where everybody knows your name

Time Flys... when you are busy

2010-04-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

WOW, I cannot belive how long its been since an update.... MONTHS! well the Troast clan is doing pretty good. Jacob just celebrated his First Birthday on March 26th. That year went by soooo.... Fast.

Jacob: Big number 1!!!!! He started walking at 11 months! while we were on Vacation In Arizona. He took several steps and when we got back home he took right off. He is learning to say Dadda, MamMa( for Mommy) and he is starting to say All Done! when he is done eating. He loves climbing the stairs and unrolling the toilet paper from the roll in the upstairs bathroom. He has not mastered going down the stairs nor will he try. He loves playing outside with his sister and chasing after Norman, Who is not to fond of this new game but puts up with it. Jacob is definitly all Boy! he loves making his truck and car sounds and getting into everything. On the flip side he is the most gentle hearted sensitive little guy and Very Attached to Mommy. One big milestone is he is finally sleeping through the night and taking 2 1/2- 3 hour naps during the afternoon!!

Elaine: Elaine is growing up so fast too! she is very busy with Tuesday mornings at the library for preschool story time( this is great, I get a half hour away from her, parents have to remain in the building but not with the kids) Then every other thursday we have MOPS and on Fridays we go to Friends Preschool in Milford for friday morning bible hour. This is a Mom and Tot class which prepares them for preschool. Jacob tags along too and he loves it. Elaine Loves the social aspect of all her fun things.A big accomplishment for her this spring is she is FULLY potty Trained( not at night yet) and she has learned to ride her big girl bike with training wheels. She is signed up for 3 year old Preschool in the Fall. she will go Monday and Wednesdays. I love the Preschool we found, its christian based and what really caught my eye was they still say the Pledge and Pray together before each class. its so cute hearing a bunch of 3 year olds recite the Pledge of Allegience. We are also in some Counseling for elaine and her Behavior that has escalated to the extreme over the past year or so. We go once a week and had our first session today. We are working on getting a good Diagnosis and learning how to cope with it and make it better. Right now we are looking at an attachment disorder and some Drug Addiction behavior. Mainly from when i was pregnant and the last weeks I was given ALOT of stuff... and that may now have some repercussions. I personally feel at blame for this and am asking for prayer as I pray and Struggle my way through.

Josh and Sara: Josh of course is busy with Work.. Its going alright for the time being. Lots of challenges but seems to be going well. He is also playing softball most Tuesdays and Will play in another leauge this summer. Elaine LOVES going to watch her daddy play ball.

We all enjoyed a wonderful family vacation the first week of March. We went out to Arizona to visit Joshs Brother, wife and Daughter. We had great weather and a wonderful time together as a family. Elaine LOVED flying in the airplane, and Jacob did great too... no tears.

Ive been doing well too. Im at the end of a Medical Weightloss program and have lost todate 28 pounds and almost 12 inches. I feel soooo... Much better and not to shabby looking either. :) Im starting to try and make Detroit home, but my heart will always be in West Michigan with a strong Longing to go back. I learned in Church Sunday to be Content with the Season we are in.... Im trying and trying hard to learn and understand why we are here. Each day is still a struggle but making new friends and feeling a bit more grounded is helping some what.

The big thing we are going through right now as a family and getting ahold of Elaines behavior, agression and sadness.... We both long to have the sweet little girl we know back. We are on the road to begining this process. its starting to sink in for me and admiting you need help and getting the help are very hard. Please keep us in your prayers as we chart un known territory.

Happy Birthday Elaine!

2009-12-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

WOW 3 years has gone by so fast!!!! Sitting with Elaine on the night of her birthday, Dec 9, 2006. looking through all her Premie stuff brings tears to my eyes. Each year I show her the Memory box i made for her. It contains all her clothes, some special blankets, cards, and the care pages that many of you wrote on. There are countless ultrasound pictures and its just a box full of memories. Each Year the few days leading up to her birthday are hard for me. I can remember most of what happened each day and how my body continued to reject her little body. Iam amazed at how much she has grown and what a beautiful young lady she is becomming. Elaine you are my precious little girl! HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY SWEET HEART!

Some fun stuff she doing right now:

-learning how to ride a bike!
-she can draw faces now, its so cute!
-she knows 4 colors red, orange, green and blue
-she can say most of her ABC's
- she loves to dance, and sing songs
-she is inlove with anything princess!
-she had a very vivid memory and holds you to it
-she loves her baby brother
-starting to really grasp going potty
-enjoys helping with everything
-loves watching cartoons
and is starting to grow in her understand of Jesus! she loves to pray and read stories about him.

JACOB PETER TROAST!!

Jacob is 8 months old already, that has gone by fast too! he is crawling and pulling himself up onto stuff. He enjoys trying to feed himself, loves bread, fruit bars, noodles and what ever is put in front of him!! He is a happy go lucky dude, unless he is sick,tired or hungry. He is a bundle of fun!!

Life has been crazy around here, both kids have been sick on and off for a few weeks! hopefully they got it all out of their systems. I think each one has been to the doctor at least twice in the last few weeks. Josh caught a cold and I so far have been fairly healthy. We spend thanksgiving at home with family and friends! and then went back to have a family party for Josh's Birthday and Elaines. On her actual birthday Josh and I took her to Chuckie Cheese!! she had so much FUN!! and then that night I took her and Jacob to Applebees. and when Josh came home from work we had cake together. It was a fun but busy day.

We have been living here on the East side for 1 year now. And it does not get any easier for us. We both miss home terribly. Me probably more so than Josh. He is too busy with work right now to think about it. I have been going to MOPS and trying to make new friends. Elaine enjoys this as well.
We are looking forward to Christmas as we will be spending most of our time back home.

2010 will be a busy year again, as we have a couple fun parties planned and My sister Lisa and Her husband Jon will welcome their first baby in the Spring!!

6 months old strong willed

2009-10-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

its been way to long scince an update and finally today I have time to sit down and fill you all in on life on Baywood Dr.

Jacob, has turned 6 months old, time has flown. I cannot belive how fast it went. He is so precious and I love all the new things that he is learning every single day. He has his offical check-up next monday, but I sat him up on the bathroom scale and he weighs 24 pounds!! its crazy, Elaine was over 15 months old when she weighed that much. HE is learning how to crawl, he gets up on all fours and rocks,He can also spin himself around on his stomach and reaches for things. He enjoys playing with toys that make noise, and LOVES jumping in his exersaucer. He is eating 2 meals a day of baby food and LOVES eating food. He also has figuared out the sippy cup and enjoys that as well. He currently sleep almost 12 hours although napping during the day is very difficult for him.. not sure why but he hates doing it and is often very crabby by late afternoon. Jacobs smile and interest in his surrounds is so fun to watch and makes me try and stop daily to see what he sees, because he loves it!

Elaine is my super strong willed child.... She is truly a handful in many ways.... she will be 3 in december and hopefull we can start walking out of this no listening, refusing to potty train,temper- tantrum throwing phase. Because Elaines birthday is 8 days past the cut off for 3yr old preschool, we are doing preschool at home 2 days a week for an Hour. She loves it! right now we do it during the hour in morning when Jacobs naps. I have the office set up with preshool stuff that I brought out and we have a schedual we follow, songs to sing a theme and project to do. She is starting to get the hang of doing things and tells Josh all about it in the evening. We also go to MOPS at our church and we have story time once a week at the library. We keep busy and she enjoys it. Her other favorite thing to do is play outside, she enjoys the outdoors and is having a really hard time adjusting to cooler weather and the fact that she needs to dress warmer. Grandma taught her a new game, hide and seek and she plays it all the time. We are still trying to potty train her... it will be 1 year in January... and we are getting no where. She has no remorse about pooping in pants, other than she does not want to sit in it. she WILL not use the toilet for BM's and she still is working on going potty. This for me is so frustrating, i dont like to potty train.

Josh and Sara..... I was able to go with Josh this year to a conference in New YOrk. IT was my first time away from both kids and for more than a day. We were gone 4 days. I had a hard time at first but then learned to relax. I slept in every day, and watched the Whole TOday Show, ate my food slowly and enjoyed beverages and hanging out with adults. It was a blessing and very much needed for both of us to get away together. Josh spent the day in conferences, in the hotel. and I went with him to a Yankee's game on my birthday, and to a dinner with family, and spent time with his Grandparents that live in NJ. I missed my kids, but WOW not having to worry about anyone but yourself is really refreshing.

I have been really busy raising 2 kids!! im exausted all the time! and ready for this baby weight to come off!! I NEED THE ENERGY! MOPS just started back up this fall, so its been nice to go back and spend a couple hours with other moms. Im going to try and get more involved this year and meet some more ladies. We moved to Wixom in August to a family friendly area, and that has helped big time with my mood. Im still very homesick and want badly to move back to my friends and family. My sister just found out that she is pregnant, and due May 21. This makes me even more homesick, and I cannot be there to watch her grow and go into motherhood. my prayers are daily to help me adjust and bring us back home someday.

Josh has been very busy this summer and Fall with Softball. HE has learned the Hardway that he is not playing in the fall ever again. Its 2 days a week, double headers and he is never home. he comes home long enough to change and is gone until 10pm or later. HE is not allowed to play anymore. He can play during the summer one game a week!.
Work is keeping his VERY VERY VERY busy, long hours and long days. thats all I have to say about that. :) ( Iam very proud of him and he does a great Job at his work!!)

Vacation and life!

2009-07-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

Last week we went back to west michigan for a week long vacation. IT was interesting and Elaine decided to go through a phase of no naps and not wanting to sleep at night. IT was a very stressful first part of the week.
We enjoyed the week by spending lots of time with family and friends. We had dinner with our pastor and his family. Went for walks on the boardwalk, ate lots of ice cream and went to the parks and zoo with friends. Josh was able to go golfing a few times and catch up with some friends. I had a couple days alone too. I had a girls day with my friend Brea, we went to see the Proposal and had some quality girl time with out kids. some highlights of our vacation were:

* norman ran into a HUGE nest of bees and was stung many times, poor guy was tired and licking his wounds for a couple days.

* family picnics!

* Jacob blew out his pants a few times! one even made it onto Aunt Lindsey!

* we bought a Wii!

* I took Elaine to the beach for some girl time,we had a blast building castles in the sand :)

* Norman and Fiona went the beach in muskegon too! Elaine loved chasing them in the water and Playing with Aunt Lisa in the waves!

* we discovered Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jon has Noggin!!

*the Zoo
* mommy also got to sleep in a few times and take a couple naps!! YES

It was a very fun and relaxing time, only next year we want to come a week later and have some fun with Coast Guard too. Now that we are back home we have found a place to live for the rest of out time here, we will be renting a house in a subdivison called Hidden Creek in Wixom, Michigan we are going to be moving in the next week or so. It is a nice 2 story home with 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and a finished basement with another full kitchen. I have been busy packing the house up again. Its hard to pack during the summer though when its nice out and all i want to do is play outside with the kids. Its been a busy few weeks!

4 Months Old

2009-07-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

man, time has flown by, my little Jacob is 4 months old already. here are some things he is doing now.

* He smiles and giggles like crazy! He is a happy baby unless he is pooping or hungry.

*He is eating cereal now, he loves it and drinking pear juice because he is so constipated.

* He is starting to like being on his belly which is wonderful!!

* Loves is exersaucer, he is spinning himself around in it!

* He is reaching for toys and grabbing them from the floor or when handed to him.

* takes wonderful naps and sleep through the night 9:30-7:30 am!!

* he is wearing 9 month clothing!

Jacob goes into see the doctor for his 4 month checkup and shots on Tuesday, we are anxious to see how much he weighs, He is a big boy and we love him so much!!

Jacob is 2 months old!

2009-06-03T17:35:00.000-07:00

WOW time is going so fast. Jacob is 2 months old already. He just had his check-up. He weighs 16 lbs 4 oz and 24 inches long. He is in the 90th percent for height and 95th for weight. As the Dr. says he is ONE BIG BOY!! He is doing great in all areas except eating, Funny I know. He still wants to nurse every 1.5-2 hrs. I told the dr when i pump and give him a bottle that he eats more and goes longer. She said its sounds like his latch is not that good, because he should be going at least 3 hrs between feedings. She said give it a try with bottles and see what happens she also suggested to mix some formula in with breast milk. We have been doing that and life is wonderful!!! he does so great, he goes 3 hrs between feedings, he is not as fussy and he is much more content. He drinks about 6-7 ounces of breastmilk and sometimes I add formula. Its tough pumping I usually pump 4-5 times a day including one time at night. But its so worth it to have him be full longer and more content. I have also been staying away from dairy and his stomach and gas seems to be much better!! Overall he is a really good baby. He has been sleeping from 11-6:30am and eats and goes back to sleep for about another Hr. He loves playing with his sister, she shows him toys and he smiles at her :) He takes one really long nap from 1-4 and cat naps a few other times during the day. He enjoys his bouncy seat and because he has such good head strength the Dr. said we can start proping him up in the exersauser. He loves it and looks all around. He is such a blessing and life is starting to get a little easier now that we have him some what figuared out for the time being.

Elaine is growing up so fast and loves being a big sister!! She likes to show him toys and lay on the floor by him. He smiles and she gets so excited. She has been being nicer to him and does not mind that he is part of our family now :) Elaine has started potty training. She has been wearing BIG girl underwear all day(except when i go out she wears a pull up and bed time) she goes potty and enjoys getting tinkerbell and princess stickers. Going Poopy is another story, she knows she is doing it and goes everytime in feeding Jacob so its hard to catch her. She then comes to me and tells me she pooped. Im not sure how to get her to go on the potty, but at least she pees on it. She enjoys going to MOPS with me and I love the time to be around adults. She plays well with other kids. Her speech is incredible and she loves exploring her world,she is curious and asks lots of questions about everything. She enjoys playing with her babies, going to the library, playing at the park and spend a lot of time outside. She loves running when we go on walks. She is so sweet yet a huge handful she is VERY strong willed and its a challenge sometimes.

Josh is busy,busy with work. He has some new projects in the works for one of his clinics that will keep him busier. He just got back from GR with 2 days of meetings, I spent my first time alone with the kids. I missed him. He is playing on a softball team with one of the Doctors. He plays games every weds night. He is getting old as he has already pulled both hamstrings. One was really bad with a huge bruise for a week. The kids and I have gone to watch him, Elaine loves it!!!

I have been doing ok. Parenting is a challenge and I have been exausted. The best times are when Lainey comes to me and says"hug me mamma" and when Jacob wakes up at 6am and smiles and talks to me. It makes it worth it as I smile back between the tears. I wont lie I have been really down lately. I Miss home even more as the challenges of parenting arise everyday. I miss my family I miss spending time with my sister and I miss terribly date nights with my husband and just being able to go out by myself. I feel really alone at times. I find myself praying that our time here would pass as fast as possible. Its not all bad I learned how to come out of my comfort zone and I have been involved with MOPS at the church we have been attending I went in knowing no one and left for the summer break having made some new friends. I will go back again in the fall. I have also made a couple other friends through Josh and My friend Andrea back home. I have play dates with Them it helps out alot. thanks Emily and Carrie!!

We are looking forward to spending lots of time in Grand Haven for the summer and comming back for a couple weddings as well.

Time is flying

2009-05-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

WOW!! Jacob is already 5 1/2 weeks old!! He is growing so much. He is wearing size 2 diapers already and is wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes. He enjoys watching his sister and playing with his mommy and daddy. He is still working on this nursing thing, which is new to both mom and him. He wont latch on and nurse with out the nipple sheild. It makes it really hard to just sit down and nurse, i have to make sure i have that thing washed and ready to go. At night he gets bottles with breastmilk. He is a big eater when he is given a bottle. He eats 5-7 ounces at a time. he is starting to get into a sleep pattern for night time. He takes a 6 ounce bottle at 10-11pm and then he sleeps until 4-5am, eats another 6-7 ounce bottle and goes back to sleep till about 7:30-8:30am!! Im also getting close to having Jacob nap at the same time Elaine does. I have been working on his day time eating schedual and getting him to eat right before Elaines nap, and then he will sleep too. He is so different from Elaine. Elaine was a very content baby and not much bothered her, I could take her anywhere and she was content to just sit in the car seat. Jacob is totally the opposit. he fusses alot more and does not like to just sit in the seat. He is a very sensitve little boy. I also had to cut out all dairy and milk products. He was just screaming after each feeding and would arch his back and his belly would get hard. The Dr. said to try and cut all the milk products out, Jacob seems to be doing much better the screaming is down to a couple times a day and not all day long! I hate not having milk, cheese etc... I ate it daily and often so its been really hard for me to not have anything good to eat :)

Elaine is doing well, she is having a hard time adjusting to life with Jacob and not being the center of attention all day every day. She is also in those terrible twos !! defiant when ever she can. She has just been naughty. She has good days and bad days. We are trying hard to spend one on one time and do special stuff with her. But i guess its just going to have to take time.

Josh and I are adjusting, both very tired and realize how much we miss having help around when we needed a break, being here in Detroit does not allow for that at all. Its been the hardest. I have been struggling with how to juggle all the daily tasks and caring for two kids and giving them the attention they need. Some days I feel like a huge failure and wonder what I can do to improve. I feel very worn out and sad at times. But I continue to plow through and know it will (hopefully) get better with time.

We have been in Farmington hills almost 6 months!! time goes by fast. The weather is starting to get nicer out. I went out today and mowed the lawn for the first time in almost 10 years. I moved to a condo when I was 18 and never had to do yard work again, until today!
Josh is doing well at work and has also joined a softball team with one of the Doctors. He has his first game this weds, I think Ill take the kids and watch him play.

Jacob Peter Troast

2009-03-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning we went to the hospital at 7 am and at 854 am Jacob came into the world. He weighed 8 pounds 15 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Sara and Jacob are doing well at Mercy General Hospital in Muskegon. Jacob has been attempting to breast feed. Today he had his man surgery (circumcision). We have had many visitors and we are thankful for all the visits and gifts. We feel very blessed and loved. Lainey is also excited to be a big sister, she likes to hold her brother and give him kisses. I think she is just excited that she is getting presents. It was great that Sara was able to have a term baby and that we were able to return home where many of our family and friends are. I am posting some pictures from Jacob's first couple of days.

2 days until Jacob is HERE!!!

2009-03-24T17:43:00.000-07:00

YEAH!!! We are 38 weeks today!! Thursday morning we will be holding our sweet baby Boy!! I had my last check-up today. things are going good. I had mentioned to her that last night I got no sleep and felt a ton of pressure and kept having to go to the bathroom. When she checked me she said well its because you have dropped and his head is right there. so that explains the waddle and almost slight pain ive been having the last 24 hrs. It felt like the last day of school before summer, this being the last baby check-up. Im super excited to be going back to muskegon to have Dr. McDonald deliver.

Tonight Elaine, Josh and I ran some errands and then we took Elaine to Mc Donalds for a sunday!! She sat so cute and ate her ice-cream. towards the end she got so cold she would not stop shaking, but would not give up on finishing the icecream either. She ended up with it all over the table at one point because she was shaking so bad. We all had a good laugh!! I will miss these alone times together, and will have to make a point to take her out for one on one time.

The house is cleaned and ready for the new baby. All the baby stuff is out and cleaned. We will be leaving tommorow afternoon to go back to muskegon. We will be staying with Joshs parents. We are going to have a family evening with his family and mine, just hanging out and visiting.
Im so thankful to everyone for their prayers through out this pregnancy, and very thankful to God for pulling me through. I want to thank Joshs parents for helping out during all those last minute phones calls to "please Come" and to Josh esspecially for all his support, We both have had a hard time and havent always been the nicest to each other, but we pulled through. This pregnancy was once again tough on us. But he always has helped out and held out an understanding arm to lean on or cry on or yell. Thank you baby!! and to everyone eles too!!!!!

9 More Days!!!

2009-03-17T19:17:00.001-07:00

Time is flying by. Im 37 weeks and still going. Im huge, bloated, hurt all over, and cannot sleep at night. Despite it all Im still pregnant and forever greatful to be so. Last night while I was reading in bed, I had my hand on my belly, bracing myself for the very strong braxton hicks contractions I was having. and suddenly I felt this weird body part, and I realized I was feeling the bottom of his foot completly pressing out at me. It was magical, and wonderful to feel a body part and know what it was, its so fun!!!! it makes it all worth it. I have felt it several times today usually right when i think i just cannot be pregnant anymore, he pushes his foot out to remind me of the reward. Seeing my sweet baby boy that despite the many challenges over the last nine months, I managed to carry him full term. thank you Jesus!! and thank you to everyone who spent much time praying for me, Jacob, and our family. My doctor visit went good today, i think i have an infection again, 3rd one this pregnancy. Ill know by tommorow. Im not dialated but am softening more. I go back Friday for a non-stress test, and then on tuesday for my last doctor apointment!!!!!!!! Thursday the 26th he will be here!!! Its only nine days away and I cannot believe its here!!!! We are so thrilled!!

Life here has been busy, ive been really tired but still have nesting going on. Ive been running errands, trying to get "supplies" before next week. Taking Norman to get a bath and nails cut tommorow. Spending alot of time with Elaine, preparing her for the BIG change next week. We have been to the library to get books on bringing home the new baby. We have also spent alot of time outside playing together while the weather has been wonderful!!! She knows her "brother" Jacob is comming and she loves telling people she is going to be a "Big Sister" This weekend we will be doing alot of cleaning and washing so things are in order. And yes Josh knows about this, as he is going to be washing all the floors by hand. He has accepted this challenge:) I LOVE YOU JOSH!!!!

36 weeks

2009-03-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

Today we are 36 weeks pregnant. I had my doctor appt today. Things look good. My cervix is softening. and the baby looks good. I have Non-stress tests two times a week. Today he decided not to comply with it, so I was able to get a quick ultrasound. I was able to see his face and hands. So cute. It was quick, the doctor was just checking for movment, and heart rates. Im feel very large and am very embarrased that im catching up to josh as far as weight it concerned. Its going to be a VERY long weight loss road for me when its all said and done. Jacob will be here two weeks from Thursday. I cannot wait to meet him.

Elaine and I are spending alot of quality time together. Today she helped me to wash bottles and then I sanitized them. She was so proud to stand at the counter and help out. When it was all done, she did not want to be done. She threw a huge!! fit when i said we were done. She kept saying to me"mommy help Jacob" explaining to her during a tantrum that she did help and that we are done because there are no more things to wash, is nearly impossible.

yesterday we went outside to play. I was feeling good and decided to join elaine on the ground and draw with chalk. when i was done and could not sit any longer I tried to roll over and get up. Only I could not get enough momentum to get up. I said to lainey "please bring mommy the wagon, im stuck and need help getting up" she actually rolled it to me,and I was able to grab on and pull my self back up. So a few mins later she is laying back down drawing and she says"mommy help,wagon stuck" I laughed so hard she was doing what she saw me do. the other funny part is that she got up, went and got the wagon by herself, layed back down then pulled herself up. It was a very funny moment.

We also enjoyed last friday with warm temps 65 degrees. We played outside all day and I had the windows open and enjoyed every minute of it. Elaine is growing up so fast, She is taken to potty training, and is talking and singing so much. I love spending time with her and watching her grow and mature and learn about the world around her.

Josh, is well Josh. Nothing new with him. He is busy with work. and spends one night a week with guys from work,they go hit softballs. He loves doing that!!! He has also broke out the chuck norris total gym again 3 times a week. Looking mighty buff I might add :)

We are both trying to prepare to bring another baby into the house. We are getting things together and preparing our minds for lack of sleep and helping Elaine adjust to her world that is soon to be turned upside down.

JACOBS BIRTHDAY IS....

2009-02-27T11:51:00.000-08:00

I made my date for the c-section. We are going to come home to muskegon and have my orriginal doctor deliver Jacob. The date is Thursday March 26, Dr. Mcdonald decided on doing it at 38 weeks because of my history. I dont know the exact time yet but at least we have a date. This is all contingent on making it that far. So far things look good other than high blood pressure, and im on medication for that. If i can stay healthy than I can go back and have him at home. I know that at any time i could turn and would have to be delivered here in Farmington Hills. But as of right now Im so excited and ready to see this little guy in a few weeks!!! I will keep you posted. I will be at Mercy Birthing Center off of Apple Ave. I will probably be there three or four days. Then we will head back here to Farmington Hills. Elaine has her BIG SISTER tee-shirt ready!! and almost everything is ready for him to come home. we just have to clean up his room and get diapers.

34

2009-02-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

YEAH WE ARE 34 WEEKS!!!!! This is so exciting for us!! I feel huge and of course I have a much larger baby growing inside, around 5 pounds right now. I was put on some blood pressure pills last week. Labetalol. I hate being on them because I feel horrible, i get chills, shakes and get really tired. We did take the does down a bit from 400 mg to 200mg. hopefully it will help. I have not had any protein in urine and blood work is fine, my weight gain has slowed. Im actually the weight I was at 30 weeks when i delivered elaine. Only thing that was wrong was really high blood pressure, that is why they put me on the BP pill. Its not Ideal but having the high blood pressure is not good either. Today Josh came with to my appointment for moral support. We have decided that if the next 5 weeks go well that we want to deliver at home in muskegon. We got that ok today. So i have called my doctor at home to get somthing in the books. I will be 39 weeks on March 31. But with the blood pressure thing i may have to be delivered earlier. Im waiting for the Doctor to call me back. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Im 80% confident that I will make it 5 more weeks. Ill just rest and do my best to keep him in. Next week they will start checking my cervix and all that fun stuff. One things I would love to have your prayers and comments if you want, is on getting my tubes tied. I have been struggling with this maybe for selfish reasons but non the less struggling. Given my history and all the times in and out of hospital I have been advised not to try again. And truthfully I dont want to. Im so emotionally drained that I dont know how to even handle my emotions at times. I feel horrible for putting Josh through all this, and Elaine whom for a while with all the changes refused to eat and her hair started falling out. Her way of dealing with stress. I was home and then not then home and gone again. I just dont think i can do that againwith two kids at home. I know some of it was me trying to handle the stress of moving away from everyone and everything familer to me. I on the other hand have always wanted a big family and would love to have had 4 kids but I really wanted 3. I feel weird that I will never have that chance again. It makes me sad. I pray daily about this sometimes more than that. I just want to feel confident about doing this procedure. If Im going to have it done I have to do it during the c-section because these are catholic hospitals and I have to have a medical reason to do it. Prayers and your imput would be wonderful. I just want to collect all the facts and make the right choice for our family.

Lainey and Josh are struggling with colds right now. Elaine has big green boogies and is all congested, its been a really lazy week around here. Josh is all stuffed up and not feeling well. This weekend will be sanitize weekend!! hopefully i dont get it, so far i feel fine. we are very eargly awaiting some warmer weather. its been so cold over here in Farmington Hills.

Random happenings from the Troasts

2009-02-18T12:51:00.000-08:00

here are some of the things we have been up too the last month.

****Josh has been busy with work. Nothing new there

*** Josh is enjoying his new car 04 impala, so have I :)

**** Josh has been busy killing mice, i think there are gone now.

*** I joined a MOPS group and love it , Elaine however is going through seperation anxiety and cries alot. She also started doind this at church too.. they are held in the same building. sunday she cried and cried, settled down and started back up towards the end.

**** I burned my hand badly... i was heating up wax to do my eyebrows, i went to get container from microwave and i dropped it all over left hand. luckly no surgery needed, but i will have to keep it wrapped another week yet.. 3.5 weeks total. it was so painful.

*** I have a new insight on only having one hand to use. it is very difficult to do.

**** Im starting to have blood pressure rise. its been really high for about six days now. Of course my blood work is fine, i just turned in a 24 urine. i have a bad headache again and feeling very nauseated.

**** Elaine has been doing projects. she loves to color, paint and glue stuff.

**** I officially have the only 2 year old who refuses story time at library.. it was embarrasing today, every child was singing dancing and then listened to story... my child,,, ran around saying NOOOO GO FOR WALK. and then she left the room. i quietly picked up our stuff and left. so much for socializing. she would rather play alone. which is what we did. the library is huge with lots of stuff for kids to do.

***** Elaine has turned into a picky eater.

***** She is saying so much stuff. her language is really comming out.

*** She runs naked every night before bath, she loves it.

**** she cracks us up every day.. I thank God every day for her.

*** WE are slowly adjusting to life here... I still dont think of it as home.

The Snowman

2009-02-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

I had another Doctor appointment today, everything looked really good. My blood pressure was the best it has been scince my very first pre-natal visit. My protein was negative and the baby sounds and looks good. I think im comming down with a headcold as my sinus's are all plugged up and i just dont feel good. But at least im doing well as far as the baby is concerned. I will be 31 weeks tommorow. YEAH!!! so I never mad it this far before so im experiencing things i have never had the joy:( of experiencing like braxton hicks... at least i hope thats what they are?? man alive, they are crazy!! and sorry for this one, but constipation!!! oh my gosh, i dont know what to take but its been really bad and hurts really bad. I have never had that before. I dont even want to go because I know the pain i will endure. Other than that I can feel he is getting bigger as his kicks and punches sure hurt and are getting stronger. He has also had the hick-ups alot. Im starting to get anxious to meet him and see what he looks like. Im starting to really gear up for the fact that I might just go full term with Jacob, but who knows?

Yesterday Elaine had a really off day, she decided to undress her self during her nap and then not go to sleep. She was literally going nuts, screaming crying, kicking and would not give in. So we let her get up, she was so naughty all day. It was so insane. She had something up her butt and it was not good. She had big bags under he eyes and would not give in to sleep. We all ended up going outside to play. Josh helped her make a snowman. It was so cute to watch them play. Norman kept running up and pulling the arms out of the snowman( they were sticks,so he could not help himself) Elaine went to hug the snowman when it was finished. We were able to spend almost an hour outside, its been a long time because the weather has been so terribly cold. Today is another nice day so we may go out again.

Josh watched the superbowl and we put Elaine to bed Early. We made snacks and I tried really hard to stay awake but at 9:30 I could not take it anymore. I really wanted to stay up and watch the one hour Office, but I was sleeping on the couch, so i just went to bed. I heard it was really good.

I have been feeling really down again lately. Im really missing life back in spring lake, so bad that it hurts sometimes. I want to see my friends, and go to story time at library, playgroup with early on, i want to go to the Journey, and be close to friends and family. I miss making random visits to Aunt Lisas classroom. I felt terrible that Josh for the first time had no-one to watch the super bowl with. I miss my breaks away from Elaine, so i can just be alone, We have not found any babysitters yet. Its starting to take its toll on both of us, as we just want to go on a date. we have not done that in forever. Sometimes I wish i could speed up time and skip all this Detroit living and get back to west michigan. I get so frustrated with myself, I have good days and then bad days. Im trying hard to remember God does things for a reason and I just wish I knew the reason. Elaine seems to be doing fine,except when we go to church she wakes up and we tell her its sunday and we are going to church, the first words out her mouth are Noah, Ellie, Emma,baby(which she uses for Eli) I have to tell her no, those friends dont go to this church, She says their names several times during the morning. She does like her new room and plays with new friends. Josh still seems to like his work, although I can tell he misses home too. I really hope spring brings about better overall feelings.

We made it!!

2009-01-27T17:09:00.000-08:00

We made it to our first goal, 30 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went out to eat to applebees tonight. We all shared the best dessert I have ever had in my life. Its new to Applebees. Its a warm chocolate chip cookie, with a sea of chocolate syurp, with two scoops of ice cream, four piles of whipped cream and oreo cookies all crushed on top and all over!! It was so good!! Elaine was dancing in her seat when she was eating it. IT was a great way to celebrate!!

Orchard Grove Community Church

2009-01-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

I had a doctor appointment today. So far things are still looking ok. I made it to 30 weeks!! Josh is taking me out to dinner this week for that accomplishment!!! My blood pressure was ok, I had labs repeated and have to do another 24 urine for my thursday appointment. I do how ever have a Hernia around my belly button. I noticed it this past weekend when i would sneeze, or cough or laugh hard. My belly seemed to hurt really bad, I thought it was nothing until I watched my belly and my middle section would shoot straight out and become more painful. So I asked today if this was normal, she said NO. Hopefully she said she can fix it while I have my C-section other wise I will have to come back in for another surgery. Dr. Also said that if it becomes really painful i have to just lay down and push it back it. I had to do that tonight, talk about gross!!!

This past sunday we decided to go visit a church I found online while searching for a MOPS group to attend. The church is in walled lake and its called Orchard Grove Community Church. It is a very LARGE at least 1,000 people at the 9:30 service. It was a Journey on major steroids. I think that is why we liked it so much. Even though it was big it still had that feeling we had at the Journey. The pastor was wearing Jeans YES!! The band was awsome and one thing that I think bothered josh a little was their was alot of clapping and praise Jesus after songs.I grew up with that so it did not bother me but i think he was taken a little back by that. Elaine had a huge room to play in 2-3 year olds. I actually call it a gymnasium It was so big, and there was a mirror on the other wall that during the service you could go watch your kid with out them seeing you. NICE feature. The serise that they started their was Looking up when things look down. How apropriate. The sermon was taking from John 15:1-5,8 The pastor talked about that when you are going through some tough times remember that God is prunning you to do better things. this can mean a job situation, moving, family stuff etc.. not just losing your job which is what most people think of when hearing the word cutting back. The main objective was to Bear fruit, He talked about us being connected to the Vine and that God wants us to bear fruit,( LOVE AND JOY) he challenged us to think about what kind of fruit we bear on the vine. Are we allowing God to do all he wants to do, or do we question his every move or "prunning Tacktic" He talked about prunning can sometimes cause pain, confussion,frustration and so on, God prunes us for a greater preparation, he see something in us we dont at the time and the reason we are going through what ever it is, its because God sees the potential. This message is just a nut shell and pieces of what I wrote down, but for me it ment alot. I hated being and still dont like having been torn apart from my family and friends( I have talked about this with josh but i wont speak on his behalf) anyway, I have felt like everything was taken out from under me. not just with the move but with having kids and life. I was almost teary eyed during the service because God really does care for me and what is going on. He knows why and what he is doing. He is preparing us for something better and maybe not just on a spiritual level but other levels in life as well. We may not have liked the move but we also felt the tug to need to go, and God is taking care of us through out our stay in east side, as well as with this pregnancy and Jacob. I plan on going again next sunday if Im able. I really enjoyed the service and I found myself thinking about it again today. Which to be honest I dont always do after a sunday passes. Im also going to plan on attending the MOPS group that meets there in two weeks.

well, sorry this was so long winded but i felt like writing it down while stuff was fresh in my mind. I Hope this finds everyone doing well. Its freezing cold here and Josh just came home from a meeting and said we got about an inch of snow. I looked outside and sure enough we did!!

Fine Today

2009-01-22T16:26:00.000-08:00

This morning I had a Doctor appointment. My blood pressure was ok 132/78 and i have gained four pounds in six days. I still have a headache but im feeling a little better. I have been resting at home and we took a long nap today. Im still not out of the woods, but each day that passes is good. I go back to the doctor on monday and then Thursday again, I will go every week on these two days. I decided that If I make it through monday that we will celebrate by going out to eat!! and get dessert!! I will be 30 weeks on Monday, so making anytime past that is wonderful to me!! I told Josh we had to celebrate some how!!

well other than updates things are pretty boring here. Lainey loves it that im home, we spend our days right now watching T.V. and playing with playdough, coloring, reading and i do all this sitting on the couch or at the table. Nothing to exciting. She wont know what to do when we can get back to normal, going places and getting outside more. I wont know what to do either.

I posted some pictures from the other day, Elaine got the blood pressure cuff and stethascope and put it on pooh bear, and said DADDY, she always sees daddy do that to me. Then she tried to chase norman down and do it to him too.. that did not fly so well.

Home again for now

2009-01-21T09:50:00.000-08:00

I was able to come home yesterday. Thanks to many answered prayers and with those I had no real diagnosis so for insurance reasons I was not allowed to stay at hospital. I have to be on bed rest at home, no going out shopping or running around, only to Doctor appointments. Josh gets to do Laundry and Sunday he is going to learn how to make casserols!! and we will freeze them for dinners, because im not suppose to be on my feet that long. My Mother in Law just left this afternoon, she has been so helpful holding down the fort while i was gone. She cleaned the house and even organized cupboards and closets. Thank you so much MOM!

I got home around 12 yesterday. Had a quick lunch and went to my room and slept for almost 4 hours. My headache is almost gone, Im on Prednizone(sp) for a few days to see if it helps. I still dont feel the greatest but its not getting worse. Im just thankful to come home for a while. I have been really down lately and feeling depressed, but as i look back over the last week and all that has happened I now realize that It was all the prayers from people we knew and some I dont even know at all. First was with the pipe that burst in the house. We were told that we would be without laundry for a few weeks and that it would take a while to get it all fixed. Well yesterday guys came to check on how the drying was going.. and it was dry! so they hooked up washer and dryer again!! Thanks for that!! we still have a mess in back room but we can do our laundry. The next prayer that was answered was with me. I was really sick when I went into the hospital Friday, and very scared. I really thought this was it. They had drawn my blood. ( I learned about this story from my doctor whom came to talk with me saturday morning, while i cried and cried she just sat with me on the bed.) Dr. Harris shared with me her concern for my health and Jacobs. She told me the reason I could not eat anything and that she kept me in Labor and Delivery was because she honestly thought that she was going to deliver me. My first set of blood work came back with very elevated Liver Enzymes which means that preclampsia is getting into high gear. She said she decided to wait and do one more draw, when that came back it was completly back to normal. She told me she has never seen that happen before, it always goes up.. never back down.... I just smiled a midst my tears because I knew what had happened. So thank you to everyone for praying so hard because of that I get to be home a while longer and Jacob gets to grow some more.

I still have to take blood pressures at home,and weigh my self. I go back to doctor tommorow. with the understanding that if i progess with any other symptoms or have protein in my urine that I will be spending more time in hospital. We are just trying to make it to at least 34 weeks. But I know that it can happen anytime.

Thanks again to everyone for praying, and to my family for helping us out, it has been wonderful.

family update

2009-01-18T10:22:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone from room 307 at St. Johns Providence Hospital Southfield. I have access today to the computer for afew hours, in bed. I was admitted friday night with pre-clampsia symptoms. Currenlty i have some visual disturbances, seeing spots, pain in my left side and a persistant headache( which i have had for about a week) I have had lots of lab work and Im on my second 24 urine to test for protien. So far im stable, i can take a shower and go to the bathroom and then its back in bed. I cannot go for walks or any physical activity. My Labs have shown an increase in myliver enzymes but as of late seem to have come down(thanks for prayer) Today my white blood count is high and they are repeating labs every 12 hours. Today I have had some swelling,minor so far. My headache is still there, its under some control with Fiorecet(sp?) I can tell its there and dont really like to have to blinds open or lights on for long. My doctor has said that at any time my symptoms or 24 urine come back high that we will deliver. We would like to get into the 30 week mark if possible. She is not confident of this but its our goal, so that is why its strick bed rest. The best case scenario would be after a few weeks if im ok that i could possible go home on strict bedrest. This to is not what the doc thinks will happen. My body is up to something and its a matter of time. I have a couple different ultrasounds tommorow morning,as well as 2 times a day on the fetal monitor.

I have not been handling this the best, im scared,anxious, deppressed and not in the best mood. I know why i need tobe here, and what is best for Jacob but its alot easier said than done to relax and not be upset. I feel guilt that my body cannot do what it was made to do and angry. Ioften wake at night to memories of seeing Elaine all hooked up and the shame i felt because I was feeling better and she had to suffer. I will admit i have cried more these last few days than i have in over a year. I want things to be ok and jacob to be ok. After going through it once you would think I would be pre-pared, and i though that, but im not. Im digging deep for strength and find my self in prayer alot, actually sometimes angry conversation with him. I ask that you pray for me to let go and trust people, which i dont come by naturally. I need to trust that my family will be taken care of. and trust in staff at hospital as they know what is best. I really really miss Elaine and being with Josh. I feel like im missing out on a big part of Elaines life, esspecially scince i will be here a while. I get choked up thinking about it. I also miss Josh, I know that its not been easy for him and i love him so much for all his hard work. Please pray for him to have strength to get through work, home stuff and being here with me. If i did not have him I dont know what i would do. he has delt with alot these past few days... and i know its not easy.

I would like to thank my In-laws for all their help and for staying with Elaine, my sister and brother-in-law for staying this weekend, and to my parents for their help. And to everyone for prayers and support.

josh and I will try to keep the blog updated so that people can know what is going on.

Could the day get any worse...

2009-01-16T09:18:00.000-08:00

So this morning I woke up to Josh whispering in my ear that there was no hot water... and then he left. THEN.... he came back again with out his pants and socks on?????? and said we have a problem. So i got up and went to find towels, and water eveywhere in the kitcken and back laundry room.. A pipe had burst, Josh was able to get water off before it got to the rest of the house. Well, he cleaned up a bit and left for work. I had a 32 oz jug of water in fridge in which Elaine and I had watery oatmeal and cleaned up with after heating the rest. I was about to start to head out for my Check-up at the doc,and I also had to bring back my 24 urine. And the doc office called, The Doctor was at a delivery. I had to go anyway because I had to turn in the 24 urine, and I have a bad headache again, not feeling well. Then Josh calls to tell me that someone will be at the house in half hour. So he came home while i went to the doc. Of course my blood pressure was up, and so they drew some blood and paged the doctor. SHe of course wants me to come right into Land D. What the heck?? How do i do that with a kid at home, a broken pipe, and a frantic husband,not to metion myself. I simply and calmly said NO. I told the nurse that I have no intention of spending the weekend in hospital for one high blood pressure. I said for them to call me when my protien levels come back, and then i would come in if needed. Yes I have a headache, and dont feel well, but ive been like that all week. She said she would see what she could do. ( ill keep you posted on that whole thing)

So... I get home to two men inthe house the plumber and a contractor. Wet towels and rugs piled on the kitchen floor. Water is still off until the soddered pipe dries. We cannot use the laundry until minium Monday( I knew I should have done it yesterday) and the whole wall on other side of kitchen has to be torn out and a cleaning service is comming soon to set up a bunch of fans and a humidifer for the whole weekend, they will be back every day this weekend. We have to have a new wall, they are hoping not to have to tear out part of kitchen wall. So much for resting today... people will be in and out all afternoon. It will be into next week before everything is taken care of.

Im just praying that nothing eles happens today.. i dont know if i can handle it. my house is a mess, and i cannot clean it,there is sopping wet stuff on the floor, I dont feel good and just want to do nothing, and I feel terrible for Josh who has to deal with all this stuff too. Im finding it really hard to trust God or find an humor or good in this day.(other than the bright sun is out, its nice to see that) We have had nothing but problems with this house scince we moved it two months ago. We had pipes back up, toilets break open,and now this... in less than two months. Josh called our relator today to tell her what has happened and see what we can do. Im really trying to be brave and make it through the weekend.
sorry this is such a negative post, but i have no place eles to vent and i feel better now that i did. thanks to everyone for listening.

Life with the Troast Family

2009-01-12T08:21:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,
well our weekend was not as relaxing as planned. We went home to have a family christmas and visit with joshs brother and sister in-law from Arizona and their precious Mieke. she is almost three months old. We met her for the first time this week. Elaine loved her new cousin, and also learned this weekend what babys drink..."boobie Juice" Friday night turned on us though.... I have not been feeling well for about a week or so. Friday night i suddenly did not feel good at all so i asked josh to take my blood pressure because something did not feel right. It was 160/88 not good. My reflexed were a little hyperactive and i was dizzy and throwing up. We went into Triage at Mercy Special Delivery. They were concerned enough with preclampsia symptoms that they started me on Magnesium sulfate and shipped me off to spectrum. I stayed there for two days. this improved from friday and the doctor discharged me sunday night. I still dont feel great andhave a headache with pressure behind my eye. The specialist at spectrum basicly wrote us off because my blood work did not show anything. I do however have a protein level of 231( once you hit 300 then there are problems) so im safe with that for now. I was thankful we did not have to deliver and thankful i could go home. But i do know that I still dont feel right.

I had a doctor appoint today in Farmington Hills where the doctor we see was more concerned and understanding about it. Although i dont have pre-clampsia yet, she says it can happen any minute. She is going to be seeing me two times a week, and do a 24 urine test every week as well. She says that no one knows my body like myself so she is taking this seriously. I go weds morning for a ultrasound, and back again friday for a check up and bring in my 24 urine. She is running it stat so friday night she said if it comes back abnormal again she will prob put me back in the hospital to be monitored and then possible delivery. Im currently 28 weeks. We have also discussed that if things dont go well that this will probably be our last pregnancy that we will be able to have. Josh and I have talked about this but will probably wait until the emotional ride of having Jacob settles down. I know I cannot physically go through this again, and the thought of putting another human being at risk as well breaks my heart. I have always dreamed of a big family, but God must have other plans. This how ever does not take the sad feelings, i carry daily ,away from me. I must admit that i always knew there was a possiblilty of something happening again but until it does it does not sink in. it really is a struggle to not just sit here and cry all day. I also try to remind my self constantly that these two precious babies I have are really not mine but Gods and when i cannot stop crying or agonizing I remember to think on that. God really does have a plan in the midst of all this. It really is easier said than done to trust God in all areas. Thankfully Elaine keeps be busy and reminds me of how wonderful life is. I love her so much!! Im also very greatfull for my family and supportive friends who have been praying hard for us. It is definitly felt by josh and I. I also want to thank my wonderful husband. Josh you have been very paitent and loving through out this. I know its hard on you too. (josh stays by my side and has been very comforting and supportive) I LOVE YOU very much.

I will post updates on here as well as some on facebook. Its just easier to vent and share my feelings on the blog.

p.s. Im also working on getting wedding pictures from lisa and Jons wedding. We forgot our camera this weekend so I also have to wait for pictures from Laineys Chirstmas with the Troast and her new cousin.

We Need Your Prayers

2009-01-02T18:14:00.000-08:00

Our family would like your help in keeping us in your prayers. I went to the doctor today and im starting to trend the way i did with elaine, ( all the preclampsia stuff) My doctor feels that i wont make it past 34 weeks. more like 32-33 she said if i went more the 34 weeks I would be lucky. I dont have protein but im starting to not feel good and starting to gain water weight. im too take it easy and try to bake a little longer. My doctor here in muskegon gave me a big hug today and told me to let her know how things go. ( I have a doctor now in Southfield i will be seeing and will probably deliver at Providence Hospital in southfield) They have a level three NICU its smaller than grand rapids but just as good. I have to weigh my self daily and check blood pressure. And be seen by the doctor every week now. my doctor in southfield also checks blood work every time i come. I will keep people posted as i will have to stay home more now.

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-27T17:55:00.001-08:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! We had a blast!!
Wed morning we had our family Christmas just the three of us. We had chocolate chip pancakes and then we opened presents. Lainey had so much fun and was excited with every gift. We talked about Jesus's birthday and just had some family time.

At lunch time we headed out all packed and ready to make the trip to Muskegon. We had dinner with both Grandmas and then we headed off to Christmas eve service at the Journey. It was nice to be back with friends and family for the week. I miss The Journey and the friends we had there. I feel so much at home when im there.

Christmas day we went to Joshs aunt and uncle for dinner and some more family time. During the prayer that josh's uncle was doing, Elaine decided that he had gone on long enough and blurted out AMEN!!! before he was done praying. After that everyone erupted into laughter so the prayer ended a little early. Around 4 we headed back to muskegon to spend some time with my dad. Elaine got to open her stocking from Grandpa and she loved all the fun stuff she got. Coloring books, playdough and other little items. She enjoyed seeing grandpa and all the friends and family there too. She was exausted by the end of the night.

Friday night we had Christmas with my mom and sister and her soon to be husband. We headed down to holland for dinner. My sister and Jon made their first turkey. It was delicious!! They did a great Job. Josh had to carve it, that was funny!! he did a wonderful job too :) We opened more gifts. I was excited because I got a mixer from my mom. I have never had one and I cannot wait to use it. Elaine was so excited because she got a dora bike with peddles. Although when my mom and I went to buy it we asumed it was half way put to gether. We were wrong so so spent a while putting together the Dora Bike. It was all worth it in the end. She loves it and wakes up talking about her BIKE. she has been riding around the house, or should i say trying to ride it. Hopefully by spring she will have the hang of it :) It was a busy few days but it was wonderful to be with family and enjoying each others company.

Saturday Josh and I spent some time together and ran over to the mall. I had to get some stuff for my sisters wedding and then josh paitently walked through the BIG SALE at Bath and Body Works. I was so excited about my purchases! We headed home in the afternoon. We got home and played outside in the crazy 60 degree weather thats NUTS!!!!!!!!!

This next week will be busy as my sister gets married on New Years Eve!!! So i will be heading back monday afternoon. Josh heading back on Tuesday. We wont be home until next week Sunday!!! Crazy busy.

We wish everyone a blessed and happy New Year!!

p.s. we are almost 26 weeks pregnant and everything seems to be going fine. Im definitly getting more tired and starting to slow down a bit. Jacob's kicks are getting much harder and starting to hurt a bit. He is definitly growing :)

BIG SNOW

2008-12-20T15:36:00.000-08:00

This week brought us a ton of snow. 12 inches by us. and at least that much in west michigan. Thursday am bright and early lainey and I headed out to Grand Rapids. I had a appointment with The Maternal Fetal Medicine group. I have to go every six weeks for a check up and ultra sound. Things look great! Its really a treat to see Jacob grow every month or so. Everything looks great so far. After the appointment lainey and I headed over to my moms. We spent the night there. Grandma and Grandpa T came over for dinner too, so lainey had all her grandparents for the night. Lainey was suppose to have her 2 year check up friday at 10am. I got up early because i knew it was snowing, and woke her early and got dressed. only to get a phone call that her doctors office had closed. I was so frustrated. She is a month behind on shots and i needed a health appraisal done so that she can move forward with the early on transfer. So hopefully the will accomodate us next week when we are home again. ( I have yet to find a doctor here for her, and I really wanted her doctor to finish up her first two years) Elaine and I spent the day together at my moms, watching cartoons,playing with the cats, and we both painted our nails red !! It was so fun!!

Friday afternoon we headed out to hastings to my cousins to meet up with my sister and get our hair done. It only took half hour longer than normal. and the roads really were not that bad. Elaine had fun with my cousins kids for a few hours. Lisa and I got our hair highlighted and cut. My cousin is doing the hair for lisa wedding so we tried some updo's on lisas hair.
Around 8pm, lainey and i headed home to Farmington Hills. The roads were perfect, dry and i was able to drive normal the whole way home. until, i reached the Brighton area.... Have we heard of snow plows here????? the roads were so terrible, i went from 75 to 30 mph. Finally we got home, i was so relieved. lainey and I slept in until 10 am !!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was wonderful!! Then Daddy made us eggs and toast. yummy!!!!!!!

This afternoon, I with Josh help made three batches of peanut butter balls!!!!!!!! Lainey kept saying yummmyyyy
We also ventured outside for a while, josh shoveled out the rest of the driveway, lainey norman and I just played. Elaine loved shoveling the snow "like daddy" she would say.

well, its almost bath time, and then bedtime!!! YEAH!! josh and i are going to try a new church tommorow, called Kensington? (sp) have a great rest of the weekend!!!!!!!!!!

LAZY DAYS

2008-12-17T10:45:00.001-08:00

life around the troast home has been pretty lazy lately. having to stay home and hang low is tough for all of us. I got to go out the other night, when i got home i said to Josh it felt so weird to drive?? i have not driven in several days. thats insane :) I do a couple things every day around the house. today i vaccumed. Last night Josh helped me address all the christmas cards and seal the envelopes while we watched my favorite show, the biggest loser!! A women won for the second season!! GIRL POWER!! Elaine and I are headed to GR tommorow morning. I have another appointment with Maternal Fetal Medicine, and another Ultrasound. Then we are staying the night with Grandma O. Friday Elaine has her 2 year check up. Then we are making my way to my cousins on the way home to get our hair done. Hopefully that makes me feel better. my hair is nasty and it makes me feel terrible.

Last sunday Josh asked if we could bake cookies?? yes he really did. He usually only helps dip the PB balls. SO i said sure, he helped mix it, and roll the dough(we made sugar cookies) then i sat at the table and frosted them. Elaine also helped, she had so much fun!! i have posted some pictures of her helping, and the finished product.

We took our own christmas photo, with the timer on the camera, we look a little goofy, but we got it done, we both did a lot of laughing as we would set it and run to our places. It was a good family moment. We hope everyone enjoys them. :)

im going to get going and lay down for a while. Today is the second day Elaine has taken her nap in the big girl bed. I think this weekend we are going to move it into her room. Right now its in Jacobs room. She layed right down today and fell asleep.

explosion

2008-12-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

funny thing happened yesterday. We were sitting down for breakfast and all of the sudden we heard a huge crack and water rushing..... Josh and I jumped up and ran into the bathroom right around the corner. The tank had burst right in half, water from the tank running all over the bathroom, it was crazy!! Josh quickly shut the water off. We both looked at each other and were like what the heck??!!! Our house is always cold we have no basement and are on a cement slab , the floors are cold and the water is cold, so maybe water comming into the tank warmed up and it cracked?? we dont know. By 1:00pm, the plumber came and fixed it and got us a new toilet. so now we have a all white toilet in our bright blue bathroom :) it was a crazy thing to have happen after our busy crazy couple of days. Thank goodness for renting because we did not pay for it or have to arrange it being taken care of. It was just one of those things that happen i guess. we are laughing about it now:)

Jacob and Mommy

2008-12-13T08:50:00.000-08:00

My so far un-eventful pregnancy turned into quit a scare on Thursday. All week i have been under some stress, combined with some other stresses and monday Night i started to cramp for about 12 hours. through out tuesday things improved and weds night it started all over again this time it was worse and i had really bad back pain as well as a ton of pressure. By Thursday morning i could not sit still, rest or even walk around for long, everything just hurt. Thanks to a doctor josh works with he was able to pull some strings and get me into an OB doctor. ( a little back story, because we really want to deliver back in muskegon for convience and because i really like my doctor no doctors here in detroit want to take my case because they wont make money, so they tell me they cannot corrdinate the care between two doctors. I have been driving back and forth to muskegon for appointments.) So joshs doctor at work pulled some strings and I was able to be seen by one of the doctor groups that had turned me down. I went in about 4 pm thursday. She did an internal exam and at that point felt my cevix was softening. She imediatly sent me to Providence Hopsital in southfield. ( they have a level 3 NICU, its smaller than GR but has the same stuff) I was given morphin for the pain and was able to relax. They kept me in labor and delivery on monitors until friday night. I had another ultra sound and cervical length which turned out to be ok. They also did other work ups for preclampsia just to be safe, that all came back fine, my protien was 160 so that is ok for now, once we get to 300 than they are going to start worrying. But so far i feel fine with all that there are no other symptoms associated with it. I was just scared and did not want to be in any sort of labor, we are almost 24 weeks. so things would not have been the greatest. Im very thankful for all the quick prayers from family and friends, I know it helped and I know that is why things looked better on the ultrasound.Jacob so far is looking great and is very healthy. his current weight is 1 pound 5 ounces. I came home last night and Im on moderate bedrest, I need to stay home as much as possible. I can go out once or twice a week briefly. meaning no more walking the mall and all that stuff. I used to go out daily and that wont be happening anymore, well for at least two weeks when i have another check up. I will keep you posted. I hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the weather on the west side, we dont have much going on around here, I sort of miss the occasional lake effect snow. Here its just cold with a small amount of snow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELAINE KATHRYN

2008-12-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

Two years ago today I layed in a room at spectrum in pain and two hours from delivering lainey by emergency c-section. Last night I woke up every couple hours and could not sleep, i kept thinking about what i was doing at that time and how i felt, then i would cry and fall back asleep for a while. finally at 3:30am i fell sound asleep. I dont remember doing this last year but i guess im more emotional this year. Last night we were wrapping her gifts for tonight and i broke down again. oh well this too shall pass.

This morning when Lainey got up i walked into her room singing happy birthday,and she said to LAINEY!! and then she said" tank you" When josh called she said the same thing when he said happy birthday to her. We have been having a low key day, its been raining here all day long. So this morning we gave norman a bath and cleaned the bathroom. She and I have just been hanging out. Tonight josh is comming home a little early and we are going to have mac n cheese with hot dogs( her favorite food, although we dont have it all the time) and then i bought some cookies and we are going to put candles in them, then open a few gifts we got for her. This comming saturday my sister, her fiance and my mom are comming overnight and we are going to chuckie cheese. I just cannot belive how big she is and all the fun stuff that she can do now. SHe is such a big girl!!!!!!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU LAINEY!!!!

OUR NEW HOME

2008-12-03T06:51:00.001-08:00

wow, its been a while, its day three of our first week in the new home in farmington hills, MI. Things are going ok, we are pretty much settled in, only our storage boxes need to find a place to store:) and then we are fully un-packed. We left for home sunday afternoon at12:30 made one stop in allendale for our christmas tree, and we were on the road at @ 1 pm, and did not arrive home until just after 5 pm!!! We did hit some bad snow, but the roads were relativly clear, there was so much stopping and going it was crazy, at several points we did not move for 15 minutes. with clear roads. I think it was the combination of snow, and everyone going home at the same time. I hope those kinds of trips are far and few between.

Sunday night and Monday was spent un-packing and organizing and doing loads of laundry. Which i really like because the dryer here drys in no time. Our old dryer could take over an hour for one load. Lainey and I ended up outside to shovel and play in the snow. Monday night I ventured out to do some grocery shopping, I found a Mejier relativly close so I went there. NOT ALL MEIJERS ARE THE SAME, so i learned. most every fruit and veggie were on sale and rotten, i could not understand the lady at the meat counter, so i got way more lunch meat than i normaly buy, the store was dirty and gross, i wont be going back. There are some Krogers and Heartland stores closer, ill try those next. I came home to lainey sreaming, josh was watching shrek with her, and the dragon came on and appartently she was having nightmares. no more big kid movies. ( we dont have cable hooked up yet so we resorted to movies we had on hand) She was awake until after 10:30 and then again at 3:30am, 6 am and finally at 8 am. She ended up taking a three hour nap tuesday.

Tuesday lainey and I ended up at the twelve oaks mall!! ihad to schedual her two year pictures at JC Pennys and pick up a few things. This mall is HUGE, i only stayed an hour because it was such an overload on my senses. Lainey just kept saying " oh wow" over and over, its a big two story mall filled with any kind of store you want. I just could not belive how big it was. Tuesday night we got our tree set up and decorations out, I have all my christmas candles burning and it smells warm and cozy in here right now. Laineys favorite decoration on the tree is a sponge bob ornanment josh had from a long time ago, she keeps going up to it touching it and jumps up and down saying "spon BOB" yes she is weird:) ! yes she slept better tonight, only tears for brief moment and then she slept until 9 am!!! weds.

Its currently wed am. Lainey is engulfed in Veggie tails and so im taking the time out to write this. we seem to be adjusting well, josh is liking work so far, and getting used to his new enviornment. he has some tough stuff to do in the next months to come stuff that no boss really wants to do so pray that he can do it smoothly.
Im still trying to find a doctor, i found one today that specializes in problem pregnancies. But she declined to see me unless i dont go back to deliver in Muskegon, she said it was to hard to coordinate care. Im really down with this laty,all i want to do it come home for the delivery if i even make it that far. So i still dont have any doctors over here. things are so different here and all i want is to have doctors, and familar places of which i dont have. I handle things well until about nap time, when im sitting here all alone,and then i think about doing stuff back home, how easy things were and then i get really down and out. I hope it changes soon, i think being pregnant only multiplies stuff, but to me its all still real.

well, veggie tails is done, i better get going and get ourselves dressed we have to go to target for some tights for lainey, i bought some that are way to big on her. she looks like she has droopy legs its really funny. Enjoy the pictures!!

MOVING DAY

2008-11-21T05:30:00.001-08:00

TOday is the day!!! Josh is working a half day and then picking up our 17 foot uhaul truck!! I really cannot belive this day is here. I really envisioned this day as being one that we would be on our way to building our house in Grand Haven, Not moving to Farmingtion Hills. None the less we are moving. the house is looking really bare. Really all thats left to pack is the computer, T.V. and the small amount of stuff I left in the kitcken,plus food. Everything eles is in the garage or in boxes in the house. Iam truly sad to be leaving. hopefully the right feelings will fall into place too. :) We are loading the truck tonight and leaving first thing tommorow morning. The goal is to be at our new house by 11 am saturday. We will be back sunday night because Josh has to work in holland MTW next week. Then we will be around for all of thanksgiving and the weekend. Heading back sunday night for our first full week living in our home, and Josh's first full week at work. WOW!! well, i better get this day rolling, we got dumped on with snow over night so lainey and i are heading outside to shovel, and play of course :) she loves the snow, and stays all bundled up which is funny. She gets so mad when we have to come back inside. we can only stand a half hour at a time. Everyone have a great weekend!!!!!!!!!!!

First Snow!!!

2008-11-18T06:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first big snow that we had!! I woke up at 5am and looked outside to see the ground covered in snow, and by the time we actually got out of bed there was a ton of it!!! Lainey woke up and saw it and kept saying now, now (for Snow) So after her Early On appointment I bundled her up and we went outside to play!! We threw the ball for norman and then we went for a walk with lainey in the sled. I tried to hook norman up to the sled but he kept pulling her all over the road so that did not work. Lainey was having so much fun !!

JOsh and I also ventured out into this winter wonderland to get our mattress and paint for the kids rooms in the new house. THe roads were completly covered in snow and ice. It took us a half hour to get to Art Van. Im glad we went because when we got there i saw this really cool table and chairs, the set was for the same price as a table we were looking at at IKEA only this particular table was solid wood. The sale price was for the floor model but it only had two small inperfections. It folds out into a big square table, with four chairs, and two benches. It is really neat. that is being delivered on Friday before we leave. Then we went and purchased the mattress, that is being delivered tommorow in Farmington Hills at our new house. Josh is currently there working for today and tommorow. Hopefully tonight he gets the bed put together so that we can sleep on it saturday night. He is also going to paint laineys room. We got a yellow color like what is currently in her room. For Jacobs room we got a color called Mountain Cliffs, its a blue grey and then im going to use different shades of blue and tans, for bedding and wall hangings. My sister Lisa and I are going to paint that room on Saturday as it it a smaller room and wont take much time.

Life on Green Willow pt. 1

2008-11-15T12:12:00.000-08:00

SO, we spent this past Thursday,friday and sat morning at our new home that we are renting in Farmington Hills. what a few days!! Lainey got sick while we were their, the runny nose, congestion and two boughts of runny BM's :) One of which was explosive last night in the middle of IKEA!! what a mess, almost down her legs by the time i got to the bathroom with her.

Thursday was busy, we signed the lease, did a walk through. I went to Target for some cleaning supplies and josh headed off to work. This house has turned out not to be what we thought. I guess you cant tell much by spending ten minutes in a home, and then a week later rent it, with out seeing it again. Ispent almost 9 HOURS CLEANING!!!! Josh had a dinner he had to go to, so lainey and I ate pizza and continued to clean. Josh came home around 9 ish and then he and i unpacked our boxes. Neither one of us, slept well, because we were on my sisters air mattress that has a slow leak. We woke up several times to blow it back up. At least lainey slept through the night.

Friday josh went to work and lainey and i were doing some more cleaning, then we went on a walk through the neighborhood with norman. We went inside and I decided to run a cycle through the wash machine. As it was rinsing all the sudden every sink, toilet, and bath tub made the most awful, loud gurggling sound, even lainey cried because it was so loud. I thought the house was falling apart. i went to the back of the house in the laundry room, to find that water was comming up through the drain in the floor!!! I called josh and he called the relator, who called the landlord and said if this is not fixed in the next few hours the tenants are moving out. SO of course at 12:30 plumbers were at the door. Three hours later, a broken toilet and a snake pip thing, the house was back in working order. Aparently when you let pipes sit for as long as they did, and then start using them its not good. The pipes had eroded and then when we started flushing and using water, that caused a back up. So they ran water and ran a snake through it for an hour, and then replaced the toilet that broke in the process. at 3:45 they finally left. I began to seriously regret this decision, plus they never put a fresh coat of paint on the walls,which are gross with smudes and stains.

Friday after all that we went out to Chili's for dinner and then to IKEA which is only 20 mins away!! AWSOME!!!! We purchased out bedroom set, we finally got our KING size bed, now we have to put it all together. Friday night was a good night. Saturday we got up packed up and came home. I can tell you that the Spring Lake/Grand Haven Exit never looked so Good. Im really going to miss what we have here. Im ,with reluctancy ,looking forward to Farmington Hills. NExt week is the offical moving week, we are loading up Friday night, and then leaving Sat Am, and spending the weekend there. We have to be back here the week of thanksgiving so from here on out its a lot of back and forth until at least January.

ready for a VACATION!!!

2008-11-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

So today started out like any ordinary day....well not really, everyday this week has been the kind that you just want to turn around and climb right back into bed and forget everything. TOday was just the stick that broke the camels back.. for me. Lainey and I were getting ready to meet grandma O for breakfast. Grandma was running late, so i was bring a few things to the car,(I had to return library books) so we bundled up and went out side for a few mins. I opended the Automatic Side on the van, lainey kept climbing in as i was putting my stuff in. I told her no,we are going to just play outside until Grandma comes. I got her out of the van and she started to follow me, so i thought, and i clicked the door to close and walked back to the house to shut the house door. I suddenly heard a scream i hope i never have to hear for along time. I ran back to the car to find the door had complelety shut on laineys hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I lost it, i had to force the door open and when I pulled her hand out, it was all dented, turning blue and swelling!!! I franticly dialed joshs phone. Josh was at the doctor getting his wart removed on his hand. he came home and took a look at it. We decided she should go see the doctor. He left for work and Grandma and I went to Hackly at the Lakes Urgent Care. We ended up waitng TWO HOURS!! mind you that lainey had no breakfast, neither did grandma or myself. Grandma helped lainey sit still for the X-ray,( i could not be in the room because im pregnant) she eventually cooperated and the Xrays looked fine, no broken bones. The doctor said to keep an eye on it and that it will probably bruise and look worse before its better. I finally got home and she ate, two bowls of applesauce, two PB and J sandwiches and some brocoli. I felt so bad for making her wait.

It all hit me as i was eating something and i just burst out in tears, it has been a really hard week and im worn out, and need a break, only it did not come yet.... I felt terrible and just needed to cry. and Of couse lainey is sitting there saying "no no mommy" "no no mommy" regardless the tears still flowed. Now after a nap i have a splitting headache. Hopefully tomorrow can change???

Lainey just ate snack and now we are going to try and get to the library??!!

TODAYS BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

2008-11-06T17:05:00.001-08:00

The wait is over... we had a check up and ultra sound in Grand Rapids today. I had my first check-up at Maternal Fetal Medicine. They specialize in high risk pregnancys. Everything looks good so far. I have to go back in six weeks for another ultra-sound and start checking my blood pressure weekly. Todays ultra sound revealed what we have been waiting for.... drum roll please....... ITS A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!! that little bugger would not show us his stuff for a long time, the tech was not even sure we were going to be able to see anything... finally he spread his little legs and between them was his package!!! it was so fun, i shed some tears, and josh just laughed with excitement!!! The tech was really cute, she froze the frame and just sat there a minute, i knew right away and josh just sat there and finally said... "is that what i think it is.. a penis"?? she said YEs that is your son!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, its such a rush to find out.... i have been so excited all day.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T17:18:00.001-07:00

last night was alot of fun!! Elaine started the evening out with a big bowl of chili to get her ready for the night:) She was a bumble bee and stinkin cute!! we just went to my moms house and my dads house and then to some of his neighbors. Earlier in the day we went to holland to visit my sister and her class at work. Lainey got to trick or treat to all the teachers, they gave her candy. Then we had lunch at Daddy's work so that all the ladys could see her.
When we got to my moms house my mom let her pick out her candy, and being my child she goes in for all of it!! Grabbing all the candy that could fit in her hands, then she would put it in her pumpkin and start all over again. Then we went to my dads where she received more candy!! it was a fun two hours. I think she just had fun getting all the candy. She has a major sweet tooth, thanks to me. She was so tired that she slept in until 9am and then took a two and a half hour nap, and still went to bed on time.

Detroit update:
We are in the process of applying for a rental home, writing up a lease and all that fun stuff. The house is a 1700 sq ft Ranch(no basement) 3 bedrooms two bathrooms. its an older house with updates inside,all except the two bathrooms which are stuck int he 50's with all that old school tile everywhere and the ugly colors like bright blue and pee yellow. But its all clean ,just outdated. I will have a much bigger kitchen with storage and matching appliances. the home is located in Farmington Hills in a subdivision, it has a very large back yard for the area, always a plus. we will be able to start moving stuff in on Nov 13, we are going to take a load of stuff over and spend the night there as a family, so i will get some pictures and post them.

Pumpkins

2008-10-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday night Josh and I carved pumpkins with Elaine. We got outside and it looked like rain, so we carved in the garage. Next thing we knew the sun was shining and then it thundered and then lightning , then hail and snow!! What a weird night. Even though we had great family time carving pumpkins!! Lainey took a couple bites of the goo, and then ate some seeds. After pumpkins I took lainey inside and we made homemade pizza and roasted the seeds. Elaine put on her apron and helped me cook!! she was so cute. What a fun evening.

On Monday and Tuesday Josh and I headed out to Detroit to meet and see the places/people he will be working with, and to find a house to rent. Josh sure has his work cut out for him, but it was a fun day to meet everyone. On Tuesday we went house hunting. We went through ten houses with two possibilites. Today we found out the one we both really liked and wanted, was no longer available apparently someone called on it before us. It was the dream place to rent, and we were really excited about it. IT was an old house downtown south lyon, in our price range, remodeld and almost 3000 sq feet. So its on to choice number two.. a smaller ranch with no basement or storage, but it was nice and remodeld nicely and clean. so hopefully we will hear about this one soon. There was not much to choose from. Well that is our update for now, we will keep you posted.

Tag... Im It

2008-10-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

4 things I was doing 10 years ago..
1. I was in high school
2. getting ready to go to college, to study what i love, early childhood education
3. my parents were getting divorced
4. we moved from Grand Haven to Ferrysburg

4 Jobs that I have had...

1. washed dishes at a nursing home
2. worked briefly at a coffee shop in spring lake( the worst boss's i have ever had)
3. taught headstart in holland and Grand Haven
4. worked for my dad for many years when he owned a sandwich ice cream store downtown Grand Haven. Old Chap's Galley

4 Movies I have seen more than once......

1. Office Space
2. Shrek
3. In Love and War
4. A Beautiful Mind

4 Places I have lived....

1. Willmar, MN
2. Grand Haven, MI
3. Ferrysburg, MI
4. Grand Rapids, MI

4 Places I have been...

1. New York City
2. St. Louis, MO
3. Sarasota, FL
4. cozumel, Mexico

4 T.V. Shows I watch...

1. THe biggest Loser
2. The Office
3. Super Nanny
4. Extreme Makeover, Home Edition

4 Things you may not know about me....

1. I secretly always wanted to be a mortition??(sp), I have been facinated by how they prepare a dead body and have always wanted to see it being done. ( sorry that this will freak some people out)

2. I love Jo on Super Nanny, that is my first passion, I want to be here and be able to tell people like it is with parenting and not get into trouble. Naughty kids get my goat.

3. if i could I would sleep in past lunch every day and stay in my PJ's. I love being comfortable

4. Im very shy, and dont have much confidence in my self, I tend to not be able to make friends easily,because im scared to get hurt or let people know what im really like. I donot like being the center of attention. Im also deathly afraid of speaking in public. I just started to feel comfortable with talking in small group.

4 things I lOVE about Josh...
this one i could go on for ever about, i guess i better censor this one :)

1. He is secretly sensitive to my feelings, sometimes he does not show it. But i have always loved that he is this way with me. He is a wonderful man and I love him so much!!

2. He is an incredible Kisser(sorry i had to throw that one in)

3. He is so paitent with Elaine, and is a wonderful Daddy

4. He can fold laundry so GOOD, I love it!! I have never seen a man fold and Iron as well as he does. Im truly amazed!!

4 People I tag... wait not many people read my blog do they??

1. Alicia
2. Lisa Dawn
3. Kathy A.ka. MOM
4. Flora

We are Moving

2008-10-20T11:16:00.001-07:00

Well i can finally announce this, Josh has taken a new Job promotion with in his company, procare. He will be the Practice manager for TCPC, procare in Detroit. He will be running the clinics in the Royal oak, Novi and Livonia areas. We made the decison to move last week. Josh starts working Dec 1. We are busy trying to find a home to rent for now,while we try and sell our condo. The company is taking over the Condo, so the price has drasticly dropped. If anyone knows some one who is looking for a place, they will definitly get ours at a steel. THe current price has dropped to 89, 900!!! someones going to get a deal!! Pass the word around. We are both sad, nervous, scared and happy at the same time to be making this big change in our lives. Please pray that the move goes great and that we can find a good place to live. We will keep you updated.

Wedding Weekend!

2008-10-19T19:00:00.001-07:00

This past weekend my good friend Alicia got married. My sister and I were both in the wedding. it was a busy, yet fun weekend. Congrats to the happily married couple!!
Enjoy the pictures

Troast Family Up date

2008-10-11T10:22:00.001-07:00

Sorry it has been so long, life has been busy and every chance to blog turns into something eles. We have been busy over the last month or so.

* labor day weekend we spent time as a family and hung out with friends. It was warm so Lainey and norman went swimming in the pool.. at one point they were both in the pool together.

* we picked a few grapes off the vines on our land

* I have had a couple doctors appointments already. We are almost 15 weeks pregnant. things are going fine so far. blood pressure is fine and I feel better than i did with lainey. We have to meet with the doctors and perientologist(spelling?) in November for a check up and an ultra sound. Hopefully we can find out what we are having. Im so anxious for that!! I dont feel as big as i did with lainey, which i guess could be good in the long run.

* At the end of september lainey had a NICU reunion In Grand Rapids. we only knew a few people there but she had fun. there was a fire truck, and an ambulance that she was able to go through. It was a tiring day,but fun!!

* Josh was in New York for work. He was able to go to a Yankee's game, have lunch with Grandma and Grandpa T and had dinner with his cousins. I stayed home and spent my birthday alone with out josh( my family made up for his absense, I got to eat out alot that week) thanks everyone!!

* This past week we celebrated our 3rd wedding aniversary,WOW time flies!!!

* Thursday night friends of ours from small group called and said that spring lake was having their fire saftey open house. We went with them and had so much fun!! The kids were able to tour fire trucks, cop cars, ambulance's, and boats. There were many saftey booths set up inside and free popcorn, hot dogs, chips and pop!! What a fun night. To top it off we all went on a fire truck ride!! Lainey loved every second. it was dark out so when the lights flashed it looked really cool. she was so excited!!

* We went to the pumpkin patch the first weekend in October. Some of josh's friends were there and we all ended up hanging out. Lainey made new friends. then we all went to Arbys for lunch.

enjoy the pictures, they are a mixture of the last month and a half.

Hair Cut

2008-08-31T18:04:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday August 28 Lainey got her first hair cut. Daddy came too and took some pictures. She did very well, we bribed her with a cookie. She had a cookie in one hand and a comb in the other. She sat on the booster seat by her self. She looks so cute.

DUE DATE

2008-08-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

Josh and I had our First doctors appointment for the baby. The check-up went great!! Dr. was a little concerned that the due date may have been a little off. She tried to use the ultrasound monitor (its funny that a Dr. has no idea how to run the machine:) Josh and I were able to see the heart beating, we did not hear it yet. But just knowing that he/she is in there is such a blessing. Dr. Mc.D had me go later in the afternoon for a "real" ultra sound. IT was so amazing to see this little person no bigger than 2 inches swim around and move. I was able to see a much better view of him/her when the tech was doing it. The tech gave me my first picture. You can see the head and back , and the little but. GOD is so amazing. I came home and watched the babystory, and i cried through all three episods. So our due date is April 7,09 but ofcourse we will have a c-section so the baby will come the week before that. We are currently 8 1/2 weeks pregnant!!!!

Random Thoughts from a day in the life of me...

2008-08-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

*Lainey is getting her first hair cut tonight, she is either going to be really bad or really good.

* Do NOt take your car to Betten In Grand Haven to be fixed, its taken over three weeks to get our van completly fixed from having the brick thrown through it. they sure gave us the run around, Josh had to call the insurrance company and had it out with betten, hopefully we get the van back today

* We got a new T.V. our old one is on the way out, it was not turning on, and you could only change three channels at a time and then you would have to turn it off and back on. So we got a 40 inch samsung flat screen!!! its wonderful. happy birthday, christmas and anniversary to josh and I :)

* I was watching Super Nanny last night, boy could I related to the mom. Jo was able to reach out to a mom who was just plan bored, tired and stuck in a rut. This mom often mad faces and reacted just like myself. (my kid is not bad or doing the stuff her kids where, but the mom herself is whom i felt like) I actually cried today thinking about her. Lately i have just been feeling like i just get up in the morning and go through the daily routien and not think about it, just ho-humming along. Jo encouraged her to stand up and be the women she was ment to be, and was able to give her some confidence back. She was able to give her alittle fun in her life and show her that she can be a kid as well. Am i the only one who goes through this?? wondering what im doing?? why im doing it?? is there going to ever be a break being a mom? and do i even want a break?? How can i make things fun again?? sometimes i wish that I could just work, and someone eles can clean the house, dothe dishes, laundry and so on. Maybe this is just my pregnancy emotions.

* we went to the farmers market on weds. Laine had a cinnamon doughnut and we bought watermelon, blueberries and the sweetest corn i have ever eaten.. We came home and I made homemade blueberry pie, crust from scratch and all. It was so good!!

* I have been so unbeliveably sick... its been so bad that I feel like I cannot even move on some days. I have not even been able to drink as much water as i normally do. I gag on it. Everything makes me sick. I havenot been able to eat alot and feeling weak. Im about seven weeks along. I see the doctor tommorow, so hopefully i can figuare something out that will help me feel better. And for the first time in history sweet stuff like choc, cake, icecream make me sick, i dont want to eat it, see it or smell it. Last night josh was eating icecream on the opposit couch where i was sitting, i could smell it and i started to gag. that it weird!! I never thought i would see the day when i would turn that stuff down.

GUESS WHAT!!

2008-08-07T18:41:00.000-07:00

WE ARE PREGNANT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! yes its true, we are going to have another baby sometime in April, we dont have an exact date yet. I have a doctor appointment at the end of August. We are very excited and looking forward to adding another one to our family. I have been very sick, and nauseated all day long. Food just makes me feel sick. I have thrown up a few times, but its more being very tired and just having that feeling that you get when you are about to get sick or get the flu. acky, nauseaed and just not feeling well. But we will get through it and its all to be expected.

Unity and a brick

2008-08-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

So last night was free for the Unity Festival, so Grandma came to babysit and Josh and I went down there, It was a lot of fun!! I did not know any of the bands but it was fun to just get out. I saw alot of people that I have not seen in a long time. About an hour in a storm rolled through so they shut down for about a half hour. Josh and I walked back to the van and waited it out. Then we went back to the festival. When the night ended around 10:15 or so, we started to walk back to the van that was parked on a side street across from the Muskegon YMCA. josh and I were talking and he ran head to open the door and put the chairs in, then he opened the drivers side and a yelled and a brick fell out. when we looked up the passanger window was completly smashed in, glass was everywhere, and the steering wheel was nicked and a huge cut in the door. We called 911, they came out and did a police report, luckly nothing was stolen, and I even had my purse under the seat!! thankgoodness, it was just a huge mess. the police were not very helpfull with how we were going to get home, but we managed. This morning we brought it in to be cleaned, and fixed. there were glass pieces everywhere!! hopefully we will have it back by Tuesday. SO i guess I get to ride my bike everywhere!! Im actually really upset, josh and I work hard for what we have and pay cash for stuff, so when some un thoughtfull IDIOT, who cannot think five minutes in front of him or herself does something like this it just makes me so mad and angry. They did alot of damage just to have a little fun. So the car is in being fixed and hopefully tommorow ill have the van back, and the new steering wheel and door panel will be in next week. So tonight when Josh goes down there, there is no parking on side streets with out alot of people and lights. We are also thankfull that it was the Van because that has full coverage, the Saab does not.

Family Reunion

2008-08-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

At the end of July we went to Spicer, MN for a family reunion. Josh was able to stay home because his cousin was getting married that friday. Elaine, myself, My mom, uncle and aunt, and two cousins and their families all caravand(if that is a word) to Minnesota. We set out on a Thurs July 24th we drove to Blackriver Falls, WI and spent the night in a hotel. Thank goodness for my cousin's kids they kept Elaine so occupied that she did not even know she was traveling 14 hours to minnesota. They played with her, sang to her and followed her around everywhere she went. Elaine loved swimming in the pool at the hotel. She did not want to get out. Swimming helped her to sleep right through the night. Friday afternoon we arrived at the campground. It was so nice to see all of my family. and most of them had not seen lainey yet so that was fun! It was a busy,weekend, keeping up with a one and half year old at a campgroung with a playground, and beach with in walking distance from your cabin, was a handfull. Elaine was able to see some of her third cousins that are about her age, She played and played. here are some highlights from the weekend.

* Elaine swam naked in the lake with all the other kids, during an evening walk by the beach, it was not planned. It was so fun to see allthe kids having fun!!

* The word NNOOOO!! was learned and freqently spoken by my child!

* Elaine at lots of camp food and junk food, she loves monster cookies!

* having a wonderful church service just as a family. Four cousins singing acapella!! Gods presence was felt while sitting outside at a campground.

* Elaine fell asleep in her high chair at lunch while eating a chocolate brownie

* walking with great uncle harlan by the beach , they both bent over at the same time and came up and bumped heads.

*uncle Jon meeting all the family for the first time

* Elaine was able to ride a Horse for the first time at my cousins house. She was so excited and did not want to get off of the horse. my camera battery died at that exact moment, but i should be getting copies soon.

* visiting tht two family farms, reliving memories and lots of tears and laughter

* Mommy almost stepped on a snake, I started to hyperventalate

* the tears that welled up in my eyes as elaine climbed up and sat on my Grandma and Grandpas grave, They would have just cherrished seeing her. It was a special moment. My Grandparents were very special people. Im sure they were looking down with joy and love.

Overall it was a great weekend, the drive was long but made easier thanks to all the kids who kept her busy.

New Jersey and New York

2008-07-07T10:29:00.000-07:00

Finally, I had time to update on our family vacation last week. the last weekend of June we ventured on our first family trip. We went to New Jersey for Joshs Grandparents 60th wedding aniversary/family reunion. This was a 12 hour road trip for most of us, and some family members flew from far away places, and others drove from wisconsin about 18 hours or so. Almost all the family memebers where there. there are about 100 total and I belive we were missing maybe 6 or 7 people. Josh and I drove through the night on the way there. This went well, and we did not have to entertain laine much because she slept most of the way. We arrived in new jersey around 7am. We were tired but laine was in a great mood! Friday night Joshs brother and wife arrived and joshs parents. We ordered some wonderful new jersey pizza! the best pizza ever, but you have to like grease!! Sat morning joshs two brothers and sister arrived. Sat afternoon, was the big bash and the church!!! I was able to meet everyone eles!! I have only met a small hand full of Josh's extended family!! What a blast. Elaine had so much fun playing with all her new found friends!! There was an open house for the community in the afternoon, then a big family picture,and then a catered in family dinner. All 90 some of us!! There was a program with songs, poems and a very teary eyed special speech from Grandpa T, (even josh cried) Grandpa and Granda Troast are so in love, even 60 years later, you can see how much he adores her, he watches her from across the room with such love in his eyes. He spoke to his whole family on learning to lean of Jesus Christ, and if you ask Christ he will be with you no matter what you are going through in life, you cannot go through life with out him. He also said that its ok to wrestle with God and ask Why?? but be ready for the answer. Grandpa is such an amazing Man, and Im proud to be part of his family. Part of their wedding party was still alive and able to join them for cutting the cake. That is so sweet!! !!

On Sunday every one went to church, josh;s dad who is a pastor was able to (with the help of the pastor at the church) surprise his parents by delivering the sunday sermon. Grandpa and Grandma T were so surprised! Sunday night josh and I along with his cousin and wife and josh's brother ventured into New York City!!! What and adventure. We came up off the subway to the Gay Pride Parade just finishing up!!!! what a culture shock for me!! I have seen gays and lesbians but this was to the extreme!! these were outragous and wild gays. it was funny to see this madness, yet i felt an overwhelming saddness for all those messed up people. They walk around so proud and happy. truth is they are sick. all you can do was say a little prayer and keep walking. We then ventured down to ground zero, its one thing to see it on T.V. but WOW in real life you get goose bumps and teary eyes viewing it with your own eyes. Then we took a subway to Time Square!! we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe We had so much fun!!! the lights and the busyness was wild!! we started our way home and on the train we encountered some more gay guys. Only this time it was even more extreme, they decided that the train ,that was full of people, was the place to have a make-out session!!!! needless to say this time we laughed, and laughed and laughed. they just would not stop. They were doing stuff that straight people would not do in public. finally they left. we got home around12:30am.

Monday we went and spent the night with one of Joshs cousins and his wife. They have twins that were born a few weeks after laine. They had so much fun together.

Tuesday we headed home. We traveled during the day. Elaine did ok, but it was definitly better through the night!!

We are finally getting back on a schedual again!!! Ihope everyone had a wonderful fourth of July!! we went to the fire works and Elaine had a blast!!

Wedding!!

2008-06-23T18:07:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, Josh's sister got married. Thursday night was rehersal, with a pizza and beer rehersal dinner! It was a perfect night, the dinner was outside at the new brother in-laws sisters house in Grand Rapids. It was so nice to see all the family again. IT was also nice because lainey stayed home with a babysitter :) I was his sisters personal attendant so I had a list of duties that I was responsible for. Friday was the wedding. I arrived at 1:30 to help out, it was a busy afternoon. As for the actual wedding at 6:30.... I watched everyone walk down the isle, and then..... Lainey was clapping and yelling, talking, so I had to take her outside. ( the church is in an open warehouse building, so everything echoed, so I missed the whole wedding. I came inside just in time to hear them be pronounced husband and wife. Then we headed over to Mc Faddens downtown GR for the reception!! It was a blast, I was able to do some dancing, and josh joined me for one song, which is more than he has ever done. (except for our wedding) I enjoyed a delcious dinner it was salmon, potatoes and steamed veggies!! It was a fun, yet very busy weekend.

A Bike Helmet and Sunglasses

2008-06-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

What a busy few weeks. My sister and I did an Unsucessfull garage sale june 6-7 in holland ,so we packed it up and set it back up in muskegon for another two day garage sale the following weekend at my in-law's place. We did much better. the last few weeks seem like such a blur. Laine was with me both times and did excellent!

A few weeks ago, my neighbor asked if i had a bike helmet for Laine, i did not so she game me one that her granddaughter had grown out of. Laine fell in love with it, its a touch to big but in no time she will fully grow into it. And one of my moms friends bought her velcro sunglasses. So she was loving wearing both, so much that when she saw her reflection in the mirror she started kissing her self. She was so funny wearing both!!! She also got her first baby doll, she loves feeding her a bottle, and carrying her everywhere! We went to the park and she took it down the slide. she is quite the little mother.

We are getting ready for josh's sisters wedding on Friday June 20th. Its been a busy week as Im the personal attendant, so thurs and friday are going to be very busy. The following Thurday Josh, Elaine and I are heading to New Jersey for Josh's Grandparents 60th wedding aniversary/reunion. We will see how lainey does on a 12 hour drive. We are going through the night so hopefully it will go well.

No Wonder America is so FAT!!

2008-05-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, so if you are a busy mom and wife some times you get burned out from cooking for life gets so busy that you take a trip or two to a fast food joint for the family dinner. We all know its bad for us, but until you see the numbers!!!!!! you just eat it and forget about it. Well tonight we had an open house and had to run some errands, so josh, Elaine and myself went out to Mc Donalds for dinner. and to tell the truth I have freqented this place and other often the past few weeks due to being so busy with my mother who just had surgery and was in holland for two weeks. Anyway...Back to tonight. We went to Mc D's I picked up the nutrition booklet that is available to the public. when we got home I was looking it over. Josh had the quarter pounder meal deal, I had two snack wraps and a coke, and laine had the cheeseburger happy meal.... are you ready for the grand nutritional total of all three meals combined drum roll please............ calories 3,250 total fat.105 grams, sodium4,030 grams This is totally and utterly disgusting!!! Talk about feeling ashamed as a family of three we consumed a lot of bad food. I really need to be more concious about what I eat and what i feed my family. I have not been a good example. the problem is where do you start and who do you belive. Everyone has the "best" answer as far as losing weight and getting healthy. How do you find the balance. what diets and lifestyles work and what is just hokey???? I have been trying to follow my hunger signals and eat when the hunger tells me to. I have been trying to see what the bible says. Im finding stuff about glutoney and not worshiping food, all foods are clean and stuff like that. But what does God say about the food we eat, and is that the way to eat??? HELP!! if you know the answer pass it on. All I know is if the world keeps eating this stuff and some people eat it three times a day, we are going to all die young, YIKES.

0 156th!!!

2008-05-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

Friday May 23, 2008 we officially signed our names to the land!! We closed on our piece of property friday afternoon. Josh and I signed our name for about 20 minutes. and to tell the truth I dont remember what I even signed for other than a payment book from the bank :) It was all a blur, and today its actually sinking in. After the signing josh and I along with Josh's parents, who were watching laine, headed out to the land to have a toast! We walked the property lines and envisoned our home and were it would sit, were the driveway would be and all that fun stuff!! I posted some pictures for everyone to see!!

What a Week!

2008-05-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

What a crazy couple of weeks. Elaine had a check up with her doctor about her cough and stuff. He sent her for Allergy testing. She had to have some blood drawn... it took them three times before they were able to get a vein. She was a mess, crying,sweating and so was I. It was not a fun day. Two Days later her results came back negative for all allergies. So she is just on a nasel spray and the cough it gone, she is back to her normal self. I know she is better because she is back to her 1 hour naps instead of 3.

My mom had back surgery last friday before mothers day. It was a four hour surgery. She is doing well but after six days in the hospital she was transfered to Freedom Village for at least one to two weeks of Re-Hab. This place is in holland so we are racking up the miles and the gas!! Its busy when you are taking care of another household and her cats, and visiting her at the nursing home and taking care of your own family. They are taking her off some of the strong pain meds so that means things are progressing. I convinced her to put some make-up on and that would make her feel better, she actually agreed :)

In the midst of all this, last week i started to get a kink in my neck and by friday after my moms surgery i could not move my neck. Saturday I woke up with a stiff neck to the point that I could not open my mouth the whole way and it hurt to chew food. On sunday I left church early because I thought i was going to pass out. I got home and took some vicodin to make it through the rest of the mothers day festivities. We did not want to go to ER because its a really expensive pain reliever because they would just shoot you up and send you to the doctor. So Monday morning I headed to the Chiropractor... he tried to adjust me but said the muscles we way to tense, i had to go home and Ice, Ice Ice and i was not to lift anything. So my wonderful mother-in-law came to help for the day. I went back to the doc. for a half hour massage and he tried to adjust again but it would not budge. So i have lived on muscle relaxors and vicodin. Tuesday I felt a little better and could move a little more. Weds morning I went back to the doc. and he could only do a little for me. I babysat Emma for the morning and did great. After nap time my neck was stuck again and hurting bad. My wonderful husband was able to get me into the pain clinic thursday morning early. Another thanks to my mother-in-law for coming to the house at 7:30am!! Dr. K was able to give me some relief, Josh thought he was cool because he got to give me the sedation. Dr. K did some ocipital nerve blocks and an epidural in my neck. after sleeping for a few hours I woke up and could move my neck!!!! Im tired and a little spaced out but i feel better. I have one more chiropractor appointment on Monday and then I think things will be going better!!! I need to get this household back in order, Laine hasbeen cranky due to not really having me around this week.
I have posted some pictures from grandma and grandpa troast's house a couple weeks ago!!

My sweet Elaine

2008-04-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

well, Elaine had to go back to the Doctor today. First a little back story, the middle of march elaine started having a really back barking cough.... we brought her to the doctor who said her lungs were fine,it was just a cold and teething... then at the in april she went back because she had the same cough... and was waking up many times during the night. At the second appointment the docotor said she had croup, and she was still teething. (for those of you that have kids that she has been around this whole time, she was only contagious at the very begining which was the end of march, the contagious part only last three days, and at that time we did not even know that is what she had. So the cough and stuff is just that a cough,she isnot contagious anymore.) So anyway... at the second appointment the Doctor just had me do stuff like a humidfier, tylenol for the teeth, prop her bed up, stand in steam from the shower etc... But still a month later, and she is still coughing, and NOT SLEEPING!! this has been really hard, she is a really good sleeper and so this waking up for hours at night, coughing and gagging is really getting old. So.... the past three days have been the worst... I have not slept more than four hours at a time, neither has Elaine. she doesnot want to eat much and gasped for breath during naptime yesterday. and she has a new cough more of a phlemy deep cough. So last night josh listened to her lungs and he did hear some weezing and the base sounded like there was fluid. So My handsome husband called the doctor this morning because he is concerned as well. So Elaine and I went to the doctor. She checked her out and she does have a really bad sinus infection now, so she perscribed antibiotics. As for the lungs she said she still hears stridor which is still croup and she does hear the stuff josh heard as well. she gave elaine a breathing treatment, and Elaines lungs still sounded the same, no better. So our first step is to clear up the sinus infection, which can cause some coughing. We have to go back on Tuesday. If she is still coughing in four days then on Tuesday we are going to dig further by giving her some albueterol because she is thinking it could be Asthma. The doctor wants to clear up the infection first and then tackle the Asthma stuff. More than likely if its Asthma its because her lungs were underdeveloped due to being born so early. So that is were we stand right now. Elaine is taking her nap, and has only coughed twice in a half hour so that is good. Well, Im going to try and lay down and hope for some rest.

opps

2008-04-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

I put the pictures in backwards.

Reflection

2008-04-25T19:21:00.001-07:00

hey everyone,

I was just reflecting tonight.... I guess its the combination of Friends having babies and they are so cute, having just watched Juno(funny movie) and having the eye doctor today warn me about having more children... that has made me a bit emotional... so I was just looking at the many pictures that have been taken of Laine when she was born, so amazing so tiny and so precious. I love Elaine so much, what I went through to get her and keep her was a roller coaster but she is so worth it!!! I thought everyone might like to see some of the early days... Enjoy I sure did and do. :)

Spring Is Here!!!

2008-04-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

Yes!! Spring is finally here!! We have been loving it, how about you?? Laine is outside almost everyday. She loves being outside and when its time to go inside she frequently throws temper tantrums. Elaine is growing up so fast. She is doing so well, our only worry right now is speech, she tests out at just below 12 months and she is 16 months. Early On is going to keep an eye on it, but we are not too worried. She excels in all other areas so we expect it to come soon.

Oh those molars... she is currently getting all four at once... the first one is through. Does anyone have any good advice... we have been battling these four teeth for over a month! ahhh!!! She is so miserable, with all the cold symptoms she has with it. the runny nose, cough etc... We also found out that with the teething came a touch of croup, its not too bad, although she does wake alot at night and nap time. She is not contagious anymore as we figure its been there a couple weeks.

Elaine is going to be a flower girl on new years eve this year!!! My sister Lisa Just got engaged over spring break. We are just praying Elaines hairs grows a little more. Elaine loves to be the center of attention so this should be very interesting... then again we will be approaching the terrible twos... so who knows.

Josh and I still have the condo for sale... anyone want one, we will give you a good deal. We have been strongly considering building. We have land picked out, and we have the preliminary drawings. We are now just waiting for the pricing to come in for the house before a final decision is made to build or not. We are also offically dorks!! We broke down and bought the MINI VAN!! its a Pontiac Montana!! Im loving it, but josh says he is going through his mid-life crisis!(secretly he loves it, and he often asks to drive it :)

well, i hope this post finds everyone doing well!! Take care

Sara's Surgical update

2008-04-03T05:30:00.001-07:00

Hi,
I just wanted to send an update on the surgry that i had last week. I had my follow-up The pain i had been having was actually a very large cyst. I also had a spot that was biopsyed from the back of my uterus, that turned out to just be fluid filled sac, nothing to worry about. Everything looks great. and hopefully be ready to think about getting pregnant in a few months.

Parent's night out

2008-03-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hi !!

On Saturday night March 29, 2008 Josh and I went to Grand Rapids to Notos Italian Restaurant. Josh had his yearly "big bash" for work. Every year the corporation throws a big party for the employees as an appreciation for their hard work. I have been looking forward to this scince I began my weightloss journey. I went out and bought a new dress and shoes. Josh went out a bought new clothes as well.( doesn't he look hot!!!) We had Grandma babysit and we left around six and stayed out till 11:30!! that is late for us!! We had a blast, the food was incredible, for dinner we had a live Jazz band and after dinner another band that played the rest of the night. I was able to meet the people josh spends his working hours with. It was a great night. And i must admit, I did not call home once. I have posted a couple pre-party pictures. Enjoy!!

Spring Fever!!

2008-03-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family,
Here is another update on the troast family, what we have been doing and what laine is up to these days.

Elaine Kathryn Troast... Is 15 months old, that still blows my mind that she is so big. She had her check-up at the doctor last week. her weight is 22.5 and 31 1/2 inches long. Nothing new medicaly with her. She is doing very well. She is still crossing her eyes, but the opthamologist is watching her closly. other than that she is doing very well. She is walking all over, its so much fun to watch as she is now attempting to try and run :) she can say mamma, daddy, doggy and mumbles the rest of the time. She is a very busy little girl, she is really enjoying books,playing with balls, and playing with her toys. She recently got a Dora chair to sit in,she thinks she is pretty tough stuff. Now that the weather is getting warmer we have been spending some time outside, she loves pushing her bike and going after norman.

Joshua Peter Troast... He remaines the same. nothing has changed with him. He is still enjoying his job and the ladies all love him!! He has been working out at home with the Total Gym..( he is still trying to lose his baby fat too ;) Josh, is enjoying the role of Daddy. Laine completly adores him. The second is walks in her eyes are on him. Its so much fun to sneak a peak at him when he is giving her a bath or a bottle and bed time story. He does so well with her. He wont admit it but i think he wants another one.

Sara Lynae Troast.... Im done with medical weight loss, I had to stop early because we found out the food I have to buy from them was giving my severe migraines, but... I did lose 27 lbs and 13 inches!!!!!! I cannot believe that!!!!! Iam into all my pre- pregnancy clothes. its feels so good to be healthy again. Im still trying to find what works for me ,to lose the last 10 pounds or so. If anyone has any suggestions... let me know. I have been so busy with laine, she is so much fun!! She does so many funny things and she keeps me on my toes. Its so much fun to be at home, I love the many mommy moments. On Monday 10th, just her and I went to Bob Evans for lunch, we took our time and just enjoyed the moment, she took a bit of a crayon, drank her milk from a straw and we ate burgers. she walked all the way to to car,slow and steady stopping to look at everything along the way. I learned that day that life is full of wonder and excitement, just take your time... little wonders are everywhere, just look dont step on them,clothes can be washed, dishes can really sit for a while in the sink, but your kids grow up right before your eyes. Enjoy the moment.

2008-02-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

Fourteen Months Old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you Belive it!! Time flies by so fast. Laine will be 14 months old tommorow! Life sure has changed. She keeps us so very busy. Elaine had another check up this week at the Gerber Center for Infant Development In Grand Rapids. Her Doctor was so impressed with her, both developmentaly and physically. She passed her hearing test, despit the inherited ear wax problem :) She weighs 22 lbs, 30 1/2 inches long and is starting to walk. She does have to go back to her pediatric eye doctor a bit early because she is still crossing her eyes, and she has one eye that tends to stray a bit. Other than her eyes she got another A+ from the doctor. She has to go back in October to have more testing, this time a whole psycological work up, they will make sure that everything is fine inside the ol'noggin.
Elaine has learned how to climb down the stairs by herself. so all day its up and down, up and down. She enjoys going to play groups, playing in the snow, coloring and painting. She makes frequent visits to Your Plate or Mine, in the mall.. her area of interest is coffee mugs. She loves to paint. She has been so much fun!!
Josh is doing fine... he keeps busy at work. He has been home sick this week with a high fever and a terrible cough, he is finally on the mend. Luckly mom and laine have not caught it yet... lsyol spray(on everything josh touches) and vitamin C to the rescue!! Josh is still involved with high school youth group,and basket ball on tuesdays.
Sara.... well not much happening with me... Keeping very busy with laine and norman. I have been working very hard at losing all the pregnancy weight and then some. I made it to 22 pounds and only twenty more!! Thanks to medical weight loss clinic, exercise, and the newly learned self control. :) Im in the home stretch.
P.S. anyone want a two bedroom condo?? its still for sale..
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elaine's Second Christmas

2008-01-23T08:17:00.000-08:00

Hello again.... Sorry this christmas post is so late. Life has been so busy... everyone was sick for what seemed like weeks on end. ear infections, colds, etc.... finally this week we have been healthy. Christmas was so much fun this year, we had laine with us and it was such a blessing. Christmas was a busy week, on Dec 23 we had christmas with Grandma Gladys, aunt lisa and Mr. Jon(lisas sig. other) Laine received many presents and had ham dinner and twiced baked potatoes. Christmas eve was spent with just mommy and daddy and norman. We took Grandma with us to church, what an event when there is no nursery. Needless to say we used the food to keep you quiet trick... sugar cookies last a while and keep them quiet. We came home and opned presents as a family. We had some special family moments. On Christmas Day we went to Grandpa Johns, laine had so much fun opening presents and spending time with friends and family!! At the end of the week Uncle Mark and Aunt Flora came from Arizona. We had christmas with the troast family and every one spent the night at home like one big family. I got up very early and made homemade cinnamon rolls, about three hours later everyone woke up to an ooy, gooy breakfast!! Laine had so much fun!!!!! I think the best part for me was sitting back and taking it all in... last year I had to sit and open her presents because she was not there, that was emotional... and then to sit with a cup of coffee and watch her crawling all over grandpa and grandma T's house and getting into Aunt Lindseys laundry, pulling on the tree ornaments and spending time with family. I know I speak for josh when I say that God is amazing!! He gave us an amazingly strong and determined little girl, and through everything this past year I realize he has also given our family the gift of true faith, and understanding of the power of prayer and paitence, along with learning to trust, and rely only on the power of God and nothing eles. It is a honor to be given children, and an honor to raise them. And as a family we are forever gratful for this experience.

Lainey's Birthday

2007-12-16T18:30:00.000-08:00

We are happy to announce that Lainey has made it through her first year. Quite a start. On December 9 Lainey turned one year old. To celebrate we threw a birthday party on December 8 at Grandma and Grandpa Troast's house. Lots of friends and family came to celebrate with us. Lainey recieved lots of cool gifts and she has already figured out how to tear wrapping paper (look out for Christmas). Lainey also had a lot of fun eating birthday cake.
Lainey is doing some standing on her own. She will take some steps with help. She currently has two more teeth coming in, coupled with all the one year shots and vaccinations it has been no fun the past couple of days. She is approaching 21 pounds and is ready to graduate to a new car seat that faces forward.
Sara has been busy doing some Christmas baking, shopping, chasing Lainey, and helping out with church stuff.
Josh has had the interim tag lifted and is now the permanant office manager of the pain clinic in Holland.
We still have our condo for sale. It has been a little slow through the holidays, but hopefully the market will pick up in January. We are ready for some more space and are excited about the possibilities that a new home will offer. We are looking forward to spending some family time together around the holidays.
Wishing you all the best and Merry Christmas.

2007-11-18T17:15:00.000-08:00

It has been a busy couple of weeks for our family. Lainey had her first Halloween. She dressed as a Lady Bug and went trick or treating at her grandparents houses. The next day we all drove to Chicago, boarded a plane and flew to Phoenix Arizona. Mark and Flora Troast welcomed us with open arms and extended some awesome hospitality. In Arizona we went to the farm, Jerome, Sedona and many other cool places. Oh yea, Josh snuck in a couple rounds of golf with Mark. We had a great time.
Lainey is continuing to grow bigger and stronger. She now climbs stairs and is attempting to stand on her own. She is 30.5 inches and is in the 90th percentile for her age group. Quite a change from a year ago. She keeps us very busy and we sleep well at night. Next month Lainey will be 1 year old. Sara is busy planning the Birthday party.
That is all for now. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Tis' the season for...Hand ,Foot, and Mouth

2007-10-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!!
Well its fall.. and that means the leaves are changing colors, the days are shorter, the weather colder... and a breeding ground for Hand, Foot and Mouth. YUCK!! Laine has had quite a week. Last Wed. I noticed small spots in her bottom area, and by sunday there were spots on her face and all over her belly. I took her in on Monday and the doctor said she had blisters in her mouth as well. She was diagnosed with hand foot and mouth. She has had a fever and would not eat. also last week she had her flu shot, and then she cut her first tooth on friday. then this morning she cut her second one both are on the bottom. She looks so cute!! Its been a busy, cranky and basicly rough week. We are both contagious so we could not go anywhere. I think its comming to and end... She was in a fairly decent mood today. Laine has learned how to crawl up the stairs, yet the concept that she cannot sit back and turn around mid stair... well we are working on that one:) She keeps us so busy... she goes and goes and goes... maybe a nap and then goes and goes some more. Luckly by 7:30 she is ready for bed. :)

Lainey also gets to go for her first airplane ride in one week. Josh, Laine and I are going to go to Goodyear, AZ to visit josh's brother and sister-in-law. They have lived there three years and this is our first visit. We are looking forward to our first family vacation. Any airplane riding advice would be great. Hopefully laine does well.

troast family update

2007-10-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow bloggers!!

Im trying for the first time to update this blog. Josh usually does it but today im giving it a try. Laine is getting so big. she is over 19 pounds and is crawling and pulling her self up on everything. She is saying dadda and she is completly smitten with him. she adores just sitting in his lap and just looking at him. she is a true daddys girl. On saturday october 6 laine, daddy and mommy went out to mellema farm in Nunica to get pumpkins. Laine had so much fun,she tried a dounut, had a dirty, smelly pig lick her hand, she went on a hayride and with daddy and mommys help she picked a pumpkin from the patch. Hopefully i can get the pictures on here. If not just be paitent with me... i ll get it soon:)

ok its a mess...sorry

2007-10-08T08:26:00.000-07:00

hi again,
alright, i was able to figuare out the pictures... but they are all over the web page, now the side, in the middle.. but im going to leave it for now. enjoy!!

2007-05-23T19:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some new pics from Norm's family. On Mother's day Lainey got dedicated at church, it was a special day. Uncle Mark and Aunt Flora were in town from AZ and got to spend some time with Lainey. Lainey is growing she is pushing 14 lbs. and you can see the changes. She has discovered her hands and likes to suck on them. She also enjoys vegetable, especially carrots.

2007-03-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog. We are glad you came.