Thursday, March 29, 2012

Easiest & Hardest

On one hand, he's the most laid back/relaxed kid in the world. He loves his "rest" time which consists of laying on the living room floor with his "blank" and chillin'. There doesn't even have to be a TV on, he just needs to rest for a minute. Of all three, he is who I would pick to have with me if I wanted an "easy" day. He's even the easiest to shop with- I take him almost every time.


Sweet as can be and says the most hilarious things I have ever heard in the cutest little voice I don't ever think I will get tired of hearing.



But on the other hand- he can be the hardest child I have. We are really really working hard to move him out of his "cry when I don't get my way" stage into "take it like a man" stage. He is at that point where he isn't a baby anymore and he is trying to learn how to be a big boy and do big boy things and hang out with big boys, but he is still kinda a baby. Do you get me? That's a hard stage to be in, but we will make it. He is already showing signs of improvement. He always has me on my toes around here and proving that what works with the first child doesn't always work with the second child, but that's ok!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Class Pictures

Picture Day at In His Steps Preschool was a few weeks ago. That's the day I earned my "Mom of the Year" award for completely forgetting it was picture day and allowing Brady to dress himself that morning. I had totally forgotten...that was until I pulled up to see everyone walking in to school in their Sunday best and poor little Brady & Owen looked like two hoodlums. It was bad-I dropped them off and quickly ran home to get some more presentable clothes and rushed back just in time to get them decent for the picture.


As I understand, Owen cried the whole time during his picture, then ran over and gave the photographer a hug. (in case you haven't noticed, I train these kids to be good to the photographer)

Oh well, it turned out fine, what else could you expect from a class full of one year olds?


Here is Brady's class, minus two of his best friends Caden & Gavin. Brady was doing something crazy with his smile, but at least he looks like he was trying.

That's PreK-3 with Mrs. Symms class.

We Got a New Fort!


Yesterday the boys were happy to find out that they were getting a new fort! It has a swing for everyone, a rock wall, big slide, and a picnic table underneath. As much time as these kids spent on their old fort we figured an upgrade would be worth it.

Thanks to Daddy, Papa, Uncle Saw, & Matt for helping to get it all set up and ready to go. I expect many fun times to be had on our new fort and hopefully no broken bones (fingers crossed)!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Happy Birthday Yaya!


Last night we went out for an adult dinner to celebrate Yaya's birthday. Her real birthday is March 1st, but since EE & Cash were planning a visit last weekend we waited. We did miss having Noah & Kaitlen with us though :(

Yaya chose to have dinner at Texas Land & Cattle. I didnt get a picture of the whole group, but I did snap the one of her, Caleb & Samuel.

Happy Birthday Yaya!

Brady Allen- Student of the Week!



In Brady's PreK-3 class each student has a turn to be Student of the Week. When it is your turn, you are to make a poster about yourself to bring to class and share with your classmates. Since this week was Brady's turn, we worked on the poster all last week during Spring Break. Ideally, the student is supposed to do most of the work on the poster with some assistance...


So, Brady painted the background of the poster, helped me pick out all of the pictures and glued the letters in his name on the poster. I arranged the pictures and labeled them.

His poster has pictures of the following:

- his room

- him meeting Owen for the first time

- his favorite hobby- fishing

-our family

-him and both of his brothers

- him with Bruiser the Baylor mascot

- a baby picture of him

- him on his first birthday eating cake

- him in his first Halloween costume

January 26, 2012

January 26, 2012 will go down in my book as one of the scariest days of my life.


It started off like most other days, Owen had been sick for about 3 days with a cough, cold, and a little bit of heavy breathing. I had taken him in to the doctor the day before and he was diagnosed with cold induced asthma. We were given an inhailer and sent home, so we went about business as normal. Thursday Owen still wasn't feeling much better and his breathing got a little worse. I continued giving him the breathing treatments and went about our day. After Luke got home from school, I took the boys to get their haircuts then we celebrated their good behavior at the grand opening of our new ChickFila. While we were at ChickFila, Owen sat very still on my lap which was a little out of the ordinary, but I just thought he may be tired. The other boys played and before to long is was time to get home.


The new ChickFila is literally 2 minutes from our house (haven't quite determined if this is a good thing or a bad thing), so sometime in the short 2 minute drive home, I noticed Owen's head drooping in his carseat. I thought "Wow, he must have been really tired". As we pulled into our driveway, his eyes were rolling back and he was drooling, so I knew something was terribly wrong. I rushed over to our doctor's office (which is also 2 minutes away) where my mom met me to get the other boys.


The doctor came into the waiting room and immediately yelled for them to call an ambulance. I started to panic because by then Owen was pretty limp. He was still breathing, but not very good. The ambulance arrived and decided to take him to the closest hospital to get him stabilized then to transfer him later if needed.


Once we arrived at Memorial Herman- Southeast it was determined that he had RSV which is a common respiratory virus that can be very serious in young children. Owen had 5 breathing treatments there and still wasn't looking as good as they would have liked so they transferred him in the middle of the night to Texas Children's Hospital.




This is a picture of him that night. The only way he could breath was with oxygen. The next day, he was moved to ICU because his breathing continued to decline and they wanted him to be monitored more closely. We stayed there from Friday to Sunday.





In ICU Owen slept most of the time because his little body was worn out from all of that heavy breathing.





By Sunday, he started to perk up and feel a little better. He was finally able to have a drink!




That first drink was so good that he wanted another!!! By now, I knew he was feeling so much better.





By Sunday night we were moved out of ICU and into a regular room and off the oxygen. We were released on Monday morning :)




Throughout the whole experience, God had my sweet little Owen in the palm of His hand and took very good care of him. All of the people we met at TCH were amazing and so helpful which made our experience there much easier.

Owen is doing much better now and made a full recovery! Our family and friends also took very good care of us and we wouldnt have been able to do it without them.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Spring Break 2012


The Friday before Spring Break FINALLY got here & Luke was ready for a some time off! Thankfully, it was free dress code since it was picture day & he got to dress a little more relaxed than normal.

We had a few things we wanted to be sure to do over the break. Luke wanted to see the movie The Lorax and I wanted to make sure to get the kids pictures in the bluebonnets. Other than that- we planned to just relax and go with the flow.


So we made sure to eat dessert every night- the more messy the better :)



Then take long bubble baths and stay up late and watch movies.


Those were pretty much the daily routine. We did get to do an activity each day which was also fun...

Monday- we went to see The Lorax at the movies

Tuesday- we went to the bouncy place then to Chickfila for lunch

Wednesday- we went to the library then to dinner with Yaya & Papi

Thursday- the indoor water park

Friday- Beach with Grammy & Papa
Saturday- EE & Cash came it town & we went to Ford's birthday party- after that the boys spent the night with Yaya & Papi

Sunday- Drew & Gretchen's wedding

So it was a busy week!


plus...March Madness started this week! the boys filled out their brackets with Daddy.



Ready for some fun at the water park



Friends!



it's so nice to be back in the water :)









All in all it was a great Spring Break & I am sad for it to be over. That's ok- at least we are in the home stretch to summer!

Brady Allen- Professional Ring Bearer


Drew asked Brady to be the ring bearer in his & Gretchen's wedding which was today in Galveston. Brady was such a handsome young man. Notice him & Drew have matching ties...so cute!


Mom & Brady



Brady with Saw & Steph before the wedding.



He did his job well and managed to keep his white suit somewhat clean even outdoors. I was very proud of my handsome little man!



The wedding was beautiful & the reception was so much fun.

Congrats to Drew & Gretchen!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Up For the Challenge!


Not long ago, the boys celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday at school. He would have turned 108 this year. In the midst of all of the celebrations, Luke learned a lot about Dr. Seuss and has been really interested every since. We pulled out all of our Dr. Seuss books and read them a few weeks back then today when we were at the library we had an idea...

We wanted to try to read every book Dr. Seuss ever wrote. According to Luke there were 44 of them (he must have misunderstood his teacher somehow) but when I got home and searched online to print off a list, I counted 119. YIKES! Oh well, we checked out 11 books from the library today and we will just keep checking them off our list until we are finished.

One day they boys will be able to say they have read every single one and that's kinda cool!



Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Bluebonnets 2012


Today my cousin Erin and I took our kiddos out to the bluebonnet patch for some pictures in the beautiful field of blue.


I must admit, this was not my most successful trip, but oh well...



Luke is always my best at posing :)



This one may have been ok if it wasnt for that crazy glare on Owens face :(



Silly Brady!


- i am contemplating going back to the field and just getting a picture of each boy by themself... we will see.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Look What I Found!

I was going through Luke's school papers from this week and I came across this...


notice the detail in the alternating colors in the stripes :)



So very sweet! Well said Luke!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Proud of These Boys!


Luke has been in Awanas at a local church since January. He has learned so much about the Bible along with a lot of scripture memorization. His accomplishments are rewarded by badges, patches and pins on his Sparks vest. Tonight he earned his first patch and badge which was something he worked really hard towards and was really proud of. I hope he continues to enjoy Awanas as much as he does now.


Brady was fully potty trained from about the age of 2 1/2 until he was 3, then he kinda took a step backwards and started having more and more accidents. I finally had enough recently and really started to work with him at getting back on track. About a week after he went accident free I hung this potty chart up for him to place a sticker on at the end of every accident free day. It has been a huge success so far.

He looks forward to putting a star on his chart every night after his bath. At one point he took the liberty to add an extra star in the middle of the day....just because. Which is kinda funny because that's his personality. Don't worry, I corrected that and the chart is 100% truthful to his accident free days.



As of today he had 6 stars on his chart, not including the week prior when he went accident free. I'd say we are getting back on track! Good job B-ball!

The Joys of Boys

Sometimes their sense of adventure overcomes them and I look out the back window to see something like this happening...


It wouldn't be long before Owen was sitting indian style on top of the car. At that point I had to drop the camera and rush to his safety.


Because this crazy drive doesn't really take safety into consideration.


That may be why we spend so much time in the ER...

18 Months Already???


Yep! He sure is! Today was Owen's 18 month checkup and he had to get a shot :(

He was still kinda sore when we got home and not really in the mood for pictures, but I did snap that one before he went down for a nap.

He checked out perfect for his age and seems to be right on track. Here are his stats from today:
Weight- 25lbs 9.6oz
Height- 34 inchces

After Owen got his nap and Luke came home from school we decided to go get the boys a haircut. As always, we have to get a slushie on the way home from our haircut....
















To celebrate Owen's 18month birthday, we got him his first slushie & I think he really liked it. He walked around with his cup for over an hour :)

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Rodeo Day!

Today was Rodeo Day at Brady & Owen's school, so we dressed up our little buckaroos in their cowboy best and sattled up to head off to school.






Few quick pictures in the backyard before we left this morning.

The school had lots of fun activities planned for the kids. I was able to make it back to the school in time to catch Brady's class toward the end of their fun...


Calf roping



Sack races.



I think all of the little cowboys and cowgirls had a great time!



I have a feeling we will see this picture again somewhere down the road. Maybe one night when he brings his girlfriend over...I'm just sayin'