Tubes & Tummies!!!

So, I've learned something...NEVER go down a long, claustrophobic, winding tube tunnel slide with your almost two year old when you're UBER pregnant! (I'm now 31 weeks - I can't believe how quickly it is going!) Last night Kristi Bug and I had an adventure to our nearby park, and yes, I took her to the tallest slide and had her on my lap while I tried to lay down and go down that silly thing. When we got to the bottom, it was VERY hard to get up and out of the slide, and I had to sort of shimmy Kristi out of the slide and use my legs to get her down from the drop of a few feet so that she wouldn't crash. I was laughing as I tried to get up and knew that I'd have a good story to tell later on. Erik cracked up when I told him, and I guess he had the joy of sharing the slide story with his coworkers today, who got a chuckle out of it as well. After going down with Kristi, then she proceeded to (and I guess I let her) go up the playground equipment all by herself to the TOP slide again, two more times, and come down by herself. She had this kind of devious little grin on her face and kept checking with me, almost like she was thinking, "Mommy? I can't believe you're letting me do this!" The first time down was fine, and she laughed and laughed...but the second time down by herself, she must have gotten her footing off, and she kind of tumbled down the slide. Oops! I felt like a real dufus of a mama at that point, as my Bug seemed a little discombobulated from tumbling down the slide. Needless to say, that was the end of our night at the park, but Bug handled it very well and there were no tears shed. I now call her, "my independent one."

Must go get some sleep...blessings to all...

Must Read This Story...

I was directed to this blog through another blog that I read, and I am amazed by this story of a family whose fourth baby was found to have some serious health problems while in the womb...and her mama is so inspiring in what she writes here...when you get to the blog you can go back and start at the beginning of the story. This entry link below happens to have a slideshow of the baby Audrey after she was born.

http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html

incredible article...

Hey Friends,

I just happened to read this article about choosing life over abortion and thought it was very inspiring!

http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2008/marapr/9.28.html

I remember when Kristiana was just several weeks old and a young girl came to our door working for Planned Parenthood. She was of course looking for donations and asked me if I was pro-choice. I promptly replied with great conviction and joy, "No, I'm very much pro-life, especially now with my new daughter." She quietly watched Kristi & I and said, "Okay, I can understand why you would feel that way. I hope things go well with your new daughter." I really hope that she does understand. I have often thought of that girl and have asked God to help her to see why life is such a gift from HIM!!!

Thank you Lord, for giving us life. Life is such a vapor. Please help us to respect life and to cherish life. Amen.

Hi!

Well, I haven't posted in a bit so I figured it was time! Here's the update on life from our home:

Last weekend we had our first ER adventure with Little Bug. She had Croup and was barking like a seal at 1:15 AM on Saturday morning, then threw up and was just generally having a hard time breathing. I called the Dr. and he said that if she was in a lot of distress to take her in to the ER, so we did that. On the way there, Bug started to feel better because of breathing in the cold air. We went in and they gave her a steroid to help relieve the inflammation in her larynx and then offered her a Popsicle, which she proclaimed after one lick was "too cold!" She's going through a phase where things are always too hot or too cold. Anyway, I'm glad that we went. Children's Hospital in St. Paul is wonderful. They really had so many neat tricks to help our little one stay calm. The whole time we were there, I kept thinking about all the people we know who make many many trips to the ER with their children on a regular basis...and I can't imagine how difficult it must be for those families.

Bug has had an icky cold all week, but I think she's starting to feel a little better. Our weather has been changing a lot too, so that might be part of it. In fact, as I type this, we're having more SNOW!!!!!! I thought for sure it was done a few weekends ago, but I should've known better!

Also, I had a fun little weekend trip to Houston a few weeks ago to visit friends. One dear friend is getting married, so I went for her bridal shower. I also had the privilege of staying with my voice teacher, his lovely wife, and their teenage son for a few days and it was great to catch up with them. Then I spent one night with my girls from grad. school and we had a really nice time together as well! It was fun to take one last trip before baby comes in July.

I'm starting to get a little swollen and hoping that Preeclampsia isn't setting in. If you think of it, I would appreciate your prayers over this matter. I'm a bit nervous about getting the illness again, but at least this time I'm much better prepared to understand what is going on if something should happen.

Have a great weekend!

Charleston Pics

Here are some photos from our vacation in Charleston, which was a month and a half ago now!!! Geepers - I'm slow at getting pictures onto the computer. But that's because I can never remember how to do it. Erik has to help me! Thanks Honey!

Picture #1: At Fort Sumter, which is on a little tiny island, holding only the Fort.
Picture #2: Cherry Blossoms at the Magnolia Plantation & Gardens.
Picture #3: An alligator and his turtle friends, resting in the sun on the lovely 65 degree day at the plantation gardens.
Picture #4: Preggy Melody at the Gardens.
Picture #5: Melody & Erik in the swampy part of the Gardens...VERY cool.

If you have never been to Charleston, South Carolina, we would highly recommend it as a lovely place to visit! It was rejuvenating for our marriage to take a little vacation, just the two us. I'm so thankful that we could do that. Frequent flyer miles are SO helpful!!!!!!! I guess that is one benefit of Erik having to travel sometimes.