She has grown leaps and bounds this last year. Now an independent, smart, filled with personality 3-year old; Jalyse started going to school, completed potty training, found a new love of dancing & princesses (especially Rapunzel) and most recently, becoming so excited to be a big sister or "Manang" as we call older siblings in my family's culture. Jalyse LOVES Justin Bieber (I know....Oh boy) and has started to hum some tunes of One Direction. How she catches on to these things...not sure but she has. One things that Johnny and I have loved about Jalyse growing up is her learning how to worship Jesus. It's music to our ears when she starts to sing songs from Kids' Church or randomly starts singing "We are" by Kari Jobe. It's beautiful to see her grow...and a blessing from God that we are a part of it.
We've been married for 5 years now and it's incredible to see where God has taken us thus far. Five years ago we never thought that we would be where we are today. I've enjoyed being home these last 6 weeks because I've been able to spend more time with him, learn more about him and most importantly I've learned how much I need him. Not in a helpless way...but in terms of a team. We need each other and work best when we do things together. Johnny and I like to reflect on our marriage every now and then--it's important to do so! We both noticed that in this 5th year of marriage we've finally found our "nitches" in our little family, knowing when to pick up when the other one can't without verbally saying anything, or even with ministry. But just when we thought we figured it out, we have another kid! haha....It's exciting that's for sure! Life with Johnny has been a beautiful trip and I find myself loving him more with each day, each challenge, each time I hear him teach at church. Sometimes I just look at him when he doesn't know and soak in how lucky I am. *blush
Jocelyn's EDD is in a couple of weeks! July 18th is when we're expecting her to arrive...but I'm thinking she'll come earlier. So now that we are only a couple of weeks away, we are getting antsy! This pregnancy has definitely been a journey. It was just one thing after the other. I began having contractions with this little one in the beginning of my 2nd trimester. I am a visiting RN so I'm always on the go seeing patients. After having several events of contractions during the 2nd trimester my OB put me on medical leave for a week. I went back and then continued to have contractions but showed no signs of progression. However at 29 weeks when I reported having more contractions I started to dilate (2cm) and efface (60%). So as of my 29th week I was put on bed rest. Our church family at UICC were all such a HUGE blessing with covering meals--I didn't want to eat hotdogs and eggs the remainder of my pregnancy. (Johnny doesn't cook much...LOL) We had to cut lots of corners financially to make things work with one income. Then at about 32 weeks I began to itch on my elbows...then spread to my knees. The itching then turned into visible rashes. After some lab work was done I soon found out that I was diagnosed with Cholestasis of Pregnancy. A pregnancy condition that can occur in the 3rd trimester where the hormone levels get so elevated that it effects mom's liver and gall bladder. Long story short, bile was not being properly broken down and spilling into my bloodstream causing the itching. So then of course I was put on medication to keep the bile levels down--Actigal. Within 3 days the itching started to go down but on day 7 of being on it my entire body broke out in hives. On top of the Cholestasis rash I had developed hives from an allergic rxn to Actigal. Sleep at night was non-existent from 32-35 weeks of my pregnancy. I took myself off of the Actigal and started myself on benadryl....and within 3 days the hives cleared up. Bile levels were still high but the itching had subsided. But since about 36 weeks pregnancy has been problem free. *high five* It has been one crazy journey with Jocelyn but we are SO excited to meet her and tell her all about mommy's crazy experience with her in utero. I love this little one!!!! Every single bit of this was worth it.
Soooooo..... I'll leave off on that for now. Just a quick update before I start posting again. Happy Wednesday!!!!
