March 2009

Oh my goodness what a month!

I figured I'd write a little something before the end of the month so I don't have almost 2 months to catch up on...

We're still trying to get everything out of Clermont and back into Dr. Phillips. We're almost done, but it's taken a lot of work and time. I feel like we're burning on both ends every day. It's taken its toll too, because Elise has come down with bronchitis, and conjunctivitis and now, I'm being treated for bronchitis! Hopefully Brian won't catch this one, it's a doozy.

On top of all this, we found out this week that the baby has already dropped into position and is ready to go! It's still WAY too early. He's measuring small too, so we go in for an ultrasound on Tuesday to make sure everything is okay and developing properly.
I should be posting the rest of the month's stuff and updates within the next week.Until then!

February

I Have a REALLY Good Excuse!

I still need every one's forgiveness for not being able to place pictures well in a blog. I still haven't figured it out!!

February has come and gone and I haven't updated the blog! My excuse is: We lost the camera battery charger. Our camera can only download pictures if it is on, and the battery has been dead, so at the end of February, I didn't do an update because I wanted to post some current pictures.

Neither Brian nor I could find the battery charger and figured it would show up someplace, sometime. Well, it didn't show up until yesterday when I was looking for something in the Pilot and found it in the console. We both had looked there, and apparently overlooked the charger!

We had our 3rd anniversary this Valentines Day, and Brian surprised me with a day vacation to Downtown Disney for a picnic at the Poly, and a movie. It was great to have a day to spend together without any other worries in the world.

As most of you all know, Brian and I have moved back to Dr. Phillips. We haven't completely finished, and it will take some time to get all of the moving finished though. We are grateful to everyone who helped in the move, and you know who you are :) Brian wants to get some of the plants from Clermont and bring them to Dr. Phillips, and chop down the massive jungle that engulfs half of the back yard. Gardening is a labor of love for him.
Brian has also been spending what little spare time he has with a new passion, or maybe renewed passion for guns. He and the boys have gone out with other members of the ward to shoot. They all seem to enjoy blowing up targets together. Elise and I are just fine with staying home and doing the girly thing, which for Elise is trying on every shoe in the house. in February, there wasn't anything more she wanted to do than try on my old pointe shoes.

Work is starting to pick up a bit, and for that we are so blessed and grateful to the Lord.

The pregnancy drama never ceases to amaze me. Without going into a ridiculous amount of detail, I will say that due to the high risk this pregnancy is, my current OB has refused to provide any additional care. (If you really want details you'll just have to call me) Being in my 3rd trimester, you can imagine the stress that put on me. Not many doctors want to take on a patient so late into their pregnancy. In fact a few doctors I took my records to reviewed them and pretty much said, heck no we won't take you! Luckily, I found a doctor in Celebration who has accepted me as a patient, and has made more progress toward relief than any other doctor I have seen so far. a sort of left handed blessing I suppose...as some blessing can be.

Elise is continuing to sign, and has over 90 in her vocabulary! She is such a bright little girl. She's getting better with her words too. In fact, yesterday, she said sizard (for lizard...there are a lot of lizards at the house in Orlando) and ji ji for Jimmy this morning. She and Brian like to give my belly hugs and kisses. She is also saying uh oh and oots whenever she makes a mistake or drops something. Her persistancy in saying please makes your heart melt and even more difficult to refuse her requests. Her manners are generally very good, except when she yells NO! or More!! We took her to Disney for my birthday, and she loved it! Those pictures are on my camera phone and I'll have to figure out how to get them off before you can see them. She loved the carousel of course, and would say horsey please and more throughout the day. She had so much fun, and was so excited that in a tunnel on the playground in Toon Town, she hugged and kissed a boy!! Brian quickly told her 'no kissing boys, only kiss mommy and daddy, okay?' With a nod of her head she was off again to the tunnel, and guess what? Kissed another boy! She's a handful.

Brian and the boys like to hide from each other, and Brian has recently taught Elise to hide. This is a BAD thing. I brought her out to the car yesterday and let go of her hand for a few seconds, and I mean seconds...to put her diaperbag in the car. I turned around to get her and she was gone! I started yelling her name, and looking all around the car, on the side yards etc. all the while screaming her name and hearing nothing but silence afterward. It must have been a full minute of panic (it seemed like 45) before I heard her mischevous little laugh and found her, hiding up where the gas pedal/brakes are. I seriously thought I was going to have a coronary. When we got to our destination (playgroup) I was telling my friend about what had happened and again, for a few seconds we didn't have our eyes on the kids and Elise had dissappeared again! She was upstairs in her friend's bedroom. She's quick and sneaky, two traits I am not too thrilled about dealing with for the remainder of her life.

So that's my post. It's been a busy, busy few weeks. It will only get busier as my due date approaches too...oh the life of a Momma!
Thanks again to everyone who has helped us out moving, we appreciate it so much!!

--terrah

January 2009

I didn't forget!!

Hey everyone...I didn't forget to write January's blog post, I just have been so super busy, like all of you I'm sure.

January was really quite a month. We found out we're having a baby boy, that we'll name after Brian, James "Jimmy" Brian Denham. The pregnancy is moving a long. Jimmy is a big kicker! I'm still having a lot of headaches though. We did some testing and gratefully, they aren't being caused by anything serious, like a tumor or aneurysm. My doctor's sent me to the ER this month because I was showing every sign of pre-eclampsia (I developed that while I was in labor with elise) and they needed to test for the one final thing that would say I had it or didn't, and I don't :) That's great news. The bad news is, I have to keep getting shots in my head for these headaches, and they don't always work. Just a few more months though!!

We had an emergency custody hearing for the boys this month. It did not go as we expected. The boy's mom didn't even show up for the hearing, so they started without her. The judge was going to give us the emergency custody, and we almost got the order signed...It almost worked out the way we wanted, but everything just kind of turned upside-down at the last minute and the judge changed his mind. We don't foresee a likely chance under the circumstances that we will gain custody of the boys. If we couldn't get it for the emergency hearing, we don't have much faith that going forward would be beneficial to anyone except the attorney's who will gladly take anyones money!!

Elise is doing great. I think I've counted at least 65 signs that she can do, well. She's learning to sign and say her colors, and is starting to say more words. I think her favorite right now has got to be "no" or "more" sounds like mowwah, really cute. She's getting ready to start her swim classes again, and this summer she'll start her mommy and me classes at the Clermont Academy of Dance. I'm excited for that because I can loose some of the pregnancy weight I'm gaining.

All in all, this month has been really busy between doctor's visits, custody hearings and the daily grind. I hope you all are well and that you had a great January!

I'll post again at the end of the month for February's update...

--terrah

December 31, 2008

Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Another month has gone by and I’m happy to say, there hasn’t been anything dreadful, like last month, phew!

I can’t believe another year has passed. Time really flies the older you get. Our days are filled with things to do, so I suppose it really shouldn’t be such a shock. The Christmas season has been very modest for everyone I know. For me, it was a huge reminder of what the season is truly about…and for that I am grateful.

We had the boys from the time school ended for the holiday break, until this past Sunday. We all love to have them here. Elise loves them so much and every morning would say Shh Shh (for Shannon) and De De (for Devon). It is so great to watch the three of them interact. It brings out a considerate and compassionate side of the boys that they generally do not have for each other. Over the past year and a half, they have made some really significant improvements with how they treat each other…a little more concern, respect and sensitivity. I’m really proud of them for that.

Another first this year, was that Shannon and Devon both purchased gifts for others with their own money! I took Devon, and Brian took Shannon. I know for certain how excited Devon was to buy gifts for his family…he wrote on the gift tags that he paid for them with his own money, and it was tithed. Both of the boys were very thoughtful and generous with their gifts, realizing perhaps for the first time during a Christmas, how much more fun it can be to give, than receive.

We opened Christmas gifts on the Tuesday before Christmas because Brian wanted to make sure he was able to spend some quality play time with them before they left to go back to Lakeland. All the boys (dad included) got Nerf Dart Guns for Christmas. They played inside the house, built forts/shelters, and got to play soccer a lot. I think they were all happy to have the extra time to play. The time was extended even further when their mom decided to not come to get them on Christmas. She didn’t come and get them until the Sunday after Christmas, which left the boys all a lot of time to play with their gifts and read their new books.

Grandma Campbell and Grandpa Ken came over for Christmas brunch and brought lots of goodies for the kids and a wonderful present for Brian and I, which was a certificate to watch Elise and the new baby during this coming year. It was great to see Elise really enjoy Christmas. Last year, she was more interested in the paper and garbage. This year, she really loved the gifts she received and hasn’t stopped playing with them yet!

There really isn’t too much to say negatively about the month. From what I understand, most every family got some kind of cold/flu during Christmas. We weren’t immune to it either. I did take a trip down the stairs and hurt my shoulder. The doctor thinks it’s sprained or fractured, but I don’t want to get an x-ray to see. No matter what the results were, there isn’t a lot I can do…being pregnant. On the positive side of pregnancy, there were no trips to the hospital this month and the baby is strong enough I can feel kicks every now and then. We’ll find out next month whether or not it is a boy or girl. During Christmas brunch, I started having some pretty strong contractions that kept me in bed for a few hours. The doctors say I should expect continuing complications during the pregnancy, but not to worry about them. They’re more of a nuisance for me, than a concern for the health of the baby.

We’d love to hear from your family to see what’s been happening with you all. I really don’t know, (because I receive so few responses to these emails/blog posts) if this even gets read by most of the people I send it to. At any rate, I hope you all are well. We think of you often and pray for you always!

Love,
terrah, brian, shannon, devon, and elise

Okay, so I’m a few days late for this month’s update, but as they say “Better late, than never”.

November has been a very busy and sobering month. Between soccer games, holidays, and the pregnancy, there is the regular hussle and bustle of every day life.
There have been some really trying things happening this month. Our friend from church was in a horrible accident where his wife was killed by a drunk driver, and he remains in the hospital. Our other friend from church has a son who is dealing with brain cancer/surgeries etc. And our very own sweet bun in the oven, put us all in for a scare yesterday that landed me in the hospital to make sure everything is okay. Trials from heaven never cease, and neither does the love and mercy we feel from our Heavenly Father. Our gratitude for the many blessings we have in our lives is full to the top of our cups this month.

We were able to visit Hawthorne for Thanksgiving with the boys and Elise. They loved it! Elise can now moo like a cow! She loved seeing all the animals. The boys did too…they even helped feed the cows with Luke. They really enjoyed watching movies (Iron Man, Spiderman, and Nacho Libre) inside, and playing soccer with Brian outside. They kicked the ball into a tree and it took us a long time to get it down. It was too dangerous to climb that particular tree, so Brian took a large fallen limb and poked at it until it fell out of the tree. Brian and I were able to locate so many constellations in the clear winter skies of the country. We tried to use our telescope, but the eyes truly seemed to be our best tool for viewing the stars.

Shannon is starting to mow the lawn to earn money and did a great job this weekend. Devon helped around as well. They both like to work if there is a paycheck at the end of the road, especially Devon!! He wants to save up hundreds of dollars for some automatic derby race car thing (he said) OR he wants to save up all his money to buy a ton of Legos (which would only make the ridiculous amount of Legos they already have even more ridiculous. Seriously, there isn’t an inch of shelving space available for any more Lego ships! I have no idea what he’d do with them all.

Elise continues to sign. She’s doing great with following directions, and telling us exactly what she wants. Her new favorite thing? First thing in the morning, she says “BA!” She means bus. She loves looking out of her bedroom window at all the school busses. Second to that, she can say ball now, and I mean say it, not just sign it. So she’ll stand by the door and say ball, ball, ball when she wants to go outside to play. Brian set up the soccer goals in the back yard and she loves playing and kicking the balls around.

We hope everything is going well for each of your families. You’re always in our prayers, and we love you!!

--The Denhams

Halloween!

Please forgive the layout of this blog, I still haven't got the hang of multiple pictures in one blog down to a science. If I can keep up with this thing, in a few months from now, my blog should be beautiful. Until then, you'll have to just bear with me :)

Elise had her first Trick or Treating experience last night and LOVED it! Shannon and Devon came over this weekend. Shannon dressed up like a wrestler, Devon a chainsaw guy, and Elise a little 50's girl. We were able to go up and down the street, candy baskets in tow, before Elise was too tired and grumpy. She got a lot of attention from everyone who was handing out candy, and by attention, I guess I mean extra candy. There were a lot of "oh, she's so cute" and "what a beautiful girl" statments in between the gobbs of candy they dropped into her basket. She would sign thank you, and more after each handful. That only made everyone even more excited to give her candy! She got at least 3 times as much candy on that street as the boys. When we came back home, Elise changed roles and passed out candy. As each child came up, she eagerly dropped candy into their baskets and chased after them as they walked away signing more, more, more! She really liked Halloween. She also, for the first time in her life decided she wanted to eat a piece of candy. She picked out a Twix and ate the entire thing! After that, it was time for a bath and a good night's sleep.

After setting some ground rules (call us every 15 minutes and stay in this particular section of the neighborhood)the boys continued for about an hour and came back, baskets full to the top with Candy. Devon unfortunately though, was victim to some major rudeness in the neighborhood. Apparently some kids came up and just stole candy, right out of his basket!! He surely had plenty to share and would have given it up, but geez! Shannon and Devon made it home safely with plenty of candy and goodies.

October 2008

There are so many things to be excited for this month!

I am really excited, because I'm actually keeping my word in keeping current with this blog!! But more than that, we're having another baby!!!

The baby is apx 8 weeks old, and everything looks good so far.

As for the rest of the family, we are doing well. I'm a bit sick from the surging hormones of being pregnant, but other than the typical prego-symptoms, I'm okay :)

We are trying to have Elise talk to the baby and give kisses. She is such an affectionate baby, always blowing kisses, running up to hug us or kiss us. Her signing vocabulary continues to increase (which means Brian's and my vocabulary is increasing as well) and she is able to communicate so well. I've said before she loves to go outside and used to be very persistent, signing 'shoes, outside. shoes, outside' over and over until I would finally take her out. Now she signs 'outside, birds' over and over. Unfortunately, birds are hard to find in the neighborhood. There aren't enough trees for them, so the place for finding birds is in a parking lot at Target or Wal-Mart. She loves to go out and see the birds in parking lots.

Elise is also showing her nurturing side more and more with her baby doll. She often tries to have the baby fold her arms for prayers. She also tries to feed the baby with whatever snack or drink I've given her. She will be a wonderful big sister. She is a helpful baby, very curious as to what I'm doing in the kitchen, and will sign help often. The other day, I had a craving for pancakes, so I started to make pancakes and she wanted to help. I gave her chocolate chips to drop onto the pancakes. When she was finished with the handful I gave her, she signed more...so there were a LOT of chocolate chips in the pancakes. I was excited to have her give some to Brian. I did my taste test, and realized that my pregnant absentmindedness caused me to accidentally put baking soda in the recipe instead of baking powder. So, we never gave the pancakes to Brian, instead, Elise helped me turn on the garbage disposal to destroy my botched up batch of chocolate chip pancakes.

Brian is using his green thumb to beautify our yard. He's been working almost every day this week planting and moving plants in the front yard. It's beautiful!

Halloween is tomorrow and out theme this year is 1950's. Brian will be a greaser, and Elise and I have poodle skirts we will wear. I made them this year, to try and save some money. Elise found the only thing I could not sew on the skirt and ripped it off...the jewel in the dog collar! She seems to like her skirt. Kea and I took Eden and Elise to have their pictures taken in costume. I'll post the pictures when we get them back from the studio mid November.

It is a joy to have Elise and Brian in my life and I am so grateful for them and the opportunity to add another little bundle to our package :)