No more dreaming of a White Christmas!

I can honestly say this is my 1st Christmas in 29 years that I was not able to leave the house. We got A LOT of snow. I don't know the exact amount but it's around 20 inches. The boys, Ross and I have been stuck at home since the 23rd. We spent Christmas together, but it sure didn't feel like it. Christmas Eve service was canceled, none of our family gatherings went as planned, so it was a very quiet Christmas. The plan is to have our family gatherings in the next couple weeks. Santa did make a stop at our house and brought some cool new toys.

The boys got a big mega playhut with a ball pit inside, a couple ball bouncers, a jack in the box for each of them, a car, toys for the bath tub and a small dinosaur set. Grandma and Grandpa B and Grandma and Grandpa K had gotten the boys a kitchen. It's a good thing it was left at our place. Ross was able to put it together Christmas Eve. It's another big hit at our house.

We took the boys out in the snow Christmas Eve. They loved it even though their little cheeks were bright red. Mommy needs to invest in some snow pants though!

Dear Santa...

For Christmas this year we would like you to give us warm temperatures, no wind, no ice, no snow, none of it!!!! It seems that the weather forecast is not looking very good for this holiday season. Our plans to travel to Milford to spend time with Grandma's, Grandpa's, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins may come to an abrupt stop. We hope the weather can hold off but at this point it's not looking like it.

I've been looking forward to the holiday celebrations this year as the boys are older. Last year Caleb was just a little squirt not evening sitting up yet and this year he's a independent, adorable almost 18 month old!!!!

If someone were to ask me what I really want for Christmas, the answer would be PATIENCE. I'm in dire need of it. The terrible two's have hit full force in our house.

Picture this...

Pulling into the garage at about 5:25 pm. I gather my purse, diaper bag, whatever else I need to take into the house. I open the door and grab Caleb. I then come around to the other side and open Isaac's door. I see that he's kicked his shoes off, is attempting to pull his socks off and his hat and mittens are somewhere in the van. SOOO I take Caleb in the house, set my stuff down, but I have to go shut the bathroom doors and turn lights on before I can attempt to go back into the garage to get Isaac. I get Isaac unbuckled and NOOOOO he doesn't want to be carried, but NOOOOOO he doesn't want his shoes on either. I carry him into the house kicking and yelling. He then WANTS BARNEY! I turn Barney on so I can heat up supper and low and behold it's not the right BARNEY! Do I have any clue which Barney he is referring to, nope!!!! So I let him throw his little tantrum and continue on with supper. Caleb is up and ready to eat trying to get in his booster. He waits patiently for his food to be served. I tell Mr. Isaac supper is ready. Nooooo he doesn't want supper. In most instances he has no clue what is even on his plate. He refuses to eat, literally, he screams, yells, kicks, if I do manage to get him to the table he ends up throwing it and then he wants a SNACK. Yep this is what I deal with over and over and over and over. Are the terrible two's over yet????

Okay so that was just a glimpse into my strong willed little boy's life. In reality, he's a loving, caring and good boy for the most part. Because he's so strong willed he likes to be in control and we're working on that with him. I thank God everyday for the 2 blessings he's given us. There are times I think back to before we had children and how much we prayed for a baby, how many tests, procedures and pregnancy tests we went through. It seems so unreal that not only did God bless us, he doubly blessed us. I love my sons more than anything and I wouldn't want it any other way.

So even though I tend to complain about the terrible two's, it's all part of parenting and I keep telling myself "this too shall pass".

Checkup with the ENT

Well it's time for another update it appears. Both Caleb and Isaac had a checkup with Dr. DeSautel in Sioux Falls. Caleb had tubes placed in his ears in April and Isaac had his done in June. Caleb's right tube is almost out but the left tube is still in. Now we just have to watch him and see how he does through the winter. We're hoping and praying for no infections otherwise he may need a 2nd set of tubes. Isaac's tubes are still in place but his adenoids are on the large side. We have to keep an eye on his adenoids and they may need to be removed at some point.

Both boys seem to be feeling a little under the weather this week. Caleb has been rubbing his ear so I am really hoping it's just sinus irritation and not an infection. Isaac's voice is quite hoarse and he's not eating well so I am thinking his tonsils/adenoids may be bothering him.

It's amazing to think that Christmas is just around the corner. Next week will be a busy week for sure. We have many Christmas gatherings to attend but it will be fun too. I can't wait for the boys to get their new gifts. They are going to have a blast with all their new toys. Both the boys know who Santa is but they don't get the concept yet so we're not pushing the Santa gifts this year.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas. We'll update again after the holidays with pictures!

Making this blog private!

Hello all,

I'm not sure who reads our blog anymore, but those of you that are still interested in keeping up with our family, please leave a comment or feel free to contact me via email or facebook. I've had quite a few spamming comments lately so I feel it's time to make this blog private. I intend to set it up with a password so that you are still able to access it.

I'll probably make the switch the beginning of January to allow people enough time to send me a message letting me know they want to keep up with the blog!!!

Thanks for understanding!!!! Can't wait to hear from all of you.

~Amber

Can Daddy's be trusted?

I thought I'd share a little story with you from a couple weeks ago. As most of you know Ross has been in the field trying to get the combining done. Well because I've been the sole caregiver of the boys he decided to let me sleep in on a Saturday morning. It sure didn't go as planned. First Ross got up with Caleb around 6:00. Then around 7:00 Isaac was awake. It took Ross 10-15 minutes for Ross to finally come get Isaac after I'm wide awake from listening to him fuss on the monitor (remember I'm supposed to be sleeping). It wasn't 10 minutes later and I hear what sounds like a herd of elephants coming up the stairs and running going on. The boys were running in and out of bedrooms doing who knows what. Pretty soon I hear Ross coming up the stairs and he rounds them up and takes them back down as I hear him say "Mommy is sleeping", really, who could sleep through that. Okay so it's nearing 7:30 and I'm just about ready to drift off to sleep when I hear laughter, yelling, every noise imaginable coming from downstairs. That's it, sleep time is over, might as well get up.

Soooo, I head downstairs and Ross is doing what he does best, surfing the Internet looking at tractors and talking about farming. I asking Ross where the boys were. His response... "I don't know, aren't they in the other room playing". Nope nothing to be seen. So I look down the hall and see my bathroom door is closed and the light is on and it is very quiet. I never like those 3 statements together; door closed, light on, quiet. I was right. So I open the door and here the boys are slipping and sliding all over the bathroom floor. It appears that one of them got a hold of my 36 oz. bottle of liquid soap I had used the night before and left sitting on the tub. They dumped it all over the floor in the tub, on the counters, everywhere. They were still in their footed pj's so lets just say it was a sight to be seen. Oh but Ross' response when I am oh so happy about cleaning the bathroom at 8:00 am, "it's just soap". Yeah uh huh just soap!

So me being angry at Ross didn't last long because the look on the boys face was priceless!!! Just another story to prove that Mommy's are never off duty!

Trick or Treat

The boys enjoyed their Halloween for the most part. I didn't take the pictures on Halloween. Isaac's were taken on his birthday and it was a nice day for pictures. Caleb's was taken when he was just coming down with H1N1 so he wasn't feeling 100% but at least they turned out cute. We went to Milford to see my parents and took the boys to about 7 houses. Many of my parents friends haven't seen the boys in quite a long time so I thought it was the perfect opportunity. It wasn't too cold out either which was nice. Isaac caught on real fast that if he held his bucket out he got a prize. We tried to get him to say "trick or treat" but it always ended up with him just saying "treat" at the door. Go figure.

Here's the cutest little Elmo and puppy dog I've ever seen.

Professional Photos

We had professional photos done a few weeks ago. They turned out so great. We had to do outdoor because Isaac will not sit in a studio as it freaks him out. It's hard to get good shots of Isaac as he is on the go all the time. The hardest thing is getting the boys together but I am so happy she got some of them as well.

Melia Winter Photography

Isaac's birthday party

We had Isaac's birthday party on October 18th. We had 3 sets of Grandparents, 1 uncle and 2 cousins over. It was a good time. We had tacos and nachos and Elmo cake and icecream for dessert. I'm not a cake decorator so Ross Mom made the cake and my Mom decorated it. I think it turned out great. Isaac did not like it when we put candles in the cake though.

Here's some photos from the day!

Birthday, sickness, MRI, oh my!

First of all I wanted to make a special post to my little man Isaac. Things have been crazy in our house and I haven't been able to make a special post to my newly "2 year old". Isaac's birthday was on October 20th and we had his party on October 18th. He is such a big boy. He's now in the 2 year room at daycare, he's talking more, learning more and making us laugh each and every day. He's a strong willed little boy but he's also one of the most loving little boys I know. We have not had any contact from Isaac's birthmom but we continue to receive emails from his birthdad. It still feels like yesterday we got the call to go pick up our son.

Sickness has hit our house pretty good this past month. Both Ross and I have experienced the stomach flu on 2 different occassions. Isaac had a little bug on his birthday, poor boy. He was only running a low fever but it was obvious he didn't feel well. At least he was back to himself in about 3 or 4 days. However, Caleb was hit hard. He came down with a fever last Thursday and it only progressed from there. Caleb did have H1N1 and experienced very high fevers. He reached 103.7 and I almost called the hospital but we waited it out a little longer. We alternated Tylenol and Motrin every 4 hours, pushed fluids and tried to keep him as comfortable as possible. His fever finally broke on Monday but his cough and congestion got much worse. We took him to the doctor and he has sinus infection/bronchitis. He's on antibiotics and we hope it will knock everything out.

Isaac had an MRI done on October 23rd. We've been monitoring his head size since birth and at 9 months it seemed to have stopped growing. We honestly didn't believe anything was wrong because he is developmentally on track with the exception of a MINOR speech delay. No one is real worried with the speech because some kids just talk later than others and he's a boy. A busy boy in fact. Well we decided to have an MRI just to put our mind at ease and rule anything else out. We have an appointment with the neurologist on Friday, but our primary doctor received the results and gave those to us. He did not see anything out of the ordinary and said everything looked fine. We're just lead to believe Isaac is going to be a little guy just like his birthmom.

I have some pictures from Isaac's party but I will upload those later and create a new post for that. Cousin Caden and Aunt Gina and Uncle Brad couldn't make it to the party so hopefully we'll have them over soon and can get some pictures.

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!

This weather has been crazy the last week or so. Today it was down right chilly. It's a good thing I took the boys outside earlier last week on a decent day to get pictures in their Halloween shirts. Now to find a nice day to take their pictures in their costumes. Maybe I'll do indoor this year, who knows.

The boys are growing as usual. Isaac is now 34 1/4 inches long and Caleb is 31 1/2. They are wearing basically the same size clothing so in a way that's a good thing. We are gearing up for Isaac's birthday party on Sunday. My baby is going to be TWO just ask him!!!

We've been struggling to find out what is going on with Caleb. For the past 2 1/2 weeks he's been waking up every morning around 3:00 am and itching like crazy. We had switched to cheaper detergent and that's when I noticed some red blotches on his leg. It soon transferred to both legs, both arms, on his belly and over his rib cage. We were pretty certain it was a case of eczema as he had it as baby but nothing was curing it. We've been doing liquid benadryl 3 times a day, benadryl cream, eucerin cream 2 times a day and Tylenol at night. I finally took him in and now we think he's just having an allergic reaction to something but not sure what. I've rewashed EVERYTHING and have even gone and bought more dreft (I thought we were done with that months ago). The doctor also said he has a sinus infection so he's on zithromax and prednisone. He actually slept until 6:40 this morning so I hope we're on the mend now. Poor thing itches something fierce!

Here's a bunch of pictures over the past month. Enjoy!

Mommy & Caleb- self portrait


Cool shades!


Bye-bye Mommy!


Enjoying a fall day


Watching the airplane!


Playing in the leaves


Cool dude Caleb!


Check out my ride!


Anyone want to catch a ride with me?


Playing in Grandma's pumpkin patch


Brrrr...cold already!


Nice fall day


Boys and their pumpkins

Fall is here

It sure has been cold and rainy out the last week or so. I'm really hoping we have another nice day so I can get some pictures of the boys in the leaves in their Halloween shirts. I have Caleb's Halloween costume and Isaac's is on the way. I can't wait to get some pictures of them! They are too cute.

We've been battling sickness in the house again. We think both boys had a touch of the flu followed by myself and Ross. I've also been dealing with some IBS trouble and have had many tests done in the last few weeks to rule out other issues. Thankfully things are getting back to normal and I don't need a colonoscopy at least not right now. Now my sinuses are bothering me and Ross too. It is starting early. Thankfully we haven't had any ear infections to deal with for either Isaac or Caleb. Caleb has had a bad case of eczema so we're trying to get that cleared up.

We had family pictures, 2 year and 15 month pictures done a little over a week ago. I am anxious to see how they turned out.

I can't believe Isaac is almost 2. Time sure does fly. Isaac is growing fast and learning more every single day. His communication is coming around and the tantrums have decreased a little bit.

No pictures to post this time, but I hope to get some up real soon!

It's only September...

It's only September and we've had 2 pretty sick boys these past couple weeks. Isaac came down with bronchitis the last weekend in August. He ran pretty high temps around 103 for a few days, poor thing just layed on the couch with me and wouldn't eat a single thing in 2 days. I took him to the doctor and we got him a shot since he's not too good at taking medications. He's finally back to himself, eating and sleeping well again. Last week I think I got a call from daycare every single day that Caleb was there. He was running lower temps around 100 or 101 so I figured he had what Isaac had. Our doctor called in a prescription without having to take him in. Thursday he started getting worse and was have difficulty breathing well and had a hoarse voice and raspy cough. I received a call on Friday from daycare that he was wheezing quite a bit. I talked to our doctor and was instructed to watch him and if it got worse to bring him in. Saturday morning it was much worse. After many many tests it was proven that he had croup. I knew that going into the office but apparently they think they need to run all these other tests to verify. Anyway they sent us on our way with a nebulizer machine and prednisone. Thank goodness Caleb did so well at taking the neb treatments and we avoided a stay at the hospital. He's back to himself.

Sunday was the 1st day Caleb was feeling up to playing so we took the boys to the park and they had a blast. Caleb loves to do whatever big brother does which included the big twisty slide. I was nervous but he did just fine. Labor Day we spent in Milford with Grandma and Grandpa B and went to an auction too.

Here's a few pictures from our day at the park. I love the expression on Caleb's face...priceless!

Whoa...what a ride Isaac

Little peanut on the tire!

Teeter totter!

Playing on the choo-choo!!!

So serious Caleb!

Little bubsee!!!!

Wheeee...lets do that again!