It's a miracle!

Yes, it has been a whole year since my last post and a lot has happened since then. We were blessed with our fourth little miracle. Shantel Elizabeth Michel. Born October 6th, 2010 at 11:47pm. She weighed 8 lbs even and was 20 inchs long. I can't even believe how the time has flown. She will be 6 months old on next Wednesday April 6th. She has sprouted two cute little teeth, and is just the happiest little baby. I love her to pieces and just can't get enough snuggle time in! It is kind of sad to think that most likely she will be our last...just makes me want to enjoy ever single minute of her little babyhood that much more! Landon is doing awesome in school....a little board, which sometimes causes him to talk too much, but for the most part, he is doing great. He really excels in reading and math. Heck, I think he is better at math than I am. The other day in the car, Brooklyn was playing a game where she would rattle off numbers and he would add them together. What is 122 plus 52...he answers not joking like 2 seconds later..174. Seriously, had the answer before I had it. He is in 1st grade and doing math like that in his head! Just amazes me sometimes. I am so proud of him and just love him to pieces too! We moved him down into the basement. This weekend...I am going to try to get a bunch of crapadoo moved out....next week we are going to hopefully have a guy come and do a bid on how much it will cost us to build 1 room and a bathroom for now! I am very excited about that. Brooklyn, she is SUCH a good big sister. She thinks however, that she is a second Mom and loves to pick Shantel up and carry her around the house, get her out of her carseat...you get the picture. She truly does a good job, and even volunteers to change her diaper for me. I am still a little nervous to let her walk too far with her though! Brooklyn has an awesome teacher and is doing so great in school too. She loves to go to school! She is really catching on to the whole reading thing, and is always eager to learn. She is an amazing little artist. My favorite picture...her when she is 100 years old. She has a big hunched over back...holding a cane...with great big eyelases and a smile on her face! Too cute...and yes, I love her to pieces too! Jasmine is so stinkin cute. I just think she is gorgeous. She has this long, beautiful hair, with just the right amount of natural curl. She is going to be my little miss perfectionist. Sometimes...it is a bad thing....she is not a big fan of change. She likes to have things done in order and is a little...okay a lot stuborn sometimes! She has such a pure, sweet little voice and killer big blue eyes, with some seriously long lashes. She knows how to melt both her parents little hearts. Not only is she cute, but very smart too. She just turned 3 in January and she knows how to identfy almost every letter in the alaphabet, and can count like crazy...as long as there is no pressure, and it is her idea. Matt is a rockstar. He is killing it in Real Estate these last few weeks especially. I gave him the ultimatum....I need stability, or you need a different job. All the ups and downs, with no savings were killing me. He took my challenge seriously, and I am so proud of him! He really is an awesome agent. He knows what he is doing, and isn't affraid to make a deal happen. He has gotten great at putting virtual tours together...now that paperwork, it is a bit of a struggle, but I know he can do it. He has been right there for me this year with all of the health scares and what not after the baby. He was worried about me, I think he still is, but honestly I am fine now. He is such a great husband and father! He truly wants to make everyone happy. Me...well what do you say about yourself. I am learning everyday. I LOVE being a Mommy. I am just trying to figure out balance in life right now. I want to be a SUPERMOM, but sadly I am not. My house isn't always spotless, my dinner isn't always made, and my laundry seems to be the biggest struggle. However, I am trying to go through and simplify my life right now. By that I mean, get rid of all of this crap we have saved over the years, and never use! I am feeling so excited to hopefully get our basement more finished, and also to paint my girls rooms! This is something that I honestly have never done. I am a bit scared to do it, but super excited! I am going to recruit my Mom to come and help! She is an awesome Mom, the very best. I hope to be as good of a Mom as she is! This past year has been full of medicalness (nice word huh?) for us. I gave birth to Shantel, and one week later was re-admitted to the hospital. I all of the sudden developed high blood pressure. I was super dizzy, I had a massive headache, and just felt terrible. I was there for a day and a half, then released...on bedrest for a week. I almost had to go back to the hospital...but ended up not going. I had CT scans, MRI's, Urine studies, Blood work...all kinds of things done. They put me on blood pressure medicine, it helped, but then my BP had he opposite problem...it got too low. Then I was almost passing out, I was dizzy again, and just felt terrible. Nothing was ever discovered...but about 3 weeks later, my BP corrected itself and is fine now. In January Brooklyn was admitted to the hospital for 2 1/2 days. She got bronciolitis. It was scary. She woke up and told me she didn't feel like she should go to school (which she NEVER does). As the day went on she got really tired, she started puking at 3pm and did 9 times between 3 and 9pm. She wouldn't talk...then after she got out of the bath at about 7pm, her color looked terrible. Kind of an ash color. Not good...we counted her respirations 55-60 per minute. I took her in to Urgent care at our office...her o2 was 83-85%. They sent me to the hospital. They did all kinds of tests (gave her 02, chest x-rays, strep-tests, influenza tests) Gave her an IV with medicine to stop her puking and get her hydrated. She was on oxygen all night and the whole next day. They gave her nebulizer treatments. She got better, but it was scary...my poor little girl. She was an awesome patient though! A month later all 3 of my girls got sick. Jasmine had a double ear inection, got on antibiotics...they didn't get better, and she got a fever of 103.5. Shantel had lots of snot and had to get tested for flu and RSV (both came back negative). Brooklyn had to get another neb treatment, but got better quicker. She too ended up with an ear infection and fever. Jasmine ended up on a second dose of antibiotics, and a week or two later ended up with another high fever. Then a week or so after that was in an arm splint for a week for a strained, bruised arm. Her ear infecion isn't cleared up all the way, we go back in Wed. for a 4th check. If it is still there off to the ENT we go. Like I said....long year already. We are looking forward to the nicer weather, and hopefully no more sickness for a while. Really, not complaining just stating the facts. I love my family!!! Sorry it has been so long since the last post...but as you can see it has been busy!!! I will have to post some pictures later...I can't do it from this little notebook computer.