The Fieldhouses... join us on our journey

Surgery Day Has Gone...

2012-01-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

Aaaah, it's over! I'm sitting in a dark room next to my "hopefully" sleeping daughter. Tessa was an amazing champion today! Let me give you a couple of examples.

1. When she realized that she had a stitch in her tongue (which was pretty uncomfortable), she said, "I don't want this in here". We told her that it comes out tomorrow b/f we head home and that was the last we heard of that.

2. Right before we left the Recovery Room she threw up a bunch of blood (totally normal), it didn't even phase her...she didn't even get upset that it got on her blankie! What a champ!

3. Whenever the nurse asked her what her pain level was, she always answered "no pain" with a great big smile on her face...what a champ!

4. At 6pm tonight she got to get off her IV...no more wires attached! Just after that, her friends, the Igos, came to visit her and she was dancing all over with them. Who knew she had just had surgery this morning?!

5. As she was dozing off tonight she said to me, "Mom, I feel normal." Wow...God is good!

Thank you so much for all your prayers! The day went by so smoothly, not one hiccup throughout the entire day. Each of our prayers were answered. We got great nurses, Dr. Urata did a fabulous job, and we got a room right away (only 1 hour in the Recovery Room!)

We haven't SEEN Dr. Urata yet since the surgery, but he's called 2x. He mentioned that it was a very complex surgery but he was happy with how everything turned out. :) He's going to be swinging by our room in the morning to check things out. He also mentioned that Tessa's palate is going to look pretty pieced together for about 6 weeks, but then after that, everything should be great. So nice to hear those words!

Here are some photos from the day...I've got to keep this brief, I'm literally falling asleep at the computer right now (in fact, I just deleted an entire row of accidental ks).

I think Mark could do this all day long!

Tessa showing you her stitch in her tongue

The Recovery Room right before Tessa threw up

Pretty cool, we felt like we were at an airport watching this monitor. Tessa's number was 12587, at this point she had been in the Operating Room for almost 3 hours. It ended up being 3 hours 20 minutes.

Our dear friend Ryan came by to represent the Verwys family...thanks for praying over Tessa, Ryan, that meant a ton to us! The Igos fought the LA traffic and brought a party to the room...and dinner! Thanks guys!

Again, Mark and Tessa glued to the screen...can you believe this duo? :) Two peas in a pod! Tessa's dinner consisted of mashed potatoes, apple sauce, pudding, yogurt, chocolate milk. And for dessert...just kidding, the whole stinkin' meal was like a dessert! Lucky girl. She also was hooked up all day to the screen. It's called the Feel Better Network, you bet it made her feel better! She's never going to want to leave this place!
Molly LOVED playing up in the window sill area. Pretty sweet view, I can hardly blame her. She demanded getting her diaper changed up there. :)

Tessa just talked in her sleep...she does this quite a bit. She said, "Mom, can I be done?" Bless her heart, maybe she does want to go home with us after all. :)

We love you honey, you make us so proud!

Surgery Day Has Come...

2012-01-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

I don't think Tessa could have been more excited about this day than she was last night and this morning. She had so many questions! The one thing she was super excited for was a bed with wheels on it and one where the head would go up and down. Precious girl. We went out and celebrated last night with some friends...we called it a "pre-op" party. Went to Chuckie Cheese for games and then Chick-fil-A for dinner. She had a ball. :) She's gotten lots of positive attention, a few gifts here and there, and she IS LOVING IT! Then, to top it off, our nurse in the examining room this morning walked in with a brand new baby doll, she was stoked! She got fun hospital pajamas, super friendly nurses and doctors (they just know how to treat their patients here!) No concerns whatsoever. Precious girl.

Here's Tessa being an amazing patient:

We probably visited 4-5 different waiting rooms, this one was Tessa's favorite:

After this point, we headed to the pre-op room where Tessa got her first dream bed, plus a remote control and TV (not to mention a warm blanket to keep her nice and cozy). It was here where she received the "happy medicine", Versed. This is to make her relaxed and have the ability to forget certain things. She seemed totally normal to us until they started to wheel her away and her not having any issues with that. Then again...maybe we're raising a pretty independent young lady! :)

And just in case you're wondering, Mark and I are doing much better now. :) Man, I really lost it when they wheeled her away. (I don't think that part will EVER get easy.) We have been enjoying this beautiful hospital and all the perks that it comes with, a delicious, reasonably-priced breakfast, nice naturally lit cafeteria, hot chocolate, good conversation with my husband, encouraging texts coming in letting us know that many of your are praying for Tessa, and some comfy seats to plunk down in so we can keep everyone updated...it's a nice distraction! :)

And the Journey Continues On...

2011-12-21T14:14:00.000-08:00

Tessa Update

The Past: As many of you know, we have a precious 4 years 8 month old that God has blessed us with. Tessa was born with a severe bilateral cleft lip and palate...we chose a very qualified plastic surgeon who was part of the Long Beach Memorial Miller's Children Hospital Cleft Team. Great! We have been very pleased with the team as well as the care that we have been given.

At 6 months Tessa received her first surgery, the dropping down of her cute little pre-maxilla ball and the bringing together of her lip. At 9 months, her second surgery closed up one side that had come apart. At 12 months, her third surgery completed her upper lip. At 18 months, a palate closure was done. This surgery failed. The first in Dr. Well's history. So, ever since then, Tessa has had a pretty large "fistula" in her mouth (which she has done remarkably well with I might add!) It affects her air pressure, a discomfort every now and again with food getting stuck up there (also quite humorous when it finally comes out her nose!), and a bit of her speech. However, her speech is pretty good...she gets along fine with those she knows...IF they are paying attention. :) So, to say the least, with Tessa in preschool, heading to kindergarten next year, we have felt like something should be done to help improve her speech.

I'm not sure how much I should go in depth here, but if you want to, you can skim. :) This summer, in Alaska and even around here, we had some run-ins where my "mama bear" wanted to attack! You know, playgrounds and kids...need I say more? I don't even really know if Tessa was affected by any of the words these kids spoke or if she paid attention to the whispers behind her back, but I sure did. And you know what? It lit a fire under me to figure out the next steps in her journey. What must we do to get Tessa's speech like that of other kids her age? I sure don't want her self esteem to go down any earlier than it has to. I want to protect my little girl...she's got a road ahead of her and I'm not going to be able to protect her forever. With all this said...I am confident that God has given her the tools that she needs to live life with all the challenges a cleft lip and palate bring. She's a strong girl and God has a plan for her. We are all confident in that and it will be very exciting when she figures that out too! :)

This past September I was shopping at the grocery store with Tessa and Molly when a woman comes up to me and says, "my 21 year old niece just had her final air brushing done and looks amazing!" She said this in such a way that I should know exactly what she meant. I know I hide it pretty well MOST of the time when I should probably know what people mean when they say something to me, but I don't think I did this time. :) She continued on..."she also had a cleft lip and the air brushing is the final surgery to finish it off." Ohhhhh. "Who's her doctor?" "He's with Long Beach Memorial...we LOVE him...I can't think of his name." "Is it Dr. Wells?" "Oh yes, that's it, Dr. Wells, what amazing work he does! We've been so pleased with him!"

God put that woman in my path for so many reasons. First, we had an appointment with him the next day and it's always nice to have confidence in your plastic surgeon. Second, she mentioned that her niece was 21 years old having her FINAL surgery. I kind of lost that perspective...we are in a marathon. This is NO sprint. Things are not done fast or quickly. Endurance is key here. Patience is key. Pressing on is key. Pain is key. Oh God, give us the strength to get through all this!

Our meeting with Dr. Wells was an interesting one. He walks in and looks in rough shape. He's an older man, perhaps close to retirement (has never mentioned it though), he just looked rough. He had recently gotten something removed, a gull bladder maybe? And he had a couple of band-aids on his balding head (topical ointment for skin cancer). "Hmmmm, this guy isn't going to be running our marathon with us much longer", I thought. Yes, he has another guy in his practice that many are pleased with, but we've never met him.

Dr. Wells is conservative. He wants to wait until Tessa is 6-7 to finish up closing up her palate. He doesn't want to risk not having enough tissue there to work with. In the mean time, he recommended that she is fitted for a speech bulb prothesis.

A what??? I guess they aren't really used much these days, and mostly only with older patients. BIG RED FLAG. I am not going to put Tessa through THAT! Often times the gag reflux takes a good week to get used to wearing this. Why the speech bulb? Tessa has a short soft palate and this is what is mostly affecting her speech, it's not just the fistulas (holes) in her palate. This soft palate needs to be lengthened for anything dramatic to happen to her speech. I kind of felt like he was stumped. He had talked all of his other plastic surgeon colleagues and, I quote straight from Dr. Well's mouth, "they were all thankful that Tessa is on my plate and not theirs." Another RED FLAG. I finally took my mother-in-law's advice and sought out a second opinion.

I contacted 2 other moms of kids with clefts that I have become friends with on this journey. They both brought up the same name, Dr. Urata with Children's Hospital Los Angeles. One of the moms actually switched from Dr. Wells to him not that long ago and, back then, recommended me to check him out. I didn't. So, Mark and I googled him and were very pleased with what we read and thought we'd give it a go.

The Present: We had our first appointment with Dr. Urata all the way in Santa Monica about 2 1/2 weeks ago. My prayer was for God to give him fresh eyes to see into Tessa's situation going on in her mouth AND that he would find favor with us and accept our insurance...when I called for the appointment they informed me that I needed a referral and that it may not go through b/c he doesn't take our insurance. Well, the appointment went VERY well, super nice younger guy (marathon material for sure!), he said he rarely turns people away, and finally, he laid out a plan that included getting Tessa into surgery as soon as possible to close up her palate. So, right then, we signed over to this guy. It was a leap of faith and I felt really good about it!

On the way home talking to Mark, I asked him how he thought things went...I love my husband, but I sure have a hard time understanding him sometimes. He's a realist and doesn't get too excited about too many things. He said, "It was alright. Anyone can look inside her mouth and say they can do the surgery. Dr. Wells has been in there quite a bit and knows exactly what's in there. Dr. Urata has never been inside." He said it so matter of factly...why didn't I think that? God knows I need a man who can keep my emotions even keel. Thanks Babe...even when you pop my bubble sometimes, I'm still super thankful for you. :)

I was still happy with our decision to make the switch. This Dr. Urata is a craniofacial doctor which means he ONLY deals with the neck and up. AND his focus is on children. I like that. Dr. Wells is a plastic surgeon who deals with you name it.

We got a call last week from his surgery scheduler and an opening came up for January 4th. Whoa, that's soon! Fortunately, Mark still has off and he'll be around to help and he won't have to take days off work for the surgery. Soon after that, we got a call from the hospital to schedule a pre-op for this past Monday (Dec.19), and then another phone call to get Tessa in to meet the Children's Hospital LA Cleft Team on May 31st. Whoa...this is all happening VERY fast! Our journey has picked up steam. Things are actually happening! We aren't quite used to this. :) However, we know that it's all in God's timing and He's got Tessa and us in the palm of His mighty hand!

So, this Monday, Tessa and I had a fun mommy-daughter date at Children's Hospital LA. We've never been there but we heard it was pretty cool. :) I had Tessa watch a video about last week to get her thinking about what's going to happen. She got pretty excited.

Then, Sunday night I was looking on the website to find out how to get there and where to go and all that stuff and ran across some pretty impressive documented information about Dr. Urata. Unbelievable...to think that this guy is going to operate on our daughter. God gives us an immeasurable amount of peace when we most need it. :) If you want to watch the video, you can go to youtube and type in: childrens hospital los angeles, merylou berriga. It's about a 25 minute video, but super impressive!

The appointment was awesome. Tessa did great, however, she did NOT like the waiting room. Too many kids, many of them looked "different" and were very friendly, that made her uncomfortable. I like it though. :) To see each one of these kids knowing that they have all had their own journey and they were all so friendly and didn't seem to notice any of the other kiddo's differences. It was a beautiful sight to see. :) Tessa will get there someday.

Our appointment was with one of Dr. Urata's fellows who is with him in most of his surgeries. I really like him too. One of the first things he said to me was, "Do you have any questions?" And then he proceeded to answer each and every one of my questions. He was patient with me, he didn't rush us out of there, and...best of all, he made Tessa feel very comfortable. After our appointment we had a good time exploring the hospital. We went to the McDonald's inside the hospital (we never go to McDonald's), we checked out the gift shop, we walked around the outdoor courtyard that was all decorated for Christmas, we went to a storyteller where Tessa got a free book and got to color a picture, and we played with a lot of the hands on stuff around the hospital. We had a great time! We felt really good about the visit and I don't think Tessa's too scared about the operation. (Actually, I don't really think it's sunk in JUST yet.)

A few answers that I got:

- surgery will last 2-3 hours

- 1 night stay, both parents are able to stay overnight

- 6 week recovery, 1 week on yummy tasting meds, 6 weeks on soft foods, no straws

- she'll miss about a week of school

- plus lots of other things that I won't bore you with unless you want to ask me yourself

The Future: Surgery on January 4th...the rest is in God's hands. :)

We'll keep you posted on the blog. Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday To Me :)

2011-11-27T05:45:00.000-08:00

I'm giving myself a birthday present this year. It's going to benefit me, my family, and all of you who still take time to look that this ever-unchanging blog. Yep, you guessed it, I'm starting up again. :) It's funny how so many things happen throughout the week where I grab the camera and try hard to remember what exactly happened only to never record it. So, needless to say, I'm really looking forward to this! I think Molly will appreciate it too seeing how her face is never seen and she's going to be turning 2 in less than a month!

So, here are some pictures and some brief descriptions

(I don't want to get burnt out on the first day!)

We'll start with our dear Molly Grace

Sisters

Our Neighbors/Friends

I find it very humorous that the last pictures of our pool were of the demolition stage. We've come a LONG way since then! The end of September we finished our second summer of playing in this giant bathtub...our favorite part about the whole thing is that we get to share it with our friends and neighbors! We may not be able to host too many people in our home, but our pool...now that's another story! :)

Our precious Tessa started preschool this fall. What a big girl! She's loving it, she's loving her teacher, Mrs. Teri, and she's loving hanging out with all her new friends! She also gets to see her church buddies there as well: Abram, Josiah, and Nehemiah. :)

Our "Star of the Week"

Granted, this was all in the works about year ago, but my I just wanted to document how amazing my husband is. He ripped out our nasty, dysfunctional bathroom and built us a beautiful one that works great for our family. Not a day goes by that I don't appreciate the blood, sweat, and time that Mark put into this project!

The Sportsmobile...our new ride

(not to mention a new hobby for Mark...he's already changed the leaf springs, added air bags, changed the shocks, changed back brakes, added shelves, fixed the side mirror, and is currently attempting to convert the indoor shower to a toilet for all his girls to enjoy! ) Have I mentioned yet that I married an incredible stud of a man?

Well, there's a brief update on our lives...I won't wait so long for the next update. (This post took WAY TOO LONG).

New Hobby

2011-05-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Mark and I don't really drink alcohol. Mark and I have started brewing our very own alcohol. Yep, kinda crazy. We like the idea of being social and I guess that's what drinking is...social. :)

Our first batch was a hard cider and our first Home Brew Party was a hit...totally worth it! And yes, the social aspect was great and the cider itself was actually pretty good!

Our Budding Artist

2011-02-09T13:26:00.001-08:00

The Latest...

2011-02-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

Greetings! Just thought I'd let you in on some of the things we've been doing over here in sunny California...I am blown away by the weather we've been having! Tessa has been LOVING it b/c she gets to wear dresses everyday (actually, if she had her way, she'd be wearing the same exact dress everyday...with the same headband...and the same shoes...fortunately clean underwear everyday! ;))

Our avocado tree has been calling out for little one to swing on it's branches, finally Mark found some time to build one! Tessa is thrilled!

Molly pushing around the Nesper girls :)

Reading lots of books

Going to the zoo

Special date night with Daddy (lucky girl!)

And best of all...just plain playing around!

Molly Videos

2011-01-14T21:03:00.000-08:00

Praise the Lord...I finally figured out how to get my videos on the blog! This is going to be a tribute to Molly post...she's gotten the shaft so far so we need to catch up. Enjoy! :)

Fieldhouse Family Photos

2010-10-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Megan Hartley took a chunk of time out of her busy schedule to take these pictures of our family. It was going to be of just the girls, but then she ended up pulling us into the pictures as well and did such a great job capturing the moment (even all the different personalities). She's got a beautiful business called Megan Hartley Photography...check her out at www.MeganHartleyPhotography.com

Ride On!!!

2010-09-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day back on the saddle since Molly has been born.

When I say that I mean on the saddle all the way down to the beach and back, carrying Molly in the bike trailer rather than in my tummy. Fun times! It was a beautiful day and the girls did great! Looking forward to this weekly ride with my dear friend, Autumn and her two little guys.

Here's a video of everyone on the swings at the Tot Lot in Seal Beach. Tessa's first time really pumping all by herself!

OK...I'm getting pretty bummed. I have been denied on all the videos that I've tried uploading for the past 3 months. (Granted I've attempted 4 times, but still...very frustrating!)

Because you don't get to see the video, here are some recent pictures of the girls:

Mile Stones

2010-08-21T22:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to the best husband ever!

Happy 40 months to the Big Sister, Tessa!

Happy 8 months to the most precious baby ever!

I love my family!!!

I know, I know...stay tuned for more pictures.

I realize that Molly has been a complete secret to those who do not see us on a regular basis. She sure looks different from her last pic on the blog! Sorry 'bout that!

Daddy Daughter Camp-Out

2010-06-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am, slightly overdue for a blog entry. I know.

I am sitting in a very quiet house at the moment with a huge grin on my face. Mark is outside camping with Tessa. It's 9:30 and she's still wide awake...Mark's not. He's ready to go to sleep. :) What fun for her. She earned this exciting camp-out with Daddy by waking up dry wearing her big girl underpants last night. "Big girls get to do lots of fun and exciting things, Tessa." We'll see if the two of them agree if this camp-out is both fun and exciting. ;)

Lots has been going on over here. I'm looking forward to posting some pretty impressive before and after pics of the house and the progress Mark has been making. He's such a stud. I'm one lucky lady! :)

Extreme Pool Makeover

2010-04-26T22:12:00.000-07:00

When we bought our house we were stoked about the size of the backyard. All we had to do was fill in the pool and we were set. Well the estimates came in on how much it would cost and I was ready to take on the project myself. Rent a bobcat for a week and call on some friends to help and it will be filled in in no time. Well, after seeking some council about what a stupid idea that was since I have never ran a bobcat before in my life, we out filling in the pool on hold. Then for about 2 weeks we kicked around the idea of adding on but that too fizzled. We decided to wait a couple more years until the girls were older and we really needed more room (i.e. 2 bathrooms, one for Mark and one for the ladies of the house). Well we then decided that we might as well fix up the pool for almost the same price as taking it out. Well lets just say it went from replacing the cement to a brand stinkin new pool. The only original thing left is the diving board because you cannot buy the really springy ones anymore. We HOPE that this project will be over in about a week meaning water in the pool and no workers starting to show up in the 6's waking everyone up. We will keep (try to at least) you posted on the next weeks events.

My Baby's 3 Years Old!!!

2010-04-26T14:05:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Tessa's 3rd birthday this past week. Yes, I said "week". I highly recommend sticking to just the one day celebration. I'm exhausted. Anyway, here are some pictures of all the festivities...

This is Tessa's last night sleeping in her crib...we lasted 3 whole years! She got a bunk bed in her new room and we've been practicing sleeping up on the top bunk during naps...she passed! She's been sleeping up top now for almost a week. :)

I decided that I am going to start writing a birthday letter to my birthday girls (seeing how I do a terrible job with their baby books!) She got the letter instead of her stories this night, I think she liked it...I sure did!

Sitting pretty watching Dora during breakfast...MUST be a special occasion.

This is Tessa's very first hair-cut! (Sure would have been nice to have my dad cut her hair.) Another special occasion. Check out her seat! And, she got to watch a movie while getting her hair cut. Just a healthy trim, that's all. :) At the end Mark says to me, "Allison, you totally could have done that!" Yes, but this was special. Next time. :) Who doesn't like to get pampered?

The final product.

Birthday party with all her friends at play group.

Lovin' the flip-flops!

Tessa and all her California cousins (minus Lauren).

Molly celebrated her 4 month birthday the day before Tessa's 3rd birthday. :)

Some Catching Up To Do...

2010-04-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

Well, our life has been slightly on the busy side. Some people have asked, "so, are you feeling settled in your new home?" I just have to laugh at that question. The answer is a resounding "NO". Yep, it's taking quite a while. It's been over a month...we've had quite a few changes in our thinking about this lovely home. We are grateful for a roof over our heads and the fact that we do get to eat every night (even though sometimes it isn't until 7:30pm that we're finally sitting down together as a family!) Here are a few older pictures...

Sure did capture how Molly felt about Tessa holding her...what a great face!

Now THAT'S more like it...THIS is our happy child, she truly is such a blessing!

Here we are picking a few stragglers off our avocado tree...stuck those in a box and mailed them all the way to Anchorage, AK...hope you liked them, Erin! :)

Good Morning!

2010-03-28T07:27:00.000-07:00

Daddy and his little ladies :)

Home Owners!

2010-03-24T17:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Home-Owners

Signing the papers (what's that? Allison's multi-tasking???)

So this is our new house...isn't she charming? :) We've been here for about a week and a half now and we are loving it! So much to do, but loving it. We live across the street from our dear friends Ryan & Rachel and their 3 boys, we live around the corner from our friends, Keith & Taffy and their 3 boys, and our friends Preston and Angie (and their 4 kids) are about 90 % sure that they are moving 2 doors down from us! I know, amazing. :) We are blessed!!! Our girls are even more blessed, quite the pool of boys to choose from. ;)

Anyway, lots has been going on...I'm still trying to manage life with 2 kids (it takes me a little bit longer than the average person...multi-tasking has always been a challenge for me), we just moved, unpacking is taking a bit longer than I would like, and I'm still addicted to Craigslist...gotta furnish the place, ya know???

So, if you were wondering why I haven't updated our blog, that's why. Oh, one more thing, our camera seems to continually get misplaced/lost...so, poor Molly hasn't been getting the camera time she deserves. She's 3 months now and growing chubbier by the day. What a precious gift she is/has been to all of us! Smiles that melt our hearts, laid back personality (we can only hope that continues...big sister Tessa doesn't quite fit that description), wonderful feeder, no complaints. God knows what I can handle...He made me the way I am...not the best multi-tasker. :)

We'd love for any of you to drop on by!

Today in our new kitchen...Molly was making the cutest noises!

The Time Has Come...

2010-03-12T23:17:00.000-08:00

We're moving! Yep, we bought ourselves a house! :)

This is why the blog hasn't been updated...I've been awheelin' and adealin' on Craigslist (my new best friend!) Anyway, it's all gone very, very fast and tonight is actually our last night sleeping in our home of 3 1/2 years. I'm up late looking for rugs and chairs on Craigslist, gotta go to sleep. Hopefully I'll find some time to fill you in on the exciting journey it's been buying this adorable home in Bellflower.

Oh, Molly? She's amazing! Speaking of adorable... ;)

Nigh-Night!

Molly's Baby Announcement

2010-01-24T21:56:00.000-08:00

Our little lady is already a month old...how great to have Mark home for Molly's entire first month. :) He went back to teaching this past Wednesday as my parents came into town to spend some time with their grand-daughters...and us.

On Molly's one month birthday we had our wonderful neighbor, Nathan, come over to take some pictures of the girls. He did a fabulous job...we're slightly biased. :) I asked Mark what he thought about doing some sort of baby announcement. "You really want to know what I think?" he asked. I knew, and I agreed.

So...you are viewing our baby announcement right now.

Introducing Molly Grace Fieldhouse

Born December 20th, 2009 at 12:48 a.m.

Weighed in at 8 lbs 8 oz & Measured 21 1/4 inches

She is welcomed by her mom and dad, Mark and Allison and big sister, Tessa Joy.

We thank God for our two beautiful girls! Our prayer is that they grow up to be best of friends and that Mark survives in a house full of women. ;)

p.s. We will soon be adding a link to all the pics that were taken.

We're Alive & Well

2010-01-15T14:57:00.000-08:00

Does Tessa look like a natural or what?!?!

Tessa has really taken a liking to Molly...always wanting to give her kisses, holding her hand in the car, singing songs to her, watching me change her poopy diapers (so intriguing!), and fetching the necessities for mommy. What a great big sister! :)

However, she hasn't asked to hold Molly. I asked her to sit down so I could take their picture for this shot. Maybe that desire will come later?

Some faces of our beautiful Molly Grace:

Tessa's getting lots of love these days! We borrowed a jumper from Tessa's cousins over Christmas vacation, she LOVED it! Mark's been home from work for the past 2 weeks on paternity leave...he's so good with her (what in the world am I going to do once he goes back to work??? Thank goodness my parents come once he goes back.)

Here's Molly's first of many trips to the Bellflower Farmer's Market. Tessa LOVES this special trip...she's a sucker for samples! She's showing off her little honey sample spoon, that was a first for us...who knew there were so many different flavors of honey?!?!

We LOVE our Beco carrier! We got it when Tessa was 18 months old, so I never used the infant insert...Molly has thoroughly been enjoying herself in this thing. I went for a walk to the coffee shop this morning and she fell asleep on the way there and then again on the way back...then proceeded to sleep for another 3 hours in it at home while I putzed around the house. Love it!

Smooshed faces are the best! :)

A couple of funny things that have happened lately:

TESSA:

She's getting sooooo big, so big that she's potty training and wearing fun panties everyday. Well, either fun panties or no panties, what's the difference when she's running around the house? Anyway, that's just a side note. The funny story happened about 2 weeks ago. Tessa fell into her crib one morning and realized that it didn't hurt. So when nap time came, she didn't seem all that tired but I read her stories and put her down anyway. Mark and I were hanging out in the kitchen and all of a sudden we hear a door open, little footsteps running toward us and then a little stinker comes into the doorway and proudly and boldly says, "Hello!" (think about how someone says "ta-da" when they finish a tumble or a trick, that's how she said "hello"...so cute! Kind of.) In my mind I'm thinking, "Shoot, there goes nap time, great timing!" And yes, nap time was indeed a challenge that day. Mark and I had to do some quick thinking to stay ahead of this little girl. I left for Bible Study that night and whispered in Mark's ear, "have fun tonight!" My husband took matters into his own hands and, with Tessa's help, lowered her crib to the lowest setting. When we heard her wake up the next morning she sadly said, "Hey, I can't get out of my bed anymore"...so sad. Kind of. ;)

MOLLY:

Molly is quite the loud sleeper, she makes the cutest noises and makes the cutest faces while sleeping. So far, that's the only time we've seen her smile...this huge grin that lights up her entire face. Precious. :) That night at Bible Study Molly was peacefully sleeping while the ladies were laughing about something. As soon as we finished laughing, Molly added her final chuckle. Perfect timing! We all got another good laugh. :)

Sisters!

2009-12-21T16:53:00.000-08:00

Here they are...sisters!

Molly Grace Fieldhouse - 1 day old

Tessa Joy Fieldhouse - 1 day old

Do you see any resemblances?

More pictures to follow. Tessa is on her way home right now to meet Molly, so exciting!

We are all so happy to be home sweet home. :) Molly is so happy she hasn't even woken up from our car ride home from the hospital! What a champ. :)

Introducing Baby Fieldhouse

2009-12-20T15:56:00.000-08:00

Well, baby Fieldhouse has finally arrived... We are really excited about the new addition to our family. We asked Tessa to pick between blue or pink panties the night before and she nailed it. Big sister's intuition. We have thoroughly enjoyed not knowing the sex of the baby for the last 9 monthes, but it was sure hard waiting this last week. Allison starting getting regular strong contractions around 7 after a short walk and things began to quickly progress. Allison finished the laundry while Mark packed for the hospital. Shortly after 9 we thought that Allison's water broke so we hung out till the contractions were about 2 minutes apart and then called in Mark's mom to hold down the fort. (We waited a while because we did not want to be turned away like we almost were with Tessa.) Once we arrived things moved along quite quickly. Allison was dialated to a 7, the doctor was called and then Allison began upchucking everywhere. Nurses were scrambling looking for anything to catch the projectile but they were unsuccessful. Shortly after Allison got her epideral everything in the world became right. 45 minutes later the baby was out. We just want to pause right here and tell everyone how much we love our Dr. Bustillo. He is the most down to earth Dr. and has a great sense of humor. He got all dressed up in his gear scooted up to Allison and said "Dr. Bustillo, at your cervix." Mark had a good chuckle at that. He offered up to Mark that he could help as much as he wanted to but Mark has the flu right now and did not stand during the whole labor. We were thankful that baby did not come the night before when Mark was one with the toilet ready to pass out and shortly after crawling on his hands and knees into the bathtub to take a cold bath. Mark has been very appreciative of Allison tending to his every need and watching Tessa full time while he was barely able to move from the couch the past two days. Mark felt at times that he was being attended to more than Allison was. Well, three contractions later baby was eagerly welcomed into the world.

Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement throughout this whole pregnancy & labor!

We have narrowed it down to two names finally!!!

Sweet Tooth

2009-12-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

We've got a real sweet tooth on our hands and I'm afraid potty training has helped encourage this unfortunate issue. This is how sweet our sweet tooth has gotten:

(Let me begin by letting you know that Tessa just finished a 10 day antibiotic that tastes a lot like bubble gum...she LOVED it!)

"Mommy, I want more of my bubble gum medicine".

Tessa, it's all gone, we finished it up this morning...you're all better now!

"I eat more candy so my tummy doesn't feel good, then I get more bubble gum medicine."

I laugh.

"Why you laughing?"

I can't wait to tell your daddy what you just said. :)

Tessa's Speech

2009-12-14T21:03:00.001-08:00

Tessa's been going to speech for the past 3ish months now. I'm not sure if it's obvious yet in her pronunciation, but she sure does have a good time! We've been going 2x a week for the last monthish...this is a good thing for Tessa, a tad too busy for me. We leave the house at 3:15 for our appt. at 4:00 at Long Beach Memorial Miller's Children's Hospital. We don't usually get home until 5:45-6pm. That's a long afternoon...not to mention I usually have to wake her up from her nap in order to leave on time. The only good thing out of it for ME (b/c that's who it's all about...sorry, call me selfish!) is that I have 45 minutes of downtime to just sit and read in the waiting room. For Tessa, it's all a positive thing. These are her little friends who she meets with every Monday and Thursday. Kimberly & James. They are adorable! Also, both cleft affected. The therapists are awesome...we are blessed!

Notice Jame's mask...this is mandatory for all kids under the age of 18 to wear in the hospital. It all has to do with the H1N1 virus. Tessa rips hers off right when we get to the waiting room.

Not sure if you knew this, but b/c of this H1N1 virus, Tessa is not allowed to come to the hospital to visit baby when he/she arrives. You could say that we're pretty bummed about that! We just need to come up with a creative way to introduce baby to Tessa. :) Trying to look on the bright side of the stinky situation...

The hospital was handing out candy canes for all the kiddos as we came in...talk about making a kid's day! :)

Tessa's pretty pumped...can you tell? :)

Here they are all holding hands before heading into their room. We lift James up in prayer as he heads in for surgery Tuesday morning to give him more of an upper lip. If you think about it, please pray that all goes well for him.

All Done with the Parties

2009-12-13T21:15:00.000-08:00

Our calendar is all open now...we made it to all our Christmas gatherings...how thoughtful of baby. This weekend was a full one. Saturday morning we had our Fieldhouse Christmas. This year we shared breakfast together...all 16 of us around one big table! Slightly chaotic, pretty loud, lots of passing food, not much eating. It was good though. :)

Present opening was entertaining for all...especially for the kiddos. They seemed to turn into REALLY good listeners and excellently behaved children. Check out what they all looked like after we told them to go inside to wait for us...

They all seemed pretty excited about what Grandpa & Grandma got them, everyone had fun playing with everything after present opening was done.

Today, Sunday, we had Mark's extended family Christmas gathering...the Miersma Christmas Party. This is the annual "make your own ornament that sums up your year" party. At our Thanksgiving gathering we all receive a bag full of random shaped wood pieces that we need to use for our ornaments. We are allowed 2 additional items...not including paint or glue. (Always a hit...fun tradition if you don't wait 'til midnight the night before to get your ornament finished!) Here are our ornaments for 2009:

(Oh, for the record, we were finished by 9:30 p.m. the night before, that felt GREAT!)

This is Allison's:

Usually one feels an itching sensation when it comes to being married for 7 years. I, however, have felt incredibly "lucky" to be married to Mark for 7 years. :) Hence, the 4 leaf clover.

This is Mark's:

Mark (and myself) have switched over from a PC to a Mac this year. Mark still isn't sold on the "Mac is WAY better than PC" mentality that all Mac people have, but we're still in the learning process. Hopefully this changes, right now it's just a really expensive computer!

This is Tessa's:

She has an odometer signifying her year of travel. This is the number of miles she travelled either by airplane or road trip. She's turned into quite the savvy traveller (as long as we have a DVD player, lots of movies, lots of snacks, and her favorite books).

40 Week Photos

2009-12-13T20:57:00.000-08:00

Tessa has really been into measuring things lately with her fun retractable tape measure.

We asked Tessa to sing baby a song and this is the song and version she came up with on her own.

Funny Story

2009-12-03T15:05:00.001-08:00

OK...I'm going to try to keep this brief b/c we want to do another post tonight and still get to bed on time. This is just a glimpse into the adorable personality we have on our hands. :)

I've been taking Tessa with me to almost every doctor's appointment that I've had so far. I think it helps her understand that there's a little baby coming soon and that she's going to be a big sister. Plus, she gets to hear the baby's heart beat every week...how cool is that for a big sister???

Anyway, the past 2 weeks that I've gone in it seems like I've had a little shadow...first of all, right when we get to the office I head straight for the bathroom. Tessa usually demands to use the potty first while I try to patiently help her go. However, the past couple of times she's watched me go potty in my "cup". Hmmm, looks like fun, I want to do that too, says Tessa. So, I write her name on a cup and she proceeds to pee in it. This past time this was our conversation..."What do you want me to do with your cup, Tessa?" "Bring it to Alma". Adorable.

As many of you know, the further along in pregnancy that you get the more often the doctor "checks you". Well, I'm 40 weeks now so the past couple of times the doctor has "checked" me. As I undress from the waste down b/f the Dr. comes in, Tessa follows suite...again, adorable. (I do make her keep her diaper on though). The doctor always gets a pretty big kick out of her. That's all. That's our Tessa. Adorable. :)

Let's Celebrate!

2009-12-03T14:31:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, the joy of birthdays! Not only did I get wished a happy birthday from Tessa and Mark, but I got so many wonderful birthday wishes via cards, phone calls, emails, and texts...thanks to everyone who totally made my day! :) And if you forgot...I forgive you, my guess is that you were out shopping on the busiest shopping day of the year!

We went out for breakfast and then bought our Christmas tree at Home Depot. (What a tradition! :)) We try to make the best out of what we have...picture with the tree and then picture with Tessa on top of the car with the tree...we'll see how long this lasts. Fun to think of adding another little one on top of the car next year. :)

Tessa has really grasped the "say cheese" concept! Notice the next 2 pictures.

It's fun to finally see her start to smile for the camera...this definitely took some time!

Here's the annual Fieldhouse kids picture. Grandpa and Grandma were so excited to get all these adorable grandkids together for their Christmas letter. If Baby arrives b/f everybody takes off for their Christmas travels we may be able to get a picture with all 9 grandkids!

Top Row: Brynn, Tessa, Hayden, Lauren

Bottom Row: Grant, Harrison, Nick, Madelyn

36 Weeks!

2009-11-15T14:10:00.000-08:00

Greetings Again. :)

I've noticed that I haven't put any pictures of my pregnant belly self on the blog...this is a pet peeve of mine when other people seem to "forget" about allowing people to peek in on all the changes that their body goes through in pregnancy. I'm definitely going to extend more grace to those who "forget" because it sure hasn't been intentional for me to withhold my belly from any of you. :)

Anyway, about the picture...and the pregnancy.

Tessa decided that she wanted to be pregnant too, isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen? :) I may be slightly biased, but she is just so stinkin' adorable!

It is crazy to think that a baby is going to be joining our family pretty soon here...and that this baby is going to be OURS! How do we get our mind wrapped around that huge change???? If anybody wants to comment on how YOU wrapped your mind around it, I would greatly appreciate your wise words. :)

Baby still doesn't have a name. Perhaps if we had a name for baby that would possibly change our feelings. Mark has his names and I have mine...neither one of us seems to want to budge. It makes me chuckle at the fact that God knows exactly what this child is going to be called, it's just a matter of the journey the parents have to go through to get there. ;)

Baby has been very healthy and growing nice and strong so far. It is most definitely a mover and a shaker inside my belly! I have thoroughly been enjoying this little one (whatever it's name is!)

Hmmm, what else? Please allow me to brag about my amazing husband for a moment. If you are observant, you maybe noticed the new look in our kitchen. While Tessa and I were gone in Michigan, Mark worked his buns off to paint the walls yellow (instead of olive green) and tile the floor (instead of our grey laminate). He did a beautiful job and it has made our kitchen a brighter place. :) We also got a new desktop computer with a nice large screen that takes some pretty sweet photos.

That's about it for now, I'll try to continue to do little posts here and there so I don't get all overwhelmed again. Have a great day! :)

Fall Color Trip

2009-11-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

What a blessing it is to have a husband who encourages his wife to go out and travel...of course, first I have to find a great deal on airfare. Well, I've been longing to experience a true fall season (it has been years since I've seen REAL colors and such a plethora of them as well!), so I thought it would be fun to take one last mother/daughter vacation before our family of 3 turns into a family of 4. We had such a lovely time with my parents! We didn't have much time, but what we had we thoroughly enjoyed. :) Whenever I'm in Holland I feel so at home and it would be so great to go and knock on all my friend's doors to just say "hi". Someday.

Here are some pictures capturing our time in Holland, MI:

Downtown Farmer's Market

Apple Pickin' with Great-Grandpa

Holland Aquatic Center

Hanging out with Grandma in the backyard...what fun!

Teusink's Pony Farm

Picture with Great-Grandpa....someone's not very happy to be posing for a pic.

Now we're in a better mood...hot drinks after a chilly walk.

Hmmm...Can you smell the fall leaves? The crisp air?

BIG Girl Underpants

2009-10-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

I am going to talk again how our patience has paid off...I'm sure not saying that we are patient in everything we do / purchase, but with this particular item...wow!

We had been toying with the idea of switching over to cloth diapers for a while now, and without getting into "details" let's just say that Tessa goes through a LOT of diapers. "Why don't you just start potty training her?" may be your first solution...I'd answer that one, but that would involve "details".
Anyway, being the Craigslisters that we are, I had been searching for Bumgenius One Size Diapers for quite sometime. This way, Tessa could use them and then we could transfer smoothly over to baby using them. Slick! Well, you don't find too many cloth diapers coming up on Craigslist (hence the patience), and if you did, they probably wouldn't be a "deal". So, you can imagine how large my eyes got when I saw an add for $5 / diaper! These usually go for anywhere b/t $18-$30. This woman had a ton she wanted to get rid of. I called her up and asked what kinds she had. You name it, she had it! (She's one of those people who can afford to try all brands to see which ones she likes best...her son grew out of all of them by the age of 8 months.) I did my research and each one looked do-able for us. They weren't all One-Size fits all, but at $5 a pop, one can be flexible.
I let this woman know that we were on our way! There, in her office, was a huge box waiting for us to dig through. I didn't even know where to start! Talk about a kid in a candy store. :)
Anyway, super long story short...I chose about 30 of the "nicest ones" (there were probably 25 left) and offered her $150. She says, "how about you take the entire box for $125." Wow. Complete blessings from Above! We walked out of there spending about $2.25 per diaper. Unbelieveable. Blessed, amazing. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!!
So, today was the first day Tessa got to put on her Big Girl Underpants (we're trying to encourage her to like them) and as you can see from the picture, she's pretty proud of them! :)
We've got lots of different ones to choose from but we thought we'd show you the first ones. Again, patience sure "pays" off!

Ta-Da!!!

2009-09-27T15:36:00.001-07:00

We just finished our first 4-week session of Tumbling class this past Friday...what a hit!

Tessa is an active little girl who loves to go-go-go. Well...she went-went-went the entire hour of tumbling. Her teacher was amazing and led a great class of 18 month-2 year olds (and somehow got everyone involved...even the 6 month pregnant mommies! :))

The final day was a bubble show...Tessa didn't quite know what to do with herself.

Here are a couple of friends she made...the picture was just supposed to be Tessa and her friend Kate, but hey, the more cute kids in the picture, the merrier! :)

I look forward to signing her up for another session...what fun! :)

The Latest Favs

2009-09-23T15:26:00.000-07:00

Well, you're looking at my latest purchase off good 'ol Craigslist...it's been so good to me! (You can see in the background that we decided to keep the "huge" kitchen.)

I had been patiently awaiting a specific table for a good 6-7 months,when this one popped up you better believe I was ON it! Thee very one I had been waiting for...the price that I was willing to pay...the distance I was willing to travel...the excitement from Tessa that was so worth it all! :)

Ever since the table has been here, Tessa has taken an extra liking to her play house, to her games, and tries to get anyone to sit down next to her so she can share in all her excitement...I love it! :) AND, best of all, after hosting church here this morning, the chairs withstood 3 grown men...now that's the kind of versatility you look for in a table/chair set! :)

Here's Tessa playing Lite-Brite (a $2 score at Goodwill) and her play house.

Tessa & Daddy playing with beads.

Something else that Tessa has been enjoying has been the birthday parties that we've been invited to! As you can see...she takes a special interest in the best part of the party. :)
(This reminds me of something Malachi Olson said about Tessa's 2nd Birthday BBQ back in April..."Mom, where are the cake/cupcakes? Every birthday party has cake." We had just decided to keep her party really low-key and invite some friends for burgers & smoothie popscicles...he was pretty disappointed.) Now...I can see why, I think Tessa would be too.

Sorry Malachi, never again! :)

And finally, the heat has been pretty intense these past weeks. In addition to the healthy fruit smoothie pops that I usually give her on these hot days, I thought it would be fun to make a special treat for all of us to indulge in. My friend, Pamela, introduced me to one of her favorite blogs recently. They had posted this yummy recipe for pudding pops:

Mint-Chocolate Cookie Pudding Pops
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1 3/4 C half and half10 Oreo cookies, crushed (about 1 heaping cup)
1/4 t peppermint extract
Blend pudding mix, extract, and half and half in a blender until smooth.
Stir in crushed cookies by hand. Place in molds and freeze.

Amazing! As Tessa would say, "Yummy in my tummy!" She wears it well, doesn't she? :)

Why Does Someone Always Have to get Hurt?

2009-09-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

Tessa and I had lunch at Chick-fil-A with a couple of good friends and then walked over to the "new" splash pad. The kids LOVED it! Us moms were a tad more concerned than they seemed to be...it was a lot of fun but quite slick. I'm pretty sure each one of them slipped and fell at least once. It wasn't until all the kids ventured over to the kiddy playground when the accident happened. Tessa loves to hang on the bars...she does it all the time and she's fine. Unfortunately either her grip or her dismount didn't go as planned. Little pumpkin fell off the bars and came arunnin' to her mommy (who wasn't present at the time...bad mom!). I didn't see it at first, but she kept saying, "what happened? why did that happen? what was that?" I gave her a super hug and when she pulled away I noticed a HUGE gouge in her chin! (Is it possible for a gouge to be small? The word gouge and small just don't go together...so in my eyes, it was huge.) Anyway, she seemed to be fine, it was me that was so concerned about what to do next. We ended up going straight home and putting a couple butterfly bandages on it. 2 year olds don't fair well with band-aids on their faces so I found out. We'll see what this scar ends up looking like...at least it's on the UNDER side of her chin. Who doesn't have a scar there? Well, I do! She was a champ through the whole thing! She makes me so proud. :)

Here are some pics of the fountain:

Such a brave little girl!

Hmmm...awaiting the surprise

"Look, it's right here, see it?"

Side-Note: Just in case you didn't know, Mark used to be an EMT. If any injury happens to us, I'm confident that he'll know what to do and then proceed to take care of us with a steady hand. After two attempts at putting on the butter-fly bandages I thought I'd let him have a shot at it..."he'll do a much better job than me, I'm sure of it!" Anyway, as I watch him carefully put on the bandage I notice that he put some medicine on the gouge. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that!" I look at the tube setting on the table, anti-itch cream. Hmmm. I guess it has been a few years since he was in training. :) You can just imagine how great it felt to give him a hard time about that one! I love you, Honey. :)

Lots of Laughs These Days :)

2009-09-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

Tessa Picture Gallery

2009-07-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

How do I get this to go upright???

Anyway, we had this lovely foot bath at our house today and Tessa was really excited to pamper herself, she LOVED it! Thanks Angie! :)

Don't think she's potty trained. Looks can be deceiving...she's proud of 'em, but doesn't quite understand the whole idea of going pee-pee in the potty. Patience...

Bath-time! This is the first time Tessa put her head in the water in the bath. I was helping her float on top of the water so it wouldn't be so scary...she was so proud of herself!
Slip & Slide at Grandpa and Grandma's house!
This little lady LOVES the water...and her ring. This is up at Silent Valley...we call it "cush camping".
Tessa is getting better with eating her fruits and veggies...it sure takes some creative techniques to get her to put them in her mouth. The raspberry is an obvious one, it's the grapes that we've gotten REALLY creative with.

This was taken a while back but I obviously wasn't blogging at that time so we never got to post this adorable video. She LOVES these things!

Wow...where did the time go???

2009-06-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! I'm writing to apologize for the lack of posts. I've had this before, so much to catch up on...don't quite know where to start. Aaaaaahhhh. Anyway...first things first. If you didn't quite catch our sly pregnancy announcement in our photo shoot, you're not the only one. One of the pictures has me with a pillow in my stomach. No, I'm not that pregnant. :) The baby's due date is mid-December. Pretty exciting! :) All has been going very well (other than a major loss of appetite). Tessa and I heard the heartbeat last week Wednesday, that was very special to share with her...even though she probably doesn't have a clue of what's going on. Oh well, it was fun to share that experience with her. :)

We've lead very busy lives this past monthish and a half. Goodness gracious, there are people in our community that we haven't even seen for several weeks...now that means that we have been way too busy! We are looking forward to chilling out here for the next few weeks. Mark just started teaching summer school on Monday and will be teaching M-Th for the next 5 weeks. We still have no clue as to what we are doing for our summer vacation (that's a first!)

Stay tuned for some fun pictures of what's been going on in the Fieldhouse house. :)

Photo Shoot

2009-05-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

Well, here they are.

Let me remind you again...this was all Mark. He couldn't wait to slip into his green polyester suit again...as well as see me in my "Marsha Brady" dress. :)

Anyway, here are a few that Mark especially enjoyed.

Mother's Day Present...I guess

2009-05-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

I finally talked Mark into getting some sort of family photo taken of the 3 of us for my Mother's Day present. Mark agreed under one condition...he got to pick the outfits. What kind of husband requests this????? After hearing his suggestions, it seemed as though he had been planning this for a really long time. Let's just say that you would have gotten a good laugh if you were our neighbors. Anyway, after rolling my eyes...I submitted (despite his "choice" selection of clothing).
Our neighbor, Nathan, is a semi-professional photographer and threw a photo shoot together in about 10 minutes. With a hand full of chocolate chips, Tessa did amazingly well! He said he would try to get us the proofs later on this week. He's getting a new photo-editing program on Wednesday so that's why we have to patiently wait for the outcome. From what we saw of the photos, they turned out pretty good. We're excited to see how this new program will "polish us up"...Mark wanted to know if the new program had a "bigger muscle button" in the new program. I guess we'll wait and see. :) We'll share them when we get them.

Hmmmm...

2009-05-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

What do YOU think? A tad big? :)

I've been looking and looking and looking on Craigslist for a wood kitchen set for Tessa for a good 6 months now. I saw this one and the price was right, the color was right, the accessories were right, the distance was right (thanks to Mark and Louie who drove down to Newport after work!)...anyway, the picture was right. THEN we got it home. This is where the hmmmm comes into play. This thing is huge! It takes up 1/2 our living room. We unloaded it and all the neighbor kids followed us into the house and started digging in to all the goodies. All Melissa & Doug food / plates / tray & plates & bowl / etc. Wow! We've got a treasure on our hands here...however, we have no room. I think we're going to sell the kitchen and just keep the food stuff. Too bad we don't have a basement...this kitchen would go great in a basement!

In the meantime, the neighbor kids will be pounding down our door to come in and play with Tessa's new toy. :)

Time to start searching again. Man, talk about patience!

Hangin' with Jen & the kids

2009-05-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

What a treat! We got to visit my good friend, Jeni, and all her kiddos while passing through Layfayette/McMinnville, OR. :) We had met Bella when she was just a baby, but now we got to meet Keagen and Camille! Jeni took us to this awesome park out in the middle of nowhere. However, when we arrived, this is what we saw:

What a fun park! And to add the the coolness of it all, the Spruce Goose is parked in one of the buildings...I think it was an aircraft museum or something like that. We didn't really pay attention to that, the playground was way more fun. :)

A little role reversal :)

Keagen doing his own thing...he and Tessa traded shoes (it's the new thing).

This was the only way we were able to get all their pictures together...stick 'em in a tube. :)
No way out!
Here's Jen and her precious little Camille (who pretty much slept the entire time we were there...what a great baby).
Again, another role reversal. Tessa's such a big girl these days!

And to top it all off, Jeni made us some amazing banana bread and chocolate chip cookies for the road...what a treat! Also, they got Tessa a Water Doodle book and pen for a little something to play with on the roadtrip. You guys are awesome! We look forward to seeing you next time in MI! :)

Our Adventure Continues...The Budds

2009-04-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

I'm back...trying to catch up on my life. :)

Well, after Tessa and I spent time in Alaska, we flew back into Seattle where Mark picked us up. He and buddy, Louie, rode-tripped it from LA to Seattle in 18 hours! Louie flew home and we headed for Portland to spend some time with our good friends, the Budds. :)

We did lots of fun things...we went to their church with them on Easter Sunday, tagged along at their friend's house for lunch, we all took public transportation downtown Portland and caught a fun children's play, we went to the OMSI, went to Bob's Red Mill and bought 125 lbs. of steel cut oatmeal (do you think that effects gas mileage???)...we had to pick up some for our friends too!

We hit up lots of Thrift Stores / Goodwills. This area has always been good to us! However, this time...nothing worth writing home about.

Mark and I went out on a date one night to this really cool place called The Kennedy School. I think I'm just going to put a link in here for you to check out if you're ever in the Portland area. A friend of a friend told me about it and I'll just say...I'll trust this person's opinion anyday after that recommendation. http://www.kennedyschool.com/index.php?loc=57

We had a great time just hanging out with Dave, Sarah, Ellen, Isaiah, and Brennan. Just chillin', enjoying good friends. :) It was fun to watch Tessa interact with these kids. It's amazing how quickly she "grew up" in front of our eyes while playing with these older kids. Pretty cute. :) Dave took Mark to a Blazers game the last night while Sarah and I stayed home and enjoyed some raw icecream. You inspire me Sarah, you just need to live with ME now and tell me what to do. ;)

Just a couple more shots of Tessa:

This is how Tessa experienced our walk around downtown Portland...the life!

"Say Cheese"...taken with Sarah's sweet camera.

Thanks for everything, Budds! You guys are amazing friends. :) We look forward to having you come to our place next.

Our Alaska Adventure

2009-04-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

OK, let's rewind here to Thursday, March 26. Tessa and I headed out to Anchorage, AK to surprise my sister for a nice long weekend. What an exciting feeling! The flight to Seattle went very smoothly and the adrenaline was really starting to kick in..."I sure hope this works! How is Erin going to react??? She's going to be so excited!" Anyway, you get the picture. Well, Tessa and I arrive to our gate in Seattle's airport to find out that Mt. Redout decided to erupt a couple of times in the past hour or so. This was just the beginning of our weekend stay in Seattle's airport. Yep, we never made it to Alaska. That stinkin' volcano kept right on blowing. God was good though (as always). One of my friend's parents live in Tacoma (about 25 min. from the airport) and they graciously put Tessa and me up at their house for 2 nights...as well as picked us up from the airport 2x and brought us to the airport 2x! Wow! It's truly amazing how God took care of us the whole time. (I only broke down twice throughout the whole thing...that's pretty good if you ask me!)

Anyway, we ended up having to purchase a separate ticket to get Tessa and me back home. Quite the expensive trip up to the Seattle Airport...I don't know if I'd call that a vacation. Thankfully we got to spend some nice quality time with the Knibbes! :)

THEN, we didn't get our luggage back for a week! Ahhhh. I can laugh at it now, it's in the past.

Fast-forward to April 6...we're on our second attempt to get up to Alaska. Another no go. Our flight got delayed and we were going to miss our connection. Unreal! Were we ever going to get there???

April 7...finally, Tessa and I boarded our flight, Mt. Redoubt behaved, and we arrived safely on Alaska soil and had some great times with Erin, Mike, Freeman, and Arch! Praise God!!! :)

Cousins RE-UNITED at last!

Having fun with bubbles...brrrrr, this is definitely NOT California! (My fingers were numb after only 5 minutes of blowing!)

Mike and the Arch :)

Uncle Mike's sweet bus

There's a good reason for this...Freeman asks to go potty outside all the time, so Tessa jumps on that wagon and demanded to try to go outside as well. I think she was a tad chilly down there because nothing came out. At least Auntie Erin was patient. :)

Tessa and Freeman loving on Arch

Tessa loved being the older cousin...she's not "an older" anything right now so it was fun to see her take on this new role.

Story/playtime at the library

Saying good-byes at the airport

Tessa playing in the sprinklers the day before we went to Anchorage...quite the California girl

A Couple of Highlights for Tessa

2009-04-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

Check this girl out!!! I know, it's been a while since I've posted and so much has been happening over here, but as far as Tessa goes...she's now the big 2 years old and potty training herself as well as working on her ability to suck and blow. We have another video of her trying to blow out her birthday candle ("trying" is the key word). We'll post that one later...it's kinda sad actually. Enjoy the new post. I'll get more up little by little. :)

Weekend Fun

2009-03-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

My Friend and Coach in this Juice Plus business of mine :)

We had a Juice Plus Conference this past weekend in Long Beach, CA...I am continually blown away at this amazing product that I get to share with people. Again, 17 different fruits, vegetables, and grains everyday! The more I learn about it the more excited I get and the prouder I am to be a part of a great company. :)

Mark and Tessa got to go to a birthday party at the beach while I was at the conference.

Tessa enjoying the sand. :) Thanks for the pic, Pamela!

Yep, we finally broke our first egg. Look at all those beauties! We ended up making 2 9X13 pans worth of an Egg Strata for House Church. Some exciting news on the homefront...I think our non-laying chicken laid an egg yesterday! It was smaller than normal (then again, what's normal???) and she didn't lay it in the right spot. Interesting...we'll keep you posted. :)

Hope HS Fiesta Fantastica

2009-03-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

I love where Mark works! He gets to work with a lot of great people on a campus that is all about having fun. :) Last Thursday, the 12th, the school had a Family Night called Fiesta Fantastica. The teachers were encouraged to dress according to the theme. So, Mark, being the rule follower that he is, hooked me up with a legit traditional folk Mexican outfit...pretty sweet! Tessa even wore a little Mexican shirt that one of Mark's aide's gave her. Nice to see that we were by far the most dressed up out of everybody. Oh well, it was lots of fun. :) (I even tried to learn one of the dances that the Mexican women do in these skirts, I didn't quite nail that one down before the big night).

Tessa and I went around to all the booths...we played Bueno Bingo, made paper flowers for our hair, sampled some authentic food, watched some Mexican dancers, listened to a Marachi band, and visited Mark at the pinatas. What a fun night! Hope High School really knows how to throw a good party! :)

Solvang Weekend

2009-03-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

Styling in Solvang

My buddy Autumn and me sporting some serious bike gear...
Check out those pom-poms.

They really came in handy when I needed some major cheering while riding up all those hills!

A send-off kiss from my #1 cheerleader. :)

Fun times at the finish line
The crew...Team Field-go (Fieldhouse/Igo)
Stud-man Shane rode the century...Autumn and I rode the 1/2. We're already talking about kicking butt in the 100 next year. Watch your back on that massive hill, Shane...that's were we plan on passing you up! :)

Did some wine-tasting after the ride in Los Olivos, CA.
Saarloos & Sons
Awesome place! I've never been wine tasting before, but this place was great. :) I guess it didn't hurt that we know the owners...the wine was good too (like I really know what a good wine tastes like!)

It would have been nice to hang out around the fire with a bottle of wine, however, we all had children to get back to...

It sure was nice to get away for a night without kids. That was the first time we've done that since Tessa entered the picture. I think we should do it more often. ;)

Thanks again, Grandma & Grandpa!

1 Month Update

2009-03-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

We are slackers...that is all that needs to be said. When we put off Blogging long enough it looms over our head and neither one of us wants to update. So, we are going to do a brief synopsis of the last month to get everybody back on track. Deal?

Motorcycle Mama and Grandma going out for a spin to the coffee shop.

We found a fun hat store while we were waiting for our names to be called for dinner. I think we'll visit this place again. :)

Tessa and her Grandpa and Grandma taking a stroll at The Grove in LA.

An egg at last!

Yep, one of our chickens FINALLY decided to start laying eggs. Ever since we dropped it off at the VerWys' B&B Chicken Coop for a week, they've been laying eggs (well, at least ONE of them has been laying...we get one a day. One of them is really slacking.) This picture shows the difference between the sizes of eggs our chickens lay in comparison to the store bought ones. We have about 10 eggs so far! Our eggs are smaller because we have miniature chickens.

Allison took a sweet digger on her bike coming back from her weekly ride to the beach.

Dr. Love cleaned her up and it is looking much better now. She did a really good job of NOT picking at her scabs! She even still has a scab on her leg and this all took place 3 weeks ago, now that's impressive.

TESSA Joy

The weather has been really nice which calls us to the outdoors more often than usual. The less clothes this girl has on the better she feels...we're constantly catching her pulling off her pants. I tell ya, this girl has no modesty!

This is how Tessa swings now. She will get a little upset it you try to help her swing because she is Little Miss Independent. However, she loves to be pushed on the red swing next to her.

Tessa just picked this up one day...she's a natural. This is Ella's toy...a much fought after one at that.

This little lady has endless energy and loves to spend it on the jumper. She asks to go on this thing as soon as she wakes up in the morning as well as all throughout the day. :) What a riot to watch her have a ball! What's the weight limit on this thing anyway???? Nevermind, don't tell us.

I love this video...Mom and Dad bought us this beautiful strawberry plant before they left. It took all of Tessa's patience to wait for the one strawberry to turn red b/f she could pick it. Finally, the moment has come and we thought we'd share it with you...

This picture is one of my favorites. :)

S'MORES Night

Neighbor Rob and Tessa's favorite person in the world... Ella. She says the word Ella more than any other word.

She is loving being able to eat "candy" this late in the night. All night long she had a marshmallow in her hand licking it every 10 seconds, precious. :)

The little man on the left is Jake, Ella's brother. He and Tessa are 3 weeks apart in age. We often time are not sure if she thinks his name is "NO!" (That is what she says almost everytime interacting with him or seeing him from a distance. Pretty funny.) Can you tell by the picture that she absolutely adores Ella?

"Say CHEESE!!!"

This is Rob's wife, Shelly

Staying warm in mommy's new hat...Auntie Erin made this and sent it to us in the mail, what a treat! Thanks Erin...we both LOVE it. :)

What a Trip!

2009-02-08T20:46:00.000-08:00

Just in case some of you don't know this about me (Allison here), I have had the opportunity to teach a class called Wilderness Challenge at Valley Christian for the past 9 years. Obviously my role has changed since having Tessa and not teaching at the school, I'm just thankful that I still get to be involved. :)

We had quite a trip this past weekend. We camped at a beautiful place called Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu, CA. We had an amazing weekend planned for the students. Friday was going to consist of 3 stations....rock climbing at a gorgeous location called Pt. Dume, kayaking in the surf at Leo Carrillo, and then hiking in the mountains around camp. What fun! However, the weather took a turn for the worse the day we left. Bummer. Rain the entire time we were there. What is this??? We have been so spoiled all winter long out here. Sunny and 80 degree weather. Spoiled. This weekend, however, we got a taste of reality.

Our plans had to change, quick. Like my good friend Jeff Westrup always says, "Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not break." Amen!

My prayer for the weekend was mostly focused on the students. We had a group of 32 high schoolers who don't see a whole lot of rain...God, give them good attitudes!

He blessed this weekend. It was amazing. The students were awesome. We were ALL flexible. And I think we all had fun...IN THE RAIN!!!!

(One of the girls even THANKED God FOR the rain!)

Anyway, here are some of the pictures thanks to my friend Dan. I rarely bring my camera on these trips...no time to snap photos!

Here's Jeff...showing off the new Wilderness Challenge T-shirtsAll the leaders praising the students for doing such an amazing job of being flexible and having awesome attitudes all weekend long. Here's our wet campsite
Bill...back on staff. :)

Me :)

Caddy Shack

2009-02-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

We have a problem in our backyard, we have a gopher or two. Well let's just say not for long. I am starting to get a little bit more impatient with these things and I can feel the devious side of me coming out. It started a year ago when we noticed a couple little holes some gopher had made. I stuck the hose on full blast in a couple of them and it seemed to do the trick for the most part. Well this year is a little different story. Currently we have 20 or so little holes in our backyard and they seem to be multiplying rapidly. I looked all over the Internet and no one seems to have a good solution on how to deal with these varmints.

This is what I need...

Close enough... we spare no expense at this house when it comes to death and destruction!!! You guessed it, that is supreme grade gasoline.

anyone for shishkabobs?

I lit 3 holes on fire and they burned for a good 5 minutes each. First, I was hoping to burn them alive but I would have settled for burning all the oxygen and suffocating the little suckers. Hopefully this is the last post about these stupid things

Trip to the zoo

2009-02-01T21:42:00.001-08:00

Last Thursday some of my friends and Tessa and I all met up at the Santa Ana Zoo. For a mere $6 bucks we were in and ready for our first REAL fieldtrip. Mark and I have been holding off on the money-required fieldtrips (not thinking that Tessa would actually appreciate the experience). Well, she loved the zoo! It was so much fun to watch her get all excited about the animals...especially the monkeys (Santa Ana Zoo is known for lots of monkeys). We have been singing the song "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" for quite some time, so it was fun to actually show her a real life monkey! :)

I didn't do a very good job of capturing the moment with my camera, but here's just a little bit of what the day looked like.

No matter how much I told her to look at the camera, so wouldn't budge...kinda like this tortoise.

Ely and Micah went on a train ride around the park. This ride cost $5.00...I didn't think Tessa would appreciate it, so we passed. Sorry Tessa, maybe next time.

Lots of looking at the animals...

...more looking.

Fun times! I am super excited to start going places with Tessa. That means fun times for mommy too! :)

10 Commandments to Parents

2009-01-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

1. My hands are small; please don't expect perfection whenever I make a bed, draw a picture, or throw a ball. My legs are short, please slow down so I can keep up with you.

2. My eyes have not yet seen the world as your have; please let me explore safely. Don't restrict me unnecessarily.

3. Housework will always be there. I'm only little for a short time, please take time to explain things to me about the wonderful world and do so willingly.

4. My feelings are tender; please be sensitive to my needs. Treat me as you would like to be treated.

5. I am a special gift from God; please treasure me as God intended you to do, holding me accountable for my actions, giving me guidelines to live by, and disciplining me in a loving manner.

6. I need your encouragement to grow. Remember, you can criticize the things I do without criticizing me.

7. Please give me the freedom to make decisions concerning myself. Permit me to fail, so that I can learn from my mistakes. Then, someday I'll be prepared to make the decisions life requires of me.

8. Please don't do things over for me. Somehow that makes me feel that my efforts didn't quite measure up. I know it's hard, but please don't compare me to my brother or my sister.

9. Please don't be afraid to leave for a weekend together. Kids need vacations from parents, just as parent need vacations from kids.

10. Please take me to Sunday School and church regularly, setting a good example for me to follow.

Facets of Tessa

2009-01-23T13:43:00.000-08:00

What a little crack-up...you hungry, Tessa?
She loves to quack and waddle like a duck. Whenever we sing "Old McDonald Had A Farm" she always chooses "DUCK!"
(In the background are her good buddies Malachi & Abram Verwys)

Tessa still LOVES to be swaddled! Just kidding...but I will say that I am thoroughly impressed by these Aiden & Anais swaddling blankets! If she DID still like to be swaddled, there's a blanket out there that could handle her. :)

This is the first time she actually smiled FOR the camera. "BIG smile, Tessa! Say Cheese" and she actually listened to me...wow, is that what it feels like???

A couple of joys in my life...

2009-01-23T13:03:00.000-08:00

Today Tessa and I were out and about on a short errand that just so happened to be near a strawberry field...yummy! Freshly-picked, juicy, plump, sweet, and a-tad-too-expensive strawberries. I felt my money burning a hole in my pocket, we had to stop. I hopped out and grabbed a sample for Tessa...she got a big grin on her face and proceeded to mow. I chose the pint-sized batch, we haven't had much luck with our Farmer's Market strawberries lately so I chose to be conservative with these. Three dollars and fifty cents later, Tessa and I made our way home. She didn't stop stuffing her face until I told her "all done". (I was trying to look out for "what has yet to come" in her diaper.) Anyway, here are a few shots to capture the moment. Priceless.

Another joy of mine is riding my bike. I have fell in love with it all over again now that I get to take Tessa with me. :) Looks like she's loving it too.

Aaah, I love sharing my favorite things with her. :)

Thanks to Autumn for capturing the pics on her phone!

Coppertone Girl

2009-01-14T21:31:00.000-08:00

We have been having the most amazing weather here in southern California. Normally, I think I would be quite bitter at the fact that it's SUPPOSED to be winter; however, because we got so much "winter" while back in Michigan, it's really allowing me to thoroughly enjoy this 80-degree-with- super-duper-clear-mountain-views weather that we've been having this past week!

As you can see, Tessa is thoroughly enjoying herself as well!

Quick story: Autumn and I have been riding our bikes down to the beach every Wednesday morning for a few weeks now. When we get there, the moms sit and enjoy our coffee/tea while all the kiddos play at the Seal Beach playground. Lovely...especially when Catalina Island seems only a stone's throw away! Anyway ("quick story" is long gone...sorry), toward the end of Tessa's playtime I took off her jacket because it was getting pretty warm. Well, she then started pulling off her shirt! "Tessa, modesty, dear! What has mommy taught you???" I gave in (it was pretty warm out). But then she continues to start pulling off her shorts! What??? Who's daughter is this? She ended up getting what she wanted and rode the whole way home happy as a lark! That is why I took this picture. :)

If this is what it takes to make her happy in her Burley, I'm all for it! At what age does this become inappropriate? ;)

Watch Out American Idol!

2009-01-07T21:56:00.000-08:00

This just makes our heart swell so much...thought we'd share our latest "precious Tessa moment" with you.

(Just in case you were wondering...the red light is from the baby monitor in our dark bedroom. Tessa and Mark are in Tessa's room singing. Just thought I'd clarify that one seeing how everybody has been asking what that red thing was. :) )

Bye-Bye Scooter :(

2009-01-04T20:10:00.000-08:00

We have down-sized yet again. I'm not sure if I actually explained this in a blog entry, but a year ago we had 5 vehicles and now we've got 2 completely different ones. Crazy how many things change in a year. We've been purging and it feels great! Not sure if you're interested, but just in case you're wondering how this came about you can read on:

5 vehicles: VW bus, 4Runner, Rodeo, Bajaj Scooter, Kymco Scooter.

1 went down (We got rear-ended in July causing our 4Runner to be totalled)

2 went down (I was driving the Rodeo down the freeway in July when it decided to stop running, yep, in the middle of the freeway...stopped! Let's just say that God sent an angel to push me to the shoulder...3 whole lanes over!)

3 went down (We sold my Kymco People 50 because I wasn't taking it out enough...I couldn't justify having a scooter that just sat in the garage taking up space.)

4 went down (The VW bus had been wonderful to us, no complaints except that we were putting a lot of money into it for maintainence...let's just say that we knew our mechanic better than our dentist, we saw him 3x as much! Anyway, she didn't have anymore big roadtrips left in her so we thought we'd sell her...it was a tough decision, but a wise one...we're thinking that our next VW purchase will be a Eurovan, with a pop-top.)

5 went down (Mark just sold his Bajaj Scooter last night to a man who is going to take great care of it. Mark had a tough time with this one too, but we needed a scooter that both of us could drive and I don't "do" manual transmission scooters...there are way too many other things to be paying attention to on the road besides gear-shifting! Sorry, Babe. We are now proud owners of a Kymco People 150...she's a beut.)

My scooter stud

Last ride

Oh, and our one car that we own now is a Honda CRV. We miss our 4Runner. :(

Domestic Divas

2009-01-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

Tessa and I just thought we'd show off our new Christmas presents. Yes, we wore them while making dinner tonight. :) Thanks to Auntie Erin and Mom for the fun aprons!

Tessa Chute

2009-01-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

My parents have a clothes chute that empties out into their laundry room downstairs. Mark and I thought we'd have a little fun with our skinny minny. She was loving every minute of it! I wonder how long she'll be able to fit through the chute??? We'll attempt again next Christmas.

"Say Cheese"

2009-01-04T20:04:00.000-08:00

2008 De Wys Christmas Picture

2008 Fieldhouse Christmas Picture

Top L-R: Hayden, Lauren, Harrison, Brynn

Bottom L-R: Nick, Grant, Tessa, & Madelyn

A SLEW of family pictures while at Grandpa & Grandma's house in Michigan:

I know, this one isn't family, but we had to get the Tanis' in our blog at some point. Thanks for the great visit you guys! :)

Our Oompa-Loompa

2009-01-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

Someone's not too sure about this really cold, white stuff...especially because someone is not a very big fan of wearing her hat and mittens, what do you do???? Anyway, we all had a great time in the snow. From sledding to making snow angels to shoveling...what fun! :)

Our first snow angels...you kinda have to really squint so see them

Self-portrait of the angels

Shoveling with Daddy

We LOVED watching grandpa snowblow...maybe next year he'll let Tessa help :)

Tessa loves to walk to the mailbox with grandma

All bundled up!
"Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland"

No snowmen this Christmas...the snow was way too fluffy. Next year hopefully we'll get to build one (maybe even throw around a few snowballs as well).

Bellflower vs. Holland

2009-01-04T19:27:00.000-08:00

Here's an example of what winter looks like in Bellflower, CA

And then Holland, MI...2 days later. :)

Another Tradition

2009-01-04T19:16:00.000-08:00

This was our 3rd Annual Bellflower Tree Lighting Ceremony...we didn't quite make the Bellflower paper this year, maybe next year? The highlight was the pre and post party at Chrissy's house. :)

I want you to take notice of Mark's festive apparel. You'd think this would be the one and only event that Mark would pull out his Christmas sweatshirt...oh no, unfortunately it's his favorite piece of clothing...a faded iron-on patch of santa (compliments to his mother, 8 years ago!)

Mark always seems to set the tone for the up-coming fashions. He's yet to nail this one.

Fieldhouse Tradition

2009-01-04T19:04:00.000-08:00

So, here's a tradition that we totally love...Mark's family gathering has their annual Christmas ornament contest (the ornament is supposed to relate to something that was significant in our year). This year Mark went crazy! :) Check out my creative husband's VW bus...he placed in the top 3...it must have been the fact that it was not only an ornament, but a remote controlled VW!

Mine was a simple ornament this year, fruit on one side and veggies on the other side...

Juice Plus.

And Tessa got a new mouth this year. :)
(Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of her ornament.)

Here are some pictures of that memorable day back in October. We feel like we lost a little bit of our identity when we sold it, we're doing OK...thanks for the concern. :)

Putting on our final sticker from our roadtrip...Wyoming 2005 (I know, 3 years later, we just had to complete it.)
Too bad Tessa won't have any memories in the bus. :(
The new owners...they were pretty excited. :)

Christmas Tree

2008-12-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

I have a feeling that sometime this weekend my sister and her family will be snow-shoeing through all the powder in Alaska in search for the perfect Christmas Tree. They will saw it down, somehow drag it back to the car, load it up on top, and then drive to their favorite soup place...it's been their tradition. What fun! We, on the other hand, are not quite so blessed with the snow, but we DO have many a corner full of Christmas tree lots. We chose Home Depot again this year. Perhaps this will become our tradition??? How exciting. Hmmm.

Anyway, make the best of where you are, right? :)

Here's our Douglass Fir...it's already been dropping quite a few of its needles (not quite as fresh as the trees up in Alaska.) However, we're going to be spending the majority of the Christmas holiday in MICHIGAN where, God-willing, there WILL be snow! :)
Maybe this will be part our tradition...put our kid(s) up on top of the car with the tree. :) Imagine what that will look like in 15 years! :) This could be fun.

Here's cutie pants

We've Been Spoiled

2008-12-07T09:17:00.000-08:00

OK, this post is a little crass (that hasn't stopped us before...I'm just warning you this time). This morning Tessa was quite stinky when she woke up. We hung out for a bit, had breakfast, played around a bit, and finally Mark decided he was done with the stench. Let's just say...it was a 5 wipee dirty diaper! WOW! (She's usually a 1 wiper...THAT'S why I say we've been spoiled.) Anyway, just thought you all wanted to know. :)

Dance Party

2008-11-27T13:45:00.000-08:00

Our friend, Cristina, has some pretty fun music on her blog. Tessa was dancing to it while checking herself out in the oven. :) Thought I'd give you a peek on the dance party fun in the kitchen this morning...

3rd Annual Triptofan-tastic 5k

2008-11-27T11:28:00.001-08:00

What could be better than waking up nice and early to go running with a bunch of friends? :) Especially knowing that along with Thanksgiving comes lots of yummy foods...we burned some calories before we consume all the ones to come. Here are some pictures capturing our fun morning...Running down the streets of Bellflower

Chrissy always brings the party to the party. :) Gobble Gobble.

(Can you believe that Tia just had a baby 3 1/2 weeks ago??? You look great, girl)

The Finish

Tessa and her buddy, Abram...another partier, Baulk Baulk Baulk.
Having fun with daddy on Eric's sweet bike. :)

A Little Bump

2008-11-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

Hmmm, we've not really hit one of these before. What does it mean when a doctor comes out from what was supposed to be a 5 minute surgery but had turned into a 45 minute surgery saying, "well, we've got some good news and some bad news" (nobody wants to hear that). "The good news is that Tessa's palate packing is out, the bad news is that 1/4 of her palate didn't heal properly from the surgery...we had to cut that part out". He was bummed. He drew us another picture explaining what had happened and explained in full detail what went wrong. Let me try to explain...we have tiny blood vessels in our palates and that is what the doctor connects the new tissue to...with hopes that the blood vessel will sustain the tissue and help it heal. This particular blood vessel wasn't large enough to sustain the tissue, so the tissue died. The tissue acts as an "island" in the mouth...an island that decreases the amount of space the tissue needs to go to connect to other tissue to form her palate. This all happened in the front of her mouth (the hard palate) where there is bone underneath. This is our saving grace...if this is going to happen anywhere...this is the best place for it to happen. Having the bone underneath helps with the tissue connecting itself. Granted, having the "island" there is obviously going to speed the healing process up as well as leaving less scar tissue. Dr. Wells thought it would take Tessa's mouth about a month to close up on its own.
"That's not so bad", I thought. He was still pretty disappointed. Maybe I'm not getting the full picture? He just really wanted it to be done properly...the first time.
About 5 minutes after he left I got the call to go back to comfort Tessa in the recovery room. She was a little drowsy but drank a ton of water, ate quite a few ice chips, and watching a nice chunk of Finding Nemo. :) They did end up putting an IV in her as well as a breathing tube. Now she has another "ouwie" to kiss on her hand.
We came home and the first thing she wanted to do was eat...a lot. I'm telling you, this girl doesn't miss a beat! She's amazing...sleeping hard right now...that's where I should be too!

Answered Prayers

2008-11-25T12:14:00.000-08:00

I want to start off this post with thanking EVERYONE for their thoughts and prayers for both Tessa and her parents. I am blown away at all the love and support we've been blessed with...phone calls, emails, comments on blog & facebook, cards in the mail, meals in the hospital, a balloon for Tessa, grandma coming over to play with her...amazing! YOU are all AMAZING!
Prayers were most definitely answered regarding our last post...liquid diet. Mark mentioned that we don't always follow the rules, but along with that comes quite a bit of guilt! We got in touch with a cleft nurse and she assured us that soft foods would be just fine for Tessa to eat. Praise God! So, our little lady has been eating like a horse for the past 5 days...a horse! In fact, Sunday night she woke up at 1:30 a.m. and demanded me to feed her. She had a full blown meal in the middle of the night! Unbelieveable. (She didn't even sleep in after all that...little stinker!) We've been giving her our Malt-o Meal concoctions, sweet potatoes, pasta, oatmeal, milk-logged Mighty Bites, mandarine oranges, & bananas. Hopefully she's okay with this food because she got her palate packing removed this morning and it looks like we'll be on soft foods for a little while longer.
As for Tessa's spirits...she's back to her old self again...for the most part. :)

Liquid diet for a week? You're kidding, right?

2008-11-20T23:21:00.000-08:00

How hard could that be, right? We were off to a rocky start. The Fieldhouse's are not good at following rules. Already in the hospital we were seeing how serious our doctor was about this "clear liquids" thing for a week. It turns out that we could bend his arm a little bit and he thought our suggestions were not quite so bad after all. Well, when we got home our cocktail of oatmeal juice, honey, and peanut butter was not a big hit anymore. Poor thing was not to happy with us. When we came home she went straight to her snack cupboard and found it empty. We may look dumb but we knew that would be the first place to check once we got home from the hospital. We ended up going to bed on a half empty stomach. Well, after a challenging morning, Allison got a great suggestion from her MOPS group, Malt-O Meal. This, currently, is the answer to our prayers. Malt-O meal with honey, with pesto, you name it, we tried it. She is eating this stuff like it is going out of style. You may be asking yourself, "that doesn't seem like a clear liquid" (refer back a couple of lines about us not being rule followers). This is one of the first times we have caved to the the whining persistent cry of an empty belly. Check out her spread for dinner tonight!

The only thing that is a clear liquid on this spread is the water in her cup (which she did not touch once). If you're sharp you will notice another rule we have broken...her no-no's are off. That one didn't last long either. (We mostly have her in them...especially if Allison wants to do her hair all fun.) Follow the rules, or keep our sanity? We choose sanity. We will keep you posted on how OUR clear liquid diet is going.

Man cannot live on IV alone

2008-11-19T13:01:00.000-08:00

The night was long with beeping and buzzards in the room. Mom and Tessa slept ok through the night. Dr. Wells stopped by early this morning and he wants her to be drinking before he lets her go. She is staying hydrated by the IV but she is not a big fan of anything going into her mouth. He gets out of surgery at 3 and is going to be checking back with us then to see how she is taking fluids. Since then we have found a cocktail of oatmeal, honey, peanut butter and water that she seems to be taking to. Mom and Tess are sleeping now to try to catch up on lost sleep. Tessa's pain levels seem to be decreasing and she is showing some more spunk. Thank you again for your prayers and encouraging emails. They mean a lot to us.

Cruising the halls

Having fun in the playroom we found cruising the halls.

Checking out all the animals on the walls.

playing house

A Different Story

2008-11-18T15:44:00.000-08:00

Oh, what a different story this is compared to all of our previous surgeries! I had the priviledge of going back to the recovery room while Mark and Grandma Diana waited in the lobby. The long walk down the hallway was quite a bit shorter knowing that Tessa was going to look the same as she did when we brought her in. Knowing that I could hold her close to me was such a relief! She's been doing great! (Granted she has been pretty drugged up.) We had the best nurse ever in the recovery room...she treated us all so well. Usually, only one person is allowed to be back there with Tessa. This time, however, we were given a private room, a recliner for Tessa and me, and 2 other chairs for Mark and Grandma, AND a DVD player! What a blessing. :)

We are now in our room...4 hours later...and Tessa has been in and out ever since we got her a bed to lay in. I brought her own pillow from home and she hasn't moved since she laid down her head. She really is such a precious gift! Such a champion!

Thank you all for your prayers...keep 'em coming, the morphine doesn't last forever!

A huge praise has been how easy breathing has been for Tessa, yeah!

Here's a look into her bed
The doctor came in and removed the stitch from her tongue.

A close-up of Tessa's "palate pack"...it's the best shot we could get.

Mommy and Lamby giving comfort in the recovery room.

Pumpkin is out

2008-11-18T11:16:00.000-08:00

This is us in pre-op distracting her from an empty stomach.

Soon we will be able to fill out these little gowns they give us. Lamby was with us on this trip for a little extra comfort.

She was just starting to figure out that our "adventure" we had been talking about all morning was just about to begin. Not a big fan of the adventure and my hat.

The surgery lasted just short of three hours and now she is in the recovery room. We will be there for a couple of hours and then get moved to our room for the night. Dr. Wells said everything went fine and as expected so we are thankful for that. We will be updating throughout the day but I thought I would attach the drawing he made for us on what he actually did. I am sure you can make out what he did...

I am sure there are no questions I thought the drawing explained everything ! ;)

*By the way...Mark and I wanted to give a huge thanks to Grandma Diana & Rachel. Your presence helped the surgery time fly right on by! THANK YOU!!!

Big Surgery Ahead

2008-11-16T21:57:00.000-08:00

Little Pumpkin is having her 4th surgery on Tuesday morning. This one is repairing her wide-open palate. It amazes me to think what exactly the doctor has to do to accomplish this task. Tessa has NO palate. We look in her mouth and see her nasal passage. (It's almost weird to look into other kid's mouths and actually see a palate!)

Anyway, the big day is Tuesday. The time is 7:30 a.m. If you think of us at that time, we'd LOVE your prayers! It will most likely last b/t 2-3 hours plus 2-3 hours in recovery (for some reason we always get stuck in the recovery for MUCH longer than anyone wants to be there). We will end up in a room with another child for the night. Allison will sleep in the fold out chair/bed while Mark camps out in the car in the parking lot. Tessa will be poked and prodded all night long by the loving nurses. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?! :)

We are hoping and praying that everything goes well enough for us to be discharged Wednesday morning sometime. In the past, Tessa has gotten a jolt of energy while in the hospital which makes it difficult to keep her happy (no-nos & IVs). HOWEVER, she is older now so we know what makes her happy...Cedarmont Kids! You better believe we went out and bought another couple of DVDs. :) She'll be so excited! Please pray that we are able to keep her entertained enough so she forgets the pain that she's in.

Tonight at church was a difficult one for me. Watching her play "chase" with Abram and having so much fun almost brought me to tears...knowing that there's going to be a tough journey ahead of her for the next few weeks. So many unknowns...how will she do with her breathing, how will she do with feeding, sleeping, pain management, etc. God only knows. We rest in knowing that He's got Tessa in the palm of His hand.

We've been told that Tessa needs to go back into the hospital (just for a 30 minute surgery) to get her "palate pack" removed. We're not sure what all this entails, execpt for the fact that she'll have to be put under. We'll keep you posted.

Thanks ahead of time for all your prayers. Check back Tuesday afternoon for any updates. We'll do our best at keeping you all informed.

We are still alive...

2008-11-16T21:09:00.001-08:00

Here we are at our first visit to Tanaka farms. They have acres of pumpkins, tractor rides, corn mazes, livestock and even a pumpkin canon. I had heard stories about this place, so we had to go visit to see it in person. We were told they had this canon that launches pumpkins hundreds of yards over a hill. Below is the picture of the canon and the hill that it shoots them over is off to the right, yes that is far!

You would think that this would be totally interesting to Tessa but nope, the only thing she was interested in was all the rocks on the ground. I don't even think she even noticed the 1000's of pumpkins all around. I think we had to set her up for this picture, geeesh, kids.

Currently we are in the awkward stage of growing her hair out and she does not tolerate things in her hair so she always pulls them out, thus constantly having hair in her eyes. It bothers us but apparently not her. Countless times we have been in stores where people have commented like "poor thing, she can't see" and then they proceed to move her hair out of her eyes.... thanks, I didn't notice that.

Again, not to thrilled about taking a picture with the scarecrow because there were rocks on the ground to be played with.

Tessa in her ladybug costume at a local park with some fun games to be played.

Photo of the fam with Tessa's first candy. She was a big fan of it.

The evidence of the blue sucker.

We are trying to explore some art activities on paper. She has been exploring with permanent marker on the fridge door. Hmmm, so far nothing has gotten it off including the magic eraser, goof off, or our apple cleaner.

This is the transition photo into Mark's halloween outfit for his work. Mark was so commited to the outfit that he shaved his facial hair of 7 years. The outfit included a mini skirt, bra, tights, clip on earrings, head band, eyeliner, lip gloss and some blush to accentuate his cheek bones. Don't hate him because he is beautiful.

Meet Crystal. She was Mark's sub for the day. What a hottie!!! Fooled many of the students and got many "looks" from the staff along with double takes. If you can't see the image well wait for our Christmas letter. Mark will include a 5X7 if you want one.

Tessa just being cute.

Trip to the tide pools on Veterans day.

My Side Job

2008-10-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

Often times, when I try to explain Juice Plus in my own words, I fail miserably! So, here's a little 2 minute blurb on what exactly it is I get to distribute to all those who are desiring to be a little more health-conscious. :)

http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialJuicePlus

Let me know if you're interested!

Poor Little Pumpkin

2008-10-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

Our little pumpkin just hasn't been herself for the past couple of days. Tessa is NEVER one to sit still or cling to mommy & daddy...this is what we've been noticing lately. She threw up all night long Saturday (Mark and I camped out in her bed and ended up doing a few loads of wash that night!) Yesterday she was mellow all day and didn't even want to play with her girlfriends at church lastnight...what??? Poor thing woke up with a fever this morning. I must say it's nice to pamper her and cozy up with her...especially because all the other times she's been laid up has been after surgeries and even then we were unable to snuggle b/c of the whole cautionary "watch out for her lip!" (She also had her no-nos on...so that made things difficult.) Of course I want her to feel better, but in the meantime, she's got me wrapped around her little finger! :) Precious little Pumpkin.

Watching her FAVORITE video, Cedarmont Kids....what's that? You want to watch it again? Ok, is there anything else I can get you, my love?

You can tell that she has been super duper mellow...I even got to braid her hair! Now THAT'S impressive! :)

Pee Stick

2008-10-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned... We have another BIG announcement about something small

2008-10-11T13:05:00.000-07:00

Hopefully next time you tune into the blog you will find out what the Fieldhouse 3's big announcement will be.

Our First Rated PG-13 Entry

2008-10-06T22:46:00.000-07:00

Business Time by Flight of the Conchords

We were exposed to these guys this weekend (thanks to Shane & Autumn) and fell in love with their humor...hope we don't offend anybody, it's just who we are...a little rough around the edges.

TRY to enjoy it. ;)

Busy-ness...some like it, I don't.

2008-09-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

...let me explain.

I dislike busy-ness because I find that when I'm busy I often time become paralyzed. Having so much to do and not knowing where to even start, one might say that I have a difficult time multi-tasking. Yep. I have embraced the fact that I definitely struggle in this area...and you know what? I'm OK with that. (The fact that my husband is KING of multi-tasking doesn't necessarily help me feel OK with how I operate...I guess that's just another area where we complement eachother. :))

The fall is a time when many things start up. People fill up their calendar with lots of different areas of involvement. I am finding myself having a desire to get more involved but then I realized that I will hate myself when I'm in the thick of it all. So, the fact that I am learning more and more about what I can and cannot handle is helping me become a more pleasant wife, mom, and friend. :)

My dear friend, Rachel, sent me this link about busy-ness...if you can find few moments in your busy schedule, I recommend reading it:

In the book, Finding Focus in a Whirlwind World, by Jean Fleming, the author says that she sits down about three or four times each year and re-evaluates her various activities in light of her priorities. She said some seasons of life are full of busy-ness and we just can't help it (sometimes that's just the way life is -- hectic and full), but other times we need to be sensitive to possibly needing to sit quietly and focus on quieter pursuits for a time.

In her book, Fleming compared her life to a tree. The trunk of the tree was her number one priority (which in her case was a strong commitment to God). Out of the trunk grew the main limbs which were the main activities of her life (parenthood, career, etc.). And then from the main limbs would grow all those little branches that had a tendency to grow and multiply quickly. The little branches were the general activities that would crowd in and fill up her day.

Just like a tree grows healthier and more fruitful by regular pruning, Fleming saw her times of re-evaluating her activities as that time of pruning her life to make it more fruitful. She found it more productive to do a few things well, rather than being involved witha myriad of conflicting activities, but not being fully fruitful with any of them.

I learned a valuable object lesson about pruning and fruitfulness in my own front yard. One year, I pruned back a Clematis plant that was overgrowing the front of the house. I cut it back almost to the stump. My husband and neighbors all thought I'd killed the poor plant. And to be honest, sometimes I wondered if maybe I'd been a little over-zealous in my pruning.

But the following Spring when the Clematis bloomed, it was absolutely breath-taking. Every vine had an over-abundance of blossoms. It was simply a mass of flowers -- unlike anything I'd ever seen. Even people walking by on the sidewalk would stop to comment on how full and beautiful my plant was that year.

But I know that if I hadn't pruned the Clematis back to the bare essentials, it would've continued to grow long and gangly, never achieving the level of beauty and fullness that came from focusing all its energy and growth into it's stem and main branches.

While we can't ever free ourselves fully from all of life's demands,we can have hope to discover a sense of balance in our lives. Or we can identify ways to shift between the two extremes --finding a time and place in our lives and hearts for contemplation, and then alternating that with other times of busy-ness and distraction. In the book "Gift from the Sea," Anne Morrow Lindbergh describes this balancing act as "the process of finding a rhythm of life with more creative pauses."

(It's taken from the website: http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com/ )

Meet Our Newest Addition

2008-09-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

Welcome Arch West Vander Lugt! He came into the world early Sunday morning (Sept.14), weighing in at 7 pounds 14 oz, measuring 20 1/4 inches. Yeah!!! Archie, we are so excited to meet you...we can't wait to hold you, kiss you, smell you, love on you, get to know you. But in the mean time, we know that you are being loved on by your parents and especially your proud big brother Freeman! Tessa is super excited to be a big cousin...she wants to push you around in her stroller. :)

Pigtails in the Park

2008-09-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

Tessa high-fiving the computer :)

17 months old!

2008-09-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Our little girl is already 17 months old! I can hardly believe my eyes sometimes...Tessa is understanding so much these days. Mark and I have so much fun asking her to do certain things and then she actually follows through and does them! (We shall see how long THAT lasts. :)) Anyway, Tessa is an absolute delight. She loves to play outside with her neighbors Ella and Jacob (Ella is 3 1/2 and Jacob is 1 month older than Tessa). "Ella" is her favorite thing to say...it could either mean "Ella", umbr"ella", or "ella"phant, so stinkin' cute! Our neighbors have a garage chock FULL of fun toys/balls/strollers/you name it, they've got it! Anyway, if that garage is open, Tessa will make herself RIGHT AT HOME and pull out all the goods...thankfully Rob and Shelly are wonderful people who are willing to help Tessa get at/out whatever it is she wants. She'll stand there pointing at whatever it is saying, "I wan I wan I wan I wan" until someone helps her. (Can we say broken record???) She's really been grasping onto the signing thing...she can communicate: milk, more, all done, help, please, thank you, book, hi, bye, blow kisses, and her latest...love (thanks to Cedarmont Kids).

She's running, dancing, singing, still pushing that beloved stroller of hers, playing independently, I wish I could say "reading independently" but we have a ways to go there yet. She's an independent little girl who isn't afraid to meander around a store by herself, she loves bikerides, parks, loves to brush her teeth (steal toothbrushes), and loves to play with her new dollhouse. I could go on and on, but I'll spare you and just get to the pictures:

Hey, I thought your DOLLY goes in the stroller...thankfully this thing holds Tessa, she loves it when I push her around the house in it.

Anyone out there ever heard of CEDARMONT KIDS? Tessa is in love with the Toddler Tunes! Everyday she'll ask a couple of times if she can watch for a while. I really like the video, little kids dancing around singing songs and playing and having a great 'ol time. Tessa will do the motions and dance along with the kids. She's a riot to watch!

Can I just tell you how giddy I was when I bought this Little People Dollhouse off of ebay? I couldn't wipe the grin off my face for days! I had been wanting to get Tessa a dollhouse for a while now and thought, "it would be so cool to get her the same one I had as a kid!" Well, here it is...the same one...go ebay!

Love those pigtails!

Magnificent Michigan

2008-09-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

"Hangin' Out" with Grandpa & Grandma :)

What a lovely time we had in Holland, Michigan. I don't think we could have picked a better week; the weather was amazing! Not only did Tessa and I hang out with my parents, but we also got to spend some good quality time with my grandpa. :) We touched base with a few others, but we mostly laid low. Tessa had a blast hanging out in her grandparent's house/yard/driveway/garden...so much to see! From picking up all the fallen acorns to pushing her stroller up and down the driveway, she was in heaven! Speaking of stroller, her grandma bought her a stroller the second day we were there...what an absolute genius idea! This little girl wanted to take it EVERYWHERE we went! You will know exactly what I'm talking about once you see the pictures. She's so stinkin' adorable!

Enjoy the pictures...hopefully they capture the beauty of MI and all the fun we had.

Taking a walk to the boat (notice the stroller)

Spending some time on Great-Grandpa's lap (very short-lived, I don't sit still for long)

Again, sitting long enough for mom to take my picture. I love to climb up on things, this chair was a nice challenge.

OK, I'll sit still if someone is reading to me...I love my Grandma's sound effects in this book!

LAKE MICHIGAN

A little video footage for all those who can view videos (sorry Mike and Erin...). Lake Michigan was unbelieveably clear...and extremely brisk! I guess you can't have it all.

Putting our feet in the "brisk" water

I much preferred playing in the sand!

Beach toys are so much fun!

THE BOAT - Lake Macatawa

Grandpa let me drive the boat a couple of times!

Grandma is so silly! She makes some great facial expressions that make me laugh. :)

Mommy and me

Big Red pic

I loved looking at all the seagulls on the poles. Almost every single pole had one standing on it!

Here's proof that I actually drove the boat...all by myself! Thanks Grandpa. :)

FARMER'S MARKET

Pretty pretty flowers!

This was one of my highlights from the trip...these guys were great! I could have watched them all day long! I especially liked it when the girl would tap dance. :)

This one's for Sue and Scott...kinda fun to sneak up on someone when they have no clue that you're there, pretty funny! :)

Had to get a picture with Mommy's friend, Sue and Ella. Man, these flowers smell amazing!

Bucket o' Peaches

Lot o' Flowers

MORE OF G &G

Walkin' along Lake Macatawa on the new boardwalk

Me and my grandpa & grandma

Mommy & Me

SLEEPING

Grandma, Mommy, and I drove to Kalamazoo the night b/f we flew out...it was a bit of a drive so we thought we'd do it the night b/f so we'd get a little more sleep. Here I am cashed out in the hotel's crib. I got a whole 7 hours of sleep (compared to my 11 hours that I usually get)! Mommy was a bit concerned about the flight back home. I was a little grouchy, but I did take an hour nap to give her a little break. :) What a great trip!

Thanks to Mom and Dad for being so generous to Tessa and me as well as being such a joy to be around. Oh, and all the yummy icecream cones! :) -Allison

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for loving on me so much, for all the boatrides, for the stroller, for the acorns, for the stories, for the diaper changes.... -Tessa

Large post: Last 1 1/2 weeks of summer

2008-09-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

For my birthday we hosted a BBQ and the first annual Wii-lympics at our house. We had a bunch of friends over, each of them represented a country, and we all competed against each other. I was DenMARK and Allison was Yemen (she pronounces it as "yeah-man"). We played tennis, dance dance revolution, and guitar hero. There was one wii going on inside and one outside. Similar to the actually olympics where multiple games are going on at one time.
Here are some pictures:

Pamela really getting into the tennis... check out that form!

Autumn made 2 incredible cakes for my birthday...incredible!

Shaun and Ryan rocking out
The final standing: Chrissy got gold, Aaron got silver and Ryan got bronze.
Happy Birthday to me...what more could a man ask for?

We also went camping up in the mountains for a couple of days.

This oddly was one of Tessa's favorite spots to be: in her chair under the table, silly girl.

Before leaving for the pool I asked Tessa if she wanted to go in the bag...she said yes... so, we were off.

We had some free tickets to the Discovery Center so we went the day before Allison and Tessa flew back to Michigan. This place was pretty cool. Everything was hands on and perfect for kids ages 2-10.

Bed of nails.. borderline painful/uncomfortable

Here we are swimming on the green screen

This is Allison in the wind tunnel feeling winds up to 75 mph.