Morris zoo

It's True! Right now, as I type, I am holding my sweet baby girl. In all her pink glory. She was born on may 19th. She has been with us for eleven weeks now and we are all taken with her. Her name is Evelynn but for the most part we call her Evie. She has lots of blond hair and looks just like each of her brothers. So much in fact, it's hard to remember that she came with girl parts. All of my boys were eager to come, and came quickly. Evie on the other hand fought us every step of the way and took her time. When she did arrive she was angry and let us know it. She came to us at a good 7 pounds 6 ounces, but lost a lot of weight quickly and was in the six and a half pound ranges for awhile. She was under a watchful eye for weeks before she got back to her birth weight. And now she keeps growing strong and adding a few cute rolls that make your heart melt. She was a long baby at 21 inches. With long fingers and long narrow feet. She takes after daddy there. And now she is pretty healthy with the occasional tummy trouble and thrush that seems to be hanging around longer then we would like. She sleeps good threw the night but rarely sleeps during the day. So it's close to impossible to keep up with all that life demands with a family of 7. Having a girl is even more then I imagined. I'm really enjoying all that comes with it and looking forward to what will come. I do wish however, that I was in charge of when and how she grows. If I could just freeze her at this age she's at now for awhile. And then when I'm ready I'd let her move on to the next stage. If I could have a super power that's what I would like it to be. Wishful thinking, I know, but you can't help what you day dream about. The best I can do now are with pictures. That's why I end up with so many, I don't even know what to do with. I'm so grateful for her. And for the feeling of a complete family. She's our caboose and all I can say is.... I'm happy it's PINK!

Servpro Update

So it's been a while. Things have been crazy still even after the flood of 2010. I'll write more about that later. The purpose of this post is to update you all on the power and influence an otherwise anonymous blog has. After the flood I was so upset. I was upset at the situation, the loss of our possessions and memories and the fear that we'd never see any of those things again. I took it out on the only people that came to mind. I used this blog as a way to get my feelings out because I just had no other outlet. Apparently, my friends and family aren't the only ones who read this blog because a few days after making the previous post Don got a phone call from the guy who owns the Servpro franchise in Arkansas and a few other places. He said the things you'd expect a person to say after reading that their company had ruined someones life. Don said that he was very impressed that he would make a call like that. He said it would have been far too easy for Servpro to simply ignore one negative blog, but they didn't and that means a lot. It made an impact on me too. I realized that these people were just like me. They have memories, they have possessions, they have things that simply can't be replaced. The truth is, Servpro was very professional and did the best they could to restore our things. I realize now that some things we lost were just simply unrecoverable-nothing anyone could do. Everybody makes mistakes and while nothing or no one is perfect it made me feel better to know that there are people still trying. I hope something like this never happens to me or anyone else, but if it does you CAN count on Servpro.

Sorry for the absence everybody. It's been crazy. we have had to much going on for me to keep up. I'll give you a quick review just for fun, but unfortunately I wont be able to keep this up until life gets back to normal around here. I'm guessing a month or so.
First off the good news. Most of you know that I am pregnant and have been for a while. I'm in my 6th month and enjoying the thought that this is the last pregnancy I'll be putting my body through. I am so excited to report that we will finally be getting the little girl that we have been longing for. YEAH!!!!!!! Everybody is so excited!!!!! The boys were just as excited as we were to find out. So Evelynn (or baby Evie, as we call her now) will be arriving late May. And our whole world will change. Something I just cant wait for. Bring on the pink!!! I'm ready!!!!!
Now for the not so great news. We have had a lot of testing going on for 2 of our children, Jaren and Kelland. I have known for a while that something was there and that I just didn't know how to help them or how to get help for them. So we have been going to a wonderful psychiatrist to help us diagnose my two beautiful kids. The diagnoses came back as Asperger's disorder. A form of Autism. While this information was hard to take in at first, I have found it to be quite useful now. And it's easier for me to understand their brilliant minds and know how to help and get help for them. Kelland will have to repeat kindergarten next year but it will all be in his best interest. And now with getting him the help he needs it's fun to see him blossom into an eager student. He actually says he loves to learn and can't wait to go to school! That's something that I was not expecting! I feel like we can get through this now. I have a good support group here as well. And that's always a great feeling!
Now for the bad news. On our way home from visiting family for New Years we arrived to half of our house flooded. It had gotten so cold here that the pipes froze and then burst. Unfortunately our pipes are in the attic. So ceilings collapsed and walls were damaged. The room that was effected the most was our office. So computer gone! I haven't been able to even check everybody blogs. I have felt so disconnected from the world. It's amazing how much we rely on computers isn't it? And all my scrapbooks and pictures destroyed. So sad!!! Really upset about all that. We had a service called Servpro come out to help us get things cleaned up and and help out with the damaged things to try and save them. They totally dropped the ball. And instead of saving things that could have been saved, like my photo albums,scrapbooks and books, they just left in a room to get moldy and ruined. I was so upset about this because I can't put a price on these things. I felt betrayed. They said they would fix it and they didn't.I could have dried them off myself and saved them. But I trusted them and they let me down. Now I'll never have those things again. Lesson learned here? Do it yourself and tell everybody you know not to use Servpro. Anyway, the last 2 months have been dedicated to rebuilding and renovating the house. It's still not perfect yet but we are close. We decided since we are painting and changing our house a bit that we will get it ready to sell. We need a bigger place now that we are adding to our family. So that presents even more projects. Life just doesn't seem to stop. We are really busy with everything but still feel blessed. And we really appreciate all the prayers that have come our way. Again, sorry for ignoring everyone for so long. And i will try to keep everybody posted here and there from now on. Love you all!! Miss you much!! I'll post soon enough. Wish us luck!!