Welcome baby Thaddeus!

It's horribly depressing to me that I can't figure out how to post pictures on my blog with my IPad.  I've avoided posting for that very reason...what's a blog without pictures?  But at the moment I feel like telling TJs story and we will just have to get to pictures later.

I went to the hospital the night of October 2 to be induced. After a few hours of waiting around and sleeping, we were told the doctors weren't comfortable having me induced before 6am because a bed wouldn't be available at the children's hospital until noon and if I delivered too early and there were complications...well that wouldn't be good, right?

So at 5:30 the started prepping for the induction. First they had to give me the dreaded IV.  I've never ever been easy to put an IV I. But when I tell the nurses that, they all assure me that they are really good at IVs and ill be fine. But they are always wrong. After two excruciating tries between two nurses they called the anesthesiologist in who numbed me up like crazy and tried again. Still uncomfortable but it worked. I joke that the stupid IV actually hurts worse than the contractions!

Because of the IV fiasco the pitocin didn't get started on time but no matter.  I was 3 and 50% before they started and when checked at 10am I hadn't made any progress. Grr.  By 3 pm I was checked again and I was at 5.5. I thought there would still be hours left. I was then sent through the worst hour of my life and by just after 4pm I was checked again and I was at a 9. The doctors were shocked and I was told they were talking about my fast progression in the halls.

It only took one really good push but two pushes total to get him out.  He was stuck at his shoulders. The longer story involves me being in too much pain to move to help him get out. The short story is that the docs were great at helping me get positioned right to get his shoulders unstuck.

He was really blue when he came out. Matt cut his cord but they took him to the isolette before I could hold him.  I did get a moment to hold him before they took him to the NICU. He was so blue and so bruised that I almost didn't recognize him as mine.  It was a strange moment.

The transport team took him to Children's hospital by 6pm while I stayed at the hospital for recovery. I'm sure the nurses didn't really love me but I pushed to get out as soon as possible. I was gone by 1030 the next morning.

When I got to Children's, he was doing great. He had a lot better coloring but was still bruised and blue tinted.  I was told when pregnant that I probably couldn't breast feed him because of complications so I was really glad there was nothing stopping me from breast feeding him.

TJ continued todo so well that he was moved out of the NICU to the regular floor where he stayed until he had surgery on day 6. The surgery went very well and he was in the NICU for a few days before being transferred back to the main floor for discharge the next day.

I was shocked and so grateful that he could go home so much earlier than expected. We thought we were in for the long haul and planning a month or more!

Life with TJ home has been great.  We have had to keep the girls away because they are sick but otherwise he has managed to fit in just fine.  We still have bi weekly cardiology appointments as well as pediatrician appointments and sometime over the next 4-6 months they will decide to schedule his next surgery.

Pictures will come as soon as I can get to a real computer:)

The Space Needle

Matt and I went on the coolest date last week!  We got reservations at the Space Needle for dinner!  It was incredible.  I've never been to a 'fancy' restaurant and I kept trying to act like I didn't feel out of place.  We arrived before our table was ready so we went up to the observation deck to get some good pictures:

I didn't take any pictures of our dinner, I didnt think you'd be interested!  But we had a very interesting Mozzarella appetizer that I've been craving since we tried it.  There was a chunk of freshly made mozzarella in the center of the plate surrounded with fresh cherry tomatoes, roasted tomatoes, some sort of meat, olives, and spinach. By itself the mozzarella cheese was so so but with the stuff on the side it was So Amazing.  Mouth watering just thinking about it!

Matt ended up having a Tuna plate that was incredibly fancy and I had some chicken with an artichoke that I've never seen before.  Oh, and we had something called a Mt Rainier for a drink... it had chocolate and some hazelnut and some Irish cream...and it was also amazing.  We were planning on having dessert but after the dinner, there simply was no room. Again, my mouth is watering!

This is just a fun picture of the Space Needle that Matt got while we were waiting.  

And the best picture is:

I was completely joking about this picture.  I turned to Matt and said "Wouldn't it be funny if I could get a picture holding the space needle?" And he got down and some how I managed to be in the exact right place for the picture to look perfect!  Also, its a pretty good shot of my ever growing belly!

The night was amazingly fun.  We managed to not talking about the kids or being pregnant all night long.  We managed to enjoy a fancy restaurant where I couldn't even understand half of what was on the menu, and we managed to get some fantastic pictures in the bargain!

Happy Birthday Emmaline!

Emmaline Turned 5!

Because of being in a hotel room we didn't end up wrapping any of her presents.  Instead, we blind folded her and made her guess what she was getting.  It was a pretty fun change up!

This year she got a cute make up bag/purse with lotions, a charm bracelet, socks, and a new playpen for her baby dolls!

I also took her to get a pedicure and a manicure.  I thought it amusing that her finger nails matched her shirt and her toe nails matched her shoes.  I joked that she would have to wear the same out fit until the nail polish came off.  She laughed at that but later came back asking if she really had to wear the same clothes every day, lol.  

We took Emmaline to the EMP (Experience Music Project) on her birthday as well.  Sadly, we didn't actually get any pictures inside the museum... but we got this fun one outside!  We are literally 50 yards away from the base of the Space Needle in this picture.

After the younger kiddos went to bed we took Emmaline out for icecream at Baskin Robins.  She didn't get a big fun party, but I think overall she had a really good day.  I'm excited to continue watching my first baby girl grow up!

Description of Thaddeus's Heart

I know I've posted all this information before and I'm pretty sure I've passed on a link to a website that can explain it, but in light of the fact that my son is set to be born any day now, I wanted to repost the information I have.  

This is what a 'normal' heart looks like.

This is what our son's heart looks like.  

As of right now, the official diagnosis is 

1.  Double Inlet Left Ventrical- this is seen in the center where there is one opening that dumps blood into both chambers.

2. Hypoplastic Right Heart- this is seen where the chamber on the bottom left (the picture isn't the same direction as the real heart) is under developed.  It will never 'grow' to its full potential.

The doctors say he should be fine the first several days but slowly the oxygen rich and oxygen poor blood will flood the body and make it difficult for him to eat and he will turn blue.  Also, there is so much blood going to the lungs that his body won't be able to replenish the blood with oxygen fast enough.  The doctor said to picture holding a hose up to a sponge. Sure, blood is going through the lungs (water through the sponge) but there is so much blood going through that the lungs can't get air (air can't push past the water in the sponge...).

Surgery will be at 1 week, 5-6 months and then again around 3 years.  Thaddeus will be in the NICU roughly a month to a month and a half, depending on how long  it takes for him to stabilize and heal.  

I'll keep this blog updated as I can as we get more information over the next several weeks!

What's going on?

Britta: hanging out in Seattle, trying to keep myself occupied. I just hired a Doula, which is cool. 

Thaddeus: currently getting a bit too big for his current apartment and is considering moving.  He loves being photographed weekly but even more he loves to wiggle right at the moment where the ultrasound tech is getting the perfect picture!

Matthew: is working hard to get everything together to come here with the girls in a few weeks.  He should be getting a TDY status which will allow him to take care of me and the baby without having to go into work every day. 

Emmaline: is so glad Grandma is there to spend time with her. She loved hanging out with a bunch of different friends but she has moments that show she is getting stressed out with all the change.

Lottie: also enjoyed hanging out with friends. She is learning to string words together and get her needs across. She does struggle a lot with mom being gone and is very emotional.

Gabriella: Is learning to talk and babbles constantly. She picked up on walking super quickly. Her hair is growing so long and if we don't put it in pony tails every day it gets in her eyes.  Daddy says she misses her mommy but she isn't as emotional as her sisters, which is probably good.

In the near future Matt is going to bring Emmaline and Lottie here by Space-A flights . My mom is going to being Gabriella here on a commercial flight.   When they get here, my medical care will be transferred to the University hospital, which partners with the Seattle Children's hospital.  The doctors have said I could deliver anytime after 36 weeks so then we will just all be on baby watch. 

After the baby is born we will be dealing with the possibility of him being in the NICU. But he could also be strong and healthy enough to come home for a few weeks before needing surgery. So life will be up in the air for a while.  

As a planner, it is really difficult to not have any idea what is going on in the next few months. And the idea of planning on not having a plan makes me laugh. Obviously God is making me work hard on relaxing and taking things as they come.  

I'm so grateful for all the families in Guam who are helping to take care of my family, I think this all would have been even harder without all of them! 

Guess where I am!

Wanna guess where I am? Here are some clues!

When I got here I realized that having only one pair of socks is not going to work. My pants will get wet walking around and my toes will freeze.

I am excited to go to the two zoos that are nearby.

The view of the mountain is amazing fom many places on base.

The trees are evergreen but the grass is ever-brown!

I felt really really weird driving the speed limit on the freeway. I could drive 30 miles and cover the entire length of Guam without even tapping the breaks!

Guess yet? No?

Well, I'll definitely want to visit the needle, ride a ferry and visit my old stomping grounds.

What about now? Figured it out? Well, I'll tell you. I'm in Seattle, at Joint base Lewis-McChord.

Matt is working on getting orders to leave Guam, but we have no guarantee that he will be sent here. And no guarantee that he will even stay in his same job.  I will be delivering at the Seattle Children's Hospital and Thaddeus will have some amazing doctors.

Life has been incredibly herd lately, I have felt like things are completely out of my control. But I have dealt with difficult thing before and I'm choosing to trust God in all this. It's always better and easier if I do that.

Seeing God's hand in our lives...

If you are coming here for an update in Thaddeus, scroll down to the previous post first. While talking to my dad this morning, he pointed out a few things that prove how much the Lord is watching out for my family. Where I had thought about it, I didn't really put it all together. So I want to here. Matt went to Korea two and a half years ago. It was really hard on our family. But him going to Korea provided the opportunity for us to come here to Guam. It was a crazy impulse we had to come here, but nowhere else we thought about even seemed appealing. But within 9 months we were adopting Ganriella. At first we felt that being in Guam was a hinderance to the adoption, but after only a few months I felt impressed that it was important for us to move the adoption to Guam. Moving the adoption here was easy. We found the right lawyer, the paperwork flowed smoothly and before we even knew it was over, we had full legal custody of our daughter. It could not have, would not have worked that well had we been in Missouri. To think that the adoption was finalized only 7 days before I left the island... I really feel like God had a hand in it all along. Now that Thaddeus needs the help he does, I feel confident our time in Guam is over and I just hope we did all we were supposed to do there. And I also feel that wherever we are sent will be exactly where God needs us to be.

...and here's the worse news

I tried to upload images of the heart that the dr showed me but my iPad doesn't want to go with it. So hopefully I can explain what is going on well enough. I had two ultrasounds today. The first one was with a doctor who deals with defects inutero. After visiting with that doctor I went to my second appointment with a pediatric cardiologist. Typically that doctor works with kids after they are born, but having him on the team was important because of his extended knowledge of the infant heart. Without going into too much detail about the appointments themselves, the bottom line is that TJs defect is quite severe. TJ has a double inlet left ventrical, a hydro plastic right ventrical, a hydro plastic mitral valve and a single ventrical. The one positive that the doctor noted was that he seems to have two normal great valves. TJ will be born just fine but within a few weeks of his birth his oxygen levels will drop. This will result I difficulty eating, fast breathing, and slow growth. Depending on how well he is doing, he will need surgery by one to two months old. Then he will need two more surgeries around 3 and 6 months old. Through out his life he will always have difficulties with his heart, needing regular appointments with cardiologists. As a teenager or young adult he may need another surgery or even a pacemaker. He will never be a sports player but he will live a normal, fulfilling life. The biggest thing right now is that I will not be delivering in Hawaii. They do not have the means to take care of the baby's heart here. I have to leave here within a few weeks. We have not yet determined where I will go. Several pieces have to fall into place to decide where that will be. The last big piece of news is that we are moving. Where ever they can move us to that has a good children's hospital...we will be moving there within the next two months. The doctor seemed to think it vital that Matt be here to hear the information and help make decisions, I agree. He will be immediately flying out, being here within a week. The doctor also doesn't think I should be taking the two girls with me, so Matt will take them home with him. Hopefully he can get the house packed up and moved easily and quickly. I know we will need to be together as a family over the next few months. Because of the sudden change in plans (again...), we need to sell our cars, a few other items around the property, get babysitting for Emmaline for nine days while Matt is here,and we have a lot of talking to do. Fun fun fun. Please don't worry about TJ. I know he is perfectly fine right now and once he is born he will have some of the best care the military has. Prayers are always welcome, as well as meals and babysitting for my family.

Adoption and Journals

Gabriella Lynn

Thursday, July 19 will go down in history in our family.  We went for Gabriella's placement hearing, which turned out to be the finalization of her adoption instead!  Don't ask how I completly misunderstood, I still don't really know.  But everything legal is done and over with and Gabriella is now ours!  We'll be getting the paperwork done for her name change as soon as the paperwork circuits through the courts and makes its way back to us! 

I snapped this picture in the parking lot on the way to our car.  At that point we were still letting it sink in that everything was over. 

Emmaline Lucille

The fact that I have to go off island to have the baby and the fact that I can't take Emmaline with me are sinking in.  Today I found this paper that she wrote during rest time.  She'd requested a pencil, grabbed paper and wrote this all without me asking her too or asking how to spell anything. 

Where I'm really proud of her, I also feel sad that our leaving has warrented her writting about us.  It must be hitting her hard.

It says " I love you too but I am not feeling well but I write well".  And the flip side says "I am a big sis  My mommy has my sisters but my dad has me [when] my sisters leave".

I have cried every day about leaving her behind but the more Matt and I talk about the situation the more we realize that her staying here really is the best option for everyone involved.  She may not have me around, but she will get her dad's undivided attention, which I'm hoping will make up for my absence. 

...And here's the bad news

At our 20 week ultrasound we were so excited to hear that we were having a baby boy.  From just weeks after we found out about him we knew that we were going to name him Thaddeus James and we felt his spirit around our family many times.  There were times when I'd panic thinking that we might have a girl because I felt so sure he was a boy.  We were relieved, excited, and even just a little scared to hear we were infact having a baby boy.

While at the ultrasound the technician mentioned that she was having a hard time getting a good visual of his heart.  She chalked it up to a bad angle and told us she was pretty sure the baby was just fine but warned us that the doctor would probably call us in for another ultrasound.  I went home only mildly concerned.  We'd had a scare with Emmaline that turned out to be nothing and I figured this would be nothing as well. 

Two days later the doctor called and said that all the doctors at the Naval hospital had looked at the ultrasound and felt there was something wrong.  She wanted me to have a higher level ultrasound (an echocardiogram) but would have me wait for 5 weeks until the baby's heart was bigger. Agony! Waiting sucks.  But then she called back the next day saying they'd taken a second look at the ultrasound and were a little more worried.  They wanted an amniocentesis right away to rule out many issues that could be connected to a heart defect. I cried.  If you don't know, amnios come with a heightened risk of miscarriage, possibly hurting the baby, etc.  Its not something you do for fun.  I was relieved to only experience a day's worth of cramping instead of bleeding, leaking or a miscarriage.  I was even more relieved as the doctor called back with reports of normal results.  My baby doesn't have any chromosomal abnormalities.

Over the next few weeks I began to put problems to the back of my mind.  Afterall, nothing felt wrong.  But the day of the ultrasound came and we went to our appointment.  It sucked.  I had to lay on my back and it hurt so bad.  I was literally bawling once I was allowed to sit up- I could barely move off the bed and literally hobbled to the car.  But while I was watching the screen, I just knew there was a problem.

See, the heart has 4 chambers.  I only saw 2.  I came home and googled all sorts of heart defects and was reading that a heart defect could literally be nothing to worry about but it could also be so bad that the baby has to have surgery within days of birth, possibly many surgeries over his first few years, to repair the issue.  I decided that I knew there was an issue but there was no way it would be on the best end of the spectrum and there was no way it would be on the worst end of the spectrum.  If I expect him to have an issue then I'll be prepared to deal with it.

The two week wait to find out the results of this test were also agony.  A week went by and I was thinking that the universe had somehow slowed down time.  But today was the day and we were finally able to meet with our doctor.  It wasn't cool that she made us wait 40 minutes passed our appointment time!  But none-the-less, we got the information we need.

Here's the deal:  Thaddeus has VSD- Ventrical Septal Defect.  That is essentially a hole in his heart between the two lower chambers.  In utero this does nothing to him. But once born, the oxygen rich blood and the oxygen poor blood will mingle through that hole and cause serious issues.  There are three levels of holes- small, medium, and large.  Small holes are rarely a problem and most close on their own before birth or shortly thereafter.  Sometimes the holes aren't ever discovered until adulthood.  Medium holes tend to close on their own or need some monitoring, occasionally a medication.  Large holes most always require surgery.  Thaddeus has a large hole in his heart.

Since I'd planned on the 'middle case scenario' I figured I'd be going off island to deliver (the military hospitals on Guam don't have the ability to handle this situation).  I figured that I'd leave sometime at about 34-36 weeks, before I can't fly any longer, and I'd probably stay for about a month after the baby is born, long enough to get clearance to bring him back home.  What I didn't expect was to leave this week.

The doctor told me that the doctor in Hawaii wants to see me ASAP to do another echocardiogram and determine exactly how big the hole in Thaddeus' heart actually is.  The doctor today actually said I'd be leaving in a few days. When she said that I asked "For how long?" and she replied "Until after you deliver".  I looked at her like she had three heads and pretty much the tears started right then.  She did amend her statement and said that they can wait to file paperwork to get me there but they can only give me a few days, so I'd be leaving in about a week.

I will be going to Trippler Army Base in Hawaii to deliver.  At the moment I don't have enough information to know if I can/should take any/all of my kids with me.  We are pretty sure that Emmaline will be staying home with Matt and we just have to figure out how to handle Gabriella and Lottie.  But since I'm still 3 months from delivery and its likely that Thaddeus will have to have surgery, I'm looking at being off the island (and therefore away from my kids and husband) for 4-6 months.  I don't know if I can be away from my kids that long. I don't know if they can be away from me that long!

Since we just heard all this news today, I don't know anything more than this.  But if you are in the area and are willing to help with babysitting, making meals for my poor husband (I won't have time to stock the freezer like I'd originally planned) or even house cleaning, we would appreciate any offers of help.  Of course, prayers for our entire family will always be welcome.  I don't know how we'll handle being apart, again, through something as big as having a baby and watching him have heart surgery.

I'll keep the blog updated with information as I get it.  Hopefully from here on out its better news!

Gabriella's First Birthday

Happy Birthday Ella!

Gabriella turned 1 in June and I completely spaced putting her birthday pictures up.  Sorry!

Gabriella enjoyed her chocolate cake with chocolate icing.  Oddly enough, she is the first of my three children to actually have a chocolate cake on her first birthday.  Much easier to see chocolate frosting than white or strawberry frosting! Lol

Messy Messy Face!

 For her birthday, she got a 3 little pigs play set, some tumble balls, and a book. This little girly is spoiled compared to the first two!

 A year ago, Ella was still living with her birth mom. We'd learned of her birth and that she was healthy and strong.  Her birth mom wrote an email to me later saying this about her first few days/weeks:

"Her birth weight was 8lbs, 11oz, but dropped down to 7lbs, 15oz by Monday and the doctors were worried about the amount because it was more than the 10% that should have been max weight lost and because she hadn't started gaining yet. On Monday, the lactation consultant came in and had me weigh her on a very precise scale, then feed her, and weigh her again just to get the weight of the milk she took in (it wasn't much). By the next morning she had started to gain (like 1/2 and ounce) so they felt confident my milk had come in and she was again gaining weight and okay to go home. I ended up staying in the hospital the full 4 days (mostly to get my rest) and I'm glad I did so that we could be confident that she was on the road to gaining weight. We saw Dr. Oswald on Wednesday to make sure that she was in fact gaining weight. Dr. O wasn't worried at that point and declared her to be quite healthy. She did however recommend shots for whooping cough because it had been going around.

After she came home, I slept on the couch for the first two weeks with her on my chest. She and I just cuddled. The night didn't start that way- I just ended up on the couch from about 1:30am until 3am. That would get us through a good feeding (and I would sleep some too). Then during the day, I would hang out on the couch a bunch too, making sure she had plenty to eat. Besides eating, she really enjoyed sleeping all bundled up in her swing."

 

Ella didn't come to our family until August 5, when she was almost 2 months old.  I suppose we'll do something to celebrate that day as well.  But I'm so grateful that she came to our family. She has been such a blessing to us and we couldn't be happier with her! 

 

Right now she's focusing on learning to walk.  She has improved so much in the last month.  She started taking her first steps right around her birthday but hasn't really gotten to walking until this last week or so.  She's walked 17 steps at one time before giving up and crawling.  Crawling is still her preferred method of movement though.  She has figured out how to push herself to standing in two different ways, which shocked us to watch! I thought it would take a little longer for her to figure that out. 

 

I can't wait to see what else my beautiful girl learns this next year!

I'm Sexy and I have Proof...

Even with three little children running around the house, I managed to get pregnant!

We are expecting a baby in October!

For your Information:

I'm 21 weeks.

I felt a lot of nauseousness during the first trimester but mostly exhaustion.

We are not having twins.

We have decided on the baby's name.

And...

We are having a boy!

Sunday- Lottie's Birthday

On Sunday, our adventure continued with our baby girl turning 2 years old!!!

Memory Lane:

When I was pregnant with Lottie, Matt was in Korea.  She wasn't really a kicker, she was a 'roller'.  I'd feel her but her movements were so subtile that sometimes I'd worry about her.  Matt was able to come home for her birth, which was perfect.  I ended up being induced 4 days after her due date but the pitocin really only jump started my labor and they turned it off because my body picked it up on its on.  My water broke and I remembered with Emmaline that I'd only had about 4 hours left until she was born so I elected not to have an epidural (horrible backache after the one with Emmaline!).  She was born mid morning and had a bruise on her forehead.  Sorta made her look funny but she was so beautiful anyway.  We went home as soon as we could to spend time with just family and we figured out that she is definately a child with an attitude.  Any dirty diaper was fussed at, any time she was hungry we had .5 seconds to get her fed.  But she turned out to be the cuddliest baby ever and I think that completely compensates for all the stress :)

I thought and thought and thought about having a big bash for her but when push came to shove, thats all I did- think about it.  I didn't actually get around to planning anything.  So we had a quaint little family party at home.

This is Lottie coming down the hall to see the room decorated after her nap time.  She was so excited for her hat and kept asking for it to be replaced when it fell off!

Opening presents!

She got a My Little Pony train and train car!  That thing seriously kept the girls occupied for an hour this morning. Jackpot!!

Time for cupcakes!  I thought it was funny that we just happened to have strawberry cupcakes for both her first and her second birthdays.  It was mostly a coincidence...

Happy Birthday my beautiful baby girl!!

Saturday

Our Saturday adventures were marred by a trip to the ER.  Thursday we noticed that Lottie had a sore on her foot.  It looked like it could possibly be the remnants of a sliver she'd gotten a few weeks ago.  Matt tried is best to push the remaining portion of the sliver out and called it good.  But Saturday morning Lottie woke up fussing about her foot. When we saw the state of it, we decided a trip to the ER was in order.  This is what her poor foot looked like.  That red streak was the start of a pretty nasty infection.

We had a few things to do before we headed to the ER.  We stopped by a garage sale and bought the affore shown double stroller.  It folds up smaller than our single stroller and I love it!!! We then stopped by the famous Dededo Flea Market.  I wanted to pick up some Soursop and some Breadfruit that you can't get at the commissary and browse around.  There were a lot of booths that sold food, a lot of booths that sold clothing, knock off dvds/cds, and sun glasses.  We might head back there for some girls clothes later because I saw a booth that said '3 for 10$', which is a really good price when you have little kids that refuse to stop growing.

Once we got to the ER it was pretty smooth sailing.  It took about 2 hours to get through everything but that included an x-ray to make sure the sliver was gone and a trip to the pharmacy to pick up the perscription.  So not too bad.

As the end of our family festivities for the week, it was pretty sad.   But it was an adventure! Now we've had Emmaline at the ER(for the mysteriously vanishing toy up her nose), Matt at the ER (for his appendix) and Lottie at the ER.  We've only been here a year and a half, how many more time you think we'll make it here?

Friday

Friday we went out on another adventure.  We'd heard of the "Guam Cultural Theme Park" and were mildly curious about what it was.  Turns out it wasn't that great, but I'm glad we went.  I'm even more glad for the military discount that took the price from $50 down to $20 for our family. That made  it worth it.

The idea of this park is to show how Guam was about 500 years ago. 

 

A boat similar to what they used a long time ago.  It was really thin- I can't imagine me sitting inside of it. They must have been much smaller people!

This was part of the 'nature walk' portion of the park.  It was really interesting to see several plants we recognized as well as many more we didn't.  There was this weird smelling white fruit that had fallen off the trees.  We stepped in a few and the smell wasn't that great.  There was one point where we could go back into the jungle a ways. There were so many geckos and blue tailed skinks running around.  Lottie kept saying "deko" and pointing everywhere at them.  There were also hundreds (not exaggerating there!) of shells from hermit crabs laying around.   Not sure if they were collected and placed there as part of the nature walk or if that was a natural thing for the area.  But cool!

This is what the outside of one of their houses would look like.  This isn't a very high-ranking person's house- its smaller and not raised far off the ground. 

This house was raised about as tall as Matt and I and had a tall ladder to climb up.  Emmaline was brave and conquored her fear of climbing the ladder and we were able to explore what the inside of the A-frame would have looked like 500 years ago.  It was pretty impressive and Matt should build us one :)

I don't have pictures of the kids feeding the animals but there were a few local animals- chickens, deer, carabao, hogs, iguanas, goats, etc.  They got to feed them bird feed and bananas.

After we finished up looking around at the 'park' part of the adventure we went down to the beach.  It wasn't a nice beach- it was all very rocky and seaweedy. But there was some of these cool chairs we could sit on:

And Lottie managed to find a bed to 'sleep' on:

Then Emmaline had to copy her:

And then this picture is just cute:

After going through all the pictures I discovered that we have none of Gabriella or Matt for this trip. Evidentially he had the camera the whole time and was carrying the baby.  It was a plesant trip out and was very interesting to see so much of the culture. But Matt and I agreed that it probably wasn't the most exciting of our adventures.  And we probably wouldn't highly recommend this to other people.

Thursday

Thursday  we took a trip to a beach we havent been to before.  Turns out, we really should have found a way to come here earlier! It was a perfect beach for our family.  The water was shallow for hundreds of feet before the reef and had so many fish that would swim around our feet.  We all loved it.

I've discovered that there is something about being at the beach that completely relaxes me.  I find that I can't think of any of my problems while I'm out there.  All I hear is the sound of the waves, all I feel is the breeze on my face, all I see is the deep blues of the water and the ocean meeting in the distance.  All I feel is peace.  Add to that the fact that I get to watch my children and husband having so much fun and every trip to the beach becomes a mini piece of heaven.

Gabriella loves putting anything in her mouth that she possibly can.  Its quite annoying at home when I have to keep everything off the floors, but at the beach, it means keeping her 100% away from the sand or we'll be cleaning sand out of her diapers for a month!  This is a picture of one failed attempt to keep her on the towels. She face planted into the sand and got it into her eyes, ears, and mouth. And then she rubbed her hands into her eyes and made it worse.  Poor girl had red eyes all day!

This is me, sporting my new swimsuit! 

Matt found this blue star fish while walking around in the water.  He tried to take a picture of it but declared that we really just need to have an underwater camera.  Later a few Japanese tourists found the starfish, tore it off and was playing with it. That made Matt grumble quite a bit because he said that hurts the starfish. Hopefully that starfish found a way to safety and was able to recover.

I'm so grateful that I get to be here, experiencing some of the most beautiful things on this earth.  I'm also grateful that Matt got the week off.  It was time we really needed together!



Wednesday

This week we were so glad to have Matt off work for a few days. After cleaning, mowing the lawn and running errands, we took off for some adventures.

We had some tickets for a river boat cruise but because of soeme misunderstandings on my part, we showed up almost an hour early! So we wandered over to the nearest beach and poked around for a bit.

Once we got on the riverboat, we enjoyed the breeze, watching the little fish in the water, and looking for the animals on the shore.

This is a view from the riverboat of a site that used to have a Chamorro Village:

An Iguana sunbathing on the tree:

Here we were able to land and look around the old Chamorro Village site.  These are called Latte Stones and are the foundation for their houses. The higher off the ground your house was, the higher rank you were in the tribe. 

We got a few family pictures:

This one is funny- we had to wait in line for the chance to get to the mouth of this cave.  While doing so, I noticed a VERY big spider had built his web at the top of the opening to the cave.  Emmaline, if you recall from our last cave adventure, is terrified of the spiders.  So, I elected to not point out how big he was.  Well, just as we were getting our turn, the tour guide thought he'd be helpful and point out to our kids the really cool spider.  Emmaline Freaked out.  I grabbed her and she clung to me like butter on bread.  Matt went lift Lottie up for the picture and she bumped her head on my hand in the process. The guy was snap happy and took the picture too fast so what we got was Lottie saying "Ow", Emmlaine still mid- freak out, and Gabriella looking at who-knows what while Matt and I were laughing our heads off.  Best family picture all week.

After enjoying our time on the riverboat we went to Ipan Park for a lunch and to explore the beach.  Gabriella was exhausted and fell asleep on the ride there.  The girls looked for crabs and built a sand castle.

Lunch:

As we were leaving Matt wanted one more family picture:

After assessing the entire week, we decided that out of everythign we did, the riverboat cruise was easily the favorite and we'd probably do it again.  It was so nice to have our whole family together and to be able to enjoy some of the beauties of Guam!