Praying

Praying for my children should not be a thing I take lightly, but yet I have. I have made it a job instead of a passion and a joy. I have wasted time, and I have be self seeking. I am honored that God has tenderly reminded me of this wonderful calling He has given me. Being a mom is so much more than meeting my kids daily needs. It is a journey of getting to parent with God to help bring out all that God has for them on this side of eternity. Thank you God, for this honor.

LOST

So, yes, I am way behind on my posting! My laptop is out of order and I am not a fan of the desk top. So once the laptop is back and running I will be back. Have fun in the blog world in the mean time. Lots of love to all my readers :)

Trying to take cute Christmas pictures...

Better luck next year.

Karis & Lexie hanging out

The Perfect Storm - Part 2

(This blog is part two of my last post)

So I am in very bad pain due to this headache. Before long the nurses figured out that my headache was not due to bad sleeping arrangements but the epidural. Next thing I know I am having something done called a "blood patch." What they do is take blood out of your arm and put it in your spine. Sounds easy enough, right? After the epidural the last thing I wanted was someone sticking something in my back again. I was very nervous about the whole thing. Well, I made it through it without squeezing Eric's hand off but I did make him almost pass out. When the doctor was done he told me to roll over onto my back. So... here I go. Keep in mind he said it would not hurt. So as I turned over I felt very intense pain. I let out a very loud scream, a scream that Eric said about made him pass out! So, needless to say, it DID hurt. I was told that I should stay on my back for between 30 minutes and 4 hours. So guess how long I stayed there? You guessed it, I laid there for 4 hour flat on my back, but when I got up the headache was gone. It was wonderful!!! So now that the headache was gone and I could focus on Karis. By this time she was doing much better. She was eating, breathing well and gaining weight. Two days later we were on our way home. So is life getting back to normal? NO!!! Come back to hear about one silly monkey and yet another hospital stay.

The Perfect Storm - Part 1

WARNING this blog will have whining in it. If you are not in the mood to hear my pity party please feel free to skip this post!

So in the last two weeks the Foster-Whiddon household has been through an ordeal. It all started with Karis' birth. I was a scheduled c-section. Things were going good. The IV went in with no trouble. (Which never happens!) The cursed catheter did not have to go in till I had the wonderful epidural. Wonderful... at least I thought it was. Well, the man that was putting it in was having a bit of a hard time on this particular day. It was taking too long to do and hurting a little too badly. Finally my leg went numb. Finally! So we mozied on and here came Karis. She was great! Really hairy but great. She was then wisked away by the ladies in the green clothes. I was taken to a nice room with lots of warm blankets, a machine that blowed warm air and lots of other machines that beeped. Before I knew it I was in a room but there was no Karis. I am very eager to hold and feed my baby. Eric informs me that she has fluid in her lungs. This leads to her having to be on oxygen and stay in the hospital longer than planned. So of course I am very hormonal and I am missing my other three babies badly. So somewhere around day two I get the worst headache. Come to find out it came from my wonderful epidural friend.

Well that is enough whining today. Come back in a few days to hear about a blood patch and one bad scream.

We Are Home

Karis and I are home. I thank all of you for your prayers and support. We are now trying to figure out our new normal as a family of six. I am excited to see what God has in store for The Foster-Whiddons. Here are so pictures of our sweet KO (this is her nickname that eric and lexie call her)

Nesting Nessa!

OK... time for another update! Karis continues to make progress. She has been off of oxygen for a couple of days now and is breathing well for the most part. She has been stepped down from level 2 to intermediate nursery, which means she's not coming to the room yet but has graduated from the big beds with the heat lamps to a bassinet. She has started nursing and seems to be doing well with that. She has come off of her antibiotics but is still on an IV until the doctor is sure that she's getting everything she needs via nursing. She has a slight case of jaundice and is on a biliblanket still. From time to time she is still breathing faster than she should and the pediatrician said he needs to see her breathe at a normal rate for at least 24 hours straight before he'll send her home. He said we should plan on taking her home on Thursday or Friday at the earliest. This is later than we hoped for, but we want Karis to get all the attention she needs before we go home with her. We are also reminded of several of our friends who have spent months in the hospital with their infants and have a new sympathy for what they have been through.

Vanessa has been discharged as a patient. Because Karis is not ready to come home yet, Vanessa is now considered a "nesting mother" and is allowed to stay in a room (as long as one is available), eat from the cafeteria and be close to the baby until she's ready to leave. Vanessa is not getting any treatment from the nurses or doctors at this point... which actually helps with resting through the night! She's doing well. She developed a spinal headache as a complication from her spinal anesthesia but was treated and is feeling well now.

I am living between home and the hospital and am very appreciative of all the prayers and calls on our behalf. Thanks for loving us well. Please keep praying that Karis' breathing will get easier and she'll get beyond this rough start.

P.S. - Vanessa is in room 237A at Tift Regional Hospital. She can be reached directly by calling 353-4237.

5 Things Mom & Dad Miss About being Home with the Hyphen Nation

MOMMY'S LIST
1. Holton's hand down my shirt
2. Zoe saying, "I still hungy."
3. Foot-rubs from Lexie
4. Late-night Spongebob watching in my bed
5. Rescuing the girls from the Snoring Ninja (Holton)

DADDY'S LIST
1. The kid stampede when I get home from work
2. Toting Zoe to her bedroom like a baby after her bath
3. Putting Holton to bed after late-night Spongebob watching
4. Kisses and cuddling with Lexie
5. Vanessa's good cooking!

We can't wait to bring Karis home to her Hyphen Nation! She'll be on the list soon...

Please Pray Today

Things are still going well with Karis but she has hit a minor bump in the road. Here's the good news: she has come COMPLETELY off of oxygen and her breathing is doing much better! They have also removed the feeding tube from her throat and replaced it with one through her nose that won't gag and aggravate her. Less than good news: she's not progressing quite as quickly as the doctor would like to see. She is still retracting a little when she breathes and the second set of x-rays still show some stuff in her lungs. She also has something going on with her bowels that could be causing some stomach problems and preventing her from digesting her milk like she should. Because of these things, the doctor is keeping her in the nursery another day and feeding her only through IV - no nursing with her mom or even getting milk through the tube. The doctor has consulted with another doctor at the NICU in Macon and they feel that it's best to give her another day to move things along through her intestines and let her lungs mature some more. Of course, this makes us very sad, but we want Karis to get everything she needs while she's here. We don't want to rush anything or move her to the next stage before it's time.

She also has slightly elevated bilirubin levels, causing a minor case of jaundice. Since she's already in the nursery, they put her on a biliblanket and under a light to help her body break down the bilirubin and get rid of it.

The doctor said that the situation hasn't changed - we're still dealing with the same diagnosis and it will resolve itself. She's just taking her precious time! This condition is common in C-section babies but most of them are off oxygen and are nursing by now; because Karis is taking longer than usual she is out of the range of "normal" for this condition. The doctor has mentioned a couple of times that her age may have been a little off... it is possible that she wasn't a full 38 weeks when she was born, which would explain the extra time needed for all of this.

Please pray for Karis today. Pray that her lungs will clear up and her intestines will move along like normal.

We've added a few more pictures to our Facebook photo album. Check out the link in the "Detour" post.

Detour

So... we've had some minor complications with Karis. She retained some fluid in her lungs during delivery and she is in the nursery getting help with her breathing until her body can absorb the fluid. She's making steady progress and should be out of the nursery soon, but we're looking at a slightly extended hospital stay.

We've also been having problems with photos not wanting to load to Blogger, so I'm including a link to our photo album on Facebook. It's a public album - you don't need a Facebook membership to view it.

The Hyphen Nation welcomes Karis!!!

This is Eric filling in for his lovely wife as we hang out at Tift Regional Hospital after the arrival of our fourth baby, Karis Olivia Foster-Whiddon! She was born on October 30 at 2:19PM and weighed 7lbs and 10oz. I'm not sure how long she was (I know - horrible father!), but her fingers and toes are longer than mine! Not really... but she should be well-equipped for some musical instrument.

These are pictures from pre-delivery on Thursday morning.

KARIS

Tomorrow is the big day. We are so looking forward to seeing the new Foster-Whiddon child. As soon as we get back up on our feet I will post pictures. Thank you for your prayers. Karis is on her way.

Behind - Oh My!

I am so behind on my blogging that I don't know where to start. I have so much I want to share! First of all, I am very excited that our Karis with be here next Thursday. We are all counting down the days! Even our little three-year-old, Zoe, is counting the days. I will go in for a C-section on Thursday and hopefully will be home by the end of the weekend. Sounds fun, right! Well, speaking of fun, this year we went back to Mark's Melon Patch. We had a great time! We were able to go with some great friends that made the trip even better.

We started the day with some playground fun.







Then we moved on to the pumpkins and the cute little stands they had set up.





Then it was time for a good ol' sack dinner.



We let the kids play a bit more, then it was time to head out. We know it is a good trip for the kids if there is whining on the way to the car and sleeping on the way home! We had both, so I guess it was a great trip for the Foster-Whiddon kids & their friends.

Mark's Melon Patch Visit

We are planning our yearly trip to Mark's Melon Patch. The kids are so excited. We have a few friends that are going with us this year and I believe we are going to have a great time. As I was going through some old pictures I found a few photos of a previous visit to "the patch." The baby in these pictures is Zoe and that cute little girl is Lexie. Man, how they have grown up! I hope this visit will make great memories for our family.

Love

Last Sunday the family went to see the movie Fireproof (minus Holton, he had a grandparent day). We had a great time! The movie had me crying in the first five minutes and I did not stop till it was over. This is truly a movie that should be watched at home so you can do the "ugly cry" and not feel bad about it.

Off and on this past week I have thought about the movie and I have thought about my husband. I have thought about how good he is to me. No, he does not get it right every time and there are times we have to push through tough things, but most of the time there is such a peace in our relationship. The thing is I don't think about the blessing of that peace till the hard times come. I tend to take for granted a husband that helps to cook and clean; a husband that will let me call him more than a hundred times a day when I have nothing to say; a husband that makes time to play with our children; a husband that makes time to go to the doctor with his pregnant wife; a husband that does not fuss about much... he just helps. Not only does he help, he shows me love. Today I am choosing to see the love my husband has for me and our family. Today I am choosing to praise God for the peace and unity in my marriage on a daily basis. The enemy is all too quick to make things look worse in the hard times and not good enough when things are going good. My marriage is one of the greatest gifts God has given me and I believe that in the ordinary day God is showing me His extraordinary love through my husband. I choose to see that. I choose to see that the love that my husband and my God have for me is the greatest thing ever.

(Thank you Father and thank you Eric!)

"Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame." Song of Solomon 8:6

Fall Fun

My family loves fall. Here are a few of their favorite things:

Boiled peanuts

Cool mornings and nights

The way the air smells

The cotton fields

The slow tractors on the road

The pumpkin patch

Vegetable soup

Fall clothes (My kids wear them even when it's hot!)

Bales of hay

Fall decorations

Speaking of fall decorations, my kids have helped to make our dining room very festive. We love to make homemade things here at the Foster-Whiddon house. So... we made chair covers using plain white pillowcases. We used freezer paper to make stencils for their names. I ironed them on and they went to town with the paint! We then glued felt leaves on and these cute little Indian people that we got from Hobby Lobby.



The centerpiece was made with tissue flowers. We put down a brown runner on the table then we used another white pillowcase. We folded it in half and decorated it with a stencil, felt leaves and cute little birds. We got the idea for the birds from my favorit place, FamilyFun!



It is so much fun to let your kids be part of the process of decorating. Not all of the things they work on are going to look like Martha Stewart... some my look better! :) lol There is a lot of joy in having a visitor come in and your child say "Hey - come look at what I made!" Fall is full of many great things and many great memories.

Made To Party

My family loves to have parties. We are in the planning stage right now for our fall party. The girls are so excited about going to the pumpkin patch and having family over. I love to build these memories for my kids. I feel it is important to celebrate life and have fun with the kids for no real reason but the simple act of enjoying life. Before I get into all our plans for this party I thought I should probably post about our last party. Zoe got to have a tea party while Daddy and Lexie were gone to summer camp. She loved every minute of it! Holton just enjoyed the food :) To read more about the party and see picture you can clickhere.

"What We Do Tomorrow?"

"Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

So here comes a new week, a week of new challenges and a week of new joys. I have a whole list of "to-dos" and things I want to accomplish. As we put my three-year-old down for bed tonight she asks the same question she asks every night... "What we do tomorrow?" She is most definitely a kid that likes to know what is going to take place; she likes to have something to look forward to. Most of the time my reply is "We are going to do school, play outside, eat lunch and maybe we will paint." (She loves to paint.) She smiles her sweet smile and acts as if I have just planned the best day ever... just for her. With great joy and excitement she says "Goodnight!"

So tonight as I think of the list of things I will be doing tomorrow I want to stop and ask myself, "What is going to make my family feel the most fulfilled at the end of the day?" Is it going to be having the whole house cleaned? Or is it going to be having all our school work done? No fight, no messes and every kid playing nicely? The truth is most days don't go like this at all. A lot of times at the end of the day I wonder, "God did you call me to do all these things? Because it does not seem like I can get it all just right."

As I read this verse tonight I see more clearly what God is calling me to do tomorrow. It is as if I am laying down to sleep and I am asking my Father "What we do tomorrow?" and He says back to me, "We are going to rejoice for this is a new day that I have made for you. We are going to be in conversation all day. Anything you need, just talk to me. And tomorrow, Vanessa, in everything give me thanks. Give me thanks for the small things, for the big things, for the bad things and the good things. This is my will for you tomorrow. This is my plan for you. Walk in it and it will be a perfect day." I look up to my Father with great joy and excitement and say, "Goodnight!"

This is indeed a new week to walk in freedom by remaining close to our Father.

Stamping Around

The last couple of days I have been laying around a lot. I am now 31 weeks pregnant and I am starting to have some small contractions. So in an attempt to not end up in the hospital I am taking it easy. Well, while I have been taking it easy I have found many cool ideas on the wonderful web! One of those ideas is making stamps. When I saw how easy it seemed I headed right out for some pink erasers and an X-acto knife. The first letter I tried was an O. I lost hope at the beginning because it did not look pretty at all, but the amazing thing is that it works! So I pressed on and I did Zoe's name. I found out that it is easy but the stamp part is not as pretty as I would like it to be. So I am moving on to Alexis' name and hoping I can do a better job with it. In the end they will have their own stamps and I did not pay a fortune for them - not to mention I had fun making them. Here is the site where I got most of my information from.