Elizabeth-ism

This happened about a week ago, while driving in the van. All five of us were in our assigned spots, and Aunt Shannon had squeezed into the back seat, between the cubby hold and Elizabeth monstrous car seat. As frequently happens, we smelled that lovely aroma of skunk. Elizabeth and Micah are always quick to tell me that Benjamin is poopy at this point, so I beat them to the punch, and asked if they smelled the skunk. Elizabeth assured us that she did smell the skunk, and proceeded to tell Aunt Shannon what they should do if a skunk should "toot" on them. Bewildered, I asked her how she knew to use tomato juice to get rid of the skunk smell. "I saw it on Curious George. I really hope a skunk never toots on me."

For Elizabeth and Micah

Elizabeth and Micah,

Your brother misses you so much! I think that he will be very happy to see you tomorrow, when you get home!

Benjamin enjoyed looking at the pictures of you guys at Grandma and Grand-Daddy's house, and wanted me to post some pictures of him for you. Here's a picture of what Benjamin was doing today... wearing Elizabeth's old Elmo slippers! He thought he was a very big boy. Before he wore the Elmo slippers, he tried to wear Micah's train slippers. He only had on one, and it was too big!
And Elizabeth, look at how big the lion has gotten! I had to move him out of the cup and into this bowl. And now, the lion has almost gotten too big for the bowl. Daddy and I heard that if you leave the lion out of the water, he will get small again. Isn't that funny!?!
Mommy and Daddy are so glad that you guys have had such a fun time in Kansas! We have really enjoyed seeing the pictures that Grandma and Grand-Daddy sent, talking to you on the phone, and on the computer, but we are really excited to see you tomorrow!

We love you both bunches and bunches!

Mommy

The big kids

My Dad posted a few pictures of what the kids have been up to during their time in Kansas. Go see all the fun they are having!

from 3 to 1

Did you know that Elizabeth and Micah are currently spending some time with their grandparents and aunt in Kansas? The whole even happened rather quickly. My parents and sister were in town for Benjamin's party. Mom called a few days before they were supposed to arrive, and asked if the kids could come home with them for a few days. Benjamin missed out on this trip since he had a helmet appointment in Austin yesterday, and the tubes are still fairly new and could cause problems.

So on Tuesday morning, we loaded them up, and off they went to Kansas! They call through out the day, and Curtis and I have been able to talk to them via web cam. We miss them tons, but with how busy things here have been, it's been nice. We also know that they are having the time of their lives with Grandma and Aunt Shannon! And if plans go well, tonight they will be sleeping outside in a tent with Grand-Daddy!

Life with one child, rather than three, has been interesting. I think I finally got words to how I was feeling the other night when talking with Curtis. At the end of the day, I have accomplished more, yet don't feel as accomplished.

I'm looking forward to having the Elizabeth and Micah back on Sunday! Benjamin has had a hard time adjusting to life as an only child. The first day, he just walked around the house waving, and crying. Day two brought boredom for Benjamin. He was only happy if I was holding him or playing with him. Thankfully, we had my young mom's Bible study and community group!

This weekend we're looking forward to painting Micah and Elizabeth's room. Currently, it is pink. Since that room will end up being the boy's room, once Benjamin is out of his crib, we will be painting it the even popular and manly color of blue.

The craziest part of this week is that for the first time in a long time, things aren't crazy!

pictures (finally!)

I was bummed that I didn't have pictures of everyone with Benjamin. :-( (Christi, please tell me you got one of our boys!) But even if I don't have your picture, know that we were thankful that you were there, and appreciate you sharing Benjamin's first year with us.

And to give credit where credit is due, Mr. Charles and Ms. Laura took most all the pictures outside (and some of the ones inside too!). Thanks guys! You and your spiffy new camera might be a permanent fixture at Krajca parties!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Party!

I know, still no pictures from Benjamin's party. I promise I'm working on it. I seriously have hundreds of pictures to go through, up load, and sort. But it will absolutely be worth it.

Until I get the pictures into the montage, I thought I would tell about the party, hopefully making the montage even more enjoyable.

My parents and sister, Shannon, came into town on Friday evening. Thank goodness for their help! Thanks also to the Arnold who let us borrow their car, watched my kids while I did shopping, and let us borrow the awesome water slide.

Our goal for the first birthday party is to celebrate God goodness and grace to our family. This was even more so our desire with all that we have been through with Benjamin. God has been so good to us, and we wanted to celebrate! We had over forty people at our house to join in our celebrations!

Considering the zoo of a first year that Ben has had, we decided to go with a Zoo theme for the party. Benjamin wore the most adorable outfit! We had monkeys hanging from the mantle, and animals of the table. Add all the people, and it felt like a zoo at our house!

After lunch, presents and cupcakes, the real fun started. We had a slip 'n slide, a kiddie pool, a water table, and best of all a HUGE water slide! Our yard was transformed into a mini water park! The kids had a blast, and I think all the adults had fun sitting in the shade watching the excitement.

We had a great day! Wonderful, loving people surrounded us to help us mark Benjamin's first birthday. I couldn't have asked for a more fun or memorable day!

Pictures to tide you over...

tubes

Yesterday Benjamin had tubes put into his ears. Curtis and I were actually very thankful that we were going to be able to do them, since they made such a difference in Micah.

We had one of our favorite babysitters come over very early to watch the two big kids, while Curtis and I took Benjamin in. When doing minor surgery, the doctors go in age order, so Ben would be one of the first, which we were thankful for since he couldn't eat after midnight. Curtis and I got up at 5am, and about 15 minutes later, Elizabeth was up. She was so excited about Dayna (our babysitter) coming over, that she couldn't go back to sleep!

We checked into the surgical center at 7:00, Benjamin was taken back at about 7:40, and we were home at 8:25! Everything went better than we had anticipated. The doctor told us that it was very good that Benjamin got his tubes, because his ears looked pretty bad. He had to do some cleaning out of Ben's left ear, which caused bleeding and drainage through the day yesterday. We were also warned that all the little things that can happen (drainage, reoccurring ear infections, some bleeding) would probably happen to Benjamin because of the helmet. The doctor said he wasn't sure why this was the case, but said that he had seen it happen to many of his helmeted kiddos.

Benjamin has been doing pretty good. Last night he was running around and playing, just like normal. During the night, he had a rough time. So hopefully today he'll be able to catch up on some rest and continue to feel better!

Thanks to everyone who was praying for Benjamin, who called, and who offered a helping hand. We really appreciate it!

The big ONE!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My birthday!

I had an awesome birthday on Thursday!! I actually got a preview of my day on Wednesday when the Wells made me a birthday cake. Such fun!

Thursday started off with Micah and Elizabeth coming in and in a very rehearsed manner said, "Happy birthday Mommy!" and gave me a hug and kiss. Then Curtis had my wonderful, hot coffee ready, along with some coffee cake and donuts. Yum!! Curtis also gave me my gifts, our wedding album to scrapbook in and a pedicure!

At lunch time, Curtis brought me Cheddar's home. Again, YUM! I had been watching my friend Jamison's little boy (watching consisted of letting him sleep, then play for a 45 minutes before his mommy got back, so easy!). After my yummy lunch, I went and got the pedicure complete with flowers on my toes, thanks to my wonderful hubby for such a great and relaxing gift.

When I got home, Jamison, who had been watching my kids, had cleaned my kitchen!!! And Sarah, another friend from church, had picked up the living room! Talk about a nice birthday treat! But that's not all. My parents sent me a totally awesome gift....

AND

Ladies, does it get any better than chocolate dipped fruit, and entire box of chocolate dipped strawberries, a pedicure and a clean house?! YES!! Our awesome friends babysat for us, and we went on a DATE!!! Alone, without kids, to eat the #1 worst food for you, and we also went to play mini golf. The original plan had been bowling, but it was league night, so we played glow in the dark mini golf. Lots of fun!

The best part of the day was all the e-mails, phone calls, messages on facebook, a post from a friend, and just all the fun birthday wishes. Thanks to everyone for such an awesome birthday!

News on Parker

Yesterday was a great day for Parker and her family!! Here's the scoop.

Around lunch time the did an MRI. Thankfully, since she is so young, they gave her some anesthetic. While she was out, they were also able to do some neurological testing. She did great, and woke up from the anesthesia wonderfully! The neuro team came and reported that she didn't have Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome, but rather ADEM. This is a HUGE answer to prayer! ADEM is treated with high doses of IV steroids. There are no long term effects, and she should be able to go home after the IV steroids are done, which is about a week. Even though she'll still be in the hospital, the doctors encouraged Jack and Kristy that they should start seeing an improvement in the next couple of days.

Parker was resting well when I left late last night. I think her momma and daddy were going to be able to rest well too. What a blessing it was to see the burden lift from them, and join them in praising God for his grace to Parker!

Praise God for his hand in this! That's what Jack kept saying over, and over yesterday. I also know that they were greatly encouraged knowing that they had so many people surrounding them with prayer.

Prayers for Parker

Here is another update on Parker. This is from the e-mail that her parents sent out yesterday.

We have been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome. We are in intensive care and may be there for a while. It is affecting the fatty sheeting around the nerves. She is week, trembely, having trouble talking, swallowing, and is drooling. She is hurting. They are continuing testing to make sure it is not something else. Hopefully they can rule out anything else and start treatment tomorrow. They are keeping here in ICU because it can cause breathing problems. Please pray for us. Right now it looks like a mild case.

I'm heading down to see them this morning. Please keep Parker and her parents (Jack and Kristy) in your prayers. Unfortunately, I know all too well how they feel and what they are facing. Thankfully, I know the power or prayer, the encouragement of friends, and the peace of the Spirit.

Pictures for now, story to follow after date.

Too smart for her own good.... Elizabeth-isms

Elizabeth has been learning a lot about sin. Mainly because she has been showing us her sin... a lot. After she did something or another to her brother, I was talking to her. I asked her, "Elizabeth why did you.... to Micah?" She looked at me like I was stupid and told me, "Mommy everyone has sin in their heart." And then, just for fun, she added, "Even you!"

Another "problem" that we have been having is Elizabeth sticking out her tongue. But, since she's a smarty, she's started trying to stick her tongue out behind her hand, so I can't see. Good thing I have Mommy Vision, and know what she's doing! I reminded her that even when I can't see if she's doing something wrong God can see and hear everything, even the thoughts in our head. A couple weeks ago, we were at church and it came time to say the Lord's Prayer, which she knows very well. Curtis and I require her participation in this part of worship. So we get to the Lord's Prayer, and all I hear from Elizabeth is muffled noises. I open my eyes and see that she is praying with her hand over her mouth. At the end of the prayer I told her that wasn't the right way to pray. Elizabeth then felt the need to remind me, "It's okay Mommy, God can still hear me."

Oh, and there are two other posts below. It's been awhile, and I'm on a roll tonight!

Bummer!!

Tomorrow is my birthday! I love birthdays, and it's a good thing, because this is birthday season at the Krajca house! We started off with my sister Megan's birthday (March 14th) followed by Micah's (March 15th) and niece Charleigh on the 30th. Uncle Matt followed in April. Tomorrow is my birthday, the 17th is Memaw's birthday, the 18th is Benjamin's birthday and the 19th is our nephew Carter's birthday. Throw Mother's Day in the mix and it's tons of fun. But, it doesn't stop there.... June 11th is Justin's birthday (another nephew), June 15th is Elizabeth's birthday AND Father's day this year, and the 22nd is my Mom's birthday. Good times! I seriously LOVE birthdays, especially mine.

So one of the fun things about birthdays is picking the food. Back before we had three small children, Curtis would bring me breakfast in bed. Now, I'm very happy with coffee that's actually hot, rather than cool from sitting out while I did a million things. But I digress. For dinner tomorrow, the Ackermans are very sweetly watching our children so that Curtis and I can go out. I'm so super excited!! The pressure was on to pick something yummy for dinner. And I decided, I'm thinking Outback! Especially for the......SUPER YUMMY CHEESE FRIES!!!! These are my favorites!

Then, I got an e-mail listing the top 20 worst foods. I was very proud that I didn't eat such horrible things. Then, I got to #1. Yeppers, it would be the super, yummy, cheese fries! I was so bummed.

But not bummed enough to change the menu! #1 worst food, HERE I COME!

Update/Prayer Request

If you saw Benjamin's blog today, you know that I asked prayer for my friend's little girl, Parker. She was taken to Texas Children's today to have a CT scan done because the doctor was concerned that there was a brain abnormality (IE, growth). Praise God, everything looked normal on the CT scan! They think she just has a viral infection, which they are doing further tests for so they will know how to best treat her. They are spending the night in the hospital, but have been told to anticipate going home tomorrow.

Please continue to pray for our sweet friend Parker. Also, pray for a continued peace for her Mommy (Kristy) and Daddy (Jack).

Thanks Uncle Chris and Aunt Terra!

Dear Uncle Chris and Aunt Terra (and Justin and Charleigh!),

Thank you so much for the gift cards that you sent us for our birthdays. Mommy and Daddy used them together, and here's what we got...

A Cozy Coupe! We had been borrowing one from some friends, but are very excited to get our very own.

So far, we've done a pretty good job sharing. Mostly we take turns ridding and pushing each other. And sometimes, Elizabeth pushes us too! It's so much fun!

Thanks so much for the great new gift! We love you,

Micah and Benjamin

Super Mom

I was reading a blog today, where the author, a normal everyday mom, had a moment as Super Mom. She encouraged the rest of us to share in our Super Mom moments. Here's mine from last night.

Benjamin woke up sometime around 1am. He was screaming, I was in a daze and Curtis was in a deep sleep. I went, got him some milk, brought him to my bed to try to calm him down. He had his milk, and was chatting with me. Suddenly, a ton of the milk he had just ingested came back up. Even though it was a ridiculous hour, I had the clarity of mind to roll him onto my jammie shorts (yes, the ones I was wearing) which had already received the brunt of milk, so that his jammies and my bed would stay clean. Without "spilling" any of the milk I had "collected" I woke up Curtis and transferred a now perplexed, but clean, Benjamin to him.

Pretty super for sometime around 1 am!

Anyone else want to share in their latest Super Mom moments?

For Aunt Megan

Like my new shirt?

Micah-isms

Micah had a really big yawn this evening. Curtis asked him, "Micah, do you want a nap?" "No!" Micah replied. "Do you want to go to bed?" "No Daddy, I want money!"

After putting the kids in bed, I had to go back in to remind them to stay in bed and be obedient. I told them how it made me sad when they were disobedient and didn't stay in bed. I asked Micah (since I knew Elizabeth wouldn't care) "Do you really want to make Mommy sad?" He responded, "I want to make smoothies!"

Girls, just wanna have fun!

Tonight, Elizabeth and I had girls' night. We met our sweet friends, Erin and Piper, at Cheddar's for a yummy dinner. Then we all went to Mom's Meals to make some dinners for our freezer. Even though the girls didn't actually help, we all had a great time! Erin and Piper
Elizabeth and Me

After Elizabeth and I parted ways with Erin and Piper, we headed to Barnes and Noble to get my book for book club.

We also got ourselves a little treat!

This picture's for Aunt Shannon!

Elizabeth, Mommy had a ball with you this evening! You are such a sweet girl, and I love having special, memory making moments with you. I love you very much! And even though it's almost 10 pm and you are still not asleep, and even though you spilled your hot chocolate while we were checking out, the night couldn't have been more perfect! Now, go to sleep, little girl! Love, Mommy

Those crazy boys!

Here are a few clips about the boys. The first one is of Benjamin and Micah taking a bath together. Micah has found a way to help me rinse Benjamin and Benjamin is learning how to wash his hair. The second clip is of Benjamin's new "Look Mom, no hands!" trick.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

March for Babies in pictures

Here are some pictures from the March for Babies. Also, check out the Bolline's blog and the Brunones blog for more pictures from the day. This is how you do a walk with three young children.... one regular stroller and one double stroller.
Walking Buddies, Jamison, me and Erin.
The babies of team Bolline
Check out all the people! It was amazing!
Curtis and Andrew, heading down the hill. Again, check out all the people!

We look so perky and happy.... this was the beginning of the walk!
Mommy and Benjamin and his poster
Benjamin reminiscing about those PICU days. (He was actually mesmerized by the picture where he had his pacy in his mouth, and kept pointing to the pacy in the picture.)
Micah looking at Adam and Andrews poster.
Benjamin, walking for his friends Adam and Andrew and for other babies with birth defects like his.

UPDATE: With your help, our team, Team Bolline, was able to raise $6,715!!!! Thanks for your support!

Are you kidding me?!

WE had a great morning at the March of Dimes! Afterwards, since the kids weren't falling asleep as planned, we went to McDonald's for lunch. Again, lots of fun! We were anticipating an equally fun evening with the rest of our March of Dimes team having dinner and swimming.

Until Benjamin woke up from his nap wheezing. We called the pediatrician and the nurse told us that if he got worse or stayed the same we needed to take him to the ER. Thankfully, we had another option, which we took, and instead took him to the Today Care Clinic. They were very quick, and told us that he has bronchilitis (not the same thing as bronchitis), which is basically like asthma, but not chronic. He is receiving breathing treatments, and is doing okay. The medicine in the breathing treatment, Albuterol, make him very edgy and hyper though. It's been really sad to hear him breathe and see him breathing so quickly and with so much difficulty. The doctor said he should be fine though.

After the kids were all down, Curtis and I were watching the end of a movie on TV. After the movie was over, I made my way back to bed, only hear a strange noise from the living room. I find Curtis standing by the couch, hitting it repeatedly. I asked him what was wrong, and he very calmly said, "I broke my toe." He sat down and sure enough his baby toe was pointing out the side of his foot.

So, we're staying home tomorrow, and hopefully will have an uneventful day!

March of Dimes

This morning was the March for Babies. Last time I looked at the weather it was going to be a beautiful, warm, sunny day. However, when we arrived at the mall parking lot, we found that it was very windy, and the temperature was in the low 60's. A very nice day, but a little chillier than we were expecting. Elizabeth was curled up in the back seat of the double stroller, shivering, trying to use her silky as a blanket.

After taking our team picture, we headed towards the starting line. After counting down from ten, we were off!! I've never done a walk this before, so I was imagining a leisurely stroll through the park. Wrong! We were in the park, but we were also in the street, on a sidewalk while some of us walked on the street, and cutting through parking lots. And it wasn't a leisurely stroll either! There was a nice, quick pace going and if you stopped, you would be hit by any number of double stroller, regular stroller, wagon, or tike bike. But there was such a great energy, you couldn't help but walk quickly enjoying the day!

Oh, and for everyone who supported us, you will be pleased to know that there were no short cuts for us!! We walked the entire time, which lasted over an hour, maybe closer to an hour and a half. For some reason, I wasn't expecting the march to be that long, but it was, and I loved it!

After the March for Babies, we headed back to the starting line where there was a giant inflated slide, a jump house, free hotdogs, pizza, chips, snowcones, face painting and entertainment. We had a blast!!

I'll leave you with one picture, but rest assured that more pictures will follow! Thanks to everyone who supported us!!

The five of us next to Benjamin's poster. We almost caused a few stroller pile ups while taking this picture!

Oh, Micah....

Needless to say, we need to remind Micah that only girls wear makeup.