loving life: September 2008

Monday, September 29, 2008

Normalcy!!!

Well today is the big day! Andre is off to work again.... Gabe and I are having a rough morning without him. I took for granted how much help my husband is... he has been a wonderful most amazing blessing these last six weeks(talk about someone who sticks with you through the thick and thin). I am already tired and its only 9. Gabe chose to have a rough night and wake up again at 5:30am. I think he knows life is changing once again. He woke up saying "dada". So as you can tell we are both having withdraws! I tried to convince Andre to just quit :) last night before bed. I know impossible but after spending 24/7 together since we moved home you get attatched.
So here we are taking another step towards what we once knew as normal! It is a bitter-sweet step. I do feel like I am somewhat back in business as a mother and a wife! Last weekend Andre went away with some of his best friends and Gabe and I SURVIVED! I was pretty excited because I was able to clean the house while he was gone. Something I haven't done in quite a long time. I am now functioning completely on my own ..... as far as equipment like the "potty chair" and the shower chair. Oh and the best part is I am not sweating near as much because I lost the three pound brace!!!!! Let me tell you- it has been such a blessing the last two weeks (tomorrow) to not have to carry that thing around.
Just a small update on our status! I will update more during Gabe's nap today. If you think of Gabe, Andre, and I today just say a little prayer that time will go fast so we can all be together again tonight!
thanks again

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Peeing, in the middle of the night, made easier!!!

First things first!!!!!!!!!!! I am now BRACELESS!!!!!!!!! This was the inspiration to the title! I can now get out of bed and go to the bathroom, which is something a prego does frequently, in the middle of the night without my brace. Yahoo!!! The Lord is still healing me and now I am so blessed to get the hot sweaty thing off. After my wonderful doctors appointment we rented a hotel and took gabe to the zoo the next day. It was a celebration!!!!

Here I am holding my baby for the first time and ready to throw the brace in the trash!!! Yahoo!!!

daddy and gabe playing at the pool

gabe eating ribbs

gabe and uncle adam

gabe meeting the meerkats

gabe and daddy feeding the giraffe

i love this picture

checking out the zebra

sharks!!!

our family...can you tell gabe is ready for a nap

gabe feeding the zebra on the way home

we stopped to visit pappy at work on the way home...gabe was helping him with a phone call

We made a trip to Northern Indiana to visit some family. There was a crew of us: uncle delmar and aunt jean, uncle van and aunt jolene, grandma zetta and joe, my mom and dad, and us! The rest of the crew painted/cleaned my blind uncle marv's house while we hung out with jonique and nate for the weekend. We had fun playing outside, shopping, and just talking.

The gang...Andre, Me, and Gabe -Jonique, Nate, and Jack.

Gabe was so hyper and he was being so silly... I love this picture!

Bath time!

Great uncle Delmar and Great aunt Jolene told gabe to walk through the water puddles!

Playing at Jack's house

The boys... Jack, Micah, Gabe, and Peyton!

Andre and I made our FIRST overnight trip (without gabe)! We went to St.Louis in honor of our anniversary that we somewhat missed in June, do to the hospital stay. We really enjoyed ourselves. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who has stuck with me through the thick and thin!

My hubby and I

Our supper!

Fireworks after winning the game.

Married for 6 years!!!!!

Andre and Gabe have matching hats!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Looking back...

A few nights ago when I woke up and couldn't sleep the Lord was reminding me of where I have come from. Only a short 12 weeks (this coming Saturday) ago I was laying in a bed unable to move myself. Wow! God is truly amazing...it gives me goose bumps to think about it. So I am going to reminisce for a minute.....

While at Methodist Hospital:

*Everyone was excited to see that I could wiggle my toes...that is it there was NO other movement in my leg at the time!

*From Saturday to Friday I didn't move my body... I laid on my back unable to roll, bathe, or go to the restroom.

*On Thursday and Friday the physical therapist came in and sat me in a wheelchair and only after an HOUR I was sweating and ready to lay back in my bed... talk about scary for one who likes to take walks and exercise.

*A gown became my attire for over a week...a gown can sure make you feel like a superstar!

*My legs were in terrible pain after surgery on Monday.... It felt like my legs had fallen asleep and they were very restless and prickly(like if your legs were to fall asleep only 50x worse). I had to have someone helping me move them and rub them 24/7.

*My appetite was gone due to the pain meds...however, I needed to feed the little girl inside of me.

*And the WORST-I hadn't seen my baby since Saturday night! I had no clue what he was going through or what he looked like. I missed him with all of my heart but GOD definitely gave me grace to get through!

As you can see I experienced some not so pretty things! BUT I have seen more now then ever how God can heal, be our provider in every way, be close(so close that I knew I could just rest in him), extend grace, extend mercy, hear our prayers, and most of all he showed me LOVE! He showed me just how a person should be loved through all of you. I was just blown away to see how many wonderful people I have in my life. And actually there were many of you who provided for us and I didn't even know you or your gift was anonymous. WOW! There are many wonderful people that I have met because of the wreck and I will never forget their motivation for me or their believing in me. It is truly because of you and your prayers that put me at this computer typing this post right now. God is so good-however, that statement just doesn't seem to do him justice!

Once again I couldn't ever re-THANK YOU! If you ever have a down day just look at what you did for me through your prayers and then KNOW God is good!

love ya all
mams

Monday, September 1, 2008

Gabe's weekend with Jack...

Garret, Sarah, and Jack came to visit us this weekend. We had a blast just hanging out and laughing at our boys. We went to the park, swimming, to the pet store, and played outside! What an event filled weekend! Its nice to have a little normalcy to life again. Thanks for the good times Swartzentruber's!