Trunk or Treat, Smell my Feet!

It’s October!  We love this time of year. Quinn is doing great in school .  I can’t believe how much he is excelling at reading. He really enjoys going to school, his favorite parts are recess and lunch.  Typical kid. Although I would argue that the library is also one of his favorites, he just loves getting to pick out a new book every week. Every week except last he has brought home a book about cats. Last week it was a book about snakes, but he told me today that he will bring home another book about cats today (Wednesday is library day!).  Last night we went to “Trunk or Treat” at his school. Basically you trick or treat around the back parking lot out of the teachers trunks. It was raining…and cold. Claire and Grant were shivering  but Quinn said, “This is the best Halloween ever!”.  Grant was wow’d that people just kept giving him suckers…for no reason! Quinn's class decorated a scarecrow for auction that was wearing a batman costume (just like him).  This weekend we will go to Zoo Boo at the local zoo and of course there is still trick or treating to come ON Halloween. 

 Quinn and Kurt got to go to the most recent Notre Dame home game.  He was pretty excited to get to go with daddy to something so big and exciting! He even got to be the victory push-upee  at 21 points!

Claire is really enjoying her pre-school as well.  She has made a couple of friends and really does learn something new every day! Both of her class field trips have been canceled due to rain but hopefully the “rain date” for the pumpkin patch will not be rained out either.

Grant is Grant.  What would we do without that crazy baby? He is really starting to talk a lot, showing some interest in being potty trained and he loves to eat!

We went to a pumpkin patch recently.  It had a great big corn maze, the kids had a good time. We went with some friends we have made here.  It’s always more fun with friends. The corn maze had trivia questions at around 20 stations you had to find.  We actually did okay as group considering none of us are from Indiana and therefore are not up on all of our Indiana history! Then everyone picked out a pumpkin, even Evie.

And in Evie news, things are still going well. We are 21 weeks pregnant now, just 19 more weeks to go…well, in my case make that 21 to go!

What's in a name?

We have chosen to name our little girl Evelyn Grace. Her name was chosen in part because we simply love the name Evelyn (we call her Evie) and also because there are inherent meanings behind each that are powerful to us. We’ll start with Evelyn. If you look it up many sites will tell you a different origin and ethnicity.  To me it is obvious. Evelyn comes from the name Eve which is Hebrew. Eve, means simply “life”. Grace. I almost didn’t go with this only because it is so popular.  I don’t like popular names and we know a few girls who either claim “Grace” as a first name or a middle name and it violates our personal set of rules about picking a name that is in our circle of friends or family. She is not named after anyone. Grace is a Latin name which means “in the manifestation of favor, in the sense of gratitude, or in God’s grace”.

When I found out last November that I was pregnant and I was so excited. I had the same due date as I had for the baby that I miscarried at 11 weeks two years previously. I really believed it was God’s way of…for lack of a better wording, giving that baby back to me. So to speak, that is. When I passed the 11 week mark and had my ultrasound and saw it and saw the heart beating it was the best feeling in the world. When I passed into the 2^nd trimester I breathed a sigh of relief. And then the baby died. And to make it worse Kurt was in Afghanistan.  So I sat by myself in the ER having three ultrasounds and listening to Dr’s tell me there was no more heartbeat. My friend Robyn insisted on coming to the hospital to sit with me when she found out why I was there and my friends Jesse and Nicole graciously watched my children all day. That’s why in the military friends become family. But still, that night, I went home and put the kids to bed by myself and was alone with my thoughts and hurt. No Kurt.  I had a very hard time talking to God about it let alone anyone else. I will never understand the big, “why”. I did learn this summer that I have a blood clotting disorder called a Protein S Deficiency. Having this disorder and not treating it during pregnancy can most certainly lead to miscarriage or stillbirth. I am now giving myself shots every day in my stomach of Lovenox, which is a blood thinner.  It prevents my blood from forming clots which prohibits blood flow through the placenta and to the baby. This is a strong contender for the reason I have had 4 miscarriages. And yet I have still had three healthy children, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “why couldn’t that one have been healthy too? Why did I have to endure that terrible and suffocating experience again?”

I went through a very difficult and dark time. It is a struggle to accept the loss of a pregnancy but particularly when it is the 4^th blow and was so truly unexpected when I believed it was a gift from above.

During this pregnancy, I have at times been filled with both anxiety and trepidation.  I am still having a hard time trusting and having faith. The end of February can’t come fast enough so I can see her sweet face. I never doubted God’s existence or His love. He never said we wouldn’t experience tragedy. He just gave us the tools and know-how that He is here. I am grateful that I know about God and His love. I know He has a plan, and it isn’t always what I have planned. I have to continually pray and cast my anxieties on Him. Before I even found out I was pregnant in June I had made her a pink blanket. I made it in faith.

We are naming her Evelyn Grace. Evelyn: for the life that is growing within me, her life.   And Grace: for the grace that God showed me when I couldn’t bring myself to talk to Him. For the grace and favor He is showing us in giving us this precious gift. And, Grace, to reflect our attitude of graciousness and thankfulness we feel that she is coming to join our family.  

1st Day of Kindergarten and other news...

We have a kindergartener!  Hard to believe, wasn’t I just changing his diapers and making his milk at bedtime?  He loves it too, not that I doubted he would.  Quinn has always been our social butterfly.  Even as a baby he would widen those baby blues and give the biggest grin to any stranger with a kind face.  I remember being stopped by strangers so they could tell me how beautiful my baby was.  And he was.  On his first day of kindergarten I decided to walk him to the building instead of dropping him off in the car rider line, (for his comfort of course) and when we got to the doors he looked at me and said, “Mom, I don’t want you to come in. I can go to my room by myself. Bye!”  WHAT?!?!  Okay okay, I needed the comfort of walking him in.  There were escorts waiting to take the kindergarteners in, he didn’t even look over his shoulder.  I am proud of him. He is smart, social, and independent.  I still don’t want to share him but alas I am WAY too disorganized for home schooling.  You know what he said on his 2^nd day? I was taking him to school, just him and I and he says, “Mom, let’s play ‘I Spy’”.  I said okay he could go first and he said, “I spy with my little eye…something special.”  Hmm, something special.  I asked if it was his awesome batman lunch bag with the cape but he said no. I asked if it was his super cool Transformer backpack but that wasn’t it either.  Since I couldn’t figure it out he said he’d tell me, “It’s you mom. You’re special.”  He makes me special, I love that little boy.

In other news….see picture below:

If you are scratching your head we get one last time to hear the pitter patter of little feet. (Except with Grant it is more like the stomping of little feet). This one is due at the end of February. We didn’t want to “make an announcement” till I reached the 2^nd trimester.  This pregnancy has not been without some complications but we are thrilled and blessed to get one more chance. What a marvelous thing the miracle of life is.

In the 2nd one you can see the little arm and hand by the face.  Precious.

Fare thee well Georgia

We have moved. I am proud to say that Kurt was accepted into the Active Duty Green to Gold program and is getting his MBA at Notre Dame!  July and early August were so chaotic and stressful for us.  We didn't get our orders till after the July midpoint and had to move 2 weeks from that date. Ere go, the Army couldn't do it for us.  They had so many people PCS'ing in and out of Fort Benning that there was no way they could make it happen.  ARGH. Have you ever packed up your entire house and loaded it on a truck in less than 2 weeks while taking care of 3 young kids?

Yea, it was a piece of cake.  We are very grateful for our friends who came an helped us pack and our friends who came and helped us load AND our friends who watched kids so we could do as much as we could without interruption.  We couldn't have survived those weeks without you.
While I am grateful to be on to bigger and better things it was bittersweet to leave the Georgia/Alabama area.  We had lived there for almost 4 years (that's a long time in Army life) and had certainly forged some meaningful friendships. I have been blessed in that I have kept in touch with alot of my Army wife friends who have moved on before. I hope and pray I will not lose touch with the key people who enriched my life there.  You know who you are. Quinn and Claire were sad to say goodbye to friends but excited to move on at the same time. 
I wish we had had more time to say goodbye's, it felt...incomplete leaving.  We do like the new area.  Kurt started classes today and Quinn starts Kindergarten this week (a blog will follow next week on that!). We sold our house in Alabama, PRAISE THE LORD!  We are renting a bigger house in Indiana.
In a nutshell, Hello Indiana, we look forward to everything you have to offer (I can't wait to make snowcream and snow angels!!) and goodbye Fort Benning, we will miss our amazing church, friends, delicious queso dip that El Vaquiero had to offer. 

Claire turned FOUR!!!

We always begin our summer with Claire's Birthday.  She is 4!  Holy cow, it was just yesterday I looked like shamu and could barely get my shoes on.  This year we celebrated by having a little party at an animal farm that had pony rides.  It was hot, but relaxing and I think everyone had a good time.  On her actual birthday Kurt was gone so I took her out to eat at Red Robin (her favorite place), got her fingers and toes painted, and let her pick out something at Target.  She chose a Scooby-Doo movie!  Here are a few pictures!

Dusting off the keyboard.

Yes, I have now established that I am not good at keeping up on blogging.  However, I have a renewed sense if interest in it! So I'll try, in a nutshell, to tell you what we have been doing the last almost 8 months (wow, 8 months??  I'm smacking my own hand now...ouch).

November- well, Gant turned one. ONE! Could he be more adorable? We also had Thanksgiving here at our house with friends David, Nicole and the boys.  Food was delicious!   It was so nice to share it with friends- in the military friends are "Military Family".  And, Quinn lost his first tooth!!!

December- Quinn turned 5!  My goodness.  It seems like just yesterday we were waiting for his arrival.  What a tremendous gift being parents is! Grant began walking a week or so before Christmas. Then, of course, there was Christmas!! It was WONDERFUL! We spent it here at home, opened stockings and presents and had Christmas dinner.  Got to talk with family and friends on the phone and webcam! Couldn't have been better.  It even snowed that evening!

After we turned a new year Kurt and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. We got to spend an evening at a local bed and breakfast and I got to eat chocolate covered espresso beans for the first time. YUM.  It was charming and perfect.  Thanks to my Mama who came and watched the kids overnight for us!

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day- I am a Sheehan still afterall! We had beer braised irish stew for dinner with a lovely potato and cabbage colcanon and of course, irish soda bread! Grant had tubes put into his ears and Kurt was assistant coach to Quinn and Claire's T-Ball team.  AND...we got the Cardinals.  Hilarious.  I was proud of Kurt for not choking when he put the t-shirt on.  Great job my love!

We celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ- thank you Lord for offering us salvation! I made superhero capes, and we had to say goodbye to friends and neigbors the Nichol's.  Dylan sure was Claire's best buddy.

We also spent a weeked in Destin which was absolutely lovely. Quinn graduated from Pre-K at the end of May....wow, a Kindergartener!  Claire graduated from pre-school so she is now an official Pre-K kid.  And Grant...well, we call that sweet baby Grantzilla for good reason!

So...that is a glimpse of us since October. I am committed to regualr updates now...because otherwise it takes too long to upload so many pictures!

We love October.

We love October. It's fall, break out the jackets, go to pumpkin patches, eat comfort food, gear up for the holidays! Halloween is around the corner, pick out fun costumes, we don't have to mow anymore and we get to eat those little mallow pumpkins (okay, maybe that's MY favorite).  Not to mention, Starbucks brings out the holiday flavors!!!  Come on, would this be MY blog if I didn't mention that??  Now, we live in Alabama.  So, we are definitely not wearing jackets (except when we first leave in the morning), by the time the kids get out of preschool it's hot, we are still wearing shorts. And, we still have to mow the grass AND we are still battling fire ant mounds in the yard.  These things are huge, do they have a building permit? But, we still love the fall.  The colors are beautiful, I still enjoy Starbucks (iced coffee on the really warm days!), going to the pumpkin patch (even in a tank top) and we love dressing up for Halloween. When I was a child I just loved fall, so even on the warm days I remember how cool and beautiful it was in the midwest.  October also means to me that it is almost time to celebrate Grant's and Quinn's birthdays. Not just opening presents and eating cake but celebrating their lives what a precious gift they are to me.  Thank you Lord for October and for the things I know it brings.

Milking a cow

Kurt and the big kids

Cow Train!

Grant loved the corn box!

Kurt and Grant swinging away

That cotton pickin' farm...

Wouldn't complete without a stick horse rodeo...

We went to a pumpkin patch this year called Paradise Pumpkin Patch in Eufala, AL.  Here is the link http://paradisepumpkinpatch.com/.