Where is the warm weather

It sure has been cold here this last week or so. It does not feel like May. May 2nd we went over to cousin Caden's to celebrate his 6th birthday. Isaac and Caleb love cousin Caden and they could hardly wait to see him when we told them where we were going. Caden is a good cousin and plays very well with the boys. We enjoyed spending time with him, his parents, his grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa K and Uncle Nolan. We had tacos for dinner and cake and icecream for dessert.

Mother's Day was Sunday and a good day for the most part. Daddy let me sleep in until 8:00 which was nice. When I went downstairs the boys greeted me as usual. Caleb kept saying to me "Mommy fowers". The boys and Daddy got me a dozen red roses and a nice card. It was so sweet. I was sitting on the couch with Caleb on my lap and then I got another (not so great) present...he puked all over me. We got him all cleaned up (and me too) and he seemed fine. He was playing with Isaac and acting normal. I figured it might be either an ear infection or sinus infection as he's thrown up from those in the past. We went to church as normal and then out to eat for dinner which was nice. Caleb didn't eat much so he had a lot of 7 up and that was it. It was midnight and he threw up again. Very strange and I still did not suspect the flu. I took the boys to daycare on Monday and Caleb went to the doctor. His ears were fine but he does have a lot of drainage so the doctor put him in zithromax for a sinus infection. Monday at 3:30 daycare called and said Caleb threw up again. Monday night is when the flu hit full force and finally ended at 7 am Tuesday morning. The saddest thing is watching your little one throw up when there's nothing left to throw up :-( So now the rest of us are just hoping and praying we don't get the flu. We also hope it warms up and we don't have to deal with any sickness for quite some time.

Here's a few pictures I took over the past couple weeks. We didn't get a Mother's Day picture because Caleb wasn't feeling well so we'll get that done one of these days.



Boys watching Daddy grind feed


Isaac trying out Cousin Caden's drum set

Yep he's a good drummer!


The boys and Sam greeting Daddy!


Silly faces after bath


The boys and Caden waiting for cake


Caleb sitting on Isaac's lap per Isaac's request!

Boys will be boys

I swear we've reached this time in Isaac's life where he has something interesting or funny to be told each week. Last Monday I picked the boys up from daycare. It was a rainy day and had rained quite a bit the day before so going outside did not happen that day. Anyway, I picked Isaac up and his jeans were soaking wet. Well come to find out Isaac and his friend decided to go outside by themselves and slide down the slide which included a big puddle at the end of the slide. Yep that's my boy!

Grandma K gave the boys haircuts and they sure are cute. Caleb really looks grown up now with his haircut. We've been spending more time outside after work/daycare so that's always nice. However, I usually do have to put up with a few meltdowns because they want to go for a tractor ride. I guess Mommy's wagon rides just don't cut it some days. Its times like these I wish we had one of those buggy's to put behind the bike. Right now we only have the little carrier behind or bikes so I can only take one at a time.

It's hard to believe that Caleb will be 2 in 2 short months. Isaac is 2 1/2 and really growing up. All this time he's been uninterested in potty training but he's beginning to show some interest. He's sat on the potty at home a couple times and one time he did it without me even asking. That's a huge step for him in my book. He hasn't ever gone on the potty but he'll do it in his own time.

Friday night we took away the beloved paci or ni-ni. I was really anticipating the worst, some sort of drawn out temper tantrum for hours on end from Isaac. He really surprised me. They both surprised me. For about 3 days I told the boys that the Paci fairy would be coming to our house to take all of their paci's to the babies at daycare. I told them that the Paci Fairy would leave them a new toy for being such big boys. Well Caleb wanted the toy NOW and Isaac wanted "no paci fairy". So Friday rolled around and I told them to kiss their paci's goodbye that morning. Caleb got his at nap time at daycare but Isaac hasn't had his at naptime for 6+ months. I hid all the paci's and left their new toys on the table. When they got home they were so excited. They each got a barn with a tractor, fencing and animals. It's been a big hit. I also bought a teddy bear making kit for them and we made their teddy bears before bed. Teddy has turned into "night time bear" for each of them so I think that helped. Isaac did good and cried about 5 minutes and slept the rest of the night. Nights have gone pretty good and we don't hear much out of either of them. They've only asked for the paci or ni-ni a couple of times. Naps at home didn't happen as we were out and about all weekend. Naps didn't even exist on Saturday until about 6 pm after Caleb had a screaming fit and Isaac was exhausted. Now that they're back at daycare I am hoping they'll be back to their routine.

Here's a few pictures I took of the boys with my new camera.

Hessel Ray Roorda

I haven't updated the blog in a few weeks and honestly the only thing I could think about was my good friend Hess. I work for an attorney's office. We had 2 attorneys and I worked for Hess doing probate, real estate, wills, etc. April 12th we received a phone call that Hess passed away unexpectedly. We don't know the cause, all we know is that it is shocking and saddening. Hess was a wonderful person . He was always willing to lend a hand. Hess was involved in many things. He loved music and dance. He was a son, brother, uncle, cousin, lawyer, teacher, volunteer, advisor, friend. I can honestly say I am blessed for having known him. Everything I know in the legal field, I learned from him. We had such a great relationship. It still feels like he's on vacation. I look for him when the door opens. The whole office is reminded of him. There were tapes he dictated the week before that I am still going through. It's hard listening to his voice and not seeing him sitting in his office. Every Monday we would share our weekend happenings with each other. I've lost one of my closest friends and it's hard. It's not going to be the same without him, but I know he's happy. So I tribute this post to Hessel Ray. You're one of a kind Hess and I think of you often. I hope you're happy. As Tracy said, you're truly tapping with the stars!!!!

I've experienced death with my Grandma and Grandpa. Although that was hard, this is hard on a whole different level. Hess was like family, I saw him more than some of my own family members. I know things have to move on and we need to grieve this loss, but I won't lie, it's not easy.

Hess finalized my son's adoption and for that I am greatful.


Adoption Hearing~ June 9, 2008 (please excuse the pregnant belly :-))


Hess in New York~ December, 2008 after losing nearly 100 lbs

Easter 2010

We had a fairly good weekend overall. It started off not so great with Isaac up for 3 1/2 hours Thursday which made for tired parents and tired baby. We gave the boys their Easter baskets and I tried to get some pictures. They weren't up for cooperating but I still got a few. Friday night Ross and I had talked about going out but we weren't up for it so we decided to order pizza instead. Saturday I had a bridal shower to attend so Ross babysat the boys. I guess both boys fell asleep on the couch at 11:00. That put their schedule out of whack but it worked out.

I took the boys over to Grandma K's that afternoon because Aunt Gina and cousin Caden were there to dye Easter eggs. Caleb enjoyed it but seemed to like trying to tip the cup of dye over instead. Isaac was having a blast. He could barely get one done before grabbing for another one. It was so much fun to watch him. He liked to do it by himself but he needed some assistance yet. Maybe next year he'll do better. After we finished dying eggs we all went downstairs to watch some tv. Isaac told me he wanted to go home and headed upstairs. Caleb followed. We heard them walking around and then we heard "smash smash smash". Grandma and I ran upstairs. Isaac was standing on one side of the counter and Caleb on the other. They were chucking the Easter eggs across the room. I bet they threw out nearly a dozen of them. Thank goodness they were hard boiled. Those two were laughing so hard. It was a site to see and really hard not to laugh at them. Boys will be boys!

Sunday we enjoyed our morning at church for Sunrise service, breakfast and normal service. We left a little early and headed to my parents for dinner. It was a good time. Great Grandma and Grandpa J and Aunt Marline and Uncle Bruce came over for dessert in the afternoon. The boys had a blast!

Here's some pictures from our weekend, enjoy!

"Did they tell you what Isaac did today?"

Yesterday I picked the boys up from daycare at the normal time. I was buckling Caleb into his carseat and Isaac was inside the van waiting for his turn. Pretty soon he starts yelling out the door "bye Brenda bye". He was saying goodbye to one of the workers at his daycare. Brenda asked if they told me what Isaac did today. This is when I began thinking "oh no". I swear this kid is the funniest little boy. Apparently one of the workers had taken a small group of boys to the potty. Somedays Isaac will sit on the potty and other days he just washes his hands. I'm not sure what he decided to do yesterday, but he was the last one washing his hands and apparently he thought he should wash his hair too!!!! Yep my kid stuck his head under the faucet so he could wash his hair. I guess it could have been much worse because normally if you went looking for my son at daycare you would find him wearing a stocking cap, even during his nap.

The things he comes up with....

Last weekend I bought him a new John Deere cap to wear since it's getting warm out and I don't want him wearing his stocking caps all the time. So much for that, I pick him up and what is he wearing? Nothing else but his stocking cap of course.

I know my boys are not biologically related, but even if they were they could be this different. It's really fun to see the differences in them.

Isaac~
Strong willed
spitfire
independent
funny
busy
climbing on everything
running everywhere
loves Barney
obsessed with stocking caps
loves tractors and trucks
everything needs to be "his" idea
has no time to do puzzles or the like
very good at sharing (unless it's his favorite tractor)
very protective of his little brother
loves playing outside
loves his pop up books

Caleb~
quiet
laid back
Mommy's little shadow
loves to read books and do puzzles
doesn't care for tv unless it's right before bed with his bankie and paci
loves to watch the tractors and trucks
funny
easy going
good listener
slowest eater on earth
likes Little People but usually gives in to watch Barney
obsessed with shoes, especially his crock shoes
loves to read books, especially lift and see books
loves to brush his teeth
impatient

Despite their different personalities these two are best friends for life and love each other so much!!!!

It's been a long week

Wow! We were hit with sickness yet again. Monday Caleb starting coughing and my hopes of it being nothing more than that were shot by Wednesday morning when he was running a 100.6 fever. He couldn't go to daycare so he stayed with Grandma K Wednesday. Thursdays is Grandma's day to take one of the boys and luckily it was Caleb so she had him again Thursday. Grandma called me at work around 3:30 and wondered if I could get Caleb into the doctor. He was coughing/wheezing and just crying. They had no openings so I scheduled him for Friday morning.

I picked Isaac up from daycare Thursday around 5:15 and they had just gotten back from a buggy ride since it was so nice outside. Isaac was half asleep in the worker's arms and barely woke up for me to take him. She said he slept the entire time which is unusual for him. He didn't talk on the way to Grandma's and when we got there he didn't want to go see Grandma. I knew right then something was up. All he wanted was for me to hold him and to go home so I figured he was coming down with something too. I took his temp and it was 103. So Friday morning the doctor saw both boys. Isaac was a bear at the doctor. He's never been too good with doctors but this was the worst, probably because he felt so rotten. The doctor diagnosed them both with a respiratory infection. Isaac was given an antibiotic shot at the clinic and Caleb was sent home with zithromax. The boys were "ok" during the day but not themselves. Friday afternoon Isaac became very tired and all he wanted to do was sleep. I couldn't keep him awake and he was very lethargic. I took his temp around 7:00 Friday night and it shot up to 104.8. That was very scary since he was so lethargic. I called the hospital and talked to the doctor on call. I was instructed to give him a tepid bath, alternate Tylenol and Motrin every 4 hours and keep pushing fluids and if he wasn't better by Saturday morning to bring him in to test for RSV.

Isaac went to bed at 8:00 without a fuss, so then at 11:15 I woke him up and gave him some more medicine and a drink of water. He slept the rest of the night and woke up with only a 101 fever. Yesterday he managed to keep his fever below 101 and by last night he was fever free. He still needs the medicine every 4 hours though because I can tell he doesn't feel good. Poor guy.

Today I am staying home with Isaac from church but Caleb is well enough to go. I just hope by tomorrow Isaac will be on the mend and can go back to daycare. On a good note, both boys ears looked great so no infections for either of them, wohoo!!!!

We're ready for summer

I say we're ready for summer because spring at our place usually looks like a complete disaster. Right now it is a huge muddy mess and I'm justing waiting for the day when I get stuck trying to back out of the driveway. I'm not sure when the boys are going to be able to get outside, but by the looks of things it will be a while.

We're looking forward to spending some quality family time this summer and hoping to be able to take a vacation with the boys. We haven't really done much with them yet since they tend to be quite a handful, but this is the year for family time! We're planning a trip to Omaha and of course the wonderful zoo. I know the boys are going to love it!

This weekend Grandma and Grandpa K were at Village West again so we went over there yesterday and were able to go swimming with the boys, Grandpa K, Uncle Nolan, Aunt Gina and cousin Caden. The boys had their swim suits with the built in floaties but I don't think those will be used anymore. They really aren't that great when a certain child decides to lift his legs up and begins spinning under water! We'll be making a purchase of a couple puddle jumpers instead!

Isaac still has no interest in potty training but I'm not too worried yet. He'll be 2 1/2 next month. Potty training is a battle I don't feel like participating in. In my eyes he's not ready yet. He has attempted by sitting on the potty at daycare when his little buddies do, but that's as far as it's gotten. He refuses at home. Caleb however tells me when he's dirty so maybe he'll want to potty train before Isaac, hard to say for sure. I guess I could wait a little longer and just do them at the same time!

I caught a couple photos of the boys. Taking their pictures now is hard work!

Caleb~ tired boy with bad ear infection

Where did my baby go?

My smiley man!

He's looking so grown up

The boys love to ride Sam as a horse and Sam doesn't mind too much!

Daddy's turn to be a horse!

Isaac loves to say "cheeessseee"


Handsome little man!

Another ear re-check

Caleb went back to Dr. Springer Friday to see if his infections were gone. I was not real confident about his appointment because at daycare they had been telling me he wasn't himself. In the evenings all he wanted was his bankie and to be held which also is not like him. Last Wednesday Caleb was sitting on my lap and I asked him where his owie was. He pointed to his ear. Well we went in and I convinced Caleb that he was good he would get a sticker. He actually let Doctor look in his ears without putting up a fuss. The left ear was clear as a bell, looks good and the tube is actually still in place. The right ear was a little red but not much and it looks to be healing just fine. Dr. Springer said with the warmer weather coming we might be in the clear. We just have to monitor him and if he starts acting up again or seems irritable we'll take him back in. So for now we don't have to worry about another set of tubes. Thank goodness!!! We weren't looking forward to paying for that again this year.

Since his appointment he has seemed better so things are definitely on the mend.

Imagination...

The other day I was in the laundry room putting some clothes away and Isaac came running in "Mommy Mommy". He had some big long story he had to tell me but from what I got out of it, he had something to show me. So we go back in the living room where he had been playing with his soft blocks and he exclaims "Mommy a truck, a truck". My little man was so proud of his creation and you know what, it did resemble a truck. It's amazing what little ones learn. They are little sponges and their creativity amazes me. Isaac doesn't care for his picture to be taken that often but I asked him if I could take a picture of him and his truck and he gladly obliged by saying "CHEEEESSSEEEE". Caleb insisted on building a truck too, well we have to work on that a little bit yet.

Oh Isaac Avery you are a dream come true!!!!

Isaac's creation at 28 months old

Ear re-check

I wanted to keep on top of Caleb's ear infections to prevent the need for a 2nd set of ear tubes. February 13th I took Caleb to the Saturday clinic and the on-call doctor said that Caleb had a double ear infection. She said she couldn't tell if the left tube was in or not because of how red his ear was. So I went to our regular doctor today, Dr. Springer. I was sure that the ear infection was gone as he has been eating and acting normal. Well I was in for a surprise. He still has a double ear infection. The right tube is still laying in the canal and he thinks the left tube is out now. He's not sure because there was some wax in there but he thinks it's out. So now we're on a 10 day dose of omnicef and go back for a re-check. If the infection is still there we will have to go back to our ENT in Sioux Falls, Dr. DeSautel. I'm afraid Caleb will need another surgery this year.

When I was growing up I never heard of kids getting tubes or having many ear problems but it seems so common these days. Neither Ross or I ever had ear trouble. I know my Grandma Bronson had trouble with her ears most of her life. I hope he's not inheriting that trait. I know once he gets a little older his ears will drain better, but for now it seems he will need a 2nd set unless a miracle happens and the medication works. He was only 9 months old when he had the 1st surgery so he was pretty young then. I guess we'll just see what happens and go from there.

Here we go again

We made it 8 months with no ear infections so I should be happy about that right? February 6th both Isaac and Caleb came down with a cold. Tuesday Caleb started running fevers and had a loss of appetite. I figured it was just part of his cold as he never gave me any indication he had an ear infection. Friday night his fever was still at 101.9 so I took him to the clinic Saturday morning. My boy has a double ear infection. I was shocked. Caleb's right ear tube is still laying in the canal and not completely out but obviously the tube cannot do it's job anymore. At our last ENT visit the left tube was still in where it should be. The doctor looked and his ear drum was so red it was hard to tell if the tube was in place or not. I'm beginning to think it's out too because there is no drainage. We haven't even hit the 1 year mark yet. So now I guess I keep track of the ear infections to see if a 2nd set is in his future. Caleb was given a shot at the doctor and is on Zithromax for 5 days. I can already tell he's feeling better.

Isaac seems to be getitng over his cold and no fevers or signs of ear infections with him so we might be in the clear with him. I hope so anyways. At his last ENT visit both tubes were in place so that's promising for him. We know the tubes have done their purpose with Isaac. His speech has improved so much. It's amazing what those tiny little things can do in the ears.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I got a few pictures of the boys for Valentine's Day. I think they turned out pretty good. So what's wrong with bribing the boys with suckers for a few good pictures??? They had a great time with their suckers and I had fun taking the pictures. Next year we'll have to do something different, maybe cookies next year.

Enjoy!

Isaac~27 months 25 days

Caleb~ 19 months 12 days