Happy Anniversary!

5 years ago today I was sealed to an amazing man for all time and eternity! He is my best friend, he is everything good! I feel so blessed to be married to such a wonderful person. When Ricky proposed to me he used a scripture form the bible in Galations 5:22 which says But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. He said he knew when he had read this scripture that he wanted to marry me because I posses all these qualities but it is he who posses these traits. He is a man of God. He is giving in every way possible there is to give. He is a hard worker, talented in many ways, and honorable. I couldn't have asked for a better man to be my husband or the father of my children. He loves them dearly and shows them everyday. He tells me I am beautiful and that he loves me every day. I look forward to life with him, he is a rock. I know that no matter what challenges we may face in life that we will always face them together and that we will be stronger because of those trials in life. This passage is from 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 and 13 in the bible “Love is patient; love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;never selfish, not quick to take offense.There is nothing love cannot face;there is no limit to its faith,its hope, and endurance.In a word, there are three things that last forever: faith, hope, and love;but the greatest of them all is love.” Thank you Ricky for making me laugh and smile all my days! I love you!

All my love,

Samantha

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. ~Don Marquis

Is it obvious that I have been avoiding my blog? What is it about this time of year that makes us feel like we go none stop and then by the end of the day we are all exhausted? We have been busy these last four months. We celebrated Caleb and Hannah's birthdays, Hannah had a minor surgery and is eating solids, Ricky got a new project at work that has had him traveling quit a bit, and Caleb started pre-school.

I have been trying to stay on top of life and its many demands but until recently I had found myself struck with pure exhaustion! We have found that life throws curve balls when least expected and you just have to roll with the punches ;) This particular punch being that we found out we will be welcoming a 3rd child to this world May 7, 2011! I am 16 weeks and so glad to be done with the first trimester. We weren't even going to try for another baby until Hannah was at least the age of three maybe older but I guess God has other plans for us. We are nervous and a little scared but we feel blessed that Heavenly Father has entrusted us with another sweet child and find ourselves excited for this added adventure in life!

We had alot fun of this Halloween! Caleb was a cowboy and not just any old cowboy but a deputy sheriff! He go to dress up 5 times... fun times! Hannah Was a butterfly :) She was so sweet and sure does enjoy those dum dum suckers.

Hannah turned the big 1 in September. I must say it was wonderful to celebrate her 1st year of life! She has overcome so much in the last year. When she was born we didn't know what to expect... we had doctors telling us what a poor quality of life she would have. I knew as mother that was not so and the spirit testified that to me. We believed in her from the moment she was born. Hannah can see, she can hear, she plays like any other 1 year old, she is INTELLIGENT! We are so proud of her! She is going to do great things in life! She has taught me many things about life... what it means to hope, to have faith, courage, and how truly special the gift of life is! Children are one of the closest things to Heaven! She is a total daddy's girl. When her dad is home I am chopped liver...she wants absolutely nothing to do with me. She is a spit fire! She loves to do what Caleb is doing and often times makes him scream because she has messed up his toys he was playing with....she is going to be a mischievous child just like her brother :)

Hannah plum tuckered out after her big day
Such a big girl!

She had surgery to remover her extra finger... all gone!
Such a sweet face... I could kiss those cheeks all day!


Caleb turned 3 in August! I cannot believe how big he is! He is so full of life. He has the sweetest little spirit... he always wants to help me with whatever task I am completing. He adores Hannah, one of the first things he does in the morning is give her kisses. He started pre-school in September and has so much fun. He gets so excited when I tell him its time to go play with his friends. He is one smart little boy. He understands all that goes on. His three years of life have brought us so much joy! Kids make life worth living, it would be so boring without them. He had a Curious George party with friends. He had so much fun. They danced, played pin the butterfly on the log, and I let them finger paint on one big sheet of paper. He loves tents! Ricky will build him a tent every so often and he will spend days playing in it and as the days go on he will add to his "house". He loves playing pbskids.org on the computer. It is so much fun to watch him play. He has an amazing imagination. I am not sure where he picked this up but he calls me mother all the time! It is so funny because it comes out more like mudder...cracks me up! He is amazing and I love him!
First day of pre-school

The big 3!Life is wonderful!

With love,

Sam

Summer Fun

Whew! I feel like its been forever since my last post... no news is good news :) We have been busy having ourselves some summer fun! Caleb refuses to take naps during the day so more times than not I find him zonked out on the floor somewhere. He really likes to go to the cool (pool). There was a time we were spending almost everyday at the pool. The kids would be so tired they would fall asleep for the rest of the evening. I have no complaints :)

Hannah absolutely loves the water. She is such a water baby! I will sit down with her and she lays in between my legs then proceeds to kick and splash in the water all while letting out squeals of pure joy. She is growing so fast! She crawls on her back and is a little more tolerant of foods. She will let us put the bottle in her mouth and if she is in the mood will take a few sucks. She liked her bubble gum sucker and we have even caught her eating a Graham cracker. The food thing is slow but every step counts and I am so proud of her. I started writing this post last week and since then I am happy to report that Hannah actually ate some oatmeal! This is a huge step for us. She has yet another double ear infection but is on the mend.

We took the kids to Shawnee Lake one evening and had a picnic. Caleb loved it! He is such a good little helper. He loves life and it shows in all he does.
This is one of my favorite pictures of the kids. She is looking at him like he is the coolest thing in her little world!Ricky is an amazing dad! He is a wonderful example to our kids and myslef. He is so giving of his time and self. He is also the best husband a girl could ever ask for! I love this man!
Learning how to sit up. Such a little lady!Eating her first sucker...yum :PThis is what happens to our back yard when it rains...it floods:( My engineer of a husband is figuring out how we can solve this problem.

Our library has blockbuster Wednesdays for the kids. We went to one that was all about birds of the rain forest.

For the 4th of July we went to Iowa to celebrate with the Teed family! A fun time was had by all :)

Caleb, Hannah, Mabel, Charlie, and Faye... they sure a cute bunch!

We have been having a wonderful summer! Some days it has been so hot that we just stay inside with all the curtains shut and play. On days that its not unbearable to be out and about we go do stuff around town. One of our favorites is swimming and going to the 2 dollar theater when something good is playing.I love these kids! I am so grateful that I am able to be a stay at home mom. They are so full of life and love! I learn something new from my kids everyday. I would like to say that it is me who teaches them but in reality they teach me so much about life and whats important. Caleb helps in any way possible. He is going to be one that serves others through out his life. He gets this from his dad. His spirit is the sweetest! Hannah is a fighter. She works hard at everything she does and she accomplishes some new mile stone everyday! She shows us everyday that the medical facts we were given just to dont pertain to her... she is amazing. Being a mom is not always easy or the most glamorous but it is the most fulfilling job I have ever had. It brings joy to my life every day! I hope all have been enjoying their summer as we have!

Hugs,

Sam

Loving Life

These last few months have been crazy busy. What have we been doing one might ask? We bought and moved into our first home

(pictures coming soon), we have been to two conferences for Hannah, one in Kansas City and one in Iowa, and in our spare time we have been trying to keep up with all the other day to day stuff.

Hannah sure does loves her daddy. Little does he know she has got him wrapped around her little finger. She is a daddy's girl.Caleb is such a sweet boy. We go to the zoo once a week, he loves playing outside, he is natural at sports( I think he can kick a soccer ball better than me), he enjoys going to nursery, he loves reading, is into all sorts animals, helps with baby Hannah, wants to help with us everything, he has so much energy, and is just growing into an amazing little boy! I love his smile. Caleb is such a smart kid. He has a memory like no other. We have a routine when we go the zoo and if you try and skip anything he knows. Some fun things that he has been saying:

monney (mommy)

delicious..everything is delicious :)

whats dis (this) mess? Clean dis (this) mess up.

tops (stop) He cant say his S's so it ends up on the end of the word that starts with an s

He cant say his S's but he can say argentinasoures.

Ricky is really enjoying his job. Rick is loving being a home owner and all the fix it up things that came with the house.... our front and back yard being the biggest project of all. He is out there in the morning before work, after work, and on the weekend. He is playing on two softball teams this summer, and still manages to spend time with his family. He is simply amazing!St. Louis ArchHannah has been doing wonderful! Last weekend we went to a CHARGE conference in Iowa. It was wonderful. We learned so much! CHARGE kiddos are all different but the one thing that is true for all is they are amazing! We were able to meet a few kids and they were delightful. Hannah is rolling all over the place, she can definitely see, making all sorts of baby noises, and has even started playing on her tummy. She does this scoot thing to get her toys that are out of reach... it is so cute! Currently we are working on sitting up (all most there) and oral feedings. She is doing better with solids but not so much with the liquids. We will get there someday :) Her heart is doing fantastic. Her cardiologist is slowly weaning her from her meds. August is going to be a busy month for us. She has all her check ups and will also be getting her extra finger removed!

She has come so far since her birth. I am so grateful for Hannah's team of professionals, friends, family, and all that are cheering her on.... thank you!

We told him he could not go outside to get his ball because it was muddy and he didn't have any shoes on... this is what we found shortly after. Smarty pants!
Playing in the rain. He looks so grown up in this picture... STOP!

I have been busy with getting the house organized. It has been a little challenging the last month. Ricky went on a 4 day business conference the day after we moved in, Hannah was sick with a double ear infection, We have had doctors appointments in Kansas City, and we were gone for two of the weekends of the month. This last week has been extremely productive. I love being a mom. I am enjoying my new home and being able to do whatever I want to it :) I haven't done much jazzercise lately but I really enjoy going so it is my goal to make time for that during the week. I am doing great!

We really enjoyed spending time with our families in Muscatine this last weekend. We are looking forward to more road trips! Once the house is finished we will post pictures. We love you all and are so grateful for all the support and love we continue to feel daily! May you all be enjoying this thing we call life... we are!

With love,

Sam

Happy 6th month birthday Hannah!!!


Hannah has been growing wonderfully. She is actually fitting in her 6 month clothes and is progressing better than the doctors had expected. Her vision teacher from TARC came over today and she has been amazed at the ability of Hannah's vision since day one. Hannah doesn't show any signs of having any vision problems. When an object is placed in front of her she will see it, reach for it and grab it. Yesterday was Hannah's first day going to church and someone that was watching Hannah approached Sam and the conversation went something like this:


Guy: Well, we haven't heard anything new about Hannah. How is she and how is she doing. I mean, I'm not a doctor or anything like that and it looks like she can hear and it looks like she can definitely see...


Sam: (laughter)...Yeah that's what they told us at the very beginning, but she can see and hear.

Hannah just past another great milestone. She rolled over today (3/10/2010)! I know most parents think it is a big day when their child rolls over for the first time, but I will argue that this was a much bigger accomplishment for Hannah in our eyes. When she was 7 weeks old she had a CT scan done on her head after she was having siezure like symptoms (they didn't happen to be siezures) and the doctors were able to compare it with her CT scan when she was only a couple of days old. She had been born with a normal size brain and they told us then that she wasn't going to have the Retardation of development from the CHARGE acronym. Well, at 7 weeks they said her brain hadn't grown much and they prepared us for the worse (doctors are good at preparing for the worst). This particular doctor has a nephew that has developmental problem and he said that his nephew didn't show any signs of retardation until he didn't roll over at 6 months and from then on things became more pronounced in his nephew. So he informed us that she may miss some of her mile stones and have brain capacity issues. Well, today on exactly her six month birthday she rolled over!!! And you know what, she hasn't missed any of her mile stones yet, she can see, she can hear, and she is growing wonderfully. She is surpassing all expectations that the doctors had given her. You go girl!

Unfortunately everything can't go as planned with Hannah. This past week Hannah started to throw up her feeds again. It was sad because when Hannah gets set back it takes her a while to get going again. So we made an important and hard decision, we were going to try and force her to bottle feed. Yes, we were going starved our little girl. It was extremly difficult for us, but this is the only way that we can help Hannah get rid of her Mic-Key button and help her to start eating like a typical child. We decided this after her 9am feed so from then on we only offered her the bottle. At first she didn't want any part of it, but then by 7pm she decided that she would eat some. She took an ounce and didn't even spill a drop out of the side of her mouth. This was enough to help calm herself down, but it wasn't nearly enough for her body to grow. 2 hours later she took the bottle again and the entire time that she was eating she would be sucking on the bottle, but also complaining about how she didn't like to eat from the bottle. It was kind of cute. She took another ounce agian at 1am. Everytime after she took about an ounce or less she started to get too tired and couldnt breath and eat at the same time. By this time my heart was being torn apart because several times throughout this process she would be crying because she was hungry. It hurt me to watch my daughter be so hungry and she couldn't do anything about it. By 3am I started to give her the normal feeds of 4 ounces.

So we tried. Our emotions got the better of us and we started to feed our child again. Until next time she will be a content little girl and get more than enough food :)

Thank you to everyone that have prayed and are still praying for Hannah. She has overcome so much and we know it is because that our Heavenly Father has blessed her through your prayers and the blessings that she has received. Hannah has been a great blessing in our family and we are extremely excited to watch her grow and develop into a beautiful little child.

Ricky

Moving on...

We have some exciting news in the Teed family, but first let me tell you about all of our happenings from the last few weeks.

Ricky has been enjoying work and goes to basketball in the mornings. He loves to play with the kids when he gets home from work. He does a great job with his church calling as a ward missionary and has this new thing with reading LOTS of books on real estate.

I have been enjoying jazzercise. I try and go every night when Rick gets home from work. I just started a competition called jazz it off. It will run for 12 weeks and for that 12 weeks I will be working hard to be the jazz it offs biggest loser. So far I have lost 8 lbs! Today I woke up with my neck out of place.. OUCH! I have been out of commission for the day and thanks to my wonderful husband I have been able to rest my neck. I hope it gets better soon, I feel so useless!

Caleb is such a big boy! We are working on potty training...meaning he does it when he feels like it :) He likes to read a book while sitting on the big boy toilet. So cute! He loves Hannah and helps so much. He likes going to Barnes and Nobel to play with the train set in the kids section. I don't mind, it gives me time to read. As of lately he jumps on and off of everything, he likes to run around in nothing other than his diaper, I have given up on putting clothes on this little monkey, he no longer takes naps, and he now has a new favorite TV show... Diego, he watches it several times a day.

Hannah is growing and getting stronger everyday. She is 12 lbs and is officially in her 3-6 month clothes. She can roll from her back to her side and is so close to rolling onto her tummy. Hannah loves music and playing with her toys! We are still working on her upper body strength and will be sitting up any day now. We are still working on her feeds by mouth... I have a feeling this is going to be slow but steady improvement. She took 20cc's by bottle the other day. YAY Hannah!

Now for our family news... We are moving! Yes that's right moving! Moving where one might ask...? Well we are moving into our very own home! We are first time homeowners as of last week. We close on Mach 26th and will move in that weekend. It is all newly remodeled.... we are nervous and excited.... this was the last straw of actually being all grown up! I will have Ricky post pictures sometime soon :) Enjoy the pictures of the kids... they are the cutest!

With love,
Sam