Leah

I think this one may be my favorite

Noah

I cannot believe that he is going to be 7 in just 3 months!!

Sisters, friends

What I love about these pictures...I didn't have to prompt them to do any of this...they just did it. I think they cooperated better for the pics of them together than seperate. They really have become good friends lately. I hear Rachel call Leah's name all day long. She looks up to her so much, and wants her with her all the time. I wanted to do some in their matching outfits but they were dirty. I have long passed the days of trying to purposely match or coordinate them...but these days, they are wanting to. If I buy and outfit for Rachel, Leah wants me to buy her one just like it. If I buy Leah an outfit, Rachel asks her all the time if she can wear it. As you can see, there is a bit of difference in their height, but they have still been trying to wear each other's clothes lately. I watch them, and I remember how I longed and prayed for a sister for so many years, and I know just how lucky they are. I hope so much that they, along with Noah will always be friends.

Sneak Peak

As if I don't already have enough pics of our kids, I took them out for their own sesssions today. I did this once when we lived in Warren, and Noah has asked over and over again for me to do it again. When I did it before, I took each kid out by themselves all around to take pictures. They enjoyed the attention, and they cooperate lots better without the distraction of the other ones. When I got done with Noah, the girls both said they wanted to do their session together, so that worked out o.k. b/c I got some cute ones of them together. I am in the middle of cooking supper, but was excited about them, so I thought I would post just a few for now. B/c I haven't blogged since Sunday! I have just been in a funk this week, and have things to share, but am cloudy by my worries and haven't felt like talking at all. So...these have brightened my week!

Life with asthma

Noah has asthma. He has had allergies since he was a baby, and when he was in preschool, he stayed sick all the time. That is when the doc diagnosed him with asthma. We had a few scares...where he would get really bad and we would have to go to the hospital to get an updraft treatment. So, this had a lot to do with my decision to first keep him home and homeschool him. I wanted to see if he could keep from getting exposed to every little cold going around, if he would get better. And he got a lot better. And then we moved from southeast Ark, and his allergies improved, thus his breathing did too. And we started seeing pediatricians at Children's hospital, and had trained respiratory therapists teach me how to keep it under control. And it has been much better...to the point that he once had to use his inhaler 2 times a day, and now the doc has him using it just at night. And then, his momma thinks she knows better b/c he has been doing so well, to just forgo it to just a couple times a week. And then about halfway through pollen season, she is reminded, once again, that the docs DO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT when they tell me each time I go that him doing well means that the inhaler is WORKING...and not to stop it! So when he got pretty sick with it 2 weeks ago, and has still had a raspy cough, everytime he coughs, I feel guilt welling up inside me. IF I had been giving him his inhaler EVERY night like the doc says I should, would he be sick now?? Would we be having to test his breathing to make sure that it is staying above 100 so that we don't have to take him to the emergency room?? (BTW...we have a peak flow meter, where we test his breathing. It is suppose to be around 250 when his breathing is good, last week it got down between 100-150....if it goes below 100 and we can't get it better, then it is time to go to the emergency room and at that point, you are wanting to take him b/c you can see him struggle with each breath, very SCARY!) We had to give him several doses of his albuterol inhaler last week....which is his emergency inhaler, and makes him act pretty loopy and bounce off the walls!

My doc in Warren one time told me after one of our emergency room visits that asthma is just as severe as diabetes, and that I need to take it very seriously. I just tend to forget that whenever he is well, and I am hoping that he is growing out of it b/c I don't want him to have to be on a steriod inhaler and singulair every night for the rest of his life.

This photo is of him doing his nightly treatment. That is a channel that attached to his inhaler that helps him make sure he breaths all the medicine in.

Noah's new bed

We moved Noah's bottom bunk bed out of his room when my sis came to visit, and so that he would have more room to play under there. When I came to tuck him in the other night, I noticed that when he cleaned his room, he had cleared that area out, and had made him a nice and neat little bed under there. When I asked why he said, "because, if I sleep here, I won't have to make my bed up!" So, there ya go. Today he decided he is ready for me to bring his bottom bed back in his room after sleeping in the floor all week. Crazy boy!

This is his door sign he made.....My Room Rocks....(except he left off the s)

A little bit of fishing, eating, and duck feeding

All at the same time! The plan had been to go have a picnic, and then fish, but instead they did a little of it all at the same time. 1 bite for them, 1 bite for the ducks!

photo by Rachel
We were at the lake by the library, so after we got finished there, we went in to pick out some books.