What? I haven't blogged since February??! *Gasp*

So many new things to report in the Humphries Home.

Ella has 6 teeth and is cutting her molars this week. Overall, she doesn't complain much, but does wake up in the middle of the night wanting a bottle. Usually after a tooth breaks through, she goes back to sleeping all night that next day. So everyday I'm peeking in her gummy mouth and praying for those bad boys to come through. Go, teeth, GO! Ella also has begun the constant baby babble and I just adore it! She says "Baba" and knows it means "bottle" and has said "Mama" and "Dada", but I don't think she knows what those mean yet. She's still perfectly content to sit and observe others without being interested in crawling or rolling around. I know she can, but just chooses not too. :) The other day at the gym, I sat her on the floor in the nursery and came back an hour later to find that she hadn't budged one inch. The nursery workers laughed and said she just sat there and played with a few toys while she watched the busyness around her.

Now Mr. Aaron, on the other hand, has enough energy for both kids combined! Oh, to be 3 again.
We started T-ball this year and he is loving it. He takes his role on the team very seriously and has smacked some awesome line-drives every time he goes to bat. Daddy is super proud.

I had no idea how much time we would be investing into this thing! Oh my word. Three (sometimes 4) nights a week seems a bit too extreme for a 3-4 year old league.

But he loves it and it's totally worth it.

Well, we did it. It's booked. In less than 4 weeks we will be cruising on the turquiose waters of the Carribean with no cell phone service, no laptops and no children for 7 whole days. Our stopping ports include: Montego Bay, Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Cozumel. We really need this time away. It's going to be so fun.


Cozumel


Montego Bay, Jamaica


Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Now to work on my tan and get my six pack back!! Well...at least my tan! :)

Diet Vanilla Dr. Pepper

Oh, life's little luxuries! On afternoons while Aaron is at school and I get done with work by noon, I steal some "me" time. Usually these outings are just much needed trips to places like Target or the mall. I stroll down the aisles toting only my baby girl in her stroller and relishing the time where I don't have to power walk to complete my shopping list while juggling a baby and a 3 year old who is attracted to anything shiny or electronic.
Since I have to pick Aaron up at school at 2:30, I almost always drive by a Sonic right smack dab in the middle of HAPPY HOUR. :) I think the carhops know me as Mrs. Diet Vanilla Dr. Pepper Lady. Isn't it funny how some of the silliest and simplest things become a mini-vacation and almost a guilty pleasure? So that's my weekly little getaway.

Ella Claire will be 7 Months old NEXT WEEK. This is my absolute favorite age. She is sitting up securely, responds to us with the sweetest smiles and giggles, sleeping all through the night (7:30-7:30), takes two LONG daytime naps (one while big brother takes his...which means more ME TIME!), content to sit in her bouncer or take a ride in her stroller, and just so easygoing! She's not in the "getting into everything" stage yet because she hasn't begun to scoot around or roll everywhere. Yes, this is by far the easiest, most enjoyable baby age.

We signed Aaron up for T-ball a few weeks ago and he asks every single day "When is my game?" It's going to be a long 6 weeks...
I started doing what we call "schoolwork" every other morning with Aaron. I have a Preschool workbook which is a really neat book that focuses on how to trace letters and learn the sounds of the letters. He loves it! Aaron has been an avid lefty, but I am trying to train him to write with his right hand. He seems to not care and is doing great. He knows all his letters by sight and can spell his name out loud. Such a smart boy. It's interesting to see his learning pattern. It's a mix between Thomas and myself. Unlike me, Aaron likes to take his time. Unlike Thomas, Aaron doesn't care much for detail. So we end up with tracing the letter "B" for 10 minutes only to end up with a mixture between an 8 and Q....

Oh I am SO glad to see the warm sun again! Today was the first day in awhile that Aaron didn't have to go outside with multiple layers on and then come inside with a dripping nose. Best bud, Deron came to play and those boys had so much fun together.

Thomas and I are ready for a getaway. Oh we need it so bad. He has been working so hard lately. By the time we get the kids in bed, we are both ready to crash in bed from exhaustion. His day is spent with long phone calls, meetings and project details while mine is spent keeping the children and house in order while balancing a part-time job. We both love our life and jobs, but it's been almost a year since our last "just us" getaway. Ella is in the process of being weaned (that third tooth did me in), so I am hoping to make time for that in the next couple months.
Our birthdays are both coming up soon...hmmm...

No place like it.

It's so good to be home. After 5 nights in a hospital, we finally came home on Sunday evening to our softer beds, tastier food and best of all, A HEALTHY BABY!
Ella's spinal tap results showed everything to be perfectly normal. By Sunday morning, her white count was down to a stone cold normal count of 7,000, fever completely GONE and she began nursing like a pro!! The first night we were home Ella slept 13 hours straight through the night. I'm sure she was relieved to not be interuppted every few hours with blood drawing pokes, breathing treatments, nose suctioning and just uncomfortable "messing with". During those 6 days, Ella went through 9 blood draws/pricks, a spinal tap, an IV in her forehead and a chest x-ray. Thankfully, she is a baby and already doesn't remember the ordeal. We'll only remember it as a powerful testimony of God's incredible faithfulness and healing power.

At her follow-up appointment on Tuesday, Ella's pediatrician still could not put a name on what happened. I smiled and said that it didn't matter to me because she is healed now! She said Ella looked like a different baby than what was in the hospital. Ella went from lathargic, feverish and whimpering to energetic, smiling and sitting up! She remained on a breathing treatment until last night and I put it away in faith this morning (for both kids!). I am believing that it will begin collecting dust on it due to lack of use. :)

Update

Whew! What a week. I'm sure if you are reading this, you have some idea what's been going on this week, but here's a recap.

Sunday night-Ella began running a fever. I wrote it off as a common teething symptom.

Monday-Ella continued to run a pretty high fever which I was able to control with Motrin every 6 hours. Aaron was going on a week of needing his breathing treatment and was having a hard time sleeping due to wheezing, coughing and congestion in his chest, so I went ahead and scheduled an appointment for both kids on Tuesday morning. Ella's fever rose to 103.7 that night and she started coughing.

Tuesday morning-I took both kids to our pediatrician at 9:30. She increased Aaron's breathing treatment to a higher dosage and put him on an antibiotic. She checked Ella's ears, throat, nose and chest and all sounded/looked normal. She could hear a rattle in her chest, but nothing really that would cause such high fever. She sent Ella across the street to the lab for some outpatient tests (Flu/Swine Flu/RSV, etc) and Thomas came to bring Aaron home for lunch. I stayed with Ella as they drew her blood (It took 3 pokes and moving the needle around in her arm to find a vein-very hard for a mommy to watch). Then they took a sample from her nose to check for RSV. Finally, with a very exhausted baby and a very hungry mommy that skipped breakfast, Ella and I got home around 1pm. I laid her down in her bed and she immediately fell asleep.
With both kids taking a nap, I weighed my options. 1) unload the dishwasher and start a much needed load of laundry OR 2)Crash on the couch with a Lean Pocket and try to take a nap. I chose option 2! My phone rang at around 2:00 from the Dr. saying that Ella's white blood count came back at 30,000, which was significantly higher than the normal count of 12,000. She had tested negative for all the other tests. Basically, since she was running such a high fever and her white count was so high, we knew there was an infection-just didn't know where! She told me to go ahead and bring Ella to the hospital so they could run a few more tests and do a chest xray.
SO, I left Aaron sleeping in his bed with my mom downstairs, packed a few things in Ella's diaper bag and headed to the hospital.
The hardest part of this whole thing was that afternoon. I had to sit in her hospital room and listen to her scream for an hour while they worked on her a few doors away. They couldn't get the IV in, so the ended up having to put it in her forehead. When they got her back, I just held her and loved on her.

Wednesday-Blood count was down to 24,000, still kept fever controlled with medicine, very fussy and restless. She nursed and ate veggies for lunch, but then refused me or any other food after that all day and all night. Still coughing and congested, they put her on a breathing treatment every 4 hours.

Thursday-Blood count was back up to 26,000 and we had to give her Motrin/Tylenol every 3 hours to control the fever from spiking up. Still fussy and still didn't nurse/eat all day (I'm pumping to keep my supply going). At 5:00 she was running high fever and whimpering, but did a complete turn around by 7:00 she was happy, laughing and fever free. Dr. called off scheduled spinal tap. Her doctor said she had been praying all day for Ella and I can tell she truly believes in the power of prayer. How awesome is it to have a Christian pediatrican? WONDERFUL. She said if Ella goes 24 hours without needing Motrin/Tylenol for fever, then we can go home!

Today-Ella slept well until about 4am then had a fever spike. She tossed and cried softly for a couple hours then fell back to sleep. This morning she was happy for about an hour and even took a few bites of rice cereal. Her white count was WAY down to 15,000 Still won't nurse. So it's been 48 hours since her last feeding. Dr. ordered a spinal tap for this afternoon. She won't be on call this weekend and wants to rule out anything else with the spinal tap.

What can you do for us? Pray for these things:

1) She gets an appetite and begins nursing.
2) That this fever FLEES and stays away.
3) Spinal tap results come back normal.
4) White count continues to fall to the normal 12,000.
5) Cough subsides and congestion in her chest loosens.
6) REST for all of us. Resting in a hospital is...well...resting in the hospital!
7) Complete continued healing for Aaron. He's happy and active, but still needing his breathing treatment for cough/congestion in his chest.


~This morning as I was getting ready, I was praying and just asking God why we can't just find out WHAT is causing this? That's what bothers me the most is just not knowing! But as soon as I began asking Him that, I felt Him speak to my heart and say that there isn't a "name" on her situation because HE is the Name above all names and that since we are not recieving any "names" or diagnosis then we aren't going to find what that "name" is! How awesome is that? The doctor can't even find out what is causing this, because we don't receive sickness in Jesus Name. By HIS stripes, she is healed and whole.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks so much for your faith-filled prayers for us. Thomas and I are great. We have gotten to spend alot of time together in the room, just talking and being with each other.

Be blessed.

Kids

My sweet Aaron Paul. He has such a big heart. He has become incredibly sensitive if he sees someone hurt or upset. There is a commercial that comes on where it shows a woman soldier being welcomed home by her little boy and tears are streaming down her cheeks and she embraces her little boy that she probably hasn't seen in awhile. Whenever Aaron sees that commercial he runs to me with concern in his big brown eyes and asks, "Mom why is she crying?" His little lip quivers as I explain that she had to be away from her family for a little bit to help our country but now she is home and those are happy tears!
There are times in the day where I love to drop what I'm doing and just go give him a big bear hug! He usually responds with "Mom, I love you THIS much!" And proceeds to stretch his arms out as wide as humanly possible. I'm pretty sure that affirmation or physical touch is his love language.

I am realizing more than ever why Jesus referred to having "childlike faith."
Just now as I was opening up my computer, Aaron was playing his new Star Wars Lego Game and casually commented, "Hey Mom, someday I'm gonna ride in a spaceship." Then went right back to his play. It wasn't a question or a suggestion, but a stated fact. And I'm sure nothing I could have said would've swayed him from that dream.
Another example: This morning Aaron ran in our bedroom at 4am stating that he was ready for breakfast. Of course, it was WAY too early so I was about to pick him up and take him back to his bed. He fussed and asked for Daddy to take him, but I told him that Daddy wasn't feeling well (allergies). To that, Aaron said, "Well we can pray for him to be better!" I agreed and we took a minute to pray for Daddy's healing.
"OK! Now he's better so he can take me to bed!" Aaron cheerfully informed us.
Isn't that precious? To be so confident that it's that simple. As adults, the concept doesn't change, but our thinking becomes more and more limited. I'm learning from my 3 year old!!
Aaron still continues to be a adoring older brother and speaks so tenderly towards his baby sister. He loves to go in her room when she wakes up and greet her with a "Good Morning Sugar Bear!!!" Ella's eyes light up at that wake-up greeting and she pumps her legs in excitement. Too cute. I need to videotape that someday soon...it's SO CUTE.

Speaking of the EllaBear, she is growing and changing every single day. We started veggies along with rice cereal and she is now up to 2 veggies a day. There hasn't been anything she turned her nose up at. She's sleeping wonderfully and usually wakes up around 5 or 6 to eat, but then goes back to sleep for a couple more hours. She was sick for the first time last week with some very minor congestion. I also can literally see two little teeth just below the surface of her gums and am waiting for them to break through any day.
Last week I packed up all her 0-6 month clothes in a LARGE bin and nearly shed a tear from the reality that my baby girl is growing up too fast. Is she really about to be 6 months?? Whew. I've said this a million times: TIME FLIES!

Happy New Year!!!!

As I begin typing, I hear the laundry timer buzzing, my phone vibrating to remind me of something that needs to be done and the constant hum of the monitor reminding me that it's only a matter of time before the kids wake up from their naps.
SO, ready, set BLOG! :) Excuse any run-on sentences, bad grammer or spelling errirs! (Haha)

2009 is done. Whew. It actually was a rough year for me personally for many reasons. Even though I was heavily leaning on the Lord, my relationship with Him was becoming less intimate. I hated that. Everytime I would press in deeper, I felt a gentle tugging on my heart to release everything to Him, but it meant that I would have to let go of some hurt, bitterness and anger that was deeply hidden in my heart. I didn't want to emotionally have to peel away every layer and expose every area of my heart to be healed. Some things were fresh, while most were buried from several years ago. I could put on my "happy pastor's wife face" but I know that people see right though that. It was time for a reality check. How could I not trust my Father? Hasn't He always shown incredible tenderness towards me? Then I realized a big part of the problem was knowing that once all that junk was let go, I wouldn't have any excuse to hide behind or any way of justifying my feelings and emotions. I would have to be raw and vulnerable. That's a hard thing for me....for any woman, I imagine!

But it's a new year, and with that comes new things. Freshness. Expectancy. Hope.
I started to blog last week and typed in circles for an hour before shutting my laptop in frustration. Since then, there has been breakthrough in some areas for me emotionally and I am SO SO glad for new years!! :) The Potter's Hand is pressing me. And it feels so good.

Recent News: We stuck a "For Sale By Owner" sign in our front yard on Saturday to test the market and see if anyone nibbles. Suprisingly, the real estate market has gone UP recently and it would be a great time to sell ours. We bought low, fixed it up a bit and are ready to sell high. So we'll see! I feel excitement in my spirit that the Lord is about to burst through and show us amazing favor. There is such peace about the whole thing too...another reason I know we are in the right position. BTW, we are not planning on relocating anywhere besides Abilene. For this season, we still believe that Abilene is our home.

Our kids are doing wonderful. More on them in another blog. I'm off to fold another load of laundry...Be Blessed.

Here you go...

It's been quite a while since I've last blogged! Have you missed me? :)

Oh my, where to start?
My Ella Bear is growing up way too fast. Has it really been almost 4 months? Her little personality is showing up in new ways every day. Ella loves people. She is perfectly content to sit in your lap and carry on a conversation with baby coos and sweet gummy smiles. She hates being alone (unless it's naptime) and doesn't seem to like her carseat very much as of recently. She loves her brother. My heart melts to mush when I hear Aaron walk up to her and say in a high-pitched-love-voice, "Hiiii Sugar Bear!" Ella returns his affection with a big smile and occasional giggle.

Aaron. Oh my. He has become quite the busy boy lately. I don't know if it's the newness of having a baby in the family or just the fact he is 3 years old, but he has become increasingly LOUDER over the past couple months. He has two volumes: loud and louder. Oh yes, and the second his eyes pop open in the morning, he is on the go. He is alot like me when it comes to thriving on a schedule. He always asks me, "What are we doing today Mom?" and he will hold me to that schedule. New pastimes of his include: digging in his sandbox, painting with water-colors and helping me cook (cracking eggs is his favorite!). Potty-training finally lies in the past. Ahhh...FREEDOM!!

Me. Recently, I have been cooking more! And I love it. There is something about sitting around the table as a family and eating together. You talk, you listen and it just feels sweet.

Thomas. My husband has such a eye and vision for new business plans or ideas. I have to remind him to turn off his brain at night because I can literally feel him thinking. Have you ever felt that as a wife? I know that there is a calling on his life in the marketplace. It's exciting for me to wonder what our lives will look like in 5 or 10 years...but at the same time I am really learning to support my husband and encourage his dreams-not quench them. I am such a realist and a detail thinker! When living with a visionary, I have to be SO careful to not let his ideas stress me out by sorting though all the possible scenarios. We are good for each other. It's just tricky sometimes trying to find a good balance.

The holidays are coming!!! OOOHHH, I love this time of year!! The fireplace roaring, baking yummies, comfy sweaters, cute socks and slippers, trying to keep hats on squirming children....fun times are coming!

Thanks for reading!