This is a tough one

It has been since October that I posted and my apologies for that. The holidays do get the best of me, especially because they are so time consuming.

I am writing this post under duress, as I really don't feel like posting, but the need to keep everyone informed is out weighing low mood so I will suck it up.

The good news is that we are all in a new year and I welcome 2009 with open arms and a fresh new outlook for great things to come this year!

Our family is doing great. Paul and I are on the "weigh down" so to speak. Having 4 boys to chase is not easy and being overweight doesn't make it any easier so here we go! Being an emotional eater doesn't help me much. I have to balance my head and my heart in the right place to do this the right way.

Dylan is just finishing his wrestling season and looking forward to his 9th birthday and a new baseball season, as well as his first part in a school play coming up in May. Casey will have the first birthday of the new year and turn 4 on March 26th, he is so excited! I am sure that we will all experience displeasure, as "Angry April" is just around the corner and since Timmy has to wait out Casey's birthday, Dylan's on the 12th of April and hang in there until the 28th, I am sure he will be his troll like self again while he waits! I am hoping that the distraction of T-Ball beginning for Tim and Casey will make April a little less angry for him.

The newest edition to our family, Mya is doing great and is a very pleasurable girl, but as Dylan would tell you, she's no lady! Mya is a 1/2 & 1/2 Newfoundland/Black Labrador that joined our family on July 12th 2008. It was back in June that our Sheltie Mollie was giving us a scare and we thought we should "prepare" and get the boys a new pup. Mollie miraculously got the spring back in her step soon after our new arrival so now we have 2 dogs! Mya has made herself Jake's dog, and loves him (and all of the boys) endlessly. We are blessed to have rescued her from PAWS NEW ENGLAND through www.petfinder.com and she will be 1 year old in (you guessed it!) April on the 22nd! One more birthday for Timmy to have to sweat through!

Jake is doing wonderful and is learning more and more every day! He is "wicked smart" as Will Hunting would say for all of you movie buffs. At 2 1/2 he is doing quite nicely, despite the hearing loss with such a great vocabulary that we haven't counted words on over 6 months. You can't walk past him without him identifying numbers and letters frantically, it's awesome! Jake is quite a little instigator and spends a fair amount of time egging on is older brothers, especially Casey! It's very entertaining here to see our "Little Bit" causing big trouble, then sitting back and laughing about it. I do have to say that he is my child most like his father and is the most laid back one we have. Thank you, God for giving him such wonderful patience and such a warm and sunny personality! Together with his HOH teacher Nancy Hovey from The Summit Speech School, I enjoy watching Jake rise above and beyond expectations of my wildest dreams for him at this young age. It's sometimes hard to believe that he's only 2 1/2. Despite all of these great things going on around us, Jake was recently diagnosed with FAILURE TO THRIVE. I've inserted a link that describes things there, although I myself can't go "googling"; I know what it is. The short of it is simply this. It's a physical diagnosis. The bottom line is that he is not growing and he has to. We have begun the process of lining up doctors again.

Jake has already seen a nutritionist and followup every two weeks is required with food logs of his every meal to count his calories, fat, & protien.

Today we will see the Ear Nose and Throat specialist and if I'm going to go with my gut here, I will say that we are going to come home with the reccommendation of surgery for adenoid removal . I will be surprised if we are not moving at least in that direction.

Immediately after ENT, we go for cardiology follow up and we are hoping to be discharged from cardiac care. Say a prayer.
If the visit today does not lead us towards adenoid removal, then we will move onward to a pediactric endocrinologist, and gastroenterologist to uncover any other complications that may be holding back Jake's growth.

Although at times I am tired of being tested, Paul reminds me every day I can't falter in my faith and I don't. I just get tired of fighting every day of my life and sometimes feel like I've been beaten with a tree branch. It never seems to fail that when I am feeling at my lowest, around the corner comes my "Little Bit" smiling ear to little ear :0) to remind me what I'm fighting for.

Today I'm wearing the shirt with the glass on it that says half full. Good things are coming.