The storm before the...?

The storm before the storm? Before the calm?   I'm not really sure what's coming. ;)

A week and a half ago, I was all finished with projects, my house was clean, my calendar empty, and I was ready for the baby.
Ha.
Wednesday/Thursday Gideon started getting sick. Friday he woke up with a fever and was a cranky mess all day. Saturday he still had a fever, Sunday I stayed home from church with a very sick boy, Monday was more of the same.  His fever would come and go, hang around low and then spike really high. By Tuesday I broke down and called the doctor hoping for an easy diagnosis and some antibiotics.
But of course the doctor couldn’t find anything and sent us home. By Wednesday, since he still had a fever, the doctor had us come in for testing. Poor poor Gideon. They checked for a UTI by cathetering him, did a nasal swab, and drew blood. The poor boy was sick, tired, and traumatized. 

showing off his big dinosaur bandaid 

Thursday, the doctor called with test results. Gideon's white blood cell count and inflammation markers were both way up. AKA- he had a viral infection somewhere. However, none of the other tests showed what it was.  So, she said that if he spiked another fever she'd have him admitted to the hospital. Ugh.  Just what you want to think about right before you have a baby...the possibility of being in a different hospital than your child. 
Thankfully, Gideon stayed fever free. And, is still fever free as of today!!!

sick boys need cuddles

lots of cuddles

poor poor buddy.

But, yah that was rough.  Gideon has never been a great sleeper (last week I was just exclaiming how excited I was that Gideon had slept through the night 5 nights in a row. For the first time EVER. He is almost 2.) And as sick as he was he was up multiple times a night, for hours. Or up every 20 minutes begging for water.  Nathan and I were both ragged. I'm so thankful the baby didn't choose to come then. 
Last night, Gideon slept through the night!  And, I can tell. He's his normal self and I feel alive.  I suppose having a newborn again won't be that much of an adjustment. Hehe. 


But, back tracking a bit...

Early last week we did a bit of rearranging and brought all the kids books out to the living room. Gideon loves it.  He can now pick out any book he wants. 

 Never can you have too many books. :)

Lena and Jack came over one morning. The boys played wonderfully together.  I seriously love that the two of them get along so well. 

 Lena and I did some freezer meal prepping. 

:)

 Some of these meals have already come in handy with the exhausting stress of this past week. :P

We spent an evening at the farm to give Nathan a break to study in silence.  Gideon requested milk shakes... and who could turn that down? So, Grandpa kindly made us some. :)

:)

I've nearly cleaned my garden off.  I picked most of the pumpkins. We have so many!

Just a few of what we have.

Gideon modeling the size.

 They are eating pumpkins grown from seed I got from a Libby's pumpkin last year.   So, I cooked a few up and pureed them. 

Enough for 13 pies, I believe

Gideon is a little book lover. Which I love.  One night I told him to pick out the books he wanted to read before bed. And, then I left the room.  

hehehe

He had taken EVERY book off the shelf

His new favorite. "Where do diggers sleep at night"

 It's officially Fall now.  And, despite my love of summer, I have to say this weather is great. 

hammock in the evening. 

reading himself a book

Seriously though! It makes my heart happy that he does this :)

a melt down over not enough water on his toothbrush...sigh.

Gideon got to spend an afternoon on the combine with Grandpa while I went to a doctor's appointment. 

I need a better camera...

 

This morning. Feeling better :)

Anyway. It has been a relief to have my little boy back today.  I'm hoping and praying he stays healthy and that we have a few more good nights of sleep before the baby. But, who knows. Baby's come when they want. :)

And FYI. 40 weeks to the day tomorrow and I can still touch my toes.  I don't know if that's another score for Wyss genes (my grandma did 100 toe touches every morning well into her late 80s...if she doesn't still at 90!) or if the "pregnant women can't pick things off the ground" is just a myth designed to get sympathy. ;P  
Who knows. hehe.


In Christ
~Michelle

The last days

Sadly, summer does seem to be coming to a close.   

I told Gideon one day that pretty soon, Grandpa would get out the combine and start harvesting corn. Every day since then, he would ask if grandpa had gotten the combine out.  He was very happy when my dad did finally start harvesting. 

playing with his combines

The bugs in the garden were awful this year.  I had to pick my tomatoes early and let them ripen inside or the bugs would eat them. 

so much produce. 

Jake and Rachel came out for Labor Day weekend.  So, we celebrated Jake's 30th early with my family.  Mom and I were talking one day and came up with the idea of recreating one of Jake's childhood cakes. Jake always had the coolest cakes for his birthdays.  So, Nathan pulled out some of his legos and I used my decorating skills to make a pretty awesome cake.  :)

I think he was pleased.

  

then 

now

testing out Bob's board game.

Pablo the Penguin... Gideon loves being read to 

Rachel reading another great book from our childhood

Like I said, Gideon loves being read to.  Reading books is part of our nightly routine and the little stinker often gets to read more books than he probably should, considering the time of night.  He has a lot of stuffed animals and a lot of books with animals.  And, he requires that those animals join him while reading the books.  

shark!  

(notice Corduroy,  a fox, turtle, sting ray, and narwhal)

As summer draws to a close and the days until the baby are quickly slipping away, I've been trying to finish a few more projects. One of which is a baby quilt.  I don't know why, but I've decided to make each child a quilt.  And, according to Jenny, I've chosen difficult patterns.  I wouldn't know since I really don't have a clue what I'm doing. 

Anyway, one day Jenny and I met at the farm to work on my quilt. Mom watched the kids while we sewed.

We hosted potluck at the beginning of September. We were going to have it at the park so we included kids and a few other couples as well.  But, then it rained. And, our house is not set up for that many people. Thankfully, my Grandparents came through and allowed us to use their condo's basement. 

It worked out great. There is a big toy room for the kids to play in and plenty of space for everyone to sit and talk. 

I made a ton of pulled pork. 

the toy room at the condos.

Nesting is truly a thing.  Around noon last Saturday, I went to the kitchen to start getting lunch together. When I opened the fridge, I notice something had spilled in the door, so I started wiping it up... which led to:

Nathan kindly humored me and helped me finish cleaning the fridge out, move it, and vacuum and scrub behind it.  Lunch was a hour late, but now we have a clean refrigerator. 

Gideon continues to be a little ham.

'ride a horsey'

a fuzzy caterpillar we found on a walk

finishing my coffee...he got the whipped cream 

 We spent another day at the farm. I worked on my quilt and got it pretty close to done.  Corners are awful to match. 

only a few more seams. 

I have two different backings picked out dependent on if the baby is a boy or girl. 

Lena and Jack showed up in the afternoon. Gideon was very happy to wake up from his nap and find Jack there. 

Gideon and Jack  just chilling.

Thursday was a big day. 

I decided we needed more fall decor so, I swung by hobby lobby after one of my doctors appointments.  I decided to recreate a wreath I saw on pinterest. 

Pinterest

mine

I think it turned out ok :)

After lunch, I made dessert for Friday's potluck.  I made tiramisu which always tastes better the longer it sets. 

It's seriously so good :)

My mom texted and said that my dad was combining the field in Goodfield. So, we had to stop.  Gideon was so excited. 

A very happy boy in that combine.

After we left the field we headed out to Princeville.  Gideon talked the whole way (until he fell asleep) about 'ganpa drive a combine. Har the corn.'  'Tate drive a trator an a wagon.' 'dump corn' ' Uh Fred in a semi'   

Once we got to Princeville we headed to Tanner's orchard with Isaiah, Eva, Grandma Braker, Josh and Anna.  I mainly went for the donuts.  We didn't look at any of the animals since the Braker's have even more animals. Which, Gideon and Isaiah looked at when we got back.

Sheep!

Apple Cider donut....sigh :)

Friday, Gideon and I did cleaning around the house.  In the evening Gideon went to the farm while Nathan and I went to potluck at Randy and Evie's.  They live in a high rise in Peoria with a pretty awesome view. It was a great evening despite a few people not being there due to illnesses. 

Gideon spent the night at the farm then.  Which he apparently enjoyed because he didn't want to come home when I went to get him. :)

Nathan and I got a bunch checked off my list in the morning while Gideon was gone. Which was great. 

It's odd. I've reached the point in the pregnancy where Gideon would have already been born. And, since he was induced, I have no idea if I should expect an early baby or a late one.  So, It could be tomorrow or it could be nearly 4 weeks.  I'm still feeling great so, I'm again in no huge rush.   

So, I plan to keep busy and do life as normal until this baby does decide to come. And then oh boy... a newborn, a cranky clingy jealous toddler, exhaustion, recovery...yuck. Sorry, maybe I'm too practical, but while yes I'm excited, I'm not really looking forward to it. Sue me. ;P

In Christ

~Michelle