They're ONE

Last Monday my little babies turned 1! What a bitter-sweet event! My friend made some onesies with a 1 on them so I put the boys in those. They looked oh so yummy!! We had a small celebration with a few presents and cupcakes. They're growing so big and fast. Neither one has any real interest in trying to walk yet, but I'm okay with that. I'm not sure what their measurements are, their dr appointment isn't until Jan 4th so when I find out I'll post it. We love our boys and we're so glad they're in our family! They bring a lot of joy!

*I realize Aidan's hair is out of control, but Ben is going to cut it before he leaves.

Thanksgiving and Ben's 29th birthday

Ain't he just the handsomest!!

So this Thanksgiving was a little different than normal. All of us were sick so we stayed home and had our own mini Thanksgiving. We cooked up a Turkey breast and all the regular Thanksgiving sides. It was good and fun to be together as a family. *As we were eating dinner we made Lilli try the green bean casserole. She didn't like it and puked it all up. That was the end of our Thanksgiving meal!

November 29th was Ben's 29th birthday. We had sloppy joes (cause that's what he wanted) and red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting (cause that's what he wanted). I got him some new shoes and the USA soccer "Don't Tread on me" shirt. Once again, it was a small celebration because we were all sick, but it was still fun. We love you, Ben! We're so proud of you and all that you do for our family! You're a wonderful husband and father and we're going to miss you very much!

*Update

Aidan seems to be doing a little better. Ben said he felt warm today so once again we kept him home from church. I think he's fine, but just in case. We're probably being paranoid. The rest of the family is doing really well though. Yea!

911 and another ER visit(s)

These last couple of days have been quite the emotional roller coaster for our family. As you've read in previous posts, we've been sick for quite a while. All of us. Well, this last Sunday night it hit hard. Both boys had had fevers off and on for about 2-3 days so when I laid them down that night, I gave both some Tylenol. Well, around 10:00pm, both Ben and I heard a weird noise. I can't even explain it or even mimic what the sound was. I got a feeling of dread and I knew something was wrong. I made Ben come and check on the boys with me because I was so scared. I went in to check on the boys and saw that Alex was fine in his crib and then checked on Aidan. When I looked in, I noticed he was convulsing, like he was throwing up. But nothing was coming out and I noticed that his eyes were open and rolled back. I freaked out, picked him up and he was dead weight, non-responsive. I freaked out and yelled to Ben that something was wrong. I pretty much threw Aidan at Ben and flew down the stairs to call 911. I ran back upstairs and Ben ran to get our neighbor to give Aidan a blessing. I was freaking out. The 911 dispatch kept telling me to calm down, it was hard I was shaking so badly. Aaron and Ben finally came back and they gave him a blessing while the dispatch was telling me how to help. The firefighters, EMT's and police officers all came and told us that he had had a febrile seizure. Aidan's body temp went up too fast and that was his bodies way of reacting to the fever. We took him to the ER and they monitored him for a while and then released us. His fever had gone down. They told us that the chances of him having another seizure in the next 6 months will go up by about 50%. Anyway, they told us to keep giving him medicine every 4 hours. So we did. He was find all day Monday and took his temp before he went to bed. It was at 101 so I gave him some med and laid him down. After the previous incident, my biggest fear was of him having another seizure so I went up to check on him again and he felt really warm. Again. So I brought him down to sleep with us. Probably not the best idea because my body heat raised his body temp. His temp got up to 105. We gave him some more meds and his temp went down to 103. I laid him down in the pack-n-play and checked his temp at around 7am. It was at 104, so we took him back to the ER. They got us right in and basically the diagnosis was, he just has a virus and there's nothing they can do for him but keep his fever down. Awesome! I've been an emotional wreck and am quite paranoid. But I've got a new appreciation for my family! I love them and I KNOW that the Spirit warned us that night to go check on the boys. I know it with all my heart! There was no way I could have ignored the feeling I had and the promptings. Aidan will be okay. No permanent damage happened but it was a very scary experience and I hope it NEVER happens again! I'm grateful for the prayers and help given by our friends and family. I'm grateful for a husband and friend who live their lives worthily to hold the priesthood and be able to use it whenever/wherever!

In other news, Ben will be leaving sooner than we thought and will be gone for about 9 months. We won't be able to see him at all during that time, unless we can visit him in Mississippi. So I plan on staying with my parents for about 4 months. We just found all this out last week!

Like I said before, I have a new appreciation for my little family. I love them so much! And we are trying to take advantage of all the time we have left to spend together! All these happenings really put things into perspective!

ER Visit

Last Wednesday, my poor little Aidan fell off the chair. Actually, I had him sitting in his Bumbo seat (it has a tray for feeding) up on our higher-than-average dining room chairs. I left the room for not even a second and he fell off the chair.......still in his Bumbo and hit his face on the tray. WORST MOTHER OF THE YEAR AWARD RIGHT HERE!!! I come in to the dining room to see him laying on his stomach, in the Bumbo, with blood EVERYWHERE! Not to mention, he was screaming at the top of his lungs! I panicked! I picked him up, ripped him out of the Bumbo, rushed him in to the bathroom to stop the bleeding, and cuddled him. The cut didn't look that deep and I was debating on if I should even take him to the dr/ER. I called my neighbor and she rushed over and told me I should take him in just in case. Then I called Ben at work to see what he thought I should do. He told me the same thing. Because I didn't know how deep the cut was, I thought I would just take him in to the clinic that way I wouldn't have to wait forever (like I thought I would in the ER). There wasn't an opening until 11:30am (the accident happened a little before 9am). When the dr was finally able to see us, she cleaned out the wound and found that the cut went ALL THE WAY THROUGH! She sent us down to the oral surgeon but they couldn't really do anything until later when they could sedate Aidan to do the stitching. So the oral surgeon took me up to the ER to start the process. Once we were there, we waited 5 minutes then the ER dr told me he could have the stitches done in 5 minutes. 5 minutes as opposed to 3 hours, I told him to just do it. We wrapped Aidan tight in a sheet so he couldn't move and they stitched him up. He screamed the whole time, but now, after wasting so much time, I wish I had just gone in to the ER first. Apparently, with an open wound, they get you in pretty quickly so there's no chance of any infections. The first dr I saw was pretty upset that they didn't get us in to see her quicker. So now I know that when there's an open like that, I'll take my kids to the ER! And I'm sure, with two boys, this won't be the first time!

Aidan will have a battle wound (which I feel horrible about). It's healing great and they took the stitches out yesterday. Now, we're all fighting the cold/ear infections/runny noses/fevers. Wish us luck!

Giveaways

There's a giveaway over at Shey B's blog. Check it out. The sponsor is The Vintage Pearl and they've got some beautiful pieces. You could be a winner!

There's another giveaway at V and Co. The sponsor is Shey B and she's giving away one of her cute camera straps.

11 months old

Today my boys are 11 months old! I can't believe how quickly time has flown. They are doing so many things and are constantly changing every day. Yesterday I put them down for their nap and they just kept talking and laughing. I went in to their room and they were both standing up in their cribs facing each other chattin' away. They are pulling themselves up on stuff and are constantly finding things to get in to, favorite being the dog's water (Yuck!). They both love love love Lilli. She makes them laugh (and cry) all the time. They fight over toys. They always want what the other one has. They're both now eating regular food. Yea! No more spending money on pureed stuff. They both can say mama, but only say it when they really want me. They're still nursing, but that's about to change here in a month! WOO HOO!

Alex loves to drink out of a cup, a regular cup. He thinks he's pretty cool. He's constantly talking gibberish and has decided to throw tantrums. He still gets up in the middle of the night, just once though. He weighs a little over 18 lbs and is 27.5 inches long. He is now biting and sometimes will bite his brother if Aidan's bugging him. He has 6 teeth (4 top, 2 bottom), and he's getting more! He has to be the one to put food in his mouth. If I try to do it he just spits it out or plays with it in his mouth. He's all smiles!!! He smiles at everyone and is very social. He's exactly how Lilli was.

Aidan is my more sensitive guy. When he was sick he just wanted to be held and cuddled. Alex was constantly on the go. It didn't matter that he was sick. Aidan doesn't like to get his hands dirty. Too much anyway. He likes us to feed him, as opposed to him feeding himself. He's a fireball when he wants to be and is more of the whiner. He weighs a little over 15.5 lbs and is 27.75 inches long. He has 4 teeth but is getting 2 more up top. His smile and laugh crack me up.

I love both my boys and love how they have such different personalities and looks. They're the cutest boys and our family wouldn't be the same without them. They really bring a lot of joy to our family!

Halloween 2009

The kids, this was taken AFTER trick-or-treating. They were hungry and grumpy!

The lazy bum stroller riders (Cami was a skeleton, the boys, Jonas was the Mad Hatter)!

Matthew (as Fred), Lilli, Emma (as Alice), and Abby (as the Queen of Hearts). My friend Megan made Emma and Abby's costumes. Yea! She's super talented!

Lilli and her friend Matthew dressed as Fred

Alex

Aidan

Lilli and her friend Emma dressed as Alice

This Halloween Lilli wanted to be Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo. She's been on a Scooby-Doo kick and that's what she wanted to be. We got back from a long vacation Friday and I had all day Saturday to make her costume. It really wasn't that hard, but took a while to make. She looked pretty cute! The boys were ninjas. They looked cute too! The costumes were $5 that I got last year. Once again we went with our good friend the Gernat's and Pilkington's. It was great and Lilli got quite a lot of candy. Today we made the mistake of letting her eat a bunch and she had a major sugar high and then a major sugar crash and burn. She was so grumpy and went to bed at 7pm. Not doing that again!

Oh and Aidan is now sick with a fever! So we'll be dealing with that! What a great couple days so far. I need a vacation!!!!!! Oh wait............

Disney World*

This last week we went down to Florida and spent some time at Disney World. We had so much fun! We were able to get a 2 bedroom condo thru our timeshare and thought, we have all this room let's invite our good friends the Winn's.........so we did! And we're so glad we did! They are awesome! We had a blast! And guess what! We're STILL friends, after spending all that time together!! hahahaha No, for real, it was a lot of fun! I'll just highlight our faves.

Day 1, Friday Oct 23: We drove down to Orlando. It's a long drive but we made it to the resort just in time for dinner. So we ordered pizza and let the kids go swimming. The resort was awesome! Very kid friendly with pirate-themed pools and many activities (which we didn't do because hello, we went to Disney World).

Day 2, Sat Oct 24: Went to Animal Kingdom. Very cool. It was like a big zoo, but cooler. We went on this safari ride that was an up-close type ride. We got to see the animals "in their own habitat." Then we went to the musical "Finding Nemo." It was really cute. At first, we were a little wigged out with how it was performed, but it grew on me. We went on all kinds of rides and went to a place where the kids could dig for dinosaur bones. Cari was awesome and watched all the kids while me and the guys (Ben and Jess) went on the Everest ride. It was awesome!! One of my favorite roller coasters!

Day 3, Sun Oct 25: Chilled. Went to church (Cari's awesome like that and found us a church to go to). Later we went to the Orlando temple and walked around the grounds. Beautiful! *I forgot to write one of Lilli's silly moments. There was a back door to the temple and Lilli ran up to it, started banging on the door yelling, "Jesus! Let me in!!" It was too cute!

Day 4, Mon Oct 26: Went to the water park Typhoon Lagoon. Awesome Awesome Awesome! There was a huge pool that had big waves. There were tons of little pools for the boys to play in and a little mini tube ride for Lilli (which she loved). We went on the lazy river and shared a big bucket of ice cream (literally) with the Winn's. It was disgustingly yummy! Ben and I switched off with Jess and Cari watching kids while we rode on some fun tube rides. At the end of the day, Cari (in all her awesomness) watched the kids once again, while me and the boys rode on the water slides. It was a long day, and both Ben and I were fried, but it was fun!

Day 5, Tue Oct 27: My Birthday! And to celebrate, got up at 6am to hit our 7:15am reservations at Chef Mickey's for a character dining experience! Honestly, it was worth it to see Lilli's reaction to all the characters. She didn't even eat she was too excited. I would recommend doing it once, but that's it. This was our Magic Kingdom day and probably our favorite. I loved that we ALL 5 got to ride on most of the rides. Both Ben and I had the attitude that we were there for Lilli so we didn't get to ride any of the big rides. I'm okay with that. It was fun to watch her reaction to everything. Her favorite part was seeing all the characters. She got really shy around them (which is rare) but she would love on them for a while. It was a really looooong day, but so much fun!!! Later, the Winn's were awesome and sent Ben and I out to dinner for my bday. I was so exhausted so we didn't do all that we had planned, but it was fun to just go out, just the two of us. Thanks Winn's!

Day 6, Wed Oct 28: Went to Sea World. Ben and I had both been there before. Twice. So maybe that's why we both felt it was a wasted day, but it was. Lilli wasn't really interested in anything there. We went to a couple of shows and then left. It was a little disappointing.

Day 7, Thur Oct 29: Went to Hollywood Studios. This day was a little more relaxing. Lilli at this point was so exhausted (And had a fever) so we didn't do a whole lot. We went to Playhouse Disney Live and The Little Mermaid show (which was pretty cool), and then went and ate at Pizza Planet (from Toy Story). We let Lilli play some arcade games then she and Ben went to the Muppet 3D show. We watched the parade and then Lilli wanted to go back "home." She went swimming later and then it off to bed.

Day 8, Fri Oct 30: Drove home. We were going to stay but Lilli was sick and we were all so exhausted. It was a great drive home. We almost ran out of gas and almost got in a car wreck, but they were "almosts" so it was good.

We had tons of fun and I'm so glad we did this before Ben leaves. I hope Lilli will remember this for a long time. We're grateful for good friends that we could spend so much time together and still like each other in the end. Thanks Winn's for a great, fun time!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Kids

So my little man Alex has been sick sick sick! It all started last Sunday when we were in church. He was so cranky and started feeling really warm. I took the boys home while Ben stayed. Alex had a temp of 102.4 and it only got higher. Poor little guy! His eyes were red and he just slept for the next 4 days. It was awful! And all he wanted to do was sleep and nurse! Yes I'm still nursing! And I was FINALLY feeling like I had a good routine going and then it got all out of whack! So now we're starting all over. He's lost about .5 a pound in the last week because he doesn't want to eat, though today was a good day. He actually ate some rice cereal and fruit. And I'm back down to nursing 4-5 times a day. Nights are still a bummer though. He (Alex) is getting up 2-3 times a night. YES STILL!!! It's quite frustrating but I know it's because he's not getting enough to eat during the day. Hopefully tonight is better! We'll see. He's feeling better though and he's back to his happy self. He really is such a happy kid! They all are! I really am blessed!

Both my boys have started actually crawling, instead of rolling or army crawling. It's been fun watching them do new things! I love it! The just turned 10 months old and are constantly learning new things. They starting to pull themselves on stuff. It's been a little frustrating because I'll lay them down for naps and they'll pull themselves up and can't get back down so they'll cry until I come and help them down. Alex says "dada" whenever he sees Ben. It's just too cute. And Aidan has started saying "mama." It makes my heart melt! They are just too darn cute!

Lilli is getting big too. Our primary program was yesterday and Lilli wanted to go up and sing with the kids so bad! She was mad when I told her she couldn't go up there. Then I told her she could go next year and I just stopped. She'll be in Sunbeams starting January!! Crazy!! She'll be going to Preschool next year. She's so excited! And so am I!! She's just so social and so smart. She needs to go. I need her to go. She loves to watch Scooby-Doo on Netflix and now wants to be Daphne Blake for Halloween. I'm going to make her a purple dress and make her look like Daphne. We'll see how it goes. I'll be sure to take pictures. Like I said she's just too smart! We were at Sam's Club and this lady ran past us in the parking lot and Lilli turns to me and says, "Whoa! She's a good runner!" That same day, Aidan had taken something from her and she looks at him and says, "Hey! What's the big idea!" She's hilarious!

Ben has a new hobby of running 5K's and 10K's. It's fun having him come home excited and so proud. He really enjoys it and I'm so proud of him.

I'll post some pics hopefully tomorrow. We leave Friday for Disney World/Sea World and we'll be gone for a week. I'm so excited. I think I'm most excited to see Lilli's reaction to everything. Like I said, we'll be there for a week and will have plenty to post about. Until then (after I post pictures tomorrow for my sister Bre)..........

Caught up

I think I'm all caught up now. We've been pretty busy and I just haven't had time to blog. A little bit about what we're doing: Aidan is crawling. Alex is still doing the army crawl. I'm down to nursing them 4 times a day (instead of 8). It's awesome! Aidan only eats table food, no baby food. Alex eats table food if he feeds it to himself, otherwise he eats baby food (fruits) and cereal. I can't believe they're almost 10 months! To me they're still my babies. I can't wait though. It's hard but I know it'll get easier. They had their 9 month appointment last week and Aidan weighed 15 lbs 11 oz and Alex weighed 17 lbs 2 oz. And Aidan is almost 3 inches longer than Alex. They're getting big!

Lilli is still her crazy, socialite self. The other day I told her to chill and she said, "Don't tell me to chill, Mom. I'm not a raindrop!" And we were going into the Y and the guy at the desk was in a motorized wheelchair. When she saw it she yelled to him, "Cool chair!" She really is a character and keeps us on our toes!

I'm keeping busy chasing kids, cleaning house, and doing some sewing. I really enjoy sewing and may have found a new hobby. I love making new things and watching people enjoy them. It's fun!

Ben is doing great at his job. He's working with the fitness program here and is doing well. We're changing career fields and he will be flying. Which means more deploying but more places for us to move to. The choices are endless (kind of). We're hoping to go to England. Ben deploys soon and its going to stink. I'm not sure what I'll do. It doesn't look like we'll be moving anytime soon (knock on wood) so I'll probably stay at my parents' house for a few months. We'll see. We're excited for the changes that will come our way.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I think I already blogged about this so I'm sorry for the repeat. We have a few more trips to blog about so until then......

Air Force Half Marathon

Our family before the race. Yes! It really was THAT cold!

Ben and Lills before the race

Greg (Ben's running partner) and Ben before the race

The half marathoners from Ben's squadron before the race

Coming to the finish line

Here's Ben with his medal and Lilli

In the middle of September we made the looooooooooooooooong drive up to Dayton, OH for Ben to run in the Air Force Marathon. It was a quite a trip, but so fun. We left on a Thursday and drove to Knoxville, TN. It was gorgeous!! We drove through the Smoky Mountains. They are definitely different from the Rockies. There are tons of trees and hardly any Evergreens. It was so beautiful! I would love to go up there again. Friday we got up and drove the rest of the way to Dayton. We got there and immediately had to go get Ben's packet. There were so many people and vendors. It was crazy! We met up with some friends at the Olive Garden for a carb fest and then went to our motel. I didn't sleep well that night. I think I was nervous for Ben and knew we had to get up early (5:30 am early). But we made it. They started the 10K, then the full marathon, and we met up with Ben before the half marathon. It was so cold! I had us all bundled up with sweaters and hats. I think I've turned in to a woos since being here in Georgia. Anyway, they had F-16's fly-by. Many those things are loud. I'm sitting there covering my ears not even thinking about my kids. It was loud, but really cool. They started the race and Ben was off. We then had 1.5 hours to just sit and wait. We waited around the finish line cheering everyone on. I got chills and a little emotional seeing how motivated people are. I saw a blind man being led by a friend. I saw people in wheelchairs being pushed by helpers. It was amazing! Then we saw Ben and his buds coming and we cheered them on. What an accomplishment! I'm so proud of Ben! It was awesome! He finished in 2:10:00 (2hours and about 10 minutes).

We left right after the race, Ben showered, then we drove back to Knoxville. We were going to stop in Gatlinburg but by then we all just wanted to get home. The next day we drove only 3 hours to Greenville to visit the Meagher's. It was so fun to see them and they spoiled us with steak and corn for dinner and cookies and ice cream for dessert. It was so good to see them. The next we headed back for home. It was so good to be home after driving for 5 days straight. But it was well worth it!

Charleston, SC

Supposed to be a haunted path (this was on our tour)

We had to cross this huge bridge and anyone who knows me well knows I HATE bridges over water! I was white knuckling it the whole way!

This goat was letting Lilli pet him......and then he tried head butting her (this was while we were waiting for our carriage tour)

The boys in the motel, Alex kept trying to put the blanket over Aidan's head

Lilli sprayed Aidan and I with water just as Ben took this picture

Over Labor Day weekend we decided to take a last minute trip to Charleston. It's only 3 hours away and so worth it! I loved Savannah but there's just something about Charleston. It's beautiful and CLEAN. Savannah felt dirty. Anyway, we stayed about 1 mile from downtown. I'm so glad we did. When we first got there, it was later and we ate at a seafood restaurant. It took us about a half hour to find a parking spot but once we did, we were not moving. After we ate we went to the city park by the bay. There was a fountain that was pretty cool and we decided to just let Lilli get wet and play. She had a lot of fun! Then we went to the docks and watched for dolphins. We saw a few but they were just skimming out of the water. It was a little disappointing because Lilli couldn't see them. She still had fun though. She's such a social jibber jabberer (probably not a word but you get the point). Most of the time it drives me crazy, but I'm not going to stop her. So she was talking to all the people around us. It was getting pretty late at this point so we headed back to our motel and Ben took Lilli swimming in the pool while I put the boys to bed.

The next day we got up and headed out later than I'd have liked. Anyway, we ate at a little whole in the wall place that was on Rachel Ray's $40 a day. It was yummy!!!! I got smoked salmon eggs benedict and Ben got sweet potato pancakes with pecan butter and maple syrup. I liked Ben's more than mine. It was called Joseph's and its right downtown. Prices are very reasonable and the food was so delicious! I highly recommend it if you're ever in Charleston. After breakfast I really wanted to take a carriage tour. I was left a little disappointed, because I wanted to see EVERYTHING. I guess Charleston has laws allowing only so many carriages out at one time and gives them different routes. It was was fun to do once. I wouldn't do it again. Though they do give haunted tours and I'd really like to do that once before we leave. After our tour we went to Market Street and saw all kinds of vendors. Then it was off to the beach. We only went because we told Lilli we would. Be this time it was almost 5pm and both Ben and I were so tired, along with the kids. They all fell asleep on our 30 minute drive there. We were at the beach for MAYBE 30 minutes then we were out of there. There were so many people and I didn't even get in.

We had such a good time and I'm hoping just Ben and I can go when he gets back from deployment. I think I would enjoy it a little more. Okay........A LOT MORE! But it was a fun family vacation and we'll have those memories!

Family Pictures

I decided to take advantage of the fact that my sister takes pictures so while we were in Wyoming I had her take ours. She does a really great job. Obviously! The quality of the pics aren't that great on here, but hopefully she can get more edited and we can get some copies (hint hint Bre!). Anyway, I love them! There weren't a whole lot of pictures where all three kids were looking at the camera. We had a heck of a time getting Lilli to look, let alone the boys. They were all cranky and tired and hungry by the end. But it was fun! Thanks Bre!