It's the New, New Years Eve

Well, our plans were to have a laid back New Years Eve anyway. We were going to a family birthday dinner at Grandmom and Grandda's to celebrate Mom, John, and Carole's birthdays and then off to Craig and Susan's for a very casual game night with the kiddos.

While shopping, Kace just got warmer and warmer, couldn't keep his little red eyes open, and I knew that our evening was taking a turn. I called and cancelled with our friends, but we pushed it and went to dinner with our family to celebrate 3 important birthdays. While there, Riley had a meltdown, as he didn't have a nap that day AND proceeded to fall into the water feature that Grandda built, swim 3 feet to the other side, get out, and was soaking wet from his shoulders to his boots. We stripped him down, threw his clothes in the dryer, and wrapped him in towels and sat him by the fire. Eventually he jumped in the shower to warm up. Meanwhile, Kace is hacking and isn't smiling for any reason.

Headed home. Kace coughing. Riley, buckled into his carseat, wearing my new North Face jacket, naked underneath. I'll for sure think of that every time I wear it!

On our front porch was a perfect pick me up, with no card attached, but we had a great guess. Those Unbelieable Unbehagan's. There was a bottle of sparkling pear juice, absolutely perfect for our unexpect evening at home, just the 4 of us.

I broke out the champagne flutes, so we could enjoy the only sparkly thing about this New Years Eve, and made Kace a bottle.


We toasted to the near year and gave each other New Year kisses. At 9:00!











Riley didn't love the sparkling pear so much, so I drank his and filled his glass with milk...NOW WE WERE TALKIN'!!





All evening, I thought about the drama that we used to go through to find the perfect outfit with just the right amount of sparkle (to wear, not drink), hair, makeup, getting there, etc. My, how our lives have changed! I was so happy to be home with my boys, cozy in their own beds, and barely staying awake long enough to ring in the new year with my wonderful husband.

I wouldn't have it any other way...sick babies, meltdowns, jeans, t-shirts, tennis shoes, wonderful neighbors that were with us in spirit, and milk in champagne flutes. Perfect. Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to what 2011 has in store for us and our family and friends!

Let the Purging Begin

My house looks like a tornado blew through every room, every closet, every corner, and you get the picture. I'm ready to put things away, of course. But first I have this sickness where I have to clean out the closet...before the new things can go in there. And in that process, I manage to create even more chaos! Is it just me?

So...my inbox is out of control. I just deleted everything that didn't have a photo attachment and it feels great. I'm ashamed, horribly ashamed to admit that I just deleted 6400 emails from my inbox...

And I'm free!!!

121 remain, but they all have photo attachments. I'll weed through those another time. I'm thrilled to have a 3 digit number in there...especially one that starts with a 1!

(Yeah Babe, I'm still jealous that you only have one email in your inbox. Someday...)

One Year Ago

One year ago...



Here he is, the reason I was in the hospital for 75 days. I was lucky enough to hang onto this guy for some good, quality developing time in there. We hung out in bed, Kace and I, for 75 days. It was hard, but it was easy at the same time..."for a good cause!" Those days seemed to filled with worry on one hand, but also filled with amazing friends, old and new; answered prayers; quality time with people we love; and a newfound respect for the daily grind.

The worry wasn't over though, it just transferred to a whole new level. He's here, appears to be okay, now off to NICU where they test, monitor, and give him more time to grow and develop. The worry didn't lesson like I expected in the back of my mind, it magnified greatly. Waiting for them to tell me what was right/wrong about our precious little miracle baby. Breathing, heart-rate, brain scan, wires, feeding tubes, constant beeping, and Russ's famous quote, "Ummm....there's an X." It's funny now, but it wasn't at the time.






Today, we celebrate his first year of life. The worry has yet to subside, it has evolved. Now we worry if he's okay when he bumps his head (because he's pulling up on everything) and what's he's put into his mouth this time (because every little speck of anything on the floor goes into his mouth...quickly). We are so lucky to have traveled this journey and had the outcome we did. Our eyes are open to a whole new world (to us) of difficult pregnancies, NICU babies, preemies, loss, and most importantly, the power of God. Every day I thank Him that we have two healthy, happy boys.

I don't look at babies with the same eyes that I did prior to this experience. Or mothers, or pregnant women. It's all a miracle and every day is critical, precious, and a gift. When life overwhelms me (as it does on pretty much a daily basis), I remind myself that what I need is a perspective change.

Well, here he is...my #1 perspective changer!

Fall is Here....finally!

The calendar says it's Fall, long before it actually arrives in Texas. Very recently I've actually noticed some stunning orange, yellow, and red leaves....the week before Christmas!

I've wanted to pull over and snap some photos, but actually took these in my very own backyard!

hero.

I have so much to say, but words just don't seem to be the most important thing right now.

A Marine fighting for our freedom in Afghanistan was called to Heaven on Monday.
Saturday morning his mother woke to the sound of his voice. She hadn't heard it in 35 days. He told her he was okay and things were quiet, that he was good.
Sunday they decorated a Marine Christmas Tree in his hometown.

This young man is someone that I know. I don't know him well, mind you, but he's the kind of guy you like the moment you meet him. He is the best friend to my niece and nephew. He is the son of my sister-in-law's best friend. I've known him since I met my husband.

He's wanted to be a Marine for a long time. He knew what he was getting in to and wanted to defend his country and its people. He is a hero.

My heart aches for his family. For his friends. For his hometown who has been through so much of late, it seems.

Newsclip from Kiii in Corpus

Please pray for his family, pray for them to find comfort through their pain. God Bless Them.

He is a true hero.

Thankful Thanksgiving

Last year on this day I was in the hospital, praying that Kace would wait until it was time for him to arrive. Looking back on this year, especially this time in particular, that I missed last year, I have so much to be thankful for. Every day that goes by, I think "I spent this day in the hospital last year." It was so stressful on our family...and even our friends. I continue to be overwhelmed with love for my family and friends, for the simple things in life, for the daily pleasures, and the daily nuisances that I longed for while in the hospital.

On this day, I had been in the hospital for about 50 days and still had almost a month to go. I was in the downhill stretch, but it still seemed so far away. The good news every day was that Kace was still developing in utero instead of in NICU.

(Here is last year's post. I didn't read it until after I wrote this. So many similarities!)
I could write a novel about the things I'm thankful for right now--from the grand to the miniscule. I'll begin this novel now....stay with me! :-)

1. God and the blessings he has bestowed upon our family. Even the things we think are not blessings are. Staying in the hospital was NOT a blessing to me, but we actually enjoyed our time there with our nurses, doctors, and made new lifelong friends who went through their version of the same ordeal as we did.

We are also thankful to have finally found a church that we love. We plan to join soon and look forward to going to church on Sunday mornings. I'm so glad to finally have this missing piece back into my life. I never thought I'd find a church that I connected to as much as the last church I attended, but I have. What a blessing!

2. My family. Wow, I could not be more blessed to have a wonderful family. My family has always supported me, taken care of me...and my very own little family. I married into a wonderful family too--fabulous in-laws, two sisters and friends, and wonderful nieces and nephews that I call my own. The family that Russ and I have created is my life. These boys mean the world to me and I'm thankful that we have two boys to make our lives filled with amazement (in good ways and not so good ways)! We are blessed beyond measure to have our boys and I am one lucky girl to have all 3 of them in my life.

3. Friends. Friends are amazing. New friends, old friends, all of them. I hope they know who they are because they make the world go 'round. Martin Jr. High friends, neighbor friends, work friends, Bunco friends, family friends, and friends I don't get to see every day--but wish I did. They're there when you need them and I couldn't have asked for a better bunch.

4-12: Some Little Things

4. Making my own plate on Thanksgiving. WITH cranberry sauce.


5. Coffee.

6. Reading books with my boys. And snuggling. Do they know that it's purely selfish for me to do this? To make them love books, learn to read, and spend quality snuggle time? Shhhh--don't tell.

7. Cooking. Oh, how I love to cook, read recipes, collect recipes, try out new recipes. And oh, how I hate to clean the dang kitchen.

8. My job. I do love going to work every day. I love my students and I love the amazing people that I work with. I'm so thankful to have a supportive team and administrators!

9. Big Bang Theory.

10. Time with family.

11. Alone time.

12. Time with The Girls








(Yes, that is a big ol' mosquito bite right between Kace's eyes. He got it while we were taking family photos the day before.)

Off the List

In September, what seems like another lifetime ago, some very special girls and I went on a cruise together. No husbands, no children, just the girls. The trip was never blogged about, but just in case you're wondering, we had an amazing time. Truth be told, I can have an amazing time with these girls ANYWHERE. But, we had a wonderful getaway together, thanks to our husbands, children, mothers, and mothers-in-law for making it happen for us.

While we were in Cozumel, we went on a little dolphin adventure. Something I've always wanted to do...and it was as fantastic as I expected it to be. Our trainer was great, the day was beautiful, and we even met two new friends that were on our ship. Bless their hearts for being in a group with us, but they held their own and I was so glad we got to know them.

Here we all are using our newfound trainer skills:





And holding my new friend:



Rubbing bellies...his, not mine:



Kisses:


And an awkward one:



And we danced:








The good times didn't end (or begin) there. Some other highlights include: swimming pools, karaoke, salty dogs, karaoke, hair products, karaoke, bartenders, karaoke, and some very special nametags.

Hot Date

Lately, I've been feeling a little guilty about not spending enough relaxed, quality time with Riley. Not driving to school in a rush, not hanging out at home, talking while I make dinner, and not laying in bed reading books together. I felt like I needed to do something out of the ordinary, but simple. As I was heading to pick him up from school, I decided that it was a cool, sunny, beautiful day and we should go to Starbucks and have a hot chocolate date.

Today was the perfect day for it. Sunny and cool, but not too cool to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air AND some hot chocolate with whipped cream!






It was exactly what we needed, a little warm, chocolatey together time!

Dr. Day

I took a day off this week and attempted to knock out some doctor appointments for Kace all in one day. We needed to see our pediatric orthopedist and our pediatrician for an overdue 9 month well check. The 9 month well check was delayed because right at Kace's 9 month well check time, he was circumcised.

Monday was our day. Sub plans written, appointments scheduled, and my stylist went above and beyond to come in on her Monday off to cut and color my hair...it was LONG overdue. I was so grateful to her for doing that--I even tried to talk her out of it!

The pediatric orthopedist we've only seen a few times, just to check in on Kace's turned-in ankles. I've always liked his laid back demeanor. The first time we saw him, he gave Kace a kiss on the top of his head! Last appointment he looked good, but asked to come in in 6 months for a follow up. Dr. said everything looked great and he didn't think we needed to see him anymore unless something came up and I felt like we needed to visit. What a relief!



Then we had lunch with Daddy at Phil's. A wonderful place, but Kace is too little to play and it was a pretty damp and chilly day. The burger was great...and the sweet potato fries were awesome as usual.


We headed to the pediatrician's office for our well check (after travelling to the central office last weekend to find out Kace had a double ear infection) and all was well there too. He's meeting all developmental milestones right now, but he isn't pulling up to a stand. He's crawling, making baby babble, eating his fruits and veggies, waving, etc.

I think the biggest shocker to us was that his little growth spurt. He went from being 25th percentile in height to 75th percentile!! The doctor even measured him again because she didn't think the nurse measured accurately! A tall baby?? Could it be?

I continue to be reminded of my blessings, today and everyday, through this season. I'm so thankful for my healthy, happy baby boy. The pediatrician even said, "You would never know this little guy was a preemie...usually baby's don't reach 20 pounds until their first birthday!"

Then I took Kace to Mimi's so she could babysit while I had my "alone" time and had my hair done. It was a treat. I was thrilled to get all of those things accomplished and not have to worry about leaving work early, who is picking up Riley, my mom or mother in law meeting me at the doctor's office and being on time. But in the back of mind I had a list of about 13 other things I was hoping to accomplish while I was out and about. Needless to say, none of them happened, but I am excited to have those things crossed of THE LIST!

Now off to have his 12 month well check in a little over a month!!