Way overdue!

Yay for all the blog activity! It has been a VERY long time for us! I must admit, creating this post is quite daunting, so here goes nothing. We have been very busy here in St. Pete. A lot of what is taking up our time is trying to get all of our estimates/numbers together so we can begin the process of fixing our home. Such an exhausting project, but we are so close! We are hoping for completion come July/August. The exciting part of it is we are looking to stay in a beach condo for the 4-6 weeks while the work is being done! We will keep you posted on the process and will post lots of before and after pictures!

Jack has been very busy at work... comes home and works... weekends, more work! It has been a stressful time, but he's working hard! He's working towards transitioning his focus on life insurance. Too much "work" in the past few sentences! Please keep him in your prayers as he moves to this "new" stage in his career. And of course, he's still an all-star hockey player on Tuesday nights :).

Isabella is continuing to grow and learn. We are still going to weekly speech therapy. We saw a plastic surgeon to discuss her situation with her palate. I'm not sure how much information I have given to each of you, but she has Velo-Pharyngeal Inadequacy. Too much air is escaping out her nose. She has a huge gap and her muscles are not closing when she tries to talk. The surgeon said her situation is very severe. We still have a few appointments, but she will most likely have surgery for a pharyngeal flap to help remove this obstacles. Essentially this surgery takes tissue and is placed to close this gap. There would be small airways on each side so she can still breath, but it is an obstruction. Some of the risks are sleep apnea. She will have to stay overnight in the hospital so they can monitor her breathing and drinking, etc. It is not uncommon for it to be a 4 night stay. Right now the surgery is 9/11. This date is very stressful because it is 3 weeks before my due date. However, I know I cannot do this after I have our baby. I'm trying to get in touch with the surgeon to see if we can be put on a cancellation list for July (he's booked out 6 months and he's gone the entire month of August!). Needless to say, it is a very tough time right now and there is a lot of stress in our household. Isabella is so strong and patient through it all. Definitely a saint in the making. We love our silly, affectionate and thoughtful little girl. Thank you for your prayers!

Veronica is changing so much! She is repeating everything we say. Including... my name. Every once in a while, I will hear from a distance "Nina?! Nina?! Nina?!" and she walks up to me, looks up and says "Nina?!". My response is always, no Veronica, I'm Mommy. But I can't help but smile or laugh. She knows she's a troublemaker. Other big news is she's going pee-pee on the potty! After about a week she went poo-poo! We just need to make it consistent. Close to fully potty trained :). If Isabella walks in while she's on the toilet she yells "Noo! Go potty!!!" and when she's done she says "Mommy I coming!" which I guess is her way of telling me to come there! She brings us so much joy and laughter!

And without giving the internet some key words, you know that thing we've been going through for the past several years?! Yes, well it's still going on and seems we've hit a nerve, so please continue to pray! Especially for an end SOONER rather than later.

Mommy and baby #3 are doing well. I will be 13 weeks pregnant on Friday, due October 4th. I still have some pretty bad days, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Our baby's heart beat is nice and strong! I will try to get a pregnant lady picture soon! Maybe on Easter Sunday?! Here are pictures from the past 4 months!

November & December

January & February