The Wilhelms, est. 2000

Chocolate?

2012-02-01T14:16:00.001-05:00

Me: Selah, there's something all over your face!
Selah: yes. (Sigh) it's chocolate.
Me:no, I don't think it's chocolate!
Selah: it's not chocolate? I don't know WHAT it is!
Me: I think it's marker.
Selah: no, I don't think so....(runs away quickly.)

Monkey's Love Bananas!

2012-01-31T14:53:00.003-05:00

Jonah made this from his snack. We may not be the most traditionally artistic family, but we aren't too bad in the creativity department!

Yum?

2012-01-31T14:53:00.001-05:00

The older boys are at the table, working on math. Im at the sink, washing dishes. Where are the little two? Well I hear them chatting in the kitchen with us. I turn around, they're on the counter, shoving handfuls of powdered sugar in their mouths. At least it's doubtful Micah's allergic to sugar?

Micah's Scope

2012-01-31T11:33:00.000-05:00

6:04am: Already checked in, waiting to go upstairs to the surgical ward. There's a baby screaming over there. He's starting to make me nervous!

6:25 am: Waiting upstairs now, and I'm not liking the bracelet!

6:47am: I'm bored, I think I will use the chair as a slide.

6:47am: And a pillow.

6:47am: I'm still not liking the bracelet.

6:48am: Now I'm playing duck-duck-goose with the chairs.


7:03am: I'm finally dressed for surgery. And still not liking the bracelet. And now there are two! The red signifying I have an allergy.

7:04am: I'm tired and tired of waiting. Curious George is on TV, but I usually watch him with Selah. I miss Selah!

7:25am: Mommy can come back until I fall asleep but she has to wear funny clothes! I'm looking forward to this nap I'm about to get. See how tired I am?

7:47am: What Mommy got to stare at. I'm the last one on the board, it's in red in the picture. First it said "OR in," then "Surgery Start," then "PACU" for Post-Anethesia Care Unit.

8:09am: The doctor came out as soon as the surgery was done to show Mommy my pictures. The first is my lower esophagus. The second is the opening from my stomach into my small intestine. The third is my stomach. The fourth is my small intestine. And the fifth is my upper esophagus. Pictures 2-5 look like they should. Picture one, the lower esophagus, is where the doctor found inflammation and a white coating. If you can see in picture 5, there are blood vessels visible. In picture 1, there aren't because of the inflammation and the coating. The doctor took biopsies from my esophagus, stomach, and small intestine and they will test it to see if they can determine the cause of the inflammation and to make sure there isn't anything else that isn't visible that is wrong.

8:28am: I started to wake-up, so they brought me to my mommy. I was happy to see her, but still pretty confused and tired.

8:35am: They gave me a cup of apple juice. With no water in it! It was SO good! Especially because they gave me a straw and I love straws!

8:36am: I ran out of apple juice!

8:37am: Well compared to this, that bracelet isn't bad at all! Can someone take this out, please!


9:02am: Headed home to see my dad and my siblings. And I found a bag of marshmallows as I got in the car! Score! I ate 11 on the way home, Mom was afraid it was going to make me sick! But I was fine!

Micah did great with the surgery. He was pretty tired of waiting, but what 2 year old wouldn't be? I was pretty tired of waiting, too! When we were parking in the parking garage at the hospital, he asked, "Where's Daddy at?" And then asked where Selah, Jonah, and Noah were at various points through the morning. I guess when you are #4, you don't spend much time without your siblings, do you? Especially in a homeschooling family! I think he was feeling a little lonely! Thankfully they allowed me to come back while they gave him gas to fall asleep. In the 2 minutes it took I think every person in the room commented on how well he did. I promise if you had taken him away from me to do that it wouldn't have gone well, seeing as how he is really in the strangers-are-scary stage. He did awesome, though. Laid on the table, let them strap him in and didn't fight the mask on his face. He just held my hand and stared at me the whole time, it was so sweet. And, they flavor the gas so the kids fight it less. Well, they must flavor it well, or he was really just really hunger since he wasn't allowed to eat, because he laid there licking the air in the mask. It was one of the cutest things ever. I wanted to take a picture but didn't know if they would like that. He was like a little lizard, his little tongue kept coming out and moving around in the air.

Once he was out, they lead me back to the waiting room while they did the IV and all. I was so grateful they put him out before the IV and that they let me back for the gas. Most hospitals do the IV first, and they also don't let parents back at all. When Noah was scoped at a few weeks old, they didn't allow me to come for any of it and he was awake and SCREAMING when they finally brought me back afterward. It was traumatic for me, if not for him!

Overall, everything went very well. Micah was grumpy Friday but went back on his reflux meds Friday night and has slept through the night EVERY SINGLE NIGHT SINCE!! AND he hasn't been getting up until 7am or later! So I thought for sure we were just dealing with reflux.

And then the doctor's office called with the biopsy results yesterday.

I was thrilled at first, they said it could take until the end of the week to get them.

I should have known better, it was Monday, after all.

Now let me be clear, it isn't THAT bad.

It isn't cancer.

It isn't an untreatable condition.

It's Eosinophilic Esophagitis.

Of course, what I HEARD, was Esoph and itis. And I THOUGHT she said a fancy word for GERD. Except GERD (or GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease) IS the fancy word for reflux. But I was in the classroom with the kids, Noah was on my lap doing math, the little two were squealing as they colored each other with markers and Jonah was banging his head on the desk in protest of doing his schoolwork. I was a wee bit distracted.

So I say, " OH GOOD! So we just keep him on his meds and we should see an improvement!"

Nurse Emily: "Well, no. We're going to have to treat this and find the cause. Reflux meds won't help."

Me: "I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood. What did you say he had, again?" As I dump Noah off my lap and walk out of the classroom.

Nurse Emily: "Eosinophilic Esophagitis. We call it EE for short. It means there's an allergic reaction causing the inflammation in his esophagus.And his number was 65 eosinophils per high powered field. That's pretty high. This poor child has probably been quite miserable, it's a painful condition."

Now I'm going to be honest. I heard one word there. ALLERGIC.

Me: "No, no, no! That is exactly what I was hoping it wasn't! He's already on a gluten and dairy free diet. So it's something else...."

Nurse Emily: "Yes, there's something else, and next step is figuring out what is causing a reaction."

I'm seriously on the verge of tears here. This isn't a simple fix. This is a real problem. It is not curable. But is is treatable. And, we will FINALLY get to see an allergist, which I have been asking for since he was 8 months old. Every visit. The last time was in December, and the pediatrician said to wait, do the scope, and if nothing comes up on that, we will refer to an allergist.

So, yay, now we get to see an allergist.

We go tomorrow to the allergist. I'm a bit nervous, as it isn't a pediatric allergist. And the doctor's actually on vacation, so it is the nurse practitioner we will see. But it's a 4-6week wait for a pediatric allergist. And the kid is eating something he's allergic to and there is NOTHING we can do until we figure out what it is. So I'm praying that this person has at least HEARD of this condition. It's a fairly newly discovered condition, so it's not well known yet. Hoping something comes up on the testing to give us an accurate idea of what to eliminate. Most children with EE suffer from multiple food allergies. And if the cause isn't wheat or dairy, the most common other foods would be egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, or fish. He doesn't like fish or peanuts. He rarely gets soy because it not only makes me sick, but the estrogen in it is not good, especially for little boys. So the most common cause would be egg or tree nuts. At first I ruled out tree nuts, too- but then realized he drinks almond milk!! Don't worry, he's drinking rice milk now until we test him! There's an almost unlimited list of things he could be allergic to, and so we will just have to wait and see.

There is some information available on this diagnosis, though a lot of it is still unknown. For now, they have prescribed an asthma med for him to swallow- rather than inhale- and it will help to coat the esophagus and allow it to heal. Assuming we get answers tomorrow about what he is allergic to (a very small percentage of people with EE have no food or environmental allergies as a cause- praying he does! There's not much they can do if he doesn't!) we will then alter his diet and in 6 months or so rescope him to make sure the esophagus has healed and there are no longer a high number of eosinophils present.

He may or may not also have GERD. EE is usually misdiagnosed as GERD as it presents basically the same symptoms and cannot be diagnosed without a scope and biopsy. GERD meds usually do not help with the EE. So most people with EE finally find out because they are still having problems even on GERD meds. Which is exaclty what happened with Micah. However, we notice a dramatic improvement while he is on the GERD meds. This could mean he has GERD or it could mean the allergic reaction is causing the heartburn. So we will leave him on the GERD meds for now and try to remove them once the rest is under control.

Prayers appreciated for us to get poor Micah properly diagnosed and help him to feel better! I will keep you updated with what the allergist finds tomorrow. I'm sure it will be a horrible day for him, but it can't be worse than living every day in pain!!!

The Black Warrior

2012-01-29T07:53:00.001-05:00

Jonah was waiting for his friends to come over for Bible study on Friday- as the Black Warrior.
Also of note for the night was Selah bashing a child in the back of the head with a pvc pipe and splitting his head. She probably lost a friend. Thankfully, being the back of his head, no stitches were necessary.
And the much funnier thing that happened was a cousin tagged along with one of the families. I'm not sure exactly what Bryan was doing at this point, other than getting some food for some of the kids. (Maybe throwing rolls?) The cousin who came along-who never met us as the kids just walk in and disperse- says about Bryan, "He would make a really cool dad!" I'm still laughing about that. Perhaps he thought he was the older brother? He does look young, and acts even younger. I'm not sure that our kids have any clue how cool their dad is, but most of their friends do.

If I can't see you...

2012-01-28T21:20:00.001-05:00

Then you surely can't see me.

They (Selah and Micah) had the cup of toothbrushes that I keep downstairs (so that I actually brush the kids teeth daily) as well as a tube of toothpaste. Between the giggling and the feet, they weren't too difficult to find.

A clue?

2012-01-28T20:46:00.001-05:00

Perhaps this picture from Thursday shows that I should have been a bit more aware of how the little guy was feeling. Micah and I had ourselves a trip to urgent care today...he, too, has a double ear infection. Jonah and Noah each had one or two- their whole lives! And I know that one of Noah's was actually an outer ear infection due to sand scratching the ear drum. But Selah and Micah have had tons. At least 3 or 4 a winter, each. Enough to be annoying but not enough for tubes, in my opinion. I do have an otoscope, though- thanks to Selah's uncanny ability to lodge items in various orfices- so at least I can usually tell it is indeed an ear infection before wasting time and money taking them in for nothing! Hopefully now that he's on antibiotics for his ears and he's back on medication for his reflux, he'll be sleeping, eating, and playing better. As in, not needing to be laying on Mommy for any/all of the above.
I might miss the snuggling a little, but my house will be happy for some more attention as will the other kids.

Hmmm...

2012-01-27T06:10:00.001-05:00

Micah's having an upper GI scope this morning, and he's not too sure what's going on. As we parked the car, he asked, "where Daddy at?" And then he got really excited when I got him out of the car. Nothing like darkness, snow, and 30* at 6 am to excite a kid. He was doing okay without having eaten until we were doing the admitting paperwork, then he started asking for milk. I don't know if he saw the cup or just decided he was hungry. I feel bad for him but he wasn't too upset. Lots of distraction. And in the picture a baby started screaming and he wasn't sure if he was going to come hide on his mommy or it was safe to keep playing.

Wow.

2012-01-24T08:41:00.001-05:00

Apparently he didn't notice that his pants were a wee bit short. As in they are Micah's pants! I find it slightly worrisome that my 6 year old can fit into my 2 year old's pants. And they may even fit better around the waist on Noah than on Micah.

I'm all packed up!

2012-01-23T08:37:00.001-05:00

I've got bullets- for Jonah. And a party dress- for Halloween. You can't see in there, though. One time, you could. But this time, you can't.

Another Trip to the Urgent Care

2012-01-22T16:53:00.001-05:00

Poor Selah has double ear infections, again. This was the worst I've seen her. She came to me about 3:30 yesterday crying, "MOMMMMYYYY! My ear hurts! There's something in it!" Always a bit concerning considering the source. But since she has a cold, I was hoping it was "just" an ear infection. She then screamed for almost the next hour-it only took the first 5 minutes for Bryan and I to decide to take her in now. Who wants to listen to a 3 year old scream? She screamed the whole way there (about 15minutes), the whole time we filled out paperwork, the whole time in the waiting room, the whole time they did her vitals, and even after they put us in a room. That's not normal for Selah! (Drama queen that she can be!) They did give her some motrin and then I figured out Netflix has an app for my phone so I was able to turn on Dragon Tales for her to watch. And then she finally calmed down. Thankfully, there were no foreign objects in either ear, and a round of antibiotics should clear it up quickly. She's been fine ever since we left the urgent care last night.
Now Micah's the miserable one. Viruses and a bigger family with littler kids are always fun!

More Red Sauce, Please!

2012-01-22T16:52:00.001-05:00

Now that Jonah's figured out that he likes red sauce, he asks for it daily. And is very excited when we are having pasta for dinner. That's his third bowl- and they weren't small bowls of pasta! He's easily eaten 3 times what I've eaten. Of course, I do have a precious Micah who has a cold and fell asleep on me. I probably ate a bit light as it is difficult to eat while holding a 35 pound sleeping 2 year old. He sure is sweet though!

Wait! Wait! Don't come in here!!

2012-01-21T13:53:00.001-05:00

I do love that girl. But she sure does make a lot of extra work and waste a lot of money!

The Child Who is Afraid of Everything.

2012-01-18T08:44:00.001-05:00

We have a scaredy-cat 3 year old around here. She is afraid of everything (except things she SHOULD be afraid of like heights, chemicals, and mvoing vehicles) and often wakes up in the middle of the night screaming about something scary- such as her piggy banks, stuffed animals, or pillows. And so, we often have to go in her room and remove the "scary" object(s). But about half the time she's kind enough to do it herself, and we will just find a pile of "scary" objects outside her door. Last night, she tossed out the animal rugs and her Lego box, along with a doll.
Now mind you, these are the rugs that she brought IN her room two nights before and they are on the floor at the foot of her bed, so she shouldn't even be able to see them, much less be scared by them! But apparently she was afraid, and we were thankful that she removed them herself before she went to bed, rather than waking us in the middle of the night. It's always amuzing as to what we will find kicked out. And soon, there will be nothing left in her room. We've already had to remove the stuffed animals, piggy banks, and rocking horse, just to name a few. I have no idea what is scary about a Lego box and a little plastic doll. But then, I'm not 3.
The best, though, was when I heard her door open a couple of months ago and went to peek at what she was doing. All I saw was this little arm reach out, holding a puppy dog by his neck, and then drop him and quickly shut the door. It was like an episode of Tom&Jerry or something from long ago. I wish I had that on video.
Here's hoping this is just a phase!

If You Tell Selah No...

2012-01-17T19:42:00.001-05:00

She will likely just do it behind your back. It's good we are learning this now, before she's a teen and can really get into trouble. I said no to the applesauce, since she had just eaten a banana. Then we realized we had no idea where she was. Oh that's because she's sitting on the stairs eating applesauce that she'd opened with a knife- all by herself. Isn't she resourceful? Even better, Bryan had cleaned the carpet on the stairs the same day. Only a minor spill, easily cleaned having been found fresh, thankfully.

Intelligender Results

2012-01-17T06:23:00.001-05:00

In other news, today we are happy to report that Intelligender is responsible for a tremendous amount of relief in the Wilhelm household. This morning's result says we're having another boy! Now, Selah is cute and sweet and all...but she's enough for right now! Bryan is the only one who was hoping for a girl. Everyone else wanted a boy. (Selah will likely not like reading this in the future. We really do love you, Selah. It's just that your curiosity is more than enough for our family to adventure through for now!)
The test claims a 90% accuracy rate, so fingers crossed it's right! We'll have a better idea after the next ultrasound.

Finally Red!

2012-01-15T21:55:00.001-05:00

After just over a year, we managed to finally paint the living room and entryway. Originally, we didn't think we could do it and that we would have to hire someone. But, we eventually decided to give it a go before declaring defeat. And we are glad we did. It was quite a project-cost over $400 in supplies, 50 "oops" spots on the carpet (need new carpet anyway), 20 hours of labor (by two people), 2 little Micah handprints, 2 ugly ladder marks, and NO incredible adventures by Selah. At least none that we've become aware of yet. We don't want to do it again, but it's nice to have accomplished a huge project!

Oh the joy!

2012-01-15T15:30:00.001-05:00

All it takes to thrill a 3 year old girl is some new underwear! It's ridiculous, but adorable.

Kids

2012-01-14T12:30:00.001-05:00

This child has professed a giant hatred of spaghetti sauce. Now, if you are talking about the stuff in a can or jar at the grocery store, I can understand. But homemade sauce? From fresh tomatoes? What's not to like?? Well, he has claimed to try it and still not like it, so I'm fine with that. But last night he asked to try a couple bites again. And loved it. Apparently he loved it so much he felt the need to drink the leftover sauce out of the bag today, straight from the fridge. I can't blame him, Bryan and I have both been known to do such things. But it is still funny.

One tired two year old!

2012-01-13T16:51:00.001-05:00

Mr Micah is back to rising long before the sun- this morning it was about 4:45. Ouch. So, he got no nap, in hopes of eliminating a repeat! And, by 4:30 he was falling asleep in his dinner. Well kid, don't get up so early! Your mama is tired!

The Neverending Story!

2012-01-12T17:43:00.003-05:00

Bryan just finished reading The Neverending Story with the boys- which called for movie night! It's a bit intense for the little two, can you tell?

Another bonus...

2012-01-12T15:28:00.002-05:00

When one finishes their schoolwork before 10am, there are many benefits. Not only do they get to spend hours filling the garage with BBs, but they also get to do science experiments. Messy ones. Noahs still finishing up his math, but Jonah is shooting rockets- and using vinegar and baking soda as rocket fuel. It's hard to tell, but in the last photo they're laughing at the "fuel" covering the sliding door. That one exploded quite well. Oops, they're out of order. Well you can figure it out, I'm sure!

Hopefully they get this all cleaned up before their dad gets home. Not because he'll yell about the mess, but because he'll likely join the fun and then we'll REALLY have a mess!

Jonah's New Toy

2012-01-12T10:18:00.001-05:00

Jonah went to a friend's house last Friday, and got to play with his airsoft guns. Well you know what that meant. Nerf is cool and all, but is nothing like airsoft! Since he could not stop talking about saving up for a gun, and asking what he could do to earn money, Bryan finally told him that if he helped him clean and organize the basement, he'd buy him one. And boy did he help! He spent all of Saturday and all of Sunday working with Bryan. He even got up at 5 am on Sunday and went down to work on it! By Sunday night they had finished, and so he was desperate for his gun! Our first few attempts to order one failed, as Amazon doesn't ship airsoft guns to MI! But after talking to others who had experienced the same problem, we found a company in Ohio that does ship here. Of course his top two choices, both Sig Sauers like Bryan's, we out of stock until the end of the month. As you can imagine, he wasn't waiting that long! So he got a Heckler & Koch USP. It came yesterday but we had gymnastics so he didn't get a chance to play with it. So today, his schoolwork was done before 10 am, and he's now out there filling my garage with little BBs. (Which he has been informed it will be his job to sweep the garage regularly! And the BBs are biodegradeable so thankfully they won't be around forever in my yard -in theory.)
The new goal is keeping Selah from eating the BBs or putting them places that require the ER to remove.

Rule Breaker!

2012-01-12T10:02:00.001-05:00

Not only did he steal my juice, he took it in the living room! And cried when I told him it has to stay in the kitchen. Poor child never gets to do anything fun.

Peace?

2012-01-12T09:14:00.001-05:00

The TV hasn't been on since Saturday. Being that it's now Thursday, I guess they're all excited. I lost my blind installation helper, but I think I can probably manage alone.

Mommy's Little Helper

2012-01-12T09:01:00.001-05:00

Hanging up some blinds this morning and Micah's all ready to help! Good thing I have such good helpers, otherwise I may never accomplish anything!

Figures

2012-01-11T09:03:00.001-05:00

This morning went slightly better, Mr Micah was up at 12:45, looking for his book- which was under his pillow. And then up for the day at 5:45. Not 7, but not 4, so I guess we'll take it. Of course, we took Daddy to work this morning and he fell asleep on the way home. Must be nice to be 2! And, unfortunately, I was trying to save gas by not leaving the car run whil he napped and I tried to transfer him to his bed. Guess I should have known better at 8:30 am. Thankfully, I was able to pawn him off on Noah and the giant train track and save my hip the workout.

Little Buckeye Fan

2012-01-11T07:51:00.001-05:00

Quite a track!

2012-01-10T20:05:00.001-05:00

It's Noah's date night, and he wanted to build a new GeoTrax track. It's nice to have all this space to build giant train tracks. In all our previous houses, to build GeoTrax we've had to clear out a room! We had to stop collecting new pieces as we couldn't fit them all together but now I think we may be able to add a few extra pieces. The kids will have great fun with this tomorrow until someone (likely Selah) decides to destroy it! Hopefully it lasts a while to give me some peace!
And for the record, I supervised while the experts (Bryan and Noah) did the hard work.

Dear Micah,

2012-01-10T06:32:00.001-05:00

You win. We absolutely, positively conceed defeat. You will no longer be asked to take a nap. In return, we ask that you no longer find 4:30 am an acceptable time to start your (and by default, our) day. It would be acceptable to sleep until 7 am or later. Thank you.
Love,
Your Exhausted Parents

Different meanings.

2012-01-09T15:36:00.002-05:00

Apparently to Selah the words "no, you cannot have a grapefruit" don't mean the same to me as they do to her. It seems she heard "I'm not going to get you a grapefruit, but you can go ahead and get yourself one if you'd like."

Kids.

2012-01-09T11:02:00.001-05:00

I swear. They are so manipulative! We are supposed to be starting our first full scheduled day back since going on a light school schedule the week before Thanksgiving. But it's been a bit of a rough morning, Micah got apple stuck in his esophagus which caused 45 minutes of sheer screaming followed by a couple hours of clinging. Breakfast was very late as a result and once he finally ran off to play, I couldn't help it- I took a 10 minute nap. (I'm already anxious for August because I truly cannot stand being so exhausted.) I fell asleep to them racing around on their plasma cars and woke to this. How can I make them do schoolwork when the four of them are building nicely together??
Well, I can't. I'm going to do the breakfast dishes and try to get the very neglected classroom together and we'll just start after lunch. Sometimes we just have to take advantage of God'd blessings when we can!
(And I finally got my camera on my phone back to color! Now I just need it to focus again and the flash to work. Babysteps.)

Mom!

2012-01-08T13:35:00.001-05:00

I need a napkin! I have a little drip!
I think we need to work on the definition of little.
And as a side note, a big brunch after Mass sometimes leads to "lunch" being banana splits. We wouldn't want to spoil our dinner appetite by a late lunch, after all!

Who needs a pool?

2012-01-08T12:16:00.001-05:00

If we just open the window, it'd be like being in a pool. Do you think we could just fill it and treat it and let the kids play in it all year? (Can't keep filling it with fresh water, our last water bill was $800!)

Swimming

2012-01-08T11:15:00.001-05:00

Bryan and the kids have been working on cleaning up-and out- the basement. And Selah came into good fortune with some pool floats. Of course, this meant they needed a bath to swim in. And while our tub is quite large...it's not quite pool float size. If you look closely you can see poor Noah hiding back in the corner in the first picture. In the second Micah needs some goggle instruction. And in the third, Noah is wheeling and dealing to convince Selah to switch floats with him. (He was not successful.)

Fire.

2012-01-08T09:27:00.001-05:00

Had to stop for a firetruck going home from Mass this morning. And, because we apparently have nothing better to do and are nosy, we followed it. Sadly, someone's trailer appears to have caught fire this morning. There was a lot of smoke and you could see flames on the ground and firement going in. Good experience for the kids to see a family lose their home. (To teach them not to play with fire, if nothing else! But also to be appreciative of their home and belongings, as some people lose them all. And, of course, that those material possessions aren't all that important in the big picture!)

Once upon a time...

2012-01-06T20:30:00.000-05:00

You may have already read this in your Christmas card, but in case you didn't, here's your opportunity. And if you did, we now have a picture.

Once upon a time…

There was this girl. And this girl left home and joined the Air Force. She was all set to go find herself in the world- to travel and explore this great Earth God created.

And then…

She met this soldier. And he was a tall and handsome soldier. He was smart and funny. And he helped her do her Korean homework. So, of course, she fell in love. And so did he (though no one knows why).

Logically…

They then got married. And she told him she didn’t want to have kids. They were fun and all but she had so many more important things to do and see and conquer. Nieces and nephews could come visit.

And God said…

Here’s your first son. Luckily, by this time she had changed her mind and thought someday kids might be a fun thing to have. But she wasn’t really thinking now. They were very young and poor.

So they had that baby…

And it really wasn’t all that bad. Kind of fun to have a kid, actually. But no more. The delivery experience was not pleasant. And kids sure were expensive. And needy. And restricting. And loud.

But then…

God blessed them with a second son. She was thrilled, because girls were scary. He was sad, because he wanted a daughter and his plan had only been two kids. One boy, one girl.

They learned…

plans change. And God blessed them with a daughter. And people said you have the perfect family. And she thought…doesn’t feel perfect yet. And he thought…seems pretty good to me. I have two and a spare.

So God…

Sent them another son. And they wondered if they could handle all these kids. They were a lot of responsibility. They weren’t sure they deserved so much responsibility. But they chose to have faith.

They were rewarded for their faith…

With another blessing straight from God. Never did they consider so many children. And they would have laughed at you if you told them they would have that many. That’s a lot of money and responsibility.

But now…

They wonder how many more they’ll be blessed with. Seems there’s still love to give. For now, Baby Wilhelm #5 is expected to arrive in August 2012. And then they’ll start looking for a bigger van.

What a beautiful life He’s given them.

Not the best view we had, so kind of disappointing to have a blurry picture. But his (or her) head is on the left and the bubbly line is the umbilical cord. There are little arms and legs, but they aren't very big yet and you can't really see them. Everything looks good so far!

Picture is 8weeks 3 days gestation. Estimated due date is 14 August.

Scary octopus!

2012-01-06T10:57:00.002-05:00

Actually, it's just the car wash, but they're afraid. They are both crying! We go through this virtually every time. Amazingly enough, it only costs $3 in Michigan to terrify your children.

Thank you, God!

2012-01-05T14:49:00.001-05:00

For gluten and dairy free smoothies at Costco!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2012-01-03T15:35:00.001-05:00

We put extra love (spit) in your cake! It should taste perfect!

Go ahead, Selah- give it your best shot!

2011-12-31T18:10:00.001-05:00

Some of you may have heard, but if you didn't, we had a bit of an incident with Selah getting a bit, umm...stuck, in the fridge last week. Thankfully, her brothers were in the basement and heard her banging. We've tried the child locks meant for keeping kids out of fridges and freezers. They state "not a subsitute for proper adult supervision." As well they should. She figured those out long ago. So we've now installed real locks on the fridges and freezers. Here's hoping they are enough to keep her out. They say that childproof medicine bottles work on about 90% of the kids, I believe. Well, since she's in that 10% who, at the ripe old age of 20 months, could open them and eat the vitamins inside, it should come at no surprise that she can outmanuever fridge locks. But since she doesn't come with bolt cutters, I do believe we may be good on this one for a while. Let's hope. Now the question is, what will be her new adventure? Time will tell...

Fort!

2011-12-27T15:57:00.001-05:00

Sorry, I forgot to post this Christmas Eve. This what the kids saw as they came down the stairs Christmas morning. We filled 83 sandbags and then made a fort for Jonah and his continual war scenarios. Of course the little two destroyed the fort a couple hours later when everyone was distracted but the boys have had fun building fighting positions in their room, the living room, the hallway, and outside...until the got banished to the basement. Didn't take long did it? Hey, 83 sandbags take up a lot of space when all over the place. Think 83 pillows...

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

2011-12-25T05:37:00.002-05:00

Love

2011-12-24T20:44:00.001-05:00

I sure do hope our 10 year realizes how much we love him. I could be in bed, but I've still 100 sandbags and 5 giant bags of stuffing to deal with. Thankfully, I know he will be overjoyed.

Merry Christmas Eve!

2011-12-24T18:38:00.001-05:00

We went for traditonal this year and attempted to make gluten and dairy free pierogi. And they came tasty-if not pretty!

Something new

2011-12-22T09:42:00.001-05:00

Came across the fact that blogger has an app for the droid. Seems cheaper and easier, in theory, than texting pictures to the blog. So let's see how this works.
Seems like I can even attach multiple pictures.
I can't really see the pictures but I think they were of the kids at Hell on Earth, yesterday. (Most of you probably call this place Toys R Us.) Yes, I took 4 kids, alone, to hell on earth when it was 40, raining, and 4 days before Christmas. And we all have a cold making everyone grumpy. We did, however, survive. And the only real problem there was Selah opening and eating a pack of M&Ms while I was checking out. Unfortunately, milk makes her stomach hurt and M&Ms have milk. And so, her stomach's been hurting. But it could have been worse.
WHY do they put candy where kids grab and eat it as their parents try to check out?? I can honestly say I have had to buy candy at least 10 times in the last year because of this. And since we do errands once a week (at most) that's like 20 % of the time! Very frustrating.

Selah, at it again.

2011-12-20T16:18:00.000-05:00

I was quuickly making dinner in the hopes of a shower before Bryan got home...and Selah came SCREAMING into the kitchen, sending me into a panic in the inital seconds as it was fairly dark in the kitchen and I feared it may be blood (or worse like a chemical) on her face. No worries, it's "just" mascara. At least she knows where it goes?
She informed that Noah hit her in the head, that's what happened to her (Got it on video). Funny, since Noah and Jonah were playing Wii...
Guess I'll have company in the shower.

But since the only other trouble she's caused today (that I am aware of) is wrapping most of a roll of scotch tape around Jonah's schoolbook, I guess it's a pretty uneventful day!

Innocent???

2011-12-09T11:22:00.001-05:00

I think not. I just caught them plunging a toliet. Thankfully it didn't need plunging, but still. Bryan's been on me to remove the toliet locks lately. Nope. We still need them!

Growing up!

2011-12-09T08:18:00.001-05:00

In this kind of goofy picture of the boys...they are checking out Jonah's "wound" and stealing pumpkin seeds right out of the hot oven.

On December 6th...

2011-12-09T08:05:00.001-05:00

The Christmas presents had been bought and WRAPPED. I love the years we seem to get it together...well, some things. Haven't even gotten a family picture much less gotten those Christmas cards going this year. Hopefully you'll get them before Christmas. And if you don't, hopefully you're forgiving!

If you let Micah help make crepes...

2011-12-09T08:03:00.001-05:00

He's bound to do something like stick his bacon in the batter. Good thing he's cute.

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Sleepy Selah

2011-12-09T08:01:00.001-05:00

If you're a mom long enough, you learn to do things that some people may not agree with, but are best for your family. Like taking your 3 year old to church in her pjs. Bedtime is 7 around here these days, so when Mass starts at 7, someone is likely to crash on the way home. Even when it's a 5 minute drive. Last night Selah was the lucky winner. Luckily she was all ready for bed, so we didn't even have to wake her. (Although we did move her to her bed. While I was tempted to let her sleep in her carseat last night- no trouble to find when strapped in there!- it seemed that temps in the teens were a bit cold for that.)

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Another dusting

2011-12-09T07:54:00.001-05:00

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Caught!

2011-11-30T21:14:00.001-05:00

Cozy winter day

2011-11-30T21:10:00.001-05:00

The first real snowfall is a great day for...
Eating pie for breakfast and Reading books in Mom & Dad's bed! Throw in some friends stopping by to play and Dad finishing the Christmas lights and it's a pretty good day overall! And that was before I mentioned we did no schoolwork!

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Silly Selah!

2011-11-30T08:22:00.001-05:00

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Micah the peacekeeper!

2011-11-26T07:31:00.001-05:00

One of the boys left their guns unsupervised and Micah took the opportunity to unload it. Safety first!

Sniping

2011-11-21T18:53:00.002-05:00

Jonah's playing war with his dad and brother. Wearing my old BDUs and combat boots. This is very bittersweet for me- I don't feel old enough to have a child who can wear my clothes! But I've also looked forward to the day when my kids would dress up in my uniforms and play war!

Concealment

2011-11-20T15:55:00.001-05:00

We watched a documentary about Marine Scout Snipers today- and now Jonah is in sniper-mode. To be fair, he's often in sniper-mode, he just now has an even better idea of what to do for concealment. Not sure he needs the brush in the dining room but... I almost missed him.

Back again!

2011-11-17T19:28:00.000-05:00

She looks like a pretty normal 3 year old girl with a normal right ear, doesn't she? Too bad she's not. She does a good job of playing the innocent card, but she's anything but. Today, we have a ball in her right ear that the doctor will have to remove. Why? Well, your guess is as good as mine. Once she told me it wanted to go in there, once that her hand just did it, and once that today was HER turn to see the doctor instead of Micah (who had a doctor appt yesterday.) At least she's cute.

'They're gonna smash him!'

2011-11-13T15:41:00.001-05:00

Bryan and Micah are watching the Browns game. And Bryan taught Micah to say "they're gonna smash him!" So he keeps repeating that as he watches, it's pretty cute.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:31:00.000-04:00

More helping

2011-10-31T10:47:00.001-04:00

Goofing off is always part of the helping!

Micah helping Jonah with Math

2011-10-31T10:45:00.001-04:00

Micah is happy to help Jonah with his Math today!

Poor Noah!

2011-10-26T21:51:00.000-04:00

We've started a tradition that each of the kids get to stay up an extra 30 minutes one night a week to get some extra one-on-one time with us. Last night was Noah's turn, and he wanted to play Uno. As I was finishing somethings Bryan told Noah they were going to play a round just the two of them...and this was Bryan's hand. Poor Noah had no idea what was going on until Bryan won on the 7th round. It was pretty funny. Then they played a trick and stacked the deck against me when I went up to check on Selah. I think Noah thought the "tricks" were better than the game itself!

Time to catch up??

2011-10-21T23:36:00.000-04:00

Soccer has finally ended for the Fall here, and boy am I relieved. We figured out that a minimum of 11 hours every week was soccer. Do you know what I could get done in 11 hours?!? Especially 11 hours with Bryan home to either help me or help with the kids! So I am hoping to catch up a little- or at least keep up better.

I've been trying to post a video of Selah for 2 hours. Ccouldn't do video last time I tried, either. I'll try to work on that, but I did get it on Facebook if you are on there.

Otherwise, the recap is she was caught climbing on the counter and after a long interrogation, she said she climbed up there to get a knife and a banana. And she asked herself and told herself yes...so I guess that makes it okay.

Notes: YES, the stove is on.

NO, the knives are no longer on the counter.

YES, she is always impossible to have a conversation with.

And, when praying that night, after thanking God for God (cracks me up everytime) she also thanked him for her family followed by being thankful for banas (bananas) and knifes (pronounced knife-es). Her seriousness is both hilarious and frightening.

We've had a few other incidents with knives and/or bananas lately...

Not sure if she was hungry or just wanted to chop stuff.

Someone forgot to feed the monkey, she had to feed herself.

Chair and banana peel...which means I willl likely find Selah...

Hiding behind the table eating the stolen banana.

Chopping a banana on my kitchen rug.

A rare occasion of "real" (gluten-filled) bread...and a reminder why it just can't be.

She used the knife to open the graham crackers.

And, of course, then helped herself to some!

Soccer!

2011-10-13T09:07:00.001-04:00

Jonah bought FIFA Soccer 12 with his birthday money last night. And by some miracle, the schoolwork that regularly takes until 5 pm was done at 10 til 9 this morning! Wow. Had I known all it took to eliminate virtually all of our school stress was a $50 game, we would have bought that the day it came out!!
The picture is of Micah, watching the boys play. Micah has a soccer desire like I've never seen before. Two nights ago he refused to go to bed because he was sitting with Daddy watching the US soccer game. Now he's just watching the boys play and if he sees you he points to the tv and babbles about something soccer related. All I can seem to catch is BALL. It's virtually impossible to keep him off the soccer field at the boys' and Bryan's games. He has his own ball and goal. And he just LOVES to play. What's more, he's good! I've never seen a 1 yo dribble the ball like he can. And he takes better penalty kicks than his brothers. It will be interesting to see if he continues with this and it really is a talent of his or just a passing fad.

Liquid sunshine!

2011-10-12T13:16:00.000-04:00

Out enjoying the liquid sunshine on this glorious fall day!

hide and seek!

2011-10-10T16:18:00.000-04:00

Selah's hiding. I love this phase. If they can't see you, they think you can't see them. It's so cute!

Poor Jonah

2011-10-07T01:32:00.000-04:00

So tonight I jokingly tried to convince Jonah to let us just make a square cake that said Happy Birthday Jonah...and he looked at me like I had 2 heads. Then I tried to sweeten the deal with the bribe of adding sprinkles. He just stared at me. Well, Bryan can't leave well enough alone and thought we needed to prank Jonah.

So we made the star destroyer...and then hid it in the garage. And we made the little one to leave out for Jonah to see.

Hey, there's a star destroyer, tie fighter AND a jedi! Along with his name and sprinkles!!

Kind of hoping to catch it on video tomorrow...

Only Selah

2011-09-30T14:50:00.001-04:00

I mean, really. How many kids have a need to permanently destroy SOMETHING every time they aren't actively being entertained?? She is so expensive!

Theif!

2011-09-28T18:50:00.000-04:00

Me:Selah, you.can't.bring.all.those.upstairs!
Selah:Why.not?They're.mine!
Me:umm,No.They're.your.brothers'.
Selah:Nope.They're.mine!
(Finders.Keepers.Rule?)

Behind once again!

2011-09-27T13:18:00.000-04:00

My phone is messed up after an update and I can't type on it, so that is why you haven't been seeing anything on here lately! I need to work on getting that fixed...but until then, here's a couple recent pictures from this weekend.

Selah and Micah enjoying some Diego this morning. Not sure if the snuggling started out as sch or was originally a fight over the Wii remote that turned into snuggling due to a distraction.

The kids checking out a puppy. Selah's scared, of course.

Micah. looking thin...don't worry, it's just the way he's standing!

Playing games on the iPod. Kids these days.

Micah looking like a little guy. Sometimes you catch a rare reminder that he's still only one!!

Best buddies. Selah's sad and Micah's trying to cheer her up. I hope they stay close as they get older, they are unbelieveably adorable together!

Trouble times two. They stole Uncle Jonah's Gatorade and took off in search of a "safe" place to drink it.

Hard to tell but she got her foot stuck here. She wasn't happy but it was pretty funny.

Micah. Walking the line. Not sure if this should be reassuring of adolescence or frightening.

What's this?

Do you think it's poisonous?

Well, I'm not dead yet. So probably not. Should I eat it?

No. Selah, I think that would be a bad idea.
But maybe an interesting experiement.

Well, I ate it. Let's see what happens.

Showing off that belly.

Sneaking a goal in the back way.

Waiting for his team to get into position for the indirect kick.

Hmmm. Wonder what's in there...

I don't want to sit here anymore! I'm going over there!

Eat? Nope. I didn't eat anything.
What do you mean am I lying? I'm FAR too cute to lie!

Never any fear.

See what I mean?!?

Hanging out with Aunt Allison, who came up to visit me!

Too busy sneaking hot dog buns to make it to the bathroom. Oops.

A Mario Brothers tournament with Uncle Jonah.

Noah scored a goal. Not sure if he's surprised or just modest.

Fun at soccer!

2011-09-17T10:08:00.001-04:00

She's arrived

2011-09-17T09:24:00.001-04:00

Selah the search and rescue agent

2011-09-10T09:16:00.001-04:00

I thought I got all the markers locked up. Looks like I missed one. And Selah found it! What a great agent she is. That poor marker was so lonely all alone. She made him feel better by making sure he will never be forgotten at our house. Thankfully, it's green so it doesn't show too badly!

Too cute?

2011-09-10T09:14:00.001-04:00

Selah and Micah at Jonah's soccer game. Everyone was in love with them in their cute little coats!

Child abuse?

2011-09-10T09:13:00.001-04:00

Got a new "white board" for the classroom...problem is it was a bit bigger than expected! Made it home, though!

Because she just can't help herself!

2011-09-10T09:12:00.001-04:00

She found a pen and figured out how to make it explode. And we have no wet wipes in the van.

Snack anyone?

2011-09-10T09:10:00.000-04:00

And it's not even 9 am. And, I'm quite certain they ate breakfast at 8...

Selah's 3!!

2011-09-09T22:17:00.000-04:00

Sorry I am so behind! I can't seem to catch up...actually, I can't even keep up. I have no hope of catching up!

Miss Selah turned three over the weekend. I have no idea how that is possible. Amazing. Here's her newborn pictures if you want to reminisce. We were so oblivious to the trouble she would cause then.

Selah with her cake...forgot the candles but she didn't mind. And we have good friends who improvise well!!
Micah's looking a bit jealous, isn't he?!? Only 3 months until his birthday!

Buckeyes football!

2011-09-03T12:45:00.001-04:00

Selah's ready!

Round 2

2011-09-01T10:52:00.001-04:00

This is the second time today.

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Fighters

2011-08-30T19:30:00.001-04:00

Bryan got tired of getting Micah more fries so he just handed Micah the tray. And Selah decided she wanted some...so Micah moved them to the other side so that she couldn't get any. And so Selah climbed up trying to get them and Micah fought her off. Not sure who's more wrong-Micah for not sharing or Selah for trying to eat his when she had a pile on her plate!

First doy of school 2011!

2011-08-29T09:01:00.001-04:00

Not as organized as I would like to be for today, but we're going with it anyway! We have a fourth grader and a kindergardner/first grader. Praying for a great year for all!

Noah's 6!!!!

2011-08-20T22:13:00.001-04:00

Hard to believe little Noah is SIX. Time flies. Here's a "quick" recap of his birthday and party this year.

Mommy and Mikey hanging out at Rainforest Cafe. Rare to have a "baby" sleeping on me these days- loved it. Except for the size of the kid.

He's not doing too poorly in the growth department, even on his gluten and dairy free diet!

She lied. She told us she wasn't afraid of the animals anymore- she was.

Daddy and Noah comforting her.

Noah enjoyed his dinner of lemonade, applesauce, popcorn shrimp and chicken.

Since he couldn't have the ice cream sundae, they brought him a cup of gummy worms.

Selah and Micah were so adorable they just melted my heart.

C'mon, Selah!!

C'mon, Micah!

You don't think we are lost, do you?

Mommy found us!!

Gluten, dairy, and soy free pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin frosting.
He asked for pumpkin frosting and when I hesitated, he said, "don't you have some of that pumpkin in a can? Just use that to make some!" Apparently, I look like Martha Stewart. Wasn't the best, but it wasn't bad at all.

YUM

Noah flying his Lego airplane he got for his birthday.

He;s really just a kid stuck in a big body. Bryan controlled the control tower and airport building.

Might not look like it, but this is a GIANT piece of fondant that we made that was supposed to go on the cake. But it stuck. So we had to go to plan B.

The F-18s before Selah attacked.

Well, at least this snack was gluten and dairy free! Selah said they were having lunch. (It was 7 am.)

Noah's Shark.

Finished Aircraft Carrier...minus a couple F-18s that sustained heavy damage.

Top view

A real f-18 that flew over the house for the airshow today.

Flying upside-down.

F-18 again.

Selah checking out the planes.

2 F-18s

Part of the group that joined us for the airshow and Noah's birthday.

NOOOO!!!!!!

Noah and his cake. It was huge.

Noah's excited, Selah's thinking....

Noah's preparing, Selah's debating....

And as Noah took a deep breath....Selah leaned in and blew out his candle first! At least we know she's got it down pat for her birthday in 2 weeks!

Selah and Louie...they are WAY too much alike to be friends. Can't have them sharing ideas!

Noah's plate of cake. It was a lot bigger than it looks here. (He barely ate any, by the way.)

Noah pushing Amber. What a sweetie (if you don't count the runs into the road and the life-threatening speed.)

All parties at the Wilhelm's include soccer. It's a rule.

Poor Micah (and Mommy?)

2011-08-16T15:13:00.000-04:00

Micah seems to have eaten something he shouldn't have and has been a miserable mess the last two days. He woke up from his nap this afternoon and won't let not be touching him. Worse, even snuggled up on me he just keeps whining. I guess our house is going back to being completely gluten and dairy free so we have less instances of this. I'm trying to cherish this time with him...it's just a bit hard since I have so much to get done-always!

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Someday...

2011-08-16T11:57:00.001-04:00

She's going to outgrow this...right??

Micah the artist.

2011-08-16T11:53:00.001-04:00

Micah's had an introduction to watercolor painting. And he loves it...and seems to also have his sisters' love of painting/coloring on their persons rather than paper. Silly kids.

5 minutes

2011-08-15T14:05:00.000-04:00

I'm thinking we should have stopped painting about 5 minutes ago. Before she felt the desire to paint herself black!

Color wonder?

2011-08-13T16:52:00.001-04:00

Supposedly, Crayola's color wonder markers only color on their special color wonder paper. But Selah just colored ALL over the front porch with one. I do hope it's washable.

Tomatoes are in season!

2011-08-12T20:12:00.001-04:00

Let round one of the tomato sauce making begin!

Selah get down!

2011-08-08T10:52:00.001-04:00

No, Mom. I can't. I want to color with my feet!

Special treatment!

2011-07-31T18:18:00.001-04:00

It's hard to see, but the engineer is waving at us. Gave us a few whistle blows, too. Guess driving alongside him for a few miles was a clue the kids were enamored. The kids loved it!

Watching the train

2011-07-31T18:14:00.001-04:00

Quite a thrill for our kids!

Micah checking on his sister

2011-07-29T21:06:00.001-04:00

He cares, she's the one who feeds him the good stuff and teaches him "cool" things!

Selah and her clothes

2011-07-29T21:04:00.001-04:00

She got a new swimsuit tonight- and she's not letting it out of her sight!

Going for a record

2011-07-28T17:43:00.001-04:00

Took the stitches out of Mr Micah's forehead yesterday (as you can see it looks pretty good!) So today we are at the Urgent Care thanks to a pair of scissors to his leg.

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Noah's the first to get stung

2011-07-25T20:17:00.001-04:00

Surprisingly, Jonah's almost 10 and has never had a bee sting! Noah got one today at the park. He was actually stung twice, once under the eye and once above. Bryan said he thought it was a yellow jacket. And I'm relieved to see a very mild reaction- no anaphylaxis this time around!

Poor Micah

2011-07-23T19:45:00.001-04:00

Miss Selah hit poor Mr Micah in the mouth with a pair of handcuffs and split his lip. He just can't catch a break...and im running out of kitchen washclothes to ruin! (Because of the blood.)