sit down.”  I thought it was so sweet that she didn’t even think I should pull my own chair away from the table to be seated.

Baby will receive steroid shots at 24 weeks (second week of December) to help his lungs develop in case of early delivery.  We have no reason to believe that I’ll deliver early; but, since I had a perfect first twelve weeks of pregnancy before my bleeding began, my doctor is being cautious in case something unexpected happens again.

I started feeling baby move a lot more in the past week!  And, it’s wonderful.  Just the other day I was laying in the recliner and felt baby moving.  I started crying and crying--no, I didn't expect to be on bedrest for this pregnancy, but I am so, so thankful that our baby is growing exactly on track.  Will you please pray with us for continued healthy growth for our baby and that baby will not be affected by the pocket of blood?  Your prayers are a gift to us!

October in Pictures

It's already November 8, but here are pictures summing up our October!

Emma snuggled up next to me on the recliner and said, "See!  There's a baby in my tummy, too!"  (Can you see the doll head poking out of her shirt?)

Here's Dave hauling laundry and Emma upstairs.  Being on bedrest has made me fall in love with Dave all over again.  I can't believe how Dave serves our family every day with such cheerfulness.  He often falls asleep at night putting Isaac to bed--only to wake up and come downstairs to finish dishes, pack lunches, & sweep the floor.  I love him! 

My kids love to bring me meals on my tray.  Isaac walks so, so slowly--adorable!  

In the last seven weeks, I often said "I'm so sorry my kids have to have their mom on bedrest" or "This is just so hard for my kids."  I was explaining all this to a dear lady who has become a mentor to me, and she had a much better suggestion.  Instead of making excuses & feeling sorry for my kids, she encouraged me to see this as a time for my kids to learn how to serve and help in new ways.  Her wisdom really helped me look at this time in a different light!

Emma reallllllly enjoyed a leftover cupcake from Isaac's birthday!

 

 

 

 

 

We found Emma asleep like this one night when we came up to go to bed.  A friend suggested that maybe Emma fell asleep in the middle of a prayer vigil?   :)

Dave has been working hard to get our master bathroom remodeled before his parents come for Thanksgiving!  The kids were keeping busy and "building" near Daddy while he worked. 

 

Our friend, Shelly, came over one afternoon and gave us all haircuts!  I trimmed the tiniest bit ever off the back of Emma's hair this summer, but this was her first real haircut.  Adorable!

Fishing with Daddy!  (I'm not sure who was more excited about this catch!)  Also, I love how Isaac is wearing his dino cap from Mom-o from his birthday in this picture.  See the dino's ferocious teeth?  

Emma wearing her basset ears at the North Texas Basset Shuffle last weekend!  (Yes, it's a morning of basset hounds wearing costumes and competing in a howling contest.  Let's just say you have to really love bassets to attend.) 

 

We celebrated Isaac's birthday with our family and DQ ice cream cakes! 

Isaac had a fun dinosaur party with a few of his little buddies, too--lots of pictures here.

 

A bump picture with my sweet friend, Ericka~Ericka delivered her precious little girl just yesterday!  We laughed so hard taking this picture!  :)  

I can't put into words how much my mom has been helping us while I've been on bedrest.  She has taken the kids on many adventures and explored great parks.  One morning while Isaac was at school, Mom-o took Emma to Homestead Farms.  Emma loved playing in the corn pit!  My favorite thing is that she's wearing Isaac's cape!

Halloween!  Uncle Mike gave Isaac this dino costume for his birthday, and Isaac wears it nearly every day.  To say he loves it is an understatement.  He asked me, "Since I'm being a dino for Halloween, could you find an egg costume for Emma and she could be my dino egg?"  I had a hard time keeping a straight face, because he was so serious.  He later said that he knew that Emma would be a really big dino egg!  (We read in Isaac's dino books that most dinosaur eggs were actually quite small.)  

 

Well, Emma was a princess instead!  Halloween night in North Texas ended up being pretty chilly, so Dave found a turtleneck for Emma to wear under her costume.  He even did her hair---I was impressed!



 

Isaac was so happy to trick or treat with his little friend, Landrie!  I just about melted when I saw that they are holding hands.