Life keeps going!

Life is plodding along. We returned from Williamsburg, Va through rain the entire way home. It reminded Andy and I of our drive home from our honeymoon (we stayed in Va. Beach and Williamsburg). It poured the entire way home then, too! I still felt lousy on Sunday so I went and taught my Sunday School class and then came home and slept! It was great! The kids and Andy didn't get home until after 4:00 pm as there was a lunch after church and then soccer for the kids! I so enjoyed my time of rest - I think it made an improvement on my health! I felt so much better on Monday and we were able to continue on with school. I am really trying not to miss any days and build up as many school days before the baby arrives so we have a good cushion. Pennsylvania requires 180 days of school - today is day 53. I am hoping to have 85 days in before Christmas break. Then I will only have 95 days of school to fit in by the end of June - though I prefer to be done the end of May - before Memorial Day. I find it terribly difficult to get anything out of their little heads after Memorial Day. We'll see how the new baby fit in with things - I am praying for a VERY happy and content baby.

Matt seems to have FINALLY caught on to the fact that school needs to be done everyday. For the past three days he has been finishing his work on time and getting through the day with a mostly good attitude. I can't tell you how thankful I am for this! Hopefully it will continue. Life changes next week as the kids and I are being evicted from the house! Andy has to polyurethane the floors and being pregnant, I can't inhale the fumes. So we leave Sunday afternoon and won't return until November 2nd. I am really praying that this is the last time I have to leave the house due to renovations. I am tired of leaving. Tired of packing up the kids and doing things solo. I am extremely thankful that Andy's parents are willing to tolerate us for an entire week - I know it isn't easy with three loud and busy kids! But they are so good to us and hopefully it won't rain and the kids will enjoy the fresh country air for a week - as well as stomping in the leaves and enjoying some extra freedom. Daniel will be in heaven - he loves being at Grammy and PopPop's house - he loves the country.

I am still working on pictures. I hope to have time tonight after the kids go to bed. I am going to attempt to use Andy's new computer and see how things go. We'll see! Thanks for continuing to pray for us. Please specifically pray for our nerves as we are approaching the one year mark since we found out about our bed bugs. It is getting nerve wracking thinking you see one and praying everyday we never see another one again! It has been five months since we have seen one or had any bites, but just this past Monday, trash day, our neighbors had a ton of furniture and beds out for the trash men to take - we haven't been brave enough to ask if they found any - I am hoping it was only a fall cleaning!

Williamsbug, VA

That's where we are at right now. We purchased a special three day/ two night deal at Sam's Club for an incredibly cheap price. Andy and I love it here and the kids enjoy it as well, so we thought we would take a little vacation and count it as school since this years history is American History. The kids have been learning much about the revolution and even heard the Declaration of Independence read allowed today. We have been talking to people non-stop to discover the differences and similarities between our current life and life in the 18th century. I have thoroughly enjoyed the time we have been here so far, except for the fact that I feel miserable with a head and chest cold. It has also been miserable weather - rainy (it POURED yesterday!) and cold. But the kids have been troopers and have been actively seeking people out to talk to and ask their questions. I have a ton of pictures, but I'll have to wait until I get home to upload them onto a computer that will read the CD-ROM that came with my camera. But I will post some.

We are here one more night/ day. I am REALLY hoping that the weather will get better and it won't rain tomorrow. It isn't looking hopeful. Please pray for the ride home and that it would be uneventful!

Okay....Okay....

I have been absolutely horrible about blogging as of late. Life has been busy. Andy has been crazy busy sanding the wood floors we found underneath the carpets we pulled up last week. I have been going crazy trying to keep the dust level down. I am extremely thankful he is cleaning up the floors and getting them beautiful, but at the same time I am SO READY for this work to be DONE! I just want my house to be put in order and for the NOISE to stop! It seems that noise REALLY bugs me with this pregnancy. I get easily irritated at the beeping of the construction vehicles at the end of the street - the sander is driving me crazy - and my children's non-stop talking is really starting to grate my nerves! I am so thankful when 11 pm comes and it is QUIET! I keep reminding myself this will not last forever and we will get done - I just can't wait until it is DONE!

I will be able to take pictures come next week when I get my new camera! I called Best Buy today to check on the status of the repair on my camera I gave them almost two weeks ago and they said I was approved to get a NEW CAMERA! I guess it was the actual camera itself that was the problem and not me after all! They didn't have a report as to what was wrong with it, but when I go to pick out a new one on Monday maybe they can tell me so if it was my fault I don't do whatever it was I may have done, again. I think I will use Andy's new computer to download pictures and upload them on the blog - just in case it was my computer that may have infected the camera. My computer has been doing weird things and I really need to clean it up - I just need to figure out how to do that! I so want to be a techie - and I am so not one!

Baby Schultz is doing well. He had a heart study this past Thursday and everything is looking great! He weighs approximately 1 pound 6 ounces already! When I think I still have 17 weeks to go I keep praying he won't get overly huge. Daniel was 9 pounds even, Sarah was 8 pounds 9 ounces and Matthew was 8 pound 5 ounces. I don't have small babies! I am hoping this one is no bigger than 9 pounds. I have been terrible about exercising this week and really need to get back into it on Monday. I have been staying up far too late cleaning things - trying to keep up with the dust. I will get up early on Monday and get back to the gym! My goal is to do the elliptical for 60 minutes at least 5 days a week. Something I have been sadly lacking!

Sorry I haven't been blogging as much as I used to. I am hoping to get better at it again. Thanks to all who have been praying for us despite my lack of communication!

BooHoo!

Yes, that is me crying that today is our last full day of vacation. It's back to Philly tomorrow. I have so enjoyed the peace and quiet, the beautiful finished house and the no-stress life! Now we go back to our totally chaotic house, stress-filled life and noisy neighborhood. I REALLY have no desire to go back. So I plan to enjoy our day today by going to the beach, sitting in the sun and watching the kids enjoy the sea and finishing my book.

Yesterday was a very cool day so we went to the mall and bought the kids new shoes and some winter clothing. Daniel is in LOVE with his new Sketchers! He has done nothing but praise his new sneakers! They light up a VERY BRIGHT GREEN color! You could spot him a mile away in the pitch black! He is going to LOVE wearing these sneakers up at PopPop and Grammy's in the dark! He is very pleased! Matt and Sarah also got new sneakers - but they don't light up! What was shocking was that my daughter - who is ten - in only one size smaller than me!!!! The child has huge feet for being so young! Matt is already at a 11! Andy is a size 13 - I guess Matt will be there in about two years at the ripe old age of 14! After that I told him he would have to start wearing shoe boxes lined with duct tape!

I am off to the beach!

Vacation 2009

Well, this years beach vacation has been our most interesting one yet! We arrived Saturday to cloudy conditions, but MomMom was prepared and had a Lego kit for each kid to enjoy during the late afternoon. We had a great meal together and then sent the kids to bed early as we knew our day would start off early with the excitement of going to the beach.

Little did I know that our day would actually start off at 6 am with Daniel crying he had to get sick to his stomach! He was sleeping in a double bed with Matt and it kind of freaked Matt out - he doesn't do so well with other people getting sick! I rushed in their room, whooped him out of the bed and ran him to the toilet where he did get a little sick. The rest of the day, however, you would never have known he was sick. He ate, ran around the beach like a nut, and was just his crazy self. We even went to the boardwalk that evening and rode rides, ate some funnel cake, and some caramel popcorn. He was fine. I put him to bed with me as Matt was still a little freaked by the episode. I was glad (well kinda!) I did as at 1:30 am he totally lost EVERYTHING! All over me! Gross! I am so glad I don't get squeamish with these kinds of things. So I woke Andy up from his bed and we stripped the bed, Daniel, and cleaned up the entire mess. Poor Daniel was so upset. But we got him settled down and he quickly fell back to sleep for the rest of the night. I watched everything he ate on Sunday and made sure it was the blandest diet with absolutely no sweets - tough to do with the grands around! But he seems to be over whatever it was he had!

So far we have had three beautiful days at the beach! Sunday I was even at the beach for 5 1/2 hours - and I didn't get ANY sunburn! I was so proud of myself! Monday I spent another 5 1/2 hours - no sunburn and Tuesday I spent 4 1/2 hours there - again no sunburn! I have been vigilant about the sunscreen! I am also happy to report Daniel is also sunburn free - he is my kid that burns the worst of the three. Sarah is looking like a little brown girl and Matt's freckles are popping out like crazy!

You may be looking for photos, but unfortunately I won't have any for awhile. For some reason or another my new Canon SLR camera won't take pictures. I have only had it for about two months and it won't work. I am so upset. I did bring our little point and shoot, but once again my computer won't recognize the camera and I can't download the photos. So now my camera and my computer are down - so frustrating! I need to read more about these items and figure out how to solve these issues.

Today was an overcast day, but we drove down to Cape May and had breakfast at McGlades - great food, large portions and on the beach! We even got to see dolphins swimming around in the ocean! We then walked around the shops and I did a little Christmas shopping for Daniel. I am almost done with him! I want to be done all my Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving as I think I will feel too huge to do any shopping after that!

Baby Schultz seems to like the beach. He has been kicking up a storm and seems to get the hiccups a lot! Sarah is still mourning the fact that it is a boy. She sees all kinds of cute girl things and really wishes we could be buying them for her new little sister. I keep trying to encourage her that her little brother will be cute and we can buy some really cute things for him, too. Right now, I believe our friend's little girl, Lily, will be receiving a lot of cute things for Christmas to help us get out of our girly mode and into boy mode!

Vacation is going well. We are really enjoying our time together as a family and are relaxing tons. I am so thankful we have three more days!

Out of here!

In just about an hour we will be leaving for vacation! I am so excited! I am hoping to get much reading and game playing done while away. I have my camera and I think I have figured out the computer issue with uploading my photos so I hope to have many pictures of fun in the sun! Please pray that this vacation would be restoring and relaxing as ministry picks up as soon as we get home! Thanks

I know, I know!

It has been far too long since I have blogged - but so much has been going on! Life has been flying by and even now I don't have enough time to write all I desire to!

I guess the first major thing that is happening in our lives is that we are expecting a new little Schultz sometime the end of January. This came as a bit of a shock - though I have always desired another, I never thought it would happen. Since finding out about our little joy it has been a roller coaster of emotions! Because of my age and diabetes I was immediately sent for ultrasounds and Dr's. consultations. At first they believed the baby's umbilical cord was abnormal - instead of having the normal three strands (2 arteries and 1 vein) - mine only had two. Well this made a stir in the medical community as this condition "can be" an indication of Down Syndrome. Well since I already had my age and diabetes against me they started to become more insistent that we go for the genetic testing. A long time ago Andy and I had decided that we didn't really want to go that route with any of our pregnancies, but the Dr's. became so irritatingly insistent we decided to do it and deal with the results. As it turns out the results came back negative and my chances of having a child with a chromosome problem are very slim. I will admit that the whole idea of having a special needs child (not that it still can't happen) through me into a bit of a tizzy. God once again was showing me he is in control and will be with me no matter what the outcome is. I have never felt such peace before a medical test - that whatever the result were it was God's will and He would lead us in His way. God is good - all the time! I had an ultrasound yesterday and it was discovered that the umbilical cord is actually NORMAL!!! Now whether God healed the umbilical cord or the first tech read the ultrasound - I don't know. I believe it was God causing me to rely on His strength for whatever outcome was to be!

During yesterdays ultrasound we also discovered that we are going to have a boy! I REALLY thought it was going to be a girl. I was absolutely convinced it was a girl. Sarah cried when she was told it was a boy. She so longs for a little sister - she is tired of living in a house full of BOYS!!! But she is getting better about the idea of another little brother. She is insisting that we adopt a little girl so she can be guaranteed a little sister! We'll have to pray about that one!

Other big news is that the work on the house is really progressing! I moved all the clothes back upstairs and even moved my books back into my bedroom! This was nerve wracking as I was always afraid that maybe one bug slipped into one of the boxes and has been hiding. But so far - no bugs or bites. We continue to pray each day that we are really through the trial of bed bugs. I hope to have some pictures uploaded soon of the great progress that is being made - but my computer is doing weird things and not allowing me to upload anything. The CD-ROM drive isn't working either - I really need to save up and get a new computer - but the house needs to come first!

Please continue to pray for us as we continue to put the house together and as we prepare for another little family member. Life is never dull!

It's late and I need to head to bed. I will post photos and write more later!