update on baby faith

a little update for those who are wondering... faith is off of the oxygen now and breathing on her own which is great! she has a feeding tube through her nose to her tummy and shanna is trying to pump so they can get some good ole' breastmilk in her. she was born at 3 lbs. 6 oz. and she really is doing pretty good. she may be there for 5 to 6 weeks though, they aren't sure yet. shanna is doing good too, her blood pressure is still a little high, even after the AWFUL magnesium she had to be on. but she's off that now and on something less harsh and should be able to go home tomorrow. thanks everyone for praying for her! i hope to post a picture soon!

prayer for a little one

one of kenny's cousins, shanna and her husband gabe, gave birth to baby faith this morning after shanna was having some preclampsia (sp?) issues at only around 31 weeks gestation. faith is only around 3 pounds and in the NICU but i think they are doing ok. just pray for this sweet family. they lost baby tyson last june, at 22 weeks gestation right after grayson was born. and now this! so please pray for baby faith to be ok and shanna to heal quickly! thank you!

happy easter...

that is what these two were saying as i took this shot.

well, easter was a little weird this year. with grayson having the pox, plague, whatever you wanna call it, we were not able to grace the halls of the church, which i was really sad about. but that's ok. instead we planted flowers in our backyard that morning while grayson was sleeping, which we intend on making a family tradition each year on Resurrection Sunday morning. :) aislyn was such a big help! at one point she tried to plant a small basketball.

After our flower extravaganza, we went to Kenny's parents for a brunch. Kenny's sister Charlotte and husband Arnaud (Tati and Nono) were in town from Texas, so we got to see them tons over the weekend, which was nice since they haven't been home since Thanksgiving. Grayson of course, had a fever all day, poor baby. But we managed to get a couple games of Petanque in so that was fun. (yea, its a french game. you throw a big heavy silver ball at a tiny orange ball. and somehow there is TONS of strategy in it. thanks nono for the lessons. :)) After that, we headed over to mom and dad's for an easter egg hunt and some burgers. The kids opened little baskets and my dad told the Resurrection story, egg by egg by egg by egg... it was actually really neat. there are 12 eggs in a basket, they are all numbered. you read them in order and each one tells the story of Jesus death and ressurection, and there is a small prop in each one, like a thorn for the crown of thorns, or a nickel for the pieces of silver that he was betrayed for. it was neat, but OH MY GOSH trying to go through 12 eggs with aislyn and braidyn who are 2 and 4 took forEVer.

anyways, now for the photo commentary... i wanted to post a couple after the hunt. last year, the girls ended up in a smackdown over an egg that was hidden on my front porch. it was HILARIOUS. i think we were all secretly waiting for another smackdown, video camera in hand. but no, they were perfect. they even shared a couple eggs! you'll note in the first picture, that aislyn has her arms up and is trying to hard to hug braidyn, but braidyn is declaring "i can't touch aislyn because she has been sick!!". we told her, "no, aislyn was sick a couple weeks ago, but she's ok now. it's grayson who is sick." but she wouldn't have it. i found out later that my brother told her not to touch either of the kids. HA. i'm so not offended, i mean, we do have the plague. i would have told aislyn the same thing, it was just really funny. the OTHER reason that picture is funny is because braidyn is bending down. she CRACKS me up. she is CONVINCED that unless the camera is pointing straight away in her face, that she is not in the picture. it is so funny. so many pics i have of her she's leaning like crazy to try and be in the frame. i'm always telling her, "braidyn, stand up, you're in the picture i promise!" she says, "but i can't see! i'm not in it!". its so stinkin funny. and the pic of little grayson here; tati spread some eggs around him to make the perfect backdrop. note his ADORABLE little plaid pants. thanks liam! i'm glad i bought those for you man! they came right back around to us!!! also, back to the pics of brai and ais, note the pink crocs aislyn is wearing with her not pink outfit. yes, mimi bought her the cutest brown sandals ever to wear with her easter outfit, but did she want to wear them? no. and since we weren't going to church, not that it would have mattered or that dirty pink crocs would have made her unholy (i think her lack of potty training does that- HA! jk), i decided to pick my battles and let her win. i came to find out that courtney also had the same problem with braidyn. apparently she had much cuter shoes sitting at home as well.

i do NOT know what that face is for, but its funny.
and, may i say, snaps to you little brother (taylor) for getting this shot of mali! i edited it for you

and think it came out cute.

We hope and pray you all had a wonderful Ressurection Day and that you were touched by the true meaning of Easter as you celebrated with your families. Thank you LORD for the cross. We would be lost without it.

walkin' and poxin'...

well, its that time. time to pull out the WALKER! i can't believe it. it seems like the kid was born yesterday even though this has been a LONG ten months! grayson will be ten months old on april 2nd, hard to believe. he has been pulling up on everything lately and this morning i suddenly noticed he had pulled up on me and was standing with only one hand touching my shoulder. so i got out his walker, and he laughed and laughed (a creepy evil laugh that was hilarious by the way) and took a few steps! but man, when he falls down, he thinks its the END of the world, which is also kinda funny!



a little health update... as you know (family in texas), grayson has had awful eczema since he was about a month old. we've seen specialists, bought EVERY kind of medicine out there, and he is currently on two allergy meds a day, including prevacid for his acid reflux. little guy has just had some issues, making it a rough year for us, having to watch him scratch ALL the time. as a matter of fact, since Christmas, we have been using diaper pins to pin his hands down by his sides when he naps and at night. can you believe that? i hope no one from child protective services reads this! luckily, he has been ok with it, and it has done WONDERS for his face because he can't scratch it to bleeding every night as he had been doing. at any rate, last week, he came down with this bizarre skin condition that resembled chicken pox the first couple days. then it got worse and he had open oozing lesions covering his arms, his legs and feet (from knees down mainly) and then sporadic ones on his chest and back. it was AWFUL. how do you lotion or put clothes on a child who is oozing? we went to the dr. and he was stumped. i actually cried in his office if you can believe that. he decided it was time to do blood work because it is sure seeming like grayson ALWAYS has something. whether its a sinus infection, or congestion (he's had that for 4 to 5 months) or bizarr-o rashes. we should get some bloodwork back this week, and some next week. they are checking lots of stuff, and his immunities to see if he is making them properly. i am happy to report that his rash thing whatever (we call it the pox jokingly) is healing up! there are scars where all the spots were, but they will disappear soon. his legs and feet and wrist still have some healing to do because he is so mobile and those are easy places to scratch. i'm on scratch patrol ALL the time, but sometimes he sneaks a scratch in, especially when he is mad. oh, one thing to pray for if you feel so inclined... if he continues to heal all the spots by this weekend, we are going to lower his crib and try a night unpinning him. he's getting too big to appreciate it anymore, and pinning him down for three months has made him unbelievably strong. its like he does bicep curls EVERY night trying to get up and he is so strong! i'm totally worried about trying it, but honestly, we can't keep doing that forever. and it makes it really hard for me to leave and go on a date with kenny or do anything before they go down, because i want to be the one to put him down. how do you ask someone else (grandma and mimi) to pin their grandson down before bedtime? my mom hates it and i'm sure barbara does too. so, if it doesn't work and he wakes up bleeding again, then we'll have to reconsider. but pray that it will work! anyways, i have been long winded. here's a quick pic from this morning when he was practicing his walking!

warning: this post contains no pictures

i have often wondered something. as i teach my two year old about God and Jesus and the Bible, it almost always occurs to me "why am i doing this now, so early in her life?" i try to imagine being her, and hearing "who made the trees? God made the trees!" and what she must be thinking. "who is God? does liam know? does he live down the street by emma and jack? where is His picture? is it on the fridge with all the others?" i feel like he might as well be that chair over there (and some people do believe that!) do you know what i mean? it seems so hard to me to explain something as BIG and as POWERFUL as the story of our Savior and His Father to a 2 year old, when I don't even get it most of the time. AND YET...
today, aislyn was reading one of kenny's books (you know, the 700 page novels that she finds in our room) and out came a bookmark with cartoon Jesus and some children on it. she got SO excited. "JESUS!!" she exclaims, with more delight in her eyes than i have ever seen. she proceeds to carry it around the next few minutes. as i'm sorting laundry (holy cow did i have alot of laundry to sort today), i hear her laying on our big bed, looking lovingly at the bookmark.
"Hi Jesus!" (cartoon Jesus is kinda waving in the picture) "Jesus, sit down minute! I friend! Mommy, I say hi to Jesus!" Really? did my two year old just ask Jesus to sit down and talk with her for a minute because they're friends? is it that simple? in a way, i guess it is. it was a real lesson for me. because you know what? i don't remember to do that very often at all; remember to ask Jesus to sit down and have a chat. but my 2 year old, who i struggle with teaching the concepts of Jesus, does. the faith of a child. that brings it in perspective for me. who would have though that we would learn so much about our Lord just by having children. and toddler children at that. so thank you sweet aislyn for the reminder. may you always remember that Jesus is your friend and will ALWAYS sit down for a chat.

upside down

we wanted to wish you all a wonderful Ressurection Weekend! we hope its filled with family and remembrance of what Christ has done for each one of us. AND SUNSHINE!!! yea for spring! (oh, and no, this picture has nothing to do with Easter. i just kinda liked it.)

shadows...

the other day, liam came over to play and told me he wanted to make shadows. i asked him how, and he walked to the wall and showed me! smart little stinker. this is he and aislyn makin' some shadows!! (note the matching camo crocs. yea, aislyn's used to be liam's and they are all she'll wear now. hope they match her easter dress. :))

happy birthday sweet braidyn!!

happy birthday my sweet little niecey! we wish you were here so we could celebrate again! we'll have to play when you get back in town! we love you baby girl, and we cannot believe you are FOUR YEARS OLD!!!

"mini" session

after some coaxing, aislyn let me take a few shots yesterday literally 5 seconds after her nap. our conversation went like this:

me: can mommy take a couple pictures of you before we get out of your crib?

aislyn: i don't want pictures!

me: please, the light is really good in your room right now and mommy needs to practice!

aislyn: i don't want pictures! NO! (crying now)

me: but after we're done, guess where we're going?

aislyn: (crying stops) where? with liam somewhere?

me: THE ZOO! with liam! and emma and jack!

aislyn: ok mommy!

and this was the result. the sad face one is the first one... then they got happier the more she thought about the zoo. a couple of them are actually on the stairs i think. cuz you know, the light is good there too. ha.

storage solutions

i don't know. i think creativity and efficiency may course through her veins. when you run out of room for all of your babies to sleep, you have to think outside the box, the icebox that is... some may think this particular space is only good for water, ice, checking the temperature... but aislyn? she sees something more.
and then, when you run out of room for your real babies, just store them under the jumperoo! he actually backwards crawled his way under here. but YEA! he's crawling forwards now! oh, and this smiley picture was followed by angry pictures which i won't share because more and more stuck he became. and did mom help him? no, she just laughed and took more pictures.

missin' my liam

OH WE ARE SO READY TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!! aislyn is going through a major friend withdrawal. i just don't do it for her. and of course, now kenny and i are sick. :( so, i guess we're home for another couple days with the PLAGUE which is what i'm referring to it as at this point. but it could be way worse, so thank the Lord for healing.

on the up 'n' up

i think. yesterday we didn't have any fevers except the little 99 point somethings that i try to ignore. they are both still coughing something horrible, but i hear that can last for awhile. little g was really happy all day long so i snapped a couple of him playing to prove that he is smiling again! (first time in a week i think!)

and then there is aislyn, who, as you can see, politely asked me to step off with my camera. while she has no fever, i think her attitude might still have a bit of a virus...

gift card day

so.. what do you do when you're broke, NEED to get out of the house and take a break from your sick whiney babies (who i love), and really need to feel like you're spending money for some reason? you gather up all your gift cards and store credit cards that have built up in your 5 different purses over the last few years (that have really low balances), you call your mom for a companion, and you have GIFT CARD DAY! we went to almost every place i had a gift card (i have no idea where most of them came from...my wedding?), and the rule was that i could not put ONE single penny on our debit card. and i did it! of course, my sweet mom dug through her purse to find the tax on the cute little flower vases i purchased at pottery barn. (thanks for the 69 cents mom, i owe you). it was so fun. and so free. and a much needed break before i came home to a really bad night with the kiddos. but they're doing much better today! YEAH! NO ONE HAS FEVER!!! and everyone seems to have a happy heart! anyways, thanks mom, i really had a great time yesterday. thanks for helping me pick fun things out!! you can totally borrow my necklaces anytime...

oh.. i almost forgot... and this is what kenny did.

i'm not sure who he reached on his rubber ducky phone, but he was really into the conversation... the baby bear in his left hand was napping. shhhh. (blurry picture, but i had to take it.)

blessings in the midst of sickies

let me just caveat this post- i KNOW there are far worse things than having two babies with high fevers for a week. but, that being said, this has been difficult for me, so i choose to blog about it. :) please don't think i'm begging for a pity party here. this has become my outlet this week as i have been cooped up like mad.

my sweet alyssa. with all that alyssa has going on right now in her life, and its ALOT, she has managed to find the time to bless my socks off. :) as i was reading a book called I Love You Through and Through to my kiddos yesterday (so cute, you should buy it), i spied a little elfyssa (airmail) leaving something on my door. and lo and behold, she had easter basketed me. there was a ballerina bunny, some things to eat that would feel nice on aislyn's throat, a monkey rattle thing for grayson, a little card, and for mommy? 4 yellow roses (of texas of course). i mean, i cried. isn't that silly? over a little easter basket? but man, it meant the world to me! and as IF that wasn't enough, my amazing friend rachael (wife to dr. steffen of the stitches) decides to bring us a chicken, a salad and some sweet potatoes for dinner! i mean, we so didn't deserve any of that, and there are families that deal with MUCH worse on a daily basis. but man its good to have friends that know you, and get you. and understand that even though everything will be fine, its hard in the moment. not to mention that rachael has a TON on her plate as well that i certainly couldn't deal with like she does! and THEN, last night, kenny's mom came over to sit with the kids after we put them down (thank you barbara!) so that we could go see my other rachael, my denver rachael, my jellyfish rachael, whose very presence is like, whats the phrase, honey to my soul? water to my soul? no. what is it? well, all i'm saying is that i don't get to see her nearly enough. and every time i do, it makes me smile. especially when she has a blueberry martini in a CUTE retro martini glass with a big ole raspberry floating in it, waiting for me (still not sure if i liked it or not, but the raspberry was good). so we got to get out of the house, if only for a moment. i took a shower, i put some smellies on (perfume, in my hair so grayson can't touch it. :)), i put real clothes on, makeup, it was nice. anyway, girls, thank you for making my day so much better. i cherish you ALOT.

at any rate, grayson woke up feverless (praise the Lord!) but aislyn did not. we got her to eat a bite of banana and a few bites of a waffle and a piece of bacon, which is the first thing she's eaten since thursday afternoon. so that's good! they both are still coughing so hard they gag, every 30 seconds, but i think thats normal with what they've got. and i would like to say that i can now quote The Jungle Book. "i wanna watch ungle book!" is a much repeated phrase during this particular virus. i need to be done writing now, the elephants are doing dawn patrol, and aislyn enjoys it when mommy pretends to be one. "hup two three four, keep it up, two three four..." i kinda enjoy it too.