updates on Tim

Tim after surgery ready to go home!

Whew.......it has been awhile since I have updated. Life has changed a little bit around here and I have not had enough time or energy to blog. Tim is doing as good as can be expected. He did great through the surgery. They did a nerve block to his leg and so he was without any pain for 36 hours. At first it was scary not to know how long he would have a numb leg, but when the block wore off and the pain started, I think he wished the nerve block could have lasted for a week!!!!!!!!! He still is having pain (or pressure is the best way to describe it). He is slowly decreasing his amount of Vicodin, but still needs it. I think we were both hoping the pain would be a little less almost two weeks out, so we'll see what the doctors have to say Wednesday when he goes in to get his stitches out and get a permanent cast put on for 4 weeks. Tim reads lots of books to the the babies and will play with them on the floor for a little while. At first, I think Ella and Nathan knew something was different with daddy, but now if he gets down on the floor and plays with him, the same old dad is back! I seem to be managing okay. I cannot say enough to everyone who has helped out with the babies or has brought us a meal. It is wonderful to have such support. I have still been working part time. We have manged to figure out a daycare schedule on my weird shift hours. Tim's parents are now back from Florida, so they now can help out too. We ask and covet your prayers that Tim's Achilles is healing and stays free from infection. We also pray that the pain will lessen and he can get around a little more without having his toes go purple! And finally, I would love a prayer for strength and endurance. I get down now and then, not having my active, very helpful husband there to help me. We know God works in mysterious ways and I feel closer to him and yearn for him even more during this time. Thanks for all your support and prayers!

Tim's injury and surgery

Last week Monday, Tim was playing basketball with some guys from church and ended up tearing his Achilles Tendon. He said he was charging for the ball and heard a pop and said it felt like someone kicked him in the back of the leg. He went to the doctor the next day and yes he had indeed ruptured his tendon. He is scheduled for surgery tomorrow at around 3pm. He will be in a cast for 6 weeks. He will not be able to bear weight on that leg for 6 weeks too. I feel so bad for him and for myself because now I will be caring for 3 children!!!!! We would covet your prayers that surgery goes well and that Tim heals completely.

Ouch!

Ella reading (yes with her pipe)

Nathan smiling for the camera.

Having a snack before bed!

Checking out the hotwheels. Might be too big for us, but we love em.

Bath Time

Nathan and Ella enjoying all the bubbles!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Beckering

Nathan was just sad he wasn't there in person to give you a Birthday hug and Ella thinks a pacifier is kind of a cool thing to suck on. She would have it in her mouth the whole day if we let her! Love you Grandpa Beckering!

A night of swimming at Zeeland Recreation

Nathan, Tim, and Ella in the pool

Malachi was a fish

Here is Eric and Sam having fun at the pool

Tuesday night we met up with Eric, Jessica, Malachi, and Sam and went swimming at the Zeeland Recreation Center. We thought it would be fun to get the babies used to the water for the upcoming summer. At first Ella didn't know if she would like it, but she was splashing and laughing at the end. Nathan thought it was fun if we put him on the side and pretended to let him jump off into the water. It was a nice way to get out and the babies slept in the next morning after a big night of swimming. It was great to catch up with Eric and Jessica again. We plan to do it more often. On a side note, we would covet your prayers for my Grandpa Lance who is in the hospital in Minnesota with a bowel obstruction. He is not the greatest surgical candidate and we pray that the problem will resolve on it's own time.

Nathan dancing for Grandpa Beckering's Birthday

Nathan and Ella have fallen in love with a CD from the library and we probably listen to it at least 2-3 times a day. They know the songs and love to dance, sway their heads, or tap their feet to the music. Tonight Nathan really got into it and even gave us hand gestures. Ella was a little more subdued and preferred to push her belly in and out! We dedicate this dance to Grandpa Beckering for his Birthday tomorrow. We love you Grandpa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quick update -minus pictures!

No pictures have been taken recently, so you'll have to be content with a written update. We were happy to find that Nathan's hemoglobin went up to 11.2 so the iron supplements worked. We still have to continue with them for awhile to help build up his iron stores. Both Nathan and Ella have colds (or possibly teething). Poor Ella has it the worst. Her cheeks are rosy, her nose just runs, she has diarrhea, and she just seems to be uncomfortable. We call her our fragile girl, because if something accidentally happens to her (like she trips over a book) she bawls like she broke her leg. She gets consoled quite often this week. We have been excited to have quite a few people looking at our house to potentially buy. It is quite a task trying to keep it up or getting it ready to show with 14 month old twins destroying everything. It does force us to keep things up which is nice. So far everyone has loved it, but not enough to make an offer. Oh well, we actually love our home and neighbors so we are content with whatever happens. We have gotten back into running just lately. We both signed up to run the Riverbank Run in May. Tim doing the 25k (15 miles) and I doing the 10k (six miles). Tim is a little further in training and I am at the frustrating part of trying to run and realizing how out of shape I truly am. It does feel great to get out though. Otherwise not too much new here. We'll get pictures or video up this weekend.

Baby Stroller

Ella and Nathan have fun pushing each other in the baby stroller. Grandpa Beckering spent a lot of time pushing Ella back and forth in it. She thought it was so soothing. Such characters!

Grandpa and Grandma visit

Nathan handed his unfinished bottle to Ella in the tub. Talk about special treatment before bed!
Nathan looks like "karate kid"

I feel so bad......my parents were here last weekend and I didn't get one picture of them with the kids. Sorry mom and dad. We had a such a nice time when they were here. We did a lot of hanging around and playing with the babies and I think every afternoon we all took a small nap while the babies napped. Very relaxing. It was so nice to have them here and it makes me wish we all lived closer to each other. The babies are really understanding things we say. When I tell them it is time for a bath, they run to the bathroom. When I tell them it is time to eat, they run to their high chairs. They know a lot more than you think. Ella has learned the fun of turning in circles till she falls down. Nathan loves corners. Any corner he can squeeze himself in, he will find it. They both are obsessed with books. Not that they sit still enough so that you can read it to them, but they like to get one, sit on your lap, point to their favorite page, and then go and get another book!! We are frequently telling Nathan not to pull on cords plugged into outlets. He laughs when you tell him no and turns around and runs to another outlet after you have dragged him away from one. Another favorite past time is dancing. We got a CD from the library and now every time we turn it on, the babies start to sway back and forth. Nathan likes to gently stop his foot. It is adorable. I'll try get video of it soon. At our 1 year doctor appointment, Nathan's iron was low. We started him on iron supplements. We went back for a hemoglobin check a week ago and he is still low. So now we are giving him iron 2 times a day. Nasty stuff. He loves it with orange juice! Hopefully at our next lab draw we will see some improvement, otherwise we'll have to draw more labs and further investigation. Tim is ice climbing this weekend in Canada. He went up their with a bunch of guy friends and they are going to spend 2 day snow shoeing and ice climbing. Sounds cold to me. I am sure we'll have pictures to post on that too.

Organizing mom's lazy susan

rocking it out on the rocking chair

Happy 1st Birthday Breanna

Happy 1st Birthday Breanna. We love you!

After bath fun

The babies think it is so fun to run around in their diapers after their morning baths. I would be very cold, but it doesn't seem to bother them!!! They love to bang on things and lately we have to watch Nathan because he likes to bang on Ella. Little stinker. It is so much fun to watch their interaction and how they are starting to copy-cat things that we do.

January Pics

The whole gang visiting Carissa and new baby Hayden

Isn't he adorable

Ella cashed out and ready for bed

Nathan lounging out in the rocking chair

Does this look like trouble or what

"Texting" each other!

Not a lot new going on around here, but I had a couple if pictures to blog so here they are. We went to see my friend Carissa and new baby Hayden last week and what a bunch of kids we have now. Lots of noise and the adult talk tends to be interrupted a lot by children's different needs. The twins are doing good. The house can look like a tornado went through it by night and we can spend a good 15 minutes picking up and cleaning up after they go to bed. Were hoping my parents can come out in February. Otherwise we are just ready for spring. It will be nice to be able to take the twins for a walk and just get out more and easier.

Spaghetti Time

1st Year Doctor Visit

Playing hard


Nathan caught standing on the chair

Ella has a ponytail

Side shot of ponytail

Nathan going outside with daddy to get the mail

Ella's "way" of using her rocking chair


The babies had their 1st year doctor appointment last Monday and it has taken me this long to get the info up on the blog. Nathan weighed 20lbs and 2 ounces and is 28.7 inches tall. He is in the 10th percentile, but growing appropriately. Ella is 22lbs and 2 ounces and is 29.7 inches tall. She is 75% for weight and 50th for height. Amazing that they can be so different. Nathan had to have labs drawn because his blood stick hemoglobin at the doctor was low. He ended up having to be put on iron drops for a month and then we will have to recheck his hemoglobin. The iron tastes nasty. We put it in some orange juice, but it still is yuck. Luckily Nathan doesn't mind. Sure does make his dirty diapers dark brown/black. Otherwise the twins are doing well. They are climbing on everything. Ella can get up on our kitchen chair and both can climb up on our rocking chair. They love to be up high and look out the window. We spend a lot of our day watching for cars, garbage trucks, our neighbor's snow blower, and of course always waiting to see daddy come home from work. They love to get into every drawer and love our cell phones. We give them our old "real" cell phones, but they want our current ones. They are such smart little buggers. They love to eat and it is fun to watch them smash crackers and noodles into their mouths. They started wanting a spoon and so I scoop the food onto their spoon and then they put it into their mouths. Quite a process, but I know it is good learning skills.

I am happy to say that my good friend Carissa had her baby on last week Friday. It was a boy and they named him Hayden. I am so excited for her. Everything went great and he is a beautiful little boy!

Pots and Pans

Here we are tying to enteraitain the babies. Don't you love the noise!

Innocence

I was having fun looking through all the pictures and videos that we took on our trip back home to Minnesota. I remember taping this darling video of Avery and it struck me as I re-watched it how beautiful and redeeming is the innocence of our dear children. I find myself getting so caught up in the mainstream of this society's living that I often times need to stop and pray that God will give me a child like faith and and innocence like dear Avery has.

Christmas and New Year's

Brayden is excited about his new farm

Or maybe....Dad and Darin are just as excited to set up the farm!

Daddy Dan helping Avery display her Christmas gifts

Breanna is all ready for dress up, but we think Brayden will play with the heels before Breanna!

Chaos or fun...you decide

The brothers and sisters were able to get out for a night alone. Thanks mom and dad for babysitting!

Kylie showing off her new outfit

Avery doesn't know what to think of the crown

We called them the "triplets" all week long

Nathan taking a big swing of water from his sippy cup

Ella showing off the new radio flyer bike

Here we are with our sick babies

Nathan and Ella loved the new toys that come with visiting other people's homes

Ella and Nathan trying out their new rocking chairs.

Who needs a toy when you can have a box

Perfect size Nathan

The Stuive Grandchildren



Well what a whirlwind of events over these last couple weeks. We celebrated first year birthdays and first Christmas's and New Year's. I had to work Christmas and so the twins and Tim spent the day by Tim's parents and enjoyed watching the "tornado" of gift opening that has become a tradition of the Stuive grandchildren. We had to say goodbye to Tim's parents who are now "snow-birding" in Florida for 3 months. We cannot decide who is going to miss who more. Grandpa and Grandma missing Nathan and Ella or Tim and Alissa missing all their great babysitting and the attention the babies get from Grandpa and Grandma Stuive. On Dec 30th, we made a trip to Minneapolis to celebrate Christmas with my immediate family. Of course, relaxing used to explain our get together's before kids. Now we have learned to talk amongst the children, eat in shifts (in order to feed our children), try keep these kids quiet while other kids are napping (then vice versa) and realize staying up to watch the ball drop is almost impossible when you get up with your children at 5:30 on that morning!!!!! But all in all, we wouldn't trade a minute of the chaos as we watch the cousins interact and play together. Unfortunately, Ella and Nathan got a small case of the stomach flu on New Year's Day evening. What a hard thing to watch as your children dry heave and almost learn to lean over the bucket. Luckily, it didn't last long and they were eating the next day. Needless to say..they did still have diarrhea for a week after that. I feel bad for the garbage guy who picked up Darin and Tricia's garbage because those diapers were, well let's say, powerful!!!!!! The girls were able to get in a good day of shopping, the guys were able to watch a Viking's game, and us kids went out to eat without the children and actually had adult conversation. Thanks mom and dad for watching the kids so we could go out. We were also pleased to be able to witness Avery's baptism on Sunday. All in all it was a great trip and Nathan and Ella did great on the trips to and from Michigan. We are now home and back in a routine again. We miss family and wish we all didn't live so far away. I have realized how much more I cherish our time together and realize that I don't take it for granted as I probably would if we lived close to each other. We pray blessings in 2009 and thank God for all that he has blessed us with in 2008.