38 weeks

Well, only 5 days until we can meet Drew! I'm so excited to meet this new little addition to our family. We have been so blessed to have these children. I try to remind myself of how Jason and I were told we would probably never have children after his 6 months of chemo. What a wonderful example of how God can do anything!

I'm scheduled to deliver on Tuesday, December 14th at 7am. Of course anything can happen between now and then, but hopefully I'll just continue to hang on until then. It just makes things so much easier when it's all planned out.

At my doctor's appointment yesterday, we received some wonderful news. Cord Blood Registry, one of the company's that collects newborn cord blood, had advised us to apply for the Designated Treatment Program. This would allow us to collect Drew's cord blood for Jason if he were to ever relapse at no cost. This would save us about $2000. Well, yesterday, we were approved and they are going to collect it for free. I almost couldn't believe it. After 5 years of shelling out so many thousands of dollars in medical expenses, this was like an early Christmas present. We had planned on collecting Jackson's cord blood, but when his umbilical cord tore off during labor, there was no blood to collect. Then we didn't have the money to do it with Brayden since I wasn't working, Patrick's blood was not good, so this could potentially be our last chance. It's like an insurance policy for our family. They are also going to store it for us for 10 years for free. Jason and I are so excited and thankful for this gift.

I'll try to update some fall pictures from the camera. I feel bad every time I don't add new pics on here. Hope all of you are doing well and look forward to sending you pics of our new family next week!

Hugs,

Lisa

Happy Friday!

Well it's been too long since I've updated the blog. A lot has been going on in the Banks household. Jackson & Brayden have been busy this summer. We've had pancake parties at our house almost every Monday with our friends. It makes for a great and messy time for the kids and mommies. I will have to take some pics at our next PP. They have also had a great time swimming at the gym. It is the most amazing pool and just perfect for kids. It has a beach entry with a mushroom waterfall and little fountains that "bubble" up. They have come such a long way since we the spring. They will both get their faces and heads wet, so swimming lessons are in our future. We are thankful they have a heated indoor pool so we can do lessons anytime of year. When we can't make it to the gym we head to the backyard for some needed cool down time.

They also had MDO during the month of July which was a nice break from home. They had a theme each week and lots of crafts, fun food days, and parties. They came home and passed out for 3+ hours each day.

In July, I also celebrated my birthday with my friend Lindsay. We had a party at our house with all of our friends. It was a lot of fun! Here are some pics from July 16th.

Jason and I also found out on my birthday that we would be adding another little boy to the family. Drew is due 12/22, but we will be schedule for a c-section about 2 weeks prior. I can't believe I will have 4 boys. I thought for sure that this one would be a girl. Either way, I am excited to hold this baby and bring him home to meet his brothers. They are already wanting him to "come out" as Jackson says.

The next week, Jason and I jetted off to New Orleans/Baton Rouge for a small vacation. We knew that with Drew on his way, it may be a while before a vacation will be back on the radar. Thankfully we had my family there who were the most gracious hosts. It was so relaxing and we had a wonderful time. It always goes by fast, but we came back refreshed and the boys were happy to see us. Thanks Mom and Dad for watching them while we were away.

August has brought hot temps. Just the other day, Jackson asked if he could go outside at 5:30 and when I looked on the temp, it said 109 degrees. Obviously, the answer was no, but that makes for some long days around here. We've been lucky to have friends on the same schedule and time with their cousins, Joshua & Rylee before school started. We also celebrated our 7th anniversary on August 16, followed by Patrick's first birthday on August 18th. We planned a small gathering with our close friends to celebrate his short but very touching time with us. The boys know he "lives" at church, so we brought him a balloon, some flowers, balloons for the kids, and had cake back at the house. It was a perfect way to celebrate his birthday. I had been feeling emotional about it for a week or so prior to his birthday, but am very much at peace with it and love to think about what he is doing up there in Heaven.

As far the last few weeks, I've been sewing nap mats for some friends as we get ready for Mother's Day Out to start. I also made a table runner for our dining room table and am getting ready to hit the craft show circuit with diaper wallets. On Monday, I start sign language classes at TCC to get my certification. I will either interpret on the side or go back to working in the schools. It should take me about 2 years to finish, but it will be right in time for Jackson to start school. We'll see how it goes especially since I'm supposed to have this baby a week before the semester ends. Maybe I can get my c-section postponed a week. :)

Hugs everyone!

Lisa

It's Summertime!

Whew! There is only 1 reason why I was trying to wait until October to have another baby, TEXAS HEAT!! I just realized I hadn't posted since April. Anywho, everything is going well around here.

Jason started his new job as a detective yesterday. It's weird to actually see him in the morning and then to have him home later. I got used to seeing him at 2:05 everyday. I'm looking forward to the boys and I seeing him and having real family time on the weekends.

The boys and I have been trying to figure out what we are going to do this summer. They get me up around 6:15 and on most days we've packed in a full day by 10:00 with breakfast, a movie, playing outside, coloring, puzzles, computer games, snack, and it's not even time for lunch. I'm looking forward to July when the boys will be in MDO again on Tues/Thursday's. We've been taking them to the pool after naps and it's been a great way to end the day. I'll have to get some pics posted soon!

Hugs and kisses!

Lisa

A tiny detail

Well on my last post, which was Patrick's 8 month birthday, I left off one tiny detail. I just wasn't ready to spill the beans, but you guessed it, I'M PREGNANT...AGAIN! Yes, that's right, we are having another baby, due 12/21/10. Everything seems to be going well so far. I've had one sono and another one is scheduled for next Thursday to check for a heartbeat. Please pray for a healthy baby. I just want to be able to love and take this one home with us. I know the boys want their little brother or sister here too.

So with that said, no sinus surgery for me, but thankfully, I'm feeling ok. Just a little nausea in the afternoons. I've been super busy sewing diaper wallets. They are now for sale at Kid to Kid in Arlington. I'm working on getting some other stores to carry them and selling to friends for now.

We are all doing well and I'll update some pics soon!!

Hugs!

Lisa

8 months ago

Today is Patrick's 8 month birthday. Just a reminder to say hello to our angel in heaven. He's been on my mind a lot lately and I'm missing him more now than before.

We've had another busy week. Since Brayden's birthday and Easter, we have started many house projects (and finished them, I might add!) :) Brayden caught another virus, but thankfully his ears were fine and no strep. I also got another sinus infection, went back to the doctor and was told that I needed to go to an ENT since I've been on antibiotics for a month.

Our retaining wall/flower bed has finally been landscaped. Alleluia!!! We went to The Plant Shed in Mansfield, picked out all the shrubs and plants, had 3 yards of dirt and 3 yards of mulch brought in, and thankfully had some help planting and filling it in. It looks awesome! At the same time, we had all the outside of the house painted, some cracks inside fixed and now are having the main living area painted too. The only thing we still want to do is to have a gate installed across the driveway, but it'll have to wait a little bit longer.

This is down the driveway. The rose was given to us by our friends Brian & Courtney as a memory bush for Patrick. We planted it next to St. Francis statue since he is buried at the St. Francis cremains garden.

Oh, and Jackson is finally potty trained! (He's been since Spring Break) It's so nice not having 2 in diapers. Brayden has to go sit on his potty every time Jackson goes to the bathroom. It's cute and I'm hoping he'll be ready soon.

Tonight, Brayden made a huge mess. Jason heard the water running while watching tv and assumed it was me doing the dishes. 5 minutes later, it was still running , so he got up and found B in the bathroom sitting in the sink. He decided to take all of Jackson's flushable wipe and put them in the sink, clogging it and create his own waterfall. There was an inch of water on the floor and down the hall. Thankfully, Jason's dad brought us a shop-vac for Easter. It was put to good use tonight. The only thing Brayden said when Jason walked in the bathroom was, "Hi Daddy!" Too cute.

Spring Is Here

Here's a little update to our Spring season. We had a great Easter. The boys loved hunting for eggs (inside and out) and we had a great Easter dinner with family. My parents, my sister Kathryn, and her husband Joel, and Jason's brother, David, his wife Susanne and my neice Rylee and nephew Joshua. We not only celebrated the resurrection of our savior, Jesus Christ, but it was also Brayden's 2nd birthday!

My sister made some cute rice krispy treat eggs and we had plenty of candy. Then on Monday, we celebrated Brayden's birthday with a small party at our house. Here are the pics of the cake that I made with the help of my mom. I can't take credit for the whole thing.

A long time coming

Some of you probably thought that I had forgotten to blog anymore. Well our lives here in the Banks household has been busy for the last couple of months.

I began working as an online tutor at the beginning of February, as well as tutoring some students in their homes. This is also in addition to being President of AECPTA, attending bible study on Wednesday mornings, working in the SMG nursery on Thursday evening, and being a wife and mother to a 3 and almost 2 year old. Needless to say, I think about the blog daily, but haven't put forth the effort to update it. I apologize to all of you who continue to check in on our lives.

With that said, there has been another huge project in our lives that I'd like to share with all of you. We have now officially launched www.pswithlove.org. Although we are still in the beginning phases of our new business, we are very excited about all the new opportunities that we can see in our future. PS With Love (PS stands for Patrick Steven) has been in the works for a couple of months now. We were approached by the founders of Conception Is Life to be their North Texas distributors for their pro life products, which include bracelets, rosaries, and pins. We new that this could potentially change our lives and we are definitely up for the challenge. Please check out our website to view and purchase the products and also to see if there is a group of people that I could come share our story with and offer products to them as well.

Thanks for your support and I promise to try and do better with the blog!

Love and peace,

Lisa

An Amazing Sight

Today is a somber one for Arlington Police Department as they buried one of their own who died last week on his motorcycle while doing a traffic stop. I was planning on attending the funeral with Jason, but due to the school holiday, Jackson and Brayden were home from MDO. I couldn't find anyone that was available to watch the boys, so we decided to head to Colleyville to spend the morning with our friends, Laura, Alexander, and Grant. My drive up 360 was uneventful on the way there, just noticed the traffic heading southbound from the construction. As we were headed home going south on 360, traffic started to slow down right around I-30 near 6 flags. Jackson was in awe of the roller coasters and as we cleared the bridge I saw the most amazing thing I've seen in a while. A vision of police cars lined up single file with their lightbars on as far as the eye could see. I was overwhelmed with emotion at the sight of such camaraderie. Of course as we all sat patiently in traffic, I think we were in awe of what was taking place on the other side of the median barriers. I don't know if everyone knew what it was, but it hit home for me. I was probably a bit emotional anyway, since yesterday would have been Patrick's 5 month birthday, but knowing that Craig's wife in now a widow, his 2 yr old John, is without a father, and their unborn child will never know how brave his dad was sent me balling down the road. Not safe, I know, but I couldn't help it. I just balled for them, for APD, for all the children without parents, for widows, and for thanking God that my Jason is still here with me and the boys. Please keep the Story family and APD in your prayers as they heal from this terrible loss.