Outings

Yay for the end of Summer! I say that with a bit of sarcasm. It seems this Summer was come and gone without me even noticing. Last Monday or so I woke up and realized it was not really Summer anymore (all the kids are going back to school) and we had not done our normal Summer activities. With Docs, therapies, sickness and getting used to 3 kids, plus Nevin's broken leg we had not done much. So, this past week I have managed to cram in every activity we would have normally done throughout the Summer. :)

One morning my wonderful friend Melissa called me and said she and Baby Vi suddenly had an open day and why not go to the Botanical Gardens? Of course! We scurried around the house and managed to get over to the Gardens within 30 minutes. (I am still not sure how I did that.) We had a lovely time enjoying nature, cooler weather and 4 wonderful kiddos.

Ryan had to work over the weekend and we snagged Grandma and Grandpa for a trip to the Zoo. We had not seen the new entrance and it was beautiful! The Sea Lion Show was so much fun and Skyler was brave enough to go down by the Sea Lions after the show for pictures. The Stingrays are always a big hit and Nevin really enjoyed watching them splash and stick their fins out of the water.

Today our friend Becky called and invited us to the Transportation Museum. That was another run around and get everyone ready in 45 minutes, crazy morning! Well worth it though. Skyler had a blast with his friends, Nevin got to ring the bell on the train and everyone had a great time in the playroom.

Uncle Matt came and took Skyler for a day. He was one lucky boy to go to the Science Center, McDonald's, visit his other Uncle at work and just hang out. I have managed one trip with all 3 by myself to the Discovery Room a couple weeks ago and it went good.

Preschool starts next week, yay! Nevin gets his cast off next week, yay! We have two hearing tests, 1 NeuroSurg appt., 1 Neurology appt., and a shots day as well all this month. I also realized that Nev and Gav's OT will most likely become my best friend shortly since I will be seeing her 1 or 2 a week for the next 3 years. :) Life is crazy.

What we have been up to

I have no idea where this Summer has gone! Every morning for the last month and half Skyler wakes up and asks if I am taking him to school yet. This morning I realized that we only have two more weeks and I will be taking him to his first day of school!! Where did the last 4 years go by the way?

I knew this Summer was going to be a big adjustment when I was still pregnant with Gavyn. Getting used to 3 boys was going to take time. Everything just naturally takes more time, getting dressed, breakfast, naps... We are getting into a routine but things change so quickly with a new baby that it seems once we get used to it being one way it changes to something new. I would have never imagined all the other new things in our routine I would need to adjust to. Gavyn sees a Occupational Therapist once a week, Nevin sees the same OT once a week and Speech Therapy once a week. More doctor appointments than I would have ever thought imaginable! Between 3 boys going for shots, regular wellness check ups, NeuroSurg, Neurology...

I am not trying to complain, it is overwhelming when I think of everything we do in a week. I am not sure how people with more than 3 do it, at least if they are this close in age.

We are all really excited for Skyler to start preschool. He is so ready and it will be so great for him. It is time for him to have someone other than mom telling him how to do things. It will be nice to have at least one of those 3 days to be with just Nevin and Gavyn. It won't be much time but it will be nice.

Nevin's leg is healing! We went back last week, they took the cast off and x-rayed his leg again. They could see the fracture and it was healing but he still had a limp. They put a shorter cast on him so he is able to move his knee. We have been working on standing and stretching with it on. He is doing better and better, such a trooper.

Mr.Gav has started to sit up! A couple weeks ago he was trying and could sit unassisted for about 2 seconds. Now he can sit up in his crib for more than a minute at a time. He loves to look at himself in his mirror and watch his music toy. We are working on reaching, grabbing and rolling. He is not much of a tummy kid and does not want to roll around. I keep reminding myself that he will get there and is doing so good. He turned 6 months on the 19th and is over 16 pounds, 24 1/2 inches long. :) We started the rice cereal and he is doing OK. The first time he really did not like it but, each time he does a little better than the last.

Crazy busy and growing Stanley family is still here and kicking.

A First

Nevin Lucas fell down 1 step on Friday morning. He would not walk on it all day. Of course we ended up in the ER at Cardinal Glennon. Even Baby George got a bandage.

George got a snack too.


We are all laughing because Nevin got into the bandages, unrolled one, blew his nose, and of course George had to blow his nose as well!

Such a good sport, still smiling after 9 hours in the ER, no dinner, no juice, no walking and it is almost midnight.

If I stand

There's more that rises in the morning than the sun
And more that shines in the night than just the moon
There's more than just this fire here that keeps me warm
In a shelter that is larger than this room

And there's a loyalty that's deeper than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs that I can sing
Stuff of Earth competes for the allegiance
I owe only to the Giver of all good things

So if I stand let me stand on the promise that you will pull me through
And if I can't, let me fall on the grace that first brought me to You
So if I sing let me sing for the joy that has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man who is longing for his home

And there's more that dances on the prairies than the wind
And more that pulses in the ocean than the tide
There's a love that's fiercer than the love between friends
More gentle than a mother's when her baby's at her side

And there's a loyalty that's deeper than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs that I can sing
The stuff of Earth competes for the allegence
I owe only to the Giver of all good things

So if I stand let me stand on the promise that You will pull me through
And if I can't let me fall on the grace that first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy that has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man who is longing for his home

So if I stand let me stand on the promise You will pull me through
And if I can't let me fall on the grace that first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy that has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man who is longing for his home

And if I weep let it be as a man who is longing for home

Just heard this song on JOYFM and it made me cry, it reminded me that if I did not have struggles here I would be way to content and never long for my real home.

Donuts

"Let's get donuts."

That is a phrase I hear come out of Skyler's mouth quite frequently. If Ryan is around it is usually followed by,

"That is what I am talking about."

They love donuts. Who doesn't love a good ol' fried piece of cake covered in gooey sauce though? I decided to whip up some homemade spice donuts today. Yummy.

Eating Out

We have had better weeks at the Stanley house but we have also had worse. I was pretty sick over the weekend and had to get some antibiotics to get me over the hump. Ryan had some job things not work out. Skyler got shots yesterday and has been whiny about it all day. Gavyn has not been himself the last day and half but good ol' Nev is doing fine.

This afternoon we were out doing some errands and on our way home Skyler asked if we could go to the park. I told him we would have to pass because we needed to get some lunch. It gave me the idea later in the afternoon that we should
pack our lunch up and take it to the park. I take the kids on picnics all the time but Ryan never gets to join us.

I made steamed broccoli, cheesey mashed potatoes and friend chicken. Wrapped everything up and put it into our little Stanley Clan food tote. Got the plates, silverware and water packed in another bag. We waited patiently for Ryan to get back from his meetings and off to Francis Park we went.

When we got there I wanted to get pictures of the fam and the boys had to make funny faces and
make dino noises! 'Everyone say Dinosaur!'

It was so nice to sit in the shade, listen to the
change of scenery for us during dinner.

The boys ate good and were excited to get down and explore the park. There was a small creek right by us and Skyler started building a dam with sticks and grass. Nevin chased the birds and followed his big brother around. Gavyn laid on his blanket and talked to Mommy, he loves being outside.

It was a good night to remember that even when we don't have a lot of money we can still get out of the house and have a lot of fun.

Adventures of RyDog and MandaBear

When I was a little girl, like most little girls, I had my life pretty well planned. I would meet the boy of my dreams, he would sweep me off of my feet, we would have tons of fun, get married, have more fun, buy a house, have a baby, get a dog, go on vacations, have another baby... Everything would be perfect, like a little box perfectly wrapped. My life did not exactly turn out that way.

I had a couple relationships that did not pan out, had lots of friends around me though. Finally my friend Ryan asked me out. We had been friends for 4 years and over the years we had become very close friends. I had been teased about him when we first met and everyone thought he would ask me out right away. For some reason though we were both looking in other places. When he did ask me out I had already made up my mind that I was going to take a break from the dating scene. I wanted to work on myself and clear my head. I was honestly not expecting him to ask me out and it threw my plan for a loop! I had to take some time to think about it. At first we kept hanging out and had an absolute blast! Finally I told him I wanted to take a few days of not seeing him to make up my mind. It only took 3 days for me to call him and decide to start a relationship. The first part of my Plan worked out perfectly. He was the guy of my dreams, we had tons of fun and before long were talking of marriage. My pet name was Manda Bear and we always joked that it was, MandaBear and RyDog adventures! Around this time my plan took a turn.

While talking about when the right time was to get married we found out I was pregnant with Skyler. The scariest part of it all was telling our parents and knowing the disappointment would be there. Both parents were very gracious and loving towards us and were excited that we still wanted to get married and keep the baby bundle. Neither of us wanted to wait until after the baby was born to get married and I really did not want to be big a pregnant on my wedding day. It was already the end of July and we took a look at the calendar. I had always wanted an outdoor wedding and the window of opportunity was small. We picked September 9th, 2005 and had exactly 6 weeks to plan the affair. I loved our wedding day. It was fun, colorful, different, perfect. It seemed like a fairy tale was starting.

Right after we got married there was a lot of job trouble for Ryan. It was a scary time of being out on our own, expecting a baby, freelance work and me working at Starbucks. We hung in there though, we had good support and made it through. Skyler Chase was born March 29th in our little apartment in St. Louis Hills. Our little family had started and it seemed like things were going to be really good. I was going to stay home with our little boy and Ryan was working at an office in West County. Unfortunately Ryan was let go from his job 3 months after Skyler was born and we were out of money. Our best option was to move in with my parents until he found I job. I told myself it would be 6 months tops.

My Plan took another turn. We ended up being for a year and half and while there got pregnant with our second baby. We knew that even without a full time job we needed to try to get our own place before the baby came. Ryan had lots of freelance work and things were getting steady but it was a leap of complete faith. We found a cute house in Maplewood and moved out December 1st. On February 6th Nevin Lucas arrived on the scene, born at the home in Maplewood. Shortly after our church hired Ryan has a part time freelance worker and finances were steady! We knew it was our time, God had been faithful and things were going to be great. We were saving money again and making our plans. Maybe things would get back on track. We decided to buy a house and found our wonderful little home in South City.

2009, I was determined to get my plan going. We were saving for vacation and looking for that dog. Maybe everything had happened in a different order but it was going to happen! In January we found our dog, Peanut, a black lap mix that fit in perfectly with our family. My little baby Nevin turned 1 in February and that little itch of baby fever was coming back. We went back and forth, back and forth on what to do. June 12th we got that positive pregnancy result! I was so excited, everything was really coming together. We looked at each other and told each other this was going to be the happiest year of our marriage.

Exactly a week later Ryan called me, the giving at church was down by so much that his part time freelance position was cut. I knew in my heart we were going to be OK but I was so mad at God. Why did he keep punishing us like this?

The last year has been amazingly bad and beyond good. Baby Gavyn was born February 19th at our home again. He has brought us so much joy and should not be here right now. He was a fighter after 19 days in the Hospital and beyond count ER visits and a second 4 day trip to the hospital. Every time I look at him I am reminded how blessed I am. My life has not turned out how I thought. It is not my plan. It was God's plan. I still get mad at him sometimes for all of our financial trouble but then I look at my house, I look at my boys, I look at my husband that works so hard and allows me to stay home and I realized that blessings are not counted in the bank but on how many faces you see every day. I get to see 4 beautiful faces every day that make me smile. My plan was a good plan but God's plan made me a strong woman that I would not have ever imagined I could be.