Tucker The Two Year Old

 Tucker Joseph has reached the two year mark in his life:)

He is such a joy to have around.  He is also exhausting.  But his personality and shenanigans are always bringing us laughs.  And being here in the states he's had some good time with his cousin Elliot to join in the shenanigans!

Just like any two year old, he is full of opinions about his food.  But if it's something he likes, the boy is a beast!!  He out-eats his older siblings and could maybe even out-eat me if given the chance.  Maybe.

Again with the shenanigans... (the pictures got out of order)

He cannot be expected to be content with sharing anymore.  If Summer and Sawyer have something, he must also have it!

He has really been in the mix as far as playing with the others.  We are starting to see some good, fun brotherly rough housing happening between him and Sawyer.  Well, until someone gets hurt of course.

Such buddies!

He is a ham.  And he knows and loves when he's making people laugh:)

Last night we went to Ft. Wayne to see Tanner's name on the Parkview billboard and then grabbed a quick supper.  My mom was with us and she commented how she understands why we don't like to eat out a lot with the kids.  Then she said something about especially because we have a newborn.  And I said "Yeah and we also have a Tucker."

But my goodness how we love our Tucker.

Happy Birthday, buddy!

Teeny Tiny Tanner

Well, here we are!  Tonight (Thursday) at midnight I was supposed to go in to get induced but sometimes things change!  There were several things going on the last few weeks that caused me plenty of anxiety over this baby/labor/delivery and I really tried to get my doctor to let me go before 39 weeks.  The first three kids I always wanted to just go on my own.  After having Tucker come so fast though in the middle of the night (2 hour labor), plus the convenience of planning as far as getting back to Haiti goes, I had decided pretty early on that I wanted to just get induced at 39 weeks rather than wait around for the unknown arrival time.  By the time I was 36 weeks, my body was already showing plenty of signs that things were set to go into motion at a very rapid pace.  And probably earlier than expected but not necessarily.  My blood pressure was too high and my platelets were too low and everything hurt all the time.  I walked like I was 88 instead of 38!  Plus knowing that it would probably be really quick again and we live 45 minutes from the hospital....... all of that combined caused some crazy anxiety that I have never really experienced before.  But my doctor, though I love her bedside manner and the confidence she has in what she does, she wouldn't let me go earlier than 39 weeks without a strong medical reason.

However, last Friday, at 38 weeks, I started feeling contractions about once an hour in the early afternoon.  Nothing crazy but definitely notable.  As the evening wore on they continued and started increasing in frequency, but not really in length or how strong they were.  Either way, I was pretty uncomfortable.  And so scared to go to sleep!  I laid awake until about 2 in the morning waiting and timing and counting and the jolted awake at 3:00 thinking things were really happening.  They weren't.  But that happened two more times until a little after 5:00 when I told Danny "This is dumb.  Let's just call your mom and go in, even though there's a good chance they'll send me home."  I knew it was likely just Braxton Hicks because of how irregular things were, but at the same time, they never stopped no matter how I laid or sat or stood or walked.

It was quite a bit different from the last trip into the hospital to have a baby!  Rather than moaning and groaning and crawling my way into triage, I was talking and nervous laughing and totally coherent.  They hooked me up to the monitor and could see that something was going on but they couldn't really call it labor.  The rounding physician came in and said she hoped my BP was juuuusst a little too high:)  She said she didn't want to send me home but needed to find a good enough reason to let me stay.  So basically all the things that I had been worrying about finally got put to good use and I was able to be admitted.  Once I knew we were staying and were going to have this baby, my anxiety just dropped.  Not completely, mind you, because going through labor isn't necessarily fun and games no matter how you look at it!

So off we went to the delivery room, getting all the goods like an epidural and a slow pitocin drip.  They were so very gracious and did my fluids right away, let us order breakfast while those were going, and THEN start the pitocin.  And they didn't even make me wait until I had a good strong labor pattern before they called the anesthesiologist.  It was a dream come true!  Until it wasn't.  All of a sudden kinda out of nowhere, the epidural was NOT working.  And I was already almost to transition by that point so things got real uncomfortable real quick.  That's when Kevin came into the picture.

Kevin is that peanut shaped ball sitting next to Danny on the couch.  They call him Kevin because they said he looks like a minion:)  My nurse was so sweet.  She wasn't a new nurse but she was new to labor and delivery.  She asked me if I wanted to use the peanut but the way she was talking I thought she meant I was out of luck and would need to just get out of bed and sit on the peanut and do my best to finish strong.  I asked if we could just call anesthesia first to see if there was anything we could do.  But then a different nurse came in who was just as sweet but got right down to business.  She re-positioned me and got me all snuggled up with Kevin and soon enough that blessed epidural drip was once again finding it's way to all the right places.  Oh it was such sweet relief!  It also really got things moving and  within another 30 minutes or so it was time to meet our baby!  And find out once and for all that it was indeed a boy!

After clean up and recovery it was off to post partum to get settled in for awhile and get to know our sweet little Tanner.  He's our smallest baby, weighing in at 6 lbs 7 oz.  After the other boys being 8.5 and 8.1 he was just so little!  Hence the name Teeny Tiny Tanner.

The tech gave him a mohawk after his bath:)

So sweet and snuggly!  His bilirubin was a little high and we had to wait around longer than expected so they could retest him on Monday but he passed the second time!

All ready to go!  There's just really not much difference between carrying an empty car seat and carrying one with him in it.

Aaaannnnnd cue the tears here.  This is always the point I've started to get emotional and have my post partum hormones kick in.  Throw in the fact that as far as we are concerned this is our last go round and it hit hard right then!  I told my doctor this was it and she laughed and said she's heard that before!!

The big kids were well taken care of while we were in the hospital!  They had lots of fun family time and I'm not sure they really missed us!

But they're all big fans of Tanner already- even Tucker loves to give him kisses!  Or maybe I should say so far instead of already.  Reality of what a new baby actually means probably hasn't actually set in for them.  But we are glad to be home and ready(ish) to figure out life with four kiddos.

Danny asked me how I felt about everything and I said I just had such a big feeling of thankfulness.  Thankful for a healthy baby who is here safe.  I know it ends differently for so many people.

Praise God for our sweet baby who was knit together in his mother's womb and is fearfully and wonderfully made!

Settling In

We've been here a month now- that went quick!  But we have settled into a routine of sorts that will be completely upended here in a short time with baby coming along quickly.  Danny's been working remotely in the mornings and then is home with the rest of us in the afternoons and evenings.  Sometimes we'll have plans but for the most part we've been enjoying this time of rest and normalcy before big changes come!

After we left my family we headed out to Danny's but stopped halfway in between for a few days of our missionary orientation.  I have but one picture from that time.

But really, that's how we all felt!  It was a wonderful time but it was packed with information and thinking and processing and fellowship and we were tired!!  But definitely worth it for us.  We loved being with others who are on the field, some we know very well and some not so well.  To get thoughts and perspective from those in other places who have been on the field a lot longer than us was enlightening and encouraging!

Then we headed the rest of the way to our home base where we pretty much immediately started in with family time!

We were there for the annual zoo trip which the kids loved but I have to say it's quite a bit more enjoyable for me when I'm not waddling around with a maternity belt and compression socks:)  Thank goodness for benches in the shade!

Since we are going to be here longer than a normal furlough, we decided to actually send Summer to Kindergarten rather than try to home school for just a few months with a brand new baby.  After counting down the days for a long time, she was SO excited when the first day finally rolled around.  But then she woke up that morning with a nasty cold and we decided we better not send her.  Tears were shed, that's for sure!  But a few days later she was deemed well enough to go and it was Oh Happy Day!  So far she has loved it and we are happy to have a place that kindly lets us send her for just a short while!

My birthday is this week and I told Danny I really didn't have high expectations this year because of how life is right now but he exceeded anything I had in mind!  The kids each got me a little something form the dollar store and I got to open one present each day.

On Wednesday, the day before my birthday, he informed me he would not be working that day and we had plans!  We dropped the kids off at grandma's and went to Shipshewana for the day!  I had never been there and had dropped hints that I would like to go sometime.  Apparently my hints made Danny think I had been there before because he was surprised when I told him I had never been there!

We did some walking around the flea market and a few other places too, but we didn't push it too hard because of aforementioned waddling/belt/socks situation.  One of my favorite parts of the day was our horse and buggy ride with our driver Elmer.  He was such a nice old fella and I really enjoyed hearing about his life and talking about Anabaptist history and spiritual things! 

And then on top of all that he got me a couple presents from himself that were the kind of gifts that make you know he's paying attention to the things you like and that would mean something:)

Thursday we came back out to Illinois to squeeze in one last weekend before the baby comes.  And speaking of the baby, I had very minimal prenatal care in Haiti.  Partly because of COVID and partly because there just isn't as much routine prenatal care down there.  And what I did have, I had no records to show for it.  So my doctor has been catching me up on all the blood work and tests and such and wanted to to an ultrasound as well.  So I did that on Tuesday.  And surprise!!  The baby we've thought to be a girl since week 13 is apparently a boy!  Most likely that is true, but I hardly know what to think and I'm not sure it's completely sunk in for me yet.  And who knows- maybe it really is still a girl.  I like to get "going home from the hospital" outfits and I told Danny I might have to get one of each gender just to cover all my bases:)  We had two ultrasounds in Haiti and both times I agreed with the doctor that it looked like a girl but on Tuesday things definitely looked different than before!  Either way, we're good.  There were a few more tears shed by Summer when we told her but I think she's accepted it and moved on by now.

So until next time...

We Made It!

Blogger just changed things up on me so I need to figure out all the new stuff now- bear with me!

Here we are, stateside!  

Last Sunday morning us and the Herrmann's headed out at 2:00 in the morning.  We thought we would be able to sleep on the way to Port-au-Prince but, you know, plans change.  After a less than stellar trip from the hospital to the airport (six rounds of puke in our family with one shared puke bag- we think the Herrmann's still like us????), we got all checked in and ready to board our flight.  Things got a little crazy at one point while I was standing at the top of a very fast escalator with two boys, two backpacks, a carry-on suitcase, and a folded up stroller.  Danny had made it down the escalator before I realized quite how much help I was in need of and finally there was an airport worker that graciously helped out.  Or maybe it wasn't gracious and he just wanted me out of there.  Either way, we made it down and out the door to the plane where we could finally drop off some of our load and encourage our overtired and a little bit scared kids up the stairs and onto the plane.

After landing in Fort Lauderdale and making it to our hotel, we grabbed some Wendy's that was next door to the hotel and got the kids ready to swim.  Tucker doesn't have his own puddle jumper or anything so Summer got the arm floaties and he got the pink floatie:)  We thought about trying to make it all the way to 7:00 in the evening or so and then just all going to bed early, but after hitting a wall we decided to nap and stay up a little later.

We all crashed for a couple hours around 4:00 and then ordered pizza.  It was the first time for the kids to have pizza delivery in front of a TV in a hotel and it was a hit.  I mean, what's not to love?

Herrmann's had an early morning flight so we said our goodbyes before they went to bed and we had the whole next morning to kill by ourselves.  We took a little walk around the hotel and the surrounding area and saw a rooster and a chicken roaming the parking lot pecking away at someone's discarded food.  We had to double check to see if we were really back in the states or if it was all a dream and we were really still in Haiti:)

Our flight out wasn't until 4:00 in the afternoon so we had pleeeeeennnnnnty of time to kill.  The airport was dead when we checked in.  It was so weird!  And for the first time since we've been flying with the kids, they were invited up into the cockpit!  I might have been more excited about it than they were:)

Tucker was tuckered out.  All the kids were such troopers after having such a messed up schedule.  Summer and Sawyer didn't take any naps on the plane but it must have been the car seat effect for Tucker and he just cashed.  

Meanwhile Summer made a puppet out of the barf bag:)

We made it to my parent's house around 9:00, had a little unwind time and snacking on our requested groceries time, and then hit the hay.  Tuckered out Tucker slept until 11:00 on Tuesday morning while the other two wasted no time in jumping into life with cousins:)

The first few days were pretty low key as we caught up on sleep and got used to being up here.  However Summer did get to go out with my parents for her belated birthday outing.  She chose Chic-fil-A and Build-a-Bear and came home with this giant unicorn.  She loved it!

It's been a good mix this week of resting and family time.  My sis-in-law snapped this picture of the boys the other night and I'm pretty sure I want it framed for their room.  Summer and Sawyer have been BFFs for awhile now and Tucker is really getting into the mix too, now.  It's a different friendship between brother/sister versus brother/brother.  It's fun to see them all grow together!

Helping grandpa and grandma pick beans.  I think he actually picked a few!

Out for ice cream!

Guess who's old enough to know he needs wants his own now???  The last time we went out for ice cream he was not even a year and was perfectly satisfied with just having a few bites of someone else's.  My how things change!

Tomorrow we leave here and head to a missionary orientation/retreat with a small group of other Harvest Call missionaries.  We are looking forward to that time and then Friday we will head the rest of the way out to Danny's family and start to get settled into our temporary place of residence.  More sweet reunions!  And more acclimations:)  But all acclimating aside, it's good to be here!

We Still Love America:)

There's a lot of things in the states right now that give cause for a lot of not so fun feelings.  But we still love our home country, and maybe living in a foreign land makes it a little bit sweeter for us.  And since COVID threw a wrench into everything, there's a lot more missionaries around here right now than would normally be in the summer.  So we gathered the ones from Harvest Call together and had us a celebration!

One of the older girls had made an American flag, so of course Summer wanted to join in the fun.  One of her parents did probably 80% of the project but she was proud to claim it as her own:)

Ready to load up and head to the party!  We had it here in Bonfen so the gator sufficed for transportation:)  We try not to be too lazy and walk when we can, but with three kids, a portable high chair, and several dishes for the main meal, the gator was definitely the way to go this time around!  Besides, Nussbaums hosted it and they live at the top of a steep hill and I'm tired and pregnant so there's that too.

Thrill rides for the littles!

Shoulda brought swimsuits.

Sparklers as the afternoon turned into evening.

Water guns, 5 gallon buckets filled with water, a kids pool, water balloons.... the day definitely called for water!  Tucker had the last water balloon and he lovingly held onto it for a very long time before he finally dropped it:)

I'm noticing some different outfits.  These pictures are from the course of a couple days.  We had a huge afternoon meal on Saturday.  Then some of the Cayes group spent the night and we had church together followed by lunch on Sunday.

Patriotic Jello pops.

After all was said and done, all three kids fell asleep.  At the same time.  That is pretty much unheard of these days.  Sometimes one or the other of the older two will take a nap, but all three at the same time?  Never!!  And we found Summer like this in her own little bed she made with our pillows and Danny's shirt on top of the trunk that sits at the foot of our bed:)  Whatever works I guess!

The only sad thing from the weekend was that we had ordered a bunch of food through Agape Flights that we don't normally have down here.  We were so excited to have this special meal!  But then Agape couldn't come that week for some reason so we didn't have our berries or lettuce or things like that.  But we made do, it was still tasty, and truly refreshing and a blessing to be together.  And the good news is that we will still be getting our food- hopefully this week- so we can still enjoy it:)

And we have plans!  Soon enough we will get to enjoy our favorite foods anyway!  As always, things are subject to change because this is Haiti and then COVID of course.  BUT, we have tickets bought to go out on furlough!  If everything goes according to plan, we will fly from Port-au-Prince to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, August 2.  We will spend the night in FLL and fly into Bloomington on Monday the 3rd.  We will spend a week in IL with my family before heading to a three day missionary orientation (yes, even though we've already been on the field for a year), and from there head to our "home base" for this furlough in IN.  Because of having a baby, we will be in the states longer than we normally would on a furlough, and also our time will not be divided very equally between IN and IL.  But we will have a few weekish long visits back in IL over the course of our time in the states.  Our return date is very unknown at this point.  There are several factors going into it and we will just have to take the wait and see approach for now.

We are really excited to come!  We are looking so forward to seeing people, eating the foods we love, and having air conditioning:)  That being said, please be patient with us at first!  When we evacuated in the fall, we had only been gone for two months and it was very easy to just jump back into the American life.  This time is different, and we aren't sure how we will react to the social overload and the pace of life up there.  So if we seem a little off, especially at first, please give us some grace and don't take it personally!  I am more nervous about all that than Danny is, and it will probably be just fine, but just a heads up.

I'm not sure if I will have any more posts on here before we leave, so if not, we'll see you when we get there!

Everyday Life

Again with the crafting.  All day every day if she would be allowed.  I have limited her mostly to the time after lunch when Tucker is in bed and she's not because crafting with Tucker around takes the stress level from about a 2 to off the charts.

One weekend afternoon Danny turned on the sprinkler for the kids (well, and himself because it's HOT!) and used that time to wash some of the bigger outside toys.  Summer said "I'm pretending this is fun but it's really not.  We should be getting paid for this!"

Sometimes they just sit and look at books and I love that so much.

He's a goofball, that one!

So... this picture:)  Our permits came so I guess that means we officially have permission to live in Haiti now.  But this picture!  I was in the middle of my first trimester and felt nasty.  My hair was greasy- combination of the heat and desperately needing a shower.  I was wearing a sleeveless dress and they said my shoulders had to be completely covered.  So they had this jacket for me to wear.  I was so hot already and not feeling well.  And then I put on this jacket, that, judging by the smell had never been washed.  So I held my breath as best I could and thank the Lord they were satisfied after the first shot they took.  And then we got the pictures printed and cracked up!  I think I look like a little grade school boy from the 1800's or something like that!

Seriously- a goofball!  And yes, he's wearing the same shirt.  I think it was from the same day but truthfully, he wears the same outfit for at least two days in a row and sometimes three.  Including bedtime.  I mean, he doesn't have a ton of clothes so if they're not terribly dirty, what's the point of a new outfit every day?!?!?!

The Aberle's are all out on furlough right now.  Once a week or so Danny goes to check on their house.  And while they're gone we are the keepers of their 4-wheeler.  A lot of days he drives that to work in the afternoon and then texts me when he's leaving work.  When I get the text, I send the kids to the bottom of our back steps where he meets them and drives them up the hill to our front gate.  They love it so much!  Sometimes Sawyer will go to the bottom gate like an hour before Danny's finished working to meet him.  He doesn't last the whole hour usually but he sure is excited for his daddy to come home!  Well, and he's excited for his ride, too:)

The goofball is also a determined little fella.  When we're doing dishes he goes to the bathroom to retrieve the stool (yes that is a squatty potty) and brings it to the kitchen to get a better view of the action.  And if he gets distracted for awhile and leaves the kitchen, we will return it to the bathroom.  But he will go back and get it again so he can see!  He is not a fan of being on the sidelines, that's for sure!

This was on my flip calendar yesterday.  It made me say "ouch".  If you can't read it, it says "From pain will emerge a deeper trust in God... a beauty we could not imagine."

Happy Thursday, everyone!  Or whatever day it may be when you read this:)