Taylor-Made Family

Two weekends ago, my Mom and Grandma came up to visit and help while Brandon had the annual Sr. High Snow Camp up at Word of Life Owen Sound with his youth.  It was so great to have them up!  My dad would have liked to come up I'm sure, but now that my grandpa (dad's dad) lives with them half of the year my dad needs to stay home to care for him.  Aiden especially had so much fun ..... he played "hide and seek" with grandma and great-grandma, showed off his trains and with just generally soaked up all the attention.  Grandma (the boys' great-grandma - mom's mom) got to meet Hudson for the first time.  It was special too because Hudson's middle name (Loyal) is after my grandpa Loyal.  Thanks so much Mom for saving the day again.... we love having you up! On Tuesday, February 13th, Hudson's first tooth finally broke through!  I knew it was coming as he has literally had anything and everything he can get his little hands on in his mouth for the past se

Hudson surprised us by arriving exactly 1 month early. I had not felt any movement all day Sat May 21, and so was told I needed to come into triage. I arrived around 7pm.. They hooked me all up and found Hudson's heartbeat no problem. Then his heartrate dipped very low, and they went into emergency mode throwing an oxygen mask on me and calling the doctor. His heartrate went back to normal. Dr. Hasen did a quick ultrasound and found that my amniotic fluid was very, very low, and told me I couldn't leave. He said Hudson needed to come out as soon as possible. So I called Brandon and he called his mom and arranged for her to come over to care for Aiden and then he packed up and got to the hospital. Dr. Hasen was wonderful and so comforting and the whole delivery was amazingly easy. They got me right in a room, put a foley catheter in to get things going, started pitocin, broke my water. This was all by maybe midnight. I was dialating, but not extremely fast and started

Highlights from the last year and a half.....(so we can keep record of all the things that have gone on in our family)........ July 2010 - I started working full-time teaching an intensive Business ESL summer course at the university (teaching M-F, 9am-3:30pm; then lots of marking essays, prep every night).  My students in this program were so great and worked very hard.  Aiden started Montessori.  July -Aug 2010 - Brandon led the youth mission trip to NYC with Urban Impact, and also did day camp and VBS.  Aiden got really sick a couple times in the summer, including while Brandon was in NYC, and had to overnight in the hospital. Sept - Dec 2010 - I started working part-time in the ESL program at the university, teaching 4 hours of class four days a week (though still spent hours every night in grading essays, and prepping).  Justin and Sherri had Elijah in Sept!  Oct 2010 - We found out we were pregnant again!  I had more morning sickness this time around, and found it

Brothers - January 2012.  Aiden - 2 1/2 yrs.  Hudson - 8 mos. Children are a heritage from the LORD. Psalm 127:3 Our church has a weekly memory verse.  I want to try to commit these to memory every week, so plan to record them here weekly to help me.  January 22-29, 2012 - Psalm 20:6-7 6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Whew... I have this funny habit of blogging for a few months, stopping for a couple years, then starting back up ... hmmm.  I guess I've been busy.  Since I last wrote, we've added a second little boy to the family.  Hudson Loyal - born May 22, 2011.  "Hudson" because both Brandon and I love the name.  It means "son of Hud" .... how profound, right? :)  But to us it also represents the famous missionary to China who also had the same last name.  Loyal was my maternal grandfather's name.  He was a faithful, "loyal", quiet, hard-working, outdoors man who lived all his life in Wisconsin and worked on the farm and in the fire tower (do I have that right, mom?).  Hudson is not so little anymore - he's 8 months now.  He is our sweet gift from God.