Benjamin's 2nd Birthday!!

Uncle Andy and Benjamin

Benjamin Enjoying his Big Bird Cake

We celebrated Ben's 2nd birthday on February 14th. It was a fun day with family and a few friends. Ben was so cute he kept saying "Happy Birthday!". Grandma Pat, Grandpa Tom, Uncle Andy, Uncle T.J., Papa, Nana, Aunt Becky, Uncle Brian, Eric, Traci and Lauren were at his party.
We also made a cake for Ben on his actual birthday February 15th. Unfortunately, he had to enjoy his cake the following day because mom got very sick and we ended up in the hospital, where mom received fluids.
Benjamin and Jacob were so excited to have another cake!!

Two Days and Counting...

We will be heading to the hospital on Monday morning for the arrival of our baby girl. We were planning to go into the hosptial for an inductions since she had turned head down just before 37 weeks. However at our appointment this past Tuesday at 38 weeks she had flipped again and in now breach. As of right now we have a c-section scheduled for noon on Monday. They will do a quick ultrasound to see if she has flipped again, if she is head down they will proceed with an induction, if not they will proceed with the c-section.
On Tuesday she measured 8lbs and 5 oz. It is quite a bit bigger than her brothers were, which I am not sure if that is good or not. It still seems surreal that we will be having a little girl, with all the trucks, tractors and rough housing we have in this house.
Jacob is excited to hold the baby. I am not sure Ben totally knows what will happen.

In September we decided to pursue getting Benjamin help with his speech. He was talking a bit before Josh had surgery and then after Josh's surgery he stopped saying words and went to grunting. It took a bit of time, but after being evaluated he was accepted into the Birth to Three program. One of the recommendations was for Josh and I to participate in a program called Hannen which is a program that was created in Canada to educate parents on how to help their children to communicate. They had a lack of speech therapists, so they decided to give the parents tools to help their children. The program we participated in was an a great experience for all of us. Ben has been doing very well and in the last month he has made huge steps forward. Even the speech therapist was impressed.

Jacob is doing well. He has been attending Elmbrook preschool since the beginning of September. He is doing well and has two good friends Tommy and Ian. He also has been going to Awana Cubbies at Crosswalk church in Waukesha. He is very excited to be a cubbie and is doing well with his bible memorization. He also enjoys Sunday school class. Currently we are in search of where to send him for 4k next year. Waukesha does not have 4k in the schools but in different child care sites in the community. We have been to two so far. One he liked and the other he was not so found of.

A little bit of pink is entering the Toepfer Home

Baby T. is expected to arrive March 1st 2010. I will be 37 weeks on Sunday, Valentine's day, which is also the day we are celebrating Ben's 2nd birthday!! I can't believe my little boy is turning two. Jacob is 3 1/2 and has been in preschool since September. It has been an adventurous road and I have been meaning to update everyone, but this season of life has kept us on our toes and very busy. We are very excited about our new addition and hope to update everyone when she arrives.

August Trip to the Farm

About the second week after Josh's surgery he wanted to go down to Illinois to visit his family and get the boy's mind off of the fact that they could not be rough with daddy. So, I packed us up and drove us down to Illinois. We got down there on Monday afternoon. Jacob was busting at the seems to be down there.
Tuesday morning we headed over to the farm. Ben was not real happy to be wearing boots...until he got to ride on the mini-tractor and gator. The boys had a blast driving around the farm in Uncle Ronnie's new toys. I never knew how exciting it could be for little boys to see cows and ride on tractors.
Wednesday morning we headed over to see Great Grandpa Toepfer. Great Grandpa had not been able to see Ben last time since he was sick. Ben was kind of sick again, but we hated to have Great Grandpa not see him again. Great Grandpa was kind of bummed not to see him last time. We were not sure how Ben would do since he had not seen him in a while and Ben is kind of shy at first. Ben warmed up to him quickly. Jacob and Benjamin were great with Great Grandpa Toepfer.
Wednesday evening we headed over to Great Grandma and Grandpa Schultz's house. Papa had a meeting for all the Ag Teachers in his district at their house. Nana and Alisha picked up pizza and brought it over to Great Grandma and Grandpa Schultz's house. It was fun to visit with Great Grandma and play with the tractors and stuffed animals that dance and make noises. Around bedtime we headed back to Nana and Papa's house. We thought Papa's meeting was all done. It was not quite done and Jacob ran out onto the deck and yelled "Papa, Papa" right in the middle of the meeting. Finally, we got him back in the house, bathed and ready for bed. He really had no idea, what he really did, he just wanted to see Papa.
Thursday, Grandma Schultz made a huge meal for lunch. We had canned meat, mashed potatoes, corn, fruit and salads. Then afterwards we helped husk corn for a little while before we took the boys back to Nana and Papa's for a nap. Jacob was thrilled to sit on the back of Great Grandpa Schultz's truck and husk corn. We brought back about 20 ears of corn that we husked at home here and I froze. Everytime we have corn, Jacob says, "I like the corn, I husked." Who knew husking corn could be so exciting.
Friday we headed back home, I wasn't feeling the best, Ben's cold was getting worse and Josh was not feeling to well either. It was the longest trip back from Illinois ever!!! Beside all the construction on I-90 and I-43. We ran into rain and an accident that had traffic backed up for miles on I-90. It was such a long trip we needed to stop in Beloit at Jacob's favorite restaurant to eat lunch. I was never so happy to get home.

Happy 3rd Birthday Jacob!!

On Sunday July 12th we celebrated Jacob's 3rd birthday with family and friends. It was a beautiful day. Josh and I had spent the previous day preparing, shopping, cleaning and making a humongous cake.

Of course our theme was John Deere Tractors. For the little boy who loves everything about tractors and farms. If he could live at Great Grandpa Schultz's farm he would. Yes, I know there is an International tractor on the cake, we are an equal opportunity player. I used 7 cake mixes and a huge 16" square pan to make the cake. My friends will tell you I love cake, but this one got a little out of control.

Jacob had a great day opening a ton of presents, transformers, Wall-E, baseball glove, basketball hoop, games and a couple new DVD's and books. He also received a certificate from Aunt Becky and Uncle Brian for a date out with them. A week or so after his birthday they took him to the Big Backyard, which is an indoor play yard. then they took him to his favorite restaurant for supper - McDonald's.

Josh's Surgery

Below are a few messages I sent out about Josh's surgery. I am trying to catch up on my blog.I

I sent this message the day after Josh's surgery.

Thank you all for your prayers!! Josh's surgery went well yesterday. They were able to do the surgery with robotic assistance. They were able to remove the whole cyst. Now we just need to wait a couple of days for the results from the pathologist and hopefully it is not cancer and we can get Josh back to himself. He had a rough night last night. He was in a lot of pain and could not sleep. They switched his pain medicines this morning, so hopefully this afternoon and tonight he can get some sleep. We took the boys to see him this morning. It was hard on Benjamin not to have daddy pick him up. Jacob did pretty well and sat by his bed.

My mom is planning to take the boys up to her house tomorrow afternoon and thru the weekend and will bring them back on Sunday. Hopefully, Josh will be able to come home tomorrow and with the boys at grandma and grandpa's it will give him a few more days to recover at home before we have to monitor them around daddy.

This message is from two days after the surgery.

Thank you all for your continued prayers!!

Last night Josh ended up having a high fever, up to 102.8. They did a bunch of blood work last night and the results came back everything looking fine. They also did a chest x-ray this morning and his lungs looked good and clear. They did give him some antibiotics this morning. They think he has an infection in his lungs. I can't remember the name Dr. Waples called it, but it sounds like it is common for people who have surgery.

This afternoon and this evening he walked quite a bit which is a great sign. Hopefully if his temperature stays down he can come home tomorrow early afternoon. We took Jacob and Ben to see him this morning before they left to go up to my parents house. He was glad to see them, but it really wore him out. So, we will see how things go once they come home on Sunday.

God has been very good and faithful to us. We are so thankful for His provisions! It was kind of scary last night with his increasing fever, but we cried out to the living God and he provided. I was reminded last night that sometimes in the midst of troubles it is easy to lose focus, especially when things seem like they are becoming hopeless. But then God reminded me, that he is there and all I have to do is call on Him. It is so easy, but sometimes we make it so difficult.

This is the last e-mail I sent on the day he came home from the hospital.

Josh came home around lunch time today. He is starting to feel a little more human. The doctor got the results from the pathologist report and the cyst was not cancerous. Praise the Lord. So now he just needs to rest, walk and heal. We are so thankful for all your prayers and continued prayers.

Now I am going to take a nap and enjoy the fact that I don't have to drive down to St. Luke's again this afternoon!!

Four weeks after Josh's surgery he returned back to work. Each day he felt he was feeling a little more human.

Surgery is scheduled & Thomas the Train

Last week Wednesday, Josh's surgery was scheduled for July 21st. Last Thursday night we went up to my parents house to spend the night. The next morning we left bright and early to see Thomas the Train at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay. Talk about the highlight of two little boys. They got to ride on Thomas first thing in the morning. Ben could not even sit still until Thomas started to move. He actually did much better than I had expected. Then we went thru the museum, they had wooden and plastic train sets set up. Ben even sat still for the lady to put a temporary tatoo on his arm. They both got Thomas tatoos. We went thru old trains in the museum, listened to Thomas stories, took a picture with Sir Topham Hat and did a craft. I think Ben even tried to tell us he was having a good time. He kept shaking his head yes and babbling. The boys slept all the way home. Grandma Pat and Grandpa Tom babysat so that Josh and I could go on a date night.
Saturday morning we came back to Waukesha to go out to eat with Uncle T.J. for his birthday.
Sunday morning Uncle Brian and Aunt Becky came to church with us and then came over for lunch. It was a beautiful day and we were able to eat out on the pourch.
Monday we went to Old World Wisconsin. On Mondays in June they have free days. I have never been there, so it was a new experience for all of us. We saw some sheep, ducklings and a horse. We went to the general store, blacksmith, church and school. Jacob and Ben had a great time. Ben toddled around like a big boy.